REReview Plus: Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga (10.22.2016)

 The following blog entry is a companion piece to last weeks’ episode of the Saturday Night Networks’ 50 Greatest Episode Countdown series. Give it a watch OR a listen, won't you?

These are excerpts from the original review of this SNL episode I posted back in the fall of 2016 with new comments from 2025.The original review is posted in italics. New comments are presented in standard format text

Third Presidential Debate  

This has to be my second favorite of the 2016 campaign. I like how it was much more focused than the previous week (since it was meant to parody a debate that occurred four days ago rather than nearly a week). Tom Hanks as Chris Wallace was very much a welcome addition. Kates' highlights were the "birth control/nasty women" riffs and describing Hillarys' last 30 years. Baldwins' highlights were the spinning out of control/rigged riffs and Stephen Baldwin jabs. B+

Geez, I feel like I was a little generous to this one at the time that it aired. This could probably be chalked up to being in the mindset that most of America was in at the time that, well…HE had no chance at winning this thing, right? Even Baldwin thought this would just be a fun little way to pick up some extra money on the side since a movie he was supposed to be doing at this time got cancelled and there’s no way he’d be stuck doing this for four years.

I do remember the appeal of Baldwins’ impression during this time being that he captured Trump's sheer manic adderall fueled essence from his first campaign more than Darrell Hammonds’ low energy “stuck in the Apprentice era” Trump (which was actually funnier in hindsight because there was less at stake and less weight that Darrell had to carry with a Donald Trump impression from that time). Other than that, it’s obviously not that accurate of a Trump impression, physically or vocally. Time would prove this just as time would show Baldwin getting more and more burnt out on having to do this impression even if it was once a month at most rather than every week as it was during this season.

…which leads me to my next point. This debate sketch had the feeling of it being hampered by the exact type of toothless, empty, meandering low-effort #Resistance political humor that would sadly come to define SNL (and mainstream political comedy in general) during Trump's first term in office (you know, when pretty much every news channel really DID become Trump TV and we all really did hate it?). Perhaps the most glaring example of this would be the “settle down, entire planet” montage and the “nasty hombres/bingo card” bit from Kate.

Speaking of Kate, she does do a really solid Hillary. She sells the hell out of that “last 30 years” rant and the “nasty woman mug” pitch does sadly hold up as a reflection of the DNCs’ true colors better than you would expect. It is easy to see at the time why Lorne thought she could hold her own next to heavy hitters like Hanks and Baldwin.

Also speaking of, Hanks was a solid straight man here but his presence made this feel a bit like they had to pull back a bit more than normal with this debate sketch because they were trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible with one of the biggest A list movie stars ever. Quite a bit of the jokes in the first half of this really did feel like low hanging fruit. That could also be attributed to this episode and presidential campaign taking place during the era of peak social media where pretty much everyone on Twitter in addition to all the other late night hosts could get in their best jokes about the debates in real time. 

Plus, this being one of the most absurdly ridiculous presidential elections in recent history meant that there was very little left for SNL to explore comedically during these debates. I hinted at this in my actual review of this episode and I think I must’ve labeled this as the best of the three 2016 presidential debate sketches because it didn’t have that “badly beaten to all possible punches by random peoples’ tweets” feeling as the one from the Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars episode (which I think was the one directly before this) nor did it absolutely reek of “too much overconfidence in the moment that Hillary would definitely 100% win” that the first debate from the Margot Robbie/The Weeknd episode did or the cold open from the Lin Manuel-Miranda/Twenty One Pilots episode (aside from the ending where Hanks tells Baldwin that he’s “probably going to lose this election…which wouldn’t happen for another four years…and sadly, when that DID happen we WOULD see exactly what Trump meant when he outright said that he would only accept the results of an election if he wins)

For all its flaws and all its feeling of comfort food viewing for baby boomers who still cling to SNL out of familiarity, who expect this exact kind of thing from the show and would probably turn the TV off and go to bed immediately when this ends if not by Update if they can’t just figure out how to watch or stream Sunday morning, this sketch would probably be the safest choice if the show HAD to pick its best representation of this particular election cycle. (Gee, I sure hope I wasn't spinning out of control too hard with that entire paragraph!)

Monologue 

This has to be Hanks' strongest monologue since at least 1992. It may have been something simple on paper but the writing was what really made it. B-

This still hits about the same as it aired. Too bad it didn't quite pay off with America “making the right decision”. Somehow, this is even more touching and heartwarming than it was nearly a decade ago.

