Cold Opening – The presidential Debate
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) interrupts Joe Biden (Jim Carrey) at 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.
- 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.
Monologue
CSR does stand-up about the intersection of coronavirus & government
- 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. 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.
Rating: **1/2
Action 9 News At Five – Eye On Pittsburgh
TV reporter (MID) covers contact tracing at name-change office
- 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.
- 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 or died a slow, miserable death as the night went along.
- 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.
Rating: *
Bottom of Your Face
music video spotlights facial mystery linked to mask-wearing
- Our obligatory music video with Megan Thee Stallion.
- Impressive rapping skills from Ego.
- Catchy tune & fun visuals to this piece.
- The use of Rock here is bizarre to say the least, but he’s trying.
- 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
given a glimpse of 2020, Y2k teen (KYM) focuses on video game graphics
- A certainly unique concept.
- Chris Rock’s entrance is already giving me a bad feeling about this sketch.
- Boy, Chris is yet again stumbling through his lines left and right, good that Kyle is here to keep the pace going.
- I get what this sketch is trying to do, but the premise of Kyle not caring about the future in 2020 isn’t providing many laughs.
- I did NOT need to see Kyle burst into a lame, seemingly endless song.
- Awful, AWFUL ending.
Rating: *1/2
The Drew Barrymore Show
The Drew Barrymore (CLF) Show is characterized by cheery fare
- Ah, our very first Chloe showcase of the season.
- 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 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 episode.
Rating: ****
Musical Performance – “Savage”
Weekend Update
TikTok defender Chen Biao is dismissive of American challenges
Carrie Krum is perfectly fine with quarantine-mandated staycations
KAM wears Ruth Bader Ginsburg costume to mark her passing
- 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 later on.
- Some OK laughs from Carrie’s lines, but with many of Aidy’s Update commentaries, it feels somewhat too repetitive and aimless in parts.
- Very classy tribute to Justice Ginsburg from Kate as this Update ends.
- 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
women hope to gain access to isolated basketballers
- I thought the previous dirty names sketch 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.
- 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.
- 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.”
Rating: *
Stunt Performers Association of America
stuntwomen (KAM) & (AIB) specialize in slapstick kid comedy movie roles
- 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.
- Mikey and Ego are fun here, but this piece needed better focus and especially trimming Kate and Aidy, as they are bringing this one down for me.
- NOT caring for the Kaidy part, a harbinger of how annoying both of them will be this season. It also feels like some inside joking between them.
Rating: **1/2
Musical Performance – “Don’t Stop”
Goodnights
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:-
- A pretty weak, boring premiere as a whole. While I get this was a difficult time for the show to air in, a lot of the material was between boring or offensive. Not helping this episode was Chris Rock, while trying his best, was a weak host and not one that could’ve done anything to elevate the material given to him.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
Up Next:-
- Bill Burr is our host with musical guest Jack White.
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
“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 have 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.” For these reasons, I’m sure I’ll have a similar reaction when James and Sarah are featured players next season.
“Not caring for Chris’ trademark loud delivery, it never ever works for me, and it’s more distracting than anything else.” Meh, to each his own.
On par with the Season 20-esque quality of the season, I will add that the NBA Bubble Draft Finals sketch sounds very similar to that ESPYs sketch from that season’s Deion Sanders episode. I can totally see something like that happening in Season 20.
As for the actual review, I’m excited to read your thoughts on the season as we keep going, being someone who reviewed all of these episodes, as you already know. But my God, the disparity in quality between this season and the one I’m reviewing currently is fucking JARRING. How do they mess it up THIS BADLY?!
And now, here’s the ranking of which one of us three liked it most to who liked it least:
Imalive – 6.7
Jesse Nathan – 4.9
Blood Meridian – 4.6
Yeah the NBA one is right from season 20, I forgot to write that in my review. Yes, the quality disparity is JARRING to say the least, I did like the Burr & Rae episodes when they aired and I and many other fans considered the premiere to be just a mistake and things will be fine, and I turned out to be DEAD WRONG. While I’m sure this season will have an overall low average compared to the solid S45 & the current S47, I do not think it will be near S20 of 5.6. If I had to guess, I would probably say a 5.8-6.1 average which makes it nearly equal to the also-shaky S44, which seems about right to me personally and many others.
The Drew Barrymore Show has gotta be one of the best sketches in season 46. I don’t understand how people don’t like Chloe.
Don’t worry, I’ll have a LOT of praise coming towards Chloe in this season, she’s with Heidi & Ego my favorite female cast members in S46. And continue to this season, with the addition of Sarah.
I’ve never liked Rock much at all. Not as a cast member (I still FF through every Nat X), not as a stand-up, and DEFINITELY not on film, where he’s absolute poison. It’s hard to slow down Chris Farley’s energy and torpedo scenes from a movie like Beverly Hills Ninja, but he found a way.
I think it’s because he’s always “on.” Every public word I’ve ever seen him speak has been contrived and drawn-out, like a stand-up bit he practiced 12 times in the mirror right before hitting the stage. No matter what’s asked of him, you can always expect him to turn to camera and rattle off an unrelated, 45-second bit – usually on a subject that’s already been beaten to death by better comedians. Even in movies, he feels the need to pause the action and squeeze in some stand-up.
As a result, I always roll my eyes when he strolls into 8H to thunderous applause. And when he hosts, I expect very little. This episode… Did not change my mind.
Call me crazy, but I think this might be the worst of election-related material for SNL (as of now, we’ll see if we can dive deeper into hell a month from now). While you could make the case season 30 was even worse, there are some instances where it seems like they’re putting in effort to come up with coherent and sensible satire, but end up missing the target by a hundred feet. But this? The ill-timed LFNY among the three overrated “professionals” encapsulates a common motif this year: bootlicking elitists who are so self-indulgent that they can’t even come together to pull off the most basic task in this dearth of quality entertainment. I’m probably grabbing at straws here, but wow, it is truly some of the worst stuff this show has aired (and that is saying something). And here we are four years later, and it seems like we haven’t learned anything. Absolute garbage.
I just saw a repeat of this, and at one point Rock’s hand is blurred out, did he make an obscene gesture? Game show host turned president…there’s a line by Sting from “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You:” “You could say I’d lost my belief in our politicians/They all seemed like game show hosts to me”