SNL Reviews: Regé-Jean Page/Bad Bunny (2/20/21)

 Side note: From this point until I reach the season finale, I no longer have my Facebook reviews as reference for these episodes. I’m going by my personal memory now.

Cold Open

Britney Spears (Chloe Fineman) hosts a talk show called “Oops, You Did It Again”, where disgraced celebrities apologize for the bad things they’ve done.

• Ugh, Chloe’s terrible Britney impression is back. While it’s not as high-pitched as it was before, it still sounds nothing like her.

• Also, this is yet another example of that tired old “celebrity talk show” concept. 

• Double ugh! This is the second episode in a row to have that terrible Ted Cruz impression in it! He had recently been in the news for going on a vacation in Cancun while there’s a pandemic going on.

• First appearance of Pete Davidson as Andrew Cuomo. The voice sounds nothing like him, and they’re barely mocking him at all. Little did they know, however, that they would soon have much more to make fun of him for…

• Cecily plays Gina Carano from The Mandalorian, who had recently been fired from the show for making “inappropriate jokes”. It’s roles like these that make me wish Cecily would just leave already, because she’s played this type of character way too many times.

• My God, every single word that comes out of Fineman’s mouth is like nails on a chalkboard. She is, without a doubt, one of the worst celebrity impressionists in the show’s entire history.

Monologue

Page can’t escape being associated with his character from the show, “Bridgerton”.

• Full disclosure: I have never seen Bridgerton. Yet this is a monologue that relies on the viewer having seen it to understand all of the jokes.

• Yep, so far, all of these jokes are just confusing me. Is his character on the show supposed to be a womanizer or something? 

• It warms my heart to hear Ego recieve a big round of applause when she enters. It seems like she’s finally made it to the big leagues.

• The female audience members screaming every few seconds got very annoying after a while.

• Overall, a lame monologue that only makes sense to people who watch Bridgerton.

Sketch: Actor’s Spotlight

A TV host (Ego Nwodim) reaches an unpredictable impasse when interviewing her celebrity guests.

• Another talk show sketch? Talk about beating a dead horse.

• I’m not familiar with Kingsley Ben-Adir, but Page’s performance as him is pretty good.

• Rather funny in hindsight that Chris Redd is playing Daniel Kaluuya, considering who hosts the show a few episodes from now.

• They keep repeating the same joke where Ego is surprised that her guests’ real-life accents are different from the characters they’ve played. 

• I don’t think I’ve ever heard Redd do a British accent before.

• The return of Kenan’s baffling Ice Cube impression. I love ya, man, but stop trying to play celebrities you clearly have no business playing.

• The movie clips are getting progressively less funny.

• The sketch then gets really bizarre when Ice Cube starts speaking in a British accent, while Adir and Kaluuya try to convince him not to be ashamed of his American roots. Is this scene supposed to be a reference to something?

• Ego and the others tried their best, but they couldn’t save this sketch.

Film: Loco

A woman (Nwodim) goes over the ways that the pandemic affected her.

• Am I going crazy? This is the second episode in a row where I actually enjoyed the obligatory Pete Davidson rap song. Part of the reason is that Ego is actually the main focus of this one, and Pete doesn’t show up until halfway.

• Ego’s performance in this is great. Have I ever made it clear to you guys that I love Ego?

• I liked Pete’s line about Armie Hammer being a cannibal. Given all of the creepy stuff that’s come out about him, I wouldn’t put it past him.

• This song has a nice, catchy Latin feel to it, no doubt influenced by tonight’s musical guest. Speaking of which, he gets a few lines in this as a talking cactus.

Sketch: Driver’s License

Guys at the pool hall bond over the Olivia Rodrigo song, “Driver’s License”.

• I always find it rather interesting when they do a sketch about someone who was recently on the show.

• Pete’s line about the song sounding like a “teen girl singing in her room to a piano” was great, and perfectly sums up a lot of songs that I’ve heard in the last few years.

