Emma Stone/BTS

Okay, here's my review. This show was pretty much at the level of quality I would expect from an Emma Stone hosted episode. Glad to see the presence of BTS was something that had minimal effect on the show itself unlike some people were expecting. The writing was much more consistent as was airtime for the entire cast. Let's just break it down, shall we?

MSNBC Lockup Chino - It's nice to see we're getting a slightly more pop culture themed and only vaguely political instead of strictly only political cold open every third show now. I would've cast Cecily as Lori Laughlin instead of Kate but I guess they thought Kate was more convincing at playing intimidating characters you're supposed to be afraid of. Pete's Avenatti and Melissa's unexpected Tekashi 6ix9ine were the funniest parts of this. Not sure 69 was in the news that much these past few weeks but I suspect referencing him, including Pete as Avenatti and all the "Aunt Becky" jokes were merely a ploy to draw in those in the age group that BTS is actually age appropriate for to keep them at least vaguely interested in the actual show as much as they could. As much as I like seeing Michael Keaton appearing in things, casting him as Julian Assange felt a little off. Maybe it was his timing or maybe it was the fact that he is the only person to ever play Julian Assange on SNL and not even attempt an Australian accent or the fact that this sketch came uncomfortably close to glorifying the guy which took me out of it. Still, I loked getting to see a different type of cold opening than what they've been giving us the rest of the season. C+

Monologue - This felt like it was gonna be all over the place at first. I guess we were too busy thinking about how the presence of BTS and their fans would affect the show made us forget about Emma's well established love of the show itself so no one thought to expect another sincere slightly emotional monologue where the host just explains what the show means to them or their family or how it put them on their path in life. Thankfully, that wasn't what the entire monologue turned out to be. I'm guessing whoever wrote this monologue for Emma may have also written the monologue for Melissa's 2016 episode when she hosted for her fourth time because that's what this reminded me the most of. Thankfully, Kenan and Kate  only Garth and Kat-ed their way through a small portion of this and ceded some time to Kyle and to Melissa to do one of her more obscure impressions. For some reason, the biggest laugh I got out of this whole thing was Chris nervously presenting Emma a denim jacket with a red number four hastily spray painted onto it. C+

Even More Inspirational Posters - Well, I'm not exactly thrilled to see this again. I wasn't a fan of it last time Emma hosted and I'm a little disappointed that this is the only recurring character she can do right now since the cast and writers that gave us "Les Jeunes Des Paris" is long since gone. Still, this had its moments. For one thing, I do appreciate how they gave Emma's character(s) far less of a one track mind than last time. Plus, I chuckled at Becks' growly Hoganesque wrestler voice and Mikey's "Lil Percocet" character kept trying to tie his dumbass lyrics (no pun intended) back to actual historical events. The only thing that threw me for a loop is why Kenan and Ego had to be in a knockoff Black Panther poster instead of an actual one. C-

Fashion Coward - This was a creative and well explored premise that had it's funny moments. To me the funniest part was when the extra features of the "fitting room" were explained. I'm guessing this is something that Aidy cowrote with either Bowen Yang or one of the female writers. This seemed to me to fall in line with Aidys' established viewpoints on fashion in general and also kind of reminded me of her Update commentary from last season where she talked about always fearing she wasn't accommodating enough to people. If any of the people who helped write "Chonk" from a year and a half ago are still in staff, they probably helped write this, too. B-

[UPDATE: Twitter once again proved only some, not all of my suspicions were correct as Anna Drezen has confirmed that she, Yang and Allison Gates cowrote this].

The View XII - Ok, I automatically like this much more than I liked the Wiig era view parodies the show was doing a decade ago (and I'd at least place them at the same level as the original Fey-written View parodies the show did two decades ago). It's always nice to see Leslie's Whoopie. Cecily turned in a good performance although I couldn't tell if she was trying an actual Abby Huntsman impression or if she was just doing a generic dim Southern housewife voice. I remember when her dad John Huntsman appeared on one of Seth's Updates during his failed presidential primary run and he didn't quite come across as a Southern gent to me. Also, is Cecily meaning to portray a real life pregnancy that Abby is going through? Melissa and Aidy turned pretty solid performances (and since a good chunk of my Twitter feed has just turned into leftists dunking on the likes of Ana Navarro and ESPECIALLY Meghan McCain pretty hard I guess the time has come once again for SNL to once again parody The View). My one complaint is that the Paul Rudd/Stephen Miller comparison joke has been done to death on Twitter. I probably would've liked this better if Kate and Emma switched roles. I guess for her Joy Behar impression Kate was going for a much more sedate version of Howard Wallowitzs' mom on "The Big Bang Theory" (which Behar apparently does the voice over for in absentia) but she just came off sounding too much like she was just doing her odd modern day Gulliani impression. I'm not sure what Emma was going for but I'm sure Jenny McCarthy isn't that sedate in real life either. Also, I just realized how Emma has now participated in parodies of "The View" in both her first and most recent episodes as host. B-

Hobbies - If they're going to keep doing rap videos on the show, I'm glad they're letting other cast members besides Pete, Chris, Kenan and Leslie be front and center in them. This was very cute and I like anything that gives Melissa a chance to shine. It pretty much mirrored most of the things Melissa has been posting across social media lately. I wonder if Emma and Melissa are mutual followers of each other on social media and they bonded over this type of stuff so hard they decided to write a rap about it? B-

