SNL Reviews (and possibly other stuff)
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Dua Lipa (05.04.2024)
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)
Fair warning, this is possibly the most DENSE review I have ever written, but I still stand by it, so...last chance to turn back now.
To those of you choosing to stay, let's get right to it because there is a LOT to break down tonight.
Good Grief! Even More Close Encounters - Heh, and here I was thinking that "Papyrus" would be the only sketch from Ryan's previous hosting stints they COULD revive without the pre-Ego cast...because y'know I wasn't COUNTING on them getting any previous cast members to cameo but I guess Ryan used his Barbie connection to at least get Kate to make a cameo...a few months after she actually hosted, but whatever. Well, at least Ryan and Kate still have the sense to know that without the breaking brought on by bawdy suggestive physical bits, these really lose something but (if you'll forgive my phrasing here) having Ryan sliding an extended dick joke made this feel a bit...masturbatory? Oh well, even though Bowen is prone to breaking as well (and Sarah is getting there) they along with Mikey really balanced this out with a professional demeanor. Even though this kinda breaks the continuity of Ms. Rafferty now living with the alien planet permanently, I still liked the concise, non-blowout out ending to this even if it was another group LFNY. I will admit I kinda liked Ryans meta "same clothes" joke at the beginning. C+
Monologue - Last time Ryan started playing piano during his monologue, I had trouble NOT completely tuning out until Emma Stone shows up. Now, hearing Ryan sing a half baked parody of Taylor Swifts' "All Too Well" (I guess this means we WON'T be getting to see TayTay on the show to plug The Tortured Poets Department?) was enough to keep me engaged until Emily Blunt promptly showed up and just straight up started smashing shit over Ryan's head stunt man style in an effort to remind Ryan what movie he is SUPPOSED to be plugging (before she joined in on the singing and improved the musical portions of this monologue) and I legitimately started laughing. *Man, that was a long ass run on sentence. I really need to learn to either edit these better or cool it with the parentheticals and/or self conscious meta commentary on my own writing style.* Anyway, while I didn't really have a problem with the lyrics of the song or how it was performed, I thought for a brief moment that I might have been a little too hard on that cold open. I mean, if the premise of this monologue is Ryan Gosling dramatically "breaks up" with a character that he just played in a movie, I defy anyone (myself included) to call this any LESS "masturbatory" than...well, anything really. On top of that, this monologue cuts directly to a trailer for "The Fall Guy" that shows the exact scene Ryan just described where Emily Blunt busts his balls for crying to the exact song he parodies here in his car. Tell me THAT'S not "masturbatory"! Anyway, while portions of this episode truly made me feel that at least one person in the writers room thought they were still living in 2018, this monologue alone made me feel like the show itself (and possibly just America in general) could barely let go of the fall of 2021 (or even the fall of 2014 if you remember the monologue to Woodys' last truly great episode of this show) LET ALONE THE SUMMER OF 2023! Still, as I continue to examine this monologue, I'm picking up on something deeper. Maybe we're not just stuck in the past as much as we are just trying to cling to the last few moments in time when there was still a shred of what we now call "monoculture" where there was something big enough for the whole world to grab onto and popularize in an effort just to distract ourselves, even momentarily from just our own anxieties in life or even the true horrors of the real world we were too sad to really think about. Maybe I'm reading WAY too much into something here but I suppose that's just what you get when it's 1:30am and you've been up since roughly 7am because that's just what your body is trained to do now so you've been essentially microdosing caffeine throughout the afternoon just for THIS...just because you know some people out there you know online read these regularly and decide "yes, this is for me" and you're doing this for them and we're all mutually in an effort to distract ourselves from...something in our lives? Anyway, sorry for getting TOO deep there. Now, since I've more than said my piece on this monologue I'll just move on as QUICKLY (and thoroughly) as I can with the rest of my review before the density of my writing creates a black hole or a supernova somewhere. B+
But first, here's another fun Simpsons Gif that monologue gave me the perfect excuse to post...
