Overall Thoughts on the Season: Season 41 continued the establishment of this new era of SNL, with more and more fresh writing style that relied heavily on original, one-off, solid sketch concepts that would dominate several episodes of the season, such as the Peter Dinklage episode, which is a prime example of the conceptual writing …
May 21, 2016 – Fred Armisen / Courtney Barnett (S41 E21)
Cold Opening - Hillary & Bernie Ah, while I would’ve loved a different-feeling open for our big finale, I certainly cannot complain about having a one with Hillary & Bernie, played flawlessly by Kate & Larry, respectively. Great setting to this open, with Hillary and Bernie talking at a bar. Especially after the primaries were …
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May 14, 2016 – Drake (S41 E20)
Cold Opening - Trump Tower BLAH. It still feels weird seeing Vanessa play Ivanka Trump, knowing that a certain future host will play her regularly starting with next season. A pretty dull, low-energy cold open so far, especially with Darrell’s snoozefest of an impression being the center of it. Aside from Bobby’s always-fun Chris Christie, …
May 7, 2016 – Brie Larson / Alicia Keys (S41 E19)
Cold Opening - Church Chat Dana Carvey!!! Church Chat!!! How do I not remember this cameo?! Ah, I see that Dana still absolutely got it as Church Lady. A good laugh from Church Lady calling Taran’s Ted Cruz Satan. Man, this open is really taking me back to the whole feud between Trump & Cruz, …
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April 16, 2016 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Nick Jonas (S41 E18)
Cold Opening - Democratic Presidential Debate Beck has now replaced Jon as Wolf Blitzer. Yep, the show has now officially given up on Jon as a cast member, it is more than obvious, not to mention the billion bit roles that he has been stuck in for the majority of his tenure. Pretty good impression …
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April 9, 2016 – Russell Crowe / Margo Price (S41 E17)
Cold Opening - A Message From Hillary Clinton It feels like I’ve just reviewed a Hillary Clinton cold open a few days ago. Yet, I cannot complain whenever I have to review Kate’s excellent portrayal. Some good laughs from Kate’s Hillary admissions of her losing streak against Bernie Sanders, and the ways she’s trying to …
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April 2, 2016 – Peter Dinklage / Gwen Stefani (S41 E16)
Cold Opening - At This Hour Funny opening lines from Kate. It is also kinda weird that this is our third CNN cold open in a row, and I also recall having several CNN cold opens & sketches on a frequent basis next season. Cecily’s energy & full-on batshit performance here as Trump supporter Scottie …
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March 12, 2016 – Ariana Grande (S41 E15)
Cold Opening - CNN Election Center What’s with the mic issues with Beck’s Jake Tapper early on? Ugh, I’m really starting to get more and more tired with this snooze-inducing Trump impression from Darrell, it is too bad that his eventual replacement won’t be any better… Ah, here comes Larry David to inject this cold …
March 5, 2016 – Jonah Hill / Future (S41 E14)
Cold Opening - CNN Election Center I’m starting to get really tired of Darrell’s Trump impression, even though the replacement isn’t any better… Hey, at least we have Bobby as Chris Christie to give me some of my expected laughs. Kate’s pretty funny in her speech, especially her part about bringing people together, like the …
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February 13, 2016 – Melissa McCarthy / Kanye West (S41 E13)
Cold Opening - Hillary For President A great, funny sudden appearance from Kate’s Hillary Clinton surprising restaurant patrons after their conversation about them deciding not to vote for her. Like in previous times, Kate is just excellent as Clinton here, bringing in likability and solid characterization in her portrayal. Ah, Darrell’s Bill Clinton absolutely still …
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