Meet You In The "Ladies Room" - This was pretty much an exact cross between the Oran "Juice" Jones parody from last season's Donald Glover/Childish Gambino episode and that "Best Of Klymaxx" fake ad from the 2003 Halle Berry/Britney Spears episode. In fact, just when I thought this sketch might be based on the latter, the ending faux album cover graphic confirms my suspicions and reveals we just bore witness to a performance from fictional girl group "Orgasmyxxx". I did wonder if this, like the former, was based on another specific obscure '80s music video that Cecily was a fan of and wanted to parody but was waiting for just the right host to come along for. Then, I found myself scrolling through Twitter for some reason before finishing up this review and one of the hosts of the new "SNL Nerds" podcast posted a YouTube link to the actual Klymaxx video "Meeting In The Ladies Room". So yeah, this video is a barely changed shot-for-shot remake of that one and the original is quite possibly the most aggressively early-bird 80s thing you may ever see. Unsurprisingly, Kenan was the funniest part of this sketch coming in to be the voice of reason and put everyones' nonsense into perspective. Man, he really has been the "glue" of the cast lately, huh? B-

Update was pretty fun tonight. Che and Jost had some strong jokes and some that felt like they had been done before but they clearly both had the time of their lives telling them all. For some reason, the only joke that didn't quite land with me was the Kim & Kanye one. Somehow, when I heard Che utter the phrase "spring break" I knew we were going to see Aidys' seventh grade travel expert from Jason Momoas' episode again. This still has its charms but it wasn't that different from her first outing. Mikey and Heidi's Instagram couple is another "take it or leave it" bit for me but as grating as it was in some parts, I gotta admit it was entertaining how the REALLY heightened the drama this time around. I guess this week's guest commentaries were picked based on what they thought would be the most palatable to the BTS fans. B-

Royal Baby Shower - I didn't know the royals were in enough of the headlines to warrant another one of these sketches, but OK. I definitely liked this much better than the previous installment from last season's finale. Beck, Ego, Cecily and Alex were pretty funny in it. Always nice to see Aidys' portrayal of James Corden (however brief). Even in a brief walk on, Pete would never have been my first choice to play Ringo Starr. Chris as 21 Savage seemed to be another reference thrown in to appease the BTS fans. Emma and Kenans' parts didn't do much for me. I'm still baffled as to why they just haven't given Melissa a chance to play Meghan Markle yet. B-

The Actress - Okay yeah, this just SCREAMS "Julio Torres wrote this". Emma was also in "Wells For Boys" which he also wrote so it makes perfect sense that she would want to work with him again if he is still working on the show. She and Beck played off each other well and for some reason it got funnier to me in the ending moments after she had fully realized the character of "Deirdre". B-

[UPDATE: Torres didn't just write this, he cowrote it with Bowen Yang and they somehow got an actual gay Male porn star to be in it. After Seka and Stormy, I suppose this was the next logical progression]

Chalmers Reserve Event Wine - I guess whoever wrote this must have just watched the "Shawn Mundavi Vineyards" sketch from John Goodman's 1999 episode because this was a way more outlandish millennial version of that. Kyle really sprinted away with this. Emma was coming up quite close to him at full speed. B-

Goodnights - Just a heads up, if you do go to omaze.com/girlpower as Emma suggested, you are taken to a site where you get to enter into a sweepstakes to win a chance to be seated VIP with her and the girls from HAIM at an upcoming Spice Girls reunion concert in London.

Now, just for fun and since she is almost a five time now, here are my rankings of all of Emma's hosting stints so far...

1. Emma Stone/Coldplay (11.12.2011)
2. Emma Stone/BTS (4.13.2019)
3. Emma Stone/Kings Of Leon (10.23.2010)
4. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes (12.3.2016)

Now, here are my updated rankings for this current season so far...

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett
2. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
3. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
4. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
5. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
6. Adam Driver/Kanye West
7. Emma Stone/BTS
8. Idris Elba/Khalid
9. Halsey
10. Kit Harrington/Sara Bareilles
11. Sandra Oh/Tame Impala
12. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
13. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
14. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
15. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
16. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
17. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
18. Awkwafina/Travis Scott

Well, that was fun. In three weeks, Adam Sandler makes his hosting debut 25 years after leaving the show. As Sandler has never hosted before and has gone on record as saying he may never host, this is truly a momentous occasion for the show. Even they realize this as they chose to announce it on social media last week in the hopes that Sandler will be a huge ratings draw for the first week of sweeps month. I've heard people have been saying that Sandler doesn't have a movie to promote but he does have an upcoming tour. My theory is that he finally had a change of heart because he realized that he needed to get some more practice performing for a real live audience before he heads back out on the road. Personally, I'm the most interested in seeing how Sandler will fit in with the shoes sensibilities now given that he and his sense of humor is now several generations removed from SNL. That being said, we'll probably be getting a monologue that's mostly just cameos from his early '90s castmates (Spade, Rock, Meadows, Nealon, possibly Carvey or Mkke Meyers, Schneider might still be a bit of a long shot at this point, it's tough to say) if he doesn't just do another goofy Update-style guitar song. Hell, he could probably do both of those things if he wanted to. As for recurring bits and characters from his era, he may have to stick ones he can do solo here since a lot if his most beloved sketches he did alongside Chris Farley. A lot of people seem to be predicting we'll see Operaman on Update and I think that's what we'll end up getting but I'd really like to see Operaman get his own standalone sketch (like the cold open if the Shannen Doherty/Cyprus Hill episode from 1993 or his cameo in SNL40) so we can see Cajun Man on Update (to make up for Cajun Man getting cut from dress at the Brittany Murphy/Nelly episode from 2002 when Sandler previously cameoed to debut a new version of the Hanukkah song). Those are pretty much the only characters he can bring back right now. We'll probably get one of those two and the rest of the show will likely turn out like Will Ferrell's episode from last season where Sandler just ends up going through the motions and trying to fit in with the current cast and writers more modern sensibilities. Still, it should be a fun week for them regardless. Say what you will about Sandler's humor, most people who've worked with him have said he's a nice guy to be around and he treats everyone well. Let's just hope I'm wrong about some of these things and this episode turns out to be much more enjoyable than I am making it out to be right now. See you in May!

