Okay, here's my review. People may have set their expectations a little too high given the caliber of this weeks' host and that's perfectly understandable. Don Cheadle wasn't as outwardly enthusiastic or unsubtle as some expected him to be but he still gave it his all in whatever he was in. Still, a host like him shouldn't be so shoved into the background he suddenly makes you forget he is indeed the host until Update is over. Maybe the writing wasn't necessarily playing to his or really anyone's strengths. There were some unoriginal premises throughout the night but what worked really worked and was hit out if the park. What didn't work was more forgettable than outright atrocious. Quality wise, it was about the same as last week with Halsey as host. This episode was a little more uneven than that one, so it's a close call to say which one is truly better. The cast was pretty unevenly divided tonight. Cecily, Aidy and Kate seem to be getting more and more phased out but Heidi, Mikey, Kyle, Beck and Alex seemed to have dominated the show. Ego continues to gradually break out while Pete and Leslie continue to just collect their paychecks for some reason. Let's break it down, shall we?
Trump National Emergency Press Conference - Well, I'm not sure why the show felt the need to advertise Baldwin's umpteenth cameo on Twitter. I mean, it was barely distinguishable from most of the other Trump-centric cold opens he has done in the past two years. The one thing I did enjoy was seeing them give the Attorney General William Barr role to Beck Bennett rather than going back to the outside stunt casting well once again. I realize William Barr may not be a big enough role for them to even think about doing this, but it's a step in the right direction. I have to admit, this sketch did make me realize how much Baldwin could improve his Trump impression just by being more soft spoken and beaten down in spots and not speaking in clipped, rapid fire sentence fragments (which is ironic because the one upside to having Baldwin portray Trump during the campaign against Hillary was that Baldwin captured Trump's mania better than Hammond did. Hammond's Trump was stuck in Apprentice-mode and now Baldwin's Trump is stuck in mid-to-late-2016 debate/campaign rally mode when having to actually BE president has shown Trump to be bought down by how way in over his head he is). C-
Monologue - Cheadle wasn't quite as high energy as I thought he was going to be here but he did have a very loose energy still on display here that let the audience know that he was here to have a good time. He did a fine job of poking fun at himself and his own career. His "rhythmic recognition" joke was very similar to Finesse Mitchells "snap famous" standup bit but he even made that better by adding a loose fin energy to it. Plus, this was almost the third monologue in a row where the host was just on stage alone letting us get to know them (until Leslie showed up right at the end but she didn't bring the monologue to a screeching halt or anything). B+
Fresh Takes II - Hmm, not sure why we needed a "fresh take" on this, but OK. I do appreciate how this was a little less juvenile than the previous one with Larry David and how much more committed the cast was to awkward teenage acting. They probably should've trimmed down the "cold sores" segment to make room for another commerical or two. I seem to remember those being the best parts of both of these sketches. Cheadles' teacher character got a couple of chuckles out of me admitting he bought edibles to that party. Otherwise, it hit too many of the same beats as the previous outing right down to Leslie as the nurse making an unprofessionally brief announcement. C-
Extreme Baking Championship - This got off to an awkward start but by far ended up being the best live sketch of the night. I did really appreciate how much more strange, surreal and unhinged (and less predictable) it got as it went on. Kenan and Kyle really stole this sketch for me (which is impressive in the case of the former as we only heard the formers' voice and the timing of the vomiting cake prop seemed a little off). A-
Pound Puppy - At first, I wondered why they were doing two taped Valentine's Day commercials two weeks in a row with very similar premises (especially when this one is two days late) until I realized this was just a generic marital aid commercial. This turned out very enjoyable and very well executed once they actually established what this was (even for something that had to meet the requirements of major network standards & practices). B+
Update got off to a rather listless start tonight. Che seemed to have the better Trump wall material but Jost seemed to let the actual footage of Trump's speech do the heavy lifting here (which made me think that maybe my earlier assessment of Baldwin's Trump may have been completely wrong but he could still stand to be less monotoned). The rest of the jokes didn't land that well either. Josts' Bernie joke felt tone deaf and if that wasn't enough it was followed by more pathetic corporate bootlicking. Speaking of Jost and Che, I'm starting to wonder if either of these guys might be eyeing the exits. I mean, this is their fifth season at SNL and "more writer than performer" Update-anchor types like them never seem to want to stay there much longer than that. Che has joked on his Instagram stories that he is leaving both SNL and comedy in general after this year to open up a fried chicken restaurant. I seriously wonder if the last part of that was the only part that wasn't a joke. I don't know of Becks' "Jules" character was something I wanted to see again but at least they changed up a lot of his schtick this time. I especially liked the lines about "wooden dolls carved with realistic genitalia" and how "the baby was filming the entire time". I guess Alex's Schumer and Kates' Pelosi are to be a more or less permanent fixture on the show right now. The only thing that seemed different from what they usually give us here was that Kate's Pelosi impression has just turned into her playing herself. I've started to realize that this character is pretty much a more loquacious, coherent and eccentric version of Cecilys' "Girl...at a party" with a little of Stefons' vivid imagination thrown in for good measure. Mikeys' "super centenarian" report seemed pretty one note for such a conceptual bit. Still, I do appreciate how whenever Mikey does a non-topical Update commentary he usually debuts a brand new one shot character every time. Also, does the voice he used in this remind anyone of Will Forte? Maybe it's just me since I was just watching Fortes' appearance on Seth's show before the show started. C-
Family Feud IX - Its' nice to see this again. I was starting to think the guys that usually write these had already left the show. These sketches are the best use of Keenan's usually reliable Steve Harvey as an anchor but it was an still and odd way for the show to reference his contentious interview with Mo'nique on his talk show. Don Cheadle did a pretty solid Spike Lee but his seemed to stumble over his lines a bit. Kate's Glenn Close didn't stand out much from her other distinguished actress impressions. Becks' Sam Eliott seemed well within his vocal comfort zone but still came off funny. Cecily almost came off like she was content to just do her Gemma voice and call it a night but I do appreciate that she gave us an actual fresh take on a little known actress. Melissa's Gaga really stole this sketch. Also, this is actually the second time she has played Lady Gaga in a Family Feud sketch that aired in February so she's now done this impression on the show three times overall. Kyle is still and unexpected choice to play Bradley Cooper but he sold it as well as he could. Pete's Rami Malek and Redds' Mahershala Ali were practically invisible. C+
Lollipop Bar Brawl - This also took a little while to get to it's brilliant payoff (I mean it was a sketch that was the entire length of a song) but I enjoyed the journey well enough. I did like the big Les Jeunes Des Paris dance number at the end followed by a thrown punch. It was just a little too banal spmewhere in the middle. B-
Roach-Ex Plus+ - This was another piece best appreciated for the sake of the journey. I liked the dark, dramatic turn this took after it hit on some typical commercial tropes. This was another piece that really benefitted from being taped. This is also the second taped commercial parody tonight that featured implied/suggested sex just barely obscured from the camera. At first, I thought Micheal Che would've written this given how similar it seemed to his "Ned's Roach Away" commercial from last season with Charles Barkley but then I realized this is probably not topical enough to be one of his. It might be Mikey & Streeter given that Mikey's in this and it falls more in line with his sense of humor. B+
Regal Promenade Pavillion - Well, it took Aidy actually appearing on screen for me to actually recognize her voice. I initially thought that was Heidi. Also, it's nice to see Kate switch things up a bit by playing a Male fictional character rather than doing an impersonation of a current Male political figure. Not sure why they were channeling Roseanne Roseannedanna and Father Sarducci, but it worked. I'm not sure why Don had to play either three different characters (or more likely the same one character filling different roles in his organization) but I liked it. Everyone had their fair share of decent lines. Still, it felt like something else that is becoming a modern day SNL trope. Specifically, it was an exact cross between Armisens "Chan-de-leahs/Mah-ble Cah-lumns" pitchman and Louis CKs' "sectional couches" salesman from two seasons ago. Also, why was this filmed with a blurry filter? There were parts of this I enjoyed and parts I may never know what to make of. B-
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
3. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
4. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
5. Adam Driver/Kanye West
6. Halsey
7. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
8. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
9. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
10 Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
11 Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
12 Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
13. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that was another show that delivered the absolute bare minimum of what it promised but there was still plenty of fun to be had. Next week, John Mulaney returns to host for his second time. I had a feeling he would do this again. Someone around here pointed out that Mulaney might be being used to fill the "hip white male friend of the show standup" host void now that Louis CK is officially persona non grata. Since Louis hosted nearly every season at one point and Mulaney will now have hosted two seasons in a row, I'm starting to think that may actually be true. Still, he is always a welcome presence at Studio 8H. It will also be interesting to see if Idris Elba is still slated to host March 9th (as accidentally revealed via Jasin Momoas' Instagram) or if he had to back out for any reason. See you then!
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Halsey (2.9.2019)
Okay, here's my review. This show was fairly inconsistent in a lot of spots and relied too heavily on premises that were either blatantly recurred or just felt derivative. Still, there were a lot of feel good vibes to be shared mostly thanks to the presence of tonight's host. Halsey was a fine, endearing performer who added some much needed energy to the show. I'm not surprised though since this is what we usually get anytime a top 40 youth culture oriented pop star hosts or pulls double duty. Still, it felt like a cross between the shows Katy Perry and Lady Gaga each hosted in 2011 and 2013 respectively. Perrys' episode was judged to be so poorly written that her performances (and possibly the Stefon but they did that night) were the best thing(s) about it. Gaga's episode was much better by comparison and her performances were also great even though she was only used very sparingly even for a host. The entire cast seemed to get a decent amount of airtime. Melissa and Ego especially really started to break out and make themselves recognizable tonight. By comparison, Kate and Aidy seem like they each have one foot out the door and are being phased out. Anyway, there's kind of a lot to unpack here, so let's just break this down, shall we?
Meet The Press - Well, it's nice to see they decided to do something besides a reenactment of this years State Of The Union (who are we kidding? Alec was only available this week to record a voiceover. They had no choice). Kyle was a surprisingly appropriate choice to play Chuck Todd. Also, is it just me or is Cecily a dead ringer for post SNL era Jane Curtin made up as Peggy Noonan? I liked Kate's Wilbur Ross impression when she debuted it two weeks ago (even her description of a "homeless dick pic(k)" got a chuckle out of me) but I'm afraid I might like it less and less every week if they use it to fill the Jeff Sessions void. The thing that stood out to me the most here was Aidy as Acting AG Matt Whitaker. Oddly, that was something I was both expecting and not expecting at the same time. Please, let me explain. I was expecting Aidy to play this guy if the show was going to have a current cast member fill that role rather than resorting to outside stunt casting for the umpteenth time. At the same time, I was expecting the Matt Whitaker story to only be mentioned in a throwaway Update joke rather than in sketch form. As for the actual substance of the sketch, it was too reminiscent of things like the Nightline cold open from '03-'04 where Hammond's Ted Koppel and Parnell's Joe Lieberman were too preoccupied with Janet Jacksons' Superbowl Wardrobe Malfunction or the CNN sketch from '02-'03 where Eric McCormacks' substitute anchor fell in love with Tina's Paula Zahn on the air and Poehler's character was the only one not consumed by it. I'm sure there are several others but I never realized until now how much "odd person out on a panel discussion show is the only one not focused in on something inappropriate and trivial" had become such a trope on this show the past several years. C+
Monologue - Well, this got the show off to a better start than that cold open. Halsey was very cute and endearing here. Her enthusiasm was welcome and it was definitely the right call to continue this seasons monologue trend that started with Awkwafina and was carried on with Seth Meyers, Liev Schreiber and Matt Damon. Halsey is the latest in a string of hosts whose monologues are just used to let the audience know just to let the audience get to know them for the first time as a regular person rather than a celebrity they may or may not have even heard of and then justify their presence by expressing their reverence and deep affection for the show. B+
Them Trumps II - This was definitely something that I thought would have worked best as a one off even when they first did it two months ago. It was still entertaining, I'm just not sure they should've made it recurring if there was going to be so little variation to the formula of "Them Trumps discuss Darius' current shady dealings/Darius gets halfway through his subsequent speech about his percieved invincibility before he is arrested/A preview shows how this exact scenario plays out the same way 'next week'". The only notable difference here was that Halsey (this week's host) was in this edition while Jason Momoa (who hosted last time they did this, IIRC) was not in the last one. Maybe they did this again because Halsey saw the previous one and liked it so much she wanted to be in it herself? C+
Virginia State Capitol - At first glance, this seemed to be a dragged out version of another topical joke that was beaten to death this week on social media. It got much funnier as it progressed and they explored the premise more and more. Kenan as a solid anchor and Mikey, Beck, Kyle and Halsey had the strongest individual performances here. I was actually starting to wonder why she would be featured front and center if her dialogue was going to be so late in the sketch but she really nailed the one line she had. I did hear somewhere that she herself is somehow actually half-back/biracial in real life so I guess it was appropriate for them to work that in here. B-
Valentine's Day - It was pretty much a given that Halsey would appear in a music video with the female cast being the main focus (since they just did a Pete & Chris rap in the last episode). I guess I shouldn't have expected the reveal to be bigger than it was given the lack of buildup but I did like how each verse added some variation on the premise (from Aidys' mom to Halsey's boss to Kate's very young son) and especially how Kate's verse really tied this whole thing together and kept it on the rails at the exact moment it seemed like it was starting to lose focus. I guess this another one of those things where the production value all the pop music bells and whistles were meant to hide the fact that this was going more for "relatable" than "funny". Thankfully, there was enough there to keep it from bombing with the audience on the same level as "Dongs All Over The World". C-
Parents Call - Well, it looks like they followed that music video with a live sketch that was pretty much the direct inverse of what I just described. This took a semi-relatable premise and further explored it to absurd lengths in order to be genuinely funny. Beck was the standout performer here. My other stray observations here were that Halsey seemed much too young to be playing Mikey's mom and her and Becks' casts were unavoidably revealed on camera in a way that spoiled their respective gags (especially Becks' "fall") otherwise this was one of the more enjoyable sketches of the night. B-
Women Of Congress - I could definitely tell what type of piece this was going to be once I saw how many intros to each individual impression we were going to get. This was the best possible way for the show to sneak in a reference to the Pelosi clap meme. Good to see Ego get a political impression she could at least *barely* get away with and Melissa getting to keep playing someone who is increasingly politically relevant and similar to her in a few ways anyway. I'm not sure Halsey was the best choice to play Rashida Talib. Sadly, the impressions and intros were the best part of this as the payoff with the Trump phone call seemed to surprisingly go against SNLs' established political viewpoint. I mean, portraying the women of Congress as hysterical and enraged Dyke and Fats style at hearing Trump's mere acknowledgment of them seemed almost like something you might see from the likes of Greg Gutfeld or Stephen Crowder but with much better production value. C+
Update was oddly the most consistent part of the show while taking the most risks they have all season at this point. First of all, I believe this is the first time this season (if not this whole era of Update) where Che gets to tell the first jokes instead of Jost. Che seemed to have the most fun with his opening blackface rant while Jost seemed to be going through the motions. Still, the blackface references were the highlight of their portion of Update (even if they leaned on them a bit too heavily). Other than that, the only stand out jokes of their's were the ones that contained the phrases "my theory" and "you guessed it" as they gave me serious Norm MacDonald flashbacks. Nice to see Melissa finally got to do an Update commentary as "herself" for once. I heard there was a bit last week that got cut at dress where James McAvoy played Bradley Cooper to her Gaga so I'm guessing this is just a slightly reworked version of that. For the most part, I somehow have managed to not hear the song "Shallow" in it's entirety so at first I thought her Gaga singing impression sounded to identical to her Xtina Aguilera impression. Then, she got to the hook of the song (which I HAVE heard in commercials for the film) and I saw how dead on she was. I knew Heidi was going to play the female character in the second commentary before Che even finished his intro. I thought I wouldn't like it as much as I did but it got more entertaining the louder and more intense it got. I'm guessing Mikey himself helped write this because it bears a strong resemblance to the S&M couple he played with Leslie (I believe she admitted he wrote those in a fairly recent interview). In fact, I'd say this is an exact cross between those and they Farley/Jackson commentary as Tom Arnold and Roseanne from season 16. Just when I thought Alex's "Guy Who Just Bought A Boat" was getting too played out, they add a little more quips and depth to the character. In addition to having a small, bad penis he is also a "Male feminist" to poorly disguise how bad he is at picking up on women's blatantly obvious signals. B+
Sorority Karaoke - This sketch seemed like it was going to be a rambling unfocused mess where Aidys' lines were the only things even resembling jokes at first. Then, it started picking up once Halsey, Cecily and Melissa moved past their song and into the crowd to pester the men in the crowd. This escalated well enough for my liking but I wish Steve Higgins' line as the voice of the bird hadn't been almost drowned out. Thankfully, Ego's character was there to bring this to it's natural conclusion and cut it off at the exact right length. C+
Black History Month - This was alright for the low key ensemble piece that it was. I'm guessing that Beck and Kyle wrote this themselves as it's pretty much the exact same thing as their Women's March sketch from Scarlett Johansson's last episode two years ago. C+
CamFansOnly - This must have been written by the same writers who wrote either the Gal Gadot Chaturbate sketch from last season or the Larry David gay club icon sketch from last season. I do like how immediately supportive Halsey and Leslie's characters were and how great Chris' dialogue was. Ego made a great voice of reason here. B-
Riverdale Morgue Scene - It was great to see Pete (and Beck too, really) branch out a bit and play parts so far out of their normal established range that they looked like were seemingly written for literally anyone but them. That really distracted me from how generally offputting I found this sketch in general. I wonder if this sketch was rewritten from a previous dress rehearsal and took place on the set of a different show than Riverdale with someone else in Pete's part. C+
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
3. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
4. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
5. Adam Driver/Kanye West
6. Halsey
7. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
8. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
9. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
10. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
11. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
10. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that episode pretty much delivered the bare minimum of my expectations. Next week, Don Cheadle makes his hosting debut. He had actually appeared in a couple of MAD TV bits years ago and IIRC has participated in some bits on Kimmell. We know he has a not often seen sense of humor. It's just surprising that it took until he took his part on Showtime's "Black Monday" to get him on THIS show. Oh, well. See you then!
Sunday, January 27, 2019
James McAvoy/Meek Mill (1.26.19)
Okay, here's my review. This show was much more uneven and inconsistent than last week but everything that did work worked very well. James McAvoy proved to be an enthusiastic host immediately whose presence would give the show a much needed boost. However, the second half of the show seemed to be bogged down with the weight of too many retreads. Let's break this down, shall we?
Tucker Carlson Tonight - Well, it took until the very end of this for me to be able to like this as much as I initially wanted to. I was glad to see SNL finally attempt to satirize Tucker Carlson with Alex in the role but performance wise he seemed to be phoning it in more and more as the sketch progressed. It's like he put too much emphasis on getting Tuckers' dopey facial expressions down so the impression as a whole came off too sleepy, lethargic and devoid of malice. Also, all their jokes about him seemed more like played out snarky observations from people I follow on Twitter. I usually like Cecilys' Judge Pirro but I feel like she played it too big here. Plus, this was a strange place for them to work in their obligatory Marie Kondo reference. As much as I feel Kate playing male Trump cabinet members is another overdone thing, her Wilbur Ross impression worked surprisingly well here. It was an impression she was surprisingly well suited for and she had great "out of touch" lines that were pretty funny. Maybe I liked this as much as I did because it's a Kate impression that we're just seeing for the first time before it gets run into the cold, cold ground. Of course, the high point was Steve Martin as Roger Stone. I was expecting Alex to play him if they weren't going to parody this specific interview and Kate if they were. Steve was such a left field choice that he was inherently worth at least a chuckle but he actually seemed to be going for a specific over the top character voice/series of affectations here that were very funny any fun to watch here. It didn't matter if the impression was all that accurate with what Steve did with it. B+
Monologue - If James coming out in a kilt hinted that he may be here to have fun and make a good first impression, the Ewan McGregor jokes cemented that. Also, that was the best recovery from a minor cue card flub I have seen in recent memory. I do have to wonder if his "masculine skirt" was also an adlib because I'm not sure something scripted would've been that visibly directed at one specific audience member whom we couldn't quite hear. B+
Virgin Hunk - Well, it's their last January show this year and they didn't do their seemingly required Bachelor parody with last week's female host so they must have had to figure out a way to do one with this week's male host. I'm kidding, of course. They obviously knew they had to do it this way because they've already used both of the current male cast members who would be believable in this role so they needed a male host. Again, kidding. They obviously must've wanted to specifically parody something about this year's Bachelor. That being said, I'm not sure if McAvoy was having trouble nailing down a specific Colorado accent or something or if that was his portrayal of how he thought a stiff and frothed up adult virgin would present himself in such a situation. Either way, his acting kinda took me out of this. Unfortunately, his and Ego's performances were the only things that stood out to me in this sketch. The rest of it seemed pretty indistinguishable from the show's previous Bachelor parodies but the ending to this one worked for me. C-
Mr. H - I'm glad they actually called out how cliched this premise was and then gradually flipped it around. Redd was a solid lead in this. McAvoy provided a nice balance between serious acting and comedic dialogue. Mikey, Ego and Pete added some funny moments as well. This was one of the most thoroughly well written and produced short films in recent memory. A-
Scottish Air - Well, this seemed like it was going to be too one joke for me initially but the performances really sold it. Mikey, Kenan and Kate were very funny but Beck made the whole sketch for me. James seemed the most within his comfort zone here and that really helped the sketch play better. B-
Upper East Side - Leslie actually does have some great rap skills. I believe this is the first time she's gotten her own showcase for them in a music video where she is the lead performer rather than being a supporting player in all female song with the rest of the women in the cast. Kate and James provided a nice balance here. I guess I wasn't expecting a sudden German accent so soon. Other than that, nothing really stood out to me here because this seemed too regional and New York centric to really land with me. C-
Charmin Focus Group - After the host doing three different accents in a row, it took me a full minute to get back in sync with his acting, but his Philly/Pittsburgh accent paired with his insane, unwarranted scatalogical ad pitches was the true highlight of this sketch. I don't know why those accents are so funny to me, but they just are. Other than that, nothing else really clicked with me. It felt too much like we shouldn't have been seeing this the week after they revived the Barbie Instagram sketch because it played out just like a cross between that and the film Q&A sketch from Seth's show. I do have to wonder if this was originally written for Tina's episode last season given that one character had a heavy Philly accent. C+
Update had its moments. I couldn't really get into it until the Roger Stone jokes. Che in particular seemed to have quite a bit of fun with his. I also had a hard time getting into Redds' Soulja Boy commentary. It made me chuckle a bit but I really didn't appreciate having to know why Soulja Boy is back in the news this week to fully appreciate this. I really didn't think we needed to see Cathy-Anne again either. B-
Return To Narnia - Speaking of things I had to have read up on to recently to get, I had to check and make sure James McAvoy was actually in the Disney Narnia franchise films. The only film adaptation of "The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe" I've seen was from long before the time when those came out and I haven't really read the book since second grade. At least this was a nice pull for a host sketch. Otherwise, I was just WAY not the target demographic for this very niche female centric sketch. Still, I'm really curious to know which writer wrote this one. C-
Boys - I'm actually surprised they chose to recur this. Beck, Kyle and Cecily were still great in it but I still feel like this should've been left a one off and this version was too much of a carbon copy of the first to make me think otherwise. Thankfully, it got to its conclusion quicker this time. I do appreciate their acknowledgment of continuity by having James' character state that Cecily "remarried" him. C-
Dogs - Well, I hate to say this but...I think I'm officially starting to tire of Chris, Pete, and Kenans' rap videos. Still, this was at least better than the RBG one and the Permission one to a certain extent. I can appreciate that this was going more for "cute" than funny. I did like Pete's "hypoallergenic" lyric, James' intensity and the fact that they gave Ego her own verse that explained why she, Aidy & Heidi were wearing bunny ears reminiscent of a certain someone from Pete's recent past. C+
New Orleans - I think I spoke too soon about them recurring sketches from earlier this season that worked better as one offs. The only thing that stood out to me was James' near breaking and how Kate's part was considerably minimized and given to Ego. C-
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
3. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
4. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
5. Adam Driver/Kanye West
6. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
7. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
8. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak*. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
9. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
10. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, this episode kind of petered out in the second half but the first half was very fun while it lasted! In two weeks, Halsey pulls double duty for her first time as host and second as musical guest. Look, pop stars and musicians tend to make very fun and engaging hosts. However, I'm a little surprised Halsey was chosen to host because I don't think she's had any acting experience outside of a couple of voice acting gigs in animated fare. Hopefully, she can prove our preconceived wrong and be a fun and engaging host. See you then!