I especially liked how this was written with a “timeless” feel to it that touches on general topics that (for better or worse) concerned Americans both then and now (gun control, immigration, national debt).

I laughed at the “t-shirt cannon/stuffed pizza crust” jokes as well as how quaint it was to hear the last time anyone ever used the words “trill” or “fleek” (or actually “on fleek”, as it were).

Fun fact: This monologue was written by Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher of the sketch group “BriTANick”. They both wrote for SNL for only this season. Wonder what ever happened to them?

Black Jeopardy

This may have been the strongest installment of the series by default. Hanks really fit the "odd white man out" role well and got the audience on his side early. Plus, there was some pretty creative writing behind this and it's good to see Leslie fits the void left by Jay Pharroh well. My only real complaint is that the buildup felt like an eternity and the payoff just wasn't quite there. B-

Yeah, I still stand by my above assessment nine years later. Hanks has still got it and has proven he can always get any audience on his side. You can tell because the crowd was particularly hot for this one giving Hanks specifically two applause breaks. Sasheer, Leslie and Kenan turned in strong performances as well.

I don’t know why I complained about the “buildup” though. I must have decided that the Final Jeopardy category being “Lives That Matter” was the payoff because if the payoff was the very funny Tyler Perry jokes followed by the “handshake”...yeah, that was definitely there. I can say that with confidence after having seen them attempt that “payoff” at the SNL50 Black Jeopardy sketch without ANY of the “buildup” play to near silence from a much older, more distinguished crowd.

I know Bryan Tucker wrote on these but didn’t Michael Che write on these as well? I feel like he had to because I have noticed from Che’s early standup that one of his go to comedy tricks is to create unexpected parallels between two disparate groups of people (mostly black people and white republicans) so he HAD to have contributed something to this.

Halloween Block Party 

This was only worth seeing for the middle-of-the-road musical number. Plus, Melissa showcased a surprisingly decent natural singing voice. C-

I…guess I stand by this too? I could mostly tell this was just more James Anderson/Kent Sublette written nonsense where Cecily and a male host confuse the shit out of a group of people that included Beck and Kate as a couple with an unexpected bad song (except this time it’s a song they’re supposed to know because it’s a reworking of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and also Melissa is here too?)

Speaking of, I really did like Cecily and Melissas’ performances here. Melissa was pretty underrated during her entire run on the show (but that may go without saying)

Broken 

This was something I didn't quite know what to make of mostly because I'm not terribly familiar with every single facet of the genre of show this is deconstructing. Plus, the main premise being CBS throwing every acclaimed streaming trope at the wall in an effort to win some awards with their new show kind of narrows the appeal of this. The biggest thing this had going for it was how well acted this was. C+

I would go as far as to say this holds up even better nine years later now that we are living in an era where a show like “The Bear” can keep getting nominated for awards for “best comedy”.

Plus, unique comedies and dramadies like this keep popping up all over streaming services and premium cable at such a rate that this could easily be an Apple TV + or HBO Max show. It may not work as a satire of TV since more and more new shows are a lot like this, but it still works at some level

David S. Pumpkins 

This had its moments but it mostly seemed like an inferior Halloween themed Kevin Roberts remake. The highlights were Leslie's appearance, the final Bobby/Mikey/Hanks scene and Becks' increasing confusion/frustration. Speaking of Mikey, I will go out on a limb here and guess that he wrote this. C+

Yes, Casey. Mikey Day did indeed co-write this.

Yes, this also became another “classic” sketch that nearly everyone who knows about SNL knows. Still, I wouldn't put it up there with “Cowbell” or “Dick In A Box” since I couldn’t tell at that moment that I was watching a future classic or anything. 

It didn’t feel all that unique or different from what the show was doing at the time since we’ve already seen Mikey Day/Streeter Seidell sketches that follow this exact template (see “Kevin Roberts” or “Space Pants”). 

I think a big reason this became a classic is because Tom Hanks performed the absolute hell out of such a ridiculously absurd, nonsensical character at a time when America really needed something silly, goofy and fun to latch onto and distract ourselves from how the upcoming election made us fear for the state of the country we live in.

Plus, it was something spooky to obsess over just in time for Halloween. This was the perfect distraction for the time! 