Kit Harrington/Sara Bareilles (4.6.2019)

Okay, here's my review. This certainly turned out to be an interesting episode. They mostly seemed to keep the topical, political and recurring material to an absolute bare minimum in favor of original writing. They took a lot of chances with sketches tonight. Some of them paid off and some of them didn't but nothing was a total disaster. Kit Harrington was a very professional host. He didn't blow me away or anything but he was a decent fit for the show and I wouldn't mind seeing him host again if he has a decent post GoT movie to promote. The cast seemed pretty evenly balanced as far as airtime but Melissa only appeared in one thing (but at least she stood out in it). It was a pretty straightforward show to review so, let's get right into it.

Biden 2020 Campaign Headquarters - While even the implication of a Jason Sudekis cameo is exciting, this was pretty underwhelming. I mean, I'm glad we got to see him instead of Alec or DeNiro again this week but there wasn't much to laugh at here besides the Mario Batali/Lou Rawls/Dirty Dancing/ZZ Top shout outside. Plus, Leslie's part felt a little predictable. Hell, if she didn't walk in this would have felt just like a rejected cold open from season 38. Also, even though it should be expected that the show would go with this angle on Biden now at least it's nice to see them take some responsibility for their recent past and do something to counter the loveable goofball image of "Uncle Joe" that they (along with The Onion) helped cultivate that made America gloss over Bidens' many now glaring faults. C+

Monologue - This got the show off to a better, more energetic start. Kit did a great job poking fun at the non-GoT portions of his resume and Pete, the show's writers along with Kits' real life costars changing things up a bit were fun (although part of me still wishes we were seeing Emilia Clarke hosting tonight). Kits' wife, Rose Leslie was funny here. I liked how she played against my expectation that she would just ask Kit about that time he had sex with Emilia. B+

2019 Nephew Pageant - This somehow felt like a different and original premise and yet it fell in line with the infrequent "obscure, esoteric and narrowly pageant/awards show" trope that SNL has been going back to every so often fow the past 30 or so years. Aidys' singing and Kit, Mikey and Chris' characters (as well as the odd factoids presented on the right hand side graphic) were the funniest parts of this. Kudos to Kit for really disappearing into his part. B+

Game Of Thrones Spinoff Showcase - Well, the "obligatory host sketch" left a lot to unpack tonight. Heidi and Kits' parts were fun. The Daria/Arya parody was the highlight for me. I find it odd seeing Cecily and Kyle play the apparently real couple from the show that Bobby and Vanessa played in an Update piece from season 40 (especially since Kyle had to wear extra makeup for his part). Kudos to whoever remembered that Mikey and Pete got their start on MTVs' Wild'n' Out (besides them, of course) and the Ice-T/Mariska Hargitay cameos were fun. Those were the only things that stood out to me as someone who hasn't watched the show enough to get ALL these references. C+

Frank Sinatra/Micheal Jackson Cover Band - I liked this a lot more for its premise than its actual execution. It was a little troubling that this sketch had to drag with little buildup so much that the biggest laughs I got were Kate's brief moonwalk-on and the casual reveal that Leslie's character was a complete stranger to Beck and Heidi's couple. This felt like an exact cross between Fred Armisens' Danish Frank Sinatra play from season 35 and that sketch from the season 25 finale where Jackie Chan played an Elvis impersonator. B-

EarthWar 3 - This definitely has Day and Seidells' fingerprints all over it. It's interesting to see them transition from live sketches to pretaped ones. That definitely helped this one play much better. Ego and Chris were strong additions to this. I also liked how this ended at just the right moment before it started to meander. C-

Update was very largely hit and miss tonight. Namely, the commentaries were hits and most of the jokes were misses except for Ches' comments about the FBI and gays still in Wisconsin. Honestly, those were the only two moments where he seemed the least out of it. Jost had sone pretty unremarkable material but he at least appeared to have a lot of fun with it so, good for him. Alexs' LSD macrodosing movie critic was the funniest part of the entire show. I loved how it was a very writer oriented piece that hot way lore absurd as it went along. Kenans' Charles Barkely was also very funny in a similar way. It really reminded me of why he is well loved as a performer on this show. I'm guessing this may be another subtle hint that he really is leaving this May. He must've wanted to do this impression one last time and needed to take any reason he could to get it on the air. B+

Male Burlesque - Well, I liked the basic premise of this slightly more than I liked the fact that this sketch apparently felt the need to keep over explaining itself. Kate and Melissa's characters were by far the funniest and most interesting things about this. The rest of this just seemed to be blatant eye candy for Kits' female fans (one or two of which I suspect wrote this to begin with) C+

A Day In The Life Of Theresa May - I'm sure Sara's fans are pleased to see she not only got to be in a sketch, but it was a sketch based around her singing what I assume is one of the songs from her Broadway musical "Waitress". That and including Kit as an out-of-nowhere Churchill were nice touches. I would've found this more enjoyable as a whole had it not been for the confusing shift in the middle from low-key emotion to going for big broad laughs and then right back to the low-key sadness again. Also, I think making this last the entire length of the song itself hurt this because it felt way too long. C-

