Okay, here's my review. Despite being just a little inconsistent compared to last weeks' show, this was easily a top three show for this season just for Haders' sheer presence alone. Last week, I think we were more blown away by a first time host than anything. This week, we were pleased to see a seasoned veteran of the show return to their roots and show us that they still haven't list touch with their chops. This was obviously much better than Haders' first episode in 2014. The current cast was pretty unbalanced as far as airtime went. Heidi and Alex seemed to dominate the show but Mikey seemed practically invisible and Kate appeared do little in the show you'd think she was already eyeing the exits and the show knows it and are knowingly phasing her out and phasing Heidi in to fill the void. Kenan, Leslie and Melissa also seemed strangely absent. Beck, Kyle, Cecily and Chris also seemed to dominate the show. Anyway, I have less to summarize here upfront t than I have to unpack in the body of this thing so let's get right down to it.
Anderson Cooper 360 - Moffats' Cooper and Kates' Sessions really got this episode off to a slow start, (although I did like Kates' "Christian white" joke) but Goodmans' Tillerson, Freds' Michael Wolff and Haders' Scaramucci really helped build up some momentum. Goodman and Hader especially had the strongest performances here. At least this week, we can say that the cold open gave something a littlr more than just "a break from Alec Baldwin". B-
Monologue/The Californians VII - Hader made me laugh quite a bit in the monologue explaining what he "learned" from his time on the show. Recognizing his Californians costume as the thing he was quick changing into was another real momentum killer for me but I still appreciate the format breaking and the seamless transition. That really felt like some thing we haven't seen on the show in quite some time. As for the actual sketch itself, well...I do appreciate how much more restrained and subdued it felt especially without Wiig there even though this wouldn't be the first time they've done one of these without her. I also liked how seamlessly Alex fit into his role. Petes' fourth wall dissolving and Bill and Fred arguing the merits of Waze vs Google Maps really made this sketchange for me. Also, it felt really odd timing-wise that they would make a big deal out of Vanessa Bayers' maid character being "deported" considering Vanessa herself was just on last weeks' show. I can't believe it took me seeing her framed photo for it to finally register in my brain that Vanessa was no longer in the cast. Maybe she should have picked a better week to cameo. C+
Kiss Me, I'm Irish - This really gave me some odd vibes. I appreciate how they inverted the trope of one contestant bring the odd one out in these dating contests with Aidy (sort of like how they did the Dick In A Box/Chezch Bros edition of "It's A Date!" when Timberlake hosted five years ago but more subtle). Plus, I feel like it was far too soon for them to do a dating game show again since they just did one two weeks ago. They must have just wanted to jam this one in once someone remembered today was going to be St. Patricks' Day during the Monday pitch meeting. Also, I sincerely have to wonder if this is something they pitched to Saoirse Ronan in December that she turned down because that was her line as far as all the Irish jokes went? If so, she's a real trooper for even going along with the rest of the show that week. All I can say is thank god they waited until Bill Hader was available before they tried to do this sketch. He was the best thing about it. Thankfully, my fears from seeing this set up during the commercial that this sketch was going to be Hader playing another Italian tracksuit guy from Jersey hitting on Irish women for some reason we're immediately put to rest. Also, Kudos to Kate for successfully hiding her fake deformed claw that entire sketch.
Horace - This had some solid writing behind it for something the relied so much on broad, physical sight gags for laughs, but it still felt slightly out of place on SNL. I get the feeling that maybe a different group of sketch comedians, maybe on the Internet or on a late night cable show where they'they'd be free of NBCs' strict network standards and practices regulations, would've been had more success in pulling this sketch off visually. Speaking of which, I do have to wondered how they negotiated with NBCs censors to get this one on the air in the first place? Also, I REALLY want to know who wrote this one. This reminded me a lot of Haders' previous role as a wheelchair bound 126-year old Adolph Hitler on the FXX series "Man Seeking Woman". I know that one was created by Simon Rich who wrote for the show during Haders' years in the cast so I'm wondering if he was also a guest writer this week? B-
Jurassic Park Auditions - I could definitely see what this was going to be about a millisecond in. It looked like they tried to get in as many cast impersonations as they possibly could, which I liked, but I feel like I would have enjoyed this more had we seen maybe a different range of impressions that included less of the types of celebrities we've already seen cast members play in these types of pieces. Sadly, this seems to apply to Hader the most. I mean, he had some great lines as Pacino being disappointed to findthat he was reading for a PG movie but his Alda/Eastwood impressions (while usually great) felt too tacked on here as did Kyles' Joey Lawrence. Mikeys' Pee-Wee (which may have been hiso only appearance of the night). Alexs' Hugh Grant was a decent way to start this. He certainly didn't make me forget about Tarans' Pee-Wee from his first season. Kate as Ellen in any Era feels like something we've seen too much of with little variation. To her credit, she does a much stronger Clarice Starling/Silence Of The Lambs Era Jodie Foster than she does a present day Jodie. I did also like her Lisa Kudrow impression though even though it was something I was half-expecting Heidi to tackle if for no other reason than my dad once said to me out loud that she reminded him of "Phoebe from Friends". Speaking of which, Heidi and Aidy turned in pretty solid performances as Drew Barrymore and Roseanne, respectively. Chris and Kenan turned in some funny performances with some rather obvious jokes as well. I never thought that much of Kenans' Sinbad but I did like that "triceratops" joke. Nice way for them to sneak in Melissas' Gwen Stefani even if '92 was a few years before No Doubt even got that big. It was sweet of them to give Luke Null something else to do at this point in his tenure, but that may have been the weakest Eddie Vedder I've ever seen (especially when we've seen Hader do a much funnier one). Leslie does a near flawless Whoopi and it's quite fitting that Pete did Sandler since he seems to be currently filling the Sandler/Fallon/Samberg generational void on the show. As easy as a Sandler impression is for just about anyone, Pete really nailed it (especially considering he's gotta be pretty close in age now to how old Sandler was then). C+
