If I had to pick one word to describe last night's show, "disappointing" would be it. And I'm being kind. An episode so disappointing (not even the usually dependable Che was funny) that I can easily pick out its 4 highlights strewn through the wreckage of corporate cowardice, cruelty and creative strangulation like radiant little bits of gold. 1) The Man Park video. While informed by the same cruelty that fueled the entire episode, this was MINDFUL cruelty. Not funny, but thoughtful. 2) Sarah Sherman on WU. An absolute revelation, and one of the best SNL bits EVER, standing in sharp contrast to Jost's exceptionally cringy pandering. 3) Aristotle Athari as Laughingtosh 3000, also on WU. Following Sherman's brilliant turn, I felt as though I was watching clips of New Wave cinema surreptitiously edited into video of a drunken frat party. Transcendent. 4) The long shot following the so-so Man In Red sketch in which the pointing girl suddenly jumps up in glee, spontaneously bowing. Absolutely adorable.
The Laughingtosh 3000 skit was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on SNL. In recent years, Weekend Update characters such as Kate McKinnon’s Russian peasant woman, or Bowen Yang’s Iceberg That Hit the Titanic, have provided some of the biggest laughs on the show for me, but the Laughingtosh guy just absolutely killed it. Not even sure which anonymous male cast member that was under the makeup, but he was funny. As someone noted above, I really like Ego Nwodim - along with Heidi Gardner, she’s a big part of why I tune in, but I thought her “church swingers” skit was just weird. As with so many other similar skits in recent years, it just seemed to be more concerned with pushing the boundaries of what sexual innuendo they can get away with on network TV than with being funny. Not there’s anything wrong with sex or sex jokes, I just didn’t find either this skit or the one with the “parade of suitors” very funny.
The boundary pushing is supposed to be one of the features of the show. It is what SNL should be, topical and boundary pushing. I am kind of amazed that they did away with nearly every recurring sketch. SNL was NEVER like that. Even early years, Gilda ran Emily Littella and Roseanne Roseannadanna into the ground. The "parade of idiots" is a frequent sketch format now. They do it to get a lot of performances into a short time, which they need with such a large cast.
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Billie Eilish does not seem to be in Ariana Grande's league (the artist she seems to be compared with the most). This follow up album seems to be an out and bomb
Michael Che's new comedy stand-up special on Netflix is pretty good. Came out this week. He's pretty lethargic as a performer -- he just sits on a stool the whole act, and the pacing is a bit slow -- but his jokes have the best of the wit and humor from Weekend Update that I like about him. Some seasons, the writing staff is strong. Some seasons, the cast is strong. Of course, the show is at its best when writers and cast are both strong. It's a collaborative relationship between the writers and cast. I saw some SNL writers speak once, who worked a lot with Kate McKinnon. They talked about how sometimes they have "just okay" material, but Kate says she can make it work, and the sketch is great because it's the right vehicle for Kate to do her stuff with it. The show added 10 new writers this season. It also lost a couple longtime cast members, and Kate was out for many episodes because of a movie project. So this season may not have been the right one to do a big cast shake-up. But I think they can adjust the cast for next season based on who's really syncing up with the writers. With the new cast members, I think one good think about SNL is that they do give their cast some time to find their footing, figure out what they can do. Sometimes it flames out. Sometimes the cast member turns into a real gem. When Eddie Murphy started on SNL, he was a bit of a diversity hire (there was only one black cast member before him). The writers didn't know how to write for a young, black kid, and Eddie didn't really do anything memorable on the show for a while. But eventually a couple writers worked with Eddie on something that they thought could work for him, it struck gold, and the rest is history. Pete Davidson is kind of a dope on the show. But outside the show itself, he does bring a lot of media and public attention to himself and the show in a way that the other cast members don't. I suspect that's a good part of why he's been kept around.
Who's comparing Billie and Ariana, and how? They're nothing alike. Or did Billie's revamp this year make the comparison possible? I don't know if I've heard any of the newer stuff.
My wife and I -- neither one of us -- has ever even heard OF Simu Liu, or Saweetie. I looked up Saweetie, btw, and she doesn't even have any albums out, not even one! -- just two EP's, if I read right. Who the hell gets on SNL as a musical guest, without even one album to their credit??
the music critics and Billie , herself , actually . Though to be fair , Billie's last album was huge critical success , despite being a commercial bomb.
It's not unheard of. Chance the Rapper was musical guest twice before he put out his first official album! Olivia Rodrigo was musical guest last season just before her album came out. Natalie Imbruglia was musical guest before she had any commercially released recording in the US. A Ready for 'SNL' Player
And of course Lana Del Rey, who I think had exactly zero releases when she did her horrible musical guest performance.
Man, the hate for that Del Rey performance is unbelievable. It was fine, there was nothing wrong with it. I'm not even a fan of her music, I watched it and thought something like, "Oh, kinda cool..." It wasn't mindblowing, it wasn't horrible. It was just fine, really. There have been other performances much worse than that on SNL. That tone deaf guy who was trying to sing with Kanye comes to mind.
After the weakest opening yet this season - saved yet again only by the hilarious/brilliant Trump bits (as good as Baldwin's were cringe-inducing), the show was okay - definitely better than last week. The musical guest was absolutely awful.
Yeah, well...where's YOUR chicken sandwich, buddy? There's a reason Colonel Sanders was the FIRST member of The Five-Timers Club.
Baby Yoda made me fall out of my chair. Once again, a Weekend Update guest steals the show. The Target commercial was pretty funny. Simu Liu was one of the better hosts they’ve had in a while, in that he was professional, at ease, and very comfortable in every kind of skit.
Sitting here in Wyoming watching this state with the nation’s lowest population be the payoff joke in an SNL bit. Mind blown. Times are so weird. Great show IMHO and a worthy continuation of what’s so far a very solid season. Some clunkers as expected but overall very funny. Killer Weekend Update. I think the cake baking show bit can be retired after peaking with the Eddie Murphy episode. dan c
How many times have they done this sketch now? They've definitely gone back to the well a few times too many, particularly since there's not even any variation in what they do. There's always a cake that comes to life and vomits. There's always a cake that is phallic. Recurring sketches are one thing, but they're not even bothering to rewrite it, they're just doing the exact same sketch over and over. It was hilarious the first time, and funny the next couple times, but well past its sell-by date now.
I get the feeling that the "Dog Head Man" sketch is going to become the next "David Pumpkins" sketch, popularity-wise.
She's filming a show in Australia and has yet to appear on SNL this season, but she is expected to return.
