May 15, 2021 – Keegan Michael Key / Olivia Rodrigo (S46 E19)

by Anthony

NO MORE MASKS
Anthony Fauci (KAM) introduces scenes dramatizing maskless scenarios

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— Kate’s Fauci returns. As Matt pointed out when this impression made its debut, there’s an incongruity in how this impression is so superficially similar to Kate’s other slimy male politician roles but for a man the show clearly wants us to respect. Has…has the show gone so all in on Kate they’re now thinking of it as an “honor” to be impersonated by her?  
— Not the worst concept of actors playing out scenarios where you do and don’t have to wear a mask under new mandates. Well, they’re not quite actors, they’re “doctors who minored in theater”, though I feel like it would have been stronger as just simply ‘actors’, as it’s less of a mouthful and would explain the inaccuracy of the scenes they perform. Either way, this feels somewhat reminiscent of those High School Theater Showcase sketches, which I always enjoyed.
— Every member of the cast (minus the Update bros) appears in this sketch. On the one hand, it’s nice to see so much of the underutilized cast get a chance to shine. However, the show has had a lot of these sketches in the last couple years where it’s just a string of cast members coming on to say their bit and leave, and they’re by nature pretty inconsistent pieces. I also rarely feel like we need the bits with one or two cast members as a moderator interjecting to let us know that the wacky person we just saw was in fact wacky, as Kate’s Fauci does here.
— I don’t know if Bowen and Ego hooking up here was a subtle reference to their joke fling they have on Instagram, but it was a fun bit either way. 
— Not getting much out of these in-sketch skits. They just feel like a collection of buzzwords and bad acting tics.
— I see the show reusing its own “COVID mask covering an undesirable bottom half of someone’s face” joke from the premiere. 
— Kyle coming into a skit to try and turn it into an improv scene is kinda funny, though again I don’t need Kate’s Fauci commenting on it.
— Interesting Cecily’s the only one to get 2 skits (and yet misses the LFNY, very curious – scratches chin). 
— Cute meta moment with Kate acknowledging the audience to tell them they still need to keep their masks on.
— Some of the gags in this were okay but there just wasn’t much to hold onto. It feels like one of those Jost pieces (he co-wrote this with Gary Richardson) that’s trying so hard not to have an opinion it ends up not feeling like much of anything. 
STARS: **

MONOLOGUE
alongside CES & KET, singing host is excited to do all the SNL things

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— You can tell even before he goes into his personal history with the show how much it means for Key to be up there. 
— It’s a nice full circle moment to have a former cast member from MADtv, SNL’s main rival for much of the 90’s and 2000’s, hosting the show. Though he’s not the first cast member to come in contact with the show, as both Jeff Richards and Taran Killam are alums of both shows. MAD was a show I used to slag off for many years as an inferior SNL clone, but having seen more of it recently I’ve really come around on the early years of it (I’m not so into it by the time Key comes around, unfortunately) as it, at its peak, embraced the “kid brother of SNL” label in the best way possible by leaning into the juvenile nastiness, stupidity and chaos of a little brother. It’s a show I know has been dogged on by a lot of people, so it’s nice to see it have this moment of minor victory. 
— I was half expecting an Eminem reference when Key mentions he grew up near Detroit’s 8 Mile Road, but I guess that’s Pete’s wheelhouse.
— Speaking of Pete, he shows up for a second and makes an Elon Musk joke, making us all shudder in horror as this confirms the previous episode wasn’t just some horrible collective nightmare we had.
— Really? We have a sketch comedy veteran of two shows, one of which he co-created and was among the most acclaimed sketch series of all time, and we’re giving him your standard basic boring musical monologue? 
— Keegan’s Schmigadoon! co-star Cecily pops up here. Expect to see more of that pairing tonight, though don’t expect to like it. 
— The melody here is a lift from the classic SNL “Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight” (now and forever the gold standard of musical monologues), which is a nice little easter egg at least.
— We get questions from the audiences now too, meaning SNL is deploying both of its stock “monologues for hosts we don’t know what to do with” tricks, even though they have one of the most capable hosts they’re ever gonna get on that stage. 
— Steven Castillo pops up (in I believe his first speaking role, though he previously popped up in the Career Day sketch from Chance’s first episode) to praise Key for his work on Get Out, an inevitable reference to his former sketch partner’s rather illustrious post-Comedy Central career.
— Fun bit with Kenan and Keegan clarifying they’re different people, although do people really mix them up? C’mon guys…
— Keegan’s enthusiasm helped to bolster this (I mean, look at him in that last screenshot), but it was still far too safe and predictable a way to start things off for such a capable host.
STARS: **½ 

