Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton (1.27.2018)

Okay, here's my review. This show was pretty par for the course for this season. It was at least the second most enjoyable show that aired in January of this year. It seemed to get off to a strong start fairly quickly but then lose some serious steam about a third of the way through the show. It had its moments, but theres' certainly no doubt it was disappointing to a lot of people. I think the most disappointing thing about this show was the lack of Ferrells' recurring characters or appearances from cast mates or old writers of his from his old days on the show. I certainly wasn't expecting that to be the entire show and I can understand if Ferrell and the writers just wanted to do some new original material and get away from those sketches. I just wish that Ferrell had made more of an impact as host throughout the week. In fact, I don't think we really can blame this episodes' faults in any one person. I think what dragged this show down was just a sense of palpable burnout from having to put on four shows in a row right between Christmas break and the Winter Olympics. I was afraid this would show during Ferrells week as host. I was hoping he would really boost morale and lift everybody's spirits and I'm sure he did behind the scenes but I guess they can only do so much to not run on fumes when they're under this much duress. Still, Ferrell did do a lot to save some pretty mediocre material tonight There's no denying that his age may be showing as a comedic performer in these late phases of his career but damn it if it wasn't wonderful to still be able to get glimpses of what made him such a beloved sketch performer on this show. The cast seemed almost as evenly balanced as last week. Leslie and Mikey felt a little underused and Pete was practically invisible the entire night. I am enjoying seeing the increased presence of Chris and Heidi, though. Anyway, lets' break this down

Dubya Returns Once Again Still - This cold opening helped get this episode off on the right foot. Just when I thought this would just meander with pointless silliness, it actually reminds us that George W. Bush was an actual war criminal! Ferrell had several laugh out loud lines here. There were too many to list individually. I guess Baldwin wasn't available this week? I'm glad they're relying on him less but this was one of the weeks I would've actually appreciated seeing him. Leslie as Condi Rice joining Ferrell in an All In The Family inspired duet felt a little strange but it was written just well enough to work. B-

Monologue  - This seemed promising, but I was really hoping it would escalate to crazier places. It really reminded me a bit too much of Ferrells' '05 monologue. Oh well, we all know that the monologues were never really the high points of the episodes that Ferrell hosted. The only real highlight was Ferrell calling them out on doing too many song-and-dance monologues. I mean, thunk about it. Every monologue this (calendar) year has involved singing and dancing so far. C-

Clown Penis Fighter Pilot - This was okay. It took a little long for it to go anywhere, but Ferrell made it worthwhile. It seemed like it was going to be way too one note early on, but Ferrells' explanation of why he picked the name "Clown Penis" turned out to be quite funny as did the reveal that he was in space. Yes, I do remember the clownpenis.fart investment website commercial with Chris Parnell from 99-00. At least that was a sign that he bought at least one old writer with him. C+

The House: Sonoma (Season 7,500,000) - I was glad to see that Ferrell got to do a Good Neighbor short with Beck and Kyle. Hell, I'm glad Beck and Kyle are still even getting to film their own Good Neighbor shorts at this point in their tenure on the show. While I wasn't sure at first how Ferrell would fit in with the vibe of their recurring Big Brother/Real World/Kardashians/reality TV parody, his endearing goofiness really sold this and put to rest any doubts or fears that he might be too old to fit in here. Thankfully, I was also able to enjoy Tracy Morgan's cameo since I didn't blink. B-

