SNL Review December 15, 2018: Matt Damon/Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus

December 16, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Will Heath/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in December 2018.

Love It

Michael and Colin Swap Jokes – Anchorpersons Che and Jost started out this Update at their standard level, maybe a little better than usual, but they make their way to the top spot thanks to their wondrous finale, in which they recite jokes written by the other that they have not seen until this very moment. They brilliantly play off the personas that they have constructed to rag on each other: Che the Total Freak and Jost the Bland White Bread Racist. If “Uppity Bus Passenger Day” did not already exist to be reclaimed, then Michael Che needed to create it to force Colin Jost to say it.

You know something? The world could use more people who care as much as Matt Damon and Leslie Jones’ characters in the neighbor Christmas dinner sketch care about Weezer.

Keep It

It’s a Wonderful Trump – I thought today was finally going to be the day that I put my foot down and said “Enough’s enough” to a Trump-y cold open. But then there comes an inversion of It’s a Wonderful Life, and I have to admit that it is actually a good premise. The show’s insight into Trump is still not particularly insightful, but there is some amusement to be had here, and Robert De Niro’s cameo isn’t his normal complete disaster. While political SNL is in many ways a lost cause in this era, a few decent ideas do peek through here and there occasionally.

Matt Damon’s Monologue is a sweet paean to letting your kids stay up late enough to watch SNL live for the first time…The Westminster Daddy Show looks like it is a fan of daddies, but then it oddly mostly throws shade at them. Luckily it ends with the triumphant Broadcast Daddy joyously taking Best in Show…The Christmas Ornaments sketch presents a memorable microcosmic dystopia of personal and cultural detritus…The Jingle Bells performance at the Carnegie Lounge is a fair enough offbeat showcase for Cecily Strong…The Where’s Wes? gag would probably hit harder if it had a more interminable setup…Matt Damon’s appearance as Angel‘s boxer boyfriend is all well and good, but I’m mostly here for her Madea impression…The Cop Christmas at Frankie’s Ale House has plenty of welcome bonhomie amidst the ribbing and dark backstories…Happy Christmas, Britain! is a delightfully spot-on seasonal treat about how the current prime minister is being gifted with feces, but then due to bad time management, it gets cut off halfway through.

Leave It

Oscar Host Auditions – SNL has an addiction to behind-the-scenes impression showcase sketches, and understandably so, because the granddaddy of them all, the Star Wars 20th Anniversary auditions, are a stone cold classic. But since then, they have fallen into a trap of diminishing returns. This edition mixes things up a bit by transferring the setup from BTS of a movie to the search for a new awards show emcee. Alas, it does not breathe much fresh air the proceedings. The impressions are all decent, but none are transcendent, and the whole affair does not offer much insight into the Oscars. Although Aidy’s take on Hannah Gadsby does demonstrate that the actual Gadsby would be an ingenious actual choice.

Best Christmas Ever is both too tame and too over-the-top with its peaceful/hectic juxtaposition.

Matt Damon

On a scale of Christmastime hosts, Matt Damon sure is willing and able to jump right into the holiday spirit. And he absolutely had to be, as it appeared like a greater number of sketches than usual for the Christmas episode were seasonally themed. It’s a little hard to believe that it’s taken 16 years for Damon to have his second hosting stint. He really feels like he’s part of the extended SNL family.

Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus

On a scale of SNL musical team-ups, I’m afraid that Mark and Miley are somewhere in the middle. “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” is perfectly agreeable, and their version of “(Happy Xmas) War Is Over” hits the spot about as well as it can, but I don’t feel any of it sticking with me. On the other hand, Miley’s unzipped jacket is certainly striking and I do appreciate the lyrics flashing on the back screen. Anyway, I guess that is to say, this combo is only disappointing if you’re holding them to a very high standard.

Letter Grades:

It’s a Wonderful Trump – B-

Matt Damon’s Monologue – B

Westminster Daddy Show – B

Best Christmas Ever – C-

Christmas Ornaments – B

Oscar Host Auditions – C

Jingle Bells – B-

Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus perform “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” – B

Weekend Update
The Jokes (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – B+
Where’s Wes? – C+
Angel – B

Weezer Argument – B+

Cop Christmas – B

Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus and Sean Lennon perform “(Happy XMas) War Is Over)” – B-

Happy Christmas, Britain – B

SNL Review December 8, 2018: Jason Momoa/ Mumford & Sons

December 9, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , 1 Comment

CREDIT: Will Heath/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in December 2018.

Love It

A Christmas Carol – I don’t love this sketch entirely, but I do admire what it is going for. So many SNL sketches answer the question, “What if this well-known story were … slightly different?” Oftentimes the small change is something that many others have surely imagined before, while other times it’s a little more offbeat, but you can see how the writers got there from the source material. But in this case, Ebenezer Scrooge being visited by one last spirit who just happens to be a male stripper does not really track in any way at all. Thus, the sketch never really comes together on any firm foundation, but I do enjoy watching Scrooge being confused by the total lack of logic.

The first appearance of Cecily Strong’s Gemma accompanied by a meathead boyfriend is one of the best sketches of the decade, but all subsequent appearances have seen significantly diminishing returns. Sleigh Ride rediscovers a bit of the magic, thanks to Gemma and Jason Momoa as her beau confusing Gene’s new girlfriend for his sister and Gemma’s detailed descriptions of her new vagina.