Graphics Department Battle - I still don't quite know how to feel about this sketch as the bulk of it didn't quite land with me. At first, this seemed like a mid-to-late-2000s era sketch oddly stuck out of time, but then it revealed the only real joke it had. It pretty much hammered home who Beck, Kit and Kyle's characters were for quite a large chunk of its runtime but it really picked up when they revealed the multiple copies of Mikey's boss character masturbating under the stairs. Kudos to Kit and Cecily for being so committed to their characters. C+

Rectal Exam - This sketch was pretty much all over the place. At first, it seemed like it was going to be a bit of a meet-cute between Kit and Cecily. Then, it was revealed that Leslie was going to be operating on Kit with long, ridiculous nails and it lingered on that point for a bit. Then, some broad physical humor to give this sketch a boost before the "Undercover Boss" twist was revealed followed by the further twist that Kit was actually proud of his employees. I wasn't crazy about the premise of this, but I sure liked how unpredictable this sketch really felt throughout. Also, I couldn't help but notice that this and the monologue were the only two live segments Pete was in throughout the whole show. Did it really take the length of the entire middle of the show to remove his makeup? C+

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

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett
2. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
3. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
4. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
5. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
6. Adam Driver/Kanye West
7. Idris Elba/Khalid
8. Halsey
9. Kit Harrington/Sara Bareilles
9. Sandra Oh/Tame Impala
10. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
11. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
12. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
13. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
14. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
15. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
16. Awkwafina/Travis Scott

Well, that show was quite a pleasant surprise. Next week, Emma Stone hosts for her fourth time. We know she should be a fun host and definitely a chipper and committed one even when a sketch isn't working due to her being such a fan of the show. Let's just hope she has the writing to back her up and make her look good. I sure hope this actually makes up for her last episode in 2016 being such a dud. See you then!

Sandra Oh/Tame Impala (3.30.2019)

Okay, here's my review. This show was pretty uneven, but still enjoyable. There were strong moments and weak moments that were spread throught the show on quite the scattershot fashion. Sandra Oh was a strong host whose performances really saved quite a few sketches so I wouldn't mind seeing her back again on the show. The whole cast seemed to get plenty of airtime tonight. Leslie and Pete only seemed to get one appearance each but this was a particularly strong night for Beck, Kyle and Ego in particular. Anyway, it was a pretty straightforward episode so let's break it down, shall we?

Muller, Barr, Trump & Gullianni - Well, it was pretty much a given that DeNiro (and probably Baldwin) would be in the building tonight but Aidy as AG Barr really threw me for a loop as I thought they established last month that Beck would be playing him. Oh well, I can't really complain about that since her and Kate's performances were the only thing breathing any life into this cold open (as much as I'm on the fence about Kate's Gulliani...who I didn't notice being in the news enough to warrant an appearance here). D+

Monologue - I wasn't sure what this monologue was going for at first but it allowed the show to really pick up some steam and gave the show some fun energy with an assist from Leslie. I didn't know Sandra Oh was actually Canadian so I'm glad to see that the personal fact about her that they picked to base most of this monologue around was a surprising revelation. It actually reminded me a bit of James Coburn's monologue from 1982 where he taught a then 20 year old Eddie Murphy how to confidently and authoritatively order drinks at that night's afterparty. B-

The Mind Of Jordan Peele For Discover - I haven't actually seen "Us" yet, but have read about it a bit (and compared to "Get Out" which I have seen, it seems to be getting some mixed reviews along with Peeles' rebooted "Twilight Zone" which is disappointing as I'd hate to see Jordan Peele turn into the next M. Night Shyamalan) but I do appreciate how the jokes weren't so inside that you needed to have seen "Us" to recognize that this was, in fact, a parody of "Us". Kudos to Kenan & Ego for really disappearing into their parts. B+

Firing Jussie - Well, at first it seemed like SNL was going to step a little further out of their comfort zone than normal to satirize Jussie Smollett but the whole bit didn't seem that original. Chris's performance was the best thing about it. They seemed to just expand on the one Jussie Smollett joke they wrote for that legal Shark Tank sketch they did when John Mulaney hosted almost a whole month ago now. Thankfully, they kept this short and to the point without milking it for all it was worth. C+

The Duel - This felt a little odd too. After all, the main joke was a woman getting shot repeatedly by a few ricocheting bullets. Still, I liked the Pyhtonesque vibe to this and the humor picked up after a bit since everyone was so damn committed to this one. Plus, it also got in, got its' jokes and got right out. B-

Tishy - This was definitely the funniest live segment of the night. Another obvious Day/Seidell penned piece, this pretty much felt like Boo Boo Jeffries and the Black Unicorn sketch from Tiffany Haddishs' show was put on a blender with the hot dog/poster sketch from Emma Stones' last episode. I liked Mikey's increased exasperation as Alex, Beck and Sandra reveal more absurd and outlandish details of his future to him. Sandra seemed to have fun with such a silly character but I have a strong feeling that this was actually written for Awkwafina earlier this season and got cut from dress rehearsal. B+

