SNL Season 42 - Louis CK

SNL returned after a decent sized hiatus in this jumbled 2nd half schedule. Would they get back on track? Onto the review.

Trump's People Cold Open: Alec Baldwin returns as Trump as he conducts a townhall of his supporters in Kentucky. I wasn't sure what angle they would take here, but they went more towards how these people start to realize that Trump might not have their best interests in mind. They ask him about jobs, with Trump responding "only 2 places for men to work, coal mines and Goldman Sach's". This cold open paints Trump as more of a con-man. (7.7)

Monologue: As it goes, stand-up routine monologues are always the best, and that was the case here with Louis C.K. He put his own unique twist on white male privilege. He definitely knows how to walk a fine line. (9.0) 

Thank You, Scott (short): This was a good take on "hashtag/social media activism". Louis C.K. plays Scott, a guys who gets active in the "resistance" via sharing posts on facebook. This is really what a lot of people do (i'll admit, myself included at times), sharing posts or articles and then moving on to something else. (8.7)

The Lawyer: This was one of those sketches that really only had 1 main punchline, but Louis C.K sold it 100% to make it work. As a defense lawyer, he charms everyone, from the judge (Kenan Thompson) to the jury and prosecutor (Aidy Bryant & Vannesa Bayer) with his luxurious eyelashes. I don't know if this was a sponsored sketch by Maybelline or not, but it worked. (8.4)

Soda Shop: (6.7)

Pepsi Commercial (short): You just knew SNL was going to take on that panned Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad, but instead of a straight up parody, they gave us a behind the scenes look at how it played out with the director (Beck Bennett). Beck calls around for various opinions on the premise of the ad, with the unanimous response being "stop". It's both humorous, but also a little uncomfortable as you see Beck scrambling to stop it. (9.4)

(The Chainsmokers): (4.3)

Weekend Update: (7.4)

The O'Reilly Factor w/ Donald Trump: Baldwin did double duty on this sketch, playing both Trump and Bill O'Reilly. His O'Reilly impression was right up there with his Donald impression. There was a bit of a timing issue with this, but the classic lines here were the ads that were still sticking with the O'Reilly factor "cocaine for dogs....and the movie Chips". (6.8)

Birthday Clown (short): This was like something out of a Louie episode. Bobby Moynihan plays a clown who shows up at a middle aged guy's house (Louis C.K) to entertain him for his birthday. It sort of flipped that whole 'clowns are creepy' narrative, as the clown was the one more disturbed/terrified, as the short closes with Louis C.K being a serial killer. (8.7)

Sectionals: Who would have thought that an infomercial on sectional couches could be hilarious? Again, Louis C.K just sells it and makes it worse. A classic 10 to 1 sort of sketch. (7.6)

(The Chainsmokers): (6.3)

Tenement Museum: On a tour, we see a reenactment of a Polish couple played by Louis and Kate McKinnon, as they make stereotypical Italian jokes. What made this work though was that Louis's accent caused Kate to break (and its tough to get Kate to break....she's usually the one to do it to everyone else). His accent just kept morphing and morphing....becoming Borat-esque. (8.4)

Louis C.K was the right guest to put things in motion with such a long layoff. He just sells every role he's in. It'll be interesting to see how Jimmy Fallon does next week. (7.65)

Dave Chappelle: 8.83
Kristen Stewart: 8.13

Tom Hanks: 8.03

Scarlett Johansson: 7.98

Aziz Ansari: 7.82

Lin Manuel Miranda: 7.74

Louis C.K: 7.65

Felicity Jones: 7.62

Alec Baldwin: 7.58

Emma Stone: 7.56

Casey Affleck: 7.40

Margot Robbie: 7.38

John Cena: 7.19

Kristen Wiig: 7.09

Emily Blunt: 7.07

Benedict Cumberbatch: 6.60

Octavia Spencer: 6.49