Keep It

first Impression – This filmed piece is quite similar to the Christmas Carol sketch insofar as I have no idea where the premise came from, so part of the fun of watching is attempting to figure out what the writers were possibly thinking. The lunacy almost seems to make sense thanks to Beck Bennett and Jason Momoa committing so hard as the greased-up boyfriend who thinks that being a master hider will impress his girlfriend’s parents and the dad who is so hellbent on being a champion seeker, respectively. This does not represent any version of reality, or inversion of reality, that I’m familiar with, but it seems to somehow work out for all the characters involved.

I feel like I’ve been too lenient on the current era of political cold opens, and this latest scene in the Trump Tower does not change that, but at least it mixes things up a bit and is mercifully short (although in another time and place, I might have said instead that it’s too short)…Jason Momoa’s Monologue has a very haphazard feel to it, but I can’t fault something featuring P-Funk music too hard…A hardened Elf on the Shelf has some important, fairly non-judgmental things to say about kids entering adolescence…The GE Big Boys commercial tickles me with the idea of a dishwasher with a 70-pound door…Them Trumps makes the point that the current First Family probably wouldn’t get away with everything they do if they were black and also that this sort of behavior is not admirable no matter what the perpetrators’ race…Michael and Colin make some jokes that sound like they could have been on any other late night show this week, but they do infuse their own personalities enough to have a winning outing…Aidy Bryant’s teenage travel correspondent Carrie Krum is pretty cool, though far from a budding Stefon…Che becomes a correspondent to talk about the Tushy bidet, which is a fairly amusing change of pace.

Leave It

Rudolph’s Big Night – This is an example of a bad sketch that isn’t completely dreadful, as it has some elements that could have been put to better use. Rudolph going psycho is certainly a premise there for the taking in the legend of the brightly schnozzed reindeer, and Pete Davidson throws himself into it full throttle. It’s one of the few times when he’s playing someone besides himself that’s actually a good fit. But overall, this is a by-the-numbers approach to a “dark” version of a familiar tale, although Santa so quickly putting down a supposedly rabid reindeer is sufficiently shocking.

Khal Drogo’s Ghost Dojo likely means nothing to non-viewers, and I doubt that any Game of Thrones fans will find it funny either…Day of the Dorks is too loud and destructive to say anything significant.

Jason Momoa

On a scale of hosts who are so excited to be there, Jason Momoa is the most excited host in quite some time. But is he the most qualified among those super-excited guests? Enthusiasm can go a long way toward success on SNL, but it can also be a distraction, and that is the case with several sketches in this episode, with Momoa being just too loud and big a presence in a way that throws off everyone else’s timing. That is much less of a problem in the pre-taped bits, as you can edit around that issue. Momoa offers some worthwhile avenues for sketch comedy, but if he is going to return to SNL, he should calm down a bit.

Mumford & Sons

On a scale of musicians whose moment has passed, Mumford & Sons might be survivors. The folk-y rock boom of the early 2010s seems to have faded, although it still exists in its own corner. Plus, it is Mumford’s bread and butter, so they’re going to stick with it no matter how the trends are blowing. As it goes for this appearance, their first number, “Guiding Light,” has me thinking little beyond how it is not 2012 anymore, but their #2, “Delta,” is exactly quite the rise-to-a-satisfying-climax experience. I guess I’ll listen to them for a few years longer.

Letter Grades:

Trump Tower – C+

Jason Momoa’s Monologue – C+

Elf on the Shelf – B-

GE Big Boy – B-

Khal Drogo’s Ghost Dojo – C-

Them Trumps – B-

Mumford & Sons perform “Guiding Light” – B-

Weekend Update
The Jokes – B-
Carrie Krum – B-
Che on Tushy – B-

A Christmas Carol (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – B

Day of the Dorks – C-

Mumford & Sons perform “Delta” – B+

Sleigh Ride – B

first Impression – B

Rudolph’s Big Night – C

SNL Review December 1, 2018: Claire Foy/Anderson .Paak

December 2, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Will Heath/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in December 2018.

Love It

The War in Words – Before Mikey Day joined the SNL cast, he was a part of the short-lived variety show Maya & Marty, and the best thing about that show was an earlier version of “The War in Words,” and it’s just as hilarious the second time around. The correspondence between Day’s World War I soldier and Claire Foy’s possibly unfaithful, definitely puzzling wife proves the viability of the letter-writing format in sketch comedy. Information is initially withheld, and then gloriously revealed, as the wacky world comes more and more into view with successive missive.

And in the sphere of Cut for Time sketches that I love, Beck and Kyle continue their satire of cheesy family sitcoms with “Cars.”

Keep It

Netflix – Jokes about Netflix having a bottomless amount of content and automatically throwing money at whatever is pitched to them are nothing new, but there is plenty of energy and unique style to this parody. Positioning “the Endless Scroll” as approaching the Singularity is certainly an apt way to put it. Plus, as “Officer Winslow” proves, it is always appreciated to see a dark take on Family Matters. While this doesn’t quite strike me as a classic immediately, it’s one of those bits that might gradually grow on me and reach that status eventually.

