Cold Opening – Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace (SAS) investigates UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murder
- Wait, Sarah as Nancy Grace? Had no idea that woman is still relevant. Sarah is giving a fun performance as her, surprising no one.
- This has been an interesting season for Sarah. On one hand, outside of a few desk pieces and one sketch, she is seemingly no longer pushed as a “star” cast member and seems to be getting tons of airtime in utility work. I imagine due to the impending departure of Heidi/Ego/Chloe. I guess that also explains the recent upswing in airtime Ashley Padilla been (rightfully) experiencing. Sarah’s been good in these roles, which is the better use of her instead of the often-poor material she was performing and at times given on the show.
- While a typical Sarah Sherman moment, her whole “MURDERER!” moment with the look to the camera gave me a solid laugh.
- I got a good laugh from how quickly Sarah’s Grace cut the interview off with Ashley’s character. While a typical SNL gag, it was done well this time.
- This is a better way to cover that whole UnitedHealthcare CEO killer than those lame-ass, hacky Mario “jokes” I have seen online the past week. Ironic how some of those “hilarious” posters would often trash SNL when “His name is Luigi?! His brother is Mario!” is their idea of comedy gold.
- The hell with that Marcello portion? That was awful. I do not dislike Marcello as some do (despite his clear hunger for fame), but between this and that monologue last episode, I can see why some do.
- The whole Kenan portion is hilarious. His whole look, performance and general demeanor as a frequent McDonald’s customer is having me in stitches.
- While I praised Sarah earlier, the more this cold open is going on, the more her lines turn into white noise to me, especially the odd pronunciation of certain words (country as ”cruntry” – really, SNL?). Part of it, not on Sarah here, feels out-of-touch, Ivy League elitist making fun of Middle America and Southerners, but I digress.
- The way Emil is used as a Luigi lookalike is better than him playing the guy. It would have most likely gotten him “backlash” from some online, much like how Chloe Troast got a lot of shit last season around this time.
- Eh, I didn’t need Marcello screaming his lungs twice at me in the cold open, even when I get what this whole gag with him is referring to.
- Nice to see not only finally a solo LFNY this season, but for Sarah to deliver it for the very first time.
Rating: **1/2
Monologue
CHR does stand-up about Biden, Trump, Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul
- As I said before, I am not usually a fan of Chris Rock. However, having recently seen his SNL tenure, I have grown to appreciate his humor more, even when I am still not into it (not helping is also the many terrible movies he did as well) as many are.
- Chris’ punchline to his whole UnitedHealthcare CEO bit being “sometimes drug dealers get shot” was solid.
- I had to laugh at the audience applauding Chris saying he hates Jake Paul. It remains so random that punk got a good punch at Mike Tyson (glad I didn’t bother with that nor watched it).
- The audience being taken aback by Bill Clinton having pregnant salves in his inauguration cracked me up even more than the solid joke itself. Loved also the whole “how many rapists I have in my wallet” line from Chris afterwards.
- A pretty solid stand-up set as a whole.
Rating: ***1/2
Mall Santas
black Santa (DEW) isn’t preferred by patrons
- Very sweet to see a JAJ/Devon pairing. I’ve always found them to be a criminally underrated duo the few times they were paired together the past few seasons.
- JAJ looks absolutely hilarious in that Santa outfit.
- While used a lot by SNL of late, the racial element with the mall patrons deciding between the white and black Santas is handled well and I am enjoying Chris’ performance in this, especially his typical delivery which fits the sketch. The funny fridge/garage line regarding the photo taken on Santas’s lap is very Chris Rock-y in particular.
- For probably the first time this season, Jane Wickline got a solid laugh out of me as Santa #3. Something about her awkward delivery and look cracked me the hell up.
- Wow. All I can say is I am enjoying how Emil looks in this sketch, and it helps that he is giving his usual solid, likable performance.
Rating: ***1/2
Simpsons Christmas Gift
CHR thinks of a Simpsons ending due to gift
- An interesting premise involving The Simpsons. As a big fan of that show, I am onboard with this already.
