May 11, 2024 – Maya Rudolph / Vampire Weekend (S49 E19)

Cold Opening – Mother’s Day 2024

cast members & moms reminisce about the past

• After a few seasons without one, we get our traditional Mother’s Day cold open. These are usually just a bunch of cheesy jokes between cast members and their moms, but they are charming. I like these because, as I disclosed before, I’m still, to this day a mamma’s boy, even at the age of 27 years-old.
• I often forget how funny Kenan’s mom is, which I guess explains Kenan natural funniness.
• Sweet to see JAJ and his mom, even when their bit revolved around the great impressionist JAJ is (which is odd, considering the show is [rightfully] utilizing him a lot more as a utility player ever since Cecily Strong’s final episode), but her impression of him crying as a baby was endearing.
• The rest of this cold open is going by in a breeze pace, with the PDD bit being a real highlight, though the whole moment with Colin in that wig made me cringe initially, even as it was harmless.
• Michael Che has yet to say the LFNY, despite this being his 10th(!) season on the show, he didn’t say it once!

Rating: ***

Monologue

MAR sings about being your Mother & tours 8H

• A well-deserved lengthy applause break welcoming the SNL legend back home.
• Already, Maya is shining with lots of likability and fun presence. A good sign of how she’ll be tonight as the host.
• This pairing of Sarah & Bowen reminds me of how I enjoyed their sketches together, which sadly now feels like a faint memory.
• Typical Bowen shouting, but he cracked me in spite of myself talking about how Maya is a mother (which is more than I can say about Sarah’s cringey attempt to match him); the hot audience reaction to that is increasing the fun vibes of this monologue already.
• While a groanworthy concept to some, Maya is probably the only person I could think of that could make a monologue revolving around the slang term “mother” (and gee, I wonder which certain current writer wrote this monologue…) come off fun and funny. And, this is a fun Mother’s Day monologue, especially utilizing Maya’s energy and style of performance.
• This monologue is actually turning out to be a lot of fun, as we now get Kenan’s involvement in one of his most Kenan-y roles in some time as a typical emcee in these RuPaul-esque shows.
• Maya looks fantastic in her “Mother” getup, with, as expected, very fun, infectious presence and dance moves, and as we now go around the studio, much like her first hosting stint’s monologue.
• Lots of fun, infectious energy as expected from Maya, especially as we now go backstage – making this monologue rather similar to her season 37 monologue, even when I slightly prefer the latter to this.
• As a massive SNL junkie, I appreciated the mention of The Coneheads; one of the best recurring characters in SNL history.
• The cutaway to Troast, Devon and Marcello holding those judge signs cracked me up, especially the look on Marcello’s face.
• Punkie can be seen in the frame before she makes her walk-on; did enjoy her mention of the gays, and this monologue, as a queer person myself, is actually coming off a lot more fun and sillier than I expected. It not pandering to straights is probably part of why it’s working for me more than other attempts of going camp on the show in recent years.
• Great mention of past female SNL characters and impressions as Maya goes back to the homebase stage; always a fan of SNL going meta during musical monologues.
• Chloe Troast looks distractingly good walking behind Maya…
• All-in-all, this monologue probably worked for me the most for one of its type in recent years. But…. the energy was there (especially when Maya Rudolph is in the house), it was of solid length, had enough moments and fun gags throughout.

