Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

 FOX News Roundup

- Baldwin over Longfellow as Brett Baier? Come on! Already not getting this episode off to a great start.

- I figured they would do something on Kamala Harris' Fox News interview and Trumps' very strange rallies turned impromptu dance parties. That story dominated the news this week.

- Now, we're back to "viral meme queen" Kamala. Great.

- Well, at least the JAJ/Trump (hey, at least HE'S still playing Trump), Ego/Faulkner & Carvey/Biden segments are a nice, much needed pallet cleanser inbetween the disappointingly hollow Baldwin/Rudolph segments.

- At least the "abortion" call & response is kinda funny & this Univision part is a nice use of Marcello. This cold open came pretty close to balancing itself out. D+

Monologue 

- This monologue was pretty fun in sort of a "dancing around the obvious" way. Keaton even sold that "puppets & cocaine" joke in a way no one else could.

- Strange that he's promoting "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" which has been out for a full month at this point instead of that new movie he has coming out THIS month (whose title escapes me at the moment and I obviously don't care to Google it but I know it involves Mila Kunis playing his estranged daughter) but hey, Halloween and nostalgia are a...non-potent combination.

- I see Mikeys' filling the Taran/Bobby void this decade. Makes sense. I mean, if he didn't write that season 40 monologue he still wrote with Taran & Bobby a lot. Too bad they sucked all the music out of the season 40 monologue when they decided to just do it again.

- I did like the meta jokes with Samberg & Sherman, though. If only they could've worked in some kind of explanation for Gaffigans' absence. I mean, was that Al Smith dinner NOT held in New York?

- All in all, a nice low key monologue...even if it seems like one Jim Breuer and Tracy Morgan would've done in season 23. C+

Shop TV

- I'm already mentally preparing myself for a string of obvious strained visual double entendres.

- Who the hell was that in the minion costume? Part of me hopes it was Emil but it looks and sounds a bit more like Marcello (EDIT: I have since found out it was a camera operator named Paul).

- Ah, the cookie looks like a boob. I get it. I was expecting an anus for some reason but I guess that's harder to get past the censors (which must be where 97% of this week's creative efforts went into just for this sketch alone). They must've realized they shouldn't be pushing their luck.

- Good to see Rosebud Baker is still earning a paycheck. I liked Michael Longfellows' phone in question, the pixelated frosting gag and the sudden TV-MA bug. 

- Kudos to them for not dragging this out quite as much as I thought they would. C-

PDD: Skydiving

- Good to see the Destroy boys back and as characters and as far away from the office as they can get.

- Nice use of Emil and Keaton in a low-key...morbid depression/suicidal ideation themed short? 

- This may hit a little too "close to home" for some but, me personally? I like it! Oddly appropriate for late October. The ending was fun. B-

Forbidden Romance

- Guess Who's Suddenly Covering Trains' "Hey Soul Sister"? (Spoiler Alert: It's Andrew Dismukes)

- Ego might have just set a record for "earliest break in a sketch".

- I liked the incongruous oddness of this. It felt like something Melissa Villaseñor would've done five years ago...and that's never a bad thing. B-

Good Grief! Even More TikTok Scrolling!

- Huh, haven't seen one of these in a while. I guess Billie Eilish being in the building this week was meant to signify we were overdue for a third one.

- I usually liked these back in season 47. Kenan, Devon and Marcello were great. I liked Kenans' junk food reviewer, Devons' "trapped" black man and Marcellos fireworks guy/Trump Podcaster. Michaels' "black wife effect" guy was OK, but still felt like it was canceled out by Devons' character. Not sure how I felt about the whole metaness of Emil using the clip of last weeks' "Espresso/Domingo/Marcello" song clip in his.

- One thing I didn't care that much for was Chloe just straight up recreating Bethany Frenkel, Call Her Daddy and the Costco guys (boy, those were some haunting visuals but seriously, what the hell is that whole Costco familys' deal anyway?) while barely adding anything in terms of jokes to either one but I guess since Pete's gone for good now SOMEONE'S gotta do it!

- I did like Bowens' character who just suddenly sings to a semi-captive JAJ/Trump, Maya/Kamala and Billie (as unambitious as that whole bit was). Dies anyone know for sure if that's based on a real TikToker? Heidi's character was very "Heidi" but she actually managed to sneak in some real biting humor into this one. Speaking of, they did a decent job of sneaking Carveys' Biden into this too.

