SNL Reviews: Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers (2/6/21)

 Cold Open

Unfunny shenanigans happen during the Super Bowl pre-game show.

• Refreshing to see a non-political cold open for once. Too bad it has to be about something I have no interest in.

• I am at least familiar enough with James Brown to know that Kenan looks and sounds nothing like him. Also, they make a predictable joke where he has to clarify that he’s not the singer of the same name.

• Chris Redd’s wig as Nate Burleson made me chuckle when I first saw it.

• The Nickelodeon slime joke fell totally flat.

• The BLM commercial turning into an ad for Cheez-It made me laugh.

• A Pizzagate joke in 2021? Lame.

• Good lord, I hated that Budweiser Frogs scene.

• Aidy Bryant shows up as Chiefs coach Andy Reid, and then again as the Buccaneers’ coach Bruce Arlens. Jesus, they really are trying to turn her into the next Kate McKinnon.

• The live airing of this sketch had a few problems with the on-screen graphics. This seems to have been fixed for the online version.

Monologue

Dan Levy gives a tour of SNL’s COVID-friendly backstage area.

• Levy looks psyched to be hosting.

• He’s telling some really groanworthy COVID jokes.

• I was actually enjoying this somewhat until we get some lame prop comedy with a “security officer” keeping Dan away from the audience.

• When he walks backstage there’s a cute moment when he points at a portrait of Catherine O’Hara (who plays his mom on Schitt’s Creek) and says, “I think I know this lady.” But then that gets ruined by that annoying safety officer hitting him again.

• We get our traditional backstage llama sighting in the scene with Kenan.

• And now, the moment I was waiting for, Eugene Levy returns to the show for the first time since a brief cameo in 1985. He was supposed to host that year before a writer’s strike cancelled those plans.

• Unfortunately, Eugene is stuck saying his lines inside of a glass box. This is only the second time he’s appeared on the show, and he’s not even allowed to interact with his own son? That’s just downright evil! Despite that, however, it’s great to see him here again.

• I really wanted to like this monologue, but it got ruined by all of the retarded COVID jokes.

Sketch: Universal Studios Tram Tour

Corporate synergy to the max!

• A big groan from me when I saw that this takes place on the Universal lot. Can we go at least one episode without shilling for the boss?

• The fact that Mikey plays the lead role in this sketch is an obvious indication that he wrote it. Uh oh, I guess that means we can expect a lot of explaining the jokes.

• Ego is wasted with a role where we can only see the back of her head.

• Very random how Dan’s character is named “Thoby”. Do I detect Sublette?

• Blatant research failure where they claim that the live-action Flintstones movie came out in 1993 (it was 1994). Also, I thought for sure that the online upload would remove the B-52s’ song playing during this part, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

• Some tasteless child molesting jokes about Back To The Future (don’t ask).

• I find it unintentionally funny how the background footage doesn’t match up with what the tour guides are describing. For example, Mikey starts talking about Jurassic Park, but they appear to be going through the Jaws area of the tour. Trust me, I’m a big movie backlot nerd, so I know what I’m talking about.

• It’s really dumb, but I laughed at Dan’s “lesbian dinosaur” joke.

• Not gonna lie, that’s a pretty damn good Gru impression from Asian Terry Sweeney. I also got a laugh from the ridiculous prosthetic nose he’s wearing.

• Another funny background mismatch when Mikey points out the King Kong attraction, but they are clearly going through the Colonial Street part of the backlot (the area where The Munsters’ house is). This is then followed by a horrible joke about Dan losing his virginity.

• While not as terrible as I remembered, this was still pretty bad. I don’t think it belongs on my Worst Sketches list anymore.

Film: Zillow

The only website to fulfill your sexiest desires: Zillow.com!

• I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I hate how SNL has slowly transitioned from creative ads for fake products to lame ads for real products. I’m not too familiar with Zillow, but is it really this “sexy”?

Sketch: Super Bowl Pod

A group of friends tell each other the many ways they’ve been staying safe from COVID-19.

• Nice to see Chris Redd in another big role. Usually he’s lucky to just get one appearance.

• This sketch is devolving into a bunch of lame gay jokes. We’re still resorting to this type of humor in 2021?

• It’s rather surprising that this is only the first time Kate McKinnon has appeared in the episode. Unfortunately, it’s another appearance from her creepy Fauci impression. Ugh.

• Pointless appearance from Asian Terry Sweeney as Psy. Maybe that joke would have worked in 2012, but not here.

Sketch: Lifting Our Voices

A BET show that highlights some of the Black community’s “white allies”.

• Good Lord, Kenan’s doing that one voice yet again.

• I like the randomness of TNT’s Ernie Johnson being an example of a “white ally”.

• Some surprising restraint from this sketch not directly coming out and saying that all white people are bad. I guess one reason for that would be that Michael Che is not credited as one of the writers.

• I like Punkie Johnson’s character in this, especially the line about her white classmates wearing cornrows looking like they just got back from a Jamaican cruise.

• Second sketch in a row with a big role for Chris Redd! I love his performance in this.

• That photoshopped picture of Dan with Tupac is hilarious.

• Another laugh from the brief joke about Dan’s John Lewis tattoo actually being a tattoo of Al Roker.

• Kyle Mooney is killing it as his ally character. The creepy ways he refers to his wife’s skin color are great, and so is the disturbing painting he made of the two of them.

• I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed this sketch the second time around. It was kept at the right length, and didn’t get too political.

Musical Performance: “Kyoto”

Weekend Update (featuring Janet Noonan and Lowell Fitzroy, and TwinsTheNewTrend)

• Christ, YET ANOTHER GODDAMN JOKE ABOUT MITCH MCCONNELL HATING KIDS!!!! Please stop it!

• Tasteless joke about Stevie Wonder “pretending” to be blind, followed by a tasteless 9/11 joke.

• Mikey and Heidi debut these new characters who “cancel” children. I want to like this concept, but the fact that it centers around insulting children makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

• Yet another big role for Chris Redd, this time as part of a commentary where he and Kenan play these two teenagers who react to songs they’ve never heard of before. This could be promising…

• I’m surprised they left this commentary in for the online upload, since it’s about them reacting to popular songs.

• This actually isn’t too bad. I love the voice Redd is using for his character.

• The line where he confuses NBC for STDs (it makes sense in context) was funny.

• I cringed when they started playing “Baby Shark”, but their reactions to it afterwards more than made up for that.

• I like the random choice of the Meow Mix jingle being one of the songs they react to.

• An even more hilarious part where they react to the Alphabet Song, and say that every kid should hear it.

• We end on a funny meta reference with them listening to the SNL theme song.

Sketch: Hot Damn

When the TV breaks at a bar, two bartenders try to entertain everyone else by singing a popular football song.

• This is Cecily’s only live sketch all night (she was also in that pre-taped Zillow commercial from earlier).

• This is another installment of those awful Anderson/Sublette sketches where characters try to get their friends to sing a non-existent song. All of these sketches suck, and this one is no exception.

• Kenan has a good line after saying that he doesn’t remember the song: “I remember what you just did, and I will remember dat for a while!”

• Levy’s singing voice is nice, I have to admit.

• And there’s the usual ending to these, where it turns out that “OMGZ WE ACTUALLY DO KNOW THIS SONG!!!” One minor difference this time is that it takes Kenan longer than the others to realize that he knows it, even looking it up on Google and finding results for a song by Clipse.

