Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters (12.16.2017)

Okay, heres' my review. It was very obvious the cast and crew were burnt out all week and we're coasting off of Kevin Harts' energy and enthusiasm to get them through the last show of 2017. They didn't seem totally out of ideas. They didn't rely on recurring material. They just didn't take as many risks as previous weeks and when they tried to it was with premises that sounded much better on paper. This was a very underwhelming way for SNL to close out the year but at least it seemed to be a banner night for Alex Moffat, Chris Redd and most of the female cast.

White House Tree Trimming - It must be a coincidence that they'really airing this right after a repeat of Ryan Hoslings' first episode from two years ago which ALSO featured a "Christmas Message From Donald & Melania Trump" cold open with Taran Kilam as Trump. I still genuinely cannot decide whose Trump I actually prefer between him and Baldwin but I will give Taran credit for being able to pick up on some nuances in Trump's voice and facial expressions that Baldwin was unable to capture. I do generally prefer this weeks' cold open as its' a much more fleshed out sketch in terms of writing. Still, they could've stood to shorten it a bit more between dress and air. I fid like the RIP Earth joke and the Don Lemon jab at the beginning. The walk ons from Beck, Aidy and Alex got the most laughs from me. I think I could've done with just the last Leslie/Omarosa scene instead of both. The Scarjo/Ivanka scene was okay. It didn't feel necessary but hey, she was in town and is dating a Weekend Update anchor. I do appreciate her getting to play Ivanka with some actual lines for the first time in ten years. I also liked her Bannon/Madball joke. Kate didn't do much for me as Kelly Anne or Elf Sessions but I have to be a little impressed that they found a way to quick change her between both roles just when I thought they wouldn't. C+

Monologue - Usually, Kevins' monologues are entertaining but for whatever reason I couldn't get into this one. Maybe I just couldn't relate to parenting a toddler or maybe I just couldn't get past the fact that he chose to do this material right after it came out that he cheated on the woman he supposedly had this baby with (he's REmarried?!? God, I hope he didn't cheat on TWO women). Maybe I just couldn't get over how out of place another stand up monologue felt at the top of the Christmas show (where they've pretty consistently done musical numbers. I guess what I'm really trying to say here is that this was my least favorite of Kevin Harts' SNL monologues. C-

Christmas Jewelry From Pandora - This felt too much like a tired trope for SNL (one they usually go to on Valentine's Day) but I did like how increasingly dumb the charms were. I also liked Kate and Cecily discussing what gifts they got Beck and Mikey. When I the first shots of this featured SNLs' three most prominent women, I was expecting this to be another strong feminist statement short in the vein of "Welcome To Hell" and I honestly would've preferred that instead. C-

Office Meeting Phone Call - This sketch was worth watching just for the payoff. I didn't like the buildup that much but I did like Beck, Kate and Pete badly faking phone calls at the end. C-

Captain Shadow & The Cardinal - This super hero film was okay. I don't quite know what to make of it. On the one hand, it does kind of play off some tired tropes of racial inequality based comedy. On the other hand, Chris Redd was easily the best thing about this. They should've given him a slightly bigger part. Kevin and Alex played well off of him. Kenan appearance was the most disappointing part as it didn't nearly go the way I was expecting. Otherwise, I enjoyed it. Also, it's nice to know now that this show can get away with dropping the GD bomb in both live AND taped pieces. C+

Inside The NBA - This was pretty funny. Kevin Hart does a pretty solid Shaq. He does breath some life into what appears to be the same tired take on Shaqs' persona that Jay Pharroh had. Chris and Alex did a great job as the straight men here and Kenan is always dependable as Charles Barkley. Kudos to Kevin for being able to handle the stilts they gave him. I'm glad I'm not the only person who saw the irony of casting Kevin Hart as Shaquille O'Neal. B-

Update was pretty forgettable tonight. Josts' best jokes were the Golden Globes and "vacation braids". I liked Ches' opening rant on voting even though it didn't seem to go anywhere. They both had great rants on the democrats calling on Trump to resign but the thing that disappointed me the most about tonight's update was how little Che had to say about the Net Neutrality issue. I can't believe SNL was the only late night show that only devoted one lousy stinkin' joke to it. This was more deserving of a long rant than anything. Hell, they could've legit gotten away with casting Chris Redd as Ajit Pai. Speaking of impressions, this was actually the best use of Leslies' Omarosa in the entire show. Speaking of guest commentaries, I didn't think there was anywhere else they could take Alexs' Guy Who Just Bought A Boat, but I do appreciate the implication that he is also a serial sexual harasser. That and making Colin break were the only things that stood out to me here. C-

