SNL Reviews: Billie Eilish (12/11/21)

Cold Open: A Holiday Message From Dr. Anthony Fauci

Dr. Fauci delivers an important warning about the Omicron variant with the help of the CDC.

• Kate McKinnon makes her “triumphant” return to the show by doing what she loves best: playing a male politician! UGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

• The first words out of her mouth are “I’m BAAAAACK!” Please kill me.

• They do the same routine from the other Fauci cold opens, but even less funny this time.

• Does this episode have it out for me or something? Not only is Kate back, and an artist I hate is the host, but we get the one millionth appearance from that absolutely awful Ted Cruz impression! Stop trying to push him down our throats!!

• A total clunker of a cold open, and sets a bad tone for the rest of the show.

Monologue

Eilish talks about why she used to wear baggy clothing all the time, and what it was like to grow up in the public eye.

• What the fuck is that dress she’s wearing?

• I was excited to see her mom, Maggie Baird, show up. She was a voice actress on this HBO Family show I watched as a kid called “Crashbox”.

• Overall, she didn’t do too badly for a first time host. Not much I can comment about here, though.

Sketch: Christmas Cards

People on Christmas cards talk about stuff.

• *sees premise* Yep, this is a Seidell/Day sketch.

• The first card we see has some really broad Christian stereotypes. They all have blond hair, and they have six children (with a seventh on the way).

• Chris Redd as the pregnant lady’s husband delivered his lines perfectly.

• I’m very pleased that Pete didn’t use a cartoonish accent for his Wisconsin card.

• Unsurprisingly, Asian Terry Sweeney plays a gay guy. His partner is Kenan, who thankfully does a different voice than the one I’m tired of.

• Random out of nowhere Miley Cyrus cameo. I honestly thought it was Eilish impersonating her at first, because she looks so odd in this.

• Miley: “This woman came up to my table and said, ‘You’re Hannah Montana!’, and then said that she hated my music.”

• You know things are bad when a friggin’ Miley Cyrus cameo is the most I laughed at a sketch.

• Aristotle’s cheerful delivery of his line about cheating on his wife was great.

• Andrew Dismukes is perfectly cast as an “incel” type character. His voice seems a little hoarse tonight, though.

• Oh, I almost forgot to mention how good Eilish is as Melissa’s high school rival.

• Not as bad as I remembered, but still far from anything special.

Sketch: TikTok

HOW DO YOU DO, FELLOW KIDS????

• I groaned as soon as I saw this sketch was about TikTok. I used to think Vine was a shitty website (don’t get me wrong, it was), but it’s pure gold compared to this. 

• The voice Fineman does in her scene gives me Kristen Wiig vibes, which is NOT a good thing.

• Poor Rachel Dratch is wasted in a pointless cameo where she does the dumbest dance I’ve ever seen.

• Eilish’s brother, Finneas, also makes an appearance, but who gives a shit about him?

• The only laugh I got from this was the brief Homer Simpson ASMR bit. It’s hard to tell who’s playing him because of the makeup, but I think it’s JAJ, based on the impression he did in the previous episode.

• I felt sorry for Aristotle having to play a comedian that gets heckled by someone who tells him he sucks. A perfect summary for the way he’s been treated this season.

• Normally, I’d be happy to see Alex Moffat wearing a mustache again, but why did it have to be in this sketch?

• Overall, except for that one scene, not a single laugh to be found here. I was very surprised to find out that the Please Don’t Destroy guys were responsible for this.

Sketch: Hip-Hop Nativity

In which they make a gross mockery of the Nativity.

• I had very little faith in this when I saw it was about the Nativity. This can only lead to some anti-Christian nonsense.

• Dismukes has had a busy night so far. Thankfully, his voice sounds a little better now.

• Seeing white people try to do a “pimp walk” is pure visual cancer.

• I never wanted to hear Heidi say “baby daddy” in my life, but I got it anyway.

• My mind just about melted when they started shaking their asses. Then I thought I was going to throw up when Andrew dropped his robe to reveal a diaper. 

• Heidi screws up her line upon seeing the diaper. The online version does not fix this.

• And then…they make him twerk. You heard right. They make our Lord and Savior, Jesus Himself, do a sexual dance as a baby. What is wrong with these people?!!???

• To add insult to injury, the actress playing Mary has to…get on a stripper pole. Luckily, she doesn’t actually do so, but the very idea that they wanted a representation of the Holy Mother to act like a stripper is pure blasphemy.

• Hands down, this is definitely one of the worst sketches I have ever seen on this show. It is pure Satanic filth.

Film: Lonely Christmas

This sketch isn’t on YouTube due to the use of a song by The Smiths. Thank goodness for that, because I remember it being nothing but a Kate McKinnon mugfest.

Musical Performance: “Happier Than Ever”

• Billie’s parents introduce the song, and her brother returns to perform it with her. I guess you could call it…*puts on sunglasses* A family affair. YEEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!

Weekend Update (featuring Punkie Johnson and Andrew Dismukes)

• Colin’s slam at Jussie Smollett for being a very bad actor made me laugh out loud! None of the other jokes were as good as that, unfortunately.

• The phrase “anime convention” is something I never thought I would hear come out of Michael Che’s mouth.

• Punkie’s back at the Update desk with some tips about how to spend the holidays with your family. Let’s see if this commentary is as good as the last one she did.

• I like it when cast members talk about their families, like what Punkie’s doing here. There’s an amusing story she tells about her crazy uncle still refusing to accept that she’s a lesbian.

• Some amusement from her not wanting a female baby because she’s afraid it’ll turn out to be straight.

• Punkie knocked it out of the park again with this commentary! It seems like only the newer cast members are still any good at commentaries. Whenever someone older like Kenan or Kate is at the desk, it always sucks.

• Speaking of newer cast members, Andrew Dismukes is our next visitor to the desk, and he’s wearing some weird animal makeup. This is because it’s time for “Andy’s Amazing Animals”, where he shows us some animal friends of his. I’m getting a Brian Fellow vibe from this.

• When Andrew brings out the tank with his first animal in it, you can briefly see someone’s head behind the desk. I assume this is the puppeteer for the animals.

• This commentary takes a bizarre turn when the octopus writes out “You will die in seven days”, instead of predicting who’s going to win a football game.

• While I’m kind of iffy about this premise, Andrew is totally selling it with his performance.

• The routine is then repeated with another animal, and it isn’t as funny anymore. 

• Overall, the commentary was still okay. Andrew is really coming into his own this season.

Sketch: The Night I Met Santa

Some ladies sing about a weird encounter they had with Santa.

• Ugh, here’s something I haven’t missed at all: Kate McKinnon singing!

• I will admit, though, the 40s musical trio vibe this is trying to go for is nice. 

• All three ladies look really sexy in those sparkly dresses.

• The lyrics suck, but that’s normal for these kinds of sketches.

• Kenan has had a really quiet night by his standards. Here, he gets to play Santa again, a role which I feel he always does really well as. Also, that high note he delivers is really damn impressive. I didn’t know he had it in him.

• While I liked what this was going for, it left a lot to be desired.

Film: Kyle’s Holiday

Kyle wants to do something with his fellow cast mates for Christmas, but nobody seems to be interested.

• It’s been a while since they did one of these backstage films with Kyle. The last one I can think of was in the Issa Rae episode from last season.

• I chuckled at Kyle messing up “God bless us, everyone” by saying it was a quote from “Tiny Tom”.

• His scene with Bowen was nice and awkward, unintentionally offending him when he comes up with a hypothetical situation where Bowen’s parents’ plane crashes on their way to visit.

• I’m actually feeling a little sorry for Kyle here. It brings back memories of my childhood where I was left out of everything for being too weird, and all of the times I’ve offended someone by accident.

• Kyle gets so desperate for someone to hang out with that he resorts to asking writer’s assistant Jacob Kaplan, but even he is visiting family for the holidays. 

• He brings up how the Please Don’t Destroy guys told him that he shouldn’t be alive. Maybe they’re just bitter that their sketch got cut from the episode AGAIN. But more on that later…

• More sad (but funny) reminiscences from Kyle about the other cast members, such as Kenan, who still calls him “Beck Bennett”, and Heidi and Ego, who don’t follow him on Instagram. This is accompanied by footage of them, such as a What Up With That? clip for Kenan, that Freddy Krueger commentary for Heidi, and a Dionne Warwick bit for Ego.

• Things suddenly turn creepy when Kyle reveals the cast member who brings him the least joy: Mikey Day. He describes a terrifying (but funny) fantasy he’s had about locking Mikey up and stealing all of his characters.

• Of course, immediately after this, Mikey walks by, and Billie tells him to get away from the show before it’s too late.

• We end with a Happy Holidays greeting from “all of our favorite Kyle Mooney characters”, which are just pictures of Mikey’s characters (Matt Schatt, Don Jr, “Flustered Customer”, and the soldier from those War in Words sketches) with Kyle’s face pasted on them.

• Probably the best sketch of the night. It was already good to begin with, but the Mikey stuff at the end made it unforgettable.

Musical Performance: “Male Fantasy”

• Epic fail from Kate mispronuncing our host’s name as “Billie Ellish” during her introduction.

Sketch; Business Garden Inn & Suites

A hotel that caters to those who are traveling to non-luxurious events.

• Something else I haven’t missed from McKinnon are these retarded ad parodies she keeps appearing in.

• Super lame names for Kate and Billie’s characters. In case you care, it’s “Kathreen” and “Kathlyn”, respectively. Unsurprisingly, Kent Sublette is credited as one of this sketch’s writers.

• Damn, this sketch is so goddamn slow. It doesn’t help that the two of them are speaking as blandly as possible, and Billie keeps messing up her lines for some reason.

• My only laugh came from a TripAdvisor review that describes the hotel as “a stock photo you can sleep in”.

Cut for Time: Future Selves

The PDD guys are visited by their future selves, who warn them of disasters.

• Second episode in a row where the PDD sketch is cut out. There was also another Angelo sketch that was removed, but why would I bother with that shit again?

• The special effect of the future versions jumping out of their portal was unintentionally hilarious.

