Cold Opening – Church Chat 2024
Church Lady (DAC) interviews Matt Gaetz (SAS), Hunter Biden (DAS), Juan Soto (MAH)
- Ah, Phil’s voice. I just get both emotional and wistful hearing his voice in more recent decades of the show.
- Nice seeing a Church Lady cold open in 2024, even when I was expecting one earlier in the season, with Dana being basically a part-time cast member and all.
- I see Dana is still got it, as he is cracking me up per usual as the Church Lady – his talk about Wicked having tigers, lions and sluts is very funny.
- Sarah as Gaetz still sucks and I have said all that I needed to say about female cast members dressing up in drag as a “brave” sign and “resisting” the Republicans; it’s self-centered, out-of-touch and most of all: not funny.
- Pretty funny line from Church Lady about Gaetz’s forehead fleeing to Heaven without him.
- David Spade as Hunter Biden? I genuinely expected Mikey in the role, especially considering how shut out he was from the prior episode and how generally invisible he’s been this season.
- David is cracking me in his typical David Spade fashion, especially liked his “camera takes two inches” line about his infamous laptop photos.
- No idea who the hell that guy Marcello is playing and his whole portion didn’t do too much for me, even as Marcello performed it decently.
- An overall fun cold opening. While not as classic as the old Church Chat sketches, it is still easily one of my favorites of the season so far.
Rating: ***1/2
Monologue
host talks being Irish & career
- Paul Mescal is coming off fairly charming, and as someone who never watched him in anything, despite being familiar with his name, I am liking his presence.
- Typical Irish jokes with barely any standing out to me. I did like one or two, but some of these are ones I heard so many times, such as the groanworthy cousins joke.
- Marcello tries to add energy to this, and while I have been pretty positive covering him this season, I am not caring for his routine here.
Rating: **1/2
Earring
parents (HEG) & (EMW) rage at their son (host) having an earring
- Utterly fascinating to see Emil, in his 8th episode as a cast member, getting cast in such a role a vet usually would be cast in. I sure hope this is a sign of trust in him, as he and Ashley, so far this season, seem to be cast in such roles since the start of their tenures.
- Love the slowly unhinged reactions from Heidi and Emil are the parents, particularly as they make over-the-top comparisons to what Paul did to his ear, which is spot-on of many parents.
- The whole “your dad been gay for 15 years” and then Emil’s delivery of his bisexual woman line were both great and gave me a big laugh.
- Ashley is hilarious as the grandma and I loved the moment where she gets thrown off the window, and then comes back from the front door like nothing happened. Priceless.
- This sketch is going over-the-top, in some way reminding me of the excellent cookie sketch from last season’s finale, but it’s not getting there to me. Yet, the performances are fun, there are some solid moments (loved Heidi entering with a spatula as her earring), and the writing is good.
- Decent ending with Michael.
Rating: ***1/2
Gladiator II Musical
new edit combines Gladiator II with Wicked songs, LMM
- Oh, boy. Another Wicked-centric piece? To be fair, this is combining Wicked and Gladiator II, as the two big releases for the end of the year.
- I am not familiar with the musical Wicked, so I guess this is why I am not finding the numbers by Bowen and Kenan to be funny or entertaining, despite good performances as usual from both.
- Ah, Paul is absolutely fantastic during his big solo number right now. So much effortless charisma and likability, especially when he does his silly dancing.
- The whole Jane Wickline portion of this short came and went for me. Utterly forgettable. Outside of that brief flowing hair shot, which was mildly amusing.
- Wow, Mikey is a dead ringer for Joseph Quinn in that getup & makeup combo. He is also hilarious doing his reliable silly rapping while confronting Paul’s character – easily the best part of this tepid piece.
- I love Paul riding that broom at the end.
Rating: **
Capanelli’s
actors (host) & (ASP) go off-script during shoot
- Great to see newbie Ashley Padilla’s stock continues to rise, as she now gets her second starring sketch in three episodes. Like her prior starring role, she is already coming off a polished vet of the cast. Also, interesting how she’s being used in a Cecily/Kate-esque way already, especially when playing authority figures or lead roles.
- Interesting how this sketch, which seemed at the start to be a standard “commercial shooting gone wrong” sketch from SNL, is becoming more about the contrasts between Paul & Ashley actor characters. Paul’s bitter method actor being contrasted by Ashley’s cheery, happy-go-lucky actress is a solid contrast. Ashley also is coming off very Laura Linney/Joan Cusack-esque in her performance, just like last time. Definitely a good sign.
