Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
JEFF SESSIONS GUMP
not-so-naive Jeff Sessions (KAM) recounts his misdeeds a la Forrest Gump
— I do like the idea of a Jeff Sessions/Forrest Gump mash-up, and Kate’s Sessions impression is still new enough at this point that I’m enjoying it in this Gump format.
— A decent structure to this sketch.
— A laugh from Aidy’s scene beginning with Kate’s Sessions immediately disclosing to her, “I talked to the Russians”, after denying to Kyle at the end of the previous scene that he spoke to the Russians.
— A funny brief scene with Beck’s Vladimir Putin.
— A solid The Help reference with the pie that Octavia Spencer’s character from that movie gives Kate’s Sessions.
STARS: ***
MONOLOGUE
host has moved beyond nurse roles, but people misidentify Hidden Figures
— Nothing much to say about the material in this monologue so far. It’s nothing too noteworthy, but Octavia is coming off really well here. It’s also nice to see a real monologue at this point of SNL’s run.
STARS: ***
COURAGE, COMPASSION, COUNTRY: THE TBD STORY
biopic of Donald Trump challenger profiles a to-be-determined Republican
— All of the abrupt “TBD” disclaimers are making me chuckle, even if the novelty has worn off after a while.
— Funny line about Paul Ryan.
— A laugh from the “Starring Bradley Whitford, probably” line at the end.
STARS: ***
DRUG COMPANY HEARING
Merck swiped drug names from former employee’s (host) relatives & friends
— A hacky and cliched premise by this point in 2017. It was fresher when SNL did a similar idea in 1995, in that summer camp sketch with Damon Wayans and Ellen Cleghorne.
— I did laugh just now at Alex’s knowing and depressed “No, it’s terrible” response to the “You think it’s nice being associated with high cholesterol and erectile dysfunction?” question.
STARS: **
GIRL AT A BAR
male feminists call (CES) a bitch when she rebuffs them
— Beck’s delivery of “I wear this shirt, you won’t even let me nnnnuut?!?” has me laughing so much.
— This feels like the first noteworthy thing Kyle has done in a while, though maybe I’m forgetting a big role he got in the last few episodes prior to this.
— A good satire of so-called male “feminists”, though the constant repetition of the main gag is a little too one-note and predictable for my likes, much like the TBD ad earlier in this episode.
— The look of Alex’s character is very funny.
STARS: ***
PRE-COMMERCIAL SHOT
going to commercial, texting Kellyanne Conway (KAM) kneels on SNL set
— A creative way to spoof a famous then-recent Oval Office photo. When this episode originally aired, I remember thinking this initial shot of Kate was a technical error, as I wasn’t yet aware of what SNL was going for.
ZOO-OPOLIS VOICE ACTORS
(MEV), (ALM), (host) fill in for celebrities voicing cartoon characters
— This sketch’s concept is kinda blah and flimsy, but at the same time, it’s a welcome showcase for Melissa, Alex, and Octavia’s impression skills.
— A decent Tracy Morgan impression from Kenan.
— Holy hell, that Kristen Wiig impression from Melissa. Freakin’ AMAZING.
— Wow, and I thought it was impressive that Melissa did a Wiig impression. Now she nails an impression of KATE FREAKIN’ MCKINNON, Melissa’s own cast mate. Hell, before this sketch originally aired, I didn’t even know a Kate McKinnon impression was possible. Also when this sketch originally aired, I remember that it led me to the conclusion that, despite her struggles for airtime this season, Melissa’s Wiig and McKinnon impressions ALONE automatically secured her a second season.
STARS: ***½
YOUNGBLOOD
(KET)’s chess ineptitude foils his attempt to spread wisdom
— Great tone to this short.
— A big laugh from Kenan trying to pass off a Troll Doll as a chess piece.
— I love Octavia’s interjections, as well as Kenan’s frustration towards her.
— Very strong twist at the end.
