Okay, here's my review. This was a bit of a divisive and slightly uneven show, but it was still quite enjoyable nonetheless. Seth may have seemed like a mere serviceable host on the surface but as I watched this show and saw Seth's chemistry with the cast (most of which he hasn't worked with on the show) I could actually see what Taran Killam was talking about when he said Seth was a better and more directly collaborative head writer than Jost was. I was also glad to see they mostly focused on original premises (aside from a few things that seemed quite familiar). Then again, they had no choice given that the host was someone who managed to become a beloved alumni while only maintaining a handful of obscure semi-recurting characters (although these days it's easier than ever to pull off such a feat while mostly being known as a Weekend Update anchor & head writer who works well with other cast members). Speaking of which, it felt like I was watching a host less show for the first time in years (if not decades) especially since Seth seemed to fade into the background even as host (I guess old habits really do die hard) and refreshingly the cast was the focus. While airtime seemed quite unevenly divided, it turned out to be a good night for Kenan, Heidi, Aidy and Chris. They seemed to be the only cast members who made more than two appearances in the entire show for some reason (a side from possibly Beck, Kyle & Kate). Cecily and Mikey in particular were practically nonexistent tonight. We've actually got a lot more to unpack than this tonight so let's get right down to it.
Trump-Kanye-Brown Summit - Well, I have to say I'm proud of Baldwin & the show for showing an admirable mutual restraint toward each other for the previous two episodes but I suppose it could only last so long. Oh well, all good things must come to an end as they say. I knew a big Trump centric headline would come along eventually that would necessitate Baldwin's inevitable return. Thankfully, they decided to have Baldwin just hang back and let Chris Redd take the wheel with his hilarious-as-expected Kanye impression. Kenan had a string of great one liners to chime in with as well. Kudos to whoever on this board predicted this would take the same form as the Palin Endorsement cold open from January 2016 with Fey and Hammond but I was expecting something a little different. Also, I have to give them credit for getting Baldwin to actually show us a shred of self awareness after that cringe-worthy Hollywood reporter interview even as forced as it came off. I guess Jost & Che didn't talk so much about this event on Update because they wrote this cold open about it instead and obviously got the bulk of what they had to say out of the way early. It's pretty obvious this was them since it was filled with Update like commentary to begin with. B-
Monologue - I still don't quite know what to make of this one. While I appreciate the show giving us a second real solo monologue in a row (and I've especially come to appreciate Seth giving monologues more in general given how much the general approach to topical humor has improved on Late Night in the past two years) but I was a little disappointed this was so sedentary given how much he was talking up his past with the show here. I mean, I was hoping to escape the expected onslaught of Obama first term era cast cameos as much as the next guy (who also happens to frequent this board) but I honestly wouldn't have minded one or two here (preferably Hader or Samberg since his name was mentioned here...and speaking of I did appreciate Seths' joke about naming his kids "dick" & "box" in Sambergs' honor). As for the rest of this monologue, while I appreciate the way Seth told the anecdote about pitching Kanye the BET 106 & Park sketch he participated, there were two specific things that disappointed me about it. First of all, he ended up telling us about a sketch that actually made it to air that you can actually watch on the SNL app as I did two weeks ago before the season premiere aired. Part of me wanted to see him go even more "inside baseball" than he did. Second, given my immediate familiarity with the sketch Seth was talking about I couldn't appreciate the implied twist that they predicted the 2009 Taylor Swift VMA incident since I already knew he was talking about a sketch that actually made it to air in 2007. Hell, I remember even watching it live back then at 16 years of age and still liking that sketch despite my early dislike for Kanye & his bloated ego because it at least showed he had a solid sense of humor about himself. That should show you how long ago 2007 really was. While were on the subject, heres' something I had realized before the season premiere that I just plum forgot to put in my review of that episode. That was the second time in eleven years that SNL had to get Kanye West of all people to fill in for a female musical guest who dropped out of doing the season premiere at the last possible minute. In 2007, he was replacing Amy Winehouse and this year he replaced Ariana Grande. C+
