Tuesday, October 25, 2022

SNL Reviews: Lizzo (4/16/22)

 Cold Open

The Easter Bunny invites some friends over to celebrate the holiday with him.

• Bowen is surprisingly fitting as the Easter Bunny.

• UGGGHHHH!!!! Kate’s “impression” of Dr. Fauci is back yet again! Thankfully, this is the last time we ever have to see it.

• As usual, this Fauci routine is leaving me completely stone-faced. 

• Fucking kill me, now we have an appearance by Cecily Taylor Greene. Is it just me, or is that a toy gun she’s holding?

• Horrid jokes about how “straight” Christianity is, citing how we eat the body of a shirtless dead guy.

• Chris Redd’s Eric Adams becomes recurring, and it still isn’t very funny.

• Mikey debuts a baffling Elon Musk impression that sounds more like Hans and Franz. I did giggle at his corny attempt at a laugh, though.

• Chloe’s awful Britney Spears is back. It’s official, this episode wants me to suffer.

• Kyle as Jared Leto totally fell flat for me.

• Just when it seems like this is wrapping up, we get an unwelcome return from Trump. I find it hilarious how the audience doesn’t even applaud when he shows up, as if they’re tired of his constant appearances as well.

• His rambling dialogue routine has gotten extremely stale. The real Trump is far more comedic with the shit he says than any parody of him could ever dream of.

• Yet another horrid cold open. When was the last time we even had a good one?


Monologue

Lizzo addresses rumors about herself.

• What the hell is she wearing?

• I wonder if her story about hosting a TED Talk about twerking is real.

• Despite not being a fan of her music, I thought Lizzo was really charming here.


Sketch: Guess That!

A trivia game show where one contestant (Lizzo) won’t cooperate with the rules.

• Ugh, the host’s name is “Clint Litoris”. Despite this not being an Anderlette sketch, that is very much something that they would come up with.

• SNL’s game show sketches are getting very stale, and this one is no exception. 

• Lizzo is still doing a great job despite the weak material.

• Kenan has to stifle back his laughter at one point during Lizzo’s tirade.

• I love Chris’s delivery of “And funky towels!”

• When Kenan asks if any of the contestants have ever been on a game show before, I like Ego’s response that she’s been on The People’s Court.

• The other contestants starting to side with Lizzo’s character is kind of lame and predictable.

• Were we supposed to see a cameraman at the end?


Film: TikTok

More scrolling through various TikTok uploads.

• Not this crap again! Why are they making this recurring?

• Hey, Aristotle still exists! At this point, the writing is already on the wall for him and it’s sadly obvious that he won’t be back next season.

• No comment on that makeup we briefly see Andrew wearing.

• As you can imagine, I’m laughing even less at this installment.

• Second episode in a row with Kate as an old lady. 

• Somehow, this TikTok sketch was worse than the original. It still baffles me that the Please Don’t Destroy guys are responsible for these.


Sketch: Black Eyed Peas

The singing group tries coming up with new song lyrics.

• Really? A Black Eyed Peas sketch in 2022? 

• I do not buy Cecily as Fergie AT ALL. Kenan’s will.i.am impression is at least funny in how bad it is.

• Chris Redd’s apl.de.ap is probably the strongest, though that isn’t saying much.

• This sketch makes me feel really old, as I remember when “Boom Boom Pow” was a new and relevant song. Where did the years go? I could’ve gone to college and got a diploma, but instead I’m stuck reviewing shitty SNL sketches like this one.


Sketch: Six Flags

A man finds out that his date’s grandfather is Mr. Six.

• Speaking of unwanted reminders of the 2000s, now we have a sketch about the dancing Six Flags guy.

• Sarah Sherman joins the drag club by playing Mr. Six. To her credit, though, her dancing is really on point.

• Thanks for explaining who Mr. Six is, Mikey! I couldn’t tell at all!

• Ego with a bald cap is not something I ever wanted to see.

• Of fucking course Kate had to be in this too. We all know how much she loves dressing as old men!

• And there’s Aristotle again! This has to be the largest amount of screentime he ever gets in an episode.

• Weak dance party style ending.


Please Don’t Destroy: Lizzo Has Writer’s Block

Lizzo gets the help of the PDD crew in writing new songs.

• Always nice to see the host get involved in these.

• The guys’ pathetic attempts at song “lyrics” are great.

• The best part is when Lizzo pukes after hearing Martin sing “My girlfriend dressed like SpongeBob!”

• Lizzo: “Guess I gotta go get killed by Andrew Dismukes.”

• A funny conclusion where, out of all the ideas they come up with, she picks the one about a horny zookeeper.


