Cold Open – Courthouse Address
- That Brooklyn voice Fineman’s using is pretty annoying.
- Blah, another cold open focusing on James’ Trump impression.
- I’m about a couple minutes in, and I haven’t even gotten a mere smirk from all of James’ ramblings. At this point, this whole Trump rambling routine has gotten old.
- Blah at the Mean Girls reference. I can’t help but feel that it’s too tongue-in-cheek due to tonight’s musical guest. At the very least, it’s nice to know that I’ve been saying Lacey Chabert’s name correctly.
- And it’s over already? Oof.
Rating: *
Opening Montage
- Oddly enough, Please Don’t Destroy is credited despite them not appearing in tonight’s show.
Monologue
- Boy, Jacob has a rather strange accent. I know he’s from Australia, but it almost sounds like a mix of both Australian AND American.
- Wow, we barely started and already, we just cut to a clip.
- Some pretty funny lines from Jacob regarding the movie he’s promoting.
- Oh, so now this is turning into a Q&A monologue? Did the writers have little confidence in Jacob as a host? After all, that is often the case when they do these types of monologues.
- Well, at least they’re using actual writers as audience members.
- A funny bit with one audience member not having a question, just wanting to look at Jacob for a long amount of time.
- Oops, I spoke too soon, because now, they’re using cast members for the remaining questions.
- What the hell is that weird shadow behind Sarah while she’s been applauding?
- Meh at the bit with Sarah demanding more applause.
- Kenan’s look alone is worth a laugh.
- Kenan’s whole bit regarding elephants made me laugh more than it should have.
- Blah at Bowen’s bit. It was both unnecessary and unfunny.
Rating: **½
Crown Your Short King
- Judging from the early setup, I have a feeling I’m not gonna care for this sketch. In fact, it’s reminding me of that godawful Dream Guy sketch from S47.
- Not sure if we need to see Molly playing one of the bachelors.
- I got a chuckle from Marcello’s look to the camera.
- A laugh from the initial reveal of Jacob’s dopey character, as well as him being taller than Bowen, Molly, and Marcello.
- Not sure what to make of the running gag with Marcello being constantly referred to as “Tiny Teddy”.
- I got a laugh from Mikey now calling Marcello “chipmunk”, which he then follows with a sarcastic laugh.
- At least Fineman got to make out with Jacob.
- Lame ending with everyone dancing.
Rating: ***
Club Shay Shay: The Extended Cut
- Why is Ego playing Katt Williams?
- I have a stupid question: if this interview with Katt Williams supposedly “broke the Internet”, then how come I didn’t know about it until now?
- An okay Shannon Sharpe impression from Devon, but watching both of these impressions honestly makes me miss Jay Pharoah.
- All of these exaggerated ramblings from Ego are only mildly funny at best.
- I got a chuckle from the sudden appearance of the chalkboard containing all of these crazy ramblings.
Rating: **½
Entertainment Tonight – Award Seasons Special
- Blah. After such a long setup praising Jacob and Bowen’s ability to read lips, you can already tell what the main joke is.
- I got a laugh from Jacob’s attempt at doing a Travis Kelce impression.
- I’m not caring for any of these lip-readings from Jacob and Bowen. Maybe it’s the fact that what they’re saying isn’t funny, maybe it’s Bowen’s execution, maybe it’s both.
- Figures that we would see Reneé Rapp in a sketch.
- Blah at Reneé’s dialogue regarding why she’s doing this.
- I didn’t exactly care for the lip-reading of the Gwyneth Paltrow trial, but I did like Jacob and Reneé’s deliveries.
- Lame ending.
- Overall, this sketch did not work for me.
Rating: *½
Bowling Pins
- An interesting concept of the animations that play after bowling.
- After the first two clips, this sketch has taken a very promising turn once we got to the bowling pins who are getting a divorce.
- Hilarious how all these serious situations are being presented with bowling pins, as well as how this is leading to the score Jacob and Heidi respectively got.
- A huge laugh from the “Strike” animation.
- Who’s playing the ASL interpreter?
- Sarah looked like she was about to break while the number 9 was being displayed onscreen.
- I’m loving how this sketch is using the entire cast. I always enjoy whenever the show does that.
- Longfellow and Fineman’s scene was so funny that I’m not even gonna question how someone can get a “stuck ball”.
- The “have sex” punchline was awkwardly executed.
- Overall, this sketch was priceless.
Rating: *****
Alaska Airlines
- I’m not familiar with the Alaska Airlines incident this sketch seems to be spoofing, but I’m hoping that this works for me.
- A funny concept of how the airlines are trying to make the dangerous situations actually exciting, especially with how straight this ad is being played.
- Plenty of laughs from all the changes Alaska Airlines is making to their plane to make them sound more “fun”.
- James’ scene as Sully was priceless.
Rating: ***½
Weekend Update
- Solid jokes from Colin regarding the Trump/Biden election. However, part of me can’t help but feel that he’s just explaining to us what happened at certain points.
- I feel like we just saw Devon as Tim Scott. Regardless, that voice he’s using does crack me up.
