Cold Opening – Don’t Stop Me Now
enablers back Donald Trump’s (Alec Baldwin) “Don’t Stop Me Now” directive
- Alec is milking his Trumpwin’s impression’s habit of pursuing his lips and those hand gestures. They aren’t working for me and make his impression even worse. I said it before, but seeing this awful “impression” makes me appreciate JAJ’s fantastic Trump (and his other impressions, in general) even more.
- Ugh, we are breaking into a song. Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” is a favorite of mine, so it feels depressing to see it butchered in this very poor, cowardly attempt at political satire.
- The show’s portrayal of Melania continues to be confused. Is she supposed to be sympathetic or against her husband? No one knows.
- Odd how this cold open portrays Trump as sure to win a second term, which is weird considering how he lost the election later on. Hell, even the next season’s cold opens kept portraying him as such.
- Kate is mugging up a storm with her Wilbur Ross impression. This season as a whole wasn’t as bad for her as I remember, but she has often been giving rather rough performances in these cold opens.
- The LOL gay! material with Mike Pence is laughably bad and a waste of Beck.
- God bless Alex, as his singing of the Muppets Show classic theme gave me my only real laugh of this whole cold opening.
- Ugh again, as we get De Niro back, mercifully for the final time, as Mueller. Good riddance to this wretched impression!
Rating: *1/2
Monologue
host describes his history with SNL in the form of a best man’s speech
- I never cared for Paul Rudd nor his SNL episodes, but I do admire his energy and likable presence in his episodes, at least.
- An alright premise for the season finale monologue, even as it reminds me of the far-superior one by Matt Damon from the Christmas episode.
- I am sure I didn’t need to see the photos from those Kissing Family sketches. It reminds me of how always Paul Rudd’s episodes and cameos have LOL gay! material with him performing “shocking” and “hilarious” making out sessions with other straight men.
- This was more charming than funny, but Rudd came off likable.
Rating: ***
A Journey Through Time
Ms. Rafferty was beset by hominids when she traveled back in time
- I literally have nothing more to say about these sketches anymore. This should’ve been done only twice: the legendary debut and as Kate’s wonderful sendoff by S47’s finale. You can really see its annoying copy-and-paste format, and this is our leadoff sketch of the night?! Oof.
Rating: * (and yes, this will most likely be my shortest sketch review ever)
Grace and Frankie Rap
PED & host rap about favorite show Grace & Frankie; Jacob Anderson cameo
- I guess I should’ve anticipated a Pete Raps! short for the finale. Paul Rudd & DJ Khaled being the host/MG for the finale makes sense to see them in this
- I totally forgot the Jacob Anderson cameo for this sketch. I cracked up at that one “whoo!” in the audience in reaction to his appearance.
- Kenan’s reactions are pretty good throughout this piece and continues the fantastic season he had this year.
- DJ Khaled in his obligatory sketch appearance of the night, I see.
- I liked Pete’s mock-shocked face in this. However, the Grace and Frankie rap premise isn’t that funny to me, and the DJ Khaled parts in here are making it even slower than it is, despite the fun performances by the others involved.
- I still remember how shocking it was to see the Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin cameos, though they weren’t sadly used much.
Rating: **1/2
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
dim contestants make erroneous guesses
- I remember how hugely popular & well-liked this sketch was in its debut.
- Kenan giving his usual fun gameshow host appearance, finishing off a fantastic year, and the absurd humor with his interactions with the contestants is solid.
- I love Kenan’s frustrations throughout the sketch, especially in reaction to Pete’s “they’re gay” comment.
- Paul got me with the “knockers” comments about the bushes behind the two kids in the photo. He is doing a great job acting dumbfounded.
- Aidy’s whole Rapture explanation about the third photo is hilarious, especially the woman potentially “seeing his thing” re: God.
- An overall really strong & memorable gameshow sketch. One of the best of this season.