- Ashley’s pasta puns are cracking me in spite of myself all throughout the sketch, especially her “pastabilities” one. I also really like the turn with Paul attempting his own puns and getting reprimanded for it.
- I got a big laugh from Paul’s intentionally-lame “Spaghetti or not, we’re going to kill you.” The reaction from the others was great as well, especially that it didn’t get OTT and just…. moved on past THAT.
- The escalation of this whole sketch is well-done, especially as the camera is just now focused on Ashley while letting Paul speak his lines with just his shoulder being visible.
- Not sure I cared for the ending with Kenan. With that said, I enjoyed this, and it featured strong work once again by Ashley and Paul was great.
Rating: ***1/2
Please Don’t Destroy – Paul Mescal Is Daddy
host is father to Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy
- I am not sure this whole concept about Mescal being “daddy” is promising to mine laughs from, but considering how strong Paul has been so far tonight, I am sure he’ll make this work.
- This is more ambitious, well-shot than prior PDD shorts, but at the risk of sounding repetitive, it isn’t doing too much for me, as the three feel so out of place in this season’s more refreshing approach with pretapes (outside of a few clunkers of course).
- Paul is giving a great performance and having him take over this short is a wise choice, even when I am not crazy about it, his warmth really makes it work.
- Is Jane Wickline going to be used just for occasional bit parts, while her two fellow rookies: Ashley & Emil, seem to be thriving in tonight’s episode and season? I haven’t been impressed by Jane compared to her peers and prior hires, to be honest, but it feels jarring seeing her this invisible, especially after that push early on in the season.
- Good ending.
Rating: ***
Treasure Guy-Land
historically-accurate striptease ruins bachelorette’s (HEG) night out
- This reminds me already of a really bad season 41 sketch with Chris Hemsworth. It gives me a bad feeling what type of a sketch this will be.
- Is this Andrew’s first appearance tonight? Really, SNL? It’s been a unique night so far when it comes to the cast use. I am at least pleased Ashley & Emil are getting solid airtime, so I am not that salty.
- I see this sketch is cutting back-and-forth between the guys performing their number and the girls constantly commenting on them, as if we are too stupid to notice how odd they come off. Ugh. Not sure Seiday, who seem invisible this season, wrote this, but it certainly feels like their type of a sketch.
- That’s an awesome pirate voice from JAJ.
- Paul is excellent and so damn charming in this, and it is fun seeing the guys playing such roles, but the constant “calling out the weirdness” are harming an otherwise harmless sketch for me.
- Emil’s whole moment was great.
- I hope Heidi wasn’t hurt after being thrown like that, as that looked like a pretty nasty fall.
Rating: **
Musical Performance – “Good News”
Weekend Update
A Mom Whose Son Just Got Famous (HEG) discuses overnight success
- Pretty good opening from Colin regarding the UnitedHealthcare CEO killer’s manhunt. Not much is standing out to me here, but I am getting good chuckles.
- The whole Kash Patel/Billy Long portion with Che is priceless and the best part of this edition of the desk so far.
- A rather interesting pairing of Heidi and Marcello. This feels like a role Heidi played many times before, but she is coming off fun in this and Marcello’s dead eyes are cracking me up.
- This is a piece more driven by performance than writing, as Heidi, keeping up a great season, is a lot of fun in this and being supported decently by Marcello. I did at least really like the “he sacrificed his personality” line from her, though.
Rating: ***
Brilliant Lawyer
lawyer (AND) supposedly has multiple plans to defend his employee (host)
- Right from the beginning, I get the feeling I’m going to love this sketch, not because it stars Andrew Dismukes, one of my favorites in ages, but also seeing a reference to DEVO, a favorite band of mine, with how Paul is dressed.
- Another very Cecily Strong-esque utility role for Ashley. Fascinating, not a half season into her rookie year, and she is getting those roles.
- Andrew’s overconfident, smug performance is not only cracking me the hell up, with him repeating what Sarah is saying, but he is strangely coming off Phil-esque. Maybe I am thinking of Phil’s classic performance in that Mike Tyson trial sketch.
- A great laugh from the cutaway to Paul being surrounded by many lookalikes, which is part of Andrew’s lawyer character’s plan to save his client. Loved his quick thumbs up to Paul after he appeals for his release.
