Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE CHAOS PRESIDENT
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) renews relationship with Jeff Sessions (KAM)
— Ugh. Trumpwin is NOT a sight I want to see right out of the gate at the beginning of a season premiere’s cold opening, but I knew to expect it.
— I did get a laugh from Aidy-as-Sarah-Huckabee-Sanders’ delivery of her line about people listening to her because she’s “no nonsense, but ALL nonsense.”
— Yeah, I’m at the point where my decreasing tolerance towards Kate’s Jeff Sessions impression has officially reached 0%.
— Though it’s just a small appearance at the end of this cold opening, I’m liking Alex’s take on Chuck Schumer, and it’s nice that, instead of giving a political role like this to a non-cast member celebrity, it’s been given to a newer, underused cast member, a choice that’s going to feel increasingly rare as the Trump era progresses.
STARS: *½
OPENING MONTAGE
— Same opening montage from the preceding three seasons, making this the first time since season 19 where an opening montage was used for a fourth consecutive season.
— Heidi Gardner, Luke Null, and Chris Redd have been added to the cast.
MONOLOGUE
host takes credit for having saved jazz in La La Land; Emma Stone cameo
— The “I saved jazz” concept isn’t anything great in itself, but Ryan Gosling is executing it well, especially his “smooth” talk into the camera while playing the piano.
— There’s our first display tonight of Giggling Gosling, a common sight in Ryan’s preceding episode.
— Nice to see the SNL Band get some focus here.
— The “We saved jazz” turn from Emma Stone is pretty funny.
STARS: ***½
ANOTHER CLOSE ENCOUNTER
Ms. Rafferty’s second close encounter wasn’t much of an improvement
— (*groan*) And they obviously only brought this sketch back in this particular episode because of how much Ryan memorably giggled in the first installment of it.
— Mikey has taken over the basic role that the recently-departed-from-the-show Bobby Moynihan used to play in these sketches.
— You know how my comments about this recurring sketch goes: it should’ve stayed a one-and-done classic, it doesn’t work as a recurring sketch, Kate’s delivery as this character remains on-point but still doesn’t stop the template of her lines from feeling increasingly and tiredly by-the-numbers (particularly her anal/vaginal rhyming euphemisms).
— The part with Kate demonstrating on Ryan’s butt while making goofy vocalizations is such a blatant attempt to get more giggling out of Ryan. It’s nowhere near as endearing to me this time because this attempt at getting Kate to make Ryan laugh feels way too forced and try-hard on SNL’s part.
— Okay, Kate finally got one big laugh out of me just now, with the “He’s never gonna forget his 12th birthday” bit towards the end.
STARS: **
LEVI’S WOKES
unoffensively indeterminate Levi’s Wokes jeans are universally wearable
— A spot-on, timely, and well-filmed spoof of both woke culture and the typical style of jeans commercial.
— The statements that the Woke Jeans wearers are saying are priceless.
— Parts I particularly love are “Pockets sold separately”, the 180-degree “uni-fly” zipper, and the proudly-made announcement that, instead of being made by Indonesian kids, these jeans were made by white kids.
— Chris Redd is coming off really well and very amusing in his first role.
STARS: *****
THE FLIPLETS
dark (host) dispirits his brothers’ home renovation show
— A fairly simple format for a sketch placed so early in the show, but Ryan is solid as the brother who throws off the rhythm of this light-hearted commercial by saying dark, deep, disturbing, spiritual things. He has plenty of great lines here.
— I like the charmingly cheesy brotherly rapport between Mikey and Alex.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest & Damian Marley [real] perform “Bam”
WEEKEND UPDATE
newly-reelected Angela Merkel (KAM) still pines for an Obama alliance
Guy Who Just Bought A Boat & cousin (host) offer oily dating advice
— An awful lot of clapter in this Update so far, even if some of Colin and Michael’s points that induced that clapter are good points.
— Some aspects of Kate’s Angela Merkel commentaries kinda blend together with her Olya Povlatsky commentaries, and I prefer Olya Povlatsky, but Kate’s Merkel commentaries still have some spark left in them by this point.
— As usual, this Merkel commentary is getting good mileage out of the running storyline of her pining for Barack Obama.
— After Michael says, in regards to healthcare horror movies, that he’s worried because we all know who dies first in healthcare horror movies, Colin hilariously ad-libs a quick “Not me!” in response.
— Colin’s joke about White Fudge Ding Dongs also being the name of what Jost/Che Weekend Updates are called in China is absolutely classic. Also great is Michael saying about it afterwards, “I don’t know who that’s more racist to.”
— Colin’s kinda overdoing it tonight with the “That’s a great transition” ad-libs whenever the audience laughs as he begins introducing a commentary right after an outrageous joke of Michael’s.
— Alex’s Guy Who Just Bought A Boat character has officially become recurring.
— Like the previous time this Guy Who Just Bought A Boat character appeared, I’m really liking Alex’s impressively-delivered rapid-fire run of abbreviated slang words, but I run hot-and-cold on the running gag with him subliminally making comments about his small penis.
— Ryan is 2-for-2 in making an Update appearance as a similar counterpart to a preexisting Update character whenever he hosts. (Bobby Moynihan’s Anthony Crispino character being the previous character who Ryan played a counterpart to.)
— Ryan’s a decent addition here, though I found him more fun as Anthony Crispino’s counterpart.
STARS: ***½
HENRIETTA & THE FUGITIVE
in a barn, fugitive (host) opts to remain loyal to fowl Henrietta (AIB)
— When this sketch originally aired, I spent most of it unamused, not knowing what to make of it, and repeatedly asking myself “What the hell am I watching???”, before eventually being won over by it towards the end, making me love this sketch as a whole when thinking back on it. Because of that, it’ll be interesting to watch this again for the first time since that original airing.
