Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE SOUTHERN REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE!
GOP presidential hopefuls try to look cool at a Republican gathering
— The concept of this is a blatant variation of that GOP At Coachella cold opening from the preceding season.
— Kenan as Ben Carson? Feels odd seeing this, knowing in hindsight that Jay would take over the impression in the following season’s primary debate sketches, and do a definitive take on Carson.
— Speaking of an impression from this sketch later being taken over by another cast member in the following season’s primary debate sketches, Cecily would later take over the Carly Fiorina impression that Kate’s doing here, IIRC.
— Despite fun performances, I’m just not into this, due to it being too much of a lazy outright knock-off of the aforementioned Coachella cold opening.
STARS: **
MONOLOGUE
host & cast members apologize to their mothers [real] & endure home movies
— Very fun to see each cast member’s mom, and I like how this feels like a throwback to the prime-time Mother’s Day specials that SNL previously did in 1992, 1993, and 2001.
— A particularly funny line from Kate to her mom, with Kate apologizing for re-enacting the shooting of Mary Jo Buttafuoco when playing make-believe with her friends as a child. I also like Kate’s mom’s charming response to Kate calling herself weird, telling her that weird is what got her on SNL.
— Wow, SNL actually gave Sasheer a very funny noteworthy moment here for once. Nice to see, especially after Sasheer got shut out of the preceding episode.
— Vanessa’s mom has the exact same hairstyle Vanessa herself used to have when she first joined SNL.
— The first of several SNL appearances Pete’s mom would make over the years.
— Funny comment Reese Witherspoon makes about Pete to Pete’s mom, and I also love Pete’s put-off reaction to that.
— Man, this whole “cast members and their moms” segment is so damn charming.
— Noticeably missing from this monologue (other than the two Update anchors, of course): Taran and Leslie. I recall hearing Leslie’s mother passed away when Leslie was a kid, which would explain Leslie’s absence here. However, I have no idea about Taran. Was his mom still alive at this point? If so, was she just not able to make it to the show?
— Okay, here’s what is not only my absolute favorite part of this monologue, but one of my personal favorite things SNL has ever done: the collection of childhood home videos of each cast member. As I said in previous reviews, I always find it such a fun novelty seeing what cast members looked like as kids, so you can imagine that this monologue must be heaven for me.
— Given the Laura Parsons character she’d later do on SNL, it’s funny seeing little Vanessa acting like a typical child performer in some kind of act she’s performing in with other kids.
— Kyle used to be chubby as a kid? Who knew?
— Aww, Pete was adorable as a baby. And, for obvious reasons, it’s interesting hearing the voice of his father (if that’s indeed his voice we’re hearing).
— Absolutely classic how Kenan’s “childhood home video” is actually a clip of him from one of the Mighty Ducks movies back when he was a child actor. It’s also funny seeing a young Joshua Jackson with Kenan in that clip. This clip also really reminds you of just how impressively long Kenan has been working as an actor. And watching this clip takes me back to my own childhood in the 90s, as I grew up watching child actor Kenan in so many things.
— Another classic portion of this childhood home videos segment, with 13-year-old Cecily frantically asking, as part of a play she’s performing in, “Where’s my cocaine?”
— Overall, man, that collection of childhood home videos of the cast was an absolute BLAST, and it, coupled with the charming “cast members and their moms” segment earlier in the monologue, makes this one of my personal favorite monologues of all time.
STARS: *****
BE SCENE IN L.A.
live mics sidetrack cougars’ (host) & (CES) talk show
— Ugh, I’m currently three minutes into this sketch, and this has been awful so far. I know it’s so damn easy to shit all over James Anderson and Kent Sublette as writers, but typically horrible sketches of theirs like this make it so damn hard not to.
— I did finally get a laugh just now, from Kenan saying “I don’t know what she talkin’ about. We not in a commercial” after Reese throws to a commercial so she can go to the bathroom.
— Aaaaaaaand there’s our fart sound effect, a staple of bad Anderson/Sublette sketches.
— I continue to find Kenan’s performance and delivery to be the only bright spot in this mess, despite him and Jay playing gay stereotypes (another staple of bad Anderson/Sublette sketches).
STARS: *½
PICTURE PERFECT
contestant (BOM) refuses to draw The Prophet Muhammad
— Meh at Cecily’s Rosie Perez impression. The voice should be much higher pitched.
