Cold opening – Jeff Sessions Farewell
Robert Mueller (Robert De Niro) & others say bye to Jeff Sessions (KAM)
- The return of Kate’s self-indulgent and prosthetics-heavy Jeff Sessions.
- Cue the usual cutesy moments with Jeff showing us what he has.
- Not an even a walk-on from Mikey & Alex as Don Jr. and Eric Trump is doing anything for me.
- Man, is this entire cold open just Kate-as-Sessions showing us what he has? This is so redundant and makes an already slow-paced, dull cold open even worse.
- Robert De Niro returns as Mueller to thunderous applause that goes on endlessly.
- Already, De Niro fucks up several lines, is glued to his cue cards, tripping over them left and right and delivers them with his usual comedy-killing and halting delivery; basically sleepwalking through his lines and performance. Why is this guy supposedly a legendary actor?
- Back to the sketch, as I really only have to say one thing: what am I watching? The hell is this? Where are the jokes? The laughs? The direction? Where is the supposed comedic through line in this overlong mess?
- I am not caring at all for the mock-sentimental tone in this cold open, especially that it feels like SNL’s congratulating themselves over Sessions’ firing.
- The tradition of De Niro having no idea how to say LFNY continues.
Rating: *
Monologue
usually-unfunny host sets expectations & praises midterm voter turnout
- Already, Liev has such a warm and likable presence, even when you could tell he’s quite nervous. He’s coming off decent enough here and is getting laughs from the audience.
- Some sweet words from Liev throughout his monologue; the genuine joy and humility that he’s displaying makes me want to root for him so much. I am such fan of this SNL’s era evolving into doing these sentimental-yet-charming monologues that makes us want to root for the hosts, as well as introduce us to them.
- Very good monologue in general, and Liev came off great in here.
Rating: ****
Good Day Denver
show mislabels investors (MID) & (ALM) as incestuous
- One of the several Seiday-written ”LOL dirty names!” sketches from this era.
- Some funny escalation with the wrong graphic being displayed, I’m getting some cheap laughs even with the dumb premise.
- Liev is very solid in this and is elevating the rather harmless-yet-overdone material.
- Hilarious brief sketch-stealing appearance from Kate, too bad the show barely used her sketch-saving abilities and leaned into the worst traits in her performances. which really started to show up in those wacky “Kaidy” pieces starting with this season.
- An ok sketch overall, not bad nor that great.
Rating: ***
Unity Song
political divide is bridged by song about things everyone dislikes
- An interesting concept, and I do recall this piece being good and a highlight from the shaky first half of this episode.
- Bowen Yang can be seen behind Cecily at the beginning. Considering that Bowen is one of the very few SNL performers that I knew pre-SNL (Sarah Sherman and James Austin Johnson are the other ones that I knew pre-SNL and that was for about a year before joining the show) , and how much he’ll get to kill it in the cast after being added in the very next season, it feels so great to see a brief glimpse of him here.
- The wet jeans part is very relatable, and damn how I hate when that happens.
- A great “I can’t watch a book” bit from Cecily.
- Some catchy melody to this piece.
- Such a fun, unique use of Liev in this short.
- I love the whole sneeze bit between Kate & Cecily, especially when Kate ends up not sneezing; her smile and shrug afterwards was great.
- Ego is solid throughout this short, even when she isn’t getting as many standout moments as Beck & (especially) Cecily. This is another piece that reminds me of the underrated run she had in early seasons.
- Great ending with Cecily (who’s been awesome throughout this short) losing it over the credit card beeping sound.
- Overall, a solid and rare fun apolitical piece that aims to truly make us come together in hating certain things that are relatable, I enjoyed this even more after a rewatch.
Rating: ****
Paranormal Encounter
Ms. Rafferty’s supernatural ghostly episode was prosaic & vindictive
- This feels like the 12th installment of this should’ve been one-and-done sketch.
- Am I supposed to be laughing right now at the umpteenth time that Kate discloses her experience with alien abduction? The magic of the original legendary sketch is sadly LONG gone by this point.
- You could really decipher the copy-and-paste format of this sketch, with Cecily as the usual woman with Kate’s Colleeen, the host in the middle, Aidy in her original role, and Mikey with a good ol’ dose of explaining in place of Bobby.
- The sketch keeps going on and on and on and on….
