SNL Weekly Review: April 8 by Dylan Zsigray ’18

April 9, 2017

Hey All! It’s been a little while since my last review, since Saturday Night Live has been off the air for three consecutive weeks. A lot has happened in the world the past three weeks and unfortunately, SNL could not cover it all since it is only a 90 minute show. However, last night’s episode hosted by Louis C.K. was a fun one, particularly due to the nice collection of original and satirical sketches. Whenever Louis C.K. hosts, it’s usually the same product each time and that is why I tend to not like him very much as a host. My respect for his hosting ability went up last night, thankfully, so after watching his episode I did not feel like I had wasted my time. Anyways, below is my review of last night’s episode of SNL.

“SUPERSTAR!” (The Best Sketch of the Night)

“Pepsi Commercial”: I loved this sketch. Beck Bennett was excellent in it and his timing for his lines was spot on, which made the sketch that much better. I did watch the actual Pepsi commercial before and after this sketch and kudos to the writers for transferring so many of the elements over from the actual commercial to the SNL parody. I loved watching Bennett’s panicked expressions as he tried to get approval from his sister and his neighbor over his concept realizing what a mistake he had made. If only the actual director of this commercial had had the same thought process.

“I gotta have more cowbell!” (Good Sketches)

“Birthday Clown”: Poor Louis C.K. He has no one to spend his birthday with and invited a clown to entertain him. Does that not just break one’s heart? Bobby Moynihan was a team player in this sketch and he delivered his lines perfectly, especially when he told the other party characters who came to run away. I was shocked by the ending of the sketch though as I did not expect the writers to use the serial killer card.

“Louis C.K. Stand-Up Monologue”: As I have stated in my past reviews, my favorite SNL monologues are when the hosts do stand-up. I love watching live comedy. C.K.’s monologue last night was very good. It went in a lot of different directions, yet it seemed to be so coherent. I still chuckle at his giraffe impression and how he was somehow able to incorporate racial tensions into his five-star hotel story. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this. It set a nice tone for the show.

“Sectionals”: There was absolutely no point to this sketch, but it was one of my favorites of the evening. I could watch C.K. talk about sectionals all day! This reminded me of those awkward furniture store commercials that interrupt sports games and the nightly news, except that this was just some random guy who had a strong liking for sectionals.

“The Lawyer”: Okay, so the only reason that this sketch was funny was because of C.K.’s eyelashes. That’s it. Had the writers chosen another distraction the sketch would have been pointless. I am including this sketch in this category not because the plot was excellent, but to thank C.K. for his service of wearing feminine eyelashes for over four-minutes on live television and completely owning it. I would never have the guts to do that.

“The O’Reilly Factor with Donald Trump”: This is going to come as a surprise to most, but I actually used to watch (and enjoy) The O’Reilly Factor. That was until I stopped viewing as a political talk show and more so a late-night rant show. I thought that this sketch spoke testament to that, with O’Reilly not really commenting on pressing issues and focusing more on belittling people in the political (or the Fox News) arena. I thought that the writing was very solid in this sketch and Cecily Strong’s uncomfortable news anchor portrayal was spot on as well.

“Weekend Update”: It was so nice to see Michael Che and Colin Jost back at the Update desk last night. It’s been so long since we heard their scoop on sociocultural events! Weekend Update was once again pretty solid last night and Che and Jost had good chemistry, even when Jost could not figure out how to say the term “manatee.” I thought that the inclusion of Kate McKinnon as the artist of the Ronaldo statue was genius and very funny to watch. Hey, if the show were to make an actual bust of Jost like they showed at the end, I would buy it. I hope that Jost and Che stay together next season. I know that the show will be doing some restructuring in the offseason. I have not seen a Weekend Update team like theirs in the time that I have watched the show.

“Well, isn’t that special” (Hit or Miss Sketches)

“Soda Shop”: This was so awkward that it made it funny and uncomfortable to watch because unfortunately, things like this have happened from the 1950s onwards, and even before. I thought that the sketch was funny until the end. It almost looked like the writers were like “Well we don’t have an ending, so let’s have C.K. smash his hand in some glass.” It did not make sense.

“Tenement Museum”: This sketch was fun to watch because C.K. and McKinnon continued to break character over and over during it. I do not even remember what the sketch was about, but C.K.’s hilarious accent and McKinnon trying so hard to keep it together was funnier to watch than the plot that was originally written, in my opinion.

“Thank You, Scott”: I actually had to watch this sketch a couple of times to understand what the writers were getting at, but I understand it now. We all have that person in our lives who, from his or her bed or couch, tries to take a stand on social media. We sometimes applaud or ridicule these people, but with Scott, he got a massive party thrown for him. Way to go, Scott. Way to go.

“Buh-bye” (Bad Sketches)

“Trump’s People”: There were so many Trump-related things that the writers could have chosen for the Cold Open last night and they went with this? I got the joke with this sketch but it was so tacky. Plus, it went on for six minutes and it was the same exact joke constantly, for six minutes. This was just not funny, at all. Plus, Trump is not slashing as many federal programs as people think. There is still congressional oversight that applies to him. I wish that Melissa McCarthy would have done her thing, but they might be waiting until she hosts in May to bring her back.

Saturday Night Live has one episode remaining during the month of April until it goes on another break. Jimmy Fallon will return home to SNL next weekend with musical guest Harry Styles!

Dylan’s Ranking of the Episodes: