Tina Fey/Nicki Minaj (5.19.2018)

Okay, heres' my review. For a season finale that was overloaded with cameos from guest stars in political roles, this was a rather diverse and thoroughly enjoyable show with more good/decent moments than outright bad ones. As host, Tina didn't really dominate the show as much as she seemed to during her previous hosting stints. It truly felt like a hostless cast focused episode. If anyone really did "dominate" the show in terms of airtime, it had to have been Mikey & Alex. I guess they've earned a "victory lap" episode seeing as they will be promoted to repretory player status once the show starts up again. Melissa comes in a distant second but at this point it is safe to say she has established herself. Of course, one may have to look past this shows' excessive (even for SNL in 2018) deluge of political material. I understand them wanting to get some stuff out of their system before summer starts but if any bitter right-wingers criticizing the show for doing nothing but sketches about their "seething hatred for Trump" were watching THIS episode, they just MIGHT have a valid point. Boy, thats' as good a segue as ever into the actual review, isn't it? Let us begin...

Jersey Diner - Well, it was pretty much a given that Alec would be in studio 8H tonight since its' the season finale AND one of his longest running costars was hosting. If they had to try to get in one last cold open with Baldwins' Trump before the season officially ends (lets' hope it will still be the actual last one by the time season 44 rolls around, right?) I do have to give them credit for placing him and his administration in a relatively unfamiliar setting outside the White House. Still, while doing a parody of the Sporanos finale was a somewhat out of the box idea it is now a dated enough pop culture reference to pass for something the show would've done during the Era when Seth Meyers was head writer. Plus, they really didn't have enough of an ending. I was hoping for some genuine format breaking there. While part of me was hoping to see Kates' Guliani again just to see how it would be developed more as a character, I feel like she was really all over the place with it. She seemed to have some of Gulianis' speech patterns down but her voice was a bit too high and I don't quite get what shes' doing with her hands. Overall, it doesn't work that well mostly because Kate is too feminine and down to earth to pull off the role and it really shows here. This is only Stillers' third appearance as Micheal Cohen and yet hes' already starting to feel as run into the ground as Baldwins' Trump. DeNiro was serviceable as Muller in this. With no lines, he wasn't all that remarkable but it's not an impression I'm ready to get sick of yet. Really, the only genuine laugh I got out of this was Alex as Eric parallel parking a big wheel. C+

Monologue - While I liked Tinas' opening jokes and her acknowledgment of her 20th anniversary with the show, I was diappointed at just the idea of another "audience" Q&A session. Still, I did genuinely like the meta self-aware vibe that this gave off (especially with Seinfeld, Bennett, Armisen, Rock and Glovers' contributions). Benedict Cumberbatch was allright (a little better than when he hosted last season, amirite?) but he seemed the most out of place and tacked on among the deluge of cameos here. DeNiro felt a little too tacked on since we literally just saw him seconds ago. Hathaways' cameo did nothing but remind me of how she played Kate Middleton when she hosted in 2010 and then wonder for a brief moment whether we would see her reprise that role later tonight so Cecily could play Meghan Markle (Spoiler alert: She didn't, and...she didn't either...but we'll get to that later). Tracys' cameo was the perfect way to bring this to a close but he seemed much less animated than usual. I guess hes' just either mellow in with age or perhaps the schedule of promoting (if not shooting) "The Last O.G." must be taking its toll on him. B-

Royal Reception - Well, this was certainly to be expected. Mikey as Prince Harry was a solid anchor here and it was nice to see him play off Moffats' Prince William again. Cecily was serviceable as Kate Middleton but I genuinely have to wonder what stopped she show from having her (or at least Melissa or even another female guest star really) from playing Meghan Markle. I know its' 2018 but I don't think Markles' ethnicity or sheer social status should make her off limits for a show like SNL. Beck made me chuckle as Prince Charles. Kate didn't do much for me as Queen Elizabeth but it was refreshing to see someone besides Fred Armisen in the role (and kudos to him for showing some restraint considering he was actually in the building tonight). It just seemed like she was there to set up Kenan for laughs. Chris and Heidi were fine but their roles were small enough to just seem too tacked on. Leslie poked fun at herself very well here. Tina seemed to be playing the type of character she had always been dying to play on the show. I have to wonder if this is one of the likely many things she had a hand in writing tonight considering she and Dratch cowrote all the Boston Teens sketches and this was essentially framed as another one of those. Pete was fine as Russell Brand but I really would have liked to have seen more of how he was handling that impression. Aidy as Elton John seemed like she was just there for the purpose of a cheap sight gag since I can't say much for the actual impression. C+