Commercial Shoot - This was definitely the weakest pre-Update segment of the show. When you consider who was involved in putting this on the air, it seemed like the biggest possible wastes of everyones' talents. The lines "baked in my bra and ass", "Nobody beats The Wiz", and "Yahtzee ISIS Queef" stood out to me. I'm genuinely curious as to who wrote this now because at first it reminded me of the short lived series "The Spoils Of Babylon" that Ferrell and McKay produced for IFC a few years ago which I believe Kristen Wiig and Tobey Maguire starred in. Ferrell played a very Orson Welles like host in the intro/outtro segments that seemed like an obvious riff on his infamous french wine commercial so Ferrell could've been drawing on that from his fairly recent past. Then, I saw the real viral video this sketch was based on. It was a faithful recreation no doubt but I have to wonder who thought it was worth putting on air during the week Ferrell was there. Now, this seems more reminiscent of Herb Welch (another faithful recreation of a viral YouTube clip that was run into the cold, cold ground while Hader was still a cast member which this hopefully won't suffer tge same fate as). Also, I was trying to think of who Ferrell reminded me of in that wig and those glasses. Then, I suddenly realized he reminded me of himself when he played Henry Hyde and Bob Livingston during the 98-99 Clinton impeachment related sketches as well as when he played Peter Graves that season in the sketch where Hammonds' Jack Perkins found out he was being replaced as host by CBS News' Harry Smith. He seemed to be channeling Nick Kroll and John Mulaneys' "Oh Hello" guys along with those obscure previous roles. D-

Atheist Flight Attendant - This sketch was more disappointing than it should've been. It seemed like something that was better on paper than in true execution  and Ferrell playing the role as a flamboyant southern man should've helped but something seemed off here and I'm pretty sure it was something about Ferrell and his timing. Chris, Aidy and Leslie played very well off of him. It seemed a little one note, but it was nice to see some darker Ferrel/McKay type humor at this point in the show. Also, it seemed pretty sad that beat boxing is the most notable thing that Luke Null has done on the show at this point. Hopefully, he will get to do something on Update next week. I mean, they gave Jon Rudnitsky that same courtesy by tips point in the season two years ago and he still ended up suffering the same fate that most of us suspect Null is going to suffer. C-

Next: For Men - This commercial was okay, but just felt derivative. It did speak to the incredible restraint they showed this week waiting about 30 minutes into the show to do their first "woke" piece of the entire night. C+

Update was serviceable, if not a little inconsistent. A lot of jokes stood out including Jost and Ches' jabs at McConnell, Miller and Trump as well as the obstruction of justice comments. Also, the Super Bowl/camel beauty pageant/shirtless Tonga man/Pitbull jokes were very funny. I can't believe they actually bought back Jacob Silj! I was actually thinking about what other semi-obscure long shot characters Ferrell could've done tonight and I flashed on Jacob Silj for a bit because I thought how easily well he could interact with Jost or Che behind the desk. I also predicted that they may not do another Celebrity Jeopardy sketch if they feel there isn't much room to explore after the last two. That turned out to be right given that Clown Penis was the first live sketch of the night. After Update, I didn't hate being right as much as I thouht I would. This was still very funny and the sharpness of the writing is still there even though it didn't stand out too much from this characters' previous Update appearances during the Quinn/early Fey eras and the timing and overall dynamic seemed a little different between him and Jost/Che. I did like the jabs at Jost/Che as well as the reveals about his sexuality and the sudden surprise ending. I'm glad to see Heidi got to debut another new original character. I just wished it was a bit more focused and trimmed initially. I'm glad we eventually got to see the legitimate work that went into her crafting this character and the specific aspects of teen/YouTube culture this was meant to satirize. I just wish the buildup to that wasn't so slow and dragged out. Also, I did hear her line about how her character thought Lady Bird sucked and women shouldn't direct. Maybe she should've been incorporated into the character rather than just compressed into a quick throwaway line. B-

Reality Stars Barbecue - This was WAY all over the place and it leaves me wit quite a bit to unpack. First of all, I have to say seeing a backyard barbecue set during the commercial for something that obviously didn't turn out to be another "GET OFF THE SHED" sketch may have been the biggest disappointment of this entire show (and after that pot pie sketch, that's REALLY saying something). Secondly, it felt a little culturally dated in its obnoxiousness and two reality TV based sketches in the same show the week after a show with at least three Tide Pod eating jokes just seems careless. It played out like something that got cut from dress at one of Ferrell previous hosting stints where maybe Wiig or Poehler were originally placed in Cecilys' role. Boy, I guess I spoke way too soon on the pot pie thing wasn't written by Anderlette, huh? Still, I have to say Ferrell is the only performer who could've made it work even this well. He clearly had the funniest lines in this sketch by far. Lastly, it looks like the thing this sketch may be the most notable for is going to be the first time SNL audiences ever witnessed Cecily cracking up and breaking character (or even come as close to doing so as she did here). Usually, she has always been more professional about that sort of thing than Kate or Aidy but I suppose it took Ferrell being her scene partner in this specific sketch to get that to finally happen. C-

Aziz Ansari Dinner Discussion - This felt like the longest sketch in the whole show. They really stretched what seemed like an already broad, observation on whats' at least a week old story by now and absolutely stretched it too thin over too long of a sketch. It really seemed like the second biggest waste of Will Ferrell this whole show. I did like the string of exaggerated visual and physical gags that led us up to Heidi's character using witchcraft to disappear into thin air, but (especially with Ferrell in the building) they should'be exaggerated these things to further and more absurd and dangerous heights if this sketch was going to be this length. C-

Crate and Cracker Barrell - This sketch unexpectedly worked much better than what preceeded it. I did like how Ferrell lashed out at his coworkers more and more the more defensive he got. The oncreasingly outrageous things he accused everybody of were funny. I do wish this sketch had more of am ending than it did. C+

Chucky Lee Byrds' Greatest Hits - This sketch may not have had the most original or creative premise but it was just funny enough to work for what it was. Surprisingly, Kate and Beck did more to improve this sketch than Ferrell did. Ferrell didn't necessarily drag this sketch down or anything, but this didn't feel like one of those roles that he and only he could've played. Also, the songs all seemed to run together to me and it also felt like timing was an issue here as well. I know from Ches' Instagram that he and Josh wrote an actual sketch this week. I wonder if this was it? B-

Now, I'd like to rank all of the episodes Ferrell hosted. Obviously, this was ALMOST going to be a no brainer. I was just curious to see how this episode compared to his others.

1. Will Ferrell/Green Day (5.16.2009)

2. Will Ferrell/Queens Of The Stone Age (5.14.2005)

3. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton (1.27.2018)

4. Will Ferrell/Usher (5.12.2012)

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

1. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift

2. Chance The Rapper/Eminem

3. James Franco/SZA

4. Jessica Chastain/Troye Sivan

5  Sam Rockwell/Halsey

6. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton

7. Saoirse Ronan/U2

8. Larry David/Miley Cyrus

9. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk

10. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith

11. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters

12. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z

Well, that was that. Next week, Natalie Portman hosts for the second time. I mostly remember her being a pretty solid and game host and her episode was one of the highpoints of the 05-06 season mostly due to the rap video she did with Samberg. Maybe she'd be willing to do a sequel to that one if she was willing to apppear in the 100th digital short (the last time Ferrell hosted incidentally) to commemorate it? Maybe, but hopefully they'd have more ideas than that. It doesn't surprise me at all that they announced this on Monday rather than waiting until Saturday. I've noticed a pattern with this show during the Winter Olympics. Every four years like clockwork, they will book either a big A-list celebrity host or a well established friend of the show as their last host before the Winter Olympics in February. Since this is an obvious Sweeps week move, they tend to announce these well in advance on the years of the Winter Olympics. I remember they did this with Melissa McCarthy in 2014 and with J.Lo and Ashton Kutcher who both hosted in 2010. Also, it's important to consider that Steve Martin hosted in '06 after a twelve year gap (much like Portman) and Britney Spears hosted in February of '02 which may have been the first year NBC may have gotten to air the Winter Olympics. John Goodman and Garth Brooks both hosted in February '98 but that may have just been a coincidence as the Olympics were on CBS at the time. Oh welll. Something tells me this episode will be more like Chastains' than Ferrell and that they won't skimp as much on the woke PC material as they did this week. See you then!

Jessica Chastain/Troye Sivan (1.20.2018)

Okay, here's my review. While this show didn't quite take as many risks as last week, they showed they had by now completely shaken off all the cobwebs from their holiday break. Overall, there were less inconsistencies in quality from last week. This may be due to the writers relying on some semi-obscure recurring characters to close out the show with and everything before that being at just about the same level of quality (aside from two very strong sketches from the middle of the show and one weak one near the end). This episode did have two major redeeming qualities to make up for that. Jessica Chastain proved to be a perfectly game host who gelled extremely well with the cast. Also, as some have already said, the cast really worked together as an ensemble (especially since this show was just filled with big ensemble sketches that focused on the entire cast as a cohesive unit.). Anyway, let's break it down.

