BONUS – Assorted At Home Cut for Time Sketches

by John

In April and May 2020, a smattering of Cut For Time sketches were uploaded to SNL’s Youtube channel outside of the second and third at home episodes. Rather than try to figure out what should have aired where, I was kindly given the opportunity to review these sketches in their own right.

QUARANTINE DELIVERY
EGN shares how she disinfects packages during the coronavirus pandemic

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— This and the following clip were uploaded between the second and third at home episodes. 
— This seems to be a very barebones attempt at parodying barebones Youtube tutorials.
— “This is trash” is meme fodder waiting to happen.
— Given that Ego is just stuck in her home filming anything she can, I don’t want to be too critical of the end result.
—  With that said, there is little to no humor to be found here. I could grade based on effort, or just on Ego’s very likable presence, but that would do nothing to improve the material itself.
— I’m very glad that Ego has since had the chance to prove she is much more capable than what this video gives her, many times over. 
STARS: *

QUARANTINE COOKING
EGN cooks a hearty two-ingredient soup

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— This is not far off the delivery video in concept, but this version has an actual comedic take.
— While “salt soup” is not the most scintillating punchline, Ego sells the hell out of it.
STARS: **

LOCKDOWN SONG
Wild Trio Gang (KET), (CRR), & (EGN) turn up at home with their rap song, “Lockdown,” about life in quarantine

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— After 35 years of SNL frequently centering white guys in their raps (going from complete joke status to quasi-genuine attempts at artistic value), seeing Chris, Ego and Kenan get to shine on their own is a nice change of pace. 
— Chris is great, although he’s competing for attention with his Obama hoodie.
— Ego’s verse is my favorite of the three—I would say “it’s fire” but I am probably too old for that. 
— For a brief second I worried Ego was going to have a wardrobe malfunction.
— This is actually the first of two lockdown-themed raps for Ego (the other is in the upcoming Regé-Jean Page episode).
— Kenan’s family-focused verse is very sweet, but given the recent news of his breakup, doesn’t quite feel the same now. 
— I know many fans get sick of all the pandemic-related humor, and so have I on a number of occasions, but I still think this has a very good beat, and is worth the watch (or rewatch).
STARS: ***

NEIGHBORS
two neighbors (KYM) (BEB) have a social distancing conversation that takes a weird turn

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— Beck and Kyle together, in a digital short all their own, for the first time in a while. 
— Given their Youtube heritage, this feels like a full circle moment. The title “Neighbors,” similar to their old channel name, brings that home. So much so that initially I wondered if they were leaving and this was a farewell. 
— It’s almost disturbing to see Kyle in a normal role and Beck in the crazy role.
— Beck’s crude commentary about throat-spitting and “doing his pillow” makes me laugh, just because he delivers this type of insanity with such earnestness. 
— Beck brings some genuine menace to the part where his character tries to blackmail his way into being roommates. 
— Good effects, and a good ending twist, with Beck’s character teleporting near Kyle’s for one last attempt at trying to get him to become roommates. 
— Even though we have one more Beck and Kyle pre-tape to come next season, that one also features Andrew Dismukes, which makes me see this as their real last hurrah as a duo.
STARS: ***½ 

DR. BIRX AD
Dr. Deborah Birx (CLF) stars in a commercial to promote her new line of scarves

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— Chloe in her first of so far two political impressions to be taken over by a more long standing cast member (Birx is taken over by Heidi, Jen Psaki by Kate).
— The basic premise here is an old chestnut for SNL of recent years — a noble, long-suffering female politician disrespected by the sexist public. Kate often has this locked down (see the abysmal Teresa May pity party impression), which does little to shake how much Chloe in her debut season feels like she is waiting in the wings for a Kate departure that never happens. 
— On the one hand, this is a committed performance from Chloe—arguably, one of her most committed. I will also give some credit for sticking to the theme and not wandering all over the roadside, as modern SNL is wont to do.
— On the other hand, the premise is, to me, fundamentally dishonest and lazy. Yes, there were people who called Dr. Birx “the scarf lady,” but much of the commentary surrounding Birx focused on her not speaking out enough about Trump, rather than her wardrobe. A piece focusing on the challenges and contradictions would have been more interesting to me. SNL itself would seem to agree, as you can see in this season 46 cold open (if you can stomach it, anyway).
— I do like the part where she says she designed a scarf with birds on it because she likes birds: “Not everything has to be a thing.” 
— The folding section with “missing the point” flashing up on the screen one word at a time is somewhere between clever and a brutal self-own.
— If you want to ignore all the baggage, which I can understand anyone wanting to do (it’s just a comedy show, get over it, etc.), I can see where you might want to grade this higher. I can’t bring myself to do it this time. I am burned out on this vapid and corrosive style of political writing.
STARS: ** 

ANIMAL CROSSING
MEV and MID FaceTime while playing Animal Crossing

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— Something that always appeals to me in this sketch is that one of the first sights we see is of a very happy smile from Melissa. I feel like Melissa has shown glimpses of a naturally likable, endearing personality which the show has so rarely taken advantage of in a way they often did with, say, Gilda Radner. The disappearance of the backstage format and letting cast members play themselves on a more frequent basis is a big factor in feeling more isolated from the ensemble. 
— A seemingly rare interaction between Mikey and Melissa. Even though they joined the cast at the same time, it never quite feels that way due to Mikey jumping right to the frontlines (likely because of his 3 years on the writing staff). 
— I don’t play a lot of  Animal Crossing, but her impression of one of the characters is amusing (and a rare chance of late to show her impression skills). 
—  Melissa’s offbeat line delivery adds some zest to the bit about the animals hating her (“Door’s that way.” “Did I stutter?” and so on.)
— The way she says “Tom Nook just said,  ‘I hope you get COVID,’” is absolutely priceless, and has been somewhere in my head since I first saw this video.
— Good ending with Melissa’s AC character being murdered, and Mikey asking if he can stay on the island for the party celebrating her death. 
— This is one of my favorite At Home pieces. It takes a different approach than most of the other segments and relies on a quirky (in a good way) performance from Melissa, with rock-solid support from Mikey. If anyone ever makes a “Best of Melissa Villasenor” cut, this is another sketch that should be on the list. 
STARS: ***** 

JADEN ACTS OUT
a woman (MEV) reaches out to anyone with advice on how to deal with her husband, Jaden (ALM), who is acting out during quarantine

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— A rare showcase for Alex Moffat.
— Some laughs from the tantrums Jaden is having, especially when he climbs through the window. Given Alex’s background in physical comedy, I have always been disappointed at how infrequently these skills have been used on the show, especially since he joined right after Taran Killam, a very physical comic, departed.
— There’s something disturbing in the closing shots of Jaden in the tub with his face painted red and with red splattered across the back wall, like something from one of those Clive Barker films that came and went in the late ‘80s. It makes me wish SNL would go back to some of the grimy horror elements they occasionally dipped into in the early ‘80s. Calling you, Sarah Sherman…
— Nice as it is to see Melissa get a bit more airtime, her role here as the harried wife is jarring, due to the fact that we are definitely not hearing her voice in the segments with Alex (I am guessing that was his wife). Presumably someone decided it wasn’t worth the time to dub Melissa in, so they just threw this onto Youtube as is.
—  I wish they had just left the Alex parts and  expanded on them, if that material was available. This was fine for what it was, but seemed to get started just as it was finishing.
STARS: ***

YOUR HOUSE PROMO
commercial promotes all the enticing features your house offers while you have nowhere else to go during the coronavirus pandemic

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— The last of an old standby through Beck’s run—amping up the drama in mundane activities like mass, high school graduation…or staying at home. 
— Some great touches in the early part of this, like the dangerous stove  (the guttural-voiced “call the fire department!” is especially funny) and the terrifying “orgy of cables” behind the TV.
— Kyle in his underwear…one of his old standbys this season. 
— Using an overly-serious segue about health throws the tone off balance and doesn’t do much to hide that the medicine cabinet part feels tacked on. 
— This gets back on track a little with the segment about the shredded socks, and a scene-stealing appearance from Kenan’s kids. 
— I do like the runner in this about the loose AAA battery (as close as SNL gets to a runner these days).
— As is often the case with pretapes of recent years, you could have chopped 40 seconds off with no big loss, but this is passable enough.
STARS: **½

ROM-COM TRAILER
Nick (ALM) hasn’t had time to find “the one” until coronavirus forces him to quarantine at home

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— Interesting premise here. 
— Bowen popping in for the thankless best friend role. Another rare pairing here too, of Bowen and Alex.
— I can’t imagine how strange it was to play a scene where you talk to another version of yourself who is checking out your ass, but Alex is somehow a pro at it.
— This would actually pass as an arthouse film…with much less clothing and much more staring into space, anyway. 
— Good subtle bit where Bowen realizes just what has been going on.
— The reviews, as is often the case in these parodies, are not necessary.
— I’m not sure if it was planned, but the self-lovers being briefly torn apart by wrist pain is a clever touch (no pun intended). 
— Good conclusion with the “I love you…I mean me! I love me!”
— Even the familiar joke of not knowing what month it is works.
— A worthy choice for the final Cut For Time piece uploaded to Youtube, and another reminder of the many talents of Alex that are so rarely utilized.
STARS: ****½

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Animal Crossing
Rom-Com Trailer
Neighbors
City on Lockdown
Jaden Acts Out
Your House Promo
Quarantine Cooking
Dr. Birx Ad
Quarantine Delivery

COMING SOON
Season 45 wrap-up! The gang’s all here!

May 9, 2020 – Kristen Wiig / Boyz II Men (At Home III) (S45 E18)

by Matt

VIRTUAL GRADUATION
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) resides over KAM’s virtual graduation ceremony

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— Hooray, it’s my last time having to cover Trumpwin! Also: goddammit, I have to cover Trumpwin one more time! (To those feeling bittersweet about the occasion, rest assured that my next episode for this project features Jim Carrey’s Joe Biden, so I’ll never be truly free of my suffering.)
— Interesting to see a few writers filling out extra roles on the fake Zoom call. I can’t recognize all of them but I see Will Stephen (“Meg”), Gary Richardson (“Oz”), Alison Gates (“Charley”), and Sudi Green (“Chai”) in the mix.
— The idea that Donald Trump would be free to deliver a commencement address for a completely random high school is quite contrived. The way the sketch was going before he showed up was fine—how come we can’t just get a nice, observational ensemble piece (like, say, the graduation pretape from Schumer’s S43 ep) instead?
— Kate is actually delivering some decent deadpan lines here, which feels rare of her in this era. Maybe it’s assisted by the fact that this is pre-taped so she can’t just break her way through the material. Whatever the reason, her delivery of “Crystal, don’t make me key your car again” to Heidi’s pro-Trump student got me.
— All of the cast members’ makeshift graduation caps are really cute. I especially like Melissa’s cardboard cap with a tie hanging off the side.
— LOL, I love ya Kenan, but I cannot buy you as a high schooler. Not with that salt and pepper beard, my friend.
— Trump taking a big swig of Clorox… I’m no fan of the guy but that feels pretty cheap even for SNL’s political satire standards.
— This one was pretty par for the course in terms of being low-reaching and toothless, but I respect the slimness (it clocks in at under five minutes) and found some charm in the DIY nature of it all. I wonder how that’ll affect my scores as the night goes on.
STARS: **

MONOLOGUE
KIW celebrates her mother and sings a childhood lullaby

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— Really enjoyed the jazzy, colorful montage at the start of this.
— I feel like I have to mention Kristen flashing the camera, even if I don’t know what exactly to do with that.
— Kristen’s material here isn’t the greatest, but there’s a nice sincerity to how she talks about her mother that elevates it, as well as the flashes of Kristen’s great deadpan instincts.
— Could’ve done without Kristen’s musical number at the end, though I get the need to end this monologue with a burst of energy.
STARS: **½

ITALIAN VACATION
obnoxious HEG & MAS revel in their Italian fantasia to their disinterested pals

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— Martin Short! I could afford not to see this sketch again, which I think was lucky to have a second installment that got over (if not solely because of some good ol’ fashioned breaking), though I’ll give some credit to the fact that Martin seems like the right person to embody this sort of character. Maybe it’ll work out alright.
— There’s a decent center to this sketch’s return, with Martin and Heidi’s dim, high-society wannabes going on vacation to Italy in the middle of quarantine, but it feels like a step back from both Cooba and Nawlins for me.
— Honestly, I would’ve really liked to see a version of this sketch performed live. There’s a very clear, solid rapport between Martin and Heidi, even remotely, and I imagine them being able to truly play off of each other would enhance this significantly.
— Martin Short, as usual, finds a way to make his insane facial expressions and physical acting feel deeply inhibited.
— Not a lot of laughs in this sketch—I feel like it didn’t compensate enough for the lack of audience response. With that being said, I thought the character work was strong enough to make it decently interesting. Strange choice of lead-off sketch, though.
STARS: ***

LET KIDS DRINK
SNL cast & (Josh Gad) plead for underaged alcohol consumption

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— Solid premise to this song. I also really like that this is such a big ensemble piece, which is giving off some grandiose “We Are the World” vibes.
— Chris is providing amusing ad-libs throughout this.
— Loved how everyone sings that their idea was okayed by child services, only for “CHILD SERVICES COULD NOT BE REACHED FOR COMMENT” to briefly appear on the screen right afterwards.
— “Let kids drink! / It’s not like they can drive!”
— Good escalation with the song breaking out into a chorus of children pleading to drink.
— The Josh Gad bit is a bit shoe-horned in, but I’m also pretty amused that either Disney would okay this sort of thing, or that Josh Gad would willingly put himself in the line of fire to participate in an SNL sketch for eight seconds.
— Another short but cute bit with Pete begging his mom to let him drink. The looseness of this idea is actually sort of playing to its benefit in allowing the song to perpetually evolve in weirder and weirder ways.
— Hahaha, the overly-sentimental ending shots of kids drinking and clinking glasses was a great touch.
STARS: ****

MASTERCLASS: QUARANTINE EDITION
Phoebe-Waller Bridge & Britney Spears (CHF) join John Mulaney (MEV), teach esoteric lifestyle classes

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— I didn’t like the first installment of this sketch at all but I recall this one being far more enjoyable.
— Chloe’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge is probably one of the most spot-on impressions that I’ve seen her do on the show. There’s not very much to the writing, but everything about how she inhibits Phoebe—all the eye and eyebrow work, the cheeky expressions—is laser-sharp. (I say all of this, too, as someone who can be pretty skeptical of Chloe’s character work.)
— Glad to see Melissa getting involved in this sketch; felt strange that she would be shut out of the last one. Her Mulaney impression here, while far from the most pitch-perfect in her oeuvre, is a lot of fun and pretty on-the-mark with capturing Mulaney’s vocal cadence.
— For some reason, Melissa-as-Mulaney’s weird, dissociated side-wave is a visual that’s stuck with me from this sketch.
— I feel sort of guilty laughing at parts of Chloe’s Britney Spears impression (“Oops, I burned my gym down~”). Especially in light of Britney finally being freed of her conservatorship, a lot of these jokes feel like they fall into that exploitative “look at this trainwreck!” camp that she was put at the mercy of during the trashiest parts of the aughts. Chloe does a good job at nailing the voice and imitating her bizarre Instagram videos, but it really borders on punching down and is making me a bit unsure of how to react.
STARS: ***½

ZOOM CHURCH
pastor (KET)’s Zoom church service is disrupted by his uncooperative virtual audience

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— Kenan is doing a good job of presiding over this sketch, though it is ultimately the kind of role that he’s born to play: the irritable guy dealing with strangely inept people.
— I like the detail of how every time we cut back to the Zoom audience, there are even more people signed in.
— Decent out with Kenan successfully muting the entire service, but preventing anyone from being able to hear the ensuing choir performance.
— I have very few specific comments to make about this. I like the observational nature of it, as with a lot of these At Home pieces, but it’s just fine.
STARS: ***

DANNY TREJO RAP
PED celebrates the life and accomplishments of Danny Trejo (real)

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— “JP ON DA TRACK!” Oh thank God, I love that guy!
— This little animated dancing Danny Trejo guy is the stuff of nightmares.
— Look, I think Danny Trejo is cool, and I think we all do. But did he need one of Pete’s substanceless hero worship raps? I don’t think so. All this does is threaten to retrospectively taint my guilty enjoyment of “Tucci Gang.”
— Now Pete’s just listing off Trejo’s roles off of IMDb. Interesting to see his creative process at work.
— “I got my own tacos / That’s right, my own tacos / They called Trejo’s Tacos / That’s right, Trejo’s Tacos.” That was written.
— Chris delivers a feature on this rap that seems tentatively attached to the Danny Trejo concept, but hey, he has far better flow than Pete.
— Nice to see Danny Trejo cameo at the end at least, even if he feels sort of unsure of how to feel about the sketch, too. Glad he could advertise his new donut shop.
STARS: *

BOUNCY WAVES WITH PJ CHARNY
(KRW)’s class on hair care is as unruly as her ‘do

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— Ah, we’re finally getting Kristen more in the mix this episode. Kinda surprised we haven’t seen her woven into anything before this, let alone after.
— The fact that the entire conceit of this sketch is just Kristen’s hair bobbing up and down over the camera is super thin, and I feel like a dumb child in that it’s kind of working for me.
— Kenan doing his flamboyant, sassy Southerner voice serves as additional confirmation that this is very clearly a James Anderson sketch.
— Cecily is offering pretty fun support, and I like how Kristen’s character has randomly turned on her. 
— Yeah, this isn’t really a sketch I can defend but it got over for me. The lack of dead air helped it a lot.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
MIC introduces musical guest

musical guest performs “A Song for Mama” over photos of SNL mothers

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— Matt: A classy musical guest introduction from Che.
— Aww, the pictures of the SNL cast and their moms are a really sweet touch.
— Blue: An unexpected pick for musical guest, but given the significance of the song they’re performing, a welcome one.
— Over the course of the pandemic, I became such a sucker for remote recordings of bands playing their individual parts to a song, then stitched together into one video. Seeing the different members of Boyz II Men each adding their own parts to the track is therefore really fascinating to me.
— Beautiful vocals from Shawn Stockman.
— Incredible harmonizing—whoever mixed this track clearly deserves to be recognized.
— Photos of various cast members with their mothers appear onscreen during the chorus. Very heartwarming.
— Love Wanya Morris cutting loose with the soulful vocals.
— A pretty cheesy song, lyrically-speaking, but it was a sweet Mother’s Day tribute, and the Boyz have still got it.
STARS: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE
TIF discusses motherhood under quarantine

bleach-drunk Jeanine Pirro (CES) stumbles through her wardrobe

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— Not super excited about this segment, to be honest. While Weekend Update tends to be one of the most uniformly strong part of this era, I’ve always found these At Home iterations very awkward and hollow.
— Geez, Colin looks, uh, well-lit. Don’t like that little peek of the Jost chest hair too much.
— Che: “Look, obviously this pandemic has been tough for everybody. I lost my grandmother. Colin, you lost J. Crew…”
— Michael is doing a good job with this, probably because he’s a natural stand-up and his material is far more poignant. Colin’s parts of this Update, on the other hand, feel akin to watching one of those YouTube videos where they siphon the laugh track out of The Big Bang Theory. So much of their success as a duo is how well they play off of each other, and virtually none of it is on display here. Hell, there’s awkward moments where Colin is clearly about to react to one of Che’s rants, and then it randomly cuts to Colin stiffly delivering a different news story.
— Always pretty nice to see Tina Fey giving a commentary at the Update desk. (I look forward to this claim being contested by my fellow review buddies!)
— I haven’t found a ton to specifically point out within Tina’s piece, but she’s in fine form here and seems well-adapted to this At Home format. 
— The part with Tina posing as if a picture of Andrew Cuomo is holding her hasn’t aged particularly well, but I do really like her line, “You can hit his nipple ring like a rattle.”
— Good back and forth as Tina gets Che to repeat her motherly affirmations.
— Che reads the joke that whatever mega-rich guy who won the charity auction mentioned last episode wrote, and guess what? It SUCKS! Colin and Che seem very aware of that as well, and at least had the smart thinking to feed Colin a properly offensive joke to end the segment on.
— WOAH, very random quality shift on Colin’s lighting for the Jeanine Pirro bit. I guess these were shot apart, which isn’t too surprising.
— Makes sense that they’d bring Cecily’s Jeanine Pirro back for this Update considering she’s always a great note to go out on, but I have a feeling this one won’t work particularly well considering she can’t fuck with Colin as usual.
— This segment is at least taking advantage of being pre-recorded by having Cecily get into progressively weirder outfits, but I can’t say that’s as strong of a gag as she usually gets.
— Alright, Colin at least gets some water thrown at him (courtesy of an off-screen Scarjo I’m assuming), but it feels about as haltingly-executed as you’d expect.
— I feel bad for being so hard on Update, because they really were trying for these three episodes, but it just doesn’t work with the At Home format.
STARS: **

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE
What’s Wrong With This Picture- mothers (AIB) (EGN) (MEV) struggle to define visual caveats

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— I forgot they did an iteration of this for the At Home episodes. I’m not the most jazzed to see it but it should work with the current format pretty well.
— Melissa: “I’m actually not a mother, I’m a grandmother.” Kenan: “Well how does that work?”
— Aidy, regarding what’s wrong with a picture of a woman staring into a mirror: “The glory hole is too high, now she knows it’s the neighbor.”
— Melissa regarding the same picture: “She tied the noose too big and now she’s gotta start over!”
— The usual fun one-liners in this sketch, but it’s missing the extra oomph you get from audience response.
STARS: ***

