Friday, January 5, 2024

SNL Reviews: Bad Bunny (10/21/23)

 Cold Open

Jim Jordan loses the House Vote again and consults with his advisors.

• After the nice reprieve we got last time, we’re back to more tone-deaf political “satire”.

• I have no idea what Jim Jordan sounds like, but I’m sure Mikey isn’t even close.

• UGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!! It’s Bowen as George Santos yet again!!! And he’s carrying a baby…for some reason.

• Why does Bowen always have to talk so damn slow? Does he think that he’ll get more laughs that way? Well, guess what, it’s annoying as fuck!

• No idea what to think about Lauren Boebert almost getting groped at a movie theater. Never thought I’d have to type that sentence, but that’s life.

• *groan* Trump is back for the 2,366th time. 

• His scene is just as unfunny as every other appearance by this impression, except for the fun twist where he cuts off Mikey from saying the intro line. 


Monologue

Bad Bunny speaks in English and Spanish and gets Pedro Pascal to translate for him.

• Not a big fan of the Sabado Gigante “mixup” at the beginning.

• Why does the audience have to cheer every single time he speaks? He’s not that sexy, ladies.

• I did like the “[SPEAKS IN NON-ENGLISH]” subtitle.

• Random appearance from Pedro Pascal.

• I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about Bad Bunny here that seems kind of…phony. Like he’s trying to put on a fake “nice guy” image.


Sketch: Rap Battle

Two rappers battle at a club.

• What is with Punkie wearing her hood up all the time lately? I’m not complaining, it’s just something weird I noticed.

• I love Mikey’s rapper name: “Walter White Boy”

• So they’re not going to let Bad Bunny rap? Why does Mikey get all of it to himself?

• Ugh, these incest jokes are hideous.

• What a horrible sketch. It reminds me of that awful sketch with the rappers dancing to game show themes from the Awkwafina episode.


Film: La Era del Descrubimento (The Age of Discovery)

Explorers show the king and prince some riches from their latest voyage.

• UGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! Fred fucking Armisen is back for his 8,936, 422nd cameo.

• I like how this is entirely in Spanish.

• That turkey’s facial expression matches how I feel when I watch Weekend Update.

• We get our obligatory ball joke when the king claims that the turkey has testicles on his chin.

• Marcello as the prince says “Ay dios mio!” at one point. Couldn’t they let Fred say that for old times’ sake?

• Now we get a poop joke? Did a five-year old write this part?

• I definitely didn’t need to see him put poop in his mouth.

• This sketch is kind of hard for me to rate. On one hand, I like how ambitious it is for being entirely in Spanish. On the other hand, all of the juvenile humor brings it down a bit.


Sketch: Telenovela

An actress playing a maid keeps screwing things up.

• Uh-oh, now we have a Jimmy Fowlie sketch.

• Another sketch where most of the dialogue is in Spanish? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I wish this sketch and the previous one were spaced out a bit more.

• I’m glad Marcello gets to shine in this episode! He and Bad Bunny make a great duo!

• Thankfully, Punkie is here to save the day with her amusing broken Spanish.

• Despite not being the focus of this sketch, Bowen is still queering it up.

• Is it just me, or are they on the same set as The Californians? Not exactly a sketch I want to be reminded of.

• Yep, this is definitely a Jimmy Fowlie sketch. The same joke repeated over and over again! Punkie is trying her best, though.

• This is more of a nitpick, but why does a Spanish soap opera have an English speaking director?

• The twist where Punkie’s character is revealed to be named “Latina Jefferson” is genuinely amusing.

• Punkie: “Did he just call me a negro?!?” LOL!!!!

• Mick Jagger makes a random cameo. Why? I don’t know, but he’s got a fake mustache, so that makes it okay with me.

• For a Jimmy Fowlie sketch, this surprisingly wasn’t too awful. 


Please Don’t Destroy: Bad Bunny Is Shrek

The guys help Bad Bunny with his idea for a script.

• An initial laugh from Bad Bunny walking in dressed like Shrek.

• Bad Bunny: “Is Donkey coming?”

• I love the awkward silence after Ben suggests that Bad Bunny play Puss in Boots.

• John’s Michael Jackson impression is great! If only he was on the show when the trial was going on, then we wouldn’t have been stuck with Amy Poehler’s awkward attempt at playing him.

• The scene where they all read Bad Bunny’s script together is the most amazing thing I have ever seen, complete with terrible CGI animations of the characters.

