41x10 Adam Driver with Chris Stapleton

Adam Driver was a very game host, who seemed more than willing to make fun of himself and integrate with the cast. I'd be happy to see him host again, they just didn't really give him their best material.

The biggest highlight of the evening was definitely the America's Funniest Cats sketch. Driver really established a character with the nerdy but devoted Saget-esque host of the show, and McKinnon and Strong were hilarious as the existential French cat enthusiasts trying to add wacky sound effects to their tales of feline ennui. The runner up was the pre-taped bit with Driver and Bayer as Golden Globe winners while their children sit neglected at home. The pre-taped sketches have been knocking it out of the park this season, and this was no exception. It was a delightfully dark and weird little character piece, and I love how strange and moody the show gets with these.

Unfortunately, a lot of this episode consisted of rehashes. The Republican Presidential debate sketch was just a recapitulation of their last one without any new beats. The takes on the candidates are all pretty solidified at this point, and it works well enough, but since they didn't add anything, it all felt a bit stale. The same goes for the last sketch of the night, Aidy Bryant as the guileless, oblivious young girl on a porno set. That was actually one of my favorite sketches from the Amy Schumer episode, and it was still good for a number of laughs, but we're two sketches in with the character and it already feels like diminishing returns.

The worst bits of the night were generally frontloaded. Driver's monologue, featuring the lazy gag of overzealous Star Wars fan was pretty lame, but at least it was short. But the Packers QB Injury sketch just died on the vine. There were some really weird choices concerning production in the sketch, and the constant cutting between scenes in the sketch led to some awkward comedic rhythms. Plus, the writers had no real observations on the NFL beyond a couple of the usual easy targets.

Then there was a lot of middling stuff. Undercover Boss Kylo Ren had its moments. Driver did a good job selling the awkwardness of his character and it's a solid enough premise, but it didn't click as well as it might have. The Anti-Puppetteering sketch had potential, and Driver's character story on "vampiring" was amusing, but kind of slight. Similarly, the Aladdin sketch was kind of cheesy, but there were so many instances of pure weirdness that it couldn't help but be kind of charming even when doing semi-gross things like dumping sewage on Jasmine. It felt like a ten-to-one sketch that snuck in before Weekend Update.

Speaking of update, it was a weaker outing for that segment as well. The jokes were generally pretty hoary and unfunny. Donald Trump has dumb hair. People in LA have boob jobs. Meh. If that's the best you can come up with to fill 7 minutes of air time, you need new writers. The material got a little sharper later in the segment, especially once Che and Jost relaxed a little more and played into their rapport, but it wasn't the best outing they've had together. As for the correspondents, Pete Davidson's stand up was pretty lumpy, but he has a certain low-effort charm to him that works. And I love Vanessa Bayer's Disney kid news anchor routine. The guileless cheerful sing-song reporting of horrific news stories is a hoot.

Oh, and Fred Armisen's tribute to Bowie was nice, though he kind of milked his entrance for something that was supposed to be an in memoriam sort of thing.

All-in-all, this was an episode featuring a potentially great host who didn't get nearly enough quality sketches to show off his comedic chops. I hope Driver gets another crack at it, because he seemed to have the makings of someone who could bring out the best in the show, but it just didn't end up having much for him.