The Park Hyatt Argentina is certainly emblematic of the problems of Trump-era cold openings, but I do enjoy the silliness of the Giuliani and Putin impressions…Claire Foy’s Monologue is short and sweet enough to not make much on impact, positive or negative…Dad Christmas makes the scuzzy jokes you would expect about divorced kids getting shipped around for the holidays…Michael and Colin‘s highlights include the “very legal & very cool” Russian prostitutes Craigslist listing and the three cows in a trenchcoat (you can never go wrong with the “3 small things in a trenchcoat” joke)…Leslie Jones isn’t actually giving up sex, but she is making a joke about her chiropractor excusing her from twerking…As “economist” Jules, Beck Bennett might be the quote master of the season (“But if you have a roof over your heads, how are you going to see the stars?”)…The Holiday Message From the Women of SNL is most amusing when I mishear “Mueller” as “Mother” (and also, of course, when Leslie apparently mixes up Bigfoot and Santa Claus).

Leave It

Willy Wonka/Good Morning Goomah – Here are two sketches with promising germs of ideas, based on questions raised by classic movies, that are far from fully fleshed out. Specifically, those questions are: what’s the deal with all the grandparents in Willy Wonka sleeping in the same bed? And: what’s going on with the mistresses in Goodfellas and other gangster movies (and real-life mafioso society)? The answers we get are pretty much exactly what you would expect. The bed (and house) rocking in Willy Wonka is certainly explosive, but not particularly insightful. Meanwhile, Kate, Claire, and Aidy certainly sink their chops into ther goomah performances, but there are no surprises along the way.

Morning Joe is just a mess of an unfocused talk show sketch…HSN benefits from Cecily Strong’s committed breakdown, but ultimately it’s a whole bunch of shouting.

Claire Foy

On a scale of hosts that my mom is super excited about, I don’t think Claire Foy has convinced too many Crown obsessives to suddenly become SNL nerds. Although maybe she has enticed some SNL fans to check out The Crown, because if nothing else, this episode does show off her accent skills. Alas, it doesn’t show off much else of her talents.

Anderson .Paak

On a scale of artists I’ve heard plenty about but haven’t heard that much from, I think I’ve heard more of Anderson .Paak’s music than I’ve realized. I just don’t know what the names of those songs are! His two performances here are enjoyably energetic and righteously rhythmic, enough so to convince me to dive a little deeper into what I’ve been missing.

Letter Grades:

Park Hyatt Argentina – C+

Claire Foy’s Monologue – B-

Netflix – B

Morning Joe – C-

The War in Words (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – B+

Dad Christmas – B-

Anderson .Paak ft. Kendrick Lamar performs “Tints” – B+

Weekend Update
The Jokes – B
Leslie Jones – B-
Jules – B

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – C

HSN – C

Anderson .Paak performs “Who R U” – B

Good Morning Goomah – C

A Holiday Message From the Women of SNL – B-

SNL Review November 17, 2018: Steve Carell/Ella Mai

November 18, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Will Heath/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in November 2018.

Love It

Space Thanksgiving – This sketch is more of an Almost Love It than a full-on Love It, as it starts out with some wonderfully surreal 10-to-1-style wackiness, but then it kind of just ends. It checks off much of the ingredients in the formula for brilliant comedic stupidity. Space setting? Check. Minor but significant pronunciation differences? Check. Hacky special effects? Check. It’s a recipe for me getting invested in discovering whether or not the Earth astronauts will attempt to save the cornels from the kern, and whether or not they really should. But then … they just keep on eating them and Space Thanksgiving continues forward like nothing happened. The weirdness will stick with me, but the lack of follow-through is disappointing.

Keep It

Friendsgiving – Let’s take a moment to acknowledge how this episode has a striking surplus of “sequel in spirit, if not quite in fact” sketches. Here we have the first of the two Thanksgiving dinner bits, along with the aforementioned Space Thanksgiving, which was also the second outer space sketch. And then there are the two notably similar sketches with Steve Carell as a struggling, clueless dad visiting his kids in the middle of the night (we’ll get to them). Anyway, Friendsgiving is of a piece with previous attempts in the history of comedy to compose an honest-to-God Thanksgiving song. It has flashes of excellence as everyone joins in on singing a tune that appears to be made up on the spot. It’s not quite layered or committed enough to reach classic status, but it’s fun while it lasts.

This is overall an underwhelming episode, but it’s mostly filled with “Keep It” sketches that are just amusing enough to keep me paying attention. That quality is perfectly represented by The Ingraham Angle cold opening, which does not have a particularly sharp or consistent point of view, but it does have a few funny lines thrown in (like how Judge Jeanine Pirro is “Pulitzer Prize-eligible”)…Steve Carell’s old Office-mates badger him throughout his Monologue, but it’s the actual audience member (or likely rather a writer playing a real audience member) who makes the biggest impression…Dad Steve Carell tells his kids they’re Going to Disney World, but his capacity for missing all the betrayal happening right under his nose is impressive…The Message from Jeff Bezos gets a decent-sized laugh out of me when it notes that The Art of the Deal is the “only book with four Chapter 11’s”…The RBG Rap isn’t offering a particularly fresh message from SNL or comedy in general, but it’s a message we’re always happy to have around…The NASA Television sketch is ostensibly about disturbingly frozen animals, but I appreciate it more for the dad jokes (“I Apollo-gize”) and a girl called Halley saying that her name is like both the comet and Eminem’s daughter…Michael and Colin have a decent night as usual, but the moment I most remember from this Update is that delayed camera switch at the top…Kenan’s LaVar Ball has certainly given me a memorable image by mentioning a grandma filling a shoe up with spit…The Grease-style ’50s Sleepover kind of feels like a direct sequel to the Going to Disney World sketch, and I kind of wish that Steve Carell and Aidy Bryant were in fact playing the same father-daughter pair as before. As it stands, I enjoy that the joke is more about Dad Steve spending a bizarre amount of time singing to a high school dropout than it is about anything creepy…GP Yass understands drag queen terminology, but it isn’t quite fully imbued with the spirit of drag.

