Cold Opening – The Resurrection
Donald Trump (JAJ) interrupts The Resurrection to plug his Bibles
- Great set design, replicating Biblical times, though I am well-aware there is a twist to come with this cold opening.
- And here it is: James Austin Johnson’s Trump interrupts the cold open to do one of his lengthy ramblings.
- Oh, wow. They are actually making fun of the Trump Bible sale debacle. I was just making fun of that incident yesterday – predicting it as the topic for this episode’s cold opening and here we are.
- Considering that James is my current favorite cast member, I guess I should be happy seeing him front-and-center at the start of the show, and it is a sign of great confidence how much James has absolutely dominated the cold opens since his very first episode. I just wish his caliber of talent would be matched with better-written cold opens.
- I will admit getting a solid laugh from JAJ’s Trump saying he sells Bibles made 100% from Bible. James’ delivery remains just top-notch, even with the most nothing of lines.
- Surprisingly, I’m actually laughing throughout this cold opening, even during the parts where we are shown photoshopped images of Trump during various Biblical events. I don’t know why, but I’d attribute it partly to how much of an improvement this cold opening is, compared to the last time Trump’s JAJ showed up in a cold opening. But…. it’s just working much better for me either way, as it has funnier lines, good premise and a better pacing.
- Heh, even the very ancient “bing bing bong” meme JAJ just did gave me a good laugh.
Rating: ***
Monologue
(host) delivers standup about religion, Arab-Americans and Palestine
- I’m not very interested in “representation” in something as relatively trivial as entertainment, but it feels very nice seeing someone who looks like me hosting my favorite show.
- While I’m familiar with Ramy from movies like Poor Things and his self-titled TV show, I’ve never seen his stand-up comedy, though his recently-released HBO special, which I have yet to see, looked very solid from its promo. I’m excited to experience his stand-up style for the very first time through this monologue.
- The opening bit with Ramadan/Easter/Beyoncé is decent, especially the talk about Ramadan, as it’s personally relatable to me.
- Ramy’s whole talk about Joe Biden is pretty solid, especially his talk about “Mohammad Biden,” and I loved his “awareness issue” joke about Joe Biden. This is a lot funnier to me than the usual senile/out-of-date Biden jokes.
- Loving the whole bit from Ramy about wanting America’s next president to be transgender woman, especially as he goes around about how her speech would go on to be.
- The transition from Ramy talking about running out of ideas to having nothing but prayers is great, especially as he goes on to talk about the tragic situation in Gaza. This is a difficult transition, but Ramy’s charm and delivery, which were so comforting since the beginning of this stand-up set, is making it work.
Rating: ****
Couple Goals 2
contestant’s (host) dark answers disrupt cheesy couples’ gameshow
- Surprised they are bringing this sketch from the Quinta Brunson episode back, but 1) happy to see lots of JAJ already in tonight’s episode, and 2) JAJ is so damn fantastic playing gameshow hosts, so I guess I shouldn’t bother once again.
- As expected, this is going the same route as the previous sketch, but I’m not going to dismiss it immediately for doing so. There can be fun twists and turns here, though I get the sense they didn’t know what to do with our host, so they slotted him in a generic gameshow contestant role.
- The parts with Heidi and Mikey are fine, but man, does Mikey just feel ancient to watch nowadays. Not talking about how much he aged these past three seasons, but he just feels very out-of-place in a lot of the roles given to him recently, especially in this and the Ayo Edebiri episode. I still like Mikey a lot, but he is definitely past-his-prime. I am also growing sick of his nothing impression of Biden and dread how that one will come off in the upcoming election sketches, if they are indeed sticking with Mikey for the role.
- By the way, this surprisingly ends up being Heidi’s final appearance of the night, and it is just the leadoff sketch. A shockingly light night for her, considering her very heavy utilization in general these past two seasons.