Sketch: Wedding Friends

Two friends (Levy, McKinnon) try to stop a bride (Ego Nwodim) from making a big mistake.

• This is only McKinnon’s second appearance in the episode, and she spends all of it mugging for the camera.

• Wow, Mikey’s been all over this episode! In this one, he plays the groom, whose only role is to react to all of the CRAZY characters around him.

• A boring sketch, and Kate just made this unbearable for me to watch.

Musical Performance: “I Know The End”

Film: It Gets Better

A campaign video for LGBT people shows how its participants’ lives improved as they got older.

• Figures that they’d put Asian Terry Sweeney, Kate McKinnon, Punkie, and Dan in this sketch.

• Funny line from Asian Terry Sweeney about how straight people don’t bully him anymore. Now it’s just gay people.

• I don’t know what the running joke with Kate and her pet iguana is all about.

• Are those photos they’re showing actually of them when they were younger?

• I wanted to like this sketch, but the whole iguana thing is just bizarre.

Final thoughts: Another bland episode. While we did get that surprisingly good BET sketch, everything else was bad as usual. Dan Levy was a great host, though, and I’d like to see him come back again.

Best sketches: Eugene Levy’s cameo, Lifting Our Voices, TwinsTheNewTrend commentary

Worst sketches: Universal Studios Tram Tour, Super Bowl Pod, Hot Damn, Wedding Friends

Next Review: Regina King/Nathaniel Rateliff, an episode so boring that I nearly gave up reviewing because of it.

Seriously, though, what is the deal with that fucking iguana?

SNL Reviews: John Krasinski/Machine Gun Kelly (1/30/21)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is my 100th post!

Cold Open

Kate McKinnon interviews various people about current events.

• Odd to see Kate playing herself here.

• Cecily appears as that crazy senator Marjorie Taylor-Greene. Unfortunately, the real Greene is so crazy that she’s already a parody, so trying to make fun of her is not possible.

• We already get a bad penis joke and it hasn’t even been five minutes.

• Several other bad impressions follow, but none of them are worth mentioning, except for the random return of Kenan as OJ. People are still making OJ Simpson jokes in 2021?

Note: Aidy Bryant returns from her extended absence.

Monologue

Krasinski deals with rowdy fans of “The Office”.

• Krasinski was supposed to host in March 2020, before COVID happened.

• We’ve shockingly had very few question monologues this season, but this one is just as shitty as ever, because it focuses on “The Office”, a show that I absolutely hate.

• I’m surprised with how far society has come that SNL is still resorting to the tired old “guys kissing each other on the lips for a cheap laugh” routine. There’s a part when Pete Davidson shows up and kisses Krasinski. If Pete Davidson came up to me and kissed me on the lips, I’d wash my mouth out with a shotgun.

Sketch: Blue Georgia 

Now that Georgia has gone blue, locals explain the new rules to a visitor from the North.

• Another “funny accent” sketch, so you just know that this one is gonna suck.

• There goes Beck Bennett speaking in that annoying Southern voice he uses for half of his political impressions. I’m so glad that this is his final season.

• And there’s Kenan doing THAT voice again. (You know the one I’m talking about, right?)

• Boy, the “satire” in this sketch is really, really, bad. It tries to mock millennial/“woke” culture, but it’s very limp-wristed and not offensive at all. If Norm wrote this sketch, he would have gone all out. Speaking of writers, the Southern accents made me think that Kent Sublette was behind this, as he and James Anderson love putting Southern accented characters in the sketches they write. Turns out it was actually Michael Che and Bryan Tucker.

• The gag with each character mentioning what their pronouns are fell totally flat with me, and it sounds like the audience had no response to it, either.

• I did get a laugh from this line of Beck’s: “Well, I hope you know what we do with Jewish people out here in Georgia…we elect them!” Nice bait-and-switch gag.

Film: The Loser

A college kid (Krasinski) has a unique way of defending his brother (Andrew Dismukes) from bullies.

• I’d love to know what that manga Dismukes is reading at the beginning is. 

• Apart from that interesting detail, there’s not too much I have to say about this. It had a nice concept, but it just came off as really boring.

Sketch: Twins

A guest on CNBC has some very unusual children.

• I’m sure I’ve said this in the past, but I really like it when SNL comes up with bizarre concepts for sketches. I feel like I should enjoy this one a lot. For some reason, though, there’s just something about it that’s keeping me from enjoying it.

• I suppose one reason could be that one of the creepy children is played by Kate McKinnon, who’s mugging up a storm in this. She’s taking out a lot of the potential enjoyment I could have had here.

• Mikey Day plays the other twin, and he’s pulling it off much better. 

• I would have liked that creepy baby sculpture if they hadn’t given it that stupid name (“Centipediatric”). Actually, I’m sure a lot of the creepy stuff in this (like the painting in the background) would have worked better if they didn’t point it out. But that’s a big problem that a lot of fans have noticed with sketches that Mikey writes: the characters keep explaining all of the jokes.

• Oh, and I hate that this ends with the twins showing up in the CNBC studio for some reason. 

• This sketch had a lot of potential, but it was ruined by poor casting choices and Mikey’s limitations as a writer.

Film: Now That’s What I Call Theme Songs Sung By The Stars Of The Show

Characters from shows I’ve never seen sing their theme songs.

• First off, what a terrible title.

• Yeah, so, in case you couldn’t tell from my description, this is another sketch that requires you to be a fan of the thing being parodied to understand it. Apart from one show that I’ll mention in a bit, I’ve never seen any of these.

• That Stranger Things part with Beck was freaking awful.

• Not gonna lie, Cecily’s Julie Andrews is pretty good.

• Really bad Gillian Anderson impression from Kate. And her scene ends with her mugging for the camera, as usual.

• FUCK NO!!! In the scene with The Mandalorian, we get another fucking Baby Yoda appearance!!! Thankfully, this is the last one I have to review in Season 46! 

• Alex Moffat as Kelsey Grammer was so bad it was funny. Also, the lyrics they give him to sing are complete shit.

• One of the worst “celebrity impression parade” sketches in recent memory, and it rightfully earned a place on my Worst Sketches of Season 46 list.

Sketch: Pandemic Game Night

A game night goes awry thanks to the guests’ secrets.

• Like I said in the Daniel Craig review from last season, any attempt at a game night setting will always fall short of the classic sketch with Rachel Dratch’s character going crazy.

• Even though this is the first episode to air after the January 6th Capitol riots, they surprisingly haven’t mentioned it until now, with this scene where Beck is arrested for having been there.

• Despite what I said earlier, I actually would have preferred if this remained a game night sketch, as it quickly turns into a repetitive one joke sketch about people being arrested for dumb shit.

• I groaned so hard when Aidy called everyone a “bubble of cucks”. Ugggggghhhhh!!!!

• Wow, what a surprise. Kent Sublette is one of the writers here. That explains why it sucked so much.

Musical Performance: “My Ex’s Best Friend”

• This one ends with him throwing his guitar into the crowd. I wonder if it landed on anybody?

Weekend Update (featuring Mike Lindell, Martin Scorcese, Fran Liebowitz, and Cathy Anne)

• Extremely tasteless joke about Rand Paul getting beat up. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if they had made that joke about a Democrat, they would have been fired.

