January 26, 2019 – James McAvoy / Meek Mill (S44 E11)

Cold Opening – Tucker Carlson Tonight

Roger Stone (Steve Martin) is wild & crazy

• The debut of Alex’s Tucker Carlson, an impression I remember being heavily critiqued around its debut, and even in the few other appearances it made afterwards. I’ll say, and with all due respect, I don’t get what’s wrong with it. So far in this debut, Alex is nailing Tucker Carlson easily and the voice is spot-on, though it would get downright uncanny by the impression’s final appearance. However, if I would critique the impression in its debut, is that they could’ve worked a little bit more on the makeup on Alex, as it seemed not as tanned as Tucker Carlson looks like in real-life; they’ll fix that in later appearances.
• This cold opening is basically following the format of The Ingraham Angle cold openings, right down to movie clips passed down as real footage, but it’s harmless enough for me. It also helps that Alex’s lines are better than the ones given to Kate as Ingraham.
• I certainly did not need to see Kate as Wilbur Ross, especially those nightmarish prosthetics she always wears playing male politicians. Her whole scene did not work for me and I’m still trying to figure why this part was in this cold open.
• I remember what a huge shock it was to see none other than Steve Martin playing Roger Stone, especially as we didn’t expect him to be one of the many celebrities playing politicians during this era’s height of stunt casting.
• Nice Festrunk Brothers mention, even when it went over the audience’s head it seems.
• Steve’s lines aren’t the best, but he’s cracking me the hell up with his goofy portrayal of Stone; love especially his hand movements and the way he’s moving his mouth while talking.

Rating: ***

Monologue

host differentiates himself from Ewan McGregor & gives a Scotland primer

• I love that James enters the SNL stage wearing proudly the kilt, which I don’t think was ever worn by a host before while delivering a monologue.
• I did not know that people confused Ewan McGregor and James McAvoy. I do not see any resemblance between them.
• The part where James almost flashes the audience with the kilt would’ve bombed had it been delivered by a less charismatic performer.
• A short-and-sweet monologue that James handled effortlessly; a breath of fresh air compared to the previous episode’s debacle of a monologue.

Rating: ***

Virgin Hunk

ditzy bachelorettes compete to deflower abstinent guy

• These sketches live or die by the characterizations of the various contestants, especially how quick a lot of their individual moments tend to be.
• Man, I love Heidi (yes, even as I’ve been a big critic of hers in recent seasons), but that whole Miss Vagina bit was weak. Not even she could’ve saved it.
• The rest of the girls are fine in their roles, even when it feels that Aidy and Cecily played these roles way too much by this point in their runs. Melissa and Ego, on the other hand, feel out-of-place in this sketch. I guess due to 1) Melissa barely if ever getting used as a cast member, outside of dull, non-comedic roles and a few Updates and sketches in each of her six seasons, and 2) Ego never gelling with the rest of this group and, instead, finding her own path on the show later on as the well-loved, strong utility leader she is now seen by fans.
• I remember some criticizing James’ performance in this sketch. Much like the cold opening, I don’t get it. He’s delivering his lines and reacting to the girls as best as he can, but I guess due to how naturally charismatic he is, it feels odd seeing him in such a role that’s usually played by stiff performers or those able to play stiff and remain funny (think J.J. Watt next season).
• The banana/peach sequence at the end with Kate was very cheap, but made me laugh and ended a shaky sketch fine enough.

Rating: **1/2

Mr. H

student’s (CRR) alley meet-up with teacher isn’t cliched

• As a teacher, I greatly appreciated the opening quote of this short (first Screencap above).
• This is an early example of Chris showing off his dramatic chops in a pre-taped format; him playing a character named Marcus always made me think if he was the same person from the famous Sam Rockwell sketch.
• I do not know if I would call this piece a slice-of-life one, but I absolutely love the realistic tone and escalation of it one as it goes along. McAvoy’s teacher coming to the alley not to give advice, but to buy shrooms is working very well here to me.
• Man, watching how damn good Chris’ here makes me miss him so much in the current SNL cast, more than I already do.
• Outside of the peanut gallery sequence with Ego, Pete, and Mikey talking about how dumb Chris’ character is, this piece in general doesn’t have some of the usual issues some shorts would go on to have in more recent years (e.g. length, mixed tone, cliché, etc.).
• A great ending with James telling Chris how his all over the place his essay is and Chris responding that’s is just like him; one of my favorite Chris moments and a little, quick moment showing how effortlessly charismatic and charming he is.