Mean Girls Rehearsals - I suppose this was a cute idea, but it still seemed a little thin to me. I thought the one-on-one interviews & testimonials really carried it. I also got a few light chuckles out of the coreography/lion costume scenes as well as the wedged in Lin-Manuel cameo. Otherwise, this could just as easily be added to the pile of sketches and filmed pieces that were largely lost on me because they were specifically written by and for the intense theater geeks in the audience. Hell, a girl I follow on Twitter was randomly pointing out all the Broadway person cameos in this on her feed. I definitely would have missed those. Still, it is nice to see Tinas' husband Jeff Richmond get some time in front of the camera for once in his life. C+

Morning Joe III - Tina as the Russian lawyer was the true highlight of this. Aidy as Meghan McCain was another "outside of the box" casting choice and she was very cute in the role. Thats' really all I can say about her part since it was so small and she was just there to be the guest that the anchors talk over (much like her role in the Wisconsin local news sketch from the last time Jonah Hill hosted). Honestly, it was better that they do this than cast Cecily in either one of these roles. Thankfully, this was shorter than the previous two morning Joe sketches that served as cold opens because Kate played it far too big here but Alex was fine coasting on some below average material. Mikeys' reactions were a bit stale and repetitive. C-

Chun-Li - I rarely comment on the musical performances but its' nice to see something more subtle and understated from Nicki Minaj. Plus, she seemed to have so many hardcore, intense fans in the audience it felt like I was watching the Billboard Music Awards instead of SNL.

Update was a little underwhelming tonight. The only jokes that really stood out to me were the jabs at Hannity, Gulliani, Bolton/N. Korea, Marijuana Arrests and the litany of "offensive" jokes at the end (of which only the Boy Scouts & NY Daily News ones were deserving of such a title). The rest just felt so down the beaten path that everybody had done them already. In particular the obligatory "Yanni/Laurel" throwaway joke seemed near identical to a bit Colbert did recently.  (Also, fuck you Jost. It's clearly Yanni). Having Alex and Mikey come out as the Trump Boys felt like overkill seeing as they just reprised those roles in the cold open and this was just lather, rinse, repeat but I did get a big kick out of the botched high fives and the "Trump tower design/hidden swastikas" line. The Play-Doh gag seemed very telegraphed but I did appreciate Alex being more animated than usual in the role tonight. I appreciate Kenans' commitment to the role of the bishop who officiated the Royal Wedding even though most of the jokes were lost on me. The only coverage of this I was planning to pay attention to was the HBO special hosted by Ferrell & Shannon as "Cord & Tish". I DVR'd this but hadn't had time to watch it yet. As I'm typing this, I'm beginning to realize how much it showed that this entire commentary had to have been writing this morning. Aidy as the woman who called the cops on those black men just for holding that barbecue in the park was very funny. Why couldn't she have been the focus of an actual sketch instead if Aidy was going to play her? C+

Dateline: Pervert Hunters - I liked the different direction this sketch took once the initial joke was revealed (as predictable as the ending was) but this felt more like something the show should've been doing 12 years ago with Bill Hader as Chris Hansen when "To Catch A Predator" was a current phenomenon. In fact, since Hader hosted two months ago and Hansen occasionally confronts predators in stings on "Crime Watch Daily", I wonder if this sketch was written then but cut from dress or the table read? C+

