Paul Rudd/DJ Khaled (5.18.2019)

Okay, here's my review. Anyway you look at it, this was a rather frustrating episode especially for a season finale. Hell, this was probably the most frustrating finale since the one Andy Samberg hosted five years ago. Paul Rudd was his usual, dependable self but his fourth outing as an SNL host kind if made it easy to see why he was so easily overshadowed in his first three. The writers didn't so much saddle him with bad material as much as they didn't quite know how to play to his strengths as an actor so he really couldn't stand out much in anything. The whole cast seemed to get a fair amount of airtime but Beck, Mikey and Ego seemed relegated to background roles once again. Speaking of which, there seemed to be almost no on air confirmation that this was the last show for either Beck, Kyle OR Cecily (the only cast members whose rumors of leaving the show still have yet to be confirmed or denied). I suppose that's for the best as each of those people strike me as the type of performers who would rather leave the same way Sasheer Zamata left two years ago (quietly and with little to no fanfare on their own terms to focus on their own passion projects). Anyway, let's break this down.

Don't Stop Trump Now - Well, I heard this was supposed to be a "big" cold open but it wasn't quite "big" in the way I was expecting it to be. I thought it was going to have more cameos than just DeNiro but this was at least preferable. Even for a musical number this seemed understated. You would think I of all people would be more into this with it being a blatant song parody and all but there were only few lines here that stood out to me. Cecily and Aidy had some decent lines but Kenan, Chris and Kate's appearances felt like the only things resembling jokes to me. Mikey and Alex felt too needlessly tacked on here. If nothing else, this cold open made me both appreciate how sparse Baldwins' appearances as Trump have been this season compared to the previous two and realize this is the first one of these during the Trump era that they have tried to frame as a straight into the camera address to the nation from the oval office desk like they've done several other times for all the other sitting presidents they have covered. Also, this cold open made me take note of a trend with season finale cold opens of the Trump era. They tried to close out the last two seasons with a generic Trump themed cold open that doesn't have anything to do with specific news stories of that particular week but rather a generic broad, toothles commentary on his administration in general. Sonetimes, they're musical numbers but they'reusually pop culture themed in some way (not necessarily current pop culture, mind you). They used to just try to imply or put out there or just will out into being that Trump and his cronies will finally face some form of justice and their whole world will soon collapse on them. First, they all sang "Hallelujah" in a brief moment of meta near self-awareness on the show's part. Then, Trump himself got stared down by Deniro as Muller in a parody of The Sopranos finale. This year, they seemed to have resigned themselves to accepting that the Muller report alone couldn't bring down Trump and that this madness will likely continue until at least next year's election. That's a start, at least. In a way, it's the most sensible take the show may have had in recent memory (now if only they could elaborate a little further with it). C+

Monologue - This concept felt like it had been done quite a long since the '90s but Rudd put a somewhat more modern twist on it. I liked the concept of Rudd giving a "best man" and whether or not Rudds' 1975 story was true, I appreciated hearing that as well as strange as it sounded. It at least did a good job of parodying this season's trend of hosts just using their monologues to tell sincere personal emotional stories about their tenuous connections to the show (particularly Idris Elbas' monologue). He had a couple of good self effacing lines in there about his age and film career. I also liked how Rudd chose not to call attention to who the musical guest was until the very end of the monologue. That served him well. B-

Mrs. Raffertys' Not-So-Excellent Adventure - Is it just me or is it a little frustrating that they chose to do this sketch tonight when we have no real confirmation who (if anyones) last show this is? I mean, the rumors are swirling around Cecily right now but this seems like it would be better suited for Kate's last show but as far as I know, she's one of the ones confirmed to come back next season. Maybe Rudd or Cecily still wanted to do this, but whatever. What I did like about this one was how they changed the premise from an alien/deity sighting to a time travel experience. I also liked how Kate went full Mr. Peepers on Rudd but otherwise it hit all the exact same beats. C+

Grace And Frankie Rap - I really appreciated all the different  misleads Kenan set up that were a part of this seeing as just a rap about Game of Thrones would've been one of the lamest and most predictable things the show could've done right now. I immediately knew something else had to be coming since I do remember at one point Pete mentioned how he got a GoT tattoo without having seen the show. The real life Greyworm cameo felt a little too tacked on for me but I did like Pete's line "I'm a penis" and his mentioning that he "doesn't" like to talk about his personal life. The Grace and Frankie twist was decent but I feel like they could've gone with something more our of left field. DJ Khaleds' cameo was something I was kinda expecting. After he posted his laundry list of special guest performers on his social media, the only way I could see Rudd being upstaged tonight was if John Legend decided he wanted to appear in a sketch or two tonight. SZA seemed like she wouldn't have wanted to appear in any comedy segments in the show and the rest of his guys seemed like they could only be able to make forgettable background cameos in one of these types of rap videos the show does. Khaled and the show apparently decided he could do this one solo so this is pretty close to what I was predicting. Rudd was a welcome addition. Somehow, he kept this from getting too stale. The Fonda and Tomlin filmed cameos were a nice touch even though it feels a little odd that this is what it took to get Lily Tomlin back on the show after countless decades. C+

