Okay, here's my review. People may have set their expectations a little too high given the caliber of this weeks' host and that's perfectly understandable. Don Cheadle wasn't as outwardly enthusiastic or unsubtle as some expected him to be but he still gave it his all in whatever he was in. Still, a host like him shouldn't be so shoved into the background he suddenly makes you forget he is indeed the host until Update is over. Maybe the writing wasn't necessarily playing to his or really anyone's strengths. There were some unoriginal premises throughout the night but what worked really worked and was hit out if the park. What didn't work was more forgettable than outright atrocious. Quality wise, it was about the same as last week with Halsey as host. This episode was a little more uneven than that one, so it's a close call to say which one is truly better. The cast was pretty unevenly divided tonight. Cecily, Aidy and Kate seem to be getting more and more phased out but Heidi, Mikey, Kyle, Beck and Alex seemed to have dominated the show. Ego continues to gradually break out while Pete and Leslie continue to just collect their paychecks for some reason. Let's break it down, shall we?
Trump National Emergency Press Conference - Well, I'm not sure why the show felt the need to advertise Baldwin's umpteenth cameo on Twitter. I mean, it was barely distinguishable from most of the other Trump-centric cold opens he has done in the past two years. The one thing I did enjoy was seeing them give the Attorney General William Barr role to Beck Bennett rather than going back to the outside stunt casting well once again. I realize William Barr may not be a big enough role for them to even think about doing this, but it's a step in the right direction. I have to admit, this sketch did make me realize how much Baldwin could improve his Trump impression just by being more soft spoken and beaten down in spots and not speaking in clipped, rapid fire sentence fragments (which is ironic because the one upside to having Baldwin portray Trump during the campaign against Hillary was that Baldwin captured Trump's mania better than Hammond did. Hammond's Trump was stuck in Apprentice-mode and now Baldwin's Trump is stuck in mid-to-late-2016 debate/campaign rally mode when having to actually BE president has shown Trump to be bought down by how way in over his head he is). C-
Monologue - Cheadle wasn't quite as high energy as I thought he was going to be here but he did have a very loose energy still on display here that let the audience know that he was here to have a good time. He did a fine job of poking fun at himself and his own career. His "rhythmic recognition" joke was very similar to Finesse Mitchells "snap famous" standup bit but he even made that better by adding a loose fin energy to it. Plus, this was almost the third monologue in a row where the host was just on stage alone letting us get to know them (until Leslie showed up right at the end but she didn't bring the monologue to a screeching halt or anything). B+
Fresh Takes II - Hmm, not sure why we needed a "fresh take" on this, but OK. I do appreciate how this was a little less juvenile than the previous one with Larry David and how much more committed the cast was to awkward teenage acting. They probably should've trimmed down the "cold sores" segment to make room for another commerical or two. I seem to remember those being the best parts of both of these sketches. Cheadles' teacher character got a couple of chuckles out of me admitting he bought edibles to that party. Otherwise, it hit too many of the same beats as the previous outing right down to Leslie as the nurse making an unprofessionally brief announcement. C-
Extreme Baking Championship - This got off to an awkward start but by far ended up being the best live sketch of the night. I did really appreciate how much more strange, surreal and unhinged (and less predictable) it got as it went on. Kenan and Kyle really stole this sketch for me (which is impressive in the case of the former as we only heard the formers' voice and the timing of the vomiting cake prop seemed a little off). A-
Pound Puppy - At first, I wondered why they were doing two taped Valentine's Day commercials two weeks in a row with very similar premises (especially when this one is two days late) until I realized this was just a generic marital aid commercial. This turned out very enjoyable and very well executed once they actually established what this was (even for something that had to meet the requirements of major network standards & practices). B+
Update got off to a rather listless start tonight. Che seemed to have the better Trump wall material but Jost seemed to let the actual footage of Trump's speech do the heavy lifting here (which made me think that maybe my earlier assessment of Baldwin's Trump may have been completely wrong but he could still stand to be less monotoned). The rest of the jokes didn't land that well either. Josts' Bernie joke felt tone deaf and if that wasn't enough it was followed by more pathetic corporate bootlicking. Speaking of Jost and Che, I'm starting to wonder if either of these guys might be eyeing the exits. I mean, this is their fifth season at SNL and "more writer than performer" Update-anchor types like them never seem to want to stay there much longer than that. Che has joked on his Instagram stories that he is leaving both SNL and comedy in general after this year to open up a fried chicken restaurant. I seriously wonder if the last part of that was the only part that wasn't a joke. I don't know of