Steve Martin & Martin Short/Brandi Carlile (12.10.2022)

Okay, here's my review. I'd say this show lived up to about 90% of the pre built hype and managed to meet several of my expectations (from having seen countless past episodes hosted by both these two gentlemen). I'd honestly go as far as to rate it the second best of the season so far. Chappelles' was still the strongest in terms of sketch consistency and this episode didn't quite meet that. It was still a little uneven. It was about the same quality sketch wise as Keke Palmer except the highs were higher and the lows weren't the absolute lowest because Steve and Marty are always such welcome presences on the show due to their natural ability (or sometimes in Steve's case just his willingness) to elevate weaker material with their sheer chemistry and commitment. Aside from Michael Longfellow (who still managed to get in this weeks' promo which is still a big get for him), no one seemed completely shut out of the show tonight but it seems they leaned on Cecily, Kenan and Bowen even more. This is probably due to them still being veterans and in Bowens' case one if the new breakout stars (and thus the most likely to be recognized by old time viewers who haven't tuned in for several years) and being the most adept at fitting in with Steve and (especially) Martys flare for broader campier syle of humor. Sarah continues to carve out a name for herself (as does Molly does for themself to a lesser extent). Marcello appears to have only been used in one pretape but he really nailed it nonetheless. Anyway, let’s break it down, shall we?

Blocking It All Out For Christmas - Wow, so we're set on cold opens starting with completely unmotivated applause breaks, huh? Well, this cold open hit a little too close to home for me (not just because my local NBC affiliate somehow had their sound out of sync forcing me to hastily switch over to Peacock but for slightly more personal reasons I'd rather not get into here) but it started to pick up once Ego (and a sadly underutilized) Sarah showed up and Kenan, Cecily and Bowen started naming specific people. At that point, I could still get on board even if it was a little much to have to follow along with but at least it seemed easier to digest on rewatch. Nice to see Devon got on even if his part seemed like it could've been cut entirely. I will give them credit for going for something with a similar vibe to "Santa's My Boyfriend" or as close as they can get in 2022 and at least trying a non-political cold open (even if this was arguably still topical and a bit darker near the end) and for the slight format break with the LFNY. I get a kick out of Mikey having to deliver that line dressed as Santa. I believe that was the first time they "split" the LFNY between multiple cast members since they did it with Hartman and Lovitz in the Cheers cold open from the Ted Danson/Luther Vandross episode in 1989. C+

Monologue - Thankfully, this got the show off on the right note right from the quick cut drum montages of previous cameos and hosting appearances and Martys' "a (w)hole performer" jab at Steve. Even if I would’ve liked to have seen another sprawling musical number from Short, him and Marty playfully roasting each other (even in pre-eulogy form) is the most delightful alternative possible. Steves' "Tesla autopilot engage" line and Santa Clause 3 jabs along with Marty's run with the Dick In A Box/PornHub/wife & kids jokes was truly the high point. The only things I coukd slightly criticize it for would be for having two "Steve Martin abuses public urinals" jokes in the same monologue. The soccer and Meghan/Harry jokes didn't quite work for me but the random martial arts nutshot clip was just randomly silly enough to work. I'd say the obligatory Selena cameo was well utilized if brief. I expected a bit more from her (no surprise there) but her expected applause break kept the energy up going into commercial. A-

The Science Room IV - Holy shit, 
I was JUST thinking this morning abour how (at least Short) would fit in PERFECTLY for the format of this sketch with his energy (and in another episode with musical guest Brandi Carlile no less!). Nice predictive abilities, me! Anyway, we get more nice format breaking with twice the hosts. Sadly, this didn't quite rise to the heights that Driver and Sudeikis bought it too previously but given Steve and Marty's ages that's okay. I still loved what they both bought to the table. I thought the "Oh Chemis-tree" song was cute and Mikeys' "what happened to my brother" line was funny. C+