- Didn’t SNL just use the gag of someone making fun of a trait of theirs?
- The “racist dog whistle” bit is solid.
- Not too much to say about this Tim Scott commentary, but I enjoyed it.
- Not sure if we needed to see the “flying defendant” video.
- Punkie playing Deobra Redden? Between this and Ego playing Katt Williams earlier, I think the show needs more black men.
- Kinda funny how Punkie is analyzing the video a la sports.
- Wow, I barely had much to say about that overall commentary.
Rating: ***½
Women’s AA Meeting
- The initial setup is reminding me of the AA meeting sketch from the preceding season’s Jack Harlow episode.
- Funny concept of the women in a support meeting lying about it being an AA meeting after Jacob enters the room.
- I’m enjoying Jacob’s lines about how he acts sexually towards other women while drunk, as well as the women’s reactions.
- Molly’s “dicking of a lifetime” line made me laugh.
- Why are the ladies suddenly breaking?
- Not sure if we needed to end this sketch on a callback to an earlier part with Mikey.
Rating: ***½
Musical Performance Intro
- Y’know, at first, I was gonna question why Rachel McAdams was the one introducing Reneé Rapp, but then I remembered that they were both Regina George.
Acting Class
- Not really caring for the opening bit involving Bowen, Fineman, and Mikey.
- Ah, so they did put Rachel McAdams in a sketch. However, I kinda wish that the camera didn’t show her walking into her place, as it ruined the reveal early on.
- Not entirely sure of the reveal of Rachel playing a woman who looks a lot similar to Rachel McAdams, nor her real name being Natalie Partman.
- I’m currently about a few minutes in, and this sketch has kinda been falling flat for me. Most of the laughs are okay at best.
- Oh, so not only does Rachel’s name sound a lot like Natalie Portman, but she also seems to have picked up some of her vocal mannerisms.
- Okay, I did get a chuckle from Jacob realizing that people audition for a role, since he never did.
- Weak ending.
Rating: **½
Garrett from Hinge: Wedding
- OH MOTHERFUCKING NO! Not the return of this horrendous character from the preceding season’s Travis Kelce episode!
- Lame cutaway to the organist having the same haircut and clothing as Bowen.
- Ugh, this seems to be hitting the same beats as the first installment, which I also hated.
- Another ugh, as just like the first installment, Bowen just doesn’t shut up. In fact, come to think of it, all of Bowen’s showcases this season have felt similar to each other.
- I’ll say it again: ugh. Now we have the same turn as the first installment, with Jacob warming up to Bowen.
- Okay, I finally got a chuckle from James suddenly doing a Cleveland Brown impression out of nowhere. That said, I don’t think it’s enough to save this sketch.
- The part with Bowen suddenly fading from the mirror was ruined by the fact that you could still see him leaving afterwards.
- Terrible ending.
- Overall, this was even worse than the first installment. And this was how tonight’s episode ENDS?!
Rating: *
Final Thoughts
- This episode started on a worrisome note with the first five segments, where I barely cared for anything. Fortunately, once the Bowling Pins sketch hit, there was a nice run of solid sketches in the middle, before the night ended on a whimper with the final two sketches. And what was bad in this episode was PAINFUL. The end result is an overall shaky episode.
Cast Member / Host Count Down:
CHE: 1 sketch (Update)
DAY: 4 sketches (Crown Your Short King, Bowling Pins, Women’s AA Meeting, Acting Class)
DISMUKES: 3 sketches (Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Acting Class)
FINEMAN: 5 sketches (Cold Open, Crown Your Short King, Bowling Pins, Women’s AA Meeting, Acting Class)
GARDNER: 5 sketches (Entertainment Tonight, Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Women’s AA Meeting, Acting Class)
JOHNSON: 4 sketches (Cold Open, Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Garrett from Hinge)
JOHNSON: 4 sketches (Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Update, Women’s AA Meeting)
JOST: 1 sketch (Update)
NWODIM: 5 sketches (Club Shay Shay, Entertainment Tonight, Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Women’s AA Meeting)
SHERMAN: 4 sketches (Monologue, Bowling Pins, Women’s AA Meeting, Acting Class)
THOMPSON: 3 sketches (Monologue, Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines)
YANG: 7 sketches (Monologue, Crown Your Short King, Entertainment Tonight, Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Acting Class, Garrett from Hinge)
HERNANDEZ: 2 sketches (Crown Your Short King, Bowling Pins)
KEARNEY: 3 sketches (Crown Your Short King, Bowling Pins, Women’s AA Meeting)
LONGFELLOW: 2 sketches (Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines)
TROAST: 4 sketches (Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Women’s AA Meeting, Garrett from Hinge)
WALKER: 3 sketches (Club Shay Shay, Bowling Pins, Update)
ELORDI: 8 sketches (Monologue, Crown Your Short King, Entertainment Tonight, Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Women’s AA Meeting, Acting Class, Garrett from Hinge)
Next Week:
Dakota Johnson hosts with musical guest Justin Timberlake
And of course, with that information, I think you know by now what that means.
Jesse's SNL Reviews 