SNL Reviews: Jacob Elordi/Reneé Rapp (1/20/24)

 Cold Open: Trump Courthouse

Trump speaks to the media after appearing in court for the E. Jean Carroll trial.

• Yawn, yet another boring cold open where Trump rambles about stupid shit for the millionth time.

Note: The opening credits of the live airing mentioned a Please Don’t Destroy film would be appearing in this episode, but no such film is seen. More on that later…

Monologue

Jacob Elordi takes some questions from the audience.

• I don’t know what to say about that censored movie clip he shows.

• Wow, this is the first time in what seems like forever that we’re getting questions from the audience. 

• The black guy who asks the first question is writer Alex English.

• The Stitch fan in me loves Jacob responding to English’s question about who his favorite Elvis is with “Lilo and Stitch Elvis”.

• Writer Rosebud Baker is the woman who says she just wants to look at Jacob, the first of many moments tonight where the joke is just “isn’t Jacob Elordi hot?”.

• Sarah gets a big round of applause when she shows up to tell Jacob that his movie was gross. Unfortunately, there’s a very distracting shadow during this scene of what appears to be some sort of microphone or fan.

• No comment on Kenan’s cliched old man character, a role he can play in his sleep by now.

• Bowen also makes a brief appearance (complete with an earring in his right ear because aren’t stereotypes great?) to tell the host that he was also born in Australia, then proceeds to do the worst Australian accent I’ve ever heard.

• While I’m glad we got a nice long break from this type of monologue, this one reminded me of why they’re so hacky and overused.

Sketch: Crown Your Short Kings

SNL tries to pander to Reddit.

• I have no idea what a “short king” is. The only people I hear use the phrase are Redditors, Tumblrinas, and Marcello in that one commentary from last season.

• The setting reminds me of those “Can I steal him for a sec?” sketches that were once an annual feature of January episodes from 2015-2020.

• Already a huge red flag with Molly dressed as a man yet again. Not even the fact that they’re wearing a mustache is enough to salvage this.

• Am I crazy, or is there a scar on Chloe’s arm? Please tell me that’s not what I’m seeing here.

• I did get an unintentional laugh from Jacob entering the sketch, as we get to see how much he towers over everyone else.

• Overall, this was extremely boring, and based on a concept I have little interest in. The audience apparently agrees with me, as they’re dead silent for most of this.

Film: Club Shay Shay - Extended Cut

Some scenes we missed from the latest Katt Williams interview.

• Why is Ego in drag a recurring thing now? This just shows you what a bad idea it was to get rid of Chris Redd, because now we only have two black guys in the cast. We’ll see another example of this problem later…

• As expected, Ego’s Katt Williams impression is nowhere near as good as Jay Pharoah’s.

• Boy, Jay Pharoah’s impressions are really getting a workout here, because Devon is in this as Shannon Sharpe. His impression fares a lot better than Ego’s, mainly for the fact that he is actually a man.

• This is apparently a parody of a real Katt Williams interview that I’ve never seen. Once again, SNL parodies something without taking into consideration that not everyone in the audience will be familiar with it. Due to that lack of knowledge, I’m finding this rather baffling and dull.

• Okay, I did get a laugh from Williams saying that Obama’s slogan used to be “Prolly, prolly.”

• I would imagine that the real interview is a lot funnier than whatever the Hell this is supposed to be.

Sketch: Lip Readers

In which SNL lamely tries to copy Bad Lip Reading.

• This bizarre focus on celebrity gossip we’ve gotten so far reminds me of a Season 29 or 30 episode. Not exactly the seasons you’d want to be emulating…

• I did get a slight chuckle from Heidi’s line about mixing up Sterling K. Brown and Michael B. Jordan.

• The arrival of Bowen and Jacob’s characters is making me worried about what type of sketch this is going to be.

• So far, I haven’t laughed a single time at this lip reading routine. Just another piece of garbage from the minds of Jimmy Fowlie and Ceara O’Sullivan.

• The random appearance from Reneé Rapp is doing nothing to save this.

