Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
INSIDE THE NFL
Patriots ballboy (BOM) was responsible for Deflategate
— I remember someone on an SNL message board pointing out that a huge fart sound effect can be heard randomly going off at the beginning of the scene with Beck as Bill Belichick. That “fart sound effect” was actually Beck making a grumbling/growling vocalization in his grumpy portrayal of Belichick.
— Funny performance from Taran as a faux-clueless Tom Brady.
— Bobby immediately coming off goofily lovable.
— Very strong performance from Bobby during his speech, especially when he and Kate get into a heated back-and-forth.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
cast members struggle to get in the spirit of host’s gentle Hee Haw gibes
— Another strong walk-on from Bobby tonight.
— Leslie’s misery during this whole Hee Haw act is a pretty good running gag.
— An overall okay monologue, even if I could barely find anything to say about it.
STARS: ***
FARM HUNK
Hollywood bachelorettes compete for a life in Iowa
— The debut of a sketch theme that would go on to be an annual January tradition for years (not sure if it’s still ongoing today, as I haven’t seen a new episode since 2018). I’ve always personally referred to these as the “Sorry, can I steal him for a sec?” sketches.
— Of all the installments of this annual sketch that I’ve seen, I think this is the only one where the bachelor role is played by that night’s SNL host instead of a cast member.
— Vanessa: “I’m a second grade teacher…in my pornos.”
— I’m enjoying the running theme with each female contestant turning out to have done porn.
— A fun structure this sketch, and each of the ladies has funny lines, particularly an occasionally teary-eyed Aidy.
— The usual scene-stealing appearance from Leslie, and I love the reveal that she’s actually playing herself.
STARS: ****
WISHIN’ BOOT
(KAM), (AIB), (host) sing about magical country shoe
— I remember hating this short when it originally aired, considering it to be lame as hell, and I would subsequently be dumbfounded to see it go on to be well-loved by a lot of SNL fans. Much like some other things that I used to strongly dislike but now want to understand why so many other SNL fans love, I will go into my current viewing of this short with an open mind.
— So far, this is at least a very spot-on and well-detailed spoof of typical country songs and country music videos.
— Still not too crazy about the comedic premise of a wishin’ boot.
— Okay, I do like the scene with Aidy receiving a prison visit from the Wishin Boot’.
— I’m currently near the end of this short, and yeah, I’ve barely been laughing. I’m enjoying it more for its charm than its actual humor.
— Overall, despite my lack of amusement towards this short and the fact that I still can’t understand why a number of SNL fans consider it to be pretty much a classic, I cannot hate this short at all anymore like I used to. It has a charm that I now can’t help but like.
STARS: ***
CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD
stars of The Voice & American Idol vie
— Kinda unexciting to have an SNL host play themselves in an installment of this sketch.
— Meh, I could do without the return of Kate’s Keith Urban impression.
— I’m not as crazy about the collection of impressions in tonight’s Family Feud sketch compared to the previous two installments of this sketch. Kenan’s always-funny Steve Harvey is the only thing really carrying tonight’s installment so far.
— That’s it? This sketch is over? Easily my least favorite installment of this recurring sketch that has aired by this point.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Neon Light”
WEEKEND UPDATE
MIC’s goofy high school friend Riblet (BOM) expertly reads news items
gay porn on PED’s computer represents confirmation of his heterosexuality
Nicole (SAZ) fights with ex-boyfriend MIC while giving financial advice
— The debut of Bobby’s Riblet character.
— Bobby is killing it as this Riblet character, and I love how different this feels for an Update commentary, especially with the various turns where Riblet suddenly tells an Update joke in a very professional, straitlaced manner. I also love how they even go through the lengths of showing an altered version of the Update opening title sequence, with Riblet inserted in Michael’s place.
— After the audience’s very iffy reaction to his joke about King Abdullah getting run over by a terrible woman driver, Michael humorously ad-libs “Riblet, everybody”, reminiscent of his great “Prince, ladies and gentlemen” ad-lib from earlier this season.
— Some decent lines from Pete throughout his gay porn anecdote, especially him telling Colin, “You’re like a straight 8 and a gay 10!”
— Second week in a row where we get the long-standing Weekend Update tradition of how the punchline to a joke about the death of a creator of something noteworthy is done in the style of said creation, a tradition that I always like, as I said in my last episode review. This particular joke, about the death of the creator of the instant replay, is fun and memorable, and I like an amused Michael ad-libbing to Colin, after the slow-mo clip of Colin getting hit in the face with a football, “You look so dumb.”
— Hmm, I have absolutely no prior memory of this commentary with Sasheer as Michael’s ex-girlfriend.
— The timing of some portions of Sasheer’s commentary is off.
— I like Colin nervously and slowly sliding out of the shot when he’s asked to chime in on Michael and Sasheer’s tense argument. What was with the extremely delayed camera cut to him, though? That just further proves my point that the timing in some portions of this Michael/Sasheer commentary feels off.
— I am liking the tense back-and-forths between Michael and Sasheer, and it’s an interesting and strangely refreshing novelty to see Michael convincingly acting in a scene like this.
— Ha, we get a very funny sudden twist at the end of Sasheer’s commentary, with her mysterious new boyfriend turning out to be Riblet. Solid callback, and I never would’ve guessed that’s where Sasheer’s commentary was headed.
STARS: ***
PAROLE BOARD
parole board nixes Texas Man Gobbler’s (KET) bid for a redemption
— Given the fact that The Shawshank Redemption is one of my all-time favorite movies, I’m interested in this spoof of Morgan Freeman’s legendary speech from that movie.
— A very funny sudden tone shift after Kenan’s poignant opening speech, with the parole board bluntly revealing that Kenan straight-up ate a person, and that Kenan’s NEVER going to get out of this prison.
— Kenan, when reflecting in regards to his eating people: “Would I do it again? Point me towards a homeless shelter.”
— The whole “last meal” discussion is cracking me up.
— Even the predictable text crawl ending made me laugh.
STARS: ***½
TOPEKA TODAY
widower (TAK) wrote song of 70-year marriage to awful (KAM)
— When Bobby compliments Taran and Blake on how beautiful their song is so far, I laughed at Blake frankly telling him in an un-amused manner, “There’s more.”
— A good dark turn this “loving” song takes, helped by the incongruity of these unflattering lyrics being sung while we see touching young black-and-white photos of Kate’s character. I feel the dark humor here should be going even further, but it’s fine for what it is.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Boys Round Here”
MAGICIAN
formerly-skeptical audience member (host) asks magician (TAK) for powers
— Boy, Blake sure was late on his cue to utter “Fake!”, leading to almost five solid seconds of complete dead air.
— Some of Blake’s desperate requests to the magician are making me laugh, such as “I wanna be a black guy…just for one day” and “Guns for a head!” Otherwise, I’m pretty meh on this sketch.
— Okay, I did get a cheap big laugh just now from Blake’s “Give me the power…to go down on myself.” I also like the subsequent bit with him trying and failing to go down on himself behind the curtain.
— Blah, that “Magic isn’t real!” “I knew it!” twist didn’t come off anywhere near as clever as the writer of this sketch apparently THOUGHT it was. Maybe it was just Blake’s weak execution of that twist that made it not work very well.
STARS: **½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average and forgettable episode, in what’s been a string of episodes lately that have either been kinda meh or forgettably average. While there at least wasn’t anything that flopped too hard in this episode, and the first two post-Weekend Update sketches (Parole Board and Topeka Today) had some good dark humor, the only rated segment that stood out as strong to me all night was the “Sorry, can I steal him for a sec?” sketch.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Farm Hunk
Parole Board
Topeka Today
Weekend Update
Inside The NFL
Wishin’ Boot
Monologue
Magician
Celebrity Family Feud
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Kevin Hart)
a very slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
J.K. Simmons