ELEANOR’S HOUSE
AIB’s imaginary house party becomes host to some unfavorable guests (KYM) (HEG)

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— I like the aesthetic of this piece, and Aidy is a really good anchor for these sort of seemingly-cheery vibes. 
— Hahaha, a fantastic reveal of Kyle’s disturbing, middle-aged Richard Carson character being awkwardly invited to her party. For some reason, how short he is really cracks me up.
— And now Kyle’s equally-creepy, photorealistic girlfriend (played by Heidi) and a bunch of other weirdos are taking over the house party—I dig it.
— A strange (and vaguely insulting?) choice to have the weirdo that Pete’s playing just… look like Pete compared to how the others’ characters are caricatured.
— The random shots of Bowen’s cartoon dog character being fully unaware of how unnerving the other party guests are to us—just kinda happily bobbing around n’ shit—is a good, subtle touch.
— A great, distressing ending with a bunch of cops coming in, tasing Kyle’s character, and telling Aidy to get her life together.
— I’ve always really enjoyed this sketch. It’s such a weird one that it feels almost un-SNL, but I’d consider it one a strong example of the sort of boldness that would occasionally come out of these At Home episodes (alongside, say, “Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles” and Melissa’s piece from last episode)—something I wish that the show would make more of an effort to integrate when it returned to 8H. This is also one of my favorite uses of Aidy by this point in her tenure; she’s great at playing very emotionally-insecure characters, and putting that into a context as specific and creepy as this enabled it to be a huge win for me.
— Sidenote: YouTube had the comments on the official upload of this sketch disabled for the longest time because they seemed to accidentally think this was an actual kid’s video, which is fucking hilarious. Those poor kids who found this sketch by accident… 
STARS: ****½

DAD PRANKS
Brandon tortures his corny-ass bitch dad (MID)

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— Ooh, here’s my favorite Mikey sketch from these At Home episodes.
— SNL seems to alternate between either getting how Internet culture works perfectly, or not getting it at all. This is probably the best example of how right they can get it—the editing in this is absolutely perfect.
— I think it speaks to how awesome of a dad Mikey is that he finds ways to get his son involved in the show occasionally. (He also popped up at the end of the “War in Words” sketch from the Phoebe Waller-Bridge episode earlier this season.) This is definitely his most prominent role (thus far), and the kid’s inherited some pretty decent comedic timing.
— I really like the stupid, evil Gigi Hadid prank, and how much Mikey’s kid whips him around over it. (“Why do you hate Gigi Hadid?” “Brandon, I don’t hate Gigi Hadid, I wish her the best.” “…Why do you hate women?” “I don’t hate women!”)
— The jumpscares bit feels like a big step back for this sketch, which has already evolved into being about Brandon’s cruel, psychological torture of Mikey. It at least feels authentic to this sort of video content, though.
— The final escalation with Brandon changing Mikey’s Zoom background to a picture of his boss’ teenaged daughter, though, is fuckin’ perfect. The cherry on the sundae is Kenan yelling at Mikey when he gestures towards the picture in an accidentally-inappropriate way (“Don’t TOUCH her!”).
STARS: ****

LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER
Lighthouse keeper KAM offers isolation tips

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— Oh boy, now it’s Kate’s turn to ham it up for two minutes.
— I see that Kate plays all male roles the same, regardless of if they’re politicians.
— Interesting to hear the exact same royalty-free sea shanty music that SpongeBob uses regularly. Not to draw unfair comparisons, but… it’s not like there’s much going on here.
— This sketch is way too reliant on Kate being silly, which is something that just cannot do anything for me these days. It feels way too indulgent, and there’s not even any good bits of writing to take the edge off.
— Apparently this was a loose parody of Willem Dafoe’s character from The Lighthouse, though that somehow makes this worse.
STARS: *

IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Little Richard marks his passing

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— Why is this appearing right after that sketch?? I mean rest in peace Little Richard, but…

BEER MONEY
KYM, KYM, & KYM go on a quest to cure his broken heart and find treasure

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— Feels really odd to see Kyle doing such different character voices. The voice he’s putting on for “Ben,” especially, is one that I’ve never heard him use on the show before.
— The very poor split-screen editing here is providing some laughs.
— A funny, random moment where Kyle appears as a brand-new character who, when questioned about his sudden appearance, runs away immediately.
— Another great little bit with Kyle nonchalantly walking into a bank and ostensibly, through a shoddy voice-over, robbing them. (“Hey gimme all your money.” “No prahblem!”) I also like that he only stole $20.
— As this sketch is progressing, it feels almost too formless for me to get a decent read on it. A lot of the weird and off-beat moments are getting laughs from me, but the fact that I can’t really figure out any throughline makes it feel very discombobulated.
— Yeah, I mean… I liked this enough, but it’s probably one of Kyle’s weaker contributions to the show.
STARS: ***

DREAMS

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— YES! This is the sketch that cemented my decision to cover this final At Home episode, even if it’s probably thought of as the lesser of the three. (Whether or not I agree with that claim is up for debate.)
— A brilliant little idea for an ensemble sketch to arise out of these circumstances, going through what every member of the cast dreams about doing in the city through miniature vignettes. The choice for it to have it suddenly burst into color after starting in black-and-white is making it feel extra special, as well as Clair De Lune playing in the background—always classy, as long as it isn’t trashy.
— Ironic that there’s a little footage from “Sad Mouse” in here considering it has similarly sentimental vibes.
— Love the little reveal of Alex gleefully throwing breadcrumbs at a horde of rats. Poor guy hasn’t gotten a lot to do in these At Home specials, or indeed, SNL in general, but he’s great for little moments like these.
— In her dream, Cecily’s attending the grand premiere of “Sonic the Hedgehog: The Musical,” another solid bit of stupidity. I recall there being a bit of minor controversy over the fact that the Sonic artwork used here was actually uncredited fan-art. The artist took it in pretty good spirit, at least, though he’s right that it’s kind of shitty to do on their part. I’ll assume negligence.
— There’s a few bits where the cast is superimposed next to a celebrity in some bizarre situation (Pete with Giuliani at a baseball game, Heidi sitting courtside with Jeff Goldblum), but my absolute favorites are Kenan giving Tootsie a thumbs-up, and Ego’s uncomfortable revelation that she’s sitting next to Woody Allen.
— I like Beck’s little gasp when he realizes that he’s on a Carnival cruise.
— This final part of the pretape gets me really misty-eyed. Colin and Che having a nice moment on the Rockefeller ice rink; Kate playing piano on top of the front entrance of 30 Rock and waving; Cecily seeing her castmates across the street fade away. You can really feel the well of emotions that everyone at SNL must’ve been feeling—the pain that they were separated and couldn’t be with each other, but the tightness of their bond. A lot of people looked at this sketch as a means of speculating if anyone was leaving at the end of the season, myself included—maybe Cecily, since she’s the center of the sketch? Maybe Kate, because of her wave goodbye?—but the fact that no such speculation came to pass doesn’t make this sketch feel any less visceral. Hell, even if I wasn’t happy to see everyone return in the fall and then some, watching this sketch again after so long… I really do get it.
— God, what a way to close out the season. It feels rare for a season’s final sketch to be truly solid, let alone so deeply poignant and meaningful. This one’s perfect.
STARS: *****

GOODNIGHTS

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— I’ve always found the goodnights rolling over the photo of an empty Studio 8H to be a bit haunting, so I like these credits rolling over footage of Kristen tossing and turning in bed quite a bit in comparison.

CUT FOR TIME: MESSAGE TO THE GIRLS

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— I’m assuming this is another Anna Drezen/Alison Gates piece considering the Kate & Aidy pairing. While I’ve found those to be increasingly running out of steam, I recall enjoying this one a lot when it came out.
— Not usually a huge fan of these two doing gender-swaps, but I do like this premise of them playing teenaged boy altar-egos.
— Kate’s mic is pretty iffy throughout this sketch. Her audio quality fluctuates between good and “talking into an empty trash can,” but I have to let it slide a bit.
— A cheap joke, but I like how Kate calls COVID “the Cordoba virus” (with a picture of the Qdoba logo on-screen, to boot). 
— This premise of “Kurt” and “Aiden” running down how prom would’ve gone if it happened this year is a solid chance to run through some fun, very specific observational comedy.
— The editing throughout this is also helping to sell all of the bits and keep things moving along swiftly.
— Funny, quick bit with Aidy’s awkward conversation with his limo driver.
— Hahaha, Kate was on the prom committee that helped come up with the prom’s theme: WWII.
— Some good physical comedy from Kate and Aidy with their awful, graceless dancing.
— Kate: “When it’s time to kiss I will become distant and sweaty, like a first-time bank robber.” Aidy: “I will have so many Altoids throughout the night, you will feel my breath in your eyes.”
— Your mileage might vary with this sketch. Some might dismiss it as more Kate and Aidy nonsense, which is valid; I think it’s one of their stronger, more inspired team-ups.
STARS: ****

CUT FOR TIME: THE LAST DANCE
Bulls fanatic Kim Jong-Un (BOY) weighs in on The Last Dance

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— Yeahhh, I love Bowen but I’m thoroughly unsold by the comedic thrust of this piece just being interviews from The Last Dance with Kim Jong-Un randomly woven in.
— I feel like Chloe is trying too hard with this random impression. It’s kind of distracting.
— I got a mild laugh from Chris saying Jerry Kraus used to be “a little fat kid.”
— Wow, this sketch really just… ends. And with not a solid hook to be found…
STARS: *

CUT FOR TIME: MOMMING WITH DENISE

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— Glad to see Ego getting a solo character showcase sketch. Her characterization of a mother beyond wit’s end is incredibly solid and well-realized, even if the material feels somewhat familiar.
— I got a big laugh out of the glittery “MOM WIN!” text appearing on-screen inappropriately after Ego confesses that she lies to her kids about being a nurse so that she can hide in the closet for two hours.
— “Last night my son asked me if he needs to wipe his penis after he pees. And I realized, I DON’T KNOW.”
— A short but sweet piece. All killer, no filler. You can tell how poised Ego is to become next season’s big breakout star.
STARS: ****

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— It’s really hard to really compare the At Home episodes to a conventional SNL episode, given everything that was working against them in their creation. It’s a high-wire act, and the fact that it came together for three different outings—each one deeply-experimental and worthwhile—is a demonstration of how well-oiled a machine SNL is, even in the toughest of times. I’ve also always thought of them as sort of a sink-or-swim trial for the cast, demonstrating how well they can adapt to the circumstances and create solo, sometimes deeply-personal pieces; it’s an even greater reflection of the cast that every single one of them has their moments across these episodes, even if some have more than others.
— I feel like this third At Home episode is dismissed a bit more than the first two. The debut is the most sloppy by far, but that can be excused pretty readily—it was their first shot at something that they’ve never done before, and its daring nature makes up for the bouts of weakness. The second outing, meanwhile, is the most solid as a whole. That leaves this third one somewhere in the middle, but I feel like it’s got quite a bit to brag about in its own right, featuring a nice blend of sharp character work, absurd premises, and the very affecting “Dreams” sketch to close out the season. A complicated episode for sure, but a winner.

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Dreams
Eleanor’s House
Dad Pranks
Let Kids Drink
(CFT: Momming with Denise)
(CFT: Message to the Girls)
Masterclass: Quarantine Edition
Italian Vacation
Beer Money
Zoom Church
What’s Wrong With This Picture
Bouncy Waves with PJ Charnt
Monologue
Weekend Update
Virtual Graduation
(CFT: The Last Dance)
Danny Trejo Rap
Lighthouse Keeper

COMING SOON
We’re taking a little detour with our usual coverage! John will take a look at the cluster of Cut-for-Time At Home sketches that came out between S45 and S46.

April 25, 2020 – At Home II (S45 E17)

by John

A MESSAGE FROM DR. ANTHONY FAUCI
Anthony Fauci (Brad Pitt) reacts to Donald Trump’s coronavirus statements

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— There was some debate at the time of the airing of the At Home episodes, which was, believe it or not, now over two years ago (time flies when you spend every day dreading what will happen tomorrow), about whether these should be considered as having hosts or not. As NBC never designated Pitt as having that role, unlike Tom Hanks and Kristen Wiig, I am classifying this as an episode with no host—the first since 1984.
— Written by Colin Jost.
— Brad Pitt is one of the stars who shot from toiling in small roles to big time quickly enough that they zoomed right by hosting SNL. However, Pitt has had two pre-taped cameos, 20 years apart. 
— This is also his second episode with involvement from Bad Boys-era cast members. Clearly Brad was aching for his chance to be in a “you put your weed in there” reunion sketch, which never got to happen. Damn you, COVID!
— The reason Pitt agreed to cameo is because, earlier that month, when Fauci was asked who he would like to play him on SNL, he chose Pitt. 
— This intro uses an Update format of showing Trump clips and having Pitt-as-Fauci react to them. I’m not sure how I would feel if this were used as a regular cold open format—I would probably say it’s a cheat—but here, it works well as the clips and the reaction to them are kept to the point, as the sketch runs for 3 minutes, not 8-10. 
— Pitt received an Emmy nomination for this part, which generated some controversy, as always, but I would say he does a good job. Pitt’s performance is aided by the pre-tape format, but is also much more natural than Kate’s take on the role—probably because we see much less of Pitt on this show, but also because he does not play the role in a way that invites the wink-and-nod of golly gosh, what an honor that our favorite cast member is playing our favorite public figure!
— While things did not feel very simple at the time, I look back at this and miss that window (albeit one already mostly closed by this point) when all talk about Fauci, and the pandemic itself, was not just more culture war hysteria.
— I like the change of LFNY to: “Live, kinda, from all across America, it’s Saturday Night.”
STARS: ***

OPENING CREDITS
— I’m so glad the show made new credits for the at home episodes. There are visual treats, from noticing which cast members look completely ill at ease to which have never looked better (Colin), as well as much more spotlighting and appreciation of the band than they have received in the last 20 years. (As this is the final season for guitarist Jared Scharff, it’s something of a nice, if unintended, tribute to him too)

WHAT UP WITH THAT: AT HOME
Charles Barkley & DJ Khaled [real] panel remotely

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— Written by Steve Higgins and Bryan Tucker.
— I don’t know if much of anyone ever expected to see WUWT again after the 2012 Christmas show, especially since it had originally been retired a year and a half before then. As some said at the time—it took a pandemic to bring back What Up With That.
— While I’m not sure how they felt about the mostly thankless roles, it makes me smile seeing present-day cast Ego and Melissa continuing in the storied tradition of the WUWT backing singers.
— Kenan’s wig…
— Jason and Fred! And more terrible wig placement!
— It was when Bill Hader chose not to cameo in this (after appearing in the first at home show to pay tribute to Hal Willner) that I began to suspect he was increasingly unlikely to ever perform on the show again—two years later, I am still left wondering if that is the case.
— I remember some funny comments at the time when some fans thought they might have just used old clips for Jason and Fred—the response being that based on what a hard time Jason was having keeping his dancing up, he was clearly in the present day.
— A reminder of how big the Michael Jordan documentary was around this time (one of a number of references in these episodes) . And a reminder of the entertainment to be found in Kenan and Barkley playing off each other (even in remote form) after the years Kenan impersonated him.
— Cecily, singing her heart out (of course), makes her first at-home appearance as Quarantina. One of many, many, many COVID-and-alcohol jokes of the last two years and counting.
— Barkley is perfect, in that unique Barkley way, at these brief reaction moments. DJ Khaled is also perfect as I have barely seen him (although the little dance he does at the performances is oddly charming).
— Another appearance from Mikey and his son, who was an honorary cast member in these At Home episodes.
— Getting around Lindsey not speaking by having his Wifi connection lost is clever, but I’m glad they finally adapted to Hader not being there in the next (and last…???) installment.
— While this isn’t a masterpiece, it’s endearing to watch, and works much better in the Zoom format than one might have expected. I’m bumping my score up a bit because bringing back beloved recurring segments after nearly a decade can go very wrong. Fortunately, this was nostalgia done right.
STARS: ****

IN DEPTH
quarantined anchor’s (MID) daughter phone-filters his report

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— Written by Streeter Seidell and Mikey Day.
— A Chris Cuomo reference. Great start…
— Much as I appreciate the on-the-fly efforts with these episodes, the harsh glare on Mikey’s face is a tad distracting. The same happens in an upcoming Kate-n-Aidy sketch.
— It’s interesting to see the ticker running across the bottom of the screen with news that seems real, but has fake names.
— If this sketch seems familiar to you, it’s because they did this in the Adam Sandler episode about a year earlier.
— Ego is doing good work in the straight woman role.
— The filter that makes Mikey’s character breathe fire when he coughs is a cute idea.
— I like the ending with Kenan as a doctor who is proudly using a filter, earning praise from Ego. A satisfying reversal of the usual humiliation element in these sketches.
— This makes sense as a filler segment for a Zoom show, but beyond a brief grin or two you aren’t going to have much to linger on. I think this type of silliness is more of a natural fit with Sandler in the house. Speaking of which…
STARS: **

STUCK IN THE HOUSE
PED & ADS sing about being quarantined with their families; ROS cameo

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— Pete Davidson raps!
— Written by Pete and Dan Bulla.
— As a number of other recaps have delved into, season 45 was a particular low point for Pete creatively, where his biggest accomplishment often seemed to be making it into the building. The lockdowns changed the course of Pete’s time on SNL significantly, allowing him to just chill with his mother, and give viewers some very lo-fi music videos.
— Near the start we get a fascinating glimpse into the many show business connections Pete had forged by this time, all in one cameo screen. Nathan Fillion (Pete played his brother on The Rookie a few times), Judd Apatow (who cast Pete in one of his first roles [Trainwreck] and then made a film on his life [The King of Staten Island] released around this time), Tan France (who did several Queer Eye makeover videos with Pete), John Mulaney (we all know about that one), Anne Marie Tendler (we’ll just…move on). In 2005, if you were asked how Nathan Fillion or Judd Apatow would appear on SNL, would you ever have said Zoom cameos during a pandemic?
— Pete’s part of the rap is basic, if charming, but I love the “I’m goin’ crazy, crazy, crazy,” hook—I’ve had it stuck in my head since I first saw this episode.
— Adam Sandler! Fascinating how he doesn’t appear on the show in nearly 20 years, then is back twice in a year.
— Thanks for Anthony for reminding me that Sandler got involved because Pete sent him the song and Sandler wanted to add his own verse. Pete said this was by far his favorite moment at the show.
— While Pete and Sandler starred together in a Chad pre-tape that hit Youtube, this is their first heavy interaction to make a live show.
— Sandler’s interlude is a good example of why he has outlasted the various bad imitations of him—a natural charisma beyond saying abbie doobie or miming a trumpet. The inclusion of his wife and kids also reminds viewers that he has been willing to grow up, unlike many in Hollywood, even as he still seems like himself.
— I never thought we’d see Rob Schneider on SNL again. I’m torn between being dubious about modern day Rob being back in any capacity, and giving into my childhood nostalgia. If nothing else, I am glad I can at least remember him in a piece I can enjoy, unlike so much of his final season as a cast member.
— The interaction between Pete and his mother is always charming, even when just sitting on a sofa.
— Strong as Sandler’s 2019 episode was, I feel like this piece comes closer to capturing his enduring appeal.
— Even if this is not as well put together as, say, Tucci Gang, when I think of rap material from Pete I have enjoyed, this is near the top of the list.
STARS: ***½ 

BARTENSON’S GROCERY STORE
(AIB) & (KAM) list items that Bartenson’s Grocery Store has plenty of

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— Written by Anna Drezen and Alison Gates.
— It wouldn’t be season 45 without one more Kate-n-Aidy-n-Drezen piece.
— Bare shelves Bartenson’s!
— Between the depleted stock, and the joking reference to Ukrainian yogurt, this all feels much more current than it should.
— Aidy’s side ponytail gives her a younger look than many of the sketches where she was actually playing teenagers.
— The Dasani jokes aren’t very new, but they are amusing…moreso if we didn’t get a version of the joke four different times.
— The substitution part is funny.
— I like that they are playing with the obviousness of Kate and Aidy not being together and having to pretend they are together, and of Kate being blocked by an item and awkwardly trying to move away from it. There’s a very French & Saunders feel to this type of humor.
— The material feels repetitive enough to where I assumed the runtime is longer than it actually is.
— This pairing, of both cast members and writers, does not do a great deal for me, but I will say this was better than a number of other variations of this sketch from Kate and Aidy over the last 3 seasons. Just a bit too repetitive in tone for me to give a slightly higher ranking.
STARS: ***

BIG DOMINICAN LUNCH
David Ortiz (KET) & Big Bunny (Bad Bunny) cook meat

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— Written by Colin Jost and Kenan Thompson.
— I have to admit I’ve never been a big fan of this Update fixture, possibly due to having limited knowledge of the real Ortiz.
— The pure hell/Purell play on words is pure Jost. Kenan, as always, makes it work.
— Bad Bunny has a decent turn as Ortiz’s cousin, “Big Bunny.” He clearly enjoyed himself, as he goes on to appear in multiple sketches when he’s musical guest a season later.
— The heavy focus on the different meats both men are cooking is probably something that would have gotten more negative attention during simpler times. Even they reference it with the “PETA calls it a genocide” line.
— A quick laugh when Ortiz’s response to his cousin asking why he looks so much better these days is: “I got shot.”
— I like that after all this talking, Ortiz does not bother with any actual cooking.
— Similar to Bailey Gismert, I think the role suits his own sketch more than being behind the desk. 
— Aside from an Update piece in the Willem Dafoe episode that did not even make dress rehearsal, this is the final Big Papi appearance for now.
STARS: *** 