Sketch: Bowling Pins

Animations at a bowling alley become increasingly serious and violent.

• Ah, here’s a sketch I’ve been waiting to see again!

• We’re all familiar with those creepy animations that play at the bowling alley, right? What would happen if they suddenly got…creepier???

• The sudden dark turn these animations are taking is great.

• I love the twist where the “strike” animation is about a filthy WGA scab getting clubbed for not protesting.

• Even the “stuck ball” bit made me laugh.

• Jacob: “Just say ‘spare tire’, you stupid pins!”

• The “Have Sex” ending is a perfect way to cap this off.

Fake Ad: Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines embraces the cool aspect of in-flight mechanical failures.

• Another topical sketch, but I remember this one actually being good.

• I love the random cutaways to people getting sucked out of the airplane.

• Great brief appearance by JAJ as Capt. Sullenberger.

• I could have done without the scene of the guy getting his shirt ripped off by the wind.

• The in-flight photo of Bowen screaming with his hands in the air is hilarious.

• Wow, our second strong sketch in a row? This episode is starting to pick up steam!

Musical Performance: “Snow Angel”

Weekend Update (featuring Tim Scott and Deobra Redden)

• Not caring for any of the Trump or Biden jokes.

• More “jokes” implying that all Trump supporters are evil racists.

• I did get a laugh from Colin comparing a photoshopped picture of Hillary that Trump made to Mark Cuban in a wig.

• I definitely didn’t care for the pedophile priest joke.

• Devon’s Tim Scott impression returns. Hopefully this will be a better showcase of his talents than that awful cold open he was in a while back.

• That voice he does is hilarious. He compares it to what it would sound like if Bill Clinton was black. 

• Devon: “I sound like if Forrest Gump was doing an impression of Ja Rule!”

• I love the part with the “racist dogwhistle” where Colin is somehow able to hear it, continuing the running joke where he is implied to be a secret white supremacist.

• That was pretty good for a political commentary, helped by the fact that they kept it short and sweet.

• Ugh, now they’re putting Punkie in drag too? I know Devon can’t play this particular role because we just saw him as Tim Scott, and Kenan can’t do it because he’s too big for the part. This is just another example of why we should have more than two black guys in the cast.

• The commentary itself is just dull. All of the other late night shows had been making jokes about this guy for weeks, and SNL had nothing new to add to the table.

Sketch: AA Meeting

A women’s AA meeting is interrupted by a man.

• Uh-oh, another Jimmy Fowlie/Ceara O’Sullivan sketch…

• It’s nice to see a sketch with the entire female cast.

• I have no idea where this is going, but I don’t think I like it. I guess that brief upswing in quality earlier was just a fluke.

• Yet another sketch where the joke is just everyone fawning over Jacob.

Musical Performance: “Not My Fault”

• Random appearance from Megan Thee Stallion.

Sketch: Acting Class

A star actor can’t relate to other less-successful actors.

• Why is there so much Bowen in this episode? He’s not as diverse as SNL thinks he is.

• Mean Girls star Rachel McAdams is here for some reason, and the joke is that her character looks just like Rachel McAdams.

• Uggghhhh, another sketch where they do nothing but fawn over Jacob’s character?

• The only other thing I have to say here is that Jacob has been doing a great job hiding his natural accent in every sketch.

Sketch: Garrett From Hinge

Garrett struggles to restrain himself while interrupting a wedding.

• FUUUUUUCK!!!! Not this horrible character from the Travis Kelce episode again! Apparently he was cut from the Bad Bunny episode earlier this season, so his return has been in the works for a while now.

• So far, this is going exactly the same as the first one, except it’s even less funny.

• No comment on the organist wearing the same outfit as him.

• I have nothing to say about the part where they all start doing Family Guy impressions, except for the fact that James’ Cleveland impression is spot on.

• HORRIBLE ending where Garrett randomly disappears and ends up in a painting.

• Somehow that was even worse than the first time they did this! I can’t believe they accomplished that!

