Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
OVAL OFFICE
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) picks Jared Kushner (JIF) as his top advisor
— Ugh.
— Boy, that “If these walls could talk” bit was so groanworthy.
— Self-aware Trumpwin lines like the “me in my golf clothes” one in this cold opening doesn’t work with the angle that SNL previously established with the Trumpwin portrayal.
— I’m not too crazy about how they gave the Jared Kushner impression to Jimmy Fallon tonight, given the fact that, in the preceding episode, Alex had a big showcase as Kushner in a cut-after-dress-rehearsal sketch that sounded good from the description I read years ago (my memory of the description is very fuzzy by this point, but the sketch had to do with Kushner as an adventurous secret agent or something like that). Yet another example in this era of someone who’s not even a current cast member taking a Trump-related role away from the current cast (even if this Kushner impression doesn’t end up becoming a role that Jimmy ends up regularly playing).
— The turn with the reality show elimination is lame.
— Was it necessary to reuse the gag from an earlier Trumpwin sketch, where Trumpwin goes to his real desk and plays with that sphere toy?
— Ugh at that “twink” line from Trumpwin to Jimmy’s Kushner.
— Overall, in a word: oof. I did not enjoy a single thing in this cold opening. Man, it feels like these Trumpwin cold openings are getting worse and worse by the week.
STARS: *
MONOLOGUE
JIF leads caravan backstage as Nile Rodgers [real] performs “Let’s Dance”
— No jokes at all in this monologue, but this around-the-studio musical number is a fun, infectious, and charming way to celebrate SNL having their first live coast-to-coast episode.
— This musical number is also a good use of Jimmy’s solid David Bowie impression.
— I like the shot of EVERYBODY on the home base stage in the conclusion of the musical number. That may be the most crowded I’ve ever seen the home base stage in a regular SNL episode (meaning I’m not counting anniversary specials).
STARS: ***½
FAMILY FEUD
1977 & 2017 versions of John Travolta (JIF) compete
— This time-travel concept is an interesting oddball change of pace for a Celebrity Family Feud sketch.
— Second consecutive Family Feud sketch with a cast member playing a then-recent SNL host (Alex as Casey Affleck last time, Kate as Kristen Stewart this time). I’m liking Kate’s Kristen Stewart impression.
— After Harry-Styles-as-Mick-Jagger’s mostly-incoherent line about engaging in hanky-panky, I like Kenan’s Steve Harvey slyly responding “I don’t know what’choo sayin’…but I know what’choo sayin’!”
— Oh, I love the concept of Jimmy having to go back and forth playing 1977 John Travolta and 2017 John Travolta, especially when Kenan’s Harvey begins comically milking that. Very impressive fast costume changes from Jimmy as well.
— Jimmy’s mic noticeably sounds very muffled right now, presumably due to his latest hasty costume change.
STARS: ***½
BEFORE THE SHOW
middle schoolers overrate quality of their Legally Blonde musical staging
— Our latest of this era’s “Back-and-forth cutting between tender and chaotic scenes” shorts.
— So far, this is more low-key than the previous “Back-and-forth cutting between tender and chaotic scenes” shorts, and the “chaotic” scenes here aren’t particularly hilarious to me compared to the ones in previous shorts of this ilk, but this is still working well. However, much like the Crucible Cast Party short from earlier this season, I’d probably be higher on this short if I could relate to the “theater kids” premise as much as some other viewers might.
— Okay, the “chaotic” scenes are having a solid escalation at the end, when Aidy gets raised in the air on wires. I wish they didn’t wait until the end, though, to go all-out on the humor like that.
STARS: ***½
TAKE ME BACK
(CES)’s ex (JIF) tries winning her back by singing “Truly Madly Deeply”
— A decent laugh from Jimmy breaking out into a badly-sung “Truly Madly Deeply” in an attempt to win Cecily back.
— An absolutely hilarious reveal of Jimmy being the man responsible for dragging a man off a plane, from a major news story that week.
— Yet another hilarious reveal at the end, with Beck revealing he recently directed a certain Pepsi commercial. This is also a fantastic callback to Beck playing that Pespi commercial director in the preceding episode.
— I love how short they kept this overall sketch, making it a blackout gag that you rarely see in this era.
STARS: ****½
A MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE EASTER BUNNY
during Passover, Sean Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) retracts Hitler comment
— Interestingly, Melissa McCarthy isn’t actually in the studio during this sketch, nor is she even in New York. This sketch is being broadcast live from, I think, L.A. That explains certain things, like why this sketch has an odd visual quality, and why McCarthy delivers lines during the long applause break that her entrance receives.
— Feels a little odd not seeing McCarthy’s Spicer interacting with reporters for once.
— A pretty good laugh from McCarthy-as-Spicer’s United Flight faux pas.
— Some funny comments and the usual great commitment from McCarthy, though this sketch doesn’t measure up to the previous two Spicer sketches.
— Good ending.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sign of the Times”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Jacob delineates the significance of traditional Passover foods
over-the-hill Bruce Chandling drifts from unfunny comedy into pathos
— I absolutely love Michael’s “First of all, you don’t know what cakes I’ve seen!” response to a Trump clip.
— This is the first Jacob appearance in two years, and this also ends up being the final Jacob appearance. This almost ended up being Vanessa’s send-off, given the fact that this was the final episode before a potential writers strike, which, if it happened, would’ve made this the final episode of this season. As we know now, the writers strike ended up not happening, and this season got to end on its originally-scheduled date.