Get That Boy Back - Wow, they FINALLY give Chloe Troast a break out moment where she is front and center AND she sings lead vocals! Just like I've been asking for! The assists from Gosling and Stapleton and the fact that this was a Carrie Underwood "Before He Cheats" pastiche that also felt well plotted with shades of "Barry" were icing on the cake. This may actually be a front runner for "favorite pretape of the season" for me. A+
Cuban Bar - This felt like a quarter of one sketch stitched on to three quarters of another, but really they were probably just too skittish to have Ryan sound like he was Marcellos' ventriloquist dummy without SOME explanation upfront as to why a white guy was doing a strong accent. They should've tried a different approach to making this feel like one cohesive sketch because the main focus seemed to be listing obscure pop culture figures who were supposedly going to be at a party Kenan couldn't attend because of an obligation to his significant other. I mean the whole "Jon Taffer/Hulu" rant was ok but didn't exactly save this for me. Yeah, that didn’t work for me. Other than the dogs' appearance at the end and Sarahs' "I love countries" line, this nearly devolved into pure white noise for me. C-
NewsNation A.I. Town Hall - Well, I'm sure some of you will have mixed feelings about them bringing back the template from the "Bert Sampson Google Talks" sketch with Jessica Chastain (also from season 43 incidentally) but that one was honestly a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, so I didn't mind. I especially liked how the expanded and improved on what they were doing this time starting with the fact that they didn't quite hang a lampshade on what they were doing here. I also actually enjoyed Heidi Gardner seemingly set a new record for "Hardest And Most Shamelessly An SNL Cast Member Has Broke On Air". Mikey and Ryan really captured the Beavis & Butt-head look and vibe expertly. While I felt the gag with JAJ, Molly, Dismukes and Marcellos' King Of The Hill cosplay was a bit telegraphed but I still appreciate that they put it in there nonetheless. B-
Update felt a little flat and uneven in some parts but a couple of unexpected factors at least bought the energy up a bit. I liked Josts' first two jokes just for the absurdity he was playing off of. I did like the slightly different than what I may have been expecting approach that Che and Jost took with those PJ obit jokes. I did like Che's Trump/Johnston joke. I wanted to like that Trump/abortion joke more just for the hard right turn after that long clapter baiting setup but the setup itself was a but clunky and hung a lampshade on most peoples problems with Che on Update this season (which they will address and attempt to correct/make up for later on). I didn't want to like Che's Golden Bachelor joke as much as I wanted to like the use of the phrase "sea-metery" as a punchline. It's nice to see Longfellow start to make up for lost time but this wasn't exactly my favorite commentary of his. I mean, the only time I could really get into it was the "duvet" rant and that was the very end. I did like the real Caitlin Clark stopping by to give Che his comeuppance for the string of borderline misogynist jokes right at the exact point he'd delivered the final blow that killed that horse. I also appreciated getting to see Che take the brunt of that "joke swap" energy instead of Jost for once. I genuinely laughed at that "Be. Funnier. Dumbass." punchline as much as Che did while delivering it. The only even slightly critical thing I can say about this is I feel like it couldn't been tightened up in the pacing department but then again we are dealing with a cameo (that was likely thrown together at the last possible second) from an athlete who hasn't been on the show before. For that reason (and that reason only) I got SLIGHT Dan Crenshaw vibes from this but this wasn't nearly as bad as that whole situation between Dan and Pete and Caitlin Clark isn't exactly someone I can see damaging American democracy or the voting process or anything by SNL "platforming" her. B-
Cookie Crumbles - Hmm, yeah...I could see this was going to be another shameless Bowen vanity piece that people are getting sick of so seeing what Ryan was going to bring to it was the only thing keeping me from tuning out. This went for an absurdist vibe and came up short for me. I think this places a distant third behind the records set by Larry David & Rachel Dratch/Lindsay Lohan (tie) in the category of "Most A Castmember Or Hosts' Shameless Breaking Has Improved A Sketch". I did appreciate the attempt at a twist ending even though part of me saw it coming. This made me think I was maybe a little too hard on that Cuban bar sketch from earlier in the show because this truly felt like two barely formed ideas just slammed together and stretched out at 2am Wednesday morning. C-
Erin Brockovich Deleted Scene - Anyone else notice Ryan was wearing a fake mustache over his ACTUAL mustache? Talk about putting a hat on a hat, am I right folks? Anyway, speaking of, I still can't really decide whether or not Ryan's breaking got to be too much by this point or if it was the only interesting thing about this Chloe Fineman vanity piece (and I do mean "vanity" because the fact that she got Julia Stiles to come back just to recreate a scene from "Save The Last Dance" makes me think she at least wrote or pitched this). Still, even if this wasn't the last sketch of the night it would've been easier for me to lose interest in what was essentially Chloe, Ryan and Kenan getting caught in a loop of reciting a bunch of goofy, pointless "lists" to each other. C-
Lists? Did I just type the word "lists?" Well, here's a list of the rest of this season's episodes I have subjectively ranked from best to worst so far...
1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.09.2023)
3. Kristen Wiig/Raye (04.06.2024)
4. Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)
5. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
6. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
7. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
8. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.02.2023)
9. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
10. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
11. Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (03.30.2024)
12. Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)
13. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)
14. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
15. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (01.27.2024)
16. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
17. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)
1. Ryan Gosling/Leon Bridges (12.05.2015)
2. Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)
3. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z (09.30.2017)
So maybe I should just end this review here since I've already talked about the last sketch that aired...but wait, there's actually one more sketch I wanted to talk about, so why don't I just work in another format break this week just for fun?
Obligatory Band Shot...Wait, what's THIS?!? - Well, I AM grateful to the show for actually PROMOTING the thing that obviously got cut for time due to the truly historic amount of breaking in tonight's episode. I mean, I know the blame can't all be on Ryan there but it's like they just KNEW his breaking would just reach critical mass tonight and felt the need to prepare themselves and the audience. Anyway, I normally don't go that extra mile to include "cut for time" sketches in my reviews but since they mentioned this existed on air and encouraged viewers to seek it out (and this happens to be the only potential sequel/recurring sketch reprisal from Ryan Gosling I was actually interested in seeing) I'll make an exception this time and I will talk about it.
Papyrus 2 - Hmm, while I did like this and I did feel like this was a more than worthy successor to the original (which was really the only other sketch from Goslings' 2017 episode worth remembering) I get the feeling that this might still have gotten cut for time or at dress...just for being too dense for an already fairly dense episode. Still, I liked the way they included Sarah in a surprisingly grounded and appropriately subtle role for her. This is the most I feel like I've seen a Sarah Sherman character occupy the same plane of reality as every other character in an SNL sketch. I did like the character progression of Ryan's character in this (especially in terms of his sheer pettiness). I did appreciate both big reveals in this (both in the middle and at the end...I won't spoil them for you in case you are reading this review without having seen this). It was nice to see the show throw Kyle Mooney a bone even after his leaving the cast but the cosmic irony of him coming back once more just to be, once again, genuinely cut for time (and in the audience to see it in real time, no less) is a bitter pill for even me to swallow. B+
Well, the good vibes of April 2024 continue on SNL. Even if they peter out just a tad, let's hope the keep going on into May when Dua Lipa makes her double duty debut! Even though "Argyle" in which she made her acting debut seems to have bombed, I have seen a clip of her doing a guest host monologue on Kimmel during the Covid isolation era and she handled that well. I have no doubt that Dua Lipa will be a strong host.
