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!