Rating: ***1/2

Hot Ones 2

Beyoncé (MAR) is back for more torment

• Showing how “creative” he is in the Twilight years of his run, much like trotting out a cut sketch from six seasons prior, Mikey Day is now reprising a sketch from four seasons ago. Slow but steady progress!
• Saying all of this, Maya is probably the only person on the planet that can make this sketch work. Then again, I do not recall being too hot on this sketch the first time, but that was during my early reviewing tenure, where I was at times a bit immature and rough, and now that we are almost two full years from that period, I hope I will be as fair to this sequel as possible.
• Despite being one of her most memorable impressions, Maya’s Beyoncé was never that spot-on, but it was always funny, and her opening lines here are funnier than they are due to her reliable delivery.
• I got a big laugh from the initial cutaway to Maya’s numbed reaction, even when it was a standard Hammy Maya facial expression.
• Kenan’s very Kenan role as Maya’s assistant is hilarious and the type of hamminess Kenan can always make funny.
• The Scoville Level rapidly rising with each new wing is a good, subtle joke that doesn’t seem to get noticed much by the audience.
• Lots of fun gags here, and Maya is fantastic in this, even more than the first installment; some of her best moments is calling Mikey’s Sean Evans Gollum; describing him as Charlie Brown-looking; the lotion moment near the end is especially hilarious and I can tell will be one of the most, if not most, viral moments of the episode. It also shows how much of an underrated, consummate professional Maya Rudolph is, as God knows how she didn’t break at all throughout this sketch nor any other ridiculous moment later on in the night.

Rating: ***1/2

Please Don’t Destroy – Explore Page

John Higgins, Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy’s Explore page have best-kept secrets

• After several weeks of vanishing from their usual spot of the night, I see the boys are back at again. I hope Ben, John and Martin rebound from that embarrassing musical short they did last month.
• Nice change-of-pace with not only having this short set in a restaurant but involving several of our female cast members as the boys’ girlfriends.
• A solid laugh from Maya, in another very Maya role as the boys’ online girlfriend, appearing in the boys’ Instagram Explore pages.
• The awkwardness and escalation in this short are a lot better than usual, as the realistic atmosphere and involvement from cast members, make it come off more like an actual awkward moment and not a bunch of quick cutaways to oddball events like in a typical PDD short.
• Hilarious moment with Maya’s character bouncing off her huge (of course blurred) boobs around. This is such a Maya-esque moment that only her can make funny.
• Great escalation with Ben eating his phone; excellent effect with how it still shows up from his neck; the quick phone call moment gave me a huge laugh.
• A rather odd quick cameo from Will Stephen in this short. If he is leaving after next week’s finale, then I guess I can see why he showed up here.
• Very good PDD as a whole and a good return to form for them, after that mess of a short last time they showed up.

Rating: ***1/2

End-of-Year Teacher PSA

teachers surrender to students by the end of the school year

• As I disclosed before, I’m a teacher (English, to those wondering), and I always enjoy SNL’s teacher-centric sketches from its whole run.
• I love the relatable feel of this piece, which makes it better than the usual PSA pieces from SNL in recent seasons. Again, my real-life job as a teacher probably makes this piece more relatable to me, and thus, in a way, funnier.
• Ego’s whole part is very funny, especially her rant about telling students to “TSIDDAHN.” This is the type of role Ego Nwodim can easily sell by her effortless charisma.
• James is stealing this entire sketch with his hilarious Southern voice and delivery. His whole bit about recovering a chicken being cooked over the urinal gave my biggest laughs of the sketch and you can tell Maya was amused by him with the initial cutaway to her.
• Solid sketch as a whole.

Rating: ***1/2

British Cavemen

40,000 years ago, Londoners weren’t so different than nowadays

• Such a dumb-but-fun sketch concept with us seeing British caveman from many thousands of years ago. I also love how this is another piece that’s utilizing so much of the cast in a fun way.
• As usual, strong “Glue” role and performance from James as the anchor of this program. This is the type of roles Phil Hartman used to routinely get, especially with oddball show premises, so I’m glad to see JAJ getting those nowadays and nailing them.
• Yet another tailor-made role for Maya, as even her usual funny voices shtick is perfect for such a concept.
• Marcello gave me a big laugh from his dead-on imitation of how Brits argue; between the monologue, cold open and this sketch, Marcello is easily having his best night since December in this rather rough year of his.
• The moments with both Chloes were lots of fun, especially how adorable Chloe Fineman came off doing an unsurprisingly spot-on British voice.
• While a standard small dick joke, I loved the interaction between Andrew & Heidi; the latter’s facial expression cracked me up so much.
• This sketch, while very dumb and silly, feels like something Steve Martin would’ve done, particularly during both the original and late ‘80s eras of the show. Its throwback, silly feels makes it even better to me than it already is.
• In general, the cast is pretty funny throughout this sketch, James rightfully anchoring the sketch like the reliable utility leader he is, and the pace of it makes its rather dumb premise harmless and strangely very likable.