- Chris is fine in this role and coming off likable, but I get the feeling such oddball material would’ve worked better with a host more adept with such concepts. Adam Driver or even Josh Brolin, who was a fantastic host last season, did do his fair share of oddball concepts on his show.
- Usual bloated, overwrought SNL sketch writing, with way-too-many quirky moments and attempts at sounding “kooky.” Why doesn’t the show supervise and revise sketches anymore? The quality drop between this season and the past two (as uneven as they were) is genuinely shocking.
- I’ll say, however, Chloe’s whole tampons moment was very funny. Her best moment maybe of an otherwise tough year for her.
Rating: **1/2
Grandpa’s Magic Car
(MID)’s grandfather’s 1950’s car is racist & sexist
- Why are so many of SNL shorts lately so damn poorly-lit? I had enough of “realistic” shows and movies of late where you can’t see shit. Now, SNL is following suit? This has been the case really since season 48.
- Moving ahead, this short seems to be inspired by Stephen King’s novel Christine. I am no Stephen King fan myself (outside of The Shining), but I’ll give this short a fair chance, as hit-or-miss as their quality have been of late.
- Feels very odd seeing Mikey Day playing this type of role. He played it a billion times before by now.
- Meh at the “twist” with the car not letting the black people in. So telegraphed and in a sense, really pathetic. In my view, the laziest way to do “edgy” comedy, and I am a guy that usually enjoys offensive humor.
- This short continues its desperation to be “edgy” and “daring,” with the tepid songs being played containing the word “white” and mentioning “big butts.” Yeah….. this is a real dud.
- The whole turn with Chloe being smacked and having water “squirted” at her (which was even called out as a penis – typical Seiday thinking we are too dumb to “get” the joke, tepid as it was), was so embarrassing. I feel bad for Chloe here.
- Now this ends with a random product plug? Blah once more.
Rating: *
Sexual Harassment Charlie
Charlie (KET) goes easy compared to CHR
- Very odd to bring back this sketch after six long seasons. I guess they want to give Kenan more to do with how very invisible he’s been this season in general.
- This sketch is going basically the exact same route as the prior two sketches. I loved the first one yet I have a hard time remembering the second (odd as that ScarJo episode is one of my favorites from the past decade), but this isn’t working.
- Man, this is so flat-feeling (for the trillionth time this season) that I just noticed that wig and mustache combo Andrew is wearing. That cracked me up, which is more than anything else in this borefest.
- I love Kenan and I appreciate him and all that he brought to the show but just throwing him out there doing his Kenan-y shtick, such as this and that Little Richard sketch, with no writing backing it up, makes him fall on his face to me.
Rating: **
Musical Performance – “That’s So True”
Weekend Update
bald man (AND) comments on UK court harassment rule
JAW sings on the tone of Sabrina Carpenter
- What in the WORLD was it with that girl screaming at Colin & Che as Update started? The hell was that? She loves them this much?
- The usual jokes from the two (ugh at the Gaetz and drone jokes, though), but I did like that Tiny Tim Polio joke.
- Andrew! Boy, does it feel thrilling to see him do a desk piece, considering 1) what a great season he’s been having in general, 2) the endless wretched desk pieces last season, and 3) how very rare in general to see Andrew behind the Update desk.
- A very fun performance by Andrew, despite a thin premise, which was basically the case last season with Remember Lizards – a piece I am one of the few to actually enjoy.
- The whole bald lotion scalp part is really making this piece for me; it’s hilarious. Andrew is having me practically on the floor throughout this piece and is clearly having so much fun, as am I.
- Jane Wickline behind the desk for the third time in eight episodes. It is so clear the show is trying to push her, despite her very clearly being awkward and uncomfortable on the air (and in pretapes, too, judging from that Gladiator II short last week). I’d rather see the much-better Ashley Padilla or Emil Wakim in her place during such an important part of the night, but oh well.
