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!
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