What We Did For Trump - Since Sarah Palin hasn't really been in the news all that much since she initially endorsed Donald Trumps' campaign two-and-a-half years ago, I was hoping Tina could go an entire episode without breaking her Miss Wasilla imitation out of mothballs like she did in 2013. Still, they showed incredible restraint by waiting until well after Update to air this. Also, I did actually like the angle they went with here where Palin comments on how some figures who have only worked in the Trump white house for a short period of time before being fired are destined to become as politically and culturally irrelevant as she has been in the past ten years. I did like her intentionally bad singing here. Aidy was serviceable but Kates' part seemed a little rushed. I did like how they chose to sneak in Armisen, Goodman and Jones as well. Cecily was.pretty good here. Mostly, I'm glad to see they chose to "Make Cecily Stormy Again" rather than trot out the real Stormy. B-

Poke It Out - I had to genuinely wonder if Nicki had very suddenly fallen ill at the last second and could not perform because the live commercial bumper leading up to her second performancd was a shot of the band instead of the stage. Then, I saw a male guest rapper unaccompanied on a stage full of video screens for some reason and Nicki came out about halfway through her own song for some reason. It was very strange but I understand why a shot of that stage before the actual song might look silly.

At this point, I had to wonder why Nicki apparently did not participate in a sketch or two like both of the previous times she was billed as a musical guest on the show. Then, I combed back through some of the sketches on YouTube just to polish up this review and decided to check out the "Cut For Time: Friendship Song" short film and noticed Nicki was in it even though it was an obvious Haim parody. Well, I can understand why that was cut for "time" since it was kind of a jumbled, heavy handed mess.

High School Talent Show - Nice to see Melissa bring us another decent character even if it felt like a product of a different time. I liked fheir choices of song as well. Pete and Mikeys' intro was very funny.Kyle got a laugh out of me and Leslie's lines were a nice touch. Pretty much every cast member did a solid job in this even if Kenans' dialogue was a little one note and repetitive and the whole thing didn't quite have enough of a build up but still tied together nicely. I guess its' just a coincidence that both of the last two season finales ended with a live sketch set at a high school talent show (or at least had that premise as the last live sketch of the night). B+

Chicago Improv - Okay, this definitely has to be something Tina wrote given her Second City background. The firefighting imagery in the background of shots of heightened drama over improve made.this for me. The bad reviews were icing on the cake. B+

Now, for my absolute final updated rankings of the season so far...

1. Sterling K. Brown/James Bay

2. John Mulaney/Jack White

3. Bill Hader/Arcade Fire

4. Donald Glover/Childish Gambino

5. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift

6. Chance The Rapper/Eminem

7. Tina Fey/Nicki Minaj

8. Chadwick Boseman/Cardi B

9. James Franco/SZA

10. Natalie Portman/Dua Lipa

11. Amy Schumer/Kacey Musgraves

12. Charles Barkley/Migos

13. Jessica Chastain/Troy Sivan

14. Sam Rockwell/Halsey

15. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton

16. Larry David/Miley Cyrus

17. Saoirse Ronan/U2

18. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk

19. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith

20. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters

21. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z

Well, that was a decent and fitting way to close put an SNL season that did dhow very gradual improvement over time. Now, we've reached the end of what I've only just recently come to realize is my 10th season writing full length SNL reviews primarily for this board just for fun. Sadly, I didn't have anything big or special to commemorate this. Still, I'd just like to thank everyone here for indulging me for the past decade and thanks to Stooge (wherever you are) for inspiring me to do this at the beginning. Also, I'd like to say how grateful I am to have found this board and to be so readily welcomed into a like minded community of SNL fans with sharp critical thinking skills in regards to the show. I don't really have any plans to retire from doing this at the moment (at least not in the next two years or so since I've found this is the only way I can really keep up with and watch the show, so...see you guys again next season!

Amy Schumer/Kacey Musgraves (5.12.2018)

Okay, heres' my review. Given how low my expectations were for this episode, I was generally pleased with how it turned out. It seemed like they weren't bringing back so much recurring material as in previous because all the things they did recur were bought out of mothballs after a few years. Still, there wasn't as much of an aura of burnout as I thought there might be this week even if this episode didn't feel like it was full of original ideas. There wasn't as much political humor tonight either, but what was there was really pointed and strongly written. Nothing stood out as being too horrible which puts it a notch above Schumers' previous episode (along with the fact that Schumer herself didn't seem to dominate the spotlight or steal much focus from the rest of the cast). Speaking of which, cast airtime seemed pretty evenly balanced since Kate & Mikey were much more visible this week than they were over the past few months worth of shows. Of course, this means there would appear to be a decreased presence of Cecily, Alex, Melissa & Leslie but again...we still know that they are all there and we see there is a nice balance between the cast and the host. It probably helps that this show also had the fewest surprise guest cameos they've had in recent weeks. Anyway, lets' get to it, shall we?