PROM SHOW
at prom, high schoolers (BOY), (HEG), (host) comment on the red carpet

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— A Gillespie/Green piece, the duo behind those SoulCycle pieces and “What’s Wrong With This Picture?”, among others. They’ve never been my favorite duo, as their stuff tends to feel a little aimless, but they usually have an ear for sharp Drezen-y one-liners that keep them afloat.
— To that end, I enjoyed the line about a memorial chocolate fountain for a girl that moved.
— Fun energy from Key here, his first of several roles tonight where he blends in with the cast seamlessly.
— I remember when this aired, a number of fans compared it to “Wake Up Wakefield”. However, we don’t get a female cast member in drag here, since I guess we already spent that gag in the open.
— Dismukes on his knees to play a freshman is obvious but cute.
— Yea, another one of these big cast pieces that lives and dies by the one-liners and little cast moments that pop, since there’s no real underlying concept to propel things forward. We’re never in a different place at the end of these sketches than we were at the beginning, we’ve just seen different people do different odd things. 
— Again though, at least the one-liners are solid. I especially enjoyed this exchange between Bowen and Ego: “What are you wearing?” “Green.” “And who is it by?” “Mall.”
— The bit with Mikey and Aidy as “two dorks who bang” didn’t do much for me, though I did like Aidy wearing a ribbon to raise awareness for her mom’s ribbon store. 
— Key mentions the tradition of bringing water bottles full of vodka to prom. They actually had guards with breathalyzers at the entrance to my prom, so I guess they finally caught on to that one.
— Nice to see Melissa get a comedic moment for once. This is her and Alex’s 100th episode as cast members, and they get a few moments a piece to pop in this ep. A nice gesture, though I wish them getting multiple moments to shine in a milestone ep for them like this was par for the course and not something that seemed like cause for celebration. 
— Funny that Pete’s playing the teacher when he’s the second youngest cast member on the show. The bit with Heidi and Bowen fawning over him for merely existing almost felt meta, though I’m probably just reading into things. 
— As pointed out above, there were a fair number of strong lines in this one, and it was well performed as usual (a lot of this cast can play teens in their sleep) but it also felt pretty scattershot and unfocused. 
STARS: ***

THE LAST DANCE: EXTENDED SCENE
Michael Jordan (host) ruins John Michael Wozniak (HEG)

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— A Last Dance sketch over a year after the miniseries aired. I remember watching live being surprised over how late they were to this, especially since they already did parody it during the At Home shows, and especially since that previous parody was pretty lame. 
— The visual of Heidi as Michael Jordan’s head of security is just perfect. It’s stuff like this that reminds how phenomenal the makeup and wardrobe departments are at SNL, because I’d never expect Heidi of all people to look like that dude, and yet it’s uncanny. 
— The direction on this needs to be lauded as well. Adriana Robles and Hannah Levy directed this piece and the attention to detail and the level to which they recreate the look and feel of the documentary is a huge part of why it’s so successful. 
— Of course, we have to get to the main reason this works so well: Heidi Gardner. Heidi’s a bit of a hit or miss performer for me; she’s a consummate professional who will totally commit to her characters, which I always admire, but those characters themselves are often too self-consciously ‘wacky’ for me to enjoy them much. Even when I do really enjoy her work, it’s often more from a place of admiration than me straight up finding what she’s doing hilarious. All that being said, that level of commitment to this character is absolutely hysterical and is, in my opinion, the funniest thing she’s done on the show up to this point. 
— Keegan is also doing top notch work here, totally selling the intense need to win and low key menace of Jordan as tries to completely strip this man of his dignity. 
— I could do without the reference to the “I took that personal” meme, since that line wasn’t even from this part in the doc. I could see someone saying they had to include it if they were parodying The Last Dance, but I feel like that argument would hold more water if this parody weren’t a year late. 
— Even Alex gets a great little moment, popping up for a second with a spot-on Phil Jackson. 
— Kenan and Chris as Charles Barkley and Dennis Rodman aren’t exactly new roles for them (well, I believe this is Chris’s first time as Dennis Rodman, so it is literally a ‘new role’, but it doesn’t exactly feel like he’s stretching) but they’re still fun and not overused here. 
— Heidi is just killing it with the increasing desperation and frustration in this character. Her little moment where she tries to save face after having to expose her penis (I know, pronouns getting a little funky here) to everyone is a particularly strong moment for her. Not that I care much about the Emmys, or that I want to keep banging on the cliche drum of “bash Kate, Aidy & Cecily”, but this far more award worthy than any of their nominated work this season. 
— The writing on this isn’t anything particularly special, but this is one of those pieces totally made by performances and production value. Everyone involved in the execution of this was working at their highest level, which I have to reward. 
STARS: *****