Tucker Carlson Tonight - Well, it took until the very end of this for me to be able to like this as much as I initially wanted to. I was glad to see SNL finally attempt to satirize Tucker Carlson with Alex in the role but performance wise he seemed to be phoning it in more and more as the sketch progressed. It's like he put too much emphasis on getting Tuckers' dopey facial expressions down so the impression as a whole came off too sleepy, lethargic and devoid of malice. Also, all their jokes about him seemed more like played out snarky observations from people I follow on Twitter. I usually like Cecilys' Judge Pirro but I feel like she played it too big here. Plus, this was a strange place for them to work in their obligatory Marie Kondo reference. As much as I feel Kate playing male Trump cabinet members is another overdone thing, her Wilbur Ross impression worked surprisingly well here. It was an impression she was surprisingly well suited for and she had great "out of touch" lines that were pretty funny. Maybe I liked this as much as I did because it's a Kate impression that we're just seeing for the first time before it gets run into the cold, cold ground. Of course, the high point was Steve Martin as Roger Stone. I was expecting Alex to play him if they weren't going to parody this specific interview and Kate if they were. Steve was such a left field choice that he was inherently worth at least a chuckle but he actually seemed to be going for a specific over the top character voice/series of affectations here that were very funny any fun to watch here. It didn't matter if the impression was all that accurate with what Steve did with it. B+
Monologue - If James coming out in a kilt hinted that he may be here to have fun and make a good first impression, the Ewan McGregor jokes cemented that. Also, that was the best recovery from a minor cue card flub I have seen in recent memory. I do have to wonder if his "masculine skirt" was also an adlib because I'm not sure something scripted would've been that visibly directed at one specific audience member whom we couldn't quite hear. B+
Virgin Hunk - Well, it's their last January show this year and they didn't do their seemingly required Bachelor parody with last week's female host so they must have had to figure out a way to do one with this week's male host. I'm kidding, of course. They obviously knew they had to do it this way because they've already used both of the current male cast members who would be believable in this role so they needed a male host. Again, kidding. They obviously must've wanted to specifically parody something about this year's Bachelor. That being said, I'm not sure if McAvoy was having trouble nailing down a specific Colorado accent or something or if that was his portrayal of how he thought a stiff and frothed up adult virgin would present himself in such a situation. Either way, his acting kinda took me out of this. Unfortunately, his and Ego's performances were the only things that stood out to me in this sketch. The rest of it seemed pretty indistinguishable from the show's previous Bachelor parodies but the ending to this one worked for me. C-
Mr. H - I'm glad they actually called out how cliched this premise was and then gradually flipped it around. Redd was a solid lead in this. McAvoy provided a nice balance between serious acting and comedic dialogue. Mikey, Ego and Pete added some funny moments as well. This was one of the most thoroughly well written and produced short films in recent memory. A-
Scottish Air - Well, this seemed like it was going to be too one joke for me initially but the performances really sold it. Mikey, Kenan and Kate were very funny but Beck made the whole sketch for me. James seemed the most within his comfort zone here and that really helped the sketch play better. B-
Upper East Side - Leslie actually does have some great rap skills. I believe this is the first time she's gotten her own showcase for them in a music video where she is the lead performer rather than being a supporting player in all female song with the rest of the women in the cast. Kate and James provided a nice balance here. I guess I wasn't expecting a sudden German accent so soon. Other than that, nothing really stood out to me here because this seemed too regional and New York centric to really land with me. C-
Charmin Focus Group - After the host doing three different accents in a row, it took me a full minute to get back in sync with his acting, but his Philly/Pittsburgh accent paired with his insane, unwarranted scatalogical ad pitches was the true highlight of this sketch. I don't know why those accents are so funny to me, but they just are. Other than that, nothing else really clicked with me. It felt too much like we shouldn't have been seeing this the week after they revived the Barbie Instagram sketch because it played out just like a cross between that and the film Q&A sketch from Seth's show. I do have to wonder if this was originally written for Tina's episode last season given that one character had a heavy Philly accent. C+
Update had its moments. I couldn't really get into it until the Roger Stone jokes. Che in particular seemed to have quite a bit of fun with his. I also had a hard time getting into Redds' Soulja Boy commentary. It made me chuckle a bit but I really didn't appreciate having to know why Soulja Boy is back in the news this week to fully appreciate this. I really didn't think we needed to see Cathy-Anne again either. B-
Return To Narnia - Speaking of things I had to have read up on to recently to get, I had to check and make sure James McAvoy was actually in the Disney Narnia franchise films. The only film adaptation of "The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe" I've seen was from long before the time when those came out and I haven't really read the book since second grade. At least this was a nice pull for a host sketch. Otherwise, I was just WAY not the target demographic for this very niche female centric sketch. Still, I'm really curious to know which writer wrote this one. C-
Boys - I'm actually surprised they chose to recur this. Beck, Kyle and Cecily were still great in it but I still feel like this should've been left a one off and this version was too much of a carbon copy of the first to make me think otherwise. Thankfully, it got to its conclusion quicker this time. I do appreciate their acknowledgment of continuity by having James' character state that Cecily "remarried" him. C-
Dogs - Well, I hate to say this but...I think I'm officially starting to tire of Chris, Pete, and Kenans' rap videos. Still, this was at least better than the RBG one and the Permission one to a certain extent. I can appreciate that this was going more for "cute" than funny. I did like Pete's "hypoallergenic" lyric, James' intensity and the fact that they gave Ego her own verse that explained why she, Aidy & Heidi were wearing bunny ears reminiscent of a certain someone from Pete's recent past. C+
New Orleans - I think I spoke too soon about them recurring sketches from earlier this season that worked better as one offs. The only thing that stood out to me was James' near breaking and how Kate's part was considerably minimized and given to Ego. C-
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
3. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
4. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
5. Adam Driver/Kanye West
6. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
7. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
8. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak*. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
9. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
10. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, this episode kind of petered out in the second half but the first half was very fun while it lasted! In two weeks, Halsey pulls double duty for her first time as host and second as musical guest. Look, pop stars and musicians tend to make very fun and engaging hosts. However, I'm a little surprised Halsey was chosen to host because I don't think she's had any acting experience outside of a couple of voice acting gigs in animated fare. Hopefully, she can prove our preconceived wrong and be a fun and engaging host. See you then!
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet (1.19.2018)
Okay, here's my review. This was a strong enough show to start out the season. Nothing was too great or too terrible even though they seemed to have made a whole lot of rather strange choices and not all of them worked. Pretty much the entire cast got a fair amount of airtime. Rachel Brosnahan proved to be dependable if not outstanding amongst her peers. Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?