I may have been a little unfair to this sketch when I first reviewed it, but it has grown on me a bit the more it gets hyped up online…and nowadays, that it the true measure of a “classic” SNL sketch (along with not doing more than two or three times, tops)

Lady Gaga Performs “A-Yo” and “Million Reasons”

Girls’ got some pipes on her. 

I don’t remember being that into Gaga in this era of her career but she sure can sing.

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

Update was exactly as strong as the rest of the show. It seems as if they're phasing out long-form Update already in favor of the more traditional format in time for the post-election season, but this may have been the most intricately written series of Trump jabs this season. Leslie's commentary may be the single funniest and strongest thing she has done on the show so far. She may have been a little late with it but it was a clever and refreshing take on her summer scandal. Nothing really stood out to me from Cecily's latest “Girl...Party” retread but I will say the timing of it is just about right. B-

Yeah, not much stood out to me from Che and Jost (mostly because we’ve seen them talk about all different eras of Trump for the past ten years and as of this writing we may still be stuck with them).

It was great to see Leslie owning her own hacking/trolling scandal (although I don’t know how well her messaging about her own nudes being leaked holds up today).

This was a good edition of Cecily’s “Girl…at a party”. Great chemistry and interplay between Che and Strong here. Hey, “sheeple”! There’s another quaint little word I haven’t heard in at least a decade (hell, people might have stopped saying “sheeple” way before the time people started saying “trill” and “on fleek”).

Sully 

This was possibly the strongest live piece of the night. Something about it made it feel like a '90s Era sketch. I don't know if it was the Baldwin/Hanks pairing (nice to see Baldwin in his first non-Trump appearance this season, BTW) or the more low-key focused style of writing, but whatever it was made it work. My only real complaint would be that the scene with Kyle and Vanessa felt a little too predictable. A-

Yeah, at the time this aired I felt like I was watching a lost season 21/22 sketch (with all the focus on dialogue in a cockpit) but now I see how this fits into a more recent SNL trope of the host reprising one of their old movie hero roles as a pathetic has been who can’t seem to let go of their glory days (see Val Kilmer in season 26, Daniel Radcliffe in season 37) except the only twist on this is Hanks was stealth promoting his newest movie role as an old real life hero. Honestly, the only line that doesn’t hold up here is Hanks’ “I know Ellen…Degeneres. Sweet gal. Funny.”

A Girls' Halloween 

This was another piece written in a similar low-key vibe but with much more female-centric humor. The thing I liked most about this was the stark contrast created by the interspersed editing of the 8pm/4am scenes. C+

Boy, this really kicked off a trend with SNL pretapes that lasted until at least 2022.

This was a nice showcase of the dynamic between the mid-2010s female cast and Bobby was fun in it.

America’s Funniest Pets  

I didn't mind that they decided to bring this back from Adam Drivers’ January episode as I genuinely liked it then, too. Even though it felt like something that worked best as a one-off sketch, Kate and Cecily managed to bring back everything that made it work the first time and Hanks goofing on his pal Ron Howard also worked as a stark contrast to the ladies professional ennui. B-

This may not be one of the all time classics from this show that EVERYONE remembers but it certainly hit just right for me so I’ll always remember it for cracking me up at pretty much every moment.

Sure, it may be buoyed by silly voices (Hanks’ goofy Ron Howard, Cecily and Kates’ absurdly thick French accents and wacky sound effects played to sudden sex & murder mysteries) but damn if those things didn’t fit this premise like a glove.

Overall Thoughts

As expected, this turned out to be the best show of the season up to this point and Tom Hanks’ mere presence played a big part in that. He really sold everything he was in and it was pretty obvious from watching him that he really kept everyone’s spirits up all week. I say this because there was less palpable burn out visible this week compared to last week. We saw a lot of the female cast get plenty of airtime tonight but Bobby, Mikey and Alex were barely visible. Other than that, it was pretty balanced.

I’d say that this one DOES truly deserve its’ status as an all time classic. Hanks is an all time great host and this was a very consistently strong episode that he elevated a lot of. 

This episode did a lot more than just coast on good vibes. There’s really two big pieces everyone remembers from this episode but everything else from this episode is definitely worth remembering as well.

Closing Thoughts

Well, I have no idea what else I will be doing for this blog until October 5th but right now you can also read my new REreview of the first Dave Chappelle episode from this season as well as my brand new “classic” review of the Christopher Walken episode from season 25. Have a great end of summer, everyone!

Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)

White House Truce

• I had a feeling they might do another Trump cold open involving Mike Myers as Elon Musk again. 