• Page’s American accent in this sketch is really convincing.

• I also liked Alex Moffat’s random theory that the song is about the kids from High School Musical.

• The sketch suddenly comes to a halt when Kate shows up for the first time in this episode, playing her one millionth drag role and talking in her usual stereotypical Italian accent. Why would they ruin this sketch like that?!!

• Apart from the self-indulgent McKinnon parts, I actually enjoyed this sketch for what it was.

Sketch: Mr. Chicken Legs Pageant

A contest to see who has the skinniest legs in America.

• The intro where we see that the pageant is being held at the notorious Hotel Cecil would have been great if the announcer didn’t overexplain the joke. Yep, this is another Seidell/Day sketch!

• What’s with Cecily’s character being named “Denise Poots”?

• Our latest of many high-pitched Chloe Fineman characters appears in this sketch.

• The way Mikey reveals his skinny legs is really well timed. He’s probably the best thing about this sketch (no surprise there, seeing as he wrote it).

• I like how Andrew Dismukes’ character reveals his legs by saying “Don’t believe me, just watch!”, a reference to the song “Uptown Funk”.

• Another surprisingly good performance from Davidson. He actually hasn’t been that bad in this season.

• This sketch is better than I remembered. I got enough laughs from it, and it was kept the right length.

Film: The Job Interview

A man (Page) is interviewed for a potential advertising job by an unscrupulous boss (Beck Bennett).

• I got a laugh from the LEGO ad on the boss’s wall: “Bet you can’t eat just one”. I even laughed at the obligatory dick joke on the Mike’s Hard Lemonade ad: “How Hard? THIS HARD!!!”

• Another laugh from the mascot he invented for Maxwell House; a photo of Ghislaine Maxwell with a Photoshopped monacle and top hat.

• Beck’s performance as the boss is good, and appropriately sleazy.

The film lol • As an advertisement fan, I appreciated the reference to BBDO, which has made some classic ad campaigns over the years. However, the BBDO Page’s character is talking about is actually a dating app called “Big Beautiful Dongs Only”, which I admit to getting a cheap laugh out of.

• The drawings Page has for his various ad ideas are hilarious. My favorite is the one for the Chevy Bolt, which features a car mowing down Usain Bolt.

• Nice fake out bit where it looks like they’re going to get into a fist fight, but then they start hitting each other with pool noodles.

• Brilliant ending where we see the final result of Page’s Netflix idea: “Netflix: We have porn now.”

• Do my eyes deceive me? Is this another surprisingly good sketch? This episode is way better than I remembered! And, dare I say it, I might actually consider it good. But we’ll have to get through the rest of the episode before I know for sure.

Musical Performance: “ La Noche de Anoche”

Weekend Update (featuring Pete Davidson and Jessie Raunch)

• Starting out with some lame clapter about Ted Cruz.

• Once again, I find it funny in hindsight that the only jokes they’re telling about Cuomo are about his nursing home scandal, when there would be an even bigger one coming in the future…

• Pete Davidson shows up for a commentary about Valentine’s Day. 

• I liked the line where he mentions that the pandemic was the first time that being all by himself wasn’t his own fault.

•  OMG at that picture of him without a shirt on. He says that he looks like a toddler on his way to prison. I agree.

• He’s making some good burns about the quality of this show, like comparing it to his mom. They’re both “old, and noticeably fatigued”.

• Surprisingly not too bad for a Pete Davidson commentary. Like I said earlier, it seems like he’s been giving more of a shit this season.

• Bizarre and unfunny joke about the Mars Rover making a white supremacist tweet. Is astronomy something.   that white supremacists are interested in?

• Finally got a laugh from Che saying that a woolly mammoth’s fossil is so old that Andrew Cuomo is covering up its death.

• Lame and super predictable anti-Catholic joke from Colin.

