Paul Rudd/DJ Khaled (5.18.2019)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emma Thompson/Jonas Brothers (5.11.2019)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Adam Sandler/Shawn Mendes (5.4.2019)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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