What's Wrong With This Picture? - I really like how this just came at us hard and fast with the absurd non-sequitirs right out of the gate with the best possible cast members (and host) to pull this off. I also liked how they kept it short and just focused on heightening the jokes to the point when Rudd was the first person to guess anything correctly and just ending it right there. I didn't even mind how it still felt like an exact cross between the morgue sketch from Jeremy Renner's 2012 episode and the Cartoon Catchphrases sketch from Kerry Washingtons' episode a year later (and also the Barbie Instagram sketches they've done this past year). B+

Update was possibly one of the strongest of the entire Jost/Che era tonight at least in terms of sheer theatricality. They had a lot of solid individual jokes but for the most part, the regular jokes weren't the focus of tonight's Update. I always like seeing Cecilys' Judge Pirro on the show. I especially liked how she was as animated as she's ever been this time. It almost makes me think this really IS Cecilys' last show but if that were really the case we'd probably be seeing her do Cathy-Anne or Girl...At A Party right now (and we'd probably also be seeing Paul Rudd play Gemma's new boyfriend, too). The true highlight was Jost and Che trying to out do each other in terms of sheer offensiveness with unseen jokes they wrote for each other. It seemed quite the far cry from what they usually do at the end of every season. Chr telling that dog disease joke was a moment laden with such bitter irony that I'm 100% sure Jost knowingly wrote that for him for going after that thinkpiece writer who was mildly critical of him a whole back. At first, I was wondering how they could seriously follow that with Leslie's commentary on abortion legislation but then I realized they probably NEEDED to end this Update on a positive, uplifting, constructive note after that string of outrageous rejected jokes. Thankfully, Leslie managed to expertly make a strong point while still being effortlessly funny and without making am over the top grandstand. She is basically the only person in the past three years who found just the right way to make a serious, sincere point on this show. A-

Fancy Party - I was interested in seeing what direction this sketch was going in as well. I was expecting one of the other women to be green screened in as the dancing ballerina in the music box. Then, it became obvious that this was another Strong/Anderson/Sublette collab as it hit the same beats as the Thanksgiving song sketch from Steve Carrels' episode from earlier this season which I believe they all wrote. Thankfully, they didn't drag this out as long as they seemed to with that one. Plus, Rudd, Mooney and Strongs' commitment really saved this. The Twilight Zone twist was quite odd but at least it provided this with the quick ending it needed. This now makes two black Male cast members who impersonated Jordan Peele on the show. C-

The View XIII - I guess all the current women really are staying until next year or else they wouldn't be trying to make this a recurring thing. Paul and Beck were the real highlights of this as they kept it from being too much of a carbon copy of the last "View" sketch. The Biden bit seemed unnecessarily tacked on to me. Speaking of Paul Rudd, he was probably the absolute last person I'd expect SNL to have play Mayor Pete Buttigieg but he worked out just fine in this role. I mean, my first choice here would've been Mikey but I have heard the real Mayor Pete speak (I saw this clip of Pete responding to Trumps Alfred E. Neuman comparison) and I do hear some similarities in Pete and Paul's voices here. People sure do seem to like Pete's husband Chasten but I don't know enough about the real Chasten Buttigieg to really comment on Becks' portrayal. C+

Leslie & Kyle & Paul - Well, if this really is supposed to be Beck & Kyle's last show (or at least Kyle's) this is the only thing that even comes close to indicating it. I liked how this was essentially breaking the fake fourth wall that they supposedly set up to break when they did all these other relationship shorts two seasons ago. I also liked the Carpenters soundtrack with Lornes' face in the moon juxtaposed with a jarring cut to Leslie and Kyle's sex scene. I do like how they knew exactly when to end this with Paul as well. B+

Slumber Party Demon - It's really great to see that the show has this much confidence in Melissa Villaseñor as a lead sketch performer and not just a go-to impressionist. The show must be grooming her to be the next female lead in a few years once Aidy, Kate and Cecily really are gone. This had a certain cute low key charm to it. It seems very much in Melissa's voice so I'm guessing this is the piece she cowrote with Stephen Castillo this week (she posted a social media clip of them in their offices together this week). Paul worked well as a goofy, dorky dad trying to make do and entertain with his lack of refreshments. B+

Now, just for fun, here are my rankings of all four of Paul Rudds' episodes from best to worst.

1. Paul Rudd/Paul McCartney (12.11.2010)
2. Paul Rudd/Beyonce (11.15.2008)
3. Paul Rudd/One Direction  (12.7.2013)
4. Paul Rudd/DJ Khaled (5.18.2019)

Now, for my updated (and final rankings) of the complete 44th season...

1. Adam Sandler/Shawn Mendes
2. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett
3. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
4. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
5. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
6. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
7. Adam Driver/Kanye West
8. Emma Stone/BTS
9. Idris Elba/Khalid
10. Halsey
11. Kit Harrington/Sara Bareilles
12. Sandra Oh/Tame Impala
13. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
14. Emma Thompson/Jonas Brothers
15. Paul Rudd/DJ Khaled
16. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
17. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
18. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
19. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
20. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
21. Awkwafina/Travis Scott

...and that's the season that was. It was pretty middle-of-the-road and showed some gradual signs of recovery from the hit it took in season 43 what with the loss of Kelly & Schneider as head writers (as well as Bobby and Vanessa from the cast) Still, it's a bit of an uphill battle from here and maybe another "rebuilding year" is needed soon. I guess there's nothing left to do now but wait for any official announcements of who WON'T be coming back to spend season 45 with us (which will probably be in August if we don't hear anything next week) Have a great summer! See you in September!