Eddie Murphy/Lizzo (12.21.2019)

Okay, here's my review. This was the shoe that seemed to make the biggest promises of the entire season and it certainly delivered on the great things it promised as well as it's not so great obligations. It was without a doubt the strongest episode of the season so far and viewers couldn't have possibly asked for a better season. It was to season 45 what Sandler's episode was to season 44 times ten and at a point in this new season when it was almost desperately needed. Some of you might argue that David Harbours' or Scarlett Johansson' episode were the true best if this season but I personally think it's this one since the highs of this episode were stronger and more consistent than the previous two. Yep, the highs were higher and the lows were practically nonexistent. Eddie proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's still got it and that he's still on his way to a successful comeback (coming hot off the success of "Dolemite Is My Name"). His sheer presence was enough to make the viewer forget that we were inundated with another string of special guest cameos before he even got a chance to take the stage. He managed to dominate the entire show without making us forget that this show does indeed have a cast and each member of said cast got to appear in something. Anyway, there's a LOT to unpack with this episode so let's just get right to it. Shall, we?

PBS Democratic Debate - Well, at least this is the SECOND worst way the could've opened Eddie's episode. At the very least, it seemed like they were really racing through this one compared to how bloated the last two were until I noticed that this one was also ten minutes long. I guess it just seemed that way because I was just anxious to see Eddie (which is kind of the same way I watch a lot of recent episodes hosted by former alums). As much of a mess as it started to seem like toward the end, at least they made an effort to combine this with the inevitable non-Update Trump impeachment material they had to come up with so the rest of the episode. Plus, this was a decent way to tease the audience who just wanted to see Eddie. Nice to see they cast Heidi as Judy Woodruff as expected but did they even think about casting Lizzo as Yamiche Alcondor or Melissa as Amna Nawaz or even Alex or Mikey as that guy from Politico? I gave my divided attention to the debate and they covered the "wine cave" stuff decently. I'm still not crazy about how Jost is exaggeratedly portraying Buttigieg as a child but at least he is only doing so through his written lines on these skrtched rather than being on his knees at the podium. Rachel had some of the best Klobuchar material they've ever given her. Larry had some of the second best Bernie material they gave him. Fred and Maya's cameos felt unnecessary (Fred was the real low point of this sketch but at least he only had two lines. I guess Ferrell couldn't make it) but Maya's still somehow appropriate given who the host was. Those were two of the cameos I was looking forward to NOT having to see any more due to their respective candidates having dropped out just before this debate or just not qualifying for it somehow (so much for my "tighter and more focused debate sketch" theory). I do appreciate how they keep switching up their takes on Kamala even if they've never managed to have an appropriate one. It was fun seeing her as some sort of Beyonce/Ariana/Nicki/Lizzo (I'm sure she appreciated the shoutout) but I still could've done without it (ditto Cecily's Tulsi as much fun as it is to see Cecily anywhere in any capacity even if the candidate she plays is no longer running but made a strange impeachment vote). Now, Sudekis is always a welcome cameo (as is Woody whenever he's available which I guess he wasn't this week). Although I was a bit surprised to see SNL switch horse teeth midstream here, I was pleasantly surprised to see they can still make Jason's Biden work just as well in 2019 as he did from 2008-2013. Plus, Sudekis making a cameo in Eddie's episode makes some sense if you're aware of Sudekis' rather urban background. He had said in an interview that he "basically became a black kid" who played basketball and watched Arsenio and In Living Color from 1984-1992. I'd imagine getting to be on the same show as Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle was as big a thrill for him as anybody. I do also like how their take on Andrew Yang seems to be evolving to the point where he is becoming a more cartoonish caricature of a Silicon Valley "tech bro" (either that or they're just confusing him with Elon Musk?) Kate was put to better use here as Pelosi than as Warren. C+

Monologue - Well, THAT was a lot of fun! I was hoping for Eddie just doing his solo standup on stage but I guess he's still working on that and saving that for the road as he hasn't even gotten to do that much work on "Beverly Hills Cop 4" yet. I guess that one "Who's Americas' Dad Now?" joke was the "Bill Cosby thing" that Eddie teased in that Al Roker interview? I guess a one liner every few years is as much addressing the Cosby situation as Eddie can take? That's alright with me because both times he did it he really hit those jokes out of the park. I know we were all a bit worried about this show being overloaded with unnecessary cameos but I think we can all agree that THESE cameos in particular were quite appropriate. Not all of the jokes Eddie, Tracy, Chris and Dave told sounded like they wrote them themselves but they sure as hell elevated their material they were given! Beck and Kenans' cameos were also a welcome addition but I am a bit surprised that Leslie Jones didn't show up to "pitch" a sketch of her own. A-