Leave It

Denver Riggleman – So, apparently a Congressman-elect is into Bigfoot erotica  – good for him! But Mikey Day doing an impression of said Bigfoot enthusiast that merely consists of him reading a book  – I’m going to need a little bit more than that. Look, I appreciate the commitment, and the the illustrations are spot-on appropriate (are they the actual pics from Riggleman’s books?). But there’s not much of a comedic hook here besides “just goofing off.”

RV Life is too terrifying to be funny. But Heidi Gardner saying “Did you know that a dog can punch you?” is definitely worth a laugh.

Steve Carell

On a scale of hosts I’m surprised haven’t hosted more often than they have, I still feel that way about Steve Carell, but this episode doesn’t convince me that he needs to come back as soon as possible. He shows up and is perfectly reliable, like the professional comedian that he is, but he doesn’t notch any legendary performances to add to his career highlights. He plays several middle-aged dads, which makes sense for a number of reasons, and he also plays a few spacemen, which is kind of weird.

Ella Mai

On a scale of up-and-comers breaking big on the SNL stage, Ella Mai is somewhere in the middle. She certainly looks poised and has a look down, but her whole live performance isn’t quite blow-you-away level. That’s a high standard, so let me be clear that what I know of her so far is great, I would grade this appearance above-average, and I will happily be following the rest of her career. If her SNL performances haven’t won you over completely, watch the “Boo’d Up” music video and then keep listening to it over and over again. It’s one of the best songs of the year.

Letter Grades:

The Ingraham Angle – B-

Steve Carell’s Monologue – B

Going to Disney World – B-

A Message From Jeff Bezos – B-

Friendsgiving – B

RBG Rap – B-

Ella Mai performs “Boo’d Up” – B

Weekend Update
The Jokes – B-
Denver Riggleman – C
LaVar Ball – B-

’50s Sleepover – B

Ella Mai performs “Trip” – B

RV Life – C

Space Thanksgiving (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – B(+)

GP Yass – B-

SNL Review November 10, 2018: Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne

November 11, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , , 1 Comment

CREDIT: Will Heath/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in November 2018.

Love It

Pete Davidson and Dan Crenshaw – Pete Davidson’s commentary last week about various electoral candidates understandably caused a bit of an uproar, though I imagine I was not the only one who thought that Lt. Com. Dan Crenshaw demanding an apology was a bit of an overreaction. True, Pete made light of a combat injury sustained by Crenshaw, but saying that an eyepatch makes you look like a detective in a porno isn’t necessarily an insult. It’s more like a weird observation. After all, it’s strange that in 2018 an eyepatch is still the prescribed way to handle certain ocular injuries.

Anyway, while Pete’s joke wasn’t exactly high-minded, it wasn’t like he was attacking Crenshaw’s character.  And it turns out, Crenshaw understands that! He’s not thin-skinned or humorless (or, more cynically, he’s not making a bad faith argument to gin up controversy). It looks like everyone involved came up with the best solution, as Crenshaw stops by the desk to in turn make fun of Pete in an awkwardly personal matter. Fighting fire with fire is usually a bad idea, but fighting comedy with comedy is often the best idea.

Dave’s Outside the Women’s Bathroom – This is exactly the sort of off-the-wall, experimental, possibly terrible idea that the last sketch of the night should be. It helps that nobody really knows what is going on and that there are a variety of reactions to the situation, some reasonable and some absurd. The women walking out of the bathroom are understandably confused and horrified, while Heidi Gardner slays as Dave’s uniquely passionate girlfriend, who is more worried that she will “look like a prostitute” while sitting alone and that Dave might leave her if his ridiculous talk show somehow becomes a runaway success. And through it all, Schreiber fascinatingly plays Dave as not a creep, but a weirdly earnest hustler and dreamer.

House Hunters demonstrates that relentlessly throwing a bunch of crazy details out there works if the characters delivering them maintain a straight face the whole time.

Keep It

Booty Kings – This hip-hop club banger is not the most hilarious music video parody SNL has ever presented, but it does have one of the best messages. Those who tout the importance of consent are sometimes (wrongly) accused of taking the fun and the sexiness out of sex, but the Booty Kings demonstrate that the room can still be hot and heavy if you take a second to ask someone if they are okay with their backside being worshipped. I think we can all benefit from making “booty ally” a part of our vernacular.