• I hadn't heard about the meeting with the blowup between Musk & Rubio (guess he's finally starting to grow something resembling a spine?) 

• At first thought they might do something on Trumps’ Joint Address to congress but even with Kenan as Al Green and Longfellow silently reprising his role as Speaker Mike Johnston that might not be enough to sustain a whole sketch. Makes sense that they would rather just throw in a couple of callbacks to it instead.

• Still, I figured they might want to reprise Mikes’ Elon impression simply because it got under the real Elons’ skin more than Carveys’ did.

• Somehow, Marcello seems ill suited to play Marco Rubio, but it should at least appease his biggest critics to see him in a quieter straight man role off of Update.

• I did like JAJs line “we tried that in 2016 and it didn't work” line.

• Huh, so we're going from the “Curb” theme playing in Rubios’ head to JAJ/Trumps’ inner monologue. Not a huge fan of that.

• …and HERE'S the Mike Myers cameo this was building to!

• Seems like Mike either fine tuned his facial expressions for this role or the makeup department stepped up their game.

• Still, I don't mind seeing Mike Myers in this role (he certainly has a better take on Elon than his buddy Carvey did anyway). 

• I did like the “buffering” gag as well as Marcello asking Mike “what's this?” when he did his Elon dance again. 

• JAJ as Trump coaching Elon & Rubio on insulting each other was cheap and “been there, done that” but it is “on brand” for both Trump as a character, I'll give them that.

• I probably liked Myers “inner monologue” the most out of the three, forced Dr. Evil reference and all…because Mike's basic handle on this character seems to be “lane Dr. Evil but played AS a senile Austin Powers”. 

• Honestly, I still don't mind the idea of occasional Mike Myers cameos. I like seeing Mike pop up on the show sometimes. I just hope that if he is going to cameo on a regular basis like Carvey did that they at least attempt to fold him into the show in some other non-Elon/non cold open roles. C+

Monologue 

• Well, as I suspected, a more mature Gaga showed us she was more than comfortable poking fun at herself. I still feel like I haven't seen her act enough to really judge her acting abilities, but she must be better at acting and light comedy than she is at picking movie roles (heyooooo!)

• The lines about her performance with R. Kelly felt a little too tacked on. I thought acknowledging his unfortunate musical cameo in her first hosting stint during the “In Memoriam” at the 50th was enough.

• The Joker 2 stuff was fine. I did like the “Razzies/EGORT” lines.

• Her listing the other current pop girlies “ages” was fun (Chappel Roan is 58, Charli XCX is 75, Tate McRae is her biological grandmother)

• I like even the mildest SNL meta references but I would’ve cut Bowens' appearance since it didn't do anything for me…especially since he did a great job of actually introducing Gagas’ first performance anyway.

• The stuff about her engagement was cute but fell a little flat compared to the rest of the monologue. C+

A Long Goodbye

• Hmm, this is a slightly more Marcello heavy show than I was expecting.

• I really wasn't sure what the hell this was going for but the sight gag of Gaga riding a luggage caddy down a highway was enough to keep me interested.

• I did like the further escalation of this gag by having JAJ, Dismukes and (surprisingly the funniest part of this whole sketch) Jane Wickline as a Sons Of Anarchy-style biker gang riding on similar luggage caddies with Marcello chasing them on his own luggage. I might have cut the dog out of this sketch, though. That part felt too awkwardly shoehorned in for me.

• I also liked how this made good use of the backstage quick change hallways but perhaps most of all, I managed to blend sheer goofiness with sweetness. B+

Midnight Matinee: Pip

• Huh. Seems like a mouse named Pip is about to enter a weightlifting competition. Lady Gaga sings him an inspirational song, which might have genuinely been the best part of this.

• It's good they're spacing out these Dan Bulla pretapes because they are really all starting to feel the same thematically.

• Well, I can at least appreciate the cute sentimentality these go for…until the first in a series of “twists” is revealed.

• I do like how this didn't feel the need to stretch itself out and on as long as “Beppo” did.

• I did appreciate the ending, as telegraphed as it felt. B-

Wonderful Tonight

• Ah, HERE'S the exact type of sketch I was expecting to see as much of as possible. A Bowen and Gaga two-hander.

• It's the exact type of refined, odd-detail heavy sketch I would expect from Bowen but Gagas’ performance is really making this work for me and actually making me laugh.