- Interesting addition of recent hire Carl Tart into this sketch. Considering the revered sketch comedian he is, I wonder if he’ll be promoted to cast by next season.
- I am LOVING this sketch. The absurdist, silly escalation with Andrew’s various supposed “plans” each revealing themselves to be simple and stupid, with everybody knowing it, is hilarious. This is the type of priceless, absurd Andrew Dismukes silliness I adore.
- The detail with the tense music in the background is very funny, intentionally or not.
- Andrew’s “Plan C” and “Plan D” being him asking the judge to dismiss the case or he’ll kill himself and he’ll blow him if he dismisses the case, respectively, killed me.
- Finally, after a strong year so far without one, happy to see Andrew finally giving me a “Best Of” with his brilliant sense of humor. Loved every moment of this – a piece I know will have a tremendous replay value for me.
Rating: *****
Musical Performance – “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
Spotify Wrapped
niche artist (BOY) & Trisha Paytes [real] thank their only listener
- A Spotify Wrapped sketch? Is this our second Fowlie/O’Sullivan sketch of the night? Unsurprising to me they’re referencing their feeds in their “sketches,” as they, since S48, turned the show into more of a trashy social media feed than a sketch comedy show. Other current writers besides them also deserve some blame, such as Stephen and Ward, who seem to exist in feeds, not amongst actual humans. I imagine they most likely wrote this, as they helped (or at least one of them did) with that awful Moo Deng piece from the premiere.
- The portions minus Bowen have potential to be fine, if nothing memorable, but this sketch’s cutting back-and-forth between the two sets is deathly and shows how DOA this sketch’s concept is.
- Trisha Paytes? Trisha Fucking Paytes?! Really, SNL? These writers and their terminally online shit have gotten too powerful on the show. Between this and that Gladiator piece earlier in the night.
- This sketch really epitomizes what I dislike in Bowen Yang, with niche reference shit inviting his “besties” on the show and/or making references to them to please the sheltered group of people worshipping them. References are fine, as judged by how much I loved the prior sketch, but you need writing to back it up.
- And now this ends with everybody dancing, for what feels like #363637 it happened this season so far. Ugh.
Rating: *1/2
A Complete Unknown Red Carpet
Bob Dylan (JAJ), Bono (host), Bruce Springsteen (AND) are interviewed
- This feels like the most we have seen Heidi since the second episode of the whole season. Interestingly, she seems to be utilized tonight (and most of the season) in those “beloved vet” roles utility player cast members usually get by their final few seasons.
- Awesome to see JAJ debuting his Bob Dylan on the show! After teasing us with a brief vocal sample two seasons ago and that excellent promo with Mulaney, we finally see it on the show.
- Like always, a great impression from JAJ. Not only nailing the voice, but being a layered, lived-in impersonation of the target. He is absolutely fantastic here and makes that start with Chloe’s Chalamet tolerable.
- Heidi is doing a solid job spoofing these types of terminally online reporters asking celebrities memes only those online would get. This happened in a cringey moment with Gladiator II’s own Denzel Washington being asked if he thinks about the Roman Empire.
- This is getting more fun as Andrew is funny as Bruce Springsteen and I am enjoying Paul’s take on Bono, especially that’s been quite a while since the iconic singer was parodied on SNL.
- This sketch is getting really loose and fun – refreshing way to have several impressions in a way that’s entertaining. Hmm…. a loose and fun impressions showcase sketch? Hear that previous episode?
- Great “Job in the wilderness” line from JAJ towards Paul’s Bono.
- Fun 10-to-1 as a whole.
Rating: ***1/2
Cut For Time: Irish Americans
Irish-Americans (AND) & (ASP) are celebrated in pub
- Another very Cecily/Kate-esque role for Ashley. Hell, I totally see Aidy and Vanessa in the same role, 10 seasons ago. Glad this shows her upward trajectory hopefully for the remainder of the season.
- Funny turn with the reveal that Andrew and Ashley, despite being Americans, are of Irish decent, which makes the whole pub go crazy over them.
- I have been one of her harsher critics this season (and I am usually a defender – shows you how fed up I have become with her shtick), but Chloe is hilarious in this. This is the type of role she can make funny, despite how OTT she often is.
- Even in a simple reaction role, Ashley is coming off solid and has a very warm, likable presence about her. Refreshing to see old-school vibes with a female cast member, as that part of the cast is in desperate need for rebuilding after this season.