Mr. Robinson's (Newly Gentrified) Neighborhood - Seeing just how much Eddie has aged in the past 35 years immediately took a bit of getting used to (did anyone else think the salt and pepper wig wasn't that necessary?) but despite stumbling over his theme song a bit judy before getting back into his groove, Eddie sure hits all the same comedic beats just as perfectly as he did back then once he shook those last bits of rust and cobwebs off. I guess I should've expected a simple gentrification premise over a Tom Hanks parody but this still fits 2019 perfectly. I'm guessing Che collaborated with Blaustein and Sheffield on this one (or at least pitched the whole "gentrification" concept to them seeing as that was a staple of Ches' pre SNL standup). The highlights were "Squatters' Rights" and "Racist" as shown on a new Samsung TV were among the highlights here. Mikey, Heidi and Chris (in semi-absentia) fit into this sketch well and had perfect chemistry with Eddie. This was definitely the strongest "fan service" sketch of the entire show. A-

Holiday Baking Challenge - See, this is an example of when a recurring sketch in this era hits all the same beats as the previous installments but in a bad and slightly frustrating way instead of a good fun way. Still, I didn't mind seeing this again as it was the strongest live piece in Don Cheadles' episode and Eddie didn't feel wasted or out of place at all here. I didn't like that they didn't seem to be able to make it as outrageous or disturbing as the first one felt since again, everything felt so telegraphed. I also didn't think it was a great sign that the only thing that made this stand out from the previous one was Eddie's seemingly accidental "shit" slip (which unfortunately got muted out during both of my local affiliates' airings of this episode and is still muted out on YouTube). C+

Home For The Holidays - It was odd seeing this again as well considering this has been a recurring template for the past three seasons rather than just the previous one or two and last year's Christmas episode (that they aired a one hour version of right before this one) had a one of these that wasn't entirely set at the dinner table. Still, Eddie, Maya and Ego were welcome additions to this template and the fact that it was pretaped and followed by a much shorter live piece really helped make the episode as a whole feel that much tighter at a point where it could've used that. Does anyone know if any of Eddie's actual children were in this? B-

The Masked Singer - HOLY SHIT! I PREDICTED (more or less) THAT SNL WOULD DO THIS EXACT THING!!! I mean, I was picturing all the judges being too clueless to actually guess who Buckwheat was but yeah, that would've dragged this out unnecessarily and it was the exact right length to begin with. Plus, they were obviously going for sweetness and heart first and foremost which is absolutely necessary when you're dealing with a character like Buckwheat in any era. I was also thinking recently about how one of the few other things they could've possibly done with this character would be to do a sketch showing preparations for a Buckwheat hologram tour and dealing with social media criticisms of Buckwheats' potentially problematic nature. Still, I can certainly see why they didn't think it would've been appropriate to bring up the fact that Buckwheat has supposedly been assassinated twice and is supposed to have been long dead according to his own canon. Then again, that was 35 years ago under a different executive producer. Plus, continuity rarely has a place in sketch comedy anyway. I liked how he did some more classic songs (although there might have been a slight technical miscue with "R-E-S-P-T-T-D") and then threw us a bone with something more modern (the Beyonce "Tinga Nadies" cover). This was a great way to inject the live portion of the show with some much needed heart and it made a great back-to-back companion piece to the Christmas dinner short. This is a close second to "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" for best "fan service" sketch. A+

Update was a REAL rollercoaster but I guess that's the best we could've hoped for given what the rest of the show has been like. Jost and Che had some pretty clunky jokes but that was gonna be the case anyway as this was not gonna be the main focus of the show (or at least it seemed that way early on). Gumbys' appearance was the true highlight, obviously. I'd say this is the second thing I "predicted" all night just because after seeing how the show was going so far and mentally ticking off my "Eddie's recurring characters" checklist I thought this might be how they ended up having to use Gumby. I figured we would either get this or an updated 2019 "Merry Christmas, Dammit" special where Gumby just yells at modern day celebrities being impersonated by this cast. He may have crossed a line with (especially with that "coon boy" remark and meta humor just came off as a little confusing here) I have no idea what was being censored on his entrance) but he was just as brilliant as ever (especially when he started berating Jost & Che). I guess this might have been Blaustein & Sheffields' way of getting Eddie to do the "Gumby roasts celebrities" bit they didn't get the chance to pitch to him at SNL40 four-and-a-half years ago? Still, I'd have to say this takes third place in my personal "fan service" rankings. I'm glad I'm far from the only one surprised they decided to follow Gumby with Pete (hell, I'm shocked Larry could stand being even in the same building as Pete even once this season seeing as he stayed for the good nights but I guess any bond he might have formed with Eddie 35 years ago supercedes any animosity Larry may have with Pete) but I am glad to see he chose to use this time to get meta about his and Colins' public perceptions, admit when he may need another rehab stint and publicly kiss up to Sandler to possibly boost his own potential movie career. Also, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is aware that Anthony Michael Hall was younger than both Eddie AND Pete when he joined the show but I am however surprised that Lorne would rather us fondly remember characters from years he didn't even work at the show than literally any tidbits about his first year back. I do have to wonder if those tweets they read about each other were real or not (regardless, I'm sure Jimmy Kimmels' attorneys may like to have a word with them). I thought the new tradition of Jost & Ches' end of the year Christmas gift joke exchange would be the best thing for them to end on (but previous year's versions of this have been much better) but then they busted out Cecily's Jeneane Pirro (she even shouted my name! Yeah, I know it's it's nothing more than a meaningless coincidence, but still) and fitted her with an expertly hidden vomit sleeve hose (although they really should've brushed up on how to use those properly rather than figuring out how to make them invisible to the naked eye). Good to see Norms' lesson about never following vomit spewers with jokes really stuck with the current Update team (which reminds me that this is oddly the second time in the show's 40 year history in which Update has ended with a white male anchor getting a castmates fake vomit inside their own mouth whether intentionally or not and causing the show to run long enough for material to have to get cut). A-

