Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)

Okay, here's my review. While this show seemed quite uneven, it was still the strongest show overall of 2022 so far. Willem Dafoe gave it his all and certainly deserves to be a return host. Still, with the way they used him as host he couldn't quite have the strong impact on the show as we'd hope. He felt more underused than misused but he made sure to give it his all in every role. Speaking of, it looks as if every member of the cast got some screentime tonight. Everyone who was virtually absent from the first two shows if the year (minus Cecily who is still on Broadway) got to make up for lost time. Anyway, it was a pretty straight forward show, so let's get right to it.

Russian Disinformation Breifing - Did they just not have any real take on the whole Russia/Ukraine situation but still feel the need to base this week's cold open on it so they just said "fuck it" and decided to just throw a bunch of dated memes at the wall to see what sticks? Well, they let Ego, Alex and JAJs Biden anchor it with some small assists from Kenan (even if this cold open started its' downhill slide once he uttered the word "cheugy"). Good to see Chloe get some non-impression character role for once but I wasn't all that crazy about her character here. I thought seeing Sarah and Aristotle thrown in as random TikTokers was a nice touch. This is not the right episode for this type of cold open. This type of cold open made sense for the Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey episode but not for this one as neither Willem Dafoe nor Katy Perry (at this point) really scream "shameless ratings grab/how do you do fellow kids" to me. Still, this was a slight step up from the previous week's cold open. C+

Monologue - It was fun to see Willem Dafoe poke fun at his own manic, overly expressive acting style but Mikey and Aidy kinda killed the momentum. Wisconsin accent based humor has never worked that much for me on SNL. C-

Tennants Association Meeting - Well, this retread of the PDD penned school board meeting was a better way to get this show off on the right foot. Nice to see Chloe actually being used in another non-impression/non-wacky voice role and that Alex is still being used to co-anchor these. Punkie may have had her most meta moment on the show at this point. Good to see she has beat Covid and can return to the show. Good to see they remembered that Melissa and Aristotle are both still on the show as well and that Pete showed up for the live show this week. Sarah, Ego, Kyle, Dismukes, JAJ and Willem were highlights. Good to see Mikey has a singing voice that matches Bowens'. Heidi and Kenan were also there. At this point, I think Aidys' Jan Krang has worn out her welcome. I even liked the execution of Kate's gag (despite the huge Mary Gross as Dr Ruth vibes I got from it). B+

Now I'm Up - Nice to get another R&B Jam from Chris and Kenan. Good to see they let Willem and Heidi get in on it too. Chris' yearbook photo was a highlight for me. Sure, this seemed more like it was going for "relatable" than "truly funny" but the performances really elevated it. This may not have been the best week for a sketch to have the mere suggestion that one should pay for Spotify let alone use if for free, though. B+

Badminster Dog Show - I got strong 1989 Glenn Close Mad Dog Show vibes from this. It's not a great inversion of the last couple of years of live Dog filled sketches on SNL where the animals are far more reasonably well behaved than their (in some cases instantly defied) character descriptions. Still, Chris casually strolled away with this and Willem performed the hell out of this part. Good to see Punkie, Andrew, Melissa and Chloe still not being underused tonight. C-

Nugenix - This seemed a little one note and juvenile for me at first but then it went picked up once Kyle said "boner stuff" Melissa walked in causing loud, robotic elections from all the non-Mikey men. B-

Update felt a little uneven. Che had the lion's share of better material. I liked Josts' Full House/McDonald's/Hard Baja Blast jokes (his delivery was what sold that McDonald's joke for me). I didn't care much for Aidy and Bowens' trend forecasters. I liked the "men's trends" and Che's ending all right. As telegraphed as his part felt, Che really had fun with it. Peyton Manning giving us overexcited Madden-like color commentary on season 2 seemed like a paper thin premise but he did his goddamndest to sell me on this. C-

Beauty And The Beast - OK, I think I spoke a little too soon two weeks ago when I referred to Sound Of Music as an overparodied movie on SNL. Thankfully, this was short because it seemed like way too much buildup to far too little payoff on top of being a real waste of Willem Dafoe. At least this sketch made good use of Punkie. D+

PDD: Meet Connor - As great as it is to see these guys NOT get something cut this week, the premise of Martin Herlihy suddenly being friends with a random ten year old didn't seem like it had much potential but this really got going once John Higgins got into it. The slo-mo heimlich felt a little telegraphed but the fact that it was scored to a cover of that Nickelback song from the first Spiderman movie made it much funnier. B+

Good Day Columbus - I wondered why this retread of "Invest Twins" and "Danny Bangs Animals" was put so late in the show until Bowen misread the title of Willems' book. As much as I didn't think we needed to see a third one of these, I appreciate that they committed to the gag to the point where the executed the "breathing technique" in there. C-

Office Song - This gave me flashbacks to police station "stomp" digital short from season 37. Usually, that's not a great sign but this turned out to be the closest thing to the "SNL just lets Willem Dafoe just go insane" vibes people were hoping for the whole night. I wish they'd cut a bit more to the point early on because a lot of this sketch felt like it was bring overexplained. 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. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
9. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
10. Ariana DeBose/Bleachers (1.15.2022)
11. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
12. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, SNL finally managed to somewhat find its' footing in the new year. A month from now, SNL will return from its Winter Olympic induced hiatus with John Mulaney joining the five timers club. Ugh. I was hoping Mulaney and SNL would be taking a mutual break from each other this season but I understand he does have a standup tour to prepare for in a few months. Plus, he seems to be quite the devoted father lately so at least he appears to have his personal life somewhat in order. Let's just hope he gives us something different from the standard paint-by-numbers Mulaney format his episodes have fallen into. See you soon!