December 18, 2021 – Paul Rudd / (no musical guest) (S47 E9)

Cold Opening – Five-Timers

• Ah, seeing Tom Hanks here is reminding of how much I loved his hosting stint from 42. I would rank it third behind Adam’s 45 and Mulaney’s 44.
• It’s so obvious that this was recorded earlier.
• Pretty eerie silence right now; it feels so surreal seeing this legendary studio empty, yet again that was for everyone’s safety.
• Great to see Kenan here; considering the legend he became after many years of being wasted and disrespected by many writers in the first third of his tenure.
• I did not need to see Tina here, as I DESPISED SNL during the years 2002-2006 when she filled it with the hammiest and most homophobic ”humor” ever.
• Lovely to see Steve Martin & Martin Short, and a decent scene between them.
• Overall, not much to say.

Rating: N/A (segments like this cannot be rated)

HomeGoods

• (*groan*) Even with a fucking virus spreading throughout 8H we still get our usual Kaidy whackyfest.
• So far, I’m zoning the FUCK out.
• Ugh! I DID NOT need that tongue move & horrid mugging just now from Kate.
• (*sigh*) The typical self-amused & self-congratulatory bullshit from Drezen/Gates whenever they write for either of both these past-their-prime performers.
• I would single out the absurdist masterpiece, Teacher Fell Down, from Gates’ first season as it featured possibly Kate’s best performance in her ten-seasons tenure. Aside from two fantastic showcases in Will Ferrell’s episode, which I’ll get into when I eventually review it.
• Ok, we get it, grandkids are awesome, but tone down the mugging and self-indulgence!
• Paul is used in a typical Paul Rudd manner, as a useless and boring straight man. Hey! At least he didn’t start tonging other cast members like he did in almost all of his previous appearances.
• Bullshit ending to try and trick us that this piece actually has a heart, instead of being our Umpteenth vanity piece from a tired performing/writing duo.
• If this was meant to be Drezen’s swan song before leaving the show, than oooof!!!

Rating: *

An Evening with Pete Davidson

• This is giving me strong Tom Schiller vibes.
• This is probably the best Pete showcase since probably his role in the Mr. Chicken Legs Pageant skit last season, an underrated favorite of mine.
• Wow! Pete is really immersing himself into this role & feels like a swan song for him.
• A very interesting turn with a robot Colin Jost, and I love the ”do Chad!” moment from Mikey.
• Fun MGK callback.
• Like I said in the Declaration Pitch skit, James looks he could’ve been transported from this era too.
• The more this short goes on, the more I’m reminded of an excellent Norm Macdonald short from season 19, as well as Bill Murray’s classic short from season 5. I’d assume that this is somewhat meant as a tribute to Schiller’s genius.
• Loved the weed bit, and Pete gave a good performance here.
• Pete’s natural New York accent is more visible here for some reason.
• I’m LOVING that this turned into a colored piece just now.
• Great ending & nice smile just now from Pete.
• A masterpiece in general; I love this even more on a second watch. You know, I usually shit on Pete despite not disliking him personally, and he did have a pretty good year in 46, impressing me in Rap Roundtable, Stu, The Negotiator, and Mr. Chicken Legs Pageant. I’m so happy that his mental health is now much better, and I’m hoping for a great potential final year for him, so far he’s doing well. As a Tracy Morgan-esque trajectory for both him & Melissa would make me very happy.

Rating: *****

Weekend Update

• Not too pleased to see Tina host Update, and yet knowing that Colin contracted Covid; with Scarlett and their baby being so young, it was the smart thing for him to quarantine alone, and to have Tina here.
• I liked Tina’s first three seasons on Update, and after that the show became hyperfocused on Lazy and insulting stereotypes around the LGBTQ+ community and focused to an insane degree on celebrity gossip. SNL never truly recovered from both until the start of the current era in 2014-2015.
• So far, ok jokes even when Tina isn’t as charismatic here as Colin, and she looks awkward next to Michael.
• As for Michael, he was funny with his comment regarding Kenan.
• Overall, decent enough & short.

Rating: ***1/2

The Christmas Socks

• Good to see a second consecutive Kyle-starring pretape after how much I liked the previous one.
• Come to think of it, this one would’ve probably been cut in place of more sketches, as it is with kyle’s pieces.
• Horrendous wig on Rudd.
• Our millionth piece with that fucking wig on Kyle’s head.
• Decent usage of Charli XCX, reminding of how much I loved the fantastic episode she musical-guested with Martin Freeman in season 40.
• As expected, some decently well-performed music from Charli, making me sad that she had to drop from this episode, certainly they will book her soon enough.
• Ok, this musical piece is kinda long, despite me being fine with it.
• An average piece overall, certainly a step down from the trio of great pretapes last week.

Rating: **1/2

Goodnights:-

• Great to see Che up there, and what an eerie silence still, surreal to watch.
• Boy, Lenny is killing it on the sax tonight; which is certainly saying something.

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

An Evening with Pete Davidson (by default)

Weekend Update

The Christmas Socks

HomeGoods

Final Thoughts:-

• A very different-feeling episode regarding what transpired earlier that day. Still, this episode still had a great pretape that will most likely be high on my end-of-the-season highlights, featuring an excellent Pete Davidson performance, and a potential swan song for him. Rudd was as expected, bland & boring, he was meh in all of his appearances, aside from an ok turn in the Pete pretape. It just BOGGLES my mind that the likes of Ryan Gosling, John Malkovich, Martin Freeman, David Harbour, etc. hosted less times than him. He has to be, alongside Jonah Hill, the worst five-timer host just behind the piece of shit that is Chevy Chase.
• Too bad that many pieces were cut, I really think that the potential five-timer monologue, and the ensemble pieces planned out might have given this episode a decent bump overall. Although, knowing our host, those pieces would be most likely *** or **** pieces at the most.

Very Soon:-

A review of the CFT pieces from the first half of the season.