Dave Chappelle/Black Star (11.12.2022)

Okay, here's my review. I'm not going to keep on starting these reviews by talking about what expectations I had for this episode because I feel like I've been doing that way too much lately (and, as I believe I've made clear, my expectations for this episode were DIRE given the hosts recent controversies). Instead, I'm going to (well, at least semi-begrudgingly) admit to this being the best show of the season at this point and I'm going to lay out exactly why. First of all, I was pleasantly surprised that he did not even mention the recent controversy that reached critical mass when he debuted his "Closer" special on Netflix last year let alone quadruple or quintuple down on those remarks (which honestly WAS my main expectation but obviously saner, cooler heads prevailed and yeah, maybe an apology for all of that is warranted but I can see why just that would be expecting a bit much from Chappelle). I mean, he may have just started getting himself embroiled in a NEW controversy (sorry, Monette) from what little of the discourse and reviews I've seen before publishing this one of my own but I'm gonna take Dave's approach here and see how this plays out. Lastly, this was an episode more in line with his 2016 debut than his 2020 outing. Putting aside certain things he has said recently (which I do NOT personally agree with or endorse in any way), this episode does remind me that Dave Chappelle still has some of the same comedic talent he once had nearly two decades ago (either that or I personally just came to terms with the fact that I was always a bigger fan of Chappelles' Show than I was of Chappelles' Standup. I mean, I'll go all the way up to 2004s' "For What It's Worth" but even that has some questionable moments and feels like it has some early warning signs of where he was headed). Plus, it was the most even and consistently strong episode of this season. I'd say, it just narrowly beat out Brendon Gleeson because I personally wasn't that big on that whole episode myself. It seemed like everyone got a fair amount of screentime tonight. Even Molly and Bowen were in the show tonight (but conspicuously offscreen whenever the host was visible). Anyway, let’s break it down because there is a LOT to unpack here.

FOX & Friends - Well, this is at once both the exact type of cold open I was expecting this week and weirdly (until now) I would've said this was an unfitting cold open for a Chappelle episode. Heidi and Cecily seemed to have the strongest material. Bowen tried to sell his Brian Kilmeade but something still seemed missing. JAJ as Trump really scored with the DeSantis/Len/How Bizarre ramble and I did like how the angle of FOX News essentially firing/breaking up.with Trump felt like something new. Otherwise, I was pretty lukewarm on this. Kudos to Cecily for getting another solo LFNY (a rarity in this day and age). C+

Monologue - Wow, it was like if you'd been in a coma for the last two years and just woke up in time to catch this monologue you'd have no idea why anyone COULD be mad at Dave Chappelle! This honestly felt more like a Bill Burr set than a Chappelle set from 2022 the way he went all over the place with a mix of okay-he's-starting-out-decent-here to questionable-at-best takes on various people (and how he surprisingly refrained from his typical "whataboutism" and punching down hard on the LGBTQIA community for no good reason). He honestly got me more genunely interested than I would’ve been at first with his entrance. The music change was a slight format break that honestly didn't seem to go anywhere interesting or serve a real purpose but again...he got me there. It was smart of him to start with the Kanye stuff. I was only really with him when he made the Adidas joke but after that he seemed to veer off course and get too muddled to the point where he almost seemed to, dare I say, take Kanyes' side (unsurprisingly?) The Kyrie Irving stuff was just unfocused and the Herschel Walker stuff was all right but what jokes HAVEN'T been made about that guy at this point. Then, it seemed like he just did material that was cut from both of his first two monologues (the Trump/rigged bit was something I remember reading about him having done somewhere in the fall of 2016 and the "newborn white people/we been on that" reminded me a lot of his 2020 monologue which this was very close to being the exact same length as but this time I'm not counting it against the episode as this one didn’t feel as uneven as Chappelle seemed to be used a lot in a normal amount of sketches). The documents/work rant I laughed at but that felt a less topical and relevant than it did just plain hacky and old hat. I'll also admit I chuckled at the Home Alone reference but the rest if the Russia/Ukraine bit was just as muddled as just about everything else he said (and I was especially confused by the Colorado joke he threw in there). The ending where he says is startimg to get scared to talk about things onstage may seem like navel gazing self pity at first but then again, you do have to remember he was literally physically attacked om stage less than a full year ago. Yes, this monologue may have been the exact same length as his previous one but thats OK since this episode didn't exactly have the same burnt out feel and the sketches around this one were of normal length and DEFINITELY didn’t feel too drawn out (and Dave participated in them, so this episode felt way more fleshed out). C+

