SNL Season 42: Kristen Wiig

SNL wrapped up another run of 3 shows in a row with alumni Kristen Wiig. Onto the review

Donald Trump Prepares Cold Open: Alec Baldwin returned as Trump. Who knows how long he'll stay on as that role. They mocked the rocky transition team with this cold open, as Trump appears wildly unprepared, searching google for how to defeat ISIS. This predictably drew the ire of Donald Trump on twitter, meaning SNL is doing something right. The humorous/scary thing is, who knows how much of this cold open was actually truthful. (7.5)

Monologue: Kristen sings a non-factual song about Thanksgiving, with help from Steve Martin and Will Forte. This was just sort of there, and didn't go anywhere. (6)

The Bubble (short): An advertisement for non-Trump voters to live in a literal bubble to "save themselves", this actually hit at a lot of different levels. In a Brooklyn-esque area, its shows voters looking to pay up to go into their own echo chamber. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it displayed a message of not just retreating into surrender, but in continuing to be active in the coming months and years. (8.1)

Secret Word: Of all the recurring characters for Kristen, they had to pick this one...ugh. (5.5)

Anderson Cooper 360: This was so great, and pretty close to the truth. We see Anderson Cooper and a typical panel including Dana Bash, David Axelrod, Kayleigh Mcenany, among others. They basically just cycle through Trump story after story, repeating the same lines on how its worse than the last without going into any further detail. It really showed how pundit driven coverage works, especially during this election cycle. The twist comes that they were robots malfunctioning. (8.6)

Anderson Cooper 360

Target (Commercial): SNL has done a few thanksgiving-esque ads like this about going back home, but they just keep working. Here we see Cecily Strong moping in a target parking lot. The voice-over really makes this work. (8)

QVC Auditions: (5.8)

(The xx): (5.5)

Weekend Update: Update was merely average this week. They rolled out the punches for some of the early cabinet picks and appointments, though had a big swing and a miss on a joke about how tinder being more inclusive was why Democrats lost. Just a tired and lazy joke.

Pete Davidson talked about Donald Trump, and it was fairly forgettable in the long run.

For some reason they keep forcing Willie (Kenan Thompson) on us. This character is fairly hit or miss. (6.7)

Thanksgiving Parade: This sketch was very well done and quite creative. Beck Bennett hosts a family to his nice apartment to watch the parade outside. We then see a variety of balloons, from a clown to Raggedy Ann creeping up on them from outside. This premise could make for a pretty decent horror movie now that I think about it. (7)

Parade

Whiskers R We: A common late show recurring sketch, these just always seem to work. Kate and Kristen had a lot of chemistry here. (8.3)

(The xx): (6.8)

Surprise Lady - Thanksgiving: Aunt Sue is a very underrated Kristen Wiig in my opinion. Here she tries to contain herself as Pete Davidson plays a solider making a surprise return home for the holiday. Its just how Kristen builds up this frantic and manic character trying to keep everything in, yet in the same way letting it all out. (8.4)

More of a middle the road episode, especially coming off of Dave Chappelle's episode, but this was a pleasant episode nonetheless. This was certainly better than the last Wiig hosted episode, which whiffed pretty badly. Luckily we didn't get Gilly....though it would have been nice to see the Target lady. (7.09)

Dave Chappelle: 8.83

Tom Hanks: 8.03

Lin Manuel Miranda: 7.74

Margot Robbie: 7.38

Kristen Wiig: 7.09

Emily Blunt: 7.07

Benedict Cumberbatch: 6.60

SNL Season 42: Dave Chappelle

So, did anything happen this past week? Fairly quiet news-cycle for SNL to cover, right?......(onto the review)

Election Week Cold Open: A powerful opening, as Kate McKinnon (dressed as Hillary Clinton, but singing as herself), sits at a piano, playing the late Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". It felt sort of similar to when Paul Simon sang "The Boxer" after 9/11 on SNL. Now of course, totally different events, but there is a vast amount of division and uncertainty in this nation right now, so this felt poised and needed. (10)

Monologue: Always seems to be the case, stand up comics have the best monologues. This week was no different, as Dave Chappelle made his return, riffing on the election. It felt very conversational, like he was speaking directly to you. What's getting the most buzz is the final 2 minutes or so when he talks about a BET party he went to the White House, and the history of African-Americans who met Lincoln and FDR there. He closed it offering President-elect Donald Trump a chance, but demanding that he give the historically disenfranchised a chance as well. A very poignant opening. (10)

Election Night: Cecily Strong, Beck Bennet and others host an election night watch party, seeing how the tides slowly turned that night. I imagine this exact scenario was playing out across the country as the results unfolded. Dave Chappelle acts as a realist, trying to comfort the group, and then in a surprise twist, Chris Rock arrives. There were some great lines to unpack here, such as Chris and Dave laughing at the notion that racism had just now caused an impact. (8.7)

Walking Dead Chappelle's Show (short): Many were expecting some sort of Chappelle Show influence, but how he brought it about was pretty genius, infusing it into the Walking Dead season premiere episode. Now, I haven't seen a lot of the Chappelle Show, but even with that the humor was just so good here. Honestly, there just isn't much to say except watch it for yourself, and enjoy. Classic SNL (9.5)

(A Tribe Called Quest): (8.5)

Weekend Update: With the energy up, Jost and Che were nice and loose in their deliveries, which is when they thrive. Che even turned a botched line about a "Mexican-American voter" when he meant Puerto Rican which played off well. And Jost had a great moment with a "Fight Song" montage on the record 4 female diverse senators which were elected.