Deal Or No Deal: Government Shutdown Edition - Well, this was a rather odd mishmash of a cold open. This seemed like a half thought out premise (so, I guess Deal Or No Deal really did get an inexplicable reboot last month, huh?) and they seemed to be ticking off items on a checklist of the previous weeks' notable news stories again. Plus, they decided to really Trojan Horse Baldwin's Trump on us here but at least they were thinking outside the box this week for the cold open. I know we've seen Kyle play Howie Mandell in Jonah Hills' episode a couple of months ago and I guess he could've just as easily done so again here since he wasn't playing one of the suitcase senators but Kenans' Steve Harvey actually livened this up a bit more so I think they made the right call. Other than that, the only things that stood out to me were Kate's Nancy Pelosi (which seems to have morphed into a Jennifer Tilly impression somehow) Mikey's Steve King "Whites" comment and Ego's brief Cardi B impression (because Mikey's part was the biggest laugh I got out of this whole sketch and Ego finally made it on to the show again and they seem to be close to finally figuring out how to use her) and the fact that this sketch actually had something of an ending. C+
Monologue - Rachel Brosnahan was a hard host to get a read on here. She seemed to be more into hosting than she let on and exhibited a very controlled and reserved level of enthusiasm for the show. As for the content of the monologue, the song more relatable for its time than it was outright funny (maybe aside from the drug part). It felt like they just took Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt's monologues from the two previous seasons and just stripped them of most of their substance. It mostly left me curious as to how Cecily might have spent her Christmas/New Year's break as I've never seen her that ridiculously tan before. C+
Action 9 News At Five - Well, I was pretty foolish to think this would not be a rewrite of Matt Shatt or last seasons' Sairose Ronan American Girl sketch just because Mikey played the anchor this time. Nonetheless, the rapid fire pace of stupid silly names made this very funny. Sure, it was pretty sophomoric but I'll take what I can get right now. B+
Leave Me AlUrn - This was another female oriented piece that really appealed to everyone to some degree since it had a creative idea behind it. Alex, Ego, Pete, Kate & Kenan scored the biggest laughs here. Also, is it just me or is Rachel Brosnahan a dead ringer for Noel Wells? B+
Millenials Millions - Yeeaaah, okay...well, this was another thing that I found specifically relatable to me as someone well within the millennial age range who has fairly recently worked a freelance job at a local tech startup that offered no benefits. I'll try to be as impartial as I can here. For starters, while I think the divide between Boomers & Millennials is starting to become a tired, played out comedy topic and this might be the final nail in that coffin it was at least nice to see SNL make a trip to that well once and acknowledge this actual effect on the lives of people my age. I admire how they went after all three sides as evenly as they could manage, I also thought this could've been a little less condescending to millenials (even if that WAS on purpose). Thanks to Kenans' character, I at least have a better understanding of why my generation is supposed to also hate Generation X. Also, is it just me or is Rachel Brosnahan also a dead ringer for Claire Foy? (or is it just that they both hosted within two months of each other and played very similar roles on this show?) I actually thought for a second that Cecilys' tan might have been fake for her role in this sketch but then realized that the makeup team probably wouldn't go as far as to spray tan Cecilys' legs if she was wearing pants. At least this was one of the more creative premises for a game show sketch they've done in recent memory. Speaking of which, does anyone else think it's strange that this was the second game show sketch in tonight's show? B-
The Raunchiest Mrs. Rita - Well, this was a fine "host sketch" and a fine excuse for Leslie to just play herself stuck out of time. The only flaw here was that this took too long to establish it's one joke and it stayed once it got there without really going anywhere else. Beyond that, it just used Aidy and Kyle to establish that whoever wrote this was familiar with the show. Yeah, I figured if anyone in the current cast would play Alex Borsteins' part in a parody of this show it would be Aidy (the second time in the past year an SNL cast member had impersonated a MadTv cast member, oddly enough). Also, the Cosby reference at the end (the second in the entire show over all) felt a little too tacked on. C-
Update was pretty solid. Most of the jokes were either good or just forgettable. The entire opening Jost/Che rant and Josts' Instagram egg/Twitter egg joke and reaction to his own Florida watch joke were the funniest joke moments of the whole shoe (even if the egg joke is a little dated because Twitter replace that anonymous egg icon with a minimalist silhouette). Kate played her Elizabeth Warren much more loose and relaxed and it worked much better. Nice to see Pete in better spirits under Mulaneys' wing (who's always a welcome presence on SNL no matter what). I found their Clint Eastwood Mule commentary a little too fast paced to follow the back-and-forth of it (it actually kinda reminded me of the two man film reviews they did in 85-86 with Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall and 88-89 with Ben Stiller and Mike Meyers) but I like to think of it as one long setup to the "Mule-aney" punch line. B+
Tabitha - This was a strange premise that I didn't quite know what to make if (or even what it may have been parodying) but everyone's performances really sold the hell out of it and made it funny. C+
Kool-Aid - This was one of the strangest parodies of anything the show has done in recent memory. It was a very unusual take. I thought Ches' mention of it during Update was enough. It almost seemed like both segments missed the point if the ad (but not to a dangerous degree fortunately). Thankfully, this didn't detract too much or veer too far off course from the Gillette ads' basic message. I'd like to think the whole point of this parody was at least absurdity for the sake of absurdity if not to poke fun at the strange non-sequitir approach Gillette took in illustrating their representation of the "toxic masculinity" they wished to take a stand against. Seriously, did anyone else who saw the Gillette ad get a strong Tim & Eric/Kroll Show type vibe from the first part of it? C+
Kens' Instagram - Well, I'm shocked they tried to recur something from the home stretch of last season that so obviously worked best as a one off. Pete, Heidi and Kenan had some great lines but I preferred the Donald Glover version. Also, did we ever get confirmation of who wrote either sketch? I want to say it was Julio Torres but I believe he may have left the show entirely in the middle of last season to produce his own new show with Fred Armisen so I'm really not sure who on the current writing staff is that skilled at aping his existentialist malaise type style. C+
Now for my updated rankings of this season so far...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
3. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
4. Adam Driver/Kanye West
5. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
6. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
7. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
8. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
9. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
10. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that got 2019 off on the right foot. Next week, James McAvoy will be making his hosting debut. I want to say he's an actor I'm more familiar with but I'm not sure what else he's been in besides Split, Glass and some of the more recent X-Men films. Still, he strikes me as someone who can have enough fun with himself and the cast to be a pleasant host. See you soon!
Deal Or No Deal: Government Shutdown Edition - Well, this was a rather odd mishmash of a cold open. This seemed like a half thought out premise (so, I guess Deal Or No Deal really did get an inexplicable reboot last month, huh?) and they seemed to be ticking off items on a checklist of the previous weeks' notable news stories again. Plus, they decided to really Trojan Horse Baldwin's Trump on us here but at least they were thinking outside the box this week for the cold open. I know we've seen Kyle play Howie Mandell in Jonah Hills' episode a couple of months ago and I guess he could've just as easily done so again here since he wasn't playing one of the suitcase senators but Kenans' Steve Harvey actually livened this up a bit more so I think they made the right call. Other than that, the only things that stood out to me were Kate's Nancy Pelosi (which seems to have morphed into a Jennifer Tilly impression somehow) Mikey's Steve King "Whites" comment and Ego's brief Cardi B impression (because Mikey's part was the biggest laugh I got out of this whole sketch and Ego finally made it on to the show again and they seem to be close to finally figuring out how to use her) and the fact that this sketch actually had something of an ending. C+
Monologue - Rachel Brosnahan was a hard host to get a read on here. She seemed to be more into hosting than she let on and exhibited a very controlled and reserved level of enthusiasm for the show. As for the content of the monologue, the song more relatable for its time than it was outright funny (maybe aside from the drug part). It felt like they just took Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt's monologues from the two previous seasons and just stripped them of most of their substance. It mostly left me curious as to how Cecily might have spent her Christmas/New Year's break as I've never seen her that ridiculously tan before. C+
Action 9 News At Five - Well, I was pretty foolish to think this would not be a rewrite of Matt Shatt or last seasons' Sairose Ronan American Girl sketch just because Mikey played the anchor this time. Nonetheless, the rapid fire pace of stupid silly names made this very funny. Sure, it was pretty sophomoric but I'll take what I can get right now. B+
Leave Me AlUrn - This was another female oriented piece that really appealed to everyone to some degree since it had a creative idea behind it. Alex, Ego, Pete, Kate & Kenan scored the biggest laughs here. Also, is it just me or is Rachel Brosnahan a dead ringer for Noel Wells? B+
Millenials Millions - Yeeaaah, okay...well, this was another thing that I found specifically relatable to me as someone well within the millennial age range who has fairly recently worked a freelance job at a local tech startup that offered no benefits. I'll try to be as impartial as I can here. For starters, while I think the divide between Boomers & Millennials is starting to become a tired, played out comedy topic and this might be the final nail in that coffin it was at least nice to see SNL make a trip to that well once and acknowledge this actual effect on the lives of people my age. I admire how they went after all three sides as evenly as they could manage, I also thought this could've been a little less condescending to millenials (even if that WAS on purpose). Thanks to Kenans' character, I at least have a better understanding of why my generation is supposed to also hate Generation X. Also, is it just me or is Rachel Brosnahan also a dead ringer for Claire Foy? (or is it just that they both hosted within two months of each other and played very similar roles on this show?) I actually thought for a second that Cecilys' tan might have been fake for her role in this sketch but then realized that the makeup team probably wouldn't go as far as to spray tan Cecilys' legs if she was wearing pants. At least this was one of the more creative premises for a game show sketch they've done in recent memory. Speaking of which, does anyone else think it's strange that this was the second game show sketch in tonight's show? B-
The Raunchiest Mrs. Rita - Well, this was a fine "host sketch" and a fine excuse for Leslie to just play herself stuck out of time. The only flaw here was that this took too long to establish it's one joke and it stayed once it got there without really going anywhere else. Beyond that, it just used Aidy and Kyle to establish that whoever wrote this was familiar with the show. Yeah, I figured if anyone in the current cast would play Alex Borsteins' part in a parody of this show it would be Aidy (the second time in the past year an SNL cast member had impersonated a MadTv cast member, oddly enough). Also, the Cosby reference at the end (the second in the entire show over all) felt a little too tacked on. C-
Update was pretty solid. Most of the jokes were either good or just forgettable. The entire opening Jost/Che rant and Josts' Instagram egg/Twitter egg joke and reaction to his own Florida watch joke were the funniest joke moments of the whole shoe (even if the egg joke is a little dated because Twitter replace that anonymous egg icon with a minimalist silhouette). Kate played her Elizabeth Warren much more loose and relaxed and it worked much better. Nice to see Pete in better spirits under Mulaneys' wing (who's always a welcome presence on SNL no matter what). I found their Clint Eastwood Mule commentary a little too fast paced to follow the back-and-forth of it (it actually kinda reminded me of the two man film reviews they did in 85-86 with Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall and 88-89 with Ben Stiller and Mike Meyers) but I like to think of it as one long setup to the "Mule-aney" punch line. B+
Tabitha - This was a strange premise that I didn't quite know what to make if (or even what it may have been parodying) but everyone's performances really sold the hell out of it and made it funny. C+
Kool-Aid - This was one of the strangest parodies of anything the show has done in recent memory. It was a very unusual take. I thought Ches' mention of it during Update was enough. It almost seemed like both segments missed the point if the ad (but not to a dangerous degree fortunately). Thankfully, this didn't detract too much or veer too far off course from the Gillette ads' basic message. I'd like to think the whole point of this parody was at least absurdity for the sake of absurdity if not to poke fun at the strange non-sequitir approach Gillette took in illustrating their representation of the "toxic masculinity" they wished to take a stand against. Seriously, did anyone else who saw the Gillette ad get a strong Tim & Eric/Kroll Show type vibe from the first part of it? C+
Kens' Instagram - Well, I'm shocked they tried to recur something from the home stretch of last season that so obviously worked best as a one off. Pete, Heidi and Kenan had some great lines but I preferred the Donald Glover version. Also, did we ever get confirmation of who wrote either sketch? I want to say it was Julio Torres but I believe he may have left the show entirely in the middle of last season to produce his own new show with Fred Armisen so I'm really not sure who on the current writing staff is that skilled at aping his existentialist malaise type style. C+
Now for my updated rankings of this season so far...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
3. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
4. Adam Driver/Kanye West
5. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
6. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
7. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
8. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
9. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
10. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that got 2019 off on the right foot. Next week, James McAvoy will be making his hosting debut. I want to say he's an actor I'm more familiar with but I'm not sure what else he's been in besides Split, Glass and some of the more recent X-Men films. Still, he strikes me as someone who can have enough fun with himself and the cast to be a pleasant host. See you soon!
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus (12.15.18)
Okay, here's my review. This was definitely the strongest show of this month. Overall, it was a high point for the whole season. It was slightly inconsistent at times but what clicked really clicked and there was plenty of fun to be had. The show didn't feel to bogged down in recurring sketches but there were plenty of nice retreads to things that were enjoyable the first time we saw them. Matt Damon proved to be just as effective a host as he was sixteen years ago. Each cast member seemed to get plenty of airtime with no one really getting shut out, not even Ego for once. Normally, I'd say it was strange that Pete was barely in the show but given the circumstances it was smart of them to not let him do Update (or really be in any other non-filmed sketches for that matter) and have his only (thankfully) live appearance be introducing Miley's second performance to show his fans he's okay and not succumbing to pressure. Anyway, let's unpack this week.
