January 19, 2019 – Rachel Brosnahan / Greta Van Fleet (S44 E10)

Cold Opening – Deal Or No Deal: Government Shutdown Edition

Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) does Deal Or No Deal with government shutdown

• I’ve been growing very tired of both these cold opens and Kenan’s Steve Harvey. Not even a seemingly-promising change of pace such as this cold open’s premise is having me onboard.
• Ugh. Alec is upping the mugging game of his with Trump even more than before. He doesn’t seem to be as sleepy as he usually is playing Trump.
• I will say, however, that I always love Kate’s Nancy Pelosi impression, as she cracks me the hell up with her uncanny imitation of Pelosi’s demeanor. It is also nice to see Melissa getting a big political impression of hers to recur with her AOC impression.
• I love Kate’s Pelosi smug look at the camera after her drunk on my own power line. Her second look was funny too, but wasn’t needed really.
• Ok, they are beginning to run the whole Kate-as-Pelosi saying passive-aggressive things and looking at the camera smugly to the ground.
• The cast members are fine and fun in their political impressions, but the format, despite the initial promise, is dying out for me due to Alec’s Trumpwin comedy poison lines as well as the very slow pacing of it.
• What’s the matter with this era and the fake sponsors gag? The ones here were completely laughless to me, especially the lame old lady in the ocean one.
• I will say Beck got me good with the return of his hilarious Mitch McConnell; the cutaway to him hiding behind that suitcase was very funny.
• That’s the whole scene with Melissa’s AOC? They barely let her do anything, although the Bird Box moment with Beck’s Mitch gave me another laugh.
• The brief moment with Ego as Cardi B was alright, and she did her best with the impression as she could. Although, knowing the vital, highly-regarded cast member Ego would go on to be in more recent SNL seasons, it makes me think the show would’ve made her part longer now that she earned the audience’s trust.
• The whole bit with Pete (I believe after he went through really rough time mentally and emotionally around the new year), is a clear excuse to have him say the LFNY with Kenan and Alec.
• Overall, this cold open was a very mixed bag; the scenes with Trumpwin & Harvey were completely laugh-free, but the cast (Kate, Alex, and Beck especially), gave me decent laughs here and there. I do admire the cold open’s premise, but it would’ve been much better without Alec’s Trumpwin; he absolutely killed this whole thing dead each time they cut back to him.

Rating: **

Monologue

host, CES, KET, AIB musically resolve to have fun, but worries intrude

• This monologue already turned into a bunch of Evan Rachel Wood/Rachel Brosnahan jokes, as well as embarrassing Amazon jokes. Rachel tried her best with the material, but I can tell she knew it wasn’t the best.
• Right out of the gate, this monologue is very off, especially Rachel talking now about how bad last year was. This is not a way to start the first monologue of a whole new year; it already casts a pall over not only this monologue but an unproven, first-time host, to make such an opening remark to set up a comedic conceit for this monologue to follow.
• Oh, wait a minute. This monologue now turned into cast members suddenly “interrupting” the host, complete with them also talking about how bad last year was.
• Oops, now Cecily and Rachel are dancing and singing about having fun…. this has to be the comedic conceit this so-far complete mess of a monologue is about, right?
• Aha, now we are back to how bad 2018 was, with this monologue returning into a miserable/cast “interruption” one.
• So…. we are now back to cringey singing and then being miserable about 2018. I’m not going to even talk about how awkward it is to see famous, privileged performers who live in gated communities and luxury apartment buildings try to act “relatable” to the rest of us here. This monologue, from the get-go, is not only a complete mess, but a cowardly one as well. Much like the awful Captain Hook sketch from last season, you do not go “this is weird right?” and that’s it, much like how this monologue goes from being gloomy to being “fun” and then going back and forth with nothing backing it up. Not only this is my least-favorite monologue of the season, but one of the worst I could think of not coming off from the likes of Trump and Musk. A pathetic, cowardly piece as a whole.

Rating: *

Earthquake News Report

news report features name-change candidates affected by earthquake

• What’s with the awkward way the sketch began with the intentionally corny joke between Kate (odd seeing her in a utility role and not the star of a sketch, by the way) and Mikey? Also, did we really need Mikey to explain why the joke is inappropriate to us?
• A dirty names sketch, in a series of several of them. I understand these are mostly harmless, if not proper sketch comedy or the comedy I’m into (unless you get sharp writing and performances backing them up, such as Rowan Atkinson’s classic Schoolmaster routine).
• So many of these names are doing nothing for me so far. This is not a horrible sketch or anything, just pretty dull so far.
• I still remember a lot of online fans thinking Pete’s fireman character laughing throughout this sketch was out of character, when it is very clearly part of the sketch.
• Hmm, the kid’s name being Holden Tudiks actually gave me a cheap laugh; my first genuine one of this entire sketch. However, the name sounds eerily familiar to one of the various priceless names in that great Let’s Talk Books sketch from the season 25 Joshua Jackson episode (one of my favorites from that entire era): Holden and Sharen Dicks, but that’s probably a coincidence.