• Second and final appearance of Beck’s Mike Lindell impression. This one sucked just as bad as the first, with the additional “bonus” of jokes suggesting that he’s racist. Get it? If you support Donald Trump, that means you’re a racist!

• I’m surprised it’s taken this long to cast Asian Terry Sweeney as a woman. He’s playing some lady named Fran Liebowitz that I’ve never heard of, and along with that is Kyle Mooney doing the worst Martin Scorcese impression ever. I’m not too familiar with what he sounds like, but I’m pretty sure Scorcese doesn’t have special needs.

• Another disgusting joke about the world’s tallest dog getting his head chopped off by a ceiling fan. What do these creeps have against animals?

• *sigh* Cathy Anne is back once again, the first time she’s appeared in nearly a year. No matter how many times I think she’s been retired, she keeps coming back like the fucking plague. At least this is her last appearance as of December 2021.

Sketch: Supermarket Sweep

Two best friends dominate a game show thanks to their special bond.

• Second episode in a row to have a Game Show Network sketch. Thankfully, it’s not another Secret Word. Instead, we get a parody of Supermarket Sweep, which, ironically, currently has a revival hosted by former SNL cast member Leslie Jones.

• Krasinski is coming off pretty well as a game show host. I’m glad they didn’t give it to Kenan again. Speaking of Kenan, where’s he been in this episode? He hasn’t shown up since that Georgia thing earlier.

• Unfortunately, this isn’t much better than a typical Secret Word sketch, as it quickly devolves into another self-indulgent Bryant/McKinnon pairing where the only joke is that they’re lesbians. The nice break we had from these while Aidy was out was fun while it lasted.

Sketch: Subway

Two employees have trouble welcoming a new co-worker.

• Figures as soon as I ask where Kenan is, he shows up in this sketch.

• The boardroom setting of this sketch is giving me some bad vibes of the infamous “Sparklebrite Toothpaste” sketch from Season 20, but this thankfully isn’t as bad as that was.

• Big night for Andrew Dismukes. Unfortunately, this upswing in his airtime doesn’t last long, if I remember correctly.

• When I saw that this sketch was about Subway, I knew that at some point they would make a Jared Fogle joke. Sure enough, that’s exactly what I got near the end. I love being able to predict what lame jokes this show is going to make.

Musical Performance: Lonely

Sketch: Ratatouille 

A man (Krasinski) reveals to his partner (Chloe Fineman) why he’s so good at sex.

• I actually missed this sketch when the episode first aired, because I thought the episode would be over after the second musical number. I didn’t miss much, because this is yet another Season 46 sketch where they ruin a beloved children’s property with lame sex jokes.

• Already a bad sign of how this sketch is going to go when this turns into a Ratatouille parody, and they have Remy claim that his name is “Ratatouille”, proving that these writers have never seen the movie.

• Really lame twist where Remy reveals that he has a little helper on top of his head. It’s a bug played by Aidy, speaking in an annoying voice.

• An unintentional laugh from Krasinski flicking the bug off of Remy’s head, but the tiny bug prop isn’t shown to come off of his head at all. Then another unintentional laugh when we cut back to the close up view, and Aidy’s lower half is cut off by the green screen effects. I’m surprised that they left this in on the YouTube upload. But it’s a shame that one of the few laughs I got in this episode was a technical error.

• Can this awful sketch get any worse? Why, yes, it can! After it aired, they got accused of plagiarizing it from a podcast called “Cum Town” (seriously?), which, coincidentally, sometimes features appearances from Shane Gillis, the guy who got fired before joining the cast. I have no idea whether or not these accusations are true, but the Gillis connection certainly makes me believe it.

Note: A dedication card for former host Cicely Tyson is shown before the goodnights.

Final thoughts: Geez, this has to be one of the worst episodes I’ve ever reviewed. I knew I was probably gonna hate it since the host is from a show I can’t stand, but I didn’t know it was gonna be this bad! 

Best sketches: NONE!

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Monologue, Now That’s What I Call…, Pandemic Game Night, Ratatouille

Next review: Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers 

SNL Reviews: Timothee Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen (12/12/20)

 Cold Open

Wolf Blitzer interviews Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx about the new COVID vaccine.

• Beck Bennett is one of the worst impressionists this show has ever had. Not only does he look nothing like Wolf Blitzer, he doesn’t sound anything like him either.

• The actual jokes they have him say aren’t much better. He compares the release of the vaccine to the launch of the PlayStation 5, because…random? Or were they hoping to get one from Sony?

• First appearance of Kate’s disturbing Fauci impression. I’m not too familiar with Deborah Birx, but I’m sure Heidi looks and sounds nothing like her.

• As is the case with all cold opens featuring Kate as a male politician, this one is boring, long, and unfunny. Also, I have no idea what to say about that baffling running gag where the females in the audience throw bras at Fauci.

Monologue

Chalamet shares what he loves about Christmas in New York.

• I was surprised by his voice when I first saw this. It was not the type of voice I expected to hear coming out of someone who looks like him.

• Apparently his mom used to be an extra on this show, which he then proves by showing a clip of her in the background of a Dana Carvey sketch called “Massive Headwound Harry”. Always nice to see Carvey on the show again, even if it is just an archive clip, and words cannot describe how sad it is to see Chris Farley in it too.

• I also liked his line after the clip is shown: “That’s my mom! She almost got spit on by Chris Farley!”

• Another random musical number follows, but thankfully, his likability is making come off as more tolerable.

• Not even the random Pete Davidson appearance could ruin it, even though I was totally expecting it, given that he’s impersonated him in the past.

• I’m surprised at how good a lot of the monologues I’ve been reviewing lately have been.

Sketch: A Rona Family Christmas

Living coronavirus particles argue with each other during a Christmas reunion.

• Unfortunately, things come to a screeching halt with this awful sketch, which made it onto my Worst Sketches of Season 46 list a while ago.

• So many corny jokes in this, such as the names of the characters, and the bad puns (“Our daughter’s a superspreader!”). I was not surprised at all to see that Kent Sublette is one of this sketch’s writers (along with Colin Jost and Dan Bulla).

• Lauren Holt is wasted as the daughter. They really had no idea what to do with her.

• Figures they would name Asian Terry Sweeney’s character “Oral”.

•  I refuse to talk about this awful sketch any further, so let’s just move on.

Film: Lexus

A dad’s gift for his family doesn’t go as well as he had hoped.

• Busy night for Beck Bennett so far. He’s appeared in everything but the cold open.

• I guess the fact that they don’t accept his gift is supposed to be funny? But I’m certainly not laughing. These thinly-disguised ads for real products are getting on my nerves.

Sketch: The Dionne Warwick Talk Show

Dionne Warwick (Ego Nwodim) fails to identify the celebrity guests on her talk show.

• Here’s one of SNL’s favorite crutches: a celebrity talk show sketch! 

• Out of all the celebrities they could have put in this situation, why Dionne Warwick? She hasn’t been relevant in, like, forever. I have a feeling that Ego is a big fan of her and just wanted to play her in a sketch.

• I have no idea if the tweets she shows at the beginning are actual tweets that the real Warwick made, but they’re not funny.

• I have only the faintest familiarity with Warwick’s music, so I have no idea how accurate the voice is, but Ego’s performance is really nice.

• Spot-on Harry Styles impression by Timothee. 

• The joke of Warwick not knowing who her guests are gets old after a few seconds, along with her constant threats towards Wendy Williams. Are the two of them in a feud or something?