As we witness the Jeff Sessions Farewell, I just want to say how thankful I am that in 2018, we can have a political impression as silly as one in which the departing attorney general’s family tree is filled with possums…Liev Schreiber’s Monologue is like one of those monologues of yore in which the host is “managing expectations” by simply explaining to the audience who he is…Good Day Denver reveals that gremlins must be running the graphics department at morning talk shows…Unity offers an admirable message of, well, unity, but I gotta say, “crotch” and “moist” are perfectly decent words…Colleen Rafferty is back, this time for a Paranormal Occurrence, and hoo boy, it is quite the stunner that she is only 27 years old AND she’s a surrogate mother. But the biggest laughs this time come from Liev Schreiber’s love of tiny things…Michael and Colin are reliable for more jokes about Florida, Gritty, and RBG defending her UFC featherweight title…The Poddys deeply understand podcast culture and tropes (and what with it taking place at the “MeUndies Theater,” it almost sounds like the awards will be for “potty” excellence)…I won’t soon forget Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney as a pair of pantsless, feuding tween Brothers. Mad props for those Rasta-style Looney Tunes shirts.

Leave It

No Leave It sketches this week. Not too many outright classics, but no duds, either.

Liev Schreiber

On a scale of serious actors I never would have expected to host SNL, Liev Schreiber fits squarely within that classification. Despite his relative lack of an impact in the zeitgeist, he has the sort of dramatic intensity that could be hilariously slotted into sketch comedy if deployed correctly. And for a decent number of sketches, that is what happens. Schreiber does flub quite a few lines throughout, but interestingly enough, it appears that that is how his characters were written.

Lil Wayne

On a scale of the greatest living rappers, Lil Wayne is often included on that list, and man, I just don’t get that. His two performances in this episode don’t do much to change my opinion. He’s certainly confident and in the zone with his unique flow, and I appreciate that he has what looks like a gulag of backing dancers for one song. Maybe these tracks aren’t the cream of Wayne’s crop, and there are better offerings that can convince me of his prowess. (I’ll let those who are more in tune with the rap game sort that out.) Ultimately, what he has to offer is perfectly fine to listen to.

Letter Grades:

Jeff Sessions Farewell – B-

Liev Schreiber’s Monologue – B-

Good Day Denver – B-

Unity – B-

Paranormal Occurrence – B

Lil Wayne ft. Halsey performs “Can’t Be Broken” – B

Weekend Update
The Jokes – B
Pete Davidson and Dan Crenshaw – B+

The Poddys – B

House Hunters – B+

Lil Wayne ft. Swizz Beatz performs “Uproar” – B-

Brothers – B

Dave’s Outside the Women’s Bathroom (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – A-

SNL Review November 3, 2018: Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers

November 4, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Will Heath/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in November 2018.

Love It

Teacher Fell Down – Now here’s a welcome example of SNL being more experimental than usual: starting the scene right after the inciting incident, combined with generally weird (but mildly so) behavior. Then a bunch of confused spectators comment on the strangeness of the situation and try to restore some sanity, but without getting too worked up about it. Honestly, a lot of this is just solid sketch writing, but deployed in a way one would ever think to do.

6-year-old Adam Grossman cracking Catskills-style jokes at the Benihana never fails to be a delight. Giving him a (not actually) Jamaican nanny proves to be a stroke of genius for providing him with fruitful material…Oh man, those Pug Wigs are legendarily adorable.

Keep It

Jonah Hill’s Five-Timers Monologue – I always love a visit to the Five-Timers lounge, and since we’ve seen it multiple times before, subversion is a good idea, too. The basic idea here is that the #MeToo movement has spread to the Five-Timers Club, thus only female members are there to welcome Jonah. This approach doesn’t quite fit, though, as none of the male members are really known for their mistreatment of women (notwithstanding the recently arrested Alec Baldwin’s anger issues and Chevy Chase’s noted difficulty to work alongside). Of course, this could also be a commentary on the relative lack of women in the club and in the history of SNL and in comedy in general. Which is a fine idea, but then a lot of the jokes are just the ladies lightly teasing Jonah. This is all to say, there are several worthwhile avenues present here, but overall it’s a bit scattered. Side note: I gotta give it up to Candice Bergen for being a legend who just stares at her phone during the goodnights.

The Ingraham Angle has some funny gags about FOX News overreaction, though no great overarching point…The Democrat Midterm Ad‘s biggest laugh comes from Mom Aidy Bryant screaming that kidding about voting is NOT FUNNY!…Divided We Stand is fairly amusing self-satisfied theater, but I am most tickled by the fact that it is taking place at 43rd and “Lincoln Tunnel Service Road”…Michael and Colin really have to fight for desk time with all those correspondents, but at least they get a good crack about Gritty in there…I would say making fun of people’s appearances is not political satire, but Pete Davidson does acknowledge that and makes fun of his own looks as well, so he knows what he’s doing…Brittainy, Every Teen Girl Murder Suspect on Law & Order is one of those Update bits that pretty much perfectly captures the trope it’s tackling but doesn’t quite fully integrate itself within the context of Update; so: funny, but a little disorienting…Kenan’s David Ortiz really knows how to be a spokesperson for products and concepts that we never realized needed endorsing…America’s Got Talent: Wait, They’re Good? identifies what I assume is an actual overdone reality competition trope. It’s a good joke, but the execution is a little dragged-out…HuckaPM features some intense falling-over physical comedy; bangin’.