- I did like Ashley, Emil and Jane's contributions to this. Kudos to Ashley for finally getting some lines in something. I guess one of those people quite literally building their following off TikTok before coming on the show was another indication we were due for another one of these, huh? B+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

- I liked Che's Trump Univision/therapy/deep fryer jokes along with his KKKandle and Josts' IVF/civil war jokes but that's about it.

- Emil Wakim had a strong Update debut. His segment was a little long but I liked the way he seamlessly segued through many different aspects of his own background he covered with boundless confidence. His "Colin wrote that joke for me" comment when one of his lines nearly bombed was great. That had to have been the biggest reaction I have seen anyone get out of Colin.

- Nice to see Sarah back at the desk as just "Sarah". It's especially nice to see chose to lovingly roast herself by way of Victoria's Secret instead of roasting Jost. I liked how she limited her few "Jost roast" lines to just ones that allowed her set him up to look like some weird ass perv. B-

Think About It

- Strange how this is Bowens' first live appearance all night, but hey...I'm not complaining. He had some of the best lines in this anyway.

- I'm usually not a huge fan of Ego playing men but her performance really suited this sketch well and I'll admit I chuckled a bit at the "Kamala Cabello" lines

- I liked the strange semi-original concept behind this in spite of it's "we have Cash Cab at home" vibe and how this didn't seem to quite be landing with the audience.

- Sarah being the one who automatically gets each question right felt a little too telegraphed for me but at least they didn't belabor it.

- Michael Keaton felt a little too awkwardly shoehorned into this and I feel like they didn't quite enough with this. In fact, the real rushed ending seems to suggest a lot of this got cut between dress and air. Still, it was one of the better live sketches of the night, flaws and all. C+

Halloween Rises

- I don't know about you guys, but I've gotten my fill of TikTok dancing...during the TikTok sketch. Anyone else?

- This sketch didn't really land for me at all and I don't think Michael Keaton made playing "stereotypical gay coreographer" work, but at least we got to see a more physical side of Mikey we don't always see.

- Another rushed non ending that felt heavily edited between dress and air, I see. Very good. D+

Tableside

- This feels like a cut for time sketch from season 40 or 45 but kudos to Ashley for FINALLY getting some substantial dialogue in a sketch (even if she wasn't the main focus). Other than that, I have absolutely nothing to say about this sketch because it went absolutely nowhere. D-

Ranking The Season (Best To Worst)

1. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
2. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
3. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)
4. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

Overall Thoughts 

- This would sadly be the second worst show of the season for me. I'd place it on the same shelf as Ariana Grandes' episode from last week as both episodes were quite uneven and rocky but the highs weren't quite as high with this one (and sadly the lows felt a bit lower).

- Writing wise, I felt like they leaned a bit too much on season 47 throwbacks, which is something I have some real mixed feelings about. I don't really feel enough time has passed since season 47 that we could really judge anything from that year to be a "classic". 

- Keaton was fine as a host but this episode didn't quite feel like the "big event" that his last one was from season 40. He felt underused compared to his previous two episodes bur not as much as his season 8 episode obviously. He felt like he appeared in every other sketch rather than just two in the whole show, but I'd be lying if I said this episode didn't feel like he had a slightly similar presence to season 8 tonight.

- Yeah, I usually rank buig name 3 or 4 time hosts individual episodes when they come back like this but I neither had the time nor the motivation to watch them all in order to do that this week. Out of respect and deference to the good folks over at That Week In SNL I decided to wait until they streamed the Michael Keaton season 8 episode on Twitch to watch it again (which might be either tonight or next week...so if you're reading this from a link I dropped in said Twitch chat instead of fully watching that episode yourself...respect).

- Cast airtime still feels balanced enough. Bowen and Jane took a bit of a back seat obviously but Sarah and Emil really got a chance to step up (plus Mikey and Dismukes to a lesser extent) and everyone else felt visible. We're now two for three on "New featured players who've gotten the chance to introduce themselves on Weekend Update this season." Don't worry, Ashley. You're closer than you've ever been at this point.

Closing Thoughts

- Well, there is still hope for SNL can continue in the right direction for season 50. In two weeks, John Mulaney returns for his sixth time hosting. Mulaney can still be a bit of a wild card but hopefully, he can inspire some more creativity in the writer's room much like Nate Bargatze did two weeks ago (since, y'know...they're both standups and creative joke writers and all). Yeah, I'm sure they'll have no trouble shoehorning Samberg back into the show. Mulaney will have that covered. See you then!

