Cold Open
The cast pretends that they’ve been supportive of Donald Trump all along.
• Here we go, folks…
• It’s obvious that everyone is trying not to cry here. From what I’ve heard, they actually cried when Trump won the first time, which sounds hilarious. I wish there was footage of that.
• Lame turn when Kenan announces that everyone has been supporting him the whole time.
• This was uncomfortable to watch when it first aired, and I find it even more uncomfortable now.
• The smug looks on everyone’s faces are what make me really angry. You know how Colin has a book called A Very Punchable Face? That’s how everyone looks right now.
• Actually, scratch that. The thing that makes me the most angry here is the part where Sarah introduces the three newbies, and calls them all “disgusting”. Why do they keep doing this??? Did Tina Fey write that part? I now expect all three of these guys to be fired at the end of the season.
• JAJ comes out as Trump, but this time, he’s RIIIIIPPPPED! I have no idea why, besides “lol funny”.
• If you thought that was bad, then here comes Dana once again. He’s playing Elon Musk, who’s bouncing around like he did at that one Trump rally…two months ago! SNL! Behind the times yet again!!!
• Not gonna lie, this is one of the most painful things I’ve ever had to sit through for this blog. I got through the Elon Musk episode for Christ’s sake, yet this is the moment that nearly broke me. But, it could have been MUCH worse. At least we didn’t have Maya sitting at the piano singing “Hallelujah”. TLDR: this is one of the worst cold opens ever. Fuck it, let’s move on.
Monologue
Bill Burr does standup about the election, catching the flu, and Shaq’s credibility.
• I’m liking his routine about getting the flu.
• “Alright, ladies, you’re 0-2 against this guy!”
• I sure hope Jimmy Kimmel’s wife didn’t hear the jokes about pantsuits. She hates “minimizing women” to their clothes! No, I’m not making that up.
• I’m surprised they allowed the joke about feminists being ugly.
• Great material about how the assassination attempt helped Trump win.
• My favorite part is the whole run of jokes at the end about Shaquille O’Neal infomercials.
• What a huge turnaround from the horrible cold open!
Sketch: Rorschach Test
A deeply-disturbed firefighter keeps seeing cartoon characters engaging in naughty business in his inkblot test.
• Heidi flubs one of her lines pretty badly when talking about the inkblot tests. I was surprised to not see this fixed for the online version.
• James’ delivery of “Don’t be a wiseass, okay?” is hilarious. Have I ever told you how much I love JAJ and I want him to make my babies?
• Uh-oh, I don’t like the turn this is taking with Bill seeing naughty pictures of cartoon characters.
• That one image of a buff Snoopy walking Charlie Brown on a leash (I can’t believe I just wrote that) made me really uncomfortable.
• Is this sketch supposed to be someone’s sexual fantasy? I thought for sure it was a Jimmy Fowlie sketch, but I recently found the writer’s guide, and it says that the Please Don’t Destroy guys wrote this in collaboration with Dan Bulla. You know, the same Dan Bulla who wrote that heartwarming short about the monkey last week. I have a hard time believing this is his work.
Fake Ad: Buffalo Wild Wings
A Bostonian gets angry during a commercial shoot for Buffalo Wild Wings.
• Kind of ironic that they’re using this particular restaurant, because in their real commercials, they’ve been using an anthropomorphic buffalo voiced by our old friend Beck Bennett.
• A sequel to the Samuel Adams ad from Bill’s last episode, which was itself a variation of a Dunkin’ Donuts ad with Casey Affleck in Season 42.
• More great voiceover work from James.
• Figures they would cast Heidi as a Chiefs fan.
• Bill is giving it his all yet again.
• I love how Bill and Mikey’s fight scene is captioned “Real Patriots Fans”. From what my brother tells me, that’s fairly accurate!
• While not as memorable as the Samuel Adams one (which I regret giving a bad score in my original review), it’s still lots of fun.
Sketch: The Best of Snake Skin
Snake Skin’s Greatest Hits are all about sex.
• I love all the airtime Emil’s been getting so far!
• When I heard the name of the first song, “Nah-Nah Train”, I knew this would be an amazing sketch.
• Amazing performances from Andrew, Sarah, and James! Their drummer is played by writer Will Stephen, who looks like he’s actually playing the drums here and not miming to a recording.
• Emil, after hearing that song: “Wow, uh, that…sucked.”
• A laugh from Bill’s description of the band being made up of three forty year old Jews from Long Island.
• Andrew: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down…YOUR PANTIES, GIIIIIIRL!!!!”
• An absolutely hilarious pastiche of 80’s hair metal. They deserve an Emmy for this!
Film: The Janitor
In a parody of Dead Poet’s Society, a janitor’s genius is overshadowed by barf.