• I feel like I recognize the actors playing the future guys, but my mind is drawing a blank right now. I do like that the future version of Ben Marshall has a tiny bit of red hair remaining so that we can tell it’s him.

• Future John Higgins having an inexplicable Italian accent is amazing.

• The future guys can’t take their past selves’ stupidity anymore, so they leave. They offer one final message: “LIVE FROM NEW YORK, IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT!!!” The guys’ reaction to this is priceless.

• Another slam dunk for the PDD crew. It’s really sad that these guys keep getting cut out.

Final thoughts: Well, in our first episode with Kate McKinnon back, the cracks are already starting to show. It’s not a coincidence that most of the weakest sketches in this episode happened to feature her in them. As for Eilish, she didn’t do too badly as a host. While her inexperience in acting was somewhat obvious, she managed to get through the whole show without any major mishaps.

Best sketches: Punkie’s commentary, Kyle’s Holiday, Future Selves (Cut)

Worst sketches: Cold Open, TikTok, Hip-Hop Nativity, Lonely Christmas, Business Garden Inn & Suites

Next review: I tackle one of the most bizarre episodes in SNL history…the episode “hosted” by Paul Rudd.

SNL Reviews: Simu Liu/Saweetie (11/20/21)

 Cold Open: Justice with Judge Jeanine

Tonight, Jeanine discusses the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict, and talks to former president Trump about Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan.

• I see they wasted no time in bringing this back. It’s been only two weeks since the last one, and that one wasn’t even good to begin with.

• Some epic groans from me when Mikey says the victims were “guh-doinked”. Who writes this crap?

• Speaking of Mikey, he also speaks in a ridiculous Wisconsin accent. You know, because the trial was in Wisconsin.

• Alex Moffat as Kevin McCarthy trying to do that water bottle flipping thing was pointless.

• JAJ’s Trump impression also returns from the previous installment. He sounds a little hoarse for some reason.

• The routine with Trump is exactly the same as the last time. Don’t tell me this is all they’re going to do with him from now on. But, hey, at least it’s not Alec Baldwin’s version anymore.

• I actually did get a chuckle from Trump’s random mention of Bob the Builder at the end of his spiel.

• Yet another awful cold open. I guess the one from Sudeikis’ episode was just a fluke.

Monologue

Our host talks about playing Marvel’s first Chinese hero, and dressing up as Spider-Man for birthday parties.

• HUGE applause for Simu as he mentions he was in Shang-Chi (which I saw, and it was fucking awesome).

• He claims he’s SNL’s first Chinese host. Um, Jackie Chan would like a word with you.

• Some nice self-deprecating humor where he says he got to play Shang-Chi by doing what all Canadians do: he asked politely.

• I have no idea if the story about his Twitter account is true, but the payoff was nice.

• Interesting how he used to play fellow Marvel hero Spider-Man at kids’ birthday parties. This leads to a funny story about a young boy who kicked him in the shins because he wasn’t the real Spidey.

• A great monologue. I can tell that he’s really excited to be hosting.

Sketch: Karaoke Recap

An award ceremony that highlights the greatest karaoke singers.

• I remember this sketch being extremely painful. 

• Yep, my recollection is correct, because the first thing we hear is Chloe Fineman rapping in a dopey Southern accent.

• I groaned when she referred to Justin Timberlake as “Jussie Timbercake”.

• Kenan doing my “favorite” voice yet again.

• Surprisingly, Asian Terry Sweeney got my first laugh of this sketch with his off key rendition of “Take On Me” by A-ha.

• Kenan actually got a laugh from me too, mentioning how he’ll have to go buy a new mike at RadioShack if this one breaks. He says “Do you know how hard it is to find a RadioShack these days?” Maybe I only found it funny because I love talking about defunct retail stores.

• This sketch hasn’t been as bad as I remembered so far. The parts with the people are fine, but Fineman as the host is still insufferable to listen to.

• Pete Davidson singing the “All around me are familiar faces” song was pretty funny. His voice in this reminds me of Muppeteer Richard Hunt for some reason.

• A genuine laugh from Fineman saying that Davidson’s performance gave her “Columbine vibes”.

• I love Chris Redd’s rendition of “Since You Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson.

• At least Kenan’s character seems to be aware that Fineman is an idiot. He says she’s starting to worry him after she calls Justin Bieber “Justin Boobie”. 

• A great performance from JAJ and Melissa Villaseñor, as they sing “Islands in the Stream” while doing Homer and Marge Simpson impressions. JAJ’s Homer voice needs some work, but Melissa, as we saw before in the Regina King episode, has got Marge down pretty good.

• Not a big fan of the German tourists singing “Call Me Maybe”. It seems like they’ve been typecasting Aristotle Athari with “ethnic” roles, like that shitty Angelo character from a few episodes ago.

• Simu steals the show with his performance of “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys, which, coincidentally, was also in a commercial that aired before this during the live airing.

• I don’t know what song Heidi and Alex are singing, but the awkward movements they’re doing while performing it are hilarious. Also, it is an unwritten rule that Alex Moffat always looks funny in a mustache.

• Cecily ends this with a surprisingly strong performance of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”. Also, she looks kinda hot in that tight blue dress…forget I said anything.

• I can’t believe I used to hate this sketch. While Fineman and Kenan got on my nerves occasionally, the actual karaoke parts of the sketch were pretty good.

Fake Ad: Target

An ad for Target’s Thanksgiving deals.

• It seems like Cecily is always the announcer in these fake commercials.

• Kenan: “Dat turkey dry as a bone!” Good to know that Kenan’s overused voice can still make me laugh when it’s used correctly.

• I like how one of the products advertised is a “Tofurkey”, meant to shut up your daughter’s annoying new vegan boyfriend. Said boyfriend is played by Simu, who looks hilarious in that getup.

• Alex Moffat has really grown on me lately. His portrayal of the uncle who takes football too seriously was so endearing. I also find it very relatable, because I have a brother who acts just like this.

• The brief scene of Kyle Mooney as the deadbeat cousin offering a cigarette to a young boy was great.

• Another great JAJ performance as the crazy conservative grandpa that I’m sure we all have. Luckily, Mikey puts on his new noise-canceling AirPods to silence Grandpa’s rambling.

• I love the part where the guests’ unsupervised children go to the basement and ruin all of their new toys while heavy metal music plays.

• Kenan got another laugh from me when he compliments Mikey’s new girlfriend’s breasts.

• Do my eyes deceive me? Is this another sketch that I found better this time?!!?? Hey, maybe this episode won’t be as bad as I remembered.

Sketch: Dog Soldier

The US Army has authorized the creation of a soldier with a dog’s head. 

• This bizarre one-off concept from Season 43 inexplicably becomes recurring. Just to show how long it’s been, that was when Leslie Jones was still in the cast.

• Yikes, Cecily screws up her very first line. Is there any doubt that she needs to leave as soon as possible?

• The Dog Head Man’s arms are apparently “played” by Martin Herlihy, one of the Please Don’t Destroy guys.

• Yep, this is definitely a Day/Seidell sketch, because the characters keep over-explaining everything.

• Despite that obvious flaw, it’s still pretty amusing seeing the dog try to do simple tasks. And the dog looks pretty happy to be there. 

• I like how JAJ as the general only cares about how the Dog Head Man goes to the bathroom.

• Mikey loses his composure when the dog starts jabbing the air with a knife. It’s really rare to see Mikey break. In fact, the only other time I can think of him breaking was the last time they did this sketch.

• When discussing whether or not Dog Head Man would have been able to kill Osama bin Laden, I like Simu proudly declaring that, yes, not only would he have been able to kill him, but he would have eaten him as well!

• Somewhat disturbing twist where Simu inadvertently reveals that the dog’s body belonged to his father.

• Even though I’m still puzzled as to why this was brought back, it was amusing enough.

Sketch: Republican or Not?

The new game show where contestants must figure out whether or not someone is a Republican.

• I had no faith in this when I saw the title.

• Kenan’s host character is named “Benson DuBois”. The writers’ guide on Reddit that I use doesn’t say who wrote this, but I’m pretty sure that Kent Sublette was behind it based on that name.

• Given that Simu was just in a Marvel movie, it’s kind of funny that his name in this sketch is “Jim Lee”.

• Another unintentional laugh from the first contestant (played by Kyle Mooney) introducing himself as “Brady”, but that’s only because my brother’s name is also Brady.

• Despite saying he hates cops, Mooney’s character is a Republican. I totally saw the “twist” coming where they reveal that the cops he hates are Capitol police.

• Random appearance from Cecily as Liz Cheney. Like all of the Republican women she plays, she’s loud, obnoxious, and made up to look ugly.

• Why are all of the game show sketches these days so awful? 

Film: Walking in Staten

Pete and some other losers rap about Staten Island.

• Uggghhhh!!! It’s yet another dumb rap video starring Pete. This one is about his favorite subject, Staten Island.

• The fat guy who was in that awful Squid Game rap from a few episodes ago (Big Wet) returns. And, I’m sorry for saying this, but he still looks like Aidy Bryant in drag to me.

• There’s some other random cameos in here, mostly from people I don’t know/don’t care about. I’m guessing they must be friends with Pete, because it seems like he hangs out with a bunch of rappers.

• The only one I do recognize is Method Man, from the Wu-Tang Clan. Would you believe that my first exposure to him was on an episode of The Fairly OddParents, of all places?

• As you could probably tell, this is yet another bad Pete Davidson rap video. They were doing so well at the end of Season 46, so why have they gone back to being terrible again?

Musical Performances: “Tap In”, “Best Friend”

Weekend Update (featuring Baby Yoda and Mother Earth)

• There was this weird reddish-brown tint in the shot of them setting this up during the break. I don’t know what that was all about.

• The first joke they tell is about Joe Biden being old, the only joke they are allowed to make about him.

• Out of nowhere, the random return of fucking Baby Yoda. I have no further comment on this shitty character, so let’s leave it at that.

• Aidy Bryant finally creates a new Update character. This time, it’s a lady named Mother Earth, a representation of our planet, who is here to talk about climate change.

• I like how, after initially starting the commentary by speaking an annoying fruity voice, she quickly switches to a more normal voice, by saying “Nah, I’m kidding, I’m normal!” Thank goodness she did, because a whole commentary with that initial voice would have been insufferable.