Black Jeopardy VI - Well, I guess this was inevitable. It's nice to see that the character of Eddie's that arguably needed to be confronted with his own status as an outdated, problematic sketch comedy relic in 2019 (if they even found a way they could get away with bringing him back) had that exact thing happen to him. I was surprised it was this late in the show but then I remembered that Drakes' Black Jeopardy installment was this late in his 2016 show (and is fortunately still the absolute weakest of them all conceptually so far). I wanted to like this as much as Eddie's previous recurring characters but something felt a little off about it. At one point in the middle of this sketch, it seemed like every body seemed to lose their timing all at once (those "Idris Elba in Cats" jokes were pretty well written and seemed like they should've gotten much bigger laughs than that so maybe it was just the audience?) I was gonna say that it seemed like Update ran just long enough for them to have to cut something from this but then again this seemed like it was the ideal length based on how it followed the same pattern of the previous "Black Jeopardy" installment. Just like Black Panther suddenly became truly "black" after two wrong answers, Velvet Jones suddenly became "woke" and respectful of women's sexual autonomy (and suddenly knew what Instagram was) after two wrong answers. Still, Eddie got the audience back with his "Ass For Cash" and "You Like Hoes? #MeToo" lines. Still, this was the weakest "fan service" segment of the whole show. Also, is it just me or does it seem like the hair and wardrobe departments specifically went out of their way to make Ego Nwodim resemble Sasheer Zamata as closely as possible? C+

North Pole News Update - Even though parodies of over excitable black eye witnesses on the local news seems like a very dated comedy trope, Eddie was really the glue of this. Good to see Chloe get some face time right next to Eddie (even if it was at the very end of the show). Cecily, Alex and Mikey all played their parts very well. B-

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

1. Eddie Murphy/Lizzo
2. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
3. Chance The Rapper
4. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
5. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
6. Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan
7. Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby
8. Will Ferrell/King Princess
9. Harry Styles
10. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Now, just for fun, I think I'll go ahead and rank all three episodes Eddie hosted so far...

1. Eddie Murphy/Robert Plant & The Honeydrippers (12.15.1984)
2. Eddie Murphy/Lizzo (12.21.2019)
3. Eddie Murphy/Lionel Richie (12.11.1982)

Well, that was an episode that certainly delivered on its biggest promises AND expectations (both good and not as good but still inevitable). In a little over a month, Adam Driver returns for his third hosting gig with Halsey as his musical guest. I realize he's a string host and the cast loves working with him but it does feel a little soon as he just hosted last season's premiere. Hell, this will he the second time he hosts the first show back after a long break. He should at least keep up some if the morale that Eddie just bought to the show and make people's wish that this is a turning point for season 45 come true. Also, I do hope they mix things up a little more by having Halsey participate in sketches as she was such a fun host last season (and yeah, I'm calling this now since they do this exact thing every year in January...they're gonna do another Bachelor parody that involves both Driver AND Halsey). See you next decade! Happy Holidays!

Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan (12.14.19)

Okay, here's my review. I went into this show with pretty low expectations, so I was more than pleasantly surprised at how this show turned out. Scarlett Johansson may be a polarizing celebrity now but at least she gets along quite well with the SNL cast and crew. There must be something about her behind the scenes that makes everybody at SNL love working with her so much to get her to keep getting asked back. She's obviously more fun to work with than she is to watch in most things (especially SNL these days) but having her around studio 8H obviously boosts morale somehow because they turned out one if the most solidly well written episodes in recent memory. Some say she blended in very well with the cast but I think the was just underused. Thankfully, her presence wasn't just diminished by an onslaught of guest cameos that would've easily washed most other hosts off the screen. Plus, by taking a backseat throughout most of the show she really let the cast shine. Everybody got an amount of airtime that was beneficial to them. Chloe, Bowen and Ego especially had really strong nights. They finally figured out how to use their cast to the show's full potential. There were far less recurring characters and premises than there were last week but what recurring sketches and premises there were did feel earned or justified. They also seemed to touch on comedy tropes that seemed to have been referenced elsewhere but they delivered fresh takes on each of them. Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?

Three American Households - Well, first off, thank God for Kenan Thompson. If his performance here didn't convince you he really is the heart and should of current day SNL, nothing will. Part of me is glad they got this out of the way before Eddie comes back next week but then another part of me wondered if there was a possibility that adding Eddie to the Kenan/Redd/Ego scenes would have improved this or not. I suspect this was another Che/Tucker joint. Whoever wrote it, it was smart of them to spend the bulk of this sketch focusing on him while minimizing Cecily, Beck and everyone else's parts. The only laugh I got from Beck was his mentioning he was somehow made a federal judge just because Trump retweeted him. Good to see Chloe (two weeks in a row) and Bowen get visible supporting parts in a cold open. Seeing Aidy as the snowman narrator from Rudolph was a bit of am oddity. I guess it was inevitable that Kate would portray Greta and somehow her being named Times' "Person Of The Year" somehow made it appropriate for them to do this. Anyway, it was pretty much the same standard boilerplate Kate European accent stuff that one would come to expect. C-

Monologue - Well, this monologue is certainly better appreciated on repeat viewings. It definitely helped ger the show off to a better start than that cold open. It's nice to see SNL get meta about something other than the overabundance of random "well outside of the current cast" cameos they keep foisting upon us every damn week (except for this one, thankfully). I liked the first part of this monologue a lot more for how ambitious and packed with jokes and an actual through line it seemed but after Che and Jost made their first walk ons it seemed like an unfocused scattershot mess that they struggled to write an ending for. I have to say the things I liked most about Pete's apperance were the background details in his office (namely, the cue card and Machine Gun Kelly posters pinned to the wall). Still, that random peacock promo felt out of place and I wasn't exactly crazy about how they chose to acknowledge the romantic elephant in the studio either. I mean, it was still sweet there at the very end but that doesn't make up for how awkward and tacked on it felt (especially when Che first walked on). Also, it bugged me that they placed Cecily and Heidi against a green screen when they obviously survived the snap until I noticed that the backstage llama didn't. B-

Santa Land - Here was something I ended up liking exactly as much as I wanted to (and felt this sketch deserved). Good to see Chloe get another noticable (but again, still supporting) role in something. I like to think of this as Kenan and Scarletts' characters from the Deep House Dish sketch they did the first time she hosted back in '06 went through a rough patch after MTV4 cancelled their show and her career didn't take off. Beck and Heidi's reactions and back-and-forth was what made this for me and Bowen's entrance gave me my first laugh of the night. He obviously wrote this as it has too many Todrick Hall references and isn't nearly campy enough for James Anderson to have been involved. Speaking of, the way Beck referenced Todrick Hall makes me think Bowen may only appreciate him ironically. B-

Macy's Uncomfortable Winter Wear For Children - Speaking of who wrote what, at first I was sure Anna Drezen must have written this one if she was the one who wrote the "Duolingo For Talking To Children" ad from Kristen Stewart's episode. Then, my second suspicion that Mikey wrote this was confirmed by his frequent writing collaborator Streeter Siedell on Twitter (since we now know Mikey has a five year old son of his own who probably made a "blink and you'll miss it" appearance in this). I have to commend Mikey for pulling off the once thought impossible feat of writing a pretape that is at once longer than it needed to be and funny throughout without belaboring the point at all. This could've used a trim, but didn't absolutely NEED one. Then again, a lot of his sketches feel exactly like that. Chris, Mikey, Heidi and Kenan all had the best lines in this. B+

Charlie (Inexplicably) Returns - I'm actually a little surprised they would make this Kenan character recurring, but I don't mind that they did since I did like the first version of this sketch and it obviously workd much better with Scarlett Johansson placed in (ugh, yes, really) James Franco's role. This sketch arguably needed a do-over and they thankfully didn't do it too soon. Still, it pretty much reached season 35 levels of cut and paste/by the numbers recurring script rewriting. Bowen's presence kind of made up for this sketch lacking some of the same rapid fire energy and tightness that the Franco version of this sketch had. I even liked that they still ended it with Beck rattling off a brief laundry list of outrageous unrelated reasons Kenans' character was really getting fired for but even that felt a little sluggish compared to last time. B-