Rating: ****
Musical Performance – “Jealous” & “You Stay”
Weekend Update
surprise about subpoenas causes Jeanine Pirro (CES) to repeatedly wet COJ
upset about Alabama’s abortion law, LEJ asserts control over her body
- Super-hot audience in tonight’s Update. I assume this is the point where Che & Jost became that extremely popular to the audience.
- These Trump clips & especially Colin’s commentary about them never fails making me laugh.
- I loved the Stephen Miler fly jokes. It deserved a better audience reception. The Hillary Clinton space joke was solid as well, though Colin seemingly wasn’t too confident with his delivery of it.
- Great to see Cecily’s Jeanine Pirro back! She’s had such an awesome season as a whole and been dominating this finale so far. I remember, when this episode originally aired, feeling Cecily was leaving (alongside Kate), so it feels odd to now know she’ll remain on the show for 3.5 more seasons.
- The whole “wizzing in the bedroom” part is hilarious! Especially Cecily’s lusty face after making that comment.
- I knew it was coming, but Cecily’s spraying all that drink on Colin’s face freakin’ slayed me! Amazing Cecily isn’t even close to breaking during these parts, as I am sure it is near impossible for me to keep it straight in her place.
- The Colin humiliation with the drink spraying is very funny, even when it feels nowadays old hat, due to more recent seasons having endless desk pieces by Sarah Sherman mocking him in various ways.
- Great 400 million pieces of plastic/Kardashians joke from Che. The Arthur/Peppa Pig joke afterwards from Colin was no slouch either.
- Joke Swap time! As if this edition of the desk wasn’t solid enough…
- The White Lightning/finishing under 10 seconds joke is great! Typical Colin humiliation, but it is very funny still.
- Uh-oh, an Africa joke…. The Chimpanzee culture/Hip-hop punchline killed me, as did Che’s mock-shocked reaction.
- “Face down ass up” from Che as the punchline to the Vatican joke was typical trolling joke from Colin.
- Leslie Jones shows up for her final commentary in her tenure as cast member. Considering how very tired I became with preachy desk pieces in recent seasons of the show (though the latest season replaced them with mascot parades – an attempt clearly at being more centrist), despite not really disagreeing with their message. I’ll get into this one with an open mind.
- The abortion ban talk does feel odd to watch nowadays with the attacks on reproductive freedom in the country, though while this is decently performed and delivered, the whole Handmaid’s Tale (a favorite book of mine) presentation feels old hat by now, with all the protests wearing such costumes before and after this episode.
- Anyways, I admired the message behind this piece, but I wouldn’t say the presentation won me over. SNL I feel, especially that it is set in a liberal city and state, is not the place for such activism, especially such celebrities will always have a way to get an abortion – poorer and less fortunate women won’t.
- An overall strong edition of the desk – great jokes, priceless Jeanine/Cecily commentary and a very fun Joke Swap.
Rating: ****
Music Box
shopkeeper (host) helps (KYM) & (CES) recall song about a farty ballerina
- What’s with the weird start with the talk about Kyle’s character having a drinking problem?
- Sorry SNL, but I cannot buy Paul Rudd as an old guy. It is probably how baby-faced he is. As a very baby-faced guy myself, I can relate. He is at least doing a good old man voice.
- Ugh, this now is turning into a tired “You know that song!” sketch?! The fart-filled song isn’t funny at all, and I’m usually OK with fart humor if handled well. I feel bad for the little girl extra in this sketch watching adults singing about farting….
- Meh at the “heartfelt” turn with them actually knowing the song. The “twist” with Kenan being Jordan Peele and this an episode of The Twilight Zone made things worse.
Rating: *1/2
The View
panelists fawn over Pete Buttigieg (host) & his husband (BEB)
- I liked the performances from the first installment of this sketch, but as a whole it didn’t work for me and the topic of Roe V. Wade isn’t exactly potentially good for laughs.