• Another great impression, this one from Melissa as Billie Eilish.

• Chloe Fineman brings back her baffling impression of tonight’s host from one of the At Home episodes. I hated it there, and it’s even worse here.

• Perfect casting of Pete Davidson as Machine Gun Kelly. He unfortunately only gets a couple of lines before they end the sketch.

• A rare misfire for Ego Nwodim, but that doesn’t stop them from bringing this back two more times.

Film: Tiny Horse

A farm boy has big dreams for his tiny pet horse.

• A surprisingly heartwarming short film about a boy and his miniature horse.

• I like the use of stop-motion to represent the horse instead of CGI. I feel like that adds to the heartwarming nature of this sketch.

• Special mention must go to Chalamet, who really sells the boy’s love for his pet.

• Random Jimmy Fallon cameo, because, why not?

• I really appreciate how they didn’t take the easy way out by ending the short with someone stepping on the horse. After all of the lame predictable jokes I’ve been seeing lately, it’s nice to know that SNL still has some restraint every now and then.

Musical Performance: “Ghosts”

• The funniest part of this entire episode comes when people start booing Springsteen at the end of this song!

Weekend Update (featuring Wayne Wenowdis and Melissa Villaseñor)

• Dear God, NO!!!! We get an unwelcome return from that awful Wenowdis character from the Bill Burr episode. And, just like last time, McKinnon breaks in the middle of the commentary. Please never bring this character back again.

• Melissa Villaseñor does a commentary where she sings some Christmas songs. And she does it while singing in a Dolly Parton voice, which honestly isn’t that bad.

• Second week in a row to have a “joke” about running someone over. 

Sketch: Holiday Baking Championship

Some more disgusting cakes are presented on this cooking show.

• After the amazing previous installment of this sketch with Eddie Murphy, I hoped they would never bring it back. I was sad to see that I was wrong, but gave them a chance.

• Since Aidy’s still out, Cecily takes her usual role as a judge.

• Timothee’s “tragic” backstory where he got hit by a car was interesting, but then it became funny when he revealed it was a guy in a Lightning McQueen costume at Disney World.

• Our typical juvenile Season 46 jokes are coming off as funny in this setting, with Timothee’s disturbing cake that looks like a butthole (and Ego wondering if they can even show the cake on TV).

• Normally, I would have been disgusted by the brown foamy chocolate coming out of the cake, but they save it when Heidi says she sees corn in it, while Timothee corrects her by saying it’s actually a marshmallow.

• Even the mandatory dick joke with Kyle Mooney’s character is okay.

• A slight step down from the Murphy installment, but I still got enough laughs.

Sketch: Rap Roundtable

Questlove (himself) and Queen Latifah (Punkie Johnson) face off against a rap duo in a panel discussing hip-hop music.

• This, on the other hand, I did not get enough laughs from. It is the epitome of all the terrible “urban” humor this show has shat out in the last few years.

• A big groan from the name of Ego’s character (“Nunya Bizness”).

• It’s nice to see Questlove here (The Roots are a hidden weakness of mine), and I like Punkie’s impression of Queen Latifah, but things go downhill immediately once Pete Davidson and Timothee appeared as those two rappers.

• If you want proof that white guys can’t rap, just watch this sketch. They had better not bring this back.

Musical Performance: “I’ll See You In My Dreams”

Sketch: Sportsmax

The latest offering from Newsmax.

• Uggghhhh…time for another Republican bashing sketch. This time, they use football as a “clever” analogy, replacing Trump with the Jets.

• That voice Beck is using is VERY annoying. It may be the most unbearable voice I’ve ever heard on this show. In fact, I might have to end the review there because I can’t take it anymore!

Final thoughts: A slightly better episode than I remembered, but still uneven as a whole. For every good sketch like “Tiny Horse”, we also got that horrible Coronavirus Christmas shit. Another thing I noticed about this episode was that Kenan is nowhere to be seen in it, not even in the rapper sketch. Maybe that’s why some parts of this episode felt fresher than usual.

Best sketches: Monologue, Tiny Horse, Springsteen getting booed, Holiday Baking Championship, the lack of Kenan

Worst Sketches: Cold Open, A Rona Family Christmas, the return of Wenowdis, Sportsmax

Next review: John Krasinski/Machine Gun Kelly

SNL Reviews: Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen (12/5/20)

 Cold Open: Michigan Election Hearing

Rudy Giuliani tries to prove to the Michigan court that the 2020 election was fraudulent.

• No further comment on the return of Giuliani.

• This is the first episode of the entire season that Cecily Strong appears in. She missed the previous six as she was in Vancouver filming her new show, “Schmigadoon!”, which, with a title like that, I’m sure it’s going to fail.

• Unfortunately, I can’t say I’ve missed her presence, because her voice in this sketch is very annoying.

• Speaking of annoying voices, Heidi Gardner’s redneck character is a pain to listen to.

• Now we get the debut of Beck Bennett’s horrible Mike Lindell impression. It’s terrible and it isn’t impressing anyone.

• Lauren Holt is wasted yet again with a mostly silent role, but at least she gets to do her first “Live From New York” at the end.

• A horrible cold open. Probably one of the worst of the season.

Monologue

Jason Bateman remembers getting attacked by a monkey in his previous appearance on the show.

• An interesting variation of what some fans call the “Carlin Line”, where a returning host says something along the line of “I did such a good job (X) years ago that they couldn’t wait to have me back!” This time, after telling us his last appearance was 15 years ago, Jason says, “Obviously I made quite an impression.” I find this particular variation funny because of how awful that episode was, so it’s like he’s implying that they never invited him back because of that.

• The real meat of the monologue comes when he remembers the story of a sketch he was in called “Monkeys Throwing Poop At Celebrities”, which, despite the stupid sounding title, was actually one of the better sketches from that night. The monkey in that sketch was a real adult male chimpanzee. At the end of the show, during the goodnights, he tried to bite Jason’s face off. Jason proves that he’s not making this up by showing footage of it. It’s hilarious to see it again, and it’s also nice to see all of the old cast members (and a younger Kenan) in it as well, particularly Rachel Dratch and her reaction to the monkey’s antics.

• Funny twist at the end where Jason says the monkey was “destroyed” later that night.

• My second review in a row with a surprisingly good monologue. I always like it when a returning host talks about their past experiences on the show.

Sketch: Sleepover

A dad (Bateman) tries to find out who stained the couch during his daughter’s sleepover.

• This sketch from last season’s Adam Driver episode becomes recurring, with Jason taking over as the father.

• I honestly don’t know why they brought this back, as the first one wasn’t even that good.

• This is exactly the same as the last one, except this time there are some gross jokes about women having periods. Did Amy Schumer write this?

Film: Stu

In a parody of “Stan” by Eminem, Santa (Bateman) receives letters from an insistent fan.

• Not another self-indulgent rap song from Pete Davidson. I hate these!

• This one has the added “bonus” of being a parody of an Eminem song, an artist that I really do not like.

• Oh, and in case we didn’t get the joke, Eminem himself shows up!

• Kate McKinnon makes an appearance in this as the British singer Dido, whose song “Thank You” was sampled in “Stan”. Apart from “White Flag”, I’m not too familiar with Dido, but I can tell that it sounds nothing like her.

• Asian Terry Sweeney is in this as Elton John, because of fucking course he is.