• Heidi Gardner debuts a new character named Jessie Raunch, who has a mutual aid organization. She’s wearing an outfit that looks a lot like Freddy Krueger’s, while she continuously denies that she’s anything like him. Unfortunately, she keeps doing and saying things that Freddy does, like pulling out a creepy glove, and singing a version of the “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you” song about the food that she brings to people. I would normally criticize this for being a lame one-joke premise, but I like the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, so I’ll forgive it in this case.

• Apparently, Che’s joke about Jewish citizens in Israel getting vaccinated received criticism from some Jewish groups for being “anti-Semitic”. I don’t understand why, because I thought it was pretty benign and inoffensive.

Sketch: Songs Of The Sea

An aspiring sailor (Dismukes) has reservations about joining the crew after hearing their sea shanties.

• A brief laugh from an upcoming History Channel show about Hitler’s hairdresser. 

• Page’s voice in this sketch is great, without relying too much on stereotypical pirate phrases.

• Second sketch of the episode to have McKinnon in drag. Why does this keep fucking happening? Wasn’t there a writer they could have put in that role?

• Bad Bunny makes another cameo in this, and his accent is so thick that I can’t understand any of his words.

• The lyrical content is nothing special, but the music is extremely catchy, just like a real sea shanty. 

• WTF?!!?? McKinnon has TWO drag roles in this sketch?!? It’s official, somebody on the show hates me and is trying to psychologically torture me every week.

• If you take out the McKinnon parts, this sketch isn’t very bad.

Sketch: Let’s Say Grace

Two families have high standards for saying grace at dinner.

• There’s Kenan doing that voice again.

• Beautiful performance from Ego in this sketch, appropriately sounding like a typical preacher.

• Page’s attempt at a Southern accent is pretty good too. It’s hard to believe he’s British because he’s been pulling off all of these American voices with ease.

• Punkie Johnson wasted yet again with a silent role.

• This was mostly boring until the last minute or so, where they all start singing a catchy gospel number. Plus, we get to see Beck doing some awesome breakdancing moves!

Sketch: Bridgerton Intimacy Coordinators

Two intimacy coordinators try to stage a love scene between the Duke and Daphne.

• Great, another sketch that relies on you having seen Bridgerton. I can tell I’m gonna hate this.

• Man, those screaming girls in the audience are a pain.

• Even more painful is Kate McKinnon doing her stock British accent as the director.

• When Mikey’s character first spoke in…that voice he’s using, it caught me off guard.

• The annoying audience hoots and hollers when Page gets in bed with Fineman. Have I made it clear that the audience in this episode is annoying?!?

• Despite some minor chuckles from Mikey and Pete’s characters, this sketch was really bad.

Musical Performance: “Te Deseo lo Mejor”

Film: The Grocery Rap

A rap group faces some challenges while filming a rap video in a grocery store.

• Our second rap video of the night, and while it is kind of repetitive, there’s something about it that’s keeping me from hating it.

• I can’t tell if this is a real grocery store they’re in or if it’s just a set.

• Funny part where Beck’s character says that Bill Gates invented the pandemic to sell more computer games.

• This got better as it went along, particularly the ending where they sneak back inside after closing, only for the manager returning to tackle Beck.

Final thoughts: I can’t believe it’s taken me this long, but I’ve finally found an episode of Season 46 that I could actually call good, and it’s the 13th episode of the season. I guess it really is a lucky number. Regé-Jean Page was a great host, and I particularly was impressed by his ability to conceal his natural accent.

Best sketches: Loco, Driver’s License, The Job Interview, Jessie Raunch commentary, the finale of Let’s Say Grace, The Grocery Rap

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Monologue, Actor’s Spotlight, Bridgerton Intimacy Coordinators

Next review: Nick Jonas

SNL Reviews: Regina King/Nathaniel Rateliff (2/13/21)

 Cold Open

Unfunny things happen during Fox News’ coverage of the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

• Starting off on a bad note with the worst Tucker Carlson impression known to man.

