Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
EBOLA PRESS CONFERENCE
Ebola czar Ron Klain (TAK) & Al Sharpton (KET) address public health
— As I said in a recent review, the constant then-topical Ebola virus mentions in these early season 40 episodes are relatable to our current COVID era.
— A few mild laughs from Taran’s Q&A session, but nothing special.
— The usual somewhat amusing comments from Kenan’s Al Sharpton.
— What was the point of having Beck as one of the reporters, when he has absolutely nothing to do or say at any point of this cold opening?
— Overall, while this cold opening wasn’t terrible, it was very forgettable, thus making this season now 0-for-4 in good cold openings. My goodness. I cannot remember the last season that started out with such a long consecutive losing streak with cold openings. Even the dreadful season 30 had at least one good cold opening by this point of that season.
STARS: **½
OPENING MONTAGE
— SNL writer Leslie Jones has been added to the cast, due to popular demand after making some very noteworthy, scene-stealing sketch appearances and Weekend Update commentaries.
MONOLOGUE
underworld rock & roll king Helvis (host) sings of his love for pecan pie
— Great costume from Jim Carrey upon his entrance.
— What was with the unseen voices of two(?) real audience members loudly howling “AWOOOOO!” in unison after Jim says Elvis Presley liked to raise a little hell? Or was that sound of men howling “AWOOOOO!” just a planned sound effect played by SNL?
— Solid Elvis voice from Jim.
— (*sigh*) Yet another musical monologue. At least this has a fairly fun and out-of-the-ordinary concept for one, though.
— Meh, there’s SNL’s usual unnecessary habit of having a few cast members play cheesy backup dancers during a host’s musical monologue.
— Hmm, hate to say it, but nothing particularly funny at all is happening during the song, and I’m kinda starting to lose interest. Jim’s charm and fun energy is the only thing really carrying the song.
— Good ol’ Bobby shows up to add a little comedy. Love the way he pops into frame from under the camera as soon as his character is called.
— A nice wide shot of the studio during the camera pan-out at the end.
STARS: **½
LINCOLN
Matthew McConaughey (host) rolls a booger while driving his Lincoln
— A hilarious and spot-on spoof of Matthew McConaughey’s Lincoln ads, and this spoof is also serving as a reminder of what a good impressionist Jim can be at times.
— I think this is SNL’s very first mention of Uber, which I’m pointing out because of the excessive number of Uber mentions that the (infamous) following Chris Rock-hosted episode is said by SNL fans to contain. (I personally only remember one Uber mention in that entire episode, but we’ll see how many there are.)
— Very funny comment from Jim’s McConaughey about his agent telling him it would’ve made sense to do these Lincoln commercials after doing the movie The Lincoln Lawyer.
STARS: ****
CARREY FAMILY REUNION
(Jeff Daniels) & other kin are like host’s characters at family reunion
— A variation of the Walken Family Reunion sketch from Christopher Walken’s season 33 hosting stint.
— Leslie’s first sketch appearance as a cast member, and she already has a great little moment with her over-the-top laughing response to a mild joke of Jim’s, followed by her saying a well-delivered “You are so crazy, Jim Carrey!”
— I like seeing Jim and Taran play off of each other here, reminding me of their fun chemistry at some parts of Jim’s previous season 36 hosting stint.
— The set-up to the Cable Guy bit is (intentionally) predictable in a very fun way.
— A very solid Fire Marshal Bill from Cecily.
— I really like how, as a contrast to the Walken Family Reunion sketch, this sketch is featuring the cast imitating the host’s movie characters instead of imitating the host himself. (I’ve heard that the later Sandler Family Reunion sketch, which I’ve yet to see, takes that same route.) It makes the sketch feel less redundant in that way, and I’d say this cast is more successful at these Carrey movie character impressions than most of the season 33 cast was at their Walken impressions.
— A nice cameo from Jeff Daniels, complete with him fittingly dressed as Jim’s Dumb & Dumber character.
— I remember that, when I watched this episode during its original airing, I assumed the guy in the Riddler costume at the end of this was just an uncredited extra, until a backstage photo of Pete in the Riddler costume surfaced online shortly after the show. Watching this sketch now with that knowledge, it’s strangely kinda endearing to see Pete imitating Carrey’s trademark mannerisms, as it feels so different from the type of acting Pete usually does on the show.
STARS: ****
LINCOLN
with kids in his Lincoln, Matthew McConaughey (host) channels Rust Cohle
— Funny reveal of two kids unexpectedly being in the backseat of the car during all of this rambling of Jim’s McConaughey, then we get an even funnier reveal that he has no idea who’s kids those are.
STARS: ****
GRAVEYARD SONG
unscary dead guys Paul (TAK) & Phil (host) haunt a graveyard on Halloween
— Odd how this is the second consecutive live sketch with Bobby’s entire face painted a color. Did they just quickly slap all of this gray face paint over his green face paint from the previous sketch? It’s just amusing to me to imagine that, under all that gray he’s wearing on his skin in this sketch, his skin is entirely green.
— Another fun pairing of Jim and Taran.
— This clearly must be an early Mikey Day/Streeter Seidell writing collaboration, as this sketch’s concept not only has Day & Seidell’s familiar fingerprints all over it, but the specific “non-scary, musical, meme-ish, catchphrase-driven characters among a group of legitimately scary horror characters” theme is very reminiscent of Day & Seidell’s iconic David S. Pumpkins sketch from a few seasons later. This Paul & Phil sketch is basically the lesser-remembered precursor to David S. Pumpkins.
— Great “SHUT UPPPP!” outbursts from Bobby right now.
— I can’t find much else to say about the sketch itself. I’m enjoying it, and Jim and Taran are certainly fun, but I don’t find this sketch to be nearly as outstanding or as noteworthy as some of Day & Seidell’s later sketches with a similar theme (not just David S. Pumpkins, but, say, the Kevin Roberts sketch with Larry David, which is my personal favorite version of all these sketches).
STARS: ***½
ALLSTATE / LINCOLN
Matthew McConaughey (host) runs over Allstate spokesman Dennis Haysbert (KET) in his Lincoln
— An absolutely classic turn with Kenan’s Dennis Haysbert ironically getting run over by a car out of absolutely nowhere while in the middle of doing an Allstate commercial, followed by another absolutely priceless reveal of a meditating Jim-as-Matthew-McConaughey behind the wheel of the car, continuing the Lincoln runner of tonight. A simply perfect conclusion to this runner.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Fancy”
musical guest & Rita Ora [real] perform “Black Widow”
WEEKEND UPDATE
romantic comedy expert Daisy Rose (VAB) forces meet-cute script on MIC
Drunk Uncle complains about feeling tricked & mistreated by Halloween
— Meh, didn’t the cold opening earlier tonight already make that Ebola joke about New York City now officially having every disease?
— Yeesh, Colin’s delivery of his opening run of Ebola jokes was pretty bad, which shows that, as much as I’ve been liking him on Update this season, he still certainly has some growing to do until he reaches the stage where he’s officially become a reliable co-anchor.
— Love the bit with Michael comparing Ebola to black people.
— A one-off(?) Update character for Vanessa, which I have absolutely no memory of. This could be interesting.
— Already, early in this commentary, Vanessa’s doing an absolutely spot-on and very funny spoof of typical “meet cute” tropes from romcoms.
— Michael is playing off of Vanessa perfectly, as he has some hilarious reactions and one-liners towards her.
— An overall very strong Vanessa commentary. I’m surprised by how much I had forgotten about this little gem from her until now.
— After a bumpy start at the beginning of tonight’s Update, Colin has gotten better, especially his “I thought ‘convicted sex offender’ was Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’s key demographic” punchline, which feels like the type of ballsy joke he’d do in more recent seasons. And Michael’s been having a few strong jokes tonight, too, especially his “sex study being perfected last night by…ya momma” punchline.
— Maybe I spoke a little too soon about Michael, as that brass knuckle/meth pipe joke of his was lame as HELL. However, something about his kiddie delivery of that joke’s punchline tickled me. It felt so odd hearing him talk in that kiddie voice.
— An absolutely PRICELESS beginning to Drunk Uncle’s commentary, where he, upon reacting very negatively to seeing Michael (for obvious reasons), actually scoots his own chair aaaallll the way over to the opposite side of the Update desk (I love how Michael can be heard incredulously asking “Are you seri–?” at one point during that) so he’s now sitting next to Colin for the remainder of this commentary. Not only was that an absolute riot, but that move of Drunk Uncle’s certainly has to be a first in Weekend Update history.
— (*sigh*) SNL, please STOP with that beyond-tired “That’s not me” “That’s not anyone” exchange in EVERY DAMN ONE one of these otherwise solid Drunk Uncle commentaries. Not even the audience laughed at that exchange tonight.
— Tonight’s Drunk Uncle commentary as a whole, while funny, was a little too average for his standards, and not one of his more standout commentaries. However, that fantastic “Drunk Uncle scoots his chair all the way from Michael’s side of the Update desk to Colin’s side” opening gag alone is one of the highlights of this entire episode.
STARS: ***
SECRET BILLIONAIRE
eccentric & elderly (host) seeks to pair with (CES)
— Jim accidentally enters the shot briefly while trying to discreetly take his seat as the camera is on Taran and Cecily.
— Something about this sketch is already giving off a bit of a dire, worrisome vibe, but I’ll try to remain open-minded towards this sketch.
— It’s now a minute later, and that dire/worrisome feel is sadly continuing. Maybe it’s something about Jim’s EXTREMELY slow-paced delivery as this character that’s hurting my enjoyment.