A Conway Marriage Story - This was one of SNLs' most (if not THE most) unexpected "obligatory host sketches" in recent memory. This is mainly because a) what's now commonly known as "film Twitter" is really the only place making the Netflix release of "A Marriage Story" into a big deal and b) while they're parodying something the host had one of the lead roles in, they place Kate in her role here while swapping her out in the supporting therapist role here. Also, I don't think Kellyanne Conway or her husband and their ongoing public social media spats have been in the news THIS week and it feels like SNL finally referenced this LONG after every other late night political comedy show did (y'know, BEFORE George Conway and his tweets reached their news cycle "sell by date). Still, at least this being taped allowed this to have the right, fast pace it needed to be watchable and they went the extra mile by parodying more than just the wall punching fight scene that the aforementioned "film Twitter" just made into their latest recurring meme. C+

Update was the most uneven it's been all season so far. As far as jokes, I only really liked Josts' Joe Manchin and Ches' Kamala/"rob a bank" line and his Jost/Cosby comparison (just for how Che put their real chemistry on display) at first but after the first commentary every other joke seemed to work (mostly Josts' spelling bee/IHOP and Che's Hallmark channel ones). I'm surprised they thought Bowen's Chinese trade daddy Chen Biao was more than a one off bit but I still liked and laughed at this one despite this suffering from diminishing returns and lacking the same energy as the first one. I really liked his Chinese social media "cleanse" and "CBD oil/Ainsley/pick a lane" lines. After that, it seemed like they were just checking off a list of Twitter memes that haven't been referenced on SNL yet. I'm glad we finally got to see Kyle's cut Baby Yoda from last week (although I wished they'd stuck with the green screen effect they reportedly used to pull this off then rather than this jarring green prosthetic frenzy). I wanted to like this more but Kyle just wasn't as funny as he usually is here. It reminded me of one of Kyle's old pre-SNL era YouTube characters that obviously could never make it on the show (namely, the ten year old boy who gives viewers tips on how to get laid and caused a big controversy at something called "VidCon" by presenting a list of what different candies pussy tastes like) if he had a bastard abomination love child with Sambergs' Total Recall Kuato from season 32. Thankfully, they didn't keep this going on too long. C+

Ghosts of '70s Hot Tub Drowned Strippers Past - This was another thing I wanted to like more if not for some of the little things that bugged me. First off, the green screen ghost effect was very badly botched. Cecily's face disappeared way before Ego's hand even reached it. I'm glad they fixed this in the YouTube version, though. Plus, the song itself dragged a little too much for me. I guess I did like how they worked Niall Horan into this sketch. Honestly, he seemed to be a more natural sketch performer than his former bandmate Harry Styles was and Harry's the one we just had to sit through a whole episode of. Chris and Ego pretty much made this sketch for me. Chris had the best lines and Ego entered the hot tub wearing a swimsuit. Seriously, I try to avoid writing comments like these into my reviews now, but they at least consider putting Ego and Cecily in swimsuits much more in sketches than they are currently. Oh, that reminds me, did anyone else get strong "Bless The Hearts" vibes off their Southern accents? C+

Hallmark Dating Game - Hallmark movies are definitely something that have been broken down and dissected for their tropes more than outright comedically parodied over and over before. I was about to give SNL credit for being the first ones to turn them into a game show until I realized that even this is the second time they have done that exact thing (see "What's Wrong With Tanya?" from the Anna Faris/Drake episode from October 2011). Still, I guess I should give them credit for their apparent realization that Hallmarks' Christmas movies are an entirely different genre from their regular "every other time of the year" movies and should this be treated differently. Among the highlights were Scarlett saying she lives in "stock footage of New York that still has the twin towers in it", Chris having a mental breakdown once Scarlett questions any part of his character and Mikey as Scarletts' dad reminding her that her mom exploded. The ending seemed like a jumbled, confusing, disjointed mess but I guess all Hallmark movies (Christmas or otherwise) are jumbled, confusing, disjointed messes and naturally, SNL had to reflect this in their parody. C-

I Saw Daddy Cucked By Santa Claus - I feel like this song has also been parodied and or comedically referenced before elsewhere but I enjoyed the sheer level of committment that went into this one. I liked how well the incongruity of the skeeviness of a rough Craigslist hookup between Santa and a married couple worked when pitted directly against the sheer adorableness and charm of Cecily singing (and quite well I might add) an faithfully early '60s styled novelty Christmas jingle about it and then going on a deep dive into the uncomfortable parts of her own psyche and coming to terms with herself. I also thought both Mikey and Scarletts' lines in their own voices in the middle of the song as themselves were funny. I also liked how they just happened to mention that "Santa" just happened to drive the exact make and model if a car my dad once had. B+