Becks' "Jules" character was something I wanted to see again but at least they changed up a lot of his schtick this time. I especially liked the lines about "wooden dolls carved with realistic genitalia" and how "the baby was filming the entire time". I guess Alex's Schumer and Kates' Pelosi are to be a more or less permanent fixture on the show right now. The only thing that seemed different from what they usually give us here was that Kate's Pelosi impression has just turned into her playing herself. I've started to realize that this character is pretty much a more loquacious, coherent and eccentric version of Cecilys' "Girl...at a party" with a little of Stefons' vivid imagination thrown in for good measure. Mikeys' "super centenarian" report seemed pretty one note for such a conceptual bit. Still, I do appreciate how whenever Mikey does a non-topical Update commentary he usually debuts a brand new one shot character every time. Also, does the voice he used in this remind anyone of Will Forte? Maybe it's just me since I was just watching Fortes' appearance on Seth's show before the show started. C-
Family Feud IX - Its' nice to see this again. I was starting to think the guys that usually write these had already left the show. These sketches are the best use of Keenan's usually reliable Steve Harvey as an anchor but it was an still and odd way for the show to reference his contentious interview with Mo'nique on his talk show. Don Cheadle did a pretty solid Spike Lee but his seemed to stumble over his lines a bit. Kate's Glenn Close didn't stand out much from her other distinguished actress impressions. Becks' Sam Eliott seemed well within his vocal comfort zone but still came off funny. Cecily almost came off like she was content to just do her Gemma voice and call it a night but I do appreciate that she gave us an actual fresh take on a little known actress. Melissa's Gaga really stole this sketch. Also, this is actually the second time she has played Lady Gaga in a Family Feud sketch that aired in February so she's now done this impression on the show three times overall. Kyle is still and unexpected choice to play Bradley Cooper but he sold it as well as he could. Pete's Rami Malek and Redds' Mahershala Ali were practically invisible. C+
Lollipop Bar Brawl - This also took a little while to get to it's brilliant payoff (I mean it was a sketch that was the entire length of a song) but I enjoyed the journey well enough. I did like the big Les Jeunes Des Paris dance number at the end followed by a thrown punch. It was just a little too banal spmewhere in the middle. B-
Roach-Ex Plus+ - This was another piece best appreciated for the sake of the journey. I liked the dark, dramatic turn this took after it hit on some typical commercial tropes. This was another piece that really benefitted from being taped. This is also the second taped commercial parody tonight that featured implied/suggested sex just barely obscured from the camera. At first, I thought Micheal Che would've written this given how similar it seemed to his "Ned's Roach Away" commercial from last season with Charles Barkley but then I realized this is probably not topical enough to be one of his. It might be Mikey & Streeter given that Mikey's in this and it falls more in line with his sense of humor. B+
Regal Promenade Pavillion - Well, it took Aidy actually appearing on screen for me to actually recognize her voice. I initially thought that was Heidi. Also, it's nice to see Kate switch things up a bit by playing a Male fictional character rather than doing an impersonation of a current Male political figure. Not sure why they were channeling Roseanne Roseannedanna and Father Sarducci, but it worked. I'm not sure why Don had to play either three different characters (or more likely the same one character filling different roles in his organization) but I liked it. Everyone had their fair share of decent lines. Still, it felt like something else that is becoming a modern day SNL trope. Specifically, it was an exact cross between Armisens "Chan-de-leahs/Mah-ble Cah-lumns" pitchman and Louis CKs' "sectional couches" salesman from two seasons ago. Also, why was this filmed with a blurry filter? There were parts of this I enjoyed and parts I may never know what to make of. B-
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. Halsey
7. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
8. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
9. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
10 Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
11 Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
12 Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
13. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that was another show that delivered the absolute bare minimum of what it promised but there was still plenty of fun to be had. Next week, John Mulaney returns to host for his second time. I had a feeling he would do this again. Someone around here pointed out that Mulaney might be being used to fill the "hip white male friend of the show standup" host void now that Louis CK is officially persona non grata. Since Louis hosted nearly every season at one point and Mulaney will now have hosted two seasons in a row, I'm starting to think that may actually be true. Still, he is always a welcome presence at Studio 8H. It will also be interesting to see if Idris Elba is still slated to host March 9th (as accidentally revealed via Jasin Momoas' Instagram) or if he had to back out for any reason. See you then!
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