SNL Season 43: Chance The Rapper

 

SNL closed off its 3 week November run with Chance the Rapper. Onto the review.

Wikileaks Cold Open: SNL has had a rough political cold open run recently, so this was a bit of fresh air. Instead of trying to cram in a bunch of things at once, they kept to one story, the Trump Jr-Wikileaks connection. We see Don Jr and Eric (Mikey & Alex) with Assange (McKinnon). It may be the same joke, that Eric is a moron, but Alex just plays it up so well. (7.6)

Monologue: (7.2)

Wayne Thanksgiving: This was a good concept for a sketch, that Batman is  kind of racist in the neighborhoods he targets for crimes. Unfortunately it wasn't executed as well as the concept, with flubbed and stumbled lines from Leslie Jones. (6.8)

Come Back Barack (short): In the style of a 90s r&b music video, Chance leads a heartfelt song for Barack to come back, pretty much in any way possible. This was in a similar lane to last Christmas's show "last Barack Christmas", though I think this topped it. (8.8)
Family Feud: Harvey Family Thanksgiving: Alas, a non-celebrity game show sketch. The twist here was that Chance played someone who looks an awful lot like a young Steve Harvey led by Aidy Bryant as the matriarch. This played up pretty well. (8.2)
(Eminem): (9.0)

Weekend Update: Jost and Che certainly didn't take it easy on Al Franken in regards to the recent allegations against him.

The first guest was Kate as Jeff Sessions following his "forgetful" house testimony.

Then Kyle came out as Bruce Chandling for some "thanksgiving humor". This is a fairly divisive character, but I just love that deadpan humor style.

Pete Davidson was the star of this Update though, as he railed against Staten Island. This could have been its own comedy special. (8.6)

Sports Announcer: It was a fairly simple concept, Chance plays a Knicks reporter who has to cover a hockey game. This was a sketch that only worked because of how Chance played it. He just owned it. (8.5)


Rap History: (7.4)

Career Day: (6.3)

Porn Pizza Delivery: A bit surprised to see this recurring sketch. Heidi Gardner plays a "babysitter" welcoming in a pizza delivery man (Chance)...and in comes Aidy Bryant, who the sitter is supposed to be watching. Its this absurdest humor that I love...how does Aidy's character keep winding up in these situations? (7.7)

To this point, SNL's had a fairly average start, with nothing really standing out that much. That changed with this episode. Everything just seemingly clicked. (7.83)


Chance The Rapper: 7.83

Ryan Gosling: 7.63

Kumali Nanjiani: 7.48 

Tiffany Haddish: 7.15

Larry David: 7.14

Gal Gadot: 7.08  

SNL Season 43: Tiffany Haddish

 

Tiffany Haddish made history with her hosting stint. How did the show go? Onto the review.

Roy Moore & Jeff Sessions (cold open): No Alec Baldwin this week, and that's probably for the better. We see Mikey Day as Roy Moore talking to VP Pence (Bennett), which didn't really seem to fit. But then Kate McKinnon's Jeff Sessions comes out from under the "cabinet" to have a heart to heart with Moore. This was better, but SNL still is having a cold open problem when it comes to politics overall. (7.0)

Monologue: Tiffany Haddish was very endearing in this monologue. You could tell how she's quickly becoming a house-hold name. Her bit on re-wearing her dress was perfect. (8.6)

Tournament Fighter: This would be a common theme, Tiffany playing a solid character, but with the overall material not quite being there. (6.9)

Lion King Auditions (short): These screen test pieces are usually only good for getting cast members to get to do whatever random impersonations they can think of. That being said, Heidi Gardner as Kristen Schaal was amazing and spot-on. (7.1)

Message From The DNC: This was maybe their best political bit yet, trotting out "Senators Feinstein & Schumer and company" in a PSA on how the Democrats are now back. And unlike last week, Larry David returned with a useful Bernie Sanders appearance. (7.5)  

Beck & Kyle (short): I'm loving this continuity within SNL of this Leslie Jones love triangle with Colin Jost and Kyle Mooney. Beck is trying to get him back, so he plans a switch with Jost at a masquerade ball. The biggest moment of this though was Jost getting "airplane'd" by punches. (8.5)

(Taylor Swift): (7.5)

Weekend Update: Colin started off with a perfect line on how it feels like right now; "better to stay inside, as its 20 degrees out and everyone's a sex monster".

Cecily Strong had a perfect character in "Claire from HR". This got across the point on how this isn't just a Hollywood or political problem, but an everyday workplace problem.

Then Kenan Thompson seemingly had a blast playing Lavar Ball, hocking more shoes. (7.6)

The Last Black Unicorn: (6.7)

Get Woke with Tamika: (4.0)

The Dolphin Who learned To Speak (short): (6.0)

(Taylor Swift): (7.6)

Whiskers R We: This recurring sketch returned. These are always fun, and this time the cats revolted. First they were trying to jump out of the pen, which Tiffany recovered well from. And then a hairless cat attacked Kate. The reactions were just perfect. (8.0)

Tiffany Haddish brought a lot of fun energy to this show, though the material wasn't quite there...especially in the post Update portion of the show. (7.15) 

Ryan Gosling: 7.63

Kumali Nanjiani: 7.48 

Tiffany Haddish: 7.15

Larry David: 7.14

Gal Gadot: 7.08  

SNL Season 43: Larry David

 

SNL came back after a couple weeks off with Larry David. Onto the review

Paul Manafort's House Cold Open: SNL is having a political cold open problem, particularly when it comes to Baldwin's Trump. It just feels sort of stale at the moment. He was perfect as candidate Trump, but its gotten away from him. This cold open was fairly run of the mill, with the best bit coming from Cecily's Melania on the plane with a fake Trump. (6.3)


Monologue: Larry David went with some edgy stuff in his stand-up monologue. Some of it worked, some didn't, but you could tell the live audience was somewhat uncomfortable. (7.5)

The Price Is Right - Celebrity Edition: This might have been the first sketch this season that completely fell flat. It was basically just a bunch of celebrity impersonations, with a throwaway Bernie Sanders from Larry. (4.5)


Press Conference: (6.5)

Career Retrospective: I thought this sketch was fairly clever. It looked back on an ad executive's PSAs from the past.....and how problematic they looked in the present day. I kind of wish this had gone on a bit longer, as it was just hitting its stride. (7.4)
The Baby Step (short): (7.2)

(Miley Cyrus): (7.5)

Weekend Update: Update came out firing this week. Michael Che especially shined this week.


Mikey Day and Alex Moffat are quickly turning Donald Jr and Eric Trump into classic Update characters. They just play it up so well (Alex particularly).

Heidi Gardner had a breakout moment with her character Angel (the girlfriend from every boxing movie ever). She just owned this, getting upset at good news.

Leslie Jones had a delightful moment with some members of the world champion Houston Astros.
 (9.0)


Fresh Takes: (6.7)

New Wife: (6.6)

(Miley Cyrus): (7.3)

Beers (short): We finally got a Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett short, one from their 90s-esque sitcom series. This worked really well, especially Larry David as "Cousin CJ" with the alcohol problem. An example of deadpan humor that worked especially well. (9.2)



This was kind of an odd episode. I think it had some of the more memorable moments of the season so far (especially in weekend update), but felt sort of disconnected overall. (7.14)

Ryan Gosling: 7.63

Kumali Nanjiani: 7.48 

Larry David: 7.14

Gal Gadot: 7.08