Rating: ***1/2

Can You Pick Me Up

mom (MAR) makes up excuses to pick up her daughter from sleepover

• Ah, our Mother’s Day-centric short of the night, after a season-long absence. I know some don’t like these that much, but I find them lovely, heartfelt and with a slice-of-life feel to them; it’s so rare for modern-day SNL to have such heart in pieces in a way that doesn’t feel saccharine or fake, too.
• It feels odd seeing a real-life young actress playing Maya’s daughter, instead of having one from the cast, but I feel it makes this piece more realistic.
• A relatable, solid concept with the excuses parents would make to take their kids from sleepovers in other parents’ houses. And while I enjoyed the prior Mother’s Day shorts, I’m glad this one refrained from doing the “chaotic vs. calm” template that the show pretty much beaten to the ground by this point.
• Maya is simply excellent in selling this short, as her natural warmth and charisma is carrying it with total ease – she’s displaying her underrated, solid dramatic acting chops as the typical no-nonsense, stern-yet-caring mom. The child actress is also doing a solid job and is making this piece even better.
• The escalating absurdity with the various excuses Maya has to make to get her daughter is great, especially as we get the fun visual of her and Kenan (who’s holding his own as much as Maya) dressing up in fake mustaches to get their daughter out of the house. All of these moments, being played in a subtle, clever way without us being spoon-fed what we are seeing makes them even better.
• This might come off a bit cheesy and too personal, but the way Maya acts, sounds and even looks here is uncanny to how my mom looked and came off during my late childhood/early teen years, and is making this role of hers come off not only even more believable, but in a way, emotionally powerful to me.
• Loved the ending with Maya and her daughter as they leave. A lovely end to an overall terrific piece that had a timeless feel to it, with a standout Maya Rudolph performance to boot. So rare to see SNL put its heart out there in modern times, but this is one of the best instances of it happening – this is a short I absolutely could’ve seen Gilda or Jan performing to utter perfection, much like Maya here, and make them classics of their respective eras.

Rating: *****

Musical Performance – “Gen-X Cops”

Weekend Update

RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm (SRS) has a crush on him

A Woman Who Insists She’s Not Mad (HEG) is really, really upset

• While I’m beyond done by this point of the season with Che and Jost, I sincerely hope this Update is an improvement over that trainwreck edition last week.
• I’m actually finding the Stormy Daniels rant to be pretty decent so far, and I admit getting a cheap laugh from the trial-related porn flicks joke from Che.
• Can Michael Che go through a single Update without laughing at himself in reaction to the audience?
• Oh, God. Showing how extremely predictable this Update season has been, before this episode even aired, I assumed we would get Sarah in a goofy outfit, Heidi and Bowen as the Update correspondents, and now we are getting Sarah, as expected, in a goofy outfit trend-chasing a topic that will soon be forgotten. Also, with a cast including several of them struggling for airtime (and easily on the chopping block before S50), do we really need FOUR desk pieces from Sarah “roasting” Colin? Am I supposed to sit back and laugh my ass off at how “outrageous” Sarah is here? I hate to say it as someone who used to be a major champion of hers, but I’m pretty much close to being completely done with Sarah Sherman as a cast member. To say she has nothing left to offer by now would be generous.
• Sarah’s been unfortunately rather rough this back half – churning out far more misses than hits, especially doing the beyond overdone Jost roasting, with the “new” addition of her in a goofy outfit to mask out the sheer laziness.
• I’m very mixed on this commentary, the Jost roasting portions are even more tired than usual (which is saying something), but outside of that there are lines that I find good (especially the part about Sarah’s worm eating the part that understands “no”). However, this commentary, when looked at as a whole, is unfortunately yet another miss from Sarah Sherman this back half, in a long, seemingly uninterrupted string of those. The ending Marilyn Monroe-esque singing number in particular was absolutely terrible and felt too indulgent, which is sadly on par with a lot of Sarah’s work this season.
• That Gollum/Challengers joke was a lot funnier to me than it had any right to be.
• We now have Heidi Gardner back at the desk after her absence for a few shows before. I am actually surprised she didn’t appear as much on Update this season as I expected. Considering how horrific some of her commentaries have been since last season, I should be counting my blessings.
• Solid character work from Heidi so far – reminding me of her typical awe-inspiring moments in earlier seasons of her tenure. Colin, while as deflated as ever, is decent in his interactions with her, though I feel Che was/is always a better straight man to Heidi and her pieces than Colin ever was.
• Heidi’s various dramatic reactions, especially when wanting to leave are cracking me up so much, and while Heidi is going a tad hammy here, it is still working in the context of this piece. Also, unlike (I’m assuming) other Jimmy Fowlie-written pieces for Heidi, this doesn’t have the off-putting, disturbing vibes a lot of his pieces with her unfortunately have.
• This piece also is the first desk piece by a cast member that I would say I fully enjoyed in this entire second half! Good Lord, Update went so downhill that even desk pieces went down the drain with it! I hope we finish off the year with decent desk piece or two to make it not as horrid as it’s been this back half.

