Okay, here’s my review. Brie Larson showed herself to be a
game host who was up for anything. She blended in the cast maybe a little too
well. Either that, or she was just placed in small straight and unmemorable
roles that made her see, practically invisible the whole night. I’m going to go
with the latter but she was a fine host who did well with what small roles she was given when she was actually put to some use. The show is still pretty consistent as far as writing and cast balance goes
Church Chat XIX - Great to see SNL actually surprise up with
an out of nowhere Church Lady appearance (although since Carey has been
plugging his "First Impressions" competition show and was just on
Seth Meyers it might not be a TOTAL surprise). While the Madonna/Beyonce met
gala jabs were weak the Jay-Z/Lemonade joke was Allright just for the reaction
it got from the audience. While Tarans' increasingly weak Cruz didn't add much,
Darrel as Trump really breathed some life into this and while the Cruz demon
transformation was a nice touch, they really should'be done more with it that
tacking onto the LFNY. It was nice of them to sneak JR in there even if it had
to be his most useless role yet. While Vanessa and Kate got some chuckles, they
may not have even needed to be in this. All in all, while this got off to a
slow start it was nice to see this season and was much better than the one from
Carveys' 2011 hosting gig. Plus, this one seemed to have a real 86-90 feel to
it for some reason. Did anyone else get that vibe? B-
Monologue - Brie Larson seems like she is going to have fun
as a host so far. Beck and Bobby got some laughs here but I don't see why they
had to give us a much more rushed version of last years' Mother's Day monologue
from Reese Witherspoons' show. C-
President Barbie -
This ad took a while to get going but as soon as I saw what they were going
for, I noticed how dated these criticisms of Hillarys' campaign were. If it
weren't for Brie Larsons' appearance as the mom, I would'be assumed this got
cut from many earlier dress rehearsals this season. C-
Near Death Experience - I'm surprised they made the alien
abduction sketch from Ryan Gosling show recurring, I wouldn't quite say we have
another Debbie Downer on our hands just yet. The writing in this version was
still up to snuff, but I still prefer the Gosling version at this point. Only
Bobby seemed to Crack up mildly at first glance. B-
Baby Shower -This sketch was something I didn't quite know
what to make of. It was really one note, but kudos to the hair people for
pulling this off. The humor in this was largely lost on me not being a mom or
having met the type of personality this sketch is meant to poke fun at. I have
to wonder who wrote this. My guess would be any combination of
Sublette/Kelly/Schneider. D+
Update has returned to form. Jost and Che had a string of
great jokes. It was a little sooner to bring back Laura Parsons (even though I
know it has been months) but she had her best material here. I liked Sasheers
commentary for what it was. It was a little awkward and directionless but I'm
glad to see she and Josh had fun with it and her dropping her own n-bomb really
made this for me. I'm sure Lorne will have her back over this. Petes' commentary
was also fun although it felt a little strange seeing her make two cameos in
the same show. B+
Game Of Thrones - I think SNL may have been making a few too
many returns to the Game of Thrones well but kudos to them for doing what may
be their first ever LIVE Game Of Thrones parody ever. I do like how you didn't
really have to have watched too much of the show to get it. C-
Quiz Show 2018 - This is another one note piece that got
dragged on needlessly. I did like the Heidi Cruz reveal at the end but we maybe
could've done without the "future" jokes. C+
Kickstarter - I loved
seeing Kyles' Chris character again. Brie and Beck played very well off of him.
Besides the film clip and project description but otherwise this didn't have as
many stand out moments as the previous installments. B-
Dead Bopz - I'm glad to see Dead Bopz make it to air after
getting cut from dress rehearsal months ago. It was nice that they found a way
to work Brie Larson into this. Sasheer, Aidy, Taran, Beck and Jay really stood
out here. B+
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. Brie Larson/Alicia Keys
6. Julia Louis-Dreyfus/Nick Jonas
7. Ryan Gosling/Leon Bridges
8. Ariana Grande
9. Peter Dinklage/Gwen Stefani
10. Melissa McCarthy/Kanye West
11. Jonah Hill/Future
12. Chris Hemsworth/Chance The Rapper
13. Adam Driver/Chris Stapleton
14. Donald Drumpf/Sia
15. Miley Cyrus
16. Matthew McConaughey/Adele
17. Russell Crowe/Margo Price
18. Amy Schumer/The Weeknd
19. Ronda Rousey/Selena Gomez
Well, that was fun. Next week, Drake returns to the SNL
stage to pull double duty once again. As Drake had already proved himself to be
a great host two seasons ago, I can say with some certainty that this is the
May 2016 booking I have been genuinely looking forward to the most. See you
then!
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