February 29, 2020 – John Mulaney / David Byrne (S45 E14) [THROWBACK REVIEW]

Cold Open – White House Press Conference

• Ah, always nice to see Beck’s Mike Pence.
• Very lame lines from Beck, but he’s selling them as usual.
• Huh, I had no prior knowledge of Kenan playing Ben Carson before the following season’s Kristen Wiig episode.
• Kenan’s delivery is making me laugh, but it sounds a little too effeminiate for me.
• Meh, didn’t need the moment where Kenan uses a picture of Stitch to prove his point, but I did like his delivery of “He’s a nasty little thang”.
• NO!!! The return of Fred Armisen’s Mike Bloomberg. Very unnecessary. Fortunately, this is the last time I have to review him, unless he makes any appearances later during the current season.
• Ugh, a very lame part with Fred saying that he got past security by coughing and everyone ran.
• Fred’s portion as Bloomberg is going on FOREVER, not helped by that very slow voice he’s using.
• As always, mixed feelings on Kate’s Elizabeth Warren.
• For tonight’s episode only, John Mulaney takes on the role of Joe Biden after Jason Sudeikis, which eventually leads to…well, you know.
• I find it inherently hilarious how John isn’t attempting to put any effort into his Biden impression.
• The moment where John’s Biden is telling a long-winded story isn’t as funny as the last few times when Jason Sudeikis did it.
• Ah, here’s another impression I can never get mad at: Larry David as Bernie Sanders. (*sigh*) It was fun while it lasted.
• As usual, Larry’s able to get laughs simply by talking.
• Fred: “Can I speak?” HELL NO.
• The moment where Fred’s Bloomberg is talking about a dirty joke he once told someone is awful and unnecessary.
• As always, Colin’s delivery is surprisingly perfect for Buttigieg.
• Rachel Dratch! Sadly, this may be the last time I get to review her.
• The conversation between Rachel and Colin is making me laugh.
• Larry’s whole germs rant is worth a laugh.
• The trend of full-group LFNYs continues.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• As usual, Mulaney’s able to get laughs simply by talking.
• Already off to a good start with Mulaney’s opening line: “If you don’t know who I am, I’m sorry”.
• I love the bit with Mulaney doing a plug-in for March, and it’s actually a lot more tolerable than this era’s heavy reliance on fake sponsors.
• Another great bit, this time with Mulaney talking about how most dads have no friends, and moms have friends.
• The whole “WWII game show” bit made me laugh more than it should have.
• Man, the great lines in this monologue keep coming and coming. I’m having a hard time singling out my favorite because of this.
• A big laugh from Mulaney’s “Shifting topics entirely”.
• This whole Julius Caesar bit is a riot.
• I love the whole Amendment bit.
• Yet ANOTHER great bit, this time with Mulaney talking about how he used the Third Amendment against a soldier who wanted to live in his apartment.
• I love the Make-a-Wish part.
• During the part where he mentions how he took a woman to see SNL and she saw Lin-Manuel Miranda, I’m assuming he’s referring to the David Harbour episode from earlier this season.
• The usual fantastic Mulaney monologue.

Rating: *****

The Sound of Music

• Fitting casting of John as Rolfe.
• Not too sure if I needed to hear Cecily sing.
• And there’s the moment that would go on to frequently be used in various SNL compilations on YouTube: Cecily: “You are 17 going on 16.” John: “Actually, I’m 33”.
• Meh, I’m not finding myself laughing much at where this sketch has been going since then.
• Okay, we get it, John’s too old for Cecily.
• Amusing moment with Beck.

Rating: **½

Uncle Meme

• As usual, I can never get enough of the rare pairing of Chloe and Chris.
• Mixed feelings on the direction this sketch is going so far.
• I like the contrast between Chloe and Chris’ opinions.
• Speaking of Chloe, I like her delivery of “No, it’s sick”.
• The memes here are only mildly funny at best, and Mulaney’s performance isn’t as good as it should be.
• Weak ending, and it felt too abrupt.

