Okay, here’s my review. This show delivered better than I
expected considering I had lowered my expectations a bit. Jonah Hill hasn’t
changed at all in regards to hosting abilities but luckily, neither has this
seasons writing. Jonah had much lamer writing (and an actual reason to host) the
last two times he had hosted so luckily everyone working with and around Jonah
made him look much better than he really was. Aside from Jon or Sasheer, the
cast was pretty balanced, too. Now, let’s get to it.
CNN Election Center – This was pretty strong. They really
did well with the goldmine of election material they had been given over the
past two weeks and pretty effectively covered everything in a short amount of
time. Jason fucking Sudekis clearly walked away with this. Good to see him back
in only his second cameo in his three years since leaving (not counting SNL40,
unheard of in this day and age). Darrell had some great lines and Bobby came in
a close third here. Kate, Beck and Taran were good but they kinda got buried
here. B+
Monologue - This fell apart fairly quickly. It was pretty
reminiscent of Goodmans' 99-00 monologue and I liked his back and forth with
Kyle but the performance with Future seemed a little too self-indulgent for my
liking. Thankfully, it wasn't the whole song. C-
Racists For Trump – This ad was pretty much all in the
execution. Kind of a tired Trump joke by this point but the build up was great.
B+
Fond Du Lac Action News - This Wisconsin local newscast was
also inconsistent. This seemed like it was trying hard to be a more Midwestern
"Californians" or a less funny version of Kroll Showsv
"Pawnsylvania". If nothing else, this just goes to prove that none of
the cast can hold a candle to Cecilys' voice talents (love her or hate her).
Still, I did like how she and Jonah as the two anchors pretty much small talked
over the other reports. I especially liked Beck talking about his
"troubled son" and Taran mistaking a 2 for a 69 in his Lotto drawing.
C+
The Champ - This short was another thing that was all about
the buildup but this time the payoff was less satisfying and more drawn out. It
reminded me more of the type of short that Mike O'Brien would do over the past
two years. Kenan was the best thing about it. Otherwise, it was good but not
great. C-
High School Auction – This sketch was surprisingly funny.
Jonah looked like he was struggling a bit with the Arabic accent but he and
Taran really sold the hell out of their characters. Pete was pretty funny here
too. Overall, it was a pretty good take on viral culture. B+
Update was pretty much in line with the quality of this
episode. I did like most of the jokes especially the OJ/Carson/Republican
debate rants, Jose jab at Ches' PornHub searches and the "Cimpanzees/but
why tho?" Joke from Che. It was nice to see Cecilys' girl from the party
again but this felt like more of the same. I only really liked the "labia
everything" line. Having Kate portray Floss Bassey (sp???) must'be seemed
like a better idea on paper than in execution but this kinda dragged. It felt a
little flat and predictable. Jays' bit seemed like a cheap excuse for him to
roll out his impressions but he did nail all of them and I did like the
Chappelle/Hannibal ones the most as I haven't seen him do those ones before. B+
Murder Mystery – This sketch is the biggest dud of the night
to me. This had to be written by whoever wrote the couples game show sketch
from his 2014 episode (which I'm guessing was Che/Robinson given his affinity
for writing sketches just like this throughout 2013-14). D+
Inside SoCal III - I'm actually shocked that Beck and Kyle
could get this on three times in two years so far buy although I liked the back
and forth between Jonah and Cecily, I didn't like this as a whole as much as I
liked the first one or any of the pre-SNL versions of this Beck and Kyle did.
C-
Silver Star Catering - This sketch seemed like something
that was initially written by Anderlette by Fred Armisen (or really any other
performer BUT Jonah) that kept getting cut. Still, as unsuited for this role as
Jonah was and as one note as this whole sketch was, Jonah still made me laugh
the more over the top he became. C+
Now, for my updated rankings for this season…
1. Larry David/The 1975
2. Tracy Morgan/Demi Lovato
3. Elizabeth Banks/Disclosure with Lorde & Sam Smith
4. Tina Fey & Amy Poehler/Bruce Springsteen & The E
Street Band
5. Ryan Gosling/Leon Bridges
6. Jonah Hill/Future
7. Melissa McCarthy/Kanye West
8. Chris Hemsworth/Chance The Rapper
9. Adam Driver/Chris Stapleton
10. Donald Trump/Sia
11. Miley Cyrus
12. Matthew McConaughey/Adele
13. Ronda Rousey/Selena Gomez
14. Amy Schumer/The Weeknd
Well, that was reasonably fun. Next week, Ariana Grande
makes her hosting debut. I can’t tell whether this or Jonah is a stranger
hosting choice. While Ariana at least has a new album to promote, Jonah is more
known as an actor than she is but people do seem to forget that she has some
acting experience going into this show thanks to Nickelodeon and “Scream Queens”.
Still, pop stars have usually turned out to be fun and capable hosts in the past
no matter what material they’re actually given and the writing this season has
been good at a fairly consistent level so as long as it doesn’t start to really
decline next week, she should be fine and this should turn out to be a decent
show. See you then.
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