Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish (9.28.2019)

Okay, here's my review. This episode had a fun vibe (mostly due to the host) but it wasn't enough to distract you from how wildly uneven it was in terms of pacing and cast airtime. Woody proved himself to be an always reliable host and he made a lot of sketches fun to watch despite how a lot of things felt like subtle to not so subtle retreads. The cast airtime seemed so uneven because everyone who's still here who's been there since at least seasons 38-43 was in most everything while this year's featured players clearly had to struggle to get noticed. While Bowen seems to have hit the ground running (by featured player first show standards) Ego had nothing but small straight roles and Chloe only had only had two appearances all night which made me wonder if she actually IS going to be the next female impressionist to get chewed up and spit out by the show) but she's earned a lot of goodwill pre-SNL and it seems like the cast really likes her. Also, Leslie's absence is already gradually making itself known and apparently Pete couldn't be in the show as he's busy filming Suicide Squad. Somewhat surprisingly, the literally gravity defying musical guest performances were a real highlight of the show. I'm usually not a huge fan of when musical guests use redesigning the whole stage as part of their gimmick but Billie was excellent here. Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?

Trump Makes A Few Calls - Ok, I realize it's a season premiere and they were basically shaking the cobwebs off this week but this was a little underwhelming. I mean, it picked up some steam as it went along but it's just disappointing to realize that they thought the breaking impeachment story didn't deserve much more than just the Donald Glover, Seth Meyers and Kumail Nanjiani cold opens from the last two seasons (and THEN realize that given the context of the story that they weren't totally wrong). Still, I guess my theory about Baldwin bring slightly less "miserable" about playing Trump when the real deal's impeachment is actually on the horizon is already appearing to hold up. Still, having Aidy play AG Barr at this point just feels too much like perry baiting. Let's just get to the highlights already. To me, the only real standout moments were Kate's Joe Rogan Experience namecheck, (still think someone else should be playing Gullianni though) the reprisals of Cecilys' Judge Pirro, Bowen's Kim Jong Un (good to see they're already making his presence in the actual cast known right up front) the Redd/Kenan scene and the Liev Schreiber cameo just for how completely untelegraphed it seemed. C+

Monologue - I could already tell this was going to be unexpectedly engaging once Woody came out in a tuxedo. I chuckled at his poking fun at his own fashion consciousness (or lack thereof) but once he changed into his pajamas it started to feel a little overlong and meandering. Still, Woody's sheer presence and loose easy going personality made it fun to watch. Also, I don't know if his running "apologies" were the show's own way of very subtly acknowledging the Shane Gillis controversy but I'm quite glad it was the only way they planned on even broaching the topic. B-

CNN Impeachment Town Hall - Well, I'm impressed that this was the way they decided they could do a parody of this summer's Democratic debates. They obviously realized that they're gonna have a hard time doing any Dem debate sketches as none of them take place the same week as one of their live shows this season but people are still going to expect to see their hot takes on all the hopefuls somewhere in this episode. I was thinking about how increasingly likely it seemed that they would do a "debate" sketch in the same vein as the one they did in the Anna Faris/Drake episode from October 2011 with some elements of their 2015/16 primary debate parodies and I was a bit surprised to see they actually did just that. Alex does Beto competently enough. Bowen had a great line as Andrew Yang and his impression was pretty funny. I liked seeing Redds' Cory Booker again. Surprisingly, Jost as Mayor Pete actually worked. Good to see Chloe got the Marianne Williamson role at the top of her first episode. Kates' Warren served the sketch well despite being washed away by all the cameos and new cast members making an impression for themselves. Larry clearly ran away with this whole sketch. A bit surprised to see Woody as Biden but this surprisingly this works since it's more focused and precise than Jasons' broad characterization. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing Woody take over the role from Jason completely at this point but I doubt he'd do it and deep in the back of my mind I doubt that is what I really want. Plus, it's nice to see they realized they needed to update and sharpen their take on 2019 Candidate Biden but that "plastic straws" joke seemed a little iffy. As expected, Maya handled the Kamala impression well as only she could. Still, I wanted to like it more but I found it too frustrating. With that "weed arrest" joke, it just looked like they had the right take on Kamala but they easily let it slip out of their hands at the last second and just decided to go for more surface level pandering and turn her into a Law and Order style caricature. I'll give them credit for having a take no one else had on Kamala (because it was absolutely not a take worth having) but it still didn't work. Other than that, I have no real complaints. B-

