Despite a bloated cast--can we officially declare that the show's vets have zero exit strategy?--this has been a surprisingly successful season of SNL that was a much-needed respite through the ups and downs of Covid and political upheaval.
Here are eleven of the best sketches:
Wario on Trial (Elon Musk): This sketch reminds me of the College Humor sketches that crossed a newer media concept with an older genre (a few alumni from the YouTube sketch channel have crossed over to SNL so it’s no surprise). The way the sketch stays consistent with the lame Italian pronunciations is a nice touch as comedy needs to get the fine details of its world-building squared off before it can launch to the humor.
The sketch already had me sold about halfway through which meant that everything that followed was icing on the cake, and boy was it a lot of icing. Chloe Fineman played Princess Peach like a Barbie Doll partially come to life with the same stilted Italian accent and the inability to move her arms that one can imagine is an 8-bit programming limitation. And then, whammo! The smoking gun: Raunchy text messages exposed between Peach and Luigi about a secret affair and I’m doubling over.
Lastly, this was good gruntwork by Heidi who often is cast in ditzy roles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrTXBFcvoMQ
Lesbian Period Drama (Carey Mulligan): This is a great sketch in that it gets so many details of what a slow-moving period drama is. The path to affection is so sluggish that Heidi Gardner’s character starts out as an iceberg. She prefers rocks to her eventual lover and it’s hard to tell if she’s ever into her (which seems to be part of the joke). Kate McKinnon’s appearance is an ex-lover with a deadpan charm represents one of my favorite tropes: Anachronism stew wherein character is clearly not from the time period. Her lines --“The sex was so bad, we broke up even though there’s not another lesbian for 5 other countries” and “It’s 1840, I don’t think that’s been invented yet” – are pretty big barn burners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgaLlP0xmqE
The War in Words-Bertie and Mary (Carey Mulligan): I’m generally of the school of thought that SNL’s recurring sketches are condoned laziness and are a vestige of when the show didn’t put all of its clips online. Because you couldn’t see Spaceman Astronaut Jones or Mary Catherine Gallagher whenever you wanted, there was an ephemeral joy of seeing a wholly unoriginal sketch at 12:15 a.m. because who knew when you would see it again and these bits are often funny enough to hold up on repeat viewing. Nowadays, I suspect unoriginal yet funny recurring sketches primarily work for the in-studio audience. It would have the same effect as when a top 40 artist does a concert and the audience gets more fired up when they do their hit single. But that’s just me: If most people like seeing “What’s Up with That?” for the 15thtime with a new guest being talked over and everything else constant, then maybe I’m not the target audience.
On the other hand, Mikey Day’s recurring sketch-- about a soldier in either World War I or World War II having an increasingly frustrating correspondence with a daft wife -- is one that holds up well because a lot of elements are changed each time. In this version with Carey Mulligan, we’re introduced to cocaine. Hey, I haven’t seen that before! And the confusion about fallen comrade Stephen: Oy vey!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBL9l4aDxqM
A Teacher Parody (Kristen Wiig)-Chris Redd is often my pick for SNL MVP, and Ego and Punkie have promising careers. Maybe if they give plus-size Lauren Holt some screen time, I could fall in love with her too and Bowen has added some different flavors. As a result, I can appreciate the diversification of the cast beyond a token black guy. However, it’s been a little tragic that I’ve felt like most of the white guys who don’t immediately stick out like Jon Rudnitsky and Brooks Whelan recently are kind of doomed. This came to a screeching halt with the mysterious case of Luke Null who was on so little that I could have filed a missing report with the NYPD for him at 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday and I doubt they would have found him.
Which is a roundabout way of saying, I found Andrew Dismukes’s survival of the first season pretty improbable when I saw how little he was used in the first few episodes. But with “A Teacher”, I not only felt sure that he was going to make it, but that he really could be the future of the show.