- JAJ steals this whole sketch with his portion. I just love his accent, look, characterization, etc. He is so damn good at his job.
- An overall fun sketch. Between this and some of the CFT material of late, it makes one baffled what is Lorne drinking to make such decisions for the live show.
Rating: ***1/2
Goodnights
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
Brilliant Lawyer
Earring / Capanelli’s (tie)
A Complete Unknown Red Carpet
CFT: Irish Americans
Church Chat 2024
Weekend Update
PDD – Paul Mescal Is Daddy
Monologue
Treasure Guy-Land
Gladiator II Musical
Spotify Wrapped
Final Thoughts:
- A pretty good episode as a whole, despite 1) having a few real clunkers and 2) not too much standing out as strong – almost nothing being rated above ***1/2 (which is a sad trend so far this season). However, my favorite sketch of the night, Brilliant Lawyer, was absolutely killer and will easily be near the top of my favorites from this entire season come May. I also liked the continued focus on the newer players (apart from Jane & Devon who seem to vanish slowly as the season goes along), with solid showings for both Ashley & Emil. Paul Mescal was an excellent host, one of the best of the season, was well-utilized and I especially loved his performances in the pretapes and early post-monologue sketches (Earring & Capanelli’s), where he really elevated the material with his charisma and commitment.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
Up Next:
- Former cast member Chris Rock returns for his 4th hosting stint. Pop star Gracie Abrams makes her MG debut.
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
One, here comes the two to the three to the four… (In all seriousness OF COURSE he was gonna play “Tipsy”)
As always, another great review from you Blood!
I feel that this episode epitomizes both the good and the bad elements of modern day SNL.
You have a brilliant, goofy, and bizarre Dismukes sketch (LOVED this just as much as you btw) contrasted with a tired, DOA, terminally online, pop culture pandering suckfest with Bowen Yang and his Z list celebrity friend of the week.
You have a solid and well crafted PDD short contrasted with a sketch with a promising premise weighed down by ridiculous and unnecessary portions that just restate/clarify the joke.
Were I to pick a singular episode that sums up the general feel of this post-S47 period, this one would be a good candidate. It was a decent episode overall with only one true flop for me (Spotify Wrapped) and two sketches that had a decent premise but were weighed down by too much pop culture pandering (Gladiator II Musical) or treating the audience like braindead morons (Treasure Guy-Land). That said, with the exception of DEVO Court, there wasn’t really anything all that spectacular from tonight either. It was mostly just in the realm of fine/decent and nothing more. Such sketches and episodes are to be expected from time to time, but at this point I’m growing tired of the 6/10 sketches week after week. Good or bad, SNL should be memorable, and this season so far has been rather forgettable.
I’m happy to see Ashley and Emil continuing their rise this season. Both have been fresh and welcome additions to the show and I especially have high hopes for Ashley who is already a welcome and stabilizing presence much in the same way as great glue/utility players like Cecily or Ana were.
The best thing about this episode was Paul Mescal. I knew virtually nothing about him beforehand, but he was fun, likable, charismatic, and game for just about anything. I was also pleasantly surprised that there were no real “host is hot” sketches (the PDD and Treasure Guy-Land sketches came close, but those were more just subtly hinted at before going in a different direction). I’d be perfectly fine with him returning as host someday as he was great fun.
The pirates sketch not only had the straight characters commenting on the jokes too much, it also had the tic of these characters having goofy/funny dialogue of their own (Ego’s interest in the pirates, Heidi’s character saying dumb stuff), which came off as more distracting than anything.
I’m somewhat surprised the show had the restraint not to name Marcello’s character in that sketch “Domingo.” That said, the actual pirates stuff was pretty funny–everybody did a good job, and the over the top opening really cracked me up. I just don’t like the format–like imagine if this format were used in the More Cowbell sketch, you’d keep cutting to other record executives saying “Gee, that guy seems to be playing the cowbell a lot!”
I very much enjoyed the commercial sketch and the courtroom sketch–both had silly, enjoyable premises. I’m not sure if this was intentional, but Devon was really funny in the commercial sketch, throwing off the over the top praise for Ashley’s jokes.