- Melissa’s Ana Navarro looks more accurate at least in this sketch, though the voice needed work from her. Navarro doesn’t sound this froggy in real-life.
- The gag with Leslie’s Whoopi isn’t as funny as last time.
- Paul’s Mayor Pete impression is decent, though the turn with the ladies fawning over him is predictable.
- OK, I got a big laugh from the chyron in front of Paul’s Pete showing the word “Gay” in all caps. My first, sadly, of this whole sketch.
- The “relatable” way Paul’s Mayor Pete spoke of himself cracked me up. A solid satirical on him, even when I like the Mayor myself.
- It feels odd Beck been barely in this episode, considering the vital utility player he’s become by this point of his run.
- This sketch is dead. Several awkward moments of silence, even when the whole “boring gay” premise is funny on its own, but like the first sketch, this one needed to get to second gear.
Rating: **1/2
Musical Performance – “Just Us”, “Weather the Storm”, “Higher”
Leslie & Kyle
host joins KYM & LEJ after they consummate their relationship for real
- The final piece of the Kyle & Leslie backstage shorts. I remember this one being really disappointing, so we shall see how I’ll feel about it now.
- A good turn with us being informed the prior sketches were planned as such. That’s a nice angle to take making these come less stale than they could by this point.
- I got a laugh from the Lorne “cameo” being as the face of the Moon during the fantasy sequence.
- Odd way to include Paul Rudd, being basically part of a threesome with Leslie & Kyle. He also feels out-of-place much like his role in the Grace and Frankie short earlier tonight.
- Ugh at the obligatory “hilarious” man-on-man kiss between Paul & Kyle – the latter doing this gives me unwanted flashbacks to that horrendous Magic Bridge sketch.
- Pretty good installment as a whole, though not as good as usual. It is probably a good thing these stopped after this one, especially that the Kyle backstage short from next season (the one where he works out) I remember being especially wretched.
Rating: ***1/2
Ouija Board
at a slumber party, summoned demon (MEV) wants to join the girl squad
- Cecily has been in practically every single sketch in this finale. This was another sign to me back then that she was about to leave the show.
- Cool to see Melissa leading the final sketch of the season! Also, a great look to her character, especially the costume.
- I remember feeling, seeing Melissa here and the female vets in smaller roles, that this sketch was a passing-of-the-torch moment for the show – giving Melissa, Heidi and Ego the reins while Aidy/Cecily/Kate/Leslie either leave the show after this episode or be phased out over the course of next season.
- A very fun, likable performance from Melissa as the awkward demon trying to fitting in. I also love the character voice she is using. This finishes off the best run of her entire tenure – this back half as a whole was quietly solid for her.
- I really like the turn with Paul’s character making the other girls behave nicely to Melissa’s character, instead of the predictable flirting route one would expect with Rudd hosting. Rudd gave a really solid & likable “cheesy dad” performance here.
Rating: ***1/2
Cut For Time: Retirement Party
IT guys (host) & (BEB) perform surprise song for (KET)
- An absurd & amusing visual of Beck and Paul as IT guys singing a song glorifying computers. Paul’s character voice before he begins singing was pretty funny.
- A one-note sketch resting on the energy from Beck and Paul, though the “I can feel it coming!” part from Beck gave me a huge laugh and made basically the whole cast, with Kenan, break. Alex, like a real pro, is the only one keeping it together.
- A weird ending with Kenan suddenly having a heart attack out of nowhere. Though, I remember thinking he faked it to stop any more weird songs from Beck & Paul, but I digress.
Rating: ***
Goodnights
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
What’s Wrong With This Picture
Weekend Update
Ouija Board
Leslie & Kyle
Monologue
CFT: Retirement Party
Grace and Frankie Rap
The View
Music Box
Don’t Stop Me Now
A Journey Through Time
Final Thoughts:
- A fairly average, mixed bag ending to the season. There was an equal amount of stuff I liked and disliked tonight, and the episode barely had a stable path till the end, despite a few really solid highlights; fitting ending it to an unstable, average season as a whole. Paul Rudd gave a solid hosting performance, but per usual, he was saddled with some lame material but tried his best and came off likable.