— Hilarious turn with Bobby having to draw The Prophet Muhammad. However, I’m not sure how to react to this as a reviewer, given the fact that it was said this sketch was plagiarized from another show (Canada’s “This Hour has 22 Minutes”, I think). Unlike the plagiarized River Cruise sketch from this season’s Sarah Silverman episode, I’m not sure if it was ever 100% proven that this sketch was indeed plagiarized. [ADDENDUM: After reading some comments in the comments section of this review, there’s enough proof to suggest this sketch was indeed plagiarized.] I think I also heard that the writers of the SNL version of this sketch were James Anderson and Kent Sublette (man, between the preceding Be Scene In L.A. sketch and now this, are Anderson & Sublette writing this entire episode?), who certainly are no strangers to plagiarism (e.g. they were the culprits of the aforementioned River Cruise plagiarism). And if I find out those two writers indeed plagiarized this sketch AFTER getting busted for plagiarizing that River Cruise sketch, it’s going to take everything in me not to go off on the mother of all anti-Anderson/Sublette rants. I swear, those two writers just drive me fucking INSANE.
— Kenan’s Reginald VelJohnson impression has really slipped. It was much better in that Before They Were Stars sketch from the preceding season’s Drake episode.
— I did laugh at Kenan’s enunciation when repeatedly saying “Not. Doin’. It.” in a trademark Kenan-like way.
STARS: * (I can’t reward plagiarism)
MR. WESTERBERG
co-workers realize mocked boss Mr. Westerberg (BOM) molests (BEB)
— A very crass turn this has taken, but I laughed at it initially.
— I usually like me some disturbing comedy, but as this particular short’s disturbing, crass material goes on and on, I’m not quite sure how to react to it. Beck is delivering it pretty well, at least.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ship To Wreck”
WEEKEND UPDATE
LEJ reads love letters she wrote addressing the status of her booty call
COJ & MIC read jokes texted to them by their mothers
(host) is additional Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party
unduly-optimistic Willie offers words of wisdom for recent graduates
— A particularly amusing flirty remark Leslie makes to Colin early on in her commentary.
— The “halftime at SportsCenter” bit during Leslie’s commentary is very funny.
— After Colin ad-libs “And humble” as an addition to the positive traits Leslie proudly says she has, I love her intimidating staredown of Colin.
— Great ending to Leslie’s commentary, with her suggestively saying to her prospective next lover, “I’ll be your Tom Brady and deflate your balls.”
— Lots of funny comments from Colin in his takedown of the new look for McDonalds’ Hamburglar character.
— The bit with Colin and Michael each reading a joke that their mothers texted them is not only a fun bit, but I like how it also feels a bit like a continuation/addition to the monologue from earlier in this episode.
— A nice variation of Colin’s usual “………Dad” punchlines.
— A bit of a twist to Cecily’s usual Girl At A Party commentaries, with her being joined by Reese playing Girl At A Party’s similarly-traited friend, Mackenzie, who was actually mentioned in a previous Girl At A Party commentary (I think the very first one).
— Reese’s Girl At A Party character: “So if you c-section, say something.”
— This overall Two Girls At A Party commentary felt rushed and was much shorter than usual, but I still got some laughs from it.
— Colin and Michael have been having some killer jokes tonight. A nice rebound from their not-as-good-as-usual Update from the preceding episode.
— Wow, this is a long Update. Certainly can’t complain about seeing another Willie commentary, though.
— Willie: “It’s like those trainers used to always say – ‘Your dog’s spreadin’ chlamydia, Willie!’”
— Willie, on his school classmates: “I’ll never forget the last thing they said to me – ‘Ya locked us in here with the shooter, Willie!’”
— Much like the Two Girls At A Party commentary, this Willie commentary felt rushed (what’s going on tonight anyway?), but it was still damn funny.
STARS: ****
THEATER SHOWCASE
didacticism of Student Theater Showcase rankles parents in audience
— Like the last time this sketch appeared, this has a lot of hilariously bad “deep” social commentary from the theater students.
— Some good laughs from Leslie and Bobby’s comments in the audience, and I’m glad that tonight’s installment of this sketch isn’t overdoing it on having the audience members’ comments just be a whole bunch of Mikey Day-esque overly-obvious “Why did that weird thing happen just now?!?” comments.
— I love Leslie responding to the “black people getting shot” act in the play by saying “Yeah, I’m not okay with that.”
— Another great one-liner from Leslie at the end, when she walks by the front of the stage and says into the camera, “Man, screw this – I’m goin’ home to watch Judge Judy.”
STARS: ****
SOUTHERN LADIES
suburban women share their bizarre troubles, drink wine, rob a house
— After getting a break from Anderson & Sublette’s dominance, they’re back with a vengeance here, displaying two of their favorite and overused tropes: every character having cutesy names and every character speaking in exaggerated southern accents. Even for Anderson/Sublette standards, they’ve been relying on the latter trope an awful lot this season.
— I do at least like seeing Leslie in a female ensemble sketch.
— So far, I’m not finding myself exactly HATING this like some other Anderson/Sublette sketches from around this time, but I’m not laughing much either.
— The sudden house-robbing twist at the end made this feel kinda like the random twist endings of those Song Memories sketches from the late 00s/early 10s.