— I’m loving the unconventional tone of this sketch, as well as the way this silliness is being played so straight.
— Aidy is giving what I feel is one of her best performances ever.
— A funny gaffe with Aidy having trouble grabbing the gun out of Ryan’s pocket, resulting in yet another display of Giggling Gosling.
— I got a good laugh from Kenan’s delivery of “AAH! HENRIETTA, WHY?!?” after getting shot.
— I know some people feel that the “20 years later” scene at the end was unneeded, but I strongly disagree, as that was the part that won me over on this overall sketch during its original airing. Back then, the initial cutaway to Aidy’s scarf-and-sunglasses-clad Henrietta waiting outside of the prison with a suitcase was both very funny and (especially) very charming to me.
— Another funny gaffe with Aidy’s scarf and sunglasses falling off right as she delivers her final line, which was a great way to end this sketch.
STARS: ****½
ITALIAN RESTAURANT
(host) & (CES) feel betrayed by Pizza Hut commercial’s pasta switcheroo
— Even though the concept of Ryan having a very angry overreaction to the mere reveal of his food being switched with another brand is bringing Chris Farley’s classic Hidden Camera Commercials short to mind (right down to a slowly-delivered “You son of a bitch” being the first words out of Ryan’s mouth when standing up after the reveal), this is still standing up on its own legs as a funny sketch.
— Even in just a small role, Chris Redd is cracking me up with 1) his delivery of his worried response to a threatening line Ryan said to him, and 2) him muttering in regret, “I wish I hadn’t told you my name.”
— Ryan’s performance is starting to remind me of his very intense performance in the fantastic Santa Baby short from his previous episode.
— Cecily: “Is this wine even real?!?” Mikey: “You ordered a Diet Coke.” Cecily: “(worried) Then why am I buzzed???”
— Ryan: “I oughta beat the death out of you!”
— Ryan breaking out into his usual giggling fit right now is why I’m so happy the aforementioned Santa Baby short was pre-taped (as I said in my review of that short), though his giggliness in this Italian Restaurant sketch is both brief and late-into-the-sketch enough that it’s not hurting it for me.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “4:44”
PAPYRUS
lazy font choice for Avatar logo obsesses & infuriates (host)
— Ah, yet another Julio Torres classic.
— A priceless reveal of what’s bothering Ryan so much: the movie Avatar using the papyrus font for its logo.
— I love Ryan getting up and flipping over the table in response to Kate revealing that the font used for the Avatar sequel’s logo looks similar to the papyrus font.
— Chris, on the possibility of Avatar using the papyrus font: “Maybe that was the starting point, but they clearly modified this.” Ryan: “Well, whatever they did…IT WASN’T…ENOUGH!!! (*smashes a glass in anger*)”
— Chris, on the papyrus font: “Where else do you even see this font?!?” Ryan: “Hookah bars…Shakira merch…off-brand teas.”
— Ryan, while looking at Kyle through a window in Kyle’s house: “I know what you did. I KNOW WHAT YOU DIIIIIIID!!!”
— An absolutely perfect ending with a simple screen of the word “papyrus” being displayed in the comic sans font.
— Overall, such a masterpiece. And Ryan is now 2-for-2 in giving an absolutely fantastic intense performance in a pre-taped short in an episode he hosts, after the aforementioned Santa Baby short from his previous episode.
STARS: *****
DIVE BAR
flautist’s (host) mysterious personal drama leaks into Treece Henderson’s gig
— The Treece Henderson sketch (a.k.a. the “Tweedle-do-twee! Tweedle-do-twow!” Kenan singing sketch) has officially become recurring after THREE YEARS, believe it or not. Its previous appearance was in the Martin Freeman episode from season 40.
— Ryan’s usual giggliness (which he isn’t even trying to hide in this sketch) is apparently contagious here, as Kenan is quite giggly himself throughout this sketch.
— The formula of this recurring sketch is so copy-and-paste that SNL has even plugged new cast member Heidi Gardner into the same role that the recently-departed-from-the-show Vanessa Bayer played in the first installment of this sketch, and they even keep Beck as the husband.
— Speaking of new cast members, let me just take the time right now to mention this: poooooor Luke Null. It’s the man’s first episode, and he has made NO APPEARANCES in it at all. AT. ALL. My goodness. You really gotta feel sorry for him. The writing is already on the wall for the poor guy’s SNL future.
— Kyle’s delivery of his one-liners is great. Much like with the first installment of this sketch, I’m torn. Kyle and Kenan’s delivery of their lines (especially Kenan’s occasional mentions of his “good jeans”, and his yell of “Durtricia! It was yooouuuuu!”) are making me laugh, but I’m not caring much for the actual material in this sketch.
— Another amusing gaffe, this time Leslie’s difficulty in tearing Kenan’s “good jeans”.
STARS: **½
IN MEMORIAM
a photo of Hugh Hefner marks his passing
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A good season premiere. When this season originally aired, I noticed worrying signs of a big decline for this SNL era right from the first three episodes of this season, but in my rewatch just now, I found this episode to be fine. Two five-star segments (Levi’s Wokes and Papyrus) and a lot of other good segments. Certainly not much to complain about.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Papyrus
Levi’s Wokes
Henrietta & The Fugitive
Italian Restaurant / The Fliplets (tie)
Weekend Update
Monologue
Dive Bar
Another Close Encounter
The Chaos President
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (2016-17)
about the same
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Gal Gadot