Rating: **½

Kyle’s Transformation

• Already off to a good start with John being unsure if Kyle is a good fit for a strip club sketch.
• Ah, it’s always nice to see one of these Kyle backstage pieces, even if they won’t measure up to how great they were in Seasons 41-44.
• I like the usage of black-and-white clips of other sketches where Kyle has played a dork.
• A solid turn with Kyle doing extreme work-outs to become more muscular.
• Amusing appearance from Justin Theroux.
• Interesting usage of Papa Roach’s “Last Resort”.
• A funny cutaway to a now-muscular Kyle.
• Funny involvement of Chris and Aidy.
• I love how Chloe is immediately willing to have sex with Kyle after he offers it to her.
• Good reveal that Kyle has now been fired.

Rating: ***½

Say, Those Two Don’t Seem to Like Each Other

• A Kate and Aidy showcase? I said it before, and I’ll say it again: well, THIS certainly spells doom.
• By the way, it doesn’t exactly help that the setup feels way too reminiscent of the not-too-great What Do You Figure Is Goin’ On In That House? sketch from this season’s JLo episode.
• Holy crap, I spoke too soon, as this is the EXACT SAME PREMISE as that aforementioned sketch.
• Oh God, now Kate starts to break at the mere sight of the boa constrictor.
• The various actions that Kate and Aidy are doing to kill each other are getting repetitive, and they’re losing their steam.
• Fitting casting of John as a sailor.
• This sketch feels like it’s going on a little too long.
• Ugh, Kate and Aidy are breaking a little, serving as an unfortunate harbinger of what’s to come from them next season.
• Even the ending was an exact rip-off of the ending of the aforementioned JLo sketch.

Rating: *

Musical Performance – “Once in a Lifetime”

• Ah, finally, a silver lining. Not just for this episode, but also for this season’s musical guests, because Lord knows I’m in desperate need of a great performance this season, especially after the lame one-two punch of Luke Combs and Justin Bieber.
• It’s worth mentioning that this performance is actually a snippet of David Byrne’s American Utopia. The only reason I know this is because two weeks ago, my family and I went to go see that show live in person against my own will. And in person, I was floored.
• Already off to a good start with the very dark lighting and David being shown rather mysteriously as he wanders.
• I also love how David and co are barefoot for the entire performance.
• Not sure if I’ll be able to criticize this fairly due to me knowing all the words to this song, to the point where I could just burst out into them at any point during this review.
• After all these years, David’s voice still sounds great.
• It’s beyond impressive how David’s backing band is able to create such big noise with only handheld instruments.
• By the way, during this part of the show, everyone in the audience, and I do mean everyone, was up out of their seats for the remainder of the song.
• I love how the backing band only comes in during the chorus.
• I love the choreography from the two band members dancing during the “Same as it ever was” portion.
• Man, this whole performance is fun as hell, and I could just burst out of my bed and start dancing, but I can’t.
• Oh, HELL YEAH. Now more band members start joining in.
• And now the band leads to extended jamming for the remainder of the song while David remains still. During this portion, I noticed other people recording the performance, so I did it myself (even though I didn’t want to) and uploaded the portion I recorded to my YouTube channel. You can watch that recording right here.
• Now the band starts dancing around the stage, making this even more fun than it already is.
• An overall great performance, and the first musical performance all season that stood out to me in that way. Too bad it took the season FOURTEEN EPISODES to eventually achieve that, which shows you how unimpressive the musical guests have been this season.
• I was debating on my final grade for this performance, but just for the sheer ambition of bringing this Broadway show to the SNL stage, and managing to pull that off in a less free space…I have to go all the way.

