Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.03.2020)

 Okay, here's my review. Given every circumstance that made it seem almost impossible for the cast and crew of SNL to put on the show in any form at all, I'm glad they were able to successfully put on the show that they did. They did a fine job of making the show feel like it did back in March and giving viewers a real "return to normalcy" feeling. It felt like just the right balance of "escapism" and "real life reminder of what we still have to deal with" was struck here. However, I'm a little conflicted about how it sounded like even the size of the live in studio audience was "back to normal" and not nearly as "limited" as they promised. They either had to have been piping in small amounts of canned laughter or putting a mic on each individual audience member (which isn't exactly a bright idea either). I liked hearing just enough laughter that it felt like nothing was bombing as hard as possible but not so little that they made it obvious that they didn't even consider the possibility of tightening up the show in general. Besides that, there were still times where the awkward silences left something to be desired. I guess that can be forgiven due to this being their first actual live show in seven months with an adjusted production schedule to allow for proper social distancing and rapid testing (for which the resources maybe could've best been used elsewhere?) I'm also impressed that they were able to get every cast member some airtime as small as it was (except for poor sweet Melissa who must have had a big showcase in whatever was cut for time that the band shot was used to fill in for). Still, nice to see Ego and Chloe are on their way to dominating the show at least. Anyway, there's a lot more to get to so let's just break it down, shall we?

Presidential Debate - Well, it's strangely comforting that SNL could just stick to giving us pretty much the EXACT Presidential Debate sketch I was expecting in spite of every little thing that happened between Tuesday and tonight. I know some people didn't want to see this open with a title card, but I guess that was a necessary evil, huh? Beck did well with the Chris Wallace impression (yeah, like they actually gonna fly Tom Hanks out just for this) and they focused on the real Wallace's ineptitude as moderator just the right amount. Baldwin was certainly...there...as expected...to exaggerate the real Trump's tendency to talk over people. He seemed to give a stronger performance than he usually does. Maybe it was Drezens' influence on the writing or Baldwin getting through this month by imagining himself literally anywhere else or maybe it's just me. After all, I have said in the past that "debate Trump" is the only Trump Baldwin comes close to being able to accurately portray and that still very much holds true four years later (although I wish we hadn't even had to consider that as a remote possibility let alone see this play out in real life). Carreys' take on Biden was the exact thing I was picturing in my mind as soon as I heard their names together in an interview with Lorne. He gave us a technically accurate Darrell Hammond style vocal impression with just a very small, comparatively restrained dash of his own Carrey style rubber face mugging. They came up with a creative way no one else thought of to work Maya's Kamala in there (and thankfully give us just the first of three very brief verbal throwaway W.A.P in passing). Speaking of things no one else might have thought of, I do like how they green screened Harry Styles and Cecily Strong in there. Good to see them make good on THAT promise and also give us the portrayal of Kimberly Guilfoyle by Cecily we've been waiting for. I was thinking about how they might have to have this one mirror either the cold opens from either the 2016 episodes hosted by Lin-Manuel Miranda (a debate is interrupted by a news flash of the weekend's biggest surprise story) Benedict Cumberbatch (scene performers mercifully break character to address the audience with a message of sincere hope that the divisiveness in America will end with the election) or the one from Daniel Craig's 2012 episode (focusing on the Democratic candidate's inner monologue as the Republican just shouts over everyone). Thankfully, they went with the latter two mixed together rather than the first former which would've been very awkward to work around. I liked that Carrey tried to end the sketch on a cathartic vibe and address the cruel irony/poetic justice of Trump's current situation as tactfully and gracefully as he could (because they way Baldwin tried to do it felt much too forced for me). Again, I appreciate what they were going for but it still felt slightly off to me in its approach. That and the slight miscues throughout the sketch throwing the timing off were really the only things I could take off points for. Actually, speaking of miscues...they seem to have put up the dress version of this debate sketch up on YouTube. I could tell because there seemed to be a lot of noticeable alternate takes and both Baldwin and Carrey (especially) have long stretches of dialogue that were completely edited out for air. Look, I know that if you're reading this, it's even money that you're one of the ten or so people that is in the same SNL Discord server and/or Twitter group chat that I regularly chat with and I know you likely hated watching this debate sketch the first time around. However, I hope you decide to give the YouTube version a look if you want to see a much smoother, slightly more focused and competently directed version looks like. C+

New Montage - As much as I thought this was a strange time for SNL to film an entire new intro, I really like the heavy 1979/80 vibes this gives off and I can see how stop motion was the best, safest way to go here. I do wonder why some cast members wore masks and some didn't but I'm guessing they did it this way so that the "masked cast" shots can be more easily replaced next season if the pandemic finally ends (god willing). The thing that really stood out to me was how Cecily's new shot seemed to show her getting off an 8H elevator despite the announcement that she would be in Vancouver working on her new show so I'm just left wondering how they pulled that off timing and travel wise. I have to hand it to Jost for getting the funniest shot in both COVID-19 era SNL intros.

Monologue - As odd as it is seeing Chris Rock holding a mask in his hand rather than a mic, I enjoyed seeing him continue the cathartic vibe that Carrey had just started by explaining just how screwed up our whole governmental system is. A lot of these seem to be common complaints from Twitter but a lot of people can surely relate (although I'm sure that Chris Farley joke might rub some people the wrong way). Also, it was nice to see them save all the floor seats for masked first responders. That was at least a smart move on the show's part if a cast or band member suddenly gets sick on air but I'm still left wondering what they're gonna do about audience members in the balcony if the same happens to them? B-

Action News Pittsburgh - Even though this is a blatant season 44 Day/Seidell retread, I liked the first one well enough that I welcomed its' return. Still, I can't say that this one being just a bit raunchier than the first one for sure makes it better than the first one. I will say that Ego and Rock pretty much stole this from the get go (although Rock stumbled pretty badly early on and the name "Moe Lestin Jr" DEFINITELY isn't going to sit right with some). Some assists from Beck, Heidi, Lauren and Kenan didn't hurt either. Frankly, I'm stunned they could even say "Mike Litt" once I'm the air let alone nearly run it into the ground but I totally get Lorne wanting to give us another Reese Witherspoon "fucking freezing my balls off"/Ferrells' patriotic short shorts/Sam Jackson's Schrodingers' "bullshit" type moment as a brief distraction right now. B-

Bottom Of Yo Face - This is a pretty creative premise for something rapped (pardon the expression) in what might be Petes' most tired crutch (as much fun as Chris and Kenan make these seem). It's a strange feeling to realize that it took a global pandemic for me too feel like I hadn't gotten sick of Pete, Chris and Kenan producing their own rap videos after being deluded with them two seasons ago but this forced them to think outside the box (even if I kind of have to suspend my disbelief at someone actually dating a new masked person during a pandemic). I liked how they worked in Ego and Megan Thee Stallion to keep this feeling a bit more fresh and how tgey got Rock to perform an homage to his own "No Sex In The Champagne Room" video. B-

My Mom Married Kenan Thompson - I'm really grateful to Beck & Kyle for being able to give us something this silly completely off the cuff. I may be biased as not just a suckered for pointless October 2000 nostaliga (although I'm thinking maybe Eliza Dushku and Spy Kids may be either too obscure or nonexistent references even back then) but one of Kyle's few admitted fans in the general online SNL Fandom but I enjoyed what he was giving us even though I admit Kyle wasn't exactly indulging in his best tendencies as a performer here. It did seem like it dragged just a tad and belabored its' point a little but it's actual length didn't hurt it and they included just enough small twists for my liking. C+

The Drew Barrymore Show - This is another thing many of us were predicting the show would give us that's actually welcome to see. Chloe really nails all her impressions with some solid assists from Alex, Kenan and Beck. B-

Update was fairly strong. Jost & Che actually struck a decent balance between addressing Trumps' COVID-19 diagnosis appropriately while also addressing the elephant (pardon the expression) in the room. I was a little surprised to see Bowen make a live appearance after hearing he might be missing some early shows. Still, while I enjoyed seeing Chen Biao again it's starting to suffer from diminishing returns and feel too formulaic (especially after this character's occupation has been changed from "trade daddy" to "medical official" and then quickly back to "trade daddy" again) and Aidy's Carrie Krum continues to wash right over me. I wasn't even sure "if" let alone "how" they would mention RBGs' passing since it felt like several weeks ago (in spite of how many weeks ago it actually was) but I suppose it meant a lot to Kate to giver her as much closure as she got to give to Hillary. B+

