Julia Louis-Dreyfus/Nick Jonas (416.2016)

Okay, here’s my review. This show was very enjoyable despite being wildly uneven throughout. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was a welcome presence and proved she still has the comedy chops for a live sketch show. She really bought some life into a show with the material to start off strong, steadily lose steam somewhere in the middle and then experiment quite a lot near the end in a way that paid off. Anyway, let’s get right to it, shall we?

CNN Democratic Debate – This was a great way to open the show. Kate and Larry were great as always and while Becks' Wolf Blitzer isn't dead on, he is immediately funnier, more professional and a more welcome presence in the role than Jon Rudnistky. Kenan was unexpectedly very funny presenting the "black question". Vanessa as Rachel Green wasn't necessary but I did like the Dr. Huxtable/noogie/feel that bern bits. Of course, Julia as Elaine walked away with this and the banks/taxes back and forth were the true standouts. B+

Monologue - This was a lot of fun. It's great to see someone with Julias' comedic talent poke fun at her pre-Seinfeld career in a true monologue. I especially liked the Soul Man/blackface jokes and the Tony Hale cameo really made this. B-

Heroin AM - This really was well executed and felt like an ad they could've s done in any previous era. Unfortunately, it seemed like they didn't quite know where to end this. C+

Huge Jewelry - This was another piece that ran on too long without much of a premise. This seems like they just put Bronx Beat in a blender with Armisen and Johansens' chandelier/marble columns pitchmen. Strangely, Nick Jonas was the only thing that really made me laugh here but that was just at his ridiculously oversized gold necklace. C-

The Pool Boy - This short film reminded me a lot of that student/teacher affair sketch in Annette Benning '06 episode. Still, Pete was funny here with the bags/squirrel bits although the rest of this was pretty one mote. Nick Jonas' cameo felt really telegraphed but Julia played off of him quite well. I think this being a taped piece really helped the timing of it. C+

Cinema Classics IV – This sketch also beat one joke to death (seems to be a theme tonight) but I have to give Andelette credit for almost knowing how to wring even last possible moment of comedy from this. I did like the ridiculous lengthso Julia went to just to retrieve increasingly smaller lines, Kate and Tarans' exasperation with her during their penultimate scene and the lines being read from Tarans' chest. D+

Mercedes - This battery run car ad also felt like something they would do in the early '90s but they really didn't go far enough with this premise. C+

Update was pretty inconsistent tonight. Aside from the Trump/Bernie/Cruz/FBI jabs, every joke fell flat (Ches' Kasich/GOP joke was particularly clumsy) and the punchlines were rather predictable. In fact, I could've sworn Che just straight up reused one of Josts' old jokes. Still, the commentaries were enjoyable. Kenan and Jay played expertly off of each other with their Shaq and Barkley impersonations as usual. Aidys' commentary was like a fun throw back to the commentaries she would do early in her first season. I don't think we needed to see Cecilys' 1D female character again but I did like how she broke the fourth wall and began to describe what sounded like a parody of a raunchy Farrelly Bros type comedy. The thing I liked about the female commentaries in this episode is how they each got increasingly more absurdist as they went along. B-

Who Works Here? – This sounds like the most ambitious game show sketch SNL has ever done but it was executed very well and the increasing absurdity of this made me laugh. Julia wasn't the greatest host here and Vanessa, Taran and Sasheer didn't add much as the contestantsun (even of that was the entire point of there roles) but the rest of the cast was great here. I'm really curious as to who wrote this as I know have to know what kind of experiences in CVS would have inspired this. B+

Match.com Mingle - This was another overly bizarre yet very fun piece. It almost seemed like it was lifted straight from a "Man Seeking Woman" script or something that should be on any other sketch show BESIDES SNL. Kudos to the makeup and sound people on this one. Kate and Julia were excellent in this and Beck played off of everyone really well. B+

God Is A Boob Man grew on me. At first, it was yet another predictable piece. I had a feeling it would just be another faux horror/disaster trailer based on something topical in pop culture but then I saw it was actually going for some traces of social satire and embracing the sheer idiocy of what it poked fun at. While the Kim Davis angle kinda dated this, it was still a well done parody of those Krik Cameron/Gods' Not Dead type of heavily religious films. C-

Now, for my update rankings of 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. Julia Louis-Dreyfus/Nick Jonas

6. Ryan Gosling/Leon Bridges

7. Ariana Grande

8. Peter Dinklage/Gwen Stefani

9. Melissa McCarthy/Kanye West

10. Jonah Hill/Future

11. Chris Hemsworth/Chance The Rapper

12. Adam Driver/Chris Stapleton

13. Donald Trump/Sia

14. Miley Cyrus

15. Matthew McConaughey/Adele

16. Russell Crowe/Margo Price

17. Amy Schumer/The Weeknd

18. Ronda Rousey/Selena Gomez

Well, that was a breath of fresh air. In three weeks, Brie Larson makes her hosting debut. Although I can’t remember what I’ve seen her in besides “Trainwreck” right now, I’m sure she has the acting chops to be a fine host. See you then.