Heimlich Models' Night Out - This was one of the more creative premises of the night. It felt vaguely like something that had been done before somewhere in comedy on general but I can't quite put my finger on where. I didn't love it or hate it. I liked the low key vibe they were going for with this much more than I liked whatever they were going for with that hot tub sketch. The zombie like ending was the real highlight of this piece to me. C+

MAGA Mind Pug (much MUCH less inexplicably, let's face it) Also Returns - This is the third vaguely topical thing that the show did previously that I expected to remain a one off (and the second one that made sure to hit the exact same beats by the numbers as the first one while lacking the same energy) but given this seasons' penchant for placing Cecily in live sketches that heavily involve live dogs, I definitely should've seen this one coming (but at least this one had a sweeter ending than the first). Still, I appreciate them establishing continuity from the first one. I do have to say though, as far as potential political material for this week goes, I would've certainly rather taken this and "A Conway Marriage Story" over another Ivanka sketch. I'm glad they had the restraint to at least avoid that. C+

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

1. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
2. Chance The Rapper
3. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
4. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
5. Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan
6. Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby
7. Will Ferrell/King Princess
8. Harry Styles
9. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Now, time to update my rankings of each of Scarletts' previous episodes...

1. Scarlett Johansson/Death Cab For Cutie (1.14.2006)
2. Scarlet Johansson/Niall Horan (12.14.2019)
2. Scarlett Johansson/Bjork (4.21.2007)
3. Scarlett Johansson/Lorde (3.11.2017)
4. Scarlett Johansson/Wiz Khalifa (5.2.2015)
5. Scarlett Johansson/Arcade Fire (11.14.2010)

Well, that was the first episode all season that delivered beyond expectations. Next week, for the last episode of both the year AND the decade, Eddie Murphy makes his long anticipated return to Studio 8H to host the show for his third time (but his first under Lorne Michaels as the show's executive producer). I don't know what's left to say about this one except that I'm glad season 45 (and Eddie's career now if the reviews for "Dolemite Is My Name" are to be believed) are now in enough of an upward trajectory that there's a better chance for this to be the best episode of the season. Let's hope Eddie brings some of his old writers and takes some creative control when necessary while ingratiating himself with the current cast and crew. I'm just glad Scarlett could tee up the show for Eddie to potentially knock way out of the park. See you then!

Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby (12.7.2019)

Okay, here's my review. This episode was, at best, part one of a pallet cleanser between Ferrell's chaotically unfocused episode (and the two mediocre episodes that preceded it) and the sheer terrifying uncertainty of what the next two episodes hold (we've been conditioned not to expect too much from ScarJo on SNL at this point but at this point, more and more people are expecting Eddie Murphy's show to single handedly turn this season around based on what we've seen so far). Jennifer Lopez was just as capable a host as she's ever been and has become more and more likable as a celebrity (I guess she's mellowed out as she's aged, hasn't she?). It wasn't enough to totally distract us from how this show managed to achieve 1997 levels of recurring characters and concepts being packed wall to wall within a single episode, but her presence surely boosted morale around studio 8H this week and kept things entertaining. Another thing to like about this show is not a single cast member was shut out. Everyone appeared in something and the newer (female) cast members were even lucky enough to get multiple speaking parts in the show (which I guess starts to make up for not being in anything fairly recently?) Anyway, this episode left us A LOT to unpack so let's not waste anymore time and just get right to it, shall we?

NATO Cafeteria - Well, I'm proud of Chloe for getting to have the first few lines of the cold open after getting all but shut out of the last few shows. I also hope this is their way of getting their monthly Baldwin cameo out of the way in time for Eddie's big return. As far as the rest of the cameos, I have to say Fallon made the least sense. He certainly wouldn't have been my first choice to play Trudeau (I barely see any resemblance) but I suppose he was available and didn't have too much trouble with an understated Canadian accent. Rudd may not have been my first choice to play Macron either but I actually see a resemblance and he was really committed to doing a French accent. James Corden of all people is something I have very mixed feelings about. I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of him as a host, interviewer OR comedian (and I don't think I'm alone in saying this either) and I'm surprised SNL didn't think he was beneath him (and not just because he's up against Seth on another network but he just shared the stage with Fallon so I guess late night hosts gotta stick together all across the board). On the other hand, he came off surprisingly funny and likable here (although I certainly hope they're not possibly grooming him to be a future host because I could very easily take just some more cameos from him than a whole episode of him) in a role that could've just as easily gone to Beck or even Aidy (dare I say there were shades of "The Chris Farley Show" in his characterization of Boris Johnson?) and I guess when somebody like Corden with such a bizarrely inexplicable career as he's had since being bought over to the states has an equally bizarre and inexplicable upcoming movie to promote, all bets are off, huh? I don't totally get how he can do a talk show four nights a week in L.A and still be able to do movies (I guess that explains why he's always in reruns on Fridays, huh?) but I digress. I thought the rest of this sketch really meandered and belabored the point and since I don't want this portion of my own review to do the same, I'll start wrapping this up here. Alex and Kate were serviceable in this and I liked the twist with Cecily's Melania trying this back into her failed bullying campaign and getting part of whatever Peloton material they could be bothered to come up with out of the way up front. I just hope that those that are fed up with the recent overload of guest cameos in political roles didn't die of massive rage strokes and lived to give the rest of this show a fair chance. C-