The courtroom sketch also worked for me because it was intentionally compact, but had a slow build, so it wasn’t like a quickie. It felt extremely like something we’d see in the first few seasons of the show–there wasn’t any twist, there wasn’t a dumb ending making everything a pop culture reference, and most of the humor was in the absurd scenario and the performances. Dismukes felt like a lot like Dan Aykroyd in that sketch.
Totally agree on Emil and Ashley–I don’t know if this is a good trajectory per se, but they seem so comfortable being given brief roles or supporting player roles, as opposed to some new cast members given such roles as token screen appearances (or even struggling cast members, thinking of like when Melissa would sometimes flounder in these straight roles). I hope they stick around, as the show needs some cast members like this to play roles that the more niche performers like Marcello and Sherman, and to some extent Bowen/Chloe, can’t play or don’t seem to want to play (for the record, I think Bowen is a great straight man when he wants to be, and Chloe is pretty good, when they’re not doing their zoomer pandering stuff).
Cold Open: ***
Monologue: ***1/2
Dinner with Parents: ****
Gladiator: The Musical: ***
Commercial Shoot: ***
Please Don’t Destroy: ***1/2
All Male Revue: ***
Weekend Update: **1/2
Court Trial: ****1/2
Spotify Wrapped: *1/2
BuzzFeed: ***
A mostly good episode that had a fun vibe to it. Almost all of the material tonight worked for me, there was only one sketch that I truly didn’t care for (Spotify Wrapped).
I was shocked by Paul Mescal’s hosting performance. I wasn’t familiar with him going into it and I thought he was a solid host who came off very charming and likable, and he blended in with the cast very well.
While there wasn’t much to dislike, there wasn’t really much that stood out to me as solid or strong. The only sketches I gave above 3.5 to were Dinner with Parents, and the Dismukes Court Trial sketch.
Dinner with Parents was solid, Heidi and Emil (who’s been having a good rookie season so far) did great here. Ashley as the grandma gave me some good cheap laughs.
My favorite sketch of the night was the Court sketch with Dismukes. While I do generally enjoy his sketches, I thought this one was particularly strong. I loved the increasing absurdity throughout it, and the buildup and reveal was well done. Andrew always gives great performances in his sketches, which is to be expected, but I thought he was HILARIOUS in this one.
Speaking of Andrew, he’s been having a FANTASTIC season so far. He’s had a bigger presence than ever, his airtime is good, and he’s been consistently getting his sketches on the air. Great for him.
Church Chat was a delightful surprise, and Dana is still hilarious as the character. But the guests brought this one down. Still not caring for Sarah’s Matt Gaetz. While Spade was a great surprise, especially considering he hasn’t appeared on the show in YEARS, he wasn’t needed here. It also doesn’t help that Hunter Biden could’ve been given to ANY of the white male cast members. But Dana managed to make the whole thing barely passable with his usual funny self. Also the dance at the end was fun.
Update jokes were okay this week, but the Heidi and Marcello commentary wasn’t good. Marcelo’s deadpan interjections were okay, but Heidi’s performance and almost all of her lines didn’t work for me. It also somehow got worse with the whole “last name is Dookie” stuff.
The Please Don’t Destroy was okay at first, but the whole part with Paul’s fantasy was great and bumped up the sketch a half star.
But to be completely honest, I think PDD are starting to feel a little repetitive and average. Ever since the back half of last season, it feels like many of the shorts they’ve been doing are very similar to the ones they have done before. And even if it’s an original idea, it feels uninspired. The thing that made PDD great when they first debuted is how different their style felt at the time, but now it feels like they can’t figure out new things to do with the style. It’s a shame.
In terms of the rest of the sketches tonight, they all had a recurring theme. They had a very fun vibe to them, but the actual comedic conceits of most of them wasn’t really there. That isn’t always a bad thing, but when it most of the material in an episode that’s like this, it’s pretty noticeable.
Overall, a good episode. I’m looking forward to next week as I’m a fan of Chris Rock and I’ve always thought he was good on the show.
6.2/10
As always, I’m glad to see your takes and how concise you are while rarely if ever being abrupt. It’s too easy for me to say people who feel differently to me are wrong, but I was left so cold by that bloated Gladiator II pre-tape, yet another transparent moment of viral bait, something that may help Paul Mescal’s image/career (and more power to him), but does nothing for me and little for the show itself. I’m glad to see I’m not alone.