Host? Did I just type the word "host?" Well, here's the name of one other "host" who's talk shows got me through middle school, college and...well, the last few years of my life honestly.
Conan O'Brien.
Yes, I had heard a rumor originating on Twitter/X that he would be the next host. Someone said they had a connection at the show who saw his name on a piece of paper. My first thought was that paper being tonight's rundown and he would be making a cameo in TONIGHT'S show (since he was already in NYC and in the building this week). Since that didn't happen, I guess that person just couldn't squint hard enough to truly make it out and just severely misread "Caitlin Clark" from a distance?
My second thought was of that paper not being a list of already booked May hosts, but a list of hosts they were TRYING to book for either the mother's day show (hey, that's when they had Elon on a few years ago, so...stranger things have happened) or more likely the finale.
While it's still a long shot, I would truly love to see ol' Conesy come back to studio 8H just once more. He did make a cameo in Mulaneys' five timers club sketch just two years ago and his first SNL episode from March of 2001 (an all time banger, btw) was my first real exposure to him before those two years when Comedy Central was the cable channel airing next day repeats of Late Night instead of CNBC. Ever since then he's been an idol and a role model of mine, and it's just gratifying to see the output of love and respect he gets on Twitter/X during the rare times he does something outside of his podcast. Whether it's his graceful retirement from TBS or his new Max streaming series FINALLY coming out, it's nice to be reminded that Conan O'Brien will live on even through YouTube clips of his old work. We'll always have those and our memories of them if a time comes when he's no longer out somewhere in the world making people laugh with new content of his own.
See you all in May!
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Kristen Wiig/Raye (04.06.2024)
Okay, here's my review. Like many of you, I've had some problems with the way SNL used Kristen Wiig in sketches in the latter part of her tenure. Fortunately, this episode didn't use her as a host in the same way. This episode worked mostly by focusing on Kristens' strengths as an actress and what made her work as a cast member when she first started out in the show. Thankfully, the two recurring characters of hers they dug out of mothballs for tonight were both semi obscure deep cuts that actually worked the few times they were done in the late 2000s/early 2010s rather than her big, hammy, over the top, scenery chewers that have already made previous comebacks because they somehow made a strong impression on more casual viewers. This may not have been the absolute best show of the season for me because it was a little uneven compared to Bargatze/Foo Fighters and the highs weren't quite as high as the ones in Driver/Rodrigo but it is still a top three episode for me nonetheless. The casts airtime felt pretty balanced (moreso than last week except for only Longfellow seemingly getting shut out but at least Molly and Punkie were allowed to make a bit of a comeback). Hell, you know it's a really solid episode when even Andrew Dick of all people says he can get on board with the parts that he saw (and Andy, if you happen to be reading this...you didn't miss much from the cold open but I would highly recommend you check out this monologue if you can. I'll fully lay out why two paragraphs from now. Also, if you make it to my review of the final sketch of the night...I'd be curious to know what you think of my assessment of it). Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?
TBS March Madness Postgame - This was a surprisingly muted cold open for an episode with...this host (kind of a bummer that a sketch wity both Devon Walker and Kenans' Barkley got this muted a reaction from me), but I guess it shows they know what audience Wiig would draw and...that the knew how to play to that audience, I guess? Good to see them finally off set that women's basketball sketch with Paul Reiser...30 years later. I didn't even mind Heidi in this but once she started talking aboyt how hard she works her girls I started wishing Melissa McCarthy could be in this (even if it would be a carbon copy of a sketch she did 11 years ago). At least it was nice of them to give us a break from tired, moribund political material when we really needed it. C-
Monologue - Wow, I liked this a lot more than I thought I would (even the "saying 'hi' to the band" part at the very beginning). It seems like it was going for the same thing Tina Feys' monologue from 2018 was going for but in a less needlessly self-indulgent, demeaning middle finger to the audience way. Instead of talking down to the audience like we were all idiots for not madly embracing big flashy stunt cameos in big flashy political roles to serve the shows' commitment to big and flashy yet ultimately tootlhess political commentary, they actually appeared to be on the audiences side for once as they addressed a legitimate concern we've raised recentlt. Does the ever growing, ever expanding and thus far FAR less exclusive nature of the modern day five-timers club renders is meaningless or does it still truly means anything anymore? I have to say though, it truly does mean something to me that they finally gave Paula Pell the proper fitting acknowledgement for her contributions to the show and her place in its history. Thankfully, if the show had to be loaded with cameos as it would've been a few years ago (will Paul Rudd EVER truly have made up for lost time due to his five timers club show being canceled due to an Omicron Covid outbreak?), they were mostly pleasant people I didn’t mind seeing again and they were mostly condensed to the monologue. Even Matt Damon turned in a genuinely funny performance although when he was explaining where he got his five timers jacket from I kept thinking "dude, just say Affleck let you borrow his...he legitimately hosted five times and that joke actually works better". Fred felt a little tacked on but he was fine. Glad to see Jon Hamm is aa worried he'll never get to host again as we all are. He truly deserves even a fourth time. Still, I wish I could get inside Marty Shorts' head just to find out his rationale of WHY he thinks his episodes where he cohosted with Steve and/or Chevy don't count at all toward his total. Ryan Gosling was OK too. I'm just glad to see him make up for how disastrous the last episode hosted by a season 32 alumni wher next weeks' host makes an actual cameo with Lorne during the monologue turned out to be. I did also appreciate how if you look closely, you'll see how this joke carried over into the goodnights with each castmember (even Longfellow...and Raye...and apparently Kaia Gerber who we'll see later starting with the first pretape of the night if you can manage not to blink) each having their own five timers jacket. Yes, as much as we were all expecting Wiig to make a big deal out of joining the five timers club, truly something this subtly off the wall would've been preferable to another big blowout sketch with the whole set. B+