Leave It

KCR News Albany – Hoo boy, this is a mess. The writing is all wrong, what with the tone veering wildly in multiple directions, and the direction isn’t great either, with technical glitches and bad timing. The tragedy is, there are some decent jokes in there, but it is never clear what the base reality is. Thus, I am too confused to laugh. At least the sketch doesn’t end on a bummer, but alas, that happy ending only makes everything more confusing.

Jonah Hill

On a scale of SNL Five Timers, Jonah Hill is steady and effective enough. He has a memorable recurring character in his repertoire, so he hasn’t scaled this height with nothing, though he is still a far cry from the most legendary in this hallowed club. In this outing, it’s clear that he’s happy to play along pleasantly with the cast and that he doesn’t feel any need to go out of his way to make himself the star. It makes for a mostly functional episode.

Maggie Rogers

On a scale of musical guests I’ve hardly heard of before their SNL debut, Maggie Rogers has definitely caught my attention. For someone in her twenties, she sure looks and sounds polished. Plus, there’s always room in the pop scene for more folk music without getting all Mumford & Sons-artisanal about it. And you gotta love that Suspiria-style red dress.

Letter Grades:

The Ingraham Angle – C+

Jonah Hill’s Five-Timers Monologue – B

Benihana – B+

Democrats Midterm Ad – B

KCR News Albany – C

Divided We Stand – B-

Teacher Fell Down (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – B+

Maggie Rogers performs “Light On” – B+

Weekend Update
The Jokes – B-
Pete Davidson – B
Brittainy, Every Teen Girl Murder Suspect on Law & Order – B-
David Ortiz – B

America’s Got Talent: Wait, They’re Good? – B-

Maggie Rogers performs “Fallingwater” – B

HuckaPM – B-

Pug Wigs – B+

SNL Review October 13, 2018: Seth Meyers/Paul Simon

October 14, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Ava Williams/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in October 2018.

Love It

New Cellmate – It’s not impossible to make satisfying, even lighthearted, comedy about the most monstrous subject matter. Portraying an imprisoned Bill Cosby as someone who’s lost touch with reality (or is pretending to) and is clinging to his Cliff Huxtable persona is goofy but also weirdly credible. Plus, Seth Meyers’ new cellmate character is so carefully considered in his reaction to this surreal situation that the sketch manages to also be respectful when it could have easily been sordid. That’s a not-insignificant accomplishment.

The South of Mason Screening starts out as weird as you hope these Q&A sketches would be, but then it gets a little prosaic. But man, what a weird beginning…A Frightening Tale combines horror movie tropes and the worst “aspiring filmmaker” excesses in unforgettable fashion.

Keep It

Kanye-Trump Summit – I watched hardly any of the actual Kanye-Trump summit because I just didn’t have the appetite for it. But as far as I can tell, this is the latest example of SNL‘s cold opening being more or less a recreation of the crazy thing that happened this week. There are a few Kanye cuckoo-isms that I imagine the SNL team came up with (like Chicago’s “negative murder rate”) to render this amusing enough. But when this material is going to be covered more in depth later in the show anyway (on Update and in the case of this episode, even in the monologue), why not break the mold in the opener? I mean, you could do even just ask what happened right before or right after the summit.

Seth Meyers’ Monologue is pretty short, but it’s also pretty valuable for reminding of us this sketch from a time when Kanye was somehow both hilarious and self-aware…beta force is a necessary corrective to those suspect testosterone supplements (and right on for calling out the giant black canisters)…If Leslie Jones and Ego Nwodim want to be thirsty, let ’em be Thirsty Cops, I say…Michael and Colin earn my chuckles for that sick RadioShack burn and Che revealing that every container in his apartment “used to be something else”…The Baskin Johns bit is little more than someone nervously saying “Number 1” over and over, but I’ll give it some enthusiasm because it’s Heidi Gardner and she says “Goop my pants”…Really!?! with Colin, Seth, and Michael is a little unwieldy compared to the classic Seth and Amy flavor but still filled with plenty of valid points…Bayou Benny’s Liberal Lagniappe is a little (or a lot) incoherent (though that’s very much the point), so it makes sense to have Seth in there as himself to be confused…The couple coming back from the Cuban Vacation (“Cooba”) are pretty insufferable, but I do enjoy their interpretation of a “rooster competition”…More than half of the Trees music video got cut off during my broadcast. (Was this true for everyone else?) Luckily, it’s 2018, and all the sketches are online the next day. Anyway, Pete Davidson and Chris Redd have some decent back-and-forth in their spit games.

Leave It

Treece Henderson Trio – The “weird band at a low-rent venue” closing sketch is a proud SNL tradition. Even the ones without a strong central thrust usually still have a few disarmingly out-there details, and that is the case with this trio of Kenan, Seth, and Kyle performing at a Marriott, thanks to the electric piccolo and the phrase “panty crickets.” But by keeping the main idea of piccolo player Seth’s medical diagnosis so vague, we are never quite able to jump full-on into the wackiness.