Rating: *****

Weekend Update

• Interestingly, there’s no audience applause in the gap between the end of the title sequence and Colin’s sign-on.
• Solid opening rant from Colin as usual.
• I love Colin’s whole ebola bit.
• Hilarious how Michael doesn’t want to joke about COVID because he has no idea if he has it yet.
• Great breakdown with Michael removing his tie and admitting his drinking problem.
• I love Colin’s “Trump slump” bit.
• Hilarious cutaway to Michael now inexplicably wearing a hat facing the other side.
• Man, Michael’s whole looseness is freakin’ great.
• Michael’s on a roll tonight.
• Hilarious audience reaction to Colin’s statue joke.
• Great start to Chris’ commentary, with him admitting how bad his Black History Month was this year.
• Plenty of great lines from Chris.
• I love Chris’ reactions to a Visa card with Harriet Tubman doing the Wakanda Forever sign.
• Chris is absolutely slaying me throughout this commentary.
• I love Chris’ insults to Trump.
• A huge oh-so-wrong laugh from Chris ending his commentary by saying that black people can’t get the coronavirus.
• Ha, I love how Michael is still wearing that hat.
• I loved Colin’s “Eric Trump/Charmin” joke.
• Another great joke from Colin, this time being his Costco joke.
• Great ending to tonight’s Update, with Colin signing off by saying “For Weekend Update, I’m Catholic”.
• An overall fantastic Update. It’s very rare for me to give Update this high a grade, but…

Rating: *****

Airport Sushi

• Always nice to see these musical sketches.
• Great appearance from Kenan as “the Phantom of LaGuardia”.
• Hilarious reveal that Kenan is actually one of the geese that took down Sully’s plane.
• Don’t care for how Cecily’s singing voice gets all giddy during this second number.
• Great walk-ons from Chloe and Alex.
• Nice DeBlasio song from Kate.
• Amusing appearance from Beck as an unaccompanied baby.
• Ha, now we get a Jake Gyllenhaal cameo. Hilarious!
• Jake’s whole number is absolutely killing me, made even better by how committed he is.
• I love the whole “profiled Asian” song from Bowen, especially the part where he says a perfectly Bowen-esque “I wasn’t in Parasite”.
• Fun involvement of David Byrne.
• I like how this even gets some of the American Utopia dancers involved.
• Good ending.
• The usual solid musical sketch.

Rating: ****½

Musical Performance – “Toe Jam”

• Much like the first performance, this is lifted from American Utopia.
• This song has a different sound than “Once in a Lifetime”. I kinda like that.
• Like the first performance, this is fun as hell.
• It’s hard to come up with any praise for the band other than what I already said in the first performance.
• Great dancing from everyone involved.
• I like the addition of bongos, as well as David’s gibberish blubbering.

Rating: ****

Forgotten Figures of Black History

• A decent premise of Kenan as a black guy who doesn’t support Jackie Robinson in any way.
• Solid delivery from Ego during her scenes.
• Fitting casting of John.
• Meh, the premise for this sketch is starting to lose its steam after a long time.
• Okay, I’m getting some chuckles from Kenan’s speech.
• Weak ending.

Rating: **½

Cut For Time: You Go Show

• Sounds like Aidy doing the voiceover.
• John’s delivery of his opening spiel made me laugh.
• I love John’s whole interaction with Kenan.
• Amusing appearance from Mikey.
• This sketch is starting to take an interesting turn with John’s whole conversation with Mikey about how he notices people’s ears less.
• Mikey’s slowburn is great.
• This bit with Cecily’s cat scarfs is making me laugh.
• I love Kenan’s facial reaction after John asks his question to Cecily.
• The moment where everyone is looking tensely into the camera is slaying me.
• I love Kenan’s delivery of “Don’t pull me into this”.
• Great reveal as to why John’s show is called You Go Show.
• I love John’s reveal that they have to sit there for a minute.
• Fantastic fake freeze frame ending.

Rating: ****½

Cut For Time: Love Is Blind

• Another solid performance from Chloe.
• A decent premise for a reality show ad, though I’m not sure how this will hold up over the course of three minutes.
• Yeah, the more this goes on, the humor is starting to lose its steam.
• I love Chloe’s delivery of “I licked a paw”.
• That’s it?

Rating: **½

Final Thoughts

• A decent episode, though this felt a bit below par for Mulaney’s standards. I feel like barely anything stood out, but I did give high ratings to the monologue, Weekend Update, and Airport Sushi, all of which helped raise the overall average for this episode.

Rating: ***½

Tomorrow (but hopefully, later today):

Season 45 comes to a premature end, with host Daniel Craig