Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)

 Okay, here's my review. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I heard Adele was going to host this show. I must have been expecting something a little less low key. Pop starts usually make for fun hosts but Adele is a much older, more mature pop star so she wasn’t as over the top as some of the younger ones who had famously made their mark on the show. She held her own so well and was such a charming presence that I didn’t even really mind that she seemed to play slight variations on herself (when she wasn’t literally playing herself) on the show. This episode was about on the same level of quality as last weeks’ but after four consecutive weeks, I’d say some of the cracks are starting to show even if no fatigue has fully set in yet. Still, I guess this is to be expected when Adele was apparently a last minute replacement for a completely different host (more on that at the end). Generally, the show was slightly more uneven than last week. Even the casts’ airtime reflects that as Kyle Mooney was practically invisible while Melissa Villasenor made her first substantial live appearance in almost an entire month. Meanwhile, Punkie and Andrew were relegated to their one appearance each being in the same pretape while Lauren’s live airtime increased and Cecily and Aidy continue to literally be absent. Speaking of, I was actually gonna say something like “man, of all the weeks for Aidy to miss a show” until I realized that Adele doesn’t look a thing like Aidy anymore and looks more like Cecily now who will ALSO be missing this weeks’ show. Everyone elses’ airtime stayed virtually the same. Anyway, let’s break it down, shall we?

NBC Presidential Debate - Well, for starters, I'm glad to see they just had Maya play Kristin Welker rather than Kamala Harris. That was definitely the right move. It probably wouldn't have hurt to focus just a little bit more on her and a little less on Baldwin and Carrey. At least with their material you could tell the writers realized they a little more focused on the substance of this debate and tried to be a little less broad and simplistic this time as there were less silly distractions and disruptions than the first one. In fact, I was expecting them to give us something similar to the 2012 debates here (the Vice Presidential ones in particular) which they pretty much did. Even Baldwin as Trump was more tolerable this time (I did like the Army Vaccine cannon and ventilator jokes as well as how he seemed to focus on some of the real Trumps' whiny vocal tics a little more) but the cameo from Kates' Guiliani seemed to tacked on at the last minute for me. They even gave Carreys' Biden stronger material but what frustrated me is they gave him quite a few lines that Sudekis or Harrelson would've killed with. The whole "Delaware night out" and "Obamacare/Bidencare" rants as well as his calling out Baldwin’s Trump on his inconsistent attacks on him are perhaps the best examples of this. During the latter he almost even broke. Hell, I liked the idea of his "Eastwooding it" bit if they hadn't botched that along with the needless double takes. I also wanted to like the Biden Bingo bit more even though it's a carbon copy of a joke the had Kate as Hillary do four years ago in Tom Hanks' last real episode. I'd say that this confirms my theory that most people's problem with Carrey as Biden us that he's just a far less likeable performer (hell, just a far less likable celebrity in general at this point) than Jason Sudekis and Woody Harrelson (the former of which SNL audiences are FAR more used to seeing in this role). Plus, Sudekis played Biden when the real Biden was possibly under the least amount of public scrutiny in his political career and in an era when people were less PC and culturally sensitive than they are now. Harrelson played Biden after he came under some allegations of borderline sexual harassment and racial insensitivity but he and the writers worked that into his short lived portrayal (as they did with Sudekis when he briefly returned) and Woody worked in some of Bidens' general old man folksiness in a way that seemingly came natural to him as a performer but still indicated he took his portrayal just as seriously as public perception required of the show. The way the show is handling Carrey in the role seems to suggest the writers agree that this isn't the best idea in the world right now but are too afraid to bring it up to Lorne out of fear of losing their jobs mid-pandemic and are overthinking it, trying way too hard to play it as safe as possible with Carrey. Frankly, I'm starting to believe the rumor that Carrey has only heard the real Joe Biden speak only once. This isn't saying much but by default, this might just have been my favorite debate sketch of the 2020 election cycle because it suggests the show is "winding down" on its' heavy political coverage in more ways than one. C+

Monologue - We have only really seen Adele twice in public since her weight loss. I'll admit, seeing her like this took me some getting used to so it's nice to see she has adjusted her personal sense of fashion and style accordingly. I probably should have expected her to do a low-key personal, sincere season 44 type of monologue like this one. I expected her to joke around a little more but considering this is their fourth of a planned six (and now suddenly seven) consecutive shows without any weeks off. I'm sure the writers were glad to just let Adele speak from the heart in a tone that suggests "dry British wit" more than anything else at this point rather than try to write awkward jokes for her. Speaking of which the “travelling light/half of me” joke didn’t quite land with me and the giant swear jar almost didn’t either but thankfully Kenan was able to save that one. It’s also nice to see Adele giving off a general vibe that she's currently in a good place in her life and she'll be a quietly confident host. This got the show off on the right foot so far. B+

2019 Psychic - Even though Kate's character seems to be an exact cross between Dr. Wayne Weknowdis, Olga Povlatsky and her old "kiss" lady, I liked her performance and how premise driven this was. The idea of people living in last year reacting to being told what this year would be like has been thankfully unexplored until now. The worst thing I can say about this sketch is that it felt a little labored and the obligatory Jeffrey Toobin joke was a little drawn out. I did like the J.K. Rowling jab as tacked on as that felt. Also, it’s pretty obvious that the dress rehearsal take of this is what they put on YouTube. B-

The Haunted Manor - I guess we were due for another "Chad" piece in the early part of this season. As formulaic as these always were, they still have their moments and in the more recent ones they throw in something a little different each time to shake up the usual "Chad" formula. Plus, another recurring piece like this allows the writers to conserve some of their energy from the next two weeks. Also, Adeles' character being a ghost seems like the production of this allowed for plenty of green screening and proper social distancing. I did like the "Where's Waldo" joke and the twist ending. C+