AIRBNB
COVID-19 left (CLF) stuck living with eccentric Airbnb guest Ooli (CLF)

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— Written by Chloe Fineman and Jasmine Pierce.
— When I chose my episodes for this season, I did not realize I’d cover two Ooli appearances. Sadly, I will not be covering the third. The honor of that particular… episode is going to another kind reviewer.
— It would be glib to say COVID was a benefit to Chloe, especially since she actually had COVID around this time, but there’s no denying that Chloe feels much more at home (no pun intended) getting to comb through her wigs and makeup and shoot her own material, rather than trudging into the studio to play Parkgoer #3 in Woof Woof Wow! starring Cecily, Aidy, and 3 terriers.
— I’m not sure if the wig and rainbow clothing Chloe wears as Ooli here is similar to how she styled the character pre-SNL, but along with the wardrobe change, Ooli has also undergone something of a personality change— rather than running around as a vlogger, Ooli is just a constant party machine.
— Very fun little glimpse of Bowen, Heidi, and a shirtless Alex as ravers on Ooli’s laptop. You got more genuine camaraderie in the at-home episodes than you do in many “normal” ones.
— Every time I hear Ooli’s “pretty cool” catchphrase, I’m reminded of how much more Chloe would have fit an SNL of 30 years ago, likely with various kids trying out that line, and that accent, at school on Monday.
— Ooli mindlessly clanking pots together to thank nurses amuses me.
— The scene with Ooli claiming she and the owner will be best friends is a good way to wind down, rather than what we got (the host being shocked at a “nude” Ooli doing yoga outside).
— Chloe does a good job contrasting Ooli with the rational, frustrated Airnbnb host, but this premise never gets out of first gear, leaving this feeling padded even with a trim runtime.
STARS: **½ 

RELEASED EARLY
after his coronavirus-spurred prison release, (CRR) contacts old flames

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— One of the rare Sam Jay and Gary Richardson sketches to make it on the air.
— I would classify season 45 as Chris’ low point as a cast member—other than the “That’s the Game” pre-tape, I struggle to remember standout moments for him. This sketch, however, is an exception, putting his charisma and confidence to what may be its best use.
— Ego is great in her quick role as a hookup who is not going outside because “[their] 5G stuff messed up and made a pandemic.”
— Aidy just about steals the sketch as the good Christian wife and mother who only talked about getting her “cheeks clapped” (that alone made me pause and laugh) because she assumed Chris’ character was never being released from prison.
— A number of Chris pre-tapes and sketches revolve around how stupid his character is, and don’t go much beyond that. One of the reasons this piece works as well as it does is because that element is made much less of a focal point—yes, he’s an idiot, but the real entertainment is watching him haplessly go through these women.
— Clever conclusion with Chris suddenly losing interest as his last call (Cecily) is coughing and sneezing. You don’t get a lot of interaction between Chris and Cecily.
— Something that slips under the radar here is how graphic some of the sexual language is—probably because it’s all said in a natural way, rather than being trotted out as naughty words for the viewers to tee hee at.
— This sketch slips under the radar in general, but it shouldn’t—not only does it remain one of the best showcases Chris Redd has had in his 5 seasons at SNL, it also serves as a glimpse into what might have been if Jay and Richardson had been given more of a chance.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Miley Cyrus & Andrew Watt [real] perform “Wish You Were Here”

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— Blue: Wonder what model guitar Andrew Watt is using. There’s more treble in its tone than on the original Pink Floyd recording.
— The video’s red tint and the smoke rising from the fire pit is very atmospheric.
— As I’ve said before, I don’t like Miley Cyrus’ voice. Not loving her take on this song.
— Miley scatting along to the song’s main riff is pretty unnecessary.
— This is pretty much on the level of Chris Martin’s previous performance: a harmless, ultimately forgettable version of a beautiful song.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE
PED reports from home on intimacy in the age of coronavirus

COJ announces contest that will require MIC to tell the winner’s joke

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— This is the first Update to not have any laughter or background reaction, after the at-home debut featured the odd effects of cast and crew laughter (something that would be utilized more successfully in the season 47 shutdown Christmas episode).
— Love Che’s T-shirt.
— Che is in full no-fucks-to-give mode, enhanced by a lack of a crowd to play to.
— Jost feels more hamstrung by the quiet, but he gets an unexpected jab in comparing Rudy to the racist stereotype in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
— Pete returns to Update to give a much less depressing commentary than earlier this season, in spite of being in the midst of a pandemic.
— Sometimes I forget this is still relatively early into the period where Jost was fine with letting people on the show joke about his relationship with Scarlett Johansson (I think the first was Chloe’s Update commentary) The jokes still pop up sometimes now, but were more effective around this point.
— Pete’s routine feels a bit “off” due to the lack of audience, almost as if he’s taking his turn and waiting for a response.
— This really gets going once Pete starts talking about the pornographic tone of the COVID sex guidelines from NYC, with a very funny line at the end about how the material gave him a semi.
— Pete himself even says it all feels weird without an audience. While I am in agreement, this is still a worthwhile commentary.
— Sharp joke from Che about the Land o’Lakes lady being replaced by a pipeline.
— Che razzing Jost over a bad joke makes it feel like they are in the same room, even though they aren’t.
— This concludes with a lot of setup to a write-a-joke-for-Che contest, and Che being given an ‘edgy’ joke that isn’t all that edgy (it’s not until season 46 that I think Jost finally pushes some darker material onto Che). Slightly plodding, but overall, fine.
— From some interviews around the season 46 premiere, I think Jost was one of those at the show who was not thrilled with the at-home format. You can feel that onscreen as well. However, the chemistry between Che and Jost is still there, and even with very bleak subject matter mixed with a few corny jokes, there is still something comfortable about watching them in such dark times. I am not sure how much I could say that about a number of other Update anchors.
STARS: ***

SOULCYCLE AT HOME
intense instructors conduct SoulCycle Virtual Workouts from their homes

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— Written by Fran Gillespie and Sudi Green. The third and last in the SoulCycle…cycle.
— Due to the at home aspect, this installment drops the roles of Ego and Mikey (Mikey did not play this character in the first one but that was only due to illness) as the “normal” people reacting to the crazy instructors and each other. This was always the weakest part of the first two sketches, and frees up Ego for a much better role as another of the instructors (“I’m hot AND religious…it’s a trap.”)
— Heidi is also very funny as the idiot who insists she can’t get COVID because she’s 22. You get the usual politically extreme outburst from a Heidi character, but also some good physical comedy she doesn’t do as often.
—The other participants don’t have as much comedic value, although I do like Bowen’s character decrying the “cancellation” of Bill Cosby because “we need doctors right now.”
— The second Ozark plug tonight. Sorry, SNL writers, still never seen it…
— Good ending with Cecily’s character announcing their positive vibes cured COVID…then realizing the text just mentions a steakhouse is delivering.
— The show really wrung all they could out of this concept, but this was a perfectly adequate way to bow out—while the first is still the best for me due to David Harbour’s performance and the freshness of the material, I would still put this above the second, which is mostly just memorable for JLo’s surprisingly strong work.
STARS: ***

OJ ADDRESS
O.J. Simpson (KET) interprets responses to him through a COVID-19 lens

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— Written by Josh Patten and Pete Schultz.
— Interesting way to start this sketch by taking us directly to “OJ’s” Twitter account, complete with a funny tweet about him recently talking to R. Kelly.
— Having OJ directly talk to SNL, and “Lauren Michaels,” is a smart idea, especially because the show doesn’t overuse this concept.
— Guilty laugh from him “relating” to SNL thinking they would have to do the one [show] then having to do another…
— Jokes about OJ being oblivious to why people hate him are older than much of our population, but the sheer goofiness and energy of Kenan’s delivery make them work.
— You know they couldn’t resist a Michael Myers mask for a COVID mask joke, although I kind of wish they had.
— “Even if I did get Corona, you know I’d beat it. I can beat anything.”
— This is a bit of a different approach to Kenan’s take on OJ—there is the usual obliviousness, but much more overt anger as well. I don’t think Kenan can pull that part off as well, but he doesn’t really have to as the piece doesn’t run on too long. This anger element is continued, again I’d say to mixed results, in Kenan’s most recent OJ appearance (in the Jerrod Carmichael episode).
— I was watching a reaction show stream after that appearance, which included a comment about Carl Tart being so good in this impression it wasn’t the same watching Kenan’s. And that made me realize, similar to the many, many OJ sketches with Tim Meadows, I don’t actually care about this impression (although Carl Tart is very talented)—it’s just my goodwill toward the performer that makes me give it a try. I have already heard all of these jokes too many times for too many decades. While this piece has some positives before trailing off in the second half, I probably wouldn’t have gone through it without Kenan in the role.
STARS: **

FACETIME WITH RUDD
Paul Rudd [real] & his cousin Mandy speak for first time since childhood

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— Written by Heidi Gardner.
— This is Paul Rudd’s second and final cameo in season 45, with Mandy facing a longer return—last seen two and a half seasons earlier, with James Franco (who is even less likely to return to SNL than Mandy was).
— Heidi and Paul have a nice backstory together, due to being Kansas City natives—he even tried to get her a job when she first moved to LA.
— Heidi had not had a particularly strong season up to the at-home shows. Aside from the usual Bailey Gismert appearance, her main lead roles had been somewhat aimless collaborations with Andrew Dismukes that came across like they were taken from a 2009 Kristen Wiig discard pile, and a movie quote sketch that took three different tries to finally get on the air, only for her to be overshadowed by Kate breaking up.
— The Franco version of this sketch is, like some of Heidi’s most underrated pieces (looking at you, “RV Life”), more melancholy in tone, whereas the Rudd revival zeroes in more on how strange Mandy is and her roasting the hell out of Rudd without any pretense of wanting to help him. Normally I would prefer the former, but between the host and the many unnecessary plugs of his various films, for once I am fine with the less layered followup.
— I always call Paul Rudd modern SNL’s Teri Garr because they are both incredibly talented comic performers whose specific comic styles rarely mesh with the show’s format. Most of the time, Paul either walks through, or is put in a position of trying too hard to be a Paul Rudd parody. This piece gets his style just right—laid-back, but with irritation seething under the surface.
— There are many line readings here from Paul that crack me up without making any sense unless you watch the sketch—my favorites are “what’s tatato?” and “You don’t have to keep saying Ramy Youssef.” (Heidi saying “Ramy Youssef” over and over also cracks me up)
— Seeing Paul, and the show, walk the tightrope of mentioning the infamous “Imagine” singalong without actually attacking it (as some of Paul’s friends/co-stars [and the above mentioned Wiig] were involved) is quite something.
— Heidi has rarely been funnier to me than she is in parts of this, especially her readings of, “Do YOU have Coronavirus?” and “You’ve changed, Paulie!” Just so aggressively weird. There’s a very specific energy in this that reminds me of encounters with drunk people which were not as amusing as this sketch tends to be.
— I love the idiocy of Cousin Mandy assuming fingerless gloves help stop her from getting COVID.
— Good ending with Paul hanging up after she tries to bring up a long-ago kissing incident between them.
— This sketch doesn’t get a great deal of attention, similar to most of the at home sketches, but it’s the perfect length, has witty dialogue that isn’t trying too hard to be witty, and is among the best work Paul or Heidi has given on SNL. As we are in another season which feels like a wash for Heidi, watching this again for the first time in a while was a much-needed tonic.
STARS: *****

THE REVEAL
virtual police procedural has some singing & an anticlimactic confession

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— Written by James Anderson and Will Stephen.
— I remember watching this live, trying to figure out what the point was going to be, then when Cecily started singing, my brain clicked into, “Oh of course, it’s James Anderson.”
— Watching this, I realize, adding on to what I said above about Cecily and Chris, you never saw a lot of Beck/Aidy/Chris/Bowen combos either. I am one of those fans who prefers a large cast, but I think more people would not be as critical of the concept if we got the mixing and matching that we get here.
— Beck’s stupid song is…stupid, but he makes it catchy.
— Heidi’s casual confession, and walking out, kind of works.
— Not a big fan of the ending, but I do like Heidi’s character returning to jam to Beck’s stupid song.
— This type of piece, which is all affectation and awkward vocals, tends to die a death when live. Here… well, it still isn’t great, but there’s a certain Inland Empire feel, especially when Heidi pops in near the end as a very Lynchian woman, that I appreciate.
— We’re near the end of James Anderson’s tenure as a staff writer. If he was going to go out on one of his old tropes, at least this works better than one might have expected…for whatever that’s worth.
STARS: **

PORNHUB
PornHub is there for its homebound customers in their time of need

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— Written by Seiday.
— Beyond another appearance from Mikey’s son, you also get a cameo from Chloe’s boyfriend Jake Nordwind, who would join the writing staff a few seasons later.
— Nice to see Melissa get a chance to work herself into a more subtly performed ensemble piece.
— Ego closing the blinds was the perfect ending, but the one we get (a panicked Mikey slamming his laptop shut when his son runs up) is alright.
— This is an effective (if, as per usual, just a tad overextended) parody of the “we’re all in this together” ads. The only downside is it doesn’t work as well once you know what the joke is about. This is the reason some fans complained about the show just putting “PORNHUB” right in the title on Youtube, which, as of today, they have not changed.
STARS: **½ 

WHISKERS R’ WE AT HOME
Barbara shows similar-looking cats available online via Whiskers R’ We

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— Written by Kent Sublette.
— An old favorite for Kate, last seen two and a half seasons earlier.
— I will admit, I am not a huge fan of these sketches, because they usually just devolve into crude sex jokes between Kate and various female hosts. However, the limitations of the at home format mean Kate has to change things up.
— I like that she is clearly using the same cat over and over even as it is presented with different names (and occasionally, tints).
— It’s amusing to see the cat looking genuinely annoyed (but not in a serious way—more in a Garfield-hates-Jon way) during a part where it is meant to be imperious and annoyed. As Master Thespian would say….acting!
— The BDSM joke entertained me more than it should have.
— The moments where Kate is cracking up at her cat are genuinely very sweet.
— I would have trimmed this a bit (along with a few of the pointless sexual references), but this is a very light, likeable segment, a side of Kate I enjoy far more than some of her more frequently utilized comedic personas, and it’s just nice to hear the cat purring and seeing how much real love is there between it and Kate, unlike a lot of animal-related segments on SNL, wich are often uncomfortable and unnecessary.
— This is, up to now, the last Whiskers R’ We sketch, and I hope that remains the case.
STARS: ***½ 

WHAT’S MY NAME?
at a party, Tommy (KYM) puts Rob (KYM) on the spot with “What’s my name?”

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— Written by Kyle Mooney and Dan Bulla.
— In season 45, Kyle had a difficult journey to document. After spending most of season 44 being a utility player, where you got more of him as Bradley Cooper than you did of him getting comedic showcases in his own voice, he had several very strong pre-tapes and decent live show work, culminating in the phenomenal Del Taco sketch. However, the one attempt at an old Kyle meta piece (“Kyle’s Transformation”) feels very regressive, half-assed, and is one of my least favorite things he’s ever done on SNL. The at home shows gave him a chance to refine his old Youtube style, which he definitely takes advantage of.
— Kyle playing opposite multiple versions of himself reminds me of his recent Netflix show, Saturday Morning All Star Hits (which is very much worth the watch). I wonder if he was using these sketches as a testing ground.
— Kyle does well at making each version of himself seem slightly different just through small quirks of style and performance.
—This sketch led to some claims of being too similar to another comedy video, which I don’t really see, but if you want to compare for yourself…
— Once we get to the main portion of the sketch (him roaming around the desert, angstily singing ‘80s power pop), I simultaneously find this entertaining and yet am left wanting more.
— I do like the editing effects in the music video, and the silliness of him singing every thought in his head.
— I also like the ridiculous non-ending of him just fading away.
— This isn’t among Kyle’s highlights, and runs into the problem of being derivative that you are more likely to get after 7 seasons in the cast, but it’s still very much worth watching, especially as a glimpse into non-SNL paths Kyle has taken.
STARS: ***½ 

MELISSA’S BIG DATE
MEV invites an unseen beau to spend the night

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— Written by Dan Bulla, Steven Castillo, Dan Licata, Melissa Villaseñor. This would be one of the only pieces Licata got on the air all season.
— As I write this, we are in another period of speculation and angst about how SNL has treated Melissa, her unhappiness, and her future at the show. I think Melissa is a very quirky, compelling figure whose talents are not well-suited to live sketch or to a brutally corporate, cold program like SNL. She probably would have shone in more introspective, slice-of-life material, the lifelines for fellow out-of-place/underused talents like Robin Duke and Laraine Newman, but that show has been gone for about 30 years. Add in most writers never doing much with her, and we’re left with this never-ending purgatory, where we just have to pause and praise the highlights.
— One of the reasons I like this sketch is because it does remind me of something Robin Duke might have done in early ‘80s SNL, especially the pantomime of her intensely kissing the invisible person beside her.
— Melissa’s inherent sweetness and vulnerability as a performer are put to their best use here during the portion where she slowly responds to the praise her beau is giving her.
— Love the music (it reminds me of “Come Saturday Morning”) and the absurd choices of clips used to represent the night of passion.
— A happy ending (not that…well, sort of that kind, I guess) for this sketch would have been a teensy bit better for me, but the part with her banishing the invisible person from her home due to their backing up her toilet is a decent laugh.
— A wonderful end with her, knowing smile and hands on hips, saying, “Oh, Meliss…you sure know how to pick ‘em.”
— While the last two seasons have had a highlight or two for Melissa, I think this is the perfect endpoint for her tenure, a perfect use of her gifts, and remains one of the more endearingly offbeat sequences on the show in modern times.
STARS: *****

AIDY’S REAL JOURNALS
AIB revisits her younger mindset by reading from her 2nd grade journal

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— Written by Aidy Bryant.
— This is a variation of a standup routine Aidy did several years earlier.
— My main takeaway is how natural Aidy is at delivering a monologue, as herself, no real frills or hiding behind a character.
— I especially like the part about her misspelling turtles and then making a quote bubble to no one that she would not be eating them.
— I have mixed feelings about the section where she starts talking about needing to get out and we get weird effects. I think it’s unnecessary, but it also helps slot this into the very strong “woman having a nervous breakdown” pieces Aidy gave us in the last third of 45 (like Overnight Salad and Eleanor’s House)
— Appropriately for Wonka-style flashbacks, we get a glimpse of her as an Oompa Loompa from season 44.
— While I still don’t think the “we’re in a pandemic…scary!” tag-on was needed, this is still a nice cooldown piece to close out the night.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS

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— There’s something very chilling about going to a darkened stage with just the closing theme playing. I suppose it reflected the mood of those at the show more than any COVID sketches ever could. 

CUT FOR TIME: MESSAGE FROM GOV. WHITMER
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (Cecily Strong) has some safety tips for people protesting stay-at-home orders.

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— Written by Fran Gillesepie and Sudi Green.
— I like the choice to film this outside. It feels less suffocating than a one-person address to camera might be otherwise.
— I’ll leave it to “Michiganders” to weigh in on Cecily’s accent. 
— Cecily has gone so  hogwild in her impressions  over the last few seasons I’d almost forgotten she was still giving a restrained performance this late in her tenure.
— Not a great start to this with the hacky Melania “that woman” joke.
— Better footing with some of the safety tip jokes, especially “You can call me a bitch from your couch…it’s called Twitter.”
— “Please, wear a mask, but not a Joker mask, not a clown mask…absolutely no mask that comes with a hood.”
—  A very rambling close to this sketch, but having her yell at kids vandalizing her house isn’t a bad wrapup…better than the lazy middle finger joke, anyway. 
— Whitmer’s main response to this piece was sending Cecily Michigan-made beer.
— I’m not too shocked this was cut—it’s probably too pointed politically for much of modern SNL outside of Update (I think a similar fate met Cecily’s CFT Dianne Feinstein pre-tape in season 44). 
— I have to admit I have become increasingly tired of political pieces where the politicians say easy claptor lines, and this is one example. WIth that said, it works fine for what it is (especially in the context of the time it was made), and works as a latter-day showcase for Cecily that doesn’t involve singing or shouting. 
STARS: ***

ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST TOUR
Beck Bennett gives a tour of his home for Architectural Digest

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—  Written by Beck Bennett.
— Does this open with the real intro for an open door AD segment? I don’t recognize the woman’s voice. I thought it might have been Beck’s wife, Jessy Hodges, but I am just not sure. 
—  All of you anti-product placement advocates out there will be seething to know who left the top comment on the video.
— This is a very simple concept, but is something I think could have been fun as a runner for several cast members: showing off their homes, making comedy of what is nearby. 
— That this works as well as it does is down to Beck’s easy camera presence and confidence. He could have mugged up a storm here, going along with his “who’s going to play the idiot?” reputation, but wisely held back.
— The part where they mention a calendar they now just use to hold puzzle pieces adds a bit of honesty to these types of at home segments. 
— Fun way to wind this down by showing off the various cracks in the walls.
— I’m such an idiot that the first few times I watched the end of this sketch, I thought he was saying goodbye to Aidy,  not “AD.” 
— This is a quick, highly watchable  segment. I’m not sure exactly why it didn’t get in (maybe it wasn’t seen as comedic enough?), but I’m glad they made this available on Youtube.
STARS: ***½ 

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— I’m very honored to be able to review one of the at-home episodes, and more specifically, my favorite of the three—the one that most balances general SNL content with experimentation and freedom.
— It’s easy to be negative now—hell, it’s always easy to be negative about the show, there’s a whole mini-industry built around that choice—but I do think the back half of season 45 was in very shaky form until we got the pandemic. While the long-term effects, from illness and death of beloved personnel and family, to the severe damage wrought to the industry leading various cast to stay longer than they likely planned, were harmful, one positive, inappropriate as it may be to find a positive in all this sorrow, I appreciate the innovations and risks taken by the show trying out this format, even just for a handful of episodes. It was the shakeup which the show had needed for some time, and has still carried over, in fits and starts, over the next two seasons.
— The shorter runtime for the material in this episode not only led to far more variety, but also far more patience and generosity on my part, with not a single rating below two stars for the entire night. I am sure there are valid reasons why we are stuck with a handful of 5-6-7 minute long sketches in most modern episodes, rather than shorter and sweeter sketches, but the at home episodes show just what a mistake that decision is.

