SNL Reviews: Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgreaves (3/2/24)

 Cold Open: CNN Inside Politics

Democrats try to hype up Biden.

• The top comment on the YouTube upload is “Probably the worst Gavin Newsom impression ever attempted”. It’s such a shame to see Longfellow stuck in these pathetic clout-chasing cold opens.

• While it is kind of refreshing to see them attempt to satirize Biden for a change, it’s still extremely boring. And in the end, it doesn’t matter, because he eventually dropped out of the race.

Monologue

Sydney Sweeney talks about her personal life and dispels Internet rumors.

• Nice jab at her role in Madame Web.

• More corporate synergy when she talks about rumors of her working at Universal Studios. 

• Pointless appearance from Glen Powell at the end.

Sketch: Detective Interns

Two “wacky” interns solve crimes within seconds.

• Already a huge groan from me upon the reveal of Chloe and Sydney’s characters.

• Has Sydney been taking lessons from Heidi? This character sounds exactly like a typical “vocal fry” role that Heidi would play.

• This premise is getting very old, very fast.

• I wonder whose photos they used to represent “Tony Benson” and his mother. Probably someone in the writer’s room.

• Ego’s line about liking “a little fruit in (her) salad” regarding Andy Cohen made me chuckle.

• What’s the deal with Mikey leaving the room after being told that you can take screenshots with Snapchat?

• At least the ending with Kenan’s OnlyFans picture was pretty funny.

Please Don’t Destroy: Gone Too Soon

The guys share their grief over a friend’s passing.

• Despite it just being a sketch, I like how genuinely upset they sound.

• Some laughs from the convoluted situation that resulted in their friend’s death. 

• Yet another example of corporate synergy with the random Kung Fu Panda reference.

• Big laugh from the reveal that the guy’s name was “Buttcheek P. Rosenthal”.

• Sydney: “So I guess the ‘P’ stood for ‘penis’”? Martin: “No, it stood for ‘pagina’!!”

• That’s apparently JAJ doing Buttcheek’s voice in the video of the accident. 

• The fact that we don’t actually get to see the video makes it even funnier. 

• I love the various comments from famous people, especially the one from Malala.

• Once again, a nearly perfect sketch is ruined by the overdone cliche ending where this turns out to be an advertisement for Chef Boyardee. UGGGHHHH!!!!! WHY DO THEY HAVE TO KEEP DOING THAT???

Sketch: Air Bud

The school’s new star basketball player is Air Bud.

• Really? We’re doing a “cute animal” sketch?

• Sydney: “You’re so hairy. I love that! Are you Italian?”

• Sorry, but I don’t buy Ego as a high school student.

• As far as cute animal sketches go, this one is relatively harmless, but it seems kind of wrong to me that the main joke of this sketch is someone hitting on a dog. Doesn’t that kind of promote bestiality? Or am I just looking too far into it?

Sketch: Big Bench

A court show is derailed by the large amount of judges.

• The amount of cast members in this sketch is impressive.

• Sydney’s character’s name is “Ashley Jerns” and has a Southern accent??? *checks writer’s guide* Yup, this is a Kent Sublette sketch.

• Another pointless instance of Marcello being tossed into a sketch to make the ladies happy. You can hear a gal in the audience scream after he says his line.

• Surprised they didn’t go the easy route and cast Bowen as the gay judge. But, hey, I’m not complaining about getting to see Andrew in a sketch.

• Thankfully, Andrew isn’t queering up the role like Bowen definitely would have done.

• I groaned so loudly when Chloe entered as another Southern-accented character. 

• How many times are we supposed to laugh at Kenan playing a sexual predator?

• What’s with the dog focus tonight? Apparently the Air Bud sketch wasn’t enough, because one of the judges is a sheepdog. PLEASE LAUGH AT THE CUTE ANIMALS, GUYS!!!! 

• Ego: “Okay, I think we ordering lunch now.” Gee, thanks for explaining the joke, Ego!

• What a huge mess this sketch was. 

Sketch: Bowen’s Straight

Asian Terry Sweeney reveals that his homosexuality was all just an act.

• A Bowen Yang showcase? You know how I feel about these…

• Interesting concept.

• Random Gina Gershon cameo. I would imagine it probably hurt him inside to have to pretend to kiss a girl.

• Big laugh from Bowen punching Marcello in the crotch.

• Bowen acting like a creep while he’s talking to Sydney is some of his greatest work in years. I wish we could see this side of him more often instead of acting like a stereotype.