Rating: **1/2

Leave Me Alurn

prospect of cremains dissuades unwanted male attention

• Certainly quite the premise for a traditional female-centric SNL fake ad.
• Nice visual quality and color grading, per usual of more recent pretapes. I also like the general feel of this piece.
• I’m not finding myself laughing much here, especially after the initial not too funny joke of this whole commercial is revealed. I’m also positive I did not need Kenan to react twice towards Kate’s character and her urn.
• I will admit the whole part with Alex at the bar was great, especially the visual of him walking off when seeing various other women holding urns with them. It also feels rare seeing Alex get such a great quick moment considering that his whole run was such a lost potential.
• The Pete/Ego ending fell flat with me, despite both of them performing it decently.

Rating: ***

Millennial Millions

Baby Boomers prevent contestants’ financial security

• Do we really need Kenan to host two gameshow sketches in the same night? Even though I know the cold open isn’t a traditional gameshow sketch in SNL’s typical terms, but still….
• Great premise for a gameshow sketch, and this feels sadly the first sketch all night with an actual concept behind it.
• Kenan is very solid as the gameshow host, continuing the strong season he’s been having so far, and his reactions here are solid, especially as they are not the usual Kenan Reacts.
• Aidy is funny as well here, especially her fun musical number about the boomers who are to appear; Aidy’s another cast member having a strong season this year, certainly a slightly better one than I remember.
• Great look and characterization from Cecily as the boomer, especially her dancing as she enters the set. You know, while I’ve been recently gaining a lot more appreciation for a lot of the work that Cecily did I remember trashing in the past, I forgot how quietly strong a lot of this season has been for her so far. And, IIRC, season 45 will be even better; concluding the underrated-but-strong string of seasons she had between seasons 42-45.
• You can tell Pete is stifling his laughter throughout this sketch, but it is coming off strangely endearing to me, unlike a lot of the other times he or other cast members would break.
• Kenan’s gleeful reactions as a Gen X are very funny and making this strong sketch even better; the signing off with him as soon as Rachel and Beck are going at it at each other made me laugh out loud.

Rating: ****

The Raunchiest Miss Rita

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (host) mentors The Raunchiest Miss Rita (LEJ)

• Our obligatory spoof of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
• I have yet to see the show Rachel stars in for myself, but I assume the visual quality and direction of this short is a dead-on recreation of its style.
• I am now over two minutes into this short and all I see is a whole bunch of tired black women stereotypes, complete with Leslie screaming and hamming it up. We are only getting more and more examples of how “raunchy” Miss Rita is and that’s it; no comedic heightening nor twists. Blah.
• All-in-all, outside of the nice visual quality and very minor chuckles from Rachel’s reactions, this short was a complete embarrassment and a waste of time. How a short with such a cringeworthy, tired concept got not only on the air, but outside of dress, is beyond me.

Rating: *1/2

Musical Performance – “Black Smoke Rising”

Weekend Update

battle-toughened Elizabeth Warren (KAM) will fight to become president

plot elements of The Mule left PED & John Mulaney [real] incredulous

• The government shutdown rant at the beginning is mostly solid, however, parts of it feel odd to watch in retrospect. The R. Kelly joke did make me laugh, though.
• Man, I forgot how laughable Trump’s “wall” turned out to be; Che’s riffing on it is my favorite part of this Update so far.
• Kate’s Elizabeth Warren returns and this time for a pretty regular basis in this and the upcoming season. I remember a lot of SNL fans started to complain about the show’s writing for this impression (as well as Bernie Sanders next season).
• Strong impression and fun performance by Kate, especially her imitation of playing on the train tracks. Yet, a lot of this commentary feels both here to tuck the crowd to bed, and just a glorification of a political figure, even when I personally have a lot of respect for Senator Warren herself (not to get too political here).
• Great Super Blood Wolf Moon/Greta Van Fleet joke from Colin. Probably one of the funniest jokes this Update season to me.
• Some really solid jokes after the Kate commentary, especially the ones about Flashlight and Winnie The Pooh .
• Here comes a commentary that’s a little awkward to watch in hindsight, considering what would happen to Mulaney and his drug problems over the next year. I’ll try to get into this one with an open mind, as I remember greatly enjoying it in the past.
• John Mulaney is such a fantastic comedian that he’s making me laugh by just asking Che and Jost if they saw Clint Eastwood’s The Mule.
• Some charming banter and funny lines between John and Pete; I get why some feel this is uncomfortable in hindsight to see, but I’m enjoying it fine enough. There are some good self-deprecating jokes here and, once again, John can make me laugh by just talking.
• The ending bit with “The Mule-Aney” is so silly, but John made it work and was a good way to wrap up this Update edition.
• All-in-all, a pretty solid Update. Some strong jokes, though the first desk commentary is one, while not bad, I could’ve done without myself.