A Mothers' Day Message From The SNL Caat - It's a little strange that they would do this cold open right after airing a "vintage" episode from three years ago where they (and Reese Witherspoon) did almost this exact same thing for the monologue but they obviously had to do this at the very top of the show since this weeks' monolog was obviously going to be reserved strictly for Schumers' act. Still, it's nice to see Jost & the newer cast members who have joined the show in that time being featured in this (along with the cast members whose mothers could make it to New York this week). Nice to see Null make the absolute most of what might be his second to last week here. Kenans' mother subtly roasting his extremely lengthy tenure in the cast was my favorite moment. Thankfully, they kept this from going on too long given how one note it turned out to be. While this does have some references to the shows penchant for topical/political cold opens and just the vague concept of political comedy in general, it was nice to get something of a break from blatant reenactment of White House events. It's especially nice to get a break from Alec Baldwin tonight as well since him being there this week with Schumer hosting would be like putting a hat on a hat in terms of sheer mediocrity. B-

Montage - Is Darrell Hammond sick this week? Something seems to be affecting his voice to where it seems lower than normal. I almost thought some other announcer could've been filling in for him at first.

Monologue  - This was pretty much duller than Kevin Harts' monologue from this seasons' Christmas show and at about the same level of quality, so...pretty much part for the course for Schumer. It should've been a given that Schumer would discuss her recent marriage since it was obviously the biggest change in her personal life since the last time she hosted this show three years ago. Still, ones' own wedding doesn't make for good standup comedy. Whether or not you happen to be a white celebrity whose career is (somehow) still going strong, weddings seem like they would be next to impossible to mine quality jokes out of. I now have to admit Patton Oswalt was really on to something about how marriage and relationships can nearly destroy a comedians' career in stand up (and since its' Schumer we're talkin' about here, you know thats' REALLY saying something). The only thing that really stood out to me here was the "gaping" size tampons joke. Boy, that plug for her movie seemed really desperately jammed in, didn't it? The best thing I can say about this is that by now, season 43 may have just tied (if not beat) season 20 (and possibly 40) for the record of most stand up monologues in a single season. While part of me hopes this trend does continue, I hope that they maybe showcase some newer, fresher talent from the top echelons of the stand up comedy community. I also realize they may have just burned through just about all the top tier stand ups who have big enough careers to be invited on SNL by this point, (maybe not restrict it so much to people who have even the most tenuous connections to the show) but lets' hope it doesn't take to long for any other rising comics to come up and join those ranks. Ah, who am I kidding? Someone I'm describing might be better off just joining the cast if they are just starting out. D+

Mother Knows Best - I couldn't really get into this game show sketch since it came off as very telegraphed and  so much of it seemed like the exact type of thing SNL has already been doing for years with little to no variation. If Mikey & Streeter wrote this one, I have to wonder how many times it previously got cut? The only genuinely funny parts to me were Leslie and Pete breaking at the worst possible moments when the camera cut to them. Also, Schumers' line about being both "a YouTube sketch comedian and a very serious musician" was so oddly specific it left me wondering who exactly that was supposed to be a jab at. Also, while it didn't seem to have much of an ending at least they took this to its' logical conclusion in a satisfying enough way. C-

Handmaids In The City - These type of easy pop culture crossover premises (i.e. "Real Housewives of Disney", "The Office: Middle Earth") usually leave plenty of room for some solid writing and execution. I was expecting much more from this sketch once I realized it would also be in that vein but for some reason it just failed to deliver. Not even the obligatory fake reviews added much to this. Maybe I just wasn't familiar enough with the Handmaids' Tale to be able to appreciate it or maybe there was only so much they could do with this in execution as opposed to filming it but it just didn't land with me. Speaking of filmed sketches, I have to wonder if Amy bought any of her old  "Inside Amy Schumer" writers with her? While watching this, I for some reason flashed on the parodies of "12 Angry Men" and "Friday Night Lights" they did on that show (which I only saw because they were the only sketches from her show strong enough to go viral) and thought this could be something they would be doing if the show was in production now. C-