- Like the first time she performed a song behind the desk, Jane is coming off endearing, but both the song, with its lyrics, beat and her performance is not working for me. If the show is trying to make Jane a “new” Sarah Sherman, it isn’t working. Seeing also how barely she is in anything between dress and live, makes it clear the writers themselves have no idea how to use her and seem to not bother. It doesn’t even help she (and the show) seem to try to pander once again to the Sabrina Carpenter fanbase, as if she wasn’t overexposed already by now.
- Like so much of this season, this has such a flat, dull feeling to it. I guess I am just not into quirky, “not like other girls” performers who ramble through their lines as Jane Wickline often does. I am happy if others find this good, but the baffling push for her by the show remains unsuccessful, I am afraid to say.
Rating: **1/2
Gallbladder Surgery
nurse (SAS) makes fatal mistakes during gallbladder surgery; ADS cameo
- Speaking of Sarah Sherman and lead sketches….
- Ugh at Sarah entering as a “new” character of hers that isn’t any different than the billion prior wacky Sarah Sherman characters. Just give it up, man.
- This is a Fowlie/O’Sullivan sketch, from the very start. I also seen a video of both writers talking about writing a surgery sketch this week, which makes how Sarah is performing this already-tepid material so obvious.
- Not caring AT ALL for Sarah in this. Shitass sketches like this and Fongers/Shoot! last season are prime example to me what a big decline Sarah Sherman had as a cast member compared to her first two-seasons-and-a-half. Sure, Sarah is talented, but she falls beyond flat with me when playing “quirky” roles like this and prior season. Knowing she now gained more popularity over such bland roles and material (especially behind the desk) instead of her oddball, creative, audience-testing work breaks my heart as someone who championed her since the start…. sigh, between this, the endless drag roles and mascot pieces I am positive to come later in the season, is going to be another tough season to sit through with Sarah, I see.
- At least the random Adam Sandler cameo injected some brief life to an otherwise wretched sketch – his fourth-wall breaking with Chris was fun.
- This feels like a sad knockoff of that surgery sketch Sarah tried to get on the air in her early episodes. Sketch so OTT in its gore that it was reportedly stopped halfway through due to audience reaction. Sarah’s transition between such material never seen before since Mr. Mike to “cute” desk pieces as a mascot and these “quirky” roles is very demoralizing and upsetting to me.
- I can see some enjoying this sketch as a “so bad it’s good” guilty pleasure, but this is featuring one of my least-favorite SNL/sketch comedy tropes with that random “wacky” character annoying others and halting the flow of what’s happening. It doesn’t help that Sarah is coming off grating in this role, which is something I rarely, if ever, say about her.
- All-in-all, I see nothing really changed when it comes to Sarah and the quality of her sketches from last season…
Rating: *1/2
Musical Performance – “I Love You, I’m Sorry”
Office Christmas Party Extravaganza
mundane Christmas party gets revamped
- I always loved these shorts, as few of them that SNL did in the past. The presentation of mundane, boring events in an “exciting” fashion is a very fun premise to me.
- This is the most we even heard JAJ tonight, doing his always-strong VO work. Why so little JAJ tonight? Are you kidding me SNL?! How the hell such a fantastic, versatile player is barely in the show tonight?!
- I actually got a good laugh from Jane’s OnlyFans line. A good use of her natural awkwardness.
- Ah, JAJ is in this short. Still sad how little he’s been in the show tonight. At least this short seems to use his knack for fun VO work, in the same vein Beck Bennett and Cecily Strong often were in the past.
- Very fun performance from Heidi per usual in a pretaped segment. A shame that strength of hers wasn’t utilized more these past three seasons outside of a few highlights. Another example how much shorts declined in quality in general.
- Ashley is absolutely great throughout this short. Her reactions and acting are so fun. The rest of the cast are good, but she’s really standing out to me – the biggest highlight of this short.
- The whole “Work Wife vs. Real Wife” portion is solid. Ego is also so good playing these types of roles.
- Sarah & Mikey have been all over this episode.
