February 6, 2021 – Dan Levy / Phoebe Bridgers (S46 E11)

Cold Opening – Super Bowl LV

• More than pleased to see a non-political cold open for a change.
• That’s some freaky makeup on Alex.
• By the way, I don’t know ANYONE in this cold open, as I’ve stated several times before that I’m not a sports guy, but SNL does a good job when it comes to parodying sports news in general, so I’ll be open-minded with this open.
• Hilarious footage from the Super Bowl highlights.
• Ugh at that Papa John’s mention.
• Ok, that ad they just showed was freaking hilarious.
• Some good laughs & sharp lines about sports in general in this open, it reminds me of how generally good these sports cold opens were when SNL regularly did them back in S39 & S40. I do wish they would’ve done more & some celebrity-centric opens like the memorable R. Kelly one & the upcoming two Britney Spears opens.
• Not caring for Aidy’s scene, I know she’s supposedly “impersonating” two coaches who look alike, but she plays them the same EXACT way, and it ain’t funny either way.
• Overall, despite my complaint about Aidy’s scene, this was an alright cold open, even when I think the Rami Malek open was better in general.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• Already, I’m loving Dan’s energy and immediate likability.
• Yes! A backstage monologue, it’s about damn time.
• I’ll tolerate Aidy in a role she played to death, but she’s giving me my usual laughs, so I really don’t need to complain much.
• I did hope, however, for Lauren or Punkie to be in this role as a showcase for one of the newbies, knowing how terribly misused to an insulting degree our newbies will be this season, it makes my blood frankly boil.
• (*sigh*) Melissa’s very brief scene here is her first & ONLY appearance all episode, and there are upcoming episodes were she makes either one or two appearances or isn’t on the show AT ALL. All of this makes me wonder how in the world did she get this many seasons on the show.
• The traditional showgirls and backstage llama!!
• A good laugh From Kenan’s interaction with Dan.
• Eugene Levy!
• Great bit with Eugene being in a glass box due to COVID rules.
• A fun monologue overall, even when it isn’t as memorable or strong as the others, I do appreciate the effort for trying something different.

Rating: ***1/2

Universal Studios Tram Tour

• A fun-seeming premise, much more than the mostly-dull first half of this season.
• Dan & Mikey are coming off really well here.
• A hilarious line about E.T. from Dan.
• Ego’s stealing this sketch with her solid line deliveries.
• Bowen’s look as Gru almost steals the entire sketch.
• An abrupt ending to an otherwise fun sketch.

Rating: ***1/2

Zillow

• A hilarious concept, with a real estate version of a sex site.
• Boy, this cast is really attractive isn’t it?
• I’m loving the line deliveries from the cast.
• The “I wanna flip that!” gave me my biggest laugh so far into the night.
• Yet another strong, fun, and creative short form this season.

Rating: ****1/2

Super Bowl Pod

• I’m enjoying the subtle slice-of-life feel to this sketch.
• Again, Dan is coming off very well & his delivery is solid.
• I’m enjoying that we’re getting some stories regarding what everyone did during the pandemic.
• OH GOD, this sketch comes to a screeching halt with a message from Kate’s Dr. Fauci.
• Oh, this is not how the sketch ends? Now we’re getting PSY as played by Bowen to end this with a ”Gangam Style” parody?? What is this 2012?
• An alright sketch that was ruined by its ending, it needed more revision and a better freaking ending.

Rating: **1/2

Lifting Our Voices

• It feels like it’s been a long time since we had a black-centric sketch, it’s about time frankly.
• Boy, Kenan’s weight loss looks very noticeable here. He looks great.
• A good laugh from Kenan’s line about white people.
• Ah, Punkie in a sketch! I’m still floored how SNL barely uses her despite the charisma and natural likability she possesses. I do recall loving her Update piece later in the season.
• Punkie’s expressions throughout Aidy’a spiel is making me laugh,
• Solid laugh from the visual of the African scarf that Dan’s wearing.
• LOL at Dan’s line about racism coming BACK to America, Chris’ face is having me in stitches.
• A good laugh from Kenan’s facial reaction to Kyle’s whole spiel.
• Pretty good sketch & with solid commentary on race and racism in America. I’m actually pretty surprised that I do not remember it at all.