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Melissa’s Big Date
Facetime With Rudd
Released Early
What Up With That
Stuck In The House
What’s My Name?
Whiskers R’ We At Home
(CFT: Architectural Digest Tour)
Weekend Update
A Message From Dr. Anthony Fauci
Big Dominican Lunch
Aidy’s Real Journals
Soulcycle At Home
Bartenson’s Grocery Store
(CFT: Message from Gov. Whitmer)
Pornhub
Airbnb
OJ Address
The Reveal
In Depth

TOMORROW
The mighty mighty Matt covers the third, and final, at-home show as we head out of season 45.

April 11, 2020 – Tom Hanks / Chris Martin (At Home I) (S45 E16)

by Carson

Before we start, I just want to say I’m excited to be reviewing these highly unique, fitfully compelling episodes of SNL At Home. I know there was some debate on the old site about whether the three At Home episodes of SNL count as official episodes, so I’m glad we’ve come to this conclusion. Even if Frank Serpas III’s SNL episode guide, Saturday Net, doesn’t acknowledge these episodes with sketch recaps, I still fail to see how 90 minutes of fresh material, complete with a monologue, Weekend Update and musical guest, would be anything other than a proper SNL, even if it isn’t quite living up to the “L” part of the moniker. These three episodes are SNL in spirit and almost entirely in format. So yeah, to me, they’re canon.

AT HOME COLD OPEN
SNL castmembers assemble via Zoom

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— This is just a simple, table setting opening that lets us know the social distanced nature of the program. It’s short, sweet and establishes the sense of “well, here goes nothing.”
— I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Kenan, Aidy, Kate, Mikey, Michael, Pete and, I think, Colin are the only ones who are audible during this brief intro. It would seem the show’s hierarchy of perceived value remains intact in this new setting.
STARS: N/A

OPENING MONTAGE

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— Very cool how they updated the intro to reflect quarantine, complete with each member of the SNL Band shown playing from home.
— Love Beck’s goofy sitcom grin and belly flop into the pool.
— Mikey is shown playing with his son and living his family life, which I think is extremely sweet.
— Colin—looking somewhat jacked—is sporting a greying beard. He looks like a GQ model. I think I hate him now.
— Kate, Cecily, Ego and maybe even Alex are all looking very “at home.”
— Nice touch with Bowen recreating his wave from the regular montage.

MONOLOGUE
COVID-19 survivor Tom Hanks [real] talks about his coronavirus experience

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— After some piped in applause, Tom Hanks, looking disconcertingly bald (it’s for a movie), commences his monologue from his kitchen.
— Tom: “Hey all you cool cats and kittens.” Oh man, the Tiger King references already feel a million years old.
— Because I’ve been trained already by COVID-era comedy, I’m not thrown by the silent responses to Tom’s little one-liners. I might have been at the time I first watched this episode, but I actually enjoy the lack of vocal response. Now, if it were this silent in front of an actual audience that would be another thing. But we’ll get to the 2020-2021 season soon enough.
— Tom brings up his Coronavirus diagnosis and spins it into a pretty sharp late night monologue-style punchline.
— Tom runs down how the show was made, with the SNL cast filming themselves from their own homes.
— Tom starts a standard issue Q&A monologue, playing all the question askers. It’s a silly bit that Tom bails on the second it wears thin (about 30 seconds).
— Tom, tempering expectations for the upcoming episode: “Will it make you laugh? Eh, you know, it’s SNL. There’ll be some good stuff, maybe one or two stinkers. You know the drill.”
— Honestly, this was a really nice way to open the show. Nothing fancy, nothing over-the-top; just a modest, charming way of easing us into a low stakes show.
STARS: ****

DRAKE SONG
lyrics of PED’s pastiche rap involve missing an ex

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— We are fully at the point of Pete Davidson’s tenure that he understands that his celebrity combined with some sort of low-effort musical comedy equals mass relevance among a certain age bracket. Pete Davidson is the king of clout comedy.
— Hey, this DOES sound like a Drake song. How ‘bout that?
— Is…is this a sincere song? Like, is this Pete Davidson’s “Party All The Time”?
— No seriously, what’s the joke here? It’s not parody. It’s not a cover. It’s just a pastiche.
— I’m guessing Pete’s clout rating was off the charts after this one. Wish he brought some comedy with him, but I guess you can’t spell “Soundcloud” without “SNL.” At least it was short.
STARS: *

WORKING OUT AT HOME WITH RBG
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (KAM) works out at home with diminutive equipment

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— Oof, SNL’s perception of what works is completely out of line with my own. This is giving me an existential crisis.
— Kate’s “SUPER DIVA!” sweater gets five YAS KWEENs out of five.
— Hey, at least this registers as comedy. It’s not my preferred brand of comedy, but it’s undeniably comedy unlike “Drake Song.”
— “Pee Is Normal.”
— Our first Gins-burn and my brain is going to take a quick sabbatical.
— Ginsburg working out with Q-tips and batteries is, once again, technically comedy. I appreciate the low-rent quality of this piece, actually.
— RBG’s political comedy is attempting to add some substance to this fluff, but the poor audio quality is kind of obscuring things. Or maybe my ears are just rejecting the material.
Please God, let this episode get better.
STARS: *½

HENRIETTE & NAN
technologically-illiterate Henriette & Nan flounder during office Zoom

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— A pretty accurate representation of business Zoom calls, especially in the early days of the pandemic. Heidi’s apology for her place is a smart touch.
— Henriette and Nan, two characters that were introduced a season prior in the Idris Elba episode make a bit of a surprise return. I remember being pretty ambivalent to the live incarnation of these characters, but I found my recent re-watch more favorable. This is a natural setting for these characters and the kind of subtle setting change that recurring sketches from this era don’t do often enough. I’m hopeful.
— Chris: “Does anyone else fully hate their kids?” An insightful line. Hell, this could be the impetus for an entirely new sketch.
— Kate and Aidy’s struggles with the Zoom call are already quite funny. I get that this may not be the most novel concept, but it’s working quite well.
Kate’s screen turning into a picture of Wayne Brady is actually a callback to the original version of this sketch.
— I love Kate and Aidy immediately becoming despondent.
— The fact that the setting is actually a Zoom tutorial is another aspect that makes this sketch already feel a million years old.
— Amazing part with Aidy bringing the Zoom into the bathroom and starting to take her clothes off.
— Kate: “I’m from hell!”
— I love that while Chris and Heidi are doing their token horrified reaction stinkfaces, Alex is just sitting there with a smug smile.
— “I used my license as toilet paper and now I don’t know my own birthday.”
— “I tried to clean my ass in the middle of the night with a hose in the driveway and I went – I went viral!” That weird stutter in Kate’s line is one of those small choices that is so impactful.
— Love how Alex’s character is responding to all of this.
— Here’s our first example of SNL leveraging its limitations to its benefit. These characters were solid, if unexceptional, in a standard live setting, but the Zoom setting proved an absolutely natural fit with excellent use of quick cuts and a tempered reliance on reaction shots.
STARS: ****½

A MESSAGE FROM BERNIE SANDERS
Bernie Sanders (Larry David) fields campaign & coronavirus questions

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— Even in quarantine, SNL still makes room for celebrity cameos. Oh well, I have more leeway for Larry David’s Bernie Sanders.
— Right off the top, Larry acknowledges the lack of wig.
— Toilet paper references! Feels like a million years ago.
— Solid ranting for Larry David here, though nothing particularly notable here outside of Bernie saying his plan was to finish his heart attack from earlier in the year.
— I’m not one to really get in a lather about the technical aspects of the show, but the sound is noticeably lo-fi here.
STARS: ***

MASTERCLASS QUARANTINE EDITION
Timothee Chalamet’s (CLF) MasterClass provides hoodie advice

Jojo Siwa’s (CLF) MasterClass gives you TikTok tips

Carole Baskin’s (CLF) MasterClass involves bike riding & murder denials

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— I feel like these were really considered a big moment for Chloe at the time. What I appreciate about this piece is how it really feels like a cast member’s singular vision, even if it feels like it’s in the nascent writing stages.
— Chloe’s Timothy Chalamet is a bit of fun, but this all feels like an audition tape.
— Jojo Siwa is a person I’m not aware of. Chloe’s energy is off the charts though.
— Aaaaaaaand here’s our second Tiger King reference of the night. At least I can fully gauge the quality of the impression—it’s fine.
— I don’t know, there’s something weirdly robotic and distant about Chloe’s impressions. I know a lot of people really see her as the future of SNL, but I can’t connect with her. This was a perfectly OK talent showcase, but it didn’t really scratch a comedy itch.
STARS: **½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Chris Martin [real] performs “Shelter From The Storm”

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— Blue:  I know it’s very easy to rip on Chris Martin (and Coldplay as a whole), but I remember finding this performance pleasantly comforting when it originally aired.
— The choice to shoot in black and white nicely differentiates this performance from the sketches.
— Good song choice, too. The lyrics are fitting for the quarantine situation.
— I love how Chris has put up hand-written signs on his wall to mimic SNL’s Grand Central Station stage set.
— The sound quality here is great, though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a professional recording artist would happen to have professional-level recording equipment in his house.
— As someone who’s used to seeing Chris Martin play piano, I’m really appreciating his guitar playing, even if it’s just strumming and nothing too technically proficient.
— This cover reminds me a little bit of Coldplay’s own song “‘Til Kingdom Come.”
— Chris’ little “whoo!” at the end cracked me up.
— Pretty forgettable in comparison to the original, but I doubt Chris was trying to impress anyone here.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE HOME EDITION
via phone, Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) claims coronavirus success

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— Colin and Michael are doing their jokes with an entire Zoom audience. I think the desire for a live audience response makes sense, but they would drop it for the next two installments.
— I love that the jokes Colin and Michael are telling are not polished AT ALL. They feel very much like joke pitches.
— Colin: “It’s either Trump or Biden, which means we have comedy gold for the next four years.” That is an absolutely flabbergasting statement. Not simply with the hindsight of the 20-21 season (where the political comedy was decidedly NOT gold), but because we already know how hard the show struggled in the Trump era up to this point. Are the staff and writers in that much of a bubble that they think their handling of Trump was effective?

— Oh my gosh, they really don’t know, do they?
— Uh-oh, Trumpwin alert.
— Alec calls Michael “Lebron.” SNL absolutely LOVES the joke where someone misidentifies a black person. I would be interested to see how often they pull that one out of the woodwork. I bet it’s like three times a season since 2000.
— Trump on his alternative nicknames for the “China Virus”: “Stephen Miller came up with ‘Yellow Fever’ but that’s already a thing. It’s when a white dude is horny for an Asian chick.” I appreciate the bluntness.
— Another Tiger King reference! Followed by a “Pence is gay” joke. Jesus.
— Michael’s Twinkies cereal joke is golden.
— Another Tiger King joke! OK, we’re overdue for a drinking game.
— Ha, the gerbil joke was predictable, but I love it.
— Michael brings up losing his grandma to COVID as an excuse to kick off a joke swap and my God, was Colin’s joke a doozy.
— Michael then admits that his grandma never watches the show.
— “For Weekend Update, I’m Martha’s grandbaby!”
— Some killer jokes among a series of half baked mediocrities and Alec’s Trump commentary was a big nothing, but I enjoyed the overall energy.
STARS: ***

BAILEY AT THE MOVIES
Bailey Gismert’s reviews of home-screened movies highlight awkwardness

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— Another recurring character that just might be a natural fit for this new format.
— Although I really tire of all the vocal fry, I love how Heidi always pushes this character into unsettling territory, especially her mentioning the V her dad is developing from all the push-ups he’s been doing.
— Despite an overuse of the word “awkward,” I enjoyed Heidi’s analysis of Emma.
— Classic Bailey Gismert moment with her deflecting about her crush on the Invisible Man by having a small emotional breakdown.
— One of the odder quirks of this character is Bailey’s insistence on wrapping her segment up by expressing a problematic opinion. Here, she endorses the new Louis CK special.
— Short and sweet.
STARS: ***½

MIDDLE AGED MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
adult concerns weigh down the quartet

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— Despite having a different animation style, this has very strong TV Funhouse energy.
— Seems that SNL had this one in the hopper and finally found the perfect episode to pad out.
— Pretty solid reveal of the premise.
— “All of them are just in…Under Armor.”
— Amazing scene with Donatello getting the results from the doctor about the lump on his spine.
— I love how low-key these scenes are playing out. Just an excellent job of tapping into the existential despair of a has-been group of friends.
— Another short and sweet piece.
STARS: ****½

CAM PLAYZ DAT
Call Of Duty Warzone deaths abound in Twitch session

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— Another solid opportunity to parody Twitch streams.
— The joke of this sketch is classic “Day-Seidell Sketch Comedy 101,” but I’m not hating it. It’s something I could show my kids at least.
— It’s so weird to see a guy like Mikey playing a young person. He’s a youthful looking guy, but there’s some weird uncanny valley business when he actually has to play young.
— Decent conclusion with Mikey failing at Super Mario Bros and falling into a moment of despair.
— Overall, this was super slight, but effectively done.
STARS: ***½

SKY SPORT REPORT
homebound Sky Sports announcer Bob Tisdale (ALM) calls invented sports

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— I feel so excited to see an Alex feature piece.
— I know this is a direct parody of something, but I can’t remember what.
— I love how incredibly homemade this is, complete with Alex using a spatula as a mic.
— This is all very slight and silly, but this is the kind of material that I feel really shines with this format. It reminds me of early Conan.
— Alex on the popcorn competition: “Ooh, top right, there’s some action—tossing and turning, but lo, no bursting.”
— Loving all these small pieces.
STARS: ****

WHAT YOU JAMMIN’ ON?
via FaceTime, BEB, KYM, FRA turn writer’s block into a musical creation

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— A Beck and Kyle piece! I can get behind this.
— I find the stupid voices they use with each other to be very infectious.
— OK, there’s literally nothing here. It’s more of a rhythm piece where the humor is just in the absurdity of inanity.
— Beck’s big idea: “Maybe something like…dinosaur bones?”
— Fred Armisen cameo. Hey, at least there’s no applause break.
— This was almost aggressively stupid. I actually kind of appreciate it.
STARS: ***

VISUALIZATIONS WITH AIDY
AIB’s pleasant stock-video visualizations are invaded by bad thoughts

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— I love that this show is basically just a compilation of solo performance pieces from the cast.
— Hilarious commentary from Aidy on the weirdly asexual nature of the romantic stock footage.
— A great moment with Aidy’s red carpet existential crisis.
— This is a really great mix of Aidy playing up her anxieties and goofing on the silliness of the stock footage.
— A very personal piece that was a perfect mix of absurd and silly.
STARS: ****½

HOW LOW WILL YOU GO
game show contestants (EGN), (HEG), (AIB) are horny

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— Beck with a beard!
— Only our second real ensemble piece of the show.
— “I’m your host Alex Burpee. That’s right, my dad invented lying down and getting up really quick.”
— Quarantine horniness is the theme of this sketch and a running theme through a couple sketches in later episodes.
— Love Beck complaining about having to stay at home with his kids despite being the dad.
— Ego: “The last warm thing I touched was sourdough.” Another reference that feels a million years old.
— I will never not be horrified by watching Pete do Family Guy impersonations. I know he’s playing an undesirable character, but I come from the generation where Family Guy references are an absolute comedy killer.
— Aidy: “I got it. First time’s for you; second time’s for me. Tale as old as time.”
— Fun performance from Kenan.
— Pretty lame closing line from Beck.
STARS: ***½

MAKEUP TUTORIAL WITH EGO
Crayola markers are the sole product used during (EGN)’s makeup tutorial

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— Another premise-less solo piece, but I’m really into the DIY aesthetic of the show and this might be the quintessential quarantine piece.
— Ego looks wild after filling in her eyebrows.
— Not a ton to say, but this was a perfect get-in/get-out piece that really highlights this episode’s “anything goes” quality.
STARS: ***½

I GOT $2,000
rapper (PED) prominently displays $2,000 during music video

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— Good Lord, ANOTHER Pete video???
— OK, credit where it’s due, at least there’s a discernible joke here. And it’s decently funny to boot.
— Another thing that needs to be pointed out: Pete absolutely stinks at rapping. Like, at least the Lonely Island guys could approximate bars. Pete is rapping at a very cautious pace. I think Pete’s a funny stand-up and is generally OK on the show, but this, despite popular opinion, is not his forte.
— That said, the joke was solid and it didn’t go on forever, so I can’t really be too mad. But it probably could have been fleshed out even more if an actual writer had helped.
STARS: **½

HAL WILLNER TRIBUTE
castmembers mark the passing of SNL music producer Hal Willner

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— A very detailed and loving tribute to Hal Willner, the SNL Music Supervisor who died from COVID the week of this episode.
— Everyone is chipping in here, including Armisen, Hader, Mulaney and Sandler.
— A sweet musical tribute of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” performed by Fey, Gasteyer, Dratch, Poehler, Shannon, Spivey and Pell.
— A very sad, moving tribute.
STARS: N/A

GOODNIGHTS

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— Hanks, who was MIA outside of the monologue and the musical guest intro, signs off. It’s not much of a hosting appearance, but it kind of feels consistent with some of the Ebersol era hosts, so I’ll give it a pass. Congratulations on your 10^th hosting appearance, Tom!

CUT FOR TIME: ELMER’S EASTER ADVENTURE AUDITIONS
Bruce Chandling (KYM) auditions for Elmer’s Easter Adventure

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— Here’s a fun setting for Kyle’s underrated and oft-cut for time Bruce Chandling character.
— The patented VHS tracking effect that Kyle would put to good use on his Saturday Morning All Star Hits.
— Kyle dropping a very hacky “Have you heard about this?” after he mentions that Christ came back to life at Easter is a brilliant little touch.
— OMG, that “Res-erection” joke was absolutely awful! I’m deeply impressed.
— The standard Chandling pathos moment feels a little perfunctory here, but I am enjoying the ambivalence of the off-camera casting director. And the callback to Chandling’s first joke worked well enough.
— It’s always fun to see a good character put into a new setting. The familiar beats were fine but predictable. The best parts of the Bruce Chandling character appear in the margins. I think this piece got the ax because the Bailey Gismert piece was doing similar work and played a wee bit better with the At Home framework.
STARS: ***½

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A really fun, but wildly scattershot experiment. SNL would, I think, simultaneously fix some of the problems of this episode and undercut some of the qualities in later episodes. I appreciated how some characters were able to find a welcome home in this new setting and also loved the “throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks” energy it all had. Some of the pieces really stuck well and some were absolutely terrible. Weirdly, the show decided to frontload the least comedically effective pieces.
— Cecily, Melissa and Bowen were all notably absent.

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Henriette & Nan
Visualizations With Aidy
Middle Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles
Sky Sport Report
Monologue
Bailey At The Movies
Makeup Tutorial With Ego
(CFT: Elmer’s Easter Adventure Auditions)
Cam Playz Dat
How Low Will You Go
Weekend Update Home Edition
What You Jammin’ On?
A Message From Bernie Sanders
Masterclass Quarantine Edition
I Got $2,000
Working Out At Home With RBG
Drake Song

TOMORROW
John goes deep on our second SNL At Home.