- All-in-all, not a laugh to be found here. While I feel the choice to bring this sketch as Kate’s sendoff was incredibly sweet and fitting for her to bow out of the show, the choice to endlessly bring it back after that first time will always remain completely baffling, in my eyes. If my memory serves me correctly, I remember the installment from the finale being even worse.
Rating: *
Booty Kings
(KET), (CRR), (PED), musical guest, Future [real] honor booty consent
- Funny premise of a progressive group of rappers rapping about booty; fun duo as usual by Chris & Kenan. Great to see Chris getting the spot considering his bizarre underuse this season after a strong debut year.
- A welcomed cameo by Future and his whole bit is fun and very visually interesting.
- I’ll admit that Pete is very funny here, especially his look; he’s so convincing to me when cast as these SoundCloud rappers.
- The Lil’ Wayne portions is so catchy, especially the progressive booty line.
- The making it rain moment over a cup with a Women’s Right Fund poster on it is hilarious.
- An overall pretty solid short, despite the length being a little too long, but the energy was great, with fun performances, and nice visuals.
Rating: ***1/2
Musical Performance – “Can’t Be Broken”
Weekend Update
White House press intern (CES) tries to confiscate COJ’s microphone
White House press intern plays doctored video showing COJ attacking her
PED apologizes to Dan Crenshaw [real] for making fun of his eyepatch
- Decent jokes about the midterm elections. And we get the usual sharp and funny commentary from Colin and Michael.
- An interesting time capsule with Jim Acosta’s ejection from the White House being parodied on Update.
- I got a laugh from Cecily’s impression of the White House staffer that ejected Acosta.
- Aaand my laughs are now reduced to none as this commentary keeps going on & repeating the same gag over and over.
- How many times am I supposed to laugh at the endless repetition of the gag?! This commentary is a fucking mess. If it was a quick gag with her, it would’ve been far more effective.
- NO! We now get Dan Crenshaw to respond to the ”controversy” when Pete made that dumb joke about him.
- Some lame attempts at sounding cool from Crenshaw, and it’s probably for the better that Pete rescinded his apology later on. As much as his joke was lame and uncalled for, to apologize over nothing is more idiotic, Pete clearly did not mean to poke fun at Crenshaw’s war injury. And this defense of Pete is coming from a person that generally loathed a lot of what he performed on the show.
- All-in-all, our first subpar Update of the season.
Rating: **1/2
The Poddys
awards show recognizes superlatives particular to podcasts
- I do recall this sketch being solid, as I mentioned it in my Jonathan Majors episode. Still, I do not remember it much aside from a couple of moments.
- Some convincing makeup on Liev & Cecily.
- A surprisingly very funny and accurate impression of Michael Barabado from Liev.
- Seeing Cecily’s Sarah Koeing here is reminding me of the fantastic Serial piece she did in season 40.
- This awards show sketch is doing such an excellent job spoofing awards shows and especially podcasts in a way that feels very fun and refreshing.
- Man, Liev’s lines throughout this are absolutely PRICELESS; he’s having me practically on the floor right now.
- Kate: ”first of all, I got to thank the Nazis, without them I wouldn’t be here.”
- A solid Marc Maron vocal impression from Alex, and once more, great makeup job.
- Some funny lines from Alex’s Marc, and these capture his humor style perfectly.
- The Alf ASMR part made me laugh out loud just now.
- This is a laugh riot so far, I’m getting most of my laughs tonight in this skit by far.
- This just keeps getting better and better, this skit is FILLED with brilliant, sharp, and dry humor throughout.
- Overall, an absolutely brilliant sketch, even better than I remember it being, and this is now one of my all-time favorite awards show sketches. Funny enough, the only other recent awards skit that I recall being as strong as this one is the Barfly Awards skit from Maya Rudolph’s episode from season 46.
Rating: *****
House Hunters
(host) & (LEJ) evaluate bizarre residential amenities
- And now, here comes the centerpiece of tonight’s episode and a legendary SNL piece in general.
- In that wig, Liev looks almost exactly like Jason Bateman. Also, I’m loving the surprisingly-fitting pairing of him and Leslie as a couple as the show could’ve gone the predictable route and had either Cecily or Kate instead of her.
