Jeff “jmunney” Malone watches every new episode of Saturday Night Live and then reviews all the sketches and segments according to a “wacky” theme.
Here we go, it’s time to review another episode of Saturday Night Live! And just like last week’s edition, we’ve got a dude hosting for the fourth time after more than a decade since his third. But unlike Thomas Jacob Black, Jonathan Daniel Hamm has made plenty of cameo appearances in the intervening period. And as for the songs, well, fourth time’s clearly the charm, because Melissa Jefferson (better known as Lizzo) is also making her fourth appearance as musical guest.
In honor of one of Jon Hamm’s most classic SNL sketches, I’m going to review each segment of this episode by declaring if it’s More Hammy or More Bubbly. One isn’t necessarily better than the other, it all depends on the context!
Before publishing this list, I listened to each of these albums again to make sure that I still liked them. And I did! (But there was one other that I had on my preliminary list that I ultimately decided I didn’t like enough to include. Bonus points if you can guess what it was.)
It’s Bad Christmas O’Clock (CREDIT: NBC/Screenshot)
But the truth is, Austin Butler was the host of the last new episode of Saturday Night Live of 2022. (Because “But” is part of his name.) And incidentally, Lizzo joins the “Musical Guest Twice in a Calendar Year” Club.
For this episode, since it is the Christmas show, I will be reviewing each sketch by answering the question “Would Santa Clause like this?” in the vein of the Billy on the Street game “Would Drew Barrymore Like That?”
An Announcement from Donald Trump: I don’t think Santa Claus would like this very much. I’m pretty sure he sees a lot of naughtiness in NFTs and the rest of the digital financial space.
TV
–The Rehearsal Series Premiere (July 15 on HBO) – Nathan Fielder returns to TV!
–grown-ish Season 5 Premiere (July 20 on Freeform) – Now focused on Junior in school while Zoey and her crew live post-graduate life.
Music
-Interpol, The Other Side of Make-Believe
-Lizzo, Special
Big weekend for Lizzo (known on her birth certificate as Melissa Viviane Jefferson). It’s Easter, after all, and I don’t know if she celebrates, but she certainly strikes me as someone who appreciates a festive moment. And oh yeah, she’as also the host AND musical guest on a little show called Saturday Night Live.
For my review of last week’s episode, you may recall that I listed the sketches in order of how many views they had on SNL‘s YouTube page, from most to least. This time, I’m reversing it, going from least to most views. I hope you all find that appropriate for Easter, what with the rebirth and resurrection.
Karaoke Korner is back in 2021 with a trip through the decades (courtesy of Jeff’s 1st cousins-once-removed Elsa and Mia), as we hit up Culture Club, Lizzo, Bruno Mars, and Elton John.
My Best of the 2010s list-making journey has finally come to a close! (Or has it? … For now, it has at least. The future will come as it may, and it may just surprise you, and me.) All this week, I’ve been posting my rankings of a few categories that I was inspired to put together after submitting them to a Best of the 2010s polls that I’m participating in with some of my fellow cultural aficionados. To wrap it all up, I guide you along to the realm of music and lyrics, as I present the Best Musical Artists of the 2010s.
My criteria was similar to that of my choices for Best Film Directors. I considered a combination of how much I enjoyed their musical output as well as how much – and how well – they influenced the industry at large.
It’s been a few years since I’ve made an Albums of the Year list, but I really felt compelled to make one for 2019. Here are the audio compilations from the recent past that really made an impact on me:
14. Camila Cabello, Romance – Fun and bouncy.
13. Harry Styles, Fine Line – I like where Harry is headed. 12. Beck, Hyperspace – Reliable Beck. 11. Brittany Howard, Jaime – Great, big rockin’ voice goes solo. 10. The Black Keys, Let’s Rock – They never stopped rocking.
9. Ariana Grande, thank u, next – Lots of adventure from Ari. 8. Sleater-Kinney, The Center Won’t Hold – Band broke up, music’s still great. 7. Tyler, the Creator, IGOR – I feel so comfortable inside this album. 6. FKA Twigs, MAGDALENE – FKA reminds me of Bat for Lashes. 5. Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride – Those Vampire Weekend guys have still got a hold on me. 4. Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell! – What a soundscape! 3. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Just plenty of fun. 2. Lizzo, Cuz I Love You – I love you, too!
1. The Chemical Brothers, No Geography – Apocalyptic concept album.
The following are the singles that had enough of an impact on me in 2019 to make me go, “I’ll have to mark that one down for posterity.” A few of them were originally released before 2019, but they didn’t reach their full cultural impact until 2019. And for the first time in the decade or so since I’ve been doing this, I’ve got a repeat winner, as I also coronated Tove Lo in 2017.
1. Tove Lo – “Glad He’s Gone”: Such friendship, such storytelling. We are all so blessed to have Tove Lo in our lives.
2. Lana Del Rey – “Mariners Apartment Complex”: Four minutes of musical madness that feels like hours of bliss.
3. The Chemical Brothers – “Eve of Destruction”: If you think the world’s gone to hell, have a dance party!
4. Vampire Weekend – “Sunflower”: There have been multiple (good) songs named “Sunflower” the past few years; this is the one that’s most likely to make you feel like a sunflower waking up in the morning.
5. Lizzo -“Truth Hurts”: 100% that mix of references that clearly hold deep emotional resonance for Lizzo.
6. Gary Clark Jr. – “This Land”: Can tasty guitar solos solve racism? Can’t hurt.
7. Hozier – “Dinner and Diatribes”: A galloping piece of soulfulness.
8. Dua Lipa – “Swan Song”: An original track from Alita: Battle Angel, and clearly the sound of future sci-fi feminism.
9. Sara Bareilles – “Armor”: Listen to Sara Bareilles getting down with her jazzy bad self and the rest of us getting down with her!
10. Kimbra – “Lightyear”: Space wonder Kimbra has a message to beam down to us earthbound folks.
11. Shaed – “Thunder”: One of those indie rock “This is who we are!” statements of declaration.
12. Billie Eilish – “Bad Guy”: Billie sings about the joys of being devious, but by all accounts, her personal life is quite wholesome. I think that’s a great way to live.
13. Meg Myers – “Running Up That Hill”: I’m just glad that Kate Bush covers are on the radio in 2019.
14. Lana Del Rey – “Doin’ Time”: Is Lana the current Queen of Remix? She just knows how to summon the past into her modern legacy.
15. Tones and I – “Dance Monkey”: We can always use some monosyllabic shouts amidst the more word-like lyrics to convince us to get up there and bust a move.
16. Camila Cabello – “Cry for Me”: Sometimes you need to make an insistent demand for emotional connection to get the message across.
17. Lil Nas X – “Old Town Road”: The epitome of Gen Z’s total lack of recognition of genre constraints.
18. Absofacto – “Dissolve”: A little skitter-skatter of chillax rock.
19. Benny Blanco, Tainy, Selena Gomez, and J Balvin – “I Can’t Get Enough”: A pleasure moan produced into nugget-size song form.
20. Starcrawler – “Pet Sematary”: It really is the perfect unassailable opening guitar riff to kick off some opening credits, no matter which version.
2/15/20 UPDATE: In the spirit of comprehension, I may have overlooked a few songs that I loved enough to be top 20-worthy from a band that had already made the cut. So, to correct the record, some more-than-honorable mentions go to “MAH” and “Got to Keep On” by the Chemical Brothers.
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