October 3, 2020 – Chris Rock / Megan Thee Stallion (S46 E1)

Cold Opening – The presidential Debate

• Ooof! Tonight’s episode is already starting on shaky ground.
• I, thankfully, began my reviewing journey with season 47, long after Trumpwin left. so, doing these reviews in the first half, I’ll have to endure this half-assed, self-amused ”impression” for a little while.
• (*groan*) Cue the overlong applause from Jim Carrey’s Biden.
• Carrey’s Biden sounds just like Fire Marshall Bill, and Carrey’s wild shtick, which was funny back in his prime, is coming off embarrassing & unfunny here.
• At least Beck is doing a solid Chris Wallace. Beck’s impression skills are always underrated, and knowing the fantastic season he’ll be having, I’ll be having a blast reviewing his MANY great showcases throughout the year.
• Trumpwin’s lines and Baldwin’s constant mugging is wasting the very little-to-nonexistent comedic potential in his lines.
• Solid Kimberly Guilfoyle impression from Cecily. IIRC, she’s absent from the first six episodes and returns for the December shows. I won’t say anything here, but when she comes back, I’ll be very blunt when it comes to her material this season.
• Much like what Jesse wrote in his blog, but coming off James Austin Johnson’s far superior takes on both Biden & Trump will make watching these two self-amused, hammy, and weak impressions very awkward in the next few episodes.
• The return of Kamaya, one of my least favorite impressions starring a cast member that I could not STAND when I watched her tenure.
• A checklist moment right now with the ”WAP” quote.
• I’m always baffled by the “YAS KWEEN!!!” portrayal of Kamala Harris & some other female politicians on the show in this era, like the infamous RBG Rap and the Theresa May sycophantic pretape, where is the point in portraying them as borderline deified figures? Especially when May and Harris are two of the last politicians that deserve that kind of hero worship.
• Not caring for the remote control part, it’s not as cool as SNL thinks it is.
• Very lame & annoying speech from Carrey’s Biden, I tell right now guys, I ALREADY miss JAJ’s FAR superior take.
• (*sigh*) We are over ten minutes and this open is not done yet. And, is nothing but a bunch of one-liners & visual gags that are falling flat with me and the audience.
• Overall, a horrible cold open, and given this season’s general reputation, at least in the first half or so, it sets the tone of the type of material I’ll regularly have to review.

Rating: *1/2

Opening Montage

• A new montage!
• An interesting new style with the pandemic them & using still photos instead of live action.
• I do still MUCH prefer the previous montage & would’ve loved it to last at least two more years, but with the current events, I get why it was changed.
• Ego Nwodim has been promoted from featured player to repertory, well-deserved.
• Bowen & Chloe are still featured players, which is a tradition since season 24. It’s weird that Bowen & Chloe had a fairly solid first showing, with Chloe having a hot streak in the second half; and Bowen hitting out of the park since the beginning. Yet, the traditions remain no matter how baffling they sometimes seem.
• Andrew Dismukes, Lauren Holt, and Punkie Johnson are our new cast members for this season. I do recall enjoying Punkie & Andrew, especially in his solid 2nd half this season, and Lauren? Well, we shall see as her tenure will become infamous after the return of a certain vet.
• Seeing Aristotle Athari (yes even when he’s as invisible as Lauren this year), James Austin Johnson, and (especially) Sarah Sherman in the current 47th season, and how much they’ve impacted the show, and changed the atmosphere, it will be awkward to regularly review a very underused & mostly unimpressive (aside from glimpses of potential from Andrew) series of newbies in these twenty episodes.

Monologue

• I’ll be honest with you all, I’ve never cared for Chris Rock nor his stand-up, but I’ll go into this with an open mind, seeing it as the first of several stand-up monologues in the first half of the season.
• For a stand-up comic, Chris is awfully stumbly and unenergetic in his delivery.
• Ok, I did get a chuckle from his bit about Trump getting Covid.
• Not caring for Chris’ trademark loud delivery, it never ever works for me, and it’s more distracting than anything else.
• Another solid dig at Trump being a former game show host turned president.
• Aside from the aforementioned digs, this whole stand-up is unfocused & feels aimless.
• Overall, meh. A boring, overlong, confused, unenergetic monologue. Aside from some solid digs at the former president, the rest of it was unfocused and rambling, a much weaker stand-up than his previous two. A harbinger to how much Rock will suck as the host tonight.
  

