NFL Recap: Week 8(pod)

A wild Steelers win, troubling news for the Texans, and the Patriots and 49ers keep winning, this is NFL recap

(Had some issues, so I had to cut it up into 2 parts)

SNL: Chance The Rapper

Monologue: It's usually rare that the monologue gets included in this, but there was something special here. From the get-go, Chance The Rapper donned a shirt representing the teachers striking in Chicago. And then he went on with a rap on other #2 things as compared to Chicago being America's #2 city. There was a lot of creativity here (though I suppose some will quibble on 'Angel' being considered #2, but I mean, c'mon now). Monologues usually fall into the categories of 'audience participation' v. 'songs', so its always nice to see one that does something different.


Tasty Toaster Tarts: SNL does dark horror really well. As Chance rattles off snacks, his friends start to notice that something is amiss as his strict parents are nowhere to be found. What made this work was its pacing, along with the camera work. The camera panned around on the friends' concerned faces as Chance continues naming snacks. A lot went into making this what it turned out to be.

Spooky Song: This was of a similar mode to "David Pumpkins". On a stroll to the graveyard, Kyle Mooney and Heidi Gardner run into a cadre of spirits who went onto singing about their demises. This starts off as a sort of mundane sketch, until we see Chance's reluctance to take his turn....which we come to understand why. Without further spoiling it, lets just say it involves feeling 'shockingly good'. Chance's timing makes this play out.

Dance Rehearsal: I know I only focus on three sketches, but I just briefly wanted to mention this bit of 10 to 1 weirdness. Kenan Thompson makes this work with his phrasing. Playing a dance instructor on Halloween, he gets very concerned as the moon shines through the shades....and the blinds...and so on. As I mentioned, how Kenan says "the moooooon" just ties this together.


Overall, this was a perfectly fine episode.....except one thing brought this down....Michael Che and weekend update. For some bizarre reason, he decided to start along a transphobic joke on how Kanye is turning into a white woman. He awkwardly abandoned it mid-joke, but the structure was there all the same. Che has a history of transphobia, along with turning into a snowflake when he receives any sort of criticism. Che should focus more on reading the teleprompter without stumbling, and less on what others say about him. (6.98)


David Harbour: 7.78

Phoebe Waller-Bridge: 7.52
Woody Harrelson: 7.34

Chance The Rapper: 6.98

NFL Recap Pod: Wk. 7

The Cowboys are "back"? Who's the best team in the AFC South? How on Earth did the Jets beat the Cowboys last week?And a bonus on the latest trades of the last week.  That and more in this week's NFL Recap

NFL Recap (pod): Wk.6

The Steelers get a much needed win, the Texans and Chiefs battle it out, and the Cowboys and Rams keep sliding down, this is NFL recap week 6

SNL: David Harbour

LGBT Town Hall: This was a very solid political cold open. What put this above the "impeachment town hall" is that there was some actual material to base this off of. It got going right off the bat with Billy Porter introducing the candidates. We got a look at how SNL will portray Biden this season, with Woody Harrelson returning. He plays a little less goofier than Jason Sudeikis. We also saw a cameo from Lin-Manuel Miranda as Julian Castro. But the main draw here was Kate McKinnon as Elizabeth Warren. She got off on a roll of one-liners following a question on what she would say to someone who questioned same-sex marriage. As good as those were though, her "Sasha Velour" wig reveal is what put this over the top. 

Grouch Trailer: This was just genius; A gritty "Joker" -esque origin story of Oscar the grouch. There were so many small details that further added to this. What even further made this great was the dramatic cinematic sesame street theme playing over the trailer. I'm not sure what more can be said about this, its simply one of the top produced pieces SNL has had over the last calendar year.

Sauce: This was some great physical humor between David and Kate. They play a grandmother and grandfather (respectively), who get a little rowdy while talking about their homemade sauce.You could tell that Kate was having a blast playing this character. Kyle, Cecily and Melissa as the grandchildren made for the perfect wary audience watching the scene play out. This is one of those sketches that could fit during any time period. 