STARS: ****
PRE-COMMERCIAL SHOT
going to commercial, texting Kellyanne Conway (KAM) kneels on SNL set
— Great to see this become a runner in this episode. Kinda reminds me of the “Will Ferrell as Kenneth Starr subpoenaing everyone” runner in the season 23 Julianne Moore episode.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Total Entertainment Forever”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Donald Jr. (MID) & Eric (ALM) claim pa Trump has left the family business
Laura Parsons is surprisingly well-informed about serious current events
going to commercial, texting Kellyanne Conway (KAM) kneels on SNL set
— The camera is further back on Michael and Colin than usual. I think I recall this becoming a regular thing from this point on.
— Michael, after Colin’s story about his Irish ancestors coming to America because God took their potatoes away: “At least they had a choice.”
— Not only nice to see Mikey and Alex’s Trump Brothers make their first of many Update appearances, but it’s also nice to see Mikey and Alex so prominent on Update within these last few episodes.
— Alex’s dimwitted interjections as Eric Trump are hilarious.
— I wonder if that was an ad-lib when Alex’s Eric resorted to drinking from the juice pack by just putting the hole to his mouth because it took Mikey too long to get the straw through the hole. If that was indeed an ad-lib, kudos to Alex.
— The interplay between Mikey and Alex’s Trump Brothers is great.
— This ends up being the final appearance of Vanessa’s Laura Parsons character.
— A big laugh from Vanessa-as-Laura-Parson’s delivery of “Why I oughtaaaaa…!”
— The usual solid commentary from Vanessa’s Parsons. I especially laughed at her line “You might wanna Google it…BEFORE NANA GETS RAPED!!!”
— The great Kneeling Kellyanne Conway runner now carries over into the end of this Update, which ends up being the conclusion of this runner. When this episode originally aired, I remember wishing the runner carried over into the goodnights by showing Kate’s Kellyanne kneeling on the side of the home base stage while everyone else is hugging. SNL would instead later do that with a similar runner in, I think, the following season’s finale, where Aidy occasionally pops up as a real-life woman who went viral for calling the cops on black people innocently barbecuing at a park.
STARS: ****
STICKY BUN
Sticky Bun trainees (MID), (host), (MEV) fail at customer interaction
— Beck’s playing a very Mikey-esque smiley and good-natured straight man character who tries to maintain his smiley, good-natured demeanor when reacting to weird things. I wonder if that means Mikey and Streeter Seidell wrote this sketch.
— Good to see the underused Melissa getting a few big comedic roles tonight.
— Some laughs from the inappropriate things being said by the trainees.
— A funny airport reveal at the end.
STARS: ***
BAR CENTRALE
weird friendship of (CES) & (host) works despite initial ulterior motives
— No idea what to make of this sketch so far, but I haven’t been enjoying it.
— I did laugh just now at Sasheer’s “What?!?” after Cecily said Sasheer must be thinking “The thirst is real.”
— I’ve noticed that Octavia’s been having a few line flubs throughout this episode.
— Overall…yeah, this sketch pretty much came and went with me barely getting any laughs and not caring for the premise.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pure Comedy”
THE CHOCOLATE MAN
fired (BEB) purveys chocolate in hopes his co-workers will forget gunplay
— (*sigh*) Yet another sad sign of how much Bobby’s airtime has been reduced this season, as he’s just now making his first (and only) appearance of the night, and it’s just a non-comedic straight man role.
— I remember this sketch bombing pretty hard and kind of having a trainwreck-y vibe.
— So far, I like the darkness and weirdness this sketch is going for, but it’s falling fairly flat for me in its execution. And yeah, something does feel trainwreck-y about this sketch, even if I don’t flat-out hate it.
— A rare instance of breaking from both Vanessa and Bobby. Something seems significant about that, knowing that they’re both leaving the show in two months.
— That…that’s the ending?!?
STARS: **
SPENCER’S GIFTS
employees of host’s Spencer’s gift store pitch her goofy product ideas
— Quite a number of sketches tonight have taken place in an office.
— When this sketch originally aired, I remember I didn’t understand it at all nor why Octavia was playing herself, as I had never even heard of Spencer’s gift store. After I found out, it made me appreciate the sketch.
— So far in my current viewing, I can’t find anything else to say about this sketch, except that Octavia is fun and is selling the material well.
