Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)

Okay, here's my review. As with a lot of returning cast members coming back to host (especially ones from this particular era) Will Fortes' sheer presence was the best thing about this episode. Still, he comes off as such an anomaly among returning alumni hosts as I've never seen an alumni host who blends in so well with the cast he is supporting while simultaneously seeming stuck our of time from his own era. Nonetheless, it was certainly very gratifying to see him finally get his long deserved shot at hosting more than a full decade after having left the show. This episode was more consistent than last week. I'd definitely say Forte saved a lot of stuff but he may not have been enough on his own to completely cover up some of the issues the show had with writing and current cast usage. Cecily appears to still be on her off-Broadway engagement. This explains her absence from the show bur it doesn't quite do the same for Melissa, Andrew or Punkie. Anyway, this show was alos very oddly spaced and timed. Since I reviewed all of this episodes obligatory runner in once piece, it certainly felt like there were far fewer sketches than there actually were. Thus, this was a very straight forward episode to review, so let's get right to it.

Ingraham Angle - Well, this certainly wasn't the ideal cold open for this episode (especially after one of the bright spots of last weeks' episode being how they showed they were making progress on the cold opens being something besides just a checklist of everything that happened in the news that week with a random Fox News pundit show being used as the framing device). I appreciate Pete seemongly giving it his all as Novak Djokovic but I'm so unfamiliar with why he's in the news it was pretty much white noise to me. Although I don't know if it quite makes up for Cecilys' Broadway induced absence preventing her from being able to play Judge Pirro again on the show right now, Egos' snarky take on Candace Owen's was the only thing that stood out to me (as much as I know how much it's going to make some of Twitter insuffrable for the next day or two). I couldn't even get that excited to see JAJ as Trump again, but I did like his Tiger King 2 joke how he worked a random Hillary Duff/HIMYM reference into his Wordle. Also, thanks for attempting to explain to me what Wordle is without really explaining what Wordle is to me at all. I also liked "missionary" being at the end of Kates list of thing liberals are trying to take away and "Covid Negs" bring another Handey-esque sponsor. Really, the irony of this cold open is that a Tim Calhoun cameo would actually fit well here and be the only thing that could save it but it would also prove those right who said there's too many real life GOP politicians that are basically just real life versions of Calhoun to be funny anymore. C-

Monologue - Even just as a setup to a forced Wiig cameo, (guess my gut was right, huh? still, I liked the callback to him being in her 2016 monologue) I love the whole tone of Fortes' monologue being "bitter? who's bitter?" in regards to him being as underappreciated as he was on the show and thus the absolute LAST if his castmates to finally come back to host because I hadn't remembered until now how well he pulled that type of humor off. I appreciated the MacGruber season 2 false alarm but honestly Season 2 of MacGruber on Peacock is something I would have some mixed feelings abour right now. I mean, I've only been able to see the first episode so far but I liked it considerably less than I liked the movie but maybe I should reserve judgement until I've managed to see the entire series. My one complaint would be that I feel the Willem Dafoe cameo would've had the intended effect if Dafoe hadn't ALREADY been announced as next week's host, but the way that joke was written worked and pairing it with that audience poll helped. B-

MacGruber - As predictable as it seems that MacGruber would become an anti-vax/anti-mask Qanoner who naturally gets infected with a version of Covid thst has somehow mutated with his existing STIs along with horse worms, I have to say it at least fits the character given what little I've seen of MacGruber this week (again, in my rewatch of the movie and having only been able to see the first episode of the Peacock series so far). Plus, they did three whole shorts based on the 2008 financial crisis (without that seeming as much like a checklist of buzzwords as this one) so this wouldn't be the first time they've at least semi successfully tried to shoehorn in topical humor into Macgrubers' template. Hell, it didn't even disprove my theory of this possibly having been taped well in advance of this week. While I did like that they were able to air the third one despite running short on time, part of me didn't feel like the third one wasn't necessary for anything besides showing MacGruber get more fully into Qanon just to show that wasn't supposed to just be a throwaway reference tacked onto the end of the third one just before the explosion. That didn't really go anywhere. I did like the random callback to Fortes' barbecue hospital sketch with Amy Adams as Ellen Pompeo from 2008 though. Overall, I'd say as telegraphed and flat as this felt Fortes' performance (with some support for Wiig and Phillippe) really saved it. B-