STARS: **
WATER SLIDE
waterpark employees (BEB), (KYM), (host) give little attention to sliders
— Funny scene-stealing walk-on from Bobby.
— Reese comically pausing when saying “Could one of you guys do me……..such a huge solid”, making the first half of that sentence sound dirty, was a very random gag, and if it was supposed to get a laugh, it didn’t work for me.
— A very over-the-top characterization from Cecily in her brief appearance.
— Wait, that’s the whole sketch?!? The hell? This was only about two minutes long and seemed to be missing a lot of things…like a POINT, for starters. I’m not even sure what to make of this sketch.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What Kind Of Man”
WHISKERS R’ WE
Barbara & latest girlfriend (host) profile adoptable cats
— There continues to be a heavy James Anderson/Kent Sublette influence in tonight’s episode. (Only one of Anderson and Sublette co-writes this recurring sketch, but I forget who.)
— A few funny corny side jokes from Kate and Reese. Otherwise, meh. Whiskers R’ We does not work for me as a recurring sketch. Should’ve just stayed a decent one-and-done sketch.
— The usual “host hits on Kate” portions of this recurring sketch are coming off particularly tired in this installment.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A subpar episode. Despite having a few strong highlights, including one of my personal favorite things SNL has ever done (the monologue), there were a lot of things I either didn’t like or, in the case of the Mr. Westerberg and Water Slide pieces, found hard to figure.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Monologue
Theater Showcase
Weekend Update
Mr. Westerberg
Southern Ladies
Water Slide
Whiskers R’ We
The Southern Republican Leadership Conference!
Be Scene in L.A.
Picture Perfect
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Scarlett Johansson)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 40 comes to an end, with host Louis C.K.
Sadly, I believe you’re right about Picture Perfect. It was indeed ripped off of This Hour Has 22 Minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgXj23LRI94.
And this is the first I’d heard. It’s a shame, because I remembered that sketch as a strong one and was looking forward to your review. Ah, well… at least the monologue was great.
* We’re 5 weeks away from a certain someone’s entering the race. The cold open feels very innocent in that way (especially with Cruz)
* Kenan has since reassumed the Ben Carson role, and even with his weight loss I cannot say he has the body type.
* Speaking of Kenan as a child actor, he’s just been announced to be hosting this year’s Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. Even after Kenan & Kel ended 20 years ago he’s always remained in orbit of Nickelodeon and that’s been great (most recently EPing the 11th season of All That, and appearing in one cold open)
* I do not remember this episode at all except for the monologue
Was it plagarized or was it just two people had the exact same idea? It’s not exactly the most original concept given the controversy over depicting Mohahmed over the years.
Once again I have to politely disagree with Stooge on a pre-tape. Mr. Westerberg is dark for sure, but I think Beck and Bobby sell it.
Agreed on Mr. Westerberg. It’s a great sketch.
Who wrote Mr. Westerberg?
I can see both sides, as it’s not one I rewatch that often, but I do think it’s a solid piece. It’s a good use of Beck’s gift of escalation – slowly making something that seems mundane turn out to be horrible.
Still want to know six years what the hell went on in that Waterslide sketch. So clunky and awkward
They definitely ripped off the sketch from 22 Minutes. The original has the same basic structure but is a lot of shorter. They just cut right to the chase. And in both sketches, the wife guesses it’s Muhammad by the fact that her husband can’t draw it. It aired in Canada in January and SNL aired this in May. I’d say it’s a pretty clear case of plagiarism.
It seems like SNL has had some rough cases of plagiarism the past few seasons: three being in season 44, two of which being from the same sketch group. The AGT sketch from Jonah Hill’s episode set my alarm off when I was watching it because I am a big fan of Gus Johnson, but I concluded, as well as he did, that it’s a popular attribute that people talk about and SNL certainly elaborates on it.
The other two were from the Awkwafina and Don Cheadle shows, both being from a sketch group whose name I can’t recall. This one does seem like an actual case. I, and most would laugh it off it was just one sketch. But the fact that it’s from the same group in the same season mere episodes apart seems more than a coincidence.
It can be very difficult to tell sometimes – for instance, the new episode had a sketch (the Ratatouille one) which some said was ripped off from Adult Swim. Others said it was ripped off from a meme. So I end up wondering if some pieces just have a collective thought and because so much comedy is now available online, the same thoughts blur together.
There was an at-home sketch with Kyle (I think the beer money sketch) that they felt was similar to a Value Select video, but I’ve never really heard of Kyle taking anything and even some of that channel’s fans didn’t think it was intentional.
There was a pre-tape earlier this season about how people don’t want Trump to lose because they will have nothing to talk about. Some guy insisted it was originally his video, how dare they, etc. but the idea is at least 5 years old and the videos did not seem similar to me.
This particular case, down to the same type of game show, does feel a little too on the nose for me though.