• Nice twist where she clarifies that her elegant looking clothes were bought at Chico’s. 

• Another laugh from her proving that the Earth is round by showing off her “honkers”. Colin responds by saying that Human Resources told him not to look at them.

• It seems like Aidy is the only one who can make this type of sleazy character work, particularly when she’s describing her relationship with Father Time.

• The random mention of Forever 21 being one of the things we should get rid of was funny.

• Not a big fan of her revealing that coal is her poop.

• This ends on a decent note, where she delivers a heartfelt speech telling us to take good care of her, before she suddenly turns sinister and says she’s going to kill us if we don’t. The way Aidy changed her mood like that was amazing.

• This Mother Earth commentary was better than I remembered. 

Sketch: Thanksgiving Baking Championship 

Even more disgusting cakes are presented to the judges.

• Nice to see this back. This is the first one they’ve done that hasn’t been about Christmas since the first one.

• Aidy missed the last installment, but now she’s back. On the other hand, since Beck is gone, his judge has been replaced by Pete. Ego is the only judge to appear in all four of these.

• As always, the first cake we see gets a big laugh. This one’s supposed to be a ballerina, but it looks more like a leaky diaper. Cecily then clarifies that the daughter she allegedly made this for doesn’t exist. She just made that up to get the judges’ approval.

• Alex’s response to this revelation is expertly delivered.

• Simu’s character is an amateur rapper (Because, why not?), and he proves it by trying (and failing) to sing a song he came up with. It’s always funny seeing people that aren’t black try to rap.

• As a nice shakeup to the format, he has two cakes, one of a pilgrim (which looks like a marshmallow with red lipstick), and the other one of a turkey (which looks fine).

• Then the turkey cake opens its eyes and screams when Simu tries to get a piece. I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting that.

• I also wasn’t expecting the pilgrim to start puking all over the place. Extremely gross, but funny as hell.

• Kyle Mooney brings out his usual penis-shaped cake at the end, this one of a spaceship, complete with white frosting at the top!

• I don’t know why I find these sketches so amusing when they’re always the exact same joke. I guess I just love it when food attacks people.

Film: Simu & Bowen

Simu and Bowen Yang congratulate each other for being the first Asians in various categories.

• I was expecting the worst from this, seeing as Asian Terry Sweeney is in it.

• I did get a laugh from him greeting Simu as his “fellow yellow fellow”.

• Again they claim that Simu is the first Asian male to host this show. What did Jackie Chan do to these guys that made them not want to mention him? 

• Some really dumb prop comedy with the various awards they show off to each other.

• Bowen mispronouncing “boutique” as “botiquah” was amusing.

• Another surprisingly funny Bowen line when he says that he also got the “First Asian Man To Blow Up A Dragon From The Inside” award, but not for the same reason as Simu.

• Earlier, I said this was kind of dumb, but I’ve now come to realize that it’s the type of dumb that you can’t help but laugh at. For an Asian Terry Sweeney sketch, this wasn’t too bad.

Musical Performance: “Icy Chain”

Sketch: 911 Call

A 911 operator (Ego Nwodim) answers some odd questions.

• I’m glad to see Ego get the lead role.

• A laugh from Mikey calling up to say that he’s dead, and his awkward attempts to explain how this is possible.

• Some more laughs from the odd British accent Simu is using, and the fact that the last time he smoked pot was at a Counting Crows concert back in the 90s.

•  Aidy’s brief appearance was hilarious, as was Ego’s “Old people gotta stop smokin’ weed” line in response to her.

• Even Kenan made me laugh in this. I guess he can still be funny given the right material.

• There was a really odd gaffe during the live show where a shot of Simu briefly appeared while Cecily was talking. This was fixed in the online upload.

• A nice way to end this episode. Ego was the best, as usual, though the rest of the cast did fine as well.

Note: A dedication to Peter Aykroyd, Dan’s brother, appears before the goodnights.

Cut For Time: Touch Up

The PDD guys discuss getting work done to improve their confidence.

• Once again, the Please Don’t Destroy guys are left out of the live show.

• An initial laugh from Ben Marshall entering the room with a disturbing botoxed face that makes him look like one of the Bogdanoff brothers. Martin Herlihy responds that he looks like he drowned.

• John Higgins then reveals that he got his fingers lengthened. 

• Another laugh from John imitating Pan from Pan’s Labyrinth with his long fingers.

• The best part of all is Martin taking off his hair to reveal that he has another face on top of his head. The sketch ends with it suddenly speaking in a creepy voice. It makes no sense, but it’s very funny. This definitely should have made it to the live show.

Final thoughts: Honestly, this episode was way better than I remembered. Most of the sketches were pretty good, and there seemed to be a theme of really bizarre concepts, like the Dog Head Man, and the vomiting cake. Simu Liu did extremely well for a first time host. He’s welcome to come back in my opinion.

Sadly, this is also the last episode of the season before Kate McKinnon comes back from Australia. Once she returns, the refreshing feel that this season started out with disappears, and we’re back to business as usual.

Best sketches: Karaoke Recap, Target, Dog Soldier, Mother Earth commentary, Thanksgiving Baking Championship, Touch Up (Cut)

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Walking in Staten, Baby Yoda commentary

Next review: Billie Eilish

SNL Reviews: Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11/13/21)

 Cold Open: Cruz Street

Ted Cruz introduces his new show on Newsmax Kids.

• Jesus Christ, I’ve been dreading to watch this sketch again…

• Already a big groan from one of the shows on Newsmax Kids being “White Power Rangers”. Get it? Cuz everyone who watches this channel is a racist!

• Lord have mercy! That horrible Ted Cruz impression is back for the one millionth time. Why do they keep trying to force this nonsense down out throats? Literally no one likes it!

• The fact that this is a “parody” of Sesame Street makes me die inside. As I’ve said before, The Muppets are a huge part of my childhood, and I absolutely hate it when people disrespect them like this.

• I fucking hate the “parody” of the theme song. The cast members that are playing the children seem embarrassed to be doing it.

• An unwelcome return from Cecily Taylor Greene, carrying a gun like a hot action movie babe. Because…random?

• My God, all of the dialogue is so on the nose and obvious. After Greene espouses a ridiculous theory about JFK Jr. being alive, they have Cruz say “Everything about that sounds right.” You know, because those CRAAAAZY Republicans will believe anything!

• We then get the worst Big Bird impression ever, played by Kyle Mooney. Just hearing Big Bird talk about his enlarged testicles and how his “doink” doesn’t work made my childhood memories shatter into pieces. Also, “doink”? Really? How old are these people?

• Pete Davidson plays the worst Joe Rogan impression ever (seems to be a theme here). What “biting” lines does he have to say? “I used to host Fear Factor, but now doctors fear me!” I half expected him to follow that up with “What a country!”, because that’s how hacky SNL’s jokes have gotten lately.

• Alex and Mikey play Bert and Ernie again, after previously playing them in that great “Grouch” film from Season 45. I admired that they didn’t do a predictable “LOL GAY!” joke with them there. Unfortunately, that is not the case here, as all of their lines are about how gay they are, while Cruz misinterprets their statements to be about…*sigh*…the Proud Boys.

• The only bright spot here is Chris Redd’s brief appearance as “Oscar the Slouch”, a sleazy guy in a trash can. I don’t know, I just love it when Redd plays characters like that.

• What better way to end a terrible sketch than with a terrible impression? Fineman’s awful Britney impression is back, and it still hasn’t improved.

• This poor attempt at satire earned a lot of criticism from both sides of the aisle. I’m glad I’m not alone.

Monologue

Jonathan Majors talks about how he grew up in the military, and the moment he found out he was hosting SNL.

• This guy’s accent is so thick that I can barely understand him.

• Not sure if I get the Red Lobster jokes.

• Lame joke about how black people call Ant-Man “Not Black Panther”.

• And then he ends it with another lame Ant-Man joke.

• A really boring monologue, but compared to the horrors of the cold open, it was brilliant.

Sketch: The March of the Suitors

A group of eligible suitors hope to win the Queen’s hand in marriage.

• Uh-oh, the sketch starts with “We now return to”. This is gonna suck…

• Super lame title for an upcoming show about Hitler’s waiters: “Pardon My Reich”.

• I love whenever Mikey speaks in a British accent. Mostly because he can never seem to get them right.

• Chloe Fineman surprisingly plays the Queen like a normal person, and doesn’t do a “funny” voice.

• I kind of liked Kyle’s character, an awkward man who thinks the Queen will take him even though she’s always told him she doesn’t like him in that way.

• A genuinely funny part where she sends him away just as he starts singing an apparently dirty song about strawberries.

• Remember what I said earlier about how pleased I was that Fineman didn’t do an annoying cartoony voice here? Well, Cecily didn’t get the memo. She plays her character with the most stereotypical and cartoonish British accent I’ve ever heard.

• Andrew Dismukes plays Cecily’s son, another prospective suitor. He proves how qualified he is by dropping his pants and showing off his dick (thankfully this is off screen). I was enjoying how the season started off by not relying on dick jokes too much, but now it seems like we’re back to them in full force.

• Majors enters the room wearing some ridiculous bone armor. He thrusts his crotch forward to demonstrate how much pleasure he gives to women. Now there’s an actually funny dick joke.

• Then it’s revealed that Majors’ character isn’t really single when his wife (Ego) shows up asking why he’s acting like a dumbass in front of royalty.

• This sketch was kinda iffy at first, but then Ego’s character saved it, and I’d have to call it an overall strong sketch.

Please Don’t Destroy: Three Sad Virgins

Pete Davidson raps about the PDD guys, with help from Taylor Swift.

• Wow, a PDD sketch this early in the show? There must be a catch…

• Ugh, I knew it was too good to be true. Pete Davidson suddenly enters their office. I felt kind of sad for these guys when Pete tells them how great their films are, when most of them have been cut before airtime.

• Unfortunately, this turns out to be another self-indulgent Pete Davidson rap video. The PDD guys are in it too, but the song is all about how pathetic they are.

• What kinds of scathing insults does he have for them? Umm, one of them has a red penis tip…and…another one smells…like farts. Yeah….