Paul Mescal is very charismatic in interviews and is capable of playing warm or funny moments in his dramatic films, but he has gotten such a reputation as an emo sadboy that I did worry he could be another Jacob Elordi. Luckily, he was just the opposite – he was so warm and clearly wanted to have a good time rather than just seeing the show as a career checklist. I don’t think the live sketches used him in the best ways, but he did get a few more chances than I had expected.
I don’t know what to say about the PDD piece, or about how lost they seem in their comic identity this season, but I was so impressed by Paul’s work. The whole thing was very out of their comfort zone, this seeming attempt to comment on the blurry line of stans who want a father figure and a boyfriend, but Paul played it all brilliantly, making a difficult role seem much simpler than it actually was. One of the best pre-tape performances I’ve seen on the show in some time.
My expectations were low enough to where I was in “could have been worse” mode for a number of moments that probably would have annoyed me more a year or two ago, like the sketch which existed seemingly solely for Bowen to get Trisha Paytas on the show, or Heidi vamping on Update, I was able to somewhat check out of. I know that may not be the best way to watch the show, but if you want to keep watching that’s generally the only way to do so.
(it did disappoint me to learn that writers I thought better off were responsible for that Bowen vamp piece – another reminder of how much hacky writing from some and lack of supervision takes a toll on the whole show)
The courtroom and earring sketches were my picks for the best – the latter never captured the mania it should have found but was well-performed and had a good ending. Using Ashley and Emil in key roles, after I feared they might be pushed aside after the break, also helped my enthusiasm. The courtroom sketch didn’t have the best ending, but I will always give Andrew sketches a chance and this one benefited by his very strong, confident performances. I’m so glad he has been able to cordon off a little part of the show for himself.
Lowered expectations were also the name of the game with Church Chat – maybe if I had adored the original sketches or forgot that the last 2-3-4 editions hadn’t been great, I’d be more disappointed by this one, but I was mostly relieved by the lack of the usual cold open of recent years. I’m a bit sad, if not surprised, this moment has received more criticism for Dana than the Biden stuff I found to be self-indulgent and unbearable. The part that did put me off was, as you already essayed so effectively, the awful Gaetz material, SNL being hackneyed and after-the-fact yet again. It’s sad to see male drag and Jost Roast as Sarah’s only actual parts beyond her effective supporting work.
I also loved seeing how genuinely joyful (if people aren’t sick of that word…) JAJ was in Church Chat. Knowing what a big fan he is of Dana and Dana’s SNL era, this must have been a dream come true. You don’t see genuine heart on SNL enough.
Ashley has shown such confidence in her few lead roles. Kenan stepped on this one for me, but I still appreciated the concept was more layered than usual and Ashley and Paul were both in a good place. If Ashley ever truly gets a knockout sketch, I could easily see her taking over the female side of the show next season.
I try not to be as hard on Marcello, but the whole desperate “star” moment in the monologue annoyed me a great deal (and it came across like when Will Ferrell had to bail out Katie Holmes – Will is not Marcello and Paul is not Katie). They clearly are setting him up for the central role when Bowen leaves, but I don’t think he can make it work.
I will give Chloe some credit, rather than ragging on her for yet another Chalamet return, as it seems her involvement is the main reason we got the Dylan involvement. I don’t care enough about Dylan to even know if the impression is accurate (although I’ve heard many Dylan fans say it is) but I just loved seeing JAJ, Andrew and Paul enjoying themselves. I want to have fun watching SNL, rather than watching people enjoy themselves and act like I should be honored to even be there.
Hopefully now that some of my wariness over this episode was soothed, the same can be true for Chris Rock next week.
Emil and Ashley’s performances in the earring sketch were very, very similar to what I’d expect from Beck and Aidy in the previous era (that’s a compliment). Great to see these type of performers back on the show.
Conked out during Update, so I’ll have to give my thoughts on the back half tomorrow.
Let’s of great stuff here, Blood, as always.
Like so many cold opens this season, I enjoyed the surface pleasures, but am afraid to look too closely under the hood. I’m not immune to the odd nostalgia bump and let’s give the Church Chat sketches for having multiple classic editions, which is basically unfathomable these days. This one was about on par with the previous post-90s iterations. Dana’s portrayal lacks the energy of the classic years, but the soft glow of nostalgia covers for that. I enjoyed the Hunter Biden piece because my affection for David Spade has somehow grown over the years (his ’05 episode is a perfect example of an old vet showing up and schooling the new cohort on how it’s done). The Matt Gaetz piece is hot garbage and the Marcello thing is…a Marcello thing (mostly bad). But I’d embrace the good vibes and grade on a curve for the nostalgia fix.