- Solid work by Ramy and (continuing her solid season) Ego, as well as the usual excellent “Glue” performance by JAJ holding the sketch together (loved his quick “whoops!” just now). All of this, combined with good pacing is making this sketch come off better than it actually is.
Rating: ***
Please Don’t Destroy – We Got Too High
Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy, John Higgins get too high
- A musical PDD piece? Guess it makes sense for the obligatory Travis Scott sketch appearance of the night.
- Meh, a weak, dull premise with the PDD boys getting too high in a night out with Travis. Much like the godawful Dune Popcorn Bucket short, none of the visuals here and the “hilarious” gags are working for me.
- The whole part with Ramy is chuckleworthy and the performances by the guys are all fun and decent, but this feels so forgettable, boring and very “we have The Lonely Island at home” vibes to me.
- There are some OK absurdist visuals near the end here, especially with John, but they aren’t enough to save this piece; too far gone at this point.
- I didn’t care for the ending with Mikey as some doctor calling the guys gigantic pussies. Mikey is certainly not the cast member I’d think of when it comes to excellent deadpan delivery in this current cast, but I guess the one in my head is by this point in his last few days on the show anyways.
- All-in-all, the very first flop PDD short for me, though it is very impressive it took almost full three seasons for the guys to deliver a weak piece. I appreciate the attempt going musical here, but they should’ve kept it a one-time thing with Taylor Swift. This short also continues the very hit-or-miss quality of shorts as of late with this season, especially this back half.
Rating: **
Immigrant Dad Talk Show
(MAH) & (host) are old-school immigrant dads
- For some reason, the format of this sketch feels like something the show did before (and I’m not talking about the usual lazy talk show setting). I might be thinking of those girlfriend sketches with Adam Sandler or the Goomah sketch with Kate McKinnon back in season 44.
- I’m absolutely not buying Marcello in this role. Ramy, on the other hand, is fantastic in this part, with great characterization, accent, gestures; just so damn good.
- I’ve been noticing many fans getting sick of Mikey Day as this season goes on, while seeing much-stronger cast members like James Austin Johnson not getting more airtime. I, for that matter, do not dislike Mikey Day yet, but he is coming off bland here, and this part is one I could see JAJ crushing or hell, Andrew as he nails the cheesy/awkward dad vibes, as he did in the classic A Christmas Epiphany short from last season.
- Why in the world is Kenan in this sketch? His role here feels odd, especially that it feels like how the show used him in his earlier seasons.
- The whole part with Andrew is decent, and he came off adorable as expected jumping around the set. This has been a fantastic season for Andrew, as he even his little moments are memorable to me.
- I’m mixed on this sketch, as I love Ramy’s performance and the realistic atmosphere, but so much of it feels between derivative and just plain unfunny to me. I guess I should go what my gut tells me in rating this sketch.
Rating: **1/2
Team Captain
team captain’s (host) inspirational speech isn’t working
- This was cut from the Jacob Elordi episode earlier this year. I really cannot imagine him playing the role Ramy is convincingly playing here.
- No comment about having eight-years veteran Mikey Day playing some high school student, next to cast members at least a decade younger than him.
- Some OK laughs from how Ramy’s motivational speech isn’t going as planned; Devon’s a real MVP with his reactions here, which are cracking me up.
- Great quick appearance from James and his part is definitely the funniest moment so far into this sketch. His quick bit here feels like one of those scene-stealing moments that would be given to the likes of Bill Hader and Will Ferrell in the past. Glad to see James gaining enough trust to get such quick moments once in a while.
- Didn’t care for that lazy ending.
Rating: ***
Ozempic for Ramadan
Ozempic for Ramadan is the solution for daytime fasting for Muslim-Americans
- A solid way of not only tackling the Ozempic phenomenon, but a fun, relatable way of making a Ramadan-specific fake ad while simultaneously being in the conversation.
- I love that the side effects of this product including not only nausea and headaches, but also going straight to Hell. Solid voiceover from Chloe delivering that part – an area I find her very underrated in, generally speaking.
