by Carson
SIXTH DEMOCRATIC DEBATE
Joe Biden (JAS) challenges debate-crasher Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin)
— To introduce each of the candidates, we get extended audience applause breaks and a standard issue one-liner, which is about the most stilted way to kick this off. We’ve already had 37 of these sketches this season (give or take), the formula has worn completely thin.
— These complaints have been made before and made more eloquently, but the cavalcade of cameos is a bug, not a feature. I don’t care how good Larry David is as Bernie Sanders or how wonderful Dratch, Rudolph, Armisen, Sudeikis and Baldwin have been on SNL in the past. I take no pleasure in seeing them gobble up this much airtime, especially when this is preventing me from seeing the SNL great of all SNL greats.
— Maya Rudolph’s appearance, more than anyone else’s, is exceedingly insufferable. Like, Dratch is always fun and Sudeikis still pitches a fastball, but Rudolph’s Yas Kween routine is absolute death. Also, I don’t actually HATE Rudolph. She was great on The Good Place, Forever was pretty decent, and she had a couple really strong years as an SNL cast member (01-2 and 06-07 for those keeping score), but this approach to her Kamala Harris gives me unceasing waves of second-hand embarrassment.
— Baldwin’s Trump shows up and references Delirious and Raw, making me even more impatient for this sketch to end so we can finally start the comedy show.
— Kate does a quick change to appear as Nancy Pelosi and we’re an awkward group “LFNY” away from a blackout on the “Awful SNL Political Satire” Bingo card.
— Fuck me, Kate even does the stupid “Pelosi clap.”
— You’ll notice I did not reference any of the one-liners here. There’s a reason for that. None of them popped in any way.
— And there’s the Bingo card blackout.
— In a word: deplorable.
STARS: *
MONOLOGUE
EDM declines to use sketch ideas of TRM, CSR, Dave Chappelle [real]
— Absolutely huge chants of “EDDIE!” when Eddie comes out. People know this is a special evening.
— Eddie: “This is the last episode of 2019, but if you’re black, this is the first episode since I left back in 1984.” Wild to think that this is 35 years to the week that Eddie last appeared on the show.
— Eddie feels completely in his element riffing off jokes.
— The Bill Cosby joke was great, but it was Eddie’s jump into his Cosby impression that confirms that this will not be the aloof, low-energy Eddie Murphy that appeared at the 40th Anniversary Special. The real Eddie Murphy is HERE!
— Tracy Morgan cameo! I mean, Eddie doesn’t need the help, but I’m always happy to see Tracy.
— Chris Rock now! And now Chappelle. This is all very “modern SNL” to pile on unneeded cameos, but at least there’s a bit of a conceit with all these icons pitching Eddie sketch ideas.
— I especially love Eddie’s clearly facetious exclamation of “What a moment we’re having!” Goddamn, I forgot how effortlessly funny Eddie is.
— Chappelle: “Right now you’re looking at half of Netflix’s budget right here on this stage.” Tracy gets the topper though, saying he got all his millions getting hit by a truck.
— Beck makes a very “Beck” entrance (Tracy says it’s Joe Piscopo in the most “Tracy Morgan” voice he’s ever used) only to be quickly be supplanted by Kenan, who gets to stand shoulder to shoulder with giants. I’d say Kenan’s status is more of a result of attrition than genius. No offense.
— Great way to get the energy up after a completely tedious cold open. The cameos were not needed to make Eddie’s return seem any more special, but it was a ton of fun nonetheless. You can already tell Eddie is in his element.
STARS: ****½
MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
gentrification has provided opportunities
— Here we go! The return of a classic character.
— Already love the conceit of Mister Robinson now living in a gentrified neighborhood.
— Honestly, other than Eddie being beefier than he was 35 years ago, it’s like he didn’t miss a beat. This is as keyed in as any of Eddie’s performances in the early 80s.
— The classic “WHO IS IT?” gag.
— “Damian and Nika are my new neighbors. They paid $1.2 million for an apartment where Mr. Robinson’s friend Frankie used to cook crack.”
