March 10, 2018 – Sterling K. Brown / James Bay (S43 E15)

by Vax Novier

THE BACHELOR LIVE
Robert Mueller (KAM) has bad news for Becca K. (CES)

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— Ugh! Kate brings back her self-indulgent, prosthetic-heavy Robert Mueller! At least it’s the last time we see this version of the impression, though the replacement isn’t any better.
— This really takes you back to when everyone thought the Mueller report would be the thing that exposed Trump and end his presidency. Needless to say, any material surrounding the topic doesn’t age well at all.
— The joke of the unnecessary split screens isn’t as funny as the show thinks it is. Having them overlap at certain points isn’t helping the bit either.
— Man, this feels like it’s dragging on forever!
— Overall, that was rough to sit through. This one didn’t even need Trumpwin to bomb hard. What was the point of pairing the Mueller stuff with The Bachelor!? I know the finale aired earlier that week, but the setting didn’t add anything to the topical discussion. If they were trying to change up the openings by presenting it in a new angle, it failed miserably.
STARS: *

OPENING MONTAGE
— Darrell is a little late in his announcements early on, but he catches up midway through.
— Watching the intro is reminding me of the homemade version that was created for one of the promos earlier in the week.

MONOLOGUE
being on SNL has brought emotional host to the verge of tears

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— The reveal that the K in his name stood for Kathleen was okay, but I laughed moments later when he said “Get it together Sterling Kathleen!”
— Sterling’s impression of Kenan is funny.
— Leslie receives huge applause just for walking on.
— A decent premise of Sterling being overly emotional about everything which he carried well.
STARS: ***

FAMILY FEUD
Oscar winners battle Common (host) & other Oscar losers

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— Kate brings back her Francis McDormand impression.
— The debut of Heidi’s Allison Janey.
— Classic meta bit with Chris as Jordan Peele explaining how sketch comedy is a stepping stone and that you eventually have to move on after a couple years, followed by Kenan as Steve Harvey’s uneasy reaction to the statement asking “How many years?” 
— The initial visual of Alex’s Wilem Dafoe is funny, can’t say the same for the impression itself though.
— Interesting to see Pete portraying Timothée Chalamet here, considering the chemistry they would have when paired together during Timothée’s hosting stint three seasons later.
— I can’t confirm the accuracy of Sterling’s Common, but he seems to be enjoying himself.
STARS: ***½

THIS IS U.S.
federal dysfunction drama is making Americans sad

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— The obligatory This Is Us parody.
— Pete plays Jared Kushner for this pre-tape only as Fallon returns to the role in a future cold open.
— Sterling is doing a good Ben Carson, providing most of the highlights here.
— This commercial was very short.
STARS: **

FAMILY DINNER
at dinner with his future in-laws, (host) insists that Shrek is nonpareil

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— Oh here’s a classic sketch!
— Written by Steven Castillo and Will Stephen.
— Good turn with Sterling getting defensive when arguing that Shrek is the best movie of all time.
— Tons of standout lines from Sterling such as “You’re wrong and stupid person!” “Fight me, bully!” after throwing a glass of water on Beck (fifth screencap from the bottom), and “I can’t believe I have to defend a movie with three hit sequels and a 4-D Universal Studios Ride!”.
— Sterling’s serious sounding delivery is adding an extra layer and putting this over. Even though he’s a bit stumbly at points (including one of the quotes listed above), it’s not detracting from the sketch at all.
— Beck always excels in the enraged straight man role.
— The live airing ends with Smash Mouth’s “I’m a Believer” cover playing over the establishing shot. This is replaced with generic music in the online version for music rights.
STARS: *****

SASQUATCH
no matter what survival tactics he tries, (MID) gets abused by Sasquatch