Llama Nativity Play - This was much ado about nothing. It seemed like they spent half of the sketch building up to something that way didn't pay off the way they were hoping it would. This may be the only instance I've ever witnessed where a live animal derailed a live sketch by being too calm and easily in control. Plus, Kevin Hadrt wasn't that believable as a teen. At least Kenan and Leslie got some good lines out of this. C-

Christmas Party - I think I spoke to soon about that previous sketch. This barely built up to anything at all. It just meandered about and beat one tiny shred of a joke to death. It had an ending at least but there was no reveal. I did get a slight kick out of Hart revealing that all his party guests were also his employees. Otherwise, this was the weakest live sketch of the night. D+

Active Jack - I appreciate witnessing this see the light of day after hearing Kenan describe this sketch in his interview on Seth Meyers this summer. Unfortunately, this also meant the sketchs' every mover was very much telegraphed going in for me. Kenan also mentioned this sketch was cut from dress rehearsal when Bruno Mars pulled double duty in 2012. How burnt out were the writers this week that they had zero qualms about bringing a five year old sketch out of mothballs? Anyway, this made decent use of Kevin Harts' seemingly boundless energy (although I'm sure a professional musical performer of Mars' stature might have added slightly more to it). Kenan, Kate and Cecily were, once again, quite dependable in their roles here. Another impressively quick change for Kate here. I liked the added detail of her smoking a bent, torn cigarette. B-

Goodnights - It's nice to see them return to the rink for what had to be the first time since at least Fallon hosted, but if you were anything like me you were completely transfixed by Leslie, Cecily, Melissa and Che at one point playing "the rink is lava" with the same piece of cardboard (?) as Beck playfully scolded them.

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...

1. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift

2. Chance The Rapper/Eminem

3. James Franco/SZA

4. Saoirse Ronan/U2

5. Larry David/Miley Cyrus

6. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk

7. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith

8. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters

9. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z

Well, at least the Foo Fighters allowed SNL to close out 2017 on a relatively high note. Going into the new year, SNL seems to be breaking their pattern of having someone promoting Star Wars be their first host on the calendar. After the Christmas break, Sam Rockwell makes his hosting debut apparently promoting Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing, Missouri. Alhough the name sounds quite familiar his work (to me) isn't. Hell, I thought he was in Jurassic Park until I realized I was thinking of Sam Neill. Rockwell is a little known actor whos' mostly been in a lit of small, indie type films (seemingly the second host of this ilk we've had this season after Saoirse Ronan). Obviously, I have no idea of what to expect from him going in. I'm.not sure how much comedy he has done but I hear he is a committed actor so this should be interesting. Of course, its' still going to be a January show so they may be running on even less fumes than they were this week but its' still nice to see another first time host. See you then (and happy holidays!)

James Franco/SZA (12.9.2017)

Okay here's my review. This show really took some bold chances writing wise and thankfully most of them paid off very well. Of course, thats' to be expected with such an avant garden host as James Franco who can be game for just about anything. While he delivered almost exactly what I expected, he seemed to dominate the show to the point where he almost overshadowed the cast in terms of airtime and visibility. Still, aside from him Heidi Gardner, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Chris Redd and Beck Bennett seemed to be dominating the show so good on them. Some say this was the best show of the season up to this point. I would hesitate to say that but it's definitely in my top three. Anyway, lets' break it down.

