Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11.7.2020)

Okay, here's my review. This show is certain to age better than Chappelle's previous post-election episode of SNL did as it felt much less "of the moment" as a whole, but this one was WAY more uneven. This is most likely due to this being their sixth consecutive show in a row taking place on the week of an election where the results were dragged out for four whole days after words. Chappelle only making his presence known in his monologue and no more than two additional sketches also contributed to that feeling. This is understandable when you consider he was literally flying back and forth between New York and Atlanta throughout the week doing standup shows (and presumably working on his monologue in the process). I can understand why this felt like an early period Ebersol era episode as that period made the least use of its hosts possible. At times, it felt like Chappelle may have been working on a whole new show of his own that was an entirely different show than what the regular SNL staff was putting together. I say this because the sheer pacing of this episode was the thing that screamed "burnout" the most to me (they pretty much just gave Chappelle free reign for his monologue and went for small amounts of long segments) but hey, I applaud SNL for managing to put on six consecutive shows in the middle of a pandemic as safely as possible. Speaking of which, it seemed to be a good night for everyone cast-wise except for Chris Redd, the new featured players (even Punkie shockingly) and the two women who were absent due to conflicting shooting schedules. Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?

CNN Election Results Continuation 2020 - Beck had plenty of good lines as Wolf Blitzer. I'd like to think he would've made a better John King if they didn't need him in the Wolf Blitzer role but I did like Alexs' hand prosthetics as John King. With the way this elections been dragged out, it's pretty much impossible to tell exactly how much of this cold open (if any) was rewritten since this morning. I'd like to think SNL learned their lesson on smugness from season 42 (around the last time Chappelle hosted, incidentally) but considering the election was literally called the morning of this show they may not have had the time to think much about that if it just dawned on them this week. That's good because it didn't look like the results of THIS election were going to backfire and bite them in the ass nearly as hard as 2016 did. Speaking of which, Carrey’s Biden still needs some serious work if they're actually going to stick with him for even the rest of this year let alone the next four but for all the unnecessary Carrey-isms he sneaks into his Biden, this was the only time a little Ace Ventura fan service felt appropriate. Maya did fine even though most of her lines seemed designed to milk as much applause from the audience as possible. Her wardrobe and the set dressing are the only things that even vaguely suggest they saw any of the victory speech but the fact that it aired live at a time when their own dress rehearsal was scheduled to be in progress says to me that they may have YouTubed it while waiting for the game to end. Baldwin's portion seems like it could've been written at any point in the week but I have to hand it to them because having his Trump sing "Hallelujah But It's Actually Just Macho Man" at the piano may have been the only genuinely funny thing they've done with the character. It was a fitting (hopefully) final performance for him but it certainly doesn't excuse him for holding up that sign at the goodnights saying "you're welcome." It's just too bad Chloe only got to debut her Kayleigh McEnenay (sp?) impression on the air at the literal last moment of its relevancy. Overall, the writing of this had enough of an "all-purpose" feeling to it to suggest there wasn't a massive overhaul of what they had planned. B-

Monologue - Well, I honestly didn't expect this Chappelle set to feel more somber than the one he did four years ago at the START of the Trump era but I can kinda see why they let him ramble on for approximately 28 minutes at the top of their sixth consecutive show. There's no way the writers' didn't hit their wall this week. It looks like the only people this may offend are  racist whites and some women and gay men (at the pay gap/Freddie Mercury lines). I appreciated him telling us about his great grandfather even though it was such a long walk to that "bought and sold" punchline it got the monologue off to a weird start. I did like the "lock up the murderous whites" comments as well as the "farmers only/did I say it or you?/wear your Klan hood as a mask at Walmart" comments. He bought up a good point with the Reagan/stimulus comparisons but he started to lose focus a bit at that point (especially since he veered toward some just OK Trump/Covid/Christie material that seemed to be a jumping off point to some mild shock laughs and then came back to it at the end). The "black niceness conspiracy" seemed like something he could've cut altogether if he didn't need it to transition into the "lessons" callback as his conclusions. All in all, I liked this monologue but it felt far too uneven in a way that I was not expecting. C+

