Thursday, January 18, 2024

SNL Reviews: Timothee Chalamet/boygenius (11/11/23)

 Cold Open: Republican Debate

Donald Trump interrupts a Republican debate.

• Kenan doesn’t look or sound a thing like Lester Holt. Couldn’t they get Che to do it again like he did in 2016?

• Kenan immediately screws up a line and says “Republincan”. Can you please get off the show now?

• Yay, more typecasting! We get Molly as Chris Christie for no reason!

• Random casting of John Higgins from Please Don’t Destroy as Ron DeSantis.

• No comment on Ego in drag playing Vivek Ramaswamy. 

• The Will Smith slap reference fell completely flat, although I think this is actually a poor recreation of something in the actual debate.

• At least Devon is trying to create a persona for Tim Scott, even though I couldn’t understand any of his lines.

• UGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! Trump is back yet again!! In fact, this is a lame rehash of that one cold open from last season where he interrupted The Last Supper.

• I don’t know why SNL keeps shoving this horrible impression down our throats. I don’t care how spot-on the voice is. The actual material NEVER. FUCKING. CHANGES. Is this what we’re going to have to deal with come election time next season? I’m getting pretty scared.

• TLDR: JAJ’s Trump impression is dead to me at this point and I wish it would stop coming back.


Monologue

Timothee raps about having a baby face with Marcello Hernandez.

• After some boring writers’ strike jokes, I got a little worried when music started up. Then it thankfully gets cut off by Timothee shamelessly self-promoting the new Wonka movie he’s in.

• Never mind, he just goes back to singing after that. But, like his last monologue, I don’t hate this. He’s got a great singing voice, which I suppose is perfect for that Wonka movie.

• Everyone’s “favorite” writer Jimmy Fowlie appears in the audience as the man who lets Timothee take his seat.

• The CGI audience members should have made me laugh, but it didn’t for some reason.

• The huge applause Marcello gets when he shows up is so great to hear. It feels like he’s finally found his place on the show!

• Sadly, this is then followed by the two of them rapping. While I didn’t completely hate this monologue, I think it could have been a lot shorter.


Sketch: 50 Years of Hip-Hop

Mary J. Blige, Rick Rubin, Cornel West, and SmokeCheddaDaAssGetta are the guests on this panel at the Hip-Hop Museum.

• Ugh, this sketch from Timothee’s last episode becomes recurring. I did not care at all for that one, but maybe this will be better because Pete isn’t there.

• I still hate that Ego’s name is “Nunya Bizness”.

• Great to see Punkie get airtime in an episode that’s not hosted by a black person. I can’t judge the accuracy of her Mary J. Blige impression because I’m not that familiar.

• JAJ looks priceless as Rick Rubin.

• Kenan looks and sounds nothing like that communist Cornel West. Apparently he’s played him before, but not since 2012.

• Timothee reprises his role from the previous installment of this sketch.

• “Mukbang” is a phrase that I never wanted to hear on this show.

• So far, I’m finding this even worse than the first one.

• JAJ’s wig is coming off.

• I kind of like the joke where Timothee is only able to recognize Cornel West because he was in The Matrix Revolutions.

• Overall, an unnecessary sequel to a sketch that I didn’t even like the first time around.


Film: The Woman In Me Auditions

Various celebrities audition to read The Woman In Me audiobook.

• Been a while since we had a good old impression showcase like this.

• I am not pleased to see Chloe as Britney again. She also brings back her baffling impression of tonight’s host.

• Mikey doesn’t really sound like Steve-O, but I still laughed at his scene.

• Ugh, Sarah in drag yet again!!! Her John Mulaney impression is way too high-pitched.

• Molly doesn’t even get any lines as Kevin James, seemingly having only been cast as him for size reasons.

• Chloe’s Natasha Lyonne impression is admittedly not bad.

• It figures that Bowen would be cast as Fred Schneider. He actually does a pretty good job with the voice.

• Ego’s Jada Pinkett Smith is back, and the joke is that she’s reading from her book and not Britney’s. 

• Kenan’s awful Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s joke is that he reads the book in Ebonics. Get it?!? Because he’s black!!!

• JAJ’s Werner Herzog is unsurprisingly the standout here.

• The other Chloe gets to play Dame Maggie Smith, and her voice is spot on! Much better than any of Fineman’s.

• Michael Longfellow sadly only gets about four seconds as Bill Hader, but I liked what I heard.

• *sigh* Another disappointing audition showcase. When was the last one that was actually good? The Jurassic Park auditions from Season 43?


Sketch: Gym Call

A woman calls up the gym where she left her bags, but the employees are less than helpful.