Potato Hole In The Afternoon - This immediately feelt like a sketch from 2010 that got cut from the table read about five different times. Then, once Chappelle explained the meaning of the term "potato hole" I immediately thought "yeah, if Che DIDN’T write this (and I would find out he actually didn’t so, kudos DiCenzo & Nordwind) and yet, it feels like the most coherent and pointed sketch he has ever written". I have to say this was very tightly written and didn’t overstay its' welcome and seemed to actually make a poimt about white people taking from black culture. Plus, it showed Andrew Dismukes is really bramching out in terms of roles he can play. Not bad. B-

Chappelle's House Of Dragons - Hey, a throwback to when Chappelle was actually still fun couched in a pretape that showcases acting from some of SNLs underused cast! This is a nice surprise! JAJ, Kenan, Punkie and Ego really shined here. I did like Longfellows maps. The return of the player haters complete with an Ice-T cameo was pretty cool. Tyrone and Mr. James were all right even if they seemed a little forced. Well done. C-

Barbershop - This sketch felt like the complete inverse of John Mulaneys' wedding dance sketches (with a hint of that forgettable and awkward Bruce Willis Barbershop sketch from 2013). Good to see Michael Longfellow get what felt like his first lead role. Honestly, I liked how they used him more in this sketch than I like the sketch itself since they stretched out the basic gag as far as it could go with very little payoff. This felt more like Che's style than the potato hole thing did so I'm not surprising to find he wrote it. C+

Update was definiteley more abour the jokes than the commentaries this week. The only real standouts were Josts' Trump/DeSantis/Florida/lottery forgery jokes and Che's "women governors" joke (just for being the thing that seemed written the most to pander to Chappelles' newest fans) along with his Kentucky University joke (just for being the thing that seemed written the most to pander to Chappelles' oldest fans). Marcellos' Juan Suarez character was very fun. He sold the hell out of it. Sarah News was the clear high point of the whole show. Nice to see she's using Jost as less and less of a crutch and finally getting to incorporate some of her "squrminess" into the show. That "turkey waddle" comment is definitely an entire bit from her standup that she way way way way WAY cleaned up for network television and since this was cut from last week, I'm more and more starting to agree with whoever said Sarah's performances (or at least the timing of them) are "calculated" given that she got it on this week of all weeks. B-

Black Heaven - I have to admit, I kinda like the idea of Mikey being hazed when he's not fully in character (even if he kinda leaned into his worse tendencies but again, at least our host didn't). I did like the Wild N' Out Season One callback (as that show was my first real exposure to Mikey incidentally and how this whole sketch seemed like one big callback to his part in the Inside SNL/Jheris' Place sketch). The only things I can really say this had going against it was that ot felt a little long and could’ve used some edits. Plus, Punkies' whole part seemed a little too shoehorned in for me despite this being the perfect vehicle for her. Hey, speaking of callbacks to previous sketches, I just had a sudden thought. Anyone else remember when Dave said he decided to leave Chappelles' Show when he was filming that Racial Pixies sketch and he noticed that one white crew member who was laughing at him for what he felt like were the wrong reasons when he played the black pixie in minstrel-like black face? I feel like Dave Chappelle in the past year or two has basically aged into being that white crew member who laughs at people for the wrong reasons and I feel the Black Heaven sketch COULD have been written as a meta commentary on Dave now to illustrate that point. C+

PDD: Kearney For Ohio AG - I honestly wasn't expecting Molly to really show up this week but at least the PDD boys were kind enough to give them something to help get them through the week (and give them something to do without making them work with this weeks' host). I'm starting to agree with the Melissa McCarthy comparisons as this sketch gave me heavy Sheila Kelly/Sean Spicer vibes. This might be my favorite thing they've done on the show so far. It definitely worked better for me than their bit about assasinating Putin from last month. As usual, I loved the frenetic fast paced patented PDD nonsense as well as how they used JAJ and Sarah (well...hello, Mrs. Killingsworth). It's also nice to see something get cut in FAVOR of a PDD pretape with a new castmember who really needs this right now for a change. B+

Now, my latest ranking of the season so far...