Visit With Santa - This was quite long and uneven for what is was. It was okay overall, but they should've cut some dialogue between dress and air. It felt like thry were just throwing everything topical from this week at the wall and not even bothering to pay attention to what was sticking. Throughout most of this, I kept trying to think back to the last time they used actual children for these types of sketches (or at least gave them this much dialogue). That was probably because I was just watching the Jack Black/Neil Young episode before this where they used Dratch, Samberg and Poehler for the kid parts in the Cheney/Santa open. Then again, this cold open did seem to need actual children in order to achieve the intended effect. Plus, I was also trying to think back to the last time SNL did a non-political cold open like this (I genuinely could not remember) until I realized this actually was political to a small degree and was therefore the closest thing to a non-political cold open the show seems to think they can afford right now. Still, anytime we get a break from Alec Baldwins' Trump impression is refreshing. Kate got in some great lines, Kenan was serviceable and as far as the kids...all I can remember right now is how those boys got the biggest laughs referencing the NFL/Matt Lauer scandals and how adorable it was when that other girl had a hard time actually saying "libtard response".C+

Monologue - I did like how they tried to poke fun at themselves at first but this disappointed and went nowhere fast. Kudos to the two new writers who got some early screen time in this. The Rogen cameo was to be expected. He had a decent exchange with Franco but otherwise he didn't do much for me. Jonah Hill is officially unsettlingly skinny now and even Steve Martin couldn't add much to this. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was at least a little disappointed that they didn't use this opportunity to bust out a Tommy Wiseau cameo but he does strike me as someone the writers may be afraid to work with and even now SNL might consider "The Room" too much of a cult niche film for their audience to recognize. C-

Sexual Harassment Charlie - This was a bit strange at first but Kenan performance and Becks' laundry list of real reasons he was fired really made it for me. The ladies in the cast really played well off him too. If this sketch was actually trying to make a real point about sexual harassment (seemingly the opposite of the ones the show usually tries to make about these types of issues) then I'm glad this tried to veer away from it quick enough to score some genuine laughs. C-

Gift Wrapping - This sketch was definitely the most entertaining piece of the whole night. I did appreciate how this tried to top itself in terms of grossness. I genuinely had to wonder if Leslie had any lines in this sketch or not. I honestly don't know what was funnier between the over the top blood or the cheapness of the blood spurting props. Did anyone else notice Francos' fake foot came off before it was supposed to? A-

Scrudge Goes To A Party - This film underwhelmed me but I have to think that had something more to do with the fact that is simply followed a sketch with lots of fake blood. I did sort of like the premise of a Scrooge character being more of a modern day dick while still maintaining just the appearance and style of an 18th century old rich miser but something seemed lacking in both writing and execution. It's a little better on the second viewing. I did lije Becks' various insults and impositions on people but they seemed to run kind of a thin joke into the ground and even when he encountered Francos' character it didn't seem to escalate anywhere. Even the ending where Beck seems like he is apologizing but then intentionally moons everybody seemed like too much of a non sequitur even to me. Perhaps the thing that bothered to me the most was the fact that Becks' character was named "Scrudge" instead of just Scrooge. I was under the impression that either "A Christmas Carol" was somewhat in public domain or just that the family of Charles Dickens was just very unlitigious. I could understand the name change here in terms of creative license but otherwise I don't get it. D+

Spelling Bee - This was a funny live piece. I did like Kate and Alexs' back and forth. Francos' character indignantly revealing more and more disturbing personal facts about himself was funny and the featured players were serviceable enough in small teenage roles. Pete managed to get some funny lines here. B+

Update was mostly solid and a vast improvement on the previous week tonight. The only jokes that really stood out in the first part were the tangent that Al Franken inspired Che to go off on and Josts' Trump/Hanukkah party rant. I'm a bit conflicted about Cecilys' latest commentary. I thought it was her funniest appearance yet but mostly because of the legally dead/drug habits/flying foot jokes more than the real world commentary. I did like how they chose to tack in a Seth-and-Stefon type joke at the end (at least I think that's a joke since we haven't heard anything about Cecily getting engaged in real life yet...but if I'm wrong and that ring is real than kudos to her for both the engagement and choosing this as the way to break it to the world). In part two, the R. Kelly/UK ghost sex jokes stood out the most to me. I enjoyed Ches' short film more than I thought I woukd. I did like how he didn't overdo it and go full on "White Chicks Like Me" on us. I started to see right where it was going as soon as the first brunch/mimosas scene since, as I may have mentioned here before, one of Michael Ches' go to comedy tricks is to create parallels between two disparate groups of people. He still made it work in a big way here (even in a big enough way that his sudden dropping of the n-bomb in response to Alex didn't feel unnecessary or unwarranted). I did like how Redd was the only one who recognized him, too. B-

