Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga (10.22.2016)

Okay, here’s my review. As expected, this turned out to be the best show of the season up to this point and Tom Hanks’ mere presence played a big part in that. He really sold everything he was in and it was pretty obvious from watching him that he really kept everyone’s spirits up all week. I say this because there was less palpable burn out visible this week compared to last week. We saw a lot of the female cast get plenty of airtime tonight but Bobby, Mikey and Alex were barely visible. Other than that, it was pretty balanced. Anyway, let’s get right into it.

Third Presidential Debate – This has to be my second favorite of the 2016 campaign. I like how it was much more focused than the previous week (since it was meant to parody a debate that occurred four days ago rather than nearly a week). Tom Hanks as Chris Wallace was very much a welcome addition. Kates' highlights were the "birth control/nasty women" riffs and describing Hillarys' last 30 years. Baldwins' highlights were the spinning out of control/rigged riffs and Stephen Baldwin jabs. B+

Monologue - This has to be Hanks' strongest monologue since at least 1992. It may have been something simple on paper but the writing was what really made it. B-

Black Jeopardy IV - This may have been the strongest installment of the series by default. Hanks really fit the "odd white man out" role well and got the audience on his side early. Plus, there was some pretty creative writing behind this and it's good to see Leslie fits the void left by Jay Pharroh well. My only real complaint is that the buildup felt like an eternity and the payoff just wasn't quite there. B-

Halloween Block Party - This was only worth seeing for the middle-of-the-road musical number. Plus, Melissa showcased a surprisingly decent natural singing voice. C-

Broken - This was something I didn't quite know what to make of mostly because I'm not terribly familiar with every single facet of the genre of show this is deconstructing. Plus, the main premise being CBS throwing every acclaimed streaming trope at the wall in an effort to win some awards with their new show kind of narrows the appeal of this. The biggest thing this had going for it was how well acted this was. C+

David S. Pumpkins - This had its moments but it mostly seemed like an inferior Halloween themed Kevin Roberts remake. The highlights were Leslie's appearance, the final Bobby/Mikey/Hanks scene and Becks' increasing confusion/frustration. Speaking of Mikey, I will go out on a limb here and guess that he wrote this. C+

Update was exactly as strong as the rest of the show. It seems as if they're phasing out long-form Update already in favor of the more traditional format in time for the post-election season, but this may have been the most intricately written series of Trump jabs this season. Leslie's commentary may be the single funniest and strongest thing she has done on the show so far. She may have been a little late with it but it was a clever and refreshing take on her summer scandal. Nothing really stood out to me from Cecily latest “Girl...Party” retread but I will say the timing of it is just about right. B-

Sully - This was possibly the strongest live piece of the night. Something about it made it feel like a '90s Era sketch. I don't know if it was the Baldwin/Hanks pairing (nice to see Baldwin in his first non-Trump appearance this season, BTW) or the more low-key focused style of writing, but whatever it was made it work. My only real complaint would be that the scene with Kyle and Vanessa felt a little too predictable. A-

A Girls' Halloween - This was another piece written in a similar low-key vibe but with much more female-centric humor. The thing I liked most about this was the stark contrast created by the interspersed editing of the 8pm/4am scenes. C+

America’s Funniest Pets - I didn't mind that they decided to bring this back from Adam Drivers’ January episode as I genuinely liked it then, too. Even though it felt like something that worked best as a one-off sketch, Kate and Cecily managed to bring back everything that made it work the first time and Hanks goofing on his pal Ron Howard also worked as a stark contrast to the ladies professional ennui. B-

Now, for my updated rankings of this season…

1. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga

2. Lin Manuel Miranda/Twenty One Pilots

3. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd

4. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars

Well, that was a strong way to close out a months’ worth of SNL episodes. Next week, Comedy Central will be airing the debut of Pete Davidsons’ new standup special “SMD”. I plan to tune in to this just to see how much of this set he did last year around this time when I went to see him at the comedy works in Denver. Next month, Benedict Cumberbatch makes his hosting debut. Given that this will be their last show BEFORE the election is over, this is certainly a case of odd timing. However, I’m holding out hope that Cumberbatch (like several other British actors who have hosted the show in recent years) will turn out to be quick at adapting to sketch comedy and turn in a surprisingly funny performance. See you next time!

Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars (10.15.2016)

Okay, here’s my review. This week, the lows were a bit lower and the highs just weren’t quite as high. Sadly, it appears that halfway through their third straight show, the staff may just be starting to feel the burnout from having to do four shows in a row. Emily Blunt proved to be an upbeat host with an infectious energy who was game for anything. It’s a shame that she was given an abundance of material that proved to be a challenge for her to save. I wouldn’t mind seeing her host again with some stronger writing. Good to see Moffat getting much more airtime, even if they are just using him in straight roles at this point. Good to see Vanessa and Bobby again if for no other reason than to prove to us they are still here. Melissa is still not getting enough airtime outside of smaller roles. Given her talent as an impressionist, it’s safe to say she is still not getting the chances she needs to show u her full potential. Other than that, the cast seems pretty evenly balanced. Anyway, let’s get started

Second Presidential Debate - This was serviceable. It felt like it wasn't as singularly focused on just the second debate as it was on working in every additional tidbit of election news but that worked too (even if it felt a little sloppy at times) since the actual second debate almost feels like old news now. Right out of the gate, Alex was miles ahead of Jon as Cooper and Cecily turned in a wonderfully committed performance as Martha Raddatz. Kate and Alec were great and they both played well off of Che, Leslie, Good Neighbor and Bobby as the undecided audience. Still, they could’ve done better with the whole Drumpf stalking Hillary bit. This time, Kates' Hillary stood out more and her "handed me the election" line plus the accusers/mistresses bit and the O Fortuna entrance made the whole sketch for me. C+

Monologue - If nothing else, this showed that Emily Blunt had the right energy and commitment to be the host. It was also nice that this had a bit more to it premise-wise than just another songologue. Pete, Kenan and Cecily had the best lines in this. C-

Escorts – This sketch had some awkward missteps to it. Even though it was Moffats' first major live performance, I think the blame should be shared pretty evenly between him, Leslie and Emily. I couldn't tell if Emily was trying to help or just jumped ahead by accident. Although this was an odd sketch for anyone to break, it was fun seeing Emily do so. I guess I would say the role playing bit stood out the most to me. Otherwise, it felt too long and awkwardly drawn out. Plus, it reminded me too much of that Russian mail order bride sketch from the '09 premiere with Hader, Forte, Armisen and Megan Fox. D+

Melanianade - It took me a minute to register that this was a months too late parody of Beyoncés' "Lemonade", but it was great for what it was even if they probably could've done more with it. This may be the most elaborate Kelly/Schnieder piece we have seen in a while. I questioned why they felt the need to cast Emily Blunt as Melania Drumpf until I noticed that Vanessa was cast as Tiffany which was actually pretty spot on given all the Miley comparisons from the convention. Plus, it was a nice way for them to work in Baldwins' Drumpf in a non-debate sketch. Overall, I guess this does prove Weird Als' old adage that you don't need to know the source material to find a parody funny. I wasn't terribly familiar with whatever track from Lemonade this was a parody of (if it was meant to be a genuine parody rather than just a Beyonce pastiche) but I found the jabs at Drumpf and his problems with women funny. B-

Film Festival - This sketch was the funniest piece of the night too me just for the sheer conceptual goofiness of it. My only real complaint about this is that it could’ve benefitted from some editing. It feels like something Alex Moffat may have written given how strangely fresh and sharp it felt. It's probably not Anderlette seeing how the only one of their tropes it has was Vanessa being the odd one out. B+

Chonk - This made me laugh for its sheer abruptness and how it used Bobby and Pete at the end. This had to have been written by one of the women. It seems to be making some larger statement on women's fashion that thankfully wasn't to overshadowed by how silly this was. C+

24k Magic - I usually don't comment on the musical performances buy Brunos' first performance was very fun visually. It looked like something better suited to an awards show performance than confined within the SNL stage. Part of me enjoyed the sprawl but part of me was a little bummed that they would think to do something like this and it wasn't Weird Al performing Tacky.

Update seems content to stick with the long form at least until the election is over, which is fine. Unfortunately, they already seem a bit too burnt out. Nothing about this week's two man rants aside from the rigged/Clinton/WikiLeaks jabs. Che actually does Drumpfs voice surprisingly well, by the way. The commentaries didn't add much either. Kates' Russian lady had a couple of good bus/bomb jokes and Vanessas' Disney reporter had some good jabs at Ken Bone and Billy Bush but that's about it. This was the weakest Update so far. C+

Burger King Drive Thru - This thing has to be the first example of sponsored content this season, but they really knew how to keep this going until it actually got funny (despite not being hilarious from the start). Emily, Bobby and Beck really stood out here. C-

The Sink – This was very strange and seemed to go nowhere. Thankfully, they knew where to end it. The only real laugh I got was Emily having the only credit.

Honda Robotics - This robot sketch doesn't seem to be going anywhere either but kudos to Mikey, Emily, Leslie, Beck and Kate for performing the hell out of it nonetheless. C-

Melania Moments III - Out of all three Melania Moments, I would rank this one somewhere in the middle. C+

PBS Great British Bake Off - This sketch doesn't seem to be anything more than a who-besides-the-host-can-do-the-best-British-accent-off with Cecily the clear winner but that didn't necessarily make it unwatchable. C+

Hamsters - This Virginia Woolf tinged sketch seems like a blatant rewrite of a similar Beck Bennett film that got cut from dress from the 2014 Charlize Theron episode. The only things the audience seemed to respond well to were the shoebox and baby hamster eating lines. Plus, the twist of Kyle and Aidy being in on the whole thing felt too tacked on. D+

Now, would be an appropriate time to start ranking these shows…

1. Margot Robbie/The Weekend

2. Lin-Manuel Miranda/Twenty One Pilots

3. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars

Next week, legendary hosting alumni Tom Hanks returns for the first time in ten years to host the fourth straight show this season. I have no doubt he’ll be great himself but I sincerely hope that he can really boost morale and prevent the staff from getting to worn out. See you then.

Lin Manuel Miranda/Twenty One Pilots (10.8.2016)

Okay, here’s me review. Compared to last weeks’ show, the highs were higher but the lows weren’t quite as low. Of course with this being an election year (and still a particularly outlandish one at that) the topical material stood out the most. Lin Manuel Miranda proved to be a fun and energetic host when he was being used and his presence wasn’t being overshadowed by the news cycle that SNL was forcing itself to keep up with. As far as the cast goes, good to see Vanessa and Sasheer again (being used more to her own strengths and potential). Also, good to see them give Melissa some more airtime from last week even if we’re still not getting to see her full range quite yet. Alex Moffat is still someone who we haven’t seen break out yet and I still can’t get a handle otn what he brings to the show due to his lack of visibility. Anyway, let’s get down to it, shall we?

VP Debate/CNN Breaking News - The cold open was quite fun. Even though a lot of the material felt really telegraphed, it was just as cathartic as last weeks’ full length debate parody given what the actual election news turned out to be. Good to see they were able to cover as much of the VP debate as they absolutely needed to. Kudos to Melissa on getting the role as the moderator and her fourth-wall breaking moment was nice. Mikey and Beck played the Kaine and Pence roles well (although I thought they'd be switched). The CNN transition was great. Baldwin still does a very committed Trump and I’m still shocked that they were able to get away with saying “grab her by the pussy” unbleeped this early in the show. Kate still very much relishes the Hillary role and Cecily was a great foil to both of them. B+

Monolgue - Lin Manuel gave us a very fun, sprawling monologue, but I would’ve liked to have seen them throw in some cast member interactions just for good measure. He is actually quite a talented rapper now that I've seen him perform. This looked like it was going to set an exciting tone for the rest of the show but that didn’t quite pan out. B-

Campfire - This sketch is a poor follow up to both of the things that preceded it. I got a strong Anderlette vibe here. Kyle made me laugh and Kudos to Vanessa for getting in something so early on in the show after being completely shut out last week. D+

Crucible Cast Party – This was pretty much tailor made for someone with Lin Manuels' talents. He performed this well, but otherwise it had too much of a throwback vibe. The whole high school setting and the fact that it was another all-female cast music video made it feel like a leftover piece from 2014. The biggest laugh was Aidy looking around at all the flamboyantly gay boys who she assumed were into her. Speaking of Aidy, is anyone able to identify the extra who played the lights-on aunt in this? Didn’t she also play “Jean” in “Twin Bed” and the neighbor in “Back Home Ballers”? Is she perhaps a freidn or relative of Aidys’? C+

Substitute Teacher - This sketch was something I really started to like once I saw what they were going for (deconstructing all the tropes of a certain type of movie). Lin fit the role perfectly and Kenan, Mikey, Pete and Leslie scored some laughs and kudos to Sasheer for finally getting a decent part with some decent lines. C+

A Day Off With Kellyanne Conway - This was a very well written and directed short. I did like how Kate had to drop everything she did to defend increasingly ridiculous Trump tweets. B+

Update had a very strong start but seemed to lose momentum. I'm glad to see they had a plethora of material on the Trump tape and they really hit it out of the park. I'm also glad some more focus was given to individual jokes. It's nice to see they gave Pete his first commentary of the season. It didn't blow me away but it's nice to see some different material from Pete on how he is growing and maturing as a person. Hell, he almost made me forget that he’s still younger than me. The Tina/Jimmy Philly undecided voter commentary was all right but could've been edited down a bit for length. It didn't have a lot of focus and the only thing that was truly funny were the string of Pence comments and the subtle Trump/Fallon hair tussle jab. Also, what really threw me for a loop at the beginning was hearing the name “Denise McDonough” when Jost was introducing them. I was expecting Fallon to come out with Rachel Dratch by his side as I remembered that being the name of Dratchs’ “Zazu” character in their Boston teen’s sketches. It honestly took me about a minute to put together that he was doing this bit with Fey, not Dratch, and that they were doing Philladelphia accents, not Boston ones. Naturally, Tina did well with her accent while Jimmy struggled with his. I wonder if Tina, being from Philly herself, had to spend an inordinate amount of time coaching Fallon on the accent. B-

Wells Fargo Wagon – This was a clever way of addressing the Wells Fargo scandal even if it seems slightly like old news by now. Kyle had plenty of funny lines and Lin played another role well that was right up his alley. I have a feeling if Kelly and Schnieder didn’t write any of the Trump/Conway material in the pre-Update portion of the show, they probably wrote this. C+

Diego Calls His Mom - This was rather strange. A lot of the intended humor was lost on me since most of it was in Spanish, but it did have its moments of quirky, low key charm if you were willing to follow it. Since Alex Moffat was so heavily featured in this, I have a feeling he may have written it. D+

Stranger Things Season 2 Sneak Peek – This parody was okay. Even though I haven't watched Stranger Things (yet) and didn't get some of the more specific references to the show, the basic premise wasn't lost on me. Kenan, Leslie, Sasheer, Beck and Melissa all played their parts well. C+

Melania Moments II – This was much darker and funnier than last week. B-

A Degree Of Valor - This sketch felt strange. It reminded me a lot of a similar sketch from five seasons ago when Baldwin hosted the premiere but this had a feeling like Pete or Mikey or Robinson/Kanin could've written it. I did like Petes' sassy death at the end, though. C+

Since it’s still a little too soon to be ranking these shows, I’ll just start wrapping it up here. Next week, Emily Blunt makes her hosting debut. I pretty much have the same expectations for her as I did for Margo Robbie in that I may have only seen her in one movie but she seems like a strong enough actress to be a good fit for the show. See you then!

Margot Robbie/The Weeknd (10.1.2016)

Okay, here’s my review. This was the strongest season premiere since Hader and Sudekis were still in the cast. The show started out quite strong but slowly petered out after Update. The effect of adding several new writers can already be felt early on. Margot Robbie proved to be a game host who was up for anything. Unfortunately, the writers seemed almost afraid to use her in anything that didn’t focus on her great looks. Still, she was a fine host, if not a forgettable one. She could’ve benefitted from some better, more engaging material so I wouldn’t mind seeing her host again at some point. Mikey Day is fitting in quite well with the existing cast already and Alex Moffat is already starting to make some impression. Melissa Vilasenor was just barely more visible as Vanessa Bayer (who was virtually absent from all but the goodnights) but hopefully we’ll see more of her as the season progresses. Kyle and Sasheer weren’t in much either but there didn’t seem to be a lot of room for them this week. Other than that, the cast was pretty evenly balanced for airtime.

NBC 2016 Presidential Debate - The obligatory debate sketch was quite cathartic given what the real debate was like. Che did quite a good job as Lester Holt. It took me a second to recognize him under all that makeup but it's nice to see they're willing to use him in more sketches so far. Kate did fine as Hillary. Most of the Hillary stuff felt pretty run into the ground by this point, but I sure did like her Trump reactions, her opening tumble and the Bush-Dukakis/Carvey-Lovitz ’88 callback. It's clear Baldwin honed his Trump to near perfection and he had great material to go along with a much darker, more maniacal take on 2016’s unhinged Candidate Trump. This was the next best thing they could’ve done to having Anthony Atamanuik join the cast. To me, what particularly stood out were the mic/sniffing/Hannity/Chicago hell street moments. Sure, we could easily imagine this same material coming from Hammond had Tina not floated any ideas to Lorne but Baldwin did breathe new life into it, as expected. B+

Montage – This marks the first election year since 1992 that SNL did not change its opening credit sequence. Odd that they decided not to forgo doing that for this season but I can see why they didn’t necessarily need one.

Monologue - Fact checking was a pretty lame premise for a monologue but I have to give them credit since no one else would’ve thought of this and certainly none of us predicted it! I did like her brief digs at Lorne and Jared Leto. Thankfully, Margot didn't go it alone. The cast interactions were great and Kenan, Leslie and Pete stood out well. C+

Live Action 9 News Report – This was pretty creative and well detailed for a sketch that where the hosts' beauty was the center piece. I do like all the things they piled on to this. Again, Beck, Mikey, Kenan and Leslie performed this sketch the best. Kudos to Alex for getting a good role in his first show and kudos especially to Mikey Day for getting a role that suited him well in his first sketch. C+

The Librarian - This sketch was a great surreal piece that allowed the host to play against type and had more and more ridiculous reveals as it went on. Of Margot’s reveals, I liked the tattoos, the banana/lollipop gags, the snake tongue, killing Cecily and Becks’ sudden appearance. I also liked all the guys reactions being in tune with the Yello “Oh Yeah” song and it was a nice tribute for them to name the setting the “Villines Academy” after the member of the SNL family that recently passed away. I'm willing to bet one of the new writers came up with this. B-

Family Feud VI – This seemed like it had been beaten into the ground over the past three years but adding the election surrogate angle to it really helped. Hammond as Clinton was nice to see although his material was a little forgettable. Melissa made her debut with a great Sarah Silverman but she still seems underused compared to Alex and Mikey. Cecily playing Lin Manuel Miranda is a bizarre and savage move considering he is hosting next week. Really good to see they can still wring some laughs out of Larry David as Bernie after the convention. Kate did fine as KellyAnne Conway. Kate seemed miscast as Ivanka Drumpf. They're so different that I would've preferred to see Vanessa play her (especially since she has not been in the show at all so far). Still, she interacted well with Hammond as well as Mikey and Alex (who were perfectly cast as Eric Drumpf and Donald Jr). Moynihan is still funny as Christie and Beck did a serviceable Putin but could've been given a bigger part. B-

Update was great despite the election material being a mixed bag of original jokes and examples of "parallel thinking". Also, I appreciate the structure and format breaking of Update in that it was just two long stand up rants followed by two shorter jokes. Plus, I appreciate seeing Jost and Che appear looser with each other as it becomes more obvious that they built up quite a rapport. Cecilys' Cathy Anne character may not benefit as much as being confined to Update as say...Stefon or Drink Uncle but I do appreciate their effort to ground this character somewhat. The only thing this really succeeded in proving is that Anderlette are still employed with the show. Kenan Big Papillion had a couple of decent quips but overall this felt like more of the same. B-

The Hunch Bunch seemed a little long and a lot like something that spent a little too much time belaboring one joke. Still, I can say the payoff was funny enough. C-

Melania Moments – This was OK but way too short to be bookended on either end by commercial breaks. D+

NY Film Festival Women's Film Forum - This felt like it didn't know what type of sketch it wanted to be. It didn't work that well as an impression showcase or a Kate showcase but she got some genuine laughs out of it even if she gave me bad “Secret Word” flashbacks here. Also, Margot was still a little miscast as Keira Knightly here but not as badly as she was as Ivanka in the Family Feud sketch. C-

Mr. Robot - At first, I thought the only reason they would do a Mr. Robot sketch was Petes' uncanny resemblance to the shows' lead actor Rami Malek. Then, when Leslie came in I was pleasantly surprised they would go for a different angle and comment on Leslie's nude photos hack scandal. Finally, I ended up being disappointed with the sheer lack of focus and direction this had and the punchline being that Leslie somehow leaked her own nude photos from a comically outdated laptop. Still, I could see this as being too personal and devastating an issue for Leslie to really mine too much humor out of herself. Maybe if I were more familiar w/Mr Robot, I would've enjoyed this more but I can't even tell if the writers are that familiar with it either. C-

Well, SNL came back strong from an eventful summer. They made good user of the material that would still be topical by the time October rolled around. Next week, Lin Manuel Miranda makes his hosting debut fresh of his wildly successfully stint with his Broadway his “Hamilton”. Not being terribly familiar with his work myself, I only have the same expectations of him as host as I did Margot. Lin Manuel should prove to be a game and enthusiastic host but they still need to use him in all the right spots and give him strong material. See you then!