Claire Foye dropped by SNL this weekend, but the female cast members (and Anderson .Paak) stole the show.
Here’s all that you need to know for the SNL water cooler this week:
SNL Rundown…
1. The cold open saw the return of Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, who cycled through the most topical members of his rogue gallery. Kate McKinnon as Rudy Guliani was a highlight, and Ben Stiller returned as Michael Cohen. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when, but it’s starting to get to the point where we want a little more than just Baldwin riffing on Trump and some cameos popping up to make us giggle. Everyone’s schtick wears out, and the crickets are gathering for Baldwin as Trump.
2. It’s worth noting that this would have been a perfect sentimental SNL moment. With the passing of George H.W. Bush on Friday, someone who is synonymous with Dana Carvey and early-90s SNL, the cold open could have been a touching tribute to the 41st president. We’ve seen Saturday Night Live tug the heartstrings before, from bringing out Jason Aldean to honor the Vegas shooting victims, to Kate McKinnon playing Hilary Clinton after losing the 2016 election, it’s not unlike SNL to get sappy in the cold open, and do it right.
3. To be fair, the tribute did come later in the evening while closing out The Weekend Update. Michael Che and Colin Jost took a minute to remember the former president before clips of Carvey as Bush were played.
4. Back to the show, Claire Foye’s monologue was as breezy as they come. If it felt short, you weren’t the only one. There’s nothing wrong with a snappy monologue, but it clocked in as one of the shorter ones we’ve had recently. It was also very British, a sense of dry humor that came up again in a skit centered on a World War I soldier writing home to his wife and becoming both incensed and confused.
5. For the most part, the skits were inspired if nothing else. Rather than play it safe as we saw with Liev Schriber, things like ‘Dad Christmas’ and another dig at Morning Joe were rolled out. A highlight was an all too real skit about how Netflix is too big to fail — or consume in one lifetime. Mikey Day throwing money at Heidi Gardner after two lines of a pitch is not only hilarious but also exactly what Netflix probably does.
6. One skit that stands out is the Willy Wonka sex spoof. It consisted almost entirely of Kyle Mooney and Aidy Bryant loudly having old people sex while Kate McKinnon tried to hold it together. There’s nothing significant or groundbreaking about this other than it’s an absolute joy to watch cast members know they can break someone and then proceed to do that, especially to a vet like McKinnon.
7. In fact, the women of SNL had a pretty great night overall. We’ll get to the Mueller Christmas Carol, but there were individual moments for almost every female castmember. Kate McKinnon was everywhere, Aidy Bryant was in two different skits where she did more than most would with very little material, and Cecily Strong was front-and-center on an HSN skit that she absolutely nailed.
8. That brings us to Leslie Jones, who is never not amazing to watch. She Update desk to give a signature monologue about retiring from sex due to old age and the sex game passing her by. At one point, Michael Che appeared to go off script listing off attractive, past-their-prime women and tossed out Judge Judy. The reaction from Jones and Colin Jost is the type of moment we live for on Weekend Update.
9. Usually, when the musical act is brought up in these reviews, it’s a sign that the show was so bland or bad that there was nothing else to talk about. But Anderson .Paak was exceptionally electric tonight. His energetic performance of ‘Tints’, which featured a quick cameo from Kendrick Lamar, was pure infectious Cali rap. His performance of ‘Who R U’ featured visuals that rank up with some of the best SNL musical guests we’ve seen recently. It was truly amazing.
10. Rather than give us a let’s-get-weird final sketch of the night, the women of SNL decided to get together and sing us a Christmas Carol. More specifically, they sang one to Robert Mueller pleading with him to release his report and bury Trump as the best Christmas present Americans ever received.
Verdict
Foye’s quick monologue was a sign that this show would either be packed full of stuff we had to see, or it would be extremely efficient. It wasn’t quite a play-it-safe episode like Liev Schriber (who wasn’t by any means a bad host) but it wasn’t anything groundbreaking either.
The rewatchability of this episode rests on the shoulders of Leslie Jones’ epic Weekend Update appearance, Anderson. Paak’s electric set, and a handful of moments like the Mueller Christmas Carol. Foye was a very decent host, but there’s not much to write home about outside of the key highlights of the night.
Grade: C+
Season Grades
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon — A
2. Adam Drive/Kanye West — B+
3. Akwafina/Travis Scott — C+
4. Claire Foye/Anderson . Paak — C+
5. Steve Carell/Ella Mai — C+
6. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers — C
7. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne — D+
Next Week on SNL…
Date: December 8th
Host: Jason Momoa
Musical Guest: Mumford & Sons
TV Channel: NBC
Next: 30 Biggest Hip Hop Feuds of All-Time
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