• Great to see another lead role for Longfellow.
• I’ve never seen Dead Poet’s Society, but Andrew’s character is cracking me up.
• Great shot of the Roomba spraying vomit all over the place after Michael picks it up.
• I even like Kenan’s appearance as the Dean. He’s playing his part surprisingly restrained.
• Shocking absolutely nobody, James’ Robin Williams impression is spot on and hilarious.
• Great ending where a JAJ stunt double slips on the vomit.
• For a sketch about something as juvenile as vomit, this was really funny.
Sketch: Calling Dad
Parents mistake emotional phone calls for trivial matters.
• Why does somebody in the audience go “Woo!” when Bill’s character is about to answer the phone?
• There aren’t many laughs here, but that’s the point. I like the slice-of-life nature of this sketch, which is something we rarely get from modern SNL.
• Bill does get a pretty funny line in at the end with his nonsense about his car having polyps in its ass.
Musical Performance: “Rockman”
• “Rockman”? You mean like Mega Man?
• *sees song and it turns out to not be about what I thought* What is this?!??? This song sucks!!!!
Weekend Update (featuring Willie and A Woman Who Can’t Find Something In Her Purse)
• *sigh* Prepare for pain…
• If you know me, then you know that I absolutely hated the altar boy joke.
• Hmm, these jokes aren’t as bad as I remembered. But here comes Ego to change all that with a specifically named character commentary.
• Ego is performing as well as she usually does, but she can’t save this tepid prop comedy routine.
• What does Donald Trump have to do with a joke about a women’s baseball league?
• I liked the joke about Gladiator and Wicked combining to make “Glad-Dicked”.
• Oh, wow, Che just made a joke implying that all police officers are racist! Never seen that before!
• Che follows that with a pretty solid Diddy joke, which he then ruins by doing his stupid “It’s the 90’s” catchphrase again. Why does he keep saying that????
• I’m surprised at how much I’m laughing at some of these jokes. That one about the AOL “You’ve got mail” guy was really funny.
• Kenan brings back his Willie character for the first time since 2020.
• He won me over as soon as he mentioned that he can’t be Che’s neighbor anymore because he lives near a school.
• A particularly funny line about running over Lorne Michaels.
• The only thing I don’t like is Che’s constant laughter at this. Has he been possessed by Seth Myers?
• Overall, a surprisingly strong Update once we got past all the Trump stuff.
Sketch: Bald Men
A romantic date gets interrupted by bald men singing about how wonderful it is to be bald.
• I feel like we’ve barely seen Mikey this season. It’s obvious that his time is up now that he’s had the Biden impression taken away from him.
• He’s wasted no time in bringing out his trademark explaining and reacting routine!
• Thankfully, that isn’t the focus, because we are then treated to a fantastic song about bald people.
• There are certain times where I see something on this show that leaves me absolutely speechless, and this is one of those moments. This has to be the largest amount of bald people on stage at once.
• I urge you to go watch this amazing piece of music for yourself, because my words can’t do it justice.
Sketch: Trauma Support Group
A traumatized man isn’t very good at sharing his trauma with others.
• The look of Bill’s character is hilarious!
• I like Bowen’s douchebag character. It’s like he’s trying to channel Beck Bennett.
• Funny part where Bowen says he’s upset that his vote didn’t count, only to reveal that this is because he was watching an old episode of The Voice.
• Emil has been all over this episode! Sadly, this increase in airtime doesn’t last, because he goes back to his usual underuse next week.
• The part about Tubi was another really funny scene.
• Is this even Bowen Yang I’m watching right now? Why is he not annoying me? Am I in an alternate reality?
• You can see Bowen trying to hold back his laughter after he puts out his cigarette on Ashley’s leg.
• The hits just keep on coming in this episode! This is definitely one of Bowen’s best performances!
Musical Performance: “Alesis”
Sketch: I Got One
Linda isn’t good at telling jokes.
• Ashley Padilla’s first lead role! Apparently this is a character she used to play at The Groundlings.
• I can tell this is a character she’s been playing for years. She is coming off as a natural when telling her awful dog joke.
• A particularly funny reaction face from Kenan when Ashley is telling the same joke again.
• I got a big laugh from the mention of Ashley collapsing at Marshall’s.
• A heartwarming ending where they all admit that Ashley was actually kind of funny.
Note: A memorial for Quincy Jones appears before the goodnights.
Final thoughts: With the exception of the cold open, this was one of the strongest episodes in a long time! Bill Burr was an amazing host yet again! Why can’t he be in the Five-Timer’s Club instead of Mulaney?
Best sketches: Monologue, Snake Skin, Willie’s commentary, Bald Men
Worst sketches: Cold Open, Rorschach Test
Next review: Charli XCX
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