November 21, 2015 – Matthew McConaughey / Adele (S41 E6) 

Cold Opening – Fox & Friends

• Sadly, this is the final Fox & Friends sketch with our current lineup of performers. There will be a future lineup with the Alex/Heidi/Mikey trio. Yet, as much as I like them, they never were as solid as Bobby/Taran/Vanessa here, or maybe that’s because of how much SNL’s political writing deteriorated after the nice upswing in seasons 40-41 and a chunk of S42. But I will leave that to later.
• That laugh from an audience member after Bobby’s Thanksgiving line is very infectious.
• The All Fridays Matter line from Vanessa is predictable, but still funny.
• Kate’s expressions alone are making me laugh, and she’s coming off her usual likable self in this role.
• Ah, Kate’s bringing some solid energy to this open, and is easily my favorite part of it.
• Great to see Jay’s Ben Carson impression officially become recurring, and in a modern-day setting.
• Despite giving good performances in this open. I’m not enjoying how this open is just terrible people saying terrible things, a precursor to the opens from more recent seasons in which political ghouls openly talk about how bad they are.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• I never liked Matthew as both an actor and as a person, and hearing the behind-the-scenes horror stories from his wretched first episode makes me afraid of what misery am I getting into this time.
• A pretty blah premise to this whole monologue with Matthew telling us the story behind his tired catchphrase.
• So far, no laughs from me, not even a few chuckles.
• Ok, I did like his whole bit about the launchpad line.
• Overall… I really don’t know what to say about this seemingly never-ending monologue. I would say that Matthew seemed like a natural on live TV at least, which is the highest praise I might give him all night.

Rating: **

A Thanksgiving Miracle

• A famous SNL piece from this era.
• Such a spot-on, realistic tense discussion between the family members, with some solid acting, particularly from Aidy.
• Ah, here comes the famous turn.
• Very funny lip-synching from the cast, Beck’s expressions alone are hilarious and steal this entire short.
• How many old ladies did Kate play in her tenure?
• Hell yes! I LOVE the epic turn with the color grading, expressions, and especially Beck’s fingernails.
• Man, this short is excellent so far, the turn with everyone dressed up like Adele is fantastic, and Aidy not only looks gorgeous, but is also quite fitting as Adele.
• A great, great ending. A true SNL classic.

Rating: *****

Blues Shack

• Some really catchy, accurate singing from Kenan, but nothing else is working for me so far.
• Yeah, I’m not caring for the one-joke premise to this sketch, there’s no proper escalation nor any jokes aside from the main premise. A damn shame as Kenan’s excellent in this, and is trying his hardest to save the sketch.
• The sketch feels endless so far, and aside from Kenan’s energy and various straight man reactions, I’m not enjoying it and it feels really unexplored.
• Weak ending.

Rating: **

3D Printer Man

• An interesting, promising sketch concept.
• Seeing Beck and Taran next to each other in this sketch is reminding me of how miserable & lethargic Taran looked in several episodes in this season, and how Beck pretty much took his place in utility/leadership roles as the season moved forward, being in that position for the next five seasons till he left on top after a fantastic final year. I’d say aside from the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s episode, Taran looks fine so far into the season, it’s only in the Jonah Hill episode and onward that he seemingly checked out.
• A good laugh from Matthew’s obvious robotic characterization. Solid work from him, and so far is his best performance of the episode.
• My god at Matthew’s robot impression, absolutely spot-on to an eerie degree. His strutting & dancing here are slaying me.
• Sasheer’s delivery of her last line is solid, and her gleeful demeanor adds to the humor.
• Pretty solid sketch overall.

Rating: ***1/2

Star Wars Auditions

• Random pretaped J.J. Abrams cameo.
• Another auditions pretape in the tradition of the Back to the Future & the upcoming Jurassic Park ones. These are always serviceable to me, and reliable for couple of decent laughs.
• No applause for Daisy Ridley?
• Not caring for the black stormtrooper bit, and it reminds me of the dumb “controversy” about Boyega’s casting in the movie. At least John is coming off a natural here, displaying likability and approachability in his presence.
• Bobby’s pathetic portrayal of George Lucas is making me laugh so hard and in the same time is making me feel sad for the real guy.
• Jon Hamm! I’m still shocked he never became a Five-Timer at all.
• I see that Leslie is playing a shouty, over-the-top role once again this season.