Ticket To Ride - Ok, as soon as I could visually tell Wiig was NOT playing Surprised Sue and she uttered the phrase "I'm afraid of being Jumanji'd" I knew I was getting into this. It felt a little repetitive (as some escalating heavily detail oriented Dismukes sketches cam) but I loved the perfectly comitted intensity and conotrolled chaos of it (especially from Wiig & Dismukes). A frigging Forte cameo was the active ingredient of the perfect ending to this. B+
Pilates - This oddly felt like a premise for a "trendy" pretape that should've been done at the beginning of Wiigs' era as a cast member (you know, when it would've only felt two years out of date at most instead of twenty. I only say this because it immediately made me think of Amy Poehlers' "Sesame Street/Cookie Monster/Pilates Monster" joke from an April 2005 Weekend Update which was mere months before Wiig first joined the show). Still, I liked the details that went into the writing of this and the fact that it gave Molly, Troast and Punkie SOMETHING to do (it's about time someone threw each of them a bone). Even though it felt a little flat and static for a fake horror trailer that Sarah Sherman has a substantial supporting role in (thankfully I stopped myself from getting my hopes up because that descriptor NEVER turns into what I hope it does) I enjoyed this enough. C-
Secretaries - Ok, I actually liked this much more than I did when it appeared in Pete's episode this season. It REALLY helpee that Wiig & Hamm were there for Heidi to play off of as they're obviously both much better suited at playing these types of '50s/'60s office archetypes and selling them without getting too ridiculous and over the top. This also ended at just the right place before it got too annoyingly cartoonish. Glad one of my Twitter mutuals on Reddit was able to post a dress report that confirms my personal theory that the big table break was planned but didn’t go as smoothly on air as it was supposed to in dress. C-
Jerrys' Retirement - I really do appreciate that at this point in the night, the only true recurring Wiig character we've gotten was not just a deep cut that I actually remember enjoying the first two times they did it, but an ensemble piece where the cast played off each other well. I was relieved when this moved away from Bowen (even though he, Punkie, Chloe F and somehow Paul Rudd) and I actually laughed at Wiigs' "Gail" (channeling Kate McKinnon perhaps?), Armisens' "rock & roll shorts guy" and Fortes' Hamilton. Even Damon had funnier lines than he had in the monologue expertly expertly crafted for him here. It's too bad Bobby Moynihan couldn't make it this week because Marcello awkwardly grabbing the mic and then farting into it doesn’t hold a candle to Bobby's guy who says "WHAAAAAATTT?!?" and drops it. B+
Update was a pretty mixed bag. As far as jokes, the only ones that really worked for me from each anchor were Josts' podium/cocaine like and Che's Kanye joke and cicadas/mouse genitals line (the assist from Jost really helped). The rest of them really just washed right over me. No need to offset that cold open there, Che. I ended up liking Marcellos personified NYC earthquake much more than I thought I would because he sold it in only the way he could have. It felt like this was written specifically for Marcello and not like he was just slotted into a potential Bowen/Longfellow role. I didn't care too much for Kenan as the literal face of the eclipse but it was nice of him to provide some balance and pick up some slack so Marcello doesn't have to sustain that energy the WHOLE time. I was legitimately glad to see Wiigs Aunt Linda again. She was definitely at the top of my list of "recurring Kristen Wiig characters I had no actual problem with" (and that was mostly because she was only used in her first two years before the show tipped the scales away from "playing to her actual strengths" and "overindulging her as the next big beneficiary of the shows' 'star system'"). I even laughed at the line "don't get smart, Tina & Amy." I just wished she could get her desk slapping habit under control. B-
Go Karts - This was all right, but I couldn't really get to into it because I didn't feel like there was enough there. It didn't really go anywhere at all (pun not intended). Still, I appreciate how it made a decent use of each cast members dramatic acting chops to the exact degree this sketch called for it (well, except for Mikey but Wiig, JAJ, Troast & Dismukes were great in it). C-
La Maison Du Bang - Ok, while I hate to overuse this phrasing/joke structure in my reviews but this really TRULY felt like they threw Les Jeunes De Paris in a blender with those two Soul Train/New Jack Thanksgiving Time-Life record sketches in a blender with some diluted Deep House Dish and sprinkles of "don't make me sing/dance" other recent PBS Retrospective sketches. I didn't hate it but I felt there was nothing to really grab on to here. It just kept moving along from the next dadaist song & dance gag. It legit felt like they tried to replicate the pacing and audience confusion of a Turn-on episode and condensed it into one sketch. That may seem like a wild, swinging for the fences comparison but I say that with my full chest because Wiig, Mikey, Bowen & Chloe F (and at this point, let’s face it...JAJ & Dismukes) had the innate ability to arrest my attention but the material they were given didn’t keep me comfortable for very long. Ego and Chloe T could've kept me comfortable but they were on the screen only in very short bursts. Speaking of Ms Troast, I'm glad they finally gave us even a bit more than two seconds of her singing. I just wish they could do the same again without making her singing or her voice itself the central gag. Still, everyone in my favorite Discord server* seemed pretty high on this one so I'm sure it might grow on me if I ever decide to rewatch it. C-
*I know I post links to these reviews in two different SNL relayed Discord servers so in case you happen to be reading this from the other one, I won't reveal which one is which.