- In parts, this ad feels like a spiritual successor to that fantastic Covid piece from last season, and while this one is definitely nowhere near as strong, daring as that one was, but it is still fairly solid on its own and it is certainly nice to see some more representation for people like me.
- Is Andrew going to goof around in every segment he is in tonight? Not complaining, as I got a solid laugh from him showing off his post-Ozempic figure as a recent convert to Islam.
Rating: ***1/2
Musical Performance – “MY EYES”
Weekend Update
TikToker Piper Dunster (CLF) faces her questionable posts
Flaco the Owl’s Widow (SRS) roasts COJ
- This opening string of jokes is doing absolutely nothing for me so far, though I will admit getting a solid laugh from the Boeing CEO joke from Colin.
- Even that audience-testing joke from Che about Kamala Harris and country music fell flat with me. Next please.
- A Chloe desk piece? Considering I liked her prior piece quite a bit, we’ll see where this one could go.
- Ah, so this piece is making fun TikTokers with questionable posts in the past. Decent premise, but I can tell this one won’t be able to sustain its premise over its duration.
- Solid performance by Chloe, but yeah, after the first reveal with Princess Kate, I’m not really caring for where the rest of this commentary is going. Nothing terrible, but forgettable.
- Now it is Sarah’s turn to dress up in goofy outfits and eat up Update screentime? Somewhere backstage, Michael Longfellow is probably weeping.
- Bleh, for the billionth time, I’m beyond sick and tired of these interchangeable, by-the-numbers Jost Roast pieces from Sarah, which make her 3-for-3 in terms of flop desk pieces for me this season. What started as a very fun, endearing routine has run its course ages ago. Why not have Troast, JAJ, Andrew or even poor Michael here instead of these indulgent, lazy pieces? This piece makes me notice what a terrible season this has been for desk pieces so far. Barely any desk pieces were memorable this year to me, and the less said about the endless rotation of Heidi/Bowen/Sarah eating up airtime that should go to cast members who deserve it more/could do better pieces, the better.
- A subpar Update overall. with dull jokes and two weak commentaries, the worst of this whole season to me thus far, and it cannot be said what a turnover Update needs in hosts and regular contributors.
Rating: **1/2
Murder Detective
detective’s (AND) Caruso-esque one-liners derail murder investigation
- There’s James once again tonight. Nice to see him featured quite well throughout tonight’s episode, considering his airtime fluctuations at times. Ego’s had a good night as well.
- Oh, so is patented oddball Andrew Dismukes sketches a weekly feature this season? Considering the amazing season Andrew’s been having, I cannot complain. I will admit he gave me a big laugh during his first David Caruso-esque look and delivery to the camera.
- This sketch is so dumb, but Andrew is pretty much the only current cast member that can get away with such dumb premises. There’s such sincerity, such joy when it comes to Andrew and his work that makes what could become a vanity piece under another cast member, a harmless, silly one instead.
- This sketch is similarly structured to that great-and-underrated beach sketch Andrew did in the premiere, and while this one could be a little better with more escalation, it is still working fine for me, especially the decent turn with Ramy being reprimanded for attempting to imitate Andrew’s CSI delivery.
- The turn with Sarah helplessly cracking up while supposed to be upset due to Andrew’s performance is hilarious and adorable at the same time. The joy of Sarah Sherman, as well as how extremely rare (at this point) to see her crack up makes this blooper fun. This is a blooper I could’ve seen Gilda make into a memorable classic during the original era, which shows you how much Sarah and Gilda are similar in spirit.
- Pretty good sketch overall.