Rating: ***1/2

Musical Performamce – “Hello”

• Blood Meridian: I don’t know if I can take Adele’s performance here seriously after the memorable short that I just reviewed few minutes ago.
• Jesse Nathan: Kinda odd that Adele would perform this song moments after we just saw an entire pretape based around it, but I’m pretty sure Blood will mention this.
• By the way, this is probably another song performed these last two seasons that I’ve heard a million times. But hey, that’s what happens when you’re a child of the 2010s, especially seeing as how this was during my first year of middle school.
• Adele sounds great here. Kinda hard to believe she was only 27 when this aired.
• I feel like the camera’s stuck in one position on Adele for way too long.
• The chorus is falling kinda flat.
• I like Adele’s facial expressions throughout this performance.
• Nice use of a cello.
• Did…did Adele just skip over a line in the second chorus?
• Geez, Adele keeps removing lines the more this goes on. And if there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s when the musical guest skips over portions of a song during their performance. For example, did anyone else notice that when Anderson .Paak performed “Tints” in Season 44, he skipped the entire third verse?
• I like Adele’s cross-eyed facial expression at the end.

Rating: ***

Weekend Update

• I love the opening anti-Bush joke from Colin.
• I’m enjoying the long-form story breakdown by Colin & Michael regarding allowing Muslim refugees to enter the country. Michael’s whole bit about his ancestors not being actually immigrants is excellent, and just classic Che.
• Great to see Vanessa’s Laura Parsons back, one of my absolute favorites of Vanessa’s many characters on the show.
• I love Laura’s opening song, Vanessa’s demeanor and characterization here not only is it spot-on, but very endearing.
• A hilarious sudden turn with Vanessa’s Laura talking about HIV.
• Holy hell at the Jared Fogle outburst from Laura. Vanessa is KILLING me here.
• Surprised the commentary is already over, I cannot complain by the tons of laughs provided by Vanessa here.
• Funny audience reaction to the Bobby Jindal joke from Michael. I LOVE Michael’s deadpan stare afterwards.
• That’s one dark cat joke from Colin, and as a cat lover, I feel guilty of laughing hard right now.
• Some really dark, dark stuff in tonight’s Update, that Jared Fogle joke got a pretty audible gasp from a female audience member.
• Damn at that Colin penis joke, these interactions and banter between Michael & Colin are one of the reasons this era of Update is one of my all-time favorites.
• Great to see Kenan’s Ortiz back.
• Funny sponsorship/sponsor ship mix-up from Ortiz.
• The usual solid laughs from Ortiz’s fake sponsorship, one of the few times this running gag worked for me in this era, and that freakin priceless dog cocaine joke in next season is the only other example I could think of right now.
• A big laugh from the overlong website address.
• An overall phenomenal Weekend Update edition, ONCE AGAIN this season. This era of Update is already shaping up to be near the top of SNL history.

Rating: ****1/2

Should You Chime in on This?

• A pretty promising sketch concept.
• Not caring for the tired “game show host’s name sounds like a real person” with this one having Kenan’s game show host character’s name sounding like Ellen DeGeneres.
• What’s with Kenan’s hammy, over-the-top, All That-esque performance here?! It makes him come off obnoxious and unfunny, which are two words I never thought I would use to describe a performance by Kenan. That really shows you how awful Kenan is in this sketch.
• Man, aside from Kenan’s hammy, unfunny performance, this sketch feels eerily quiet and hollow.
• This sketch feels “off” so far, and the squandered premise is making me even more frustrated.
• Very poor attempt at trying to have a sharp satirical take on modern-day bigotry.
• Boy, Matthew’s performance her is really bugging me, what happened to him after the printer sketch?
• Not caring for the pony tail reveal, it only reminds me of that awful Match Finders sketch later in the season.
• Not even a Kate walk-on as Hilary Clinton could steal the sketch for me, and the ending was pretty awful.

Rating: **

Right Side of the Bed with Gracelynn and Cory

• Yet another recurring sketch tonight making its final appearance. And unlike the first one, this one is done for good after this edition.
• As always, some good banter between Cecily and Taran here.
• Holy hell at Matthew’s bizarre look and even more bizarre characterization.
• That whole turkey puppetry bit with Matthew is embarrassing to watch. Not even Cecily & Taran could do a thing to save it with their REACTING shot.
• And the sketch keeps going on and and on and on…
• (*groan*) He’s still doing this unfunny, overlong turkey puppet bit.
• Ugh at the unnecessary bit with Kate playing a male singer in these sketches, a harbinger to some nightmare-fueled, prosthetics-heavy, male political “impressions” from her later in her tenure.
• Boy, for the second time tonight, not even Kate could steal this sketch nor save it for me.
• Not caring for the ending with Matthew mugging a storm behind Taran & Cecily, how “hilarious” of him.

Rating: **

Musical Performance – “When We Were Young”

• Jesse Nathan: I always get the title of this song mixed up with “When You Were Young”, which is by The Killers, not Adele. I honestly prefer that song.
• Nice piano at the start.
• Just like before, Adele sounds great here, and she’s selling this with her facial expressions.
• I like the addition of tamborines.
• Good chorus. In fact, I kinda want to say it’s better than that of “Hello”.
• I like how Adele is standing on a carpet.
• Huh, I guess I was wrong when I said that the musical guest stage was remodeled for Miley Cyrus’ second performance. Turns out that’s the new stage for the season.
• Adele seems like she’s about to tear up throughout this performance.
• I like the backing vocalists singing “when we were young”.
• Great held note from Adele before the final chorus.
• This overall performance was better than the first.

Rating: ****

Town Hall Meeting

• OH, NO. My misery continues as Matthew enters this sketch and IMMEDIATELY acts in a hammy, over-the-top, and in a showoff-y way just like how did in the previous few sketches.
• Oof. I’m NOT caring for Matthew’s performance here, the sketch itself seems quite promising, but with a more suitable host, one more adept in his delivery and characterization.
• Are these insults that Matthew’s throwing at others even intended to be funny? I’d say that this sketch would’ve worked better with a host capable of snarky, low-key humor, with sharp deliveries. Can you imagine what Peter Dinklage would’ve done with this dialogue??
• No comment about the dumb train bit in this.
• Not even the reveal of the hand could get much of a smirk from me.
• Awful ending. Boy, this episode really died a horrible death post-Update.

Rating: *1/2

Cut For Time: Star Wars Auditions

• Still weird not to hear wild cheers and applause for all these celebrity cameos.
• Very lazy to have Matthew play himself in this one, no celebrity impressions for him?
• Good Jennifer Lawrence voice from Vanessa, and her scene is easily the best in this pretape so far.
• Yeah, good performances, but these feel lethargic overall, not to mention that the lack of audience reaction contributed to these having a bit of a hollow feel.

Rating: ***

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

A Thanksgiving Miracle

Weekend Update

3D Printer Man

Star Wars Auditions

Fox & Friends

CFT: Star Wars Auditions

Blues Shack

Right Side of the Bed with Gracelynn and Cory

Should You Chime in On This?

Monologue

Town Hall Meeting

Final Thoughts:-

• A frustrating episode, while not the utter disaster that I used to deem it to be till a few years ago, it still featured some annoying aspects and some lost potential, especially with the interesting sketch concepts on display. I was made surprisingly miserable while reviewing the post-Update half of this episode. Any highlights, however, in this episode were in no thanks to Matthew McConaughey, who was an obnoxious, baffling, and annoying host. And aside from 3D Printer Man & A Thanksgiving Miracle, I didn’t enjoy him in any other sketch, not ONE. SINGLE. SKETCH. especially with his self-amused buffoonery that derailed several sketches, that post-Update half of the episode was absolutely unwatchable, which is eerily similar to the post-Update half from his wretched first episode. Overall, I would put this episode in the average side of this season, at least it wasn’t the disaster that I remember. A fairly forgettable effort from the show when compared to the rest of what’s to come from this season.

Up Next:-

• Ryan Gosling hosts with musical guest Leon Bridges.