Cut for Time: Please Don’t Destroy: Pimp My Ride

The guys help a janitor at 30 Rock snazz up his ride.

• It’s been a while since we’ve seen these guys. They should have cut the retarded Garrett from Hinge reprisal and put this in instead.

• Mikey inexplicably acting like an asshole towards a janitor is hilarious.

• I love that accent Jacob is doing for the janitor’s voice.

• Sudden Pimp My Ride twist…

• I’ve never watched Pimp My Ride, but I’m aware of the basics, so I’m still finding this okay.

• It wouldn’t be complete without a cameo from Xzibit himself, looking strangely haggard.

• Even though I predicted it would happen, I still laughed at the car exploding at the end when they try to use it.

• Xzibit: “I am in no way associated with any of these [censored]!”

• This was okay for what it was, but it felt a little too bland for PDD standards.

Final thoughts: Hoo, boy. This is one of the weakest episodes of the season so far. While Jacob Elordi was a serviceable host, the writing for most of his sketches amounted to nothing but “wow, isn’t Jacob Elordi hot?” We also got the return of a fucking awful character at the end of the show, and a lot of wretched Jimmy Fowlie material. On the plus side, the Bowling Pins sketch was one of the best of the entire season.

Best sketches: Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Tim Scott commentary

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Crown Your Short Kings, AA Meeting, Garrett From Hinge

Next review: Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake

SNL Reviews: Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12/16/23)

 Cold Open: Christmas Awards

The 95th Annual Christmas Awards are presented for exceptional holiday foibles.

• Ugh, another award show sketch. If you know SNL, then you know this is gonna suck…

• On the plus side, it’s nice to see a cold open that isn’t political for a change.

• I got a slight chuckle from Bowen’s Ozempic joke.

• Chloe seems to be doing her Jennifer Coolidge voice for the old lady.

• The other Chloe gets to sing yet again. I sure hope they’re not going to typecast her in these roles.

• This sketch is just washing right over me.

Monologue

Kate McKinnon gets help from Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph to sing a song.

• If you know my older reviews, then you know that I am not particularly excited to see Kate again.

• Just hearing her voice again is filling me with dread, especially because I know what’s coming in this monologue…

• HUGE applause when she says she was in that Barbie movie, which I didn’t even know.

• If you remember my feelings on Kate, then you definitely know how I feel about seeing Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph show up for no reason. Three of my least favorite cast members, and all of them singing! Is there a worse Hell than that? I don’t think so!

Sketch: North Pole News

A killer whale attacks the North Pole, and North Pole News is there to cover the aftermath.

• A random return of this sketch from the Eddie Murphy episode…which was FOUR SEASONS AGO! What made them decide to bring it back here???

• Does anyone know where the stereotype of elves having “whimsical” names comes from? I’d really like to know, because I don’t understand it at all. At least we get some hi-larious names here like “Kirby Gigglemuffins” and “Poofy Sillybottom”. Barf!

• Kate only just showed up and I’m already tired of her character. She’s played this type of role way too many times in the past.

• I don’t see what the point of bringing this back was if they’re going to do it without Eddie Murphy. He was the reason that one worked so well.

• The social media posts from other holiday icons failed to raise as much as a chuckle from me.

• No comment on Kate throwing up Skittles.

Fake Ad: Pongo!

The world’s perfect pet is a bizarre animal of indeterminate species.

• Here’s a film I remember loving when it aired.

• Impressive stop-motion work on “Pongo”.

• Chloe: “Does he do tricks?” Narrator: “I dunno, you tell me!”

• Some laughs from the useless things that Pongo does.

• Yet another old lady role from Kate.

• I did laugh at Kate creepily staring through the window with Pongo.

• Call me insane, but I think Kate is actually doing pretty well here. She’s not doing her usual mugging routine, and it reminds me of her stronger performances from her first few seasons.

• Sarah’s breakdown during the climax is one of the best moments of her entire tenure. 

• A really sweet ending where it looks like Sarah is about to leave forever, but Pongo cheers her up by placing her paw on her hand.