Rating: ***1/2
Musical Performance -“FE!N” ft. Playboi Carti
Tiny Desk Concert
(BOY) interrupts Tiny Desk concert
- Wow, tons of airtime tonight for James. In fact, unless I’m forgetting something, this episode has the most airtime James gotten since way back to the back half of last season. This episode, much like several others that relied on weaving James into its fabric consistently, is a great example of James’ strong qualities as a “Glue”-type cast member and his utility strengths. Something I hope we’ll get weekly displays of as soon as the current group of vets are out of the show (and I assume so will happen by the end of the upcoming 50th season).
- Solid, spot-on characterization from Ramy, James and Troast, but I’m wondering where this sketch so far is attempting. I do enjoy the silly characterization especially from James in particular; he’s had a great night in general.
- This is Bowen Yang’s first appearance all night and I didn’t even notice his absence at all. It really shows just how much of an expendable cast member he is, despite what the show’s push of him in the past might want you to think.
- I’m not really getting the comedic conceit behind this sketch, especially the multiple interruptions by Bowen’s character, whom I assume is here to “save” the sketch. I guess this is making fun of NPR and podcasts in general in the vein of some on NPR, but I could’ve seen it working better with a writer group other than the Fowlie/O’Sullivan/Yim whom I’m positive are behind this sketch, and while he is performing this fine, a performer other than Bowen would’ve been better in handling this premise. Hey, maybe that certain deadpan performer, with excellent delivery I hinted at earlier in this review would’ve done a much-better job with Bowen’s lines.
- I did get a good laugh from the turn near the end with Bowen doing a podcast, but other than seeing two of my current favorite performers in this cast getting good airtime here (JAJ & Troast), Ramy’s solid performance and a few OK moments, this one was forgettable at best.
Rating: **1/2
Cut For Time: The Hitman
Uber Eats worker (MAH) interrupts hitman’s (host) job
- Nice to see another cut short uploaded, even when this one didn’t feel too exciting to me when I read its description.
- Solid delivery and characterization from Ramy in this out of the ordinary role for him. It’s been nice seeing Ramy show off his range throughout this hosting stint, even when the writing I feel let him down.
- Very meh conceit behind this short, in a typical Seiday fashion (and even if they didn’t write this one) with having an incompetent person interrupting the competent’s job. Now this time, complete with Marcello showing ”range” doing a ”funny” accent for four minutes straight. Meh, next please.
- The very pleasing sight of Chloe Fineman in that getup is the only real entertainment I’ve been getting from this short.
- This short is going on forever now.
- A new low with an incredibly lazy ending as Marcello interrupts the hit and calls out Ramy on the other side. Complete with Marcello being ”cute” to boot. Yet another weak, overlong short from this season I see.
Rating: **
Goodnights
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
Monologue
Ozempic for Ramadan
Murder Detective
The Resurrection
Couple Goals 2
Team Captain
Tiny Desk Concert
Immigrant Dad Talk Show
Weekend Update
PDD – We Got Too High
CFT: The Hitman
Final Thoughts:
- A pretty average, cookie cutter episode. Nothing terrible, but not one I will remember by the end of the season. With that said, there were a few solid highlights and nothing was outright horrible to me. Ramy Youssef was a charming presence, but much like I and some others feared could happen, he was pretty much a “there” host, with lots of generic roles given to him, though he certainly had some solid moments, especially his monologue.
- I will say also this was a great night for James Austin Johnson, giving top-notch performances all night, getting to display his range and having some of my favorite individual moments of the night. This episode as a whole, much like quite a few others in the past, is a great microcosm of James’ stellar utility skills and Glue-esque potential. I hope, in hindsight, it will be viewed as such.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
Up Next:
- Legendary cast member Kristen Wiig joins the Five-Timers Club, with music from Raye.
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
You seem to be making lots of comments about you not being done with Mikey yet, but everything he’s done in this episode says otherwise.
This episode made really odd use of its cast, aside from James.
And I know you think Longfellow is a goner, but I still have hope And I think he’s safe compared to Molly, who made no appearances.
As always, great review Blood!