• “Italians aren't white?” Geez, Gaga was a REAL good sport to go along with that

• “I recently…came…into some money?” Well, I could see where that was going…but I'm still a little surprised NBC could air that at any point before midnight.

• Even though the ending seemed a little rushed and clumsy for my liking, I enjoyed that. C+

Funeral Planners

• Hmm…they really seem stuck on this “roaring 20s” theme for a funeral.

• Roaring 20s? More like BORING 20s, am I right, folks?

• Kenans’ brief appearance was funny. Still, strangely late into the show for him.

• That was a helluva quick change for Heidi & Gaga there. Wonder how they pulled that off?

• Overall, while this felt like a retread of a long worn out SNL sketch trope that I had almost memory holed until now, I didn't hate it. C+

L’Oréal Easy Run Mascara

• This seems like a very specific premise. I mean, I know I may not be the “target audience” for this but I still feel like I “get it” enough. 

• It feels like an improvement over whatever last seasons “Diet Coke from Olay” pretape was supposed to be.

• Not a whole lot of individual lines stood out to me in this, but this was well performed and I did like how it made good use of the entire female cast (especially Jane and Ashley). C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• I liked Josts’ meta jab at Mike Myers right off the bat and Che's “Bin Laden” joke. 

• I also liked that Linda McMahon joke just for the odd visual element to it.

• Che's “40lbs of fentanyl/two buttfuls” joke was just goofy enough to make me chuckle.

• That Zelenskyy joke was WAY too awkwardly constructed for its own good.

• I like the IDEA of Update going in harder on Elon, but those punchlines didn't hit for me. I thought the Don Jr joke was OK (despite the audience reaction to just the set up). None of their other jokes really hit for me at all (except maybe “labia puffs/Honey Smacks”).

• Kenan seems like he's going for just a goofy voice and slightly silly dialogue with this Kendrick Perkins impression. The only context I have for this impression is that it's the guy Kenan was playing in those “cut for time” First Takes sketches from a few years ago. I did like the sight gag of him removing his beard to wipe his sweat.

• Mikey as “Lord Gaga”? Was this just a throwaway idea Mikey had for Taran Kilam or something from Gagas’ LAST hosting gig? Hell, we know for SURE it was used in a 2009 promo with Fred Armisen.

• Seemed like this wasn't going anywhere at first. Seems like the idea at first was to poke fun at the casual misogyny of the age of ACTUAL “lords and ladies” until Mikey revealed this to be another incredibly labored and stinging Jost roast.

• Overall, this was the rare Update that carried itself mostly on the strength of its own jokes than its commentaries. B-

Friendly's

• So far, the premise is Bowen is lying to a restaurant wait staff about Heidi's birthday to get a free song and dessert…and is SWORN to a veracity they see right through.

• Seems like this might go somewhere interesting with the whole angle of this being a Temple of Doom-esque satanic ritual.

• While this didn't quite escalate enough for my liking, the sheer strangeness of it was enough to keep me interested.

• I did like Sarah's brief voice modulated, bloody mouthed speaking part during the “ceremony”. 

• I'm especially curious to know who did write this because it seems like a long-gestating idea that Bowen or someone was saving for a specific host and thought Gaga would be ideal for (or maybe Mikey and Streeter wrote this? It explains enough of its own details that it makes me think this could be them). B-

Killah

• Yeah, I know I don't normally comment on the musical guest performances but I did like how she started this one by sprawling around the hallway before getting to the stage.

• Oh and also, did she actually say “talking that shit” on air? Oh well, it is about 12:45am where they are anyway. No big whoop, I guess?

Little Red Glasses

• Hey, speaking of sketch premises that would be ideal for a Lady Gaga hosted episode…

• I guess some combination of Allison Gates, Anna Drezen, Sudi Green and/or Fran Gillespie were guest writing this week?

• Even though Gaga, Squirm and Ego were carrying this, I liked Ashley and Heidis’ cameos a bit more.

• Speaking of Squirm, I did like Sarah's line “I was ahead of the curve on gay marriage…and that's where it stuck”

• Chloes’ impression is going right over my head but, ah, THERE'S the Chuck Schumer/Mom from Bobs’ Burgers’ references I was expecting (too bad Alex Moffat was apparently unavailable to cameo this week). C+

No More Slay

• Ok, good thing Bowen and Gaga were there to pretty much sing my immediate reaction to this sketch just as I was starting to wonder why they felt this was worth sneaking in under the wire.