• Overall, a really good fake ad. One of the best in quite a while, I think.

Sketch: ABBA Christmas

A long lost ABBA Christmas album is advertised.

• Well, after the highest of highs, we get the lowest of lows, with our latest piece of shit from the mind of Kent Sublette.

• Kristen and Maya again?!? Why is Maya playing one of the male members of ABBA? Couldn’t they get one of the guys to do it? Oh wait, that would probably mean giving someone like Andrew Dismukes a big role, and we can’t have that, so let’s have Maya singing for the 1,846th time!

• Bowen is here as well. I didn’t know ABBA had any Chinese members.

• None of the song parodies are making me laugh.

• This “Frostitita” routine is some hacky-ass shit.

• Hey, did you guys ever want to hear Bowen speak in a horrid Swedish accent? Yeah, me neither, but that’s what we’re stuck with.

• Now we’re getting Maya trying to crack Kristen up for no apparent reason. Save that shit for behind the scenes!

• Listening to them take a dump all over “Waterloo” is particularly painful.

• I can’t believe something like this would make it on the air. This was just an excuse for everyone to crack each other up.

Sketch: Gifts From Mom

“Wacky” stuff happens at a family gathering.

• Seeing JAJ get so much airtime in this episode pleases me.

• This is kind of boring so far.

• Kate: “They’re disgusting, I’m an idiot, and a bitch.” Well, I can’t argue with any of that! 

• Overall, this was quite a snooze, but compared to a lot of stuff we’ve seen so far, it was almost brilliant.

Film: Tampon Farm

Some country gals sing about working on a tampon farm.

• Are you kidding me?!?? Now we have Maya and Kristen making their THIRD appearance in this episode!!! 

• A big groan from the reveal of what type of farm they’re on. 

• Random cameos from Greta Gerwig and Paula Pell. Why? I dunno.

• All of this is washing right over me. Maybe I need to be a girl to understand this.

• I get the feeling they were trying to recreate the magic of the “Lake Beach” song from a few episodes ago. That one was really good, and this is just a pathetic follow up.

Musical Performance: “What Was I Made For?”

Weekend Update (featuring Rich Auntie With No Kids and Dr. Hattie Davis)

• A switch up on the usual “seen here” joke, but it still wasn’t funny.

• Now they’re resorted to jokes about Giuliani pooping his pants.

• I chuckled at Michael’s joke about Chris Sununu.

• Yawn, another commentary with Ego doing her usual deadbeat mom routine.

• I laughed at the joke comparing New Jersey residents to pigs.

• Now we get one of the strangest moments in Che and Jost’s entire tenure. Their Joke Swap routine is back, but with a twist. This time, they have an alleged civil rights activist named “Dr. Hattie Davis” there to watch them. Who is Hattie Davis? Well, she doesn’t exist! That’s right, Jost and Che decided to play a trick on the audience and introduced some random old lady as being a civil rights activist. And it worked! I genuinely thought she was a real person when this aired!

• A huge laugh from Colin’s joke about wanting to send Obama back to Africa.

• Che: “In fact, Beyoncé looked so white, that I was finally attracted to her!”

• Nice slam from Colin towards his wife Scarlett Johansson.

• Overall, yet another solid joke swap from these guys, and the fact that they had some random old lady there listening to all of this made it even better.

Sketch: Boogie Woogie Santa

A man rejects the cure for sickle cell anemia in favor of a Boogie Woogie Santa toy.

• Andrew, Molly, Punkie, and Michael all get lead roles here? Am I in an alternate universe???

• The Boogie Woogie Santa is voiced by JAJ, yet another example of how important he is to the current cast.

• This type of performance is what I like to see from Kate, with no bug-eyed mugging or annoying voices to be found.

• Funny twist where Kenan’s character swaps the cure for sickle cell anemia for the Santa toy.

• Even Kenan isn’t as annoying here. See what happens when you make him cut back on his shouting?

• You can briefly see the cue cards in one shot of Molly and Andrew. This was surprisingly left in the YouTube upload.