Monologue - Well, I appreciated J.Los' sheer sincerity (even if it was used to disguise her blatant self promotion here) and how this monologue felt much tighter and more substantial than Ferrell's one from two weeks ago. I didn't mind the amount of sincere emotional monologues we got last season and I think at this point we could use another one. I maybe could've done without the song and dance number but then again, it was obviously her only chance to sing and dance as for the first time, she is hosting WITHOUT pulling double duty as a musical guest. Plus, having the rockette join her onstage justified her wearing a tearaway tux. Oddly, she is the second host this season after Woody to start their monologue in a tux and finish it having changed into a totally different outfit. The only thing close to an actual joke in this was Beck headsplosion (mostly for how cheaply it was pulled off). Honestly, the best thing about this monologue was how it bought some focus to this episode early on when it desperately needed some. B-

HGTV's Surprise Home Makeover: Holiday Edition - As soon as I heard the name Matt Shatt, I knew exactly what was coming. Still, I was intrigued at the possibility of more outrageous details of Mr. Shatts' home life being casually revealed (namely how his relationship with Alexandria Kennedy fell apart and what exactly drew Jacqueline to him). Instead, we got more of Kenans' patented incredulous reactions to the whole situation and Beck and Bowen attempting to analyze their relationship (they were the better parts of this, by the way). At least the sketch itself realized it had nothing new to present and ended itself pretty quickly so it wasn't as long and drawn out as the first Matt Shatt sketch (when this was at least an original sketch concept). C-

The Roadie - Well, I hope this is their way of making it up to Pete for cutting the "Chad" film he did with Sandler. I liked the slow dance and the first part of this where Chad revealed he didn't know who J.Lo and A-rod were because they were the only parts that didn't just feel like they were trying to just hit the exact same comedic beats as the previous "Chad" installments. A-rod himself was a good sport (no pun intended) to make a cameo in this. Also, is it just me or is there a certain irony or collective cognitive dissonance to the show airing this right after a Matt Shatt sketch? Sort if the same type of ironic collective cognitive dissonance behind Baldwin's portrayal of Trump on the show bearing less resemblance to Trump than Baldwin's portrayal of himself in real life and on Twitter? Two sketches in a row about guys who inexplicably managed to attract with multiple beautiful women and the second one starts a guy who has done this exact thing in real life? Think about it. C+

What Do You Suppose Is Going On In That House? - Well, I'm glad Kate and Aidy have figured out how to keep their breaking under control if we're going to keep getting these two-hander with the both of them all season. Their best moments were presenting each other with weapons during that brief moment J.Lo was offscreen. That and Beck immediately entering, pointing at J.Lo and saying "HER!" were the only laughs I got out of this. The rest of this just felt like they just put all of Wiigs' Shana sketches in a blender with ScarJos' season 40 monologue and a DVD of Disney's "Cinderella". C+

Them Trumps The Third - Well, Leslie's absence is definitely noticable but fortunately it doesn't have an adverse effect on these sketches just yet. I did like Darius Jr. being shown holding up his book. Frankly, I was hoping with the reveal that "Darius" Trump was about to speak at another one of his rallies that there would be a change in the formula of this sketch but it still managed to be a carbon copy of the previous two. I actually had to suspend my disbelief at the fact that his rabid supporters going along with everything he said until the moment when he utters the immortal phrase "even though I'm black" and the sharply turn on him. Then again, I also realize how that might have been intended as a commentary on how real life supporters (of seemingly all but mostly two different ethnicities) will blindly swallow anything the real life (white) Trump says while conveniently ignoring all the evidence disputing his statements that is staring the rest of us right in the face. I guess they touched on the one thing that Trump's real life supporters WOULDN'T be able to ignore about anyone, didn't they? I guess "Darius" Trump's slogan being MASA ("Make America Swag Again") was also a subtle (yet very biting) allusion to this concept, right? That's not a terribly original observation either but still, this may quietly be the most sharply written and executed Them Trumps sketch yet. I'm sure it will hold up much better on repeat viewings even if it plays out like a very watered down version of Dave Chappelle's infamous Clayton Bigsby sketch. C +