Saturday Night (2024): Mini Review

Well, I just recently got to see Jason Reitman & Gil Kenans' "Saturday Night" at my local theater the weekend it was released, and I enjoyed it very much. 

I'll warn you ahead of time when any potential spoilers are coming up, but I will start by saying it was very well acted. Everyone really nailed who they were portraying (much more so than either trailer let on). 

The thing I appreciated the most about the film from a structural standpoint was that it struck the exact right balance between fan service moments and Hollywood biopic embellishments as far as padding out the overall narrative went.

Obviously, this is not going to be a 100% factual recreation of the backstage antics on night of SNLs' series premiere. If you're a fan of this shows' real history. The few small creative liberties this film takes don't ask you to suspend your disbelief too much. 

It does have a typical "scrappy underdogs win happy Hollywood ending" that seems like a bit of a stretch but you will be having too much fun to care by that point (especially since you'll likely already KNOW the exact ending of this picture before you even go in).

(Warning: potential spoilers ahead)

While the films' main focus is Gabriel Labelle's Lorne Michaels' trying to keep his show (and himself) from completely unraveling, there seem to be some small side quests that are hastily resolved by the end by everyone coming together to do their parts on getting this show on the air. The strange thing is that these are all the mens' side quests that the women are very peripheral to. Rachel Sennots' Rosie Schuster has a strongly visible support role but it was almost like Kim Matulas' Jane Curtin, Emily Fairns' Laraine Newman and Ella's Hunts' Gilda Radner were only there to show more camaraderie than the guys and individually guide the men along the way on their own mini hero's journeys.

Dylan O'Briens' Dan Aykroyd must learn the error of his womanizing ways by rehearsing his part in the girls' construction worker sketch. Cory Michael Smiths' Chevy Chase must learn not to be such a cocky, smart-ass prick by walking in on J.K. Simmons' Milton Berle flashed his "anaconda" to his then fiance (Kaia Gerbers' Jacqueline Carlin) and then put him down as the nobody he really was in that moment. Lamorne Morris' Garrett Morris wanders around asking everyone what his purpose on this show is until he is convinced he should show off his natural singing talent.

Matt Woods' John Belushi is, again, well performed but is perhaps the most muddied characterization of all. The filmmakers seemed to only capture one element of Belushis' personality and that is that he hates the show, hates television and resents having to even be there (and of course having to work with Chevy doesn't help things their either). This might be due to the films' commitment to depicting a young, idealistic, overly principled pre-fame Belushi, but it still feels a bit too boxed in. Belushi is depicted as walking off the show entirely and as Lorne and others are seen frantically looking for him, he is found on the famous 30 Rockefeller Plaza ice skating rink with a loose goosey free spirited Gilda cheering him on to do a triple axel. 

Lorne finds him as he falls flat on his back doing this and gives him an inspirational speech invoking the famous 30 Rock Prometheus statue in an effort to convince Belushi to start following his dreams (which are presumably dramatic leading man film roles) by signing his contract so he can legally go on the air to do the show.

That was one of the few minor problems I had with this movie from a narrative standpoint, but as I said previously, none of that was enough to take me out of the movie or keep me from enjoying it overall.

You'll have a real fun time if you go in expecting just a fun, dizzying ride of a film loosely pulling from several different accounts of the same real showbiz story. Just put the comedy nerd part of your brain in sleep mode for two hours, and it'll be great!

Anyway, That Week In SNL and The Saturday Night Network are two SNL themed podcasts who have promised their own separate reviews of this film soon. If you read and liked any of my writing on this, I would advise you to check those two podcast reviews when they're released because I know their takes are going to be much more in depth and well informed than mine. Still, I hope you enjoyed reading this special bonus format breaking blog entry from me.

Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)

 Family Feud Election Showdown

- Huh, I certainly wasn't expecting them to dig this template out of mothballs. They were always the strongest use of Kenans' Steve Harvey impression. That "Diddy parties" joke made me laugh. I always liked...some of these, but I'm not sure the current cast/visiting cameos can really pull these off. 

- This wouldn't have been my first choice, but it's not completely inappropriate. I wouldn't have made it the cold open, though...but OK.

- All this season's big cameos still work in this format, I guess. It's not the most ambitious thing they've done, but I haven't been expecting much from this season's election material going in.