My thoughts are pretty similar to yours with the exception of the cold open (which I’ll detail more below), the monologue (though I still liked it) and Weekend Update (after the initial rant, I thought the jokes were pretty solid).
Other than that, I agree that tonight was basically an average episode. Nothing was really amazing, nor terrible. The sketches generally ranged from good to meh. This is the kind of episode you’ll forget about by this time next week.
With regard to the cold open, I’m just so sick of the show throwing JAJ out there as Trump with paper thin writing and just having him ramble for 5 minutes. Yes, it’s a great impression and yes, Trump himself does ramble in a very similar way, but we’ve seen this done so many times before. There’s no real structure or escalation to these cold opens. I know political satire is hard to do these days given how absurd real life is, but these are just so bland. Then again, given the quality of cold opens in the last ten years or so, perhaps bland is about the best we can hope for.
I too didn’t care for Sarah’s desk piece. While I’m not as tired of the Jost roasts as you are (even though I fully see where you’re coming from, trust me), this one really lacked focus for me. Is the piece mocking Flaco and his STDs, or is mocking Colin? It seemed like they couldn’t decide, so they tried to do both but sort of half-assed it. Say what you will about that piece earlier in the season with her as Colin’s son: at least that one had a proper structure and focused solely on one premise.
Similarly, I’m truly baffled by the NPR Tiny Desk concert sketch and honestly have no idea what the actual joke was supposed to be. Is the sketch mocking Tiny Desk concerts in general? Is it mocking the hipster musicians who you sometimes see perform these concerts? Is it mocking NPR? Is it mocking podcasts, and if so, is it just podcasts in general or NPR podcasts? It seemed like at various points the sketch tried to veer into all of these and as a consequence, it felt very dull and empty. While I didn’t exactly hate the sketch, it was definitely one of the messier sketches I’ve seen this season.
I’m truly saddened to see Longfellow get absolutely wasted and underused this season, and this episode was easily one of the worst in that regard. He was in a measly two sketches over an hour into the show (one of which gave him just one line) and was given absolutely nothing to do in either. Why?! As you pointed out, this guy is brilliantly deadpan and can really wring laughs out of otherwise bland roles on paper. I’m sadly convinced at this point he’ll be let go after this season, and it’s a real damn shame. Idk if he just hasn’t been able to write for himself or if the writers don’t know what to do with him, but it’s really depressing to see his screentime (with few exceptions) get more and more pathetic with each passing week.
I’m glad you highlighted JAJ in this episode, as he was far and away the MVP of the night. Tons of glue/utility roles, and he was a perfect fit for all of them. He’s very much, as you’ve stated before, an old school type SNL performer. One who is there to serve the sketch and the comedy rather than himself. I’m very hopeful the show will lean into him heavily starting next year and allow him to become the new cast leader.
Lastly, I agree with your assessment of Ramy. I was not at all familiar with him prior to this episode and, while he came off charming, likable, and fun, he really wasn’t given much to work with at all. Most of the sketches felt like you could have swapped him out with literally anyone and it wouldn’t make any difference. That’s not a slight on him, but rather the writing. A shame, but we’ve got two hosts coming up who always deliver, so hopefully they’ll get a bunch of sketches that play to their strengths.
Man, this season isn’t fun to watch. It all feels aimless, and those seasons with that feeling are a chore to watch. I’d rather have a disastrous year in the same vein as S20, at least it’s fun to watch a train wreck. It is surprising how they went from an above-average season to a bottom-15 one in a year with no change in the writing staff or the cast (except Troast). It’s not as if they found their style and then dug it into the ground. There are a lot of solutions (most of which I don’t see the show going for) that could be integrated in a way where they didn’t have to turn over the staff, but something has to happen.
It says something about Andrew’s likability/charisma that he can pull off these simple premises like Murder Investigation and still get it over. He’s the little brother of the cast.