- There is some fun, relatable humor sprinkled throughout this short in general, even when it still pales compared to prior shorts, and the piece generally is about a minute longer than needed. Still, a solid piece.
Rating: ***1/2
Blind Date
(EGN)’s blind date goes wrong
- Nice seeing a low-key, slice-of-life Ego Nwodim piece to end the night.
- This feels like the most Chris has been in character tonight, even when he remains, as per, focused on those cue cards.
- Why in the world are Emil & Jane just sitting in the background doing and saying nothing? I understand they are newbies, but such an odd usage of them.
- Ego is so solid in her straight man performance here, which is an area she seems rather underused in.
- The various “have sex in my car” suggestions by Chris are funny, even as the sketch seems to get a little one-note than more layered. Helping it also that it is in the 10-to-1 spot, which makes it flow better.
- A decent payoff at the end with Chris and his car.
Rating: ***1/2
Goodnights
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
Blind Date
Monologue
Office Christmas Party Extravaganza
Mall Santas
Weekend Update
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
Simpsons Christmas Gift
Sexual Harassment Charlie
Gallbladder Surgery
Grandpa’s Magic Car
Final Thoughts:
- This feels like the billionth forgettable episode this season. Nothing stood out as memorable, with no segments rated above ***1/2 by me, once again this season. Like most of the season, this episode had a real flat feeling with almost nothing memorable and forgettable average sketches dominating the night. Chris Rock himself was fine, better than his prior two episodes, but he isn’t a performer who can save or salvage material.
- I wasn’t crazy tonight about the cast use, with too much of a few and barely seeing some others. Hardly any JAJ at all, and it felt like a bummer that we heard him more than actually seeing him tonight. Kenan remains very invisible and trotting back an ancient recurring sketch is a sad sign. Sarah had a big night, but outside of her Nancy Grace (and even that wasn’t a knockout role), she felt there and to say nothing of how much I didn’t care for her big sketch.
- I really don’t get it with this season. While SNL has always been up-and-down in its quality, the writing has often been in the toilet this season to be frank. That wretched car piece is the epitome of that tonight, with desperate racial jokes that were told a billion times better a billion times before, and many sketches being incomprehensible yet flowing just OK for me, to say nothing of how much social media pandering so many writers seem to do. Instead of coming off on top in its golden year, SNL this season just feels…. old and tired. That bums me out so much as a hardcore SNL nerd. I genuinely hope they get it right for the Christmas show, but at this point, I should have no expectations at all with this season moving forward.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
Up Next:
- The Christmas episode with the iconic lineup of Martin Short & Hozier.
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
I got laughs from the Monologue and the Office Christmas Extravaganza and Update didn’t include Bowen, Marcello, or Heidi.
Plus shockingly few cameos.
So I gotta give it a 6.5/10
Cold Open: ***
Stand-Up Monologue: ***
Mall Santa: ***
Secret Santa: ****
Magic Car: ***1/2
Sexual Harassment Charlie: ***1/2
Weekend Update: ****
Hospital: **
Office Christmas Party: ****
Blind Date: ***
The cold open was kinda weird, as Nancy Grace hasn’t been parodied on the show in almost 2 decades. Also Nancy grace isn’t really a figure that people were BEGGING the show to parody nowadays. While I would complain about the goofy southern accent Sarah used to play her, Amy Poehler also used a goofy southern accent when she parodied her, it was arguably a more goofy portrayal. I like that SNL took the unexpected route with Luigi Mangione, and got Emil to play a guy that looked like him. Also Kenan was funny as always, as “Guy who was at the McDonalds”. I also liked that Sarah got her first solo LFNY, mainly because she hasn’t said the line a lot, and also bc this ongoing era has lowered the amount of group LFNYs, no complaint from me.
As a fan of Chris Rock, I was a little underwhelmed by the monologue. Mainly because it’s length, and also because Chris seemed a LOT more rambly than he usually is. Also a lot of people in the live discussion in the subreddit kept on theorizing that Chris got plastic surgery. What the hell???? Chris has ALWAYS looked like that. Anyway…
Mall Santa had a funny concept, but they didn’t go as far with it as I wanted them too. Wasted potential to be honest. Not to say it was bad, it was actually a decent sketch helped by Chris’ funny delivery but I felt a little underwhelmed.