Update got off to a weak start, but thankfully they were able to finish much stronger. The only memorable jokes were Stormy Daniels/NDA/Headlines, Trump/Astros & Walmart/robotic bees. It was nice to see Kates' Betsy DeVos character (only making her second appearance) more developed. Still, I can't shake the feeling that she didn't have much fresh ground to explore as takes on Betsys' outrageous levels of gross incompetence have been beaten to death by now. Still, I did get a kick out of her describing her likes and dislikes of her job. Petes' latest commentary was very funny. I like when Pete opens up to us like this and I especially liked the idea of him having a who's-more-mentally-ill-and-whos'-having-a-tougher-time-opening-up-to-the-public-about-it off. It's great to see Stefon is still as wonderfully whacked out and deranged a fellow as ever. I did like his nicknames for Jost & Che even if they were just tacked on current film references. To me, the top two funniest moments of the entire episode were the Stranger/Billy Joel/Springsteen joke and Stefon naming "STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS, PLEASE" as an actual club. John Mulaney as Stefons' lawyer/piss artist pretty much made the whole segment for me. It's great that he's now recognizable enough for Lorne to let that little in joke happen although I do have to wonder what specific thing he whispered back to Hader in that moment that made him break character slightly. I also appreciated the Seth/Closer Look reference. Considering this is the second time Hader has hosted the show while Jost and Che were the anchors of Update, I was hoping they would bring in some kind of guest cameo to shake up the usual Stefon formula a bit. At the bare minimum, I was hoping they'd have Seth come on and cameo so he and Stefon could discuss their "married" home life together, but I welcome Mulaney being allowed to add something a little less predictable to the mix. B-
Sacred Rock - Of all of the sketches they could have made recurring from Haders' Era in the cast where he was the focus, I would never in a million years have thought they would do this with the Yeti sketch from Bruno Mars' 2012 episode like they did Haders puppet class PTSD 'Nam vet from that same season. Still, I appreciate that they shifted the focus of this from implied softcover yeti rape to implied softcover reverse gender alien on human insemination. C-
CBC Expos-eh - This disappointed me for a couple of reasons. At first, when I saw this being set up during the commercial, I thought we were going to see Hader as Vinny Vedecci interviewing Cecily as Marion Cotillard. Then, I saw that this was parodying the #MeToo movement in a way that plays up the "Canadians are extremely polite and always overly apologetic" stereotype and immediately realized what a thin and misguided premise that was. Still, only Hader and Gardner could've made these characters more likable and watchable than annoying. Also, one might be tempted to take some comfort in the fact that this was the first and seemingly only sketch of the night to even reference the #MeToo movement. Additionally, I also appreciated the Dave Thomas/Dave Foley/Mike Meyers in jokes as well as the gag of every sungle person involved resigning. Arcade Fire were also good sports to participate in this. Maybe Canadians are so willing to take this stereotype in stride not because it may or may not actually true but because its' such a benign way to generalize an entire nationality (at least on the surface). C+
Undercover Office Potty - This was much funnier than it had any right to be mostly because Beck, Kyle, Bill and Chris were so seriously committed to such a juvenile premise that could've only spring from their collective mind palace (unless Che wrote this). I don't know if it was the immaturity or the production value or the fact that Hader was wearing a wig that resembled his actual hair from his first four seasons on the show, but I did get a strong Lonely Island vibe from this as well. It seemed like a direct cross between "Cubicle Fight" and "Office Meeting" with small but definitely noticeable traces of "Like A Boss" and "Japanese Office" more than amything. The spilling was pretty much the perfect way to end this. C+
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Sterling K. Brown/James Bay
2. Bill Hader/Arcade Fire
3. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift
4. Chance The Rapper/Eminem
5. James Franco/SZA
6. Natalie Portman/Dua Lipa
7. Charles Barkley/Migos
8. Jessica Chastain/Troy Sivan
9. Sam Rockwell/Halsey
10. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton
11. Larry David/Miley Cyrus
12. Saoirse Ronan/U2
13. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk
14. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith
15. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters
16. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z
Well, that was something the show could've used right now. In two weeks, Chadwick Borman makes his hosting debut. The name sounds vaguely familiar, but for some reason, "Black Panther" is the only thing I can think of that I've even heard of him actually being in. Oh, well. I may not know about this guys' acting background (another person who seems to mostly be involved in either dramatic roles or parts in big blockbusters) but as long as he goes into it with the same attitude his costar Sterling did, he should do just fine. See you then!
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