Matthew, Punkie said in an interview recently that before this season started, Lorne encouraged the cast and writers to collaborate with people they don’t normally collaborate with. Perhaps that explains some of the messy sketches like the 10-to-1 from this episode.
I still think this season has been fairly solid myself, but there are glaring flaws with the writing and how certain cast members are being used that I think need to be addressed.
Thanks as always for your reviews.
I feel like this was an extremely generic episode, about as boilerplate as you can get. Lorne and co have not been very subtle about wanting to get more conservative fans, which may be why they seemed to make more effort, and have more input, with Shane Gillis and Nate Bargatze than they did with Ramy, or Ayo Edebiri. This means their fans will never come back, but at least he was not humiliated the way Ayo was.
Ramy did have more input than I had expected going into the week, as I’d guess he was a big part of shaping the Ozempic pre-tape, which was probably one of the better parts of the night. Nothing special, and also cruelly exposing the lack of diversity in the cast, but he helped get it over, along with Ego (I hope she won’t get the same backlash she got when she played Ilhan Omar) and Andrew.
I tend to cut Andrew sketches slack because I just enjoy watching him. I thought the cop sketch had some issues with focus and running out of gas, but he still made it work for me. I’m glad the audience seemed to be there (mostly) throughout the sketch, which wasn’t the case with the beach sketch. I don’t think that means the beach sketch was bad, just that, maybe, the steady airtime he’s had this season has helped him. Or maybe it was just this particular crowd. I have mixed feelings on breaking but this version with Sarah reminded me of the fun she and Andrew can have together, which doesn’t seem self-indulgent. As you mentioned, I prefer this Sarah to that Update piece, which was not egregiously bad, but had much of the same repetition and laziness that has taken a great deal of the enjoyment out of Jost Roast (I say that as someone who did enjoy the last installment, as Jost’s son).
Your mention of Kenan being used in the old ways reminds me of how much that basketball sketch seemed to be along those lines. I suppose given how desperate the show seems to be for ‘stars,’ trying to lean back on that motif isn’t a surprise…but it doesn’t really work now.
I thought Marcello was OK in the dad sketch (it fit him more than a number of recent pieces) but the whole sketch needed tightening up.
The overlong pre-tape that was cut for time (totally agree with your review there) was where I felt he was poorly used.
This might be one of the Worst Episodes this season for me. I am beyond tired of Trump Monologue C/O’s. But at least this didn’t have him list buzzwords. I’d rather have a Newsmax/FOX Telethon with Conservative/Republican Celebrities begging America to raise money for Trump.
I liked Chloe’s Update piece
Was it just me or was the show very Male heavy this week?
Gross underuse of Longfellow this week. Is this what fans felt when Aristotle wasn’t used much? At least Bowen wasn’t used much
That’s about all I have to say about the show.
However I did like Heidi’s Fortune Teller character on Update, So there’s that for her.
Several days late and several dollars short (I’ve only seen the pre-Update portion of the episode), but here’s my take…
I think, even in half an episode’s viewing, there are a couple areas where I seem to be disagreeing with the consensus, one to the positive, one to the negative.
I’ll start with the positive…I think the cold open is exactly what I want from the show’s cold opens: tight, focused and punchy. I get that people have Trump fatigue, but I still think that JAJ’s Trump is essentially a perfect distillation and characterization of the man. Even more than the ScarJo open, which was expertly performed but could have used a trim on the the entire SOTU portion, this one had no fat on its bones. I’ve not been as down on JAJ’s Trump appearances as some – I actually think his closest comparable is Carvey’s Bush Sr. which had a similar “give him a concept, wind him up and let him go” sort of feel. I don’t know, if the sketches are a disaster, I can see having an issue with the Trump pieces, but when they largely let JAJ go off, I still find myself really tickled. This might be the sharpest conception and tightest execution yet. I don’t know if *** gives it justice.