The Bachelor – I usually like SNL’s reoccurring Bachelor parodies (that they do in January when ABC actually airs new seasons of the show) and I'm glad they broke the established format of the previous ones where they just parade each female cast member out one by one. Having Adele just play herself is funny enough as a twist on its own. Having her sing here instead of the monologue like most musician hosts (especially non-double duty ones) was a decent change of pace. The only things I can say this had going against it is that it seemed like a premise any local YouTube sketch group could have done five or eight years ago (although learning that former SNL writer Chris Kelly may have come back this week to write this may have contributed to that feel as he came to SNL from Funny Or Die originally) and that in order for this premise to really work you may have to ignore the fact that Adele is now a divorced mom so you don't end up wondering whether she's too focused on herself and being a mom to even think about getting another man into her life right now. That mental energy is probably best left to wondering whether or not she actually just got away with singing "and I'll lay your shit bare" on live television or if you misheard her. I also thought this ended on a touching note with Adele wandering into the audience. B-

Trump Addicts Of America - I liked this at first as the twist seemed to be SNL poking a little fun at itself (even if they unintentionally threw a little red meat out there for their conservative critics). Then, it just seemed like the show, the network and just the American news media cycle in general admitting to an uncomfortable truth about itself and potentially sending the wrong message. Still, the performances and subtle characterizations were what really sold it. C-

Update was saved by its own self aware cheesiness tonight. Jost and Che's debate/Guiliani/Borat material seemed a little too forced for my liking but they made up for it by reacting to several of their own jokes in a "joke exchange" like format. It's nice to see Melissa Villaseñor finally get to make a live on air appearance four weeks into this season. I'm sure letting her work out some standup at the desk made up for that. Still, I have to say her Fleetwood Mac parody/Stevie Nicks impression was the only thing I was that crazy about. The Village People segment was just cheesy and over the top enough to work well for me. I guess this was the thing that the guys were rehearsing with a choreographer for in that Instagram post from Keith Ray Wood? I do appreciate how the YouTube version of that feature put the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. B-

Nursing Home - I was a little nervous about this sketch once it was established that Maya (as an nursing home resident in her obligatory non-political late in the show role of the week) was to be shouted at from a balcony. Thankfully, there turned out to be more substance to this as it went along. I eventually came around on the premise of young people having to explain increasingly complex life situations to a safely socially distanced retiree. I'm sure everyone can relate to that on some level. I also liked how Maya seemed to be playing a more doddering, more ethnically ambiguous and less Southern fried version of her "Bless The Harts" character and quickly revealed she blew all her inheritance. This sketch ended at just the right point and didn't feel too long either. C+

Tourism Board Of Africa - I wasn't crazy about this as it was pretty much the exact same type of piece Kate has been doing endlessly with Aidy for the past few years. The only difference here is that in Aidy's absentia they clearly just dropped Adele and Heidi into the role she would've gotten. Honestly, the only thing this sketch did have going for it was Adele breaking much harder than even Jimmy Fallon ever did on this show (which is actually charming appropriate here as Adele is clearly not the seasoned sketch comedy veteran that Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant are supposed to be). D+

Ass Angel Perfume Jeans - I'm really not sure what this was going for and the audience didn't seem to know what to make of it either. It seemed like something Tina Fey collaborated on with Tim and Eric. I gave it a chance and I really wanted to like it more after realizing it was basically just a scaled back “Happy Fun Ball For Women” but just set about seven years earlier but something still felt a little off for me. I think there’s a definite possibility that this was made from a left over 04-05 script since Maya’s in it and I can easily picture Amy Poehler and Will Forte in Adele and Beck Bennet’s parts respectively. I guess the thing I liked most about it was how it was the first sketch where Adele attempted a different accent than her own. She handled that well and I suppose this being a pretape helped. D+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season…

1. Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)
2. Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)
3. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)
4. Bill Burr/Morgan Wallen Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, that defied my expectations. Next week, John Mulaney makes his fourth appearance as host. I like John Mulaney just fine and he’s always a welcome presence at the show but I feel like social media and the comedy world in general has bene oversaturated with him to the point where we might be suffering from Mulaney fatigue (especially since his last episode was so weak compared to his first two but hopefully he’ll bring out enough old scripts and feature the new cast in big enough showcases to make up the difference) Still, part of me was expecting him to host sometime this season as SNL is having to resort to getting friends of the show who either already live in New York or are willing to quarantine there for two weeks if they can travel to host due to COVID restrictions. Plus, I had heard he was already scheduled to host this week but had to reschedule. It really speaks to the strangeness of our times that SNL got Adele to replace John Mulaney as host (who may have already had to replace Issa Rae back in February as evidence by his last episode feeling the least like it was in his “voice” and more like he was just another interchangeable host just dragged-and-dropped into an average season 45 episode) and ONLY as host because they already had a different musical guest. Oh well, see you then!

Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)

Okay, here’s my review. This was honestly the strongest show of the season so far. After two shows that were deemed heavily divisive it’s nice to see SNL produce a consistently enjoyable show with a host who did well in sketches and seems like she could easily be asked back. Issa did a great job and the show made much better use of its’ cast. Everyone got to participate in some form or another tonight even if they couldn’t be there in person. Anyway, let’s break this down, shall we?