Kremlin Meeting - This sketch seemed to have a unique flipped viewpoint on the whole Russia situation from these past couple of years even if it took a second to establish what that take actually was. It was nice to see Becks' Putin fully clothed for the first time in two-and-a-half years and Cecily definitely does the best Russian accent out of this cast with Alex coming in a close second. When I saw this sketch being set up during the commercial bumper, I got a little worried at the initial sight of what I thought was Beck dressed as Kim Jong Un jogging around the set. (Hell, now that I think about it...I'm surprised no one really complained about Bobby Moynihan or Amy Poehler playing each of North Koreas' previous two dear leaders.) I was relieved to hear his Putin again and to be instantly reassured that yes, SNL does at least know better than to do that. Bowen Yang fit in to the role perfectly (perhaps he wrote this, as well?) and this sketch made a clever use of Sandra. B-

Update was pretty consistent all around. Josts' material was pretty much as tepid as he's been lately but Che had a lot of strong jokes (he was particularly spot on with his "toxic optimism" rant). I liked seeing Cecilys' more fleshed out Judge Pirro return. I especially liked her explaining who her biggest fans are. Still, it felt a little strange seeing her do this impression after reading that the real Pirro had to postpone her Fox News return this week due to a major family emergency. I was sure they'll get torn apart in the right wing media sphere for this one until I went back and read that she only ended up having to cancel an appearance on Hannitys' show and that her regular Saturday night prime time program was actually back on that night. (why they chose to only put her on Saturday nights I may never understand). Aidys female spacewalk suit was funny. She probably cowrote this with Anna Drezen or Sudi Green or one of the other female writers since it was definitely written in her voice. This also made good use of Beck and Melissa on Update. For some reason, I was half expecting Leslie to do this commentary because she was one of a few female celebrities who recently complained about not being able to find a designer to dress her for a red carpet event. It makes just as much sense that Aidy ended up doing this instead since in the lead up to her "Shrill" debut and an apparent fashion line she herself was starting, she has spoken out about the pathetically low standards of what constitutes fashion for plus-sized women. I was a little surprised there was no Braun Strowman appearance or even mention of Jost & Ches' upcoming Wrestlemania appearance. I guess that's next weekend? B+

Office Kiss - This was enjoyable for the sheer unexpected silliness followed by sudden depth of it. I also liked Sandras' commitment and Beck being the only one who is into this. One thing that disappointed me was the realization that Kate uses pretty much the same voice for every octogenarian role she plays. C+

Cheques - This felt like a fun dramatic throwback to season 42. Nice to see Julio Torres still occasionally writes for the show (or if not him, I'm guessing Eli Coyote Mandell or Bowen Yang) may have written this. B-

Electric Shoes - This felt like a bad, mind numbing type of throwback to the type of stupefyingly pointless sketch the show would do back in either season 39, 35, 36, 30 or possibly even 20. I'm left disappointed and stunned as I sit here and wonder how the hell this made it even past the pitch meeting let alone on the air. The only thing even resembling a joke in this was Kyle mentioning how Kenan "blew out one of his balls". Another thing I noticed here was how suspiciously similar the song/sketch here is to "What Up With That?" I'm sure this was written by the same people which begs the question of whether or not we are getting this instead of an actual final "What's Up With That?" if this is indeed Kenans final season and the finale on May 18 is indeed his last show? Do they already know that Sukekis, Hader and Armisen will be too busy elsewhere for the next few months? D-

SAT 2 - This also felt like the type of sketch SNL has done quite a few times before but in more recent, less justifiably maligned seasons. I'm guessing whoever did write this had just been watching "My So-Called Life" recently. I did like how strongly Sandra played off of everyone as the straight woman. Kate seemed to just be doing her Justin Beiber but more subdued. Kyle had the best part in this which was obvious because even he almost broke (which is an absolute rarity for him). C-

Now for my updated rankings of this season...

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett
2. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
3. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
4. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
5. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
6. Adam Driver/Kanye West
7. Idris Elba/Khalid
8. Halsey
9. Sandra Oh/Tame Impala
10. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
11. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
12. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
13. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
14. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
15. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
16. Awkwafina/Travis Scott

Well, that was another episode that certainly didn't defy any expectations of mine. Next week, Kit "Jon Snow" Harrington makes his hosting debut. Who knows how he will handle doing comedy for possibly the first time in his career? I also have to say that I think if Bobby Moynihan were ever going to make any brief guest cameos after leaving the show on his own terms (as his castmate Vanessa Bayer had done roughly one year ago) that this would be the week for him to do so. I say this because Bobby always seemed to be a huge GoT nerd because he always seemed to participate when SNL did any of their many parodies of this show over the years and probably cowrote them with the likes of Day/Seidell & Kelly/Schneider. It's probably a long shot at this point given how he and his seemingly like minded friend Taran said they felt working on their respective last seasons of the show but they could still surprise us (and Moynihan seems like he may not hold as much animosity toward the show). See you then!

Idris Elba/Khalid (3.9.2019)

Okay, here's my review. After last week's show with John Mulaney hosting, my expectations were considerably lowered. Thankfully, this episode just barely went above them as there were a few ways it was different from what I was expecting. For the most part, it seemed like the writers wanted to see if they could do another show full of mostly original heavily premised based sketches. They couldn't quite pull it off at the level of Mulaney or those of his ilk as they may not have his keen attention to detail but the results were impressive nonetheless since they made up for it with a distinct lack of political and recurring material (they must have thought this was a slow week for the hard news, huh?) Idris Elba was a serviceable host, but he came off as far less polished as other recent hosts. I wouldn't mind seeing him host again because I'd like to see him do better each time. One thing about his performances that stood out to me was how he mostly stuck to just disguising his own British accent with a generic all purpose American one as opposed to how other accented hosts (James McAvoy in particular) tried to take on several different regional American dialects. As far as airtime goes, it seems like this episode was pretty much dominated by the female cast members and especially the African American sketch players (which is good since these things are always fun to see and end up being what we all root for and expect anyway when a woman or a black person does host when the show gets new black featured players) with the occasional assists from Mikey, Pete, Beck and Alex. Meanwhile, Kyle Mooney was pretty much absent from the show except for the good nights since his latest filmed piece got cut. Anyway, let's break this down, shall we?