Seth Meyers

On a scale of “Seth Meyers behind a desk” to “Seth Meyers the sketch player,” it is clear that this former longtime Update anchor and current Late Night host is most comfortable talking directly to us, as evident in his monologue and the rendition of “Really!?!” But that doesn’t mean he’s a bad sketch actor! He does some committed character work as a middle-aged testosterone nutjob and a pretentious vacationer, and his performance in A Frightening Tale is so on point. Maybe there’s a bit of a mental block on his part going on, but he’s nonetheless now the kind of guy I’m always happy to see back.

Paul Simon

More musical guests should perform new arrangements of their old hits on SNL. But alas, most of them probably wouldn’t be as masterful as Paul Simon makes them.

Letter Grades:

Kanye-Trump Summit – C+

Seth Meyers’ Monologue – B

South of Mason Screening – B+

beta force – B-

Thirsty Cops – B-

A Frightening Tale (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – A-

New Cellmate – B+

Paul Simon and yMusic perform “Can’t Run But” – A-

Weekend Update
The Jokes – B-
Baskin Johns – C+
Really!?! – B

Bayou Benny’s Liberal Lagniappe – B-

Paul Simon performs “Bridge Over Troubled Water” – B+

Cuban Vacation – C+

Trees – B-

Treece Henderson Trio – C

SNL Review October 6, 2018: Awkwafina/Travis Scott

October 7, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Will Heath/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in October 2018.

Love It

Ted Cruz Rally – This little filmed piece is my pick for best of the episode, primarily by dint of some impressively squishy sound design. The plop of confetti, the thud of a bounceless basketball, the distortion of an unruly microphone: all are delightful auditory punchlines. Beck’s take on Ted Cruz is fairly unique (is the senator’s nose really that pointy?), but his string of bad luck as a live performer definitely captures his noted lack of charisma.

Pete Davidson is here to share some thoughts on Kanye, and he can offer the right sort of wisdom for the moment, what with his experience being crazy.

Keep It

Dance Battle – It is quite the delightful surprise when the crew made up of Awkwafina, Kenan, and Leslie starts breaking it down to the tune of The Price is Right theme. Alas, it takes away any surprise from the rest of the sketch, as we know for sure that their remaining routines will also be set to game show music. But I cannot complain too much when the soundtrack is this charmingly familiar. Plus, the Family Feud wrong answer buzzer is ideal punctuation.

The Brett Kavanaugh Post-Game is an interesting enough concept to tackle the big news of the moment, but why does just about every political cold open need to be part of some news broadcast?…Awkwafina’s Monologue is pretty short and uneventful, save for her shoutout to first female Asian SNL host Lucy Liu (what an opportunity it would have been for Lucy to suddenly make a surprise appearance!)…The Presidential Alert commercial is just as crazy as, well, life in America currently is. Ergo, the jokes about a cheap phone company actually hit harder, in light of their unexpectedness…Michael and Colin are adequate enough, with the most notable Update moment coming in the form of a few audience members audibly booing Brett Kavanaugh…Eric and Donald Trump, Jr. have some more invective and nonsense to spew, particularly their new zinger of “Saturday Night Liberals”…So You’re Willing to Date a Magician gets a decent amount of mileage out of lampooning a certain profession’s stereotypes…The Pumpkin Patch benefits greatly from Beck and Kyle’s commitment to guilelessness…The New York Film Festival Women’s Roundtable (or Actress Roundtable, depending on if you go by the title card or the dialogue) is another chance for Kate to shine as Debette Goldry. You know the drill at this point, although her experience doing yellowface is a new, fairly hard-hitting reveal.

Leave It

Baby Shower – Here’s a sketch that is quite messy in execution that I feel could have been quite uproarious if it were more focused. Is the main joke that Awkwafina’s dog walker is an interloper, or that Cecily’s lonely friend of the expectant mom is shallow and superficial? There’s some fine character work, but also too many joke approaches coming from too many different angles.

The Hidden Tales of Egypt is here to remind us that Cleopatra had interesting hair.

Awkwafina

On a scale of Lucy Liu to Awkwafina, it is clear that there haven’t been too many Asian SNL hosts. But regardless of ethnicity, Awkwafina brings an offbeat comedic presence that is unprecedented in the entire annals of guests at 30 Rock. Unfortunately that doesn’t quite translate in her first SNL hosting gig, though she is plenty dedicated. Weirdly, she also appears to be the victim of multiple directing and sound mixing miscues.

Travis Scott

On a scale of music from artists I have heard of but have never really heard, Travis Scott holds my attention well enough. His stage design is decently mesmerizing, and he has acuity with laying out his words over a groove. Other than that, all I have to say is, did I hear him correctly when he said “just a goose”?

Letter Grades:

Brett Kavanaugh Post-Game – B-

Awkwafina’s Monologue – B-

Dance Battle – B

Presidential Alert – B-

The Hidden Tales of Egypt – C-

Ted Cruz (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – B+

Travis Scott performs “Skeletons”/”Astrothunder”

Weekend Update
The Jokes – B-
Eric and Donald Trump, Jr. – B-
Pete Davidson – B+

So You’re Willing to Date a Magician – B-

Baby Shower – C

The Pumpkin Patch – B

Travis Scott performs “Sicko Mode” – B

New York Film Festival Women’s Roundtable – B

SNL Review September 29, 2018: Adam Driver/Kanye West

September 30, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Rosalind O’Connor/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in September 2018.