- Also, this ends up being the final episode of Leslie Jones’ tenure on the show, leaving just after five seasons, when most of her peers remained between eight-to-ten seasons. Leslie had an interesting trajectory on the show, and while she never was the breakout star nor the most versatile on the show, she brought her own brand of humor, which while at times not working for me, I appreciated. This season was the best way for her to leave, as she had her strongest season as a whole and had an overall pretty good run that holds up well.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
Up Next:
- The season 44 wrap-up post with final thoughts and data!
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
Great review as usual!
I agree this episode is all over the place. I adore What’s Wrong With This Picture and I think it’s a recurring sketch that (mostly) managed to remain pretty fresh and funny. On the other hand, you’ve got two sketches tonight which had no business being recurring.
Ms. Rafferty should have stayed one and done. I do think it would have been harmless to have brought it back once more for Kate’s farewell, but the original sketch is a true lightning in a bottle moment that could never be repeated, despite the show running it into the ground.
These “we don’t know this song” sketches are so paint by the numbers and thin on actual laughs. The best one, imho, is the one from Dan Levy’s episode, and even that is just okay/middling at best. Like, we get Cecily’s an amazing singer, but this isn’t Broadway.
That Ouija sketch is pretty fun and a good summary of Melissa’s likable and quirky brand of humor. Fantastic makeup job on her, and her characterization is great. It’s not a “laugh out loud” funny sketch, but it’s a sweet and endearing one that fits Melissa perfectly.
That Retirement Party sketch is a personal favorite of mine. It’s a thin stupid one joke premise, but it’s a great silly little piece that you can tell everyone is getting a kick out of. Plus, it’s quite an anomaly to see people like Chris, Beck, and Alex break. I’d definitely swap Ms. Rafferty or “we don’t know this song” for this without hesitation.
I personally like Paul Rudd and think he’s likable in all his SNL hosting stints, but even when he’s playing a character, I never really buy his performances. Mostly it seems to be more like “Paul Rudd being silly” or “Paul Rudd in a wig”. Which isn’t necessarily bad, but given how mediocre his episodes have tended to be, it’s not particularly a great thing either. This is one of those episodes where I feel the cast had a lot more fun than us viewers. So…props for that I suppose? Whatever, an average ending to a season I always felt was overhated, even if it did have some issues to be sure.
Great work as always. Kudos on finishing out the season.
I have never been very fond of Paul Rudd as a host. I don’t think he fits SNL. There are generally one or two moments in each of his episodes that are worth watching, and that’s about it.
Like you, I enjoyed What’s Wrong With This Picture? (even if I never get the title right) I know at the time there was criticism for crudity, but the lines and delivery make me laugh. The wide-eyed but crass comments from Rudd also fit his comic persona.
The devil sketch felt like a big nothing to me, but I will have to rewatch after reading your review. I did appreciate seeing Melissa in a lead role. I think Emma Thompson had played it in dress the week before.
I too was bewildered at seeing Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda on SNL. I never thought I would see Lily on there again, or Jane at all. To see them return solely for the most half-assed pile of sludge imaginable was a huge disappointment.
Leslie definitely left on the best note for her. I didn’t get much out of her final commentary either, but I was more forgiving of the Kyle movie. I remember at the time some of us thought it was a goodbye to Kyle. Hard to believe he’d stay on three more seasons.
I remember the cold open and that View sketch both having big technical problems. The View sketch was so poor the tech error was the only moment to remember.
Overall, this episode is very much typical of SNL finales.
Very run of the mil episode even if none of that is Rudd’s fault. He gives it his all but also isn’t that funny overall. Him and Beck really got to ham it up for that cut for time sketch and that’s about it. I do also enjoy Oujia Board and the awkward energy it has.