• Ben Marshall looks depressed having to dress up like the Wendy’s mascot. I know it’s probably just acting, but he sounds like he’s serious to me. 

• Random appearance by tonight’s musical guest, Taylor Swift, who sings some lines of her own.

• Definitely the worst PDD we’ve had so far. It’s also (as of January 2022) the last time they’ve made it into the live show. Hmm, I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that all of the times they’ve made the live show happened while Kate was absent.

Sketch: Audacity in Advertising Awards

Jake from State Farm (Majors) and Flo from Progressive (Heidi Gardner) host this year’s edition.

• I’m already weary of this concept, given SNL’s bad track record with award shows.

• Heidi’s Flo is downright uncanny. I thought it was the real Flo at first!

• Majors does okay as Jake from State Farm.

• JAJ has been fairly quiet in this episode so far. But he makes up for that by giving a great intentionally bad performance as a crying father. Even better is when the commercial he’s in turns out to be for Facebook.

• Majors’ response to the above ad: “Wow, that must have sold a lot of Facebooks.”

• A brief laugh from the name of another nomination: “Don’t You Make Landmines?”

• The BP ad’s “official” title is hilarious.

• My biggest laugh came from an ad featuring two lesbians getting married in prison, which is supposed to be a Sargento ad.

• Big night for Dismukes. He plays an intern who’s accepting the award on behalf of BP.

• I was howling at the “in memoriam” segment for companies that went out of business in 2021, all of which have bizarre sexual names like “Boopi”, “Titi” and “Fupa TV”.

• Great appearance by Limu Emu and Doug, from those annoying Liberty Mutual commercials. Alex does a great job as Doug, while Limu is represented by a hilarious puppet. For some bizarre reason, Doug is only referred to as Limu’s “Human Friend”. Did the writers not realize that he actually has a name?

• Great ending, where the announcer plugs an upcoming performance of the Kars4Kids jingle.

• This was pretty good for an award show sketch.

Sketch: Strange Kid Tales

A show where parents share their kids’ creepy stories.

• A super lame “You’re watching (insert channel here)” joke at the beginning.

• I can already tell I’m gonna hate this, because Kenan is doing that voice for the one millionth time.

• Kenan is so annoying in this sketch. That’s something never thought I would have to say about him, but he really has gotten that bad. All of the one-liners he keeps shouting while the families are trying to tell their stories annoyed me more than they amused me. Maybe it would have made me laugh in 2015, back when he hadn’t gotten stale yet.

• They should’ve gotten Chris Redd to play Kenan’s character. I can see him making those one-liners work.

• That one kid’s flat delivery of the line “I died” was funny, but it gets followed by Kenan acting like an offensive stereotype.

• And we end with Pete Davidson mugging for the camera. UGGGHHH!!!!

Film: Man Park

It’s like a dog park…but for MEN!!!!

• An initial laugh from Pete randomly telling his wife that Vin Diesel has a twin brother.

• I’m finding this more tolerable than I remembered. The concept isn’t that bad, and the performances are good.

• I like how Kyle’s attempt at conversing with two other guys is just him saying “Marvel”. But luckily for him, the guys know what he’s talking about and they all start saying it.

• There are some actors in this I don’t recognize, such as a fat bald guy with a beard. Who is he?

• A nice callback to the Vin Diesel thing from earlier, except the guy Pete’s talking to is much more receptive.

• That was a lot better than I remembered.

Musical Performance: “All Too Well”

• This is one of the longest performances in SNL history, clocking in at about ten or so minutes. Because of its length, this is the only performance in this episode.

Weekend Update (featuring Sarah Sherman and the Laughintosh 3000)

• I’m sure you guys have noticed that I haven’t really brought up the Update “jokes” in my last few reviews. Well, the reason for that is because there’s nothing left for me to say about these two. I am officially tired of them. SNL should start looking for new anchors soon.

• Sarah Sherman gets her first Update commentary, in which she roasts Colin. 

• An initial laugh from the fake image she shows of Colin looking at a woman’s breasts.

• I have to say, I love this girl’s energy! Enjoy it while it lasts, Sarah. Once Kate comes back, you won’t have much time to shine. 

• The best of the fake pictures is the last one, where Colin’s eyes and tongue are popping out of his head like a cartoon character.

• I groaned so loud at the “Giraffrey Dahmer” joke.

• Another newbie, Aristotle Athari, also has his first commentary. He plays a robotic comedian named “The Laughintosh 3000”, complete with heavy makeup to make him look metallic. This looks promising…

• The voice he’s using is amazing, full of odd enunciations of words, and robotic stuttering. As a Max Headroom fan, I like that attention to detail.

• I like the part where he gets cut off right when he’s about to tell a racist joke.

• He does impressions too, but not of celebrities. Instead he does ones of Instagram and Tinder.

• I find it funny how the only non-robotic punchlines he seems to know are Staten Island related. An unintentional dig at Pete Davidson?

• For someone who’s never done a commentary before, Athari knocked it right out of the park.

Sketch: Broadway Benefit

Hijinks ensue at a Broadway benefit show.

• While boasting some nice choreography, this sketch was a pain to get through. I never wanted to hear Asian Terry Sweeney sing.

Film: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Dog Bones-N-Melodies

A new pet store owned by the rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

• Um…what a concept.

• I have no idea who this group is, but I’ll try to keep an open mind.

• I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ego in drag before. I guess it was necessary, though, because all the male black guys in the cast (plus our host) are playing the other roles.

• This sounds like a really dumb idea, but there’s something about it that the cast is making work.

• Kenan’s wig is hilarious. I don’t know how he can wear that without laughing.

• A lot better than I remembered. 

Sketch; Pastor Announcement

A pastor and his wife make a surprising announcement during church services.

• Ugh, the first thing we hear is THAT VOICE from Kenan.

• Aidy cheerfully announcing that she got a facelift was good for a chuckle.

• Majors and Ego are doing a great job as the leads. Have I told you how much I love Ego?

• When Chris Redd asks them to clarify what an “open” marriage is, and if he’s had one, I like Majors bluntly telling him that he was actually cheating. And then Redd’s wife (Punkie Johnson) is shown to be sitting right next to him.

• Another great awkward character from Kyle.

• At least the other characters are treating Kenan like shit.

• Another sketch that was better this time around.

No Cut for Time sketch in this episode, for some reason.

Final thoughts: After a couple of surprisingly good shows, we’re back to another mixed bag. The good stuff in this episode was really good, but the bad stuff was downright horrendous. At least the fresh feeling this season has is still here. Too bad we’ve only got one left before Kate returns.

Best sketches: Adversity in Advertising Awards, Man Park, Laughintosh 3000 commentary, Pastor Announcement

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Three Sad Virgins, Strange Kid Tales

Next episode: Simu Liu/Saweetie

SNL Reviews: Kieran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11/6/21)

 Cold Open: Justice with Judge Jeanine

Jeanine Pirro interviews Aaron Rodgers, Glenn Youngkin, and Donald Trump.

• *sigh* The return of Cecily’s baffling Jeanine Pirro impression. Her previous appearance in the Season 46 finale seemed to be a farewell to it, but then they had to slap us in the face with this shit.

• Pete’s Aaron Rodgers scene is just a lame reenactment of the actual interview.

• Forget about Rodgers and Youngkin, the thing I really want to talk about here is Trump. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a brand new Trump impersonator! JAJ takes over from here on out, and his version of Trump is freaking dead on. It’s a breath of fresh air after 5 long years of Alec Baldwin’s cartoonish portrayal.

• As good as it is to see somebody else playing Trump, the actual material they give him hasn’t changed. We still gets the same old jokes about how he only cares about himself, and is also racist.

Monologue

The host talks about appearing on the show when he was nine, and about his new show Succession.

• Damn, he looks just like his older brother.

• The first half was kind of boring, then it gets better when he reminisces about the time Macaulay hosted back in 1991. He was there that night as well, appearing in three sketches. Then we get to see a clip of the show’s ending, in which he appears off on the side of the screen as Phil Hartman lifts up Macaulay onto his back, leading to a heartwarming moment where he asks Kevin Nealon to lift him up too. It’s a sweet moment, and it’s always nice to see the eternally unappreciated Nealon get some recognition.

Sketch: Cancelling Cable

A man (Culkin) trying to cancel his cable subscription gets nothing but trouble from the unhelpful representatives.

• My dad thought this one was really funny, mostly because he’s actually been through this situation before. Me, on the other hand, I thought it was kinda boring.

• Random ending with Asian Terry Sweeney as a giant floating head named “Cable”.

Film; The Heist

A car thief (Chris Redd) can’t get the car to start.

• This looks promising. I’m glad Chris Redd got the lead role.

• Mikey’s wig is funny.

• Heidi looks kinda hot in that tight black leather outfit. Combined with the Russian accent, it’s like she’s trying to play Natasha Fatale from Rocky and Bullwinkle.

• Unexpected twist where the car fails to start. 

• Redd’s character says he can drive any kind of car, but this happens to be one of the few that he doesn’t know how to drive. 

• Even Kenan gets some laughs as an elderly security guard that laughs at Redd’s failed attempts to start up the car.

• Random (but funny) joke about Redd’s inability to pronounce Fred Flintstone’s name.

• Even when he does manage to get it started, he can only get it to move for a couple seconds at a time. And then he tries the nitrous boosters, only to get crushed by the exit doors.

• I thought this was a lame one-joke film the first time I saw it, but I appreciate it a lot better now.

Sketch: The Dionne Warwick Talk Show

Warwick is back again with more celebrity interviews, including one with herself.

• Not too excited to see this back again. But this one ends up being very special…

• Ego’s got a pretty singing voice.

• Our latest bad Fineman impression is of Miley Cyrus, where she talks like a coked-up hillbilly. Barf.

• Warwick’s questions are funnier than usual. I like the one she asks about why Cardi B needs a “B” in her name. “Were there any other Cardis in the class?”

• They’re still doing the baffling Wendy Williams running gag, but this time they switch it up a little by having Warwick ask Miley to team up together so they can take out Williams and Hannah Montana.

• Andrew Dismukes makes another useless cameo, this time as a doctor who gets left hanging as he’s about to administer the COVID booster.

• Warwick’s introduction of Jason Mraz (played by Culkin) is rather blunt and hilarious: “This man is not famous anymore. He does not have any new songs out right now.”

• Culkin’s impression isn’t that bad.

• I like how the only question she asks that’s actually related to him is about whether or not we’ll see his brain if he takes his hat off.

• Random appearance by the musical guest as himself. As an interesting side note, Sheeran was diagnosed with COVID earlier in the week, so it was assumed by many (including the show itself) that his appearance would have to be cancelled. Not only did he show up anyway, but he also appeared in this sketch. That’s one impressive recovery! My mom is a huge fan of him, and I feel sad that she was asleep while this episode was on.

• Probably my favorite Warwick question is the one she has about Sheeran’s “South Of The Border” song: “Are you nasty?” Do I even want to know what she was thinking of?

• Another funny moment when she asks how to get Apple TV on a Dell computer.

• Sheeran’s deadpan reactions to these ridiculous questions he’s being asked are well delivered. In response to a bizarre statement Warwick makes about how Ed Sheeran spelled backwards is Dionne Warwick, he simply says, “No, I don’t think it is.”

• Unlike the previous two installments, Machine Gun Kelly does not make an appearance, as Warwick has realized that he is “too scary” for her. Instead, Pete plays Post Malone, but the joke where he is sent away immediately after arriving is still the same. It’s also still not funny.

• The grand finale? The REAL Dionne Warwick shows up! Now that I’ve heard her natural speaking voice, I can appreciate how accurate Ego sounds.

• The two Warwicks then sing a duet together, a perfect way to end this sketch. I hope the real Warwick showing up means that this is the last time we’ll ever see this.

Sketch: Men’s Room

The social dynamics of a bathroom force several men to get introspective.

• This was a very confusing sketch for me to follow. I had no idea what the joke was supposed to be.

• Tracy Morgan is wasted with a pointless cameo at the end.

Film: The Jockey

A skateboarder (Culkin) looks back at the time he replaced a horse jockey in the Kentucky Derby.

• I question the decision to do a sketch about the Kentucky Derby in November. Wouldn’t this be more appropriate in May?

• Who is the African-American actor playing the injured jockey? SNL Archives doesn’t credit him, so I’m assuming he’s not a writer.

• The music in this has a “ska punk” feel to it, which I’m sure my brother would love.

• This film is very…bizarre. Combined with the clearly greenscreened visuals of Culkin on top of his horse, and the music that’s playing, it feels like I’m watching a corny 90s comedy movie.

• I want to like the bizarre nature of this, but it’s a little too weird even for me.

Musical Performance: “Shiver”

Weekend Update (featuring Ice Cube and Goober)

• The return of Kenan’s baffling Ice Cube impression. It still sounds nothing like him. He should really think about letting someone else do it.

• Honestly, how in the world does Michael Che get away with all of his misogynistic jokes about women? It’s frankly disgusting.

• Speaking of disgusting, what follows is possibly the worst Update commentary I have ever seen. Cecily Strong shows up as “Goober, The Clown Who Got An Abortion When She Was 23”. No, seriously. Cecily is dressed as a clown who tries to dodge the subject of abortion by doing clown things.

• Cecily’s outfit reminds me of the main character of this creepy show called The Big Comfy Couch that I used to watch as a kid.

• Please stop adding “clown” to the beginning of words, Cecily. That won’t make this any better. What also won’t make this any better is Colin asking her this same question. Guys, pointing out your problems doesn’t make them funny.

• It feels like even the audience doesn’t know what to make of this shit. About halfway through, their laughter becomes less and less frequent.

• Overall, this is one of the worst Updates I’ve ever sat through. 

Sketch: Wake Up Rhode Island

A weatherman’s lighthearted rap gets interrupted by an emergency weather alert.

• Oh boy, I’ve been waiting to review this sketch.

• Andrew Dismukes has had a pretty active episode by his standards. Meanwhile, Aidy Bryant only appears in one sketch. Do we need anymore proof that she needs to leave?

• OMG at the sight of Kieran Culkin in a turkey costume.

• The weatherman (Culkin) starts singing a rap about the Fall season, complete with dancing CGI leaves in the background. His voice is then cut off by an emergency weather alert about an approaching nor’easter, all while we still see him dancing, and the anchors try to get him to stop.

• I wonder whose voice that is as the emergency alert. It’s hard to tell because it has a robotic filter. 

• Why didn’t he warn anybody about the approaching storm? Because he was too busy coming up with the rap! Also, the CGI leaves are still dancing behind him as he says this, which makes for a hilarious contrast.

• When he finally does get the weather map up and running, and we see a cyclonic storm rotating at the bottom, dancing CGI turkeys with Culkin’s face on them show up and cover the screen. The longer the turkeys stayed on screen, the harder I laughed.

• Punkie plays a reporter out on location at the beach where she’s interviewing some Boy Scouts that are picking up garbage. As you can imagine, the storm hits right after that, and when we cut back to her later, all of the scouts have been washed away by the storm surge.

• I like how Kenan’s character is more interested in the rap than the storm, even as his co-anchor (Cecily) remains serious.

• A good ending where Kenan plugs an upcoming interview with the aforementioned Boy Scouts, and Cecily just stares at him.

• Unlike that horse thing from earlier, this was a good example of a bizarre sketch.

Musical Performance: “Overpass Graffiti”

Please Don’t Destroy: Calling Angie

A call with a girlfriend goes off the rails.

• The PDD guys finally get another sketch on the air! It took them long enough.

• John Higgins is sad that his girlfriend dumped him. His friends convince him to call her up and tell her how he feels, so he does, and only manages to infuriate her even further by telling her to go fuck herself.

• Now John wants his friends to get him out of this mess, so he lets them handle the phone for a bit. Unfortunately for him, they just tell her the same awful things. This might be the largest amount of F-bombs I’ve heard in an SNL episode.

• After Angie finally hangs up, Ben Marshall tries to offer his condolences to John by bringing up a failed relationship of his own…which broke up because he wouldn’t stop saying “Ay, chihuahua!” during sex. If I ever get a girlfriend I’m going to say that as many times as I can and see what happens.

• The film ends when Angie herself arrives, and she bashes John’s head on the desk!

• These PDD films continue to get better and better. I just wish SNL didn’t keep cutting them out before the live show!

Cut For Time: “Let’s Go Brandon” commentary

A guy named Brandon (Kyle Mooney) talks about the “Let’s Go Brandon!” meme, and the effect it’s had on his life.

• For those who don’t know where this meme came from, back in October, a guy named Brandon Brown won his first ever NASCAR race. While he was being interviewed, the crowd randomly started chanting “Fuck Joe Biden!” The reporter tried to cover this by saying they were chanting “Let’s Go Brandon!” For whatever reason, this took off with the right-wing community, and it has become a euphemism for telling Biden to go fuck himself. 

• So, the gist of this commentary is that this guy named Brandon is feeling kind of down, but then his spirits get lifted when he sees all of these memes with his name in them, thinking that they’re referring to him. A rather predictable concept, but Kyle is making it work because he excels at playing awkward characters.

• He thinks that the reason for his sudden popularity is because of his “Cookie Creations”, which are just cookies shaped like squares. 

• Brandon’s sudden change in mood once Che tells him what the phrase really means is brilliantly performed, as is his despair when he realizes that his uncle and these random football guys (who he heard using this phrase) weren’t cheering for him.

• Even funnier is when we find out what Brandon’s last name is: “Badnudels”, which is apparently Dutch. Not that this bothers him, as he gets the audience pumped up with a “Let’s Go Badnudels” chant.

• Why couldn’t they have left this in the episode instead of that horrible clown thing? It would have given Kyle some much needed airtime.

Final thoughts: A better episode than I remembered. In fact, I find it to be even better than the previous episode! Apart from Culkin, who did amazing, I also want to give a shout-out to Ed Sheeran for managing to appear on the show after everyone counted him out due to his COVID diagnosis.

Best sketches: Monologue, The Heist, The Dionne Warwick Talk Show, Wake Up Rhode Island, Calling Angie, Let’s Go Brandon (Cut)

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Men’s Room, Goober commentary

Next review: Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift

SNL Reviews: Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlisle (10/23/21)

 Cold Open: The Ghost Of Biden Past

President Biden gets a visit from his past self.

• JAJ’s impression of Biden becomes recurring. He seems to have a better handle on the voice this time than he did in the premiere.

• Also in this is Chloe Fineman as Press Secretary Jen Psaki. This is surprisingly the first (and so far only) time they’ve ever featured an impression of her, which is baffling, because there’s a lot to make fun of this woman for.

• After a boring beginning, things get interesting when Biden wonders where he went wrong in his life. That’s when our host shows up as a 2013-era Biden! Fuck yeah!!!

• Sudeikis hasn’t lost his touch at all. After having to suffer through Jim Carrey and Alex Moffat’s awful takes on Biden, it feels great to see somebody who actually knows how to mock him again.

• Sudeikis really sells the uncomfortableness when he starts molesting JAJ’s shoulder. I thought I was going to die laughing at that part.

• I love Past Biden’s response when Present Biden tells him of all the bad things Trump did in office: “Wow! Hillary got awesome!” 

• “Aw, screw Joe Manchin! The only Manchin I care about is the Playboy Mansion!”

• Then, Moffat’s Biden reappears for some reason. Apparently, he’s supposed to be Biden from March, 2021. Nice attention to accuracy there, because that is indeed the last time Moffat played him.

• Our first strong cold open of the season. And I am extremely thankful that we didn’t get an appearance by Carrey.

Monologue

Sudeikis talks about SNL’s history, and his new show, Ted Lasso.

• Funny jab at the show’s history of drug abuse when he says the first 25 years were fueled by cocaine and adrenaline.

• I like his surprise at Ted Lasso’s success, considering that it’s about two things that Americans really hate: soccer and kindness.

• What was his advice for the show’s current cast and writers? “Win an Emmy.” Classic deadpan Sudeikis humor.

• I kind of cringed a bit when he mentioned Gilly among such classic sketches as Wayne’s World and the Festrunk Brothers

• Overall, a nice nostalgic monologue.

