Note: I missed this episode when it first aired, so I won’t have my personal memory to go by for these sketches.
Cold Open
The FBI details their search for classified documents.
• I like the Western-style intro sequence to this.
• An initial laugh from Mikey saying “Hello” in his Merrick Garland voice.
• Didn’t care for the horse head joke in regards to Trump’s lawyers.
• We’re still making “Deal With It” jokes in 2023???
• No comment on Kenan’s embarrassing “Mr. Prince…Mr. Pence” line flub. He just keeps getting worse with every passing episode.
• You have no idea how happy I am that they resisted making a “LOL GAY!!!!” joke about Mike Pence.
• Speaking of Pence, I find it bizarre that they haven’t had an impression of him on the show in quite a while. Was Beck’s take on Pence so “irreplaceable” that they aren’t recasting him right away or something?
• Some pathetic sucking up to Barack Obama when Bowen’s character talks about how starstruck he was to have been inside Obama’s house.
• I definitely didn’t need to see the “Deal With It” routine a second time.
• Overall, I like that they tried to do something different for this, but in the end, it didn’t amount to much.
Monologue
Jordan talks about directing Creed III and going through a breakup.
• Hilarious clip of him on All My Children.
• After an okay start to this, we suddenly get the female cast members showing up and asking to go out with him.
• I love hearing the audience applaud Punkie when she appears.
• Second time in the last few episodes that someone has brought up Punkie’s homosexuality.
Sketch: Good Morning Today
Two morning show hosts return after being involved in a bizarre roller coaster accident.
• I got a big laugh from the initial reveal of Sarah’s stretched out face.
• I like the part where she drinks some wine but it immediately spills out of her mouth.
• Nice use of sped-up stock footage to represent the roller coaster she was stuck on.
• Another laugh from the reveal that Jordan’s character was also on the coaster. We then see a hilarious photo of the two of them riding together.
• I love the weather map suddenly having question marks all over it in response to MBJ’s unintelligible report.
• Chloe is doing a good imitation of the typical “happy talk” banter you see on morning shows like this.
• Kenan’s been having trouble keeping a straight face in this.
• The Lady and the Tramp scene is so gross, but so funny.
• Nice reveal of the bird that got impaled in Sarah. I like her cheerful delivery as she says she will die if she pulls it out.
• Sarah delivers another delightful bizarre sketch!
Fake Ad: Southwest Airlines
Southwest introduces a new upgraded airline experience.
• Another fake ad for a real company? What is with all of the product placement lately?!??
• I think this is based on something that had recently happened to Southwest, but I forget the specific details.
• JAJ’s character (“Tom Wilkime”) is named after SNL short film director Tim Wilkime.
• I kind of liked the line about hiring former Waffle House employees to work for them.
• Molly’s only appearance in this entire episode is a brief cameo in this sketch where they’re in a small box that you can barely make out!
• Genuinely strong twist ending where we see JAJ’s fucked up eye.
• Overall, I felt bored by this short. If I had more knowledge of this incident, maybe I would’ve found it funny.
Sketch: Towel Guys
Two resort employees try to connect with their guests.
• No comment on Kenan’s cartoony Spanish accent.
• Marcello, on the other hand, is coming off pretty well here. I love when he gets lead roles!
• Heidi getting mistaken for “Ellen DeMenemes” was pretty funny.
• Kenan: “I saw dis movie, Mission: Impossible. But, de mission not impossible, because, he gonna do it!” Something about this line makes me think of Fred Armisen as Fericito, which is awesome.
• I like how the only thing the two of them know about New Jersey is Tony Soprano, which is then followed by them doing poor impressions of him.
• MBJ’s Spanish accent is surprisingly good.
• Absolutely hilarious joke where Marcello refers to Ego as “the new Little Mermaid”.
• I really really love how most of the featured players get a role here (except Molly, as mentioned above).
• James is perfect in his role as a religious man.
• Yet ANOTHER sketch that ends with a random dance sequence, but at least this one fits the theme of the sketch.
Fake Ad: State Farm
Jake from State Farm helps a couple with their needs.
• MBJ is a dead ringer for Jake from State Farm.
• I like the sudden change in tone as Mikey walks out of the house to go to work, and he glares back at Jake making the moves on his wife.
• Mikey’s gradually darkening expressions as he realizes he’s being cucked are great.
• Is that another sighting of Mikey’s son as one of the kids?
• This just keeps getting better and more disturbing as it goes on. I especially like the closeup shot of Jake’s hand on Heidi’s back, to emphasize Mikey’s growing jealousy.
• MBJ’s increasingly creepy delivery of stock State Farm commercial dialogue is great.
• Nice atmospheric shots of a drunk Mikey on the Brooklyn Bridge at night, bitterly mumbling the State Farm jingle and yelling about his wife’s betrayal.
• Even the twist at the end where Limu Emu and Doug show up was great.
• Overall, a really great short film.
Sketch: Street Fighter 6
Two voice actors have a hard time recording dialogue for a new game.
• A variation of that awful Cars 4 sketch from the Owen Wilson episode, and the JJ Watt sketch where he’s recording lines for Madden 21.
• Andrew: “Our last voice actor, Frank, left due to creative differences, and because I slept with his wife.”
• I got an unintentional laugh from Andrew mispronouncing Ryu’s name as “Rye-oo”.