Za On Trial - This was definitely worth it just for the payoff. I wasn't that into the premise at first but I did like Francos' commitment to something so seemingly thin. I felt like I was watching a sketch that got cut fron Ryan Gosling episode just until Redds' appearance and Franco having photographic evidence of the murder and Petes' guilt being part of the twist ending. C+

Christmas Charity- This film was enjoyable in a subtle low-key way. I did feel like I should'be seen the joke coming a bit before the reveal but I did really enjoy the long, slow sentimental Schillers' Reel style buildup. I did think they could've trimmed the ending to this just a bit as it felt like they were really milking this for all it was worth there. B-

Pretty Mandy Reunion - This sketch was another enjoyable semi low key piece. Kudos to Heidi Gardner for getting possibly her most airtime of the season tonight. This was a more endearing character from her. It almost felt like if one of Kyle Mooneys' characters were written and performed more coherently and competently by a woman. I'm glad that the Dave Franco cameo they were obviously trying to build to really did happen and I liked how Franco was able to poke fun at his career here more effectively. B-

Now, just for fun, I thought I would try and rank all of James Francos' episodes from best to worst since he's hosted four times now. I'm going from memory on half of these because while I have reviewed all four of his shows, my reviews of his first two are lost to the ages. Here we go..

1. James Franco/Kings Of Leon/ (9.20.2008)

2. James Franco/SZA (12.9.2017)

3. James Franco/Nicki Minaj (12.6.2014)

4. James Franco/Muse (12.19.2009)

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...

1. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift

2. Chance The Rapper/Eminem

3. James Franco/SZA

4. Saoirse Ronan/U2

5. Larry David/Miley Cyrus

6. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk

7. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith

8.. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z

Well, that was certainly a kick in the pants the show needed right now. Next week, Kevin Hart returns to host. Even though I've started to come around on Kevin more and more since he's been hosting, having him host the last show before Christmas feels a bit strange. Not quite as strange as having Casey Affleck host last Christmas but still just strange enough that he should probably be hosting on January 13th instead. See you then!

Saoirse Ronan/U2 (12.2.2017)

Okay, here's my review. This show had plenty of worthwhile moments but they were scattered throughout the show at such disparate point that it felt like the most wildly inconsistent episode in years. Saoirse Ronan proved to be a capable host, but I was left wanting to see a bit more of her as she seemed to barely be used at all in sketches. Aside from Melissa and Heidi, it seemed like everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE got a substantial amount of airtime this week. Let's break it down, shall we?

White House Christmas Carol - This was enjoyable at first, but as it went on it felt more like there was some wasted potential there. It felt like they were jumping the gun a bit doing a white house holiday party/Christmas Carol themed sketch in their FIRST show of December, but I suppose it would be a necessity in this year's breakneck news cycle. This seemed like it was gonna be another simple, unambiguous premise that would flourish under proper execution at first but it seemed to Peter out around the time Beck and Kate made their walk on as Putin and Hillary. It seemed like they were under duress and had to rush the ending for some reason (which is perfectly understandable but it kinda derailed this sketch). Mikey and Alex impressed me the most. It's about time Day played Flynn Sr. While I'm sure I'm not the only one whos' over Baldwins' Trump, I must say it felt refreshing only having to see him after an almost month long absence. Strangely, it felt less run into the ground than Becks' Putin. B-

Monologue - This disappointed me quite a bit. I didn't like that the song was the sole focus of the monologue (or that the focus of the entire song was the proper pronunciation of the hosts' name) but the walking from the cast really saved it. I didn't get the impression from this that Ronan would be anything other than a strong host but rather she might have to make the most out of some weak material. I would think they would have more to work with when Saoirse Ronan as a host. D+

Floribama Shore - This was all over the place. It was funny in spots but so inconsistent I still don't know what to make of it. Just when you thought the Hurricane Irma references were going to be a throwaway joke and not the main focus of the piece, they weren't. The introductions were very funny as much of a played out comedy trope as they felt like. Kudos to this season's new featured players for making a big splash here. Luke seemed to make his biggest impression yet (even though it was in abother taped piece and he seemed to be accidentally be doing his Blake Shelton impression again). Heidi also added a lot even if her character was a little too reminiscent of her straw-addled teen from the Gal Gadot episode. I liked Chris as the only one preparing for the hurricane. He did well to punctuate moments like Luke getting impaled on the flying Stop sign. Saoirse fit in surprisingly well here. She obviously spent most of tonight surprising her native accent but this seemed like her most outside-of-her-comfort-zone moment of the night. I have to say I most resonated with Becks' line at the end as I don't know why anyone thought we really needed a Floribama Shore parody (or a parody of anything at all on MTV) right now after SNL pretty much said anything they could'be possibly had to say about Jersey Shore five years ago. C+