Gayle King Interviews R. Kelly - Well, I have to say I find it refreshing that SNL appears to be taking baby steps toward a pro-Trump administration era state of normalcy by doing a pop culture themed cold open rather than a political one. Seriously, it has to have been since at least season 40 since they've done a non political cold open. Sadly, the fact that this was a non political SNL cold open in 2019 was the best thing about it. The only jokes that stood out to me were the camera gag involving Beck, R. Kelly naming his song titles as "clues", the "jail king" line and the wrong way facing LFNY tag. Everything else about this seemed a little too milquetoast for me. The frequent "Trapped In The Drive Th...uh, Closet, excuse me" callbacks were nice but they should've been a bigger buildup to something. I think the biggest thing keeping me from getting into this was how they gave the lead roles to Leslie and Kenan rather than Chris and Ego. Even Redds' appearance as R. Kellys' "crisis manager" didn't do too much for me. Kenan undoubtedly gave it his all but still seemed a bit miscast as R. Kelly. Still, I suspect this cold open (and almost all this episode now that I think about it) might have been given to him as a bit of an early going away present if this is indeed his last season. C+

Monologue - Given how little I actually seemed to know about Idris Elbas' actual career, I appreciated that he used his monologue to tell us how he got started in show business and explain his connection (however tenuous it may be) to the New York comedy scene. He may not have had as much obsession with or Nerdy love for the show as other hosts who have done solo, sincere monologues (Awkwafina, Seth, Momoa, Damon, Halsey) but nonetheless he showed us why he belonged here tonight. B+

Can I Play That? - I appreciate the low key conceptual nature of this sketch, but it looked like it lost focus somewhere in the middle as it attempted to break down the current state of movies and pop culture. Overall, it just seemed a little scattershot in execution. I wonder if Che had a hand in writing this? It seems to have shades of his humor in it. Obviously, the Twitter jabs and Idris Elba acknowledging his own false James Bond rumors from the Sony email hack (one of two things I previously remember him from for some strange reason) were the stand out material. C+

Bok Boks' - I certainly hope "sketches referencing the hot real life internet meme/moral panic of the week" doesn't become too much of a recurring feature. That bring said, this was OK even if this was a strange way of working in a Momo reference if they absolutely felt they had to for whatever reason. I appreciate Kate (and especially her makeup teams') solid commitment to her role. The highlight was Kate scaring Heidi out of her car in the drive thru. C+

Microsoft PowerPoint Seminar - This turned out to be the funniest live sketch of the night. I especially liked how, for the first time in quite a long time, they actually wrote a sketch for Kate that played to her best qualities as a cast member and let her purely just act in it rather than just trying to fit her into the mold of a political figure again. I loved how increasingly absurd and borderline dadaist their slideshow was and their laundry list of dumb confessions at the end. Leslie, Idris and Mikey were solid supporting players here. A-

The Impossible Hulk - This was the strongest taped segment of the night. Cecily did well in the type of role she usually excels at and Idris, Ego, Chris and particularly Melissa played very well off of her. The premise may have seemed a little like a concept that had been explored before elsewhere but it was executed very well in a taped sketch format with this cast. A-

The Gold Diggers Of The WNBA - This was a little lighter on laughs, but I still appreciate the premise based nature of it and the explanation of every small detail and character aspect. Still, it may have spent too much time explaining itself to be that entertaining. At one point early on, Kenan and Idris seemed to be playing exact crosses between Lavar Ball and Kings Of Comedy era Steve Harvey and Cecily seemed like she was just doing a very precise Melissa Villaseñor impression. Plus, the ending felt a little too predictable. I have a feeling Che and/or Bryan Tucker helped write this. C-

Update was all over the place tonight. I definitely liked the political stuff they led off with tonight more than I did from previous Updates this season mostly because this week, Update was shockingly the first point in the show where politics was mentioned so it at least felt like a semi fresh take. Plus, Jost seemed quite animated throughout and Che at times seemed tired and almost like he was just getting over a cold. They had a lot of good jokes, but a lot of them bordered on intentionally dark Norm MacDonald like territory. It seemed like they were going more for groans and just general crowd reactions than pure laughs. I really didn't need to see Heidi's Goop spokeswoman even the first time (which somehow felt less one-note than tonight) but I'll admit Gwennyth Paltrow herself showing up was this piece's one redeeming value. I know she's an established friend of the show at this point (three-time host and all) but it's at least admirable to me that someone as seemingly out of touch with all of reality AND humanity as Ms. Paltrow can see the humor in her ridiculous low-grade pyramid scheme masquerading as a "lifestyle brand" and could somehow be persuaded into poking even some light fun at herself over it. Pete delivered a solid and well thought out commentary on society's case by case wavering abilities to separate certain artists from their art (as it pertained to other artists besides Kanye this time) and even his additional statement on the age difference in his current relationship was funny. Speaking of which, did anyone else get the feeling Kate Beckinsale was going to also come out in person based on the crowds' reactions to Jost prodding him to talk about her? I guess I just like seeing and hearing about Pete the most when he's contributing something to the show that isn't directly based on his personal life rather than just putting said personal life out on display in the tabloids. It's refreshing to be reminded that going on SNL and saying stuff on Weekend Update once in a while is what helped him get to that point in his life before said life of his just morphed a symbiotic codependent relationship between standup and fame. Leslie's commentary was very engaging and funny. I'm glad she addressed the fact that she was sitting opposite Che instead of Jost for the first time because it also threw me for a bit of a loop. I guess both tonight's Update and the cold open both show signs that SNL is slowly returning to it's Season 40 pre-Trump era roots by having Leslie and Pete dominate the guest commentary portion of Update. B

