Casey Affleck/Chance The Rapper (12.17.2016)

Okay, here's my review. This show well exceeded my expectations and I got more out of it than I was expecting to. Casey Affleck was an enjoyable host despite only being known for dramatic roles and projects. He gelled well with the cast and the writers actually seemed to know how and when he could've been best used best. Sure, the writing was a little uneven and a lot of recurring premises got dug out of mothballs when they shouldn't have been, but hey...there have been worse Christmas shows in recent memory. Aside from Pete (who I hope is doing well if he isn't in rehab), Melissa (who is most likely not going to make it to the end of the season at this point), plus Leslie, Cecily and Mikey (which is very unusual for both of them at this point) the cast was pretty evenly balanced for airtime. Let's break it down shall we?

Another Trump Christmas - This was probably their strongest post election Trump piece. Kate and Alec were fine but really didn't give us anything new and weren't really the focus of the sketch. Beck put his Putin impression to his best use yet here. It was nice to see SNL finally start to get a firm grasp on tbe Russian hacking/interference scandal. Goodman as Rex Tillerson was a bit of out-of-the-box stunt casting and he was great here as well. It's alsk encouraging to see SNL start to go after Trumps' cabinet more and more each week rather than focusing all their energy on making Trump and KellyAnne look even more clownish (as if they needed SNL's help in that regard). Still, seeing Goodman make a cameo I couldn't help but wonder why HE wasn't hosting instead of Casey Affleck. Yeah, his last hosting stint wasn't all the great, but come on! He certainly deserves another chance! B-

Monologue - This didn't instill a ton of confidence in me for Casey Affleck as a host at firstt. He handled it well enough, but he seemed a little out of his element and the material meandered quite a bit. The true highlights were the Baldwin/Goodman walk ons and his stomping on the musical numbers. Kenan as Black Santa felt too tacked on for my liking. Also, I couldn't help but wonder why Casey had a full beard when every other (male) host in recent memory has had to be clean shaven. Did he actually need this for another live action film he is shooting currently and work it out with Lorne? Something tells me he may not be used much in this episode and this is going to be another episode that is densely packed with cameos. C+

Dunkin Donuts - This ad was funnier than it had any right to be mostly due to the efforts of Casey and this season's male featured players. Sure, it must've been the obligatory attempt at Boston humor considering the host is named "Affleck", but it worked nonetheless. B+

Robotic Worker Presentation - Was there a point to Armisen being a part of this sketch? I guess he's got a new penultimate season of Portlandia coming out next month to promote. Plus, Seth Meyers still has a show and still employs him and I guess SNL was lucky enough to catch him when he wasn't taking time off from it. I guess his presence here was appropriate enough since this whole sketch felt like a throwback to his Era of prominence as a cast member as it was blatant gay humor run into the cold, cold ground withour taking a second to think of what more they could trim fron this. If they were trying to make a statement on political correctness, they failed. I have to give credit to Casey, Kenan and Aidy here as they really played off of their surroundings well. Beck looked like he just walked off the set of a 1994 Duracell commercial and Kyles' wig looked like it was applied in too big of a hurry. C-

Jingle Barack - While this was clever, something felt strange about its execution. I realize it's a riff on Run DMCs' "Christmas in Hollis, Queens" but was it really that necessary to give a very 1986 aesthetic to something so obviously set in 2016? Anyway, a lot of individual jokes worked in spite of this. Plus, this was a decent use of Chance The Rapper outside of the musical guest slot but he didn't really seem like he was giving it his all. Adding Leslie as a Salt-N-Pepa-alike MC was an inspired touch. C+