Cheeto Museum - At first, this looked like it was almost going to be a rewrite of either the Denver Morning show sketches from ScarJo and Liev Schreibers' most recent host outings or the RV sketch from Steve Carrells' episode last season but just bought indoors and with Woody and Aidy swapped out for Steve and Heidi. Then, I noticed it started to take a bit more of a slice of life tone until the Cheeto evaporated and they acknowledged the big emotional turn and quickly got to the ending. Most of all, I liked how this didn't feel TOO one note and drawn out. B-

Update got off to a bit of a scattered start seeing as Che had the better and more focused Trump impeachment rant. Kenans' Big Papi had grown on me quite a bit and I wanted to like this more but the "Pelocon" joke was really the only thing that stood out to me. It felt a little odd that Big Papi being shot was the impetus for Jost to write this. After that, Che had a couple of jokes that didn't land but they closed this unusually short Update with about a half dozen string jokes in a row (especially the matches and Jost hate symbol ones). The brevity of this Update compared with how long and dense the cold open and debate/town hall sketch were are what really drives home my point of how uneven this episode was. C+

Fighting Corgis - It must be a bit more of a coincidence that both of Woody's 21st century shows had sketches where he played a Texas high school football coach. Still, not sure what to make of this obviously Day/Seidell penned piece. I really only liked it when it established it's two shock moments with Heidi's character (who, at times, felt like a character they would write for Melissa McCarthy) and kinda went all over the place from there. It just felt like they took the script from Sandra Ohs' "Tishy" sketch and plugged Heidi and Woody into the Sandra and Alex/Beck roles respectively.  C+

Inside The Beltway - Ok, Kenans' very first line pretty much established that this was going to be the direct inverse of "Them Trumps" except done live and way more stretched out. Kenans' pretty much saving this single handedly and the audience is quick to catch on. This is another example of what people mean when they call him the "glue" of the current cast. Plus, we also got to see the worst poorly executed extreme live quick change induced case of corpsing to ever air on live television. Seriously, I wonder if they will just put the dress version of this online? C+

Downton Joker - This felt about as pointless as that Samberg narrated "Fancy Entourage" ad from season 37. Still, nice way of them to sneak in Chloe and Bowen. Still, the reviews and Alex's "that's where mud goes" line were the only things I even smirked at. D+

Dad - Good thing Kyle and Chris broke out into their Fresh Prince/DJ Jazzy Jeff meets Harry Chapin style rap when they did because it was just starting to feel a little dry. I know The Fresh Prince may not seem like the freshest parody target but seeing Chris rap deep in character with Kyle is certainly preferable to seeing him rap basically as himself with Pete. I also liked the additional turns this took with Woody's separate mini rap. B+

Chickhams' Apple Farm - This felt like just a mishmash of Aidy and Kate's meat commentary from Mulaney's last show, their fancy hotel ad from Cheadles' show and the Italian vineyard ad from Emma Stone's last show. From the way they both broke so badly, I think they'd agree with me that Chris and Woody had the best lines because those animals seemed pretty well behaved. C-

Now, since this is the season premiere and I can't rank much else yet, I think I'll take a stab at ranking all of Woody's previous episodes just for fun...

1. Woody Harrelson/David Byrne (11.18.1989)
2. Woody Harrelson/Kendrick Lamar (11.15.2014)
3. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish (9.28.2019)
4. Woody Harrelson/Vanessa Willisms (5.16.1992)

Well, that was one of the more fun season premieres in recent memory. Next week, Phoebe Ealler-Bridge makes her hosting debut. She seems like she will be a good host given that her background seems to be mostly in comedy. See you then!

Paul Rudd/DJ Khaled (5.18.2019)

Okay, here's my review. Anyway you look at it, this was a rather frustrating episode especially for a season finale. Hell, this was probably the most frustrating finale since the one Andy Samberg hosted five years ago. Paul Rudd was his usual, dependable self but his fourth outing as an SNL host kind if made it easy to see why he was so easily overshadowed in his first three. The writers didn't so much saddle him with bad material as much as they didn't quite know how to play to his strengths as an actor so he really couldn't stand out much in anything. The whole cast seemed to get a fair amount of airtime but Beck, Mikey and Ego seemed relegated to background roles once again. Speaking of which, there seemed to be almost no on air confirmation that this was the last show for either Beck, Kyle OR Cecily (the only cast members whose rumors of leaving the show still have yet to be confirmed or denied). I suppose that's for the best as each of those people strike me as the type of performers who would rather leave the same way Sasheer Zamata left two years ago (quietly and with little to no fanfare on their own terms to focus on their own passion projects). Anyway, let's break this down.

