November 17, 2018 – Steve Carell / Ella Mai (S44 E6)

by Matt

THE INGRAHAM ANGLE
The Ingraham (KAM) Angle- Mark Zuckerberg (ALM) downplays Facebook abuse

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— Our second Ingraham Angle cold open within the past three episodes. I don’t mind them a ton, though; they at least feel a bit more lively than the usual Trumpwin recitations or cameo-fests because they have to generate their own material.
— Like the last Ingraham Angle cold open, Cecily reappears as Jeanine Pirro, which I’ve always found to be one of her more enjoyable, frequent impressions for these late seasons of her tenure. I think she works far better in Update correspondent pieces, though.
— Not a huge fan of these cold opens’ use of comically-incorrect footage or media to describe political events. Feels tacky to me.
— The return of Alex’s robotic Mark Zuckerberg impression, which I liked at the Update desk but haven’t found a lot of value in since.
— Leslie as Marcia Fudge’s commentary slowly turning into a stand-up act feels like an idea that should work on-paper, but the intentionally hacky things she’s saying are sorta compounding onto the already-hacky nature of some bits of the cold open in general.
— Pete vapes on-camera. I dunno what to say about his part of this cold open but that feels notable.
— Overall, this was another characteristically-long cold open for this era, but at least it was inoffensive and had some laughs. That feels a bit sad to settle for, huh?
STARS: **½

MONOLOGUE
NAW, Ellie Kemper, Ed Helms, Jenna Fischer [real] want The Office reboot

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— First-season writer Alison Gates makes her first (and to my recollection only) on-screen appearance at the start of this Q&A monologue. 
— I liked the joke of Steve asking Kenan if he was playing a fake audience member, and Kenan responding, “Believe me, dude, if I was acting, you would know it.” I also always enjoy a mention of his old work on Nickelodeon, which I’m glad he’s lightened up on more in recent years.
— The concept of a bunch of Steve’s old Office co-stars (Elle Kemper, Ed Helms, and Jenna Fischer) prodding at him about a potential reboot is just okay and quite pandering; it definitely feels like a premise designed more for the room than the audiences back home with how cameo-heavy it is, and the beats it’s hitting are becoming repetitive.
— NANCY WALLS! I completely forgot she made an appearance in this monologue, and I’m always happy to see her appear on the show as she did in Steve’s last episode. Interesting to see Steve’s kids, too. Feels like we rarely actually see hosts’ kids when they’re in attendance.
— Alison Gates walking on-stage when Steve calls for his cast mates gave me a solid laugh.
— A nice touch with the SNL band playing into the commercial break with the theme from The Office.
STARS: **½

DUMB DAD
kids of dumb (host) fail to clue him in on their family’s dissolution

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— If I recall correctly, this is the first of basically an entire night of Steve playing dumb dads in very indifferently-written material.
— There’s a theoretically-interesting idea in Steve’s kids revealing that his wife divorced him, but both the framing of that idea with the extensive, over-explanatory dialogue amongst his kids, and the fact that said joke eventually gets diverted to Steve just being generally stupid, keeps the premise from really becoming a strong character piece.
— They couldn’t have put make-up over Pete’s heavily-tattooed fingers (third screencap)?
— Yep, this sketch feels like there’s a lot of missed potential.
STARS: **

A MESSAGE FROM JEFF BEZOS
Jeff Bezos (host) repeatedly trolls Donald Trump via Amazon initiatives

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— God, I really don’t like this premise of SNL using Jeff Bezos to dunk on Trump as if he’s some supremely better figure, though I guess they’re exercising the same warped reflexes that would lead to them deciding to allow another billionaire, Elon Musk, to host two seasons later.
— Yeah, I’m really not liking this at all. Steve is doing fine with the material, and it’s interesting to see a sketch with the host as the only performer, but all of the jokes are incredibly questionable and feel like they’re on the absolute wrong side of history.
— What’s the joke of Steve’s Bezos walking past photos of him being besties with Kanye West, Kim Jong-Un, and Putin?? I get the idea of a slam being that he’s closer to them than Trump is, but if that’s the case, why is this sketch still trying to hammer Bezos forward as some sort of hero?
STARS: *

