Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
ELECTION VIDEO
Hillary (KAM) & Bill (DAH) Clinton shoot candidacy announcement video
— Interesting seeing Vanessa appearing in the same scene as Kate’s Hillary Clinton, given the fact that this is the second Hillary cold opening after the Hillary impression went from Vanessa to Kate.
— Interesting novelty having most of this sketch be shot live from a phone…or is that just one of SNL’s cameras filming Kate during the phone shots?
— A funny intimidating “personable” message that Kate’s Hillary directs towards citizens.
— Good straight man performance from Vanessa.
— Darrell Hammond makes his first onscreen appearance in a regular episode since becoming SNL’s announcer. Fitting that his first appearance would be as Bill Clinton.
— The usual funny lines from Darrell’s Clinton.
— A fun “The Clintons are back!” announcement, even though it kinda feels like that was already done in an Amy Poehler-starring Hillary/Bill cold opening (the one when Amy returned to SNL after her maternity leave, I think).
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
gospel choir helps host sing “I Made It” to celebrate fates she avoided
— I’m enjoying Taraji P. Henson’s enthusiasm for being here at SNL.
— (*sigh*) Our THIRD consecutive musical monologue. I was able to excuse the previous two, because I had always been a big fan of them (particularly the Michael Keaton one), but I have no particularly positive memories of this one.
— Not many laughs in this song so far, but I do really like the way Taraji’s performing it.
— Kenan, on a fate he thankfully avoided: “I could’ve been the oldest cast member in Good Burger 7.”
— Leslie coming in immediately adding a good atmosphere to this.
— Overall, while most of the material itself was nothing to write home about, this monologue got by for me on fun energy alone.
STARS: ***
DEPEND LEGENDS
(Bill Corsair)’s adult diapers have senior-favorite faces
— Mixed feelings on this premise, but I think I’m leaning slightly more towards the “Don’t care much for it” side.
— A laugh from the grandfather proudly showing his family his adult diapers while wearing them.
— A likable performance from the actor playing the grandfather.
STARS: **½
HOT FOR TEACHER: THE JANET JOHNSON-LUNA CIVIL TRIAL
trial shows teen Gavin Daly (PED) got kudos after sex with teacher (CES)
— I love Cecily’s coy, playful delivery of “You’re stupid.”
— Good sequence with Pete running off the many names that his peers called him.
— Kenan perfectly selling a very Kenan-like role as the judge complimenting Pete.
— Okay, the occasional cutaways to Cecily delivering coy one-liners are starting to get old.
— Very funny cutaway to Bobby as Pete’s proud father, as a contrast to Kate’s demeanor as Pete’s mother.
STARS: ***½
HOME 2
Nicki Minaj (host) & other musicians provided voices for Home 2
— A very spot-on and funny Jim Parsons impression from Taran.
— A celebrity impression showcase sketch in the tradition of those duets album ads that the show had been doing these past few seasons.
— An interesting and out-of-the-ordinary use of Pete in the Die Antwoord scene, which is one of the better parts of this pre-tape.
— Taraji’s pretty fun as Nicki Minaj.
STARS: ***
QVC
actress (KAM) can’t recall permutations for 3-way poncho for sale on QVC
— So far, an extremely flimsy premise that’s not doing a thing for me.
— Now we’re getting other bad attempts at random humor.
— I can’t tell if Taraji is badly overacting, or just doing an accurate imitation of typical QVC hosts.
— Not even a brief, potentially-sketch-stealing cutaway to Bobby can save this.
— That’s the whole sketch? Boy, this was worthless. Not a single thing about this worked for me.
STARS: *
JOHN SINGLETON’S GAME OF THRONES
black characters join Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in Westeros
— Solid concept.
— Che in a sketch!
— Sasheer’s reaction to getting shot by an arrow made me laugh.
— This overall pre-tape ended up not being as funny as I was expecting, but it was well-made, well-performed, and I like how genuinely badass it came off.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Wolf”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Cecilia Gimenez (KAM) loves the ugly features of a Lucille Ball statue
Jacob & his podiatrist father Dr. Henken (BIC) talk about Passover
— Michael, on how police are happy that the new Apple watch doesn’t have a camera: “Cops hate pictures. It’s, like, their least favorite thing to shoot.”
— Like the last time she appeared, Kate’s Cecilia Giminez is making me laugh in her commentary tonight, and Kate’s fun in this role.