PDD: John's Other Ex - Well, as funny as the whole "pond scum" rant was, it was troubling to me at first that this is now the second PDD short where John's former girlfriend (played by Sarah, of course) is bad mouthed in the guys' office (and FAR from the only comedy sketch ever where someone just can't stop embarrassing themselves with a string of painfully awkwardly mistimed statements). Still, at least this was a decent inversion of the first one and it really picked up once Steve, Marty and Che showed up and then Ben switched sides. I'm also left wondering who "Sarah's real dad" actually was. He seems like someone the show thinks we should know just based on the fact that he is a vaguely threatening bald man in a suit who looks like he belongs in an episode of either "Shark Tank" or "Bar Rescue". C+

The Holiday Train - I was disappointed in seeing both Steve and Marty's considerable musical performance talents being essentially wasted in a Cecily/Kenan campfest that didn’t really go anywhere. It reminded me too much of that equally disappointing racoon sketch from Amy Adams' 2014 episode. Of course, I would find out online AFTER seeing this that it was indeed a rather lazy parody of the "Snow" number from "White Christmas". Having actually seen the YouTube clip of it thanks to one of my Twitter mutuals (and they know who they arrrrrre, my dahhlings) certainly didn’t help me appreciate it any better either. Hell, I actually prefer the original White Christmas selection as it's the shorter one. D+

Meeting Santa - Wow, it's almost like these last two sketches being placed back to back established an unfortunate theme of "weak, thin premises the show relied on Steve and Marty to carry" but this sketch succeeded where "Holiday Train" failed because Steve and Marty were more the central focus of it without having to share too much of the spotlight with other cast members. Seriously though, this sketch felt like something we would've seen in the Don Rickles/Billy Idol episode in an alternate universe where he and Flip Wilson switched spots and it had aired just a month earlier with Don as the elf and Joe Piscopo as Santa. At times this sketch felt like it was purposely designed to fall apart on air because on paper there wasn't much more to it than "old guys complain that kids want long lists of highly specific gifts that they don't know anything about anymore" but it was flubs like the accidental "legs" reveal with Marty that made this for me (and yes, for once I can see why people got Gilda Radner/Emily Litella vibes from Sarah Sherman). C+

A Christmas Carol - Wow, they pretty much gave me exactly what I asked for on the SNN Patron Feedback show! I mean, I realize that this was probably concieved and written before Wednesday and this is a bit more "Farewell, Mr. Bunting" than "Wake Up And Smile" but hey, great minds, huh? Anyway, it's great to see such a simple concept be so well executed by performers who were practically born to bring it to life. Good to see Sarah sneak in an accessible amount of her patented Squirmgore into a piece written for two SNL legends. Good to see Marcello and Molly bring their energy to this. Good to see Mikey get his comeup...yikes, yeah that sounds a little too mean. Not gonna go there but, good to see even Mikey used well. Kudos to these players for brilliantly holding their own next to Marty and Steve (whose "total psychopath" wins line of the sketch for me). A-

Update was pretty strong jokewise. Almost off of Jost & Che's material worked for me, so I can't really pick out any specific lines. I will say Jost acknowledging to the audience how not quite right his delivery of that "same sex wedding website" and "World cup stadium" jokes were made this Update for me (although I have to say that story about Chris Christie's niece sounded like it didn’t even need a punchline). The commentaries each left a little something to be desired though. It's nice to see Ego back at the desk doing another very specific one shot concept character (and one that you would've expect her to be doing until you realize that this calls for a very specific understated intensity and focused determination only she can pull off) but for some reason, I just wasn't as into this as much as I was some of her previous Update appearances. It was nice to see Mikey paired with Chloe instead of Heidi for a change (he might just have a better chemistry with Chloe than he does with Heidi) and while this was executed well, it reminded me of how much more I liked her female acting commentary from season 45 much more than this. I guess I just appreciated that one more for being more straight to camera and requiring a less labored setup (and for containing impressions Chloe had NOT yet done on the show). B-

How To Treat Your Man (in 1992) - At once, this is both the last sketch you would expect Martin Short to be given in a modern day SNL episode he happens to be in AND the type of sketch that ONLY Martin Short (and somehow ONLY with Cecily Strong in tow) can make funny. It's basically Schrodingers' Martin Short sketch even though it comes across as an Ed Grimley sketch cowritten by David Spade, Andrew Dice Clay and Kay Cannon (Ok, I admit it. I just had to consult Wikipedia to find out who wrote that "Dealbreakers" episode of 30 Rock). Yes, the other women supported his performance well but somehow Cecily actually saved this sketch (and I say this as someone who just discovered her gets a kick out of a mans' penis being described as "open" and "hollow" and compared to the worm from Dune rather than just "small"). Still, I have to ask...was there a specific reason that I missed as to why all the women in the audience were doing New York/Long Island specific accents? I don't remember a moment where they established that this was a local NYC show. Was that JUST a very specific early 90s nostaliga thing or what? B-

