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….

SNL Reviews: Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa (12/19/20)

 Cold Open

Mike Pence gets the COVID vaccine.

• The final appearance of Beck Bennett’s bland and unremarkable Pence impression. I am not sad to see him go.

• Not sure what the joke is with his wife not saying a word. I also don’t get the joke of him referring to her as “Mother” as she walks off. Is that supposed to be some kind of Norman Bates thing?

• Super hacky joke when he starts to pull down his pants, thinking that this is the type of vaccine that goes in your butt.

• To make this even more painful, Maya returns as Kamala Harris again. And she gets a ton of applause when she tells Pence that she won more votes.

• Even more cringeworthy clapter when she slaps Pence. That’s like something you’d see in a bad political cartoon.

• First appearance of Alex Moffat’s short-lived Joe Biden impression. He makes his entrance by walking out with a cane. Because he’s old! Get it?

• They comment on his change in appearance again, and Biden responds with a lame joke about how he’s like Colonel Sanders: “Every time you see me, I’m a different guy.”

• After Biden and Harris leave, we get, ugggghhhh, Kate McKinnon as Giuliani again. Thankfully, this is his final appearance as of November 2021.

• More of the usual Giuliani nonsense that never makes me laugh. 

• Kenan returns as Ben Carson for the last time. Wow, a lot of impressions making their final appearances here. That’s all I have to say about that because nothing he says is funny.

Monologue

Kristen Wiig bids farewell to 2020, with some help from Maya and Kate.

• After a nice long break, this is the first musical monologue of Season 46. I can’t say I’ve missed them.

• This monologue is like pure torture. Three of my least favorite cast members hurting my ears with terrible lyrics.

Sketch: Secret Word

Mindy Grayson still keeps blurting out the secret word too early.

• Sorry for stealing your catchphrase, Stooge, but, *groan*.

• As usual, the annoying running gag of Grayson saying the secret word too early is overused and unfunny.

• How do you make a bad recurring sketch even worse? Add Kate McKinnon to it. Here, she plays a European actress, and uses her stock foreigner accent that she uses for all of her European characters.

• As bad as these sketches are, they always had Bill Hader to liven them up in the past. Since he’s not here now, though, we get Kenan as the host instead. He does okay, but not as good as Hader used to be.

Film: Christmas Morning 

A family shows off what they got for Christmas this year.

• Blah. Another boring rap video.

Sketch: USO

The military receives a special Christmas performance from their peers.

• Yet another musical sketch in this episode. Yawn.

• Even worse, Asian Terry Sweeney is in this one. His singing voice is something I never wanted to hear.

• There’s a similar USO sketch that was in Madeline Kahn’s Season 21 episode. The only difference is that it was actually funny, and had Darrell’s great Jay Leno impression as the host. This one doesn’t have anything like that.

Film: A Teacher

A new show where a student (Andrew Dismukes) tries to get special attention from his teacher (Ego Nwodim).

• Nice to see Ego and Andrew get big roles. In fact, they’re the only cast members in this at all.

• When this first aired, I thought this was a parody of a real show on Hulu, but apparently, it’s just some bullshit they made up.

• Yet another sketch that revolves around having sex, except it’s even worse in this case, given that it revolves around a teacher discussing sex with an underage boy.

• Despite all that, Ego still manages to give a good performance here. Why isn’t she the female cast member who gets all the screentime instead of Kate?

Sketch: Home Alone 2 Alternate Ending

Kevin (Melissa Villaseñor) strikes up a friendship with the Pigeon Lady (Wiig) in this alternate ending to Home Alone 2.

• Boy, am I getting tired of all these “alternate ending” sketches the show has been shitting out lately. Given how bad the show is at parodying movies lately, you just know this one is going to be bad.

• I don’t get why Kevin had to be played by a woman in this sketch. Why not someone like Dismukes?

• Wiig surprisingly keeps her performance restrained here. It’s stuff like this where she really shines.