• I did like the “Ollipop can” and “Diva Down” jokes. I especially liked Dismukes line “I named my son mother” as well as the final verse of the song. B+

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
3. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
4. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
5. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
6. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
7. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
8. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
9. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
10. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
11. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
12. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
13. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
14. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
15. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts 

• Well, it was not a difficult feat, but SNL did clear the very low bar set by last weeks’ episode with Shane Gillis.

• This shouldn't be a surprise. As I said in last weeks’ blog, Lady Gaga did prove to be an effective SNL host when she was used in exactly the right spots back in November of 2013.

• More than a decade later, Gaga has shown she can be trusted to helm the entire show and be a more prominent host as she had gotten much more acting experience under her belt in the ensuing years.

• Plus, the show currently employs more die hard fans of hers who know how to play to her strengths as an actress (comedic or otherwise).

• Naturally, this led to a more fun and inviting atmosphere around the show this week which carried over into this episode very well.

• Cast airtime didn't change much. Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim are still hurting for screentime and Kenan took a slight hit but Ashley and Jane have made great gains. We saw a bit more of Marcello than we were expecting but everyone elses’ airtime seems to have stabilized.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, at this point, we have no idea who SNLs’ next live host will be, but I have heard that the next new episode will air on March 29th.

• I am cautiously optimistic about the next few episodes because lately it's been the late March/early April run where we've been getting some of the stronger episodes and better hosts of the season (Quinta Brunson, Kristen Wiig). 

• Hell, if nothing else we get at least one, unique off the beaten path choice of host around this time like Jerrod Carmichael or Molly Shannon (I say this because it wasn't clear what she was promoting in April of 2023 besides, maybe…the most recent season of The Other Two?)

• However, I do know what my next entry for this blog is going to be. I will write a review of the Matt Dillon/Arctic Monkeys episode from season 31. Of course, I'm doing so because this will be the next full length episode Deej and I cover on the "We Heart Hader" podcast. We hope to record that one in a couple of weeks.

• The next episode of the podcast that we HAVE just recorded should be out this Thursday. It's a deep dive into all of Bills’ guest appearances in the first two seasons of The Mindy Project.

• In addition to all the rest of our channels, you can now also listen to We Heart Hader on iHeartRadio as well as on our own new YouTube channel.

• Additionally, you can follow us on TikTok. That's right, folks. Deej actually created a new TikTok account just for the podcast so I actually made myself get on TikTok just so I could have another place to plug it to death. That's how much I care about reaching as wide an audience as possible with this thing.

• Anyway, see you soon!

Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)

Okay, here's my review. To start off, this episode truly felt the most "different" from a lot of recent SNL as circumstances this week (not just the ones that may have been induced by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike) essentially forced them to take some more risks and try different things. Some risks paid off, some risks didn’t but it felt like the show truly found a way to work with the host rather than around him. As a host, Bad Bunny didn't seem like he was difficult to work with. He seemed like he got along with everybody on a personal level. Still, there was a very noticable language barrier present but the upside is that this forced the writers to dig a bit deeper and come up with some fresher sketch premises and sharper writing (or at least bring back a couple of things that worked well last season to fill in the gaps). A lot of the humor in this episode came from the host's culture so it relied a bit less on dialogue and more on some slightly broad visuals but thankfully this staff was more than adept at making sure nothing got completely lost in translation. With this episode, it felt like they actually successfully pulled off what they were trying to do with Megan Thee Stallions' episode from last year. This is probably because Bad Bunny seems to have a more easily accessible brand/image than MTS did. Plus, the show has people on staff that better understand his cultural heritage, what his audience would want to see, and how to better play that to viewers outside of the host's audience. Also, as long as I am making previous host comparisons' Bad Bunny as a host felt like an exact cross between Regé-Jean Page (an non-white male host from another country with an audience of thakfully less distractingly shreiky fans lends his talents to a number of sketches revolving around his sex appeal to women) and Nick Jonas (a previous male musical guest who is used to making the odd sketch cameo now and then is billed as host but somehow still manages to make so little impact that it truly feels like a hostless episode punctuated with musical guest cameos) with a little dash of Jackie Chan thrown in for good measure (do I really need to explain that one to you?) With all that being said, this was definitely a better episode than last week. After a season premiere that was as rote and by the numbers as ever culturally (as SNL season premieres often tend to be) it's nice to see an episode that may have started off a bit rocky but thought outside of the box enough to be as rewarding as it could the more it went on. There were a lot of cameos this week but fortunately they came off less distracting than they were necessary in a way that made some sense once they sunk in. Thankfully, no cast members got completely shut out. Marcello may have had the strongest night of them all with Devon, JAJ and most of the women (especially Troast) coming in second. However, Longfellow, Dismukes and Squirm saw a noticable drop this week. Anyway, let's break this down further.