• Even more pain follows with the one millionth appearance from Kate as Lindsey Graham, although this is so far the last time he’s appeared.

• As if one drag performance wasn’t enough, we also get the debut of Aidy Bryant’s terrible Ted Cruz impression. Why is it that whenever there’s somebody in drag on SNL these days, it’s almost always a woman doing it? The last man in drag I can think of is that Asian Terry Sweeney commentary from a few episodes ago.

• The joke about Michael Van Der Veen’s last name being Dutch for “Man of the Penis” made me groan.

• To complete the horror that is this cold open, the frogfaced Mitch McConnell returns. This is also his final appearance.

• One of the worst cold opens I’ve ever seen.

Monologue

Regina King’s monologue gets interrupted by an overly-enthusiastic Kenan.

• Full disclosure: I only know Regina King from her role as the Freeman brothers on Adult Swim’s “The Boondocks”. That being said, I absolutely adore her performance on that show and I think she’s a great talent, so I was excited for this episode.

• Some initial laughs from her memories of watching Eddie Murphy on the show when she was a kid, and wanting to be on that same stage when she grew up, but then changing her mind after he left.

• Man, just hearing her voice, I see a picture in my mind of a grown up Huey Freeman talking. It’s freaky seeing that familiar voice in live-action.

• I got another laugh when she says Lorne told her to use the race card every chance she gets.

• Unfortunately, my enjoyment takes a slight downturn when Kenan shows up, dressed like a gangsta wannabe. I’ve lost count of how many characters he’s played like this.

• While still not a bad monologue, it really took a hit when Kenan entered. I wanted to hear Regina tell more stories!

Sketch: What’s Your Type?

Three cringy dating show contestants vie for the affections of one bachelorette (King).

• I laughed at Ego introducing Cecily’s character as “the girl who got famous by pulling her buttcheeks apart on Snapchat”.

• Damn, Regina looks pretty damn hot in this sketch.

• I like Kyle Mooney’s “white ally” character, just because it reminds me of the great BET sketch from the last episode.

• Regina’s reactions to her potential lovers are expertly delivered.

• Alex Moffat pulls off an underrated performance as his character. The way he looks is great, too, with his pedo mustache and fedora.

• Mikey’s voice here is amazing. This is the kind of stuff I like to see from him.

• I forgot to mention it, but Ego’s role as the host is also great. Season 46 is the year where she finally came into her own as a member of the cast.

• I like how half of Alex’s dialogue is just song lyrics, until Cecily makes him stop because they have to pay the rights for the songs.

• Mikey’s French “accent” was freaking hilarious. I also like how this is what makes Regina pick him to be her boyfriend.

• Wow! That sketch was way better than I remembered. Maybe the rest of the episode will be, too, but we’ll just have to see.

Film: Pelotaunt

The exercise bike that insults you.

• I spoke too soon. Here’s a commercial I remember for having a unique idea, but didn’t do anything creative with that idea.

• Yeah, just as I remembered, this was really really bad. It rightfully made it onto my Worst Sketches of Season 46 list.

Sketch: Gorilla Glue

Commode & Commode are dedicated to suing the makers of Gorilla Glue.

• This sketch is based on a then-recent story of some stupid lady who put Gorilla Glue in her hair. I honestly forgot all about that nonsense until this sketch made me remember it.

• This is a little too reliant on the story to be funny, which just results in this sketch becoming dated. Plus, it also has Kenan doing my “favorite” voice in it, so that’s another negative.

• I will say that the ridiculous wigs they’re wearing made me chuckle at first.

Sketch: Birthday Gifts

A group of friends have the same idea for a birthday gift for their friend.

• This sketch was so boring that I had to turn off the episode afterwards. In fact, it also made me give up reviewing the episodes on Facebook for quite a while.