• I love Andrew’s line about not needing the cure for sickle cell anemia because his whole family is white.

• The visual of a “tortilla blanket” is pretty funny.

• Even when you know what’s coming, Punkie’s tear jerking speech about needing the cure for her mother and then immediately grabbing the doll was great.

• Kenan: “Hey, look at me. I’m a little burrito! Hola, I’m so cozy!”

• A nice bizarre little sketch. I wish I knew who wrote this. I’m guessing it was Andrew because he’s in it and it seems like something he’d write, but I’m not sure.

Musical Performance: “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

Sketch: Cinema Classics

• NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m not even going to bother with the description here, because I have no interest in watching another one of these godawful Cinema Classics sketches.

Sketch: Whiskers R’ We

The latest cats up for adoption during the holiday season.

• This is surprisingly the only recurring character of Kate’s to return in this episode. Not that I’m complaining, because I really didn’t need to see Collette Reardon or her many male politicians again.

• Billie Eilish: “A cat is a dog that’s a bitch!”

• Kate is already making Eilish crack up.

• While this isn’t one of my favorite recurring sketches, I am a cat person, so hopefully I’ll get to see some cute kitties.

• Kate: “Jeffrey here is an Abyssinian, as in, Abyss-seein’ him in Hell for scratching my couch!” A really lame pun, but I still laughed.

• I liked Kate referring to the cat in the Santa hat as a “home wrecking whore”.

• The usual “lol lesbian” jokes that these sketches bombard us with aren’t as annoying this time.

• I find the cats constantly interrupting the sketch with their meows to be really charming.

• Not a fan of the “Claw and Order” puns. At least the calico they’re showing is extremely cute.

• Random twist where it turns out that Eilish’s character is actually Kate’s daughter.

• Eilish almost loses it when a guinea pig won’t stop making noise.

• Overall, I’m surprised at how much I liked this. Did it really need to be five minutes long, though?

Cut for Time: Paperless Post

Paperless Post will take care of those who refuse to respond to you.

• Heidi is really good as the spokeswoman.

• Good to see Punkie with a lead role.

• “RSVP OR WE’LL KILL YOU” is such a great thing to put on a message.

• The various disturbing messages that are gradually popping up are amazing. My favorite is the “Paperless Severed Finger”.

• I love Marcello’s reaction to the “Paperless Your Car Explodes”.

• Funny sudden appearance from a bunch of wild dogs that come and attack James.

• Heidi, in the most cheerful voice ever: “Paperless Post; we can do this the easy way, or we can destroy you.”

• Overall, a great dark masterpiece. This should have been in the live show instead of that Cinema Classics bullshit.

Final thoughts: While not as bad as I was expecting a Kate McKinnon-hosted episode to be, it wasn’t anything special. I admire the restraint she had in not dressing up as a man at all, and she did impress me in a few sketches. And the less said about Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig taking up too much airtime with their tired and unfunny antics, the better. Overall, a big step down from the awesome Christmas episode we had last year.

Best sketches: Pongo!, Joke Swap, Boogie Woogie Santa, Whiskers R We, Paperless Post (Cut)

Worst sketches: Monologue, ABBA Christmas, Tampon Farm, Cinema Classics

Next review: Jacob Elordi/Reneé Rapp

This review is dedicated to my Aunt Amy’s cat Rocky. I miss you, little buddy…

SNL Reviews: Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12/9/23)

 Cold Open: Antisemitism Hearings

College presidents answer questions about antisemitism on their campuses.

• A big groan from the C-SPAN intro.

• After a promising beginning (including Molly with a big role!), things go south when Elise Stefanik is brought into the sketch for no reason.

• Boy, this is just plain awful. Instead of making the sketch about the college people’s attempts to cover up antisemitism on their campuses, they instead make it about Elise Stefanik being a KUH-RAYZEE racist weirdo. The show got a lot of backlash for this, and I completely understand why.