Dueling Town Halls (YEEHAH!) – I honestly didn’t have the time to watch either of Thursdays’ town halls but this cold open kinda made me wish I had. Carrey seems to have sharpened his portrayal of Biden just when I thought he was slipping into just playing him as a generic pleasant Abe Simpson type. It certainly helps that he’s perfected his Biden squint. I did like Mr. Rogers/Bob Ross bits and his back and forth with Redd when wrapping up his 1939 Worlds’ Fair story. After seeing Carrey turn his Biden into Jeff Goldblum, Mr. Rogers AND Bob Ross, it’s still nice to see he (and the quick change people from SNL’s wardrobe department who really seemed to be at the top of their game compared to last season) can bring something different to the role (essentially making Carrey’s Biden like a living Family Guy cutaway but in a good way without making it too cartoony). Alexs’ brief shot with a blanket and warm milk would’ve been funnier had they not included him seemingly every time they cut back to Bidens’ whole audience. Speaking of cast cameos, nice to see Melissa actually get some screentime as brief as it was after literally being absent the last two weeks. Egos’ twerking cameo was the only part of the Trump segments that didn’t completely wash over me (mostly because after seeing Lauren Holts’ character was seemingly seen in a split screen before she was supposed to be visible which they managed to fix by the time they reaired this episode on the same two hours later because my NBC affiliate is one of the ones that does that I was wondering if it was intentional or a green screen glitch until Mayas’ Kamala acknowledged it in a pleasant but seemingly forced cameo). Upon a second viewing it seems Baldwin actually got in a few sharp jabs at Trump. The fact that Trump spent the last three years playing a very rote, stilted, clipped Trump in the exact same way week after week without changing anything because he couldn’t be bothered to do so by that point is really the only thing that warrants my praise of Carrey’s Biden from five run on sentences ago. He must still purely be motivated by the thought of Trump losing the election at this point. He even seemed like he might have broke during Egos’ bit which, to his credit, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him do as Trump before. I heard Savannah Guthrie really held Trumps’ feet to the fire at this so of course they would have Kate “yas kween”-ing it up as her. Also, kudos to SNL on their first mention of Candace Owens and (IIRC) their first real attempt to get a jab in at QAnon? Kudos to Melissa for getting her first (and sadly only) three seconds of airtime this season so far. Chloe channeling Linda Belcher from Bobs’ Burgers’ as a rabid Trump fan was another highlight. I also liked the brief Earth animation at the end. Well, even though the scheduled debate fell through due to Trump contracting COVID, Jim Carrey, Alec Baldwin and Maya Rudolph were all apparently contractually obligated to have their whole Octobers’ free so they did the biggest news story of the week that involved the candidates each of them portray anyway (in the most predictable way they could’ve but still somehow made it fun, even moreso than last week) since the Amy Coney Barrett hearings turned out to not be that big of a deal on account of her being far less emotional than Kavanaugh, I guess? B-

Monologue – Issa Rae pretty much delivered the same type of Phoebe Waller-Bridge style solo-but-not-quite-standup monologue I was expecting from her. Plus, for the first time this season the audience actually sounded like they were small enough to be properly socially distanced. That and the overall decent quality of this episode makes me feel much better about actively supporting the show in general. I noticed Issa mentioned she was supposed to host back in March. Unless she backed out early or something, I’m guessing she meant April since we already saw Daniel Craig host the last pre-pandemic live show back in March and John Krasinksi was booked next and Bill Burr apparently admitted on his podcast he was originally booked to host in April. Other than that, she seemed to just be talking about how the success of her show “Insecure” has raised her professional profile and boosted her career. I liked her comments about the poor timing of her shows late 2016 premiere the most and her seemingly encouraging people to mistake her for Mary J. Blige. Other than that, this monologue seemed to lack some focus but after Bill Burr it was nice to get a bit of a pallet cleanser and see someone who clearly fits better into the modern SNL mold and alienated precisely no one in the cast or audience. Issa seemed a lot less nervous than she said she was and didn’t even let the small, less responsive audience of tonights’ episode give the impression that they weren’t on her side. She did quite well and didn’t let anything stop her. B-

Bonjour Hi – This is a very different sketch for this era of SNL. I can’t really speak to the accuracy of the accents. Kate has proven to be able to handle French accents expertly in the past so no surprises there. Issa Rae surprised me a little as this is probably the last thing I expected her to be doing on the show but she pulled off a believable French accent. They had some pretty funny writing for her character as well. Bowens’ seemed a little off but I was amused enough by his performance in general enough that I really didn’t care. He seemed more like he wanted to show off his ability to SPEAK actual French than do the accent but it worked for me. He gave me strong flashbacks to Fred Armisens’ character “Leonard” from those Euro-centric “Club Traxxx” sketches from seasons 28 and 29. I wonder if Maya got as strong flashbacks to that as I did since she was in the building tonight and also in those sketches with Fred? I was a little surprised when Mikey’s character (that was seemingly written with him in mind specifically) was introduced as I was expecting Chance The Rapper to reprise his Lazlo character the way the sketch was going. I only expected him because I had seen his tweet about making a cameo on tonights’ show just to perform on the song Beiber had him featured on. Either way< I was pleased with what we got here. B+

Five Hour Empathy – I heard about this seemingly getting cut from dress rehearsal one of these last two shows. I like how fresh and inventive of a concept this felt and how perfectly it was executed. A-

Homeless Date Interruptions – Just when I was expecting a low-key slice of life sketch, Kenan, Pete and Bowen go all Anton/Buddy Valentine/Kevin Aquarius/Macy Gray/Whoopi Goldberg on us out of nowhere. I also liked how they just pulled out and showed us everyone intentionally breaking character as the sketch ended the exact way it was supposed to. The whole shows’ been pretty strong pre-Update so far. B+