It's A Wonderful Trump - I appreciate all the time and effort that obviously went into putting this on as the cold open, but it was kinda hard for me to get into. For one thing, they're pretty much subjecting us to the exact same guest cameos and political characterizations they bought out two weeks ago (give or take about three people). Still, I have to say Damon's Kavanaugh was the most welcome addition. He was the only one who actually made me laugh here and I think it's because this is only his second appearance. Seriously, since Brett Kavanaugh has only been a headline grabbing political figure for four, maybe six months tops out of the entire year and Damon hasn't been able to make it out to New York again until this week, it's the character that's been beaten into the ground the absolute least. Also, for some reason I was expecting this to take place in more than just two different settings. I was hoping to see Baldwin and Kenan travel around to more different landscapes if this sketch was going to be as long as it was. It was only after the sketch ended that I realized that I may have been confusing "It's A Wonderful Life" with "A Christmas Carol" but then I remembered that they've done "It's A Wonderful Life" parodies that have sprawled about the studio a bit. "It's A Wonderful Newt" from season 20 immediately comes to mind as (to a lesser extent) Baldwin's monologue from four years after that (which oddly makes this the second "It's A Wonderful Life" parody that Baldwin has participated on the show in 20 years). This one more closely resembled the two cold opens from season 15 ("It's A Wonderful Dice" and the one from Goodman's first episode in December '89). C-
Monologue - This had to have been the most endearing monologue the show has done in several years. I genuinely appreciate Damon admitting that bonding through SNL meant as much to him and his family life as it did mine. I also liked him flat out admitting he had no movie out and the nonsequitir of this being Becks' last show. It's nice to see two hosts in a row who both claim to be knowledgeable fans of the show (especially when at least one if them can actually translate that into their performances). B+
Westminster Daddy Show - While I immediately recognized that I am WAY not the target audience for this, I do appreciate how it played out as the sketch went into detail explaining every intricate detail of it's own premise to me. I especially liked the visual gag of graying, middle aged men being jogged and led around by professional dog handlers and the twist that Damon's character would be a last minute Triwizard Cup dark horse victor. I also liked the back and forth between Kenan and Alex although I don't know if I like seeing Alex get typecast in all the smug, self-superior, perpetually blind to their own privelege straight white guy roles. B+
Best Christmas Ever - This was obviously done in the same vein as the Girls Halloween/middle school theater Legally Blond/Amy Schumer pregnancy shorts from the past two seasons. Having one of these take place during Christmas was a nice touch. Since I've seen this format so many times already, not much stood out to me besides Mikeys' #MAGA hat cousin and Damon consoling his non-adopted daughter and cursing at a crumbling Fisher-Price play house. C+
Back Of The Tree Ornaments - This was the funniest live piece of the night. Beck, Kyle and Melissa seemed mostly resigned to thankless straight roles but everyone else turned in great performances. Damon poked fun at himself and his career in an interesting way. Mikey was committed to playing his first of two Harry Potter characters of the night as an oblivious sap. Oddly, Kate's old aftermath of 9/11 era Guliani is a much more accurate impression than her current day Trump administration era Guliani. I wouldn't mind seeing her continue to play present day Rudy if the stuck to using that exact same voice doing so. Cecily doesn't play a lot of creepily damaged roles very often but she succeeded here channeling her inner Maria Bamford. Honestly, the worst thing about this sketch was the constant camera miscues. A-
Oscar's Host Auditions - The recent Kevin Hart controversy was an odd excuse to do another impressions screen test showcase but it was clever and it's always fun to see these. Egos' Tiffany Haddish was pretty dead on but the voice she used was a little too high pitched. I'd say the same for Kate's Michelle Wolf but maybe also suggest that Cecily had played her instead so that Michelle Wolf doesn't gradually sound just like Kellyanne Conway for some reason. Speaking of Cecily, I haven't seen a single episode of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" but I've seen thr cast and crew accept an absurd amount of Emmys inbetween each of the seemingly-endlessly-played-on-a- loop promos for the show to be able to see how accurate Cecilys' Rachel Brosnahan impression was. Damon's Hemsworth and McConaughey impressions were on the mark. Kenans' Michael Strahan and Terry Crews were very funny (although the former didn't make me forget about Jay Pharrohs' impression). Aidys' Roseanne still doesn't do much for me but her Hannah Gadsby stood out. I haven't seen Nanette but again, I did see her Emmys speech and from what I remember I can see why Aidy may have had to exaggerate this a little. Pete had the look down for Rami Malek but he may have needed a little more than just that. Of course, it's always nice to see Redds' Kanye, Melissas' Silverman, Heidi's Allison Janney and Kate's Ellen again. B-
Jingle Bells - This was obviously a Strong/Anderson/Sublette collab and I gotta say this was the most easily tolerable thing they've put together in quite some time. It's nice to see something from them that was just bland and forgettable rather than actively obnoxious and over the top. It reminded me of the lower key lounge singing duo type pieces that Anderson and Sublette would write for Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig. C-
Update was uneven but had some strong moments. Jost really got it going with the Cohen jokes after telling two Trump jokes that read so interchangeable they could've been cut from any Update in the past two years. I liked "Where's Wes" the first time I saw it during one of the Summer Thursday episodes last year. I don't think I needed to see it again when the only thing that's different is that a Christmas Carol is the theme song. I'm not sure why we needed to see Angel again either until I realized who tonight's host was. He was a welcome addition and I guess this gets the obligatory Boston role out of the way. I'd have to say the funniest moments of Update were Jost acknowledging the awkwardness of the Boy Scouts/Sex Island transition and he and Che reading each other's jokes written for each other. If that wasn't 100% genuine, then Jost in particular really knew how to sell it. B+
Weezer Dinner - I'd actually like to know who wrote this (I suspect it was whoever wrote that Shrek dinner sketch from Sterling K. Browns' episode in March) because casting Leslie opposite Damon as two ardent yet diametrically opposed Weezer fans was pretty inspired. I also liked how the ending was relatively grounded. B-
Christmas With The Cops - This sketch really didn't go anywhere at all and felt much too long and drawn out. The most pointless thing about it was Baldwin's presence. He barely had anything to contribute aside from a watered down version of his old DeNiro impression (and there was a distinct possibility that DeNiro had already left the building by that point). It's already uncomfortable enough just seeing him play Trump at this point. We're well beyond the point where he should also be placed in regular sketches throughout the show. The only things approaching jokes were Cecilys' walk on and Beck admitting to shooting Kyle's wife. If this was a parody of a specific scene from a specific cop drama, the reference was lost on me. I can't even tell who the intended audience was for this one. D+
Happy Christmas, Britain - Well, it's nice to see SNL comment on international politics every once in a while but a lot of this seemed destined to be lost on US audiences. Kate and Matt did turn on fine performances. I mean, I don't know a ton about former UK Prime Minister David Cameron but Matt Damon is still not the first person I would picture playing him. Aidys' Elton John is okay but still comes off rather strange and out of place. Mikey as Lord Voldemort looked like it was going to be the best part of this but too bad the bulk of his part had to get cut abruptly due to time. I guess Jost & Ches' giggling made Update run long. C-
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
3. Adam Driver/Kanye West
4. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
5. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
6. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
7. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
8. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
9. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that was a strong note to end the calendar year on. I'm shocked that there was no on air acknowledgment that this WASN'T SNLs' surprise series finale let alone any host/MG announcement for any episode that could theoretically take place next year. Maybe they actually ARE trying to get Bradley Cooper and/or Lady Gaga to do the show on January 19 and are just not having their calls returned. Maybe they already had them booked as recently as this week but they both had to drop out at the last possible second? I mean, it happened with Ariana Grande already this season. The way this season has been going, I don't see why it couldn't happen twice. I guess they'll make an announcement on social media either this next coming week or early next month after the holidays. Anyway, Happy Holidays and see you January 19th...whoever we end up getting.
It's A Wonderful Trump - I appreciate all the time and effort that obviously went into putting this on as the cold open, but it was kinda hard for me to get into. For one thing, they're pretty much subjecting us to the exact same guest cameos and political characterizations they bought out two weeks ago (give or take about three people). Still, I have to say Damon's Kavanaugh was the most welcome addition. He was the only one who actually made me laugh here and I think it's because this is only his second appearance. Seriously, since Brett Kavanaugh has only been a headline grabbing political figure for four, maybe six months tops out of the entire year and Damon hasn't been able to make it out to New York again until this week, it's the character that's been beaten into the ground the absolute least. Also, for some reason I was expecting this to take place in more than just two different settings. I was hoping to see Baldwin and Kenan travel around to more different landscapes if this sketch was going to be as long as it was. It was only after the sketch ended that I realized that I may have been confusing "It's A Wonderful Life" with "A Christmas Carol" but then I remembered that they've done "It's A Wonderful Life" parodies that have sprawled about the studio a bit. "It's A Wonderful Newt" from season 20 immediately comes to mind as (to a lesser extent) Baldwin's monologue from four years after that (which oddly makes this the second "It's A Wonderful Life" parody that Baldwin has participated on the show in 20 years). This one more closely resembled the two cold opens from season 15 ("It's A Wonderful Dice" and the one from Goodman's first episode in December '89). C-
Monologue - This had to have been the most endearing monologue the show has done in several years. I genuinely appreciate Damon admitting that bonding through SNL meant as much to him and his family life as it did mine. I also liked him flat out admitting he had no movie out and the nonsequitir of this being Becks' last show. It's nice to see two hosts in a row who both claim to be knowledgeable fans of the show (especially when at least one if them can actually translate that into their performances). B+
Westminster Daddy Show - While I immediately recognized that I am WAY not the target audience for this, I do appreciate how it played out as the sketch went into detail explaining every intricate detail of it's own premise to me. I especially liked the visual gag of graying, middle aged men being jogged and led around by professional dog handlers and the twist that Damon's character would be a last minute Triwizard Cup dark horse victor. I also liked the back and forth between Kenan and Alex although I don't know if I like seeing Alex get typecast in all the smug, self-superior, perpetually blind to their own privelege straight white guy roles. B+
Best Christmas Ever - This was obviously done in the same vein as the Girls Halloween/middle school theater Legally Blond/Amy Schumer pregnancy shorts from the past two seasons. Having one of these take place during Christmas was a nice touch. Since I've seen this format so many times already, not much stood out to me besides Mikeys' #MAGA hat cousin and Damon consoling his non-adopted daughter and cursing at a crumbling Fisher-Price play house. C+
Back Of The Tree Ornaments - This was the funniest live piece of the night. Beck, Kyle and Melissa seemed mostly resigned to thankless straight roles but everyone else turned in great performances. Damon poked fun at himself and his career in an interesting way. Mikey was committed to playing his first of two Harry Potter characters of the night as an oblivious sap. Oddly, Kate's old aftermath of 9/11 era Guliani is a much more accurate impression than her current day Trump administration era Guliani. I wouldn't mind seeing her continue to play present day Rudy if the stuck to using that exact same voice doing so. Cecily doesn't play a lot of creepily damaged roles very often but she succeeded here channeling her inner Maria Bamford. Honestly, the worst thing about this sketch was the constant camera miscues. A-
Oscar's Host Auditions - The recent Kevin Hart controversy was an odd excuse to do another impressions screen test showcase but it was clever and it's always fun to see these. Egos' Tiffany Haddish was pretty dead on but the voice she used was a little too high pitched. I'd say the same for Kate's Michelle Wolf but maybe also suggest that Cecily had played her instead so that Michelle Wolf doesn't gradually sound just like Kellyanne Conway for some reason. Speaking of Cecily, I haven't seen a single episode of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" but I've seen thr cast and crew accept an absurd amount of Emmys inbetween each of the seemingly-endlessly-played-on-a- loop promos for the show to be able to see how accurate Cecilys' Rachel Brosnahan impression was. Damon's Hemsworth and McConaughey impressions were on the mark. Kenans' Michael Strahan and Terry Crews were very funny (although the former didn't make me forget about Jay Pharrohs' impression). Aidys' Roseanne still doesn't do much for me but her Hannah Gadsby stood out. I haven't seen Nanette but again, I did see her Emmys speech and from what I remember I can see why Aidy may have had to exaggerate this a little. Pete had the look down for Rami Malek but he may have needed a little more than just that. Of course, it's always nice to see Redds' Kanye, Melissas' Silverman, Heidi's Allison Janney and Kate's Ellen again. B-
Jingle Bells - This was obviously a Strong/Anderson/Sublette collab and I gotta say this was the most easily tolerable thing they've put together in quite some time. It's nice to see something from them that was just bland and forgettable rather than actively obnoxious and over the top. It reminded me of the lower key lounge singing duo type pieces that Anderson and Sublette would write for Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig. C-