Sketch: Outdoor Cabaret

Note: This is another sketch that isn’t available online due to music rights. Once again, it’s no big loss, because I remember it being really bad, and it has Asian Terry Sweeney playing a gay guy for the second sketch in a row.

Film: The Christmas Conversation

Three girls call up their moms to tell them they won’t be home for Christmas.

• Nice to see them use the entire female cast in this, with the exception of Aidy Bryant, who isn’t in this episode for some reason.

• Lauren Holt gets a bunch of lines here. This must be the largest amount of airtime she ever gets in a sketch.

• This is the only time we see Kenan in this episode. I feel like I haven’t been talking about him that much in my last few reviews.

• I wanted this to be more of a heartwarming sketch, but it went on a little too long, and it was too jokey for my liking.

Sketch: Morgan Wallen Party

Morgan Wallen (himself) gets a message from his future selves.

• Nice to see the musical guest in an actual sketch.

• This is making fun of how Wallen got taken off of the second episode of the season for not following COVID protocols. I’m surprised he allowed them to do this.

• This sketch has an added irony to it a year later. Not long after this aired, Wallen’s career was ruined after a video of him saying racial slurs while drunk appeared online. Maybe they should have had another future version show up and warn him about that!

• While Wallen is talking to Bateman, a black extra in the background is getting too committed to his role, making funny faces while pretending to eat his food.

• Asian Terry Sweeney plays another future version of Wallen. Hearing him attempt to speak in a Southern accent is painful, but at least it isn’t another gay role.

• I really wanted to like this sketch, as I like it when SNL does meta premises. Sadly, I don’t think the writers are that talented to pull it off anymore.

Musical Performance: “7 Summers”

Weekend Update (featuring Pete Davidson and Bailey Gismert)

• A genuine laugh from Colin’s joke about Bill Clinton buying the vaccine on Brazzers.

• Davidson’s commentary received some criticism from right-wing media for the part where he derided lockdown protesters and called them “babies”. While I can’t say I agree with what they were protesting, I think that his insult was extremely lame.

• Absolutely disgusting joke from Che about him running over an old lady who survived COVID twice. This man has no shame.

• No further comment on the return of Bailey Gismert, except that this is thankfully her final appearance as of December 2021.

Sketch: Santa’s Village

Social distancing rules interfere with a Mall Santa’s attempts to interact with a family.

• Rather unique concept for a sketch.

• I like how Santa’s elf is just a robot with a screen showing someone’s face on it. This leads to some funny antics later where you can see Kyle making faces on it while the others are talking.

• Despite being an old, tired cliche, the pratfalls in this sketch from Jason and Cecily are really impressive, especially considering they have to do them while inside of these plastic bubbles.

• Nice ending where Santa and Mrs. Claus fall on Mikey and Melissa’s characters as they get their picture taken.

• Despite being really dumb on the surface, I liked this sketch for having some nice physical work that you don’t really see on the show anymore.

Musical Performance: “Still Goin’ Down”

Film: Bits

A man (Mooney) struggles to come up with funny jokes for his friends.

• I’d comment on the irony of this sketch being about a guy who ruins jokes for everyone, but I’ve already made my point that the writers are hacks numerous times before.

• The brief bit of stop-motion in Kyle’s song was nice, at least.

Final thoughts: Another weak episode. Bateman didn’t stand out much as a host, but his performances were okay. On the saw bright side, though, we did get two surprisingly strong things in this episode, so, yay, I guess?

Best sketches: Monologue, Santa’s Village

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Sleepover, Stu, Weekend Update

Next review: Timothee Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen

SNL Reviews: Keegan-Michael Key/Olivia Rodrigo (5/15/21)

 Cold Open

Anthony Fauci demonstrates different scenarios regarding the new mask guidelines.

• UGGGGHHHHHH!!!! Kate McKinnon’s horrible Anthony Fauci impression! I’ve been dreading having to cover this…thing.

• Her voice is just her normal voice but with a slight accent. She’s not even trying to sound like a man.

• Not too much for me to say about this sketch, except that it contained everything I hate about this season rolled into one.

Monologue

As a first time host, Keegan-Michael Key attempts to perfect his monologue.

• You can tell he’s really excited to be hosting. He relates a story about how he used to sneak downstairs when he was little and try to catch the show. I’m surprised that he didn’t mention his days on MADtv.

• This is then followed by…*sigh*…a musical number. I will say, however, that he’s making this come off more tolerable with his surprisingly good singing voice.

• Pete shows up to give Key a tattoo. When he says that they should wait until after the show, Pete gets in a cheeky reference to last week’s host: “Aw, that’s what Elon said, man…”

• He even makes fun of pointless celebrity cameos when Cecily comes out to join him, saying that he was expecting a celebrity to help him with his monologue.

• Then, it randomly turns into a questions from the audience monologue. Thankfully, it doesn’t last too long.

• As much as I hate the direction he’s been going in lately, I was so happy to see Kenan again after the really bad week he had last time.

• Overall, surprisingly not too bad for a musical monologue. I enjoyed this a lot more than I did when I first watched it.

Sketch: Braxton High School Prom Red Carpet

Red carpet coverage of a school prom.

• The first two cast members we see are Asian Terry Sweeney and Heidi Gardner. I’m in for a lot of pain, aren’t I?

• I like how Key’s name in this is “Jacob Schneeb”. Also, OMG at that wig he’s wearing.

• Was the camera angle on Dismukes’ character supposed to be so awkward?

• Ego looks pretty damn sexy in that dress.

• Rather fitting casting of Mikey Day as a nerd.

• Yep, this sketch is a whole lot of nothing. But, Key is making the most of it with his performance.

Film: The Last Dance Extended Scene

Unseen footage from the Michael Jordan documentary highlights His Airness’s little-known intensely competitive side.

• Something I didn’t notice the first time I saw this was that they “deepfaked” Key’s face onto Jordan’s in the archive footage they show at the beginning. It looks rather creepy.

• Oh man, I totally forgot about Heidi doing drag in this film. She plays MJ’s head of security, John Michael Wozniak. And the impression is really really bad.

• I like Chris Redd’s Dennis Rodman impression, though. Can’t remember if he’s done it before.

• Speaking of impressions, at least Kenan’s Charles Barkley is here to liven things up. That’s one of the few impressions he’s done that hasn’t gotten old for me.

• I feel like I would like this better if I was a basketball fan. All of these specific people and references are just blowing over my head.

Sketch: The Muppet Show

Two security guards (Key and Kenan Thompson) deal with Statler and Waldorf’s heckling in a brutal way.

• Dear God, I’ve been dreading to talk about this sketch for a while now. For those who don’t know, I absolutely adore The Muppets. I hold them near and dear to my heart, and I get mad whenever I see them being mishandled by major corporations who don’t understand their appeal (ahem, Disney). So, uh, let’s dive in…

• Starting off on a bad note with that awful promo for “Hawkeye And His Boring-Ass Family”.

• Surprisingly good Kermit impression from Kyle Mooney. Also, I think that’s the same puppet that was in the classic Rainbow Connection sketch with Justin Timberlake.

• What’s with the Sesame Street-esque brick wall that Kermit’s standing behind? They never had that on The Muppet Show.

• That Lily Tomlin impression is really really bad. Everyone always says that Melissa “White Male Rage” Villaseñor is great at doing voices, but stuff like this makes me think otherwise.