Kid Klash - The only real complaint I have about this sketch was that I wish it didn't take as long as it did for the basic conceit to be revealed to be "Forte berates this child played by Aidy in an inappropriately chipper manner". Thankfully, this sketch revealed that specific thing to be another performance I didn't remember he had or that I wanted to see until they showed it to us. B-

Cinema Classics - Well, the premise of a "Gaslight" parody alone in 2022 seemed quite shaky (y'know, what with the term being appropriately used to describe what certain powerful men in America had been doing at first a few years ago until it started getting overused to the point of being misused and all) but at least its' only purpose was for Forte to be absurd. Besides that, this was a strange sketch for Forte to be used in given how he was famously a non-impressionist on the show. Still, when I first saw that PBS logo, my heart jumped because I thought we were getting another Lawrence Welk sketch (well, with Wiig in the building it was a distinct possibility but thankfully this wasn't that). I did chuckle at the "nine inches" joke at the end, though. C-

Hotel Room Threesome - Thankfully, this was really the first time all night Forte got to play a classic sleazy Forte-esque character. I waa honestly surprised to find that John Solomon and/or Akiva Schaffer did NOT guest write this with Forte this week in addition to the MacGruber shorts since this is really the first non-MacGruber sketch of the night to feel like it was straight out of his era (mostly due to Fortes' performance himself). Not even every dreaded Mikey sketch trope bring rolled into one (what with him overexplaining the exact way he's being cucked in a misguided attempt to save his apparent marriage to Heidi's character and all) could take away from the pure undiluted Forte-ness of this sketch to me. B+

Update got off to a strong start with two shockingly meta jokes from each anchor followed by solid CRT/infertility/Prince Andrew/Batman & Robin/hamster/guitar/dino skull/world's oldest person jokes. Still, they were slightly uneven (Che's goldfish/Jon Voight jokes seemed a little too forced for me and Josts Kyle Rittenhouse joke was a rare instance of the setup being funnier than the punchline and weirdly his U2 joke was delivered with an inflection that made him sound almost exactly like That Week In SNLs' own Andrew "Don't Call Me Andy" Dick). It was nice to see Bowens' Chinese trade daddy again but this installment felt too unfocused (wouldn't be the only time I would have to use this phrase to describe one of tonight's Update commentaries) in the specific sense that it seemed like they were more focused on making Chen Biao an unlikable villain the audience isn't supposed to side with (which is honestly a strange change of pace for this character) and cramming in a bunch of current social media references. While I liked getting to see Sarah Sherman on Update again, I do wish they would let her do more than just set up Jost to be humiliated with some small assists from Che. I did appreciate the queer-baiting/implied homophobia/body hair shaming angle she took this time. While I'm not sure we needed to see Alexs' boat guy tonight (even as an excuse to bring out Pete to reference their actual buying a boat together) I do appreciate the conceit of having one cast member in character bring out one cast member as themself as its' not something you see often on Update or SNL in general. Speaking of Pete, while he did have the best lines in this (including that other meta moment) waa he a actually drinking from a brown bagged Foster's can the whole time he was onscreen ir was that a prop? Oh well, even if Lorne was somehow OK with him visibly getting very hammered live in air, it was nice to see him looking like he was enjoying himself. Another Forte appearance might have been welcome here but, oh well. B-

Clancy T. Bachleratt and Jackie Snad Sing Songs About Spaceshops, Toddlers, Model T Cars And Jars Of Beer...Again - I was probably the only active SNL fan on social media who was NOT expecting Forte to bring this back but I guess with Wiig actually being in the building tonight it was a no-brainer, huh? Anyway, I suppose Kenan being the pitchman in this one was what helped me get more into this one than I've been during Fortes' era in the cast. I usually like sketches where Forte screams insane nonsense but for some reason, THIS is one I could barely get into or appreciate until tonight. Honestly, the funniest thing about this sketch to me was how they had Forte introduce the second Måneskin performance while still in that wig and baldcap paired with one of Fortes' regular sweaters. B-

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

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
6. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
7. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
8. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
9. Ariana DeBose/Bleachers (1.15.2022)
10. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
11. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, this fit all but one or two of my personal expectations and nothing more. Next week, Willem Dafoe makes his hosting debut before the show goes on a month long break for the 2022 Winter Olympics. This is an intriguing choice. Dafoe is another actor seemingly long overdue to host the show. It's about time the show had another bizarro character actor host after we got Rami Malek. That might be the thing to give this second half of season 47 the shot in the arm it needs (since, again, Malek did the same thing for the part of the season he hosted in). See you then!