This season just keeps getting better and better. I was a little wary of this season after the first half of the premiere, but its been rolling ever since. David meshed in with the cast perfectly well, much like Phoebe Waller-Bridge. And once again, when they don't portray Trump directly, there political coverage improves. (7.78)

David Harbour: 7.78

Phoebe Waller-Bridge: 7.52
Woody Harrelson: 7.34

NFL recap (pod): wk. 5

A frustrating steelers loss, a surprise colts win and an early mvp contender, that and more in this week's pod

SNL: Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Mid-Day News: SNL can be mixed when it covers the white house, but when it comes to broader issues on race, be it "Black Jeopardy" or what we saw here, snl is spot on. Here we see a group of newsanchors guessing the race of names in crime reports. This was a sketch that had a nice set-up and then just got rolling.


War In Words: This was a surprising call-back (first seen in the Claire Foy episode). As with that first instance, we see Mikey Day and Waller-Bridge writing war-time letters back and forth, with growing concern on Mikey's behalf. This could have easily mirrored the 1st iteration, but there were some subtle differences with how Claire and Phoebe's characters were written and how the conversations got drawn out.

Weekend Update: Chen Biao/ Mort Fellner: I'm featuring these two Update guest spots.  Bowen Yang was featured in the cold open last week, but this was one of his first big spots. It really didn't even matter the role he was playing ( a Chinese govt trade rep), he just let his natural style flow. This may not be a regular Update character, but I think Bowen will be a regular update guest.
There;s just something with dark humor that I like, and that's why Mikey Day's character of Mort Fellner peaks my interest. Playing the 'weekend update resident supercentenarian', Mikey's delivery is what makes this character work. From the build-up, to the come down, everything just clicks with this character.


SNL continued from a fairly solid premiere episode with an episode that saw most things click. Phoebe Waller-Bridge blended in well with the cast with a perfect balance. Now in terms of political coverage, the sooner they move on from Alec Badlwin as Trump the better (he wasn't in this episode). That's really holding them back in their political coverage.  (7.52)

Phoebe Waller-Bridge: 7.52
Woody Harrelson: 7.34

NFL Recap pod: wk.4

The AFC North tightens up, the Chiefs comeback to remain undefeated...and the Steelers finally win.

SNL 45: Woody Harrelson

I took a hiatus during the backhalf of last season. It was just feeling a bit mundane. So I'm shaking it up a bit with these reviews. I'll feature the top 3 or 4 segments, followed by a wrap-up, plus an average score out of 10.

DNC Townhall:

This went on a bit long, with a list of introductions (though Chloe Fineman's Marianne Williamson was incredible). While we got Larry David back as Bernie, I'm featuring this mainly for Maya Rudolph's portrayal of Kamala Harris. Her asides to camera, displaying how her slogans or phrases could seem like a television show, was spot on. And while we've seen it before, Kate McKinnon's Elizabeth Warren may be her best yet. It comes off so naturally and not as forced as her Hillary Clinton impression could be at times.




Weekend Update: David Ortiz On Getting Shot:

It doesn't matter whatever the situation surrounding it, but Kenan Thompson's David Ortiz impression will never not be funny. Its not even a perfect impersonation, but its just the timing behind it where something just clicks.


Inside The Beltway:

Even without the stylist goof midway through, this was a top sketch. We see this panel show where the analysts (headed by Aidy Bryant) say how this Trump Ukraine scandal will finally be the one that results into something. Kenan character's cynicism about it all is such a telling bit of caution (considering SNL's 2016 material). Its also just the way Kenan says "ain't nothing gonna happen".

But what took this to another level was a mistake by a stylist hand who came in 2 seconds too early for a costume change with Aidy. The breakdown that happened afterwards are one of those moments that make SNL special....truly anything can happen live.

Apple Picking Ad:

This was so spot on for the time of season. Apple picking is seen as this seasonal activity to try to reconnect to the past. The writing on this sketch made it work, from "The place in New York that still has confederate flags", to "pay $45 for $10 worth of apples". Aidy and Kate just teamed up so well on this.



After the 1st half of, this had the makings of a down episode, which would have been a shame for the season premiere. But it really picked up in the 2nd half (which is usually inversed). All in all, this was a perfectly fine episode. It'll be interesting to see how SNL covers the on-going impeachment drama, as well as the 2020 democratic primary going forwards. (7.34)



Woody Harrelson: 7.34