• Those wobbly pigeons on her shoulders are distracting as fuck.

• Speaking of bad impressions, Kyle Mooney unveils the worst Joe Pesci voice known to man. It isn’t a patch on the one that Jim Breuer did in the 90s.

• Mikey Day’s Marv impression isn’t much better, but I did get a kick out of him dressed like that.

• And then Wiig randomly beats the Wet Bandits to death in a brutally gory fashion. If you can’t think of a way to end a sketch, just resort to random violence, and maybe people won’t notice how bad your writing is.

Musical Performance: “Don’t Start Now”

Weekend Update (featuring Willie, Smokey Robinson, and Landis Trotter)

• The final Weekend Update during the Trump presidency. To “celebrate”, they show a montage of some of Trump’s greatest accomplishments. And, dear God, that montage is PAINFUL. They only show the most unflattering clips they could find of him.

• And they make a joke about tranquillizing him. How come the Secret Service isn’t investigating these morons?

• Yet ANOTHER joke about Mitch McConnell hating children. Please stop with these!!!

• Chris Redd does a commentary as Smokey Robinson, who had apparently gone viral that week in a video where he mispronounced “Hanukkah”. I usually like Redd’s impressions, but his Smokey sounds more like Michael Jackson.

• I did get a laugh at the joke about the Utah Jazz being the only black people in Utah.

• Kenan’s Willie character returns. This was the first time I had ever seen the character, but he didn’t leave a good impression on me. 

• Heidi Gardner introduces a new character named Landis Trotter, which I refuse to say anything more about because it sucked like all of her other characters.

• Now, we get the traditional joke swap between Che and Jost. This should be good…

• You know things are really fucked up when the only jokes in this episode that got a big laugh out of me are ones that are meant to be offensive. Colin always has the best jokes in these joke swapping bits.

Sketch: The Grinch

Cindy-Lou Who (Chloe Fineman) and her family have an awkward morning with The Grinch (Pete Davidson).

• There’s some really nice set design and makeup in this sketch. Mikey looks downright hilarious with the big Who nose.

• Fineman’s Cindy-Lou voice is the same annoying high-pitched voice she uses for half of her celebrity impressions.

• Another surprisingly underplayed role from Wiig. Is this even the same woman that was in that Secret Word shit from earlier?

• Amazing makeup job on Davidson as The Grinch. His voice is dead on, too, which doesn’t surprise me, since we’ve previously heard him do it in that Chad sketch from the Saoirse Ronan episode. 

• Despite all of the positive things I mentioned, I knew as soon as that “The Next Morning” subtitle appeared that this sketch was going to be yet another “lol sex is funny” sketch. Such a shame that they wasted these beautiful sets and costumes for a lame premise. I’d rather watch the scene from the movie where The Grinch makes the Mayor kiss his dog’s ass than watch this sketch again.

• Super predictable and hacky “That’s not the only thing that grew” joke regarding his heart growing three sizes. Did a twelve year old write that?

Sketch: Surprise Sue

Sue tries to contain her excitement at a holiday party.

• *groaaaaan* Not this shitty character again! And now we’re back to Wiig going over the top.

• Oh, that’s right, there’s another black woman on this show. Given how rarely they use her, I’m surprised that she’s the only black character in the sketch. And I’m even more surprised that she got a second season.

• What else is there to say about this sketch that hasn’t been said by other SNL reviewers? Actually, there is one other thing I’ll say. In Kristen’s last hosting stint, the characters she brought back were the same ones she brought back here (Secret Word and Surprise Sue). Are these her favorite characters or something?

Musical Performance: “Levitating”

Final thoughts: As I expected going in, this was a really bad episode. While Wiig certainly didn’t help, the main problem I had was with the writing. Half of the sketches were about sex, as is usual with this season. The only good thing I can say is that this is thankfully the end of the Trump era on SNL. It was a rough four years, but it can’t get any worse, right? Right???