Don't Stop Trump Now - Well, I heard this was supposed to be a "big" cold open but it wasn't quite "big" in the way I was expecting it to be. I thought it was going to have more cameos than just DeNiro but this was at least preferable. Even for a musical number this seemed understated. You would think I of all people would be more into this with it being a blatant song parody and all but there were only few lines here that stood out to me. Cecily and Aidy had some decent lines but Kenan, Chris and Kate's appearances felt like the only things resembling jokes to me. Mikey and Alex felt too needlessly tacked on here. If nothing else, this cold open made me both appreciate how sparse Baldwins' appearances as Trump have been this season compared to the previous two and realize this is the first one of these during the Trump era that they have tried to frame as a straight into the camera address to the nation from the oval office desk like they've done several other times for all the other sitting presidents they have covered. Also, this cold open made me take note of a trend with season finale cold opens of the Trump era. They tried to close out the last two seasons with a generic Trump themed cold open that doesn't have anything to do with specific news stories of that particular week but rather a generic broad, toothles commentary on his administration in general. Sonetimes, they're musical numbers but they'reusually pop culture themed in some way (not necessarily current pop culture, mind you). They used to just try to imply or put out there or just will out into being that Trump and his cronies will finally face some form of justice and their whole world will soon collapse on them. First, they all sang "Hallelujah" in a brief moment of meta near self-awareness on the show's part. Then, Trump himself got stared down by Deniro as Muller in a parody of The Sopranos finale. This year, they seemed to have resigned themselves to accepting that the Muller report alone couldn't bring down Trump and that this madness will likely continue until at least next year's election. That's a start, at least. In a way, it's the most sensible take the show may have had in recent memory (now if only they could elaborate a little further with it). C+

Monologue - This concept felt like it had been done quite a long since the '90s but Rudd put a somewhat more modern twist on it. I liked the concept of Rudd giving a "best man" and whether or not Rudds' 1975 story was true, I appreciated hearing that as well as strange as it sounded. It at least did a good job of parodying this season's trend of hosts just using their monologues to tell sincere personal emotional stories about their tenuous connections to the show (particularly Idris Elbas' monologue). He had a couple of good self effacing lines in there about his age and film career. I also liked how Rudd chose not to call attention to who the musical guest was until the very end of the monologue. That served him well. B-

Mrs. Raffertys' Not-So-Excellent Adventure - Is it just me or is it a little frustrating that they chose to do this sketch tonight when we have no real confirmation who (if anyones) last show this is? I mean, the rumors are swirling around Cecily right now but this seems like it would be better suited for Kate's last show but as far as I know, she's one of the ones confirmed to come back next season. Maybe Rudd or Cecily still wanted to do this, but whatever. What I did like about this one was how they changed the premise from an alien/deity sighting to a time travel experience. I also liked how Kate went full Mr. Peepers on Rudd but otherwise it hit all the exact same beats. C+

Grace And Frankie Rap - I really appreciated all the different  misleads Kenan set up that were a part of this seeing as just a rap about Game of Thrones would've been one of the lamest and most predictable things the show could've done right now. I immediately knew something else had to be coming since I do remember at one point Pete mentioned how he got a GoT tattoo without having seen the show. The real life Greyworm cameo felt a little too tacked on for me but I did like Pete's line "I'm a penis" and his mentioning that he "doesn't" like to talk about his personal life. The Grace and Frankie twist was decent but I feel like they could've gone with something more our of left field. DJ Khaleds' cameo was something I was kinda expecting. After he posted his laundry list of special guest performers on his social media, the only way I could see Rudd being upstaged tonight was if John Legend decided he wanted to appear in a sketch or two tonight. SZA seemed like she wouldn't have wanted to appear in any comedy segments in the show and the rest of his guys seemed like they could only be able to make forgettable background cameos in one of these types of rap videos the show does. Khaled and the show apparently decided he could do this one solo so this is pretty close to what I was predicting. Rudd was a welcome addition. Somehow, he kept this from getting too stale. The Fonda and Tomlin filmed cameos were a nice touch even though it feels a little odd that this is what it took to get Lily Tomlin back on the show after countless decades. C+

What's Wrong With This Picture? - I really like how this just came at us hard and fast with the absurd non-sequitirs right out of the gate with the best possible cast members (and host) to pull this off. I also liked how they kept it short and just focused on heightening the jokes to the point when Rudd was the first person to guess anything correctly and just ending it right there. I didn't even mind how it still felt like an exact cross between the morgue sketch from Jeremy Renner's 2012 episode and the Cartoon Catchphrases sketch from Kerry Washingtons' episode a year later (and also the Barbie Instagram sketches they've done this past year). B+