— So far in tonight’s Jacob commentary, we’re getting the same-old, same-old repetitive beats that appear in every single Jacob commentary. As I always say, those beats only worked for me in the first Update appearance this character made. The extremely repetitive nature of Jacob’s routine doesn’t work for me in multiple commentaries.
— This was pointed out by some people on an SNL message board back when this episode originally aired: when Jacob is concluding tonight’s commentary by giving special thanks to some of his friends & family members, the names mentioned of those friends & family members are the first names of SNL writers that Vanessa has worked with over the years (I don’t think I caught all of the names in my current viewing, but some of them are Zach, Marika, Seth, and John, a reference to Zach Kanin, Marika Sawyer, Seth Meyers, and presumably John Mulaney), which was a huge sign that not only was this Vanessa’s way of giving official closure to this Jacob character, but that Vanessa was aware that this Jacob appearance might end up being her SNL swan song, due to the aforementioned possible writers strike coupled with the fact that she was planning on leaving SNL at the end of this season. Thankfully, the writers strike doesn’t happen and Vanessa gets three more episodes to add closure to her SNL tenure (including debuting one of her most beloved recurring characters). At least if this Jimmy Fallon episode DID end up being the final episode of this season, Vanessa would’ve had a swan song in this Jacob commentary, unlike her also-about-to-depart castmate Bobby, who gets no lead roles AT ALL in this episode (a sad sign of how underutilized he’s been this season). Thus, it would’ve been a shame if this ended up being Bobby’s final episode. I recall an online SNL fan who was in the audience for the live version of this episode saying that, at the end of the goodnights, after most of the people onstage made their exit, Bobby and, I think, Kate were the only two people left onstage, and Bobby was in tears while Kate consoled him. Presumably, the reason for Bobby being in tears was because he was aware that this might end up being his final episode. It was also revealed sometime that a second installment of the Broderick & Ganz lawyers sketch from the Aziz Ansari episode got cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal, and I guess that would’ve been Bobby’s swan song had this ended up being the final episode of the season.
— Two “down south” sexual jokes in tonight’s Update alone (one from Colin, and the other from Bruce Chandling).
— I’m getting the usual big laughs from Bruce Chandling.
— I love Michael’s off-camera “Ohh, god” when Chandling, while in his depressed mode, is about to spout off another bad catchphrase when transitioning back to his upbeat mode.
— As a great callback to a joke he did in the preceding episode, Michael is seen starting to eat the butt end of a chocolate Easter bunny at the very end of this Update (seen in the last above screencap for this Update). Nice to see that this is actually the second callback that this episode has made to the preceding episode (the first callback being the Pespi commercial director one).
STARS: ****
CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS
Civil War soldier (JIF) adds bouncy hook to morale-boosting Union song
— This sketch is getting increasingly fun the more the other characters get into the comically-anachronistic hook that Jimmy keeps adding to the traditional war song.
— Bobby revealing that he was just pretending to be the angry dad in the song is very funny.
— I love the detail of a backflipping dancer passing by the screen at the end of the final singalong of the hook.
STARS: ***½
TURTLE SHIRT
the Turtle Shirt is a garment into which embarrassed people can retract
— I like Bobby and Vanessa’s (a significant pairing, by the way, given how this almost ended up being their final episode) very somber reveal to Pete that Vanessa was “capped “ by an orangutan.
— I have extremely mixed feelings on this commercial. Half of me feels that this commercial’s idea is dumb (and not the fun kind of dumb) and that the head-sinking-in-shirt visuals have gotten old fast, while the other half of me feels that there’s kind of a self-aware “So dumb, it’s funny” charm to this, and that the use of the song “Turn Down For What” whenever someone’s head sinks into their Turtle Shirt adds to the humor. I’m very conflicted on how I feel about this commercial.
STARS: **½, I guess, though I may eventually change my mind if I ever develop a definitive opinion of this commercial
HARVARD TOUR
Sully & Denise join their Harvard-accepted daughter (KAM) on campus tour
— Surprising that tonight’s big return of the Boston Teens is buried towards the end of the show.
— Interesting seeing Jimmy and Rachel Dratch playing these characters while looking a lot older than they did as cast members.
— I like how, much like the Boston Teens reprisal from Jimmy’s season 37 hosting stint, SNL continues to age and modernize these characters, this time by having them be parents to a college-aged girl, and having them substitute their usual use of the “r” word with “intellectually disabled”.
— A good laugh from Jimmy’s line about calling paint chips “radiator nachos”.
— Two Chipotle diarrhea jokes in the same episode (one on Update and one in this sketch).
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Ever Since New York”
BASKETBALL SCENE
spastic extras (JIF) & (MID) are distracting during basketball film shoot
— Increasingly funny distracting background antics from Jimmy and Mikey.
— A particularly good laugh from Jimmy and Mikey knocking down the boom mic guy.
— A very funny reaction from everyone when Jimmy’s character miraculously and unintentionally kicks the basketball into the basket behind him while facing away from it. I especially laughed at an excited Mikey thrusting his fists and furiously chanting “Yeah!” in an over-the-top manner.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good episode, even if it felt like there weren’t many segments that stood out to me. Jimmy Fallon did his usual good job of hosting and adding a fun-loving vibe to the episode.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Take Me Back
Weekend Update
Basketball Scene
Family Feud
Civil War Soldiers
Harvard Tour
Monologue
A Message From The White House Easter Bunny
Before The Show
Turtle Shirt
Oval Office
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Louis C.K.)
a step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Chris Pine