Rating: **1/2

Action 9 News At Five – Eye On Pittsburgh

• (*sigh*) We begin our first post-monologue sketch and the first true sketch of thr season with a fucking “LOL dirty names!” sketch? Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!!??
• Seeing Mikey here, I’m already ready for various insufferable ”Mikey reacts!” How this man co-wrote classics like David S. Pumpkins, FBI Simulator, Space Pants, Matt Shatt, I’ll never truly know.
• Lauren Holt makes her SNL debut, and it’s a dull, straight, mostly-silent role, a fitting first role that summaries her short-lived SNL tenure.
• Lauren’s bit bombed hard with the audience.
• Come to think of it, this sketch is dead so far, barely any laughs from the audience, and none from me. Get used to that folks, as I recall many episodes this season that are either dead (Jason Bateman, Regina King, Dan Levy) or died a slow, miserable, painful death as the night went along (Kristen Wiig, John Krasinski, Elon Musk).
• (*sigh*) It’s quite fitting that this tripe is our lead sketch of the season, a harbinger to the mostly-horrendous quality of the live sketches this year.
• Not even the reliable Ego, continuing her rise after her two underrated low-key first two seasons, can do anything to save this with her reliable delivery. It’s a great thing that I know, in hindsight, the fantastic season that she’ll be having.
• Overall, an offensive and insulting sight to start a season premiere with, absolutely unwatchable.

Rating: *

Bottom of Your Face

• Our obligatory music video with Megan Thee Stallion.
• Impressive rapping skills from Ego.
• Catchy tune & fun visuals to this piece.
• OH GOD, here comes Chris Rock to hijack this piece with his halting, boring, unenergetic delivery.
• A very average piece overall. Not bad, but it pales in comparison to other rap videos from SNL & music videos that this era usually excels at.

Rating: ***

Future Ghost

• A certainly unique concept.
• Chris Rock’s entrance is already giving me a bad feeling about this sketch.
• Oh god! Another sketch that’s DEAD. Jesus Christ! This episode is the equivalent of a fucking funeral dirge.
• Boy, Chris is yet again stumbling through his lines left and right, good that Kyle is here to keep the pace going.
• I did NOT need to see Kyle burst into a lame, unfunny, seemingly-endless song.
• Awful, AWFUL ending.

Rating: *1/2

The Drew Barrymore Show

• Ah, our very first Chloe showcase in what turns out to be a strong, memorable, scene-stealing season for her.
• You can tell SNL trusts Chloe so much by giving a full pretape to showcase her impression skills. I remember being so excited for Chloe’s season when this episode first aired.
• Fantastic Drew Barrymore vocal impression from Chloe, which is impressive as Heidi also did a solid impression of Drew in her first season.
• Some good laughs from Drew’s actions in the studio alone.
• In certain parts, like in her other brilliant impressions, Chloe manages to look JUST LIKE the person she’s impersonating.
• Andrew Dismukes & Punkie Johnson make their SNL debuts in mostly-silent straight roles, a harbinger to their tenures this season, aside from Andrew’s low-key solid run in the 2nd half.
• Great & hilarious Reese Witherspoon impression.
• A solid Tom Green from Alex & great makeup job on him.
• I’m LOVING Chloe’s Nicole Kidman impression & accent, flawless.
• Good laughs from Kenan’s Billy Porter singing to a flower.
• Overall, leave it to Chloe Fineman to give me my first laughs in this dull, deathly episode.