NBA Bubble Draft - This sketch seemed a little unfocused to me. It had Che's conceptually muddled style of writing all over it. The only things I really liked about it were how they worked Ego, Chloe, Lauren, Aidy, (boy, it's a good thing that they put those two on one right after the other because I imagine the only thing that could possibly confuse the fuck out of peoole even less would be to have them onscreen right next to each other at the same time) Maya, Punkie, Heidi and Megan into this. I also liked Alex's performance as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Alfred E. Neuman jug ears and all. The rest of this felt like something you'd have to follow basketball really closely to get. C+

Stunt Performers Of America - I feel like I've seen the real life video this was based on in my Twitter feed a lifetime ago which really gave this a "cut from the 'At Home' shows but not put online for whatever reason" feel even though this had to have been something they pretaped in the lead up to the season as Kate and Aidy were neither "at home" nor "socially distanced". Discuss. I wasn't crazy about the way this suddenly turned into another Kate and Aidy two hander out of nowhere (in fact, it reminded me a lot of the athletic wear pretape they did for the late Chadwick Bosemans' episode) but at least Chris, Mikey and Ego were there to keep things a little more varied. I did like the dog/octopus hat anecdotes, though. C-

Well, that was certainly refreshing.. Next week, notable Boston comic Bill Burr makes his SNL hosting debut. He's someone who's standup I could go either way on now but I liked him quite a bit more in the past than I do now but then again I haven't seen much of him despite his career being on the rise. Thankfully, he's not so much a full on MAGA Trump guy as much as he's just always been a cranky, anti-PC, get off my lawn/old man yells at cloud guy but more self aware. In fact, the last time he even acknowledged SNL was on David Spade's now cancelled Comedy Central show "Lights Out" during the whole Shane Gillis fiasco and that was just to castigate what he viewed as overly sensitive PC snowflake millenials for going through several years of people's tweets just to find something offensive enough to get them fired (despite the fact that someone just found a clip of him from just ONE year ago using slurs against Asians after the announcement that he got hired along with this show's first east Asian cast member ever and they almost mutually decided to part ways so the show could keep working in a stable environment with the guy they already spent a year getting to know and love). Anyway, so to veer off topic there but my point is Burrs' style of standup may just drastically clash with modern day SNL but I like him just fine and certainly hold nothing against him. Other standups working on SNL seem to like him and have made him out to be a great guy both on and off stage. He certainly must have a strong bond with Pete since they're both east coast based standups who did a movie together recently so this must be two different kinds of favors at once. Hope Bill gives us a great show! I'm rooting for him and SNL and I'll certainly be tuning in! See you then!

SNL At Home III (Kristen Wiig/Boyz II Men) (5.9.2020)

Okay, here's my review. This started off seeming like it was going to be the weakest of the three "at home" shows that closed out season 45 but I can't quite say that it was because the show gave us much better material as the night went on. I certainly don't think the writing was a problem as much as the inclusion of certain unannounced cameos, but while the highs were about the same as the previous "at home" show, the lows were definitely a bit lower. The cast was a little unbalanced (just in that Alex and Bowen were almost nowhere to be seen) but everybody did get some airtime. This did leave me with a fair amount to unpack, so let's break it down, shall we?

Trump Zoom Commencement - I immediately got flashbacks to the commencement cold open from the Steve Carrell/Usher season 33 finale and reflected on how we've now had two different finales of seasons interrupted and cut short (one by a writer's strike, the other by a global pandemic). There were some funny lines but I pretty much mentally checked out as soon as Baldwin appeared on screen. I liked Kenan, Ego and Chris' bit being "muted" by Baldwin's Trump but that's about it. Kate and Heidi had a funny interaction, too. I admit, I was also intrigued to hear Baldwin sneak the words "one last time" into his LFNY tag. I realize that Baldwin had loudly whined in the press about how playing Trump takes such a toll on him but SNL has changed horses midstream with their presidential impersonators before and Lorne usually seems to like making sure someone different plays the incumbent president by the time they are running for reelection and are actively debating their challenger from the other party so I'd have to say next season is the most likely time we're going to see a new Trump impressionist (whoever they may be). Honestly, the true highlight of this was trying to spot which writers (besides Sudi Green, Fran Gillespie and Will Stephen) and other possible non cast members were on this Zoom call because I'm shocked to find that they didn't think they had a large enough cast to pull off another high school commencement sketch. C+

Monologue - I guess we really should've expected this, no matter what? A lot of people have been speculating that the show would have Kristen Wiig host the originally planned 5/16 finale of this season to promote her major role in Wonder Woman 1984 (and as a possible send off to the senior women of this cast) and I guess this may confirm that this was their plan all along. Plus, Wiig can still promote WW84 as I believe it's still being released On Demand. The only real laugh I got was the bodybuilding mom photo she showed. The rest of this monologue just seemed like a cross between several things from Wiigs' final season in the cast (specifically Melissa McCarthy's first monologue and her Liza Minelli/Ann Margret sketches) with a sincere "mother's day under quarrantine" message tacked on. I was just as checked out of the rest of this as I was in the cold open. C-

Deirdre and Ripley's Zoom Call - I wasn't quite crazy about this character of Heidi's that she played opposite Seth Meyers but the inclusion of Martin Short as her scene partner here automatically makes this my favorite appearance of hers'. Sure, Marty seemed quite restrained here but he really helped make this one feel fresh and different than the last two. I also like the added detail that they went to Italy just to further derail their quarantine. I sure would've liked to have seen Marty host again this season whether or not he has anything to promote. B+

Let Kids Drink - This was a pretty funny premise. Framing it as a We Are The World like charity number was a great idea. The reveal was well executed and the little yellow chyrons really added to the humor along with Beck and Pete's scenes. Josh Gad was someone I thought I'd never see on the show (I do wonder if he was also originally on the pre-quarrantine shortlist to host in April or May?) but he was all right in his short bit. That was honestly the most I would've ever liked to have seen of him on SNL. B-

Masterclass II - A second one of these was definitely good for Chloe (especially since she did more easily accessible impressions in this one) and it ended up being good for Melissa that Chloe decided to include her in this doing an impression of a former alumni that she had previously only done on social media and podcasts. Her Mulaney is solid and ine if the better ones of the multiple Mulaney impressions I've seen lately. She nails his joke delivery even though her voice is still noticeablly higher than his. It actually does work a lot better when she makes the extra effort to actually dress like him. I know Melissa also had a Phoebe Waller-Bridge impression but she must've made a deal with Chloe to let her do PWB if she could do Mulaney (either that or Chloe just didn't have a Mulaney impression). Between the two, it's hard to say whose PWB was "better" (especially since Melissa only did hers in small pieces) but Chloe's was obviously more developed and both impressions must revolve more around nailing certain beats from "Fleabag" than her actual voice. Chloe's Britney impression really worked for me and made me start to see what others see in her (although given how little control over her own finances we now know the real Britney actually has she might get some flak online about that "being rich" line). If they can find a way to put Chloe's Britney and Melissa's Xtina in a sketch together next season, they should definitely go for it. A-

Mt. Methuselah Baptist Church Zoom Service - Kenan, Chris, Cecily and Ego really made the most out of this. It seemed like more like something that a YouTuber would make but this cast really turned it into a testament to their performance abilities. Again, I'm left wondering who else besides this cast was on this zoom call because the only people from this show's writing staff I recognized were Bryan Tucker and Gary Richardson (who likely cowrote this). If those other people were friends or relative of Chris, Kenan or Ego I'm sure they'll give them a shout out on social media tomorrow. B+

Danny Trejo - This was obviously done in the same vein as "Tucci Gang" and "RBJ" from each of the previous two seasons which makes me wonder what actual song this may have been a parody of as I didn't immediately recognize it nor do I know who "JP On Da Track" is. I didn't like this as much as I liked Pete's previous "at home" music videos. Chris' verse was OK but didn't do much for me either. He just kinda repeated a bunch of the same jokes Pete did. C+

Bouncy Waves w/ PJ Charnt - This felt like a typical Anderson penned self indulgent Wiig sketch to me that we used to see constantly ten years ago when she and Fred were dominating the show. Still, it's a new "character" from Wiig and I'd rather see this than any of her old characters from her years in the cast. I did genuinely like her stern, disappointed reaction to the spaghetti hair text as well as Kenans' character. Those were the only laughs I got. Still, this does make Wiig the most active and involved host of the "at home" episodes. C+

Update got off to a stronger start than the previous two "at home" Update. Both of their jokes seemed a lot better written this time. Speaking of, the joke that the contest winner wrote was pretty weak as far as their typical edgelord-lite cold reads go (although it's oddly fitting that that kind of a joke could come from someone who had hundreds of thousands of dollars to bid on this) but Che's joke from a "sick kid" made up for it. Tinas' commentary was something that just kinda washed over me. It was nice seeing Cecily's Judge Pirro again. I liked how she used her background and outfit changes to break from the formula of these. This must have been one of her favorite impressions to do lately which makes me wonder if this was supposed to truly be her last show. B+