The Day You Were Born - This was allright. It rounded out to not be too predictable after they established what the entire joke behind this was. At first, I genuinely couldn't even venture an educated guess as to who may have written this as I couldn't think of anyone on the current cast or writing staff who has given birth. Then, I thought of the possibility that this could have been one of the writers I just hypothesized Schumer had bought with her this week in my blurb on the preceeding sketch. Finally, I saw where this was going and realized that whoever wrote this obviously also wrote the Girls Halloween short from last seasons' Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga episode and the high school drama production of Legally Blonde film from the Jimmy Fallon/Harry Styles episode. All of those films made strong use of jarring contrasts setup by quick back-and-forth jump cuts. B-

Gospel Brunch - I still don't quite know what to make of this one. It seemed a little too meandering and low-key for its own good. It took a detour too many to get to its central premise. The only real laughs, again, came from Kenan, Leslie and Amy breaking and adlibbing to cover for the blender just not working. They covered that quite nicely. I'd say either Che, Gary Richardson or Wil Stephenson & Bryan Tucker wrote this if I had to venture another educated guess. C-

Update was very strong throughout. Jost, Che and the rest of the team that puts Update together really seemed to hit it out of the park tonight. Not everything was laugh-out-loud hilarious but they displayed some real sharp joke writing abilities tonight. The only real groaned was Ches' "one-legged woman" joke and I'll admit I thought even that was pretty solid. It's nice to see Heidis' teen YouTube movie reviewer return in a NOT completely by-the-numbers rewrite but they still need to change the ending a little bit so she doesn't always end up having a near panic attack over her high school problems when Che reveals one of her movie crushes. I liked Melissa McCarthys' cute cameo just for the fact that it was the first (and seemingly only) genuine surprise of the whole show (maybe not so much when you consider she also just essentially made a "cameo" on Colberts' show the previous night rather than be interviewed as a guest). Strangely, McCarthy actually hosted last year around this exact same time when she DIDN'T have a movie out and seemed to be coasting on her slightly increased profile from being involved in thr shows' political humor. Boy, she must be grateful that she got to make "Life Of The Party" when she did because that gig dried up pretty fast, huh? At least it was short enough that she got to bow out gracefully, unlike some other five-timer hosts, right? Even stranger, she seems to be on the biggest media blitz to promote a movie I've seen while giving the fewest actual interviews doing so. Anyway, I don't mind how long this bit seemed to go on because it was pretty grounded for a Melissa McCarthy sketch character. The only thing that could've really improved this Update would've been to let Jost handle a guest commentary instead of making Che the focus of one of the two. B-

Wake Up Denver - Okay, first off...I do still appreciate the Denver shout out even if the setting seemed completely irrelevant to the rest of the sketch compared to the animal photographer/pornographer sketch from last years' Scarjo episode (also framed as a segment on a Denver based morning show but as a remote from the Denver Zoo). As for the substance of the sketch, it seemed like they really spread the basic premise of this too thin over a little too long of a sketch. I could immediately tell this was going to be some kind of "Rent" parody when I saw Kyles' costume during the brief commercial break setup preview. I could tell immediately that Kyle would be playing the character of "Mark" because he seemed to be wearing almost the exact same costume that Neil Patrick Harris wore when he played "Mark from Rent" in the "Save Broadway" sketch when he hosted back in '09. Speaking of which, Kyle and Amy really did stick out like a pair of sore thumbs among a sea of extras who were actual children (especially Amy who was quite distractingly unconvincing kneeling behind an oddly placed puppet wall). Speaking of Amy, I couldn't help but notice that she played the same "Amy Merriwheather-Sherman" character that she played in the "Toddlers & Tiaras" parody on her old sketch show and in the Town Hall sketch from the last time she hosted THIS show. Since they revived that town hall sketch later that season when Ronda Rousey hosted, I'm sure Schumer and her collaborators outside of SNL didn't write either of these sketches. I'm guessing this was a possible collaboration between Mikey, Kent Sublette and Julio Torres (shades of the latter are the most noticeable here). This feels like any of them could've written this previously and had it get cut from a past dress rehearsal/table read or two and hastily punched up this week to include Schumer character as her being a fierce conservative made so little sense it was probably tacked on at the last second. C+