Father Of The Bride Part VIII - I didn’t expect THIS to be one of Steve Martin movies that people were that nostalgic for and I guess the tone and execution of this sketch sort of confirmed that. Still, I liked the idea of this sketch even if it would’ve been better done years (hell, decades let's be honest) ago as a quick throwaway gag on a show like "The Simpsons", "The Critic" or even "Family Guy" (specifically "Death Wish IX" and "Star Trek XII: So Very Tired" come to mind). The worst thing I can say about this sketch is that something about Steve's timing and was a bit off and threw things a bit off more than the slight camera miscues but other than that everbody performed well here. Chloes' Diane Keaton was put to good use here as were the cameos from Selena and Kieran (it's a little weird to me that we were able to hear their dialogue before they entered the door, but ok). It seemed like whatever ending this sketch originally had was scrapped at the last second due to the show running long but otherwise not bad. C+

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

1. Dave Chappelle/Black Star (11.12.2022)
2. Steve Martin & Martin Short/Brandi Carlile (12.10.2022)
3. Keke Palmer/SZA (12.03.2022)
4. Brendon Gleeson/Willow (10.08.2022)
5. Jack Harlow (10.29.2022)
6. Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar (10.01.2022)
7. Amy Schumer/Steve Lacy (11.05.2022)
8. Megan Thee Stallion (10.15.2022)

Well, that helped stabilize this season. Next week, "Elvis" star Austin Butler makes his hosting debut. From what I saw of the film, he nearly disappeared into his role and reading that he just recently consulted with his close personal friends Timothee Chalamet and Christopher Walken gives me confidence that he will deliver. See you then!

Selena Gomez/Post Malone (5.22.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was the most frustrating episode of the season for me. If you're reading this because you clicked on the link to it I shared in our Twitter group chat or in the That Week In SNL Discord server, there's a good chance you probably thought this episode was better than I did...and that's fine. I wanted to like this episode more too, but while it wasn’t necessarily in my bottom five of the season, it was the most jarringly uneven episode I've seen in a long time. If I'm being honest, I feel like I just had set my expectations too high. A lot of people in the same online SNL fan community were hyping up Selena for how great of a host she would be because she has such a great sense of humor and comedic timing (especially with her real dry, droll, sarcastic delivery) and I trusted their judgement because they made it abundantly clear that they'd all seen way more of her on "Wizards Of Waverly Place" than I did (I was always more of a "Hannah Montanna" guy anyway) and I have seen her new show "Only Murders In The Building" getting rave reviews. Plus, we've always seen hosts who rose to fame as teen pop stars (especially ones who rode the Disney/Nickelodeon trains to fame) always bring a high level of youthful energy to the show. Unfortunately, she seemed to bring very little if that fun, upbeat pop star energy and pretty much nothing but dry, sarcastic delivery in pretty much every single role. I believe my dear friend and fellow SNL Network podcast contributor Nicole Rovine put it best when she said simply that "Selena didn’t bring the range". Still, Selena Gomez does seem like a lovely person in real life who got along and worked very well with the cast during her first time hosting (and I know she's faced some personal health struggles of her own in the past few years) so I'm not gonna hold anything against her just for being a different type of performer than I expected her to be on a sketch comedy show. There were some great sketches I truly liked and some where something about the writing just rubbed me the wrong way. One thing I really did like about this episode was how it made excellent use of some of the more underrated newer cast members I like seeing (unfortunately not Alex or Aristotle who were completely shut out of the show again or Dismukes who unfortunately was out with Covid and Pete who's still pretty much a departed cast member who's still in the credits for some reason). Let me get to breaking this episode down so I can explain exactly what I mean by that.