— I love Colin’s little “Heeey” wave into the camera after Michael expresses jealousy over how white people can riot in the streets with no consequences.
— (*groan*) Yet another Jacob commentary.
— I did get a laugh from Michael awkwardly responding “Yeah, I wasn’t gonna” one of the times Jacob says “But don’t quote me on that!”
— Oh, this is the Jacob commentary where Billy Crystal appears as Jacob’s father. I had mis-remembered this as happening in the following season.
— At least Billy Crystal as Jacob’s father shakes things up a little bit in this Jacob commentary, and Billy’s doing a good emulation of Vanessa’s Jacob characterization.
— This would’ve been a good choice for a final Jacob commentary, but I’m aware this character makes at least one more appearance, in one of Vanessa’s final episodes as a cast member.
— I admit to laughing at the “You look mahvelous” fake-out, with Billy subverting that catchphrase by ending it differently.
STARS: ***½
HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT
dumb game show tries Jane Lynch’s (KAM) patience
— Taran’s Vin Diesel impression from the Bambi short returns.
— Was it necessary to have Beck play Nick Offerman again, after he already played him in the previous installment of this sketch?
— Cecily’s Marion Cotillard “crying in French” is fairly funny.
— Taraji’s cracking me up as Wanda Sykes.
— Tonight’s installment of this sketch feels like a poor man’s hybrid of Celebrity Family Feud and Celebrity Jeopardy.
— Okay, I’m starting to feel a little iffy about Taraji’s performance here, particularly how some of her line deliveries seem a little off.
STARS: **½
HOW 2 DANCE WITH JANELLE
Janelle & mom (host) sandwich Teddy (KYM)
— The second and final installment of this sketch.
— Some funny reactions from Kyle to the arousal-inducing actions happening around him.
— More fun energy from Taraji tonight, this time when demonstrating various suggestive dance moves.
— Good bit with Kyle being thrusted back and forth between Sasheer and Taraji.
— A decent ending, and certainly better than the awkward-as-hell ending from the first installment of this sketch.
STARS: ***½
SESAME STREET (OR TARAJI P. HENSON’S MUPPETS)
Cookie (host) brings Empire sensibilities to the Muppets on Sesame Street
— I couldn’t resist giving this segment that alternate title above (“Taraji P. Henson’s Muppets”), given the subject matter of this segment and the fact that Taraji coincidentally has the same last name as Jim Henson.
— A very solid concept, and equally solid usage of Taraji’s Cookie character from Empire. It’s also pretty impressive that SNL did this with the actual Sesame Street puppets and actors.
— A particularly funny part with the reveal of Cookie’s new fur coat being Elmo.
STARS: ****
CINEMA CLASSICS
fellow female baseballers shun (host) in ripoff of A League Of Their Own
— Kenan-as-Reese-De’What’s typical story about a rude thing he once told his wife wasn’t as funny as usual tonight.
— Some funny comments from the baseball players about Leslie’s size.
— Overall, nothing much that I could find to say about to this, but I found this sketch to be fine.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Believe”
CONNECTATRON
robot component pilot (host) gets promoted from leg to head
— I love Bobby’s hokey, kiddie-show delivery of the line “He just crushed my favorite hoagie shop! Let me at ‘im!”
— Not too sure about Taraji’s delivery of some of her lines here. The audience apparently agrees with me, judging from their uncomfortable silence in reaction to some of her lines.
— That…that’s the whole sketch?!? What kind of “ending” was that??? This sketch had to have been truncated at the last minute due to the show seemingly running long. In fact, I think I recall hearing that the version of this sketch that SNL/NBC put up online the day after this episode’s original airing was the dress rehearsal version, which was longer and felt more complete.
— Overall, pretty blah, sloppy, and incomplete-feeling, the latter two of which I guess isn’t the writer’s fault, for reasons mentioned above.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode. Barely anything stood out as strong, but I was satisfied with a lot of the episode. Taraji P. Henson had a nice energy as a host, but her delivery could be a bit much at times.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Taraji P. Henson’s Muppets
Weekend Update
Election Video
Hot For Teacher: The Janet Johnson-Luna Civil Trial
John Singleton’s Game Of Thrones
How 2 Dance with Janelle
Cinema Classics
Home 2
Monologue
Depend Legends
Hollywood Game Night
Connectatron
QVC
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Keaton)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Scarlett Johansson