THE MUPPET SHOW
(host) & (KET) rough up Statler (BEB) & Waldorf (MID)

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— Random plugs for the Disney+ Marvel shows at the beginning of this. Wonder if that was the only way Disney would give them the rights to use the Muppets?
— Melissa as Lily Tomlin is a super fun little bit. Considering Lily herself was the one of the see off SNL’s ill-fated group of Muppets all the way back in the season 2 premiere, it’s quite a nice full circle moment.
— While he has a few more appearances coming up, this and the monologue were the only real uses the show had of Kenan and Keegan’s chemistry, which I’d like to see more of, cus they pop together. The infectious energy between these two remind me of the valet characters Keegan used to do on Key and Peele.
— Got a good laugh out of Key thinking Kermit was a “little dragon”.
— Keegan continues to just crush it as host tonight. He’s killing me with his “you are more than welcome to leave” bit. 
— Keegan beating up one of the muppets is the obvious escalation to this sketch but also the exact one you want. Statler rising up, shaking, with big swollen eyes, is just a fantastic visual. That little tremble is especially effective—the puppeteers here are doing a great job. 
— Got a laugh out of Kenan, in his tough security guy voice, describing the backstage scene at The Muppet Show as “too madcap for my tastes”. 
— Good ending with Statler and Waldorf befriending Key and Kenan. I’d have shaved about half a minute off this, but this actually zipped along fairly breezily for a 5 minute piece and was better written than I think it might appear at first glance, though the performances and production design are once again doing the heavy lifting. Still, a really fun piece overall. 
STARS: ****½ 

GEMMA & DJ BALLS
at TGI Friday’s, Jemma & musician boyfriend (host) provide inapt songs

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— Ah, Cecily. Once upon a time she was among my favorite cast members the show had ever had. She had that commitment I praised Heidi for, and yet there was something that grounded her broader characters in a way Heidi never found. And in an era where so many cast members increasingly stuck to their lane, she really found a way to keep surprising me with what she could do on the show. That is, until around Season 44, and especially 45, where I started to increasingly wonder to myself “have we seen all Cecily can do on the show?” One of the cast members whose versatility I had most praised in the past was more and more starting to rely on an old bag of tricks. This cratered in season 46, where I don’t know that she had a single role that didn’t feel reminiscent of something she had already done on the show. And while we now know she had her own personal issues to deal with during this season, distracting her from putting in the most effort at the show (to that point, while she isn’t up to much new, she is at least far more committed throughout the following season) that doesn’t make it hurt any less to see such a talented cast member so clearly going through the motions. Which is why I’m so happy she took note of all that and decided to debut a new character here.
— Ah, no recognition applause, which makes sense as this is an entirely new character.
— Interesting English accent from Cecily. It’s fun to hear new voices and not ones I’ve heard plenty of times before over multiple seasons.
— Kenan is acting like he’s never met these people before, as you would when meeting a new person. So again, no points docked there.
— Cecily’s doing a purposefully bad version of a club song here. Since it’s not the 18th or so time I’ve seen this, it’s fairly amusing.  
— Ah, so Kenan has met these characters before. A fairly interesting twist I didn’t see coming.
— Keegan has some solid energy here as Gemma’s boyfriend. One thing I like about his performance is we didn’t find out later he was a sex creep (please don’t let that become ironic). 
— A lot of lines from Gemma’s boyfriend about how aroused he thinks Kenan is. It’s almost like the writers (Anderlette, as if I had to clarify) think that’s like a core cornerstone of this sketch, though that’d be stupid, wouldn’t it? 
— Ah, it turns out Kenan was aroused. A fairly interesting twist I didn’t see coming.
— All in all, it was great seeing Cecily doing something completely new again. However, this took place at a TGI Fridays, and I’m a Chili’s man, so I must dock all but one and a half stars. 
STARS: *½ 

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Drivers License”