— I love Eddie’s hard stares to the camera.
— Funny seeing Mikey and Heidi playing roles that, decades earlier, would have likely belonged to Tim Kazurinsky and Robin Duke. Mikey and Heidi are strong performers, but it already feels like Eddie renders the other performers kind of useless. His charisma and magnetism are really strong. It just confirms how hard it must have been for the talented performers of the 80s to compete with Eddie’s confidence and irrepressible energy.
— I know some critics, namely AVClub scold Dennis Perkins, expressed hesitancy for this sketch, noting that it “continues to suggest that a black, inner city Mister Rogers would be a shifty, no-account petty crook and deadbeat” and that Murphy didn’t seem that into it. I would debate the validity of the first comment – Mr. Robinson is a composite of a very rough and dangerous early 80s New York – and absolutely scoff at the suggestion of the second – Murphy is clearly having a blast here.
— Great reveal of Mr. Robinson having the big screen TV after all, especially with him using it to call his neighbors racist.
— Classic turn to the camera when Chris Redd tells Eddie he’s his long-lost son.
— I love that this sketch followed the classic structure while seamlessly incorporating all the necessary updates. It didn’t feel like a relic at all (the way a lot of “bringing the classics out of the mothballs” sketches can). Fabulous job by the writers and more proof that Eddie hasn’t lost a thing.
STARS: *****
HOLIDAY BAKING CHAMPIONSHIP
bad cakes are based on characters kids love
— A return of the Nailed It! parody from the Don Cheadle episode. I found the original sloppy, but hilarious. This doesn’t seem like an ideal use of Eddie Murphy, but we will see.
— Is it just me, or does Cecily’s botched Elsa cake look like Donatella Versace? Too mean?
— I love Eddie’s corny delivery of “Hi guys, I can’t believe I’m here.” It’s really an amazing feat to be able to extract a sense of actual silliness from the show’s humorless exposition dialogue.
— Nice reveal of Eddie’s Sonic The Hedgehog cake. Of course, this is following the exact template of the previous installment, but I can forgive it.
— Aidy: “Why is it brown, Mitch?” Eddie: “I don’t know. Why is anything brown?”
— I do still get a kick out of the judges totally glossing over Heidi’s completely sufficient cake design.
— Kyle’s wig, tiny head shake and line (“My favorite Christmas memory is Cinderella”) make for a hilarious combination.
— The reveal of Kyle’s penis cake is the one element of this sketch that lacks the impact of the original..
— Eddie says “We can still win this shit” and then covers his mouth. Pretty funny way to wrap up the sketch.
— It’s still a scattershot sketch with a lot to laugh at. I don’t begrudge SNL returning to this well, but it did suffer without the element of surprise.
STARS: ***½
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
(EDM)’s dinner toast leaves out family conflicts
— Another instance of SNL returning to the well. These pieces always play out predictably, but effectively. In fact, the last time this sketch format was used was in the previous season’s Matt Damon episode, which, weirdly, was the SNL Vintage the night this episode aired.
— Basically this is everything you would expect this to be, but the added elements of Kenan’s grandpa character and Mikey’s fiance character are a nice touch.
— Ego: “Why can’t I marry him? Because he’s white?” Eddie: “YES!”
— Ah, the hell of sleeping on an air mattress.
— Really enjoy the montage of Kenan sleeping (and then farting and giggling) through the festivities.
— Eddie’s wince when Mikey calls him dad… so perfect.
— Of course, there’s the needlessly treacly Hallmark ending that always kills the buzz of a solid piece of normie comedy.
STARS: ****
THE MASKED SINGER
after his identity is revealed, Buckwheat sings
— I can already tell that Bowen does a rock solid Ken Jeong.
— Immediately we know that it’s Buckwheat under the corn on the cob costume. I enjoy that they’re bringing him back in what is basically his original context. But this character went on to become one of the richest recurring pieces in SNL history. It would be nice if they would have tapped into that richness. I mean, my God, at least acknowledge Buckwheat’s assassination.