THANKSGIVING SONG
(host) & (CES) sing odd & obscure Turkey Day song at Thanksgiving meal

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— The fourth installment of Anderlette’s “What is that song? Stop playing that song. We don’t know that song. Oh wait, we do know that song! Let’s sing that song!” sketches. I don’t loathe these as much as a lot of other people do, but I also don’t know why the formula has been used so many goddamn times.
— This is also coincidentally the second Thanksgiving episode in a row where someone has mentioned, and attempted to rectify, the lack of any Thanksgiving songs (last season’s Chance episode being the first).
— When Steve pulls a synthesizer out of the closet and Kenan says it probably doesn’t have any batteries, Cecily mentions that she has new AA batteries for it, but can never be seen ‘putting them in.’ Why even make a point of mentioning that sort of specific beat in the sketch?
— The sexual lyrics in the song feel a bit desperate.
— I at least like Kenan’s weird, Jean Valjean-esque singing of the Thanksgiving song, even if the sketch, so far, is as formulaic as they come, and I’m indeed starting to feel the crushing fatigue of this idea.
— Honestly, maybe I have terrible takes, but this sketch is salvaging itself somewhat with the weird flourishes it has towards its ending; I really liked Steve’s delivery of “She was the love of my life,” and the detail of Beck being stabbed by Cecily. With that being said, it’s not doing nearly enough to make up for how by-the-numbers the rest of this was. Really not looking forward to reviewing the latest reiteration of this idea (in Dan Levy’s S46 episode).
STARS: **

RBG
rappers (PED) & (CRR) live & ride for resolute Ruth Bader Ginsburg (KAM)

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— The third Pete/Chris music video sketch this season.
— A very meh conceit to this music video, and another instance of this era’s tendency for painting RBG out as some badass figure. It’s at least interesting to see a sketch where Pete and Kate are interacting heavily with each other, though, which feels like such a rarity.
— A very what-the-fuck visual of RBG having a muscular, tattooed chest (fifth screencap).
— I’ve always found Pete and Chris’ songs to be pretty hit-and-miss with their joke lyrics, especially in comparison to both the Lonely Island’s work or Kelly/Schenider’s more recent musical pretapes, but this one feels especially iffy. The lines feel very fillery and most of the audience’s laughs are coming more from the visuals than anything else.
STARS: *½

NASA TV
space station accident makes NASA broadcast to schoolkids traumatizing

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— Some fun mime work from Chris, Leslie, and Mikey pretending to be in the International Space Station.
— Ego makes her only appearance of the night as the first caller in this sketch, a role with no room for comic interpretation. It feels weird to reflect on her humbler beginnings considering how much she’s grown to become a reliable player in the show.
— Ha, a hilarious initial reveal of the dark, main conceit of this sketch, with a freeze-dried monkey floating across the screen and Mikey tentatively grabbing it and hiding it with an aghast facial expression.
— Another horrific laugh from Steve snapping another monkey’s arm off. 
— The execution of the cat’s face reveal is such a unique sketch beat for this era; I really love the slow build to the reveal of its sucked-in face during a brief intermission. It sort of asks for patience from the audience, something the rest of tonight’s sketches have been lacking.
— I’m usually pretty hard on Leslie as a performer, but she’s really working for me here. Her acting here is so contained but simultaneously keys into her shtick perfectly with the sort of baffled facial expressions and one-liners she deploys.
— The escalation to this sketch is both great and being wonderfully-executed by everyone involved! After such a mediocre run of underbaked and questionable sketches, this one feels so refreshing. Unfortunately, it also goes on to be the only real gem of the night, if my memory serves me.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Boo’d Up”