Musical Performance: “About Damn Time”


Weekend Update (featuring Cesar Perez)

• Funny to hear the audience’s boos and hisses after Colin’s joke about Kamala.

• I chuckled at Michael’s ghost guns/Ghostbusters joke, despite how lame it was.

• They just had to sneak in a “cops are bad” joke, didn’t they?

• Melissa appears for what I believe is her final time at the Update desk. This time, she’s Colin’s “driver”, Cesar Perez. This is the second week in a row that she’s played a man.

• Something about this character reminds me of Fred Armisen as Fericito, except nowhere near as funny.

• I like the goofy pictures he’s showing of his relatives, especially the one of his nephew.

• Despite my initial skepticism, this commentary wasn’t too bad. It’s always nice to see more Latin American representation on this show.

• Overall, one of the more tolerable Updates we’ve had in quite a while.


Side Note: We get a dedication to Gilbert Gottfried, who died not long before this episode. Even though he was only on the show for 12 episodes (and made a voice cameo in that “Titey” cartoon for Smigel), it’s great to see SNL acknowledge him.


Sketch: Throne Room

Two planners organize a party for their god-king.

• Ugh, another Cecily-starring sketch. This is gonna suck…

• Is that a real snake that Kenan’s holding?

• No comment on the scene where Andrew gets his ass slapped by Punkie.

• I have no words regarding Aidy’s character.

• Aristotle in his third sketch of the night! Too bad he has only a couple lines.

• Super lame twist where it’s revealed that the king is just a young child. It looks like the same kid who was in that Please Don’t Destroy sketch a while back.

• What a boring, unfunny sketch. I did like how nearly the entire cast is in it, though (except for Che, Jost, Pete Davidson, and JAJ).


Musical Performance: “Special”


Sketch: Orchestra

A twerking flautist attempts to join the symphony orchestra.

• Chris playing one of those “sleazy” roles of his that I love so much.

• Any promise this sketch had fizzles away as soon as Lizzo…*sigh*…starts twerking.

• Kenan seems to be wearing a wig of his old Kenan and Kel hairstyle.

• Even in a small role, Kate is mugging up a storm. Just three episodes to go before I’m rid of her…

• I feel sorry for poor Alex. He has to remain still while Lizzo twerks her fat ass in front of him. I don’t know how he isn’t breaking.

• Lame and predictable twist where she reveals that she has to twerk, or else her playing is terrible.

• I thought I was going to puke when everyone else started doing it too. What a shitty ending.


Sketch: Beanie Babies

Steve (Andrew Dismukes) learns that his Beanie Baby collection is worthless after trying to invest in them.

• This sketch caught my interest when I saw it was about Beanie Babies! For those who don’t know, I absolutely love these little guys, and we have a whole bunch of them at our house.

• The ones on Andrew’s dresser that we happen to have are Inch, Rocket, Echo, Batty, and Saffire. Most of the ones I don’t recognize are Beanie “BOOs”, and there’s another shelf of them that the camera doesn’t show us.

• I like Andrew’s slow-burn reaction when he finds out that his collection is worthless, followed by him angrily tipping the dresser over. Ouch, I feel sorry for those poor Beanies!

• Loved the random reference to “talking out of (his) butt like Jim Carrey does!” Even better is when he bends over and shows us what that looks like.

• Andrew’s shitty picture of Luigi is great, as is his insistence that it’s Mario.

• Lizzo’s “crying” looks more like laughing.

• Not a big fan of the “text crawl” ending, but this sketch was mostly solid.


Cut for Time: Food and YouTube

A song about watching YouTube videos while eating.

• The look of Chris’s character is hilarious.

• I liked the brief glimpse of a video called “White dudes that CAN jump”.

• This song is kind of catchy. It also has a nice Lonely Island vibe to it that I really like.

• Chris: “Did you know that George Washington’s real name is Malcolm X?”

• It figures that Bowen’s character would be interested in The Golden Girls.

• Even Lizzo is coming off pretty well in this song.

• Great final verse where the lyrics are indecipherable because they have food in their mouths.

• Overall, a nice little music video that should have been in the episode.


Final thoughts: Another mixed bag, but it was better than I thought an episode hosted by Lizzo would be. She made even the weakest material come to life with her enthusiasm. Would I be okay with her hosting again? Yeah, I guess.


Best sketches: Lizzo Has Writer’s Block, Cesar Perez commentary, Beanie Babies, Food and YouTube (Cut)

Worst sketches: Cold Open, TikTok, Black Eyed Peas, Throne Room, Orchestra


Next review: Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire

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