What's Wrong With This Picture? III - I liked the previous two installments of this sketch but I was afraid that this one would suffer from the law of diminishing returns like the previous one did. Fortunately, that didn't happen as adding Ego and Melissa into the mix for Kenan to play off of really helped. B+

Eleanor's House - This is definitely the strongest piece Aidy contributed to the "at home" episodes so far. I really liked the animation and it reminded me a lot of the [adult swim] series "Tigtone" which I happened to catch for the first time last Sunday night. I do wonder if their animators worked on this? I did recognize Bowen and Becks' voices as the second and third animated characters (especially since Bowen was just doing his "Bottle Boi" voice) but I couldn't tell if Melissa or Chloe was the voice of the goldfish. I did like how Kyle, Heidi, Pete, Chris and Mikey's characters were specifically animated to look like them. B+

Brandons' Corny Ass Dad Pranks - This is definitely the best way any of the show's staff could've involved their real life kids on the show. Mikey and Kenan were very funny in it, too. B+

Phineas Gale - This was the weakest sketch of the night for me. I mean, it was a fine premise and I appreciated what it was going for but it was a little too low key for me and Kate may not have been the best type of performer to pull this off. D+

Kyle's House - Hearing the sole laugh track in this tricked me into thinking this was gonna be another one of Beck and Kyle's fake early '90s sitcoms until I noticed Beck wasn't in it and Kyle was playing different characters we haven't seen him do on the show yet but may have seen him do in his pre-SNL YouTube videos. He really seemed to be returning to his roots with this. Combining that with the stark shifts in tone from sheer disjointed Tim and Eric style weirdness to sappy emotional melancholy, it felt like this was Kyle's big goodbye piece (as he and Beck both seem like the type of cast members who are more than comfortable leaving without a big emotional send off). Still, I enjoyed this for the sheer unfiltered Kyle Mooney strangeness it was. It ended up being something I preferred to Kyle's previous solo piece with similar production value. I especially liked the entire "bank robbing" scene. A-

Dreams - At first, I thought this might be Cecily's official send off (and possibly Kate's) since the former seemed to be the main focus throughout and the latter was waving from the top of 30 Rock at the end but I liked how this ended up featuring the full cast. I especially liked the sheer abstract, dadaist, non sequitur "let's just use whatever footage we all can get access to and make this even weirder than Kyle's solo piece" feel of it. The only things I didn't like were how this featured Alex and Bowen's only real appearance of the night. A-

Now, for my final rankings of this entire season...

1. Eddie Murphy/Lizzo
2. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
3. Chance The Rapper
4. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
5. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
6. Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan
7. Adam Driver/Halsey
8. SNL At Home II (Brad Pitt/Miley Cyrus)
9. SNL At Home (Tom Hanks/Chris Martin)
10. Daniel Craig/The Weeknd
11. SNL At Home III (Kristen Wiig/Boyz II Men)
12. John Mulaney/David Byrne
13. RuPaul/Justin Bieber
14. J.J. Watt/Luke Combs
15. Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby
16. Will Ferrell/King Princess
17. Harry Styles
18. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Well, season 45 of SNL has officially come to a close. We heard Wiig say "see you in September" but there are a lot of unknowns beyond that. We don't know when the show will be able to be truly "live" or not by September but we do know they can at least give us more of these "at home" episodes if the quarantine continues to last that long. I would've expected the show to come back on October 3rd at the earliest but this is supposed to be an election year and they might want to make up for the other three planned live shows from this Spring they had to suspend production on if NBC'S budget will allow them to do so. Naturally, they may want to transition between seasons 45 and 46 the same way they transitioned between seasons 33 and 34. We don't know for sure if this entire cast will be back in September let alone if Lorne will be able to even audition anyone to fill out the cast if anyone does leave. The only thing we can do know is keep an eye out for any press releases that may turn up between now and August. For all we know, with most of the rest of the TV, film and live performance industries having to shut down, certain cast members could probably really use the job stability/security and income that SNL has been providing so we could get most of this same cast this fall. One thing I know is that I'll be back on September to provide more of these reviews of whatever the show can provide its audience with so, see you then. Have a great summer and stay safe!

SNL At Home II (Brad Pitt/Miley Cyrus) (4.25.2020)

(and yes, I'm counting Brad Pitt as the official host of this episode for the purposes of telling these "at home" episodes apart simply because he introduced an unannounced musical performance)

Okay, here's my review. This was by far the stronger of the two SNL At Home episodes to have aired thus far. It feels like they've fully figured out how to adapt to this new format and make it work to their advantage. Every part of this episode felt much more polished than most of what aired two weeks ago. There were still the same amount of cameos but most of them were so small that none of them overshadowed the main cast (of which every cast member got some substantial airtime except maybe Alex but he may have just seemed invisible since he didn't get his own showcase like he did last time). Anyway, there wasn't as much to unpack with this episode since it was pretty straightforward so let's just get right into it.

A Message From Dr. Anthony Fauci - Well, for starters I am glad that this episode had an actual cold open compared to last week. I know some are upset about the deluge of cameos from celebrities whose connections to the show are increasingly tenuous in political roles. Somehow, this feels like both an extension of and an exception to that trend. Brad Pitt is someone who has never hosted but had only cameoed twice counting this. He's also someone the real Dr. Fauci jokingly and offhandedly said he'd like to see play him on SNL on response to a CNN reporter's softball question. So, while this feels like pandering on the same level of a Larry-as-Bernie or a Tina-as-Palin it feels like a rare once in a lifetime moment in some ways. First of all, no one really expected this as no one was really expecting SNL to be in production at all right now given the very nature of the show itself. Even under normal circumstances (in which Dr. Fauci would easily be portrayed as a straight man to Baldwin's Trump on the show) Brad Pitt would be a near impossible get for SNL (even as simple as Zoom is making things these days) as television in general seems to be quite a rare medium for him to be in. Hell, I still don't know how they got him to appear on Jim Jeffries' Comedy Central show a while back. He must feel much more strongly about this public health crisis than he did about global warming. The material itself was just fine as was the impression since "raspiness" and "slightly weary exasperation" are pretty much the only things you can really do with an Anthony Fauci impression right now (that's kinda the only way I can gauge one anyway). It was pretty much par for the course for this era of SNL but it helps that it was pretaped and delivered by someone fresh who's presence is a rarity on the show (although I think the "I know I'm not supposed to be touching my face" joke has been done before). B-

What's Up With That At Home - Okay, this is actually a vast improvement on the established WUWT format. I don't know what it is about the combination of flashy Zoom effects and not having to play to a live studio audience that literally made this the best WUWT ever but it was a lot more fun than most of the others WUWT retreads I've seen. It also helps that we haven't even seen them do this live sketch in about seven and a half years (not counting the brief SNL40) reprisal. They repeated this adnauseum at least once every month from 2009-2012 and then Fred, Bill and Jason all left leaving Kenan without his supporting players who made this sketch what it was (thankfully at least two of them came back) so they really had no other choice but to back off this. I also liked how they used Ego and Melissa were used as the backup singers. Upon rewatching this, I'm hit with the comforting realization that this was actually her first appearance in the show instead of the last two pieces. I liked how they put her and Cecily upfront here after they were shut out of the last episode. Speaking of Cecily, I read her Vulture piece and I really hope she's doing well all things considered. Hopefully, being involved in the show again serves as a  escape for her. I also liked Mikey's role as well as Barkley's and Khaled's cameos. Speaking of, is it just me or does seeing DJ Khaled with a more unkempt/untrimmed beard than usual seem a little jarring? When I first saw him, I almost thought either someone was impersonating him or he was playing someone else. Finally, I choose to take this as another hint that Kenan and the senior women (given Cecily's increased presence in this particular episode, Kate and Aidy's dominance of both these "at home" episodes and the featured women's increased presence) did intend this season as their farewell season after all and that a final WUWT in the homestretch of the season (if not in just the finale) was intended as at least part of their respective goodbyes. A-

In Depth With Brian Sutter - I saw immediately where this was going as soon as Mikey said he was using his daughter's phone. This was okay, but I actually mostly prefer the live version of this from Sandler's episode last season. I did think this has a much stronger ending with Kenans' character and Mikey's dialogue over the last two babyface and banana filters. C+

Pete's Stuck - Wow, speak of the devil! Until Sandler and Schneider's (wow, long time no see, huh?) brilliant surprise cameos nothing was making this song stand out from his previous songs from the last SNL At Home episode. I can definitely say at this point that I do like Pete better when he's producing semi-polished sing rap music videos like this than when he's just rapping or just talking about himself on Update. Sandler's cameo in this does make me wonder if he was originally slated to host again by the end of this season but then again I don't know what he would've had to promote right about now and his episode last year seemed like such a once-in-a-lifetime type of even that it's best to maybe wait several seasons before trying to recreate that magic. B+