Best sketches: Colin’s racist jokes, Pete Davidson as The Grinch

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Monologue, Secret Word, Surprise Sue

Next review: John Mulaney/The Strokes

SNL Reviews: Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11/7/20)

 Lord have mercy for what I’m about to review….

Cold Open: Biden Victory

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris gloat about their victory to the audience.

• Already off to a bad start with the worst Wolf Blitzer impression ever. Why is this cast so bad at impressions?

• Blitzer’s announcement that Biden has won the election is followed by extremely loud applause. That certainly proves who this show’s intended audience is.

• Thankfully, this is the final appearance of Jim Carrey’s awful Joe Biden impression. I’m not going to miss it at all.

• More cliched old people jokes about Biden follow afterwards. I wish they’d just admit that they have no interest in mocking Biden and they just want to suck his dick.

• Maya as Kamala Harris gets more and more annoying with each appearance she makes. 

• As if this cold open wasn’t painful enough, Trump shows up next. Ugggghhhh!!!!! 

• It’s the same usual unfunny business with this impression. Baldwin could clearly give less of a fuck about wanting to be there. And he still hasn’t stopped doing those dumb faces after he finishes speaking.

• Then, we get something horrifying…something unholy…Trump sits in front of a piano and starts singing “Macho Man” by The Village People. UGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

• As much as it pains me to say it, this actually makes the “Hallelujah” cold open look good, because at least that had some…genuine heart put into it. Jesus, that really hurt me to say.

• And, with that, Baldwin’s Trump makes his final physical appearance. He has a voice-only appearance in another sketch later in this episode, though.

• Because of the “Macho Man” scene, this cold open isn’t even available on YouTube or on the show’s website. I had to resort to…somewhat illegal means to see it again.

Note: This episode aired nearly an hour later than scheduled, due to a football game running too long.

Monologue

Dave Chappelle talks about Trump, COVID, and the election.

• Hoo boy. I’m not kidding when I tell you guys this, but this monologue goes on for sixteen and a half minutes. This is only the beginning of what I have to deal with in this episode.

• I’m ashamed to admit this, but I’ve never seen an episode of Chappelle’s Show. If I had, then I might be more of a fan of this long-ass monologue.

• More sickening clapter when his statement that Trump is gone gets followed up by mass applause.

• Sick joke when he compares Trump getting the virus to Freddie Mercury getting AIDS. What an awful thing to say! No offense to Freddie, but at least Trump didn’t die!

Sketch: Fired Mascots

Aunt Jemima (Rudolph), Uncle Ben (Kenan Thompson), and the Allstate Guy (Chappelle) try to keep their jobs after being fired due to political correctness.

• Rather unusual intro to this sketch, where Chappelle stands on home base and tells us what the sketch is going to be about. This is apparently a thing that they do on Chappelle’s Show.

• As soon as I saw that Maya was playing Aunt Jemima, I could tell exactly where this sketch was headed. 

• Rather uncomfortably long silence from Maya after she says her first line. Couldn’t she have spoken over the audience laughter?

• The “joke” that she uses her own breast milk to make her pancakes was embarrassingly childish. It doesn’t help that she literally winks at the camera after she says this.

• Then Kenan appears as Uncle Ben. Once again, he uses the same “sassy black guy” voice that I’ve grown so tired of by this point. 

• The “humor” in this sketch is so broad and stereotypical that I was surprised to find out it was written by at least three black people. I’m sure it’s supposed to be making fun of these stereotypes, but they’re playing it too straight. If you want to see a good sketch mocking the use of African-American mascots, look for that commercial Tracy Morgan did for “Uncle Jemima’s Mash Liquor”.

• Chappelle appears as the Allstate Guy. Couldn’t they have made him Jake from State Farm? That would be pretty funny. I did like the artificially-deepened voice he had, though.

• Pete Davidson’s random appearance as Count Chocula fell flat for me, as did Chappelle calling him a “chocolatey ni***”, his second n-word of the episode (the first was in the monologue). You can actually hear some people in the audience gasp after he says that.