Sketch: The Science Room

Mr. Teacher (Sudeikis) tries to educate his students about the Solar System.

• Third appearance of this sketch. And, if you know how much I detested the previous installment, then you can tell I hated this one too.

• My only laugh came from Jason’s intentionally lame periodic table pun at the beginning. That’s pretty sad when the only thing I’m able to laugh at is supposed to be lame.

• The joke where his students keep clapping at everything got old very fast.

• We got a nice break from them for a while, but we’re back to making bad jokes about testicles. The students keep calling the planets on a model of the solar system “balls”. Did a twelve year old write this sketch?

• And that’s all I have to say about this one. Jason really tried his best, but not even he can rise above ball jokes.

Sketch: Mellen 

It’s Ellen DeGeneres, but she’s a MAN!!!!

• This had a promising idea, but instead they decide to go for the most basic satire possible. “Hey, guys, I’m writing a sketch where Ellen is a man. What are some things men do?” “They’re gross drunk assholes who beat people up.” “Brilliant! We are SO going to win an Emmy for this!”

• Another silent role for Aristotle Athari. What was the point of hiring this guy if you’re not going to give him any lines?

• I cringed when I saw Pete Davidson as Jake Paul. Thankfully, this is Pete’s only appearance of the episode.

• Despite how shitty everything around him is, Jason is totally believable as this type of character. If only there was a stronger sketch for him to play it in.

Sketch: Annie 

Little Orphan Annie is intrigued by a mysterious servant at the Warbucks Mansion.

• Rule of thumb for the future: Whenever a sketch starts with an announcer saying “We now return to…”, it’s gonna suck.

• Stooge should be counting his blessings that he no longer does reviews of the show, because I’d hate to see his reaction to a sketch about his “favorite” musical.

• Thank goodness Kate is still absent. I’m certain she would’ve gotten to play Annie if she was here, and that would mean listening to her awful singing.

• There was some brief promise when Jason showed up as a shady looking character with a mustache and glasses (roles that he usually excels at). Unfortunately, the rest of the sketch became entirely about this character. They should have kept him as a background joke and moved on to something else.

Sketch: Parent-Teacher Conference

The Wilkerson family meets with their son’s teacher (Sudeikis) to talk about his academic performance.

• Fuck, I have to review this one now. Oh well, here goes…

• This sketch is one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever had to witness on this show. Almost every single line of dialogue in here is some kind of sexual innuendo. While I know that’s nothing new, for some reason it made me really squeamish here.

• All of the sex “jokes” suck, but “I’m not used to chalk this big” made me particularly angry.

• Worst of all, the climax (no pun intended) is Jason fucking Ego on top of the teacher’s desk. And Ego’s husband just stands there watching them instead of going to tell somebody. This is like something out of a depraved cuckold porn film.

• Apparently, the sketch as originally written and rehearsed featured an ending where another family arrives for their meeting with the teacher, but they leave as soon as they see what he is doing to Ego. 

Fake Ad: Jake’s Non-Stick Underwear For Men

A new kind of underwear that’s suited for a REAL man’s needs.

• One of the most boring commercials in recent memory.

Musical Performance: “Broken Horses”

Weekend Update (featuring The Devil)

• One of the biggest stories leading up to this episode was former Trump impersonator Alec Baldwin getting in trouble for shooting someone on the set of his latest film. There’s a lot of possible jokes you could make about that, so what do Che and Jost do? Nothing! Yep, they don’t bring it up at all!

• I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I am absolutely tired of these two as anchors. We need some fresh blood in the anchor position. Make it happen, Lorne!

• Ah, but things get better when Jason shows up as The Devil, an old Update character of his! Pardon the pun, but, HELL YEAH!

• This character is just as funny as ever. It’s like he never left.

• Something I missed the first time was a mention of Instagram for Kids being one of his recent accomplishments.

• Even some of his lamer jokes (like the one about Florida being “pre-Hell”) are still working for me because of his delivery. 

• Another laugh from the portrait he keeps Tom Brady’s soul locked in, which is a picture of Brady altered to look demonic.

• The phone call from Prince Andrew was a little too on the nose, but I still chuckled. It helps that they follow it with a fake image of The Devil posing with him and Jeffrey Epstein.

• I find the joke about him being responsible for annoying pop-up ads very relatable. Who else but Satan would be behind those things?

• I like his offense at Colin asking if he’s involved with qAnon. He then follows that with a dig at Colin and Scarlett Johansson’s relationship, implying that he’s behind that too.

• Dress rehearsal also had a couple of other commentaries, one from Alex Moffat as that stupid Boat guy, and another from Melissa about Hispanic Heritage Month (more on that one later…).

• The news parts of this Update were shit as usual, but the commentary helps raise it from a 1 to a 3.

Sketch: What Up With That?

A special Halloween Edition, guest starring Oscar Isaac, Emily Ratajkowski, and Nicholas Braun.

• YES!!!! Now here’s a Kenan sketch I’m actually excited to see! This is our first true WUWT sketch since 2012 (the At Home edition doesn’t count), and boy, does it feel great to see it again. It also feels great to see some energy pumped back into the show! 

• It’s very strange that Kenan hasn’t been in the episode until now.

• Surprisingly, this is the first we’ve seen of Fred Armisen on the show since Season 45. See what happens when you space your cameos out more, Fred? Unfortunately, Bill Hader is absent as Lindsey Buckingham once again. 

• Our special guests this time include Oscar Isaac (the guy who played Poe Dameron in the Star Wars sequel trilogy), Emily Ratajkowski (don’t know who this is), and Nicholas Braun (don’t know who this is either). What an odd bunch of people to choose.

• I find it really funny for some reason that Oscar is dressed as a pirate.

• Words cannot express how happy I am to see Jason doing his traditional dances in this sketch. 

• Some mild amusement from how Diondre Cole thinks that Braun is just Buckingham in a costume.

• Oscar’s reactions to the theme music starting up while he’s trying to talk about his characters are great.

• This is thankfully the only appearance of Asian Terry Sweeney in this entire episode. To his credit, though, he does a good job in his one scene.

• While I still enjoyed this, it felt kind of empty without Bill Hader’s presence.

Sketch: Founding Fathers

The Founding Fathers discuss what they should put in the Declaration of Independence.

• A nice way to use most of the male cast (thankfully, Pete is not one of them).

• I’m glad Kate isn’t here, because she totally would have been put in drag in this sketch.

• JAJ looks frighteningly accurate as Ben Franklin. They don’t specifically say that’s who he’s playing, but I can tell it’s supposed to be him.

• Not a big fan of the pacing of this.

• Random ending where these two time travelers show up (another waste of Athari). This leads to some fun-time shenanigans where you can accidentally see them exit the room, even though they’re supposed to be disappearing into smoke. Thankfully, this error was not taken out of the online version, because it saves what would otherwise be a totally boring sketch.

Musical Performance: “Right on Time”

Sketch: Casino Proposal

After a couple loses big time at a Vegas casino, a wealthy man offers to help them.

• Jason: “I’m not a man, I’m just a little fat girl!” Best quote of the entire episode!

• The way Kenan silently enters the sketch is just genius. Why can’t he show us more of this, instead of relying on the same voice over and over again?

• Maybe I’m just in a good mood, but I actually don’t mind Kenan’s shtick here. I think it’s because he’s doing it in a sketch where it would actually make sense.

• I’m glad I came around on this sketch. It’s a lot better than I thought, helped by an unusually strong Kenan performance.

Cut For Time: Hispanic Heritage Month commentary

Melissa Villaseñor embraces her heritage.

• Despite being Hispanic, Melissa surprisingly hasn’t played many of such characters, at least from what I can remember. One part of me finds that bizarre, while the other part is glad that she hasn’t been pigeonholed into playing ethnic roles.

• It turns out that this doesn’t even matter, however, as she then reveals that she’s actually here to talk about a recent breakup she had.

• I like the story she tells about trying to make the moves on Rami Malek during the previous week’s episode.

• Can’t believe it’s taken me this long to notice how different her singing voice is to her natural voice.

• Even though I liked this, I’m kind of glad it got cut from the live show, because there was no way it was going to stand up to Jason’s commentary.

Final thoughts: While still far from perfect, this is probably the best one we’ve had this season. This is mostly because of the presence of Jason Sudeikis. He completely nailed his first hosting gig, and I hope he has more in the future.

Best sketches: Cold Open, Monologue, The Devil’s commentary, What Up With That?, Casino Proposal

Worst sketches: The Science Room, Mellen, Parent Teacher Conference

Next review: Kieran Culkin/Ed Sheeran

SNL Reviews: Rami Malek/Young Thug (10/16/21)

 Cold Open: NFL Press Conference

Raiders coach Jon Gruden (JAJ) holds a press conference to address the email scandal he’s been involved in.

• Wow, this aired only a few months ago and it’s already dated. Does anyone else remember this? I didn’t even know about it when it originally aired because I hate football.

• For a rookie, James Austin Johnson has been getting tons of screentime! Here, he’s playing Jon Gruden, who I’ve never heard of, so I can’t judge the impression.

• A rare non-Update appearance from Colin Jost, playing Roger Goodell.

• The “satire” in this sketch is too obvious and on the nose. Gruden tries to explain his offensive emails by saying that they got auto-corrected by mistake, so, instead of “faggot”, he meant to write “frigate”, because he’s apparently a Navy buff. Um…funny????

• Kind of ironic how in a sketch that decries racism, they feature a blatantly offensive character named “Giuseppe The Stinky Italian”. What’s with all of the bad Italian stereotypes on this show as of late?

• As much as I’ve grown to love Chris Redd, I still think he’s pretty hit-and-miss as an impressionist. This is definitely the case here, where he plays traitorous rabble rouser Colin Kapernick. Oh, and the audience cheers when he shows up, because of course they do.

• While we’re on the subject of bad impressions, Kenan plays LeVar Burton, but sounds and looks nothing like him. I would have liked it if he brought back that “Levar B. Burton” character from the season premiere instead.

Monologue

Rami talks about his sheltered childhood and his ability to play the villain.

• Hearing his natural voice was such a big shock to me when this first aired, because it seems like he’s always playing foreigners.  