Bartensons' - I liked this just fine. I wanted to like it more for what it was but it just didn't click for me. It was mostly a rapid fire succession of ridiculous Handey-esque products being advertised (although the second round worked for me). They didn't make me laugh that much (maybe because the whole piece also had a "Simpsons did it" feel) and just when you think these Kate and Aidy two-handers benefit the most from being pretaped Kate manages to come very close to breaking and lending this thing a real "edited improv game" feel. C-

Big Papi's Big Dominican Lunch - Normally, I like Kenans' David Ortiz impression but for the most part it does work better playing off a live audience. I did like the "stuff in everybody's pantry" line as well as all the sponsors. I also enjoyed the cameo from who at first I thought  was one of Lavar Balls' sons but I would later learn was a very well disguised Bad Bunny. C+

AirBnB Host - I was actually impressed by this sketch for a couple of different reasons. First, I appreciate that SNL is giving Chloe Fineman a showcase for her own original characters (even if one was just a generic straight woman role and one was a character that was cut from dress and put online) right after they gave her a showcase for her very "of the moment" impressions. I do like how versatile and developed Chloe has made her "Ooli" character compared to the cut dress piece where she was just an Instagram fashionista. I also appreciate how she managed to find a new angle on Quarrantine/shelter-in-place orders that no one seems to have tackled already (I haven't seen anyone talking about how this is affecting AirBnB users yet so that's sonething). The Zoom effects were a nice touch, too. A-

Facetiming On The Outside - It took a second for me to figure out where this was going, but I liked seeing a Chris Redd centric piece where he and all his female costars were all so strongly committed to intense character work. I especially liked the odd added detail that Redds' character was serving a very lengthy prison sentence for pirating Sopranos DVDs. B+

Update was a vast improvement over last week just for the fact that they ditched the haunting laugh track. They must've realized how well Colbert, Seth, Fallon, Conan et al have gotten along without them. The Zoom map background was a nice touch. Still, it was the most awkward portion of this episode by far. While the jokes were a little uneven I did like Josts stroke of genius/diaper protests/Rooney Guiliani and it made me realize that Jost & Che's longform rants don't translate as well as the standard short form setup/punchline jokes to the new sans audience quarantine format of Update. Strangely, Pete's commentaries play better without and audience then with so I'd personally disagree with Pete's final assessment. I do like how the invitation to enter to possibly write a "joke exchange" joke implies that there will be more of these "at home" episodes but I don't like the idea of just *anyone* trying to write a purposely shockingly offensive joke to be read on SNL. That may be the type of humor that it takes a very delicate balance of a specific niche comedic ability that Jost and Che have to be able to pull off. Not everyone has that type of talent so they're gonna have to wade through a lot of garbage for this. C+

SoulCycle At Home - This is a recurring sketch I liked this season and still want to like whenever it appears. What I liked most about it is how they made necessary substantial changes to the established format that actually worked in this sketches favor. It actually flows better when you take out Alex and Mikey's character and make Ego one of the trainers. I also liked Bowen's "Los Angeles to California" line and Chris and Becks' whole characters. I'm not too crazy about how Heidi seems to get typecast in MAGA adjacent roles lately like Alex used to. B+

OJ Tweets His Regards  - Although it seems like they shouldn't have waited this long to go for the obvious "OJ on Twitter" jokes, this format is perfect for them and Kenans' commitment really sold this. C+

Pretty Mandy Rudd - This was a pleasant surprise. I liked seeing this character of Heidi's debut during James Franco's last (and I do mean last) episode from a few years ago. Still, I thought it for sure had to be a one off. I mean, how many famous relatives can one person have? Still, I have to say I slightly prefer the original sketch as this one felt a little unfocused and too loosely improvised by comparison. C+

The Reveal - This sketch seemed a little unfocused at first but I liked how tight and focused it ended up being. It seemed like they tried to combine about four different sketch premises into one at first but at least they knew where they were going with it more than the audience did and nobody let it meander too far once it got going. Plus, I liked Heidi's character and it was nice to get a chance to see Cecily sing again. C-

PornHub PSA - This started out so aggressively sincere that I almost mistook it for an actual COVID-19 themed PSA that for some reason the current SNL cast decide to take part in. The fact that this was pretaped as part of a show that is usually at least 85% live performances might be part of what led me to think that. The twist was pretty underwhelming as it made me easily throw this on the pile with Alex's Sky Sports piece of "sketches where the joke is either too true to life right now or not nearly exaggerated enough to be all that funny." I did like Mikey's last line and the women's acting in this, though. C-

Whiskers R' We - I liked this better once I remembered that Kate usually does these with female hosts instead of just Aidy. Still, it would've been a good place for another unannounced female celebrity cameo because these work better when Kate has someone else to play off of. I'm also not too crazy that Kate's actual cat was stuck playing multiple different roles rather than say, just showing still photos of various different cats either but that eventually grew on me. C-

Friendly Party - I appreciate that we got a solo Kyle piece and I really liked the sheer balls to the wall production value he put into this. Sadly, I felt this kinda drgged in the middle and could've been edited down. I do like how this felt like a real throwback in various ways. It wasn't just reminiscent of low budget amateur '80s music videos, it was also reminiscent of late '00s internet humor and the nostalgia for low budget amateur '80s music videos that permeated them. B-

Melissa's Big Date - It's good to see a Melissa solo showcase. I just wish for her sake it had been earlier in the show. Still, everything about this was absolutely adorable. A-

Aidy's Real Journals - This seems to be Aidy reviving an old bit she did at the Just For Laughs festival near verbatim. It was alright but I preferred the previous "live" version of this routine and the previous episodes' "Visualizations With Aidy" piece. B-

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

1. Eddie Murphy/Lizzo
2. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
3. Chance The Rapper
4. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
5. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
6. Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan
7. Adam Driver/Halsey
8. SNL At Home II (Brad Pitt/Miley Cyrus)
9. SNL At Home (Tom Hanks/Chris Martin)
10. Daniel Craig/The Weeknd
11. John Mulaney/David Byrne
12. RuPaul/Justin Bieber
13. J.J. Watt/Luke Combs
14. Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby
15. Will Ferrell/King Princess
16. Harry Styles
17. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Well, I think it's a safe bet that these are at least a bi monthly/every other week event at this point. Also, we could reasonably expect to see four more if these at most if they're trying to fill out their remaining production schedule for this season. If that ends up bring the case, I suppose you can expect to hear from me next on May 9th. That's right, as long as SNL produces at least a solid 90 minutes of new content in its regular time slot, I won't be able to stop myself. Until then, stay safe!

SNL At Home (Tom Hanks/Chris Martin) (4.11.2020)

Okay, here's my review. I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to review this at first but I ended up having enough stray thoughts throughout this show that I couldn't resist dropping into my Discord group chat (the only people who read these to my knowledge, by the way) that I thought deserved to be expanded upon (and certain people in said Discord were dead set on convincing me to do this) that I figured out how to put together a blog post that didn't seem like a complete copy and paste job. In fact, it feels so strange to be even attempting to review or even thoughtfully criticize this particular episode given the circumstances that I still question whether this is even something I even SHOULD be putting out but really, what much else is there one COULD be doing on a Saturday night right now? Anyway, the show felt slightly uneven but still, I thought they did a great job putting on a professional looking show done 100% remotely. At times, it felt less like SNL and more like it was some newer, fresher sketch show but in a way that also illustrated how much SNL could use substantial structural change (especially within it's own writing staff). A new aesthetic is nice but doesn't quite make one forget what crutches the show still tends to lean on. You may get to see what I mean as we move along.

Cold Open - Part of me was a little disappointed that this was obviously not "live" enough that they absolutely HAD to air it coast to coast but then again, they obviously needed more than two days notice that they were really gonna do this. Hell, this material genuinely seems like they'd been working on it for at least two weeks. They can't truly do this live coast to coast and still be able to air something acceptable enough for a major TV network. They had to take as much time as necessary to make this look as polished as the circumstances would allow. I guess I'll have to watch the archive of this week's Saturday Night Quarantine. Sorry Ian, but at least you can find some solace in the fact that they can't do exactly what you do under these same circumstances. I did like that they went to the trouble of filming a whole new "at home" title sequence with Lenny Pickett and the band. That was fun. I did like the brief shot of Jost having a doll tea party and other glimpses of the cast's "at home" lives. The only thing that disappointed me was that this ended up being the only appearances of the night for Cecily, Melissa and Bowen. I sure hope they and their respective families are doing well through this.

