Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This episode turned out to be better than I expected in many ways! It was almost better than the previous week's show with Oscar Issac. I say "almost" because it was a bit more consistent except for a very slight decline in quality post Update. Zoë Kravitz was a host in a similar vein to Oscar Issac (someone I had no idea what to expect from) but she really improved the show just with her sheer presence and commitment alone. Aside from Pete (still absent filming a movie) everyone got some screentime (even if only in a pretape in Punkies' case). In particular, Redd, Dismikes Kenan, Ego, Kate and Aidy had strong nights (with Redd in particular nearly dominating the show). Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?

White House TikTok Summit - Well, this has to be the SHAKIEST premise for a cold open all season so I'll just say that JAJ, Dismukes and (shockingly) Kate (as basically an audience surrogate who actually does make a lot more sense as Jen Psaki than Chloe ever did) really carried this. I especially like JAJs' "malarkey/magenta" lone and tge twist of him suddenly being a huge fan of Dismukes characters' prank group "The Boo Boo Boys". Chris, Melissa and Kenan did their damndest to sell the parts (but unfortunately they really came ip short) they were given and Bowen really bought it all home with his ability to expertly deadpan the sheer ridiculousness of his character. What does it say about me that I'm not on tiktok and yet I've consumed JUST enough of it second hand that a few of the tiktok jokes actually felt telegraphed to me? C+

Monologue - Well, Zoë has a lot more of an upbeat energy than I was expecting. That was one helluva quick change for Kate but she was actually good here. Nice to see Ego. Part of me MIGHT have wanted to see her as Halle Berry Catwoman but she still crushed the Eartha Kitt role and I'll take any Ego I can get onscreen. I'm not too crazy about Aidy being newly typecast as mentally imbalanced people but Chris as Katt Williams actually put this over for me. B-

Maid Of Honor Speech - I love how Zoë carried over her good vibes from the monologue into the lead off sketch where she basically just delivers a series of increasingly dark, dire Braskyesque reveals a out Cecilys' character to her new groom Kyle (who actually worked better in the obvious Mikey Day role than Mikey himself ever would have but Mikey, Chris, Cecily and Martin Herlihy still played their parts well). A-

Amazon Go - This was a basic premise that was really saved by the acting of Zoë and the shows' black cast (Kenan and Chris in particular...and good to see Punkie still on the show). Seriously, this looked like it was almost going to be just a legit Amazon Go commercial until at least Kenan showed up. C+

Return Of Josh & Jason - Well, this was a sketch I didn't mind but wasn't crazy about when they did it with Carey Mulligan a year ago. Naturally, I didn't mind seeing it again since this was actually an improvement over this first one. What can I say? I must have seen a little of myself in Kate's performance? C+

Princess And The Frog - This was another basic premise that was acted well but really sold for me once Redd bought up his human backstory. Zoë, Kenan and Dismukes didn't detract too much from this either. In fact, the one thing that really stood out to me was the more innocent quality to Redds' performance and he didn't try to throw in a ton of his "swag" into his characterization. Anyone else get Reese Witherspoon/Will Ferrell Little Mermaid vibes from this? C-

PDD: A Woman Cat For Cat Woman - Hmm, is it just me or do Zoë Kravitz and Rosalía feel like surprisingly low profile guests for an episode where a PDD short actually makes it on air? Maybe they thought the premise of it was too perfect to go to waste on YouTube? Anyway, this probably did the least for me out of all the PDD shorts made for the show despite all the guys acting the hell out of it and the pointless Paul Dano cameo. C-

Old Home Movies - Well, this was the strongest live sketch of the night as well as Kenans' strongest performance. I loved the random J.B. Smoove shoutout and I liked how they threw in a reference to the year 2003 (Kenans first year) in there. Now, THAT was the perfect followup to your 1500th sketch, Kenan! B+