• Overall, a really poor attempt at satire. And the sad thing is that there are people out there who think otherwise.

Sketch: Mario Moments

Gamers talk about their favorite memories of playing Mario games.

• I already talked about this sketch in my Worst Sketches of Season 46 list, but it’s so horrible that I need to talk about it again. 

• I could tell that this sketch was going to be bad before it even started, seeing as it’s a blatant promotion for Universal’s upcoming Mario movie.

• Mikey and Kyle’s game reviewer characters show up, and it’s there where this sketch goes from boring to downright terrible. Season 46’s trend of lame testicle jokes continues when they won’t stop talking about Kyle’s balls “popping”. Exactly what that has to do with Mario, I have no idea.

• And then they just keep dragging the joke on when all of the other people being interviewed are more concerned about his balls. When it seems like it’s going to focus on something else, they just keep going back to the ball talk.

• Really bad ending tagline: “The fun never pops. I mean, stops”. Fucking horrible.

Film: Take Me Back

A man (Beck Bennett) tries to convince his ex (Ego Nwodim) to get back together with him.

• I paid very little attention to this when it first aired, mostly because I was still trying to wrap my head around the awful Mario sketch.

• Rewatching it for this review, I see that I didn’t miss much. Another bland short film with very little jokes. And, continuing the Season 46 trend, there’s another dick joke.

Musical Performance: “Shame Shame”

Weekend Update (feat. Rudy Giuliani)

• Yet another long round of applause when someone mentions Biden’s victory. Then they follow up by showing cringeworthy video clips of protesters mocking Trump for losing. I’ve never wanted to punch the TV more in my life.

• Jost then compares the celebrations to the end of World War II. Um, that’s a very odd comparison to make.

• The biggest laugh I got from this Update was the clip they showed of some asshole interrupting a live report on News 12 Long Island. So you know things are bad when my biggest laugh comes from a video that they didn’t even create.

• Then….to complete the pure horror that is this Weekend Update, Kate McKinnon shows up as Giuliani for the one millionth time. When watching this episode for the first time, I turned my TV off as soon as that happened. It had been a bad week for me, and I just wasn’t in the mood for any Giuliani nonsense to make me feel worse.

Sketch: News Center 5 Albany

News reporters can’t keep an interview about a hailstorm on track.

• I missed these next two sketches the first time I watched the episode, due to reasons I mentioned above.

• The fact that this sketch takes place in my area of New York caught my interest at first, but then I got disappointed when I saw that they made up a town instead of using a real one.

• As soon as I saw Kenan’s character, I knew exactly what the joke with him was going to be. And then it became the main joke of the sketch. 

• I’m getting so sick of these constant “news reporters can’t keep a story on track” sketches. Every time they do a sketch about a news report these days, they always follow this same formula.

• I feel really sorry for poor Ego Nwodim having to be in this sketch. She tries her hardest, though.

Sketch: DC Morning

Donald Trump is involved in a car chase.

• Well, here we are, folks. The final (vocal) appearance of Alec Baldwin as Trump…and it’s just one line about him wanting a hamburger. Get it?!?? He’s fat!!!!

• When I saw that this sketch involved a car chase, I knew that there was going to be an OJ reference somewhere. I was right, because the footage they use to represent this car chase is taken from the OJ chase. So, is the point they’re trying to make here that Donald Trump is a murderer? Or something? I don’t know, these writers are clearly not healthy.

Musical Performance: “Times Like These”

Final Thoughts: Good God, this is one of the worst episodes I’ve ever had to review. Every single joke fell flat for me. Every single sketch idea was awful. And, of course, there was that unbearably long monologue at the beginning. Overall, a terrible mess of an episode.

Best sketches: NONE

Worst sketches: They all sucked, but I really hated Fired Mascots, Mario Moments, and DC Morning the most.

Next review: Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa