Alec Baldwin/Ed Sheeran (2.11.2017)

Okay, here’s my review. This show came very close to being just on the same level of quality as last weeks’ show. However, this show felt jam packed with material of wildly varying quality making it feel like the most un even show in recent memory. Still, this show had plenty of genuinely enjoyable moments among what worked and what didn’t. This week, the highs were high and the lows were only just low enough to stand out among the highs. Alec was pretty much what you would expect him to be like as a host. If you’ve seen one 2000s era Baldwin episode, you’ve pretty much seen them all. As far as the cast goes, it feels like pretty much everyone was got a lot of screentime (even Pete, Sasheer and the new featured players) but there was a lot less of Beck, Bobby and Kenan this week. Anyway, we have a lot to get to so let’s break it down here.

Sean Spicers’ Second Press Conference – This was an appropriate choice to open this episode and it hit on all the same comedic beats as the last weeks’ Spicer sketch did. Still, “last week” is the key phrase here as it did have an inescapable “more of the same” feel and didn’t quite vary enough from last week but I guess that’s par for this seasons course with the way they’ve been relying on celebrity cameos lately. That’s not to say it didn’t have its moments. For one thing, Kate as Jeff Sessions got the biggest laughs here. Mispronouncing foreign names seemed derivative, but only Melissa McCarthy cold sell that. I also enjoyed Melissas’ back-and-forth with Bobby’s Glenn Thrush, the sudden Ivanka infomercial, the Segway podium chase and the snowblower (Oh Cecily, you don’t know what you do to me). B+

Monologue – This left a lot to be desired as it feels like reminiscing on his previous hosting experience is all Baldwin has been doing with his SNL monologues since they released his “Best Of” DVD back in ’03. Plus, Pete did sort of stick out like a sore thumb here and the “millennial” jokes at his expense grew a little tiresome. Still, if you can look past that it’s nice to be briefly reminded of the things that made Alec Baldwin such a beloved returning host B-

Russell Stover Black History Month – This premise was okay but it felt very much like something the show had already done. It just seemed a little one note to me, but the acting really saved it. Sasheer and Leslie played very well off of Alec and Alex and I did appreciate the various faces of prominent black figures molded out of chocolate. Otherwise, this maybe should’ve been fleshed out a little more. I have a strong feeling either Che or Sasheer cowrote this one with one of the new writers. C+

Cheetos Pitch Meeting – I really appreciated the idea behind this but it also felt a little one note and belabored. I liked the idea of poking fun at the seeming onslaught of recent commercials with seemingly innocuous yet uplifting themes that (even if it’s quite a stretch and only because it’s 2017 and this is the world we must live in and face now) can be easily or in some cases not so easily be interpreted as a slam at President Trump. I also appreciated that it at least attempted to build to something. I just wish there was a little less repetition and a little more variance to this. B-

Fatal Attraction – This has to be my favorite portrayal of Kellyanne Conway by Kate McKinnon yet. I actually enjoyed the dark and disturbing angle they went for here, probably more than most of you, I’m guessing and this definitely benefitted from being pretaped. Still, I can see some reasonable criticism of this being sexist as Kellyanne is being portrayed as mentally unstable while holding a high government position, but hey…that didn’t ruin it for me. A-

Drill Sergeant – This made me think I was a little hard on the Cheetos sketch and the first pre-taped ad. Still, Alec Baldwin is the only host that could’ve kept this even mildly watchable. Sadly, his line flub was the only real laugh I got out of this but I did like the gag with the fan. D-

Update made a major comeback from last week. Both Jost and Che came out swinging and it’s nice to see they found a way to return to the traditional short form joke heavy Update format in a way that still allows them to get in their best jabs at the Trump administration. Still, Che’s Harambe joke really toed the line. I’m starting to see some criticisms of him being too obtuse in expressing his more unique social viewpoints. Kates’ Elizabeth Warren was brilliant. She handled the impression masterfully and I liked the whole meta angle of her investigating SNL. Kudos to the show for finally calling themselves out on having Trump host. Alex’s character should not have worked but I couldn’t help but chuckled at the sheer cheesiness of it. The S&M couple seemed like a simple premise that fortunately had some really strong writing behind it. Mikey and Leslie were really the only two cast members who could effectively pull this one off. It was very gracious of Leslie to let Mikey do most of the comedic heavy lifting here. A-

Peoples’ Court – Well, I’m glad they restricted Baldwin to only one Trump sketch and built up to it throughout the course of the show. Given that it takes seven minutes for Baldwin to get made up as Trump, it makes perfect sense that this sketch would be right after Ed Sheeran’s first song and Update. They did a pretty solid job of covering perhaps Trumps biggest news story this week outside of Update. I likened Baldwin hosting this episode to Larry David hosting last year but I guess I was pretty naïve to think there wasn’t as obvious a pop culture parallel to Baldwins’ Trump as there was between Bernie and CYE. Overall, this was a pretty solid live sketch with decent writing behind it. Baldwins’ performance here was pretty much nothing we haven’t seen before but Cecily really stood out here as they gave her all the best lines. I can confidently say now that this sketch did a better job of condemning Trump than it did The Peoples’ Court. However, even this wasn’t without its small flaws. Mikey and Alex were pretty much wasted in their small parts as Don Jr and Eric. The Grim Bannon and Putin cameos were unnecessary and Pete playing a judge only makes sense after you notice most of the male cast (besides Jost) were stuck in these thankless supporting roles. That being said, this was still an enjoyable sketch. B-

Beyonce Ultrasound – The thing I liked most about this sketch was seeing how small they were able to make this typical Sasheer role while also effectively allowing her to show us how HER Beyonce impression is actually MILES better and more accurate than Maya Rudolphs’. Of course I’d MUCH rather see her break out than continue to be used in minimal parts if SNL is going to keep her around. Nothing against Sasheer, I just wanted to point this out. Anyway, this was an interesting place for a Tracy Morgan cameo but his and Kenans’ parts wore thin real quick and Baldwin was saddled with some very lame dad jokes that not even he could salvage. C+

Leslie Wants To Play Trump – This was a great response to all the bloggers suggesting an all-female cast impersonating Trumps’ cabinet in the wake of Melissa’s success on the show. Sure, even they must realize some of their more outlandish casting suggestions are never going to happen but I’d hope they see that the show acknowledging them in this way must make up for it. The confrontations with Lorne, Vanessa and “Melania” alogn with seeing Leslie forming her impression were among the many highlights. I also liked how they worked Melissa and Sasheer in there. B-

Gym Class – Gee, maybe I was a little harsh on that drill sergeant sketch from earlier. At least this was just the right length and at just the right spot in the show. Kudos to Alec and Mikey for fully committing to it. I’m guessing the latter of whom wrote this one. D+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season…

1. Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest
2. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga
3. Kristen Stewart/Alessia Cara
4. Lin Manuel Miranda/Twenty One Pilots
5. Aziz Ansari/Big Sean
6. Alec Baldwin/Ed Sheeran
7. John Cena/Maren Morris
8. Felicity Jones/Sturgil Simpson
9. Casey Affleck/Chance The Rapper
10. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd
11. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars
12. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes
13. Kristen Wiig/The xx
14. Benedict Cumberbatch/Solange

Now, since this was a somewhat special occasion I thought I’d add something a little different to this review. I thought I would rank all of Baldwins’ episodes from best to worst much like I do with each current season and I did with Justin Timberlakes’ episodes in my review of his 2013 episode. This isn’t going to be very precise, though. I’ll be going by memory on most here since I’ve seen all of his episodes but I haven’t rewatched any of them recently (aside from his ’91 episode which was just on SNL Vintage right before this show aired). I’ve only reviewed his last four (counting this one, and those first three of my reviews are now pretty hard to come by). Feel free to voice any disagreements you may have, but I feel this list would please everyone. Here we go…

1. Alec Baldwin/Paul McCartney (2.13.1993)
2. Alec Baldwin/Whitney Houston (2.23.1991)
3. Alec Baldwin/The B-52s (4.21.1990)
4. Alec Baldwin/Tori Amos (1.20.1996)
5. Alec Baldwin/Tina Turner (2.22.1997)
6. Alec Baldwin/Luciano Pavorotti & Vanessa Williams (12.12.1998)
7. Alec Baldwin/Christina Aguilera (11.11.2006)
8. Alec Baldwin/Shakira (12.11.2005)
9. Alec Baldwin/Coldplay (4.7.2001)
10. Alec Baldwin/P.O.D (4.20.2002)
11. Alec Baldwin/Missy Elliott (4.7.2001)
12. Alec Baldwin/Ed Sheeran (2.11.2017)
13. Alec Baldwin/Radiohead (9.24.2011)
14. Alec Baldwin/Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (5.15.2010)
15. Alec Baldwin/Beastie Boys (12.10.1994)
16. Alec Baldwin/Jonas Brothers (2.14.2009)
17. Alec Baldwin & Kim Basinger/UB-40 (2.12.1994)

Well, that certainly delivered almost everything it promised to the general public. Next month, SNL returns with Octavia Spencer as host. I have no doubt she will adapt well to the show and I really like them continuing the trend of booking non-white and non-male hosts after this show. See you then.