Update was very fun even if it was seemingly carried by the guest commentators. Honestly, Jost and Ches’ best moment was when they broke out into a low key unintentional “joke exchange” in between the final two Update commentaries. Che’s came out swinging with the jab at NBC “having a type” (w/Cosby, Lauer and Trump) but nearly negated that when he implied that people were actually considering voting for Kanye as an alternative to Trump or Biden. He won me back with that QAnon/Lexington Steele (another odd “first” in terms of references for tonights’ show). All of Josts’ solo jokes kinda washed over me. It’s good to see Mikey and Alex can still build on their chemistry together while Alex is building brand new previously unseen (on SNL at least) chemistry with Chloe. The Trump bros still work and Chloes’ Carvey like caricature of Tiffany really adds something different in the mix. I liked Alex “zoom meeting/I was muted/white trash/hand sanitizer/debt” jokes even though they felt like they should’ve been telegraphed. Aidy’s remote segment was very brief but a very good use of her while she was in Oregon starting filming on season three of “Shrill” this week. Heidis’ 80s cocaine wife didn’t do much for me at first. It didn’t stand out too much from her previous Update characters to me but it built to something very worthwhile given the chance. I especially liked how Heidi acknowledged that she’d only known Che for three minutes. B-

Your Voice Chicago – This seems like it’s just last weeks’ “Blitz” sketch thrown in a blender with last seasons’ “Mid Day News” with some “How’s He Doin?” sprinkled in. Still, like Heidis’ Update piece it builds to something great if you just give it a chance. The audience isn’t quite giving it the reaction it deserves though given how low key and “writerly” it seems. I did see someone I follow online mention that this sketch may have been based on a comment she made at a recent awards show that she will actually “vote for everybody black” and that she could’ve helped write it. If so, kudos for her for having the best sense of humor about herself out of any SNL host in recent memory. Redd, Punkie and Mayas’ parts were funny. I also like how Maya just feels like she’s back in the cast again given that her non-Kamala roles get buried late in the show with no recognition applause from the audience. Also, kudos to SNL for (IIRC) their first “Diamond and Silk” parody? I do have to wonder how the real ones are going to react? C-

Issa & Kyles’ Dance Off – This reminded me a lot of the breakdancing short Kyle did in his first season with Beck. In fact, it reminds me a lot of all the season 39 era Good Neighbor shorts in general so it’s good to see Kyle return to his roots in his (presumably) final season. I liked the TLC “No Scrubs” homage and Chance and Andrew had funny cameos as well (but Andrews’ bit felt a little too “real” honestly in a way I’ll explain at the end of this review). C+

Jack Flats – I liked seeing the show close out with a high energy performance from Beck, Kyle and Andrew. I also liked how they took a real conceptual Mr. Show/Whitest Kids U’Know type approach to satirizing these anti-mask/”liberate” protestors who can’t even manage to kidnap any of their local elected officials without even tipping off the FBI. I like how the militia guys are seemingly more preoccupied with the food and the waitstaff teasing you than anything else and are very aggro about it. At first, when Beck bought Kenan into the frame I thought one of them made the other break unintentionally until Kenans’ “playgrounds” line and I saw he was playing an intentionally goofy character and Beck just stumbled over his line. Andrew Dismukes did a great job in his first substantial sketch role but the way he played it did remind me a lot of how Beck, Kyle and Pete play certain roles (especially in his emotional breakdown). He did great, but I’d like to see how he does in the cast after Beck, Kyle and Pete leave so he doesn’t run the risk of being cancelled out in the “young goofy guy” roles. Thankfully, Lauren seemed much less Aidy like in her cameo than she did in her brief parts in the premiere with Chris Rock. Honestly, the only real bummer about this sketch was that Melissas’ opening voice over was only her second appearance in this episode. A-

eBay – This was another pretape based on a rather off-the-beaten-path COVID/Quarrantine related concept that was execute well. Heidi, Chris and Ego were great in it but…if you knew how many vintage back issues of MAD, CRACKED and CRAZY I myself bought from that site in the last two months (for clearly the opposite reason of “bettering myself”), you’d know why that episode hits just a little too close to home for me. I also liked how they used Cecily for the voiceover so she technically appeared in this episode remotely as well. C+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season so far…

1.       Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)

2.       Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)

3.       Bill Burr/Morgan Wallen Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, it’s great to see SNL getting back into its’ groove as it successfully produced its’ first three live in studio episodes since the pandemic began. What worries me now is that no host or musical guest for next weeks’ show had even been announced on air as of this writing. I’m not sure I believe the rumor on Twitter from yesterday that Anne Hathaway was going to be next weeks’ host with Sam Smith as musical guest. Unless one or both of them had to cancel back in September, that seems like something they would’ve announced way ahead of time on social media as either of them would be the biggest “gets” the show could have this season at this point. Plus, neither of them seem like they’d be willing to travel to NYC two weeks early just to quarantine beforehand. There’s another rumor about a potential host for next week. It’s kinda been put out there by the girls who host the SNL Standby Line podcast so out of respect for them (and also because I personally find it to be a strange rumor myself) I’m not going to divulge that information here on my own blog. So, I encourage you to seek that out yourself if you know their handles (one of the hosts’ personal account is set to private). The ending to Issa and Kyles’ pretape (where Andrew Dismukes informs Kyle that he had just tested positive for Covid) made me briefly consider the very real possibility that either someone already working in 8H or a possible 10/24 host or musical act could’ve already done so leading to the next two weeks of shows’ already having been cancelled. I guess we’ll just have to wait for some kind of official press release from NBC or social media posts from the shows’ official accounts before we can be 100% sure. The last time the show went without any expected on air announcement of their next host/musical guest lineup was two seasons ago between when Matt Damon and Rachel Brosnahan hosted and that was the gulf between the 2018 Christmas show and the first show of 2019. Unfortunately, we only have a week and not a month between new episodes of SNL at this point so if the current cast and crew are unable to produce next weeks’ show I at least hope they can stay safe and healthy in quarantine.