• Pointless appearance from Marcello at the end, with predictable applause from the female audience.

• I’m surprised how much I liked this. It’s probably Bowen’s best sketch since, I don’t know, that one he did with Simu Liu in Season 47?

Sketch: Makeup Artists

Makeup artists have no sympathy for their customer’s feelings.

• The look of Sydney and Sarah’s characters is already making me worried. Sure enough, Jimmy Fowlie and Ceara O’Sullivan are credited as writers.

• Half of the dialogue from these two is just them saying “Shoot.” 

• Surprisingly, Heidi is doing pretty well in this sketch. She’s actually making me feel sorry for her character’s situation.

• Aaaaand…the makeup ladies just keep saying the same thing over and over again.

• Ego: “I’m being respectful, but I’m feeling like I wanna kill you.” You said it!

• I think this YouTube comment sums this sketch up better than I ever could: “Shoooot. Shoooot. They forgot to write a punchline. Shoooot.”

Musical Performance: “Deeper Well”

Weekend Update (featuring Woman Who Is Aging Gracefully and Charlotte the Stingray)

• Michael Che and Colin Jost, seen here doing a joke format that was never ever funny, really need to find new material. This one starts off with numerous Godawful Mitch McConnell “seen here” jokes that get more and more hacky as they progress.

• Colin mistakenly says “NBA” instead of “ABC” while introducing the first commentary. I figured I would bring that up because it was far more amusing than the actual commentary itself. 

• So who is the first guest? Ugh…yet another annoying and WACKEEEE character played by Heidi and written by Jimmy “James Anderson, Jr.” Fowlie. Every second of this is pure cringe. Heidi is great and all, but I wish she would stop doing characters like this.

• The “Nick Cann Un” joke admittedly made me laugh.

• That joke about the owl’s death was just wrong. Why do these guys love making cruel jokes about animals dying?

• We follow that with another joke about animals dying with the “Puppy Grave, IN” joke, which is then turned into yet another slam at McConnell.

• As soon as I heard that the next guest was “Charlotte the Stingray”, I knew it would be Ego. Sure enough, there she is. I’m getting sick and tired of these stupid costume commentaries where they dress somebody up in a “silly” outfit (usually Bowen or Ego) and have them talk about their sex life or whatever. That’s basically all we’ve had in the past few months on Update.

Sketch: Hooters Waitresses

A new waitress at Hooters overshadows all the others.

• Yeah, that’s right. They’re actually resorting to putting the female cast in Hooters outfits to keep us from changing the channel.

• I groaned so loud when Bowen entered in a Hooters outfit, with thunderous applause from the audience.

• No comment on the scene where Sweeney pours beer down Andrew’s throat. This shit feels straight out of an All That episode.

• Is Mikey’s character supposed to be a reference to something? The way he says his lines about not wanting to be served by Chloe’s character are delivered in a very specific way, as if he’s imitating someone else.

• JAJ is perfectly cast as the Hooters owl. His dialogue, on the other hand? (“You are my Harry Potter, and this is your Hogwarts!”) All I have to say to that is READ ANOTHER BOOK.

Musical Performance: “Too Good to be True”

Film: Airbnb

Two gals promote their interior design company for Airbnbs.

• Been a while since Chloe Troast has had a showcase.

• A laugh from the creepy photo of the family “that actually lives here”.

• A lot of the humor here is kind of lost on me, as I’ve never been to an Airbnb before. Are any of these odd decor choices specific to an actual Airbnb?

• Chloe and Sydney waving at the camera in the toilet made me laugh.

• Nice example of “politically ambiguous” artwork: a sign that simply says “Lives Matter”,

• Pointless reference to that stupid Wonka Experience in Glasgow that everyone on Twitter was talking about at the time. Thank goodness they only did a reference to it here instead of making a whole sketch about it.

Sketch: Loud Table

A couple trying to have a nice date are constantly interrupted by noisy people at other tables.

• I already like where this is going as soon as I see Andrew with a lead role.

• Funny turn where it looks like Andrew is about to yell at the noisy assholes, but instead starts giving a sappy dramatic speech about how much he envies their friendship.

• I know this probably wasn’t intentional, but I’m actually finding this sketch kind of heartwarming. Who knew Andrew had it in him?

• Another random Glen Powell cameo, this time as Sydney’s character’s new boyfriend.

• The pathetic expression on Andrew’s face when Sydney leaves him is hilarious.