South Of Mason Screening - This sketch felt like something I had seen on the show several times before. It seems like they do this exact type of sketch once every season. I detected specific hints of the Kmart Returns line from Saiorse Ronans' show last year, the film screening sketch from the Emily Blunt show the year before that and the town hall meeting sketches from the Amy Schumer & Ronda Rousey sketches the season before that. I'm willing to bet this sketch and at least one or two of the previous ones I just mentioned were written by the same people. As for the meat of this one, it was pretty scattershot (and I am glad it was because I was glad they didn't just stick with the main jokes that Beck, Aidy and Leslies' characters had established) but I have to say Kyle, Cecily & Heidi were the real standouts here. They somewhat surprisingly gave me my biggest laughs in this sketch. Heidi stood out for her sudden character change and the fact that whoever did write this chose to name her character "Adele Dazeem". Cecily stood out to me because upon rewatching this sketch I noticed that this was literally her only appearance of the entire show. Seth & Kenan were solid anchors here (although in the case of the latter his leftover beard makeup being stuck on from the cold open was distractingly noticable). C+
Beta Force - I'm glad that somebody finally not only parodied this specific type of late night infomercial but took this premise to its' logical conclusion by imagining what the side effects would be if someone took these types of products and they actually worked as intended. Seriously, just imagine being such a person for a second. Seth did a good job disappearing into two sides of the same Jekyll & Hyde type character but it was really Becks' string narration that helped sell this. Kenans' cameo gave me the biggest laugh of the whole sketch. C+
Thirsty Cops - Glad to see they decided to give Ego her first showcase sketch with a lead role in her third episode (in something I'm guessing she & Leslie helped write together). I guess I was right when I tweeted at the guys who do the "That Week In SNL" podcast that Seth seemed like the type of host who would encourage the staff to give a new cast member like Ego her first fair shot on the show. I don't know why Kate chose to lay on a thick Pittsburgh accent here but it worked. I also liked how they didn't let this run on too long after Kate exited the scene either. I would say the thing I appreciated most about this sketch was just seeing how comfortable and completely within their own elements Ego and Leslie looked (which in Egos' case should help her get far on the show). My only suggestion to improve this would've been to maybe just place them in various different scenes throughout the sketch and hit on an array of different handsome male perps but I suppose that might be difficult to pull off live and there is the chance they might want to make this recurring. I have a sneaking suspicion that they pitched this to Adam Driver two weeks ago and it was cut from dress rehearsal but the ladies were easily persuaded to resubmit this to Seth. B-
A Frightening Tale - Glad to see they could get just the right amount of mileage out of something that could've seemed almost too banal on paper. I think the quick pace combined with the heightened superficial terror really made this for me. I liked seeing everyone's commitment and Kyle was playing the perfect role that seemed tailor made just for him. A-
The Cosby Cell - Kenan was hidden in the shadows for just long enough that I could immediately tell what his big reveal was going to be mere seconds before it actually happened. Besides that, this sketch just went on far too long with little in the way of standout jokes. Kenans' performance was the best thing about it. Seth's cue card starting was a bit distracting and Redd may have botched his second line because I don't think the lights were just supposed to flicker off briefly then turn back on when he said "lights out" just allowing the sketch to continue as normal. I originally had this pegged as a Jost & Che & Seth collaboration because it reminded me quite a bit of a sketch from last year around this time where Kenan played OJ out on a dinner date with Gal Gadot after he had just been released from prison which we later found out that they wrote together. I'm more disappointed than I am surprised to learn that John Mulaney cowrote this. I realize he wrote "The Obama Show" from the 2012 Maya Rudolph hosted episode but I found this to be just slightly below the standards set by most of his previous work. C-