Trump Physical Press Conference - This cold open was pretty bland and middle-of-the-road even for this season, but at least we get a nice break from Alec as Trump. I did like Aidys' lines about the wall and Becks' "Propecia/sex test" bit. I did chuckle at Pete playing himself but I was hoping that would lead to a more meta, self-deprecating moment. Cecily also crushed her one line aa a reporter. Maybe Trumps' physical got washed out of the headlines by the end of the week (as evidenced by the throwaway government shutdown jokes at the top) or maybe that post physical press conference was already so ridiculous to begin with that there was barely any room left for fresh jokes or maybe it was just a difficult task to follow a surprise Bill Murray appearance but I could barely get in to this one. C-

Monologue - This had its moments. I appreciate the self awareness buried in the "strong woman/nagging girlfriend" joke. I'm not too crazy about the idea of two musical monologues in a row but at least this had cast walk on to break up the monotony. At least Jessica bought a lot of enthusiasm to proceedings here and showed she'd be a confident host. Also, it was a bit strange to just so blatantly see Kate hanging out by the side of the stage as Jessica made her entrance. That may be the first time I've ever seen anything like that. B-

Car Hunk - When did it become an unwritten rule that SNL has to do an off brand CVS Bachelor parody every January like clockwork? I mean, this is the fourth year in a row now! Anyway, at least this was a decent showcase for the past couple of seasons' worth of featured players (I have to actually wonder if Heidi was intentionally doing her Kristen Schaal impression agsin here) and Jessica had some good material here even ifvthe voice dhe went for was a little too naive and childlike for me. Still, one thing that bugged me was how she mentioned playing a dead body on the HBO show "Crashing". Given that this show stars comedian Pete Holmes playing a more pathetic version of himself with an actual failing career, I have to wonder if whoever wrote this episode has even seen the show (or if I just haven'haven't seen enough of it) or if they just picked the show title out of a hat. Also, one Tide pod eating joke in both sketches on each side of the monolog just seems sloppy to me.  C+

The Fresh Prince - This parody was one of the funnier segments of the night. I liked how it was a big showcase for Chris and I thought the increasingly dark turns this took were very funny. Jessica seemed well within her comfort zone here but this sketch used her well. Also, I'm curious as to who were all the black extras were and how they got to be on the show. Additionally, it was nice to see Akira Yoshimura again but in a non-Sulu role. B-

Google Talks - This was, to me, the funniest sketch of the night. As one note as this was, Mikey absolutely owned this in a hilarious way. Maybe me being such a hard core Simpsons fan made me appreciate this more, but this was the hardest I laughed at SNL in quite some time. The worst thing I could say about tuis is that Jessics dragged it down a little, but at least it was the inly thing she wasn't so great in. B+

What Even Mattees Anymore? - This game show sketch at first seemed like something that was written under duress or out of sheer desparation but it's obvious Jessica had pitched this from the moment they broke the fourth wall. Still, it worked. I enjoyed Jessicas' commitment as well as her brief jab at Mike Pence. I also thought the final/written response round was the funniest part of the whole sketch. I don't know if anyone else here remembers Beck Bennetts' game show sketch from last season where he tried to get Aidy and Vanessa to explain why host Benedict Cumberbatch was considered attractive, but this really reminded me of that (again, mostly because of the relative absence of any fourth wall). B-

Update got off to a slow start but had its brief moments scattered here and there. I wasn't feeling much of it but it started to pick up with Ches' Stormy Daniels/Womens March/Urn/Black Unemployment rate comments and both anchors physical exam jokes. Speaking of which, I'm sure none of us were surprised to see Cecily portray Stormy Daniels tonight but lets' be honest Cecily was really just portraying herself here (which I didn't necessarily mind either). Still, it was nice of her to show us a slightly different perspective on the feminist diatribes she usually delivers. The other two commentaries were fun as much as they meandered. It was nice to see two other figurehead offspring impressions from Mikey and Alex (Mikey seemed slightly miscast as Prince Harry but Alex was pretty much born to play Prince William). I did like the fun and loose vibe between the two as forced as it came off at times. I also have to admit the "Wet Willie/Moist Matthew" line made me laugh. as did Josts' UK Ministrr of Loneliness joke after their bit. Speaking of casting choices, Kate as Robert Muller was a bit jarring and way more out of left field than it really should'be been (and kinda defeats the desired effect of her playing Sessions in the wake of  McCarthy's Spicer if you think about it for a minute) but again, it was quite fun. B-