Sheila Sovage VIII - Yeah, I happened to have my TV tuned to NBC during just the right portion of the hockey game where we got to see a brief glimpse of this from dress rehearsal. I noticed Amy was in this as the first woman Kate was ever paired up with in these and wondered if this might be the final "Last Call" sketch she was planning to do while in the cast since it looked like (and proved to be) such a substantial shakeup to this formula. Since we now know that Kenan isn't leaving THIS season, I suppose this gives us much more room to speculate whether or not Kate or Aidy are more likely to say goodbye next week. Speaking of Kenan, his obligatory "reactions" were the only other thing keeping this from being a complete carbon copy of the previous installment with Charles Barkley. I guess opening the ark of the covenant was the only way he could possibly follow magically turning to stone. C-

James Madison High School Graduation '18 - Its' pretty obvious that whoever wrote the "Christmas Mass Spectacular" short from the Martin Freeman/Charli XCX episode three-and-a-half years ago. This seemed like a more seasonal/topical rewrite of that (even down to Aidy possibly playing the exact same character but her jumbled, scattershot protest along with Chris chickening out of a backfill were two of the funniest moments in this) but much less grounded and realistic. The only thing that I can say I related to in this was the "literally everybody is dabbing" joke (since I attended my sisters' college graduation a year ago...yes, even among college graduates the "dab" has still managed to not go out of style in the slightest). Everything else seemed like they dug up (and then maybe watered down for network television) some old cliches from twenty years worth of teen oriented movies. I mean, even Becks' voiceover was way more hyped up than it needed to be. Still, that didn't make it any less funny than its' spiritual predecessor. B-

Now, for my updated rankings of the season so far...

1. Sterling K. Brown/James Bay

2. John Mulaney/Jack White

3. Bill Hader/Arcade Fire

4. Donald Glover/Childish Gambino

5. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift

6. Chance The Rapper/Eminem

7. Chadwick Boseman/Cardi B

8. James Franco/SZA

9. Natalie Portman/Dua Lipa

10. Amy Schumer/Kacey Musgraves

11. Charles Barkley/Migos

12. Jessica Chastain/Troy Sivan

13. Sam Rockwell/Halsey

14. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton

15. Larry David/Miley Cyrus

16. Saoirse Ronan/U2

17. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk

18. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith

19. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters

20. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z

Well, that was an all around pleasant surprise. Next week, Tina Fey returns for the finale. This will be Tinas' sixth time hosting the show since leaving the cast almost twelve years ago. I know the show likes nothing more than to have an old friend of the show (be they distinguished alumni or five timer level host) close out the season but it would have been nicer to maybe break that tradition and let another fresh faced first timer host before the season ends. Still, if this episode turns out to be at the same level of quality as the last time she hosted (when she cohosted with Amy Poehler for Christmas three years ago) I will be reasonably satisfied. See you then!

Donald Glover/Childish Gambino (5.5.2018)

Okay, heres' my review. This was still solidly a top five show for this season despite some very minor flaws. Donald Glovers' comedy background served him well as a host. He was very comitted and definitely deserves to host again in the future. He made the absolute most out of every role he was given but at times it felt like he didn't really get enough of a chance to shine as a comedic actor. It felt like he was just lifeless coasting on some rather weak material at times throughout the show. I mean, I may be a little biased on this one because I've been a fan of Glovers since the time before "Community" even premiered when Glover was still very active with the sketch group "Derrick Comedy" (and writing for 30 Rock which I didn't even know he was doing at the time). I was even a fan of his music in college (although I haven't really kept up with his Gambino albums since "Because The Internet" but I'm glad people are still raving about his songs) and I've been waiting for this exact episode to happen for at least the past seven years. I guess I was just expecting a little more (like I'm sure all of us were with Ferrells' episode from January) but this episode didn't completely dash my hopes. I guess he has just matured quite a bit since I was following his early career so closely. I also think that maybe part of the problem could've been that what I thought should have been a showcase for Donald Glover to return to his roots for a night got washed away in a sea of either just plain tired or just plain pointless and unnecessary cameos. Boy, that sure sounded like a nice segue into my comments on this weeks' cold open, didn't it? Lets' start off  there, shall we?

