Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
MAYWEATHER-PACQUIAO FIGHT
NBC seeks ratings by simulating Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight
— Some laughs from the part of the opening text crawl about night golf.
— Pretty funny conceit with SNL attempting to pass this sketch off as authentic footage of the real Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
— When Aidy tries to replace her attempt at a stereotypical Spanish accent with an even more stereotypical Filipino one, I like Kenan responding “Okay, that’s worse. That’s worse.”
— Meh, the “Kate silently does gestures as Justin Bieber” routine, which was hilarious in its debut, has now reached the point where its officially past its prime for me.
— Some more good lines from the Steve Higgins-read text crawl, doing a lot of the comedic heavy lifting.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
new mother host is sexy while singing “Love To Love You Baby” as lullaby
— (*groan*) Our FOURTH consecutive musical monologue. I would ask if this is a record, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not. Still damn frustrating, though.
— So far, a tepid monologue that not even Kenan and Taran can salvage much. I’m also not caring for Scarlett Johansson’s attempt at a “comical” sexy singing voice.
STARS: *½
RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED WITH GRACELYNN AND CORY
flirty antics annoy New Jersey mixologist (host)
— Ugh.
— Here’s our obligatory display of Scarlett doing a “brash New Yorker” voice (or New Jersey, in this case) that she seems to do at least once in every single hosting stint of hers, this time with a Fran-Drescher-as-The-Nanny laugh added in for good measure.
— I admit, I’m actually starting to warm up to the interplay between Taran and Cecily in this, and am starting to find it charming. A lot of it has to do with Cecily, who, between the Smart House sketch from this season’s Michael Keaton episode and now this sketch, I’m starting to find has a strangely comforting, likable delivery and performance style in some of these aggressively James Anderson/Kent Sublette-y sketches. Maybe it’s just something I like about the way Cecily plays laid-back southern housewife roles.
— That “WHAAAAAAAA???” scream from Taran when he gets referred to by Scarlett as “that gay guy” was straight-up a Lyle The Effeminate Heterosexual moment.
— A second ugh from me, as it’s become a regular thing for Kate to show up as a famous male singer in this recurring sketch for no good reason.
— Overall, I was more into this than I was the first installment of this sketch. That being said, this still has a little ways to go before I find it legitimately good. I think there’s only one installment of it remaining, anyway.
STARS: **½
TV 11 NEWS BALTIMORE
Baltimore unrest looms amid broadcast of Orioles game from empty stadium
— Interesting watching this in hindsight, especially for a (casual) sports fan like me, as sports games with no fans in attendance, which was absolutely surreal back at this time in 2015, has now become very commonplace in our current COVID times.
— A lot of good laughs from the various unintentional wordplay alluding to the unrest in Baltimore, especially the “knee grows”/“negroes” wordplay.
— At least this sketch didn’t make a big deal about the man-on-man kiss between Beck and Pete, as they just gave each other a quick peck on the lips and the sketch immediately moved on to the next thing, and thus, the kiss wasn’t meant for us to laugh uproariously at like a big punchline. I would call this progress, but I’ve heard that SNL’s most recent episode had Pete and host John Krasinsky doing the ol’ “two men giving each other a big, long kiss for very cheap, unnecessary, shock-value big laughs” trope in the monologue. If that’s true, you have got to be kidding me. SNL’s still doing that in 2021?!? I thought they long moved on from that.
STARS: ****
BLACK WIDOW: AGE OF ME
Marvel cinematic universe adds chick flick starring Black Widow (host)
— Pretty fun concept of a Marvel romcom.
— I can’t find much else to say about this, but like a lot of SNL’s romcom spoofs in this era, this is nailing a lot of that genre’s tropes.
STARS: ***½
GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW
prom queen (host) makes ratchet determinations
— This ends up being the final installment of this sketch. I have absolutely no memory of this particular installment, but I’m not expecting much in my current viewing, given how tired this sketch has been in its last few prior installments.
— For once, this sketch actually gets huge audience cheers while the opening theme music is playing.
— A good laugh from Aidy’s “prom-posal” fantasy.
— Yeah, Cecily’s “My boyfriend’s crazy” stories are long stale.
— Overall, let’s just say, 1) I can see why I had no prior memory of this sketch, given how bland and forgettable it turned out, and 2) this recurring sketch in general will not be missed by me.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Charlie Puth [real] perform “See You Again”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (KAM) issues burns & weighs in on same-sex marriage
COJ struggles to find an appropriate comedic take regarding Bruce Jenner
Samwell Tarly (BOM) & Gilly (VAB) are Game of Thrones’ hottest couple
Shaquille O’Neal (JAP) & Charles Barkley (KET) slam today’s NBA players
— Oof, TWO flubbed jokes from Michael early on in tonight’s Update. He’s having a rough night so far.
— Hmm, I didn’t need a Ruth Bader Ginsburg commentary so soon after her first one. Please don’t make me get sick of this impression this early in its run, SNL.
— Great line from Kate’s RBG about Colonel Sanders looking like he should be sipping ice tea at a slave auction.
— Like the time she appeared on Update prior to his, Kate’s RBG performance is fun. And, while I’m still not a fan of her constant Jean K. Jean-esque dance breaks, the slow-jam one where she danced all in Colin’s face make me chuckle.
— Interesting bit with Colin prefacing his “Bruce Jenner identifies as a woman” joke by telling us that this is a delicate subject and that, as a comedy show, SNL has to make jokes about it. Yeah, not sure about that last part, but at least SNL is addressing how touchy this subject matter is (which they wouldn’t have said even as recent as a year or two prior to this, especially given how an Update from the preceding season actually had Cecily [back when she was an Update anchor] do a Jenner-wants-to-be-a-woman joke that might come off as insensitive by today’s standards), though I’m curious and very wary over how this will be handled.
— As it turns out, I do like how the “Bruce Jenner identifies as a woman” joke that Colin attempts to tell features him comically hemming and hawing while trying to find the right appropriate, inoffensive punchline. Some funny exchanges between him and Michael here include 1) “Michael, you wanna jump in here?” “NOPE!”, and 2) “Anyway you slice it–” “Noooooo! Do not say ‘slice it!’” Even though I feel SNL handled this touchy subject matter decently enough, I’m not sure if others today would agree or not. Speaking of which, I heard Michael actually told a trans joke in the most recent episode (John Krasinsky), and that some people are offended by it. If so, that adds a touch of irony to Michael’s various responses to Colin’s struggles in coming up with a politically correct punchline to his “Bruce Jenner identifies as a woman” joke in the Update I’m currently reviewing.
— I get the feeling this Game of Thrones commentary is going to be too Game of Thrones-specific to appeal to me as someone who’s never watched that show.
— It turns out that I got some laughs from Vanessa and Bobby’s overall GoT commentary, but there were still some portions that did nothing for me.
— Michael’s redeeming himself from his rough start in tonight’s Update with some decent ad-libs throughout this Update.
— Kenan seems to be making his distinct comical saying of “po-TAY-toooeees” his new catchphrase in the second half of this season.
— I can’t find anything else to say about the Shaq/Barkley commentary, but it was fine, even if I found some of their previous commentaries to be more stand-out.
STARS: ***
DINO BONES
(host) & (CES) annoy museumgoers with random remarks at dinosaur exhibit
— Another James Anderson/Kent Sublette-written sketch this season that I have VERY negative memories of. So negative that the very sight of this sketch in my current viewing is making my blood boil.
— I’m currently a little over a minute into this sketch, and boy, just as I had remembered, this is fucking TERRIBLE. The hell am I watching?!? How did this make it on the air?
— I feel Kenan’s character’s pain in regards to Cecily and Scarlett’s unbearable characters.
— Oh, someone shut these awful characters of Cecily and Scarlett’s the hell up already. And before anyone says anything, I *get* that the point is these characters are supposed to be annoying and unlikable, but that sure as hell doesn’t automatically make this funny. Nothing about this sketch has been funny to me. This sketch alone contradicts what I said earlier about Cecily giving comforting performances lately in Anderson/Sublette-written sketches.
— Just when I was liking Kenan as the voice of reason in this absolutely dreadful sketch, he pulls that “wilding” fit (complete with music) that I have absolutely no idea how to react to.
STARS: *
BLAZER
footage shows rogue cop Blazer (TAK) targeting only black perpetrators
— As a big fan of 80s TV cop dramas, I love how the style of this pre-tape is a spot-on spoof that genre. I also like how this Blazer character of Taran’s feels like something Will Ferrell would’ve done.
— Pretty funny seeing Wiz Khalifa in this.
— Hilarious part with Taran’s Blazer character crashing through the window of an apartment building just to punch Kenan. Kenan preceding the punch by yelling a horrified “Oh, no! Not again, Blazer!” was also hilarious.
— Very funny conceit with how gradually clear it becomes over the course of this pre-tape that Blazer only targets black guys in regards to his trademark punches.
— A particularly big laugh from the far-away camera shot of Taran running all the way across the roof just to punch a black guy who’s nonchalantly standing there.
— Sharp and timely satire here, especially with the twists at the end regarding the firings of Blazer and his boss.
— Reportedly, Taran would later disclose the fact that the ending shot of him in this Blazer pre-tape, with him tripping when trying to jump over one portion of the roof, resulting in a comical-looking nasty fall, was actually a genuine accident during the filming. Ouch. It made for a damn funny ending shot, though.
STARS: ****½
VIRGIN FLIGHT
malfunctioning robot stewardesses (host) & (VAB) menace first class
— I love Aidy’s angry “HANDS, WOMAN! HANDS!!!” outburst to Scarlett.
— Feels odd seeing Leslie make her first appearance of the night this late into the show.
— Another good angry outburst from someone, this time Leslie’s Tracy Morgan-esque one-liner when Vanessa pours a beverage onto Leslie’s clothes: “MAN, THIS IS LANE BRYANT!”
— Some pretty funny unsettling chaos from the robots stewardesses throughout this sketch.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “We Dem Boyz”
JINGLE WRITERS
(host) & (AIB) pitch tonally-wrong Pampers jingles full of desert animals
— A huge night for Taran, who not only has been ALL OVER this episode, but has been utilized in a Phil Hartman-esque way, playing “glue”-type authoritative figure roles in many of the sketches, including this one. Taran’s been having one of the busiest nights a cast member has ever had in SNL history.
— On an opposite note to what I said about Taran’s tons of airtime, this late-in-the-show appearance from Kyle is strangely the first (and only) we’ve seen him all night, much like Leslie in the preceding Virgin Flight sketch. And now that I think of it, poor Sasheer hasn’t appeared in this episode AT ALL. She’d better get used to it, because I sadly recall her getting shut out of several episodes in the upcoming season 41.
— Aidy’s “Coke for breakfast and ass for dinner” line has stuck with me over the years, though I could never remember which sketch it came from until now. That line deserved a bigger laugh from the audience than it got.
— The first Pampers jingle that Aidy and Scarlett perform is pretty funny, including the use of that often-utilized-by-SNL “falcon squawking” sound effect made famous by Will Forte’s Falconer sketches.
— Okay, after a promising start, the conceit of these Pampers songs is getting kinda old fast.
— That’s the whole sketch? This was very meh.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not quite as bad an episode as I had remembered, but still nothing special as a whole. Very little stood out to me as strong and there was a number of misfires, including one of my absolute least favorite sketches of recent years, if not of all time (Dino Bones).
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Blazer
TV 11 News Baltimore
Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight
Black Widow: Age Of Me
Virgin Flight
Weekend Update
Right Side of the Bed with Gracelynn and Cory
Jingle Writers
Girlfriends Talk Show
Monologue
Dino Bones
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Taraji P. Henson)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Reese Witherspoon