— Not unlike his Mister Robinson, Eddie still has a strong handle on the Buckwheat. His medley is terrific.
— Melissa’s short, sincere speech to Buckwheat was actually quite moving.
— It’s a delight to see Eddie in his most iconic role again and he was as delightful as expected. I just wish the writers had given him more to work with. I enjoyed it, but it was undeniably undercooked.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Truth Hurts”
— Blue: Cool tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe right at the start of this performance—Lizzo’s guitarist is dressed to resemble her.
— Right away, from Lizzo’s eye roll and laugh after delivering the first line a cappella, it’s obvious that she’s having fun.
— Good choice to add some space to the song by having the guitar and drum hits on the first beat of the first couple measures.
— Not loving the dancer’s outfits, but their choreography is well-done and compliments Lizzo without getting in her way.
— I like the string accents on the verse—it almost sounds like a violin being plucked along to the main synth riff. Of course, the violin itself is probably a synth.
— Every time I watch Lizzo perform, I’m blown away by her sheer positive energy and confidence, and this time is no different.
— The keyboard is definitely mixed too loudly, as the synth hits are now slightly drowning out Lizzo’s voice.
— Love when Lizzo adds that grunt/growl to her voice. Not sure if she’s had professional vocal training but I wouldn’t be surprised—she’s staying on pitch and conserving her breath remarkably well.
— Seeing Lizzo and her guitarist cut loose with huge smiles on their faces brings a huge smile to my own face.
— Very impressive vocal run from Lizzo at the end, where she drops from her head voice into a lower chest voice, before belting out the last note in her mixed register and staying perfectly in tune. Even more impressive considering that Lizzo was supposedly ill with a sore throat the week of this performance. Great recovery on her part!
STARS: ****
WEEKEND UPDATE
Gumby is upset that he hasn’t been given proper credit for saving SNL
PED compares the public’s perception of his life with how COJ is viewed
surprising news items cause drunk Jeanine Pirro (CES) to spew wine on COJ
— The use of video footage is a far more effective way of skewering Trump.
— Oh shit, early on, Gumby interrupts the proceedings (like Colin was literally mid-joke)!
— Overwhelming energy from Murphy as he rants about how he saved SNL.
— I love that Eddie calls Colin “trailer boy” and Michael a “black bastard.”
— Classic moment when Eddie temporarily breaks and then sternly shouts down the audience for laughing at him. Shades of his George Washington Carver rant from 35 years earlier.
— Ha, now he called Colin “head shot.”
— This is loose as hell, but it’s a riot.
— It gets even better with Eddie refusing to leave when his segment wraps. Colin and Michael seemed really tickled by this. I am too.
— Michael’s pronoun joke was very in keeping with his online persona. It wasn’t a laugh riot, but in terms of palatable jokes about gender pronouns, I think it remained a fair ball.
— I like the fake out of Pete saying he’s going to do a political commentary.
— Pete points out that it’s hard to follow Gumby: “I can’t believe you guys let me do this during the Eddie Murphy episode. So many fans being reminded why they stopped watching.”
— Colin points out that Pete is the youngest cast member to join the cast since Eddie Murphy. I will not stand for this Anthony Michael Hall erasure.
— Pete’s dig at Daniel Tosh wasn’t hilarious, but I like that Pete is willing to say “I don’t like that guy.”
— A rambling, yet amiable commentary from Pete.
— Wow, we’re already transitioning to the joke swap. They’re not wasting time here.
— A funny series of joke swap gags, but probably the least memorable this duo has done. The absurd cue card thing was pretty wild, however (“Merry Christmas homeboy. You’re fired.”).
— Cecily’s Jeanine Pirro is *possibly* her finest character. Always happy to see her show up.
— Cecily: “To my Christian friends, I wanna say ‘Merry Christmas!’ And to all you Jewish and Muslim folks out there: I SAID ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS!’”
