October 2-December 11, 2021 – CFT Pieces (S47 E1-8)

(Owen Wilson / Kacey Musgraves – S47 E1)

Splitting the Check

disagreements over check-splitting causes oddball turns

• I do recall liking this piece.
• Aristotle in another bit role in his first episode, while James opens the show, and Sarah hits the ground running.
• Well-directed piece so far, on par with the other pretapes.
• Either Owen is whispering his lines or I cannot hear properly.
• As for Owen, he’s doing pretty well here, certainly better than almost all of his performances in the episode, I’ll chalk it to stress & him being a movie star not a stage performer.
• Loving the turns that this one is taking.
• Cecily is especially a solid straight man throughout this short.
• I do love the aspect ratio changing as soon as the tone of the short changes to be more sinister; Heidi and Alex are really shining here.
• Ok, random return of Aristotle as some villain, decent usage at least of him.
• Weird ending tagline, is this again parodying something I don’t know? Jeez I feel like under a rock with how out-of-the-loop I’m with current pop culture, despite being only 24.
• Overall, pretty good and thankfully the episode was solid enough, yet this should’ve replaced that Talking sketch.

Rating: ***1/2

(Kim Kardashian West / Halsey – S47 E2)

Costco Meeting

teen-friendly pop group (host), (AIB), (BOY) pitch to Costco

• Lovely to see Sarah doing something in this episode, but her voice is somewhat too loud here for some reason.
• Sarah’s look here reminds of certain celeb, I just cannot remember whom. Come to think of it Sarah does bear strong resemblance to Tina Fey, Emma Stone, Melissa, and Kate bush. I bet she could do a killer Kate Bush too.
• Already, the entrance from Kim, Bowen, and Aidy in those ridiculous pink leather outfits is making me worried.
• What the hell is it with this sketch?! The concept of a pop group pitching to Costco, complete with Gen-Z slang delivered by performers much older than said generation and lame dance moves, is comedy death to me.
• Surprisingly, Kim is not that bad in this, yet this sketch’s writing is beyond embarrassing and cringey, so she’ll come off as unfunny as the sketch is.
• I am certainly positive that I did not need this jokeless music session, complete with lame dance moves.
• This sketch feels very inside joke to me so far; are these terms thrown around by Bowen & Aidy backstage as they good around? Seeing how clearly amused they are of themselves, I can only see that as a reason of them being way too confident of such a laughless, dull concept.
• Very lame, nonsensical line from Kim regarding their ages.
• Overall, this was not only brutal to sit through, but I honestly felt bad for the performers involved. Simply oof.

Rating: *

(Rami Malek / Young Thug – S47 E3)

Brutal Marriage Movie

(host) & (HEG) star in Oscar bait drama

• For some reason, this is reminding me of the classic Lesbian Period Drama piece from Carey Mulligan’s stint last season, I would assume both had the same director.
• Good jabs at Oscar bait movies in this, and although I’m not laughing much, this is still decent.
• The fight to sex scene transition was pretty funny.
• Surprised this was over already. I barely wrote anything about this short, but it was pretty good as a whole.

Rating: ***

Please Don’t Destroy – Rami Wants a Treat

(host) is scared from hosting SNL

• Great to be able to review one of these.
• Man, these guys really have stage presence and likability, again I’m hoping some of them will join the cast after the potential exodus.
• Pretty solid escalation once again in these pieces, and Rami is performing this very well.
• Love the dramatic speech that Rami is giving, this is surprisingly touching in a way.
• Ah, they got me again with Rami destroying the laptop, solid reaction from them once again.
• Pretty great, I would’ve replaced the Pete music video with this one, yet the episode was great, and Pete’s piece was decent.

Rating: ****

Superhosts

a couple (MID) & (MEV) is weirded out by Airbnb superhosts (host) & (CES)

• The beginning of this sketch with the random “are you gay?” talk between Melissa & Mikey was terrible, despite both performing it as good as always.
• Am I supposed to laugh at Cecily and Rami acting weird? and are the various gifts they’re giving them supposed to be funny? Also, how did they just enter the house? wasn’t there any locks? so many questions, so little laughs.
• Cecily & Rami’s performances are fine, but I am failing to understand where the humor is coming from so far, as “kooky.”
• I’m about halfway into this, and all I see is some lame attempt at weird non-sequiter humor, which is landing with a thud.
• So sad to see Melissa dragged into this, she deserves much better than to play a second fiddle to a Cecily Strong whacky self-indulgent piece.
• The ending was both terrible and didn’t make any sense to me. Not upset this got cut.

Rating: *

(Jason Sudeikis / Brandi Carlile – S47 E4)

Weekend Update

Guy Who Just Bought A Bought (ALM) gives tips on Halloween dating

(MEV) on Hispanic Heritage Months & Mary Poppins

• Great to see Alex getting a commentary again after the fantastic Terry Fink piece earlier this season. Yes, I know this didn’t make it to air, I’m speaking about getting to see it.
• The usual laughs from Alex’s GWJBAB even though the jokes get a little repetitive after a while.
• Ok, we get it, your dick is small.
• An ok commentary overall, even though it’s sad not to see this one end Update as planned, good to see it uploaded on Youtube for a change.
• Good to see Melissa on Update, hopefully she’ll rectify the way she bombed back in the Adele episode. Still shuddering from that moment over a year ago.
• Ah, Melissa is being her usual adorable & charming herself, shame how her likability was barely utilized
• Yes! I’m loving that Melissa gets to sing here, as she’s like Aidy, originally specialized in musical comedy.
• Solid Mary Poppins imitation, and the crowd is loving this surprisingly.
• Solid commentary overall from Melissa, and this should’ve made it on air, a good showcase for her & a fun piece overall, and it would’ve increased the rating to a very high ****1/2.

