Daniel Kaluuya/St. Vincent (4.3.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Daniel Kaluuya was a much stronger host than his strangely decreasing presence throughout the show made him out to be. He carried a lot of material that felt mostly original with shades of premises I had seen before. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing him host once more if the writing could support him a bit more. Outside of Daniel, the show was good if not more than a little uneven. Compared to last week, the show seemed to have focused its energy a lot better and tightened things up. Melissa and Lauren were the only two cast members who seemed sadly shut out of the entire show this week. Anyway, let's just get into it.

Oops, SNL Did This Exact Cold Open Again - As fun as Chloes' Britney impression always is, this was best left a one-time thing. I don't think Britney's Instagram ghostwriting accusations warranted another appearance of this. I could see Chloe just wanting to do this impression one more time but aside from that I don't think anything that happened in the news this past week fit into this framework well. Least of all, the Pepe Le Pew non-controversy which feels like it was in the news last month. In fact, Kate as Pepe Le Pew felt so dated I'd be surprised to find out it WASN'T originally a cut Update commentary that Kate tried to get on last week. I mean, she and Chloe had some of the stronger material here but a lot of this felt out if place. As much as I like seeing Chris Redd on the show, I don't think we NEEDED to see him as Lil Nas X this week because aside from him giving a lap dance to Mikey as some guy named Gary cosplaying as God and later threatening Pete's character (we'll get to him in just a second) they didn't say much that hadn't already been said about the situation. I was hoping that the way they tackled Matt Gaetz wouldn't involve them fitting him into this but kudos to SNL for going the no makeup/no frills route and casting Pete in the role (who sadly for Pete I do see some natural resemblance to). The Quagmire impressions/comparisons felt a little overdone but I did genuinely crack up at the "gigging squat" line. I will admit that this cold open did grow on me upon second viewing so the worst thing I can say about it is that it's just in the right place at the wrong time. C-

Monologue - Daniel really had the right confidence and charisma to pull off a monologue that seemed a bit shaky at first. He really powered through the "British racism" material to get us through to the self effacing Golden Globes material and the reveal that he interpreted a Kenan and Kel episode into his own stage play at age nine (!) steering this monologue directly into Season 44 territory. Now, THAT'S something I'd like the complete oral history of someday! B+

Will You Take It? - This show hadn't had much success with vaccination themed game show sketches so far this season, but I gotta say the third time was definitely the charm here. A fresh perspective helmed by the strongest performers in this cast really behooved the show here. The worst thing I can say about it is that it still managed to remind me of similar but more forgettably weak game show sketches from the past few years such as "Should I Chime In On This?" from Matthew McConaugheys' 2015 episode and "Can I Play That?" from Idris Elbas' episode two years ago. B+

Prank Posse - As much as it felt like this should've been done in early 2018 if you take away the obvious shrimp tails/mouse bones framing device, Kyle made this for me. The idea of him as Not!Jake Paul and Daniel as Not!KSI satirizing sociopathic YouTubers incapable of self reflection putting out a series of meaningless, insincere "apology" videos and stumbling ass backwards into their own/each other's comeuppance turned out to be much funnier in execution than it would’ve been on paper due to a hint of Mooney-brand of absurdism with an assist from Daniel Kaluuya. B+

Rummy Cube - This felt too much like a leftover Kristen Wiig sketch from 2010 for me to really get into. It had a decent ending, though and was the exact length it absolutely needed to be. D+

Creative Writing Major - Once the premise of this sketch was established, I really liked it where it went and how great of a job Ego, Chris and Daniel did anchoring it! In fact, this sketch gave me the vibe that it might have been something so personal to Ego or Daniel I was NOT surprised to find out Ego was co-credited as writing it with Dan Bulla (but I was surprised to find that she herself hadn't taken credit for it on social media). The only thing this really had going against it (much like the rest of the show) was some extremely botched directing. B+

Update got off to a strong start tonight joke wise and kept that going in-between guest commentaries. Jost especially in some great Mat Gaetz slams. Kate and Aidys' meat mavens kinda killed the momentum they bought but I liked the very loose adlibby vibe of it. If anything, they continued what I saw as a theme Jost and Che established at the start of long time performers enjoying themselves as this is rumored to be the hone stretch of their final season until Alex showed up. Guy Who Just Bought A Boat didn't do much for me tonight but kudos to Mikey and Heidi for giving us two NEW characters to close out this Update. C+

Tahoe Frat Road Trip - This sketch felt like the entire second half of it had to be cut for time. It was literally edited to the point where it made no sense. There needed to be some explanation as to why everyone was gradually on board with Daniel's idea of bringing everyone's moms' on the trip except for Mikey being the lone holdout. I may not have liked the board fame sketch from earlier but at least that had the sensible conclusion that this was lacking. Otherwise, the only thing that made this work was the sheer energy it needed to power through the post-Update portion of the show. Also, Andrew as a pledge being light hazed was a nice touch but this being both Cecily and Pete's first appearances in the entire show (live or otherwise) felt strange to me. Speaking of Pete, he DOES realize he didn't need to just dye his hair blonde again just for that Eminem NFT thing, right? I mean, he could've worn a wig (unless he had to dye his hair again for resorts of "The Suicide Squad" or something in which case good for him for making something out of it). C+

Dog Voices - Good to see both Ego AND Andrew leading their own sketch (even though this seemed like something they would've wrote for Cecily at first for some reason). I wasn't crazy about where it was going at first but the Andrew/Daniel confrontation really made this for me (especially with Andrew's energy which I guess makes those who view him as Kyle's replacement feel pretty validated right now, huh?) C+

All About That (Upright) Bass (ugh, I am SO sorry) - Your typical Cecily/male host/Anderson/Sublette musical two hander to close out the night, I suppose? Yeah, this was fitting as it felt just as uneven as the rest of the show. C+

Now, for my updated rankings for this season…

1. Timothee Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (12.12.2020)
2. Regé-Jean Page/Bad Bunny (2.20.2021)
3. Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)
4. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)
5. Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa (12.19.2020)
6. Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11.7.2020)
7. Regina King/Nathaniel Rateliff (2.13.2021)
8. Daniel Kaluuya/St. Vincent (4.3.2021)
9. Maya Rudolph/Jack Harlow (3.27.2021)
10. Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers (2.6.2021)
11. Nick Jonas (2.27.2021)
12. John Krasinski/Machine Gun Kelly (1.30.2021)
13. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)
14. Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)
15. Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen (12.5.20)
16. Bill Burr/Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, that was all over the place. Next week, Carey Mulligan makes her hosting debut and since she is pretty much the same caliber of host as Daniel Kaluuya is right now I expect pretty much the same type of show as this one. See you then!