Update was uneven but had some strong moments. Jost really got it going with the Cohen jokes after telling two Trump jokes that read so interchangeable they could've been cut from any Update in the past two years. I liked "Where's Wes" the first time I saw it during one of the Summer Thursday episodes last year. I don't think I needed to see it again when the only thing that's different is that a Christmas Carol is the theme song. I'm not sure why we needed to see Angel again either until I realized who tonight's host was. He was a welcome addition and I guess this gets the obligatory Boston role out of the way. I'd have to say the funniest moments of Update were Jost acknowledging the awkwardness of the Boy Scouts/Sex Island transition and he and Che reading each other's jokes written for each other. If that wasn't 100% genuine, then Jost in particular really knew how to sell it. B+
Weezer Dinner - I'd actually like to know who wrote this (I suspect it was whoever wrote that Shrek dinner sketch from Sterling K. Browns' episode in March) because casting Leslie opposite Damon as two ardent yet diametrically opposed Weezer fans was pretty inspired. I also liked how the ending was relatively grounded. B-
Christmas With The Cops - This sketch really didn't go anywhere at all and felt much too long and drawn out. The most pointless thing about it was Baldwin's presence. He barely had anything to contribute aside from a watered down version of his old DeNiro impression (and there was a distinct possibility that DeNiro had already left the building by that point). It's already uncomfortable enough just seeing him play Trump at this point. We're well beyond the point where he should also be placed in regular sketches throughout the show. The only things approaching jokes were Cecilys' walk on and Beck admitting to shooting Kyle's wife. If this was a parody of a specific scene from a specific cop drama, the reference was lost on me. I can't even tell who the intended audience was for this one. D+
Happy Christmas, Britain - Well, it's nice to see SNL comment on international politics every once in a while but a lot of this seemed destined to be lost on US audiences. Kate and Matt did turn on fine performances. I mean, I don't know a ton about former UK Prime Minister David Cameron but Matt Damon is still not the first person I would picture playing him. Aidys' Elton John is okay but still comes off rather strange and out of place. Mikey as Lord Voldemort looked like it was going to be the best part of this but too bad the bulk of his part had to get cut abruptly due to time. I guess Jost & Ches' giggling made Update run long. C-
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
3. Adam Driver/Kanye West
4. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
5. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
6. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
7. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
8. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
9. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that was a strong note to end the calendar year on. I'm shocked that there was no on air acknowledgment that this WASN'T SNLs' surprise series finale let alone any host/MG announcement for any episode that could theoretically take place next year. Maybe they actually ARE trying to get Bradley Cooper and/or Lady Gaga to do the show on January 19 and are just not having their calls returned. Maybe they already had them booked as recently as this week but they both had to drop out at the last possible second? I mean, it happened with Ariana Grande already this season. The way this season has been going, I don't see why it couldn't happen twice. I guess they'll make an announcement on social media either this next coming week or early next month after the holidays. Anyway, Happy Holidays and see you January 19th...whoever we end up getting.
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons (12.8.2018)
Okay, here's my review. While this show had considerably more energy than last week (not a lot though) something about the writing and the material they had really dragged it down. The show as a whole felt so unfocused that I'm not sure any host could have saved this week given what they wrote and ended up putting on the air. Jason Momoa seems like a good guy who gave it his all but he wasn't quite the strong host I was expecting him to be. I realized at some point that Jason is more a big popcorn blockbuster action star in the making than an actor's actor. Plus, he must not have had that much acting experience at this point in his career since he's basically only know for two distinct roles and to my knowledge, this is the first time he has acted or performed in a live setting anywhere. This occurred to me when I had noticed that Jason really excelled in the two pre taped segments he was in tonight than in any of his live sketches. As far as airtime goes, the show was pretty much dominated by Beck/Kyle, Mikey/Alex/Pete and Kenan. Kudos to Chris for making enough live appearances tonight to make up for his virtual absence from the last few shows. As far as the female presence on the show, I've noticed that newer hires like Heidi and Melissa were all over the place while the senior women on the show (Cecily, Kate, Leslie) were barely used at all (with Aidy still being visible). I really got the impression tonight that Cecily and Kate were planning on this being their final season while Heidi and Melissa had proven themselves enough to be widely visible and used as utility players by this point. It's almost as if Lorne is grooming them to take over for the women who might be leaving. However, I'm starting to get a little more worried about Ego. She seems like a strong performer who is definitely meant to be a great fit for the show and she has had one breakout sketch in the first three shows of thy he season but she hasn't had any other "breakout" roles since then where she got to be front and center. Granted, it is still her first season but it's almost like she is being unfairly punished because (through no fault of her own or the show) her breakout sketch caught some flak from the real life Baltimore police department. This is obviously not something that should keep her from being on more her first season let alone getting a chance at a second one. Anyway, we've got a lot to unpack here as I'm sure you can already tell so let's get to it.
Eric's Bedtime Story - If nothing else, a nice palette cleanser from last weeks' mess. It's nice to see the Eric & Don Jr. bits have gotten less and less formulaic to the point where they work even better away from the Update desk. Alex had some good malapropisms here. Deniros' Muller is probably the most welcome of the show's stable of recurring political impressions just by virtue of it being one of the least obnoxious characterization of anyone the show currently satirizes. Honestly, the worst thing about this one was Deniro stumbling over a few cue cards. Even though the ending came off a little awkward thanks to Deniro, I was glad to see it didn't belabor the point. C+
Monologue - This came off quite strange and given the host's stature I was a little disappointed that it ultimately failed to set the right tone for the rest of the show. I'm glad to see Jason Momoa is a self professed SNL "nerd" and even wanted to move to New York to join the cast at one point but I wish he could've made that sheer enthusiasm translate better here to more than just the P-Funk pastiche he took part in at the very end. Speaking of which, I think the bigger problem here is that this monologue seriously lacked focus. It felt like they had ideas for three different monologues and could not settle on which ONE they thought would work best to save their lives. It really felt like a cross between all the monologues Sterling K. Brown, Hugh Jackman and Chadwick Boseman did in that order. At least it ended on an up note. I do have to wonder how Jason got Lorne to let him host the show without shaving his beard. That is a rarity nowadays. C+
Elves On The Shelves - This had a pretty one note premise but the writing was the main thing that made it watchable. Thankfully, this didn't belabor the point by the time it ended either. It felt like it could've been done with literally any male host but somehow Jason playing his role in a similar way to how I imagine Liev Schreiber would've had this sketch taken place just outside a woman's restroom really added something to this. Strangely, my biggest issue with this sketch was how jarringly unnecessary the voice modulates were. C+
GE Big Boy Appliances - This was an enjoyably simple piece. I mean, this wasn't exactly the first time that anyone has taken a hard look at the different ways household products are marketed toward men and women and tried to mine it for comedy but this worked due to the sheer levels of committment to broad visual gags. Jason did well here because again, this piece was being carried on the strength of its' absurd props so he barely had to contribute anything. B-
Khal Drogos' Ghost Dojo - I expected Jason to do much better than he did in the night's requisite "Game Of Thrones" sketch. After all, he's playing what up until very recently may have been his best known role. He should have been well within his comfort zone if not for the whole "live" aspect. Still, he was HARDLY the biggest problem with this sketch. It was basically all over the place writing wise and had far too much going on. It felt like the second piece of the night that the writers couldn't decide on one theme or central premise for. Even Kenan seemed to be thrown for a loop as he's never been known to break in any sketch or even stumble over any lines as he did here. Ironically, it seemed like it was going for mass appeal but at the same time gave us a string of GoT references that were so hyper specific that they couldn't have been meant for anyone other than obsessive GoT fans who've seen and analyzed every episode multiple times over (and I point this out fully aware of any inherent irony in what I'm writing right now). This seemed like it played about 10 times better at the table read on Wednesday than it did for the live and dress audiences but they felt like they had to keep it in the show anyway due to the subject matter being so relevant to the host's career. With the addition of Beck as Hodor after seeing him as Santa, it's become pretty obvious that they're now using him for the same types of roles they would have used Bobby Moynihan for two years ago. That must be an odd feeling for him if he has ever had to think about this. Good to see Pete make attempt at playing a character that wasn't entirely "himself" even if it started to unravel. Kate as King Joffrey oddly felt like a bit of a throwback in terms of go to Got references in pop culture (based on who hadn't been killed off yer) and yet very current and prescient in how Kate is being used on the show. Staging a ridiculous slap fight between her and Aidys' character just felt like the audience was having one more thing thrown ar them unnecessarily. While I thought the gag with Kyle was funny, it is also starting to feel dated. Not just because people have made fun of the general premise of discussion shows and after shows before but it now seems like society is actively trying to make them less of a thing now either because the first shows to have them ended or because of what came out about Chris Hardwick (who was the first person to become famous by hosting those shows and is thus the person most strongly associated with the genre). D+
Them Trumps - Well, it's nice to get a different take on the goings on in the Trump white house than what the show usually gives us. Still, while the examination of racial double standards in our legal system isn't exactly fresh ground (hell, Chappelle already did "what would our current Republican president be like if he were black?" as a sketch premise nearly 15 years ago now) but this sketch just goes to show how well Kenan does serve the show as the anchor/glue of this and the last few casts. Plus, after the sketch that came just before it, I was very glad to see something that got in, got right to the point it was trying to make and got out. B+
Update was the most consistent and well written part of this episode and thus tonight's stand out segment. Che really got it going and then Jost picked up the slack and really sold all of his material. Nice to see Aidy play a well thought out character that was grounded in reality after some of the rare misses Heidi had been giving us recently. Ches' bidet commentary was funny and I do like the format/fourth wall break the show employed to deliver it. B+
The Ghost Of Xmas Extra - Okay, this HAD to have been written by the same persons who wrote the Cleopatra sketch from Awkwafinas' episode and the "GPYASS" sketch from Steve Carell's episode. It did have that exact same ultra feminized trending Twitter meme sensibility to it and seemed written solely to pander to Jason's female fans. Other than that, I liked Mikeys exaggerated exasperation. I'm glad they knew that the perfect place to end this would be right after the twerking. C-
Day Of The Dorks - Well, I was really expecting the reveal behind Jason's character to be a more substantial payoff than it ended up being. This was just full of too much useless exposition. It seemed like it was written just to harness Jason's manic bro energy from the weeks' promos. I'll bet whoever wrote this also wrote that NOT!Scooby Doo sketch from Mikey's first episode two years ago with Margot Robbie. D+
Sleigh Ride - Well, that was a great mislead with Leslie, Kenan, Kyle and Melissa (who had a great exit line, by the way) because I wasn't expecting Cecily as Gemma to show up. Frankly, it was a little strange to see her first live appearance so late in the show. What was also strange but pleasantly surprising was Jason's performance here because only by this point in the show had he gotten over his nervous habit of tripping over cue cards and gained a sense of comedic timing. I liked how different of a setting this was and how much more outlandish the dialogue was. The ending to this was satisfying as well. B-
First Impression - This was fun to watch due to the way Beck and Jason played off each other and Melissa and Heidi playing off of them. It gave me immediate flash backs to Paul Brittains' Lord Wyndemeire (sp?) from season 37. The ending could've been trimmed a bit because it killed the momentum the rest of the sketch built up. B-
Rudolph's Revenge - This got off to a bit of a slow start when they basically gave us the Cliffs Notes version of the Rudolph story. Pete really shined in this. He probably had plenty of personal life inspiration to draw from this week. The only other stand out performer was Jason mostly because he was the second actor in this show alone to play the role of Santa Claus. B+
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Adam Driver/Kanye West
3. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
4. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
5. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
6. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
7. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
8. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that barely lived up to any expectations I may have had. Next week will be the final SNL of 2018. Matt Damon returns to host for his second time ever in sixteen years seemingly just on the strength of his surprise Brett Kavanaugh impression from the season premiere. If that was any indication, we are in for a far more competently acted show than this one. He was a strong host in 2002 and he should make for a fun show even if he has sort of shown us his ass in recent years re: #MeToo and diversity related issues (thankfully, that was more anything dumb he might have SAID than what he actually did). Still, I think now his presence will somehow feel a bit less tone deaf. See you then!