Jim Jordan And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Vote For House Speaker - I guess the main difference between this and literally any randomly selected season 42 cold open is that the Trump impersonation is weirdly the STRONGEST thing it has going for it? It was a safe choice for a political cold open right now, at least. Perhaps it was a little TOO safe and expected, but that's not the main thing I'm holding against this sketch. What I AM holding against this sketch were the choice to center it around Mikey as Jim Jordan (him breaking the phone was basically my reaction to the whole "oh, so I see we're going back to just opening the show with a completely unearned applause break again? Fine, whatever" thing) and the Santos jokes that were low hanging fruit (no pun intended). As a Coloradan, I appreciated the idea of taking jabs at Lauren Bobert again until I saw they were just going for more tired ass theater groping jokes. C-

Monologue - It's nice to see Bad Bunny address the possible language barrier right off the bat. I wasn’t expecting him to make that the ENTIRE monologue, though... but at least he bought Pedro Pascal out on stage for a bit. Sadly, that didn’t quite solve this monologues' pacing issues. I liked the nice meta moment where Pedro deconstructed modern-day SNL monologue tropes. Unfortunately, that didn’t distract me from the fact that Bad Bunny seemingly forgot how to not come off too cocky by that point. Oh well, at least HE did a decent job of hiding any visible nervousness in this, and he expressed some sincere appreciation for the show and eagerness to host. C-

Rap Battle - Wow, nice to see Benito stretch as an actor and break out of his comfort zone right out of the gate. This sketch just left me wondering if it was Mikey and Streeter Seidell who wrote those WWE promo sketches from the last two Dwayne Johnson episodes (or if not, did whoever actually write this sketch happen to watch Scary Movie 3 recently?) At least it was short and had an unexpectedly heartwarming ending. I admit that the lines about Mikeys' character having four testicles got me. Also, it just dawned on me that they had a rapper play a fictional rapper in a sketch and didn’t have the actual rapper rap once. Both this and the lack of a Kendall Jenner cameo (hell, they even inexplicably got Lady Gaga to introduce his first musical performance instead of her for some reason) just goes to show you that this show will somehow find a way to consistently subvert even the most base level expectations you could make based on even the smallest bit of information you gleam from any host. You gotta love SNL for that! C+

Age Of Discovery - Well, doing a sketch entirely in subtitled Spanish may have been a risk, but it was certainly worth the risk. Normally, I run a bit cold on Fred Armisen cameos, but he worked just fine for me here. This did remind me of a sketch he led about ancient Mayans discovering chocolate for the first time from the 2006 Matthew Fox episode for whatever that was worth (and a certain early Monty Python sketch when the llama was bought out). This sketch felt a little unfocused at first and a little derivative near the end, but it all came together, and again, it was the most "different" thing the show has tried in recent memory. It is definitely the type of thing that grows on you more upon a rewatch or two. C+

Telenovela Shoot - Wow, so pretty much all of the live sketches in this episode were designed to give our host as little English dialogue as possible, huh? I mean, aside from pacing issues this caused here, in the monologue and in one other cameo laden sketch later on, I don't really have a problem with that. I guess I should've expected this to be a strong night for Marcello. He does naturally play off Bad Bunny well. I wasn't expecting Bowen to turn in a heavily padded performance reminiscent of Scott Thompson in the Kids In The Halls' "Shitty Soup" sketch. I certainly wasn’t expecting Punkie to pretty much steal this sketch, but hey, I'll take it! I'm really starting to notice how much Punkie can really add to a sketch she's in given the chance. I most definitely wasn’t expecting a random ass Mick Jagger cameo where he shows us he can handle dialogue in Spanish just as well as Marcello and Bad Bunny but I can appreciate that and wonder why (beyond just old age and other commitments of the week) he could've been as big a part of this episode as he was the season 37 finale. B-