STARS: ***½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very average episode where there weren’t many segments that stood out as a whole. Octavia Spencer was a likable host.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Weekend Update
Youngblood
Zoo-opolis Voice Actors / Spencer’s Gifts (tie)
Girl At A Bar
Sticky Bun
Jeff Sessions Gump
Monologue
Courage, Compassion, Country: The TBD Story
The Chocolate Man
Drug Company Hearing
Bar Centrale
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Alec Baldwin)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Scarlett Johansson becomes a Five-Timer
I don’t get why Melissa did not follow up her impression of Kristen when Kristen hosted recently.
I’ve been thinking this whole “One SNL a Day” project Stooge has transformed should be a podcast. Obviously, I think Stooge is sick of reviewing by now and wouldn’t want to do it again. But has anyone thought of maybe doing this proposition as a podcast?
To paraphrase one of Fallon’s update jokes. You just don’t see enough SNL podcasts on the internet, do ya?
Yes, but none of them are doing what Stooge is doing, reviewing them chronologically.
I enjoy Spencer’s Gifts, though I always get a kick out of people randomly playing themselves in sketches that don’t call for it (like Tina hosting “Meet Your Second Wife”).
IIRC, tomorrow’s episode is when Johansson and Jost would first meet- as everyone following tabloids may know, they’re now married.
They wouldn’t have met before? He was a writer for all of her previous hosting appearances, and even already at Update/head writer by her 4th.
Colin says they didn’t interact much the first two times she hosted and Scarlett says her first memory of Colin is working on the MTV: Maternity Television commercial parody from her 2010 episode.
https://www.insider.com/scarlett-johansson-colin-jost-relationship-timeline-2018-10
Wow, I didn’t know Jost dated Rashida Jones too. (Jason Bateman voice) Him?? (I’m mostly kidding, unlike some people on the internet I’m not going to insist it’s weird that a funny, handsome, Harvard educated TV star dates beautiful celebrities – nor do I weirdly hold a grudge because of it like some – but those are still both pretty crazy).
Thank you for the sanity. Some people’s salt about Jost for that is a little much.
He’s a good looking man.
Although, there is a legitimate reason he maintains a consistent Trump-like hairstyle.
Here’s associate producer Janine DeVito talking about staging the cold open. You can see that in rehearsals, Octavia stuck around to say LFNY, whereas in the live show she exits about 10-15 seconds before Kate says it by herself
Wow, this was a weird review to read. It’s crazy that the two highlights for me got either 3 or 3.5 out of 5. I actually forgot about that Chocolate Man sketch. I have nothing more to add.
“Hell, before this sketch originally aired, I didn’t even know a Kate McKinnon impression was possible.”
Oh, Stooge. You have no idea that when it comes to Melissa, any impression is possible. And I mean ANY.
I believe Tim Robinson wrote the Spencer’s Gifts sketch. It does feel very similar to an I Think You Should Leave sketch, albeit not pretaped and not as chaotic.
The funny thing about this sketch is that for a piece with no political or hot-button cultural issue content, it has a HIGH number of Youtube dislikes – over 3,000. This is with around a million views, rather than the 4-5 million which usually get that number. I don’t know quite what it is that set people off.
I agree it’s a very ITYSL sketch, which is ironic, as that type of sketch is exactly what some fans would use to claim Tim Robinson and ITYSL were in a world far above SNL. I sometimes wonder if Jonah Hill recreated the exact same “I shit in the game show toilet” sketch on ITYSL, would it be greeted with rapture and awe.
(I say that as someone who did enjoy most of ITYSL, but as someone who is still befuddled by many of the takes surrounding the show)
I got to be honest and say that this was my favorite episode of this season. Octavia Spencer flowed well with cast and performed nicely. The 3 featured players got moments to stand out with Mikey in that Sticky Bun sketch, Melissa with her strong impressions, and Alex did what he does best and steals a sketch with a slight aside. Combined with the strong pretapes and cold open that actually used some creativity, this is the time of show that I wished the show did more often.
I remember hating this episode when I first saw it and thinking it was the worst of the season, but on rewatch it’s perfectly fine. I think it’s because of that Bar Centrale sketch. As much as I enjoy Cecily as a performer, there’s something about a bad Cecily-led sketch that’s especially volatile.