• As if you couldn’t hate this sketch more, you wanna know something else? Apparently, in dress rehearsal, Stefanik was played by former cast member Cecily Strong! Yep, that’s right! I forget the exact reason why she dropped out of the live show, but thank goodness she did, because we don’t need her tired antics making this even worse.

• Michael Longfellow is wasted with one line of dialogue. Geez, his airtime has been pathetic lately.

• It feels so sad seeing Chloe Troast being forced to perform this garbage. While she’s definitely performing this a lot better than Cecily probably would, the actual writing is as bad as it’s always been. 

• You know, I remember a time when SNL actually had something to say about politics. Everyone remembers moments like “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy!”, “Strategery”, or Bill Clinton stuffing his face with McDonald’s food. Those were the good old days. Nowadays, we get lame, baffling material like Joe Biden turning into a fly for no reason, countless male politicians played by women in drag, Cecily and Sasheer Zamata singing “To Sir, With Love” for Obama, and this bullshit I’m watching right now. In short…no, sir, I don’t like it.

Monologue

Adam Driver shares his Christmas list.

• I liked the line about Santa not liking SNL since Chris Kattan left.

• Adam: “(shouting) HEY SANTA!!!! Oh right, we’re on TV. (quieter) Hey, Santa…”

• Not a big fan of the random dick joke.

• I didn’t think I would laugh at the “wokeness killed Han Solo” line, but I did.

• I got a big laugh at Adam asking Santa to kill people who prank each other on TikTok. Unintentional foreshadowing for a sketch we’ll be getting later???

• Adam: “Hey, do you think the gingerbread man gets scared when he realizes his house is made of his own skin?”

• Overall, this was such a good monologue. It was miles better than his last two.

Sketch: We’re Trying

A couple is trying to get pregnant, and their friends all talk about it.

• Holy shit, Longfellow and Dismukes with actual screentime!

• Sadly, their only purpose is to act as straightmen to Bowen and Adam’s WACKY antics. As if I needed yet another reason to hate Bowen.

• What an ironic title, because SNL was clearly NOT trying when they came up with this sketch.

Film: Old Friends

A man is disturbed to find out that his old friend is really a psycho.

• This starts out as a seemingly heartwarming film, but then Adam’s character asks if the bar his friend wants to meet him at is more than 1000 feet from a school and I knew I was in for a treat.

• The funny twists keep coming, as it’s revealed that Adam’s character had a Netflix documentary made about how he switched over 600 sperm samples with his own.

• Great picture of Adam posing with a rifle.

• Nice callback to the school thing from earlier when he says he can’t renew his license because the DMV is near a school.

• Amazing photo of Devon as “Big Filthy”.

• Unfortunately, they had to ruin this with one thing: that stupid cliched ending where this turns out to be a commercial for Facebook. UGGGHHHH!!!! I wish they would stop doing that!

Sketch: Beep Beep

A dinner party goes awry as Mark (Driver) asserts his dominance.

• Rather odd gaffe where it looks like Molly is about to say something, but then the camera awkwardly cuts to Adam entering the room. I have no idea why this happened. Did Molly have a line that was cut from the online version I’m watching? 

• Both Adam and Andrew have amazing mustaches in this sketch. I think I’m in heaven…

• I probably don’t need to tell you how happy I am that Andrew has finally gotten another lead role. His airtime has been awful these past few episodes.

• Bowen’s performance here is surprisingly good. I love the delivery of his line comparing Adam and Andrew’s fight to two falcons.

• The fact that everyone is taking this “beep beep” situation so seriously is what makes this so great. Props go to whoever wrote this sketch for making such a dumb concept work.

Sketch: ShopTV

Dean Delaney shows off his suspiciously-shaped chocolate.

• The return of this awful sketch from the Jerrod Carmichael episode.

• I still can’t believe that Mikey is responsible for these sketches, because the Southern accents and “funny” names really throw me off.

• Cecily’s character from the first installment has been replaced by Heidi.

• The only “joke” in this one is that Adam’s chocolate looks like a dick. That’s it.

