Tuesday, November 21, 2017

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  

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