Secret Santa was my favorite sketch of the night, it started off a little slow but it REALLY grew on me towards the final third where Chris started visualizing his Simpsons episode.
The pretape with the old car gave me some good laughs to be honest. And I don’t really think the writers of it were trying to be “edgy”.
DISMUKES IS AMAZING. He was everywhere this week, and his Update commentary was great. He continues to have a fantastic season.
The Hospital sketch with Sarah felt very empty and off, and I was ready to give it 1.5 stars. But then SANDLER popped up out of nowhere, and then the blood spurting was messed up and he just started improv-ing and it was really fun and loose. That it self bumped up the sketch a half star.
Office Christmas Party was surprisingly solid for a retreat. I got a lot of laughs here, despite them being similar to the Graduation one in 2018.
Blind Date in my opinion just wasn’t the right sketch for Chris Rock. His delivery wasn’t right for the material. But it was still decent enough.
A quietly solid episode as a whole. Only one sketch tonight didn’t work for me, and everything else ranged from decent to solid. Nothing was really standout and strong, but there was a lot of sketches I gave 4 stars too.
6.7/10
I’m very excited for next week wirh Martin Short. I hope we get ice skating Goodnights.
Despite my feelings on certain episodes being different than yours, I do feel that this season has been fairly forgettable so far.
Literally 3 episodes this season have gotten a 6.2 average from me so far.
I think the main issue with this season is that they’re trying too hard to pander to Gen Z, when instead they come off like the “How do you do, fellow kids?” Meme. And what sucks more is that it’s working, specifically with Bowen.
I just want them to make sketches without them mentioning something that went viral on TikTok, or something.
I’m still trying to gauge how I land on the last sketch of the night; because I liked the premise but I think this was more written for a performance by Devon more than anything else
As always, great review from you Blood!
I’m evidently in the minority with this episode as I enjoyed it fine. It wasn’t anything great or even particularly memorable, but it was overall decent for the most part. That said, I get and share in your frustrations with the “average” feel of this whole season. So much of this season has been okay-yet-forgettable and this episode is no exception to that. I have a strong suspicion I’ll forget much of it in a few days.
I find that I disagree with you (somewhat) on two key sketches: the car and surgery sketches. Let me outline why.
I don’t hate the premise of the car sketch. Yes, this kind of racial humor is something we’ve seen from SNL a million times, but that in and of itself shouldn’t be a disqualifier. If a certain type of sketch works and hits very well (at its best), I have no complaints about the show returning to that well, as long as they do something unique and fun with it. After all, how many times have we seen game show sketches where the host is an asshole or a psychopath? It’s all about the execution. I was actually fairly on board with the premise of this sketch at the start. The idea of a car built in the 50s and having the morals of a racist and sexist person from that time has a lot of potential. You could get pretty creative with it. Unfortunately, the writers of this sketch seemed to just stop with that premise and didn’t do much with it. I’d have liked this to have gone darker or more creative. Maybe the car shoots a hose at the black people, thereby conjuring images of brutality against civil rights protestors from back then. Dark? Yes, but it’s daring at least. Or maybe have the car force all the black people to sit in the back seat. I don’t know, just do *something* with this premise. Unfortunately, they didn’t really have much escalation. I guess the part with Chloe counted, but it wasn’t much of an escalation and wasn’t particularly funny. Regardless, it made the ending where they burned down the car and the barn come off flat. It came across as the equivalent of reacting to someone pinching you by knocking them out cold. Had we seen more sinister or dark elements with the car’s behavior, it would have felt warranted and earned. In any case, your one star rating of this is a bit surprising to me. Personally, I’d take a sketch like this, as flawed and poorly executed as it was, over some desperate and flimsy Bowen/Fowlie TikTok dreck.