- I never knew that House Hunters is a real show as I NEVER watch reality TV or anything outside of few shows and documentary channels. Yet, that doesn’t negate the fact that I, and many others consider this piece an all-time SNL highlight and an absurdist masterpiece of the highest order. Not to mention that truly great parodies are the ones that do not require us to be familiar with what’s being parodied in order to get the jokes. An SNL example of that could be the classic Bob Dole/The Real World runner in John Goodman’s Season 21 episode.
- I’m loving how this short is playing the premise and the outlandish otherworldly different houses so straight and normal. A thing SNL should do more, instead of over-explaining and REACTING in skits that plague the current era. An era that’s actually pretty good and creative in general. As this is ”my” era if you know what I mean, and I want it to be as good as it could.
- A house with just drawings of windows? and one being five cents over budget? This is absolutely priceless so far.
- I’m loving the running bit with Liev constantly bringing up his man cave.
- The bit with the totally normal vertical and seemingly non-ending floor is a hilarious visual from this piece, and the moment I realized that I’m watching a legendary SNL piece in-the-making.
- Ah, now we get a house with an actual cave.
- A memorable bit with the invisible house and the cat above it.
- Heidi running around the house made me burst out laughing hard.
- The absurdist, yet subtle escalation is downright fantastic.
- A funny yet creepy brief bit with Pete being locked in the house for some reason, Liev gives him a great look as he closes the door.
- Overall, an SNL masterpiece. The sheer creativity, ambition, and execution is FLAWLESS. An all-time high for SNL.
Rating: *****
Musical Performance – “Uproar”
Brothers
(host) hoses rowdy sons (KYM) & (BEB) indoors to temper their misbehavior
- IMMEDIATELY, we get a huge laugh with Beck & Kyle’s intro into this skit.
- This an another skit I recall liking a lot in the past, but not deeming it five-star worthy back in the day. This is also another skit from this season that depends heavily on slapstick humor, like the The Duel and Etiquette Coach from later this season. An interesting focus that I recall the show somewhat abandoning by season 46. Yet, in conversation with John, a fellow SNL reviewer, and I’m paraphrasing him here, I think Covid played a big part in the sudden abandonment of full-on slapstick humor, for obvious reasons.
- Very funny detail on Beck and Kyle here, with their shirts being of Looney Tunes characters, and as a 2000s child, this brings back warm memories of my childhood watching said cartoons.
- Pretty strong straight man performance from Liev & I love the look of his character.
- Boy, this dance-off is freaking killing with me and the audience; a priceless visual.
- Oooh, I’m LOVING the bit with Beck claiming that Kyle was born a mistake, due to Liev and Cecily originally not planning having him. Some solid work from Kyle here.
- Funny scene with Liev shutting them up by just spraying them with water; a blast from my childhood follies right here.
- Aidy and Cecily are clearly struggling hard not to break, and I cannot blame them one bit.
- Overall, this was another laugh riot, and our THIRD five-stars sketch of the night. What a turnaround this episode made, an outstanding effort so far.
Rating: *****
Dave’s Outside the Women’s Bathroom
amateur talk show upsets many
- Right out of the gate, an absolutely hilarious & random premise.
- Liev is coming off HILARIOUS, his delivery, expressions, subtleties in movement and speech are killing with me and the audience.
- Liev’s questioning of Aidy not flushing is priceless.
- Liev: ”Hey I’m Dave. I’ll see you after ok?”
- A great addition of Heidi as Dave’s worried girlfriend. A role with subtle melancholy that Heidi can play in her sleep at this point. A testament to her great talents as a performer.
- Liev: ”Uh-oh, sound of the flush, that means it’s time for our next guest”.
- A scene-stealing brief bit with Leslie, and a killer glare toward the camera.
- The very short top 20 bit is hilarious, once more helped by Liev’s flawless delivery throughout the sketch.
- And we’re out. A perfectly-timed sketch, with hilariously absurdist concept, many fantastic lines to quote from, a great Liev Schriber performance, and a solid escalation. A season highlight and a favorite of mine from this era, simply brilliant.
Rating: *****
Goodnights
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
House Hunters
Dave’s Outside the Women’s Bathroom
The Poddys
Brothers
Monologue
Unity Song
Booty Kings
Good Day Denver
Weekend Update
Jeff Sessions Farewell
Paranormal Encounter
Final Thoughts:
- A great episode that’s always been amongst the most fascinating of this era, mainly due to the incredible post-Update recovery with FOUR five-stars sketches that are highly-regarded and beloved fan-favorites (chief amongst them, House Hunters, a particularly standout SNL piece).