— Ha, hilarious twist on Jeanine throwing wine on Colin by having her puke the wine instead. In the history of sketch comedy guilty pleasures, the puke hose is my all-time favorite. No apologies.
— Colin: “It’s in my mouth.”
— The opening run of jokes were OK and Pete’s commentary was just fine, but between Gumby, the always-reliable (if more subdued this time) joke swap and Cecily’s always riotous Pirro, this was a highly memorable Update.
STARS: ****½
BLACK JEOPARDY
Velvet Jones’ ho tutorials vie with modern sensibilities
— Now it’s Velvet Jones’ turn for a modern update. This is not necessarily a favorite Eddie Murphy of many, but I always enjoyed well enough.
— Weird delay from Kenan when introducing the categories.
— Eddie is a little sloppier here, but he’s still doing a good job with this classic character.
— The fact that Velvet Jones is sort of a man out of time is a pretty good concept, though I’m not sure Black Jeopardy is the right format for this to thrive.
— Kenan: “Velvet, you know about #MeToo, right?” Eddie: “Of course! You like hos? Me too!”
— The fake sponsor for “Put Some Water In It” is really funny, but that doesn’t strike me as a particularly black stereotype. My family does that shit all the time.
— The “How To Be An Instagram Ho” seems like a decent out for this sketch.
— Unlike the Buckwheat sketch from earlier tonight, I appreciate that the writers were able to effectively frame this character within a measurable comedic concept. I’m not sure if they completely pulled it off the way they did with Mister Robinson, but it was an enjoyable attempt nonetheless.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Good As Hell”
— Blue: I really love the backup dancers’ outfits here, made to look like ribbons on wrapped Christmas presents.
— Incredible how close Lizzo’s vocals sound to the recorded version of this song.
— Oh yesss, the backup dancers are swinging on candy-cane-striped poles—so fun to watch!
— The synth’s entrance on the second verse is overwhelmingly loud.
— This dance breakdown is awesome, especially seeing Lizzo join the choreography.
— WOW, that glittery backless suit reveal! The sound engineer must have turned the audience’s mics off, because I can’t imagine no one cheered for that.
— Flawless held note from Lizzo—the transition between registers was seamless.
— Precious to see Lizzo jumping up and down in excitement at the end.
STARS: ****
NORTH POLE NEWS REPORT
manic elf witness (EDM) describes polar bear attack on Santa’s workshop
— A kind of middling setup is completely saved by a full throttle Eddie Murphy.
— “It don’t matter what my name is!!”
— A classic scream by Eddie as he exits his first scene.
— Great bit with Eddie explaining that the polar bear situation has gotten so bad that a white teenage elf girl would approach an older black elf in sweatpants for help.
— Ha, Eddie about the Tooth Fairy’s “Thoughts & Prayers” Instagram post: “That bitch sounds crazy!”
— “Listen to this sexy-ass elf right here!”
— Honestly, this sketch is a 90/10 performance to writing split. There’s almost nothing on the page here, but Eddie proves that he still has a superhuman ability to elevate the material he is given. That is the hallmark of a star. Most performers are confined by the material they’re given. Eddie absolutely explodes through the screen and throttles the audience into laughter.
STARS: ****½
GOODNIGHTS
CUT FOR TIME: HOLIDAY GIG
keytarist (EDM)’s medical condition derails Treece Henderson holiday gig
— Ah, one of those “Kenan is a silly scatman who becomes obsessed with some embarrassing minutiae, thus derailing his band’s performance” sketches.
— Kenan’s Jergen’s request is not quite “delightfully odd,” but more “discursively mirth-ish.”
— Watching Eddie have to pantomime a key-tar solo while Kenan kind of vamps and giggles is like having Jimi Hendrix stuck playing rhythm guitar (or some similar reference but more, you know… contemporary!).
— Kyle is a secular humanist, Eddie is Kenan’s roommate – so many details in search of a joke!