Now, for my updated ranking of season 49...
1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.09.2023)
3. Kristen Wiig/Raye (04.06.2024)
4. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
5. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
6. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
7. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.02.2023)
8. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
9. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
10. Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (03.30.2024)
11. Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)
12. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)
13. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
14. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (01.27.2024)
15. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
16. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)
Well, that was the most pleasant, confident and self-assured I've seen SNL manage to be this season. Next week, Ryan Gosling hosts for his third time. Now, he has previously hosted one very strong damn near classic episode and one disappointing dull and lifeless episode so...batting average isn't great there but I know his comedic chops well enough to go into this one with an open mind. Hopefully they can carry on the good vibes from this week into the next week and Ryan Gosling had proven that wouldn't be a problem with him as host. See you then!
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (03.30.2024)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)
3. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
4. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
5. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
6. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)
7. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
8. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
9. Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (03.30.2024)
10. Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)
11. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)
12. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
13. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (1.27.2024)
14. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
15. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)
3. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
4. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
5. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
6. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)
7. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
8. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
9. Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)
10. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)
11. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
12. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (1.27.2024)
13. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
14. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)
Okay, here's my review. After last week, I was glad to see the show at least return to being benign and undivisive in its mediocrity. Unfortunately, this episode felt like it stressed the "mediocrity" part a little too heavily. Yeah, Sydney Sweeney was a fine host who effortlessly carried this episode with the material she was given with her sweet, bubbly personality. Unfortunately, said material felt really bland and uninspired. At times, it even seemed like the show played into its own worst instincts, almost on purpose. The material I did enjoy out of this rundown, I couldn't much bring myself to laugh at. In fact, I'm quite surprised to see certain parts of this episode rated so highly but, hey...to each their own.
To be honest, this episode especially gave me pause and me wonder if I am actually just writing these reviews more out if sheer compulsion and force of habit than an actual love of the game. I'm not saying this episode made me want to retire from writing these reviews but I admit that I am starting to understand how Stooge felt when he stopped reviewing the show live a full decade ago. Don't worry, I know I still have some dedicated fans who will continue to read these as long as I keep writing them. I know full well how much my regular readers rely on me to put the show in perspective against all the immediate kneejerk live reactions we see each week (even when I disagree with popular opinion which you'll probably find a lot of in this review). Last week especially, I could tell that perspective was badly needed in times of heavy uncertainty so with you guys driving me, I think I'll be OK. Anyway, let’s get on with it.
Inside Politics - Even with Ego, Longfellow (who maybe should've had Dismukes take over his role?) Marcello, Mikey, and Devon putting in work and Heidi rushing us through it, none of this cold open really landed for me. They pretty much all just dragged out in sketch form something Jon Stewart glossed over pretty well about three weeks ago. It is nice that we are gradually getting away from Trump/GOP themed cold opens for a bit. Other than that, all I can say about it is, "next time, young blood". D+
Monologue - Again, Sydney Sweeney certainly had the confidence and lack of first time host jitters to carry this monologue with ease...which is sadly the only notable thing about it. I guess this showed she'll be a more competent host than one of her first costars was two months ago. I just wish this monologue didn’t give off the same vibe of "I'm just using this show to plug a movie that I'm confident isn't a HUGE bomb and this monologue is more to address some rumors about me than it is for me to show I have any shred of awareness of let alone connection to this show." C-
Police Interns - Hmm, I wonder how many other table reads this got cut from besides Aubrey Plazas? Anyway, good to see Sydney and Chloe F really stretch as actresses and play so starkly against type in the lead off sketch. Seriously though, it's not a good sign when they just say "fuck it" and just decide to devote the exact same amount of effort and energy they would normally put into writing a Thursday promo into an actual frigging sketch within the show. Hell, the word "writing" seems incredibly generous when applied to this sketch when it's obvious that Chloe Fineman just slammed together a list of all the social media apps she could think of and all the dialogue was pieced together backwards from there. At least I can say I got a chuckle from JAJs "fellow kids" moment. I hated how telegraphed Mikeys' Snapchat and Kenans OnlyFans jokes felt. C-
PDD In Mourning - Well, it wasn’t quite the best I've seen from Please Don't Destroy but at least it was nice to see something that quietly goes for over the top absurdity after such an empty buzzword laden sketch. The montage of comments and tweets over the audio from the YouTube clip made this for me. I also appreciated that they didn't just reference Flaco the Owl dying this early in the show as you would expect the first pretape of the night in this season to. B+
More Like "Air Dud", amirite? - Geez, we all thought they were gonna rehash old sketches they did with Dolly Parton and Raquel Welch...not Louise Lasser, Chris Hemsworth or Sam Rockwell! Anyway, kudos to Sydney for playing into the silly goofiness well and Marcello, Dismukes and Mikey Longs at her table playing their disbelief off her expertly. C-
