November 5, 2016 – Benedict Cumberbatch / Solange (S42 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT
Alec Baldwin [real] & KAM drop Trump-Clinton skit for Times Square recess

— Something about the timing seems a bit off at certain parts of this cold opening so far.
— A pretty funny reaction Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump has to finding out that people read his tweets.
— At least this cold opening is acknowledging how support for Hillary Clinton has actually been dropping lately. I know that still didn’t prepare SNL for the voting results the following week.
— A decent running gag with how, much to Kate-as-Hillary’s chagrin, Cecily’s Erin Burnett keeps returning to the topic of Hillary’s emails even after seeing outright proof of Trump being in cahoots with certain organizations.
— Pretty good bit with Kate-as-Hillary’s long listing-off of things that Trump has ruined (e.g. tic-tacs, father-daughter dances, the word “great”, men).
— This cold opening is starting to feel like it’s being stretched a little too thin.
— Whoa, a sudden fourth-wall break with Alec and Kate both “dropping character” in the middle of their Trump/Hillary ranting to each other, and acknowledging how sick they are of portraying the gross negativity of this election.
— Oh, I really like this fun turn with pre-taped footage of Alec and Kate spreading joy around Times Square, and hugging the type of people who the respective presidential candidate they portray would never hug. Yes, this has undoubtedly aged oddly, given the following week’s voting results and the ensuing national unrest, as well as the ensuing cold opening SNL would do that weekend (hint: hallelujah), but even in hindsight, the softy in me can still smile at this beautifully-shot, good-natured, joyful Times Square sequence, and I’m always a sucker for SNL doing outside-the-box things like pre-taping an extensive outdoors sequence for a political cold opening.
STARS: ***½

MONOLOGUE
self-effacing host struggles to brag in “Theme From Shaft”-inspired song

— A harmless-enough musical monologue, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s delivery of this Shaft-esque number is charming and fun.
— Leslie gets most of the laughs here, especially her “Cumber-bitches” name for Benedict’s fangirls.
STARS: ***

THE KOOHL TOILET
you can be cool while shattering 1984 on Kohler’s backward-facing toilet

— Cheap but big laughs from this concept so far.
— I’m really liking Mikey’s acting here as the stern Big Brother-esque leader.
— Benedict’s suave execution of this is very good.
STARS: ****

WHY IS BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH HOT?
game show helps jealous BEB find answer to the title above

— Ooh, I’m really liking this change of pace with all of the performers playing themselves in a game show sketch.
— I like how this sketch now gets even more meta with Benedict saying he doesn’t remember this sketch being at the table read.
— Great reveal of this game show’s title. This sketch’s concept is very solid, and something about the meta-ness makes me picture this sketch appearing in the Ebersol era, though I’m not sure why.
— Vanessa is hilarious in her gleeful, fangirl-y description of what she likes about Benedict.
— Beck is perfect in his performance as the lead.
— Good turn at the end with Beck himself being charmed by Benedict.
STARS: ****

OFFICE HOURS
professor’s (host) anxiety doesn’t weigh on pool boy Chad

— These Chad shorts have officially become recurring.
— This is going in the same direction as the previous Chad short, but the comedic contrast between the host’s dramatic, heartfelt monologues and Chad’s dumb one-or-two-word sentences is still working, as is the fact that they refreshingly changed the setting from the previous Chad short.
— I got a laugh from Chad giggling “Huhhuh, taint” in response to Benedict saying the word “tainted”.
— Even the brief fart gag is funny.
STARS: ***½

SURPRISE BACHELORETTE PARTY
surprise bachelorette party continues after killing elderly honoree (AIB)

— The mere look of Mikey and Benedict’s construction worker-dressed strippers when they first enter is making me laugh.
— Pretty good conceit with everybody’s obliviousness to Aidy clearly being dead, and I like the dark tone that kinda gives this sketch.
— Convincing “dead body” acting from Aidy, which I’m sure is difficult to pull off when you have all the things happening to you that Aidy has in this sketch.
STARS: ***½

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Cranes in the Sky”

WEEKEND UPDATE
Church Lady gives her thoughts on presidential election & homosexuality

BIM, Anthony Rizzo, David Ross, Dexter Fowler [real] sing “Go Cubs Go”