The monologue was another one of those “let’s just do four mini-monologues and call it a day” monologues. It seemed to get worse as it went on. I dug Mescal showing clips of himself crying, thought the Irish stereotype was pleasantly lame, was aggravated by the walk-on from the show’s most aggravating castmember and was thoroughly annoyed by the show trying to sneak in a little charmalogue nonsense to try to salvage the thing.
I think the earring sketch will be one of those pieces that will flourish on a re-watch. The whole thing did SO MANY things absolutely right while I sat there worrying that Heidi was going to spill “Too Much” juice all over the screen. In the end she was fine, and the spatula reveal might be one for the ages. My guess is that a return to this sketch will yield greater rewards.
The Gladiator II was very typical SNL crap, but I have to acknowledge that it was well executed with the host in particular doing stellar work. These types of sketches are almost certainly not for me, but I still was swayed into laughing. Say…props, I guess.
The Capanelli’s thing was good fun with more really interesting work from Padilla. Part of me was grateful that this somewhat interesting piece didn’t get waylaid by the typically rigid SNL structures, but as I was anticipating the next interesting bit of heightening, Kenan entered and killed the sketch dead.
PDD did a thing, it was decent. You can tell the audience is still stoked on these guys and I would say this is probably upper tier for them from the last calendar year (and then some), but it didn’t fully sway me from thinking these guys are almost out of juice.
Pirates – speaking of interesting ideas waylaid by the typically rigid SNL structures…not a word out of place here, Blood. Like Gladiator II, I probably would come out a little warmer on this piece than you did, but this piece had that nagging feeling that the at-home audience was being deprived a really fun bit of work so the show could hold the studio audience’s hand through the premise.
I’ll return tomorrow.
Finally tackled the rest of the episode, some thoughts.
Weekend Update happened. “It’s the 90s” continues to not happen.
The Lawyer sketch was unsurprisingly good fun. Great to see Carl Tart perform (I saw him perform a few years back in his group “White Women” and he was clearly the top dawg). I’d have this in the “Ramy Youssef Cop Sketch” tier of Dismukes sketches, which means I enjoyed it a great deal but have a selection I’d put above it. I think I’d split the difference between this and the earring sketch in terms of star ratings (****1/4?). Like the earring sketch, this one will be a lot of fun to return to.
Usually I come to some sort of half-hearted defense of the Bowen vamp pieces solely for the fact that many of them have an underlying weirdness that is somewhat dampened by the “Bowen tone.” Not so for this Spotify Wrapped stinker. This one is guilty of taking a more than worthy premise and diminishing it into Bowen doing basically nothing and a cameo that was either inscrutable, tone deaf or annoying or some combination of the three (I can speak to the first option, having no fucking clue who that person is). What’s even worse is that, in hindsight, the angle the take with the sketch barely holds up to scrutiny – is having a niche favorite among the normie picks really cause for…anything? Like, my Spotify Wrapped had some Charli XCX, but I was a top 0.05% listener for Liquid Mike. Wanna make a sketch about that? This is what people do.
Finally, the red carpet thing was an agreeable piece of 10-to-one nonsense. Nothing more, nothing less.
Anyway, yeah, another one of those perfectly fine episodes. I’d love for the top sketches of the night to be even stronger so I could hold the whole thing in higher standing (and I suspect time will be good to those sketches), but I’d rather the show have a stronger sense of inspiration rather than just pleasant but benign. Even the top episodes of this season (probably Bargatze and Burr for me) felt like they were being held back by…something. I don’t know what it is, but I’m still waiting for a true banger episode. We’re entering into 2010-11 territory where everything sort of works, but nothing feels like it soars (despite several top notch sketches).
My main issue with the Spotify Wrap sketch mainly is that the thing has been around for years yet SNL keeps being that the show that it is and playing catchup
Regarding Wickline, I see it more she did her WU piece and wasnt received well but she’s getting to be a better actor with the help of the bit parts writers are happy to give her which is on par for newbies anyways.
And regarding Ashley, I agree its nice to see a more comedic actress performer on the show instead of her doing only Groundlings improv sketches with Heidi. Although I guess we can count the Earring sketch as their duo work for the night which was good! Especially now we have a clear cast-member who can play the “olde lady” roles