Rating: **1/2

Tip Top Coffee

aging diva Dawn Farraway (MAR) farts through a coffee commercial shoot

• Good opening joke from Heidi calling Maya’s character three-times Oscar presenter instead of nominee/winner.
• Yet another extremely Maya Rudolph-esque role. Much like when Kristen hosted a few episodes back, this episode in general is utilizing Maya’s comedic style and range to its full extant.
• Maya is so clearly doing an impression of Faye Dunaway. Hell, even her aging actress’ name is Dawn Farraway! I guess this is parodying how Faye acted in the infamous Mommie Dearest film.
• Solid laugh from Maya’s character admitting she never drinks coffee, despite doing an ad for a coffee brand.
• Mikey is cracking me up as the coffee boy.
• A laugh from Maya asking for her line. This sketch seems rather slow-paced so far, but Maya is as solid as expected.
• OK, a fart gag…. I will still try to review this sketch fairly, as I do not actually HATE fart-based humor as much as many do, but it can get old.
• This sketch has now become a fart-filled sketch, though Maya is committing so hard and her performance is excellent, especially her telling others to leave throughout the sketch.
• The ending shoot from Maya kept me cracking up in spite of myself, despite the endless amount of fart noises. Maya is just so damn naturally hilarious that she is making it work for me.
• For a thin, fart-filled sketch, this wasn’t too bad and there were decent lines and moments here and there, as well as a great performance by Maya Rudolph. I would say I enjoyed the fart sketch with Molly Shannon from last season more (and would admit underrating it a tad).

Rating: ***

Side Note:

• I really like how the sketch above parodying Faye Dunaway was preceded with a bumper of Maya referencing the very famous wire hangers scene in Mommie Dearest (side-by-side comparison above).

Musical Performance – “Capricorn”

Nurse Appreciation

(MAR) & (EGN) complain about creepy elderly patient (MID)

• I LOVED James’ opening delivery of “and men, I guess?” when talking about appreciating nurses, which got a big laugh from a female audience member. Even in his smallest moments, James’ delivery and performances remain so top-notch. Once again, rather Phil Hartman-esque in that aspect.
• Good duo of Maya and Ego, and I like their African accents, though I really never can buy Mikey in that old man makeup, maybe due to his youthful looks, even with how much he aged these past two seasons.
• This sketch is following the usual “one spokesperson’s message being more outlandish than the rest” template, but the execution is decent, especially Ego’s on-point delivery.
• Some of my favorite moments here are Ego’s bit about wanting Mikey’s character to have dementia and telling Mikey (in an actual fun performance, after his good part in British Cavemen) that he doesn’t need Viagra, but Jesus.