Update was pretty much carried on the backs of the commentaries this week. Not much stood out to me joke wise aside from Che's Iraq/Russian Car/subway urination jokes (wait...a Jussie Smollett joke? Oh, so THAT'S why they chose to air the Sandra Oh/Tame Impala episode in vintage) and Josts' DeSantis/Cracker Barrell/extinct rat jabs. Great to see Terry Fink pull off the hat trick! This commentary may not have been as strong as the first one he did this season but it still provided my biggest laughs of this episode. Good to see Kyles Not!Dan Bilzerian commentary make it to air last week. It may not be too far off from his Baby Yoda but it's certainly an underplayed improvement on the Baby Yoda premise. A-

Word Crunch - Andrew Dismukes as a game show host AND Aristotle Athari on screen? Well, NOW I've seen everything! Seriously though, Andrew, Sarah, Zoës' epic string of vulgarity and the final puzzle were really the only parts of this sketch that made me think this sketch wasn't worth being kicked down the "memory hole". C+

Don't Stop Belevin - It's a credit to Bowen Yangs' addition to the cast and Zoë Kravitzs' booking as host that they can sell this manic word salad this strongly as Ego, Chris and Heidi Mikey Day the hell out of him. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was instantly reminded of Chris Kattans' Update commentary on Chers' "Believe" from season 24. 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. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)

6. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)

7. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)

8. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)

9. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)

10. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)

11. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)

12. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)

13. Ariana DeBose/Roddy Rich Bleachers (1.15.2022)

14. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)

15. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021

Well, that show turned out to be one of the more pleasant surprises of the season. My inside sources tell me SNLs next live show is on April 2nd. However, as of this writing, I have no clue who either the host or musical guest will be as neither were announced on air. Hell, I wouldn't have even known what date their next live show was on if it hadn't been for this inside source. Whoever the host is, I hope it's someone who continues the trend established by Zoe Kravitz and Oscar Issac (a first time actor host that you don't know exactly what to expect from but turns out to be game for anything). See you then! Happy Daylight Savings!

Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was another strong episode that showed promise for the remainder of this season being on a good trajectory. It was just as strong as last week's show but still, even without the hype from certain established "friends of the show" as guests it stood well on its own. Oscar Issac was as excellent of a host as everyone expected him to be and yet somehow, he still left the audience wanting more. He played his comedic parts all very well and even came across like he was blending in quite well with the vast. Still, it also felt like there were a few other things they could've done with him as host that they didn't getting that would show SNL using him as a host to his full potential. Still, I'd like to see him return as host some time just to see what else he is capable of. Aside from Pete (still off filming a movie), Punkie (still inexplicably missng) and Aristotle (in the background of the cold open with no lines) everyone got some airtime tonight. Let's get right into it? Shall we?

FOX News Ukrainian Invasion Extravaganza - Well, at least they're breaking standard format with these FOX News Cold Opens and finding different uses for stagnating impressions (Kate's Ingraham, Moffats' Tucker, JAJ & Mikeys' Father & Son Trump). Also, if they absolutely HAD to do an overly long cold open regarding the Russia/Ukraine conflict I can't say that funnelling it through FOX News/GOP responses to it is INappropriate. I'd like to say Bowen Segal ran away with this (he's no Will Sasso but he still provided my only genuine laughs in this) one but he wasn't on long enough and exited way too early. Good to see Aristotle is still on the show (even with no lines). I have to hand it to JAJ for being one of the few comedic performers for being able to take such a tired-ass premise like "Trump sings 'My Funny Valentine' and dedicated the song to Putin" (something that at once felt straight out of Anthony Atamanuiks' "President Show" on Comedy Central and feels like even he especially would fired the writer who pitched that for being too much of a hack) and make it at least watchable. C-

Monologue - Good to see a return to the sincere, personal monologue format for a charismatic first time host. Thankfully, his increasingly bizarre home movie (I wonder if young Oscar Issac and young Adam Goldberg ever met?) was the bulk of this because his riffing on what Hollywood considers "ethnically ambiguous" didn't do much for me. It's funny that they're doing this since I seem to remember people in the That Week In SNL Twitch Chat and Discord asking why SNL doesn't show home movies anymore. Well, careful what you wish for! Also, I couldn't help but notice that Oscar said he was originally asked to host in 2015. Did they originally want him to host the January 2016 Adam Driver episode? B+