Monologue - It's obvious why they booked Tom as the "host" but I do still has to wonder for a moment if Hanks was originally booked as tonight's host before all TV production just had to be shut down. I'm guessing Martin might have been booked already? Nah, he doesn't really seem like the type of musical guest they would want to book two seasons in a row nowadays let alone twice on the same season. Hanks said he was filming a movie that he had to shave his head for but it's obviously not coming out soon for a couple of reasons. I don't think he had anything out currently so he must have been a last minute booking. I did like his Australian Farenheit joke but I did worry that Hanks punchline about Hollywood actresses ages might invite criticism of the show being out of touch and performatively liberal and whatever else Jack Allison would probably say but it seems people kinda glossed over this (and Larry's cameo surprisingly) in favor of Update and Kate's RBG sketch. I did appreciate how he cut his "audience" Q&A bit short since it wasn't really working for me.

Drake Song - I liked this a lot more than a lot of the raps and music videos Pete did alongside Chris in recent years. It seemed to have a lot smoother and aesthetically pleasing production value. I did like seeing the soft focus on alternate takes of Pete's current intro shot thrown in there. The only thing that felt off about it was that I'm not sure I've heard a Drake song that was produced like that in a few years. In fact, I don't think his music is the big reason people still talk about Drake now. This seems like Pete finally getting to execute something he's been trying to get on the air from his early years as a featured player that never even made it to rehearsal day.

RBG's Workout Corner - As much as I feel I've seen enough of Kate's "Ginsburns" for one lifetime at this point, I did enjoy the ultra minimalist way they pulled this off. I also liked how this paired with Pete's first number gave me the impression that this was going to be each cast member getting their own solo showcase even though it quickly became apparent that would not be the case here.

SalesCorp Industries - Ok, I guess a Zoom parody was inevitable and this was ok and all but I the only things I didn't like were how this felt less and less like improv as it went on and the feeling that Kate and Aidy were gonna dominate this, too. This kinda paled in comparison to the debut of these characters' debut in the Idris Elba ep from last year but I liked how they kinda snuck them on us in this format and how quick on their feet they seemed to be in adding this to the show.

A Message From Bernie Sanders - This seemed like kind of a mixed bag at first but I ended up liking it a lot more than Larry's traditional live in studio appearances as Bernie from the first part of this season. Hell, that "Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War" punchline is unusually pointed for modern day SNL. If anything, this piece kinda highlights how much SNL's modern day political writing relies more on performance (Larry has never seemed more "as himself" as Bernie than he did here but in a way that actually improved this piece) and playing/projecting to the live audience (especially the upper seats) than actually making any politically aware points.

MasterClass - I do like that Chloe got a multi impression showcase but I'm not crazy about the fact that a global pandemic was what it took for that to happen. Her Jojo Siwa/Carole Baskin impressions were a bit of a misfire as I'm not familiar enough with either of them to judge the accuracy or the humor of the impressions but Chloe's actual performances won me over. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've seen that much of Timothee Chalamet in anything to really get where that impression came from but Chloe managed to make a woman playing a man (or in this case an adult woman playing a male teen actor) in the Kate McKinnon SNL era fresh and engaging and that's an impressive feat all its own.

Update was an odd low point for the show (especially considering this was the tentpole segment they used to promote this) but Jost and Che did redeem themselves at the end. At a certain point, having an actual audience laughing remotely seemed to hurt this Update more than help it. If that was the actual cast instead of the writers, I really hope they hadn't seen any of these jokes beforehand. Che had the stronger material and was really solid here especially since he was likely still grieving his own grandmother as he filmed this. The Fauci accent joke from Jost was ok but "Trump and Biden are comedy gold" seems like a horribly outdated take (and he had the sheer balls to follow that up with a "Kylie Jenner/Now's Not The Time" joke). Besides that, no other jokes stood out to me. The best things I can say about the Baldwin/Trump cameo was that it was audio only and that I liked his "reverse Homer Simpson" joke. It really felt too much like material Trevor Noah would do on and "off night" for The Daily Show than anything that SNL would do. The joke swap hoax in tribute to Che's grandma was the true highlight of this. Those bits always work on a traditional Jost/Che Update and in this instance they really did it at a point where they had nowhere to go but upward.

Bailey At The Movies - Even though Heidi is hitting a lot of the same beats as usual here, I do like how they chose to take her teen YouTuber character out from behind the Update desk and have Heidi film an actual YouTube video. Naturally, that turned out to be a better fit for this character.

Middle Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles - I'm curious to know who animated this. They made a lot out of a rather straightforward parody premise that I'm surprised I haven't seen elsewhere. Plus, animation is something that has very rarely been seen on SNL since the days of Robert Smigel so I have to wonder how long ago this had been getting cut from dress if they've been trying to get this on before.

Cam Playz Dat - To me, this was basically just Mikey playing Bobby Moynihan's character from that American Ninja Warrior skeych from Drake's 2016 ep but if he was a Twitch streamer but Mikey is still a likeable enough performer all on his own to pull this off. Between this and Heidi's YouTube segment, it's good to see SNL finally committ to  professionally parodying amateur streaming web content in a pretaped/non-live setting the way other modern day sketch comedians have done. Also, I imagine the fact that SNL included their own Twitch parody in this must have Ian Abramson feeling personally attacked right now.

Sky Sports - I wanted to like this more but the recent trend of now out of work sports announcers having to call random mundane stuff around their house seemed already silly enough that it didn't necessarily need to be parodied. Thankfully, Alex made this worth watching.

Beck, Kyle and Fred - This seemed like a piece that Beck and Kyle set out to produce in a similar vein to their Del Taco live sketch from Adam Driver's show back in January. It was charming and catchy but didn't quite grow on me as much as the Del Taco piece did. Much like a lot of Fred Armisens' cameos since leaving, this felt unnecessarily tacked on.

Visualizations With Aidy - Well, a mellow solo Aidy piece is preferable to a two hander with her and Kate at this point but this seemed like it kinda lost focus to me. At first, this seemed a bit more like something that could've been in Melissa's wheelhouse as she has been doing meditation videos on her Instagram lately but it became apparent this came from a very specific place within Aidy's life.

How Low Will You Go? - Mikey, Pete and Kenan really made this for me. Ego, Heidi and Aidy played very well off them. Even though SNL has been going to the dating show well a little too often, they used that framing device here for something that definitely had to be addressed in these times.

Quarantine QT - It was nice to see a silly solo Ego showcase but I got the impression that if this wasn't just taken directly from her Instagram she must've just refilmed it verbatim on her phone. After looking back at the one IG story she had saved on her profile, it appears she just took that same footage, added some background music, tacked on some new footage at the end and basically just edited it down further for television so it plays more like an Instagram story than the actual Instagram story it was filmed for

Andre 2000 - This worked just as well as Pete's first music video from earlier in the program despite also feeling like a premise that had been done before. In general, Pete seems a lot less like he's going through a rough time in pretaped form than he does in live form and everyone likes to see Pete looking healthy and stable, right?

Hal Wilner Tribute - I don't think I've seen as much of an outpouring of support for any SNL staffer as I've seen for Hal Wilner. He must've REALLY deeply touched everyone he ever worked with (especially Pete it seems). I really like how much thought and effort went into this to the point where it came across like this was the whole reason they decided they had to do a whole quarantine show. It was nice to see Hader, Sandler, Mulaney, Armisen (in a spot where a cameo of his would feel appropriate) and all the women who made the show in the late '90s/early '00s singing their hearts out.

Now, for my updated rankings of the entire season...

1. Eddie Murphy/Lizzo
2. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
3. Chance The Rapper
4. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
5. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
6. Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan
7. Adam Driver/Halsey
8. SNL At Home (Tom Hanks/Chris Martin)
9. Daniel Craig/The Weeknd
10. John Mulaney/David Byrne
11. RuPaul/Justin Bieber
12. J.J. Watt/Luke Combs
13. Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby
14. Will Ferrell/King Princess
15. Harry Styles
16. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Well, this episode is going to be an interesting time capsule for the COVID-19 era. Who knows when the show will be back next? I do know I myself won't be to behind it

Daniel Craig/The Weeknd (3.7.2020)

Okay, here's my review. This episode wasn't exactly an easy one for me to get excited about because I remembered how disappointing Daniel Craig's first show in October 2012 was. Daniel gave it his all both now and then and, despite being a tad uneven in small spots this episode turned out much better. I guess Daniel had weaker writing last time or they were all just a bit overworked from doing another early start heavily frontloaded election season where they had to write the regular show and the Weekend Update Thursday specials simultaneously. Also, John Mulaney hosted an alarmingly run of the mill show last week compared to the two previous episodes he hosted in the recent past which both felt unique for this era so at least with expectations being much lower first this show we weren't being near deliberately set up for crushing disappointment (much like how J.Lo's episode was followed up by ScarJo and then Eddie). It's nice to see they're steadily giving Chloe and Ego more parts. As far as the rest of the cast, airtime seemed pretty evenly distributed but Pete was invisible once again and I legitimately can't wait to find out what his excuse for missing THIS show was. Anyway, let's break it down.

Ingraham Angle - Well, after all the cameo loaded debate cold opens they've done recently I was pleasantly surprised that they were thinking a little outside of the box this week. Then, I realized how underwhelming this specific cold open template was the two times they did it last season. They started out hitting pretty much all the same beats as those ones with Pirro and the fake sponsors (which I did like along with the list of things to worry about) and I did like the gag with Eric Trumps' fever (the Trump bros are best used sparingly at this point). I'd have to say the highlight of this sketch for me was Darrell Hammonds' return as Chris Matthews doing some of the most pointed criticism of Matthews they've ever done. I also appreciate that they bought Darrell back for an impression that's a little outside the usual trifecta of "greatest hits" he's been known for (Clinton, Connery, Trump) and surprisingly none of the new knowledge I have about Chris Matthews has made this impression any less funny to me now than it was 15-20 years ago. As for Senator Warren, at least I can say I genuinely didn't see this one coming (even though I definitely should've given how Kate appeared in a sketch alongside Hillary Clinton during the same election cycle where she played her). Still, Warren being there just felt like a throwback to a previous era when active (or recently active) politicians and presidential candidates making cameos on the show (or even commenting on the shows' representations of them) was seen as fun and safe and not at all damaging to our democracy or political discourse. Perhaps I'm wrong and reading a bit too much into this but that's the only reason I can think of that Bernie was among the last three presidential candidates to appear on the show (not too recently obviously, I mean the last time he ran in early 2016). I will say I appreciate seeing her on the show at the exact point when she has nothing to lose even though none of the material they gave her really stood out to me. It's also good to see Kate is still the queen of the cold open quick change even if we didn't really need to see her in dual roles here.

Monologue - I'm glad they decided to insert a pretape in the middle of this monologue more for the format breaking than for the fact that the live portions of the monologue didn't quite work for me. Plus, I was a little disappointed that the PWB mention wasn't just a call for Melissa do come on stage and do her impression of her. Gradually turning James Bond into a trashy, Vegas tourist type of gambler seemed like such a simple premise I was surprised I hadn't remembered seeing it on SNL or anywhere else previously (although this did remind me a bit of the James Bond sketch they did in 2008 when Tim McGraw hosted). They pulled this off well and I did appreciate the twist at the end, too. B-

The Sands Of Modesto - This also felt like it was plugged into a template for a specific type of sketch the show has done before but updated for a current health scare. Still, it felt a little labored and telegraphed but I did like the prop heavy romance scenes between Kate and Daniel. Cecily's sneeze was a little predictable but it was the perfect note to end this sketch in terms of length. C+

On The Couch - This felt like the simplest of premises, but the only thing the show had done before that was reminiscent of this was "Jizz In My Pants" and possibly the inverse of "Slow" from Adam Drivers episode. The Weeknd really added to this sketch and I'm glad they used him in a sketch outside of Update. The sketch really picked up once he got the increasingly instant quick jumps to the couch going. Plus, this was another rare moment where the show actually made some use of Melissa's singing skills. B+

The Deirdre Show - I'm glad they keep giving Ego her own showcases. This was all right, but it took a little long to get going for me. Fortunately, that's my only real complaint about it because Ego really saved it with some assists from Kenan and Heidi. Craig really held his own here and there were some shades of the absurdist hyperfocused Comedy Bang! Bang! style of humor from Ego's pre-SNL background. B-

Debbie Downer - I feel like I should've been one of the people expecting this given how frequently Rachel Dratch has been making cameos this season (in fact I do have to wonder if this was deliberately kept in the live rundown to make up for a possible Amy Klobuchar sketch being scrapped at the last minute) but this actually caught my by a pleasant surprise. I was never crazy about this flagship character of hers but I guess it just suddenly grew on me here since her performance here is stronger than I remember. Sure, it also seemed to hit on all the same beats that the previous ones did but the "removed for trespassing" and Trump jokes really made this for me. B-

Update was serviceable but not much to write home about. Josts' only jokes that stood out to me were the Biden/Michigan/brain disease ones. I also liked the brief callback to Ches' "drinking problem" from last week but I didn't like how he didn't commit to it as much. After reading about how Bowens' "Bottle Boi" got cut from dress last week, I'm glad to see this got on because it seems like quite a departure for him. He was pretty funny and again, I liked his commitment, but I couldn't get past how this character seemed like a direct cross between Tracy Morgan's "Woodrow", Kenan Thompsons' "Willie" and Beck Bennett's "Bayou Benny" with a little dash of Bowen Yang's "Chen Biao" sprinkled in for good measure. I'm not totally sure we needed to see "TheWeeknd Update" once more but I appreciate the commitment to the continuity there. Normally, I could go either way on Cecily's party girl but it's been a good long while since we've seen her and this may start  providing me some closure on this possibly being Cecily's farewell season. The Joaquin Phoenix joke, Colin sunglasses and illness reveals were the only things that stood out to me. C+

Southern Accent Coach - I wanted to like this sketch more but it didn't quite seem to know what it wanted to be. At times it seemed too subtle when it called for absolutely zero subtlety and there was just too much buildup to whatever little payoff there was. I do appreciate Beck and Daniel really giving it their all and that they chose to end this with completely unexpected vomit tubes. C+

Movie Quotes - Good to see that Heidi was finally able to get this on the air the third time she submitted it. I'm also glad to see that Heidi's character was a lot more low-key than I was picturing based on the dress description I read. Other than that, it's basically exactly what I was expecting so even though I feel like I can barely judge this fairly I'll say everyone played well off of each other. B-

Overnight Salad - I did like this just for the sheer absurdity of it that made it feel far outside of the realm of what SNL would even attempt now. I also liked how it felt like the closest thing this era could've had to a "blackout" sketch that they would do in the first season. This got in, got it's fairly obvious joke out there and got right out. B-

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

1. Eddie Murphy/Lizzo
2. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
3. Chance The Rapper
4. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
5. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
6. Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan
7. Adam Driver/Halsey
8. Daniel Craig/The Weeknd
9. John Mulaney/David Byrne
10. RuPaul/Justin Bieber
11. J.J. Watt/Luke Combs
12. Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby
13. Will Ferrell/King Princess
14. Harry Styles
15. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Well, that episode delivered better than I expected given that I barely expected anything. At the end of the month, John Krasinski makes his hosting debut. It's nice that we're getting a first time host who feels like a natural fit for the show. Plus, it's good for him to finally get this in before he fully completed his ongoing transition from low key funny man to high key action hero and people's general perception of him fully changes. I mean, it would've been nice if he'd done the show when he was still on The Office but at least we're getting this now. See you in a few weeks!

John Mulaney/David Byrne (2.29.2020)

Okay, here's my review. This struck me as the type of episode that looks better in comparison to the rest of this season but not so much when compared to Mulaney's previous episodes. He was still a welcome premise and a solid host but it felt like a typical modern episode of the show with Mulaney just dragged-and-dropped in as host (Mulaney having to further postpone a standup gig in Canada he had tonight to host at Lornes' possibly last minute request probably has a lot to do with that). The fact that I can't immediately point to something as being a possible dress cut Mulaney dug up from his time as a staff writer or a piece he championed as a showcase for this season's most underused featured player (which would obviously be Chloe at this point but at least she got her own showcase in the previous episode) indicates that there's barely enough of Mulaney's comedic tone of voice throughout the show for it to hold a candle to his previous episodes (I also know that specific singular unilateral quality is what some people dislike about Mulaney's episodes but hey, to each their own). Plus, looking back over some of the sketches they did it just seems like they just plopped him into a lot of this season's recurring premises he had nothing to do with writing or conceiving thus wasting his talents. Aside from that, cast airtime was pretty uneven. Mikey, Heidi, Alex, Bowen and Ego were barely in anything while Melissa was shut out of the show entirely (gee, Mulaney wasn't THAT hurt by the impression she did of him on social media this week, was he?) Chloe only had a couple of small speaking parts but hey, I'm sure that's a major step up for her. Everyone seemed to dominate the show to different degrees, but let's break it down, shall we?

Coronavirus Press Conference - Well, what this cold pen says to me (besides just "Baldwin and Sudekis weren't available this week) is that the cast and writers must've had so much fun writing original sketches with Mulaney that writing this weeks obligatory political cold open felt like even more of a slog than usual so they really had to rush this one. I do like how they went slightly outside of the box with this one by just assembling almost all the cameos regular viewers might be expecting for a Democratic Debate sketch at this point but placing them in a sketch parodying last night's White House Press Conference instead. They sprung those cameos on us at the exact moment when we would expect them the least. Speaking of the things I least expected, I'm not sure Mulaney as Biden worked for me but thankfully he had some decent lines and his part in the sketch was fairly small. Plus, I could tell adding anyone as Biden was a VERY last minute addition since they heavily referenced his victory in the South Carolina primary from hours ago that same night. As much as I tire of seeing Fred Armisen on SNL, I know I have to get used to it seeing as the looming inane face of Mike Bloomberg is still watching over this election. Plus, with Mulaney hosting it feels somewhat appropriate since he seemed to really like writing for both him and Hader during his time on the show. Of course, it's always nice to see Rachel Dratch and Larry David again even if they don't have much that stays with you after their sketch is over. Honestly, the true highlight of this sketch was Kenan as Ben Carson. Sure, his impression wasn't as strong as that of Jay Pharaoh or Sterling K. Brown but Kenan injected some of the fun and loose yet restrained just the right amount type of silliness that he has mastered by this point in his SNL tenure. While I still don't quite know what to make of this sketch, I will say it worked in spite of itself because everyone seemed to have better dialogue than we usually get in these modern day political cold opens. Plus, it was a lot more entertaining and watchable than what we usually get when they try to cram in all of the big tentpole political headlines of the past two weeks that they took off into a single cold open. C+

Monologue - It's good to see Mulaney is still in the prime of his standup career. I liked this much better than I liked the bull of his standup monologue from last season. I especially liked the comparisons he made between himself and Louis Farrakhan, the Founding Father's and the '92 Chicago Bulls as well as all the constitution material. I also liked how he really broke down the general concept of "dad jokes" just enough to make them seem fresh and how he managed to make a story about him fulfilling a sick child's Make-A-Wish request funny in a self deprecating type of way. Also, I like that he just admitted he was promoting nothing but I was a bit surprised. I guess his "Sack Lunch Bunch" special on Netflix didn't come out recently enough for him to still be promoting but I guess he can't just be "promoting" his own standup whether he's on tour or just releasing a new album or Netflix special for some reason. B+

The Sound Of Music - This had to have been at least cowritten by Mulaney as it's so much in his voice that it immediately reminded me of the bit from his second album/special where he just lays out how conceptually fucked up "Back To The Future" had to have been even as a pitch to a studio. Well, at least I hope it was since that would be the best thing this had going for it. Between doing at least their fourth or fifth "Sound Of Music" parody this century and at least their third or fourth sketch with this cast pointing out how baby boomer era pop culture just flaunts inappropriate age differences and power dynamics in romantic relationships compared to how we tiptoe around such things today, they really hit us with the one-two punch of "tired SNL sketch premises in the 21st century". I don't know if it actually was too long or if all of those things I just mentioned made it feel much longer than it actually was but it just didn't feel necessary. D+

When Your Uncle Finds Out You've Been Memeing Him - Seeing Chloe being prominently featured in the commercial bumper showing this sketches' setup made me think this could've been her big sketch if not Heidi's third attempt at getting that sexy movie quotes game night sketch of hers on the air. What this ended up being was Mulaney's obligatory collaboration with Pete but it ended up being much funnier than I expected (that's probably because I just found out before posting this that Dan Licata and Stephen Castillo wrote this instead of John and Pete). Meme humor on SNL is another thing that is starting to feel played out but thankfully it was another thing that only someone like John Mulaney (with the occasional assist from Chris Redd) has the comedic ability to feel fresh and funny in 2020. Mulaney pretty much carried this whole sketch on his back but everyone else played straight men off of him well. B+

Kyle Gets Swole - It sure feels nice to see another one of these soft focus "The Problem With Kyle" type shorts (especially since they can still pull these off after Leslie left thus making this one the first of these types of shorts they have done all year). I do like how drastically against type Kyle played himself here and how they added a lot of different elements to make this different from the one from last season's premiere where Kyle just tried to gain everyone's respect just by emulating Pete. I also liked the two covers of SNL magazine as well as how they underplayed such an outlandish premise by having it reach such an anticlimactic conclusion. The only negative thing I can really say about this is how needlessly and gratuitously tacked on the Justin Theroux cameo felt (or was that Alex Moffat or Taylor Swuft in heavy makeup?) B+

Say, Those Two Don't Seem To Loke Each Other - Okay, this pretty much killed all the momentum the show had been building up to this point. I liked Kate and Aidy presenting each other with various deadly weapons. Thankfully, they weren't the focus of the rest of this. Sadly, it's not saying much that Mulaney ended up being the main focus or that they barely changed the premise of this from the J.Lo installment. This one was honestly worse and seeing Becks' character (and not even he could save this one either) suddenly turn gay at the mere sight of Mulaney's character is a bit of a stretch (maybe not as big as seeing bullets from a tommy gun do absolutely no other collateral damage to Mulaney's character besides blasting off his sleeves and pant legs but still). Oh, well. I'm sure this still had a lot more value to that small but vocal hardcore segment of Mulaney's fanbase who, like he said in his monologue, views him as their Farrakhan. D+

Update was really only worth watching for the drastic format breaking. Che's Coronavirus breakdown and Josts' Eric Trump joke were the only things from them I was really feeling (and yeah, I am getting the subtle hint here that this is at least their last full length season on the show if not their last episode). Redds' black history month commentary was the highlight of Update for me. I like that they finally let Chris Redd just do some of his own standup on Update. I am just wondering why this didn't happen two seasons ago when Redd was still a mere featured player. That's honestly the only bad thing I can say about Redds' piece. B+

Phantom of LaGuardia - Okay, I can immediately tell what this was based on seeing the commercial setup. I'm still left wondering if this was another one of Mulaney's lost dress cuts or if it was something he wanted to write AFTER Diner Lobster (and to a lesser extent Bodega Bathroom) became viral hits. Still, this was enjoyable despite feeling a little overstuffed with possibly one or two Broadway showtime parodies too many (and maybe those "Sack Lunch Bunch" fan service cameos from Byrne and Gyllenhaal could've been cut) but I guess I could understand Mulaney wanting each of these to feel bigger and more spectacular than the one that preceded it (and besides, at least this ensured Alex and Bowen each got a few seconds of airtime this week so they wouldn't be totally shut out like poor Melissa putting on a brave face during the goodnights). Also, I don't think they really NEEDED to explain the Sully Goose Phantom joke but I'm sure there would be some viewers out there who would've missed it otherwise. B-

Forgotten Figures Of Black History - This was something I wanted to like for how creative if a premise it seemed but it ended up being so muddled and unfocused in execution (in a way that screams "only Che could've written this") that I could barely get a handle on it. I think the main problem is that Kenans' character was given much more detailed and intricate backstory than was necessary. The payoff was okay, but the buildup didn't quite seem worth it. C+

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

1. Eddie Murphy/Lizzo
2. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
3. Chance The Rapper
4. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
5. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
6. Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan
7. Adam Driver/Halsey
8. John Mulaney/David Byrne
9. RuPaul/Justin Bieber
10. J.J. Watt/Luke Combs
11. Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby
12. Will Ferrell/King Princess
13. Harry Styles
14. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Now, just for fun, I think I'll rank all of Mulaney's episodes from best to worst...

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett (3.2.2019)
2. John Mulaney/Jack White (4.14.2018)
3. John Mulaney/David Byrne (2.29.2020)

Well, that pretty much met my kost realistic expectations for a Mulaney hosted episode in a heavy election primary season. Next week, Daniel Craig makes his hosting return after an eight year absence from SNL. I think it'll be a little hard for a lot if people (myself included) to get genuinely excited for that one. That's certainly not just because it's the week after Mulaney hosted. It's mostly because his 2012 episode was looked upon as being pretty weak at that time. In fact, it was one of the few minor weak spots in the middle of the otherwise solid season 38. I may have to go back and reread my old review of that one or see some clips from it to see if that general consensus still holds up but I feel like it still should given how little I remember of his first episode. Oh, well. See you then!

RuPaul/Justin Bieber (2.8.2020)

Okay, here's my review. This may actually have been the second best new SNL episode to air in 2020 so far. It felt like a real step up from last week mostly because Rupaul's infectious energy kept the show going. He seemed happy to be there, certainly. While he didn't deliver as much outright "campiness" as I was expecting, he still seemed well within his comfort zone. The show managed to maintain just the right balance between appealing to Rupaul's fans while being inclusive toward SNLs' regular audience so it wasn't an issue how much RuPaul just played slight variations of himself the whole night. Cecily wasn't in as much as we thought she'd be but nonetheless the women dominated the show as expected (especially the newer women which is exciting) and for some odd reason Pete got the most airtime he'd gotten all season tonight. Everyone else was practically invisible (especially Alex and Melissa who were in next to nothing tonight). Anyway, let's break this down, shall we?

ABC Democratic Debate - Well, between this, the Trump acquittal news and the Iowa Caucus snafu I guess they went with the easiest and safest option for a cold open this week. Good to see they seem to have matched my prediction of Mikey as Stephanopoulos, Ego (in a surprisingly prominent role) as Lyndsey Davis and Alex (in his only appearance of the night sadly) as David Muir (I was guessing either him or Beck). I'm at least glad that they've gotten to the point where they could manage to do a 2020 dem debate sketch with cast members (current and former with only one outside cameo) portraying ONLY the candidates who were in the actual race and hadn't yet dropped out. Since they decided NOT to use any excuse they could to sneak in Maya's Kamala, Cecilys' Tulsi and Freds' Bloomberg (in studio rather than in prerecorded form) this one felt the least bloated and overly long of all this season's debate sketches. Still, it was actually as long as those previous ones. They just tried to trick me into thinking it was going to be shorter than it ended up being because the "closing statements" that Mikey announced were longer than they really needed to be. Oh well, at least they were able to prove my theory that the debate sketches would feel more focused with less "candidates" on stage. The applause breaks and the "y'all ready for this?" entrances were the things that hurt this sketchs' timing the most. It's great to be reminded how Jason's "fun" first Obama term '08-'13 era Biden can still work if they just give him the same writing as they gave Woody's 2019 wea Biden in his absence. Larry was a distant second but I liked how he and Kate's Warren chose to finally address the "Bernie Bro" issue (although the 4Chan reference seemed a little out of line). It's also nice to see they're giving Bowen more lines in these even though they're having him hit the exact same beats each time still. Rachel Dratch is still getting more lines and I do like how the show still seems to have a very specific take on Amy Klobuchar. Pete would've probably been my last choice to play Tom Steyer (I would've gone with Kyle myself) but I guess it makes sense given that the real Tom Steyer contributes about as much to the team debates as Pete has left to contribute to SNL at this point. C+

Monologue - Well, that was a lot more sincere and personal and less flamboyant than I was expecting. I was glad to see RuPaul just decided to take this time to endear himself to the segment of the SNL audience that may not watch "Drag Race" religiously and give us some insight on what makes him tick. Part of me wishes it could be a little longer, but I appreciate that they wanted to at least keep up the illusion of a tightly paced show after yet another 10+ minute debate sketch. B+

Charades - At first, I thought we were getting another attempt at that "quotes" game show sketch from Heidi that kept getting cut from make hosts' dress rehearsals. Then, I realized how odd of a fit RuPaul would be for that and that whatever this was RuPaul and the show's black cast were going to be the main focus here instead of Heidi. I did like how they established a different gag for each character in the Ru/Ego/Redd/Kenan family rather than just relying on one way to misunderstand how charades work. I also liked how the humor in this sketch was mostly nonverbal and relied on sort of a black cultural shorthand that was carried by several of the strongest black cast members SNL has had in recent memory. Honestly, it was the funniest live sketch of the night for me. A-

RuPaul's Drag Chad - As tired of a character as Chad is by this point, (hell, as tired as Pete's general presence on the show feels at this point) this may be my favorite "Chad" installment of all time just for how drastically different it was. Granted, RuPaul did most of the heavy lifting on this one but Ru really did a lot to stop this from hitting all the same beats as all the previous Chad's. Hell, even Pete himself just being in full on drag rendered him damn near unrecognizable. I'll admit I laughed a little more than I should've at the "gist/jizz" line. B-

Birthday Dinner - Well, I'm shocked that this was Cecily's first appearance in the entire RuPaul show (doing what I thought was just a dry and sober Judge Pirro but it turned out she's apparently just doing a specific "Designing Women" scene) but this was something I enjoyed much more than I thought I would once I realized the entire premise of this sketch was just "Cecily and RuPaul just backhandely stand up for and humiliate Heidi in the most elaborate and dramatic way possible for three straight minutes". I'm guessing Cecily may have cowritten this with her favorite non Anderson & Sublette writing partners as this felt too specifically focused on one pop culture moment for James and Kent to have been directly involved. B-

Boop-It - Beck pretty much sprinted away with this for me. Parodies of "Bop-It" and dads becoming pathetically obsessed with their kids hobbies or beating their kids at their favorite hames have definitely been done to death so much that they can't not feel dated but somehow Beck and Heidi made even this feel fresh. It was pretty much the perfect length for what it was, too. B+

Reading For Kids - I guess with RuPaul as host we should've expected some kind of parody of the recent trend of "drag queen storytimes" at kids' libraries. I guess this was the first thing written by and specifically aimed at hardcore "Drag Race" fans because I didn't start to find it funny or amusing until they stopped mid sketch to let Ru basically explain the concept of "reading" just being code for "throwing shade". It picked up some steam from there despite a minor line flub seemingly causing everyone to lose their timing. C+

Update started off with some of what seemed like the least cringeworthy Trump acquittal and SOTU material they could muster. If any Update proved definitively that Update is the only optimal spot in the show for Trump related material (or really any type of political material really) this was it. I hadn't actually seen any of the Trump speech Che showed the clip of so I was actually just a bit stunned that it was real (I know I probably shouldn't be since it's not 2015 anymore and he's actually facing reelection now but still). Besides that, Josts' Guiliani/yarn made from human skin jokes and Che's jokes about the black history doll display, nothing else stood out to me. Honestly, the high point of this Update was Chloe's commentary. She started it off in a very standup like fashion to the point where I wondered if Chloe actually did do standup before SNL or of she just did improv and Instagram impressions. I'm surprised it took as long as it did for her to get into specific impressions (I'm even more surprised that Chloe got to do this on Update before Melissa did since they both seemed to have been hired for this specific purpose) but when she did get to her celebrity impressions she really did deliver. I'm proud of her and proud of the show just for giving us Ego and Chloe's breakout Update features back to back. Chloe and the audience are pretty lucky too that they let her establish herself firmly by just cutting right to the chase with her and skipping way ahead to her doing her impressions as herself straight to camera as if to say "I'm Chloe and these are my impressions." We haven't seen Cathy Anne in what seems like an entire year but given that it's Cecily's birthday and Cathy Anne is one of her favorite characters in what is possibly her final season, it seems like the optimal time to bring her back. The only thing I can say about it is this was the least focused Cathy Anne commentary ever. B+

Thirstier Cops - After Leslie's departure and the actual Baltimore Police Department very loudly and publicly tsk-tsk-ing Ego, this was the last sketch I expected the show to bring back. Still, I appreciate seeing Ego get to reprise her first real character on the show after Chloe's breakout moment (and seeing her get to rebel against authority in some way). I also appreciate how this had something creative to differentiate it from the first installment with Rupaul's queer element added in. Kate's Pittsburgh Dad accent made this for me. C+

The Old New York Show w/Madge & Dickie - Well, this was better than I expected. I realize some people are getting sick of these Kate and Aidy two handers, but there were a few differences between this one and those ones that set this one apart. For instance, this was a talk show instead of an overlong local commercial and they kept the self indulgent breaking to a minimum. Also, despite clearly playing a couple of old spinster Kate and Aidy clearly expressed a fondness for 1994 Guiliani era New York. I liked that odd little detail. Plus, this one had RuPaul playing the character who clearly had all the best lines that I feel can best described as "black Charles Nelson Reilly" and the prank call and oddly specific sound effects made this for me. Incidentally, I happened to be watching this sketch with my dad whole told me it reminded me of "the two Jewish" chicks" and I genuinely couldn't tell if he was referring to "Coffee Talk" or "Bronx Beat". B+

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

1. Eddie Murphy/Lizzo
2. David Harbour/Camilla Cabello
3. Chance The Rapper
4. Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift
5. Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish
6. Scarlett Johansson/Niall Horan
7. Adam Driver/Halsey
8. RuPaul/Justin Bieber
9. J.J. Watt/Luke Combs
10. Jennifer Lopez/DaBaby
11. Will Ferrell/King Princess
12. Harry Styles
13. Kristen Stewart/Coldplay

Well, that delivered more surprises than I was expecting. Next week, John Mulaney returns for his third time hosting. I guess he's deservedly becoming the show's new "go to" winter/spring male standup host now? Anyway, I usually like Mulaney's presence affects the writers' room when he hosts. I just hope he can throw something a little different in there to keep it fresh and differentiate it from his previous two hosting stints. At least we may be able to count on getting a sketch featuring Chloe in a lead role given how much Mulaney likes to champion criminally underused featured players like Ego and Luke Null. See you then!