Cohen Makes Calls - This cold open sure was a jumbled, distractingly green-screened mess. I think I'm kinda burnt out on stunt casting and cameos right now but still, the only real highlights to this were Martin Short as Dr. Harold Bornstien (the shades of his Jerry Lewis in that portrayal were a nice touch). Fallons' chirpy, aggro Kushner (nice continuity there) & Beck as Pence revealing he was calling a "party line". I'm sure I'm not the only one who was disappointed to find that they cast Kate as Gulianni but at least it was a fairly small role here (and strangely her ONLY role because for some reason.this and the goodnights were the only things she appeared in throughout the entire show). Personally, I thought Alex could've handled the role better instead of being relegated to a no-dialogue role as an FBI witetap agent along with Chris Redd. Speaking of, I wish we had gotten to see him or Glover as Kanye instead of the actual Stormy Daniels. I don't think that was the right thing for SNL to do in the moment (or any moment ever, really). It reminded me too much of those real life Monica Lewinsky cameos in the Cuba Gooding Jr./Ricky Martin episode from May 1999. I remember staying up to watch that one when I was eight years old and even then I could see how it reeked of shameless desperation (I mean, not as much as this, and it wasn't even announced or promoted ahead of time like Lewinsky was, but still). At the very least, we can now say that at least one actual, real life porn star has beem on SNL. C-

Monologue - This got the show off to a slightly better start. I mean, I was slightly disappointed that they didn't just let Donald do his own stand up act but I guess he legitimately retired from stand up to focus on acting and music and hasn't written any jokes in years. Yeah, I could tell SNLs' writing staff wrote all of these jokes for him. They were typical monologue jokes, but at least Donald had the sheer charisma and comedic timing to make them more genuinely funny than any other actor host would have. It kinda dragged in the middle when he started walking around the studio. At that point, it pretty much morphed into a cross between Justin Timberlakes' 2009 monologue & Tom Bradys' 2005 monologue. I honestly would've preferred he go into a Childish Gambino song than...whatever this was. Still, that walk around the studio at least built up to a reasonably satisfying payoff gag (no pun intended). C+

Jurassic Lawsuit - This sketch was okay. Glover was the strongest performer in it. My only criticism is that it could've been tighter and quicker paced. I get the sense that not only did Day and Seidell not only wrote this but resubmitted it after it got cut from dress a few years ago when the first Jurassic World actually came out. I guess the "Instagram story" was filmed just before Luke Null injured his leg? That wpuld explsin this being his only appearance in the entire show this week? B-

Friendos - I wasn't expecting Childish Gambino to participate in a Migos parody but I guess he is good enough friends with them in the rap community that he thought they would dig this. This seemed like a fairly simple idea but it had some really solid writing behind it and the whole thing was executed and performed perfectly. I found it to be very funny. The A$AP Rocky cameo didn't detract too much from this. I wonder whose office this was filmed in? I think I follow just enough of this shows' cast and writers on Instagram to notice the look of a writers' office on the 17th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Plus, I wonder if they reconsidered filling this so f Glover wrote any of these sketches himself, this stands out to me as the most likely to be his. B+ g. Thats' my only criticism of this otherwise well executed piece. B+

Raz P. Berry - This was very funny mostly for the building insanity of it. Kenan and Cecily also added to it and played off Glover well. If Glover wrote any of these sketches himself, this stands out to me as the most likely to be his. B+

A Kanye Place - I have to give them some credit for the somewhat creative angle of working their obligatory take on Kanyes' antics with an unexpected "A Quiet Place" film. Maybe I would be able to appreciate this more if I had actually seen the film but I still found the Kanye commentary a little heavy handed. Plus, it really didn't seem to have an ending. I do have to wonder who wrote this one. My gut tells me it might be Che but not all of this exactly screams him. I'm thinking it could've been Anna Drezen/Sudi Green since Aidy seemed so have such a noticable presence in it. There also seem to be shades of Julio Torres & possibly Stephen Castillo here as well. C-