Rating: ****

Weekend Update

• As expected, strong jokes from Colin & Michael at the beginning of the season’s first Update.
• Loved Michael’s three ghosts joke.
• Colin: “If the situation were reversed, and it was Biden who got sick, Trump would 100% be at a maskless rally tonight, getting huge laughs doing an impression of Biden on a ventilator. Just saying.”
• The return of Bowen’s Chen Biao.
• As usual, some solid laughs enhanced further by Bowen’s always-professional and committed performance.
• A good nod to tonight’s musical guest with Chen Biao singing ”Savage” which Megan Thee Stallion just sang before our Update began.
• A good Chen Biao commentary overall.
• Ha! The usual hilarious Mitch McConnell “seen here” joke from Colin & Michael that NEVER fail to make me laugh out loud.
• Aidy’s Carrie Krum returns to the Update desk.
• I just noticed, after looking at the SNL Archives, that this is Aidy’s first appearance all night, and IIRC she only makes one more brief appearance later in this half, before returning full-time and angering me with the quality of her work. A fact that became painful for me to admit.
• Some ok laughs from Carrie’s lines, but with many of Aidy’s Update commentaries, it feels somewhat too repetitive and aimless in parts.
• An overall good Update, and if my memory serves me right, we will be getting some pretty strong ones throughout the season, often the major highlight of an episode.

Rating: ***1/2

NBA Bubble Draft Finals

• Oh boy, here comes an infamous, notorious sketch from this already-notorious episode.
• I called the previous dirty names sketch offensive and insulting. But when it comes to being truly insulting and sexist, THIS sketch about women being dumb and ”hoes” takes the cake.
• Ugh at the ”funny” last name of Chris’ character. I could ALREADY tell who had a hand in writing this insufferable, boring tripe.
• (*sigh*) As per usual, Chris is fucking up his lines, coming off stumbly, sloppy, underrehearsed, unfunny, confused, and not to mention sleepwalking through his lines, like the rest of the night.
• Poor, poor Lauren, getting dragged into this sexist tripe in her very first SNL episode. A harbinger to how disrespected & neglected she will be in her short-lived tenure.
• Once again, the audience is fucking DEAD, and I cannot blame them a bit.
• (*groan*) The first of rather an EXCESSIVE amount of cameos in sketches from Maya this season.
• Yeah, now we have a list of various ways to say the word ”hoe”, how lovely.
• This makeup & wig combo are ruining Alex’s gorgeous looks. Too bad, as his lovely presence could’ve added something to this dead sketch.
• (*sigh*) Even Megan Thee Stallion, a singer, is doing a FAR better job at performing her part than freaking Chris Rock, a supposed comedy ”legend”.
• An absolutely disgraceful, unfunny, despicable, irredeemable sketch. A new low for SNL.

Rating: *

Stunt Performers Association of America

• (*sigh*) As if tonight’s episode hasn’t been unbearable enough, here comes the first of MANY boring, wordy, overlong Drezen/Gates pieces this season.
• Boy, much like many parts of this episode, this feels DEAD. I do recall many episodes & sketches throughout the season having a lethargic, formulaic, depressed, dead atmosphere.
• NOT caring for the Kaidy part, a harbinger of how annoying both of them will be this season.
• An overall below-average piece for me, like many of those Drezen/Gates wordy & rambly pieces. Let’s not forget how much Drezen/Gates contributed to the rapid decline of Kate & particularly Aidy in this season, which we’ll get to upon review of certain upcoming sketches.

Rating: **1/2

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

The Drew Barrymore Show

Weekend Update

Bottom of Your Face

Monologue

Stunt Performers Association of America

Future Ghost

The First Presidential Debate

Action 9 News At Five – Eye On Pittsburgh

NBA Bubble Draft Finals

Final Thoughts:-

• Simply awful. One of the worst episodes I’ve had to sit through. The episode already started out rough with an overlong, laughless, boring cold open featuring half-assed ”impressions” and cringe-inducing writing. Then, we got to our host, and oh boy, Chris Rock was an outright DISASTER tonight, sleepwalking throughout the episode with his low energy, deadpan, comedy-killing, halting, constantly-stumbly delivery and line flubs to the point of no return. He is hands down, HANDS DOWN, one of the worst hosts that I’ve seen recur ever. How did he host three times when Nathan Lane, Garth Brooks, Steve Buscemi, Chance the Rapper, etc. Did not reach that number when they’re BEYOND MILES far funnier and better than him.
• Believe it or not, as unwatchable and disastrous as tonight’s episode was, it won’t be even the worst of the season. Yes, there are certain upcoming episodes that will sink even LOWER than tonight (*shudder*).

Up Next:-

• (*sigh of relief*) Bill Burr is our host with musical guest Jack White.