Okay, here's my review. This show was much more uneven and inconsistent than last week but everything that did work worked very well. James McAvoy proved to be an enthusiastic host immediately whose presence would give the show a much needed boost. However, the second half of the show seemed to be bogged down with the weight of too many retreads. Let's break this down, shall we?
Tucker Carlson Tonight - Well, it took until the very end of this for me to be able to like this as much as I initially wanted to. I was glad to see SNL finally attempt to satirize Tucker Carlson with Alex in the role but performance wise he seemed to be phoning it in more and more as the sketch progressed. It's like he put too much emphasis on getting Tuckers' dopey facial expressions down so the impression as a whole came off too sleepy, lethargic and devoid of malice. Also, all their jokes about him seemed more like played out snarky observations from people I follow on Twitter. I usually like Cecilys' Judge Pirro but I feel like she played it too big here. Plus, this was a strange place for them to work in their obligatory Marie Kondo reference. As much as I feel Kate playing male Trump cabinet members is another overdone thing, her Wilbur Ross impression worked surprisingly well here. It was an impression she was surprisingly well suited for and she had great "out of touch" lines that were pretty funny. Maybe I liked this as much as I did because it's a Kate impression that we're just seeing for the first time before it gets run into the cold, cold ground. Of course, the high point was Steve Martin as Roger Stone. I was expecting Alex to play him if they weren't going to parody this specific interview and Kate if they were. Steve was such a left field choice that he was inherently worth at least a chuckle but he actually seemed to be going for a specific over the top character voice/series of affectations here that were very funny any fun to watch here. It didn't matter if the impression was all that accurate with what Steve did with it. B+
Monologue - If James coming out in a kilt hinted that he may be here to have fun and make a good first impression, the Ewan McGregor jokes cemented that. Also, that was the best recovery from a minor cue card flub I have seen in recent memory. I do have to wonder if his "masculine skirt" was also an adlib because I'm not sure something scripted would've been that visibly directed at one specific audience member whom we couldn't quite hear. B+
Virgin Hunk - Well, it's their last January show this year and they didn't do their seemingly required Bachelor parody with last week's female host so they must have had to figure out a way to do one with this week's male host. I'm kidding, of course. They obviously knew they had to do it this way because they've already used both of the current male cast members who would be believable in this role so they needed a male host. Again, kidding. They obviously must've wanted to specifically parody something about this year's Bachelor. That being said, I'm not sure if McAvoy was having trouble nailing down a specific Colorado accent or something or if that was his portrayal of how he thought a stiff and frothed up adult virgin would present himself in such a situation. Either way, his acting kinda took me out of this. Unfortunately, his and Ego's performances were the only things that stood out to me in this sketch. The rest of it seemed pretty indistinguishable from the show's previous Bachelor parodies but the ending to this one worked for me. C-
Mr. H - I'm glad they actually called out how cliched this premise was and then gradually flipped it around. Redd was a solid lead in this. McAvoy provided a nice balance between serious acting and comedic dialogue. Mikey, Ego and Pete added some funny moments as well. This was one of the most thoroughly well written and produced short films in recent memory. A-
Scottish Air - Well, this seemed like it was going to be too one joke for me initially but the performances really sold it. Mikey, Kenan and Kate were very funny but Beck made the whole sketch for me. James seemed the most within his comfort zone here and that really helped the sketch play better. B-
Upper East Side - Leslie actually does have some great rap skills. I believe this is the first time she's gotten her own showcase for them in a music video where she is the lead performer rather than being a supporting player in all female song with the rest of the women in the cast. Kate and James provided a nice balance here. I guess I wasn't expecting a sudden German accent so soon. Other than that, nothing really stood out to me here because this seemed too regional and New York centric to really land with me. C-
Charmin Focus Group - After the host doing three different accents in a row, it took me a full minute to get back in sync with his acting, but his Philly/Pittsburgh accent paired with his insane, unwarranted scatalogical ad pitches was the true highlight of this sketch. I don't know why those accents are so funny to me, but they just are. Other than that, nothing else really clicked with me. It felt too much like we shouldn't have been seeing this the week after they revived the Barbie Instagram sketch because it played out just like a cross between that and the film Q&A sketch from Seth's show. I do have to wonder if this was originally written for Tina's episode last season given that one character had a heavy Philly accent. C+
Update had its moments. I couldn't really get into it until the Roger Stone jokes. Che in particular seemed to have quite a bit of fun with his. I also had a hard time getting into Redds' Soulja Boy commentary. It made me chuckle a bit but I really didn't appreciate having to know why Soulja Boy is back in the news this week to fully appreciate this. I really didn't think we needed to see Cathy-Anne again either. B-
Return To Narnia - Speaking of things I had to have read up on to recently to get, I had to check and make sure James McAvoy was actually in the Disney Narnia franchise films. The only film adaptation of "The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe" I've seen was from long before the time when those came out and I haven't really read the book since second grade. At least this was a nice pull for a host sketch. Otherwise, I was just WAY not the target demographic for this very niche female centric sketch. Still, I'm really curious to know which writer wrote this one. C-
Boys - I'm actually surprised they chose to recur this. Beck, Kyle and Cecily were still great in it but I still feel like this should've been left a one off and this version was too much of a carbon copy of the first to make me think otherwise. Thankfully, it got to its conclusion quicker this time. I do appreciate their acknowledgment of continuity by having James' character state that Cecily "remarried" him. C-
Dogs - Well, I hate to say this but...I think I'm officially starting to tire of Chris, Pete, and Kenans' rap videos. Still, this was at least better than the RBG one and the Permission one to a certain extent. I can appreciate that this was going more for "cute" than funny. I did like Pete's "hypoallergenic" lyric, James' intensity and the fact that they gave Ego her own verse that explained why she, Aidy & Heidi were wearing bunny ears reminiscent of a certain someone from Pete's recent past. C+
New Orleans - I think I spoke too soon about them recurring sketches from earlier this season that worked better as one offs. The only thing that stood out to me was James' near breaking and how Kate's part was considerably minimized and given to Ego. C-
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
3. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
4. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
5. Adam Driver/Kanye West
6. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
7. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
8. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak*. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
9. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
10. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, this episode kind of petered out in the second half but the first half was very fun while it lasted! In two weeks, Halsey pulls double duty for her first time as host and second as musical guest. Look, pop stars and musicians tend to make very fun and engaging hosts. However, I'm a little surprised Halsey was chosen to host because I don't think she's had any acting experience outside of a couple of voice acting gigs in animated fare. Hopefully, she can prove our preconceived wrong and be a fun and engaging host. See you then!
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