March 7, 2020 – Daniel Craig / The Weeknd (S45 E15)

by Anthony

THE INGRAHAM ANGLE: CORONAVIRUS 
Elizabeth Warren [real] savors her successes

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— Another day, another 9 minute SNL open that tries to shove every news story of that week into its runtime in a series of thin walk-ons. In this one’s defense at least, hoo boy was there a lot of news to cover this particular week. This is also a Drezgate piece, so hopefully it has a bit more of a sense of purpose than your typical Jost written cold open mush. 
— Obviously it’s very strange in hindsight to go back to these early, pre-lockdown days of COVID. Also sad to see how little some people have changed their tune a year and change later, just with slightly different wording…
— I’m no fan of Ingraham but this still feels like a pretty facile, even pretentious take on her to me. Hard to explain exactly why but it just doesn’t work for me at all. For one thing, I’m a big believer in ‘show don’t tell’, and this sketch just had Ingraham outright tell us she’s a fearmonger who uses racist dog whistles. 
— Kate’s Ingraham is actually a bit of a reverse Stefon/Cathy Ann, in that her first appearance was on Update but has since only been in sketches. In the case of Cathy Ann that made for a big improvement. Here? Eh…
— Unlike Kate’s Ingraham, Cecily’s Judge Jeanine always tends to amuse me, though she’s not given any material to write home about here (she’s racist, loud and drinks a lot—bold takes!)
— Similarly, the Trump sons are a fun pair of characters given nothing new to work with here. Eric’s declaration of “I’m a father!” as their segment concluded made me chuckle at least (as did Alex’s physicality when trying to mirror Mikey as Don Jr’s mannerisms, something that always gets me with these two).
— SNL brings back Darrell’s Chris Matthews after the real life Matthews’ firing. On the one hand I get this move, as Matthews was one of Darrell’s more fun political impressions, though it is one I’m not sure how many non SNL die-hards even remember.
— I do like Matthews immediately coming on and thinking this is still Hardball.
— I remember Che being on Hardball and one of the first things Matthews asked him was “who was the funniest black guy?” because the real-life Matthews is already a sketch character. 
— Round 3 of “fun impression, meh material”. 
— White chocolate gets cheers from the audience?! First off, it’s not that good guys. More importantly, you’re here to respond to the comedy, not give me your snack takes.
— Real-life Warren appears here, fresh off of dropping out of the presidential race. I remember some Bernie supporters were upset she made the time to appear here when she hadn’t endorsed him yet, because this is post-2016 America and every goddamn thing needs to cause an argument. 
— The material here is pretty soft, but that’s par for the course with a politician playing themselves on SNL. When Kate played Warren on the other hand, some kind of take beyond “gee golly” or whatever they had would have been nice. 
— Omg, Kate plays Ingraham AND Warren here?! Yass qwern, go off! (I wanna fit in with the other people who review SNL online for once.)
— So what was the premise here? It started as a piece mocking the right’s response to the initial outbreak of COVID in the US, which, fair enough. We get Judge Jeanine and the Trump sons on The Ingraham Angle and they all say dumb right-wing talking points about COVID. Bada bing, you got your fine if disposable cold open. But we keep going from there, so that the premise becomes “famous right-wing celebrities mock the left’s response to COVID, and also Chris Matthews shows up and prattles on and also two Elizabeth Warrens gee golly together”. There’s no wonder I barely remembered this going in outside the Warren cameo—what the hell is there to grab onto here? Its lukewarm leftovers of more successful prior bits with a dash of Kate hero worship seasoning that’s supposed to add spice but just leaves the whole thing tasting a little funky. I thought it’d do in a pinch, but honestly I’m ready to toss it and just order some takeout instead.
STARS: **

MONOLOGUE
in No Time To Die, James Bond (host) is gleeful & goofy over craps wins

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— As far as I can tell, this was originally a Seiday pretape set to air in the middle of the show as usual, then was turned into a monologue with help from Stephen Castillo (I can’t find out if there was a full monologue during dress or if this change was made pre-show). I can see why this move was made, as this piece does a lot to sell Craig’s goofy, affable presence as host. 
— Craig on SNL is a funny presence. He has that kinda dorky dad energy pioneered by Buck Henry back in the day, but there’s an extra, almost alien-like quality to his work on the show that really intrigues me. He always seems to be playing things “off” in a way that seems both intentional and unintentional at the same time, contradictory as that may be. I dig it.
— Bit of a weak premise, (plus, ‘guy in movie who typically looks cool revealed as dork’ is a Seiday trope we’ve seen before and since) but as I previously mentioned, Craig is doing a lot to sell it with his cornball energy.
— Since I’ll be mean to her later coming up, I’ll point out Kate’s pretty fun here as the feisty old lady. This type of mugging Kate role always works better as part of an ensemble than when it’s supposed to anchor a sketch.
— Ditto what I just said about Kate for Kenan honestly. Still, he’s a ton of fun here, especially when he just starts chanting “you!” to Craig.
— I like some of the different angles of Bond and the crowd here, especially the bird’s eye shots when he’s gloating to the whole group. 
— This plays out predictably, but Craig carries it there the whole way with me. This is just pure dumb fun. It’s very slight but you can’t help but get caught up in the energy, which is another reason it was a good choice to move this up top (especially after the typically overlong open did its work to drain us). 
— Nice touch with Kenan not only popping up in the iconic Bond bullet shot, but coming out on stage with the real Craig at the end of his monologue. 
STARS: ****

THE SANDS OF MODESTO 
social distancing impacts soap opera interactions

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— Written by James Anderson and Bryan Tucker. 
— In a move sadly all too typical of late era Kate, she comes in basically already having broken character. 
— Pretty easy humor here, mining early COVID paranoia for “everyone’s scared of germs now!” jokes, along with your typical soap parody goofery, though it’s just silly enough here to mostly work for me.
— “But you were killed in that plane crash.” “That’s what I was told—but I’m alive!”
— Kate is smirking her way through this whole sketch in a way that’s actively bringing it down for me. This is melodramatic material with an absurd bent and needs to be performed as such to work. Frank Drebin isn’t funny if he knows he’s an idiot, ya know? I just think of the way Jan or Jane or even Kristen on the right night would have played this, as soap actresses too in their own world to even realize anything funny was going on, and I know the sketch would be much stronger for it.
— Or maybe the problem is the writer? Cecily’s a hair too broad here for me as well, and she’s definitely someone capable of giving the type of performance I’m talking about. Maybe cast members just see Anderson’s name on a script and think “oh got it, Southern accent, mug eyes”. 
— A fight between Cecily and Kate being portrayed by two Barbie dolls is a funny touch. The use of stock footage in general throughout this piece is solid.
— This is real goofy stuff, but it just about works for me, even with Kate’s sloppy performance. I feel like I’m going to be using the phrase “dumb fun” a lot in this review, but hey, the world was about to shut down and I can’t blame these guys for not working out the tightest material this week.  
STARS: ***½

ON THE COUCH 
(KET), (CRR), (musical guest) doghoused in music video

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— I love Kenan and Chris, but I’m pretty much always lukewarm on them in songs (I know, I gave Come Back Barack a 4.5; if the sketch is strong enough I can look past it). I’m pretty lax with impressions but for some reason I’m really snobbish about comedy songs. If you’re gonna do it, it should sound like a real song, dammit!
— Eh, this is kind of a 90’s stand-up ass premise.
— Sleeping on the couch ain’t even that bad! I honestly do it by accident more than I care to admit.
— There’s a bit where they attempt to do a crescendo of “sleeping on the couch”s similar to the one in “Jizz In My Pants”, but with much less success. “Jizz” was also smart enough to save that move for towards the end of the song.
— Cute dog.
— Pretty predictable response verse from the girls.
— When Melissa is saying all the ways Chris wronged her, we at least get some typically amusing Chris Redd dumb guy reactions.
— Ah, there’s Daniel and his endearingly lame American accent at least. His bit outside with The Weeknd is fun.
STARS: **½  

THE DEIRDRE SHOW
piqued Cookie (EGN) huffs during cooking segment

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— Written by Ego and Drezgate, inspired by this moment with Patti Labelle on Tyra Banks’ show. 
— Ego is always immediately charming in these types of diva roles. So far, however, this sketch is doing little beyond having her rotely recreate the type of reactions Patti gave the chef in the real life clip. If anything, this piece is less funny as it ignores the comedy in the real clip of the chef not realizing the joke is on her.
— As per usual with modern SNL, I’m finding these audience reaction scenes unnecessary. Yeah, they establish that the audience has turned on Daniel’s character, but some off screen boos would accomplish the same thing (with about the same amount of laughs).
— As always, Ego knows how to deliver the line “pissing me off” just the right way. If I ever text someone that phrase, her intonation there is the exact one I have in mind.
— The twist of Ego’s character going to eat a strip of gum and actually eating the foil is okay, helped by some really funny lines from Ego: “It’s just gum. You know, shiny, tastes like coins, sparks when you chew it.”
— There wasn’t much to this, and it certainly doesn’t compare to some of the great Ego pieces we’ll get next season, but it was amusing enough, carried pretty much entirely by Ego’s effortless charm.
— A sequel to this was cut from dress from Season 47’s Rami Malek episode. I can’t say I’m too broken up by not getting another one of these, especially as Ego is on more solid ground with the show by that point and doesn’t need any bit of airtime she can get. Although I’d still take it over the Prince sketch from that episode.
STARS: ***

DEBBIE DOWNER WEDDING RECEPTION
at a wedding reception, pandemic context has Debbie Downer (RAD) in her element

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— Ah, Debbie Downer. Listen, I love Rachel as much as the next guy, and like everyone I think that first installment is a ton of fun. It’s a perfect example of the type of chaos the live element can bring to SNL, with Rachel breaking character so hard she literally can’t continue the scene. While breaking on SNL can sometimes feel manufactured, it works in that sketch because you can tell Rachel is just genuinely losing it, in a way that doesn’t feel in any way forced. So how do you repeat the success of a piece like that? Well, as our friend Kate showed us with her iconic breaking sketch, you bring back the character in a series of different locations/situations that are all really just variations of that first one, and shove in moments designed to make people crack. It’s perfect, like a delicious, creamy, rich cake being force fed down your throat. Mmm, that’s some good sketch comedy fun. (Comparing comedy to food a lot in this review. Maybe I’m just preparing myself for “Salad”). 
— Paula Pell came back to write this. At least this topical setting (bumming people about COVID) is fitting for this character. Gives this sketch an interesting, possibly unintentional twist too where Debbie’s totally within her right to freak out about what she’s going on about for once. 
— “They say to forgo masks”—goddamn, March of 2020 feels like a million years ago.
— It’s subtle, but I like Debbie sort of joining in on the Table 9 chant. She’s trying.
— The COVID stuff is a decent attempt to bring Debbie Downer into 2020, but the #MeToo bit was a big miss for me.
— He doesn’t really get anything to do (shocker) but I like Alex’s annoyed performance, playing someone who’s clearly dealt with Debbie many times and is in no mood for it on his wedding day. 
— Everyone doing a Debbie style reaction shot to the mention of Trump feels pretty easy, as does the extra joke with Aidy as the stereotypical older white woman who loves Trump. It’s not like I need harsh political digs in my Debbie Downer sketches, but if we are going to go there, more than a literal sad trombone of a joke would be appreciated. 
— Not the worst Debbie Downer, but still about as pointless as any of them past the original felt. 
STARS: **½ 

MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
host wins the internet with his emphatic introduction for musical guest

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— Anthony: Haha, I guess I gotta talk about this now, huh? So Daniel’s intro for The Weeknd blew the fuck up in an entirely unexpected but very 2020 way. It really is kind of perfect for our modern times where you have to squint to even see what the zeitgeist could possibly be that an out of context intro for a musical guest became the thing from this season that the most people ended up seeing. I mean, there was a damn Times piece about it! I’ll link that here, since it goes in depth on the Twitter account/meme for those who have no clue what the hell I’m talking about. I’ll also link this Times piece, in which Craig charmingly learns of the meme’s existence (lot of plugs for struggling upstart The New York Times in this section of the review).

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Blinding Lights”

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— Blue: Humorously enough, as I type this review, it is currently the weekend. Thanks for reminding me, Daniel. 
— This stage set, full of dozens of flashing lights, is very appropriate for this song’s title.
— A truly addictive synth riff opens this song. Despite its frequent airplay, this is why I can never get sick of this song—it’s impossible to feel sad when hearing that riff.
— Interesting theatrical outfit The Weeknd has chosen. I’m not sure as to the significance of the broken nose, but he looks great.
— Wow, The Weeknd’s voice sounds exactly like it does on the recorded version of this song.
— Nice display of versatility from the keyboardist on stage right, who is now playing guitar. I wish he and the other keyboardist on stage left weren’t so close to the back, though- I want a better view of them as they play.
— Incredible melismatic vocals from The Weeknd.
— The flashing lights, The Weeknd’s red jacket and the keyboardists’ glittery suits are really appealing to my aesthetic sensibilities, and fit the song’s 80’s synthpop style very well.
Stars: ****

WEEKEND UPDATE 
bag ban raises slippery slope fears for plastic expert Bottle Boi (BOY)

The Weeknd Update- musical guest coughs despite saying “I feel fine”

Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With prattles

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— I see SNL continuing here to push the narrative that Bernie and Biden are basically the same, which no matter where you land on them feels misinformed at best.
— Oh man, speaking of shit that feels prehistoric now, we get jokes about Trump dry humping that flag.
— Che’s bringing back his nihilistic COVID influenced outlook from the previous Update, in a slightly more muted form here.
—  Bowen debuts a new character here, one with a very Sandler-esque Southern accent. Apparently this was cut from dress the previous week. 
— Bowen has a lot of energy here as usual but this material is super thin. There’s a couple laughs from the lines themselves (such as Bottle Boi wondering if we get rid of plastic, where will fish get their necklaces?) but for the most part any enjoyment I’m getting out of this is just from Bowen’s performance. 
— Okay, I did chuckle at “Greta ToonTown”.
— Interesting hearing a joke about the film the host is there to promote. In general, a bit eerie hearing all the stories this Update about things getting canceled due to COVID, knowing what was around the corner. 
— We get a return of the “Weeknd Update” bit from the last time he was on. It’s still cute, helped by knowing when to end.
— Cecily brings back GYWYHSACW (just give her a damn name, show) for the first time in almost 4 years.
— Right off the bat some fun interaction with Cecily and Che as she tries to force her hand down his throat.
— Really loved Colin “freak” Jost in his shades more than I probably should have.  
— This is nothing new for this character, but it’s working. It helps that it’s been so long since we’ve seen her, but all the normal elements (the Jost-style memorable one liners, the wonderfully dumb malaprops, Cecily’s perfectly keyed in annoying drunk girl performance) are working and in fine form here.
— The ending with Cecily donning a Momo mask was kind of dumb, but otherwise solid stuff here.
STARS: ***½ 

ACCENT COACH
host’s accent coach (BEB) wants Benoit Blanc to be cartoonishly southern

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— Written by Beck with future cast member Andrew Dismukes. I remember this being a divisive piece (as a lot of vomit hose pieces can be), with me landing more on the side of being charmed by its goofiness than off put by it, though we’ll how true that remains this time around. 
— Fun premise, with Beck as the accent coach behind Craig’s, uh, eccentric southern accent in Knives Out.
— What is this look on Beck’s character? I guess it would make sense if he was being presented as some hick, but the character is clearly meant to be more sophisticated than that, so the outfit seems like a strange choice to me. You can say it’s his misinterpretation of what a Southerner would wear, but he establishes he doesn’t know what type of accent he’ll be doing before he enters. I don’t know, maybe I’m dumb and missing something, but the outfit doesn’t seem to have a purpose beyond “doesn’t Beck look funny like this?”
— Beck is an incredibly talented, funny guy, but he never got quite to the point where he could carry a sketch for me just on the basis of watching him goof around, which is about all this amounting to so far.
— Hooo boy, is this a lot more try-hard than I remembered…
— The “hot butt” stuff is another example of modern SNL thinking every line has to be a laugh line at the expense of the main premise (this is a bit of a problem with modern sketch in general; I had a real problem with it in Season 2 of I Think You Should Leave, for example).
—  Beck and Daniel start puking now for no discernable reason other than “comedy!” I’m an easy mark with the vomit hose, but c’mon now… 
— “You can PUKE on command?!” Mikey Day with his Mikey Day-ass lines….
— Yea, that was considerably worse than I remembered. I generally don’t have any issues with Beck on the show, but that felt like a really indulgent piece that did him no favors.
STARS: ** 

DEEP QUOTE GAME NIGHT
during a game night, (host) & (HEG) trade impossibly-obscure movie quotes

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— Written by Heidi with Will Stephen. 
— Heidi’s amusing me right off the bat with her intense characterization here.
— The obvious building attraction between Heidi and Daniel is a lot of fun, though for the second time tonight Kate is actively dragging a sketch down by having such a loose performance. She’s supposed to be basically cuckolded here, and yet her choice of a reaction for her character is to smile and giggle at the whole thing? And I say choice, because, if these breaks aren’t intentional, they’re at the very least the result of a performer choosing to go into a scene without much commitment. Which is annoying enough in a sketch like “Sands of Modesto” that’s already centered around her, but even more so in a sketch like this, where the focal point is supposed to be another cast member (Heidi in this case) and not lil’ ol’ charming Kate. And Kate knows how much this piece means to Heidi, considering this was apparently a piece Heidi had had cut from numerous previous episodes, including Harbour and Driver. Getting this on was supposed to be entirely Heidi’s moment, and yet once again Kate had to make it about her. I do think some fans definitely do too much to vilify Kate, but stuff like this really annoys me.
— Kay, one more quick comment about Kate (I know, I know)—some may point out that Daniel breaks here too and I don’t give him as hard of a time, but A: he’s not a cast member on his 8th year (and one who’s frequently hailed as the best of the current cast, and a legend in the making) and B: he only breaks after his scene partner has been for basically the entirely of the scene already.
—  Not sure we needed two sets of couples here to react to Daniel and Heidi. They both seem to be getting the same type of lines. Their lines themselves are also a bit too of the “spelling out what’s weird here” variety y’all know I don’t care for. Still, they don’t distract too much from the meat of the sketch.
— Okay, I did get a laugh from Ego’s “yall, stop quoting Captain Phillips!” The girl can sell a line.
— I love that the quotes have expanded into other languages now, though again, could do without the Chris line spelling that out.
— Good “so wrong” laugh from Heidi’s clue of a cough being in reference to Philadelphia. 
— The pair kissing is a solid climax to this, though I can’t help but feel like we needed another beat or so. This was a very fun, sturdy little character sketch, but it felt a rewrite or two (and a much more locked in supporting performance from you-know-who) from being a true classic. 
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Oneohtrix Point Never [real] perform “Scared To Live”

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— Anthony: You know Craig sounds even more relieved to see The Weeknd here, and yet you never see this one. Strange.
— Blue: Another adherent to the “one upbeat song and one ballad” SNL format, I see.
— While “Blinding Lights” is clearly rooted in 80’s pop, and I’m hearing some of that in this song too, this also feels early 2000’s to me. There’s definitely a timelessness to it.
— I like the tone on that Juno-60 that Oneohtrix Point Never is playing.
— Another outstanding vocal performance from The Weeknd.
— Strong chorus, with The Weeknd singing in a higher register compared to the verses, and a second synth coming in to add some sweeping pads to the song.
— I love the synth noodling on the second verse. It feels a touch more modern than the rest of the song.
— Why not sing the pre-recorded vocals on the bridge? Is that because it’s (what appears to be) a sped-up sample from “Your Song” by Elton John?
— Great high notes from The Weeknd on the last chorus. The hints of vibrato in his voice, however, are bothering me- it’s not necessary for the song.
— Interesting tone overall to that song. The hopefulness of the music undercuts the sense of regret in the lyrics. It feels like a healthy way to look back on a relationship’s end, rather than another whiny moping breakup song.
STARS: ***

SALAD
sick-in-the-head Nadine (AIB) feeds her family inedible “overnight salad”

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— A pretape I’ve always enjoyed, written by Aidy with Rob Klein. 
— The doo wop style melody to this is catchy. 
— Also really dig the set design. Yea, it’s pretty typical 50’s kitsch, but there’s something subtly off and claustrophobic about it (perhaps how it’s shot helps) that adds to the not-quite-right tone of the sketch before the reveal.
—  Delightfully nasty image as Aidy mashes her bare hands around in her gross salad concoction. 
— Obvious but still fun (and well-performed by Craig, even with his goofy American accent) reveal that the mess of a salad tastes terrible.
— Wonderfully dark bit where it’s revealed Aidy’s character has probably killed the family dog by feeding it her gnarly ass salad.
— Aidy’s performance here is perfectly off, and one of my favorites she’s given on the show. I’ve especially always loved her practically incomprehensible delivery of “maybe does he need a big scoop o’ mayo?”
— The ending felt a bit too abrupt, but otherwise, a very solid, dark pre tape.
STARS: ****½ 

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very loose show, as can be expected given what was going on in the world at the time. As such, I preferred it then, when I really needed some dumb goof-a-loofs (as opposed to now, when everything is going so awesome I simply don’t need to laugh anymore) but it’s still a show that moves along charmingly enough, aided by Craig’s lovably odd energy. And hey, no Regine, so it’s an automatic improvement over his last episode, at least.

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Salad
Monologue
Deep Quote Game Night
Sands of Modesto
Weekend Update
The Deirdre Show
On the Couch
Debbie Downer Wedding Reception
Accent Coach
The Ingraham Angle: Coronavirus

TOMORROW
John Krasinski and Dula Peep stop by to the world as we know it gets put on temporary (?) hold, and the show has to adapt in a way it never has before. Carson’s the first of our reviewers to look at a not-live (and often not even from New York) SNL, as the show goes At Home.  