• Oh, by the way, you wanna know who owns Shrek? NBCUniversal! Some good old fashioned corporate synergy!!!


Musical Performance: “Un Preview”

• Ummm, why is Lady Gaga introducing this song? She doesn’t appear anywhere else in the episode, so I have no idea what she’s doing here.


Weekend Update (featuring Jada Pinkett Smith)

• Wow, some Biden jokes that don’t revolve around his age!

• This probably goes without saying, but I am extremely sick of the “seen here” jokes.

• Ego appears as Jada Pinkett Smith, as this was right after her revelation that she and Will had been divorced for a few years all along.

• I don’t really have a lot to say about this commentary (once you’ve seen one Ego commentary, you’ve seen them all), so let me share this quote on the YouTube upload that I think sums it up: “There wasn’t a single joke this entire sketch. It was just…a sad series of facts.” And you know what? He’s right!

• I chuckled at the disgusting ice cream flavors/pregnancy joke.

• I also really liked the punchline to the story about a man’s glasses getting shot off.

• This is the second Update in a row that was surprisingly tolerable. It helps that it was extremely short.


Sketch: Protective Mom

Luís gets embarrassed by his mother again, this time with help from his aunt.

• I did not need to see Bad Bunny in drag.

• So, yeah, this is a sequel to the sketch from Pedro Pascal’s episode where he dressed like an old lady. 

• Speaking of Pedro, there he is, so now we’ve got TWO guys in drag!

• Chloe Troast replaces Chloe Fineman as Marcello’s girlfriend in this one. I guess he broke up with the girl from the previous sketch?

• Pedro randomly throwing “Trader Joe’s” into his Spanish sentence was pretty funny.

• I like how the girlfriend character has more to do in this one instead of just standing off to the side.

• Pedro, talking about a septum piercing: “I have a piercing, too, ‘cept I’m putting it in my ear where it belongs!”

• Call me crazy, but I think this was funnier than the last time they did this!


Film: The Right Track

Wacky shenanigans occur on the subway.

• JAJ has had a pretty quiet episode so far.

• Now this suddenly turns into a variation of the Waffle House routine from last season, except now it’s on a subway.

• It was cathartic seeing Kenan getting beat up for being so annoying. 

• Some amusement from everyone trying to kill a rat. 

• The very ending where Kenan creepily says hello to JAJ was a great way to wrap it up.

• This was good, but I prefer the Waffle House version. Even though I’m still not going to eat at a house made of waffles. BEEEEEEF JELLLY!!!


Musical Performance: “Monaco”


Sketch: Convent Meeting

A group of nuns gathers to discuss an infiltrator among them.

• I got an unintentional laugh from the choral music that introduces this sketch, as it is the same music that Adult Swim used to use for their “Adult Swim Is Your Friend” bumper from 2004-2010.

• Bad Bunny in drag again? Didn’t we just have that?

• Like I said last season, nun jokes kind of bum me out, especially when nuns are portrayed as sex-obsessed creeps.

• And now Jagger’s back? I knew there was going to be a twist where there was another man in drag at the convent, but it was worth it to see Jagger dressed as a nun.

• No comment on the awful ending where this turns out to be a trailer for “Sister Act 3”, or the “second coming” pun.


Sketch: Enrique’s Daughter

The CEO of Burt’s Bees tells his employees that the company has been acquired.

• Yay! More product placement!

• I kind of laughed at Mikey shutting down the discussion of him possibly getting laid off.

• This sketch is really slow, but it’s not that bad. Something about Bad Bunny’s performance is clicking with me for some reason.

• Even Kenan isn’t doing too badly in this sketch. This is one of the best nights he’s had in a while.

• One person who is annoying me here is Bowen. Even when he isn’t the focus, he still feels the need to overact and be gay.

• I like Mikey’s revelation that the company makes its chapstick by grinding up bees.

• I’m surprised at how much I liked this, especially the ending where Bad Bunny interrupts everybody else standing up for him by revealing that his son is having a baby.


Final thoughts: This was much better than the last episode. The writers seem to have gotten back into the groove after the strike. Bad Bunny kind of annoyed me at first, but he got better as we went along. Even Kenan managed not to annoy me, which is amazing at this point of his tenure.


Best sketches: The Age of Discovery, Bad Bunny Is Shrek, Protective Mom, Enrique’s Daughter

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Rap Battle, Convent Meeting


Next review: Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters

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