We are in the final stretch of the last three SNLs of this 41st season. Everyone seems a little tired — more so than past seasons at this point. I still think the Trump show had lingering effects on the season, maybe even subconsciously, and they still haven’t cracked how to properly lampoon him. It’s going to be weird when SNL comes back in the fall because who knows what the world will look like then. Think how many controversies there will be between then and now. Anyway, we are getting ahead of ourselves. Brie Larson was a good host and this was a pretty good show. Let’s see what the Scorecard looks like today…
Sketch of the Night
“Quiz Whiz 2018” (Strong, Larson, Killam, Thompson) You know the old SNL complaint that sketches don’t know how to end? “It was funny, but it didn’t have an ending,” what a weird complaint for a comedy sketch! These aren’t Paul Thomas Anderson movies. Anyway, this sketch was almost the opposite: The whole thing rested on the punchline that Brie Larson is Ted Cruz’s wife. What a twist! I didn’t see it coming. And then they all sang a weird song about Donald Trump.
Score: 8.0
The Good
“Game of Thrones: Jon Snow” (Killam, Benett, Moynihan, Strong, Larson, McKinnon, Thompson, Davidson) The line about Bran made me laugh out loud. Poor Bran. He misses an entire season and people still don’t really care too much about whatever he’s up to these days. But, yes, this sketch is dead on if you watch Game of Thrones. If you don’t, well, yes, you probably have no idea what this is about. But basically: Guy we always knew would come back to life comes back to life, then everyone pretended it was shocking. I can’t believe I watch Game of Thrones. I just barely understand it! But there I am … watching it every week, barely understanding it, but still watching. I hope someone wins the throne game soon.
Score: 8.0
“New Barbie” (Strong, Larson) Strangely, this commercial parody is one of the best political satires the show has done this entire season. With an election this unusual, SNL will have to continue to think of unusual ways to cover it as we head into the fall.
Score: 7.7
“Near-Death Experience” (Larson, Strong, McKinnon, Bryant, Moynihan) I love that Kate McKinnon can’t even make it through these sketches without laughing. It makes me feel more human in a, “See, she can’t even make it through,” kind of way. Because that’s what I would do if I was in this sketch: I’d laugh and laugh and laugh and then I’d get fired because I’d laugh in every sketch. McKinnon only laughs in this one. That’s why she’s good.
Score: 7.0
“Weekend Update” (Jost, Che, Bayer, Zamata, Davidson) I’m not sure what happened, but Jost had a slow start. He reminded me of early versions of Jost hosting “Update,” the one who always forgot to have fun. He recovered once Che got going, but it was off at first. Laura Parsons is one of the best recurring segments on SNL. Her voice inflections get me every time. I liked Zamata’s segments, but her timing was off and she seemed a little nervous. I wish she’d do more “Update” segments. (A couple of years ago she did a segment at dress about how to talk to your white friends about 12 Years a Slave and it was fantastic, but didn’t make the live show.) Davidson’s segment felt a little off, too. I don’t think the Twitter jokes went over as well as he was hoping.
Score: 7.0
“Brie Larson Monologue” (Larson, Bennett, Moynihan, Davidson, McKinnon) The pacing to this was a little weird, but any time you have people with speaking roles who aren’t used to doing this, that’s going to happen. I like it when cast members bring on their moms. It’s nice. Everyone seems so happy.
Score: 6.0
The Bad
“Cold Open: Church Chat” (Carvey, Hammond, Killam, McKinnon, Bayer, Strong, Rudnitsky) It’s nice to see Dana Carvey as the Church Lady. When I saw the “Church Chat” logo, I found myself getting excited. (Though, the audience seemed a little bewildered.) The first “Church Chat” premiered in October of 1986 (three years before Brie Larson was born). We have experienced 30 years of the Church Lady. We’ve even seen her interview Donald Trump before, that time played by Phil Hartman. Unfortunately, the 30-year-old punchlines didn’t really work. This was nice, but not really funny. (On another note, it’s kind of a shame that Taran Killam has finally cracked Ted Cruz’s voice the same week Ted Cruz stopped running for president.)
Score: 5.0
“Kickstarter” (Mooney, Bennett, Larson) Sometimes I’m in the mood for these, sometimes I’m not. What are you going to do? I laughed a couple of times, but am putting this one in the “lesser Mooney and Bennett” category.
Score: 5.0
“Baby Shower” (Larson, Zamata, Jones, Bayer, Bryant, Strong, McKinnon, Rudnitsky) You know, it’s kind of true: I do know a lot of moms who have that haircut.
Score: 4.0
The Ugly
“Hologram Album” (Ensemble) Granted, Taran Killam’s Roy Orbison made me laugh. (What the hell was that?) And Jay Pharoah’s Tupac was maybe the best ten seconds of the whole night. But I thought this might have more of a premise than what it turned out to be: Just basically “let’s do impressions.” I was hoping for something weirder since holograms were involved. This really should have just been Pharoah doing modern songs as Tupac. I’d buy an entire album of that.
Score: 4.0
Average Score for this Show: 6.17
· Ariana Grande 7.21
· Tracy Morgan 7.12
· Larry David 7.08
· Elizabeth Banks 6.98
· Amy Schumer 6.53
· Peter Dinklage 6.37
· Chris Hemsworth 6.35
· Brie Larson 6.17
· Ryan Gosling 6.07
· Adam Driver 5.98
· Tina Fey and Amy Poehler 5.90
· Melissa McCarthy 5.79
· Matthew McConaughey 5.78
· Julia Louis-Dreyfus 5.71
· Russell Crowe 5.56
· Miley Cyrus 5.41
· Ronda Rousey 5.09
· Jonah Hill 4.80
· Donald Trump 4.48
Mike Ryan lives in New York City and has written for The Huffington Post, Wired, Vanity Fair and New York magazine. He is senior entertainment writer at Uproxx. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
