SNL returned from its Olympics hiatus with Charles Barkley. Onto the review
Presidential Address Cold Open: President Trump may be wrong by a lot of things.....but his sentiment on Alec Baldwin's trump is fairly spot on. Its just gotten lazy, and Alec's own personal life (defending Woody Allen, etc) really detracts from his Trump impersonation. (5.9)
Monologue: This was actually an interesting monologue. Instead of a Q&A or musical number, Barkley basically just spoke about whatever he wanted, wading into the waters on what an athlete should say about politics and other social issues. (7.0)
Harassment Awards: SNL put on the "other" main awards of the week.."The Grabbies". There were a lot of good singular moments here, particularly from Pete Davidson. Its good to see him getting some solid sketch work. (7.4)
Roach Product (ad): This perfectly parodied the typical NRA talking points of a "good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun", demonstrating it with stopping a roach infestation. Just the sight alone of roaches carrying miniature assault rifles was just hilarious. (8.2)
Homework Hotline: This may have been a one-note sketch, but its one that more or less worked. This sketch was worth it just for that final moment with the puppet. (7.6)
The Champions: (7.1)
(Migos): (6.3)
Weekend Update: The first guest saw Cecily Strong as Hope Hicks. She's starting to catch up with Kate McKinnon in regards to Trump-era impersonations.
Kyle Mooney then showed up, pondering why he wasn't invited to Colin and Michael's Oscars party. Kyle has the kind of style where he makes the audience come to him.
Leslie Jones arrived talking about the Olympics, and she brought along Hilary Knight of the gold-medal winning U.S Hockey team to rag on Jost. (8.5)
Hump or Dump: This was certainly a daring sketch. I'm not sure many hosts could pull this character off, but Barkley committed, going all out to win this dating show. Maybe this sketch was in poor taste...but I'll admit it had me laughing hysterically. (7.8)
Con Ed Repair Site: (7.5)
(Migos): (6.7)
Last Call: I wasn't expecting to see Barkley show up in a last call sketch, but this one may have been the best iteration yet. There was just something about Barkley and Kate McKinnon that meshed here...plus Kenan's side gags really clicked. (8.9)
A fairly solid show overall. There's just something about a Charles Barkley hosted show...he brings a different sort of energy. Not necessarily more than any other type of host, but just different...I'm not sure how to explain it. (7.41)
Will Ferrell: 8.02
Chance The Rapper: 7.83
Ryan Gosling: 7.63
Sam Rockwell: 7.55
Kumali Nanjiani: 7.48
Charles Barkley: 7.41
James Franco: 7.28
Kevin Hart: 7.20
Saoirse Ronan: 7.16
Tiffany Haddish: 7.15
Larry David: 7.14
Jessica Chastain: 7.11
Gal Gadot: 7.08
Natalie Portman: 7.03
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