As for the surgery sketch: I agree with you that Sarah’s character was annoying, poorly written, and came off quite obnoxious. That said, I think you were focused a little too much on that one particular element. All totaled, her character was essentially limited to the first two minutes – less than half of the total sketch runtime. As soon as Sandler popped up, all of the energy changed. He was fun, likable, charismatic, and yes, funny. I have my share of criticisms of Adam but this, imho, is when he’s at his best. Just being his sarcastic self. And you know what? It worked for me. His fourth wall breaks, whether they were scripted or not, were very amusing and he was clearly having a blast goofing around with everyone. Even the blooper with the blood initially not squirting out had its own goofy charm to it. And honestly, it made the first part of the sketch with Sarah a little more forgivable for me. Having Sandler call out her character, the other actors and the sketch at large was a nice meta twist. It kind of reminded me of Jheri’s Place, which also had a worrying start before being revealed as its own meta commentary. I’m not saying this piece was on that level. It definitely could have done more with the whole fourth wall breaking thing. But that said, I’d rather have that turn come after a piece that’s poor as opposed to a piece that’s genuinely good and entertaining, if that makes sense. This sketch is no masterpiece and that first two minutes unquestionably hurts it, but there’s just a little more good than bad here for me.
The two sketches I enjoyed most were Mall Santas and Office Christmas Party. Both of those had solid writerly premises and took advantage of them quite well. The former especially was a perfect vehicle for Rock and his delivery/demeanor fit it well.
Now as for Jane…well, I didn’t HATE her desk piece like some did/do. And I’ll give her a bit of credit in that she seemed more confident and at ease here. But it’s really becoming clear that her comedy just isn’t for me. The subject matter wasn’t relatable, the singing wasn’t anything great, and the whole thing, at best, was just “cute” and nothing more. What *does* make me a bit angry though is how the show keeps on trying to push a performer who is (at best) VERY niche and divisive when someone like Ashley is right there. Why has Jane gotten THREE desk pieces so far and Ashley has yet to have one? I know Ashley’s airtime and usage has steadily been on the rise and she’s growing on people, but she deserves to have more of these solo vehicles that, for whatever reason, the show keeps wanting to give Jane on Update.
Rock was…fine I guess? He didn’t really hurt the show too much (although sometimes his halting delivery and cue card staring was a bit distracting), but he also didn’t really elevate it either outside of maybe the Mall Santas sketch. That said, he was better here than he was in his two previous hosting stints, which is admittedly quite a low bar.
I share in your frustrations with this season. While the writing, with some exceptions, hasn’t been awful, it’s also felt rather hollow. Many of the sketches just feel like they’re…there. They aren’t obnoxiously bad nor memorably good, they just kind of come and go without leaving anything in the way of an impression. It’s clear more than ever at this point that the writer’s room needs an overhaul, as Lorne/the crew seem to be on autopilot as of late. Hopefully, we’ll get that overhaul next season, when the 50th anniversary celebration is done and many of the current vets are out.
One of the biggest reasons I didn’t care at all for the car short is that it was completely soulless, transparent in its writing – telling us jokes told a billion times better a billion times before. There was nothing here of value to me. Making it worse how chopped up and clunky it was. Not being able to just tell a straightforward narrative, as uncreative as that was, with even that ending visual being interrupted by the overused product plug. I saw, and continue to see, nothing of value in this short. If anything, more than most pieces this season, it is a prime example of both the decline of pretapes of late and how much house-cleaning the show needs, even when sadly I can see it and that surgery thing getting the most buzz online.
I am done with the whole “it’ll get better” after each week, and we are “just getting there” with this season, even when I get your points. It is clear the show is patting itself on the back with such writing, and as a fan, when I see such quality drop, I’ll call it out. If you love someone, you gotta call them out on their bullshit from time to time.