Bill Burr/Jack White (10.10.20)

Okay, here’s my review. Knowing what Bill Burr is like in general, I probably shouldn’t have expected this show to go smoothly without the writers dragging him into their comfort zones with them. It seemed like some on the show who have outwardly expressed their admiration for Bill as comic must’ve enjoyed working with him and some others (who must’ve seen him as a bit rough around the edges as a comic but really trusted in his actual acting chops) seemed to want to take sketch premises they’ve done previously (which, given their schedule and the state of the world right now I don’t totally blame them for) and working Bills’ on screen persona into each of them. With all the sketch retreads that just plugged the host into interchangeable straight man roles, it really felt like I was either watching J.Lo’s episode from last season (but on steroids) or watching Zach Galifinakis’ 2010/11 episodes all over again (only they didn’t trust Zachs’ acting chops nearly as much). Still, I have to hand it to the show for not giving up on Bill nearly as early as some of the audience seemed to. Their response was inconsistent as some people were on board with him from the monologue and some were with him only on a sketch by sketch basis. Anyway, you look at it this was a wildly uneven and divisive show. Even the cast airtime balance was uneven compared to last week. In addition to Melissa still seeming to be nowhere even near the building, Andrew, Bowen, Chris, Lauren, Cecily and Aidy (understandably) were practically invisible (well, Lauren was in a pretape but that’s about it) while Kenan, Kate, Pete, Beck, Punkie and Heidi all had great nights. It’s ironic that this is another season where Chris Rock just hosted because last time he hosted in season 40, many thought that his November 2014 episode was the weakest of that whole season. I agreed with them until the Chris Hemsworth/Zac Brown Band episode aired in March 2015. That seasons’ Hemsworth episode was just flat out boring with too much bland and “safe” material whereas Rocks’s episode took far more risks (which even if they didn’t pay off made the show that much more interesting to watch). This season just proved to be the inverse of that as Burr’s took much bigger risks (some of which paid off and some didn’t) and Rocks’ most recent show (while not “safe” or boring by any means) was more consistent. Anyway, there’s a lot to unpack here so let’s get right to it. Shall we?

CNN Vice Presidential Debate – This started off like a typical “checklist” debate sketch (COVID concerns, interruptions, fracking, supreme court packing, Kamalas’ side-eye, swine flu callbacks) but definitely more streamlined and focused than last week and with more pleasant participants. I was expecting to see Chloe as Susan Page but I can see why they would want to give that role to Kate if she was still in the building. I also see they’re still taking some baby steps toward making Maya’s Kamala an actual person and less of a walking political Beyonce meme. I did like her breaking out into Tinas’ Philly accent at one point. That may have been my favorite Maya moment of this sketch. At least they seemed to have made much more progress on Beck’s Pence in that regard seeing as they’ve moved away from the closeted/repressed homosexual jokes with him and started focusing on how Pence spouts the real Trump party line these days. This may have been the strongest material they’ve ever had for Becks’ Pence (and the most effort they seemed to have put into writing for Mayas’ Kamala so far).  I am glad they at least didn’t jump right into the “Fly” material right way and focused on other things people took away from that debate. I have to give them credit for at least finding a slightly creative way for them to sneak in both Carreys’ Biden AND his Goldblum (putting Carrey’s knack for spot on impressions to good use and hopefully placating the people who wanted the actual Jeff Goldblum to show up when he obviously couldn’t make it but then again why even have Carrey as Goldblum let alone the real Jeff Goldblum if you’re going to have either one of them just quote more lines from Jurassic Park and his apartments.com commercials than from The Fly anyway?). Other than that, they pretty much staged the “flies on Pences’ head” scenes the exact way I expected them to. In fact, by this point the sketch came off so rote and telegraphed that it felt like Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell cowrote it.  Honestly, the only things that really rubbed me the wrong way were how they crudely pasted Carrey-as-Bidens’ face on Young Goldblums’ head in the Fly clip they showed while Carrey (who got zero recognition applause from the audience in only his second appearance as a recurring guest this season which I don't know whether to find funny or sad at this point) was getting into his costume (felt too lazy and Trevor Noah-esque for my tastes) and how awkwardly they worked in Kenans’ Herman Cain as the other fly. That seemed like something they should’ve found a better way to address on the show last week. I appreciated that they tried to take a boiler plate debate reenactment and give it a bizarre sci-fi twist near the end but it’s a little sad to me that it was only a little weirder than the exact thing I was picturing after coming to terms with the fact that a fly on a man’s head was the biggest “binders full of nasty women” type of moment (even from a Vice Presidential debate). Speaking of which, this honestly felt as much like the cold opens to the 2016 episodes hosted by  Lin-Manuel Mirandas’ (an empty Vice Presidential debate veers off into a separate piece about that weeks’ much “bigger” news story) and Emily Blunt (another rote, telegraphed almost Scary Movie-like reenactment of the latest debates’ biggest moments) as I was expecting it to be. C+

Monologue – At times, Bill Burr proved exactly why I thought I’d never see him on SNL in this day and age but I gotta hand it to him. He may have completely lost all of social media tonight in his attemptto be an equal-opportunity-offending, middle-of-the-road centrist but he managed to at least keep the studio audience on his side the whole time which is probably the best outcome the show could’ve hoped for of letting Bill Burr do standup on SNL in 2020. It was a real zigzaggy stand up set and Burr managed to zag in the exact right moment right when he zigged unexpectedly. If Bill Burr simultaneously telling the audience that he’s okay with you whether you wear a mask or DON’T wear a mask didn’t clue you in that he was going to systematically make sure everyone in this audience felt somehow both alienated AND placated to, then I don’t know what to tell you. Honestly though, there were only two things I was really bothered by here. The first was him namechecking Rick Moranis and referencing his recent attack to make his “NEW YORK IS BACK BABY” point. Still, I don’t want to “cancel” him for it since I did like that John Wayne joke that immediately followed. I also liked him calling out white women for “hijacking the woke movement” since he seemed to know what he was talking about there up until the point where it seemed like he was implying false rape accusations from white women against black men were a common thing at one time. Now, THAT was the second thing I was bothered by. I don’t really feel it’s my place to speak on the “why is gay pride month in June?” material as I’m straight and not terribly educated on the history of the LGBTQ movement myself but I will say the “Black people only get February” material seemed like it has been done to death before. In a wildly uneven and divisive show, this definitely WAS the most divisive and uneven part. Since it was right at the top, it really got the show off on the wrong foot. C+