Rating: ***1/2

Tabitha

videos show men react accordingly when shamed like dogs

• I am dreading seeing a Leslie Jones-hosted talkshow sketch, considering her line flubbing tendencies were on full display the last time she hosted one of these.
• Leslie’s been having a great season so far (and will get better as this season goes along), but it is still a shame seeing her still this green at times, with the breaking and line flubs. She is fine here, however.
• Ok, where is the comedy supposed to be coming from this sketch exactly? I get the concept behind this talkshow sketch, but this is pretty dull so far (once again tonight).
• The videos with Mikey and Beck are more cute than funny, especially the one with Mikey. Kenan’s, on the other hand, gave me my only laughs here.
• I feel I would appreciate this sketch more if I was married. I’m not yet married to my partner, but even as a person in a long-term relationship, I don’t get this sketch’s comedy.

Rating: **1/2

Kool-Aid

taking Gillette’s lead, Kool-Aid promotes social responsibility

• Oh, I remember this being a brilliant satirical piece. This one is parodying that Gillette Toxic Masculinity ad that went viral around the new year.
• I love how this short had yet another standout quick moment with Alex, for the second time tonight. It’s such a shame how much he was stuck in dull, non-comedic roles much of his run.
• A freakin’ hilarious random inclusion of Colin doing the Kool-Aid catchphrase, complete with a red mustache from the Kool-Aid. Colin always manages to steal pratapes when randomly included.
• The escalation of how not cool Kool-Aid is nowadays in the age of we are living in, especially his famous crashing through the wall is great. This is a clever concept all around.
• Love the bit with Che stopping Beck from crashing through the glass wall; him, of all people, telling Beck it’s not cool made me laugh out loud.
• All-in-all, just as strong as I remember it being and easily one of the standout pretapes from this season. (I remember a CFT Cecily Strong pretape as Dianne Feinstein featuring an even stronger satire from the soon-to-come John Mulaney episode. I hope it lives up to my positive memories of it.)

Rating: ****

Musical Performance – “You’re The One”

Ken Instagram

(host) & other Barbie interns suggest captions for Ken’s Instagram

• Huge night for Kenan, once again confirming the strong season he’s been having so far. It’s also interesting how his roles in tonight’s episode are having him in glue/alpha male/utility star-way, similar to how routinely Beck Bennett (from S42 onwards) and Mikey Day been used as such in their tenures. James Austin Johnson would later get the same treatment in more current SNL seasons, though not as consistently as the three aforementioned performers.
• Very light night for Heidi Gardner. This was back in those days with her and other female cast members not named Aidy/Cecily/Kate would usually be put in the background. Knowing the vital backbone to female roles that Heidi eventually became in more current seasons, it feels a bit surreal seeing her having such a light night, knowing the strong airtime she would consistently get eventually.
• I really have nothing to say about this sketch; Kenan and Cecily are solid as anchors and Heidi, Pete and Rachel are fine playing these stupid characters, but aside from the wallet joke, nothing here is standing out and the sketch is dragging. Nothing bad, but, you guessed it, just dull.

Rating: **1/2

Goodnights

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

Kool-Aid

Millennial Millions

Weekend Update

Leave Me Alurn

Ken Instagram

Tabitha

Earthquake News Report

Deal Or No Deal: Government Shutdown Edition

The Raunchiest Miss Rita

Monologue

Final Thoughts:

• A weak episode. This episode in general seems to have quite the negative reputation and it is easy to see why: between the dull, uninspired segments dominating the night, and a promising host being completely squandered, there’s really not much to like here. Most of the lowlights here were nothing horrible, just very, very…. dull. Dull sketches, unlike trainwreck-y ones, are not fun to riff on or talk about, making them even worse as they’re just…. so suffocating. (Reminding me of a major gripe I had with season 48.) However, the two biggest highlights of the night remain worth watching and probably gave this episode a big boost in the rating average it received.

My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:

Up Next:

• James McAvoy.

My full set of screencaps from this episode is here