There was kind of a weird feeling to the host/sketches in this episode at times. Some of the parts Rock got were nothing or straight roles that any host could play (like in Sexual Harassment Charlie or Surgery), but he was fine in them. Some of the sketches were more obviously matched to Rock’s style of humor, like Store Santas or Racist Car, but I thought his performances there were too overstated and that a more subtle performance would have made them funnier. And then there was stuff like the Simpsons Gift where he was clearly the wrong host for the part, and that someone like Driver, Brolin, or even Mescal last week would have been far better. I realize Chris was never a strong sketch performer, but the show has had other stand-ups in the same vein host–surely you can tailor the sketches more to their talents or coax out better performances?
Thanks, as always. I appreciate the time you take, without taking too much time, in expressing the flaws of a number of these pieces. I know it must be wearying to try to get into a pile of sludge like the car pre-tape and try to express just why it is so alienating. Or the wide number of “could have been worse” moments, which are especially difficult to parse. I’m also glad you enjoyed the last sketch, as so many other reviews did not. No, it wasn’t a classic, but, similar to Andrew’s Update appearance, has the type of strengths I can enjoy in recent seasons, helped by the study performances of the cast involved.
This was another episode which should have benefited from my low expectations for Rock after his previous two episodes, but even though I think his performance was better than his last two stints, none of that helped with the crippling writing problems. I don’t feel like they have been significantly worse this season than the last two seasons, but the decay has been building up.
What stands out most for me is how labored every part of the show seems…above all else the pre-tapes. Comparing the office party pre-tape to even the graduation pre-tape from season 43, there was so much less energy, so much more dragging and dragging and telling us what is going to happen. I have been complaining about the pre-tapes for several years now and somehow, they are still getting worse.
Any time the show tries to contort itself into what they see as young and hip, it seems inert and ancient. Shouting Marcello, oh-so-quirky Jane, and the “ditzy” mutilation of Sarah’s best appeal are all huge drags on the current SNL – dumping them into one episode left the episode with a very heavy, hollowed out air.
Okay. So it turns out the racist car sketch was surprisingly not written by Seiday, but instead by PDD and black female writers Auguste White and Asha Ward.
With that out the way, the sketch was still kinda mid.
Anyways, yeah. With Sarah, I assume since all of her gore Sketches kept getting cut after her first two or so years in the cast (and as a featured player), I guess she gave up, and just does what the writers tell her to do.
Which is really sad. I doubt we’ll see the gore Sarah (or Sarah Squirm) on SNL. But I’ll be interested to hear her side of the story, whenever she leaves SNL.
Guys, everyone seems so sad around here. Lighten up, people. Here’s what we knew about the episode going in – Chris Rock is a good (once exceptional) standup, a bad actor and a terrible sketch comedian. I thought with that in mind, he did what could be expected of him, occasionally rising to the level of decently OK if not quite the right man for the job (Simpsons, Blind Date).
What worked:
The Cold Open – Guys, it was an actual coherent, functioning piece of sketch comedy. On the cold open grading curve, that’s almost five stars. Is Sarah’s Nancy Grace any good? Fuck no, but she’s playful and punchy and this is the first cold open any of us could comfortably describe as “tight” in years.
The monologue – I mean, like him or not, Chris Rock making 3.5 truly pointed jokes is a whole hell of a lot better than Mulaney showing as pictures of his kids and hoping we don’t notice his new chin implants (BCL?). Probably the best monologue of the season (until next week). Rock always has a little stumble and ramble in him, but when the punches came, he connected. He’s probably the first standup to really win the room in the entire calendar year.
Simpsons – This one went in a really fun direction even if Rock isn’t the man for the job. There’s something always weird when the Simpsons and SNL have a crossover (I can think of only a couple other moments, with one of them being a throwaway Dennis Miller joke). I know modern Simpsons is not for everyone (my son and I will occasionally pull one up on Disney+), but it’s still more consistent in it’s 35 or 36 year than whatever SNL has put together for the last quarter century. Anyways, the absurdist touches and quirky details worked well for me and Rock gave it as much as he could.