• Funny ending where Andrew is all by himself in the restaurant after he’s about to give another sappy speech.

Final thoughts: After last week’s surprisingly strong show, we’re back to basics here. Nothing too offensively awful here (except maybe the Heidi commentary), but unremarkable as a whole. Sydney Sweeney came in and did what she was asked, but didn’t really stand out a lot.

Best sketches: Gone Too Soon, Bowen’s Straight, Loud Table

Worst sketches: Makeup Artists, Heidi’s commentary, the sight of Bowen Yang in a Hooters outfit

Next review: Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande. I recall there being some absolutely horrid material in this one.

SNL Reviews: Shane Gillis/21 Savage (2/24/24)

 Cold Open: Trump Victory Party

Some of Trump’s cronies discuss him during a meal.

• This is a decidedly different cold open. Is it a parody of something?

• Trump himself thankfully doesn’t appear in this, but the only joke is that his associates say that they still support him even though he demeans them on a constant basis. Get it? Because Donald Trump is an asshole! Nobody’s ever made THAT joke before!

• Not helping matters is the dead audience. They lighten up every now and then, but for the most part, it’s like they’re in a Japanese movie theater.

Monologue

Shane Gillis does stand-up about sports, his family, and owning a coffee shop.

• Seeing Gillis finally appear on the home stage after what this show did to him in the past is so satisfying.

• Speaking of which, I’m glad he chose not to base his entire routine on that. He mentions it very briefly before telling the audience not to look it up, which I feel is the best way for him to go about it.

• He looks very nervous here, and part of me wonders if he’s afraid that he’s going to say something bad and get himself in trouble again.

• Always nice when the host gives a shout out to their parents in the audience.

• I was wondering if he was deliberately holding back his stronger material, but then he outright said he can’t do his usual routine on TV.

• This Down’s syndrome routine is the type of ballsy material I was hoping to see. He wisely sidesteps any potential offense by turning the joke back on himself.

• Funny joke comparing his sister’s diverse household to an Uber car.

• I’m amazed that they allowed him to say “retarded”.

• Overall, a great stand-up monologue, despite how nervous he clearly is.

Sketch: Church on Vacation

“Wacky” shenanigans happen at a Jamaican church.

• An immediate red flag when Ego enters as a man. That’s the second time in the last few episodes!

• Jamaican stereotypes galore here, but I like Ego’s energy.

• Do they even have Catholic Churches in Jamaica?

• I don’t really have much more to say about this sketch, so here’s a funny comment from the YouTube upload about Gillis: “Fired him for doing accents but then hired him to do accents. Love it 😅😅😅”

Fake Ad: Rock Bottom Kings

The new app where you can bet on how a guy will ruin his life.

• Longfellow still exists!!!!

• The writer’s guide I keep bringing up doesn’t say who wrote this, but some of my fellow reviewers have theorized that Shane himself came up with it. I have no familiarity with his podcasts, but this does feel very different from the numerous shitty shorts we’ve had this season.

• Some laughs from the various horrible outcomes you can bet on with this app.

• Shane: “Because gambling is serious…seriously awesome!!!”

Sketch: HR Meeting

The HR office holds a meeting about workplace relationships. 

• I’m not the first one to have pointed this out, but it’s really funny and ironic that Shane is in a sketch with the two cast members he was supposed to have joined the show with (Chloe and Bowen).

• Kenan is wearing his usual sex offender outfit here.

• I love Shane casually bringing up that his co-worker (played by Longfellow) is gay, and referring to it as a “condition”.

• Just as I was about to say that this was a nice little underrated gem, they had to ruin it with a completely unnecessary bit with Marcello showing off his “booty khakis” to thunderous applause from the gals in the audience. We’ve reached the point of the season where Marcello starts to be put in more sketches where the only purpose is to capitalize on his popularity with the female viewers. Another awful example of this is coming up later in the show…

Fake Ad: White Men Can Trump

A man turns his miserable life around once he finds a magical pair of Donald Trump sneakers!

• I wonder who the narrator is. It doesn’t sound like anyone in the cast.

• A unique concept of sneakers that make you act like Trump.

• Shane’s Trump impression is better than you’d expect. It’s not as dead-on as JAJ’s but it gets the job done.

• I love how whenever he says something in the Trump voice, people automatically believe him. This even extends to the numbers on his scale, which go down from 254 to 170 just because he says so. 

• Speaking of JAJ, I even liked the scene where his impression appears.