— Michael’s comments about the KKK newspaper had me howling, especially him saying he can’t wait to see their sports section.
— An interesting mock-inspirational unity speech (complete with background music) that Colin and Michael give about these last days before the election.
— Church Lady! On Update!!
— When Church Lady claims Colin is a homosexual like everyone else in Hollywood, I laughed at an offended Colin asking the audience “Why are you laughing???”
— Looks like they didn’t have a punchline written for Colin correcting Church Lady on her statement that Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris, and Nathan Lane are the only straight actors left today, forcing Dana to throw in an ad-lib after an awkward brief stretch of silence.
— Church Lady is working well in the Update setting, and I love her busting Colin’s chops.
— In response to the audience’s tepid laughter at Church Lady’s West Hollywood joke, Dana makes the same “Too soon?” ad-lib that he made in the preceding season’s surprise Church Chat cold opening when a joke there got a tepid audience reaction.
— Even the song that Church Lady breaks out into is okay, and is accompanied by some funny related photos.
— How do you NOT end tonight’s Update with the Church Lady commentary???
— (*The Chicago Cubs and Bill Motherfucking Murray pop up*) Ohhhhh, so that’s why SNL didn’t end tonight’s Update with the Church Lady commentary.
— Between Church Lady and this Cubs/Bill Murray bit, this is a star-studded Update.
— A fun and charming “Go, Cubs, Go” number from the Cubs and Bill, and I like how it’s an out-of-the-ordinary way to close out a Jost/Che-era Update.
— A nice touch to end this Update with a shot of the Cubs Win Flag (the last above screencap for this Update).
STARS: ****

GEMMA & RICKY
Gemma & magician boyfriend (host) provide unsolicited entertainment

— (*groan*)
— Are we supposed to believe that EVERYONE who Kenan’s character once met years ago runs back into him while dating Gemma???
— Benedict is at least spot-on as this type of supposedly-cool modern magician. That’s the only positive I can find in this sketch, and that still ain’t much of a positive.
— An awkward brief stretch of silence before the sketch-ending audience applause.
STARS: *½

CRIMINAL MASTERMIND
action hero (BEB) readily solves criminal mastermind’s (host) riddles

— This role of a criminal mastermind is a fitting use of Benedict’s accent.
— Interestingly, something about Kyle’s delivery when he’s making awkward, dumb suggestions to Benedict’s riddles is very reminiscent of Chris Farley whenever he played this type of role of someone making unsure, dumb suggestions.
— Something about the ending felt a bit abrupt and unsatisfying, not that I wanted to see footage of the children’s school blowing up, as that would’ve been a bummer of a visual to close a sketch on.
— Not much to say about this overall sketch itself, but it was decent, even if I kinda felt like a little something (besides a good ending) was missing from the execution of this good concept.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Don’t Touch My Hair”

MEETING WITH MR. SHAW
(host) speaks for philanthropist Mr. Shaw, who is an eagle head in a suit

— I really like this silly, absurdist concept.
— The way Benedict is playing this silly material so straight and dignified is helping this work so well.
— Solid bit with the celebrity photos.
— I love how, after Benedict has been fired by Mr. Shaw and says he’ll collect his things, he quickly returns with just a soccer ball and a single flipper.
— Vanessa’s mock-cutesy delivery of “Oh, Mr. Shaw!” made me laugh a lot.
STARS: ****

IN MEMORIAM
a photo of stagehand John Homer marks his passing

GOODNIGHTS

— I love how not only is the Mr. Shaw statue from the last sketch present onstage during these goodnights, but Pete and Bobby can be seen gleefully hugging it for these entire goodnights (you can partially see that on the right side of the last above screencap for these goodnights).
— Speaking of Pete, this is the second consecutive episode in which he only appeared in a pre-taped short (not counting the goodnights). And I just now realized that Bobby didn’t make any appearances tonight AT ALL, live or pre-taped (again not counting the goodnights). Yet another sign of how invisible Bobby unfortunately is in this final season of his. Does he and Pete being shut out of this episode have anything to do with why they chose to gleefully hug the Mr. Shaw statue for the entire duration of these goodnights?

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An overall pretty good, quiet little episode. A little better than I had remembered. In hindsight, this quiet little episode kinda feels like the calm before the storm, considering what was in store for the nation the following Tuesday.

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Why Is Benedict Cumberbatch Hot?
Weekend Update
Meeting With Mr. Shaw
The Koohl Toilet
Surprise Bachelorette Party
Erin Burnett Outfront
Office Hours
Criminal Mastermind
Monologue
Gemma & Ricky

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Dave Chappelle hosts the first episode after the election