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— We get a rare onscreen appearance from Streeter Seidell as the sasquatch.
— After initially hitting Mikey, this has dragged on going into a weak direction with some of the cheap homoerotic stuff.
— Once again, Sterling’s serious sounding delivery is an unintentional highlight.
— Could’ve been better overall, but parts of it were alright.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pink Lemonade”

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— Blue: Wait, this indie rock song is brought to you by the same guy who does “so come on let it go, just let it be, why don’t you be you and I be me?”
— I like James’ pink sparkly vest.
— Fun, upbeat chorus with a strong performance from the backing vocalists
— I love James’ guitar’s tone.
— This whole thing is very 80’s throwback.
— The spirited “I’m protecting you” outro is the only time that I’ve enjoyed James’ voice during this performance. Otherwise he’s a perfectly serviceable singer and… that’s it.
STARS: *** (I’d probably rate it higher if it was sung by somebody else)

WEEKEND UPDATE
Donald Jr. (MID) & Eric (ALM) say pa Trump is the victim of fake news

anxious Dawn Lazarus doesn’t provide much information about winter storms

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— And now we get a reminder of the constant North Korea threats that were going on. It shows how dated a lot of the political material can be in just three years.
— Good porn analogy from Colin about being desensitized by the news, then saying how people can only get excited by Asian lesbians (Kim Jong-un).
— By this point, the Don Jr. and Eric Trump pieces have become formulaic, but there’s still some funny moments like Alex as Eric’s reaction to the pop-up book.
— Some tepid audience reactions to the back-to-back International Women’s Day jokes.
— Vanessa Bayer makes a return appearance within the season after her departure from the show. It’s always nice to see Vanessa, and great to see her getting some well-deserved recognition cheers.
— I always thought it was strange how Dawn Lazarus became one of Vanessa’s flagship characters (appearing on her last show, being the character she makes a cameo with) since she didn’t debut until the end of her tenure and all of the characater’s appearances were in the span of less than a year. In spite of that, I still enjoy the piece and Vanessa nails the characterization as usual.
STARS: ***½

BLACK PANTHER
in the Djalia, T’Challa (CRR) meets (KET), who married into the family

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— Fitting to do a Black Panther sketch considering Sterling’s role in the film.
— And now we get the reveal of Kenan as the distant inlaw. Meh, not the most original premise. It feels like the “family member is wild and acts differently from the rest” trope has been overused by this point.
— Kenan’s Lion King bit causes Leslie to break while Sterling clearly tries to hold it in.
— Besides the above, nothing really stood out about this. I will give praise for the costume and set design though.
STARS: **

DR. LOVE
Dr. Love (host) urges (BEB) to commit to the woman he’s having sex with

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—Good premise with Sterling being invested in Beck’s love life when finding out he’s sexually active with his partner all the time.
—Funny part where Sterling holds off a checkup with a cancer patient to continue talking with Beck.
—Sterling: “I knew syphilis rotted the mind, I didn’t know it rotted the soul” Beck: I have syphilis!?!” Sterling “I don’t know, man!”
—I like the turn with Beck deciding to race to the airport and Sterling having a suit with flowers ready for him.
—And now it’s subtly revealed in the diploma behind Sterling that he’s actually Cupid, a detail that went over my head when this first aired.
—Overall, I wanted to like this more than I did, but it had a nice oddball charm and the actors played it well. I don’t know why, but it felt like something that you normally don’t see during the modern years. Funny how this was the second sketch in the past three episodes starring just Beck and the host.
STARS: ***½

LINE READER
script supervisor’s (CES) bowdlerization throws actor (host) off his game