• The twist at the end with Mikey’s “Air Bidens” was a nice way to wrap things up.

• Overall, a surprisingly fresh take on Trump material. It’s just a shame that this is the only time I’ll be saying that for the rest of the season.

Sketch: The Floor

A contestant fails to recognize famous black people.

• “You’re watching FOX!” Uh-oh, this sketch is gonna suck…

• Longfellow doesn’t look or sound a thing like Rob Lowe, but it’s great to see him get so much airtime tonight.

• It’s kind of funny seeing Shane standing next to someone of Asian ethnicity. 

• Ugh, this premise of Shane failing to identify black people is so stupid. Is the joke supposed to be that he’s racist or something?

• The twist with Cleveland Brown being the one picture he correctly guesses is also extremely stupid. Oh, but they point out how dumb it is, so that makes it okay, right? No, it doesn’t!

• Then they do the same joke except it’s Ego failing to recognize famous paintings.

Musical Performance: “Redrum”

Weekend Update (featuring Frozen Embryo and Truman Capote)

• Apparently those shoes in that fake trailer are real??? I’m sure they don’t turn you into Trump in real life, but that sketch has been ruined for me a bit now that I know it wasn’t something they came up with.

• Hey, did you know that Joe Biden is old???? That’s the joke!

• Remember what I said earlier about how Marcello is starting to go downhill? Well, we have arrived at that very moment, because he’s doing a commentary as a “frozen embryo from Alabama”. I am not kidding.

• This seems very much like a role that Bowen would play, and he probably would if it weren’t for the next commentary. But I’ll get to that in a bit…

• Anyway, there is not a single laugh to be had here. This was a total shock to me when it aired live, because I’ve loved Marcello up to this point. But between this, the shitty popcorn bucket song from last time, and the “booty khakis”, dark times are ahead…

• Yet another joke about the dangers of airplanes.

• I did laugh at Colin’s joke about the end of Black History Month, and the one about a guy getting hit by a subway.

• Okay, the punchline to that WNBA joke was just gross.

• UGGGGHHHHHH, yet another Bowen commentary. This time, he’s playing Truman Capote. Not only does he sound nothing like Capote, but he’s also doing that thing I hate where he delivers all of his lines as slowly as possible.  

• It’s a shame that the impression is so bad, because I kind of like the concept of exposing what a freak this guy was. This is really how they’re going to end Update? Come on!

Sketch: Forrest Gump

The Greenbow High School reunion goes awry when Forrest Gump shows up.

• That is the worst Forrest Gump impression I have ever seen. As much as I like Mikey, he is clearly not an impressionist. He has the look down, though.

• Not much to say about this one, honestly. If you thought this was bad, just wait until the Ryan Gosling episode…

Sketch: Fugliana

The average-looking sex doll for average-looking men.

• The pose Sarah is doing is really funny.

• Love the use of the “chika-chikaaaa” from the song “Oh Yeah” by Yello whenever they say Fugliana’s name.

• JAJ: “My old sex doll looked like a woman you’d have to wine-and-dine!”

• Mikey definitely looks like the type of person who would own a sex doll.

• I love Sarah taking out a magnifying glass when Shane says he’s going to show off his penis.

• More funny facial expressions when Sarah is lipsynching to the doll’s prerecorded phrases.

• After several surprisingly bad showings, this is more of what I was expecting from Sarah.

Musical Performance: “Should’ve Wore A Bonnet”

Sketch: They’re Listening

People are worried that their technological devices are listening to them.

• I’m sure we’ve all had that feeling of unease about whether or not our smartphones can read our minds, so I find this premise very relatable.

• I love this business about Shane ordering a Green Bay Packers buttplug.

• This is most likely another concept that Shane himself brought to the show.

Cut for Time: LiMu Emu and Doug

A Liberty Mutual commercial goes dark.

• The puppet for LiMu Emu is really funny looking.

• Nice abrupt twist with the emu randomly shooting a guy.

• Shane’s performance is really good. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was yet another sketch idea that he came up with.

• The ending was a little sudden. I wanted this to go on longer.

Final thoughts: After three abysmal episodes, we finally have another good one! The reason for this one’s success can be chalked up to our host. Shane Gillis totally won me over with his great performances and unique sketch ideas. Will this rise in quality last? Probably not, but I guess we’ll have to see!

Best sketches: Monologue, White Men Can Trump, Fugliana, LiMu Emu and Doug

Worst sketches: The Floor, both Update commentaries

Next review: Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgreaves