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‘SNL’ Scorecard: Emma Stone’s Show Inspired More Anti-SNL Trump Tweets

We’re all becoming desensitized to it, but it’s remarkable that the man who is going to be the president of the United States in a few weeks sits at home on Saturday night, watches SNL, gets mad about SNL, then tweets about how he’s mad at SNL.

After Trump got elected, I know SNL had no real contingency plan on who would play him week to week for the foreseeable future because no one expected him to win. Now I’m starting to think it makes sense that Baldwin will stay on.

First of all, you’ve probably noticed that Baldwin doesn’t stick around for the goodnights. So basically his commitment for every show would be from around 7:00 p.m. (dress starts at 8:00 p.m.) until 11:45 p.m. on the Saturday nights when he appears. Baldwin only lives a few blocks away, so it’s a fairly quick car ride for him. And in exchange for Baldwin’s five hours of work, he gets to be the most talked-about actor in the world for a few hours every Sunday morning while the President of the United States tweets about him, which Baldwin has to love. Conceivably, Baldwin could play Trump longer than a cast member could. If Baldwin is unavailable on a given Saturday, there’s just no Trump sketch that week. I’m probably overthinking this (I am), but there’s really no reason this can’t continue indefinitely.

Also, Emma Stone is the perfect SNL host. She should be one of those people who hosts every year. It’s a crime she hasn’t hosted in five years (my goodness, I‘ve been doing this long enough I wrote about her first show back in 2010). Last night’s show was, on paper … fine, but it was Stone’s hosting ability that turned it into a good show. She sells the material and she looks like she’s having fun. I hope it doesn’t take another five years. Okay, here’s today’s Scorecard…

Sketch of the Night

“High School Theater Show” Anytime this airs it’s probably going to be my favorite thing of the night. I’m hooked. I can’t help it. I know these are pretty much the same basic thing since they started it when Cameron Diaz hosted in 2014 (a Sarah Schneider and Chris Kelly creation), but the delivery of the twist “lesson” for the audience gets me every time. Now I can’t help but wonder how many actual productions Schneider and Kelly were in that resembled these. I bet a lot.

Score: 9.0

Other Highlights and Lowlights

“Cold Open: Classroom” I mean, this got the President-elect tweeting … again. I mean, think about that: here’s a sketch about how Donald Trump tweets too much, so to combat that, Trump tweeted about it. I bet if he were criticized for sending Americans too many cookies, he’d respond, “What cookies … on second thought, send more cookies, that’ll teach ’em.”

Score: 7.8

“Wells for Boys”

“What’s he putting in there?”

“A secret.”

First, this is just really solid writing. Second, maybe I would have liked to have had my own well when I was a child. Third, Emma Stone is awfully good in this. The way she delivers the “a secret” line is just perfect, and she should win an Emmy for her delivery of the “everything is for you!” line.

Score: 7.5

“Film Screening”

My favorite thing about Kate McKinnon’s Debette Goldry is how everyone else in the sketch has to fight so hard to not laugh. I’d rank this higher, but having Jennifer Aniston there to openly plug Office Christmas Party was a distraction. I mean, Emma Stone’s La La Land is coming out soon and will probably win an Oscar for Best Picture and we barely heard about it and she’s the host! Yet there were two sketches with Jennifer Aniston that referenced Office Christmas Party for some reason. (Well, there are two current SNL cast members in the film, so I’m sure that’s the reason. But still.)

https://www.hulu.com/watch/1011626

Score: 6.0

***

Average Overall Score for this Show: 6.46

· Dave Chappelle 7.44
· Tom Hanks 7.35
· Lin-Manuel Miranda 6.99
· Margot Robbie 6.95
· Emma Stone 6.46
· Kristen Wiig 6.12
· Benedict Cumberbatch 5.73
· Emily Blunt 5.45

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

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