— Finally we get to the comedic meat of the sketch: Eddie’s character has some weird disease or discharge issue that Kenan repeatedly tries to discuss on stage to everyone else’s chagrin (it finally comes over two minutes into the sketch). When I meant “comedic meat,” I was referring to tofurkey.
— There are so many nearly funny lines being delivered here. The rhythm of everything seems about right, but I’m not hearing any discernible laugh lines.
— Eddie forgoes pantomiming one of his solos in favor of tucking his cell phone back in his pocket. I figure if this sketch would have made the cut (which would have been a baffling decision), that would have been a detail Lorne would have sniffed out.
— It’s one thing that this sketch is so poorly written (if adequately performed), but the real reason this one never made it to air is because it underserves Eddie. I think the dress rehearsal edits are largely made with deference to the host. Eddie is present and active here, but with very little to work with. Classic “Cut For Time” fodder. Absolute filler.
STARS: **
AIDY BIZZO & LIZZO
empowered (AIB) imitates new bestie (musical guest)
— A sequel to the Aidy B sketch from the Chadwick Boseman episode. Kabir dug that one, let’s see how this one goes.
— Kate: “Lizzo (embraces her raw sexual power) because she knows she’s 100% that bitch.” Just an absolutely chill-inducing line.
— Beck, looking beefier than I remember him and oozing with white boy smugness: “You girls talking about Lizzo again? Why can’t we just talk about rock n’ roll?”
— As the music kicks in and Aidy begins to do her hyper-sexualized rap lady whatever, it dawns on me that there is no audience track here. It’s really glaring.
— An interesting backstage with Aidy, Bowen and Eddie. It’s interesting to see Bowen being utilized in the “modest newcomer” role, but that’s all that I can really say about this portion. But Eddie sincerely thanking God for Aidy’s ass was a funny little bit.
— Aidy: “I’m going to sit on your dick so hard that you die.” Gadzooks!
— The smash cut from Aidy and Lizzo grinding in a music video to Aidy quietly humping on top of the NBC page’s desk is probably the comedic conceit that would have best held this sketch up over its four minutes.
— Chloe’s playing herself in a backstage segment. Worth noting if only for the fact that I don’t think I know what Chloe’s personality is.
— I’m not offended by the overabundance of the word “bitch” in this sketch. I just find it supremely cheesy.
— Aidy: “Is it me or are we best friends?” Lizzo: “Yeah… I mean, I’m definitely your best friend.”
— Aidy walking out of Lizzo’s dressing room bare-assed caught me by surprise. Kudos.
— Tactically speaking, giving a feature spot to the musical guest is a pretty surefire bet to make it to air. But this isn’t just any episode. Another sketch to largely overlook such a powerhouse host leaves this one destined for the scrap heap. And I’m not sure it deserved to be in the show on merit either. Eye-rolling at Yas Kween sketches is maybe becoming a cliche in its own right, but this one seemed to revel in all the most tedious elements of that vibe. Some funny moments though.
STARS: **½
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A rising tide lifts all boats and Eddie Murphy is exactly that rising tide. He was on fire from the jump and brought his infectious energy to every live performance just in case anyone thought he wasn’t a master. A fabulous episode of SNL, even if the show was largely committed to bringing back Eddie’s classic bits and plunking him into some pre-fabbed sketches as well. Shame the show couldn’t get out of its own way with the cold open. In another era (in ANY other era), the show would have likely done a meta bit about Eddie’s return to the show. A lack of creativity on the writers’ part probably prevented what could have been a perfect episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood
North Pole News Report
Weekend Update
Monologue
Home For The Holidays
Holiday Baking Championship
Black Jeopardy
The Masked Singer
(CFT: Aidy Bizzo & Lizzo)
(CFT: Holiday Gig)
Sixth Democratic Debate
Want more Eddie Murphy content? Check out our breakdown of his Best Of special here.
TOMORROW
The Eddie Murphy of SNL reviewers, Matt, takes on our first episode of 2020 with Adam Driver/Halsey.
The “One SNL A Day” Project 2.0 