February 29, 2020 – John Mulaney / David Byrne (S45 E14)

by Vax Novier

WHITE HOUSE PRESS CONFERENCE
Democratic candidates crash Mike Pence (BEB) coronavirus press conference

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— It’s almost kind of fascinating looking back at that period right before the pandemic officially began when it was clear things were going to get worse but no one really knew for sure how bad they would become. 
— Ugh at Fred making yet another Bloomberg appearance this season. Is there seriously no one in the cast who can play the role!? Gone are the days when Will Ferrell could leave behind a popular impression and have other people take up the mantle with varying degrees of success, instead of having Fred return every time out of obligation just because he played Bloomberg a few times while he was in the cast.
— Very telling that Kate got a louder response than Fred, as if even the audience is starting to get sick of his numerous cameos.
— We get a rare cold open appearance from the host with Mulaney showing up as the latest Biden impersonator, and the third one in a year. Unlike Sudekis and Harrelson, this version is clearly meant to only be a one-off gag. But it did serve to confirm at the time that neither of them would be the permanent actor going forward.
— Larry’s Bernie is always fun and reliable, but it may officially be reaching the point of oversaturation, due to being used through two election cycles by now and getting grouped with all the other recurring guests during this season.
— A funny bit with Rachel as Klobuchar acting like a badass and knocking down Jost’s Buttigieg.
— This has turned into yet another Democratic debate sketch with just about all the usual suspects showing up.
STARS: **

MONOLOGUE
host does standup about Baby Boomer dads, Bill Of Rights, Make-A-Wish

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— Off to a good start with John’s opening line, “If you’re watching at home and you don’t know who I am, I’m sorry.”
— John brings up that he has nothing to promote for his hosting gig, though you could argue this serves as an extended promotion for the Sack Lunch Bunch special that was released two months prior. On another note, he had to cancel a show in Toronto that week in order to host since it was the last available opening before an upcoming tour that ended up getting postponed due to the pandemic, rendering the schedule change done for nothing.
— A funny bit on how dads rarely have any friends of their own while Jesus has 12 best friends in his 30s.
— A charming little moment with John mildly breaking during his “Shifting topics entirely!” segue.
— John, after suggesting that current U.S politicians should be handled the way  Caesar was killed: “I asked my lawyer if I could make that joke, and he said, let me call another lawyer, and that lawyer said yes.” This comment led to the Secret Service holding an investigation on Mulaney for nine months until it was decided it didn’t pose a threat due to not referring to Trump directly.
— Some great material about the Founding Fathers being overrated and how the ‘92 Bulls were a better group, then comparing the present-day United States to Michael Jordan now.
— This leads right into a standout piece about breaking down the Bill of Rights, signaling out the high placement for the amendments on gun laws and bringing the army into your house, the latter turning out to become prescient commentary due to ensuing protests in the following months.
— I love the punchline to John’s story about taking a Make-A-Wish kid to see Lin-Manuel Miranda at SNL.
— As expected, Mulaney knocks it out of the park once again with the monologue! There were plenty of highlights carried by his delivery that it really has to be seen to do them justice.
STARS: ****½

THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Liesl Von Trapp’s (CES) boyfriend Rolf (host) is well beyond teenaged

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— Appropriate casting for Cecily here in a Broadway musical parody. This is actually the second time she has portrayed Lisel after the Sound of Music Live/Lawrence Welk cold open back in 2013.
— A light chuckle at the initial reveal of John admitting he’s really 33.
— When Cecily starts to bring up youthful traits that deceived his age, I liked John’s aside, “Wow, she’s got a list.”
— Cecily: “You’re a geriatric telegram boy, and I’m rich and good with puppets. You do the math.”
— The material is starting to lose me by now. Apart from a couple decent lines, this is just repeating the same joke of him being much older, and maybe the occasional reference to things about the musical that don’t hold up.
STARS: **½

UNCLE MEME
Ron (host) hates being subject of nephew’s (PED) #WhiteCollarVirgin meme

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— Hoh boy, looks like it’s time to address the elephant in the room as this was the week of Pete’s infamous Charlamagne interview where he bashed SNL for making him a punchline with his personal life and jokes about him missing shows. Now, I am not the right person to comment on the situation, nor is this the appropriate place to debate these issues, but it should be okay to reflect on it as long as the people who were involved are currently better off mentally and ethically. Pete also mentioned how he was ready to leave and only stuck around because Lorne wanted him to. If it weren’t for the pandemic starting shortly after, allowing for a period of rejuvenation between both parties, he probably would’ve left after the season wrapped up. It would seem the only reason he’s appearing in this episode at all (along with the mid-week promo about the incident) is due to Mulaney being there, as he is absent once again the following week.
— Adding to the tension somewhat, Pete isn’t looking too pretty with his unshaven, bloodshot appearance.
— Now onto the sketch, having a premise centered entirely around memes is certainly a questionable choice, as it reeks of desperately trying to appeal towards a younger crowd.
— Over two minutes in, and the sketch really isn’t as bad as it would seem on paper. The structure is decent enough and you can see the reliance on youthful pandering as part of the joke.
— The material could easily be executed much worse in the wrong hands, which shows that only someone like Mulaney could carry it. We certainly didn’t need a sequel the next time he hosted, but I can understand why people latched on to the humor.
— Wow, what a god-awful ending!!!
STARS: Hard to say. This was able to avoid the pitfalls one would expect given the setup, but that cringe-inducing ending delivered on those negative expectations going in and really plagued the entire sketch. I’ll settle for ** to balance everything out.

KYLE TRANSFORMATION
wanting to be in strip club sketch, KYM gets swole; Justin Theroux cameo

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— Another installment of the backstage Kyle films.
— Starting off with a funny unspoken detail of Beck working on a Halloween or Christmas rap, even though it’s February.
— A funny premise with Kyle attempting to get in shape so he can get cast as a male stripper. I like the inclusion of past sketch clips where he played nerdy characters.
— We get a random cameo from Justin Theroux acting as Kyle’s trainer.
— Some wild visuals of Kyle’s bodybuilder abs that trigger his exercise-focused personality with traits such as “I love hiking and my family.”
— I enjoy the absurdity of SNL magazine, complete with a suggestive Jost and Che cover.
— The escalating twist at the end feels reminiscent of Mulaney’s Delta Airlines bit.
— While there have been many Kyle shorts over the years that were executed much better, I actually ended up latching onto the material a bit more this time around, after writing it off along with most of the episode back when it first aired. At the very least, it’s nice to see this one made it to the live show, especially after the Adam Zeekman sketch was previously cut.
STARS: ***½

THE ADMIRAL
knockout’s sisters’ twink brother (host) schemes backfire in a 1955 movie

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— I really enjoyed the Sisters sketch with J-Lo and thought it worked well as a one-off, but in the spirit of SNL segments, it gets an unnecessary sequel.
— Annnd this has now taken a turn towards the Anderlette cornerstone of hacky gay humor.
— I got an unintentional laugh from Aidy accidentally flubbing her line by saying, “He [John] was an admiral…” then immediately correcting it to, “He wasn’t an admiral like you…”
— Mulaney’s presence here, in particular, really feels beneath the expectations set up by his first two hosting gigs.
— Just as expected, this is basically following the same beats as the first installment and coming off as a lazy retread. Even giving Beck’s character more involvement this time around isn’t enough to make it feel fresh.
— The biggest issue with giving sequels to perfectly contained sketches is that its initial originality is diminished and it loses potential rewatch value. I would go back on occasion to watch the sketch again only to stop after this version aired. Possibly because the knowledge that a failed attempt to recapture the formula was made, would always be lingering. The same goes for the Dog Translator sketch as there’s been no desire to go back to it once they did another one. In fact, the only reason I ever watched either of them for a second time was for this project.
— In spite of everything, however, it would be unfair to rate this low solely for being a retread. So I’ll give it the rating I gave to the translator sequel.
STARS: **

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Once In A Lifetime”

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— Vax Novier: I’d like to give a shoutout to both of the incredible numbers from David Byrne and the American Utopia crew. I had the unbelievable opportunity to watch the stage musical a week before the Omicron spike, and I can confirm that they are still just as amazing as you would expect if you’ve ever listened to the soundtrack, watched the HBO special, or are just going off these two performances, both of which are certified highlights for the episode!! To think it took appearing in Mulaney’s latest special to get him back on the show.
— Blue: Oh, here we go. A bit of background: David Byrne is my favorite musician on the planet and I can sincerely say that his work with Talking Heads has positively impacted my life, both as a person and as a musician. In 2018, I was fortunate enough to see David Byrne and his band when they were touring in support of his album American Utopia (which later became a stage musical by the same name, which this appearance is promoting), and it was the best concert I’ve ever been to. So, though I’ll try my best to keep this review unbiased, I can’t promise anything… 
— David’s stumbling around during the intro is very reminiscent of his convulsive movements from this song’s performance in the Talking Heads concert film, Stop Making Sense. 
— Love the dramatically dark stage, lit only with a spotlight on David.
— The glittery synth on the intro is very calming and pleasant to the ear.
— Fun reveal when the stage lights come up and the band, who were hiding in the shadows, stride up to take their places around David. The silver chain backdrop behind them is taken straight from their Broadway show.
— David is letting his backing vocalists handle the second half of the chorus, but the man is pushing 70 now so I won’t bother nitpicking his vocal performance.
— The choreography from the singers on the “same as it ever was” part is delightful to watch.
— David’s shouting of “water dissolving and water removing!” is a little too aggressive for my liking.
— I felt that “my god, what have I done?” in my soul. Nice choice to have most of the instruments drop out during that line.
— Unexpected but fun entrance of several additional percussionists from offstage. I especially love the woman with the cymbals.
— Great spotlight on lead guitarist Angie Swan, delivering a killer, tripped-out solo.
— During the solo, David and the singers are bending over backwards, which is another moment that’s reminiscent of Stop Making Sense.
— Love the camera pulling back during the closing tag to show all the musicians gathered together onstage.
— David was a little flat coming off the last note.
STARS: *****

WEEKEND UPDATE
MIC starts drinking to cope with the onset of coronavirus spread

CRR is unhappy with events that occurred during Black History Month 2020

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— It felt weird to hear COVID mentioned in this context earlier, but now the extended discussion about it really starts to exemplify the shit that’s soon to come.
— This leads right into one of the more memorable parts of the episode (for better or for worse) as Che shies away from telling jokes about what is clearly about to be more than an epidemic and devolves into a more serious-sounding discussion on the likelihood of catching the contagious virus and how he doesn’t want to be remembered like this if it means the end of life as we know it. You can view this rant any way you please. Call it self-pitying, call it egotistic, but for me, this was when it really settled in that things were about to get a whole lot worse going forward with an unlikely chance of improvement. If there is any consolation to this mindset, it has allowed me to keep my expectations low whenever the media claims that everything is starting to get better while avoiding a serious blow after it usually turned out to be false in the long run.
— On another note, this whole aside did bring Che some controversy over the following week, moreso due to comparing himself dying from COVID after joking about it to Steve Irwin riffing on stingrays before his death.
— If the timing wasn’t eerie enough, after Che strips down his suit jacket and starts acting wasted, he mentions his grandma in a throwaway line, who would tragically pass away from COVID complications just over a month later. 
— An interesting change of pace, having Chris Redd do a commentary as himself.
— Chris, while discussing the loss of black representation in politics: “Kamala, gone. Cory Booker, gone. Which means me in debate sketches, gone!”
— Some funny riffs about the appropriated redesign of classic novels in honor of Black History Month. I especially like his description of the black Wizard of Oz cover, “That already happened. That’s The Wiz, you dummy!”
— Redd’s closing comment about how “black people can’t get coronavirus” would go on to be the topic of a future commentary in season 47 where he attempts to deny and backtrack the initial claim.
— The drunk Michael Che runner is providing some unique variety to Update, even if the real world subtext is preventing me from enjoying it completely. Although it could’ve been interesting to have this as a runner throughout the remaining seven episodes of the season at least, it’s probably fitting that the bit was cut short abruptly after two.
— Che’s final quip about Ash Wednesday allowing Catholics to put on a little blackface, followed by Colin exclaiming “I’m Catholic” during his sign-off feels like a fitting conclusion to such a whirlwind Update.
— While this may have seemed exciting in terms of content and format-breaking, the depressing undertones of reality seeping in bring down the segment, overall.
STARS: ***

AIRPORT SUSHI
(Jake Gyllenhaal) & other LaGuardia denizens sing about airport foibles

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— We’ve come to the obligatory Broadway showstopper piece that is a staple of the Mulaney-hosted episodes. This time, the inciting incident becomes ordering sushi at LaGuardia Airport.
— As always, Cecily feels at home in these musical sketches, as she usually delivers a powerhouse performance out of subpar material. Her presence will be sorely missed in the next installment (not that it would have helped the material, anyway) as it aired while she was away filming Schmigadoon!.
— Alex makes his first (and only) appearance of the night as a dancing rat who doesn’t get any solo lines. This is definitely a prime example of Alex being underused throughout his tenure while wasting his potential!!
— The energy is starting to die down a bit with the back-to-back combo of Kate’s “Little Orphan Auntie Annie” and Beck’s baby character.
— The overarching issue with these sketches is that they have diverted from the initial template of Pete provoking an atypical request, causing a production number lead by Kenan that came as a result. By this point, the scope has devolved into a series of individual numbers from various musicals that are about the setting instead of the initial facet. Kenan’s character is now just one of multiple presentations instead of the prime subject.
— We get an appearance from Jake Gyllenhaal, who is here due to his guest spot in the Sack Lunch Bunch special (funny enough, said appearance was reportedly inspired by his monologue while hosting in ‘07, making the present-day cameo kind of a full circle moment). The clearly visible wires for his “Defying Gravity” number are adding to the cheesy appeal of his bit.
— A funny number with Bowen (also making his only appearance of the night) that serves as an early-2020 time capsule of the period when COVID was generally viewed by the public as an Asian virus.
— On an unrelated note, Alex and Bowen also made only one appearance in the same sketch during the prior RuPaul episode, in the debate cold open (though Bowen had a more prolific role in both cases). I only bring this up because it’s more than we’ve seen of Melissa all this time, who showed up as an old lady getting through security with a pacemaker through a parody of “Matchmaker” from Fiddler on the Roof (the song would later be repurposed in a scene with Beck during the aforementioned follow-up installment about Times Square), only to get cut after dress, making this the second show in a row she is entirely absent from.
— David Byrne’s walk-on brings about ecstatic cheers from the audience, causing him to have to restart his opening lines. 
— Loving the closer with everyone marching off the set and throughout the studio to a variant of “Road to Nowhere”. 
— As a whole, this represented the continued downward spiral of the recurring premise, but there were still enough individual highlights to keep it afloat.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Toe Jam”

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— Blue: A completely unexpected pick for the second song. Although co-written by David Byrne, and featuring him on the original recording, this song was originally performed by The Brighton Port Authority, and its resurgence as part of American Utopia came as a surprise to me.
— That is one excellent bassline.
— This keyboard riff is fun, but it’s always reminded me very much of some other song that I can’t place.
— “Watch my life like it’s a movie, had to watch it twice.” Love that line.
— I love how gradually, each band member is getting a spotlight to showcase their dance moves.
— Percussionist David Freedman’s funky neck movements are endearingly weird, if a little freaky to watch.
— The interplay between Jacqueline Acevedo’s conga playing and David’s mouth noises is very entertaining.
— I like to see everyone holding their poses at the end.
STARS: ****

FORGOTTEN FIGURES OF BLACK HISTORY
aggrieved (KET) booed Jackie Robinson

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— Ego is just now making her first appearance of the night, in a small introductory role. This would’ve felt like a bigger issue as late as the start of the season, but Ego’s airtime has been slowly rising over the past couple episodes, and she’s been starting to be used as the consistent, reliable player she’s known for being today.
— Written by Che, this was a sketch he tried to get on for years until making it to air. Almost feels like a precursor to the number of segments cut from previous dress rehearsals used in next week’s episode to serve as non-COVID material.
— A predictable, but funny reveal that the kid sitting with Kenan isn’t his son.
— While Kenan is breaking down how he’s been told no all his life, I liked the unmentioned, throwaway line, “No, I can’t eat him” during the spiel. Heh, it’s funny to imagine this character would later change his name and become the Texas Man Gobbler from a sketch in the Blake Shelton episode five seasons prior.
— The final product had a mixed message in the outcome, especially with it ending on Beck’s overt racist comment, but that can be expected with Che-penned sketches. 
STARS: **½

GOODNIGHTS

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CUT FOR TIME: LOVE IS BLIND
hopeless, COVID-infected romantics search for love on new reality show

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— Matt: Surprise, it’s me, Matt, the inescapable spectre! I would like to thank Vax for giving me the opportunity to speak about the cut sketches from this episode—it’s a very significant one to me, as I had the fortune of attending it live! While there is some heartbreak from not being able to defend it given its lesser reputation, I greatly enjoyed being able to read his thoughts, and hey, he can’t take the fun I had away from me!
— Now, onto this sketch. This one is a direct parody of a show that I have never seen, but damn if that premise doesn’t sound loopy. If nothing else, though, it’s worth pointing out that, as usual, SNL’s production value and set design is on-point.
— An easy laugh from seeing John costumed up like a redhead. He’s just a funny man to see dressed up. 
— There are some funny jokes from how the characters’ occupations are described (“Computers,” “Boss Executive,” “Parents’ Money”).
— A decent twist with all of the contestants being isolated because of exposure to coronavirus, but as Vax said, it definitely hits a bit weirdly to see SNL making these jokes while blissfully unaware of just how bad the situation is about to get. That’s not a strike against the idea, though.
— Unfortunately, just with the foresight of how the pandemic and pandemic-related humor would pan out, a lot of these jokes about how they all have coronavirus are feeling a bit flat. I did like John excitedly telling Ego about how much he loves “exotic animal sangwich” though.
— A funny cut from John passing out mid-proposal to Ego announcing, “Breaking news: we’re engaged!”
— Overall, it was fine, but definitely not as enjoyable now as it probably was then. I’d put it above some of the other pieces in the episode, though.
STARS: ***

CUT FOR TIME: YOU GO SHOW
host’s talk show is less motivational than guests (MID) (CES) were led to believe

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— Matt: I’ve seen some comments that this feels like a Rich/Sawyer/Mulaney sketch, but this piece was actually cut from the Season 44 Paul Rudd episode, with Paul playing John’s role. This definitely feels more tailor-made to John’s voice, though.
— I loved John’s whole opening spiel. (“Doing this show is the best part of my day. Maybe ‘cuz it’s the only part I get paid for. What? No. But maybe. I don’t know! I’m being silly.”)
— The way that John picks up his cards accidentally reveals that there’s nothing on the back of them (third screencap).
— “Gene’s gonna tell us how he took what he thought was a minus, and turned it into a positive.” Subtle, but I love it.
— John’s deconstruction of the faulty logic Mikey used to lessen his insecurity about his ears is great stuff. It’s a good use of John’s knack for over-explaining things with a very straight but cutting demeanor, and I love the awkwardness that it creates.
— That white cat that Cecily’s holding is absolutely adorable. This observation is apropos of the sketch, but as I’ve been watching a lot of vintage SNL lately, it’s reassuring to see a cute animal that hasn’t been heavily drugged!
— Another fun bit with John asking Cecily if she could hypothetically call her old boss and tell him that she made a terrible mistake and wants her job back.
— I like that John reveals that his show is called “You Go!” not because it’s about motivating other people so much as that his guests just… go on the show to discuss their issues.
— Kenan isn’t adding much to the premise, but he’s always good for some reaction shots.
— The very atypical beat in this sketch where John makes everyone sit around for a “minute” because they just barely don’t have enough time for a third guest is delightful. All of the uncomfortable close-ups on everyone are offering good laughs; maybe it’s just my chaotic half speaking, though, because I would’ve loved for that to actually take up a whole minute (it actually amounts to twenty seconds). Either way, a fairly bold choice.
— It’s a shame that this sketch was cut from the live show because it definitely would’ve been the best piece of the night. Maybe we can blame the prolonged cold open, monologue, and musical sketch for the show running over and cutting this off… at the very least, I’m glad it was posted.
STARS: ****½

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A big step down from the first two Mulaney shows, overall. These episodes have officially reached the point of becoming generic, formula-driven outings. Mulaney continued to deliver high quality, but the material was severely lacking. As mentioned throughout, all the COVID-related content casts a pall on this episode (and the next).

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
(CFT: You Go Show)
Kyle’s Transformation
Airport Sushi
Weekend Update
(CFT: Love is Blind)
The Sound of Music
Forgotten Figures of Black History
Uncle Meme
The Admiral
White House Press Conference

TOMORROW:
It’s the unofficial Season 45 finale with Daniel Craig and The Weeknd as Anthony reviews the calm before the storm.