Sky Sports - As simple and straightforward as this premise was, it got better as it went along. Mikey and Alex played roles that are sort of becoming tropes for them.on the show and Idris flourished in the one sketch of the night that required him to hide his natural Britishness the least. I have a feeling that whoever wrote the hockey sketch from Chance The Rapper's episode last season may have also written this. It also reminded me of the SportsCenter sketch from Ray Romanos first episode almost 20 years ago. B-

The Amazing Rudolpho - While this sketch was entertaining in how strongly performed it was, it felt like it stalled a little too much before revealing it's true premise/punchline at the very end and didn't take it's extremes far enough. Still, it was quite a strong piece for Leslie and Kenan. C+

Karate Actor - This was a strong piece to end the show on. Beck really sprinted away with it. Becks' general adolescent-ness and disappointment barely concealed by badly feigned enthusiasm filtered through manic energy really made this for me. Idris was a great supporting player. The only thing this sketch had going against it was it's lack of an ending. I feel like this sketch was supposed to have an actual conclusion (maybe a series of spinning newspaper headlines and magazine covers showing Becks' rise to fame as an action star specializing in dumb karate moves?) that had to be cut for time possibly because some small thing during Update or a mildly botched line or two here or there made the show run seconds long? B+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett
2. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
3. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
4. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
5. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
6. Adam Driver/Kanye West
7. Idris Elba/Khalid
8. Halsey
9. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
10. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
11. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
12. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
13. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
14. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
15. Awkwafina/Travis Scott

Well, that show came and went. In three weeks, Sandra Oh makes her hosting debut. I guess her cohosting the Golden Globes with Andy Samberg was as good an indication as any that she is ready to start transitioning toward comedy after years of serious acting? Still, kudos to SNL on taking enough risks to end up with two Asian-American women as hosts in the same season. See you then!

John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett (3.2.2019)

Okay, here's my review. This was honestly the best show of the season at this point. It was even better than Mulaneys' show from last season by quite a lot. I mean, I was expecting Mulaneys' second show to be quite similar to his first in terms of substance. I was expecting another show full of more fun, creative and unique sketches coming from a very detail oriented comedy writer's perspective. This show gave us that and so much more. Everyone got their chances to shine but Mikey, Leslie and Ego felt like they were put on the back burner a bit more since they were featured slightly less than everybody else. Let's just jump right in because this was a particularly densely packed episode.

Michael Cohen Hearing - Aside from one major thing, this was mostly what everyone who keeps up with the hard news was expecting them to do. I was also expecting this to mostly be an unremarkable boiler plate by-the-numbers rewrite of the Kavanaugh hearing from the season premiere but they actually added more to this one and kept it at what felt like a more reasonable length. Stiller pretty much went through his motions here. Like always, he was serviceable as Cohen but his presence was no surprise. His checks and letters presented as evidence were the best part of his testimony. Also, this seems like a weird place for them to try and work in Khloe Kardashian and Natalie Imbruglia jokes. Kenan was a solid anchor as Elijah Cummings and had his share of funny lines. Bill Hader (in a role most people probably expected Mikey Day to be cast in) clearly sprinted away with this and Kyle "Mr. Malapropism" Mooney came in a close second. Kate, Heidi, Alex and Ego did a fine job bringing up the rear. I sincerely wished Melissa's AOC could've been a slightly bigger part of this. If nothing else, this sketch made me realize that both episodes Mulaney has now hosted have both had Ben Stiller playing Michael Cohen (in lieu of Baldwin's Trump) in them as he made his debut in the role in Mulaneys' first episode last season. A-

Monologue - Mulaney really led with his strongest material here. This was much better than his first monologue from last year (and even that one has grown on me more in recent viewings). The only part of this monologue I didn't really care for was the bit about police sirens. Otherwise, everything worked for me. B+

What's That Name? III - Although I personally would've been fine with this being left back in season 36 from whence it came (I didn't even know Mulaney wrote it until just recently) I do appreciate how they substantially change a good portion if it each of the three times they have recurred it so far. Last time, we found out that Lady Gaga remembers literally EVERYONE she has ever met. This time, we take a step back as Haders' host forces us all to confront our own deeply ingrained borderline mysogynist gender biases (which I suppose might be the only way this sketch could make it to air again in 2019). Fortunately, this sketch is immediately saved by Mulaneys' writing skills and Haders' effortlessly commanding performance as the latter gives us a deeper look into his characters' life and inner psyche. A-

Toilet Death Ejector - This is as close to a "blackout" sketch as the show seems to be willing to get in this day and age. Still, for all it's intricacies that was what served it well. This just got in, fully explained its premise in as much details as timing would allow and got out with it's dignity intact. Another filmed piece that set itself up and executed itself flawlessly. B+