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— Kyle makes his first appearance of the night. This is a good opportunity to point out how little Kyle appears throughout this season. Sure he’s never been a leading player and has several films that made it to air (mainly in the first half), but Kyle’s pretty invisible in terms of individual appearances, averaging one or two per show, just during this season. For comparison, the only non-Update cast member to appear in fewer sketches than him in this season was Luke Null (who has yet to appear tonight) and he was making more total appearances in Season 45 before the shutdown occurred.
— Anyway, onto the sketch; Kyle’s line relating to #MeToo got a big reaction.
— Interesting characterization from Cecily, based on this old viral music video. Reportedly, she had been trying to get this character on for years.
— When watching this live, I felt that this was one of many things throughout the season that represented Cecily’s decline on the show and a reminder of how much I didn’t enjoy her during this period.
— Funny part with Cecily putting a bag on her head thinking it would help.
— The camera cuts to Sterling from the wrong angle several times facing his side.
— Melissa’s occasional interjections are providing laughs.
— This ended up being better than I remembered.
STARS: ***

ROCK OR RAP
Chris Fitzpatrick gets pedestrians to weigh in on rock music vs. rap

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— The return of Chris Fitzpatrick, in a different setting that combines the character with Kyle’s street interview pieces.
— Some good bits from the cheap Powerpoint presentation intro.
— “I spoke to a very diverse group of people.” followed by a visual of white men.
— I feel bad for chuckling at the part where the person of color’s deep answer to “rock or rap” is abruptly cut off during the montage of white people saying rap is better.
— One of the responses to the main difference between rock and rap being “Usually skin color” received groans from the audience.
— Funny part of one guy droning endlessly with his answer, complete with several transitions showing the passage of time, leading to the voice over eventually stating that they talked for four more hours.
— The text visuals that pop up throughout the short are providing some highlights.
— Overall, there was a lot to like about this, and the different angle prevented the character from getting stale.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wild Love”

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— Blue: This stripped-back arrangement of this song is exposing James’ voice, which unfortunately does nothing but remind me of how I don’t care for it.
— At least the backing vocalists sound great, and I like the soft synths in the background.
— Cool, unexpected guitar solo from James.
— Okay, I do like James’ voice when he’s using his upper range. Low to mid-range vocals are not doing it for me.
— Nice arrangement on that song.
STARS: ***

DYING MRS. GOMEZ
on her death bed, (MEV) recites “This Is How You Remind Me” lyrics

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— Great to see Melissa appearing all over this episode after being practically invisible for most of the year.
— Melissa is making what could be a thin premise work as she sings Nickleback, complete with hand motions and a backing track.
— Luke finally appears…in a nothing bit part at the very end of the show. Is there a better representation of how underused he was!?
— Fun part with Melissa being revived to continue singing as everyone rocks along.
— Alex: “I don’t know why you guys are clapping! This woman is dead.” Perfect line to end the sketch on before the closing graphic.
— A fantastic showcase for Melissa, one that she really needed by this point to avoid being dropped at the end of the season. If Kate was playing the role she probably would’ve played it too broad while mugging for attention, but Melissa was able to carry the piece when necessary and let the humor come more naturally. (On the flip side, having Kate in the role would give this sketch instant press the next day which might be why the dynamic hasn’t changed to this day)
STARS: ****½

GOODNIGHTS

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— Considering the trajectory of Vanessa’s SNL tenure, being one of the show’s ultimate supporting players then reaching a low point where she bottoms out around Season 40 before a having a stellar final two years, it’s a bit heartwarming to see her at the front of these goodnights being embraced by everyone as it feels like well-deserved validation for her years on the show.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A unique episode with a lot of stuff that felt rare to see by this point in the show’s history, especially in the back half where there were a couple more experimental pieces. It would be nice if Sterling got the chance to host again (he seems to think so too since he ended the goodnights speech by exclaiming “I’ll be back y’all!”) as he was able to really stand out and elevate the material he was given. 

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Family Dinner
Rock or Rap
Dying Mrs. Gomez
Dr. Love
Family Feud
Weekend Update
Line Reader
Monologue
This Is U.S.
Sasquatch
Black Panther
The Bachelor Live

TOMORROW:
Anthony Peter Coleman reviews the Bill Hader episode where a certain former writer/recurring host makes his post-SNL debut.