• I am not liking where this is going so far. It seems like we’re in for another “Bowen acts flamboyant and that’s the whole joke” sketch.
• I see that this was written by Anderlette 2.0 himself, Jimmy Fowlie. I have even less faith in this sketch now.
• Big groan from Bowen asking what MBJ’s pronouns are.
• We get an extremely bizarre ending where the guy that Andrew said was sleeping with his wife shows up in the studio, and MBJ and Bowen unite to beat him up.
Musical Performance: “California Breeze”
Weekend Update (featuring Michael Che’s doorman Carl, and Angel)
• Bizarre joke from Che trying to connect Taylor Swift fans to Capitol rioters.
• I’m starting to get a little burnt out on the jokes about Colin being a secret white supremacist.
• Totally predictable Catholic joke from Che. If you guessed that the punchline involves pedophilia, then you’re not an idiot.
• Kenan introduces a new character: Michael Che’s doorman, Carl. We haven’t seen a lot of Kenan on Update lately, as he hasn’t played his usual Update roles in ages, such as Willie, LaVar Ball, and David Ortiz.
• Kenan’s Update pieces tend to be hit or miss for me, and this one is definitely a miss. I’m sorry, man, but I am so burnt out on you lately.
• Disgusting joke about a polar bear getting crushed by a meteorite.
• First appearance of Heidi’s boxer’s girlfriend character, Angel, in quite a few years. The only reason they’re bringing her back, of course, is because we have Michael B. Jordan hosting tonight, and he was just in a boxing film.
• Che looks pretty bored having to talk to Angel. I would be too, because this character is awful.
• At least they try something different here, with Jordan reprising his role as Adonis Creed, who it turns out had a relationship with Angel in the past.
• I like the line about one of Angel’s kids being black, and her boyfriend never questioning it. Other than that, though, this commentary is quite a snooze.
Sketch: Male Confidence Seminar
Awkward men are taught how to gain confidence.
• Andrew has been all over this episode!
• Funny reveal from JAJ’s character that he makes fun of female stand up comics on YouTube.
• I love the twist when a man with a big forehead shows up in the audience, after MBJ has been making fun of Andrew’s forehead throughout the sketch.
• The Nickelodeon fan in me enjoys the Jimmy Neutron references in regards to Andrew’s head.
• The ending was a little abrupt.
Sketch: Party in Palm Springs
A bachelorette party gets interrupted by an unexpected guest.
• Punkie still exists!!!!
• Is this whole sketch going to be about the girls ogling MBJ’s sexy body? Please tell me it’s not.
• Thankfully, it isn’t. What we get instead isn’t much better though. Heidi shows up as a WACKY character with vocal fry, yet another example of her rapidly declining season.
• Also, Heidi’s name in this sketch is “Janinanine”. Jimmy Fowlie strikes again!!!
• Ugh, Heidi’s character is PURE CANCER!!!! Please let this sketch end!!!!
• Now it’s turning into a “React” sketch! Dear God, make it stop!!!!!!
• Sarah: “This is stressing me out!” Yeah, me too, Sarah. I just wish the writers would stop pointing out how terrible their sketches are.
• That was one of the worst fucking things I have ever seen on this show. Heidi continues to be an annoying nuisance, and I really hope she leaves after this season.
Musical Performance: “Forever”
Sketch: King Brothers Toyota
Toyota dealers advertise their latest sale.
• Here’s a sketch I’ve heard a lot of good things about.
• Andrew with yet another big role! This is the most airtime he’s gotten in a while!
• This perfectly captures how cheesy and over the top a lot of car dealership commercials are.
• I love the photo of Sarah as an iPad carrying teenager.
• Who is that kid in the Guys and Dolls poster?
• I love how every time they mention the congressman’s name, a picture of him appears at the bottom of the screen.
• Despite not liking this as much as other fans did, it was still okay.
Film: Falling Down
Our host has some embarrassing moments while getting ready to appear on the show.
• We haven’t had a regular non-Please Don’t Destroy backstage short in quite a while.
• Yet another Andrew appearance! This episode has been great for him!
• I love that whenever MBJ falls down, Andrew is always there watching.
• Speaking of Please Don’t Destroy, we get a brief scene filmed in their office with Andrew, Sarah, and Bowen.
• The sketch rundown can be seen behind MBJ at one point, and the order is very different than the live show. For example, this film was supposed to follow that awful Party in Palm Springs sketch.
• Nice bizarre ending scene of the two of them flying off into the sky.
Cut for Time: Baptist Church
A pastor and a member of his church share how they’re going to spend the money they earned from the collection plates.
• The guy at the organ is apparently SNL Band member Leon Pendarvis.
• Devon’s character looks a lot like 90s Steve Harvey. Just a random observation.
• Wow, Devon and MBJ are going all out in this! Fantastic performances from the both of them!
• I’m not caring for the reacting portions of this sketch.
• Overall, a really well performed sketch, but repetitive as hell.
Final thoughts: Having not seen this show live, I didn’t know what to expect. Imagine my surprise, however, when this turned out to be one of the best of the season so far. Part of that can be chalked up to the host, who did a phenomenal job. Special mention must also be made for Andrew Dismukes, who had one of the best nights of his career.
Best sketches: Good Morning Today, Towel Guys, State Farm, Falling Down
Worst sketches: Cold Open, Party in Palm Springs
Next review: Pedro Pascal/Coldplay. I recall this episode having a lot of really wretched material in it.
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