Update – I was on board with the whole things, actually. Honestly my favorite Update of the season. A couple howitzers from Jost/Che (although Michael is never going to make “fetch” happen) and an absolutely delightful turn from Dismukes. Wickline has entered the realm where people are very cynical about her entire existence, but this one really worked for me. I realized I have to strain my ears a little more to catch everything she’s saying, but the humor is sharp, distinct and well-observed. The audience hasn’t completely locked into her wavelength, but it’s getting closer. This one connected for me.
Surgery – It was a vamp until it became another, more entertaining kind of vamp. It’s not winning any awards, but I loved the meta turn and SNL always gets a pass for one free blood hose per season. After Rock has done so many people a cameo boost, it was nice to see Sandler return the favor.
Blind Date – Another one that another host would have taken to a higher level, but the sketch itself was a solid work with some fun little quirks.
What didn’t work:
Mall Santas – It feels super reductive to complain about contrivance on a sketch show where contrivance is an essential ingredient, but holy crap did this sketch feel forced. Rock sold it like he thought he had a home run on his hands, but the central conceit didn’t feel like it was rooted in any kind of relatable truth. Modern SNL has done a really good job lampooning racial tension, but this felt entirely belabored. Jane’s little cameo was fun though.
Grandpa’s Car – More clumsy reaches at racial humor but with a side of Seiday brand jokesplaining. I don’t know if the was “one star” bad, but I basically had no real use for it.
Sexual Harassment Charlie – Kenan is in his 21st season. If you compiled all of his sketches, you’d probably have about 18 seasons worth of Kenan just killing the clock. Kenan has a high floor, so nothing he does is outright trash, but SO MUCH of what he does is meant to just be completely forgotten seconds after it airs.
Office Party – Build the whole sketch out of the work wife thing and we’re cookin’ with gas. Otherwise, this is more clock killing.
Anyways, another episode where Applebee’s serves Applebee’s food and people complain that it tastes like Applebee’s. Nowhere near the best episode of the season, but I’ll probably take this over Mulaney’s episode.
@Carson This is actually Kenan’s *22nd* season. Also, believe it or not, PDD wrote the 1950s Car sketch; with no help from Seiday. But Auguste White and Asha Ward (two other writers) helped PDD write it. It seems like Seiday had no input on this sketch.
Can you elaborate, Carson, if it may why you enjoyed not only this edition of the desk, but many others of late? While there are usually a couple of winners from Che & Jost, the formula itself, to me, has gotten so, so tired. How many times am I supposed to laugh at Che reacting to the audience? Those “women, amirite?” jokes?, “edgy” jokes? “Seen here” jokes after ELEVEN SEASONS? I am more lenient and forgiving with this era of the desk than some other vocal fans, but it is holding back the show in part, and should’ve ended 3-4 seasons ago, in my opinion.
Thanks as always for your comprehensive feedback & observations. Much appreciated.
I honestly think that the things that are tired and played out about Update (so much of what Che is doing, actually) I can generally shake off, while the jokes that connect (like that dumb Michelob Light joke) delight me. I think it’s just a microcosm of how I view the entire show. I don’t expect everything to work, but when something does, I tend to let that take up more space in my brain. It’s a little bit of magical thinking, I know, but I usually give the show a low bar and hope for two are three things to boost my mood (not that I’m sad or grumpy or anything). So Update had a couple jokes that tickled me, a banger Dismukes piece and I finally connected to Wickline (what other commentaries have been good this year? Emil probably. Anything else?). That’s a lot of positives for me.
The racist car short suffered (at least for me) in a couple of ways:
-People have already explained the problems of the joke explaining (“Is that supposed to be his penis?” is one of the most jarring examples I’ve seen) and the lack of any escalation (I liked the use of songs to communicate though).
-But I’d argue another problem is you can’t do such a short when you *just* did a sketch in which racism was front and center–the comedic jump in this short is much more obvious and telegraphed, and Rock didn’t work for me as one of the victims. Like I wondered to myself if the joke early on was that Mikey was going to turn out to be a racist or they find something embarrassingly racist. The short shouldn’t have been that obvious.