MSNBC Depp v. Heard Cuckoo Trial - Well, this might strictly just be a "me" thing but seeing as this something I have actively tried to avoid as many details about as possible...it took everything I had in me not to immediately "nope" out of this cold open. I was kinda put off by Kyle being put into the role of Johnny Depp (there's NO WAY that role could’ve gone to Aristotle, huh?) but seeing as Kyle played a villain type role in his show "S.M.A.S.H" on Netflix that was basically just a parody of late 80s/early 90s 21 Jump Street era Depp, I completely understand why they put him in thst role. I've never been more thankful in my life that Lorne hired Ego Nwodim, Melissa Villaseñor, Chris Redd and Kenan Thompson than I've been while typing this sentence into my phone as this aired. Man, thay felt longer than it actually was, didn’t it? Anyway, I appreciated that they let each of those cast members I just mentioned do their obligatory group LFNY via video screen from the next stage over. That was a nice touch in what, to me at least, was hands down, the absolute worst cold open of the season. D-

Monologue - Selena seemed a little more low energy than I was expecting (especially when I was hoping she would use this monologue to get this episode off to a better start than that dreadful cold open did) but I did like how she delivered that string of Steve/Marty/Miley jokes. I wasn't crazy about them bringing the "married cast members hit on the hot female host" template out of mothballs but I liked that "Jeff" Austin Johnson got to get in on it just so he could have an excuse to play himself in something (and I liked what Punkue bought to this as telegraphed as it felt). C+

Bratz Come To Life - Boy, the people who hated the Six Flags and Black Eyed Peas sketches in Lizzos' episode last month are REALLY gonna hate this sketch, right? Anyway, I wanted to like this sketch more for casting Sarah in such a big straight role (even a straight one) and for the way Bowens' chatacter was written but...once the Bratz dolls started to express their interest in Kyle's dad character tye whole sketch started to feel too unstructured and too unfocused for me. Also, anyone else get reminded of that sketch from the season 40 premiere where Chris Pratt, Taran Killam and Ariana Grande played Kyle's He-Man/Thundercats action figures who came to life? Still, for all this sketches' flaws I have to admit that it holds up better on rewatch. C-

Old Enough: Longterm Boyfriends - I didn’t think I would like this at first given that I hadn't seen the specific show it was parodying (and I wasn't too crazy about the specific twist they had on it) but the writing and performances behind it were what really sold me on it. This was honestly both Selena and Mikeys' strongest performances in the entire show. I loved his chance encounter with Kenan on the street and Heidi talking him through his emotional breakdown in the middle of Sephora. Speaking of which, when Kaleena Steakle said on the SNL Network Hot Take show that Sephoras' actually are that overwhelming to shop at, that comment (and this whole sketch) reminded me of when I recently went to my local Kohls' to get some new clothes and noticed that they were about to open a brand new Sephora in the middle of Kohls. Yes, literally in the center of the whole building. This means that people who are just shopping at a Kohl's now have to constantly be meandering around in a circle to find what they want because everything is centered around an entire unrelated building housed within this store. That's how bad Sephora must be. I've never shopped in one myself, but I've still had an unrelated shopping experience made that much more annoying by one. B+

A Peek At Pico - For all of this sketches MAD TV vibes, it was the first sketch the whole night that really put me at ease. Melissa finally got a lead role and Selena finally played a character that wasn't just "herself". It gave me a brief feeling that the show was on the right track to not disappoint me completely (however short that feeling was). Mikey (who is having an unusually strong night tonight...which should tell you pretty much all you need to know about this show in particular) and Heidi did a grear job playing off of them and Chris Redd pretty easily walked away with this. Thankfully, this had a few different elements to it to keep it from feeling too low key and "samey". B-

A Storm Within - Kenan did pretty much all the heavy lifting in this. Cecily and Selena were just there to make sure this premise wasn’t stretched impossibly thin and build upon the absurdly specific setting he just detailed. Bowen was there to give this a solid ending. Mikey and Melissa's parts seemed wholly unnecessary. Still, everyone involved did a fine job. B-

American Inventors - The fact that they used this as the vehicle for the obligatory pretaped Steve Martin cameo was the best thing this had going for it. The use of photoshopped '70s era Steve in fake magazines and photos of Frank Sinatra hitting the town to lend his character some authenticity was a nice touch. Aidy was pretty solid when she wasn't either farting or getting hit by lightning. I liked the idea of her being the muse behind all the classic novelty gag toys but I wish they'd done more with that instead of just letting it get as repetitive as it did. I liked Selenas' narration (especially the "between her and God" line). This was one of many pieces tonight where I liked the idea more than the execution because it didn’t have enough variation to it. C+

