Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
TRUMP PRESS CONFERENCE
reporters ask about pee at Donald Trump’s (Alec Baldwin) press conference
— A fairly funny listing-off of celebrities who will be at Trump’s inauguration.
— Pete makes his first appearance in three episodes, after being in rehab during the last two episodes.
— Blah at the part with Alec Baldwin’s Trump making a string of pee euphemisms in his speech.
— When the non-Pete cast members playing reporters are speaking, a seemingly-bored Pete can be seen in the background mildly making faces, including sticking his tongue out of his mouth at one point.
— Great to see Mikey and Alex’s Trump Brothers impressions become recurring.
— Cecily is great in her scene, and I got a good laugh from her reveal of the pile of documents all being fake.
— The non-Trump parts of this cold opening continue to be good, this time with Kenan making an appearance as Steve Harvey.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
Princess Leia-like hologram of TIF gives nervous host advice about doing SNL
— Early on in this monologue, Felicity Jones’ natural nervousness is on display, but she’s coming off affable enough in her delivery. However, the writers have saddled her with some fairly blah jokes here.
— I laughed at Tina Fey’s initial mention of having a lot in common with Tupac, but that Dr. Dre/podiatrist joke she told immediately afterwards was groanworthy.
— Felicity, on hosting SNL: “I’m a bit nervous, to be honest.” Tina: “No, don’t be. If Steven Seagal can do it, so can you.”
— Felicity: “Does this show get reviewed?” Tina: “Yes. Waaay too much.” (*Stooge shifts his eyes nervously*)
— Tina: “Back in season 35, I put a fatal flaw in the system. If you take out Kenan Thompson, the studio will explode.” I was about to jokingly say, “Oh, so THAT’S why the season 35 January Jones episode was so bad” (Kenan is absent in that episode), but then I remembered that episode aired before Tina’s season 35 hosting stint.
STARS: ***½
BEARD HUNK
reality show bachelorettes all possess various flaws
— Our annual Bachelor/“Can I steal him for a sec?” sketch.
— Vanessa’s scene is good.
— At first, I almost thought that “Ashley/ally” mix-up from Felicity was a genuine gaffe (I guess due to her visible nerves again), but that mix-up seems to be part the script.
— Ha, Aidy’s “jack you off” line came out of nowhere.
— Felicity’s apparent attempt at an American accent is iffy.
— Kate, when telling Beck about herself: “I’m a judge…mental bitch.”
— It feels like this recurring sketch gets slightly less funny with each passing installment, though I never find it bad enough to give it a weak rating.
STARS: ***
SHONDRA & MALIK
car trouble preempts an urban turf war between (LEJ) & (KET)
— Yet another instance of Vanessa playing against type in her last two seasons.
— Great tone to this piece so far, and it’s bringing nice realism to go alongside the comedy.
— A funny sudden cutaway to Leslie helpfully trying to solve Kenan’s car troubles after its been established how much they hate each other.
— Some more laughs from Leslie and Kenan’s additional helpful actions toward each other while still maintaining their rivalry.
— Didn’t care for that ending.
STARS: ****
THEATRE DONOR
106-year-old (MID) disrupts the theater-in-the-round production he funded
— Feels rare in this early stage of Mikey’s tenure to see him doing wild physical comedy like this. He’s doing a very good job here and is cracking me up.
— I have mixed feelings on that ending, but I liked it more than I didn’t.
STARS: ***½
THE PRINCESS AND THE CURSE
princess’ (host) 15-pound weight gain is a deal-breaker for prince (BEB)
— Kate slipping into her Hillary when doing her evil sorceress laugh here, I see.
— Felicity’s big reveal and the direction this sketch takes afterwards isn’t making me laugh much.
— Pretty weak ending.
STARS: **
SUSAN B. ANTHONY HOUSE
summoned Susan B. Anthony (KAM) can’t keep modern women’s attention
— Not a bad conceit with the ladies’ increasingly dismissive attitudes towards Kate’s Susan B. Anthony when she keeps interrupting their trivial conversations, but something about this conceit isn’t fully coming together in the execution.
— Tonight’s theme of weak/iffy endings continues.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Keep It Between The Lines”
WEEKEND UPDATE
PED gives his first impressions of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees
self-described pop sensation BEB specializes in very short songs
— I love the old-timey Southern tycoon-type voice Michael uses when saying “Jeff Beauregard Sessions”.
— A change of pace for Pete’s Update commentaries, with him trying out a “First Impressions” segment.
— I’m liking how Pete’s “First Impressions” segment has a David Spade “Hollywood Minute” vibe.
— Pete made me laugh out loud when doing the Silence Of The Lambs “Put the lotion in the basket!” imitation.
— Surprisingly, this is Beck’s first-ever appearance at the Update desk.
— I have mixed feelings on Beck’s commentary so far. His songs here aren’t all that funny to me, but his delivery of them and some of the jokes in between the songs are kinda amusing me.
STARS: ***½
FANDANGO ALL ACCESS
dumb sex comedy creators (host), (BEB), (KYM) cite political influences
— Beck’s busy night continues.
— The very dignified, straitlaced, low-key discussion about Felicity, Beck, and Kyle’s extremely low-brow, dumb movie is funny, especially when the movie gets tied into the tense election.
— Kyle and Beck both did a great job playing off of Beck’s genuine gaffe where he started saying the wrong line when it was Kyle’s turn to speak. I wonder if that gaffe of Beck’s is a sign that, as solid a performer as he is, perhaps he’s being spread a little TOO thin in tonight’s episode.
— A pretty good laugh from the movie clip.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Call To Arms”
CORPORATE RETREAT
timid (CES), (host), (MEV) tell intercourse jokes at a corporate retreat
— Wow, Beck has been in practically EVERY SINGLE SEGMENT tonight. He’s had one of the busiest nights a cast member has had in recent memory.
— Melissa finally gets a comedic lead role (if she had one in a previous episode, I don’t remember it), and even then, it’s only a co-starring role that she’s sharing with two others.
— I’m kinda meh on the conceit of the timid Cecily/Felicity/Melissa group always telling sexual-themed “loose” jokes, but I did like Felicity’s joke, as well as her delivery of it. I also like how fitting this timid, giggly character type feels for Melissa. I want to see her be given better material, though.
STARS: **½
IN MEMORIAM
a photo of TOR marks his passing
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— While not all that bad, this was an extremely forgettable and somewhat iffy episode. Almost none of the segments in this episode stood out to me as strong, and, after the decent first 25 minutes, this episode took a hit-and-miss route, and even then, the hits weren’t particularly great.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Shondra & Malik
Theatre Donor
Weekend Update
Fandango All Access
Monologue
Trump Press Conference
Beard Hunk
Corporate Retreat
Susan B. Anthony House
The Princess And The Curse
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Casey Affleck)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Aziz Ansari