On the other hand, the monologue…there’s every chance that this might be the fourth or fifth best monologue of the season, but I think that’s a loooong way from being good. I’ll give it credit, Ramy actually told jokes in between all the applause-bait, but I’m not really sure the jokes were incisive or punchy enough to really subvert the pandering. Maybe it’s just not my brand of standup, but when I watched it with my wife last night (who, as an fyi, despises comedians like Shane Gillis) I asked for her quick take after we watched it and she said “That was terrible.” Like I said, he told jokes and “terrible” would still put you in the top 50th percentile of 23-24 monologues, but it definitely had that vibe of something that was more charming and agreeable than actually any damn good.
As for the rest…well, it’s usually a bad omen when the kickoff sketch is a game show retread. The PDD guys continue to muddle pretty good results from the most tepid premises. Marcello and Rami gave the Immigrant Dad talk show sketch their full energy, but they looked like fetuses in junior high production old man makeup. The basketball thing was fine but I feel like Kenan kind of took a weird approach to his performance. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.
OK, I’ll report back on the back half tomorrow.
Your mention of the Bush Sr. cold opens in comparison to the JAJ-as-Trump ones makes sense now that I think about it. While I stand with my *** for this cold opening, and still feel I underrated two JAJ-as-Trump cold opens (The Last Supper & GOP Debate, which both would now be rated **** and ***1/2, respectively), I still stand with the rest, for now.
Keep in mind Carson, my reviews of his cold opens are generally more positive than many who cannot stand this format using the impression, but you probably noticed that anyways. With that being said, I’ll definitely keep your Bush Sr. comparison & style of these cold opens in my mind as I move ahead to keep a clean slate & fair approach as I review these in the future.
Here’s my ultimate compliment, Blood. Yours are the only SNL reviews I care to read at this point.
That’s incredibly kind & generous of you to say, Carson. I hope I can keep the trust moving ahead.
Caught the back half and ain’t I Mr. Optimist? I dug Update…or at least I was well-tickled by many of the jokes. Probably five or so made me audibly laugh. Maybe I was just in a good mood. Or maybe I’m an easy touch. I will say that the “Michael Che misogynist joke of the week” thing is kind of played out. I’m not offended – I get jokes and I like jokes – but the “no one watches women’s sports” punchline is pretty tired.
As for the commentaries, Chloe’s was whatever, which is high praise, for her, I guess. I think the Sarah Sherman stuff still has meat on its bones and I’m not too angry at her appearances as long as the jokes still float. I thought they were fine here even if the whole thing felt like a stretch to even exist in the first place. I generally like Sarah (though I’m still waiting on a truly excellent Sherman sketch) and I think having her in more of a hangout mode is an ideal use of her.
The CSI sketch was a goofy delight. A little one joke like those early 90s sketches, but also able to transcend its one joke the way the best of those 90s sketches could. Just a wonderful little throwback. We really need to take stock and appreciate the kind of season Dismukes is putting together right now. He’s on a hot streak akin to what Forte was putting together in the early 2000s while the rest of his cohort floundered.
The Tiny Desk thing was just a mess – a bunch of ideas with neo real center. That’s been a trend this season.
Just watched this episode today.
The Great:
Murder Detective is so fun and Andrew does great here.
I actually really enjoyed Immigrant Dad Talk Show and found the Marcello/Ramy pairing to be really fun.
The monologue was some solid stand up and Ramy has great delivery.
Fun Fact: Ramy Youssef is the 2nd host I’ve ever seen where I yelled out “HE’S A STANDUP?” at the beginning of the monologue. Jerrod Carmichael was the first.
The Middle:
Cold Open, PDD, and Ozempic for Ramadan were good, but not great.
Couple Games was fine, but I didn’t need another installment.
Update was kinda subpar, with not good commentaries that brought it down.
The Bad:
Tiny Desk Concert didn’t have a clear concept and it felt underwritten.
Team Captain had the type of humor that just isn’t for me.
Overall, a good episode, but fairly forgettable.
6.0/10