Amazon Headquarters Sketch - This was enjoyable. Some parts of it were well constructed on paper while some parts were well performed. Kyle and Chris were perfectly cast as Bezos and Booker and Chris really performed the hell out of this. The Boston presentation seemed to be missing something in execution (namely, Beck and Jessica having an easy time handling those Boston accents). Still, it was a nice excuse to see Alexs' Casey Affleck again. The Atlanta presentation seemed to be the strongest part of the sketch as Kenan, Leslie and Aidy were given the best material. The Miami presentation didn'the seem to go anywhere or allow the sketch to have a real ending (I do have to wonder what they had to cut from this between dress and air). Mikey does an unremarkable Pitbull but Cecily and Melissa looked pretty damn great here. I heard that Denver was also in the running for Amazons' next headquarters. I realize that SNLs' writers may not have many non-weed related directions to go in there, but maybe it would'be been a good way to sneak in Heidi as Kristen Schaal with maybe Kate as Lindsey Vonn with the Winter Olympics just around the corner. I mean, their both Coloradans and Schaal is even from my hometown of Longmont and even went to the same high school as I did! C+

Taco Math - This was definitely the weakest sketch of the night. It was one note in a bad way and didn't really didn't go anywhere. Jessica didn't come off as obnoxious here and while I liked seeing Heidi get a lead role again, I wish the writers would trust her this much with better material. Aside from this, I did like Aidys' walk on as well as Heidi confessing that she got sick from raw beef and the reveal of both girls being surgeons. D+

Doctor's Orders - I'm surprised that this is the third time we're seeing Petes' "Chad" character this season and the last time was less than two months ago. Still, at least that one was less by-the-numbers as the preceeding two. If they're going to let Pete keep bringing this back this often (it's sadly, his only "character" after all) I feel like this was a tiny step backward. Still, I did like Petes' "noice/I peed/titty" lines. Plus, I have to admit this is a serviceable way to make use of big dramatic/serious actors like Chastain and Cumberbatch. Also, I've noticed these have more and more gradually turned into two-handers between Pete and Mikey since Mikey joined the cast. I wonder if he, Pete and Streeter Siedell all cowrite these? C-

Movie Set - I'm a little surprised they bought Kenans broad mugging take director out of mothballs considering its' been almost three whole years since we've seen this character. I wanted to like this more but it just wasn't as fun as the one from Tina and Amys' Christmas show a few years back. C-

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

1. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift

2. Chance The Rapper/Eminem

3. James Franco/SZA

4. Jessica Chastain/Troye Sivan

5  Sam Rockwell/Halsey

6. Saoirse Ronan/U2

7. Larry David/Miley Cyrus

8  Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk

9. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith

10. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters

11. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z

Well, if nothing else, this episode proved to be a decent pallet cleanser. Next week, Will Ferrell returns to the show for his fourth time as host and I'm positive I'm not the only one excited about it. I do hope this episode turns out to be much better than his previous one. Hopefully, they were saving Alec Baldwin for next week for a possible "G.W. Bush Meets Trump In The Oval Office" sketch (and maybe another Bill Brasky if they can also get Adam McKay and Tim Meadows to also participate. As far as other recurring impressions and characters go, I'm not so sure there are many more places they could go with "Celebrity Jeopardy!" at this point so I feel that at least Bobby and Bobbi Mohan-Culp may be a safer bet somehow. Hell, we might have a better chance of getting another "Jeffreys" sketch if they can get Fallon and Sanz to participate. See you then!