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— Blue: I really love Ella’s look, with the big hair and the silver jacket.
— Those vibey soul synths are always a good addition to any song.
— I love the texture that the cymbals are adding to the intro.
— Ella’s voice is smooth and her sense of pitch is great.
— The piano chords supporting the vocals are a nice touch.
— Ella’s vocal runs in the second verse could have been stronger.
— I love the synths leading up to the second chorus.
— Surprised to see the backing vocalists onstage, as their vocals sounded pre-recorded.
— Our third instance this season of “why not sing the pre-recorded vocals?”
— Fantastic drumming at the end.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE
congressman-elect Denver Riggleman (MID) reads from his Bigfoot erotica

boasting LaVar Ball (KET) thinks he should be the coach of the Lakers

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— Eesh, carrying over from the Jeff Bezos sketch from earlier, Colin’s takes on the Amazon HQ opening in Queens are absolutely terrible. I like his and Michael’s work at the desk a lot and consider it to be the most reliable aspect of the show for the most part in these seasons, but this is definitely the sort of material that makes me get the distaste some people have for Colin, with his comments about how only New Yorkers would complain about 25,000 new jobs at Amazon coming across as super disconnected and privileged.
— I’m loving Mikey’s correspondent piece as Denver Riggleman, an elected congressman who got in the news for publicly posting Bigfoot erotica. I get how some people would consider the premise rather hacky and thin, but Mikey is selling it really well, and I like all of the weird nuance he’s imposing onto his work as defense for his actions.
— A really fun turn to the commentary when the set is basked in mood lighting, piano music plays, and suggestive imagery pops up on screen as Mikey reads his erotica. I also love his occasional interruptions as he gets in the moment and tells Michael about how good it’s getting.
— Kenan makes another appearance at the Update desk as LaVar Ball, an impression that I find pretty enjoyable, even if I don’t have a ton to say about it. I feel like it suffers from how by-the-numbers his commentaries are, but Kenan sells it with his energy, and it can be a nice shot in the arm if an episode is struggling.
STARS: **½ 

SLUMBER PARTY
teen dropout’s (HEG) friend’s (AIB) dad (host) is guardian angel crooner

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— Steve in his second dad role of the night.
— I like the very off-kilter set-up to this sketch already. It’s definitely one of those ideas that has you scratching your head wondering how it even came into fruition, but not in a bad way so much as a “writer’s absurd pet project” way.
— Aidy’s baffled straight man work is something that she could do in her sleep by this point in her tenure, but it’s working well here. The premise risks being one of those sketches that just deconstructs some weird trope, but there’s enough character details as she interrogates her father (Steve) about his whereabouts that it’s hitting for me.
— Kate: “What’s happening?” Aidy: “Oh, my dumbass dad tried to sing at Sammy, it SUCKS.”
— Aidy: “Who the hell are these women?!” Steve: “They’re nice ladies that I’ve met!” Aidy: “Wow, that is such a bad answer.” 
— I love Steve offering Aidy the gun in his car if she stays quiet about his living situation to her mother.
— Overall, this isn’t a well-remembered sketch at all, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Trip”

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— Blue: Theatrical staging here, with a chain-link fence separating Ella from her band, and a park bench set up in front of it.
— Another great vocal performance from Ella. I haven’t heard the recorded version of this song but I can imagine she sounds just the same on the record.
— As for the backing vocalists, though, I don’t really like the effects on their voices.
— More fantastic drumming after the second chorus.
— The drums and the synth are meshing very well.
— While that song didn’t grab me enough to want to seek it out and listen to it, I certainly wouldn’t change the station if it came on the radio.
STARS: ***

RV LIFE
(host)’s wife (HEG) eventually admits she hates their new RV lifestyle

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— Steve’s third dad role of the night.
— Very unsure of how to feel about this divisive sketch. I feel like it’s going for a slice-of-life vibe which should be admirable, but it’s not really clicking. As much as I think Heidi is an amazing performer, too, I’m finding her acting here to be far too ticky, especially against everyone else’s very grounded performances.
— There are a few laughs from Heidi’s neglect, and I liked her line about how dogs can punch you, but it also feels like it’s almost too much of a bummer premise to work with.
— Yeah, the turn with Heidi confessing that she’s miserable and hates her new living arrangement feels way too uneasy, even if it’s a theoretically good note for this sketch to end on.
STARS: **

SPACE THANKSGIVING
sentient cornel of kern (PED) complicates outer space Thanksgiving meal