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— Blue: Now, I understand the mentality behind “one upbeat song and one ballad”- it’s to show an artist’s versatility. And, I understand that artists who play on SNL often play their singles in the order in which they were released. That being said, I’m not gonna lie that it always bothers me when artists on SNL start their set with a slow song. But I’ll ignore that now because I know we’re getting something more upbeat later.
— I like the (comparatively, to the original recording) stripped-down arrangement on the first verse.
— Olivia’s dress is lovely.
— Olivia has sung the word “suburbs” with a slight “sh” sound both times on the first verse, which my ears are warping into “showers.” If you take “showers” to mean rain, this actually gives this line an entirely new meaning.
— Olivia’s belting is strong, but she doesn’t sound very relaxed.
— Now that Olivia is standing at the microphone, her posture could be better. However, she’s admirably handling the increased amount of belting on the second verse.
— Great shot of Olivia’s reflection from the overhead mirror, before the camera pans down to her. It’s certainly fitting to have red lights flash as she sings the words “red lights!”
— The melody of the bridge makes it easy for the vocalist to toe the line between “bluesy” and “flat.” For the most part, Olivia is staying on the right side of that line. Her last note, however (on the word “babe”), definitely crosses it.
— The “p” and “f” plosives on the last chorus are very distracting to me, but I don’t think that’s Olivia’s fault so I’ll let that go.
— Something about the chord that the song ends on is SO satisfying.
STARS: ***

WEEKEND UPDATE
out-of-favor Liz Cheney (KAM) struggles to list any conservative allies

AND describes watching Brink! with his great grandmother in Texas

Bob Baffert (BEB) makes excuses for Medina Spirit’s positive drug test

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— (Refer to my first screenshot) Colin Jost, seen here doing a joke he’s done a thousand times before.
— Nothing special in this first batch of jokes from Jost and Che, relying on some pretty easy targets for punchlines (Matt Gaetz, Johnson and Johnson, etc.).
— Okay, Che’s line about Nancy Pelosi’s supposed “socialist agenda” was a good one.
— Kate comes back as interchangeable political impression #112—I mean, Liz Cheney.
— Yea this is doing nothing for me, especially once Kate starts going on a Brian-Doyle Murray style list of undesirable famous people.
— “I’m not conservative enough? To borrow a line I’m sure Colin uses a lot, ‘do you know who my father is?!’” Okay, at least this bit had one solid line.
— “I loved (Trump) like a straight sister.” Okay, two solid lines…
— Kate leaves with a line about Melania being the one who told her to stand against Trump, since we’re still ringing that bell.
— We get a joke about last week’s controversial host Elon Musk, though it’s a fairly soft one.
— Dismukes! After what was probably the most brutal season for newbies in the show’s entire 46 year run, it’s nice to see one spotlighted here with his own segment. 
— I liked the purposefully awkward bit of interaction between Andrew and Jost up top.
— Haha, love Andrew waiting for applause from SNL’s notoriously easy audience after stating he’s from Texas only to get nothing. Now I’m sure any of our readers from the lone star state are lovely people, but hey, sometimes you fuck around and get no love back. 
— Funny line about thinking Kelsey Grammer was British only to find out “he’s just fancy”.  
— Fun moment with Jost pointing out how rambly Andrew’s piece is, and an even better moment with Andrew saying he needed to do his Frasier joke and insisting that it “crushed”. 
— Andrew is coming off very effortlessly charming here. A lot of people have compared him to Mulaney, and this is where those comparisons make the most sense to me. They both command the stage with a similar sense of coy ease. He also has a boyish charm that reminds me of Andy Samberg (Andrews sticking together). 
— Ha, love how the Disney Channel original movie Brink! gets far more audience response than Texas did.
— Love Andrew’s description of a typical DCOM: “Middle school’s tough, and also I’m a mummy.”
— A very fun Update debut for Andrew that spells out the potential for him. This wasn’t hilarious, but his ease and charm was immediately notable and impressive for a newbie, especially one so young and green.
— Jost’s Chicago accent sure is something…
— Che follows up an uncharacteristically clapter-style line (about guns being given to the mentally ill) with one that feels far more up his wheelhouse (turning a headline about small animals into a joke about widowers). 
— Lol at someone cheering at the mention of Ohio State, only for Jost to tell them “hold on” as it’s a story about a sex offender working for them.
— Another Beck appearance this season at Update. After spending most of his run not doing much at the desk besides Jules, it’s interesting how often he popped up there in his final season (playing Tom Brady, Bruce Springsteen, the MyPillow guy and now this role). Unfortunately, as much as I enjoy Beck, none of those roles really worked for me (MyPillow was okay but felt very reminiscent of stuff we’ve seen him do plenty already).
— Not a fan of this voice Beck is using.
— When naming his horses that have been accused of using steroids, Beck calls one of them “Kumail”, which feels like a weird slam.
— The mental image of a horse exposing himself on Zoom is kinda funny, but this is mostly just white noise.
— The graphics of the jacked horses are okay. Still can’t say this bit needed to exist.
— An up and down Update. Kate and especially Beck didn’t give me much to get excited about, while Dismukes had a really strong and endearing debut. As for Jost and Che, outside a couple decent lines they felt like they were going through the motions. I wonder if they knew whether or not they were coming back for Season 47 yet, cus they definitely feel like guys with their eyes on the door. Without Dismukes this would be down at 2.5 or possibly even a 2, but he kept them just in passing range.
STARS: ***