Update was pretty uneven but what turned out to be good was very worthwhile. I have to give Jost & Che some props because I respect their deliberate choice to open with a rant on the recent dire climate change reports. I liked Josts' parts and Ches' "white girls love yarn" jokes. Unfortunately, those are the only things they contributed that stood out to me and Colins' breaking just called attention to how weak some of the rest of the jokes were. Usually, I like seeing Heidi debut a new character on Update but this really didn't do it for me. I appreciate Ches' attempt to nudge this in the right direction (or just any specific direction really) but it reminded me too much of all the grating sonetimes one-shot and plenty of other sometimes should've stayed one shot characters that Kristen Wiig and (to a much, much lesser extent) Vanessa Bayer did on Update over the years. I'm not surprised that I accurately predicted we'd get a new "Really?!?" alongside Jost & Che (I guess Poehler was too busy to make it out to 30 Rock this week) but what we did get was pretty entertaining. I was especially surprised that even Che could get away with dropping a legit n-bomb on the air & I can't wait to see how he will use his remaining three he's been allotted. I especially liked how the show also pretty much called itself out for making Trump president but way not for the reason you would think (although from what I've heard it was more Obama making fun of him that inspired him to run than Seth but if you really want to overanalyze that moment I would blame whoever invited Trump to this event in the first place). Mostly, I just enjoyed Seth, Colin & Che just loosen up and have fun with each other. B-
Bayou Benny's Liberal Lagniape - By far, this was the funniest sketch of the entire night. I was already really into the premise of a much more sincere and MUCH more southern and cajun version of a Bill Maher type left leaning panel show and Becks' insane levels of commitment really hit it out of the park. I was cracking up at Kate as the pepper with sunglasses and Alex as a giant biscuit. Heidi was serviceable as Taylor Swift and Seth fit in well as the more bewildered of the two non-cajun guests. I'm willing to bet this was written by some of the same people who wrote "Maine Justice". A+
Post Cuban Vacation - This was definitely the weakest sketch of the night but I still like how they gave Heidi another chance to play a new character. This role of hers wasn't quite as great either but at least it wasn't quite as grating as the Goop spokeswoman that she played on Update. I did also like how this was the one sketch of the night where Seth didn't just play himself or some variation of himself and I did like his "low IQ" line. Other than that, Kate's last few lines were the best thing about this. I'm not that shocked to learn that James Anderson wrote this as I am to learn that he wrote it for Heidi rather than Cecily. I just hope he doesn't get to Heidi too soon. D+
Trees - This was definitely the best taped segment of the night. I liked how densely packed with plot it was for a rap video. I also liked the extended fourth wall break between Pete & Chris as well as Chris' verse about how long it actually takes for trees to grow. Alex's speech at the doctors office also added a lot to this. This was just as funny as "Bayou Barrys' Liberal Langiape". The only thing that took me out of it was how they awkwardly cut off the beginning during the original live airing by cutting to commercial by accident and seemingly cutting right back. B+
Halloween Gig (Gucci Shoes) - I'm quite surprised they chose to do this twice let alone three times (and yes I had to look this character up on SNL Archives just to see when Kenan had played him before because I knew I'd faintly remembered it before). Maybe Seth had seen this and was a fan or maybe Anderson & Sublette wanted to do this sketch with Seth. Still, I'll admit it's grown on me. I get the feeling they had to cut this off early because they were running short on time. I was expecting another character show show up with Kenans' Gucci Shoes because that's how the Martin Freeman and Ryan Gosling 2017 editions of this sketch ended. Oh well, I guess I could've gone either way on the ending. C+
Goodnights - Yeah, these got cut off early too but they were posted in full on the SNL Twitter feed. In case you still didn't see them, Paul Simon was presented with a birthday cake. The show must have seriously been running long because I can't imagine why they would cut this off when they did.
Now for my updated rankings of this season so far...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Adam Driver/Kanye West
3. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that show was considerably more fun than expected. It really gave a new meaning to the expression "less is more". Next month, Jonah Hill joins the five timers club. He's yet another host I find it hard to get excited about (partly because of how underwhelming some of his previous episodes turned out to be). At least this time, it's obvious that he has at least one thing to actually promote. Also, I think at this point it's safe to say he can be added to the list of hosts who are asked back as often as they are just because the current cast and crew simply love working with them because of how generous they are so I'm looking forward to getting to see another show with the same friendly vibe as this one. I'm just glad to see him finally reach this milestone. See you then!
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