Big Bench - I did like the real slapdash, feverishly thrown together nature of this. However, I feel like they could've done more than just cut back & forth between the same six or seven characters continuously with the second live dog of the episode thrown in for good measure. Hell, Bowen had a character in the montage of this that seemed to be cut entirely (like Chloe F should've, honestly). At least JAJ & Sweeney were actually the funniest part of this. Still, I'm genuinely torn between whether JAJs' naturally occurring over goofy southern accent was funnier or Sydneys' wild swing-and-a-miss attempt at one. C-
Bowens' Straight - I did like seeing Bowen play so starkly against type (and I mean that non-sarcastically this time given the how much all of Bowens pieces all seem the same). I also liked seeing what appeared to be a piece Bowen wrote to satirize heterosexuality in the same vein as "Straight Male Friend" with Travis Kelce. Unfortunately, this seemed like it couldn't succeed at either of those things so much that I had mo idea what it was genuinely aiming for at all other than just flash & glitz. Maybe this was largely intended as a "Euphoria" parody that subvers the "camp" of that show? Speaking of, is it just me or does the idea of Bowen only playing gay for easy laughs sound a little...reductive? Marcellos walk on at the end and Mikeys cameos were funny enough. The Gina Gershon cameo was a nice unexpected twist. C-
Shoooooooooooot - I wanted to like this more but it felt way too dry fir a Sarah Sherman sketch. Plus, I also feel Sarah deserves a little more out of a sketch where she is the comedic focal point than just the newly emerging trope of "one or two people fail to read the room properly as others (probably including Heidi Gardner) recieve a continuous string of bad news". Also, I was a little too distracted trying to figure out which previous female host Sydney reminded me of in that wig besides Billie Eilish. Yep, that's what this episode has done to me. At least it is still nice to be reminded that Chloe Troast is still in the cast. It's also nice to see Sydney attempt another accent (even if there's no chance in hell you'll be able to tell what it is). C+
Update felt like it was in a real nosedive for the first time this season. I did like the first four jokes after Heidi's A.I. generated gibberish (yeah, I know it's incredibly hack to compare things to A.I. content now but that genuinely felt like the most A.I. created shit I have seen on this show with how it felt like all of Heidi's one shot Update characters blended together...and sonehow a lesser known Simpsons meme got in there). Ego's commentary was a nice concentrated blast of WTF but it's not a good sign when something that would seem so mild in any other episode feels like it's slapping you upside the head out of nowhere. C-
Hooters Tips - Woooooow, you know something? I think I was a little too hard on Heidi's Update piece. Despite Mikey, Longfellow, JAJ and Dismukes trying to have a little fun with their gleeful misogyny, this was the type of sketch where literally any screenshot needs to be the photo you see when you look up the word "hack" in the dictionary. D-
Interior Design For Airbnb - This was certainly a better use of Chloe Troast. Still, it came across like a much tighter version of the hotel sketch with Billie and Kate. That ended up working against it because it lacked that other sketches live breaking energy and it was written in a way that tells me I just barely fell outside of the target audience for it. I see the obligatory jammed in Willy Wonka Experience reference of the night got the reaction they hoped for. You know that's always something that bodes well for sketch comedy. C+
Date Night - This pointed examination of both male and female bonding was the best written sketch of the night. Too bad the ending was rushed, and it was weighed down by being the ten-to-one of such a soul draingingly dull episode. Also, it looks like JAJ jumped his cue. B-
Now, for my updated ranking of season 49...
1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)
3. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
4. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
5. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
6. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)
7. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
8. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
9. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)
10. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
11. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (1.27.2024)
12. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
13. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)
Well, that was the episode that just was. Next week, Josh Brolin returns for his third time hosting. He's usually a solid reliable host (even if something always feels a little off about each of his episodes) so, I'm definitely looking forward to that one. See you then!
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
Okay, here's my review. This episode was quite far from the all time sheer bottoming out some were expecting, but it wasn't quite the vindication for Shane Gillis others were somehow expecting either. He is not this shows' prodigal son by any means, but he did OK when the sketches played into his whole "vibe" as much as they felt they could get away with. Shane Gillis blended in with the cast well but at the same time, he didn't exactly make a string case that the show seriously lost anything by firing him. I mean, let’s face it...this isn't 2013 anymore and he's not exactly Kerry Washington. As for all the "what ifs?" that may or may not have been answered, he just strikes me as another guy who would've been your typical one-and-fine/one season wonder cast member and this whole episode just felt like everything he would've got on air in season 45 (including cut for time stuff) condensed into one single episode. Let's face it, he probably wouldn't have made it to season 46 because as we've seen when he bought on Jim Carrey, Lorne would've been more than willing to get another big outside "name" to play Trump to Carreys' Biden (even if it just meant replacing Baldwin with Hammond). Honestly, I may have been a little too on edge to really get into this one (from dreading the possible "discourse" this episode COULD have inspired) but somehow this turned out to be the most stable, even keeled SNL episode of 2024 so far (again, not a difficult feat AT ALL but I'll take any sign I can get that the show is stabilizing itself right now). As you'll see, this episode came very close to escaping my bottom five of the whole season (it's near the top of my bottom five though, don't worry). Every member of the cast (even Molly) got on the air but what was more important were the moments of catharsis on stage during the night (especially when Shane and Bowen actually hugged) that showed he did not actively alienate anyone he worked with last night or make their week noticably worse in general. Let’s just break it down, because there's a lot more to get to.
