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
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