Paw Patrol Attack Ad - I loved how committed everyone was to this and I love how you didn't need to have seen any real life Paw Patrol to appreciate since they were pretty much explaining the exact reason why the parents if the kids who watch this show would be unable to hold back their disbelief. I'm guessing Mikey cowrote this? He's prominently featured in it and I know he's one of the few SNL performers who has kids so he's one of the few people on this show I can imagine who regularly watches Paw Patrol. It was a little long and could've used some tightening but I guess they needed thar length to unpack a lot. B+

Inventing Chloe - Weird to see two pieces in a row based on TV shows I've seen so little of that I would need large chunks of the basic premise explained to me but it's good to see Chloe get another showcase (even if the impression may not have landed with me and even if she kinda repurposed Aidys' thing of "being inspired to be more confident by a random celebrity having a moment right now" as well as her own "Ooli" voice). I liked the brief clock punches with JAJ/Biden and Che at the Update desk but this could've used a trim as it started to kinda drag after that. Kate provided a sweet ending and did a strong enough variation on the Anna Delvy voice that I was left me wondering how much better this piece could have been if it were titled "Inventing Kate". Kudos to writing assistant Jacob Kaplan for managing to hold his own next to established cast members. C+

Harassment Seminar - This felt a little aimless and shapeless to me but the commitment from the cast really saved it. I suspect PDD wrote this as it followed their format of "incredulous reactions to increasing inappropriateness". C+

Little Meatball Men - Good to see SNL finally let Sarah Sherman break out and give us just a little bit of Squirm. This is a lot lighter and sillier and borderline nonsensical than a lot of her previous pre-SNL work so I doubt she'll be allowed to bring out the heavy blood and gore effects for a while but hey, baby steps. Oscar and Charli were terrific sports for being in this. B+

Update got off to a bit of a slow start (the opening run on US Ukranian support just kinda washed over me) but they really picked up joke-wise once they got to the Kamala/DeSantis/NYC Covid Restrictions jokes. Good to see Kate's commentary was more pointed, layered and just generally very different than other pieces where Kate essentially plays herself such as "What Still Works" and Dr. Wayne Weknowdis. Good to see Ego with another intriguing original character commentary (even if it just seems like she put her weary Disneyland mom and her woman who's been missing for 10 years in a blender). Good to see she really started acting the hell out of this once she revealed Che was her baby's daddy (because I kinda saw that twist coming). B-

The Sexual Woman - This started out just overstating itself way too much but it really started working once Aidy decided to really lean into the subtle meta clock punches of it. C+

In Over Your Head - This may have just been "How'd You Do That" if it aired on HGTV but it's still just so great to see what you think will just be a quiet low key sketch turn out to be so perfectly written, paced and acted. Oscar was pretty much expertly committed here and each escalation was better than the last. No notes. A+

Free Fiction Workshop - Ok, I strongly suspect one kf my Twitter mutuals actually wrote this (and if you're reafing this, I think you know exactly who you are..."Bill"...if that is in fact your REAL name) but this actually turned our to be the low key silly fun it promised to be but Oscar Issac turned out to be the absolute perfect host to keep this afloat. Aidy, Chris and JAJ played off him expertly. Good to see Melissa and Heidi having fun with this (and good to see them come into the show just before they got completely shut out). Weird choice of musical guest for this episode for this sketch to be in though. 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. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
8. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
9. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
10. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
11. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
12. Ariana DeBose/Roddy RichBleachers (1.15.2022)
13. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
14. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was fun but a little less than what I was expecting. Next week, Zoe Kravitz makes her hosting debut. Hmm, she's a first time host who's not exactly known for comedic performances so...unlike with Oscar Issac I'm once again flying blond and going into an episode with no expectations whatsoever. See you then!