Rating: ****

Air Traffic Control

doomed plane can’t understand Scottish air traffic controller (host)

• For some reason, this sketch’s start reminds me of that underrated one Mikey would later do with Harry Styles in the upcoming season.
• A cliché premise with Mikey’s American character being unable to understand James’ and Kate’s Scottish accents, but it’s being executed decently enough.
• This is a Mikey Reacts sketch on full display, but his increasing desperation is fun. It also helps the performances are solid all-around; Kate’s Scottish accent is more solid than I would’ve excepted.
• Not sure I cared for the ending with Beck as a Welsh traffic controller. Sorry, Beck.

Rating: ***

The U.E.S.

happy Upper East Side resident LEJ raps about her adopted neighborhood

• I’m already onboard with this short from the opening scene with Leslie talking about all the dangerous neighborhoods she lived in throughout her life.
• Not only this short has a catchy, fun beat to it; one of my favorites from this period of the show, but there are some truly powerful moments sprinkled throughout it already. Leslie’s line about thinking she would either be dead or broke at 50 is powerful knowing in hindsight the struggles she went through in her life.
• I also want to say I really love Leslie’s look in this short; she’s one of the few performers in recent seasons that can come off effortlessly cool and charismatic without barely doing anything. Chris Redd I also felt had the same thing with him.
• This was said before about this short, but I admire that it’s not rapping about something silly, while it is perfectly fine (a fun short about such will be airing later this episode), is something the show has leaned into too much in general.
• James’ whole section as the German baker, complete with his great look and accent, is fantastic and has always stuck with me from this short. I especially love the visual of him holding that giant baguette around his bakery.
• The whole section with Kate, while feels tacked-on a tad, is fine and fun enough. Knowing how personal this piece is to Leslie, having such a close friend of hers in Kate getting a moment here, makes a lot of sense to me.
• An overall excellent, powerful, and memorable musical short that has always been one of my favorites from this whole era. If there was ever a Best Of for Leslie in the future, this short will easily be near the very top in its order.

Rating: ****1/2

Charmin

focus group’s feedback about Charmin’s Super Bowl commercial is unhelpful

• A memorable sketch from this season. And a one that I always liked it seems more than others.
• I know this is obvious, but James looks fantastic in that getup. I also love his characterization right from the get-go.
• Kyle’s delivery was decent but couldn’t care for that voice and accent he’s using; Kyle’s a limited performer in general and he does often rely on the same voices/gestures an awful lot at times.
• Aidy’s straight man performance, as well as James’ lines are quite enjoyable, especially the latter’s various reactions (absolutely love his whole thumbs-up moment), but Kenan and Kate’s characters add absolutely nothing to this sketch and feel there to just fill set space.
• An overall solid little sketch. This is not a perfect sketch, as it has the usual add-ons and unfocus, but all of that is forgotten by how fantastic James was in the central role. He had a decent number of funny moments and provided fun physical moments; him saying “charmin” is a part I always loved and remembered from this sketch. This is also a sketch I could’ve seen Adam Driver nailing as well as James did here.

Rating: ***1/2

Musical Performance – “Going Bad”, “Uptown Vibes”

Weekend Update

Soulja Boy (CRR) releases videogame knock-offs & plans a presidential run

Cathy Anne thinks the shutdown shows Donald Trump is addicted to his wall

• The moronic Trump wall comments at the start made me laugh out loud; Colin’s “call it quits” was a great way to end it.
• Loved Che’s Roger Stone rant, especially as he talks about how he hoped Stone would’ve been arrested while wearing shorts like a drug dealer; Colin’s subsequent riffing on him, especially his cartoonish looks, is very funny.
• Nice seeing Chris Redd behind the Update desk, considering how criminally underused he’s been so far this year. Also, between Mr. H and this desk piece, Chris is having a great night.
• Funny Soulja Boy impression from Chris. IIRC, this desk piece is parodying that Breakfast Club interview Soulja did that went very viral a few days prior to this episode’s airing.
• The random plugging of video game knockoffs during Soulja Boy’s ranting is at least not done in the same way those sponsored gags are done in the past; Chris’ delivery of Fork-Knife was the funniest highlight here.
• Great prayer app/Grindr joke from Colin; this is the type of “edgy” jokes this Update era always nails without coming off desperate or unpleasant.
• For the second week in a row, we get a fun meta reference, with McAvoy being a punchline to the UK upskirt picture ban joke.
• Cecily’s Cathy Anne is not my cup of tea. I appreciate Cecily’s energy here and there are some good moments, especially the more Cathy Anne gets physical, but I cannot remove that voice Cecily’s using as this character. Still not bad, though.