• Rewatching it for this review, nothing has changed. It’s still a whole lot of nothing.

Film: The Negotiator

During a hostage crisis, a cop (King) eats some innocent looking gummy bears, and things start to go wrong…

• After a nice opening, this sketch suddenly becomes…extremely bizarre. Regina starts hallucinating a rapping gummy bear (played by Pete Davidson, naturally), and…uh, what the fuck is going on?

• Then Aidy enters as a second gummy bear, and we get some nice 2D animated elements. 

• Spot on Marge Simpson impression from Melissa. Then she reveals that she is actually The Devil, and her face goes all creepy.

• As much as I want to hate this sketch…I just can’t. THIS is the type of bizarre stuff that I like to see on this show. 

• Bowen does a surprisingly good job as the other police officer, confused by Regina’s antics. See what happens when you guys let him play other kinds of roles?

• Overall, not too bad for a Pete Davidson sketch.

Musical Performance: “Redemption”

Weekend Update (featuring Stephanie Green, Mackenzie Taylor-Joy, and Tom Brady)

• Some really bad clapter revolving around Trump’s acquittal.

• Che tells a joke about Cuomo that is lame and toothless.

• Oh, God, no. Here’s a commentary that I’ve heard so many bad things about. Kate McKinnon dresses up as a witch named Stephanie Green, who’s here to talk about QAnon conspiracy theories. I can tell I’m going to hate this already.

• That voice she’s doing is so annoying, and she won’t stop moving her hands around. This is exactly the kind of stuff I hate about her all rolled into one.

• I got a mild chuckle from Colin saying that NBC’s ratings would go up if they let him say the n-word.

• Lauren Holt gets her first (and only) Update appearance as a character named Mackenzie Taylor-Joy, who is here to talk about Valentine’s Day dating ideas.

• She’s pulling this character off pretty well. The way she switches back and forth from happy to sad is expertly performed. It’s coming off as even more emotional knowing that this is the only time she would ever get to show off these skills on Weekend Update. 

• Is it me or does Beck Bennett like playing drunk characters? Here he has a commentary as an inebriated Tom Brady. As someone who doesn’t even like football, I can tell you that this impression sucks and we were thankfully spared from ever seeing it again.

Sketch: Disco Queen

A 70s disco dancer (King) has a hard time performing her moves when things don’t go as planned.

• Figures that Asian Terry Sweeney would be cast in a sketch about disco.

• Regina’s looking fine in that sparkly dress. Something about the voice she’s using reminds me of Foxxy Love from the cartoon series “Drawn Together”.

• You don’t know how much I enjoyed seeing her slap Asian Terry Sweeney in the face.

• I like how one of her songs is named “Nasty Christmas”.

• While not laugh out loud funny, I thought this was a nice character piece. Regina was just so good in this.

Women’s Theater

A feminist theater ensemble delivers an age-appropriate performance during a high school assembly.

• Mikey’s character is explaining a little too much before the main part of the sketch starts. I’m surprised this wasn’t a sketch that he wrote.

• Regina’s Maya Angelou-esque character is performed really well.

• Now the audience members are explaining everything that happens too! Are we sure that this wasn’t a Day/Seidell sketch?

• It’s a shame that they keep explaining the jokes, because there’s some nice satire buried here about raunchy comedians refusing to tone down their material for younger people. The actual parts with the performers aren’t that bad, but the stuff with the audience just kills this sketch.

Musical Performance: “A Little Honey”

Final thoughts: This episode honestly wasn’t as bad as I remembered. While not perfect, there were a few good sketches, plus an underrated commentary from Lauren Holt. As for the host, well, what else can I say? She was absolutely perfect here. I hope she comes back again in the future.

Best sketches: What’s Your Type?, The Negotiator, Lauren Holt’s commentary, Disco Queen

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Pelotaunt, Birthday Gifts

Next review: Rege Jean-Page/Bad Bunny

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