Rating: N/A ( segments like this do not warrant a rating)

(Kieran Culkin / Ed Sheeran – S47 E5)

Weekend Update

Brandon (KYM) thinks “Let’s Go Brandon” is all about him

• Quite the take on the “let’s go Brandon” meme.
• Kyle is quite endearing in this, and the various ”Aww’s” from the crowd basically confirm it.
• A cute ending with the crowd getting engaged with this and chanting “Let’s go, Badanoodles”. Che looks somewhat surprised by this.
• Frustrating that the Ice Cube commentary got on air and this didn’t. this was MILES better than Kenan’s piece, and features a good Kyle performance, and this would’ve bumped that Update by possibly a full star.

Rating: N/A ( segments like this do not warrant a rating)

(Simu Liu / Saweetie – S47 E7)

Please Don’t Destroy – Touch Up

John Higgins, Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy [real] go through plastic surgery craze

• Here comes another favorite of mine.
• Hilarious & impressive makeup on Ben as he enters.
• As always, solid escalation & performance from all three.
• Loving the long fingers on John, the absurdity in this is ramping up, and I’m HERE for it.
• OH GOD! an insane visual of a tiny head on Martin’s head.
• Great freakout & ending when the second head starts talking.
• This should’ve replaced that lazy Dog Head Man sketch, as it would’ve actually bumped up the episode from being ok into actually being pretty good.

Rating: *****

(Billie Eilish – S47 E8)

Please Don’t Destroy – Future Selves

John Higgins, Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy [real] meet their future selves

• Happy to see these guys again.
• Hilarious visual with an older Ben still being a redhead.
• Great delivery just now from younger Ben in response to his older self claim of not wearing a wig.
• That New York-accented guy is hilarious in this, and reminds me of the Sopranos for some reason.
• Great premise also to this piece, and I love their sardonic tone towards their older selves.
• Great ending with the LFNY and the bumper photo.
• This should’ve replaced that Hip-Hop skit, as this would’ve been ANOTHER great pretape in that episode and bump its average higher.

Rating: ****1/2

Angelo Christmas

Angelo (ARA) & (host) are weird

• Here comes the anticipated return that actually I, and many others full-on predicted that it would happen by the episode’s end, and when that garbage Drezen/Gates word salad piece appeared, I remember being absolutely floored.
• It’s both great & heartwarming to see Aristotle and Angelo get recognition applause from the audience. In less than 10 ”canon” minutes so far this season, and Ari is becoming amongst my favorites in this cast, which is pretty insane to say in merely half a season.
• I did not need a “Mikey explains/reacts” here as he always derails sketches with this unnecessary crutch he gets thrown into.
• Thankfully, Angelo is great here & a solid addition of Billie, who’s giving what I believe to be her finest performance of the night.
• Good look on Billie’s character here, adding to the weirdness and anti-comedic vibe of this piece.
• If Billie is attempting a Björk impression, then it’s SPOT-ON.
• As with the first piece, Aristotle is phenomenal here, the singing, the quick comments, his interactions with both Billie & the crowd are great.
• Aristotle & Billie are seemingly stifling their laughs, I would bitch, but this is dress, and I’m 100% certain that they would’ve kept a straight face on air.
• Cecily & Mikey somewhat starting to get on my nerves, thankfully Ari & Billie are KILLING it here.
• Great audience reception to this piece, and while I would overall rank the first as better, this one had a better sidekick, and I did like Rami in the classic first one.
• Overall, this was as great & fun as the first one. It again featured strong anti-comedy vibes that remind me of Tim & Eric back in the day, which seems to be Aristotle’s speciality. Without question, this should’ve replaced the snooze-inducing Kate mugfest which nearly put me to sleep.

Rating: *****

Final Thoughts:-

• Overall, I enjoyed reviewing these pieces, after suffering with Garbage Cecily & Aidy showcases, the pieces got progressively better; getting some high ratings from me, and culminating in another great Angelo piece that has to be the most baffling cut piece in YEARS.
• Unsurprisingly, the best pieces were the ones either performed by new cast members, like Aristotle’s, or written/performed by fresh writers, like the PDD guys, who continue to deliver great pieces.

Next Week:-

• Well, THIS week Ariana DeBose is hosting with Bleachers as the musical guest. From what I’ve seen of Ariana, she has the potential to be an absolutely fantastic host, she’s energetic & fun. Hopefully, the show won’t waste her like they did with Simu.
• Also, I’m always happy to see my favorite artists get booked on the show, Bleachers will do great, and they happen to be my second group/artist that I regularly listen to to be booked this season, after Brandi Carlile who killed in her episode. goodbye all, for now till Saturday.