More Bedroom Dirty Talk - It was nice to see that they gave Melissa another chance to get this on the air, but compared to the original with Aziz Ansari it was far too rushed and underwritten. It didn't quite capture what worked about the first one at all. Hell, she didn't even try to work in any of her impressions. Maybe the show was just running a little long and a big chunk of this got cut for time. Also, she's now done this sketch opposite both Aziz Ansari AND Donald Glover. Is is just a coincidence that both versions of this sketch starred guys whose named have been frequently tossed around by women and female centric publications as the most attractive males comedians? I genuinely have to wonder if this sketch got cut from Kumails' dress rehearsal. C-

Update was consistently strong tonight. Jost and Che had some surprisingly strong jokes about all the Trump scandals this week or maybe it just seems that way to me personally since I haven't been watching as much of Colbert, Meyers, Noah & Klepper as usual this week since I had to take care of quite a few personal items that came up on top of going to two Weird Al concerts in the span of two days (one I got a VIP meet & greet ticket to and another turned out to be a five hour drive away, so yeah, my week has been pretty busy and I'm going into this episode a little worn out here but I digress). I also liked a lot of the rest of their jokes such as Josts' 7-11 joke and Che simply saying g "pass" as a photo of Kanye appeared on screen. Pete roasting the fuck out of Jost & Che upon learning of their Emmy cohosting gig was the funniest part of Update. Leslies' commentary would've felt too much like all her others if it weren't for her shaking things up a bit format wise with the Sarah McLachlan commercial takeoff. Her comments to Colin pretty much made the whole thing for me. Was anyone else at least half expecting Scarlett Johansson to come out considering she was obviously in the building? B-

Galactic Black Human Summit - This was a little dry and thin premise-wise for me, but there were some things to appreciate about it. First off, I have to say I do like Glovers' subtle take on a young Lando Calrissian. He seems able to capture the essence of the character without trying to hard to just do a straight up Billy Dee Williams impersonation. Surprisingly, Kenan and Leslie had the funniest lines here. I feel kind of bad for Heidi and whoever was in the blue monster costume for being in such heavy makeup roles with no lines. Again, I want to say Che wrote this but I'm starting to think it was actually Sam Jay or possibly Bryan Tucker & Will Stephenson. C-

Barbies' Instagram Captions - This sketch seemed very unbalanced. While Pete had the funniest lines, Donald acted the hell out of his character and seemed to be the only one who fully realized what his character was supposed to be and should've been given stronger material to work with. Plus, Kenans' character was so similar in type to his it was almost distracting. This sketch genuinely could've used another rewrite. C+

Con Call Center - This seemed like they threw the Bill Kurtis sketch from the 2005 Jason Bateman/Kelly Clarkson episode with the "Ruff, Rugged & Roker" sketch from the 2010 Tina Fey/Justin Bieber episode along with all the prison sketches they've ever done in a blender and watered it all down before setting it to "puree". Becks' character didn't work as much as it should've for some reason and I personally would've liked to have seen more insane threats instead of going in a softer direction. 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. Donald Glover/Childish Gambino

5. Tiffany Haddish/Taylor Swift

6. Chance The Rapper/Eminem

7. Chadwick Boseman/Cardi B

8. James Franco/SZA

9. Natalie Portman/Dua Lipa

10. Charles Barkley/Migos

11. Jessica Chastain/Troy Sivan

12. Sam Rockwell/Halsey

13. Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton

14. Larry David/Miley Cyrus

15. Saoirse Ronan/U2

16. Kumail Nanjiani/P!nk

17. Gal Gadot/Sam Smith

18. Kevin Hart/Foo Fighters

19. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z

Well, that wasn't quite what everything I expected it to be but there was still some fun to be had. Next week, Amy Schumer hosts again to promote "I Feel Pretty". I guess its' an unspoken rule that she must host whenever she releases a film with two or more current or former alumni as her costars? Anyway, I'm going to be sorely disappointed if this episode turns out to be more genuinely enjoyable than this one. See you next week!