American Girl Store Explosion - I'm glad this wasn't a complete by the numbers rewrite of the Matt Shatt sketch from last seasons' premiere despite having a very similar structure. I will say I liked the increasing escalation of Mikeys' doll infatuation as the details unfolded. C-

Welcome To Hell - As for this music video, I have to say I did appreciate the message behind it more than the execution. I can't say I blame the writers of this piece (I'll go out on a limb and guess either Cecily or Aidy collaborating with someone on the staff) for not bothering with any subtlety on this one. I get the sense whoever wrote this also did so under some (emotional) duress. If thats' the case, then I have to say I feel for them I wasn't expecting Leslies' contribution to be as brief as it was. I have to say Melissas' brief cameos were the only things that made me laugh in this. Still, I'I'm left wondering if there was any reason why Heidi was playing a man in a trenchcoat. C+

The Kmart Return Counter - Early on, this felt like it was going to be the best live segment of the night. I loved the rapid fire succession of jokes and pure silliness in this one. I especially liked Cecilys' character in this as I appreciate someone finally attempting to parody the recent trend of people filming and posting their unpleasant chain retail shopping experiences to social media. Other than that, I'd really be surprised to find an actual Kmart anywhere these days. A-

Office Race- This short film was also very enjoyable. I can tell this was written by Beck and Kyle but likely directed by Oz because it reeks of Good Neighbors' style of humor but is very different both visually and stylistically from the rest of their short films. Anyway, while I thought this was very funny I felt like it could'be been shortened a bit. Also, it took me a shameful amount of time to recognize that Greta Gerwig was the office boss in this. B+

Update may have been the most inconsistent and disappointing it has been all season tonight. The obligatory opening Trump rant was okay buy it all kinda ran together since this was such an absurdly not-slow news week. It's nice to see Kate sneak a new impression onto Update, but her Theresa May didn't exactly blow me away. The bit was some low hanging fruit and we'be all seen Kate play stuffy British women before. The only jokes after that that stood out were the nude Afterglow performance. The Lauer material was pretty weak. I never expected them to make Mikey and Leslies' first time S&M couple recurring. The only thing that made this any different and put this above the first installment were the diagrams that Mikey bought out. C-

Bachelor Auction - This sketch was probably the second funniest live sketch of the night. I liked how they developed fleshed out Petes' dim pool boy character to the exact point where he would work well in a live sketch. Of course, it does seem like the women of the show did much of the heavy lifting but Pete set them up nicely. Kenan absurdly high bids were also a nice touch. The John McEnroe cameo felt unnecessarily tacked on but even he made the most of it. B+

Late To Class - This sketch felt a little bittersweet. It was nice to see Luke Null finally get to be the main focus of something for the first time and show us his true comedic sensibilities. It'seems a shame his material didn'the quite land with the audience but at least he got to set up Saoirse and the rest of the cast up to get much bigger laughs than he did. Good for him for making his presence known but I don't think he should get too comfortable just yet. I don't get the impression he's secured his spot on the show next season just yet. C-

Aer Lingus - This sketch may have been the worst piece of the night. It seemed like the lamest "obligatory host sketch" ever. It just seemed like a flimsy excuse to let the cast members with an affinity for European accents bounce their best attempts at Irish ones off the host and try to gain her approval. Still, I have to give it to the cast for doing their damndest to sell this even though the materis wasn't quite there. At least the host got to use her natural accent in one sketch tonight. D+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...

1. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift

2. Chance The Rapper/Eminem

3. Saoirse Ronan/U2

4. Larry David/Miley Cyrus

3. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk

2. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith

1. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z

Next week, James Franco returns for his fourth hosting stint. While I think we had seen the full extent of his sketch comedy capabilities by his second episode. He always gels well enough with the cast and writers that I wouldn't mind seeing him again. Plus, the fact that he is currently promoting "The Disaster Artist" alone justifies his return to the SNL stage. See you then!