Love It

Kyle’s New Look – Considering who was in the building, it looked like we were about to get a sequel to the landmark Kyle vs. Kanye as the latest short from Mr. Mooney began. But while the behind-the-scenes saga takes a different route this time, it is no less welcome. In an episode all about Pete Davidson’s summer, the high point comes via Kyle’s copycat tactic. Wendy Williams as his choice of celebrity boo is inspired, and small details like the way Heidi Gardner eats a banana fill in the scenery nicely. But I am left to wonder how this sketch might have been different if original musical guest choice Ariana Grande had been around to provide her reaction.

Domenico’s Coffee – Burger King disguising its cup of joe as the upscale “Domenico’s” to fool unsuspecting customers obviously calls to mind the classic Colombian coffee crystals filmed piece in which Chris Farley completely loses his mind. But this time around it’s a somewhat different tack, instead targeting faux-upscale coffee snob arrogance. It’s right up Cecily Strong’s grotesque character alley, and Adam Driver’s intensity matches up quite well. Their threats once they realize the ruse are awfully silly, but also scary in their sincerity.

In an Update dominated up top by the Kavanaugh hearings, Michael and Colin are more straightforward than they have ever been, and we are the better for it…Kate McKinnon’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg is enough to brighten up any day.

Keep It

Kavanaugh Senate Hearing – The typical SNL cold open tackles the major political news of the week, which can grow tiresome, so I always enjoy when the show switches up the routine. But there was no avoiding the major development this time, but luckily (for comedy’s sake), the alarming Brett Kavanaugh hearings allow for a somewhat different cast of characters than the usual recent political insanity we’ve had to endure. It doesn’t necessarily make for a great sketch, but it’s a decent one, and I’ll take the “Lindsey Graham auditioning for regional production of The Crucible” joke to the bank.

Adam Driver’s Monologue is a small idea about small talk, but Driver is amusing when he’s angry. And also Pete Davidson had an interesting summer…The “adults don’t know how to play video games” shtick is as old as video games, but at least the Fortnite sketch adds some backstory involving a real dad/stepdad rivalry…I would guess Rad Times at Frat U was inspired by Brett Kavanaugh’s schooltime secrets, although the focus is a bit wayward. But it still works as a solid takedown of blowout party movies…Leslie Jones’ “impression” of Serena Williams is actually sort of impressive in a verbatim sort of way, and Colin’s insistence that it won’t work actually fits as a dramatic counterpoint…I hope that Pete Davidson talked to his fiancee before he discussed how his summer was (he probably did)…Once we meet old school oil baron Abraham H. Parnassus, the Career Day sketch hits exactly the beats we expect, but it’s committed character work from Driver…The League of the South Meeting‘s premise that Vermont is some kind of white people paradise is kind of clever, but I’m most amused by the ruling that they CAN pick black players for their fantasy football teams.

Leave It

No Leave It sketches in a solid premiere episode.

Adam Driver

On a scale of “omnipresent host” to “host getting lost in the background,” Adam Driver is not really either extreme. He has some lead characters, and he wholly commits in a way that justifies his booking despite not being an obvious choice for a season premiere. But it kind of feels like the actual host of this episode was Pete Davidson’s birthday.

Kanye West

On a scale of Kanye the Visionary to Kanye the Inexplicable, we definitely leaned toward the latter this episode. Seriously, does anyone understand why he and Lil Pump chose to dress as Perrier and Fiji, respectively? Although, hey, I can’t say I wasn’t amused. But besides the wacky artistic choices, there’s also the MAGA of it all, which I don’t think there will ever be a satisfying answer for, so we might as well seek serenity for something that’s beyond our control.

Letter Grades:

Kavanaugh Senate Hearing – B-

Adam Driver’s Monologue – B-

Fortnite – B-

Kyle’s New Look – B+

Domenico’s Coffee (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – A-

Rad Times at Frat U – B

Kanye West ft. Lil Pump performs “I Love It” – B

Weekend Update
The Jokes – B+
Ruth Bader Ginsburg – B
Leslie Jones as “Serena Williams” – B-
Pete Davidson – B-

Career Day – B-

Kanye West ft. Teyana Taylor performs “We Got Love” – B

League of the South Meeting – B-

Kanye West ft. Kid Cudi and 070 Shake performs “Ghost Town” – ???

SNL Review May 19, 2018: Tina Fey/Nicki Minaj

May 20, 2018

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Gianny Matias/NBC

My letter grades for each sketch and segment is below. My in-depth review is on NewsCult: http://newscult.com/snl-love-itkeep-itleave-tina-feynicki-minaj/

Holsten’s Restaurant – C+

Tina Fey’s Monologue – B

Royal Wedding Reception – C-

Morning Joe – C

Mean Girls – B

Nicki Minaj performs “Chun-Li” – B

Weekend Update
The Jokes (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – B/B+
Eric and Donald Trump, Jr. – B
Bishop Michael Curry – C

Dateline: Pervert Hunters – C+

Sarah Plain – C

Nicki Minaj ft. Playboi Carti performs “Poke It Out” – B-

Livingston High Talent Show – C

Dick Wolf’s Chicago Improv – B

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