Musical Performance: “Vampire”

Weekend Update (featuring Marcello Hernandez, Chloe Fineman, and Julia Stiles)

• A pretty solid joke about Hunter Biden is ruined by Colin connecting it to Donald Trump.

• Yet another funny use of that picture of Colin giving a thumbs up, this time as part of a joke where Che claims he was at the Capitol riots.

• I laughed at the RFK Jr. joke.

• They’re still doing “seen here” jokes about Mitch McConnell.

• Marcello’s first commentary of the season. He’s been having a pretty strong year so far.

• This material is nothing special, but Marcello is making it work with his natural Latino charm.

• The next commentary, on the other hand, I don’t even know what to make of it. Chloe Fineman shows up and announces that she is going to do a dance from some Julia Stiles movie. Oh, and just so we don’t have to do any thinking, the real Julia Stiles is there too. I would say that it’s nice to see her on the show again, but I have no idea who this commentary is even for.

Sketch: Airplane Baby

A mother travels on an airplane with her baby for the first time.

• This looks like the same airplane set from the Nate Bargatze episode.

• A huge laugh from the initial sight of Adam as a baby with a full-grown man’s voice.

• Some good laughs from him watching Peppa Pig on his mom’s iPad, even though you can clearly see that he’s actually on the home screen.

• Adam’s “crying” is hilarious.

• Sarah: “He looks just like his father.” Kenan: “He looks like a father!”

• Even the ending where he poops in his diaper was pretty funny. But, once again, we have a twist where this turns out to be an ad for something else.

• Probably the best Sarah sketch we’ve had since that one where she gets decapitated.

Musical Performance: “All-American Bitch”

Film: TikTok Pranks

Elderly victims of TikTok pranks talk about their experiences.

• A promising concept…

• The look of Adam’s character is great. It reminds me of his Abraham Parnassus character from Season 44.

• Kenan and Punkie’s prank videos are kind of bland (I’m assuming they’re parodies of actual TikTok videos), but the one with Adam getting assaulted with basketballs at Walmart is hilarious. 

• I also liked the video where Chloe Troast pranks her grandmother by pretending to come out as gay.

• It goes without saying that JAJ is perfectly cast as an old man.

• Nice to see the return of the good ol’ pants pissing gag.

• I like how it ends with Kenan getting another sheet thrown over his head, followed by him going after that “little black bastard”.

Sketch: Tiny Ass Bags

Retail employees promote tiny bags.

• The look of Marcello’s character already has me worried about this.

• Yep, sure enough, this turns into another “two people advertise their product” sketch, a type of sketch that I absolutely cannot stand.

• Adam’s stern delivery of “If you don’t like it, kiss my rear!” gave me a laugh.

• You would be forgiven this was an Allison Gates-written sketch, but it was actually the work of Marcello and Ego, along with the Please Don’t Destroy guys.

• Some of Adam’s lines are the only laughs I’m getting here. He is way too good for this crap.

• I do like how one of the things you can carry in a Tiny Ass Bag is “the kids from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids”.

• I actually laughed at the extremely small backpack Adam is carrying.

• Adam: “You don’t need to bring anything. What are you, a bellboy?!?”

• Overall, while this was extremely stupid, I laughed a worrying number of times.

Cut for Time: Actor’s Journey

An actor’s panel is interrupted by random people from his past.

• It figures that Andrew’s only lead role of the episode was cut.

• Apart from Adam’s character, I am not getting much laughs from this so far. 

• The fact that everyone has oddly-specific outfits should clue you in that this was written by Jimmy Fowlie.

• Overall, I can definitely see why this was cut. This might be the first Cut for Time sketch I’ve looked at that I didn’t like.

Final thoughts: Wow, that was actually a pretty solid episode. I know I’ve trashed Driver’s episodes in the past, but with this episode, I can see why they keep bringing him back. 

Best sketches: Monologue, Old Friends, Beep Beep, Airplane Baby

Worst sketches: Cold Open, We’re Trying, ShopTV

Next review: OH NO. My nemesis Kate McKinnon is back!