@John I think the Ratatouille sketch falls under the same line as the AGT sketch. They’re popular memes and stuff we all publicly acknowledge, and SNL elaborates on them. It begs the question of whether something can be plagiarized if it is a meme or a shared opinion in society. With that, I don’t think these cases make valid points to be a victim of plagiarism. Now, had a sketch group had the exact same thing with a termite on Remy and the sex critic at the end, then I’d be worried.
For the most part the high school theater club sketches do a good job of balancing audience commentary with the kids on the stage. One of the last has Leslie just flat walk out at the start, amusingly.
Reese is a mediocre host, but this is the best thing she did in either of her stints:
Sorry – wrong Leslie video.
Stooge, In A Few Seasons, There will be a Taped Video Called Twin Bed that Kate and Aidy Wrote and That Is One OF THE Most Popular Videos that has ever been done On Saturday Night Live ! The Women And Vanessa Is still There Is Singing A Rap and This Is Very Catchy about Having Sex on their Twin Bed that they had when they were a Child ! Jimmy Fallon Is in The Tape and even Raps with the women ! Mike O’Brien Is In The Video, but He Does NOT Sing ! Near The End, They Have Pictures of every body as Children ! Please Keep Going on Your Reviews And watch That Tape when You get to that Episode !
Stooge already did review on that. And it is from a previous Season 39 Christmas episode hosted by Fallon in December 21, 2013. Both Noel and Nasim were still on the show during that time:
https://www.onesnladay.com/2020/12/21/december-21-2013-jimmy-fallon-justin-timberlake-s39-e10/
Hello Ezra. I think that is right because that seems like that was when that was on.! I just thought IF Stooge Liked seeing Pictures of the Cast Here When They were Children That He would also Like Twin Beds ! I Couldn’t Think OF When That Was On ! Another Thing is That I Tend To Think OF Them Going Home AT Thanksgiving, But They Can Also Go Home AT Christmas !
Here’s the most frustrating thing about Anderlette to me (Anderson especially, as I get the feeling he’s where this is specifically coming from) there’s a weirdness there that COULD be harnessed into something interesting. At their best (“Love At First Sight”, “House Hunters” and, in my opinion, the raccoon sketch from Amy Adam’s episode this season, though I’m in the minority there) they deliver stuff that’s genuinely off beat and charming, but far too often get in their own way with extremely lazy writing and a lack of taste.
This was one of the first episodes I saw, in a mid-September rerun, as I returned to watching first-run 90-minute episodes after a 3 year hiatus due to other personal matters taking precedence (most majorly my family moving into a new house). As it was, the episode was decent enough, though nothing particularly stood out in memory. Hell, the way the election went, that cold opening could be borderline Early Installment Weirdness. As for the presumably plagiarized sketch, if everyone is accusing it, with evidence, it’s hard to disagree. Though, much like the infamous Jay Mohr sketch, the fact that such controversy comes from something ultimately so bland and banal is rather impressive.
It reminds me of that Studio 60 episode where the writing duo is accused of plagiarism and the bit in question (in typical Studio 60 fashion) is some shit that would have been hacky 10 years prior.
I do recall Taran tweeting a Mother’s Day message that implied his mother had passed.
I always enjoy Willie, and the “shooter” line you quoted is the line of his that I always remember.
They put the Picture Perfect skit on SNL so I guess they don’t feel there was too much plagairism?
D2: The Mighty Ducks was Kenan’s first major acting role, which got him noticed by Nickelodeon soon afterwards.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/06/kenan-thompsons-17-year-itch
Bobby recently talked about this episode in a livestream with Kenan; he said getting to have his mother on the show was one of his highlights as a cast member, and that she had initially not wanted to appear but then decided to and flew out.
This episode has a glimpse of a cut pre-tape (Subway Ad) at about 10 minutes into this video:
The moms thing was so cute here in a way that it wasn’t a couple years later in the ‘break from political cold opens’ forced way. And Vanessa and her mom looked so much alike.
Agreed with Stooge on Westerberg. Yeah, Beck sold it, but as always one has to ask oneself–is it supposed to be funny because they’re both males? We all know if the underling is a woman, that pretape never gets out of the starting gate, nor should it.
The waterslide sketch feels like something from the original cast where you had a lot of sketches, more than people care to admit, in which you were left scratching your head and saying, like that classic Steve Martin/Bill Murray two-hander: What the hell was that? And I loved that era, which was where I cut my SNL teeth. But there were high highs (not a drug pun) and low lows.
@Stooge what would you give the Picture Perfect sketch if it wasn’t plagiarized? Me personally, would give it *** as it’s a good reveal but is just some okay things in between.
Hard to say what exact rating I’d give it, as it’s been a while since I’ve last seen the sketch and my memory of it is a little fuzzy, but I’d have given it a passing rating.