Rating: ***1/2

Weekend Update

• Like I’ve said many time before in these reviews, those “seen here” jokes never fail in making me laugh out loud.
• Ouch at “seen here” joke from Michael about Marjorie Taylor Green.
• I admit at laughing at that Stevie Wonder line just now, and I feel really guilty about it.
• That Morgan Wallen joke from Michael in regards to him being taught the n-word by Colin is particularly hilarious.
• Man Colin & Michael are on FIRE tonight.
• Great to see another Heidi & Mikey Update commentary.
• Great look from both of them, by the way.
• A big guilty laugh from Mikey’s attack tweet toward a child.
• Very solid characterization and performance from Heidi, as always.
• While this commentary seems to be going through a one-joke route, it’s written and performed with solid escalation to not make it dull and repetitive.
• Solid commentary overall from Heidi & Mikey, yet I do recall their upcoming commentary from the Daniel Kaluuya episode as being particularly memorable and featured one of my favorite Heidi performances.
• Some more great jokes from Colin & Michael yet again tonight.
• Ah, it just feels so good to be able to review Chris again this season, and knowing in hindsight his fantastic current season (LOVED his newest CFT short, btw), makes it even better to see such a professional and committed performer thrive on the show.
• Before seeing this episode, I never realized that the two guys Chris & Kenan were playing are real. Again, I’m barely on social media outside of Twitter, but I did not need to know that because I recall enjoying this commentary.
• Good laughs from Chris’ always hilarious facial expressions.
• Funny bit about Kenan & Chris not knowing the alphabet song.
• An overall phenomenal Weekend Update and the best of the season so far. I do recall, however, that the Carey Mulligan and Anya Taylor-Joy ones being as strong as this Update.

Rating: ****1/2

Hot Damn

• UGH!
• Really SNL?! Another one of those “What’s that song?! Come sing the song with us! Stop playing that song! What? It turns out we all know that song! Let’s sing it along!” interchangeable, copy-and-paste, laughless sketches??!!
• I would say that Dan is really throwing himself into this role, with dancing and energetic movements, making the scant material somewhat better.
• Not caring for the usual twist of “turns out they all knew the song the whole time!!1!1!1!”.

Rating: *1/2 (the latter for Dan)

Wedding Friends

• Right from the “hilarious” cutaway to Dan & Kate’s wacky characters you could tell this is going to be a pretty rough sketch.
• This sketch so far is just a series of ramblings by Dan and Kate, seemingly going nowhere and coming off as failed attempts at random, absurdist humor. It makes me wonder if whomever wrote this sketch is the same person that wrote the wisely CFT Superhosts sketch from Rami Malek’s episode.
• At least Punkie just gave me a solid laugh with her expressions just now, she’s proving herself to be a solid straight man in this episode in general.
• Dan’s and Kate’s various “no!” are not even giving me a hint of a smirk.
• Overall, a waste of time and especially it wasted Dan’s talents despite his expected professionalism and commitment.

Rating: *

It Gets Better

• Great to see a filmed piece featuring our both our openly-gay host and the gay castmembers. It’s so refreshing to see some representation on SNL, yet without the pandering or preachiness.
• Bowen is absolutely stealing this sketch with his hilarious testimonial regarding how straight people stopped bullying him, so gay people are NOW bullying him instead.
• Dan here looks EXACTLY like a certain celebrity, yet I cannot tell whom, similar to how Punkie looked in the Rap Roundtable sketch (yes I know she was impersonating Queen Latifah, but she looked liked another actress or singer that my memory fails to remember).
• Kate is her usual hilarious self in her line deliveries here which are always on-point.
• Great short overall and a real palate-cleanser after the two terrible sketches that preceded it.

Rating: ****

Cut For Time: Men’s Cosmetics

• I recall this piece being particularly very strong.
• Thankfully, this piece is well-written enough for it not to turn into a gay stereotype which would be a real shame as SNL thankfully progressed a lot in the current era when it comes to queer representation and the matters of LGBTQ+, due to mainly having many queer and non-binary writers that were able to share their voice and experience on the show.
• A great & very funny concept with subtle commentary on toxic masculinity
• (*sigh*) Hearing Beck’s reliable and funny voice-over in this is making me dread having to review his final sketch as a cast member.
• Dan is absolutely fantastic as the straight man in this with his various questions and facial expressions.
• I’m loving the many ways that Beck tries to convince Dan that this product is NOT in fact makeup, as that for girls. Solid commentary on masculinity and the stereotypical image of a strong man.
• The visual with Alex, looking gorgeous by the way, with that makeup gun reminds me of the classic visual of Marge Simpson after getting blasted with the shotgun makeup.
• Yet another hilarious commercial from this season, despite the shaky quality so far, this season KILLS it in the film department on regular basis.

Rating: ****1/2

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

CFT: Men’s Cosmetics

Zillow

Weekend Update

It Gets Better

Lifting Our Voices

Monologue

Universal Studios Tram Tour

Super Bowl LV

Super Bowl Pod

Hot Damn

Wedding Friends

Final Thoughts:-

• While not perfect, this episode is already a massive step up from the dire one the week before. Even when we still have some weak live material. Which IIRC, starts to improve as the season goes along. This episode had more joyful atmosphere & a couple of strong pieces elevated even further by Dan Levy giving such an energetic and extremely likable performances. Also, our musical guest, whom I became a regular listener of recently, deserves a shoutout as I enjoyed her delightful performances in tonight’s episode.
• Aside from the sudden crash in quality post-Update, before recovering nicely with the final sketch & our CFT piece, the rest of the night was between alright to pretty strong. A sign to how much the second half of the season is going to be more fun, consistent, and most importantly filled with fun and solid sketch concepts that are a contrast to how dull and frustrating a lot of the material was in the first half.

Up Next:-

• Regina King with musical guest Nathaniel Rateliff.