— Okay, that whole very-detailed story from Jim’s character regarding pleasuring himself in a hot air balloon and falling 3,000 feet was actually very funny.
— An even funnier detailed story from Jim right now, about an airplane hangar filled with 250 men named Dennis and one named Brian, and Jim theorizing how’d they all react.
— Cecily has some funny little straitlaced responses, especially her responding to one of Jim’s disturbing stories by innocently saying “Aww, I love seafood!”
— Overall, I have very mixed feelings on this sketch. It had such a bad and worrisome first two minutes, then suddenly became much funnier with some of Jim’s disturbing stories, but even with that upswing, the sketch still had a bit of an “off” feel to it, and I still can’t help but feel that Jim’s extremely slow-paced delivery hurt some of the humor of this sketch for me.
STARS: I’m still torn, but I’ll give it *** as a whole, just on the strength of that brilliant “Dennis/Brian” story
GHOSTS: FACT OR FICTION?
(LEJ) gets spooked during paranormal search
— A good first major showcase for Leslie as a cast member.
— A simple premise and simple writing, but Leslie is selling it very well with her character’s skepticism and various frightened reactions.
STARS: ****
HIGH SCHOOL
amid zombie attacks, (host) maintains his undead son (PED) isn’t infected
— A much funnier character voice from Jim here than in the Secret Millionaire sketch.
— The timing seems really off at certain points of this sketch. Odd long pauses and such, particularly when Jim is clearly very late on his cue when he’s supposed to feed Pete pieces of brains from his pockets.
— Funny interaction between Pete and Jay.
— Good zombie growls from Pete throughout this.
— Overall, despite a few laughs, this, much like the Secret Millionaire sketch, suffered from having too much of an “off” and dragging feeling, except, unlike the Secret Millionaire sketch, this one didn’t have enough merits to earn it a decent rating.
STARS: **
OFFICE COSTUME CONTEST
for office costume contest, (host) & (KAM) dance a la “Chandelier” video
— I love the controlled frustration in Sasheer’s delivery when correcting Vanessa by saying “……I’m Vanna White.”
— The whole sequence at the beginning of this sketch with Vanessa’s really bad guesses on what each co-worker’s Halloween costume is is fantastic, so much so, that I could watch an entire five-minute sketch with just Vanessa doing that. I especially love her confusing poor Aidy’s non-costume red dress as her being dressed as a meatball, which gets great reactions from Aidy.
— Fun concept of a Chandelier-themed Carrey/McKinnon dance-off in the office.
— Oh, hell yeah. I love the fourth wall-break turn with the Carrey/McKinnon dance-off going from the sketch’s set to all throughout SNL’s studio. It feels like you rarely, if ever, see a recent SNL season like this have a fourth wall-break that goes this extensive.
— So many fun antics from Jim and Kate in their around-the-studio dance-off, with them even now going through some of the sets from tonight’s earlier sketches. All of this is fantastic.
— I will say the Lorne bit was meh and kinda unnecessary, but it was brief enough not to particularly hurt the great vibe this sketch has going.
— More and more as Jim and Kate’s around-the-studio dance-off continues, this sketch is having a truly epic feel, the type of epic feel that kinda gives me goosebumps and makes me feel like I’m witnessing something truly special. In fact, when this originally aired, I remember this was among the number of Kate McKinnon moments from 2014-2017 that made me feel like I was watching a legend in the making.
— Excellent random ending with Aidy unexpectedly winning the office costume contest, which gets a perfect exaggerated puzzled reaction from her.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & MØ [real] perform “Beg For It”
GEOFF’S HALLOWEEN EMPORIUM
Geoff’s (host) Halloween Emporium proprietor is possessed by a demon
— Interesting pairing of Vanessa and Cecily in this speaking-straight-to-the-camera ad, making this kinda feel like a bizarro universe version of the ex-porn stars sketches.
— Great vocal modifier on Jim.
— Jim’s vocalizations and mugging are priceless. You can tell that, at one point, Jim is attempting to crack Vanessa and Cecily up, but those two are such pros that they don’t bat an eye.
— Unless I’m forgetting something, it had been a long time since SNL last broke out the ol’ vomit tubes prior to this sketch. A nice disgusting touch with the vomit in this particular sketch being black/dark brown, which perfectly fits Jim’s demon character.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While definitely not having the overall classic feel that a Jim Carrey-hosted episode should have (and did have, in Jim’s beloved first hosting stint), this was still certainly a good episode, and received a nice amount of sketch ratings in the high 4-5-star range from me (granted, three of those were the Lincoln three-part runner).
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Office Costume Contest
Allstate / Lincoln (Part 3)
Lincoln (Part 1)
Carrey Family Reunion
Lincoln (Part 2)
Ghosts: Fact Or Fiction?
Geoff’s Halloween Emporium
Graveyard Song
Weekend Update
Secret Billionaire
Ebola Press Conference
Monologue
High School
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Bill Hader)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Chris Rock / Prince