Black Mascots - This was genuinely funny but it had its issues. It felt a little long and sloppy but again, hey...sixth show in a row. This also felt a little dated since the Aunt Jemima/Uncle Ben story was in the news over the summer (possibly late May around the time of the George Floyd protests, IIRC) but I can overlook that for a few reasons. First of all, this felt like an idea that someone had this summer that they just couldn't use until now. Maybe Micheal Che or Bryan Tucker came up with this but couldn't get it on the air until now and needed Chappelle to champion this to make it past the table read. Maybe Chappelle originally thought of this as a standup bit but found it just wasn't working on stage so he worked with Neal Brennan to rewrite it as a sketch. It does seem more like a Chappelle's show sketch (especially with him introducing it) than an SNL sketch. Chappelle's general performance and the "breast milk" line were enough to suggest to me this was the case. Plus, this was written in such a way that only Chappelle and Rudolph had the talent to put it over (although it was kind of a bummer that Chappelle had to rely on a voice modulator to pull off a Dennis Haysbert impression which he really should've wore a wig for but I totally get why he broke before even delivering his first line). Some assists from Kenan (who sadly kinda got washed off the screen for me) and a fourth wall breaking Pete helped too. As for Baldwin, well...after bring bombarded with portraying Trump both on (and seemingly off at times) the SNL stage it may take some time for me to come around to the idea of even seeing him do non-Trump/non-political material on the show. B+

Mario Memories - Well, I never thought I'd see a sketch where other cast members react in disgust to something Mikey overexplained but I guess he and Steeter wanted to try a different approach for once. That actually seemed to work in this sketches' favor seeing as the disgusted reactions from Kenan, Ego, Melissa and Bowen really made this for me. Other than that, it felt like it went on longer and felt more bogged down in unnecessary details than I would've liked. Also, congratulations to Cecily on getting another voiceover check this week. C+

Take Me Back - This felt like Beck playing a type of character we see him play frequently but Ego's reactions to his increasingly dire revelations were what sold this for me. Ego really has a knack for finding a strong chemistry with this show's male cast members. B+

Update felt pretty short because they only really talked about one thing. Maybe they were just too exhausted to write jokes about anything else or they had to write all of it on Friday. Either way, I had no problem with the material they came up with. It was nice to see Colin use international celebration footage to subtly gloat without really gloating and it was even better to see Colin devolve into unclipped tie drinking for happy reasons rather than soul crushing ones. Kate's Guiliani is more watchable as the lead character in her own standalone segment as opposed to a larger Trump related sketch even if the material is about the same (the cut for time piece from David Harbours' episode also proved this). B-

Albany Hailstorm - This was a premise that almost felt a little too low key (and vaguely familiar) for its own good. The performances really heightened that. It felt like it was gonna go on longer than it did at first but it seemed like they knew when to end it. Surprisingly, Ego had less onscreen chemistry here with Alex than she did with Beck in the pretape. C-

DC Morning - Wow, Ego plays two different local anchor women in live sketches in a row. It's fitting that Chappelle was in this because it feels just like something Chappelle's show would do. Maybe this was another standup bit he reworked into a sketch? I can understand if it's not because it feels a little Jost/Che-ish as well. Also, congrats to SNL for not only getting two G-D bombs on the air but getting it on the air in print once as well even though it doesn't even touch his previous record. C+

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

1. Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)
2. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)
3. Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11.7.2020)
4. Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)
5. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)
6. Bill Burr/Morgan Wallen Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, that was a fitting end to SNLs' longest consecutive run of shows. Next week is their first week off and as of this writing, no one knows when they'll be back. Some are speculating December 5th but I think we can all agree they've more than earned the next two months off at least. See you soon!

John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)

Okay, here's my review. This episode got off to a rather frustrating start but it ended up being pretty fun overall. When I heard John Mulaney was inevitably going to host for his fourth time this season, I honestly felt like I was getting just a little burnt out on him but I hoped this show would be better than his previous one. It was better, but it felt like it merely made some minor improvements on the new template for John Mulaney hosted SNL episodes that his previous show established. At first, it felt like this show was going to be exactly like his last one and it was but this one ended up being a lot more enjoyable of an experience. Sadly, I was hoping this episode would more follow the templates for his first two episodes than his third one. His first two episodes contained very little topical material outside of Update and filled the void with very writerly sketches. Some of which gave the new underused featured players a chance to shine while others he dug out of mothballs simply because they were among his favorite dress rehearsal cuts that he always wanted to see make it to air and only now can he get them on as host. Both of his 2020 episodes were the complete opposite of this and felt like he was just dragged-and-dropped into SNLs’ template for typical modern episodes with far less creative input due to last minute scheduling conflicts and other hosts having to suddenly drop out because of them. Given the circumstances surrounding this particular season, that’s completely understandable. This time, I heard they allowed HIM to reschedule from last week to this week. I thought this could mean we could get one of Mulaney’s previous types of shows since it might give him some more lead time to plan and work out his ideas but that was foolish of me. It’s just very disappointing to me to see John Mulaney gradually turn into the Justin Timberlake of this SNL era. Both are popular well loved hosts (particularly to young people on the internet and social media) whose first two shows got enough strong press and positive buzz for the show that they easily got comfortable resting on their laurels each time they came back and doing the same types of sketches hitting the exact same beats over and over again. Timberlake is a pop star turned film actor so with him it’s understandable but Mulaney is MUCH more of a creative type with a mind geared much more toward the mechanics of modern comedy and a much deeper behind the scenes connection to SNL and it’s hard to watch Mulaney seemingly NOT taking advantage of the upper hand he has over Timberlake (who in my much younger days I grew very vocally sick of seeing pander to the crowd in each of his later episodes by constantly playing his own “greatest hits” in a way similar to what Mulaney is just starting to do now despite both of them being strong presences on the show). Cast airtime seems a little more evened out from last week with only Dismukes being completely shut out (man, you’d think Mulaney could write something for him, huh?) and Punkie and Ego being relegated to only pretapes. Kate, Kenan, Chris and Mikey seemed to dominate the show with everyone else only getting to appear in only one or two pieces tops while Cecily and Aidy remain out on assignment. Anyway, let’s get into it. Shall we?