Reluctant Trump Victory Party - Well, a quiet & thoughtful Downey-lite cold open was the absolute last thing I was expecting from the season at this point let alone this particular episode, but hey... even if it felt a little better than this episode deserved, I'll take it. It felt straight outta season 24 anyway. Actually, it felt more like an inverse of those "How's He Doin?" sketches they sjow did during Obamas' second term. Anyway, as I hinted at last week, I kinda like the idea of a Trump themed cold open (even a decently written one by the shows standards in this era) subtly annoying certain viewers who tuned in just for this host. Then again, this did feel like a watered down version of a South Park episode from 2017, so...maybe this could've been palatable even for them, too? After tonight, I don't want to pigeonhole anyone. It was certainly well casted. Marcello as Rubio was a good use of him and I liked seeing JAJs Lindsay Graham and Devons' Tim Scott again (JAJs' choking HAD to be real, right? It just seemed too out of nowhere not to be). Mikey as Senator Rich was a fine anchor to this as well. B-
Monologue - (*gulp*) Well, here we go. First off, I did like that he got the "firing" reference out of the way quickly and moved on. He ripped off that bandaid and then moved onto material directly about his own family with barely any segue. While I'm still not his biggest fan, it's nice to get some glimpse into Shane Gillis as a person rather than just what he's like as a comedian. Say what you will, but it's become obvious that he has a great support system with his friends and family so it naturally makes one curious about how he endears himself to people off-stage outside of his stand-up act. Secondly, I will admit Mr. Gillis had some self effacing charm on display early on. This is especially evident in his seeming hesitance to lean into any "edgelord lite" topics. He always seemed to back away to question why he was here in this moment (I mean, hey, he's not alone there) when he sensed most of the audience was simply afraid to laugh at something knowing full well they could be heard doing so on live television. When he uttered the phrases "remember when you were gay?" and "down syndrome" followed by the "r-slur", I thought we were gonna have a blowout on the highway, but...I have to give him credit for turning into those skids and not losing the audience entirety despite what some might see as his best efforts (can't say I was on his side entirely through this but hey, if you happen to be a Gillis stan reading this after just stumbling onto this blog for the first time...you do you, bud). Yeah, I probably shouldn't have been shocked that down syndrome stuff turned out to be a disquietingly central theme of this monologue. Surprisingly, this didn’t quite turn out to be the lightening rod that divides Twitter between those who take offense at his making light of the Down Syndrome community and those who view this as him speaking from personal experience and immediately rush to his defense. Plus, I do get that he was trying to come off as a champion of that community with the part about his niece and her three adopted black brothers but especially by the time he got to the coffee shop bit, I started to feel like his insecurity about this material muddies whatever was supposed to be heart warming about it. I just felt like he needed to get out of his own way a bit and he would've gotten all of this over with the crowd more easily. He reminded me of Louis C.K. (in not necessarily the best of ways). Kudos to him for reining this in at standard monologue length and not letting potentially the diciest part of the show run on for 16 minutes unlike certain other guys he knows (granted his monologue was literally just half of that length and still could've been two minutes shorter, but still). C+
Jamacian Vacation Church - Already I'm getting "dilluted Gilly & Keeves vibes" from this. They obviously knew he had an affinity for questionable accents he shouldn't be attempting and leaning into that right out the gate was a gamble that paid off. Aside from that, the other main comedic premise to this seems to be the sheer incongruity of "Christian Reggaeton" as a musical genre? Thankfully, this ended at a good spot. Weirdly, it felt like a ten-to-one that got cleaved in half when the show ran long...but placed in the lead off spot? Well, since it prominently features nearly the entire black cast of the show as well as their one non-binary cast member I can see the logic in placing up top in this episode. Again, not crazy about Ego in drag roles but I dug the way she, Kenan and Devon performed their parts. C+
Rock Bottom Kings - A fake ad that punches down on the predatory angle of sports betting apps (you know, your DraftKings and your FantasyDuels and your SportsBooks of the world) from a real third person outside perspective feels unusually pointed for this season of SNL. I did like how evergreen this felt in that Shane's part could've been played by literally any host even if it also felt like Shane maybe could've been the only host to pitch this idea to the show (notice I said "host" so, thst doesn't exclude Che from possibly pitching this either). B-
Workplace Relationships - Ok, now I started to feel like we were getting into real questionable territory here. Thankfully, this meandered a bit too much to really go anywhere really unsavory. I'd still take this over the HR meeting we saw with Cecily and Oscar Issac. I did like Kenans' "that's where I know you from" line. Marcello in "booty khakis" was something I was not expecting to see but not everything in this show is gonna be for me (but if it is and you happen to be a Marcello groupie...hey, you do you, bud). C+
White Men Can Trump - This is actually the first piece of the night I genuinely enjoyed. I mean, I may not have laughed but I admired the execution of it (which once again proves my theory that Baldwin was still in tense negotiations with Lorne right before season 45 and Gillis was hired in haste as merely their "plan B" until the whole thing blew up in their faces). Even though Shane's Trump felt like a real mid-2015 take on Trump (as just a media figure in general pulling a ridiculous publicity stunt rather than as a serious presidential contender let alone an actual former president whose first and only term thus far ended with an attempted insurrection) I was into this. It was smart of them to let Shanes' Trump face off against JAJs Trump in a well written and paced pretape. The slo-mo handshake reminded me quite a bit of Anthony Atamanuiks' Trump from Comedy Centrals' "The President Show." Boy, I can't wait to see what James Adomian will have to say about this on Threads! Could've done without Mikeys' bit at the end though even if it was just there for "balance". B+