Unpresidented Times – This seems like it definitely had to be written by whoever wrote the James Franco “Za/Zuh” courtroom sketch or the Will Ferrell Cracker Barrell office sketch from Season 43. There’s definitely a dash of the Sterking K Brown Shrek dinner sketch thrown in for good measure. Overall, this had too much of a “been there done that during an unstable season” feel for me to really get into after reeling from such a wild ride of a monologue but I have to say Burr made this work. It seemed like it was written specifically for him. C-

The Blitz – Speaking of season 43 sketches that had to have been rewritten for tonights’ show, this reminded me a lot of the “Bank Breakers” sketch from Kumail Nanjiani’s episode (with a little of those Snapchat Filter news report sketches from the last two seasons thrown in) but with higher stakes. This felt much more dramatic than that Kumail sketch both because it addressed a sadly prescient real world issue and also because the audience didn’t seem all that responsive (or it just seemed that way because either Bill or Pete may have majorly missed a cue and that threw the sketch off track to the point where Bill and Ego tripped over a couple of crucial lines) but I did like how it came back full circle and had a solid ending. C+

Enough Is Enough – Ok, now I see we’re going back to Season 42 episodes to pull old sketch premises from? Beck’s just using the same template to make fun of things like this weeks’ nude voting video and this summers black and white “Kesha and Jesse Pinkman accept responsibility for their racism” video that he used to go after that infamous Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad? Hell, it almost seemed like he was parodying the 2008 Will.I.Am/Obama “Yes We Can” video for good measure there for some reason. Also, since Beck was the only non-virtual participant it’s almost like this could’ve been filmed for and subsequently cut from one of the At Home shows Either way, while I appreciated the idea behind this (and the Jason Momoa cameo got a chuckle out of me) I just can’t get behind the execution of this. I mean, it was produced safer than anything the shows’ done this season but that’s about the best thing I can say about it. D+

Update was a nice palate cleanser from the odd tone this episode got off on. Jost and Che seemed to have some fun swinging for the fences (especially Che). It’s nice to see material in slightly questionable taste be delivered by someone I’m used to seeing from, I guess? Kates’ character seemed like an odd cross between Sandlers’ “Cajun Man” and Kenans’ “FIX IT/DURR IT” character from season 34. It’s like late period scripts for rejected Maya Rudolph/Kristen Wiig/Fred Armisen characters were given to Kate. I’m glad that she and Jost chose to address the audience directly about what this character was really supposed to be once it started really going off the rails and losing direction because I’m not sure how much longer I could’ve watched that. Then, Jost and Che had a shaky moment or two until Pete came in to knock it out of the park. Pete really went back to his roots in self deprecation (and vocally supporting trans people in the face of their discrimination) from his days as a featured player and that was legitimately the most I’ve laughed at anything he’s done or said in two whole years. B+

Mob Meeting – As soon as I heard Pete deliver his first line, I had a feeling that this might be a sketch I heard was cut from dress in Sandlers’ episode dealing with a mafia leader just released from prison who now has to face how “woke/PC” his crime family has become. That turned out to be exactly what this was. I appreciate Burrs’ commitment to a role that was VERY well suited to him but it left me wishing I could’ve seen Sandler in the Bill Burr role. Honestly, Alex, Punkie and Beck’s characters were the only thing I could really get behind here (especially the #MafiaSoWhite joke which really tickled me for some reason). C+

Pumpkin Spice Sam Adams – Ok, I guess now we’re going back a little further into season 42 to do the Casey Affleck Dunkin Donuts ad but with “homages” to both Denis Leary (the second one tonight, hopefully unintentional) and Dave Chappelle (probably intentional), I see? I was expecting Burr’s energy to really carry this but he didn’t really get ramped up until Mikeys’ character (who is apparently Burrs’ characters’ son now) shouted at him. Overall, I can definitely say that was the second best Sam Adams commercial parody I’ve seen Bill Burr act in (and it was a distant second, you’ll know what I’m talking about if you could recognize the second “homage” I pointed to earlier). Still, it’s at least a little more creative of a twist to recur something that hadn’t been recurred before than to do what I was expecting they’d do with Burr and bring in Dratch and Fallon (who I guess weren’t available this week) to give us another Boston Teens sketch starring Bill Burr. C+

N    Now, it’s time for me to start officially ranking this season from best to worst… 

      1. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.2020)
2. Bill Burr/Morgan Wallen Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, that was some show, wasn’t it? Next week, Issa Rae makes her hosting debut. I’m not familiar with much of her work (I know she’s the star of HBOs’ “Insecure” and was in the movie “Little”) and therefore don’t really have any set expectations for her as a host. I do expect this episode might serve as a general pallet cleanser from this week. They might settle back into their live groove (as much as possible with what’s going on right now) with a much safer choice of host for this era (of both SNL and entertainment in general). I’m sure everyone at the show will have a similarly pleasant and easy going experience working with her. Somehow, this feels like a show that Cecily is going to want to make sure she’s a part of somehow. I’m not sure if Issa Rae is another standup like Rock or Burr but she seems like she could write a Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Tina Fey style monologue that’s not quite a traditional standup routine but still feels very much like one because it’s done so much in her own voice rather than what the writers thought she’d be the most comfortable saying on stage. Whether this will make for a good or bad show, I can’t say. It should at least make for the show by which they should just find their footing by this point in their COVID era live run. See you then!

Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.03.2020)

 Okay, here's my review. Given every circumstance that made it seem almost impossible for the cast and crew of SNL to put on the show in any form at all, I'm glad they were able to successfully put on the show that they did. They did a fine job of making the show feel like it did back in March and giving viewers a real "return to normalcy" feeling. It felt like just the right balance of "escapism" and "real life reminder of what we still have to deal with" was struck here. However, I'm a little conflicted about how it sounded like even the size of the live in studio audience was "back to normal" and not nearly as "limited" as they promised. They either had to have been piping in small amounts of canned laughter or putting a mic on each individual audience member (which isn't exactly a bright idea either). I liked hearing just enough laughter that it felt like nothing was bombing as hard as possible but not so little that they made it obvious that they didn't even consider the possibility of tightening up the show in general. Besides that, there were still times where the awkward silences left something to be desired. I guess that can be forgiven due to this being their first actual live show in seven months with an adjusted production schedule to allow for proper social distancing and rapid testing (for which the resources maybe could've best been used elsewhere?) I'm also impressed that they were able to get every cast member some airtime as small as it was (except for poor sweet Melissa who must have had a big showcase in whatever was cut for time that the band shot was used to fill in for). Still, nice to see Ego and Chloe are on their way to dominating the show at least. Anyway, there's a lot more to get to so let's just break it down, shall we?

Presidential Debate - Well, it's strangely comforting that SNL could just stick to giving us pretty much the EXACT Presidential Debate sketch I was expecting in spite of every little thing that happened between Tuesday and tonight. I know some people didn't want to see this open with a title card, but I guess that was a necessary evil, huh? Beck did well with the Chris Wallace impression (yeah, like they actually gonna fly Tom Hanks out just for this) and they focused on the real Wallace's ineptitude as moderator just the right amount. Baldwin was certainly...there...as expected...to exaggerate the real Trump's tendency to talk over people. He seemed to give a stronger performance than he usually does. Maybe it was Drezens' influence on the writing or Baldwin getting through this month by imagining himself literally anywhere else or maybe it's just me. After all, I have said in the past that "debate Trump" is the only Trump Baldwin comes close to being able to accurately portray and that still very much holds true four years later (although I wish we hadn't even had to consider that as a remote possibility let alone see this play out in real life). Carreys' take on Biden was the exact thing I was picturing in my mind as soon as I heard their names together in an interview with Lorne. He gave us a technically accurate Darrell Hammond style vocal impression with just a very small, comparatively restrained dash of his own Carrey style rubber face mugging. They came up with a creative way no one else thought of to work Maya's Kamala in there (and thankfully give us just the first of three very brief verbal throwaway W.A.P in passing). Speaking of things no one else might have thought of, I do like how they green screened Harry Styles and Cecily Strong in there. Good to see them make good on THAT promise and also give us the portrayal of Kimberly Guilfoyle by Cecily we've been waiting for. I was thinking about how they might have to have this one mirror either the cold opens from either the 2016 episodes hosted by Lin-Manuel Miranda (a debate is interrupted by a news flash of the weekend's biggest surprise story) Benedict Cumberbatch (scene performers mercifully break character to address the audience with a message of sincere hope that the divisiveness in America will end with the election) or the one from Daniel Craig's 2012 episode (focusing on the Democratic candidate's inner monologue as the Republican just shouts over everyone). Thankfully, they went with the latter two mixed together rather than the first former which would've been very awkward to work around. I liked that Carrey tried to end the sketch on a cathartic vibe and address the cruel irony/poetic justice of Trump's current situation as tactfully and gracefully as he could (because they way Baldwin tried to do it felt much too forced for me). Again, I appreciate what they were going for but it still felt slightly off to me in its approach. That and the slight miscues throughout the sketch throwing the timing off were really the only things I could take off points for. Actually, speaking of miscues...they seem to have put up the dress version of this debate sketch up on YouTube. I could tell because there seemed to be a lot of noticeable alternate takes and both Baldwin and Carrey (especially) have long stretches of dialogue that were completely edited out for air. Look, I know that if you're reading this, it's even money that you're one of the ten or so people that is in the same SNL Discord server and/or Twitter group chat that I regularly chat with and I know you likely hated watching this debate sketch the first time around. However, I hope you decide to give the YouTube version a look if you want to see a much smoother, slightly more focused and competently directed version looks like. C+

New Montage - As much as I thought this was a strange time for SNL to film an entire new intro, I really like the heavy 1979/80 vibes this gives off and I can see how stop motion was the best, safest way to go here. I do wonder why some cast members wore masks and some didn't but I'm guessing they did it this way so that the "masked cast" shots can be more easily replaced next season if the pandemic finally ends (god willing). The thing that really stood out to me was how Cecily's new shot seemed to show her getting off an 8H elevator despite the announcement that she would be in Vancouver working on her new show so I'm just left wondering how they pulled that off timing and travel wise. I have to hand it to Jost for getting the funniest shot in both COVID-19 era SNL intros.