• I think the voices for the Muppet characters are pre-recorded, because they occasionally don’t match with the mouth movements. There’s one moment when Waldorf says “Finally, something entertaining is happening!”, and his mouth isn’t moving at all. This also makes me wonder who the actual puppeteers are.

• I groaned so loud when Kenan and Key entered as security guards. It’s from this point on that the sketch dies a horrible death.

• Another big groan from me when Key calls Kermit “Kramer”. 

• I lost all hope I had in this when Key shows up in the balcony and starts beating Statler to a pulp. I guess it’s supposed to be funny because “ha ha the cute puppet got beat up”?

• Who is the “dude with orange hair always blowing things up” that Kenan’s referring to? Is he thinking of Crazy Harry? That’s the only character I can think of that matches that description, and he actually has black hair. Maybe he was thinking of Beaker? This is then followed by a mandatory poop joke, because when I think of The Muppet Show, I think of poop jokes.

• This ends on a really bad note, with the security guards picking up Statler and Waldorf, only to realize that they don’t have legs. HA HA, GET IT?!!?? Because puppets don’t have legs!!!! Jesus Christ, I hate it when people make that joke! I’m kind of surprised that they didn’t go for another “hand up my ass” joke here.

Sketch: Gemma & DJ Balls

At TGI Friday’s, Gemma and her new assistant try to cheer up birthday boy Gene after a tough breakup.

• The first appearance of this character of Cecily’s since December 2018. I’m not too familiar with this character, but I am aware that she’s a creation of James Anderson and Kent Sublette, so I’m sure I’m going to hate her.

• They get around the fact that Vanessa Bayer (who used to play Kenan’s wife in these sketches) is no longer around by saying that the two of them broke up. I like when they actually address these sorts of situations. They even make it a part of the sketch, because Gene’s friends already prepared a special song for his birthday without knowing about the breakup.

• Nice to see Punkie Johnson in this sketch. They barely give her any lines, but, hey, at least it’s something!

• Holy fucking shit, Gemma’s voice is extremely annoying. And she has a British accent, too. Yep, that pretty much confirms this is an Anderlette sketch.

• Super lame reveal that Key’s character’s name is DJ Balls. Can they please go at least one episode without making any ball jokes?

• And while we’re on the subject of overused jokes, this reveal is immediately followed by a dick joke. I’m also getting really sick of them referring to dicks as “things”. 

• Despite my gripe with his name, I think this sketch would work better if it was just him on stage without Gemma, because he is totally getting into it.

Musical Performance: “Driver’s License”

Weekend Update (featuring Liz Cheney, Andrew Dismukes, and Bob Baffert)

• YET ANOTHER joke about Mitch McConnell hating children! Please stop it!

• More pain follows as Kate McKinnon does a commentary as Liz Cheney. The impression is really bad, and she won’t stop mugging for the camera. 

• Nice to see Andrew Dismukes get his own commentary.

• He’s coming off pretty well for a first-timer. I liked his brief comment about his “photoless Wikipedia page”, which has since had his image added to it.

• The portions where he talks about his great-grandmother are really heartwarming. I like when the cast takes time to talk about their family. 

• Not a big fan of how his commentary inexplicably becomes an advertisement for some old Disney Channel movie called “Brink!”, but I’m willing to overlook that because the rest of it was so good.

• Beck Bennett does a commentary as horse trainer Bob Baffert, which ends up being his final appearance at the Update desk. All I will say about this one is that the impression sucked.

Sketch: Gershwin Celebration

Note: Due to music rights, this sketch is not available online. No big loss, though, because I remember it being pretty bad.

Musical Performance: “Good 4 U”

Sketch: High School Graduation

Disruptive parents keep ruining a graduation ceremony.

• I missed this sketch when it first aired, because I went to bed early. I’ll go into this with an open mind…

• Wow, another big role for Punkie Johnson! Her voice is funny, but the dialogue isn’t anything special.

• I should have known that they would cast Kenan as one of the disruptive parents. And, of course, he uses that damn voice AGAIN.

• I got an unintentional laugh from Key’s character telling his son to do a “blackflip”. It’s pretty sad when my first laugh in this sketch is from a line flub.

• Ego is killing it with her performance. I liked her insulting her son as a “no-backflipping-bitch”. The son’s blank stare in response to this is great too.

• Despite my complaining about him earlier, I liked Kenan’s incredulous reaction to finding out that there’s a white girl named “Letitia”. 

• I’m pretty sure it wasn’t their intention, but I find it kind of cheap and stereotypical that most of the rowdy parents are black.

• Alex Moffat’s performance as the principal is brilliant. I feel like we haven’t seen a lot from him lately.

• It may sound like I hated this sketch, but I actually thought it was okay for what it was. A nice, goofy little thing that fits in well right at the end of the show.

Final thoughts: A major disappointment. While Key was a great host who blended in well with the cast, the writing is what ultimately killed this for me. If they ever let him host again, they’d better step up their game.

Best sketches: Monologue, Andrew Dismukes’ commentary, High School Graduation

Worst sketches: Cold Open, The Muppet Show, Gemma & DJ Balls. Gershwin Tribute

Next review: Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen 

SNL Reviews: Elon Musk/Miley Cyrus (5/8/21)

 We’re in for a rough show, fellas….

Cold Open

A special Mother’s Day message from the cast of SNL.

• The scene with Kate and her mom (who oddly resembles Kristen Wiig) was really sweet. I also enjoyed the meta reference where she assumes that Kate plays Mary Katherine Gallagher, and they do a variation of her “Superstar!” catchphrase afterwards.

• Holy shit, Kyle’s a fucking giant compared to his mom!

• Beck’s mom looks like a drag version of him. Their scene is then followed by Mikey’s mom asking to hold Beck’s hand.

• Heidi and her mom have the exact same smile! She must have been cloned or something.

• Kenan’s scene was probably my favorite. There’s yet another meta joke here when he says that she taught him all about doing reaction shots, which is of course followed by a shot of Kenan doing that bug-eyed surprised face he does so well.

• Another really funny part is when Bowen Yang’s mom sprays his mouth when he tries to kiss her. Yeah, that would probably be my reaction too.

• The only cast member we don’t get to see here is Michael Che, but this is more than made up for when Colin’s mom wants to read out a joke he wrote to the audience, which Colin is very much against.

• Overall, probably the best cold open of the season. No stupid politics, just a nice heartwarming piece that we need to have more of on SNL these days.

Monologue

Elon Musk talks about why he loves SNL and what he was like as a kid.

• Already off to a bad start when Musk claims that he’s the first person with Asperger’s Syndrome to host the show. Sorry pal, but Dan Aykroyd beat you to it.

• What’s with all those awkward pauses he keeps doing?

• All these jokes are so cringeworthy, especially the one about his son’s name being “Cat running across the keyboard”.

• “Her name is Maye, like the month, but with an E added on.” You can tell he has no faith in this show when he has to read lines like this.

• His mom showing up added nothing to this, although I did like her response to the above line: “Thank you for spelling my name, Elon.” 

• Also, is it just me, or does she look a lot like Dame Judi Dench?

• What a boring monologue! Thus beginning the horror that is this episode.

Sketch: Gen Z Hospital

A friend group eagerly awaits for updates on an injured patient.

• SNL tries to take on Gen Z/Millennial culture, and fails miserably. Good lord, did I hate this sketch.