February 8, 2020 – RuPaul / Justin Bieber (S45 E13)

by Kabir

NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATIC DEBATE
Bernie Sanders (Larry David) & other candidates debate in New Hampshire

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— I don’t recall this actual debate or who moderated, but I knew immediately when I saw Mikey that he was supposed to be George Stephanopoulos. The man has been on the international political stage for 30 years, and I just now realized he has had the same, easy-to-spot “look” that entire time. Otherwise, how would I have known who it was supposed to be so quickly?
— “Joining me for optics.” Nice. The writing here is a lot sharper than I’m used to in these cameo-fests.
— Great facial expression from Bowen when he enters.
— Okay, now this is just going the same way all of these sketches go. Yawn.
— A few chuckles from Larry David as Bernie Sanders, channeling the Billy Crystal weatherman character (which Larry helped write back in season 10).
STARS: **

MONOLOGUE
host alludes to wild experiences in ’80s NYC & describes his philosophy

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— This episode aired during NYC Fashion Week, so I predict the crowd is going to be pumped to see a legend like RuPaul.
— RuPaul seems so comfortable on SNL. This will sound weird, and maybe it’s the glasses, but this totally reminds me of Jack Benny’s monologues on his show. RuPaul is a little more animated, but has Benny’s excellent timing, some of his mannerisms, and some nice material.
— Nothing Earth-shattering in this monologue, but it was very enjoyable.
STARS: ****

FAMILY CHARADES
(host), (CRR), (KET), (EGN) play charades differently than white family

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— Good exposition here so we can get to RuPaul’s family’s turn.
— “I didn’t interrupt you.”
— Now this is becoming a hot mess, like everyone is rushing to get the sketch in on time… which makes no sense because the show just started.
— Great miming from RuPaul and then the 12 Years a Slave punchline.
— Some more funny lines with the Arsenio Hall portion.
— “How come they just keep going?”
— This hit a rocky patch in the middle—with the rushing—but ended up fine.
STARS: ***½

THE QUEEN
host tries making pool boy Chad into the next drag superstar

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— Nice camera work to reveal Chad (though I’ve never been a fan of this character).
— This is quickly paced, but it’s working here.
— RuPaul’s energy is completely making this sketch. Otherwise, it would just be the same Chad “beats” as usual.
— Wow, Chad’s dance is much more disturbing than I expected.
— His mispronunciation of “RuPaul” was a nice touch.
— This felt short, but that was probably just because it moved along so well.
STARS: ***

CHECK SPLITTING
(CES) & (host) loudly & self-righteously contest check-splitting proposal

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— Cecily’s voice is like a Southern take on her Judge Jeanine Pirro.
— The energy from Cecily and RuPaul is carrying this, too, but there’s not much to it.
— Matt points out this is a reference to Designing Women. I remember the show well but didn’t watch it that often. It explains the ‘80s outfits, which I just thought were there as an unexplained bit of humor.
— It just keeps going with the non sequiturs and bizarre list of traits. They’re humorous enough, but this is poorly constructed.
— The lines about the temps were promising, but then this just ended. Weak.
STARS: **½

BOOP-IT
divorced dad (BEB) becomes obsessed with mastering Boop-It dexterity game

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— Beck’s look and demeanor are perfect for this.
— Beck abruptly jumping into the game again was too… abrupt. They needed to build. I didn’t get what they were going for with the exposition: will he be jealous of the game? Is he secretly glad his daughter is losing?
— Now this has just become uncomfortable. I’m not sure we needed a weird, melodramatic twist.
— Blah—wasted opportunity.
STARS: *½

READING
at the library, host “reads” books by insulting kid-lit characters

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— This has a similar vibe to the Michael Keaton / Easter candy sketch from season 40 (as well as the one with Ed Norton on Halloween candy from the season before).  I wonder if they have the same writer.
— RuPaul is killing it here.
— There are too many quotable lines here. RuPaul looks like he’s about to break a couple times here.
— Matt notes that the live version of this had some very messy technical direction (camera cuts) with close-ups on the books. That’s been fixed in the online version I’m viewing.
— “BMW… body made wrong.”
— I liked that they wanted to include the little girl, but it kind of threw the momentum. I would have preferred reaction/commentary from her to keeping this going.
— Abrupt ending, but such a simple concept didn’t need much of a button.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Yummy”

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— Blue: Oh god, this song.
— I like the boxy set that Justin and the instrumentalists are performing in. Doesn’t hurt that it’s my favorite shade of green.
— The sound engineer is really coming through for the instrumentalists here, probably because there are only three of them. I particularly like the way the bass sounds.
— A quick shift is accomplished to get the instrumentalists out of the way and introduce Justin’s backup dancers.
— I like the way the lights have dimmed, so that the dancers’ shadows are projected on the wall. I should be watching this with the sound off.
— Justin is skipping lines and letting the pre-recorded vocals take over, which is surprising given that at this point in his career, I’d expect him to be used to conserving his breath while performing choreography like this. Though I heard that he was having some health issues around this time so I’m not going to be too hard on him.
— I will say… I do think Justin is a good singer, and this performance is proving it. Shame the material he performs is not up to the same standard.
— I just want this song to end already.
— The held pose at the end is kind of cool.
— As much as I dislike this song, I have to give this performance an extra star because I liked the very beginning with the instrumentalists, and the dancing.
STARS: **

WEEKEND UPDATE
CLF celebrates the Oscars by doing impressions of actresses’ performances

Cathy Anne is unimpressed with the Senate’s trial of Donald Trump

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— These jokes, as usual, are just a time capsule BUT, Che and Jost seem more energized than usual. And a few (like the one about the Kansas City Chiefs, and then Che’s about Rush Limbaugh) were well-written and well-constructed.
— Silly but effective “hamburger grease” joke.
— This is the first episode I’ve reviewed where Chloe does a WU commentary as herself. She’s doing really well.
— “Is she laughing or crying?” “Neither, she’s acting!”
— Chloe has some good lines when imitating Colin’s wife, Scarlett Johansson. She’s really connecting with the audience with all these impressions… which is also the kind of thing Melissa Villaseñor excels at. Speaking of which… where has Melissa been all night?
— Now Cecily is back as Cathy Anne. This character is grating as usual.
— Cecily’s performance is fine, but the material is kind of hacky.
— This went on way too long and is going to cost WU a full star.
STARS: ***

THIRSTY COPS
Miranda & fellow Thirsty Cop (host) are hot for texting driver (PED)

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— A sequel to a sketch from the Seth Meyers episode of last season. Pete replaces Seth, and RuPaul replaces Leslie.
— This is moving along nicely, and the theme song was funny; very early 90s SNL.
— Good lines from RuPaul and Ego.
— This sketch could have been filled with overused double-entendre, but it’s well-written and everyone is giving a good performance.
— “Equity, sis!” Small throwaway line that made me laugh.
— Kate’s short scene was good, too.
— Ha, now Pete is getting in on it. This is hitting all the same beats as the Meyers version, but this installment is doing a better job.
— Very well done. Let that be a lesson to the “Good Day Denver”s (from season 44) of the world.
STARS: ****

THE OLD NEW YORK SHOW
eccentric shut-ins (AIB) & (KAM) pine for ’90s NYC

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— And now this sketch is giving me a late ’90s “Leg Up” vibe.
— On paper, I would have said this was going to be an indulgent mess. But it’s actually a nice, quirky 10-to-1 sketch.
— RuPaul sporting a very unexpected and interesting look.
— His lines remind me a bit of something Bill Hader would do.
— I forgot to mention that when they said the ’90s were “Old New York,” it was both funny and accurate.
— Maybe I missed something, but the prank phone call didn’t do anything for me. I didn’t understand it.  The audience loved it, though.
— The short song about the subway was good.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Quavo [real] perform “Intentions”

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— Blue: Justin is already displaying more energy here than in the last song.
— I love the visual effects in this performance so much already! The lights are so pretty.
— Once again, Justin is skipping lines here and there.
— The random sound effects in this song (the phone beeping, the soda can opening) are… certainly a choice.
— There are so many effects on Quavo’s voice, it sounds like he’s lip-syncing. In fact… maybe he is lip-syncing?
— This is the reverse opinion from my previous review, but I feel like I would like this song better if it were performed by someone else, whereas I don’t mind Justin’s singing on “Yummy,” I just think it’s a bad song. “Intentions” is still a boring, generic love song, but I feel it might be improved if it wasn’t Justin singing it.
STARS: **

GOODNIGHTS

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— Excellent, iconic bumper photo of RuPaul, going to the goodnights.
— Per SNL tradition, Mikey and Ego point at Chloe in the goodnights to celebrate her big breakout Update piece.

CUT FOR TIME: COAL MINERS FACE-OFF
melodramatic coal miners (host) & (BOY) encounter in the mines

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— Hilarious entrance from RuPaul.
— Mikey just flubbed a line, or said it too early.
— This has taken an interesting turn with the melodramatic, Dynasty-like dialogue.
— The comments from the other coal miners seem unnecessary. RuPaul and Bowen could have carried this.
— Okay, now I see they needed to cut away to the others so Bowen and RuPaul could quickly change positions. And they’re having some funny lines now.
— Good turn at the end. I would have preferred this in the live show over the blase check-splitting sketch.
STARS: ***½

CUT FOR TIME: BABY DOCTOR
new Quiboo show swaps doctor (host) with baby

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— “One of those babies was switched again…” Funny concept.
— They’re using a real baby—nice.
— Nice visual design, but there’s not many jokes here.
— Good Lord, the cheap urination joke was… cheap.
— Mild laughs from the penis jokes.
— Briefcase of cash? Motorcycle? This has fallen apart and the filmmakers are just throwing in anything they can, with poor results.
— “Shows that audiences are quick to boo.” Yes, agree.
STARS: **

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A fun episode which did best when they played to RuPaul’s sense of humor or  on his iconic status. The weak stuff didn’t involve the host and was mostly just retreading the same (often political) ground as before.
— On a personal note, I should mention that I was on the NBC tour during the afternoon leading up to this show. So, I got to see Aidy Bryant (who looked annoyed to see “tourists”), Kyle Mooney (who seemed very cool), and Heidi Gardner (who couldn’t have been sweeter to a starstruck lady in our group) roaming the halls of 30 Rock. I also think I spied Steve Higgins at home base among a throng of people as they blocked the cold open.  This was not as informative as actually seeing dress or the live show, and I know some of my fellow reviewers have been to 8H numerous times, but it’s an interesting side note as to why I volunteered for this episode.

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Thirsty Cops
Reading
Monologue
(CFT: Coal Miners Face-Off)
Family Charades
The Queen
The Old New York Show
Weekend Update
Check Splitting
New Hampshire Democratic Debate
(CFT: Baby Doctor)
Boop-It

TOMORROW
John Mulaney returns for the penultimate pre-coronavirus SNL, covered by Vax Novier

February 1, 2020 – J. J. Watt / Luke Combs (S45 E12)

by Matt

THE TRIAL YOU WISH HAD HAPPENED
Judge Mathis (KET) rules in wished-for Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) trial

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— Quite a bold fuckin’ title from SNL. I hesitate to call this preferable.
— I feel like this premise could be far better executed than it’s currently being played out, if not by this era. We have so much room to change variables around; we could construct some absurdist nonsense and just relish in those sorts of details! Instead, SNL’s doubling down on its usual brand of un-fun, dubiously-“satirical” nonsense, and it makes the baseline assumption that swapping out unremarkable variables has the power to create a remarkable difference. It doesn’t.
— It feels really weird to see Cecily participating in the show’s gender-swapping political impression parade, having a turn as John Bolton. It’s also somehow the most incomprehensible impression yet.
— Kenan, as Judge Matthis: “C’mon, don’t leave me on read, gimme some of that hot tea!” Ick. You’re not as young as you think you are, SNL.
— Pete comes in as Hunter Biden on a hoverboard, puffing a fat cloud. He’s adding a bit of energy to this cold open, but it’s still nothing special.
— Trumpwin (ugh) makes his entrance on a walker which, via some over-explanation, serves as a reference to Weinstein. Please, don’t make me talk about these cold opens anymore.
— Kyle makes a random walk-on as My Cousin Vinny, which I laughed at if only because of the boldness of SNL to wear its desperation for crowd response on its sleeve so clearly. Fresh reference, you guys!
— Beck’s Mitch has now broken into song, proving this cold open to be an amalgamation of disparate concepts that I’d like to define as “drug-fueled,” but that would also suggest that any of it’s been that fun.
STARS: *

MONOLOGUE
on Super Bowl Eve, host talks about growing up in a football family

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— J.J. Watt sure is a giant man.
— These sports-centric jokes are a bit slight and cliched, but J.J.’s proving himself to be just charismatic enough for it to go off without a hitch. 
— I kind of like the joke of J.J.’s father being “Cletus, the Fox Sports robot.” I also liked the story of how his mother took care of him and his siblings growing up by throwing their SNES into the basement, blasting Metallica, and making them fight for it. (“That’s not a joke, guys.”)
— Another funny bit on how J.J. would most definitely drop this SNL hosting gig to be in the Superbowl.
STARS: **½

FROZEN II
Elsa (KAM) is gay & Kristoff (host) is woke in Frozen II deleted scenes

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— I haven’t seen Frozen or its sequel, but I have seen this sketch before, so I don’t think I’m at the biggest loss.
— I like the set. Feels very atmospheric.
— Right off the bat, Kate-as-Elsa makes repeated, off-hand comments about being gay; in light of the sort of conversation around that time of the character’s sexuality, it feels like this casting has sort of written itself.
— Casting J.J. as Kristoff feels like another instance of, “This is too good to be true, we have to do this.” And I’ll give it to SNL—J.J. looks goofy as hell in that costume.
— All of Beck’s voiceover portions of this feel very unnecessary in how they’re calling attention to how weird the “deleted scenes” are.
— Alright, I do like the bit making fun of Frozen being “too white” with Kenan as a member of the king’s guard in 1840s rural Norway.
— Kate giggling and calling out the plot of the movie as “really bad” has always stuck out to me as a rather lazy jab. This entire sketch has been struggling with all of its random, meta observations, but that line specifically sort of paints this whole sketch out as crudely-conceived and rather mindlessly written.
— Mikey’s appearance as Olaf, now featuring a carrot dick for some reason, feels like a very unneeded bit that manages to pull the focus of the sketch even further away.
STARS: **

ROBBIE
(CRR)- (host) doesn’t want untalented underdog on football field

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— A fairly predictable twist to this Rudy-esque pretape, with J.J. breaking the sentimental tone of the short to point out that Chris “fucking sucks at football.”
— Although all of J.J.’s dialogue is littered with bleeped expletives, the real enjoyment I’m getting out of this one are all of Chris’ insecure, awkward reaction shots.
— Kenan’s addition is alright, but this sketch is hammering the same joke in too many times for it to keep registering.
— Ultimately, another middling sketch despite some decent performances.
STARS: **

SEX TALK
teen (KYM) cringes when parents (host) & (AIB) overshare their sex life

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— Already off to a pretty fun start, with JJ’s father character making it abundantly clear that he’s giving Kyle the talk because he just walked in on his parents having sex.
— Another funny moment with Kyle pointing out to J.J. that it’s his birthday.
— J.J. is staring right at the cue cards, but he’s actually giving a surprisingly impassioned performance. He’s doing a lot to sell this sketch, which has otherwise been hitting the same sort of beats over and over again.
— Aidy appears as Kyle’s mother to further the raunchy sex talk, as an Aidy does. 
— J.J., on the topic of Aidy’s good good: “We are talking medical-grade pure water, son. That type that make a good man kill himself.” Aidy: “And a worse man kill everybody.”
— Come to think of it, like the cold open, this sketch is getting into a very slang-y crawlspace, though I think that’s working quite a bit better here.
— The reveal of Kyle’s character being bisexual is a strange touch, but I suppose not a bad one…? I at least like that his parents, in their sexual openness, are accepting of him and celebrating it, even if it’s not an overly-funny way for the sketch to extend itself.
STARS: ***

OLAY EYE BLACK
Oil Of BrOlay eye black has both athletic & esthetic applications

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— SNL always enjoys doing these beauty product ads for macho men, and they always end up being about the same: meh. 
— Beck: “This isn’t gay, right?” J.J.: “It’s just gay enough.” I feel like this sketch is trying to comment somewhat on the notion of toxic masculinity, but it’s refusing to take a definitive stance, and instead just becomes “Haha, men using beauty products!” which feels hacky to me.
— I like some of the details in the sketch, like the products smelling like “Jack Daniels, gasoline, and matcha extract,” but the means of delivery just isn’t doing much.
— A funny bit with Alex ripping a nose strap off of his broken, bloodied nose and screaming in pain.
STARS: **

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Lovin’ On You”

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— Blue: I’m liking the fiery guitar opening. But man oh man, is it really necessary to have so many guitarists onstage?
— Luke’s got the type of voice that puts me off a lot of modern country music. I’ll try to power through for the sake of this review.
— I like how the second half of the chorus starts on a minor chord.
— I can’t stand when singers mime along to their guitarists’ solos. It always feels so attention-seeking. Funnily enough, this is the second country singer I’ve reviewed for this project who’s done that (Thomas Rhett being the first).
— The piano on the brief breakdown is pretty great.
— There’s definitely an audience for this. I’m not a part of that audience. But I did enjoy the instrumentation, at least, so I’ll give this performance an extra star. 
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE
Chen Biao puts a positive spin on China’s response to the coronavirus

Dr. Angie Hynes (EGN) highlights personal grudges for Black History Month

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— Strange clip of Trump’s acquittal speech being a video of a guy break-dancing with Trump’s face poorly superimposed on it… this Update isn’t off to a blazing start.
— Che, on the acquittal: “What better way to start Black History Month than being failed by the justice system?”
— It feels very surreal to see the coronavirus referenced by the show pre-pandemic, as Che’s introduction to this Chen Biao segment is. I wonder how well the commentary itself has aged…
— Ah, this segment is pretty much just focused on how China was handling coronavirus rather than really pointing towards it becoming a global issue. 
— Solid bit from Chen Biao slamming American Airlines. The commentary as a whole hasn’t been doing as much for me as Chen’s first installment, but there’s still some fun to come out of Bowen’s cattiness.
— Ego gets her first Update piece as Dr. Angie Hynes.
— I love the initial reveal of what this segment is about, with Ego’s version of “Black history” being shots at former friends who are now history to her, but repeating that same joke over and over again is struggling to maintain that initial burst of energy. I feel bad that I don’t care more for this big role of hers.
— I got a mild laugh out of Ego calling Duane Reade “Black Walgreens.”
STARS: ***

PILOT HUNK
bachelorettes compete to impress burly aviator

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— Feels weird to see the always-reliable, annual (until S46) Bachelor sketch turn up this late in the episode. There’s been some very strange sequencing with the running order in general.
— I’m not surprised that they’d save this premise for someone like J.J., who has some woodenness, considering these sketches almost always make their way into episodes with hosts the show isn’t fully comfortable with (Blake Shelton, Ronda Rousey, etc.). 
— J.J.’s impressively stiff, repeated delivery of “Haha, I love that.” to every off-putting thing the ladies say is a great little touch.
— Kate’s contestant: “I wrote you a letter. It’s a ‘T.’ I also know a couple others but I’m gonna play hard to get.”
— These sketches always have some gag where a contestant rules themselves out of contention, and I especially liked this sketch’s variant, with Melissa having a bag thrown over her head and being pulled out by dudes in cult-esque garb because she just turned 30.
— Another funny beat with how Ego’s character died, and then came back to life so that she could come back to the show, after which J.J. praises her for being vulnerable.
— Aidy: “I’m having a really hard time because the producers… they confiscated my vitamins and they gave me a knife.” J.J.: “Haha, I love that.”
— Another sketch tonight where Kate makes reference to being gay.
— I’d say this installment was just a touch better than these Bachelor sketches usually are, and it feels like every female cast member got a fun bit out of it even if screen time was, as usual, noticeably disproportionate.
STARS: ***½

MADDEN 21
host balks at unflattering dialogue during Madden 21 recording session

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— Nice to see Ego landing a supporting role in this sketch; it helps keep this Seiday piece feeling just that bit fresher. She’s been having a pretty good night in general.
— J.J.’s submitting some fun work here as he gets increasingly perplexed by how inept at football the lines make him sound.
— Love the running thread in J.J.’s dialogue of him repeatedly slamming a kid in a wheelchair.
— “WOOO! I’m going to the Superbowl, baby! My wife’s company got tickets…??”
— Weak ending with the rendering of J.J.’s character sprite flossing, but a fun sketch overall.
STARS: ***½

FOOD DUDES
mannequins cover for individuals’ excessive meal orders

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— This sketch was cut from the preceding Adam Driver episode.
— A very Beck/Kyle concept of mannequins you take to hotels so that it looks like you have company when you order a ton of food through room service for yourself.
— I loved the dramatic turn where Melissa sternly demands to see one of them eat.
— Lots of fun, weird details, like the microwave built into the mannequin’s asses and the mannequins being slightly overweight (and having robotic dialogue that hammers that point in).
— Mikey’s delivery guy saying “Have fun with your diverse friends!” very earnestly is hilarious.
— Kenan’s scene undoes the reality of the sketch being a commercial a little bit, but he sells it all as perfectly as a Kenan does.
— This is a sketch that I feel I’ve underrated in the past and considered a lesser entry into Kyle and Beck’s oeuvre, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it this go around. Although I don’t think it’s as strong as some of their other fake ads (“My Drunk Boyfriend,” “Undercover Office Potty”), it’s still tons of fun and sprinkled with brilliant details.
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Beer Never Broke My Heart”

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— Blue: Heck yeah, breaking out the banjo? That’s what I like to see. (Said… no one except me, probably.)
— Did Luke just cram every single country song stereotype into the first verse of this one?
— Kind of annoyed by “It takes one hand…” *holds up one hand* Sometimes miming out the lyrics works, sometimes it feels like the musician is taking your hand and guiding you through the song’s meaning, as if you wouldn’t understand it just from hearing the lyrics.
— With lyrics like that, I cannot take this chorus seriously.
— Great slide guitar solo.
— I also love the guitar riff on the chorus coming out of the solo, which the banjo is doubling.
— Literally pointing to the guitar when singing about a guitar… ugh.
STARS: **

MY FAIR BIGFOOT
otherwise-civilized Sasquatch has bathroom mishap

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— A rather extravagant and pretty set for this sketch.
— Casting J.J. as Bigfoot feels like a given, doesn’t it? It’s weird that the show’s taken this long to really utilize his massive size in a sketch, considering that usually consists of half of an athletic host’s material.
— Haha, J.J. loses his dignified, British accent right after his first bit of dialogue.
— For some reason, Kenan’s use and delivery of the word “feculent” has always stuck with me. (Oh yeah, this is a poop sketch now by the way, at least in part.)
— I feel like I should admit that, although this is not a very good sketch, I am getting some guilty enjoyment out of it. Alex and especially Bowen are submitting fine performances on the side, and Kenan is willing all of his lines into working by the sheer power of his likability, even if that says nothing of the quality of the material he’s reading. I also appreciate that, despite having a scatological premise, it’s at least striking more of a unique tone with its setting and initial circumstances.
— An unintentional laugh from J.J.’s horrible fake harp-playing.
— I kinda like Bigfoot’s very florid manner of speaking.
STARS: **

BIG WILLIE’S PIZZA
delivery guy’s (host) porno plot fulfillment ruins pizza shop owner (KET)

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— The set-up almost makes it seem like we’re about to get another of those “Aidy walking in on a porno shoot” sketches.
— A great initial laugh as we cut away from the porn scenario to Kenan wondering why his pizzeria’s not making any money. I can already tell he’s gonna kill with this performance.
— J.J. is perfectly cast here. He’s clearly having a lot of fun approximating a porno bro accent.
— The reveal of Kenan holding up a pizza box with a giant hole in the bottom is hurt a bit by the fact that we can see the prop sitting behind him the entire time, but I did like the nasty detail of him eating the leftover pizza.
— Kenan: “You smell like shellfish and karate class!” Perfect. Kenan is going full ham here and he’s selling it like crazy.
— J.J. misconstruing a favor Kenan’s asking of him for more sex is a bit hacky, but then again, this sketch is sort of relishing in that area. Plus, Kenan revealing that he just wanted J.J. to shoot his father got a solid laugh out of me.
— Overall, a really strong 10-to-1, with a concept I love and some fantastic performances. With the exception of the preceding Bigfoot sketch, it was nice to end this episode on an upswing.
STARS: ****

GOODNIGHTS

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— A nice little tribute from J.J. to Kobe Bryant, who died earlier in the week.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not a very strong episode. The second half was quite a bit stronger than the first and it was nice to see the show gathering more momentum, but it also seriously hurt the flow of the sketches.
— J.J. won’t enter the pantheon of great athlete hosts, but he was surprisingly enjoyable throughout the night, adding charisma to all of his parts and even scoring some solid laughs from his performances. Not the worst legacy for a one-time, non-actor host to leave behind.