Update left me without much to say for the first 3/4ths of it. Che had the lion's share of better material as usual but I did like the Trump IRS/Pussy Riot/Wordle Fetus/Ukrainian Orchestra/Pregnant Chimp jokes from Colin. I'm usually not as down on Kyle's Baby Yoda as some but at this point even I have to agree its run its course. It's nice to see them put this on air after it got cut from Lizzos show (and give those of us who saw the clip of it from her episode she posted some context for Kyle's "cult leader" look) but not even giving us Selena as Baby Groot (considering the escalation of their feud is usually my favorite part of these) pretty much left us with nothing. Sarah Sherman provided us with the sole highlight of the entire show. While I'm still not crazy about the fact that punishing Jost while kissing up to Che seems to be all she is allowed to do as herself on Update, I really do appreciate the fact that she employed some wild format breaking to do so here. While I loved every minute of this, this really peaked with the way both Sarah and Jost played off that unexpected blooper. B+

The Three Daughters - Hmm, I wanted to like the idea of a hard subversion of the sketch trope of "Kate plays the strange odd woman out when a male cast member has to obviously choose both the female host and the prettiest female cast member over her" but...I feel like if they didn’t stretch this too thin, then having fucking Mikey Day of all people be the one to break this down for us (without the second layer of genuine self awareness that would require HIM to display) was the biggest thing this had going against it. It had a sweet ending but Kate revealing an exposed bubble blowing ass kinda ruined it for me (but it at least explained why Selena seemed to be low key breaking). If the show is signaling that we're not going to be seeing these types of sketches anymore because Kate is finally leaving, this may be the subtlest hint we'll get. C+

Intuition - This seemed oddly placed considering it was right after a totally different sketch that also explored themes of expectation, paranoia and self doubt but Punkie and Chris Redd were the best things about it. I also kinda liked the wild overreactions to it too. Is it just me or did anyone else think Selena might have just been playing herself by just revealing she had dated a lot of "basketball players and celebs"? - C+

Guidance Counselors - An absurd campy vanity sketch led by Ego, Bowen and Selena may have been just the thing the show needed at this point (hell, it was definitely the thing that Selena needed to be in given the acting style she chose for this show...and the fact that she does make ONE HELL of a frigging model, can we all agree on that). Some may have thought it was too short for it's own good but I'm still glad it didn’t go on for too much longer than it did. C+

Baby Monitors - I wanted to like this more for just the Bowen/Sarah pairing but it just didn’t go anywhere interesting enough for me. I did like the fairly meta ending and how everyone involved pretty much threw themselves into it, but for some reason I just couldn't get into it. I really didn’t care for Post Malones' cameo and I thought Selenas' line about how she had never had a drink in her life felt like it belonged in a totally different sketch. C-

Now, for my updated rankings of the season so far...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)

2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)

3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)

4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)

5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)

6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)

7. Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire (5.7.2022)

8. Lizzo (4.16.2022)

9. Selena Gomez/Post Malone (5.14.2022)

10. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)

11. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)

12. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)

13. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)

14. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)

15. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)

16. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)

17. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)

18. Ariana DeBose/Roddy Rich Bleachers (1.15.2022)

19. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)

20. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, maybe this show just suffered from what I like to call the "second of three May shows" curse but that's two shows in a row that made me seriously consider whether or not I still want to blog about SNL next season. Fortunately, I have plans to do a write-up of next week's season finale with host Natasha Lyonne and musical guest Japanese Breakfast. Quite frankly, I'm surprised this is the season finale because that sounds more like a lineup SNL could only give us in January or April. Still, Natasha is a beloved comedic actress who surely will not underwhelm as much or defy the high expectations I have set myself to have for her (don't worry though, I'm sure Selenas' episode will grow on me over time). Plus, a less high profile female host should easily blend in sketch wise with any female cast members we expect to be departing this season or dominating the show going into the next one and not steal focus from them. See you then!