• Heidi finally gets a character that isn’t annoying.

• A mild chuckle from the initial sight of Mikey with fake muscular arms.

• The only joke in this sketch is “haha buff guys are stupid”. Mikey and Timothee try their best, but this was a chore for me to sit through.


Film: Giant Horse

A man reconnects with his now giant pet horse.

• Amazing special effects in this sketch. I would really like to see a VFX breakdown! Oh wait, I forgot they don’t do that anymore because of COVID!

• After a somewhat boring beginning, Bowen suddenly gets stepped on by a giant hoof. That’s right, this is a sequel to the Tiny Horse film from Timothee’s first episode, except now the horse is GIANT!!!

• The stop-motion on the horse is still pretty good, but…something feels kind of wrong about this sequel. None of the heart from the first one is there, and instead we get lines about the horse wanting to destroy all humans.

• It’s like they came up with an unrelated sci-fi sketch, then some idiot decided to make this a sequel to Tiny Horse. This just feels like two different sketches stitched together.

• JAJ is pretty good as the villain.

• Not even the ending where the horse turns tiny again made me happy. I just can’t believe they would ruin Tiny Horse like that. To quote my mom when this ended, “That was stupid.”


Musical Performance: “Not Strong Enough”


Weekend Update (featuring Crystal)

• Now that they’re showing a picture of Vivek Ramaswamy, I can see how little Ego resembles him, which just makes me wish that they had an actual Indian on the show.

• Lame joke about a Bible bursting into flames when Trump touched it. Get it? Because he’s the Devil…or something!

• Another lame joke about women from Che.

• Heidi returns as that busy co-worker character from last season. Unsurprisingly, this was just as unfunny as her first appearance.

• I’m surprised at how short these last few Updates have been.


Sketch: Sleep Study

A lady’s sleep paralysis demon is Troye Sivan.

• Sarah, describing what her demon looks like: “It’s just…a guy, but, like…a gay guy?”

• Who is said gay guy? Why, it’s Australian heartthrob Troye Sivan…for some reason. Does Sarah just think he’s really hot and wanted to put him in a sketch?

• I sure love how Sarah’s explaining everything that’s happening! (/sarcasm)

• What is the deal with Timothee breaking the fourth wall to admit that he can’t do an Australian accent?

• Boy, this sketch is pure comedy cancer. And it’s not Sarah’s fault this time so I can’t chalk this up to her slow decline. The real culprit is Bowen “Asian Terry Sweeney” Yang, who plays his role fine for the most part, until he starts doing a very gay dance.

• Sarah: “More gay guys???? Hubba-hubba!”

• And now there’s more Sivans?!? Please end this already!


Please Don’t Destroy: Jumper

The guys save a man from jumping to his death.

• Another one? At least this one is taking place outside for a change.

• The “music” that Timothee plays for the guys is pretty funny.

• I like how his band’s name is spelled the same as “Hamas”.

• Great how the only words in his breakup song are “I cheated!”

• Amazing ending where Timothee finally jumps to his death after realizing that the guys he’s been talking to are Please Don’t Destroy.

• Overall, this still dragged at several points, but the ending alone was way better than anything in the last PDD film.


Musical Performance: “Satanist”


Sketch: Little Orphan Cassidy

An orphan sings to the moon about not being adopted.

• “Mrs. Pippinstuffs”? Who comes up with this shit? At least Molly finally gets a role that isn’t a fat man.

• Good to see Chloe Troast get a lead role.

• I got a genuine laugh when Troast started singing in a bizarre deep voice.

• Wow, I’m impressed at how great her singing voice is. Moon-Timothee also has some great lines in response to her.

• Finally, a sketch I can say that I enjoyed.


Sketch: Calm Sleep Story

Timothee’s Calm app recording session doesn’t go as planned.

• Figures that Andrew’s first appearance in this episode is in the last sketch.

• How many times are they going to reuse this same recording studio set?

• Hmm, Timothee’s playing himself here.

• Andrew’s thumbs-up gesture is pretty funny. He’s always pretty good with small details like that.

• Not caring for the poopy jokes, but Timothee’s giving it his all.

• Aaaaaand…we end on a horrid note. Alec fucking Baldwin makes a completely pointless cameo for the first time since 2020. UGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! I thought we were safe from ever seeing him on this show again! Did they let him back on if he promised not to shoot anybody?


Final thoughts: While Timothee was pretty good as a host, this episode was way worse than his previous episode. I can’t believe people actually think this one is better! 


Best sketches: Jumper, Little Orphan Cassidy

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Gym Call, Weekend Update, Sleep Demon


Next review: Jason Momoa/Tate McRae

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