Eric's Bedtime Story - If nothing else, a nice palette cleanser from last weeks' mess. It's nice to see the Eric & Don Jr. bits have gotten less and less formulaic to the point where they work even better away from the Update desk. Alex had some good malapropisms here. Deniros' Muller is probably the most welcome of the show's stable of recurring political impressions just by virtue of it being one of the least obnoxious characterization of anyone the show currently satirizes. Honestly, the worst thing about this one was Deniro stumbling over a few cue cards. Even though the ending came off a little awkward thanks to Deniro, I was glad to see it didn't belabor the point. C+
Monologue - This came off quite strange and given the host's stature I was a little disappointed that it ultimately failed to set the right tone for the rest of the show. I'm glad to see Jason Momoa is a self professed SNL "nerd" and even wanted to move to New York to join the cast at one point but I wish he could've made that sheer enthusiasm translate better here to more than just the P-Funk pastiche he took part in at the very end. Speaking of which, I think the bigger problem here is that this monologue seriously lacked focus. It felt like they had ideas for three different monologues and could not settle on which ONE they thought would work best to save their lives. It really felt like a cross between all the monologues Sterling K. Brown, Hugh Jackman and Chadwick Boseman did in that order. At least it ended on an up note. I do have to wonder how Jason got Lorne to let him host the show without shaving his beard. That is a rarity nowadays. C+
Elves On The Shelves - This had a pretty one note premise but the writing was the main thing that made it watchable. Thankfully, this didn't belabor the point by the time it ended either. It felt like it could've been done with literally any male host but somehow Jason playing his role in a similar way to how I imagine Liev Schreiber would've had this sketch taken place just outside a woman's restroom really added something to this. Strangely, my biggest issue with this sketch was how jarringly unnecessary the voice modulates were. C+
GE Big Boy Appliances - This was an enjoyably simple piece. I mean, this wasn't exactly the first time that anyone has taken a hard look at the different ways household products are marketed toward men and women and tried to mine it for comedy but this worked due to the sheer levels of committment to broad visual gags. Jason did well here because again, this piece was being carried on the strength of its' absurd props so he barely had to contribute anything. B-
Khal Drogos' Ghost Dojo - I expected Jason to do much better than he did in the night's requisite "Game Of Thrones" sketch. After all, he's playing what up until very recently may have been his best known role. He should have been well within his comfort zone if not for the whole "live" aspect. Still, he was HARDLY the biggest problem with this sketch. It was basically all over the place writing wise and had far too much going on. It felt like the second piece of the night that the writers couldn't decide on one theme or central premise for. Even Kenan seemed to be thrown for a loop as he's never been known to break in any sketch or even stumble over any lines as he did here. Ironically, it seemed like it was going for mass appeal but at the same time gave us a string of GoT references that were so hyper specific that they couldn't have been meant for anyone other than obsessive GoT fans who've seen and analyzed every episode multiple times over (and I point this out fully aware of any inherent irony in what I'm writing right now). This seemed like it played about 10 times better at the table read on Wednesday than it did for the live and dress audiences but they felt like they had to keep it in the show anyway due to the subject matter being so relevant to the host's career. With the addition of Beck as Hodor after seeing him as Santa, it's become pretty obvious that they're now using him for the same types of roles they would have used Bobby Moynihan for two years ago. That must be an odd feeling for him if he has ever had to think about this. Good to see Pete make attempt at playing a character that wasn't entirely "himself" even if it started to unravel. Kate as King Joffrey oddly felt like a bit of a throwback in terms of go to Got references in pop culture (based on who hadn't been killed off yer) and yet very current and prescient in how Kate is being used on the show. Staging a ridiculous slap fight between her and Aidys' character just felt like the audience was having one more thing thrown ar them unnecessarily. While I thought the gag with Kyle was funny, it is also starting to feel dated. Not just because people have made fun of the general premise of discussion shows and after shows before but it now seems like society is actively trying to make them less of a thing now either because the first shows to have them ended or because of what came out about Chris Hardwick (who was the first person to become famous by hosting those shows and is thus the person most strongly associated with the genre). D+
Them Trumps - Well, it's nice to get a different take on the goings on in the Trump white house than what the show usually gives us. Still, while the examination of racial double standards in our legal system isn't exactly fresh ground (hell, Chappelle already did "what would our current Republican president be like if he were black?" as a sketch premise nearly 15 years ago now) but this sketch just goes to show how well Kenan does serve the show as the anchor/glue of this and the last few casts. Plus, after the sketch that came just before it, I was very glad to see something that got in, got right to the point it was trying to make and got out. B+
Update was the most consistent and well written part of this episode and thus tonight's stand out segment. Che really got it going and then Jost picked up the slack and really sold all of his material. Nice to see Aidy play a well thought out character that was grounded in reality after some of the rare misses Heidi had been giving us recently. Ches' bidet commentary was funny and I do like the format/fourth wall break the show employed to deliver it. B+
The Ghost Of Xmas Extra - Okay, this HAD to have been written by the same persons who wrote the Cleopatra sketch from Awkwafinas' episode and the "GPYASS" sketch from Steve Carell's episode. It did have that exact same ultra feminized trending Twitter meme sensibility to it and seemed written solely to pander to Jason's female fans. Other than that, I liked Mikeys exaggerated exasperation. I'm glad they knew that the perfect place to end this would be right after the twerking. C-
Day Of The Dorks - Well, I was really expecting the reveal behind Jason's character to be a more substantial payoff than it ended up being. This was just full of too much useless exposition. It seemed like it was written just to harness Jason's manic bro energy from the weeks' promos. I'll bet whoever wrote this also wrote that NOT!Scooby Doo sketch from Mikey's first episode two years ago with Margot Robbie. D+
Sleigh Ride - Well, that was a great mislead with Leslie, Kenan, Kyle and Melissa (who had a great exit line, by the way) because I wasn't expecting Cecily as Gemma to show up. Frankly, it was a little strange to see her first live appearance so late in the show. What was also strange but pleasantly surprising was Jason's performance here because only by this point in the show had he gotten over his nervous habit of tripping over cue cards and gained a sense of comedic timing. I liked how different of a setting this was and how much more outlandish the dialogue was. The ending to this was satisfying as well. B-
First Impression - This was fun to watch due to the way Beck and Jason played off each other and Melissa and Heidi playing off of them. It gave me immediate flash backs to Paul Brittains' Lord Wyndemeire (sp?) from season 37. The ending could've been trimmed a bit because it killed the momentum the rest of the sketch built up. B-
Rudolph's Revenge - This got off to a bit of a slow start when they basically gave us the Cliffs Notes version of the Rudolph story. Pete really shined in this. He probably had plenty of personal life inspiration to draw from this week. The only other stand out performer was Jason mostly because he was the second actor in this show alone to play the role of Santa Claus. B+
Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Adam Driver/Kanye West
3. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
4. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
5. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
6. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
7. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
8. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that barely lived up to any expectations I may have had. Next week will be the final SNL of 2018. Matt Damon returns to host for his second time ever in sixteen years seemingly just on the strength of his surprise Brett Kavanaugh impression from the season premiere. If that was any indication, we are in for a far more competently acted show than this one. He was a strong host in 2002 and he should make for a fun show even if he has sort of shown us his ass in recent years re: #MeToo and diversity related issues (thankfully, that was more anything dumb he might have SAID than what he actually did). Still, I think now his presence will somehow feel a bit less tone deaf. See you then!
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak (12.01.2018)
Okay, here's my review. This was a real forgettable middle of the road show for this season. It had it's fair share of recurring sketches and derivative premises but thankfully it was at least buoyed by a very charming and likable host whom I wouldn't mind seeing on the show again. Everyone in the cast seemed to get an even amount of airtime (except Chris who only seemed to appear as a utility player in one pre tape and Ego seems like she is still going virtually unused). Anyway, let's break it down.
Donnie Does Argentina - Another cameo loaded uninspired cameo stuffed political cold open with Baldwin's Trump as the centerpiece. Hey, I'm not crazy about still having to see him either (that "parking space" joke was wholly unnecessary and way to awkwardly shoehorned in) but hey...two appearances across seven shows isn't too bad. I guess since the latest developments in the Muller investigation were the biggest political headline this week they felt they had to do something on that. It may have seemed like this was done in the same vein as the cold open from Donald Glovers' episode in May but at least this felt more direct and to the point due to the comparative lack of cameos. Speaking of which, I know Armisen has been know to play various ethnic/foreign leader roles competently but seeing him portray Mohammed Bin Salman somehow felt pretty tone deaf. They may have taken a minor risk that may not have paid off there. Other than that, all that stood out was the jab at Eric and the "like a son to me" joke. D+
Monologue - This started off slightly awkward and Claire seemed visibly nervous but the way she delivered the anecdote about meeting the actual queen worked for me. It was nice to see they trusted her to deliver a straight forward true solo monologue and once again resisted the temptation to have Fred or even Kate for that matter make a cameo as present day Queen Elizabeth despite both being in the building currently. C+
Netflix...has EVERYTHING (*meant to be read in a Stefon voice*) - At this point, the idea of Netflix letting itself become this endless inane void that will one day consume us all simply by buying every show pitched within their field of vision is starting to feel like a worn out comedy premise but the gritty Family Matters reboot and Leslie's segment made this worth watching.