The only guest was Ruth Bader Ginsburg (McKinnon) roasting Trump and Pence like a stand up comic, as she does. This is a very underrated McKinnon character. (8.6)

RBG

Jheri's Place: At first this came off like a really, really bad sketch, but then was played out like an "Inside SNL" breakdown, where the cast members answered questions from reporters on what went wrong. A really meta idea that worked. (7.5)

Kids Talk Trump (short): This started off really well, with Vanessa Bayer talking to children about the election. This could have been really fantastic, but went way too short (a shocker for SNL, I know). But good nonetheless. (8.5)

Kids Talk Trump

Last Call: A common recurrent sketch for McKinnon, there was something that made this one pop. As usual, Kate plays this woman at a bar, who always hooks up with the last guy there (Chappelle this time around). Kenan Thompson as the bartender really brings this sketch around. There was just a lot of chemistry with Dave and Kate here. (8.9)

(A Tribe Called Quest): (8.8)

Love and Leslie (short): Another meta piece, as Leslie Jones navigates around a relationship with Kyle Mooney, whose upset about Leslie and Jost's "playacting" on her Update appearances. It seems that Kyle can work with just about anybody on SNL, not just Beck. (8.5)

Football Party: This is one of the most out there 10 to 1 sketches SNL has had in the last few seasons. Chappelle is living with his mother (Leslie), hosting a football party. I'll just leave it there and let you discover the twist for yourself (though the best thing here was how calm Kyle was throughout this whole ordeal, and that's all I'll leave). (8.4)

Football Party

This was simply one of the best episodes of the last few years...and possibly ever. Coming off of the election results, this was very needed. Dave Chappelle was the perfect host for this type of show. We needed to be able to laugh again. (8.83)

Dave Chappelle: 8.83

Tom Hanks: 8.03

Lin Manuel Miranda: 7.74

Margot Robbie: 7.38

Emily Blunt: 7.07

Benedict Cumberbatch: 6.60

SNL Season 42: Benedict Cumberbatch

SNL got in its last episode before the Presidential election. So how would they handle it? Onto the review

Hillary Clinton/Donald Trump Cold Open: The final cold open before the election saw Hillary Clinton and Trump in a side by side interview on CNN, with the focus on the Comey letter as Clinton looks to pivot and spin away. It sort of felt like it was just trudging along, but then something amazing happened. Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin both break character, seemingly sick of the election. They then run outside, greeting and hugging people while still in character. It was sort of like this alternate universe, or utopia. It was just a nice moment to see. (8.3)

Monologue: The monologue took a bit of a step back this week, as Benedict sang about how good looking he is. Really nothing else there. (6.5)

Koohl Toilet (ad): This was sort of out there, but it worked. Its an ad for a reverse sitting toilet.....so yeah. Sure, it was kind of idiotic, but it was amusing as well. (7.3)

Why Is Benedict Cumberbatch Hot?: There isn't much to say about this, other than it seemed pretty predictable. It started to seem like writers really didn't know what to do with Benedict (which is unbelievable, considering how talented he is.) (6.2)

Office Hours (short): Benedict plays a professor talking to Pete Davidson as a student. He goes on about his personal life, and admitting that he has feelings for Pete. What makes this work is how serious Benedict plays it off, while Pete consistently gives short monotone answers. This just all came together fairly well. (7.5)

Office Hours

Surprise Bachelorette:  This one another one of those idiotic, yet fun sketches. Aidy Bryant plays a grandmother getting re-married, and as she arrives to a surprise bachelorette party, she dies of a heart attack. The party keeps going, including members of the Chicago Cubs as strippers giving her a lap dance. On paper this just seems like it shouldn't have worked, but those involved just sold it well. (7.0)

(Solange): (5.5)

Weekend Update: Update felt a little flat this week. There were still some good lines, but the energy wasn't quite there with Jost & Che, which can tend to happen when a show isn't going its best.

The first guest saw the Church Lady (Dana Carvey) talking about the election and the candidates. This kind of sent off an alarm that the well had run dry for the writers in terms of covering this election.

We then got those same members of the Cubs (plus Bill Murray) celebrating the historic world series win by Chicago, singing "Go Cubs Go". Much like the world series itself, this was a nice little escape. (6.8)

         

Gemma & Ricky: (4.7)

Criminal Mastermind: Now this was one of those sketches that should have worked on paper. Benedict plays this villain who likes to use riddles for his messages, but he keeps on running out of them. However, things just didn't really click all the way. (6.5)

(Solange): (6.9)

Meeting With Mr. Shaw: Just one of those bizarre 10 to 1 sketches. On a good night, these really hit, but when a show is sort of trudging along as this one did, you're just waiting for the show to end. (6.0)

This show fell surprisingly flat before the election. Benedict really tried, but a lot of the sketches were very one-note. It really felt like the writers just ran out of gas in covering the election. (6.6)

Tom Hanks: 8.03

Lin Manuel Miranda: 7.74

Margot Robbie: 7.38

Emily Blunt: 7.07

Benedict Cumberbatch: 6.60