1. Dave Chappelle/Black Star (11.12.2022)

2. Brendon Gleeson/Willow (10.08.2022)
3. Jack Harlow (10.29.2022)
4. Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar (10.01.2022)
5. Amy Schumer/Steve Lacy (11.05.2022)
6. Megan Thee Stallion (10.15.2022)

Well, that was honestly the best I could've hoped for and this was the episode that perhaps most defied my expectations yet. After Thanksgiving, Keke Palmer makes her hosying debut. Finally, this season of SNL brings the show back to SOME form of normalcy by getting a host people have actually been buzzing and speculating about for good reason since this summer. This show could be the turning point for season 48 that the David Alan Grier/Silverchair episode was for season 22 at this point in 1995 or even that the Jack Black Neil Young episode was for season 31 right before Christmas 2005 (especially with Sarah, Mikey Longs and Marcello bring around there's real potential for a "Wake Up And Smile" or "Lazy Sunday" type breakout moment for either of them). See you then!

Amy Schumer/Steve Lacy (11.05.2022)

Okay, here's my review. Much like last week, I had low expectations for this show. This episode met them, but didn't exceed them. I'm certainly not Amy Schumers' biggest fan but she does get the show and is willing to work within it. After Meg and Harlow, it is at least nice to see the show return to writing for itself again and not having to work around a host with little to no comedic experience and write specifically to their brand and image. Aside from Devon, a lot of the newbies got plenty of screen time. In particular, Sarah, JAJ, Marcello, Bowen and Cecily had pretty good nights. Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?

Biden Address - If they were going to do another impression parade cold open, they were smart to have JAJ carry it on his back as Biden (with some slight assists from Marcello, Molly and Ego). Also, am I the only one disappointed in how weak Kenans' Tracy Morgan turned out to be? In any other season, this would probably be one of the more forgettable cold opens. Hopefully, the rest of this seasons' cold opens keep experimenting and trying to be different because I honestly wouldn't mind eating those words. C+

Monologue - For better or worse, the only part of this monologue that stood out to me was the portion about her husbands ASD diagnosis. Otherwise, this washed over me just as much as her 2018 monologue did. D+

Manny's Matzo Ball Soup - Some interesting directing choices (the dissolves between Amy and Marcello) and Kenans' song were really the only standouts to me here. Ego had a couple of good lines calling out Amys' character. Otherwise, this seemed like something that would’ve been better executed on Inside Amy Schumer than SNL. C+

Covid - As someone who had managed to only get Covid three months ago, my experience was (thankfully) pretty much identical to Sarahs' character. Andrew had some great lines, too. It's interesting to see how the shows' Covid material has evolved since...well, the last time Mulaney hosted 10 months ago which is the last time I remember them having done something explicitly Covid related. It's nice to see they took the same relatable/slice of life approach they took with last weeks' Biden horror pretape and applied it to Covid and made it less dire in an era when it was safe to do so. B+

Jury Reacts - This reminded me too much of two specific "overly expressive/too talkative background extra" sketches. One with Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler and Kirsten Dunst in 2002 and one sketch from "The New Show" with Steve Martin and Catherine O'Hara. This felt like it tried and failed to do what the latter did and added an ending that was OK but felt too rote for this era of SNL. While this sketch didn’t do a lot for me, I did like hoe each cast member sold the hell out of it. C+

Twitter Moderation Council - If they had to do a sketch on this weeks' Elon Twitter drama, I'm at least glad they used the new PDD improved town hall template even if that alone wasn’t enough to save this. Amys' character didn't really fit in with this sketch thematically and probably should've been cut entirely.  JAJs' Trump would've been a better addition if it didn’t feel way too telegraphed. Cecily, Bowen and Punkie were great, though. C-

The Looker - This sketch was oddly the complete inverse of the Matzo Ball sketch in that it was a very SNL premise that was executed like an Inside Amy Schumer piece. Aside from the high school wrestling champ pretape from Jonah Hills' 2016 episode and the "loser" pretape from John Krasinskis' episode, every sketch the show where one character is just there to cringe as embarrassing personal secrets are revealed about them has been done live. Frankly, aside from how well they used JAJ and Marcello, I felt like I had seen this too many times to really get into it. D+

Update was probably the worst it has been all season. The only jokes that stood out to me were Che's Kanye Instagram and Josts loser baby/monkey firearm/beach grenade jokes because they were the only ones that didn’t seem too lazy or poorly constructed (and thus mu only genuine laughs of the whole night). Che and Jost both looking as gassed out as ever didn’t help matters much either. Cecilys' trucker commentary seemed was nice but it seems like something that would’ve had way more impact had she not already done Goober the clown last year. Again, I appreciated the message but what I appreciated even more was Cecilys' lack of commitment to the bit. C-