Shark Tank: Legal Edition - Wow, there's certainly a lot to unpack here. First off, Pete & Mulaney were surprisingly competent choices to play Avenatti & Dershowitz mostly going solely on the latters' voice and the formers' undiscovered until just this week facial resemblance alone. This was also a good way to use Cecilys' Judge Pirro and Kate's Gullianni. I'm guessing Cellino & Barnes are just local New York attorneys as SNL and other topical New York based late night shows (definitely Stephen Colbert, probably Seth Meyers, maybe Trevor Noah) are the only places I ever hear them mentioned anywhere. Becks' Robert Kraft was accurate and got some laughs and I'm almost impressed they found a way to tactfully dance around the Jussie Smollett controversy. I did like how this managed to be topical without having a whole lot to do with the Trump White House. Overall, this somehow manages to be both the second best and second worst Shark Tank parody the show has ever done. I'd say they're still 1 for 3. B-

The Unknown Caller - While I'm still not sure "Chad" is a character that needed to be bought back, I do appreciate how they place him in different settings and situations for him to blunder his way out of unscathed like he's the Road Runner. I liked John's Saw/Scream/Momo/Crispin Glover hybrid character and how the moronic and increasingly obnoxious Chad was physically and mentally unfazed by him and his actions. C+

Cha-Cha Slide - This sketch was quite hard to get a read on. It seemed more interested in laying out it's own environment and giving us every relevant characters' back story than making it's main premise clear. Fortunately, if you gave it a chance it became clear enough that the literal song and dance wasn't going to be the main joke and that the sketch was going to be about a white man who knows much more about black people than he let's on to his black fiance. Speaking of which, nice to find they've found another substantial, fleshed out lead role for Ego. Considering he did the "Horns" sketch with Luke Null last year, Mulaney must have an affinity for taking first year featured players who may be struggling to get on under his wing and helping to write sketches that showcase them. Speaking of which, this was something I have a feeling Bryan Tucker and/or Michael Che had a hand in writing. B+

Update was pretty solid given most people's very suddenly heightened expectations. Che and Jost certainly led with their best foot forward. All of their jokes landed but they had some strong material on the Cohen hearing and the Trump/Kim summit. Plus, Ches' joke about the murderer released from prison sounds exactly like a joke Norm would've done. It may not have been a good sign that they were okay with just airing an extended montage of Trumps' wild CPAC speech with minimal commentary of their own. I mean, I know that speech itself WAS a joke and there's only so much they even could've written about it considering it happened that same day, but still. I wasn't too crazy about Kate and Aidys' commentary at first but I got more into it once I saw and processed how intricately conceptual it was and it regained it's focus. Did it remind anyone else of the final sketch of Rob Lowe's first episode in 1990 where Jon Lovitz plays the owner of a fur store explaining how all the animals died of humane natural causes? Anyway, I'm sure most people were excited to see a new Stefon sketch once they noticed both Hader AND Mulaney were in the building and then slightly disappointed to NOT see it but I personally think that bit is best saved for just when Hader hosts as tonight was more Mulaneys' big night than his. B-

Bodega Bathroom - Well, I definitely thought "Diner Lobster" definitely worked best as a one-off concept. I didn't expect Mulaney & Jost to even write a spiritual sequel to it. Since they did, I'm at least glad that they came to the conclusion that they needed to up the ante and further build up on the concept this time. I definitely liked this one a lot better than "Diner Lobster" for a few reasons. The premise was more outrageous (or just seemed that way given the subject matter) and rather than just parody one or two specific songs from "Les Mis" this was a parody mashup of various different numbers from "Cats", "Willy Wonka", "Little Shop Of Horrors" and even "Rent" for some reason. This was the most entertaining way that Mulaney and most of the more musically inclined members of this cast have all allowed themselves to indulge their inner high school theater geeks in the show yet. Part if me wonders whether or not this was another sketch that Mulaney wrote around 2010 that bombed at the table read that they let him resurrect but the other part of me realizes he probably didn't have the confidence to even write another one of those sketches until they let him do "Diner Lobster" on the show last time he hosted and it became a buzzworthy smash hit online. B+

Cinema Classics: To Have And Have Not - Well, this is a recurring bit we haven't seen in at least three years, IIRC. Kenan and Mulaney were pretty solid here and Kate was really committed as usual. Plus, this was more focused than these Reese De'What helmed sketches usually are. Still, it felt a little inconsistent because Kate went all over the place the longer it went on. At times it was funny but at other times Kate seemed to be indulging in her less desirable tendencies as a performer. In fact, this seemed like something that was originally written for Wiig when Mulaney still worked on the show that somehow got cut at dress. Then again, I could see this playing well enough in any live setting that they would want to make sure this got on the air. Speaking of which, if Kenan had an outtro to this, it must've gotten cut for time at the last minute because this show was obviously running quite long. C-

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett
2. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon
3. Matt Damon/Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus
4. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet
5. James McAvoy/Meek Mill
6. Adam Driver/Kanye West
7. Halsey
8. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr.
9. Steve Carrell/Ella Mai
10. Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons
11. Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak
12. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne
13. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers
14. Awkwafina/Travis Scott

Well, that was a breath of fresh air. Next week, Idris Elba makes his hosting debut. No doubt if you still have any expectations for this one, they've certainly just been lowered considerably. Idris Elba feels like the third in a series of Male hosts this season who are mostly known for either dramatic or action filled roles whose sense of humor and comedic timing we are unable to gauge going in. Still, the previous two hosts of this ilk (Liev Schreiber & Jason Momoa specifically) had admitted to being fans with a fair amount of affection for the show so let's hope Idris Elba can follow suit in that regard because it will really help the show. See you then!

Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr. (2.16.2019)

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!

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!