Sam Rockwell/Halsey (1.13.2018)

Okay, here's my review. Given how dull and uninspired the previous live episode of SNL was, this seemed like quite a refreshing change of pace and (at times) a hopeful sign of better things to come. Sam Rockwell proved to be such a game host (if not a slightly one dimensional one when he was visible) that if he doesn't ever end up hosting a second time, we should easily be able to pinpoint the EXACT reason why. There did seem to be a big timing issue with this show that wasn't caused (what in my time zone at least, appeared to be) the obvious five second delay. The show seemed to know, but not necessarily care, that it was running somewhat short on material. Most of the live sketches (aside from Update, the monologue and the cold open) were very short. It's like there was an abundance of short sketches. Some were just as short as they needed to be and some weren't. Most of the sketches made the taped pieces feel longer than they were. There was an imbalance in the cast as far as airtime went. Kenan was barely in anything for the entire first half of the show. Chris Redd was in a lot of sketches but to me it seemed like they were misusing him. Mikey and Alex seemed to be getting chances to establish themselves as the shows go to utility men but other than that the night seemed to be wholly dominated by Cecily. She appeared even more than Kate which seems strange for this Era and pretty much overshadowed everyone else. Anyway, let's break it down. Shall we?

Morning Joe II - I wasn't so sure that another Morning Joe sketch was the right choice for the cold open this week. Thankfully, this one went in a MUCH different direction than the on from Chris Pines' episode last year. Although, maybe we could've done without Chris' part as it didn't add much. I probably shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when Fred showed up as Michael Wolff and as much as I've soured on his more recent performances, I have to admit he was very funny here (especially the "baby races" bit). I think I saw some brief flashes of the pre-Obama Era Freds' comedic talent that made SNL fans love his work back then. Fred can actually be funny when he has strong writing to back him up. Interestingly enough, when people were initially suggesting Armisen should play Michael Wolff, I was pretty convinced he'd already played this guy in that overly long Keith Olberman sketch from when Ben Affleck hosted in '08. Turns outn according to SNL archives, he was actually playing Richard Wolffe. Still, Armisen was a good fit for this sketch. Bill Murray really walked away with this without even trying. Casting him as Steve Bannon was brilliantly unexpected and kudos to him on being a good sport about the role. Still, I'm wondering why they even bothered with the voice modulator knowing full well they didn't need it at all. He may have seemed a little less into it toward the end but frankly I'm just glad SNL found a way to have a take on Bannon as a person rather than just his sinister presence as a media figure. Also, I'm glad they found a way to reprise Leslies' Oprah impression in a live setting. B+

Monologue - This was enjoyable to watch. I liked that Sam was able to easily poke fun at his own neat anonymity as a character actor better than other hosts of his ilk. Part of me would've preferred he had done an actual monologue rather than a song and dance number but mostly I was glad to see he could help get this episode off on the right foot with his seemingly boundless energy and charisma. Also, seeing Sam kick Colin through that door made this for me. B+

Science Room w/Mr. Science - This sketch felt a little like SNL going down a beaten path at first but thankfully, it was short because it just meandered with no real punchline. I did checkle when Mikey suddenly said "false" and Cecily saying the oil was going to explode. Also, I'm glad Sams' unfortunate flub (which was muted entirely in the mountain time zone during both airings) showed us how SNL was going to be able to get away with Trumps' "shithole" comment (if they were going to say anything about it at all). The show was on a five second delay this week if it can still be broadcast live in every time zone. C-

Tucci Gang - Petes' latest rap somehow seemed even more pointless than the sketch that preceeded it so I'm glad it was even shorter. Correct me if I'm wrong, but am I to assume "Lil' Pump" is an actual rapper Pete is impersonating rather than a made up character and that "Tucci Gang" is a parody of an actual song of his called "Gucci Gang"? C-

The Look- The second E! parody of this season was funnier than I was expecting it to be. I did appreciate how they tried to mix the message and the rhythyms of this sketch with some sheer off the wall absurdity. Melissas' character provided a nice balance and Kate as Frances McDormand provided some much needed structure. I did like how they explained away her bleeps. B-

My Drunk Boyfriend - This was funny but looking back I felt like there might have been a little something lacking in execution. I liked the physical acting I saw from Kyle, Sam and Heidi. B-