This sketch’s interplay between Ego and Andrew is so strong that I completely forgot who the host was (Kristen Wiig) and whether she appears in this sketch at all. Ego is a great scene partner to Andrew here putting an emphatic stop to his reality and adding some decisive jabs at every turn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOYYwV33Ijo
Adele on The Bachelor (Adele)-The Bachelor parodies makes for good ensemble play among the ladies of SNL, but it rarely makes room for interaction between contestants. In this version, the contestants are bonded through a mutual fear of Adele’s wrath which takes the form of song in this twisted jukebox musical. This makes for a bit more of a narrative arc and what’s especially effective here is the way that host Adele (who many people are seeing do anything but sing for the first time) slips into and out of crazy jealous mode on a dime. The sketch ends with Adele breaking the fourth wall and stepping out into the audience which harkened back to the first few years where SNL was an unpredictable variety show where anything could happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_mj1CuXrPE
Salt Bae (Dan Kaluuya)-This parody of a ----wait, what is this a parody of? One thing to love about this sketch is that a server at a restaurant who puts on a vaguely sexual show with salt and meat and charges you exorbitant prices doesn’t really exist. Or if it does, I’m blissfully unaware and all the better. Maybe it’s a half-parody of hibachi? I have no idea but the escalating frustration in Dan Kaluuya who serves as our audience surrogate here is priceless. It also contrasts well with Mikey Day as his double date partner that slowly succumbs to salt bae’s spell. Also, what the hell is the word “Bae”? Part of the mystery, I guess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ByJ2dZEE4&t=140s
Post-Pandemic Super Bowl Party (AKA Super Bowl Pod) (Dan Levy) and Madame Vivelda, Fortune Teller (Adele)-Two sketches that succeed because they are so spot-on relatable to our current experience, that they’ll leave young viewers puzzled 15 years from now. Post-pandemic superbowl party has a set-up that’s a little basic but each of the characters has a specific color of stupidity with regard to pandemic caution that each vignette adds up to the sum of its parts.
Madame Vivelda sets Kate McKinnon free to do the type of crazy-eyed character she excels in and that’s always a treat. The things like coloring books and vacations to Kentucky might not be relatable to each of us but you can see them being relatable to each character. I do have to object by what I view as an politicized shot at JK Rowling (whatever I think of her actions, I don’t view her as someone we should all agree to hate, so SNL is sort of leading the audience on what to think there). Still, I give it a passing grade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8p0iDjAiwE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7hoynDj4WI&t=238s
Pandemic Game Night Turns into an FBI Bust (Jon Krasinski)-Take note that I’ve renamed the sketches from what they’re labelled with on YouTube. I’ve never liked the vagueness of the official sketch titles. The official name, “Pandemic Game Night” could just as easily describe the above-mentioned sketch from the Dan Levy episode.
However, considering that this sketch’s punchline is based on a ginormous twist (that one of the neighborhood gang was involved with the January 6th insurrection), this might be appropriate. And the twists never really stop piling on top of each other which is always admirable for a sketch that lasts just 4 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSTu1I5t700&t=6s
Universal Studios Tour Guide (Dan Levy)-Dan Levy has been mostly known for one thing so SNL was a humongous test for him to see if he can break out of one character type. For the most part, he passed with flying colors. If you don’t count the monologue, this was Levy’s first sketch of the night so a lot was riding on his ability to play this character who is significantly different from David Rose in that he’s excitable and wet behind the ears. The sketch veers to so many TMI sex jokes (except the line about cocaine) that it gets a little predictable but the sheer outrageous and fodder for great reaction lines by Mikey Day as the tourguide and Kenan Thompson and Andrew Dismukes as passengers are great.
Strangely enough, Mikey Day did this character once previously in Adam Driver’s Medieval Times sketch, but it’s hard to know whether to define this a recurring sketch. It must be interesting to know how they came up with using half a duo from a recurring sketch and making it a hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSTu1I5t700&t=6s
The Iceberg (Carey Mulligan)-How much pop culture has been made about the Titanic over the years? SNL has mined the Titanic for laughs (I know there’s a Zach Galifianakis sketch) as has Family Guy and I’m guessing dozens more. Yet, no one has thought to tell the Titanic from the ice berg’s point of view.
Pretty much every line of this Weekend Update segment hits from the ice berg consistently getting the death toll wrong to his wanting to promote his EDM album. While Bowen Yang played the iceberg and co-wrote the sketch, the MVP goes to whoever did his snazzy costume here. Just the site of Bowen decked in a white blazer with diamond studs and an iceberg on his head is enough to have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP5bu9hLH9E
70s Recording Artist Fliona (Regina King)-In this sketch, musical superstar Fliona (or is she?) is on tour and has a set of expectations that collides with reality in a pretty hilarious way. She asks Maurice if has a list of 12 pre-concert snacks in her rider and Maurice says “of course” before they go through a check list and Maurice says no to every one. The only thing the venue provided was a dried salad with no dressing. She smacks him as if this is a pretty common thing between the pair.
At first, it’s the juxtaposition between expectations and reality that’s the source of the comedy. Then it’s the repetition. This sequence repeats with the stylist (Aidy Bryant) and her list of beauty products, the band (Andrew Dismukes and Kenan Thompson) if they know her songs, the band again over what instruments they have, and the booking manager (Kyle Mooney) over who’s in the audience. And the wordplay in each sequence is glorious. And more slapping. Who doesn’t love that?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBnRjFoS8hs
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