• Something about his face really creeps me out. I guess it’s a good thing that he usually does villain characters.

• Other than that, I don’t really have much to say about this one.

Sketch; The Bug Assembly

Students present facts about their favorite bugs.

• Dear Lord, I remember this sketch being extremely painful. It was so bad that even my dad (who sometimes laughs at the dumbest sketches) thought it was a piece of shit.

• Right away, we get Kenan doing my favorite voice. Please try out some other dialects.

• I will admit to getting a slight chuckle from seeing Rami dressed as a stinkbug. 

• Asian Terry Sweeney’s character is, unsurprisingly, very flamboyant. He also does this terrible dance after introducing himself, which makes the crowd go wild for some reason.

• As soon as Rami mentioned that his bug eats weeds and grass, I knew there was going to be a pot joke. Sure enough, he clarifies that it’s “not the one you’re thinking of”. It’s gotten really sad that I can now predict jokes before they happen.

• Let me just make something clear: I have nothing against Bowen Yang as a person, nor am I mocking him for being gay. The reason I call him Asian Terry Sweeney is because the way Yang has been treated on this show reminds me of Sweeney. I really want to like him, but they keep making it hard for me to do so with dumb characters like this, “Bottle Boi”, and that Iceberg thing from last season.

• Overall, this is one of the worst sketches I have ever seen.

Film: Squid Game

Pete Davidson and some other people rap about the Netflix show Squid Game.

• HOW DO YOU DO, FELLOW KIDS?!!???

• Just when I thought Pete’s songs couldn’t get any worse, he shits out this one. Accompanying him are Rami and some fat guy with a beard that I honestly thought was Aidy Bryant in drag again. Apparently this guy’s name is “Big Wet”, and I assume he’s some rapper that I don’t care about.

• Not only is this a bad attempt at staying relevant, they also manage to miss the point of this show. Having never seen it, I asked my sister (who watches these episodes with me) if she could make sense of what was going on. She instead questioned why they were even making “jokes” about the show in the first place, because it’s meant to be a serious look at poverty in Korea. Now that I have that bit of information, I hate this song even more! I’m pretty sure they just made this song to capitalize on all the memes, without bothering to look at what the show is really all about.

Sketch: Prince Auditions

Rami and Kenan try to audition for a movie about Prince by seeing who has the better impression of him.

• I thought for sure that this wouldn’t be uploaded online because of the use of Prince’s music, but it was.

• Chris Redd plays Jordan Peele in this. I keep forgetting that he’s a director now. 

• I found it somewhat amusing when Rami entered in that Prince costume. Unfortunately, it also means we get to see his disturbing hairy chest. Yechhh!

• Kenan, PLEASE STOP DOING THAT VOICE!!!! I used to think it was funny, but now it’s like the only voice you ever do!

• It took only a minute for them to make a bad sex joke. While still definitely present, I feel that Season 47 has been starting to go lighter on the sex jokes, which definitely contributes to the fresher feel this season has.

• This sketch, however, is NOT coming off as particularly fresh. Once I saw that Michael Che is the credited writer, it all made sense.

• As much as I love the song they use here, I got tired of it after the first few times it’s played. And it’s always the exact same part.

• Rather random reveal that Kenan is playing himself in this sketch. 

• Second episode in a row to have a gratuitous celebrity cameo, but this time, it’s one that I genuinely wasn’t expecting. None other than Daniel Craig!!! I know he had just been in a movie with Rami, but I still found it surprising. Despite that, not even Craig can save this sketch from being a piece of shit.

Sketch: Celeb School

A classroom-style game show where the contestants have to rely on celebrities for answers.

• Kenan’s host character in this is named “Bert Simpson”, which he has to say twice so people don’t get him confused with someone else. Somebody explained the joke? Yep, this is a Seidell/Day sketch!

• Speaking of Mikey Day, his John Oliver impression is fucking terrible. 

• A surprisingly good Jennifer Coolidge impression from Chloe Fineman of all people. Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll go back to her usual annoying self in the next episode.

• JAJ is downright amazing as Adam Driver.

• Freaking SPOT-ON impression of Kristen Wiig by Melissa! She perfectly captures those dumb mugging faces that Kristen usually does.

• An SNL tradition comes to an end as George Takei is not played by Akira Yoshimura in this sketch. Instead, it’s Asian Terry Sweeney, because of course it is. But, to his credit, his impression isn’t that bad.

• I genuinely laughed out loud when Redd showed up as Lil Wayne.

• Pete manages to redeem himself from that awful Squid Game shit with his Rami Malek impression. Accompanying him is Rami as Pete. Thankfully, they don’t do the usual “celebrity confronts someone impersonating them, and then proceeds to act exactly like that impression” cliche here.

• This was a lot better than I remembered. 

Musical Performance: “Tick Tock” 

Weekend Update (featuring A Proud Gay Oompa-Loompa, Chris Redd, and Linus Minus)

• I love the brief glimpse of the threatening letter sent to Michael Che: “LISTEN UP HONKY! Wish they got you instead of Harambe!”

• After a few stories that are so boring I won’t bring them up, Asian Terry Sweeney enters as…*sigh*…“A Proud Gay Oompa-Loompa”. Uggghhhh! This easily dethrones the Iceberg commentary as the worst he’s ever done.

• Chris Redd drops by to talk about things that are really important, such as blimp pilots and Superman’s bisexual son. I usually like Redd’s commentaries, but this one is a little too unfocused. He still gives it his all, though.

• Really crass vagina joke from Che. I guess Amy Schumer is ghostwriting for this show now.

• Lastly, Mikey does a commentary as a hypnotist named Linus Minus. His assistant is played by Kenan, once again doing that voice I “love” so much. As much as I like Mikey, his Update characters have been hit-or-miss for me. This, unfortunately, falls into the “miss” category.

Sketch: Sleepy Town USA

A couple keeps getting distracted while shopping for a new mattress.

• Somehow this is the only appearance Aidy makes in this entire episode. Considering how out of place she is on the show now, that’s actually not such a bad thing.

• Asian Terry Sweeney has been all over this episode. In this sketch, however, he shows some surprising restraint and plays his character normally. I appreciate that.

• I don’t know what it is, but I’m finding this a lot better than I did the first time around. Rami and Aidy both give great performances, and the fact that this is taking place at mattress store makes it funnier.

• I also appreciate the restraint they had in not making the two of them have sex. Is this even SNL I’m watching?

Musical Performance: “Love You More”

Sketch: Angelo

A couple on a date is witness to a “sensational” performance from the improv singer Angelo.

• Daniel Craig makes another appearance as the male lead of this sketch. Why? I dunno. There certainly aren’t any members of the cast who need more airtime (hint hint Alex Moffat). To be fair to Mr. Craig, though, he was the best part of this horrible sketch.

• Aristotle Athari gets his first major showcase as a cast member. Unfortunately, it has to be this character, an improv performer who babbles in an unintelligible Italian accent. Again, what is with all of the bad Italian stereotypes lately?

• The “joke” where Angelo keeps asking “Say for me?” whenever he gets a song request quickly gets old after only a minute.

• You know, I usually like sketches where people talk in gibberish (face it, gibberish can be funny). Chris Kattan’s Suel Forrester character was a great example of this. It also helps that he wasn’t an offensive stereotype. Angelo, on the other hand, is an offensive stereotype.

• The only laugh I got from this sketch was Craig’s date (played by Cecily) trying to excuse his concerns about not understanding Angelo’s songs by saying that he’s from another country. Craig responds, “Well, I’m not from this country, and you understand me.” Cecily replies with a perfectly delivered, “No, I don’t.”, implying that their relationship may not be as perfect as it seems.

• Rami then shows up as Angelo’s partner, Todd, whose accent is even more unintelligible. At this point, I’m just waiting for it to end.

• As is usual with most of the sketches I really hate, people went nuts for this when it aired. I don’t fucking get it. Are their comedy standards really so low that they laugh at anything? I bet if a puppy got beaten up by the Devil they would give it a perfect rating.

Now, I’d like to introduce a new part of my reviews called “Cut For Time”, in which I review a sketch that was cut from the episode.

Cut For Time: Rami Wants A Treat

Rami expects to be rewarded for behaving well on the show.

• Like I said last time, the Please Don’t Destroy sketches, while often being better than the rest of the episode, usually get cut out. This one sounded interesting, so I decided to make it my first Cut For Time review.

• Ben Marshall offers Rami a mouse pad as a “treat”. But that’s not enough for him, so he starts acting like a spoiled brat and trashes the writers’ room. I like that these shorts don’t make the joke obvious at first. It takes a while to get to them, which makes the payoff more satisfying when it does happen.

• There’s just something that’s so funny about seeing famous actor Rami Malek acting like a baby when he doesn’t get his way. All of the “rude” things he does to the PDD guys are funny, too. He knocks over a soda can, messes up the ceiling, throws away their lunch, and takes their coats off the coat rack, among other things. 

• My favorite part is when Martin Herlihy pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot Rami. 

• I can’t understand why they would cut this sketch out of the episode. Just replace the Angelo shit with this, and you’d get a perfect ending!

Final thoughts: Another mixed bag. You know it’s bad when the best sketch wasn’t even in the final show. Rami himself was a great host who made a lot of the bad stuff more tolerable. He’s more than welcome to come back again.

Best sketches: Celeb School, Sleepy Town USA, Rami Wants A Treat (Cut)

Worst sketches: The Bug Assembly, Squid Game, Oompa-Loompa commentary, Angelo

Next review: Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlisle

SNL Reviews: Kim Kardashian West/Halsey (10/9/21)

Welcome back, folks! It’s time to move forward and start reviewing Season 47. I already did the premiere, so here’s the next episode…

Cold Open: Facebook Hearings

“Funny” stuff happens during the Facebook hearings on Capitol Hill.

• I don’t buy Cecily as Dianne Feinstein. She has the look down, but the voice needs more work.

• An unwelcome return from Aidy as Ted Cruz. I guess a side effect of Kate not being here is giving all of her usual drag roles to other people.

• Speaking of Kate, her Lindsey Graham impression is taken over here by the new guy, James Austin Johnson. I’m sure she’ll go back to playing him once she comes back, but this change up is nice.