Update was strong, but a little inconsistent. They handled the "shithole" comments quite well and I'm impressed they were able to get it on the air unbleeped even once (let alone, twice) on NBCs' airwaves. Well, actually...let me level with you. In the mountain time zone, they air the local news at 9pm on NBC affiliates on Saturdays (as opposed to the usual 10pm through the rest of the week) and SNL is first aired live at 9:30 followed by an 11pm repeat of the news and an 11:30pm repeat of SNL. I believe they muted the "shitholes" during the 9:30 live airing (where they were uttered after 10pm) but let them fly uncensored in the 11:30 repeat (where they were uttered after midnight). Still, they tackled it well and it was among the best of tonight's individual jokes along with Ches' Kim Jong-Un/Twitter/Columbus Statues and Oprah/President rants. Josts' best material included Stormy Daniels/Puerto Rico, Steve Bannon and the toilet joke. The best jokes were scattered all about Update and sort of overshadowed the commentaries. I did like seeing Leslie as Oprah again and I appreciated seeing them give the Steadman role to Chris but not much stood out here aside from the "medical community" line. The cadences of this sketch reminded me a lot of that Update segment from the 2000-01 season where Jerry Minor played Al Sharpton to Darrell Hammonds' Jesse Jackson. Also, I just realized that this is the second show in a row where Leslie did the same impression during the first Update guest appearance that she did in the cold open. She did this exact thing as Omorosa in the last live show that Kevin Hart hosted. Aidys' commentary was a refreshing change of pace for a couple of reasons. It was nice to see a cast member besides Pete or Leslie do an Update commentary just as themselves as that felt like a throwback. Also, I liked seeing Aidy give us a fresher take on feminist and women's issues dominating the news seeing as that type of commentary usually gets dominated by Kate and Cecily the rest of the time. Kenans' Lavar Ball was just lather, rinse, repeat and the only thing that stood out to me was that this may have been the first time we've seen Michael Che laugh his way through an entire Update commentary the way Seth Meyers used to. B+

Captain Hook - This sketch was something else that meandered along but this time there was barely even a shred of a real joke or premise present. It almost felt out of place among the more topical pieces in the show. Kates' appearance as the overly effeminate Peter Pan was the best thing about this. C-

ATM - This poignant short was enjoyable to watch in how grounded and gritty it could be while still building on itself and adding new elements to its premise. The violent beating at the end stood out as the funniest moment. I believe this was the short that Che featured in his most recent Instagram story from when it was being filmed late Friday night (and of course it would be because nobody else but Michael Che could've written this). B+

Marco Pumpgood - This was funny mostly for Sam and Aidy's performances. Ironically enough, Alex and Chris were great straight men to them. It seemed like they really stretched out what little buildup this really needed but they reveal and payoff at the end were worth it. C+

Dog Head Guy - This was funny just for how unabashedly silly and simple it could be. Sam and Mikey were very funny here and I think this might have been the first time we've ever seen Mikey even close to breaking as a cast member. Also, this might have been my favorite Melissa performance in her entire run a cast member. B-

Chantix Ad - This felt pretty meta as it was possibly the most Cecily thing I've seen on the show in a while. I say this knowing full well how difficult that would be for me to explain in a way that makes sense. It definitely seemed like something cut from a previous dress rehearsal if for no other reason than they just tacked it on to the end of the show because they seemed to not have anymore live sketches left and the show seemed unusually short with more than a little extra time to fill. C+

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

1. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift

2. Chance The Rapper/Eminem

3. James Franco/SZA

4. Sam Rockwell/Halsey

5. Saoirse Ronan/U2

6. Larry David/Miley Cyrus

7. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk

8. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith

9. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters

10. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z

Well, that show got off to and explosive start but soon sputtered out. At least it was consistent but not consistently dull. Next week, Jessica Chastain makes her hosting debut. Chastain is mostly known for her dramatic roles and hasn't really done comedy aside from a few bits here and there in between late night interviews. She is rather politically outspoken on social media, however. This is another show where I have no idea what to expect going in. She could be a game host but we'll only find out by tuning in. I do have a feeling she will collaborate with the women in the cast and writing staff on some woke/feminist material which may once agsin, dominate this show. See you then!