Rating: ****

The Chronicles of Narnia: Return of Narnia

in Narnia, (CES), (AIB), (KAM) fawn over girlhood crush Mr. Tumnus (host)

• I remember how surprised I was seeing James reprising Mr. Tumnus during his SNL hosting stint. I recall thinking the show might do a short similar to Don’ You Go Rounin’ Roun To Re Ro or something with him.
• I have a problem having the “stars” Kate, Aidy, and Cecily in this sketch instead of one or two of these roles being played by Heidi, Melissa, or Ego. They are fine here, but all played such roles before too many times; Cecily’s performance reminds me of some of the flirty characters she did in the past, for example.
• This sketch is washing over me. James’ performance is strong and likable (of course), but the lines from the Kate/Aidy/Cecily group are doing nothing for me.
• Man, this is Alex’s very first appearance since the cold open and it’s just a quick role. It feels plain sad how severely underused he’s been thus far this season (and it gets worse and worse, sadly).

Rating: **1/2

Brothers

rowdy sons get hosed by their stepdad (host) during a Super Bowl party

• Ok, the first installment of this sketch is an absolute classic to me and quite a number of other fans. But I’m sure we didn’t need it to become an unnecessary recurring sketch.
• The sudden entrance of Beck and Kyle here is nowhere near as funny as their entrance in the first sketch. I did get a quick laugh, though, but even that doesn’t compare to how I howled watching the same entrance the first time.
• I will say that James is a strong straight man to Beck and Kyle and actually looks quite believable as a middle-aged dad, another example of his amazing versatility and range as a performer.
• Ok, I did laugh at Kyle’s WWE-esque chair move, as well as James using an air blower to shut Beck and Kyle up. Even with the aforementioned highlights, this sequel came off to me sad. Certainly, a sketch I did not need back.

Rating: **1/2

Musical Performance – “Championships”

I love My Dog

(PED), (CRR), (host), (KET) express love for their dogs in hip-hop video

• A random, but fun concept for a traditional SNL musical pretape. It feels also funny seeing a performer such as James McAvoy rapping in not one, but two pretapes in the same night; something I sincerely wasn’t expecting when he was announced as host back then.
• The cutaways to James are freakin’ slaying me throughout this short; he’s adding so many little fun subtleties in his expressions that are easy to not notice.
• This is a little odd to say, but Heidi and Aidy not only look great, but the quick cutaways to them are also fun and adding to this short.
• James’ increasing agitation over the dogs is priceless; him threatening to shoot us if we do not give the dog respect is great.
• The ending with Ego rapping about bunnies, while short, is catchy as hell, especially the Shih Tzu line; her role here is a precursor to the type of sketch-stealing, memorable performance Ego would go on to regularly deliver in more recent seasons.

Rating: ***1/2

New Orleans Vacation

(host) & Deirdre annoy friends with talk of their trip to New Orleans

• The second installment of this character of Heidi’s. I understand some do not care for these sketches, but they always worked for me, and Heidi manages in them to be pompous and at the same time show so much warmth and likability. These the type of harmless, “wacky” Heidi sketches that I like.
• Only James McAvoy can look this good while wearing such an absurd-looking outfit.
• I’m not too pleased they’re using basically the same straight men as the preceding installment did, but they are at least not acting like they never met or heard of Deidre before.
• Heidi’s even funnier in this sketch than last time; her line deliveries and gestures are so damn good and with lots of subtleties in them that makes them even funnier to me. I especially love the hand wave she imitates and lines about a Voodoo ritual she witnessed.
• As Heidi’s character keeps blathering throughout the sketch, James is noticeably cracking up and trying and failing to hide his breaking due to Heidi’s antics. This is one of the very rare times where breaking is working for me; it feels so rare seeing a true professional such as James McAvoy giggling so badly. This is one of the very few sketches that is actually enhanced by the breaking.

Rating: ****

Goodnights

Segments Ranked From Best to Worst

The U.E.S.

Mr. H

New Orleans Vacation

Weekend Update

I love My Dog

Charmin

Monologue

Air Traffic Control

Tucker Carlson Tonight

The Chronicles of Narnia: Return to Narnia / Brothers (tie)

Virgin Hunk

Final Thoughts:

• A pretty good episode with a high number of solid highlights. And, unlike most of the episodes this season prior to it, thankfully there were no duds and nothing was rated below an average **1/2 by me. Jame McAvoy was a fantastic host; effortlessly playing all of his roles and elevating several sketches with his mere presence. A damn shame he hasn’t come back for another hosting as of SNL’s current season 49.

My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:

Up Next:

• Halsey.

My full set of screencaps from this episode is here