LINE
at the Kennedy Center, (CES), (KAM), (host) forget “I Got Rhythm” lyrics

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— Cecily and Kate are both very talented performers, so I want to give them more benefit of the doubt, but sadly at this point when I see them pop up in a sketch like this—in a lounge setting in old age makeup—I pretty much immediately tune out.
— I’m not trying to be one of those “SNL stole this idea! PLAGIARISM!!” people, because this is a pretty obscure podcast so I doubt many people at SNL are even aware of it (although cast member Ego has guested…), but this premise always reminded me of a bit from the podcast Teacher’s Lounge. However, that improvised bit from 4 guys inside a studio is far funnier than this bit prepared over a week for America’s most venerable comedy institution. There’s just more joy to be found in someone genuinely fucking with their friends than in Cecily and Kate doing their same old shtick while Mikey does his feigned frustration routine. 
— While this sketch itself is doing nothing for me, I once again have to commend Key for how effortless he is in his role. If you showed someone these sketches and didn’t tell them he wasn’t in the cast, they would never know. 
— Didn’t as much as smile during the bit where they were telling backstage stories. This is a Drezen piece, which is surprising because there’s very little life to these lines. 
— This sketch isn’t on the show’s YouTube page, likely due to right’s issues, but I’m also willing to guess the show was fine with burying this dog. This wasn’t the worst the show can offer, but it was about as nothing as it can get.
STARS: * 

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Good 4 U”

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— Blue: Ahh, one of my ultimate not-so-guilty pleasure songs.
— Pleasantly surprised by the thick tone of the bass. I hope the other instruments don’t drown it out in the mix when they enter.
— Olivia is sliding down in pitch at the end of almost every line- “really easilYYyy,” “only took a couples WEEeeks,” “working on yoursEEeelf…” Etc. It’s not working for me. Doing it once is effective enough.
— Wow @ Olivia’s sneer right before she launches into the chorus. If this song isn’t personal to her, she’s sure acting like it is.
— Olivia starts off the chorus sounding flat, but she gets back on track quickly. I’m still not a fan of her belting, though. She sounds a bit tight and strained, like she’s struggling to stay at the top of her range. Maybe this song should have been written in a lower key.
— In contrast to Olivia’s obviously-live vocals, it sounds an awful lot like her backing vocalists are lip-syncing.
— Olivia is really selling the song with her facial expressions, stifled laughter, and conversational tone across the second verse. I’m enjoying this.
— On the one hand, this is a very difficult song to sing live (I know from experience), so I understand why Olivia hasn’t moved from center-stage. On the other hand, I would love to see her use the space more. The second verse would have been an ideal time to do that and engage the live audience by walking around, instead of relying on the close-ups of her face for the TV audience.
— I’m hearing some more flat notes on the second chorus, which concerns me given this song is one of Olivia’s hits and is presumably played at all of her shows. I hope she doesn’t strain her voice too much from repeatedly performing this song.
— Now I see why Olivia wasn’t using all the space that the stage provided her- her dancing is delightfully awkward! I’m glad she appears to be having fun.
— Once again, Olivia is deliberately sliding down in pitch on the bridge, and once again, it feels like overkill. 
— Even when she’s moving across the stage on the last chorus, Olivia is focusing on her bandmates more than the audience, which looks odd to me. 
— Olivia’s bassist looks so proud of her at the end of the song. In fact, he was smiling throughout the whole performance. I don’t blame him, it’s a very fun song! 
STARS: ***

COMMENCEMENT CELEBRATIONS 
relatives shout unauthorized hurrahs at high school graduation ceremony