The Floor - Hey, a sketch set where my expectations for this episode (and really the whole show during this season) have been all year! What a coincidence! (Hiyooooo!) Seriously, this felt like the middle third of one sketch stitched into another sketch entirely. It wasn’t executed the best for my tastes (and it seemed to me like just a TikTok clip of a speedrun of another game show sketch that Jimmy, Horatio and Bernie Mac did 21 years ago) but Ego was really the saving grace of it. I especially liked her "J.K. Simmons/Cynthia Nixon/ American Gothic/Mr. Penis" jokes. Mikey would've been my first choice to play Rob Lowe over Longfellow but I can see Longfellow is a better fit vocally for this role whereas Mikey would only be a good fit facially. Also, kudos to Bowen for showing he was willing to let bygones be bygones in to consecutive sketches (even if his whole part in the second one could've been cut entirely). C+
Update was surprisingly stable. I liked just about every joke Jost & Che delivered. In particular, the big stand outs for me were Josts' Frozen Embryo/leap day jokes & Ches' Nikki Haley/Trump Sneakers/zombie deer disease jokes. Josts Biden Air Force one joke ended with a punchline that the show has literally done twice in two different cold opens. I dunno if that Paramount+ joke Jost told worked. Wasn’t Yellowstone on Paramount+? Enough people figured out how to navigate through that to make it a hit. Marcellos' frozen embryo commentary felt like he was dragged and dropped into something that was either intended for Longfellow or Squirm that they dropped out of. It felt a little too flitting and aimless in its attempts to be meta for my tastes but Marcello made it work. Whenever an SNL cast member does a fiercely pro-life character piece on Update, you can always count on it to be one of the most focused and direct thing in the show...that's for sure. Marcello may have been the first male cast member to pull this off so...well done. Bowen as Truman Caopte felt like a vast improvement on the type of gay camp Update character pieces he has given us in recent years (even if it still could've been cut). It was the most grounded and least self indulgent thing he has done in at least three years. This is what he should've aimed for with his George Santos. Maybe they let him do this as a little treat for... y'know (*gestures vaguely at SNL in general knowing how much Bowen has hinted at the show eroding his mental health right from jump street*). B-
Greenbow High Reunion - Odd that this turned out to be a 25 years too late Forrest Gump parody not even a full 15 minutes after the show just told us it knew exactly what this weeks' biggest news story coming out of Alabama was but still...I thought it was just fine. I mean, this felt too out of date not just in terms of pop culture references but in the tone regarding how the premise was executed. The only thing that didn’t feel too out of place here was the long, drawn out pacing and dialogue from it. Those kept if feeling like it could only have been executed on SNL rather than Gilly & Keeves. This was a little bit more than just a glorified Family Guy cuaway. Still, it felt like Shane would've been the only possible host who could put this over no matter what time period it was done in so in a way, they really lucked out here. Mikey did a great job as Gump and I genuinely chuckled at the "chocolate bar" and "Lieutenant Dan" line. C+
Fugliana - Right off the bat, I thought it was gonna be hard for me to get into what I thought was gonna be another piece that was going mine all its humor from putting down Sarah (or any of the female cast members for that matter) just for their looks at first. However, as this went on I could see it was more about both the male and female performers being equally in on the joke and having fun playing off each others' self roasting. Shane and Sarah honestly displayed great chemistry here. Shane probably had his best lines of the whole show in this and Sarah damn near stole this whole sketch for me but Mikey/Punkie, Heidi/JAJ and Dismukes/Chloe came in with some strong assists. Honestly, by the end the biggest problem I had with this was just its sheer length and pacing. That live SNL staging and acting was the main thing that made this feel like it couldn't have just been a Gilly & Keeves sketch. B-
Green Bay Packers Butt Plug - This felt less "lol gay panic" and more like a sketch "a sketch Armisen & Hader could’ve done 15 years ago" or "sketch Bobby Moynihan could've done 8 years ago". Hell, I've seen Gillys' "OnlyFans Dad" sketch so it mainly felt like "sketch Shane Gillis aleady did two and a half years ago". Coming down from the sketch that proceeded this must have thrown everyone's timing off. Either way, I wasn't in to it (pun not intended because I just want to wrap this up, okay?). D+
Now, for my updated ranking of season 49...
1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)
3. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
4. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
5. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
6. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)
7. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
8. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
9. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
10.. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (1.27.2024)
11. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
12. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)
Well, we all survived that one and came out in one piece. Next week, Sydney Sweeney makes her SNL hosting debut. This makes her the second Euphoria cast member to host the show this season alone...and the desperate, naked (pun suddenly intended) shameless pop culture pandering of 2024 SNL continues. Between this and the episode that just aired, it appears SNL has firmly decided that it now wants its audience to be the worst 12 to 13 year old boys you've ever met in your life? Oh well, I am still a guy myself so at least Sydney should be a host I'll have an easier time with than Shane (even on just a very base level). From what I know about her, she had exactly as much comedic experience as her cast mate Jacob (just one romcom each, no live sketch acting experience). While this isn't exactly an episode I am dreading, I hope she at least brings some much needed energy to the show and I hope they avoid making this episode resemble Jacobs as much as possible. Seriously, I don't think they can get away with doing a string of sketches where she is hit on by the male cast right now. Hope to see you then!