The Biden (with sincere apologies to Edgar Allen Poe) - Well, I was expecting them to do something that combined the election with the fact that today is in fact Halloween but at least this wasn't quite as lazy  as I was expecting it to be. It was meandering and a bit drawn out and unfocused but certainly not lazy. Thankfully, they threw in a few things I wasn't totally expecting to liven things up a bit just when it got to the point where it felt like they just took some randos' Twitter thread where they tried to write a parody of SNL'S current approach to political humor and just decided to stage that. Speaking of which, the Trump Jr/Triggered reference seems like they’re just BEGGING right wing media outlets to bust their balls. I did like how they chose to dunk on Lil Wayne and Ice Cube. Plus, Beck as Mitch McConnell explaining his "old man purple" hand condition was the only genuine laugh I got from this. Kate’s walk-on as Hillary is sure to please the same type of online SNL fans who are genuinely excited to see Mulaney on again like THIS is actually his first time hosting and possibly bum everyone else out. Even Carrey as Biden seemed a bit more restrained than usual (although his putting on sunglasses and calling himself a “baller” just HAS to be intentional self parody on SNLs’ part). Of course Mikey and Maya were also there and the only line of Mayas’ I liked was the one about Walmart suddenly stopping their sale of guns. C+

Monologue - This felt exactly as unfocused as the cold open did but it still had its moments. I liked his bit about being unable to overhear conversations on the street when people are wearing their masks. Then, Mulaney kinda lost me with all the Governor Cuomo material but he one me back with the whole “elderly man contest” thing. He lost me again with the sleepover rant but got me back on board with the whole grandma/greatest generation tirade (even as much as that drivers’ license story seemed unfocused he had a strong conclusion after that). Basically, Mulaney successfully pulled off the same type of monologue that Bill Burr was going for with seemingly much less sharply divisive material. Mulaney can’t hope to ever divide the audience as hard as Bill Burr did because he’s such a perfect fit for modern SNL having worked there for so long and having proven himself to be a valuable host. Another thing this had going for it was that it was a monologue that was actually longer than the cold open for once. However, I do feel like people who may have been expecting Mulaney's stand up material (not that I'm one of those people necessarily) to provide a brief respite from current events are going to be sorely disappointed but I’m sure Mulaney still has enough young, die hard fans who he can do no wrong in the eyes of that there will be minimal disappointment with this monologue. B-

The Birds - This felt like a standup bit Mulaney was workshopping but decided to turn it into a sketch after discovering it just never worked on stage so he and the writers decided to reformat it into the predictable paint-by-numbers beats of these recurring Reese De’What sketches (since it worked for him once already with that whole Sound Of Music thing). I wanted to like this more because of how playfully chaotic it felt (and for some of the heavy Falconer vibes I got from it) but I strangely don't feel like the material was worth the strong technical execution they expertly pulled off for it. I’m tempted to say it felt like a season 20 sketch but it wasn’t THAT lazy. I don't like how it felt as meandering and unfocused as the rest of the show but I did like Kenans' meta line about how this "lost footage" added and extra day's worth of running time to the film. Yep, these sketches may be becoming to Mulaneys' episodes what the Barry Gibb Talk Show was to Timberlakes' run. C+

Strollin' - It took a while for this to get going but once it got there you could start to appreciate it for what it was. It takes some extremely likable performers to make a Bruno Mars style groove all about black voter suppression and intimidation seem pleasant and fun but hey, that's just a testament to the strength of SNL'S current black cast. B-