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— The previous week had some controversy when that atrocious Gen Z Hospital sketch was accused of mocking AAVE (African American vernacular English), which caused Che, the writer of that piece, to come out and respond that it’s not other people’s place to tell him how reverential he needs to be to his own culture. It’s a thorny issue I don’t want to get into, but I will say considering this piece’s writer was Bryan Tucker, a fully white guy, that this one feels a little…weird. Again, not my place to comment further, but just feels a bit weird.
— Ego and Key have a fun chemistry at least, and it is nice to see Punkie get a comedic role for once. Just wish both of those things were put to use in a sketch with stronger writing. 
— Why did the crowd groan at that Simone Biles joke?
— Gary Richardson with a cameo, although I can’t find out if he had any input in the writing of the sketch. I’m going to assume/hope so.
— Okay Kenan’s family upset at “a white girl named Laticia” was kinda funny.
— Feels like a bit of damage control to throw a generic hick family in there after 3 minutes of sketch. Either way, it’s not particularly funny.
— Beck’s character randomly accusing Alex of being a pedophile wasn’t funny and felt like the sketch was just desperately looking for a shock laugh.
— The bit with the families petitioning to let Mikey’s family cheer again only to be angry when their cheers weren’t enthusiastic enough was fun. 
— Yea, all this really did was make me hope to see Key host again so we can get a sketch that taps into his and Ego’s chemistry in a genuinely effective way.
STARS: **

GOODNIGHTS

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— Key comes off really charming here when he sincerely states “this was better than the dream”. He openly says he hopes to come back next season. That didn’t happen, unfortunately, but hopefully we do get him back at some point because, episode quality aside, this man absolutely deserves to be in the show’s revolving door of hosts like Driver or Mulaney that can come back whenever they please. (Uhh, speaking of which, can we can get Driver back again already?)

CUT FOR TIME: SENDING DRINKS
(AIB) (KAM) get overwhelmed by gifts and advances from peculiar men (host) (BOY)

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— A piece originally cut from the previous week’s Elon Musk episode. Something tells me seasoned sketch comedy veteran Keegan Michael Key will be able to pull this off better than robotic tech billionaire Elon Musk.
— Was “ferris reel” a genuine flub from Aidy? Assuming so, since it was such an odd moment without a discernible punchline. 
— Keegan and Bowen in these ridiculous get-ups is indeed a fun visual, as one would expect. 
— This is another Drezen piece. Keegan sending Aidy a “note” that’s just a print out of the Wikipedia entry for “sex” is the type of fun detail I was missing in her other piece from this episode (“Line”). 
— I feel like there’s a way to make this sketch more active than it is, which as is is just Keegan and Bowen doing a series of odd things followed by Kate and Aidy explaining what odd things they just did. It just leaves things feeling stilted and kind of lifeless.
— Key and Bowen fighting for the girl’s honor is sort of an interesting direction to take this in, though it’s over before it really starts and again I really don’t need Kate and Aidy narrating every step of the process.
— Typical with bad modern SNL blocking, Key announces he and Bowen are virgins to the audience when he’s meant to be telling Kate and Aidy, who are directly behind him.  
— Yea, I can see why this was cut two weeks in a row (not that anything should have made air the previous week). There were a couple fun moments in here but nothing to make it seem like it had much of a point to exist beyond the initial funny visual of Keegan and Bowen in those costumes. 
STARS: **½ 

CUT FOR TIME: RAP DISS
Rapper (host) releases fiery diss track to his enemy (CHR)

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— Second Eminem mention in this review, but this sounds a lot like a beat Dr Dre would have cooked up for him in the early 00s. 
— The premise of a rapper releasing an apology track in lieu of a diss track is solid, and Key is always fun when playing this kind of pathetic macho posturing, but there’s too many dead spots and random asides in here for this to achieve any kind of greatness. Still, as far as pretapes go, it gets the job done.
— Fairly obvious ending with Key’s plea not working and him still getting his comeuppance. 
STARS: ***

IMMEDIATE POST SHOW THOUGHTS
— A disappointing show, outside of a couple strong highlights, though absolutely not due to the host. Key came in and completely blended with the cast in every segment he was in, providing laughs without demanding too much of the attention. It’s just a shame the show around him wasn’t up to very much. Again, truly hope he can return and we can get an episode more suited to his standards. 

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

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RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
The Last Dance: Extended Scene
Muppet Show
Prom Show
(CFT: Rap Diss)
Weekend Update
Monologue 
(CFT: Sending Drinks)
Commencement Celebrations
No More Masks
Gemma & DJ Balls
Line

TOMORROW
Anya Taylor-Joy and Lil Nas X close out the season, with coverage from me, Matt AND Carson?! I’m seeing triple – 9 reviewers!