Update was possibly one of the strongest of the entire Jost/Che era tonight at least in terms of sheer theatricality. They had a lot of solid individual jokes but for the most part, the regular jokes weren't the focus of tonight's Update. I always like seeing Cecilys' Judge Pirro on the show. I especially liked how she was as animated as she's ever been this time. It almost makes me think this really IS Cecilys' last show but if that were really the case we'd probably be seeing her do Cathy-Anne or Girl...At A Party right now (and we'd probably also be seeing Paul Rudd play Gemma's new boyfriend, too). The true highlight was Jost and Che trying to out do each other in terms of sheer offensiveness with unseen jokes they wrote for each other. It seemed quite the far cry from what they usually do at the end of every season. Chr telling that dog disease joke was a moment laden with such bitter irony that I'm 100% sure Jost knowingly wrote that for him for going after that thinkpiece writer who was mildly critical of him a whole back. At first, I was wondering how they could seriously follow that with Leslie's commentary on abortion legislation but then I realized they probably NEEDED to end this Update on a positive, uplifting, constructive note after that string of outrageous rejected jokes. Thankfully, Leslie managed to expertly make a strong point while still being effortlessly funny and without making am over the top grandstand. She is basically the only person in the past three years who found just the right way to make a serious, sincere point on this show. A-

Fancy Party - I was interested in seeing what direction this sketch was going in as well. I was expecting one of the other women to be green screened in as the dancing ballerina in the music box. Then, it became obvious that this was another Strong/Anderson/Sublette collab as it hit the same beats as the Thanksgiving song sketch from Steve Carrels' episode from earlier this season which I believe they all wrote. Thankfully, they didn't drag this out as long as they seemed to with that one. Plus, Rudd, Mooney and Strongs' commitment really saved this. The Twilight Zone twist was quite odd but at least it provided this with the quick ending it needed. This now makes two black Male cast members who impersonated Jordan Peele on the show. C-

The View XIII - I guess all the current women really are staying until next year or else they wouldn't be trying to make this a recurring thing. Paul and Beck were the real highlights of this as they kept it from being too much of a carbon copy of the last "View" sketch. The Biden bit seemed unnecessarily tacked on to me. Speaking of Paul Rudd, he was probably the absolute last person I'd expect SNL to have play Mayor Pete Buttigieg but he worked out just fine in this role. I mean, my first choice here would've been Mikey but I have heard the real Mayor Pete speak (I saw this clip of Pete responding to Trumps Alfred E. Neuman comparison) and I do hear some similarities in Pete and Paul's voices here. People sure do seem to like Pete's husband Chasten but I don't know enough about the real Chasten Buttigieg to really comment on Becks' portrayal. C+

Leslie & Kyle & Paul - Well, if this really is supposed to be Beck & Kyle's last show (or at least Kyle's) this is the only thing that even comes close to indicating it. I liked how this was essentially breaking the fake fourth wall that they supposedly set up to break when they did all these other relationship shorts two seasons ago. I also liked the Carpenters soundtrack with Lornes' face in the moon juxtaposed with a jarring cut to Leslie and Kyle's sex scene. I do like how they knew exactly when to end this with Paul as well. B+

Slumber Party Demon - It's really great to see that the show has this much confidence in Melissa Villaseñor as a lead sketch performer and not just a go-to impressionist. The show must be grooming her to be the next female lead in a few years once Aidy, Kate and Cecily really are gone. This had a certain cute low key charm to it. It seems very much in Melissa's voice so I'm guessing this is the piece she cowrote with Stephen Castillo this week (she posted a social media clip of them in their offices together this week). Paul worked well as a goofy, dorky dad trying to make do and entertain with his lack of refreshments. B+

Now, just for fun, here are my rankings of all four of Paul Rudds' episodes from best to worst.

1. Paul Rudd/Paul McCartney (12.11.2010)
2. Paul Rudd/Beyonce (11.15.2008)
3. Paul Rudd/One Direction  (12.7.2013)
4. Paul Rudd/DJ Khaled (5.18.2019)

Now, for my updated (and final rankings) of the complete 44th season...

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

...and that's the season that was. It was pretty middle-of-the-road and showed some gradual signs of recovery from the hit it took in season 43 what with the loss of Kelly & Schneider as head writers (as well as Bobby and Vanessa from the cast) Still, it's a bit of an uphill battle from here and maybe another "rebuilding year" is needed soon. I guess there's nothing left to do now but wait for any official announcements of who WON'T be coming back to spend season 45 with us (which will probably be in August if we don't hear anything next week) Have a great summer! See you in September!

Emma Thompson/Jonas Brothers (5.11.2019)

Okay, here's my review. I was kind of expecting to have to come down from the high of last week's episode with Adam Sandler. Fortunately, they managed to let us down as gently as they thought they could. Emma Thompson was a serviceable host when they actually used her. Seriously, she was more and more invisible throughout the show. After her extensive background in British sketch comedy had been pointed out to me, I expected SNL to take advantage of that with her hosting but it seems they chose instead to just start running out the clock on this season at this point. The whole cast seemed to get a fair amount of airtime but Cecily seemed shoved into the background near the end of the show. Anyway, let's break it down.

Meet The Press II - I wanted to like this cold open more than I did but it just felt too tired and played out. It came across as an exact cross between the Kavanaugh cold open, the previous Meet The Press cold open from Halseys' episode and all the "How's He Doing?" sketches from the Obama administration. Cecily's Susan Collins and Kyles' Chuck Todd were okay, but other than that I wasn't a huge fan of the political impressions they employed here. C-

Monologue - This got the show off to a better start. I definitely liked Emma's controlled Ed Grimley-esque enthusiasm. I could tell she was definitely here to have fun. Her joke about Kenan being her husband was funny. Tina and Amy were welcome additions here and the latter really had the best lines here. Plus, it's always nice to see Poehler again as she definitely seems to cameo more sporadically than Fey does. Boy, we internet users sure are good at predicting when the early 2000s' women SNL cast are going to cameo on the current show to plug their newest movies, aren't we? B+

Royal Etiquette Coach - At first, I was trying to figure out whether this would be a retread of the Royal Baby Etiquette sketch with Martin Short or the frequent Queen Elizabeth/Prince Phillip sketches Hader and Armisen used to do circa 2010/11. Then, it became clear this wasn't going to resemble either of those and I began to wonder whether this was supposed to be a parody of "My Fair Lady", "Get Out", "Mary Poppins", or "Whiplash". Whatever it was, it really didn't seem to go anywhere. Again, I wanted to like this more for the sheer physically violent nature if it but I also wanted it to build to an actual conclusion. Also, is it just me or does it seem that Emma might have actually hit Leslie for real when she was stirring the teacup (or at least caused her to bit her lip or the inside if her cheek or sonething?) C+

The Perfect Mother - I could immediately tell this was going to be at least the fifth on a three season long string of short films consisting entirely of quick back and forth jump cuts. For some reason, this one felt a little longer than the others. I did like how Heidi was made to focal point of this. They really must be grooming her to be one of the next female leads with Cecily rumored to be leaving next week. I also liked the scene where she called the doctor about her baby eating five crayons. C+

Cinema Classics VI - I guess I shouldn't have expected as much as I did from something that established its basic premise as "two actresses both try to get in the last word in the same season". It had its moments and Kenan had some good lines (especially the ones about his wife making "mistakes" for dinner and bursting who wrote his closing dialogue), but stayed a little too close into Garth & Kat territory near the end. Given that this week's promos established how Kate was a huge fan if Emma's, this must be the requisite piece that Kate and whoever usually cowrites these Reese De'What sketches pitched to Emma as just a two-hander between her and Kate. C-

Chopped - This had to have been written by the same person who wrote the House Hunters sketch from Liev Schreibers' episode. It applied the same exsct sense of dry Tim and Eric-ish absurdity (but more watered down and cleaned up) to a parody if a different type of reality show. Anyways, it was the first thing all night I could really get into. My favorite gags were the "five pound horse penis" and the "raw" steak. B+

Judge Court - This was the second piece of the night I could actually get into. They seemed to have replaced the sheer absurdism in the last sketch with over confident incompetence and confusion but it still worked. I'm guessing Che wrote this given his apparent affinity for Judge Judy and possibly just daytime judge/court shows in general. Everyone turned in a funny individual performance here. Emma really disappeared into her role. She had a surprisingly good handle on the Long Island accent that Kate ran into the ground years ago. I did especially like the three ladies naming each thing they did/regularly do for each other. Until this sketch, I may have forgotten that the Jonas Brothers were even in the building tonight. They certainly felt awkwardly jammed into this sketch but they didn't bring it to a screeching halt or anything. B-

Update was pretty uneven, but there was fun to be had. I don't know if all of Jost and Ches' material was funny enough to warrant them giggling right out of the gate but I liked Josts' jabs at FOX News, the Florida panhandle rally, New Jersey, ("murderin' snake freaks") and Mitch McConnell for "looking like he's watching a man slowly drown". I also liked Ches' Jeff Bezos, baby name, China trade and Trump airline and "I Eat Ass" jokes (just for how he dumped the transition into Josts' lap like that which seems to be a recurring tradition for them now). Somehow, from the moment I heard Che utter the title "Avengers: Endgame" I could tell we were in store for another appearance from Heidi's teen YouTube movie critic. She and Che did seem to hit all the same beats as her previous appearances, but at least their breathing some life into this character by slowly revealing more absurd details about her life and inner thought process. I also liked her insinuation that "the Jonas Brothers wrote most of the show". Pete's commentary seems like it could've been cut from dress at any point during the last four seasons. Hell, it gave me flashbacks to the "living with my mom" jokes I saw Pete do live at the Comedy Works in Denver in October 2015. This had such an abrupt ending that I have to wonder if there was a good chunk of this cut at dress. C+

Teapot and the Beast - This felt like the show's first attempt at an at least semi-original "outside of the box" premise of the entire night. Still, this also seemed to end quite abruptly after it lost it's initial focus. Beck and Cecily don't seem quite right for the roles of Beast and Belle for some reason but I did like the fight they got into once Emma revealed the beasts' real name was Wilbur. Speaking of Cecily, it feels odd that this was her second to last sketch appearance of the whole night. Maybe she really is leaving and is thus being phased out gradually? I'm guessing someone felt they had to write this just because Emma Thompson was actually in the real life Beauty and the Beast remake two years ago? C-

Tracy - Oddly, this turned out to be my favorite sketch of the whole night. It was the only sketch the entire night that actually built to and actual conclusion. I also liked how they gave Ego a real part in something again. I also liked the slightly conceptual character focused writing behind this. It makes me think either Julio Torres/Bowen Yang wrote this or (since it was live and not taped) maybe Anna Drezen/Alison Gates collaborated on it. B+

Wait A Second, That Shouldn't Be There - This was another thing I wanted to like more than I did. It was executed well live, but something felt lacking in the writing. Plus the Harvey Weinstein joke felt too forced in. Emma was the real stand out in this for some reason. C+

Now, for my updated rankings of this entire season so far...


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

Well, that was a bit of a strange show that I still don't quite know what to make of. Next week, Paul Rudd returns with DJ Khaled to close out the season. Rudd has repeatedly had to prove himself to be a solid dependable host so (and I know many people, myself included, have been making this exact joke on social media for almost a month now) I have to give SNL kudos for finally pairing up Rudd with a musical guest that can't possibly upstage him. Then again, people like Timberlake and even Rudds' own Anchorman cast mates were unannounced special guest cameos when he previously hosted and they each did steal focus from him in their own way. DJ Khaled is one of those guys who is obviously more of a producer than a performer so he might just hang in the background while his own possibly unannounced special guest performers (probably people along the lines of Drake, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B etc) purposely "overshadow" him. As long as anyone Khaled brings with him doesn't decide they want to be in sketches that week I think Rudd should be fine. I even entertained the possibility of Rhianna AND Samberg both returning for "Shy Ronnie 3" and Rudd joining them both but that's definitely a bit of a long shot in 2019. See you then!

Adam Sandler/Shawn Mendes (5.4.2019)

Okay, here's my review. This is definitely a strong contender for the single best show of this entire season. Sandler wasn't as disinterested or as disappointing of a host as I was picturing he was going to be. He fit in well with this cast and the staff played to his sensibilities well without completely abandoning their own. He clearly boosted morale around studio 8H this week. Still, the extra focus on him made most of the rest of the cast invisible. It felt like Kate, Kenan, Pete, Beck, Kyle and Mikey almost dominated the show this week and everyone else made just two sketch appearances tops. The show overall started off good, sputtered a bit post monologue and then picked up a lot of momentum near the end. Let's break it down, shall we?

Family Feud: Game Of Thrones vs. Avengers - I did like the C-SPAN/Barr whatever-the-opposite-of-bait-and-switch fakeout (hell, I was already expecting this weeks' cold open to be that for real to begin with even if it was kind of a thin story) and I usually like the Celebrity Family Feud sketches (if Kenan didn't just announce he was staying until at least 2020 I'd think this was another subtle hint he was leaving in two weeks) but I admit this does make me feel a little like I'm missing out on something here since I haven't any recent episodes of "Game Of Thrones" or any of the MCU flicks (don't worry, I'm not the type of guy who makes bragging about this his entire personality or anything). Still, I like that they wrote this in a way that makes it so you don't have to be so emotionally invested in these franchises to get any of the jokes besides the sheer aesthetics of Leslie as Groot, Beck as Thanos and Melissa as Arya Stark. Good on them for finding a role for Ego (even if she's playing the real version of a knockoff she portrayed in the last live show.) Plus, it feels a little weird to see a Family Feud sketch as the cold open with another group LFNY in this Trump era. Also, I'm a bit surprised that they didn't do anything Sandler centric for the cold open if they were going to go with something lighter on politics and heavier on current pop culture. I thought they would want to acknowledge Sandler's as early as they possibly could given that they were hyping up his first hosting stint ever in 24 years that it turned out to be. Still, even though it seemed like low hanging fruit for a show of SNLs' status and came across more like the type of Family Feud parody that MAD TV would do if it were still on today this was a decent way to sort of hook and reel in that segment of the audience who are bigger fans of Sandler and his era of the show than the current one and would thus be more put off by the show's current affinity for political humor than anything. B-

Monologue - It's nice to see they could write a monologue for Sandler that turned out to be exactly what I couldn't NOT picture an Adam Sandler hosting monologue to be (except I pictured him with a guitar instead of a microphone and I also pictured Spade making a walk on instead of Pete). Rock, is a surprisingly decent singer by the way. This was very funny and a great way to really get the show started for the longtime casual fans who are tuning in for the first time in decades just to see Sandler. It was also nice to see Sandler finally set the record straight on his departure from Studio 8H after hearing a few conflicting stories over the years. I also thought his cracks about Norm MacDonalds' advanced age and losing his virginity to the Church Lady behind the scenes at age 23 were real funny. A-

CNN Snapchat Report - This seemed like it was going to be a very one note piece once it got going but thankfully Beck and Sandlers' performances were able to breathe some life into it. Mikey was also in this, so I think it's safe to assume he and Streeter wrote this (especially because it reuses their trope of Cecily being the only news anchor taking the report seriously as opposed to co-anchor Beck as we saw when Margot Robbie introduced us to Matt Shatt and when Saiorse Ronan informed us of an explosion inside an American Girl doll store). C+

Clothes Are Holes - This was definitely the weakest segment of the night. It seemed like it was going to be a goofy song that would be right up Sandler's alley but he ended up appearing far too little and far too late into this for something that Beck and Kyle seemingly tailor made for him. While I liked how theatrical and over the top it was, I still found it to be far too long for it's own good. It was too repetitive for how extremely juvenile and one joke it was. The only thing really worth chuckling at was the "buttholes at your funeral" line. Beck and Kyle usually do well with absurdist surreal humor but they shouldn't ever try to go full Tim & Eric dadaist with it because they can't quite pull it off the same way. Still, I'd be interested to see what late '80s/early '90s era obscure art rock/medal video this had to have been based on. It suggests a mix of Kenny G, Bon Jovi and Guns N' Rose's. Who was playing the colonial law maker? D+

Romano Tours - Having seen the actual Ron Perillo Italian Tour as these are very loosely based on, I'm a bit surprised someone found a way to mine some comedy out of this. Still, it was very funny. It seemed to just expand one one simple premise in a similar way that the previous Good Neighbor piece did, but this was less an absurd, ironically minimalist observational piece and more of a premise based piece stemming from a very real part of the human condition. Plus, benefitted from having a LOT more substance to it to explore which kept it from being too long for it's own good. Strangely, Aidy and Kenan added more to it than Alex and Kate did. What particularly made me laugh was the yoga pose being labeled as "this" and the "sad you/can & cannot" charts. B-

Sandler Family Reunion - Well, mega kudos to whoever on the internet predicted they would literally do this exact thing. I mean, since they did it with Jim Carrey this seemed like the next logical step. Kyle and Mikey's impressions of generic Billy Madison era Sandler really made this for me as did Melissas' Waterboy. Shawn Mendes seemed awkwardly shoehorned into this sketch but it's nice to know he's something of a Sandler fan as well. I had this theory that Mendes was mostly booked as MG (and always oddly seems to be booked on the show right around the time Emma Stone hosts for some reason) because Sandler may have daughters who are fans of his music so it's nice to know they could be at SNL because they are mutual fans of each other. Pete and Beck did passable Little Nicky/Wedding Singer impressions. It's been so long since I've seen Happy Gilmore that I barely remember the character that Leslie was portraying but she was still entertaining nonetheless. Wiigs' first completely unexpected cameo of the night doing a bit from one of Sandler's albums was a somewhat welcome surprise. Fallon was someone I was much less surprised to see cameo on the show but his bit was all right. It seems natural that tonight of all nights he would do the impression that supposedly secured him his spot in the cast when he auditioned. I'm glad this was more focused on his movie career and not any of the sketch characters he did on this show. Those would've warranted their own separate sketches anyway which they wouldn't want to deprive the audience of or make it feel like overkill if they included in this. I also liked how much more straightforward and right-to-the-point this felt compared to the last two "(Host)'s Family Reunion" sketches which kinda dragged with all the references they tried to pack in. B-

Rectix - Well, we've ruled out everything else that Sandler, Smigel, Herlihy and Koren obviously did NOT write so this definitely has to at least be the second thing at least one of them wrote tonight. Strangely, it seemed to have some of the same crude sensibilities of most '90s era comedy but the production value and execution of SNLs' modern incarnation so there's a chance this could also be at least the partial brainchild of a current staff member as well. I did like how gradually they revealed that this "pill" was just a vibrating butt plug that is also, for some reason, dishwasher safe. B-

Update was consistently solid throughout. Jost and Che had great Barr material to start off with. The rest was a bit shaky but still good. Kate's Elizabeth Warren somehow gets funnier everytime they use her. I'm impressed by how they are able to write better and better material for her. After being on pins and needles throughout all of Update, I was glad my suspicions that they'd never let him get away with not doing Operaman turned out to be unfounded. This made my whole night complete as surreal as it was to see a now middle aged and unshaven Operaman in HD on the opposite side of the desk against an all blue background instead of an all white one. I especially liked how even the Trump jokes somehow didn't feel too forced or played out (probably given how Sandler made jokes about Trump as Operaman even when he was still in the cast and Trump was just a tacky, unfaithful NY real estate developer). Sadly, I'm not following the lead up to the NBA playoffs (or basketball in general right now) close enough to be able to appreciate the Draymond/Durant joke. The Rogen/Bernie/Biden jabs were also very funny. It was fun to see Adam call out Seth for stealing his old movie formula. That gave mr call backs to that Tom Hanks/Billy Madison joke from season 20. The Game of Thrones/HBO joke felt a little dated in 2019 for some reason (especially since it came after Josts' "10 HBOGO passwords joke") A-

Sheila Sovage IX - I should've seen this coming since Sandler does fit into the both the molds of the "generic older Male" and "comedy legend" type hosts they usually do these with. Wiigs' surprise appearance wasn't as much a hindrance to this as she seemed to restrain herself more here. Everyone turned in a string of solid sight gags as usual, especially Kenan. I do like that they are adding a little more variation to these as well by having Kate encounter different types of relationships. Last time with Schumer, it was some lesbian experimentation. This time, it's a threesome with a poly couple. C+

Chris Farley's Song - Even though this was lifted directly from his recent Netflix special (well, rewritten slightly to edit out the f-bombs and s-bombs for network television) it was a very touching, poignant and fitting way to end Sandler's first hosting stint. I guess the show ran long and they had to choose which if the last two pieces they were going to cut and naturally decided to take out whatever wasn't this song. He seemed a lot more visibly choked up singing this on SNL than he did on his Netflix special. I guess doing this song in the place where it all started for both of them hit him twice as hard.

Cut For Time: Chads' Journey (https://youtu.be/Ivxx_grnL2c) - They must've either cut this to make room for the Farley song or just because they did another "Chad" film fairly recently (the last time an alumni hosted two months ago) but I'm glad to see my vague prediction that Sandler and Davidson would play Father and son in something came to fruition. It was decent enough for something where Mikey had to do all the emotional labor and I liked how they vary the settings and dialogue more in these each time they try them. B-

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

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

Well, that turned out to be just about everything the show and it's audience needed right now. Next week, Emma Thompson makes her hosting debut after backing out during the year BEFORE Sandler and Farley got fired. She seems like a strong choice for a host, but for some reason she seems to me like one of those actresses who would be better suited to host in March/April or October/December rather than any of the Sweeps months but I guess she's hosting in May because this is when her new movie comes out (which also seems to be her first foray into even light comedy at all, as far as I know). The Jonas Brothers are her musical guest and I honestly can't tell whether they seem more out of place on the show now or ten years ago when they were first on as a group. Oh, well. See you then!

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!