Sleepy Hollow, 1790 - I guess this was the sketch that picture posted on Reddit was from? I was expecting either a Hamilton parody or a Lord Of The Rings sketch and part of me was glad we didn't get either of those. I wasn't crazy about how much of a crude premise this was either but thankfully Becks' sheer commitment and Johns' sheer anachronistically meek presence sold this one for me. Some small assists from Pete and Mikey didn't hurt either. I especially liked Johns’ “mouth on your dingus” line as well as his and Pete’s “puritans, homie” and “Goodie Chastity” two hander. Call me crazy, but I think this may have been written by the same writers who wrote the Uncle Meme sketch for Pete and John back in February (or possibly Jost/Che if not them) rather than Lorne himself. C+

Thank You, New York - OK, this was just Kate having seen one or more particularly colorful old women out in the streets in New York and wanting to develop an impersonation of her, right? Without Kate, this would've just been an actual genuine PSA made by SNL'S cast for some reason. Still, I guess they gotta use Kate while they can. Also, since Mulaney wasn’t in this I do have to wonder if this had gotten cut from any of this seasons/ previous dress rehearsals? D+

Update was pretty uneven. I can't say I've ever seen Jost get the audience to boo him just by playing a clip of something particularly outrageous Trump said and then actually get in a few decent dunks on him so that was an interesting way to start. Plus, Jost seemed to have better material than Che the whole night. I wasn’t crazy about his “rappers are not black leaders” and “constipated accountant” jokes but at least his delivery put them over. The rest of their jokes kinda just washed over me aside from the police suspensions/party lines/Panera Pizza jokes. I’m not crazy about how they bought back Kyles’ Baby Yoda just to make him an even bigger central casting Gen Z dickhead. Frankly, I’m disappointed that this was Kyles’ only appearance in the whole show but I did chuckle at his threat to straight up murder Baby Groot. C+

New York Souvenir Shop – I knew exactly what this was going to be once I saw the words “New York” in red neon lights at the top of what looked to be a store display. Yep, these sketches have definitely become to Mulaneys' episodes what the "Omletteville/Homelessville/Plasticville/Liquorville/Veganville" sketches were to Timberlakes' run. Part of me was hoping that they would avoid doing a fourth one of these but I guess the previous three got big YouTube hits after the initial buzz that Diner Lobster got (it didn't quite land with me but it's two follow ups were okay) and this cast and writing staff is full of big theater geeks (Mulaney must also be one himself). At least this one had a pleasant message of unity to offset the mild gross out humor that tends to inspire these. This contained my least favorite of the four “one…singular sensation” parodies I’ve ever heard in my life (still can’t say I’ve ever heard the whatever the original is all the way through yet) and my second favorite “hey big spender” parody I’ve ever heard. Kate definitely sang the better of the two (!) “Send In The Clowns” parodies this show has done in 2020 alone (right before the last time Mulaney hosted, incidentally). I could’ve done without Beck’s part entirely. I couldn’t for the life of me tell you what song Maya was parodying (I’ve heard it’s something made famous by Elaine Stritch?) she may have given the strongest performance of the night but it’s nice to see her finally get some recognition applause in her obligatory post cold open/non-Kamala appearance of the night. Thankfully, besides Maya this had fewer cameos for the sake of cameos than Airport Sushi did. Honestly, the only real bummer of this one is that it was Alex and Melissas’ only appearance of the entire night. C+

Uncle Meme II: Meme Harder - Oh, boy. Well, I actually did like the first one of these they did in February and I liked John's commitment in this one. However, because this had to be so rushed and edited at the last minute (due to this literally being the last sketch in the show) the only real laugh I could get from this was when Pete exposed John's character for being a prison dating creep at the very end. C+

Now, for my updated rankings of all of Mulaney’s episodes so far…

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett (3.2.2019)
2. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)
3. John Mulaney/Jack White (4.14.2018)
4. John Mulaney/David Byrne (2.29.2020)

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

1. Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)
2. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)
3. Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)
4. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)
5. Bill Burr/Morgan Wallen Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, I guess it’s quite fitting that the man who just earlier this year hosted SNLs’ first ever leap day show would also end up hosting their first Halloween night show in 18 years (and fourth one over all). This also happens to be SNLs’ last show before the election and next week, Dave Chappelle will host SNLs’ (hopefully) first post election show of 2020 just like he did four years ago. Some people might say that it’s “tempting fate” or a “bad omen” but this year it looks like there might be other factors involved in this outcome. Plus, I personally quite enjoyed Daves’ 2016 episode which was widely regarded as the one of the best of season 42. He’s also a strong host who (until now) has only hosted once. He should be a welcome presence who is far from wearing out his welcome (which is actually a little bit more than I can say for the guy who just hosted tonight, so…) Hey, I think this season might be attempting to break the record for most standup hosts in one season that was previously set by season 43 (if I’m not mistaken and if I am I encourage you to correct me here in the comments or on Twitter or Discord). See you then! Don’t forget to vote, everybody!