- I guess it was real slim pickings this week for the cold open. They didn't have much else to choose from besides "wow, Kamala Harris sure did a lot of interviews this week, didn't she?" and yeah, I can see how hard it would be to stretch that alone into a cold open, so they just had Maya acknowledge that quickly and...move on?

- When Carveys' Biden gets more laughs out of me than Gaffigans' Walz, something may be wrong.

- JAJ as Trump has gotten a bit more...visually jarring. Hope he's not wearing out his voice too much doing this. I liked the brief "where's Melania?" fakeout here but other than that, the writing for the republican side if this was just...a whole lotta nothing. At least this ended much quicker than I was expecting and at least this was more watchable than the Game Of Thrones vs Avengers Family Feud Cold Open they did a few years back (but not that much better than the Trump vs Hillary Family Feud from a few years before that). C-

Monologue 

- So, she's basically singing Justin Timberlakes' 2011 monologue to the tune of Jean Smarts' monologue from...last month?

- Oh, I see. It's now a medley including "Baby One More Time" and "Don't Speak". The Miley impression was...fine.

- It's like they suddenly remembered Arianas' Tidal sketch from 2016 was a viral semi-hit and thought on Thursday "oh wait, we forgot to write another one of these for her...ah, screw it, we'll just make that her monologue this time."

- Bowen in drag. Should've expected that.

- Meh. Not a great start so far, but the hardest part may be out if the way. Let's see what else they got. D+

Singing Bridesmaids

- Ok, now she IS singing...again. Now, it's a purposely bad, off key parody of "Espresso".

- The lyrics are just as jumbled as the original but at least I can sense that the point of this song seems to be to humiliate Andrew Dismukes' groom character. He might be the strongest part if this sketch, so...good for him. I liked his "rhyme scheme" line.

- I'm starting to think this may just be just his "island castaway" sketch with Jason Momoa from last year...just set to pop music and set arcade wedding.

- Now, Marcello shows up as the guy they were singing about. Not crazy that the ending was so rushed here, but at least it did end. I was starting to think it never would. D+

SNL Midnight Matinee: My Best Friend's House

- Hmm...new title card? Possible new branding for pretapes?

- Nice use of Pee Wees' Playhouse style puppetry in this. 

- This was obviously more "cute" than "funny" until the insane sudden reveal if Mikeys ' dad being a serial killer.

- Sarah appears as a severed head in a fridge. Honestly, a bit surprised she didn't have a much bigger part in this. Still, this one of the more successful outings of the "sudden explosive, near vomit inducing gore" pretapes she's been involved with in the past couple of years.

- A Dan Bulla Short? Good for him getting to branch out into directing from *just* writing. Since his ending vanity card indicates he also wrote/directed/produced "Tiny Horse", "Shrimp Tower", "Meatballs" and "Pongo", it looks like they might have been grooming him to take the Smigel/PDD/TLI mantle since...season 49 or 46 at the earliest? B-

Charades

- Jane and (especially) Emil are featured prominently in this. Let's see where this goes. (Spoiler alert: no where for Jane and Emil sadly).

- Bowen seems to be playing a more low key grounded role here and his chemistry with Ariana actually works for me here. I like the idea of them sniping at each other. 

- Arianas' Judy Garland-esque 40s actress voice is a strong choice (is that her "big theater kid energy" coming out or...has it really been that long since she acted?) but it works well with the antagonistic energy of this.

- Dummy fight!

- This might have been my favorite live sketch of the episode. Well done. B-

Celine for UFC

- This may not be the first time Ariana has done her Celine Dion impression on SNL, but the sheer strangeness of this was enough to pique my interest. I didn't laugh a whole lot at it but, still...not bad. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

- Josts' "subway series/livestreamed car crash jokes" and Che's "R. Kelly" jokes were the only things from them that rose above the level of "white noise" for me. Che almost had something there with his his "78% of black voters" rant but...he didn't quite put that over for me.

- Hey, another wonderfully deranged, manic one-off Ego Update character! This was the exact type of performance I've always liked seeing from her! I especially liked the "drone/STD/USB" joke. Makes me feel a bit guilty about those new earbuds I ordered from Amazon on Wednesday, but...oh well.