• Most of the characters in this sketch are wearing ridiculously colored wigs, and they speak in that annoying West Coast Millennial dialect that I really hate. You know, words like “dude”, and “bruh”. The use of this kind of language actually got the show in trouble with some black audiences for “co-opting” their vernacular.

• The sketch dies a painful death once Musk enters the scene and starts talking like the others. I don’t know why, but it feels really sad to see a famous billionaire be reduced to this garbage. They should have gotten Steve Jobs to host while he was still with us. He had a lot of charisma that would have translated perfectly to this show.

• Overall, this may be one of the worst sketches of the entire season. I can’t believe I forgot to put it on my list!

Film: Every Conversation With People You Haven’t Seen Since Quarantine Started

Partygoers try to make it through extremely awkward conversations.

• The main joke of this sketch got old really fast. 

• Another example of random violence as a punchline comes when Kate’s inner thoughts reveal that she stabbed her husband with a screwdriver. Um, okay?

Sketch: The Ooli Show

An Icelandic talk show, where the host (Chloe Fineman) keeps getting interrupted by her celebrity guests.

• This character, who appeared in a one-off sketch in the second At Home episode, becomes recurring…for some reason. Even worse, they do it in the worst way: they put her in a talk show sketch! While recurring characters being given their own talk show sketches certainly has worked in the past (think of Fericito or Will Ferrell as Harry Caray), I don’t see it working with this particular character.

• Oh, and this is yet another “Funny Accent Sketch”! Lucky me…

• I did get a chuckle from the noise Beck’s character made after being introduced. And there’s poor Lauren Holt being wasted with a silent role.

• I’m getting a Hans and Franz vibe from the voice of Musk’s character.

• First appearance of Kate’s Frances McDormand impression in quite a while. Too bad it’s wasted here.

• Ooli’s apparent catchphrase (“Wow, pretty cool!”) gets more and more annoying every time she says it.

• Mikey Day’s performance as Ooli’s co-host is pretty good, but I wish he was in a better sketch than this.

• Pete Davidson’s appearance as Steve Buscemi is completely wasted. He only gets two lines! I wanted to hear more of him, because he sounds like he’s got the voice down.

• Melissa Villaseñor plays Bjork here, and her impression is nowhere near as good as the one Winona Ryder did in the Season 27 finale. Hell, it’s not even as good as Kristen Wiig’s, which is something I never thought I would say.

• While not as terrible as I remembered this being, it was still extremely annoying. I hope we never see this character again.

Film: Murder Durdur

An advertisement for a new TV show that follows a Pennsylvanian detective (McKinnon) trying to solve a case.

• Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me! Two funny accent sketches in a row?

• Apparently, this is a parody of some detective show starring Kate Winslet that I’ve never heard of.

• This mostly just consists of McKinnon’s character confusing everybody else with her bizarre accent. I wasn’t even aware there was a specific Pennsylvanian accent.

Musical Performance: “Without You”

Weekend Update (featuring Pauline, Lloyd Ostertag, and Baby Yoda)

• Rather unusual to see a joke about the episode’s host. There was a lot of controversy before this aired regarding him being chosen, but this is about all we get making fun of that.

• Some more anti-white jokes from Che. I’ve stopped mentioning them as much in my reviews because he does it in pretty much every episode.

• Ego is back at the desk with a new character, a mother named Pauline, who’s here to talk about her recent trip to Disney World. Instead, she goes on a passionate rant about what a terrible time she had. This is yet another great commentary from Ego! It seems like every time she appears on Update, she knocks it out of the park!

• My favorite part was at the end, when she reveals that she fathered a child with Michael Che. What’s the son’s name? Che Jr. Che. Brilliant.

• Another unusual moment comes when Musk shows up as Weekend Update’s financial expert, with a commentary about cryptocurrency. I don’t give a fuck about cryptocurrencies so I found this a total snooze.

• I cringed so hard when Musk mentioned “Dogecoin”. That’s a word that I never thought I’d hear on this show, and I wish it stayed that way.

• But the worst moment of this entire update is when…ugh, Baby fucking Yoda returns yet again! I have no further comment about this shitty character, so let’s move on to the next sketch.

Sketch: Wario Trial

Wario (Musk) goes on trial for the alleged murder of Mario.

• DEAR. FUCKING. LORD. I have to review THIS shit again? Oh well, it wouldn’t hurt to tear it another asshole.

• A while back, I put this at the top of my Worst Sketches of Season 46 list. I still stand by that decision today, because this is, without a doubt, the absolute WORST thing SNL has ever produced.

• Things start off bad right away with Luigi’s borderline offensive accent. 

• I have no comment on the “joke” with the judge using a ? Block for her gavel. And it makes the actual sound effect, too, which makes me wonder if this whole sketch is another promotion for Universal’s upcoming Mario film.

• Unintentionally funny part when Wario’s lawyer (Mikey Day) says he’s going to bring up his client’s page on the Super Mario Wiki, but the page shown is actually from the Wario Wiki.

• Yet another drag role for McKinnon, this time as Waluigi. And, yes, she speaks in a very offensive accent.

• My life would have been a lot better had I never seen Elon Musk attempting to dance.

• I should have known they would do a “lol Mario eats mushrooms” joke at some point in this. That joke has been used and abused for over twenty years now, and it still isn’t funny.

• I could rant on forever about how awful that Princess Peach scene is, with her inaccurate Italian accent, and the fact that they claim she is Mario’s wife (she’s not), but I don’t want to waste too much space.

• The less said about that blurred picture of Luigi’s dick, the better.

• Something I didn’t bring up the last time I talked about this was the HORRIBLE way it ends. Davidson comes out as Andrew Cuomo, who advises us to not unfairly stereotype Italian-Americans. Wow, I don’t even know what to say. Do they not see the irony here?!? 

Film: The Astronaut

Chad is chosen to save Elon Musk’s SpaceX colony on Mars.

• Our first Chad film in a while. And this is a very special one…

• I like how a lot of these start without any indication that he’s in them. For example, he doesn’t show up in this one until about 40 seconds in.

• Chad’s usual bored and uninterested delivery is just as funny as usual. I even got a laugh from his somewhat juvenile amusement at the word “sacrifice”, because of the “sac” part.

• The scene where he leaves his girlfriend (played by Miley Cyrus) is great. When she tells him that she’s carrying a baby, he says “No thank you” and shuts the door. That was a really well timed joke.

• Another surprisingly funny juvenile joke where he misreads the pressure numbers as “BOOBS”. This is followed by a nice fake out gag where a burst of pressurized gas pushes him back, only for him to return without any apparent injuries and save the day.

• And now, for the grand finale. Musk beams the camera feed all over the world so everybody can see the man who saved Mars. Chad thinks this means that they want him to take off his helmet, which he does, and then his head blows up, killing him instantly. 

• According to Davidson, this is indeed supposed to be the final appearance of Chad, as he had gotten tired of playing him. While it is a shame that we won’t be getting anymore of him, I’m glad they decided to kill him off before he got too stale. Definitely a highlight of this troubled episode.

Musical Performance: “Plastic Hearts”

Sketch: Cowboy Standoff

A group of cowboys can’t agree on a plan to take down a powerful gang. 

• This is surprisingly the first we’ve seen of Kenan since the cold open. Unfortunately, he starts speaking in a Western version of that annoying voice he does.

