Today’s Retro Decimator Quote is…
“Michael Che is wearing a Madea shirt for some reason. I can’t believe that’s a sentence I just typed.” (From At Home 2, Season 45)
And all these years later, I still can’t believe it. Why was he wearing that??? Oh well, on with the show!
Cold Open: Family Feud
SNL trots out a tired old format again.
• First appearance of Kenan’s Steve Harvey since 2019.
• Ugh, it’s Maya again. Please go away.
• That laugh she does is really annoying.
• All of the other member berries on the Democrat side are back too. Yaaaay…
• Steve Harvey: “Tim, when black comedians make jokes about white people, they talkin’ about you!” Okay, I did chuckle at this line.
• Ha ha, Biden thinks that he’s talking to Regis!!! You see, it’s funny because he’s old!
• What’s the deal with not including Melania? Could Cecily not make it or something? If so, then thank God, because we don’t need her making this worse. It also makes me wonder why they couldn’t just recast her. Was Cecily’s take just that irreplaceable?
• Return of Mikey as Don Jr. I know I keep saying this, but it’s still sad that they continue to have him show up without Alex Moffat.
• Bowen’s non-impression of J.D. Vance has also returned, but who cares about him?
• Now Biden thinks he’s on Wheel of Fortune!!! Isn’t that just wacky???
• These political sketches continue to flop. I haven’t seen a series of election sketches so awful since…well, the last election!!!
Monologue
Ariana talks about her role in Wicked before singing a song about keeping things low-key.
• It feels so surreal seeing Ariana Grande on SNL. I used to watch her on Nickelodeon as a kid all the time.
• Not a big fan of her election comment.
• I was expecting a musical monologue because of who’s hosting, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve had to review like 27 of them in the last few days.
• Horrifying sight of Bowen in a dress.
Sketch: Bridesmaids
Some ladies reveal secrets about a bride.
• I love the dumb voice James has at the beginning, along with the ridiculous things he’s saying.
• Another musical number??? I don’t like where this is going…
• At least Andrew is pretty good in the straight man role.
• There seems to be a microphone malfunction when Sarah sings “The next day…” No, they didn’t fix this for the online version. Why would they?
• For whatever reason, this bland, laughless sketch really blew up on TikTok, specifically the part at the end with Marcello appearing as “Domingo”. It got to the point where people started harassing Marcello IRL to do the Domingo routine. As much as I hate the route he’s been going down lately, I feel sorry for him. Nobody deserves to have that happen!
Film: My Best Friend’s House
Ariana discovers that her friend’s house is a murder site.
• Ooh, a new title card for a “Saturday Night Live Movie Matinee”!
• When I first saw this, I didn’t know what to think of the furniture and other household items randomly talking. Now I think it’s really funny, and there is a reason for it…
• Despite being our third consecutive musical sketch tonight, I’m not hating this at all.
• And now we get a big twist, where it’s revealed that this is actually the home of the “Crossword Killer”, which they subtly set up earlier when we saw Mikey doing a crossword puzzle. I didn’t catch that the first time!
• No comment on the “kinda sus” line.
• I love the shot of Sarah’s frozen head.
• Mikey’s angry ranting as he’s being taken away is one of his best performances in a long time.
• And now we see that this is the work of Dan Bulla, who has his own title card at the end featuring Tiny Horse, a Meatball (from that weird Season 47 film), Pongo (love that little guy!), and part of the Shrimp Tower.
Sketch: Charades with Mom
A mom gets tense with her son’s boyfriend.
• Big roles for Wickline and Emil Wakim in this sketch!
• Never thought I’d hear a reference to Totoro on this show.
• Bowen is also really surprising me here. This is the stuff I want to see from him.
• I never thought I’d hear Ariana Grande insult somebody’s penis size.
• You have no idea how cathartic it is to see Bowen get put in his place for once.
• Andrew: “Hey! Hey! Don’t you dare show my wife your pecker!!!”
• I love the brief use of an Ariana dummy when Bowen’s assaulting her.
• It must have really hurt Bowen inside to have to kiss Ariana. The audience goes nuts when this happens.
• Definitely one of the best sketches we’ve had so far this season. Tonight’s episode is on a roll with these last two sketches!
Fake Ad: UFC 308
Celine Dion advertises the UFC.
• Ariana reprises her Celine Dion impression from the last time she hosted. It’s nowhere near as funny or iconic as Ana Gasteyer’s, but it’s decent.
• I love the juxtaposition of Celine Dion singing one of her ballads over footage of people getting beaten up.
• Short and simple.
Musical Performance: “The Lighthouse”
Weekend Update (featuring Monica and Noel and Liam Gallagher)
• I really wish they’d stop focusing on reacting to Trump clips. This isn’t The Daily Show.
• Nice to hear the audience’s reaction to the possibility of a “Subway Series”. If they only knew how it ended…
• Ego’s first commentary in quite a while. This time, she’s playing an Amazon employee named Monica, who’s secretly not happy with her life.
• While this is a typical Ego character, something about her performance is making it come off as fresher this time. I love her freaky wide eyes!
• The “STD/USB” joke was lame, but I still laughed.
• Overall, one of Ego’s best commentaries in a long time.
• Che’s fruit fly joke was just dumb, and he follows it up with that stupid “It’s the 90’s” quote again.
• I did laugh at his R. Kelly joke, though.
• Now we get an appearance from Noel and Liam Gallagher from Oasis, played by James and Sarah, respectively.
• Sarah feels a little miscast here, but I’m okay with it as long as it’s not about her roasting Colin again.
• James, on the other hand, is spot on and hilarious as Noel!
• Despite my initial misgivings, this commentary is a lot of fun. The sight of the guys from Oasis arguing like toddlers is an amazing thing to witness.
• Never mind. Even in this setting, Sarah can’t resist getting in at least one shot at Colin! Thankfully, it’s just for a few seconds.
• The Update jokes were as bland as usual, but for the first time in forever, I actually liked both commentaries!
Sketch: Castrati
A boy singer’s genitals are removed.
• Again with the shitty Italian accents? What’s with all of the Italian stereotypes on this show lately? Kenan’s in particular is really bad.
• Now we have a pointless appearance from Maya and Andy again. I’m getting a bad feeling about this.
• As if it couldn’t get any more suspicious, now we have Ariana in drag as a little boy. WTF??? I’ve heard rumors that she’s into age play, and this certainly isn’t helping.
• Another WTF from me at the reveal that Ariana’s character has been castrated to preserve his high voice.
•. This sketch seems to be very popular with a number of other fans. I’m afraid I don’t agree with them. I thought this was way too long, full of bad stereotypes, and unnecessary cameos.
Musical Performance: “Edge of Seventeen”
Note: Okay, there’s something I really need to address here, because it’s symptomatic of how bad SNL’s technical standards have gotten. Just before this performance was scheduled to start, there was an issue with the sound board. As a result, viewers at home were treated to an overly long bumper photo of Nicks while they tried to get it fixed. This also led to a Cinema Classics sketch getting cut (Yay!!!!) which would have had Ariana reprising her Judy Garland impression from the last time she hosted.
Sketch: Maybelline
Jennifer Coolidge advertises Maybelline with various clones.
• Meh, I’ve seen enough of Chloe’s Jennifer Coolidge impression.
• Interesting twist with Ariana appearing in the mirror as a second Coolidge. They’ve done several sketches like this before (most notably the Mick Jagger one in Season 27).
• Ugh, Dana makes another appearance, this time as a third Coolidge.
Sketch: The Hotel Detective
Detective Sam Stanley trades fast-paced wordplay with a femme fatale.
• Whoa, two live sketches in a row??? Due to the mishap with the sound board earlier, it left time open for another sketch, so they hastily inserted this one from dress rehearsal. I’m not complaining, though, because more JAJ is always welcome.
• This reminds me of that noir sketch he did with Sharon Stone a couple seasons ago. I remember that one being really good.
• Already a big laugh from that Jimmy Stewart-esque “aw shucks” voice James is using, which he expertly switches out of once he reveals that he is actually a detective.
• Ariana is also a natural for this sketch. I had no idea she was able to talk that fast.
• Brief glimpse of the cue cards when Andrew’s character reveals that he is also a detective.
• Another priceless reveal that James’ character is not Sam Stanley, he’s actually “Stam Sanley”.
• Random appearance from Longfellow as Rod Serling at the end.
• This feels like a sketch that the late 80’s cast would have done. I absolutely love it! Thank God for those technical difficulties!
Final thoughts: At last we get a solid episode! While not perfect, there seemed to be a lot more effort in the writing this week. It should also go without saying that I adored Ariana’s work as well. She’s welcome to come back any time!
Best sketches: My Best Friend’s House, Charades with Mom, Oasis commentary, The Hotel Detective
Worst sketches: Family Feud, Maybelline
Next review: Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish
No comments:
Post a Comment