Update felt just as "middle of the road" as the rest of this episode. I liked Josts' Catholic Pelosi joke and Che's stereotype terriff joke as they were the jokes that felt the least telegraphed and done to death elsewhere all week. I didn't like Josts' TikTok joke as it felt too shockingly close to the exact type of thing Trevor Noah frequently does on The Daily Show now (as well as the pro-Trump meme Lords out there on Twitter and Reddit that Trump himself has retweeted surprisingly). Also, did anyone else notice that at this point there have now been two J.Lo hosted SNL episodes where men in suits make references to the XFL? Kate's Pelosi didn't do much for me but I did like parrs of her prayer. Honestly, the return of Beck as Jules might have been the funniest moment of the whole show for me. He had several great lines and provided my most genuine laughs of the whole show. The only other thing that stood out to me was Colin mentioning Kohl's in one of his jokes because I was just there earlier in the day trying to get the bulk of my Christmas shopping out of the way and I saw a couple of Josts' Izod ads with Aaron Rodgers were on full display in the menswear section. C+

Hip Hop Carolers - As soon as Kenan said "late '90s early 2000s" I thought this was going to be a Steven Castillo piece. Then, I noticed Melissa Villaseñor was nowhere to be found in it (or the entire show in general at this point) and barely anything about it was inappropriate at all. This was pleasant enough but once they got to the Bone Thugs N Harmony "Crossroads" parody it started to drag just a little but they knew exactly where to end it. I'm not sure it was totally necessary to work DaBaby into this but he helped provide this with a pretty solid ending. I also liked the "Ghetto Superstar" parody. Speaking if the music, does anyone out there know if that was a real City High song they used for their first number? I don't remember that particular group very well and thus I'm not as familiar with them as well as Bone Thugs or Mya. B-

Hoops - Well, thankfully I spoke way too soon about Melissa! I liked seeing her get placed in her own two hander with J.Lo after what feels like an eternity of underused cast members who can do impressions of certain hosts get shut out of any sketches with them (Melissa wasn't directly doing her J.Lo impression right next to the real Jenny from the block but let's face it she might as well have been). This worked for me even though it felt like an exact cross between the sectional couches ad from Louis CKs' last (and I really DO mean last here obviously) episode and the "Huge Jewlery" ad from Julia Louis Dreyfus' last episode (with a couple of Kate and Aidys' recent live commercials from the past two seasons thrown in for good measure). B-

Potty P.M. - This was honestly the strongest taped piece of the night. I liked how once the mechanics of the device were explained the stupidity of this sketch that unfolded soon after was a bit more subtle and understated than you were expecting (right when what you probably WERE expecting was some kind of groosout mishap in the same vein as Office Potty from Bill Haders' last episode). Kyle's extreme lack of knowledge of women's basic anatomy got my second genuine laughs of the night. B+

Hardware Store - This sketch was also kinda longer than it should've been but I liked Cecily and Kate's performances (even though they were going for midwestern/Minnesotan accents and unintentionally did better Canadian accents than Fallon did). J. Lo seemed expectedly out of place here but given how derivative this entire episode has been I wouldn't be surprised to find that this sketch was also originally cut from last season's dress rehearsal with Emma Stone or maybe Halsey or some other recent white female host. I'm also glad to see they threw Chloe another bone here. I liked the dummy, the bear suit and the selfie ending with Heidi. C-

Barry's Bootcamp - So, Bowen pretty much took the SoulCycle sketch from David Harbours' episode, took out the excercise bikes, placed Beck in Kate's role and Mikey in Alex's role (as he was apparently too sick to be the first one) and resubmitted it. Still, I can totally understand why the show would want this to be done with a host like J.Lo. She and everyone who played the part of a trainer had the best lines here. This almost seemed funnier than the first one. B+

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

1. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
2. Chance The Rapper
3. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
4. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
5. Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby
6. Will Ferrell/King Princess
7. Harry Styles
8. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Well, that was certainly another show that delivered what it promised (but with less original material). Next week, the future Mrs. Colin Jost herself, Scarlett Johansson returns to studio 8H to host for her sixth time. What's left for me to say about her SNL performances that I haven't previously said elsewhere? After hearing about that "Disney+ vs Netflix" Family Feud sketch that got cut from Harry Styles' recent episode, I'm hoping we can at least see that next week (and it's possible we will given how big they are on allowing previously cut dress rehearsal sketches to see the light of day in some form lately) but with ScarJo as Black Widow taking the place of Harry Styles as Keanu Reeves. See you then!