Okay, here's my review. This show was just as consistently strong as Sterling K. Browns' episode was last month. Even if it didn't quite pack in the same amount of raw energy, you could tell everyone was easily able to keep their spirits up all week. John Mulan proved to be just as adept at performing live sketch comedy as hes' always been at writing it and performing stand up. He really gave this show the boost it needed as it headed into the final home stretch of its' current season. He seemed to be the most visible dominating force behind the show which is a very good quality for any type of host to have. As far as airtime of the actual cast goes, Pete, Alex, Cecily, Heidi and (shockingly) Luke Null seemed to be the most visible. Anyway, lets' break it down...shall we?
Muller Fockers - As much as Kates' Sessions is played out, I was intrigued to see a cold open that started out with just her and Becks' Pence seemingly in place of Baldwin. I was hoping they would give us something a little different and thankfully, they at least did that. Ben Stiller as Micheal Cohen was a great casting decision and he fit the role perfectly. DeNiro as Muller was okay, but probably seemed like a better idea on paper. I think he's at least a better visual fit for the role than Kate, but performance wise he kinda killed whatever momentum this was building since Stiller appeared onscreen. The only things of his and Stillers' that really got a laugh out of me were the "codenames" and the "hard drive/yikes" line. While the "Meet The Parents/Fockers" parody seemed incredibly dated and forced in 2018, it was a little more outside the box that SNLs' current attempts at political humor. C+
Monologue - This was as great as his standup usually is. There were too many great jokes to point out individually but the things that stood out the most to me were the "running for Mayor of nothing" line, his admitting he did coke just before his college graduation ceremony, how he proved he is the only comedian working today that can make robot/captcha jokes even remotely funny and how he chose to open with an entire joke on an obscure Patrick Stewart Salt-N-Pepa intro from February 12, 1994 that obviously stuck with him when he saw it in his youth. I definitely appreciate how he chose to call back to it during his first Jack White intro! My only complaint about this monologue would be that my sneaking suspicion that Darrell Hammond actually butchered his name introducing him as "John Mulvaney" was all but confirmed. B+
JonMuls' Drag Brunch - This seemed like another thing only Mulaney could make funny. In fact, as it progressed it seemed more and more like something only he would've written. I'm willing to bet this is something he co-wrote with Marika Sawyer and Simon Rich. It reminded me of that 50s' diner sketch from five years ago with Jennifer Lawrence as the waitress and Bobby Moynihan as the patron she was totmenting. This was much better however as it built to a much stronger ending that actually improved the sketch. B-
National School Walkout - This sketch kind of rubbed me the wrong way. For one thing, it almost seemed like it was either in questionable taste or just not the right way to address the current gun debate if they were even going to address it at all. Getting past that, Kate and Alex seemed to have the funniest parts in the entire show even though by the time they got to them, this sketch seemed to lose what little structure and focus it had. C+
Wild Wild Country - This was pretty much dominated by Kenan. Thanks to him, I didn't feel like I needed to have seen the source material to find this funny. I think I only became aware of what this was parodying once I saw part of it via either Sara Schaefers' or Stephanie Simbaris' Instagram story (or if not her, than one of the other female comics living in LA that I follow there whose reaction to this I'd like to see). Also, I never thought that Nassim Pedrad would be invited back for a cameo in a million years so its' nice to see that not only did we see that exact thing just happen, but that she also got some recognition applause upon her appearance! She must've really liked writing and collaborating with Mulaney during their time on the show together since she was on his sitcom. I'm guessing he also had a hand in writing this since theres' definitely some shades of "Documentary Now!" to be found here. B-
Lobster Miserables - This sketch was just silly enough to work. It was a decent showcase for Cecily and Mulaneys' singing. Kenan and Kate performed their goofy parts well but Pete and Chris counteracted their absurdity so well that I maintain that this sketch simply would not have worked without them. The biggest thing this sketch had going against it were how the timing on the subtitles got screwed up so bad. Also, Pete botched that Mean Girls Broadway plug so bad that they had to fix it in the repeat and it strikes me as very strange that Mikey first appearance of the entire show would be as a waiter in a non speaking role in this. C+