I love all of Melissa’s impressions but they seem to constantly have a hard time finding appropriate ways to fit them into something. Lots of good impressions in Zoopolis, but that sketch’s premise is just so flimsy. I know a lot of people hate those celebrity talk show sketches from the ‘90s but I prefer that over the way they just burn through impressions nowadays in audition sketches or Family Feud (the Dionne Warwick Show being the sole exception to this trend.)
Tomorrow’s episode has the funeral DJs, a VERY Anderlette sketch that I actually kind of love.
I don’t think it’s THAT Anderlette, but there is a sketch in the Chris Pine episode that I think is VERY Anderlette. (Couples Game Night)
Funeral DJs is probably my favorite thing Scarlett has done on SNL. The episode itself is very spotty at best, but that is about the most I have enjoyed an Anderlette piece.
Funeral DJs is technically an “Anderseiler” sketch (Anderson and Jeremy Beiler).
Vanessa is in five sketches, including a walk-on as a secretary in the Spencer Gifts sketch to tell Octavia that her plane has arrived. That’s all. At least as the secretary in the Mr. Shaw sketch, she got a funny line to close it out. Here, nothing. In those five sketches, she has maybe a total of, what, three funny lines. Everything is thankless, straight-man work. Or not even, like the secretary walk-on. If that isn’t disrespect, I don’t know what is. Almost better to be Bobby in this episode, as you pointed out, and barely be on camera than to have to go through all the b.s. of being on camera only to have your talents completely wasted.
Shabby treatment for someone who gave so much to SNL.
Excuse me, Vanessa told her that the car to take her to the airport had arrived. You get my drift.
“It’s also nice to see a real monologue at this point of SNL’s run.”
One positive thing you can look forward to is that around season 44 they started making simple, straight-to-camera, actual monologues the norm, often without cast members onstage (that’s still a common crutch, but less so than before.) There are still musical ones but they’re the exception rather than the rule now.
The monologues were actually one of the better parts of season 45 to me (the David Harbour, ScarJo, Chance the Rapper, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig ones in particular) which is a compliment I don’t think applies to any other season. And in season 46 almost all of them have either been standup or something fairly simple and non-musical. It’s 14 episodes in and there’s been only one or two musical ones so far, which might be some sort of SNL record.
One last note about this episode/review because I feel like I’m commenting way too much: Alex’s performances as Eric Trump are fantastic but it’s always bothered me that that’s what he’s best known for. Partially because it’s wrapped up in politics and topicality rather than being an original character, and also because to this day I see people refer to Alex and Mikey as a “double act” when they aren’t at all. Outside of the Trump brothers they’re rarely ever paired together yet people seem to perceive it that way (though to be fair, they bring back the Trump brothers a *lot* across these four seasons.) I don’t see much chemistry between the two of them in these pieces either, but Mikey does a serviceable job and Alex elevates it beyond the page.
Alex seems perennially underrated in general. I know he rarely gets criticism, but I don’t see much praise or attention thrown his way compared to his castmates either. He always feels in the background. But he’s definitely my favorite male player of the current era.
Here’s one interesting fact that I’ll provide about tomorrow’s episode: in the monologue, Kenan made a highlight reel of Scarlett’s first four hosting stints, but really, they were all about him. The thing to remember about that is that the sketches Kenan chose were all sketches that Stooge hates. In fact, three of them got a one-star rating.
@Ruby, I feel like, beyond the show’s limited use of him being a problem, Alex also gets lumped into the “all white men on SNL are interchangeable” putdown some viewers have had over the last 5 years. I guess aside from Pete, and the fans who always insist Kyle is the worst part of the show. It’s one of the reasons I was a little annoyed by the joke about Mikey and Alex being interchangeable that was in Scarjo’s last monologue – it’s more Twitter pandering without having a great deal of truth to it. Alex and Beck, sometimes, yes, but I just don’t see it with Mikey and Alex. I just wish the show gave Alex more chances to show his individual talents so that he would get to have more fans in a way that goes beyond him being called “daddy.”