Rating: ***

Lanzetti’s Lawn Care

will provide the creepiest workers, so your wife won’t run away with them

• It feels that most of the cast appeared in so much of the episode, especially Kenan, Mikey, Heidi and James. Unless I’m forgetting something, this is quite possibly the most cast-heavy episode of the season. It also shows that, despite being checked out with a lot of this cast, with decent writing they could come off more fun than they are.
• Mikey’s delivery and rapport with Maya is solid, and this episode is easily his best of this back half as a whole. He doesn’t feel as deflated, forgettable as he comes off to me most of the time.
• Great oddball premise with the hiring of very unattractive landscapers so your wife won’t end up running with them – a perfectly silly premise for the 10-to-1.
• Love JAJ’s look (and he looks strangely attractive to me here) and his delivery of promising their shirts will remain on as they work in the lawn.
• Kenan is absolutely hilarious in his interaction with Chloe (who’s had a huge night, by the way); the bizarre voices he did were both impressive and genuinely funny. Never knew he could make his voice sound like that before.
• James continues to crush it tonight, with another standout, hilarious performance. His ramblings about Slim Shady in response to Heidi describing this area of the lawn as shady, are hilarious and cracking me up so much. James is also nailing that type of speech pattern, which begs the question: now that he is almost three seasons into his tenure, is there ANYTHING James Austin Johnson cannot nail?
• Great passive-aggressive back-and-forth between Mikey and Maya, especially as this type of a role feels like those Mikey used to make come off fun, relatable and refreshing in earlier years of his run. He’s had a really strong night in general tonight.
• The reveal that Maya cheated on Mikey with several landscapers in the past was a clever twist to end a silly, solid 10-to-1 piece with. Loved again JAJ coming in to ramble some more to them before Maya shuts him down.

Rating: ****

Cut For Time: T. T. and Mario New Album

Increasingly unsexy songs from the soul duo

• Much like Papyrus, I’m surprised this piece got cut, as I recall the original sketch being amongst Maya’s most memorable from her tenure.
• Michael and Chloe are looking even more attractive than usual with that soft lighting effect.
• As always, fun chemistry between Maya and Kenan, but the songs here in general aren’t as memorable or funny as the ones from the first sketch, at least so far. I did crack up at Michael saying “booty call” due to his usual deadpan delivery.
• OK, that Oppenheimer song is the funniest song so far in this sketch.
• One of the songs being titled “Let’s Start Together But Finish On Our Own” is so-wrong-but-funny to me.
• Pretty good sequel overall. Would’ve been happy to see it in the live show, instead of that overlong Sarah piece.

Rating: ***

Goodnights

Segment Ranked From Best to Worst

Can You Pick Me Up

Lanzetti’s Lawn Care

PDD – Explore Page

Hot Ones 2

Monologue

British Cavemen

End-of-Year Teacher PSA

CFT: T. T. and Mario New Album

Mother’s Day 2024

Nurse Appreciation

Tip Top Coffee

Weekend Update

Final Thoughts:

• As expected, this episode had a lot of energetic, fun-loving vibes, which I’d attribute to Maya Rudolph’s fantastic presence as the host, as she delivered lots of standout, memorable, funny performances, including quite possibly my favorite performance by her as a host in Can You Pick Me Up, as well as fitting seamlessly into the SNL format and letting the cast shine. (JAJ, Kenan, Mikey and Heidi having standout moments throughout the night, especially James – continuing a strong hot streak of his these last two runs of the season.)
• The episode also being the Mother’s Day episode of the season made it special-feeling, with both wide cast use and the heartwarming, fun feel it had, which was complemented with a large number of solid pieces all night and stellar musical performances by Vampire Weekend. A big step up from the two flat shows that preceded it and I hope the Jake Gyllenhaal-hosted finale keeps the highs from this episode up there and finish off the season on a positive note.
• Also, big thanks to Matthew, the frequent commenter on this site and a person I’m proud to have as a friend, for helping me with the screencapping process of this episode. Gestures such as this make me appreciate the amazing base I have even more.

My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:

Up Next:

• Season 49 comes to an end, with Jake Gyllenhaal returning to 8H for the third time, and music from Sabrina Carpenter.

My full set of screencaps from this episode is here