Christmas Miracle - I don't see why they needed to recur this a third time in only two seasons but at least this, much like a lot of Kates' recurring sketches has a great streak of absurdist writing to it and is performed as reliably well as always. Plus, it's not totally a bad thing that the law of diminishing returns really helps reduce the corpsing. I'm tempted to say this sketch is becoming the next Debbie Downer but this sketch warrants return installments much more than Debbie Downer ever did. By this point in the show, it became pretty obvious that Casey's beard wasn't a big if an issue as Lorne may make it out to be with other hosts either because they wrote his parts around it or it was just incidental to every sketch he was in.  C+

Update is improving ever so slightly. They still have plenty of good material. Jost is still on a bit of a hot streak and Che is making the best of what he is given. The lone commentary really killed this one. We didn't need to see Fred and Vanesas' "friends from growing up" bit anymore but they were both in the building during a week when Russia was in the news again so we should've seen this coming. I thought that they might have been planning to take this in a different direction when they mentioned Putin being a fan of Che but I spoke too soon. C+

New York Now - This Long Island nativity scene was possibly the weakest live segment of the night. It had Anderlette written all over it and it felt very derivative. It felt like a pinch of Coffee Talk, a teaspoon of Bronx Beat and a dash of Affleck chanelling Kroll and Mulaney in "Oh Hello" baked into a thin bare Nativity sketch premise crust with other attempts at lame regional NY type humor. Chance The Rapper didn't quite fit into this sketch at first but then having him drop a Hammer reference seemed oddly appropriate. . Plus, it felt like this was Cecily's first appearance of the night (which is strange at this point in the show) and if Mikey's part was what this was building up to, it was too weak of a payoff.  D+

Hillary, Actually - This really pulled it's weight. The electoral college angle was topical enough to justify writing it (speaking of which, I'd be shocked if this wasn't a Kelly/Schnieder joint) and enough bizarro-Zuckeresque sight gags with the fold out cards and giant check to justify filming it rather than doing it live (they did this exact same thing in a live sketch with Pete and Amy Adams that got cut from dress two years ago). This was surprisingly enjoyable with what they added to it. B-

Christmas Bar - This sketch was a little repetitive and predictable and shticky for my liking but it was more watchable than it really had any right to be. I liked how they kept upping the stakes and adding to this. Normally, you could only see this type of "wild building on a trope" sketch on the recently departed Comedy Bang! Bang! IFC series but it worked surprisingly well in this setting. Casey performed his part well even if it wasn't too much of a stretch from the Boston role he played earlier. C-

Mrs. Claus And The Elves - I'm sure this is a bad sign, but I saw where this sketch was going the very second it started. I was hoping that it would be a little different since "Mrs. Claus" was the focus but I ended up hating myself for being right. This was definitely the most unwelcome recurring segment of the night and Casey Affleck was the host who added the least to it. It dragged on, but at least the ending was swift and abrupt.  D-

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

1. Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest

2. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga

3. Lin Manuel Miranda/Twenty One Pilots

4. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd

5. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars

6. John Cena/Maren Morris

7. Casey Affleck/Chance The Rapper

8. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes

9. Kristen Wiig/The xx

10. Benedict Cumberbatch/Solange

Well, that was as good a note to end 2016 on as any. Next month, SNL rings in the new year with Felicity Jones as their first new host. I can't say I've seen her in anything big just yet, I've heard good things about her acting and can say with some confidence that I am looking forward to this episode. See you then!

John Cena/Maren Morris (12. 10.16)

Okay, here's my review. In spite of itself, this show is definitely the strongest out of all the episodes that have aired since Chappelle hosted last month. John Cena performed exactly as well as I had expected as a host. He showed a lot of commitment and strong comedic energy. He was obviously psyched just to be there and gelled well with the cast but at the same time, he didn't always make his presence known. Obviously, this was through no fault of his own. It seems the writers only used him in the two ways they knew how; in either hunky guy roles or big dumb athlete roles. Unfortunately, not every sketch calls for that role and Cena felt out of place in those types of sketches when he was placed in them to fill a straight man role that any other male cast member or host could've easily handled. Cena was just shoved into the background in sketches that didn't call for him getting to play himself. Of course, this was on top of the fluctuations in this episode's writing quality. Cena was one of the seasons better hosts when he was visible He met my expectations more than the writers did. Aside from Pete, Sasheeer Alex and Melissa the cast was pretty evenly balanced tonight. Anyway, let's break this down.

The Lead w/Jake Tapper - This was very well executed despite being a slight variation on the commonly observed theme among Trumps' cabinet picks. Becks' Jake Tapper was serviceable here but Kate may have to find a new angle on KellyAnne Conway. The Bryan Cranston cameo was great and they wrote great lines for him. I especially liked the retconned Mr. Whites' death on the series into a faked suicide just for this sketch and worked in the LFNY rather than just tacking it on like they have been doing. B-

Monologue - This was a lot of fun despite being a little predictable. Bobby, Kenan and Leslie were great at cutting promos. Cena gelled really well with them and set a great tone for the rest of the show. B-

Hook A Hunk - This MTV dating game sketch was a little uneven, but overall I liked how they handled it. They could've played down Cena and Cecily's parts, but they knew exactly when to embellish Mikey, Beck and Kyles' parts and end the sketch there. C+

The Karate Nerd - This parody was another uneven piece that worked despite it's flaws. Cena played his role so big that it became obnoxious by the end. Kenan played his role well, but they could've trimmed down the penny training flashback. I kept waiting through the buildup of what I expected to be a bloody, Farewell, Mr Bunting/Wake Up And Smile type payoff but seeing Mikey get knocked out of his pants Charlie Brown style through five walls was just cute and cartoonish enough to work. C+

U. of Alabama Science Class - This sketch was funny despite feeling like it tread on a slightly overdone trope for SNL. Cena had the best lines with his dopey banana speech and his delivery really sold them. Beck, Aidy and Kenan played theit roles well. Mikey, Bobby and Vanessa were competent straight foils but mostly felt like furniture here. B-

Dyke and Fats Save Christmas - This seemed like the ultimate "worked-best-as-a-one-off" sketch. Aside from the Christmas theme and the "broads" line near the end, they may not have changed enough to justify a retread. C-

Update was pretty weak tonight. I was a little disappointed with the way they handled this weeks' Trump/CIA/Russia news. I don't know if it's because I've seen too many other takes on this story or if it's because it's one of those stories that has implications so scary that they're beyond satire. The only jokes from Jost and Che that landed were the short form and Black Santa material. It was nice to see Kates' Angela Merkel again even though it felt like too much more of the same. Shockingly, the strongest part of Update was Cecilys' return as Cathy-Anne as this character dovetailed nicely with her topic. This is why I think the writing really justified this as she had some strong "alt-right" slams and the only jab at Trumps' SNL tweets. Possibly the weakest Update of the season so far. D+

Where'd Your Money Go? - This was genuinely the funniest piece of the night to me. It was definitely the thing I genuinely laughed the most at, but it could've been shorter. It also had the strongest writing (at least dialogue and viewpoint wise) and they really played to the cast strengths impression-wise. It was nice to see Kenans' Charles Barkley make a return although something seems different about that impression. It seems like he has reverted it back to whem he first debuted this impression in the 07-08 Bon Jovi episode opposite Kristen Wiig as Bjork mixed with a little of his Steve Harvey for goid measure (since it is a game show sketch after all). Cena was cast well as Gronk. Physically, he was perfect for the role but I can't really judge the accuracy of the impression beyond that. Bobby was perfect as Jon Daly and Alex was serviceable as Connor McGregor. Kudos to him for getting a third notable impression on the show (which is sadly more than the show can say for Melissa Villasenor who SPECIALIZES in impressions). Sadly, at this point it might just spell the end for both of them after this season. If I had to guess who may have written this, I'd have to guess that it was Micheal Che for a couple of reasons. First of all, this does seem like the closest thing to his style out of everything live that aired tonight. Secondly, I have to think Che must've been pretty excited to write something for John Cena this week. Before he deactivated his Twitter for a second time, he was pretty good at responding to people. When I asked him who HE may want to see as SNL host, he responded "I think John Cena would be dope." Since Che got his wish, I'm guessing if they collaborated on something that aired, this has to be it (if Jost or someone else didn't write this).

B+

Through Trumps' Eyes - This was a clever filmed piece. They actually improved upon common complaints on Trumps behavior. It was strongly reminiscent of the "Reagan Directs" sketches from the Ebersol years. My only real complaint was that the ending seemed a little rushed. This had to be another Julio Torres piece because it was a short film that resembled Melania Moments from earlier this season (which we now know he wrote) and it's just surreal enough to be his. They did make decent use of Cena dressed up as Trump in this, so kudos to whoever predicted that. B-

Joanne and the Christmas Tree - This sketch felt like it ran out of steam at too pivotal of a moment. It started out seeming like it was going to be fairly ambitious in terms of writing and staging for what it was but it felt pretty one note in the middle and Cena felt almost wasted here. Thankfully, they were able to bring it to it's logical conclusion even if this also felt a little rushed. C-

Erotic Bookstore - This sketch seemed to go on without any real point. Sure, it was Cena's part was written to his physical strengths, but aside from Kenans' clumsy exposition it just seemed to go nowhere. Beck and Vanessa were a welcime addition but Melissa was wasted in a small straight tole that didn't require her to draw on her repetiore of impressions. Maybe it was another one of those more female oriented sketches that will receive a lot of female praise online but to me it was the weakest segment of the night. D-

United States Of Talent - This sketch was just a mess (both literally and figuratively). The bulk of it felt like an overly long and elaborate buildup to a very season 20-ish punchline. The only thing this had going for it was Kenans lines at the end criticizing the owl. C-

Now, for my updated rankings of this season…

1. Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest

2. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga

3. Lin Manuel Miranda/Twenty One Pilots

4. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd

5. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars

6. John Cena/Maren Morris

7. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes

8. Kristen Wiig/The xx

9. Benedict Cumberbatch/Solange

Well, that was that. Next week, Casey Affleck makes his hitting debut. Given the choice between the two Affleck brothers, Casey would not be my first choice to host the Christmas 2016 episode of SNL. In fact, given the choice for musical guest, this may be the most inappropriate lineup for a Christmas show since Jeff Bridges/Eminem, Lil Wayne episode from 2010. Still, I go into it with an open mind since knowing he could surprise us and turn out to be adept at sketch comedy despite seeming to have more of an affinity for dramatic acting and directing. See you soon!

Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes (12.3.2016)

Okay, here’s my review. This episode was completely indistinguishable from either of Emma Stones’ previous two shows in terms of quality. Sure, she still gives it her all and she’s still a talented sketch performer in her own right, but something still seems missing. I don’t know if it’s just the lack of energy, but it’s almost as if they still don’t know how to use Emma to her full potential. Granted, she may be working with a different cast and a different writing staff this time (each with their own different sensibilities) but I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same. Still, it was considerably better than the previous live show since it relied less on unwelcome recurring material. The cast seemed balanced tonight, but things may not be looking so great for Melissa Villasenor as it’s two weeks until the Christmas show and we have yet to see anything of genuine substance from her. Anyway, let’s just get right into it…

Trump Tweets – This cold open felt a sort of unfocused, derivative and just slightly toothless. Maybe it's because I'm not completely up on the Trump/16yrold/Twitter story or maybe it's because jokes about Trumps' miniscule attention span feel a little down the beaten path (or maybe it's because it was a little too close to their last cold open) but this one wasn't without it's redeeming moments. Kate and Bobbys' parts were the funniest. Alec had great “build the swamp/drain the wall” lines. Kenan and Alex had good inauguration lines and I liked the Grim Bannon the most. C+