@JerseyLuck, I’m not sure this is one of my favorite episodes of the season (although to be honest I am not sure I really have a FAVORITE this season – this is a good season as a whole but not one I enjoy on an episodic basis), but there are a few sketches in this episode I go back to a fair amount – namely, Sticky Buns and Zoo-opolis. I tend to go back to them more than the better-known sketches of this season. Octavia has such a warmth about her and is so game – even her stumbliness is not out of place with the general stumbliness of a number of the cast at this point. When she gets to work mostly with the newer cast there is something of a camaraderie between them – she’s a great match for Melissa in both their main sketches tonight, and Alex and Mikey each shine as well. There are so many little asides in the Sticky Buns sketch that amuse me (Melissa’s story about a dead teacher, Octavia closing for a Christmas that does not exist, Mikey telling the female customer, “I love you”), and Zoo-opolis has a very loose take that I enjoy more than what we usually get (a host/MG “wowing” us with 50 musical impersonations, or a tedious impression parade involving 10 cast members). It feels like they genuinely did try to divide the focus up enough to allow Alex and Octavia to shine too, even though Melissa, deservedly, gets the standout moments.
I like the Youngblood pre-tape – the low-key feel allows us to live in the little world the few minutes create for us, and lets Pete and Kenan act instead of make faces. Octavia is also well-utilized.
Similar to the summer camp sketch in Damon Wayans’ episode, the drug sketch just feels a little too cheap for me to enjoy.
I have to skip most of these cold opens as otherwise I’d have a lot of not very nice things to say…
Promos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNVzExQrBEQ
(that one was one of my favorite modern promos)
@John even the Hanks and Chappelle episodes don’t stand out to you?
It’s difficult to put into words without sounding like I am holding season 42 to too high of a standard.
Both the Hanks and Chappelle episodes have political/topical material that I simply can’t sit through very easily (Tom’s monologue; the Hallelujah cold open). I do think both episodes have many strong moments (especially Dave’s), it’s just hard to shake those moments.
To be fair, most episodes are not flawless and I try very hard to not count the terrible cold opens of the last 20+ years against the rest of the episodes, it’s just difficult with this season because the strongest episodes (Aziz, Kristen Stewart) have moments that I either seriously hate or blame for long-term damage to the show. The outsized importance of this season, both to pop culture and politics at the time and to what has come with SNL since, is a big double-edged sword.
I know the episode got a very mixed response so I’m not sure how I would feel seeing it again, but I think the Chris Pine episode is one I managed to enjoy a lot of without any “never again” sketch or sequence, aside from the usual Anderlette and cold open junk.
Did Chris Pine get a mixed response? I remember really enjoying that, and have thought ever since they should have him back.
I mainly remember the Kate McKinnon-as-Kellyanne Conway-runner in this ep…
I feel like one thing that would have put the Zoopolis sketch over the top is if the janitor walk on Beck did that ends the sketch was a really great ace in the hole impression we haven’t seen, rather than his Javier Bardem which A) we’d seen already and B) isn’t particularly good.
It’s somewhat difficult to find, but the review made me go watch Chocolate Man again. The sketch feels like Beck trying to go back to his Good Neighbor days, with the type of role that was more common for Kyle on SNL. It’s good to see Beck get to try something different compared to all of the tired roles he was stuck at this point, but the sketch mostly serves to remind that just being odd or different isn’t enough to make a concept work. The last shot reminds me of something they have since tried with Uncle Meme (doesn’t quite work there either…). I think my favorite part is Beck shoving the chocolate at the other cast members, leading to Bobby’s breaking. Nice to see some fun with Bobby in such a somber and barely explored final season (we get more in his last few episodes but by that point it is too late).
Are Spencer’s Gifts not a thing anymore? Feels like I haven’t seen one in a while, but back in the 90s you couldn’t go to a shopping mall (before malls starting becoming zombie wastelands) without seeing one. Those novelty gag stores seemed to kinda die out for the most part after the early 2000s or so.
Spencer’s is still around. There’s one at my local mall.
Chocolate Man had the most interesting premise. It just didn’t quite come together. I wanted to like it, and it has its moments, but the pieces don’t all fit. I loved Spencer’s ‘Bitch’ line, though.
She delivered it perfectly.
I actually love Chucky Chocolate.