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Big Willie’s Pizza
Food Dudes
Madden 21
Pilot Hunk
Sex Talk
Weekend Update
Monologue
My Fair Bigfoot
Robbie
Frozen II
Olay Eye Black
The Trial You Wish Had Happened

TOMORROW
Kabir covers RuPaul

January 25, 2020 – Adam Driver / Halsey (S45 E11)

by Matt

DERSHOWITZ IN HELL
in hell, Satan (KAM) stans for scoundrel defender Alan Dershowitz (JOL)

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— Look, this is yet another cold open that is centered around the presence of a surprise cameo, and I think we can all agree that it’s an incredibly infuriating component of modern-day SNL, but at the same time: JON LOVITZ! It’s nice to see him back in the studio for the first time since S36 and his minor appearances in the 40th anniversary special, especially since casting him as Alan Derschowitz gives him a chance to join in on the fun more.
— If it’s any testament to how enjoyable Lovitz is as a performer, his lines up top are about as labored as the writing in these cold opens tend to be (“Haters gonna hate!”), but his delivery makes them feel more palatable. Perhaps it’s also knowing where this cold open is going, though, that’s making me a bit more willing to roll with it.
— A really funny and surprising turn with Derschowitz having a heart attack and going to hell, where he’s greeted with hero worship levels of enthusiasm by the Devil (Kate).
— While Kate’s performance as the Devil is nothing new and pretty stereotypically Kate, I’m finding her very charming here. It feels tailored to her ability to underplay and be deadpan (especially during the podcast segment), which is what I feel she excels at the most.
— Adam’s surprise walk-on as Jeffrey Epstein gets some very nice shock laughs—I especially love his nonchalant delivery of “Eh, just hangin’.” when asked what he’s been up to.
— I could do without the walk-ons from Bowen (the inventor of Baby Shark), Heidi (Flo from Progressive), and Mikey (Mr. Peanut), but the audience is into it and there’s enough of a fun vibe to the cold open that they’re not detracting hugely. Mikey also gets a funny line about how he’s in hell partially for all of the first graders with peanut allergies that he took out.
— Another good, dark joke from Adam’s Epstein about how the Devil appears to him as a woman his own age.
— Overall, a pretty good cold open. This certainly wasn’t lacking in the issues that these tend to have, but Lovitz’s solid work and the sense of fun help it get over far better than most, and for that, I need to give it some (generous?) credit.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
host shares personal tidbits & unconvincingly demonstrates his chillness

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— “I have to say, I’m a little sad to say goodbye to 2019, because I’ve acted so much, and so hard, in all of these movies all year. Seriously. I was yelling, I was crying, I punched, I sang—all four emotions.”
— As with the very enjoyable monologue from Harry Styles’ episode earlier this season, this was penned by Anna Drezen and features a sort of conceptual, non sequitur delivery style that I really appreciate compared to how perfunctory monologues in this era tend to be. This premise, with Adam seeking to disprove his intense reputation by being very chill and conversational, is particularly delightful.
— A great little bit with Adam immediately taking a moment to himself and looking around the monologue stage. (“Oh that’s cool, it’s like a subway?”)
— There are seriously too many moments to spotlight within this monologue—it’s an embarrassment of riches. A couple of my favorite beats: Adam’s tension and eventual trust in the SNL band, his description of looking like “a kidnapped person trying to send a message with [his] eyes” at red carpet events, walking up to and maniacally grinning at the camera, and talking about how the military is similar to acting.
— “I just saw the movie, Little Women. Spoiler: there’s not a little women—there’s a LOTTA women!”
— A short but sweet audience interaction bit with Adam confronting someone in the front seats (“Hey man, you look like a Star Wars fan, no offense!”) and gifting him a signed action figure… before threatening his life if he sees it on eBay.
— The moment where Adam says he’s dragging the monologue out so that the last sketch of the night gets cut because it’s either “really transphobic or really dated” seems to have been taken seriously by some people online, even though it’s very clearly a joke. It does feel like a minorly shocking and reflective moment on the show’s part, though.
— Just from this monologue alone, it feels like SNL has finally figured out how to use Adam Driver—an excellent host that the show seems to struggle to properly handle—at his greatest capacity. And fortunately, if memory serves, that confidence carries through the rest of the episode as well!
STARS: *****

SLEEPOVER
at a sleepover, clearly-guilty toilet destroyer Megan (KAM) won’t fess up

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— A funny, prolonged description from Adam about how someone at his daughter’s sleepover irreparably fucked up the toilet while trying to dispense of a sanitary napkin.
— The debut of one of Kate’s most recent recurring-but-shouldn’t-be-recurring characters. I’ll try not to be jaded by its paint-by-numbers return next season, as I remember finding this enjoyable enough at the time.
— I will say, Kate’s entrance, soaked and electrocuted with her hair all over the place, is very funny. I’m also liking her demeanor which, like how she played the Devil in the cold open, isn’t new per se, but it’s a solid premise for her to be applied to.
— There are some extraneous details to this premise that aren’t adding a ton, like Kate repeatedly mentioning Mark Harmon from NCIS or being attracted to Adam, but I feel like complaining that a modern SNL sketch has a few too many details is like being angry that water is wet.
— Not super sold on the ending with all the other girls confessing to flushing pads down the toilet, nor the house exploding at the end, but as a whole, this isn’t a bad sketch.
STARS: ***

UNDERCOVER BOSS: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Kylo Ren (host) doesn’t blend in with the other interns

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— A sequel to the classic “Kylo Ren/Matt the Radar Technician” sketch from Adam’s first hosting gig. It’s an easy crowd-pleaser, though I’m skeptical of its return.
— It is sort of a nice, full circle moment to see Mikey so involved in this sketch considering he was one of the main architects of the original (where he made a brief cameo as a Stormtrooper).
— The meme references in this sketch, like Kylo’s strained delivery of “okay boomer” and Kyle’s Stormtrooper making a “deez nuts” joke are making this installment feel rather more slight and dated than the original. This new character for Kylo, “Randy the Intern,” also isn’t particularly interesting.
— I do like the beat with Kylo and Chloe as an intern who wants to be a T.I.E. Fighter pilot, but this sketch is offering me very little to talk about for the most part. A pretty underwhelming piece.
STARS: **½

DEL TACO COMMERCIAL SHOOT
in a Del Taco commercial shoot, (KYM) redoes “aw man, I’m all outta cash”

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— Oh hell yeah, a guilty pleasure sketch of mine! (Also, for whoever’s keeping track at home: penned by Beck, Kyle, and Dismukes!)
— Already, this sketch is off to the races when Beck pulls Kyle aside and the two repeat “Aw man, I’m all outta cash!” to each other over and over and over again until Beck bluntly just says, “No.”
— It feels initially strange to see Adam playing this very aloof role as Del Taco’s VP of branding, but as soon as he suddenly channels his quiet intensity into his very silly, nasal delivery of “Aw man, I’m all outta cash!”, things really start to snap into place. This sketch wouldn’t work nearly as well without Adam in that specific role.
— I love Adam suddenly walking onto the set and telling Kyle, “No man, you don’t wanna kill yourself, you just want a taco!” 
— It’s starting to get even more ridiculous as Beck and Adam start trying to aggressively loosen Kyle up by making him take his pants off and to “put [his] shirt over [his] head like Cornholio.” This sketch risks almost being a bunch of stupid noise, but it’s all of the committed performances and the inherent funniness of this line that everyone has to keep saying to each other which makes it such an absurd joy.
— Perfect escalation to this as Kyle’s delivery of the line becomes a very distressed and broken whimper, which is apparently the perfect line read. I also love Chris’ very bewildered delivery of “No!” when Beck asks if they got it on film.
STARS: *****

THE SCIENCE ROOM
dumb kids sidetrack professor’s (host) lesson about air

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— The “Science Room” sketch from Sam Rockwell’s S43 episode becomes recurring.
— I’m always skeptical whenever I see this sketch return because of the specificity of the original and how much of its success is predicated upon Sam’s incredible performance, but Adam feels like a good choice of host to bring the premise back.
— Also, to speak of the concept of these sketches in general, it feels like something that shouldn’t necessarily work because it borders on the idea of Mikey and Cecily’s characters just being so unfathomably dumb, but the fact that they always supply absurd, cerebral answers that somehow overshoot basic knowledge makes it feel far more creative and surprising.  
— Cecily’s bit about how “the guy always comes first” when asked what comes first in the science room is enjoyably risqué, and gets some wonderful groans from the audience.
— Adam: “Look, you stupid, stupid kids! What do balloons do?!” Mikey: “Um, provide a sense of atmosphere?”
— A great outburst from Adam, as if that would be something he would ever fail at being able to execute.
— The bit where Adam says they should switch to a pre-recorded video before he swears the c-word into his vest feels like a nod to the first installment’s infamous f-bomb. It’s a solid button.
— It’s hard to top the first installment of this sketch, but I always find myself surprised by how successfully it’s been repeated. (I really enjoy Jason Sudeikis’ most recent version as well.) There maybe aren’t as many surprises to these sketches, but they’re written so tightly that they always land for me. Does that make me the easy critic? Possibly, but fun is fun!
STARS: ****½

SLOW
romantic pace of (CRR) frustrates (musical guest) in music video

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— Nice to see Halsey getting involved in a sketch considering how much of a likable presence they are on the show.
— Really nice slow jam vibes to this song.
— Adam with his voice pitch-shifted so deep is a very simple creative decision, but the execution is an absolute riot. All of his random ad-libs throughout the song (“Three bubbles, baby!”) are killing me.
— I also really enjoy the idea of the guys in this music video not just taking sex slow, but also every single one of their actions to a point of oblivious, massive inconvenience. 
— Heidi: “I think these guys are actually slow slow.” Chris: “Hell nah we’re not slow slow. Doctor said we just above the line.”
— Priceless bit at the end where their actual sex only lasts a minute.
— SNL parody songs can be a dime a dozen and not always the greatest quality, but this has always been one of my absolute favorites: a very simple idea, wonderfully executed.
STARS: ****½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “You Should Be Sad”

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— Blue: Halsey’s first performance on SNL featured some theatrical staging. In her second performance, she painted a picture while singing. What’s she going to do to take this one up a notch? Ride a mechanical bull or something?
— Beautiful opening shot of Halsey silhouetted against a yellow moon backdrop.
— I like the acoustic guitar that opens the song.
— You know, from the way people talked about this performance, I assumed Halsey would be sitting on the bull the entire time… But now she’s stepped off it and is dancing.
— Once again, Halsey is displaying her great vocal technique.
— Not sure what’s up with the Western aesthetics. Please tell me that’s not just because the song uses an acoustic and a lap steel guitar, because those things do not a country song make.
— Oh yeah, love the fuzzy guitar solo! I wonder what kind of effects are being used on that acoustic?
— Impressed by the choreography of the backup dancers while they’re sitting on the floor.
— Just like with “Eastside” from the previous season, this song is bugging me because the melody of the chorus stays in the same vocal range as the verse. Now, a lot of songs do this, so it’s not like that variance is essential to a good pop song. But it takes away some of the song’s energy here.
— I like the dancers stomping in rhythm on the back half of the chorus. 
— Great breath support from Halsey as she belts out the wordless bridge while the dancers lift her into the air.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE
Carrie Krum’s winter destination suggestions might appeal to tween girls

“white male rage” is the common theme of MEV’s Oscar-inspired songs

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— Some alright jokes from Colin and Michael about Trump’s recent impeachment trial, though nothing outstandingly memorable. Business as usual for them.
— I liked Michael’s comment about how the US being unable to impeach Trump despite its track record of removing dictators around the world is like if Jamaica forgot how to unwind.
— The third appearance of Aidy’s Carrie Krum. This bit was about as they always are: cute, but we know what to expect. With that being said, I feel like this was a pretty decent installment with some good observational humor, however okay I would be with not seeing this character again.
— I got a good laugh from Michael’s joke about a goat born with a human-esque face. (“‘Wow, crazy, how did that happen?’, said a lonely farmer.”)
— Melissa!! She’s looking fantastic in her sparkly dress.
— The music that Melissa is singing her commentaries to sounds a lot like the World 1 overture from Super Mario Bros. 3. I feel like that has to be somewhat intentional, especially since Steve Castillo was a co-writer.
— Melissa’s songs about how every film at the Oscars is about “white male rage” are super fun. I remember some people online being really outraged about her take, but it’s all being executed well, and Melissa’s natural charms are making it feel very gleeful. (Her little chair dancing!)
— Another great part of this Update feature are all of the lines Colin is fed about his love for the movies Melissa sings about. (“I don’t remember that song in Joker, and I watch that movie every day while I work out.”; “That one definitely was not in The Irishman, and I should know, I watched that movie alone on Christmas Day.”)
— Overall, this was a pretty standard outing for Weekend Update, but Melissa’s wonderful commentary—one of my favorite things she’s gotten to do on the show—offers it a nice boost.
STARS: ***½

IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Buck Henry marks his passing

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— An in memoriam bumper appears after Update honoring the passing of legendary host, Buck Henry. Having now seen all of his episodes and coming to appreciate the fearlessness he brought to his hosting gigs, it feels particularly bittersweet. It would’ve been nice to see the show pay deeper tribute to him (his first episode from S1 was reran as the SNL Vintage), but I suppose he doesn’t have the sort of modern-day recognizability as a lot of the other quintessential hosts of that era. I at least appreciate his passing being acknowledged, though.

MEDIEVAL TIMES
aspiring actor (host) injects dark storyline into Medieval Times show

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— A mildly polarizing sketch, loved by a lot of casual SNL fans but cited by diehards as a rote example of Day/Seidell’s work.
— Adam is very funny as a Medieval Times performer who is way too invested in his character and making off-script proclamations about the world he’s constructed for himself. (“My lands were taken, my village burned on the orders of this false king, all because we would not pay his unjust tax!”) 
— This is definitely a formulaic Day/Seidell piece, but Adam’s performance is making it really work for me. Even if a lot of critics could easily point towards the formula, I feel like it’s worth acknowledging how well the two cater to the hosts’ abilities in their writing—there’s a certain generosity to that which I find admirable, even if the outcome can be hit-and-miss.
— Perhaps an easy joke, but I get a kick out of Adam treating the colorblind casting of his co-workers as a part of his historically-accurate sense of headcanon. His use of “blackamoor” to describe Chris is especially funny, though it also brings to mind that rather abysmal Henry VIII sketch from the Russell Crowe episode. (Another Day/Seidell piece, presumably?)
— Kenan’s part as an audience member is very unnecessary to the sketch, though I do kind of like the idea of Adam drumming up the audience’s favor, and Kenan’s delivery of “I DO want a FOKE! No grown man should have to eat a bake-a-tato with his hands!” is bizarrely memorable.
— In other hands, this sketch probably wouldn’t work nearly as well, but Adam is channeled perfectly here, so I’d call it an imperfect but guilty success.
STARS: ****

CHEER
coaches (HEG) & (host) overlook squad members’ severe injuries

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— A timely spoof of the reality show Cheer, which I didn’t watch. The full extent of what I know about it is that it’s about cheerleading, and that one of the main people in it got arrested for doing very bad things.
— The premise of Adam and Heidi deciding which cheerleaders to cut by discussing their horrific injuries is pretty fun. As some of my review colleagues have pointed out, one of the greatest strengths of this era’s writers is that even if their writing isn’t the most coherent, they are excellent at little one-liners. This sketch is entirely motivated by that mindset, and while it’s not anything amazing, it works. It’s also always nice to see an ensemble piece.
— Kenan’s odd characterization must be spoofing something specific from Cheer, but either way it’s tickling me.
— A very sudden ending with Halsey that doesn’t really work, but this sketch was fine enough. It’s worth noting that she made an appearance at Update as Meghan Markle which was cut after dress, so I wonder if the way she was shoe-horned here was sort of a consolation prize.
STARS: ***

MARRYING KETCHUPS
waitress (HEG) imagines condiment romance while marrying ketchup bottles

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— A bizarre premise with Adam and Cecily playing two ketchup bottles that are about to be married (combined the contents into one full bottle). It’s good to see these two in a scene together given Cecily’s dramatic acting chops.
— The sense of set design for this sketch is pretty clever, with the menu design for the diner this scene takes place at resembling a wedding arch.
— So many beautifully silly lines in this sketch already, such as Adam saying that Cecily is getting “cold bottom of the bottle” (cold feet) and expressing, “I know I’m no aioli but I’ll be good to you, Wanda.”
— A great reveal that Cecily is actually “catsup.”
— “You’re not even Heinz, you dirty HUNT!”
— The fact that this sketch is revealed to be set in 2023, with the date “2023” suddenly appearing on the bottom of the screen is so goddamn random but hilarious to me, for reasons I could not begin to explain.
— The cheap prop comedy with the real ketchup bottles and condiment packet is very charming.
— “I don’t relish telling you this, but…”
— The ending of this sketch was originally a strange hiccup, with Aidy entering with a bottle of mayonnaise and joining in on Heidi’s condiment roleplay. It feels loose, and flubby, and above all else like a superfluous beat, so it’s wise that the officially-uploaded version of the sketch lops that section off entirely.
— While several other pieces from this episode seem to be more appreciated, this is my absolute favorite of the night. Beautifully-executed absurdity, and one of Adam’s best SNL performances.
STARS: *****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Finally // Beautiful Stranger”

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— Blue: This is a song my band plays occasionally in live performances. That familiarity with it has heightened my opinion of it.
— One upbeat song and one ballad? Okay then!
— Already, Halsey’s jaw movements are distracting me, just like they did in her performance of “Without Me” from the previous season. The vibrato at the end of each phrase is unnecessary, too.
— Some of the low notes sound out of Halsey’s range, as she’s not hitting them as strongly as the mid-range notes. She almost sounds like she’s whispering the lowest notes. Maybe this song should have been raised a whole step so Halsey could nail those notes.
— Now THAT is the melodic variance I was hoping to hear from the previous song. (That variance is also why I don’t sing this song when my band does it…) The first note Halsey hits on the pre-chorus is an octave above the lowest note in the verse (the one she couldn’t hit). She sounds much better singing in that range.
— Huh, Halsey is playing around with the melody of the pre-chorus, singing it lower than she does on the recording. Maybe she’s saving her voice to belt out the pre-chorus the next time it comes around.
— Halsey does a great growl on “I say I’m only playing, but the truth is this.”
— Strong entrance from the full band on the second verse. I was starting to wonder if they’d ever come in.
— Halsey’s laughter on “you stop me in my tracks, put me right in my place” is super charming.
— Really appreciating what the lap steel guitar is adding to this song. Wish it had been on the original recording.
— Good choice for Halsey to belt the end of the chorus for a stronger impact.
STARS: ***

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Adam Driver’s best SNL hosting stint by a pretty wide margin, and one of my favorite episodes in recent years! It feels like the show has finally cracked the code on how to use him, and while there are a handful of segments that don’t fully work, the sheer number of memorable pieces and fun vibes across the night make them easy to gloss over. 

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Marrying Ketchups
Monologue
Del Taco Commercial Shoot
Slow
The Science Room
Medieval Times
Weekend Update
Dershowitz in Hell
Sleepover
Cheer
Undercover Boss: Where Are They Now?

TOMORROW
Big meaty boy JJ Watt, as covered by yours truly (me)