C+
Morning Joe IV - Well, congrats to Joe and Mika on their recent nuptials but I'm not sure that alone was enough to do another sketch where they put their relationship front and center over their actual jobs. Still, Melissa and Claire were the true highlights here. Good to see Melissa shine in a role that was pretty much designed just for her. C+
WWI Letters - This didn't really seem to be going anywhere at first but I liked Mikey's increasing exasperation at Claires' cryptic ongoing vagueness and Kenans' unexplained, unwarranted presence. It reminded me of the Jennifer Lawrence/Tim Robinson civil war letters sketch from 2013 but this thankfully went to a much stranger place. B-
Dad Christmas - While this was pretty much the exact type of pathetic middle aged divorced guy humor I was expecting once they established the basic premise, every part of this was executed very well. Mikey and Cecily really played their parts well and Aidys' song at the end really made this whole thing for me. B+
Update was kind of all over the place tonight. Jokewise, all that really stood out were Jost on the Trump balloon and Che on Manafort & Assange. As usual, Leslie's commentary was endearingly boisterous and visually entertaining but very scattershot and unfocused and probably could've benefitted from being trimmed down a bit. Che's Judge Judy name drop had to have been adlibbed based on the reaction it got. Becks' character seemed a little one note at first but his bit really picked up steam once he talked about getting hit by cars and his dad inventing Oxycontin. Colin played off of him very well. I liked how this was very possibly the very first Update commentary that ever ended with one anchor gently pushing the character off screen. Between this and Leslie's commentary, this is by far the most animated I have seem Colin on the show ever. Finally, while I thought the end of Update was initially a very strange place for a sincere, heartfelt Bush 41 tribute but I did like how they segued to a few clips of Carveys' Bush that concluded with the remote pre taped clip of the real HW from Carveys' '94 monologue. Plus, it's not every week that a former president dies while SNL is actively in production. I was just thinking about why they never did a similar tribute for Gerald Ford (who has a similar connection to the show and even made a similar pre taped cameo on the show when he sent his real life press secretary to host in season one) and it was probably because he died during the Christmas/New Years' 06/07 holiday when everybody was off and it would've been old news by the time they came back that January. Also, I'm betting this was the only reason Leslie's commentary wasn't the thing they ended Update on given that it ended with the Rocky theme. C+
Charlie And The Cialis Travesty - It felt strange watching this because they just did an extremely similar (and much better written) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory parody two seasons ago with Kristen Stewart. This was the much raunchier version of that. It was pretty much that mixed with the Game Night sketch from Haders' episode last season. I didn't much care for it but at least they knew exactly when to end it. C-
HSN - Okay, seems like there's quite a bit to unpack here. At first, it just seemed like someone started out trying to write another "Right Side Of The Bed" sketch before realizing that Taran Killam is no longer on the show but decided to keep writing anyway to see what direction this could go in. Then, it seemed like this was going to be like one of those "Hello Dolly" sketches that Ana Gasteyer did in the late '90s/early 2000s mixed with that QVC sketch Cecily did with Kristen Wiig two years ago. Thankfully, this went in a much stranger direction. Cecilys' string of very light profanity was amusing and then Aidy came in and added a whole new level of surreal strangeness to it. Also, it seems a little strange that the portion of the show where Claire Foy tries different accents that are not British would be so late in the show but it was nice to eventually see that somewhere. B-
Good Morning Goomah - As soon as I heard the words "Staten Island Cable", I knew exactly who could've written it. Still, there were a couple of reasons, I couldn't totally get into this. First, I thought Cecily should've had Kate or Aidys' role instead of just being relegated to an offscreen voice over. Secondly, this was so dialogue heavy it seemed longer than it actually was. At least we got to see Pete actually attempt to act. C-
Muller Christmas - The fact that this was a parody song rather than a straight, dramatic maudlin cover song was the only thing that kept it from being another "Hallelujah" or "To Sir With Love". That being said, it was immediately obvious where this was going and even though some of it felt rushed and awkward it was pretty solidly written and performed for what it was. It really got going once they let the women who got hired AFTER season 40 joined in. Other than that, this either should've been the cold open or saved for the cold open for whichever of the next two planned episodes Baldwin won't be able to make it to rather than buried at the end of this week's episode. C+
Now, for my update rankings of the entire season so far...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Adam Driver/Kanye West
3. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
4. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
5. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
6. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
7. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that was that. Next week, Jason Momoa makes his hosting debut. I don't know much about him besides the fact that he was on "Game Of Thrones" and is now in "Aquaman". In fact, the only thing I'm sure I've seen him in is that meme where he looks like he is going to sneak up on Henry Cavill on some red carpet. Still, he strikes me as someone who is going to be a similar type of host to The Rock or John Cena. He seems like he has a big enough personality to handle sketch comedy well. See you then!
Donnie Does Argentina - Another cameo loaded uninspired cameo stuffed political cold open with Baldwin's Trump as the centerpiece. Hey, I'm not crazy about still having to see him either (that "parking space" joke was wholly unnecessary and way to awkwardly shoehorned in) but hey...two appearances across seven shows isn't too bad. I guess since the latest developments in the Muller investigation were the biggest political headline this week they felt they had to do something on that. It may have seemed like this was done in the same vein as the cold open from Donald Glovers' episode in May but at least this felt more direct and to the point due to the comparative lack of cameos. Speaking of which, I know Armisen has been know to play various ethnic/foreign leader roles competently but seeing him portray Mohammed Bin Salman somehow felt pretty tone deaf. They may have taken a minor risk that may not have paid off there. Other than that, all that stood out was the jab at Eric and the "like a son to me" joke. D+
Monologue - This started off slightly awkward and Claire seemed visibly nervous but the way she delivered the anecdote about meeting the actual queen worked for me. It was nice to see they trusted her to deliver a straight forward true solo monologue and once again resisted the temptation to have Fred or even Kate for that matter make a cameo as present day Queen Elizabeth despite both being in the building currently. C+
Netflix...has EVERYTHING (*meant to be read in a Stefon voice*) - At this point, the idea of Netflix letting itself become this endless inane void that will one day consume us all simply by buying every show pitched within their field of vision is starting to feel like a worn out comedy premise but the gritty Family Matters reboot and Leslie's segment made this worth watching.
C+
Morning Joe IV - Well, congrats to Joe and Mika on their recent nuptials but I'm not sure that alone was enough to do another sketch where they put their relationship front and center over their actual jobs. Still, Melissa and Claire were the true highlights here. Good to see Melissa shine in a role that was pretty much designed just for her. C+
WWI Letters - This didn't really seem to be going anywhere at first but I liked Mikey's increasing exasperation at Claires' cryptic ongoing vagueness and Kenans' unexplained, unwarranted presence. It reminded me of the Jennifer Lawrence/Tim Robinson civil war letters sketch from 2013 but this thankfully went to a much stranger place. B-
Dad Christmas - While this was pretty much the exact type of pathetic middle aged divorced guy humor I was expecting once they established the basic premise, every part of this was executed very well. Mikey and Cecily really played their parts well and Aidys' song at the end really made this whole thing for me. B+
Update was kind of all over the place tonight. Jokewise, all that really stood out were Jost on the Trump balloon and Che on Manafort & Assange. As usual, Leslie's commentary was endearingly boisterous and visually entertaining but very scattershot and unfocused and probably could've benefitted from being trimmed down a bit. Che's Judge Judy name drop had to have been adlibbed based on the reaction it got. Becks' character seemed a little one note at first but his bit really picked up steam once he talked about getting hit by cars and his dad inventing Oxycontin. Colin played off of him very well. I liked how this was very possibly the very first Update commentary that ever ended with one anchor gently pushing the character off screen. Between this and Leslie's commentary, this is by far the most animated I have seem Colin on the show ever. Finally, while I thought the end of Update was initially a very strange place for a sincere, heartfelt Bush 41 tribute but I did like how they segued to a few clips of Carveys' Bush that concluded with the remote pre taped clip of the real HW from Carveys' '94 monologue. Plus, it's not every week that a former president dies while SNL is actively in production. I was just thinking about why they never did a similar tribute for Gerald Ford (who has a similar connection to the show and even made a similar pre taped cameo on the show when he sent his real life press secretary to host in season one) and it was probably because he died during the Christmas/New Years' 06/07 holiday when everybody was off and it would've been old news by the time they came back that January. Also, I'm betting this was the only reason Leslie's commentary wasn't the thing they ended Update on given that it ended with the Rocky theme. C+
Charlie And The Cialis Travesty - It felt strange watching this because they just did an extremely similar (and much better written) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory parody two seasons ago with Kristen Stewart. This was the much raunchier version of that. It was pretty much that mixed with the Game Night sketch from Haders' episode last season. I didn't much care for it but at least they knew exactly when to end it. C-
HSN - Okay, seems like there's quite a bit to unpack here. At first, it just seemed like someone started out trying to write another "Right Side Of The Bed" sketch before realizing that Taran Killam is no longer on the show but decided to keep writing anyway to see what direction this could go in. Then, it seemed like this was going to be like one of those "Hello Dolly" sketches that Ana Gasteyer did in the late '90s/early 2000s mixed with that QVC sketch Cecily did with Kristen Wiig two years ago. Thankfully, this went in a much stranger direction. Cecilys' string of very light profanity was amusing and then Aidy came in and added a whole new level of surreal strangeness to it. Also, it seems a little strange that the portion of the show where Claire Foy tries different accents that are not British would be so late in the show but it was nice to eventually see that somewhere. B-
Good Morning Goomah - As soon as I heard the words "Staten Island Cable", I knew exactly who could've written it. Still, there were a couple of reasons, I couldn't totally get into this. First, I thought Cecily should've had Kate or Aidys' role instead of just being relegated to an offscreen voice over. Secondly, this was so dialogue heavy it seemed longer than it actually was. At least we got to see Pete actually attempt to act. C-
Muller Christmas - The fact that this was a parody song rather than a straight, dramatic maudlin cover song was the only thing that kept it from being another "Hallelujah" or "To Sir With Love". That being said, it was immediately obvious where this was going and even though some of it felt rushed and awkward it was pretty solidly written and performed for what it was. It really got going once they let the women who got hired AFTER season 40 joined in. Other than that, this either should've been the cold open or saved for the cold open for whichever of the next two planned episodes Baldwin won't be able to make it to rather than buried at the end of this week's episode. C+
Now, for my update rankings of the entire season so far...
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
2. Adam Driver/Kanye West
3. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
4. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
5. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
6. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
7. Awkwafina/Travis Scott
Well, that was that. Next week, Jason Momoa makes his hosting debut. I don't know much about him besides the fact that he was on "Game Of Thrones" and is now in "Aquaman". In fact, the only thing I'm sure I've seen him in is that meme where he looks like he is going to sneak up on Henry Cavill on some red carpet. Still, he strikes me as someone who is going to be a similar type of host to The Rock or John Cena. He seems like he has a big enough personality to handle sketch comedy well. See you then!
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