Update was pretty much the polar opposite of last week in that it was more worth tuning in for the jokes rather than the commentaries. As for the jokes, their best material seemed to be the non-Trump related stuff (aside from Ches' "germaphobe" comments) although his student/teacher sex joke shouldn't have been done at all. Kates' Laura Ingraham seemed a little off to me. It's like she went for a Carvey-level exaggeration there but took the exaggeration too far and the impression just got away from her entirely. Plus, I feel like SNL making fun of someone in the media who screwed up so badly that several of their sponsors had to bail out by portraying them announcing pitiful joke sponsors is a beyond tired trope on the show at this point. I mean, Jack Handy made joke sponsors in sketches his trademark for several years. Long after that, SNL created their own special episode of the sponsor-hemmorhagingly controversial ovelry sexed up MTV Teen drama "Skins" (a bastardized British import) with the cheapest product placements ever. A little over a year later, Taran Kilam depicts Rush Limbaugh gruffly rattling off new Handey-like sponsors which I actually remeber being funnier than tonights' retread of this trope mostly due to Tarans' performance. The only sponsors here tonight that really landed with me were "Reverse Mortages" & "Malaysia Airlines" as well as he line about bullying and the first amendment. I'm not sure we needed to see the return of Kenans' Lava Ball this week (as the real Lavar Ball wasn't exactly dominating headlines) but he was very funny when he was talking about his own "league" and their amneties and incidentals. C+
Hollywood Update/Switcheroo Reboot - This sketch worked more than it had any right to. Specifically, what made it work beyond the initial reveal of the joke was Cecilys' increasingly horrified reactions to Mulaneys' going into detail on the next-to-impossible logistics of pulling this wholly unnecessary "reboot" off and the damaging consequences of even doing the original show. B-
Horn Removal - Kudos to Luke Null for finally getting a leading role in a worthwhile sketch. I'm not sure this alone will guarantee him a second season at this point, but I'm rooting for him after seeing this. His and Heidis' description in his characters' other increasingly outlandish body modifications was what made this sketch for me. He seems to work best with Heidi and have a real chemistry with her from what I've been able to see thus far. If (and it's a pretty big IF at this point) he manages to come back next season it would probably behoove him to do more sketches with Heidi as his scene partner. I wouldn't mind seeing more of them together after this. Also, Mulaney was the best possible straight man thus sketch could've asked for. B+
The Real Intros Of Reality Hills - This was OK. Normally, I don't care much for reality TV parodies on this show but this was just rapid fire paced enough to keep me interested. The only people who stood out to me here were Mikey (because he had the funniest line), Cecily (because she was the only one who got to play two different characters for some reason) and Mulan (because he played twins and, along with Leslie, seemed to have the most dialogue out of everybody). I'm guessing Mulaney also wrote this because a fan of his who I recently started following on Twitter pointed out his resemblance to The Property Brothers here and I take it thats' a show he frequently watches with his wife given the amount of times I've heard him drop references to it in his stand up act and on his Instagram posts. C+
Now, for my updated rankings of this season ...
1. Sterling K. Brown/James Bay
2. John Mulaney/Jack White
3. Bill Hader/Arcade Fire
4. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift
5. Chance The Rapper/Eminem
6. Chadwick Boseman/Cardi B
7. James Franco/SZA
8. Natalie Portman/Dua Lipa
9. Charles Barkley/Migos
10. Jessica Chastain/Troy Sivan
11. Sam Rockwell/Halsey
12. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton
13. Larry David/Miley Cyrus
14. Saoirse Ronan/U2
15. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk
16. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith
17. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters
18. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z
Wwll, that was certainly the return to form that the show needed right now. In two weeks, Donald Glover makes his hosting debut with Childish Gambino as his musical guest. It's about damn time they let Troy "Butt Soup" Barnes himself pull double duty on this show. It sure took them long enough. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is excited for this one. I've been wanting this exact lineup for at least the past six years. This also means we might get two stand up monologues in a row if Donald wasn't serious about COMPLETELY retiring from comedy! As much as I'm a fan of his music, I'd rather just see him do some new stand up material for his monologues than a song or even a typical sketch/cast interaction type "monologue" they do with your average hosts. If they could get Larry David to do it, they could certainly get him as well. See you then!
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