Jets Tailgate - Boy, SNL sure loves to make Jets fans look like total bastards, huh? This felt like a mid 2000s era MAD TV sketch to me. Not just because of the overall meanness of it but because I've literally (callback unintended) seen MAD TV do so many sketches where "people displaying cognitive dissonance" was the main theme that it's easy to lose count. (that, and it reminded me a lot of Darrell Hammonds' Bill Kurtis sketch from sesson 30). Still, this was a sketch I actually liked and could still appreciate how everyone sold the hell out of it. I was honestly surprised that Seidell and Tucker wrote this because it gave me strong Che/Rosebud vibes initially until I realize it didn’t try to go as far or swing for the fences conceptually as much as Rhylee Rainbowlocks (which Rosebud wrote) did last April. I genuinely laughed at the reveal of children walking by and JAJ having his wheelchair stolen. B+

Pinx - This is something that felt jarringly out of place to me for SNL...or any modern sketch show really as I can't even imagine Inside Amy Schumer or any era of MAD TV doing this either. Part of me wants to appreciate SNL taking such a wild risk but, I dunno I personally just couldn't get that into this one. C-

WKTVN News - This had to have been the weakest sketch of the night for me. It was an absolute incoherent mess. It felt like they pretty much threw those America Undercover sketches from Amy Poehlers' first season in a blender with Mikey Days' Matt Schatt and American Girl Doll sketches with a dash of Cecilys' Own Trashy Accent Flavored Chex Mix. This was a good use of Molly, Marcello and JAJ though. Kudos to Michael Longfellow for getting such a substantial role even if he seemed a little young and green for it (even if that was the whole point of his character the performances around him, especially from Bowen, didn’t help). D+

Big Penis Therapy - I liked what this sketch was going for but it didn’t feel like it went anywhere. I kept expecting some kind of big reveal from Amy's character but instead it kinda belabored its own point with the whole veganism/beer/church spiel that honestly should've been cut. Good use of Sarah here, though. She's been getting a lot of support roles which I'm glad to see but at the same time I'm left wondering when they're going to let Sarah Sherman be Sarah Squirm without cutting her voice from the show entirely. C+

Big Dumb Hat - This sketch felt like SNL was parodying and badly deconstructing itself. It was like a cross between Cecily and Vanessa's porn stars and the pig tails sketch from last seasons finale. It pretty much confirms that Heidi and Chloe as a pair are going to be the ones filling the Aidy and Chloe void on the show but giving us a more empty and generic "dumb white girl" version of what they were doing. This is pretty evident in the fact that Amy Schumer was the one doing the most to sell this. Also, this sketch pretty much cements the fact that they've found a niche for Marcello and that niche seems to be "let's put him in the sleazier type male roles we used to give to Kyle Mooney." D+

Now, my latest ranking of the season so far...

1. Brendon Gleeson/Willow (10.08.2022)
2. Jack Harlow (10.29.2022)
3. Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar (10.01.2022)
4. Amy Schumer/Steve Lacy (11.05.2022)
5. Megan Thee Stallion (10.15.2022)

Well, this episode pretty much gave me exactly what I expected. Next week, Dave Chappelle returns for his third time hosting and...honestly, all I can say at this point is I'd like to think that at least Dave has his own head farther up his own ass than Lorne and the show do at this point. It wouldn't be too fair to say otherwise because the show must be getting DESPERATE to book literally ANY host at this point and whoever has replaced Lindsay Shookus is obviously having a rough first few months on the job right now. It's become pretty apparent that Lorne is the least adept at reading the room out of anyone working at this show (Chappelle is definitely giving him a run for his money as far as anyone working in comedy in general) but most other people working there must be pretty self conscious going into next week (ESPECIALLY whoever is in charge of SNLs' social media presence right now given how they waited to abnounce this). Honestly, at this point, if Molly turns out to be a "one season wonder" by this time next year, I certainly wouldn't blame them as it's hard for me to picture them NOT just leaving voluntarily depending on how this week alone turns out for them (and possibly Bowen, too now that I think about it). At least if this week turns out to be like the last time he hosted, his monologue will likely be the worst part of the show (however long they let him make it) and that will be one of only three segments he'll actually be in. I mean, you really have to think about what's at stake with these midterms if they think this is an important enough election to have Chappelle come back and host..Oh well, see you then.