• Unfortunately, JAJ’s impression isn’t much better. I don’t remember him talking like a chipmunk.

Monologue 

Our first-time host talks about her very public life, and her divorce from Kanye.

• What the hell is she wearing?!? 

• These “jabs” at Kanye are kind of pathetic.

• Not too much else to say here, except for the random OJ Simpson joke. Why, in 2021, are we still making jokes about him? The trial was almost 30 years ago! Get over it!!!

Sketch: Aladdin

Aladdin (Pete Davidson) has some concerns about his relationship with Jasmine (Kardashian).

• I knew this was gonna be bad as soon as I saw the Disney Channel intro, followed by the lame joke about this being back when Aladdin was still white.

• Strike #2 against this: they cast Pete Davidson in the lead role. This is yet another case of SNL just shoving him into sketches for the hell of it, even if it makes no sense for him to be there. As much as I grew to like his self-indulgent raps in the second half of Season 46, this season sadly sees him going back to his usual annoying ways.

• On the other hand, I definitely buy Kim as Jasmine, at least in the visual department. The acting department? Eeehhhh…not so much.

• Like all of the Disney-bashing sketches they do these days, they can’t think of anything to do except make lame sex jokes. 

• Just in case you forgot who was hosting, Cecily shows up as Jasmine’s sister “Jourtney”. Gee, I wonder who that’s a reference to?

• Kenan plays her boyfriend, Dallas Cowboys player Ezekiel Elliott, who I’ve never heard of. But I don’t need to know what he looks or sounds like to know that Kenan’s impression is terrible.

• Pointless appearance from Asian Terry Sweeney as the Genie.

• Aladdin asks the Genie to make him like Pinocchio, but “down there”, pointing to his crotch. Why do all of these Disney parodies have to have dick jokes?

• I did like it at the end when we zoomed out to see how this was set up. It’s always nice when SNL does that.

Film: Grown Ass Women In The Club

A group of women go out for a night on the town.

• After the surprising upturn in quality they had late last season, we’re back to the music videos being boring and occasionally frustrating.

• It was nice to see Punkie Johnson get a lead role here. Without Kate hogging up all the screentime, some of the less featured women have been getting their chances to shine.

Sketch: The Dream Guy

A dating show attempts to pair up a woman (Kardashian) with the man of her dreams.

• One thing I praised the season premiere for was the lack of gratuitous celebrity cameos. I guess that was just a fluke, unfortunately, because this sketch has not one, not two, but SEVEN gratuitous cameos! Ugh.

• The audience applause when the celebrities are first shown feels like it goes on forever.

• Kim first talks to some guy from Gossip Girl that I’ve never heard of. Then she talks to some other guy who I’ve never heard of. Geez, if you’re gonna book celebrities, at least make them people that general audiences are going to be familiar with!

• I should be happy at a Chris Rock cameo, but it feels like he’s been showing up a lot lately, and the novelty has worn off by this point. But I did slightly chuckle at Kim’s line about watching all of his HBO and Netflix specials with him, until she got annoyed by him mouthing all of their words.

• Random out of nowhere appearance from alleged “comedienne” Amy Schumer. No further comment needed.

• The only good thing about this sketch is Kyle Mooney’s character. Apparently he has a character named “Sherlock the Cat”, whose catchphrase he then proceeds to recite. It’s always funny when Kyle Mooney plays a loser.

Film: The Switch

With the help of a magic clock, Aidy and Kim switch places for a day.

• Interesting concept.

• Some amusing visuals of our two leading ladies acting like each other. Aidy-as-Kim does a dance and exposes her bush, while a nearby man questions whether “Kim” has always had one.

• Another laugh when Kim-as-Aidy groans at the sight of her new husband (played by Streeter Seidell). 

• One thing I didn’t like was when Kim-as-Aidy is told that she’s going to be in a sketch where Paula Deen is racist. What year is this?!?

• Random cameos from Khloé and Kris. It’s rather obvious that they are not acting professionals.

• For some reason, I find it really funny that they keep bringing up the clock that they used to make the switch happen, especially when Aidy randomly brings up to the other Kardashians that she doesn’t want anything to do with clocks now that she’s famous.

• This is a lot better than I remembered it being. It helps that it didn’t play out the joke too long and had a surprisingly good performance from Kim.

Sketch: Lotto Drawing

Trouble occurs when two anchors try to read the lotto numbers.

• The first thirty seconds or so of this are somewhat promising. I liked Aidy’s new slogan for the TV station (“News: It’s What Happened Recently”), and Chris Redd as the sportscaster saying, in a somewhat sleazy voice, that he has all the scores, but not football or baseball. Something about his delivery there was well timed.

• Then the sketch falls apart when the whole lottery aspect is introduced. There’s lots of jokes you can make about the lottery, like the fact that it’s a big scam, but instead they focus on dumb prop comedy with the lottery balls, such as letters and sports team logos appearing on them instead of numbers.

• Now things get even worse when food shows up in the tube as well. 

• If you’re not laughing yet, don’t worry! They make sure to point everything out and explain it in hopes that maybe that will make you laugh!

• Random gory ending where the repairman who comes to fix the lottery tubes somehow gets sucked into it, which once again proves my theory that if you can’t come up with a punchline, just resort to random violence so people won’t notice how shitty your writing is.

Musical Performance: “I Am Not A Woman, I’m A God”

Weekend Update (featuring Terry Fink and Kelly Party)

• I don’t know whether or not the line about Colin going to school with Mark Zuckerberg is a joke or not. It feels like it is.

• I’m sure you guys can guess what the joke they make here about Mitch McConnell is.

• Alex Moffat brings back Terry Funk, a character he last played in Season 44. The joke with him is that he reviews movies while tripping acid. Not a very funny concept, but at least I can say it’s original.

• The only joke I laughed at here was when they showed a picture of an old Nazi lady and said it was Colin’s grandma.

• Heidi Gardner debuts a new Update character, Life Coach Kelly Party, a lady who’s here to promote positive thinking during the pandemic.

• This commentary was cut from the previous episode, and after seeing it here, I can definitely see why that is. It’s just the same joke repeated over and over. They better not bring her back.

Sketch: The People’s Kourt

Kourtney Kardashian hosts a court show with her partner Travis Barker (Mikey Day).

• Another lame intro: “Hulu: It’s That Thing You Steal”

• Rather interesting to see Kim playing one of her sisters.

• Speaking of her family, they make another pointless cameo in this. 

• I wanted to laugh at the intentionally lame “Order in the Kourtney” pun, but I don’t think Kim’s poor delivery of that line was bad on purpose.

• Kris’s acting is even worse here than it was in the short earlier. She sounds like she doesn’t want to be there.

• Some brief amusement from Mikey’s cameo as Travis Barker. I have no idea if the voice is accurate, but I love those faces he makes.

• I liked the return of Chris Redd’s Kanye, who has grown on me the more he’s returned.

• Chloe Fineman introduces her latest bad impression, this one of Megan Fox. Also with her is the return of Pete as his buddy Machine Gun Kelly, an impression that actually isn’t that bad.

• We end on a pointless appearance from Kenan as OJ. Like I said earlier, the well of OJ jokes already dried up a long time ago, so it’s shocking that SNL continues to keep doing them. Oh, and they have OJ say who he is, just in case you were too dumb to read the text that appears on screen. You know it’s a bad impression when they have to say who they are.

Please Don’t Destroy: Hard Seltzers

Three SNL writers discovery a variety of hard seltzers.

• If I may borrow a quote from Stooge here, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring sketch debut!”

• One of the highlights of Season 47 for me has been the presence of Please Don’t Destroy. Consisting of writers Martin Herlihy (the son of former SNL writer Tim Herlihy), John Higgins (the son of Jimmy Fallon’s longtime sidekick Steve Higgins), and Ben Marshall, these guys are SNL’s latest attempt to recapture the success that TV Funhouse and The Lonely Island had in years past.

• This has a nice low key feel to it. It’s not in your face and shouting all the time, and I like that. 

• The grossout humor is also coming off fresher than usual here. Unlike the lotto sketch earlier where the only joke was “ha ha the man lost his finger”, it actually has a purpose, namely, the various disgusting seltzer flavors.

• The flavors start out only slightly disgusting, with a J.C. Penney seltzer that tastes like a man’s jacket, but they quickly escalate from there once the other guy comes in with a Jiffy Lube seltzer. Do I even want to know what that one tastes like?

• I like how one of the flavors comes from a dentist’s office, complete with a picture of the dentist on the label. I wonder who that actually is portraying him in the picture.

• Another “so gross it’s funny” moment when Herlihy spits out a belt buckle. Rather than getting grossed out by this, he goes on to explain that this always happens when you drink the J.C. Penney flavor.

• Higgins is the only one of the three who refuses to try the seltzers at first. But we end with a nice twist where he finds one inside his desk (it’s a desk flavor) and likes it.

• While I didn’t think too much of this when it first aired, probably because I was caught off guard by their sudden presence, I had a much higher opinion of it this time now that I’ve gotten used to them. Unfortunately, a lot of their stuff gets cut out before the live show, including the very next episode.

Musical Performance: “Darling”

• Lindsey Buckingham makes a special appearance here! 

Sketch: Skims For Thick Dogs

Kim introduces a new line of Skims shapewear for dogs.

• Our first “cute animal” sketch in a while. I don’t think they had any in Season 46. 

• While the humor is typical for this type of sketch, it was worth it just to see how the dogs react. The one that Heidi’s holding starts licking her face as she’s delivering her line.

• Aristotle Athari is wasted again with a single line in this. The joke itself is pretty lame (LOL HE DIDN’T KNOW THE CLOTHES WERE FOR DOGS!!!), which doesn’t help.

Final thoughts: Surprisingly, this wasn’t as bad as I was fearing a Kim Kardashian-hosted episode would be. While still nothing special, there were still a couple of good sketches, and the season continues to have a refreshing feel without McKinnon being there.

Best sketches: The Switch, Hard Seltzers

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Aladdin, Grown Ass Women In The Club, Lotto Drawing

Next review: Rami Malek/Young Thug