• A weak ending to a weak episode. Hearing Musk try to talk like a cowboy was extremely painful, and the material itself wasn’t that funny. They should have just ended the episode after the Chad sketch.

Final thoughts: While not as bad as I remembered it being, this was still a very poor outing. Of course, it didn’t help that one of the worst sketches ever was in this episode. Even without all of the controversy, Musk was an awful host. I hope they never try booking someone like him again.

Best sketches: Cold Opening, Ego’s commentary, The Astronaut

Worst sketches: Gen Z Hospital, Murder Durdur, Baby Yoda commentary, Wario Trial

Next review: Keegan-Michael Key/Olivia Rodrigo

RIP Chad

2016-2021

SNL Reviews: John Mulaney/The Strokes (10/31/20)

 Cold Open

Joe Biden delivers a special Halloween message.

• Ugh, Carrey continues to be an unfunny nuisance. I really hate this impression.

• Lame and super dated joke about how he borrowed his Halloween decorations from Melania Trump’s Christmas decorations.

• We get an unwelcome return from McKinnon’s Hillary impression for the first time since Season 43. Thankfully, this is the last time we ever see it.

• She tells some lame Al Gore jokes that weren’t even funny in 2000. Leave the Gore jokes to Darrell Hammond.

• As much as I love Mikey Day, he really needs to stop doing impressions. Most of them have the same annoying nasal voice.

• Dead on Lil Wayne impression from Chris Redd. Kenan, on the other hand, looks and sounds nothing like Ice Cube.

• I cringed so hard when Biden put on sunglasses. I hate SNL’s tendency to portray world leaders as relatable slacker dudes.

• No further comment on the return of Maya, or the return of the frog-faced Mitch McConnell impression.

Monologue

Mulaney talks about Cuomo, the election, and his grandma.

• It‘ll certainly be…interesting…to rewatch this monologue knowing what we know now about Mulaney.

• Indeed, his voice sounds a little rougher and less enthusiastic than his previous appearances.

• He has some good jokes about Andrew Cuomo here, and his impression is spot on. Thank God that loser isn’t our governor anymore.

• Unfortunately he then blows it by resorting to a stereotypical Mafia joke. You know, cuz Cuomo’s Italian.

• Something else I noticed about Mulaney in this episode is that he seems to be stumbling over some of his lines.

• This monologue went on a little too long, and some of those negatives I mentioned set the tone for the rough episode to come.

Sketch: Cinema Classics

A never before seen alternate scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

• Uggghhhhh. Why do they keep bringing this shit back?

• Kenan’s usual shtick as the host is just as tired as ever. Maybe that’s why this ends up being the last Cinema Classics sketch as of December 2021. (EDIT: Not anymore! They brought it back in the recent Will Forte episode!)

• I was not surprised at all that Kate McKinnon was given the role of Tippi Hedren. She uses the same generic British-sounding voice she does for all of the old-time Hollywood roles she plays. I’m pretty sure Tippi Hedren is American.

• We get another example of the “random violence as a punchline” trope that I mentioned in my last review, when the birds smash into the telephone booth window in a gory mess.

• The sketch starts to get even worse when they resort to having the birds do impossible shit like using glass cutters. What the fuck is that all about?

• Another juvenile poop joke when one bird shits out an egg.

• The worst thing about this sketch is that it’s yet another example of corporate synergy. Which studio released The Birds? Universal, of course. Who’s Universal’s corporate sister? NBC! Hooray for cross-promotion!

Film: Strollin’

In which the cast delivers a thinly-veiled message for the viewers to go vote.

• I’m tired of these dumb rap videos. Apart from the nice sets and costumes, there’s nothing else I have to say here.

Sketch: Headless Horseman

The Headless Horseman (Beck Bennett) has to answer some uncomfortable questions from the citizens of Sleepy Hollow.

• Some more really good set design. I believe this is the same set from the Spooky Songs sketch in Chance the Rapper’s last episode. 

• The first minute or so of this sketch is actually really promising. There’s an appropriately eerie mood, with lots of fog, and, of course, that cheesy old “Castle Thunder” sound effect. And then the Horseman himself shows up, and he looks great! I’d love to know how they pulled the effect off.

• Sadly, the sketch goes downhill immediately after that, when Ichabod Crane (Mulaney) asks him if he ever uses his head to…suck his own dick. *groooooaaaaan* Why did they have to ruin such a promising sketch with more lame dick jokes? Then, Pete Davidson and Mikey Day enter, and the routine repeats itself.

• It’s also in this sketch that I notice how badly Mulaney’s enthusiasm has declined. He doesn’t seem all that interested in his lines. Hmmm, maybe he also realized that this sketch sucks?

• Super lame “twist” ending where it’s revealed that the reason they’ve been asking the Horseman all these depraved questions is because they are Puritans. An awful way to end a sketch that started out so well, but quickly went downhill because the writers are a bunch of mentally challenged stoners who think that dicks are the funniest things in the world.

Film: New York PSA

A public service announcement pays tribute to New Yorkers.

• All I will say about this one is that Kate McKinnon is briefly topless in it. Gross!

Musical Performance: “The Adults Are Talking”

Weekend Update (featuring Baby Yoda)

• Absolutely sick joke comparing Trump to Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy.

• Speaking of sick, we get a reappearance from that terrifying Baby Yoda impression. This is exactly the same as the last time he showed up, except it’s somehow even less funny. That’s quite an accomplishment.

• A surprisingly short Update. But these really short ones are usually the most painful for me.

Sketch: Souvenir Underwear

A man (Pete Davidson) learns why you shouldn’t buy underwear from a Times Square souvenir shop.

• FUUUUUCK!!!! Not another Mulaney Musical sketch! Ugh, I hate how this has to be a tradition every time he hosts.

• Sorry for going on a tangent here, but I just don’t get the appeal of these musical sketches. The only reason they keep doing them is because the media eats up shit like this. Maybe I’d like them better if I was into Broadway musicals. Then again, I’d probably still get tired of them if they keep getting brought back.

• Mulaney’s voice is sounding pretty rough again. Too bad they gave him a lot of dialogue here to make it even more noticeable.

• Of fucking COURSE they gave Maya a role in this sketch. It’s official; this is the worst installment out of all of these. Please end my life now.

Musical Performance: “Bad Decisions”

Random note: The lead singer’s mike looks like a dildo.

Sketch: Another Uncle Meme

Young Tyler (Davidson) has turned his Uncle Ron (Mulaney) into a meme again.

• This sketch from Mulaney’s previous episode becomes recurring.

• I got a laugh from the name of the popular account that retweeted Ron’s picture: “Purple Drank Posse”. The actual meme they posted was pretty funny too.

• While I certainly got some laughs here, this is definitely a step down from the previous installment. It doesn’t help that there’s a cringeworthy anti-Catholic joke in this one. But, I’d still consider this sketch okay, especially compared to all of the other garbage in Season 46.

• I liked the twist at the end, where it’s revealed that the reason Uncle Ron posted his image online in the first place is because he was looking for girls in prison to have sex with.

Final thoughts: A disappointing outing from Mulaney. While I now know that this is because of problems with his personal life, his dour mood affects the rest of the episode. I’m glad he eventually got the treatment he needed.

Best sketches: The first minute or so of Headless Horseman, Another Uncle Meme

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Cinema Classics, the rest of Headless Horseman, Souvenir Underwear

Next review: Elon Musk/Miley Cyrus. Lord have mercy….