- Liev Schreiber was such a great host tonight. I remember being so surprised by how funny he turned out to be. While I always liked him as an actor, I thought of him as a thoughtful and very cultured and serious man. I could not believe how much he had me in tears throughout the episode, and my biggest laughs were mainly from him. I hope he can host again soon.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
Up Next:
- The good vibes from tonight’s episode sadly turn out temporary, as we have the Steve Carell episode to cover. Get ready for one of the biggest SNL trainwrecks in recent years.
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
I love your love for House Hunters. You are right in that it’s an absurdist masterpiece. The first time I saw it made me laugh the same way Will Forte or Jack Handey sketches make me laugh. I know it’s highly regarded amongst die hards but it doesn’t get mentioned when talking about all time best sketches. It really should be.
On paper, Liev Schreiber shouldn’t work as a host. In fact, I think if you were to say to someone who hadn’t watched it that he stumbles his lines from time to time, I’m sure they’d think he was a bad host. But somehow, he kills it. I don’t know how to describe it, but he’s comfortable despite his nerves. Would love to see him come back again.
I’m not as huge on The Poddys as you are, but it’s solid nonetheless and the second half of this show is fantastic. “Dave’s Outside The Women’s Bathroom” is perhaps the quintessential five-to-one of this era. And “Brothers” is such a guilty pleasure.
As for the whole “Dan Crenshaw” story, it’s my go-to example of what’s so baffling about this era of political humor on the show. They’re so hard on the right to the point where they forget to have a smart and comedic take, but then here it’s all “Hey now, we’ve got to respect everyone on the other side.” They fell for the bait that conservatives use whenever anyone touches a subject like the troops, despite the fact that prominent Republicans could give a shit about veterans. It didn’t make them look more appealing to either side, they should’ve just let it go.
This is such a great comment, Curly, especially your talk about Liev working so well as the host despite it all.
I know that The Poddys is a well-liked piece in general, but it is one of those I love so much that I had to go 5/5 on it.
Agree entirely re: Crenshaw. You voiced my annoyance in a much-better way than I could.
You can really tell Pete wanted to do something new on WU with the piece from the previous episode but the whole thing with Crenshaw put a stop to it and he just reverts back to talking about his tabloid life
Very much enjoyed your review. I remember some criticism of Schreiber at times, like stumbliness in the women’s bathroom sketch, but it never gets in the way. I actually think it adds to that sketch (which is such a creative idea).
House Hunters and Brothers are both ideas that mostly just work for one moment in time, although I think the House Hunters repackaging in the Emma Thompson episode works better than the Brothers reprisal. Schrieber’s line readings work perfectly with the escalating absurdity of the different homes. The memory of Heidi running around outside one of the houses still makes me laugh. And Kyle and Beck are so good in Brothers – getting to see Beck play that type of physicality again after years of sidelining was a great surprise.
I am very fond of the Poddys sketch, one of the few times that SNL’s award show coverage manages to tackle an “inside” topic while also having a genuine comic touch. There are some surprising moments of darkness too (like Aidy’s character being represented by an urn in the ceremony).
Your thoughts on Unity Song give me more appreciation of it, but I’m not a big fan of “can’t we all just get along” SNL moments. The forced Clenshaw participation is sort of a last gasp of this type of bubble nonsense on the show – for this era, anyway.
Great to see you back on the review trail, Blood. I’ve been looking forward to reading this one for about 2 years.
Long time no see, fyodoren. Glad to hear from you again after such a long time. Missed (and I am sure others) reading your insightful comments & takes. Happy to see you doing well after such a long time away from these venues.
I see you what you are saying with the Pete commentary but I strongly disagree as I feel like it was a charming moment and had a very nice speech from Dan at the end (but I’m much more tolerant on Pete than you and probably others are so that probably explains why I disagree)
Blood, four five star sketches in a row has me scrambling back for a re-watch. I knew I loved House Hunters and Brothers and remember feeling like a voice in the wilderness in liking the Poddys. I need to re-visit that one and the Bathroom sketch. Love the enthusiasm.