Monologue - As odd as it is seeing Chris Rock holding a mask in his hand rather than a mic, I enjoyed seeing him continue the cathartic vibe that Carrey had just started by explaining just how screwed up our whole governmental system is. A lot of these seem to be common complaints from Twitter but a lot of people can surely relate (although I'm sure that Chris Farley joke might rub some people the wrong way). Also, it was nice to see them save all the floor seats for masked first responders. That was at least a smart move on the show's part if a cast or band member suddenly gets sick on air but I'm still left wondering what they're gonna do about audience members in the balcony if the same happens to them? B-

Action News Pittsburgh - Even though this is a blatant season 44 Day/Seidell retread, I liked the first one well enough that I welcomed its' return. Still, I can't say that this one being just a bit raunchier than the first one for sure makes it better than the first one. I will say that Ego and Rock pretty much stole this from the get go (although Rock stumbled pretty badly early on and the name "Moe Lestin Jr" DEFINITELY isn't going to sit right with some). Some assists from Beck, Heidi, Lauren and Kenan didn't hurt either. Frankly, I'm stunned they could even say "Mike Litt" once I'm the air let alone nearly run it into the ground but I totally get Lorne wanting to give us another Reese Witherspoon "fucking freezing my balls off"/Ferrells' patriotic short shorts/Sam Jackson's Schrodingers' "bullshit" type moment as a brief distraction right now. B-

Bottom Of Yo Face - This is a pretty creative premise for something rapped (pardon the expression) in what might be Petes' most tired crutch (as much fun as Chris and Kenan make these seem). It's a strange feeling to realize that it took a global pandemic for me too feel like I hadn't gotten sick of Pete, Chris and Kenan producing their own rap videos after being deluded with them two seasons ago but this forced them to think outside the box (even if I kind of have to suspend my disbelief at someone actually dating a new masked person during a pandemic). I liked how they worked in Ego and Megan Thee Stallion to keep this feeling a bit more fresh and how tgey got Rock to perform an homage to his own "No Sex In The Champagne Room" video. B-

My Mom Married Kenan Thompson - I'm really grateful to Beck & Kyle for being able to give us something this silly completely off the cuff. I may be biased as not just a suckered for pointless October 2000 nostaliga (although I'm thinking maybe Eliza Dushku and Spy Kids may be either too obscure or nonexistent references even back then) but one of Kyle's few admitted fans in the general online SNL Fandom but I enjoyed what he was giving us even though I admit Kyle wasn't exactly indulging in his best tendencies as a performer here. It did seem like it dragged just a tad and belabored its' point a little but it's actual length didn't hurt it and they included just enough small twists for my liking. C+

The Drew Barrymore Show - This is another thing many of us were predicting the show would give us that's actually welcome to see. Chloe really nails all her impressions with some solid assists from Alex, Kenan and Beck. B-

Update was fairly strong. Jost & Che actually struck a decent balance between addressing Trumps' COVID-19 diagnosis appropriately while also addressing the elephant (pardon the expression) in the room. I was a little surprised to see Bowen make a live appearance after hearing he might be missing some early shows. Still, while I enjoyed seeing Chen Biao again it's starting to suffer from diminishing returns and feel too formulaic (especially after this character's occupation has been changed from "trade daddy" to "medical official" and then quickly back to "trade daddy" again) and Aidy's Carrie Krum continues to wash right over me. I wasn't even sure "if" let alone "how" they would mention RBGs' passing since it felt like several weeks ago (in spite of how many weeks ago it actually was) but I suppose it meant a lot to Kate to giver her as much closure as she got to give to Hillary. B+

NBA Bubble Draft - This sketch seemed a little unfocused to me. It had Che's conceptually muddled style of writing all over it. The only things I really liked about it were how they worked Ego, Chloe, Lauren, Aidy, (boy, it's a good thing that they put those two on one right after the other because I imagine the only thing that could possibly confuse the fuck out of peoole even less would be to have them onscreen right next to each other at the same time) Maya, Punkie, Heidi and Megan into this. I also liked Alex's performance as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Alfred E. Neuman jug ears and all. The rest of this felt like something you'd have to follow basketball really closely to get. C+

Stunt Performers Of America - I feel like I've seen the real life video this was based on in my Twitter feed a lifetime ago which really gave this a "cut from the 'At Home' shows but not put online for whatever reason" feel even though this had to have been something they pretaped in the lead up to the season as Kate and Aidy were neither "at home" nor "socially distanced". Discuss. I wasn't crazy about the way this suddenly turned into another Kate and Aidy two hander out of nowhere (in fact, it reminded me a lot of the athletic wear pretape they did for the late Chadwick Bosemans' episode) but at least Chris, Mikey and Ego were there to keep things a little more varied. I did like the dog/octopus hat anecdotes, though. C-

Well, that was certainly refreshing.. Next week, notable Boston comic Bill Burr makes his SNL hosting debut. He's someone who's standup I could go either way on now but I liked him quite a bit more in the past than I do now but then again I haven't seen much of him despite his career being on the rise. Thankfully, he's not so much a full on MAGA Trump guy as much as he's just always been a cranky, anti-PC, get off my lawn/old man yells at cloud guy but more self aware. In fact, the last time he even acknowledged SNL was on David Spade's now cancelled Comedy Central show "Lights Out" during the whole Shane Gillis fiasco and that was just to castigate what he viewed as overly sensitive PC snowflake millenials for going through several years of people's tweets just to find something offensive enough to get them fired (despite the fact that someone just found a clip of him from just ONE year ago using slurs against Asians after the announcement that he got hired along with this show's first east Asian cast member ever and they almost mutually decided to part ways so the show could keep working in a stable environment with the guy they already spent a year getting to know and love). Anyway, so to veer off topic there but my point is Burrs' style of standup may just drastically clash with modern day SNL but I like him just fine and certainly hold nothing against him. Other standups working on SNL seem to like him and have made him out to be a great guy both on and off stage. He certainly must have a strong bond with Pete since they're both east coast based standups who did a movie together recently so this must be two different kinds of favors at once. Hope Bill gives us a great show! I'm rooting for him and SNL and I'll certainly be tuning in! See you then!