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— Hoo boy, time for an infamous, confusing trainwreck of a sketch. Hopefully I can try to break down how this derails.
— Immediately, something goes strangely wrong, with a prop gun falling from somewhere below the table when Kenan and Melissa enter, causing them to stifle laughter. The sketch plays out as it’s supposed to (I’m assuming) for the next few minutes, though that snafu causes some… issues later.
— On the topic of the sketch itself: good GOD, this is deathly. I feel like in some distant reality I can get the appeal of it, and I can see it killing at table read for being as inane as it is, but none of that transfers into the live performance AT ALL. For all of the weirdness on display, none of it registers as particularly funny so much as tryhard and needlessly convoluted.
— Alright, NOW things get legitimately baffling. Steve and the others huddle together, seemingly to agree on executing some plan to save the “Kern”… but then the scene loses that angle entirely when they decide to just continue eating the kern instead. (As soon as Steve announces that they’re going to eat the kern, Melissa suddenly looks very lost [third from last screencap], leading me to believe his “HELL YES!” was improvised.) This also prompts a clearly unscripted cut to Pete’s face as the Kern without a chroma key effect on it (second from last screencap), causing everyone to break. THEN, Kenan says a clearly unscripted “Bye bye” before everyone proceeds to eat the kern, where the sketch abruptly ends. So what does SNL do to rectify this weird, aborted ending to the sketch for its official upload to YouTube? It fixes the chroma key error and NOTHING ELSE! I’ve read from people who attended the dress rehearsal that the gun which fell at the very start of the sketch was supposed to come into play with Steve using it to shoot off the alien “Klergs” and save the Kern, but if that’s the case, why was there literally no attempt at picking up the prop given that it was so close to the performers and there would have been multiple opportunities to retrieve it?! It’s also been theorized that this sketch was heavily edited down during the live show because it was running long by the writer (presumably James Anderson), but whatever changes got lost in translation on top of the gun prop fuckery.
— That confounding, aborted ending is basically the only thing that makes this sketch something of a curiosity; it feels so rare to see a sketch cave in on itself so badly that it’s hard to tell what exactly went wrong and how. With that being said, that was also ironically the best thing that could’ve happened here, because if this sketch played out seamlessly, it would’ve been even more of a fucking doozy.
STARS: *

GPYASS!
GPYass!- navigation is drag-themed; Peppermint & Jiggly Caliente cameos

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— The second sketch tonight featuring Steve and Heidi as a married couple.
— Hmm, I’m not super into this sketch, though I do think there is something strangely endearing about Steve and Heidi’s characters here in their very wholesome engagement with queer lingo. Curiously, of all the pieces from this week’s episode, this one was given an oral history in the form of a Vulture article featuring James Anderson and Bowen Yang. While that granted me a newfound conceptual appreciation, I feel that the sketch as a whole still isn’t anything too special in its execution. I wish I could get into this more.
— Speaking of: what’s with James Anderson writing so much of this episode? He apparently had a hand in “Thanksgiving Song,” “RV Life,” “Space Thanksgiving,” and this sketch. Unsurprisingly, too, all of those are sub-par at best and disastrous at worst.
— This piece also bears some interesting, historical significance as the first sketch on the show to feature openly transgender performers in its cameos from drag queens Peppermint and Jiggy Caliente.
STARS: **½ 

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I’m not gonna lie: I feel like I’ll never have as much fun writing about an episode as I did trying to dissect this one. Not only is this an uncharacteristically rough outing for the show, but it’s got a strangely compelling energy to itself in spite of that; every sketch is very conceptual to some extent (whether or not it succeeds), there’s some iffy corporate brown-nosing, and there’s a classic disaster sketch to round the evening out. None of these factor into a good episode by any means, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t a fascinating one. 
— Although Steve stuck in the same mode throughout most of the sketches he appeared in, he was a solid host reigning over some shaky material. I wish that he got some better episodes given his comedy experience as I feel like he’s never gotten one fully solid outing in his three hosting gigs, but you play with the cards you’re dealt.

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
NASA TV
Slumber Party
Monologue
Weekend Update
GPYass!
The Ingraham Angle
Dumb Dad
RV Life
Thanksgiving Song
RBG
Space Thanksgiving
A Message from Jeff Bezos

TOMORROW
Kabir covers Claire Foy