Okay, heres' my review. This show had its moments, but it was a considerable let down from all of the previous times Charles Barkley hosted. He usually is funnier in a goofy, oddball Walken type of way but here he seemed like he was either stumbling over himself or coasting on some rather weak material. It can't entirely be the latter considering he did liven up some sketches that would've barely been watchable with any other type of host. Maybe I might have been expecting too much since Charles Barkley is more likely to be unintentionally funny than intentiinally funny but this waa his weakest show yet. The cast seemed evenly balanced with only Luke and Melissa appearing the least. No surprises there, but at this point I think Melissa might just be in a slump and Luke is more likely to be in more real danger. Anyway, let us begin.
Bipartisan Gun Control Meeting - This cold open was just a bland mush of all the White House related headlines over the past month that the show hadn't responded to yet. Nobody besides Baldwin really needed to be there so making him the sole focus was a huge misfire. The only jokes that stood out to me were the lines about Jared Kushner being the hottest chick left in the white house and the entire waffle house bit. The "I hear you" and Black Panther references seemed the most tacked on. I'm surprised they didn't work in a reference to the real Trump's "Alex Baldwin/dieing career/bring back Darrell Hammond" tweet. On a more positive note, I do like how Baldwin has started incorporating Trumps' pouty crossed arm pose into his impression. D+
Speaking of Hammond, does anyone else think he might have been doing his announcements live in studio 8H tonight? He seemed to have some timing issues that made me think they might not have been prerecorded.
Monologue - This was marginally funnier than the cold open, but Barkley seemed to be giving it less than his all. He seemed to stumble over his cue cards at the start and he definitely shouldn't have been counted on to deliver a monologue with even that much of a preachy social message. He also shouldn't be counted on to do a straight solo monologue for that long either. Thankfully, Che showed up but I wish he was able to add something more than he did. I do appreciate him basically admitting he was hosting the show for no reason and how he, unlike Baldwin, managed to actually make a shoehorned in Black Panther reference actually funny. C-
The Grabbies - This felt like it had a derivative premise that wore thin pretty quickly. I don't know if impersonations of real life celebrities would've improved this at all, but I'll say I would've liked to have seen them. Pete, Kenan, Aidy & Barkley had the best parts. I'm guessing this was written by Cecily, Sudi Green and Anna Drezen. C-
Neds' Roach Away - This actually had a funny premise and something about Barkleys' performance actually added to it. Still, I think they could've taken it a bit further. I think Che may have written this as it appears to be the same short film he posted behind the scenes footage of in his Instagram stories because the set looks exactly the same. B-
Homework Hotline - This was incredibly juvenile but really only Barkley and Aidy could make it watchable. The periodic table and static electricity bits made me laugh the most. I'm sure Day and Seidell wrote this. C-
The Champions - This sketch was very funny due mostly to Kenans' performance. It really picked up once Kenan started mentioning which of his body parts were fake. I also laughed at "Every Kiss Beguns With Q" but that billboard/underwear joke felt a little too telegraphed to me. The A-Rod cameo seemed a little too tacked on to me but its' nice to see him finally make it onto SNL considering he spent the last several years of his career with the Yankees. My biggest criticism of this sketch is that the way it was written and structured made it seem like the sports version of Debette Golden but that didn't necessarily hamper it. B-
Update was pretty inconsistent tonight. Che had quite a few well written jokes but his delivery dragged them down. Jost had great jokes on Kushner/Bannon, arming teachers and Ghandi's letter. As soon as Jost mentioned her name, I was fully expecting Cecily to play Hope Hicks. At least they put some effort into the look that they couldn't afford to after the last live show as I understand they switched to her from Natalie Portman playing her in the cold open. I thought the personal dedications at the end of her letter were the highlight. Besides that, it felt like I was watching a less preachy rewrite of her Stormy Daniels commentary from a month and a half ago. Kyles' commentary may have been the funniest thing in the entire show. It's nice to see a cast member besides Pete or Leslie (especially one with Kyles' comedic sensibilities) play themselves on Weekend Update. Speaking of Leslie, her Olympic recap wasn'the all that distinguishable from the Olympic reports she posted on social media. The only thing that stood out to me were the "penalty box" jokes. I suppose its' natural that an NBC show like SNL would want to get an Olympic Gold Medal winner to make a guest appearance after the fact but the Hillary cameo didn't do anything for me. B-
Hump or Dump - This waa about the second funniest segment of the night if you're in the mood for some very light, low level gallows humor. This is a sketch that only Barkley and Aidy opposite each other could make funny let alone endearing. Kenan, Chris and Alex were serviceable in their roles. Kudos to Melissa for getting a decent laugh out of me with her one line but I feel bad for her for this being her first appearance of the night. My only complaint about this would be that it seemed a little rushed in execution. B-
Repair Site - This sketch seemed like it was a more interesting premise on paper but it seemed a little too thin and wordy when performed. Still, I enjoyed it and my only real suggestion would have been to give Beck a few more lines leading up to his final speech. It reminded me a lot of the sketch from last seasons' Chris Pine hosted episode where a group of garage mechanics talk about RuPauls' Drag Race. I seriously have to wonder if both of those sketches were written by the same writers? C-
Last Call VII - This may have been the shortest Sheila Sovage sketch ever written. That's actually a good thing seeing as Barkley being Kates' "love" interest seemed like a better idea on paper until we saw how stiff he played his part. The funniest thing he did was almost break character when the Lady Speed Stick and dentist tools were busted out. Plus, I think they were expecting a bigger reaction from that crown/toilet joke that they didn't get for some strange reason. I waa thinking how they might have been better off saving this sketch fir two weeks frim now when Bill Hader returns to host but if Barkley couldn't get through it without break8ng just a tiny bit, Hader doesn't even stand a chance. Still, I have to say this sketch featured the best Kenan reactions of all time. I wonder how they actually pulled off him turning to stone since there seemed to be a delay that was longer than they were expecting? Also, did anyone else get the impression that Kate may be leaving this season and only the show knows right now so they wrote this specifically to be the last one of these sketches ever? I'd bet if that were really the case there may be a whole season worth of speculation leading up to this point like there was with previous cat members. C+
Now, for my updated rankings for this season...
1. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift
2. Chance The Rapper/Eminem
3. James Franco/SZA
4. Natalie Portman/Dua Lipa
5. Charles Barkley/Migos
6. Jessica Chastain/Troye Sivan
7. Sam Rockwell/Halsey
8. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton
9. Saoirse Ronan/U2
10 Larry David/Miley Cyrus
11. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk
12. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith
13. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters
14. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z
Well, that was a bit of a letdown but it had its moments for those willing to look for them. Next week, Sterling K. Brown makes his hosting debut. I figured it wouldn't be too long at this point before a cast member from "This Is Us" would host the show. It seems to be NBCs' biggest hit right now and the episode that aired after the Superbowl garnered a lot of strong buzz, so its' at least natural that NBC would push Lorne to get one of its stars to host. I'm sure SNL thought that Sterling would be a much better choice for host than Mandy Moore, Christy Metz or Milo Ventimiglia. I don't know him from much else besides "This Is Us" or "Black Panther" so I get the sense he is known more for dramatic roles than comedic ones. However, he seemed to express a lot of excitement on social media when they announced he would be hosting so at the very least he should be a game host (like Barkley usually was) who would gel with the cast and be up for just about anything. As long as the writers don't continue to rest on their laurels, this should be a fine show. See you then!
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