PDD: Shrek Screenplay - Ok, suddenly the best sketch of the night and the thing that gets me fully on board with this episode is Ben, Martin and Johns' sheer bewilderment trying to figure out why Bad Bunny just wandered into their office unannounced in a full on Shrek costume? And he makes them read a whole ass screenplay he barely has any faith in? And these moments are punctuated with some of the cheapest Rapsittie ass CGI ever? Goddammit, PDD. Don't ever stop being you! B+

Update was a bit strange tonight. It was so short all I can really say about it was that Che had the only jokes that landed with me (Desantis, Coney-Barett/Thomas, WNBA, alcoholism) and Egos' Jada Pinkett Smith commentary (questionable wig and topicality issues aside) was the real highlight for me. I especially liked the "brutiful/Tupinkett/publicly cucking/never go to bed happy" lines. This is the type of more focused, pointed character work I'd like to see more of from Ego on the show. C+

Protective Mom (Now With Aunt!) - With Pedro being in the building along with this basically being a bilingual episode and Marcello being used to pick up the slack a bit this week, I should've expected a reprise of this sketch tonight. I'm glad that we got to see this again because it was one of the true highlights of Pedro's episode back in February. This sketch still has sharp writing and should probably have been placed earlier in the show. The fact that the wordless scene where Pedro casually dumps Chloes' cookies in the trash and then filled the empty tin with her sewing thread was met with more roaring applause than laughter from the audience (mostly the same screaming Bad Bunny fans from the monologue) really signaled that the entire show was playing to a very different audience than usual (and succeeding largely by playing on the charisma of it's guest performers who know THEIR audience and how to play this type of material to their own culture very well). That seemed like a joke pulled from a Black Jeopardy sketch but played out visually for a different audience).The ending was very sweet and the entire Spanglish conversation between Pedro, Marcello and Benito that kicked off with the "septum piercing" joke was funny to me. Plus, it's nice to see that by her second episode Ms. Troast can easily ingratiate herself with this cast. Anyone else get strong Arden Myrin vibes from her in that blonde wig? B+

The Right Track - Speaking if things SNL did earlier this year with hispanic hosts, I was glad to see this pretape template from Jenna Ortegas' episode return. Unfortunately, I have to say I still liked the Waffle House version of this better. Sadly, the craziness happening on the subway didn't quite steal focus from the solid dramatic acting chops that Devon and JAJ were showing (again, talk about ingratiating yourself into thr cast, huh?) Plus, that CGI rat was distractingly bad. C+

Sisters - Wow, either Kearney and Fineman are the only ones who DON'T secretly have the hots for Bad Bunny & Mick Jagger or they just dusted off and resubmitted an old script from either Regé-Jean Pages' episode (or pretty much any episode from season 24?) Either way, I'm glad to see that SNL in season 49 has a strong enough female cast to be able to fully put over such a threadbare premise. I also liked seeing that Punkie, Ego and (especially) Sarah have now gained this Chris Redd like ability to steal a whole sketch with a single line delivery (but Sarah only do this in the horniest of sketches for some reason. Wait, did she cowrite this with PDD and Ke$ha?). B-

Burts' Bees - This may have been the most ten-to-one ass ten-to-one sketch the show has done in quite a while, but it really started to pick up for me once Ego just sassed Mikey about his six year old daughter out of nowhere. That's literally all I have to say about it. C-

Now, for my first official best-to-worst ranking of season 49...

1. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
2. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)

Well, that was a mostly successful experiment. Next week, stand up comic Nate Bargatze makes his hosting debut. I'm not too terribly familiar with Nates' act, but I've seen bits and pieces before and I know he's friends with Fallon so he has connections to the show there. I also heard he has a rather PG-13 Jim Gaffigan-like, "safe for the whole family" style act (which must be true since I can't immediately recall any jokes of his I have heard). Still, I like thst their going for another comedian host with little exposure. I do hope the SAG strike gets resolved but until then I'll enjoy seeing SNL having to make itself take risks and make more different out-of-the-box type hosting choices. It was nice to get an episode like this but it'll still be nicer to see another traditionally comedic host help the show find it's footing again this season (and this episode may now be the best of the season by default but hopefully if the rest of the season goes right, it will be somewhere in the lower middle of my rankings). See you then!

Oh, and by the way, in case you haven't seen it, here is my latest appearance on the Saturday Night Network Patron Podcast as part of their ongoing countdown of the 50 greatest cast members of all time. I'm particularly proud of this one and I really feel that it's my best podcast appearance yet. You might be surprised by some of the names we discuss in depth here!