- JAJ/Squirm is a pairing we have yet to have seen. Their Gallagher bros commentary may have been goofy and juvenile but...it certainly felt unique to their voices so it was easy for them to make this fun. C-

Sounds Of The Italian Renaissance 

- More JAJMukes nonsense leading into some Samberg/Rudolph nonsense mixed into a white sauce and drizzled over some pizza pasta to reveal that...Ariana is playing a castrati?

- This may seem quite juvenile but once we got to "opium induced coma" this had a "slightly writerly feel" to it. The thousand yard stare from Ariana added a likable oddness to this. It's at least nice to see Maya and Andy being used in the odd non political sketch deep in the show (like Maya was early on in season 46) as long as they're hanging around. Maybe they could get Gaffigan and Carvey in on this? Wouldn't hurt, imo.

- Once again, this sketch had not even a trace of an ending. They just took the longest way possible to there "how do we even follow THAT?" point of the sketch and just slammed on the brakes there, as if they had to make some abrupt sudden cuts out of nowhere. That was the only thing this had really going against it. C+

3 Jennifer Coolidge(s) 3 For Maybelline 

- I didn't mind either Chloes' or Arianas' Coolidge impressions. I certainly wasn't expecting them to have both of them do their impressions together Fallon/Jagger style. I mean, it's not great that this is mostly making me wonder why the actual Jennifer Coolidge hasn't hosted yet, but it's not taking anything away from this episode at this point.

- Carvey as Coolidge was a nice (if not jarring) addition to this. (Careful what I wish for, huh?) Thankfully, he kept this from getting too monotonous (even if all his impressions sound like they're running together now). 

- I wonder if this was originally a pitch Chloe was saving for the real Jennifer Coolidge if the last writer's strike didn't happen and she got to host the season 48 finale? C+

Hotel Detective

- Wow, helluva quick change for Ariana there. They really slammed into this one. (*someone whispers in Caseys' ear*) What's that? Oh, there WAS no quick change? Oh, this sketch is actually a pretape of a live sketch that was originally cut from dress rehearsal suddenly tossed in because the soundboard froze for a like a full minute before Stevie performed "Edge Of Seventeen" and thus the entire shows' timing was thrown out if whack so a planned Reese De'What sketch about The Blob had to be cut? OK, then. 

- They haven't put any live looking non commercial pretapes into the show since at least 2002 so this felt like an interesting throwback in multiple ways.

- One good thing to come out of this episode was the opportunity for JAJ to do another old timey, fast talking 40s G-man voice. Nice of them to let Dismukes get in on this action. Ariana already did one of these but at least this sketch actually called for it. Plus, this also had a writerly feel to it, so...while I can see why this would've gotten cut (redundancy) it's nice to actually see it because it actually grows on you after multiple viewings. I have a feeling this would've gotten thrown up on YouTube either way.

- Ariana does Judy Garland and Dismukes does...either Charles Bronson or Rod Steiger? Either way, Andrew's enunciation was certainly...a strong choice.

- Wow, sudden Rod Serlongfellow! OK, that may have been the best ending to anything this entire episode could've asked for. I mean, I've seen better Rod Serling impressions on SNL but it was a breath of fresh air in this episode. B+

Ranking The Season (Best To Worst)

1. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
2. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
3. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

Overall Thoughts

- This was far from the worst show of the season so far, but not quite the best. It was wildly uneven. 

- It got off to a rough start but it took a lot more chances than either of this season's previous episodes. For the most part, they paid off and the episode grew on me.

- Ariana Grande turned out to be a strong host who worked well with any cast. She really elevated the material and the cast and writers really knew how to play to her strengths. 

- Bowen didn't quite have the big night I was expecting him to have in an Ariana Grande episode. Fortunately, JAJ and Dismukes had surprisingly strong nights. Chloe, Kenan and Longfellow did well, too.

- Jane and Emil continue to barely earn a paycheck while Ashley Padillas' conspicuous absence continues. I heard she had her own Update piece cut, so...progress? Keep at it, Ashley. You'll get some lines on screen at some point.

Closing Thoughts 

- Well, this season continues to show unexpected signs of promise. Next week, Michael Keaton hosts for his fourth time with Billie Eilish as musical guest. SNL has pulled off successfully good episodes with both of these people at the helm before, so I've been looking forward to this episode the most out of any others that have been announced so far. Hope they don't let me down! See you next week!

(Oh, and soon I will be publishing a blog I wrote reviewing the new film Saturday Night. Keep an eye out for that!)

Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)

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