Coming off a pretty maligned premiere with Miley Cyrus last week, things could only go up as Season 41 marched on with Amy Schumer, right? Onto the review
Fox & Friends (Cold Open): These have become pretty formulaic, but they usually always make for a steady sketch. Bobby Moynihan is always fantastic as Brian Kilmeade. Pete Davidson (yes, that Pete), got his political impersonation chops on as he played Rep. Jason Chaffetz (who's gotten noticed for seeking the house speakership....along with his role in the Planned Parenthood hearings). Hopefully SNL allows Pete to keep growing with roles like this. We then saw Kate Mckinnon as Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and as always, Kate was kate. Probably the best part of these skits are the ending corrections. Someone could seriously just make a book with all the ones SNL has created. (7.0)
Monologue: Stand-up comics always give the best monologues, and that was the case this week. Simply put, it was just Amy Schumer doing a part of her stand-up routine (which is great). She talked about women in Hollywood, the Kardashians, and Bradley Cooper. These type of monologues are always a breath of fresh air when compared to the usual "Q&A from the audience" or "singing" ones. (8.4)
Delta Flight: This was one of a few sketches featuring Amy and Vanessa Bayer together (they worked together in "Trainwreck" this past summer). They played a pair of flight attendants who were doing a singing instructional song....and then accidentally falling out of the plane. You could tell that there was the making of something here, but it didn't quite hit the mark. (5.1)
Porn Teacher: So...that's a title. But that aside, this was a pretty fun wacky skit. Amy played....well a porn teacher, seducing a student (Kyle Mooney). And then an innocent student (Aidy Bryant) shows up. The reaction and response from Amy & Aidy really made this skit. Aidy made her character incredibly believable here (as did Vanessa as her mother). (8.0)
Guns (ad): It seemed odd that SNL didn't even touch gun control last week (given the recent mass shooting), but whether they were waiting for the right host or not, they went after it this week. First up was this ad for "Guns". There are just so many great & small moments that really made this piece work. From Kate McKinnon jogging and firing one in the air, to Vanessa Bayer quickly scoping around while in a wheelchair about to go into labor. This is definitely a re-watchable video, it just gets better each time. (8.9)
The Weeknd ("The Hills"): (7.8)
Weekend Update: What a turnaround for Update. We've seen this before last season however, where we got a really good update, followed by a string of bad ones. However, Colin Jost & Michael Che were certainly on their game this week. They had a really good riff on gun control (keeping up the theme for the show).
This was an Update where Jost/Che made the segment, not the special guests. The first guest saw Jay Pharoah bring out a new character, Solomon (a travel correspondent who didn't travel over the summer). There was something there, but it didn't work this time around.
The second guest saw Kate McKinnon return as Mrs. Santini. As usual with Kate, she was pretty great. (7.6)
Ford Theater: Another out-there sketch, this saw a Lincoln assassination reenactment for tourists, where Amy (as Mary Todd Lincoln) decides to go over the top and constantly punches Mooney as Wilkes Booth. This was amusing the first few times, but it basically just repeated itself. A good idea that tired itself out. (5.9)
Hands-Free Selfie Stick (ad/short): This was a better millennials sketch than the one last week. The short introduced a new product...the "hands free selfie stick"...which goes, well, lets just say your behind. Everyone in this sold it really well. (8.1)
City Council Meeting: Finally Cecily Strong showed up in this sketch. It seemed like a typical city council meeting with a bunch of characters, from Kyle Mooney's "dutch rapper", to Keenan Thompson playing a guy really enthused about a Halloween march. But what made this sketch from just a slapstick collection of characters was Amy Schumer as a little girl....who has some thoughts on gun control, gay marriage & Jesus....along with recess. She pretty much single-handedly saved this sketch and made it amusing. If only we had seen more of her character here. (6.4)
The Weeknd ("I Can't Feel My Face"): (8.0)
Baby Shower: This sketch started off looking like it was going to tank. It featured Amy/Cecily/Aidy & Leslie Jones at Vanessa's baby shower, and then Cecily's purse went missing. Nothing really saved this one, but Cecily's performance made it at least tolerable. (4.9)
This was a big step-up from last week's premiere. It really showed off what a good host can do. Amy was always present & giving it her all. SNL writers also seemed to really be centered on gun control (which was notable absent last week). Here's hoping they don't shy away more big issues in the future.
Overall Score - 7.18
Amy Schumer - 7.18
Miley Cyrus - 6.07
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