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
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