Monologue - This have been her best out of the three she's done so far. It was subtle, revealing and poignant. It didn't blatantly retread any other monologue and it took us backstage for a bit and made us wonder a bit more about whether Leslie's relationship with Kyle us as real as her “relationship” with  Jost. Vanessa, Aidy and Bobby had the best lines and Becks' barely missed hug was funny. B-

Woodbridge High School Theater Showcase V - The high school theater showcase may have felt like lather/rinse/repeat by this point but Emma Stone really added something to this. Plus, Kenan and Vanessa had their best comebacks yet. C+

Christmas Candle – This short was pretty unremarkable. It just felt like they put "Wishin' Boot" and "Neurotology" in a blender with a tiny pinch of Sump'n Claus and Egg Nog for good measure and poured it through a strainer to remove "Wishin' Boot"s' air of mystique. D+

Posters - This was a big waste. It felt too much like a jokeless '09-'12 Era sketch for my liking. Everyone pulled their weight but Emmas' Character was too obnoxious and shouldn't have been the focus of the sketch. She played a role that would be WAY better suited for Wiig, Abby, Vanessa or Nassim. In fact, it was like every single one of all of their performances smashed together. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this got cut from the previous shows’ dress rehearsal. The payoff was all right but just wasn't worth the buildup. D-

The Hunt For Hill – This was a little underwhelming. Essentially, it was a joke that social media had beaten to death by the time SNL had come back from Thanksgiving break but fleshing it out and executing it as a sketch didn't do them a tone of favors. They kinda stretched themselves too thin with this one and showed that it wasn't totally worth the effort of the execution. C-

Update felt a little lopsided tonight. Either Che was having a real off night or Jost just happened to get all the best material. Leslie's commentary was pretty middle of the road for her but the mascot riffs and mirror instructions were worth a few laughs. The Rachel commentary served its purpose of drum rolling the Aniston cameo. While it went down like almost every other impersonator-meets-subject cameo in SNL history, it was one of the least wasted cameos in recent memory. B-

Cleaning Crew - This was better than it had any right to be. I did appreciate the strangely oversexualized nature of the Santa songs and the scattershot nature of the reactions. Also, it seemed strange that this sketch was Cecily's first live appearance so late in the show. If this was obligatory Anderlette sketch of the night, I have to give them props because it was less loathsome than everything else they've ever written. C+

Paley Center Screening - I could certainly tell where this was headed right away. While I'm still not all that into this new Kate character I have to say I liked this installment much better than the original from the season premiere as she had much better material. It's good to see the same level of acerbic writing is here. Also, while Kate was the main focus of this sketch it was a wasted opportunity as far as Leslie self-cameos are concerned. B-

Fischer-Price Wells For Boys - The well sketch was quite enjoyable despite not being "ha-ha" funny. I'm willing to bet that Julio Torres wrote this. It smacks of his style even though it's more coherent and straight forward than the rest of his work. B-

Nativity Scene – While this wasn’t the most inventive premise in the world or anything, Kyle played his part very well as did Emma. Also, Emma played her part EXACTLY like Cecily would have. It's almost like this sketch was originally written for her but was cut from previous seasons' dress rehearsals. It makes me wonder if this was just resubmitted for Emma or why couldn't Cecily have just done it instead. C+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season…

1. Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest

2. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga

3. Lin Manuel Miranda/Twenty One Pilots

4. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd

5. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars

6. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes

7. Kristen Wiig/The xx

8. Benedict Cumberbatch/Solange

Well, that met my minimum expectations. Next week, John Cena makes his hosting debut. I know Cena has had the necessary acting and comedy experience (in both film and TV) to make a great host (much like The Rock who also successfully graduated from wrestling to do what Cena has been doing). Plus, I have no doubt he will bring a fresh, much needed energy to the show. Given this months’ SNL lineup, I’m predicting this will be the strongest show of the two remaining this calendar year. See you then!