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
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