7.1/10. This one was going great right up until the 50 Shades of Gray-inspired correspondent bit on Weekend Update, at which point the show took an absolute nosedive from which it never recovered. It was weird, almost as though the folks behind the show just stopped caring or putting in the effort, and we got a barrel of crud from that point on – hacky jokes, lame premises, and dumb sketches. Let’s start with the bad, so we can get to the good. That “Leslie Jones is a wife who beats up her husband during sex after watching 50 Shades of Gray was such lame, broad stuff. The “bondage goes too far” thing is such an old joke, and there was nothing novel about it here.
While “The People’s Court” segment provided the weekly dose of Trump, it was a paint-by-numbers bit of satire, that hit the same notes the show’s hit with Baldwin’s Trump before, haphazardly applied to the news of the week with general statements to the tune of “this is bad” rather than any clever commentary or insight. The same goes for the Beyonce sonogram sketch, which was just a bunch of lazy Beyonce references with hardly an original thought or punchline in sight.
At least the Leslie Jones as Trump sketch gets points for some originality. Still, it was one of those “weird for the sake of weird” sketches that didn’t really go anywhere and didn’t know how to end things. And my god, the episode ended with a “guy farts during situps” sketch, where the only thing you can say in it’s favor is that it was mercifully short. I’m not above scatological humor, but there was nothing to this one beyond “farts are funny” and that concept wasn’t deployed with any creativity.
That also speaks to the only “meh” entry in the first half of the show – the Colonel who insults the company he’s inspecting, except for his son. It’s a one-joke sketch that was ably performed by those involved, but the rhythms of the bit were established early (I’m going to insult everyone but gush over my kid) and never really progressed past that.
It’s a shame because otherwise the episode was on fire. Last week, I said I hoped that Melissa McCarthy’s impression of Sean Spicer was so singular that I hope she never did it again. Part of me still wishes for that, but McCarthy just has such a perfect energy and commitment to the bit that she won me over yet again. Bits of escalation like the giant stick of gum or the Segway podium were great, and McCarthy just owns that character from the word go.
The monologue was great, with Baldwin and Pete Davidson trading barbs about how Baldwin’s aged since his first hosting gig and Pete’s general gawkiness. It’s rare that the monologue is so amusing or distinctive on its own. And the pre-taped bit featuring a heart shaped box of chocolates for black history month is a silly gag, but a creative one with absurdity and social commentary baked in. By the same token, the pre-taped bit with Kate McKinnon’s Kellyanne Conway reenacting Fatal Attraction with Jake Tapper is another solid bit and showcase for McKinnon’s talents as an actress and comedian.
The sketch on commercials, with one group pitching a series of socially conscious issue ads and the other pitching traditional "fun" ads was an amusing riff of companies using social issues in a mercenary fashion to hawk their wares.
That just leaves the rest of Update, which was fairly strong. Jost and Che had some amusing lines, particularly about how exhausting the pace of Trump’s nonsense is. McKinnon’s turn as Elizabeth Warren was solid, with her take that Warren’s always on and even interrogating Jost working pretty well. (I'm sure Dennis Perkins's ears were burning.) And Alex Moffat’s boat guy had shades of Kevin Nealon, with his fast-talking, perfectly-crafted quick character piece at the desk. It’s the kind of broad but specific shtick that works on Update.
Overall, it’s a tale of two halves. Baldwin brought his A-game, but the writers only brought it for the first 45 minutes of the show. Afterward, it seemed like they had taken the rest of the night off.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-02-15T03:26:14Z
7.1/10. This one was going great right up until the 50 Shades of Gray-inspired correspondent bit on Weekend Update, at which point the show took an absolute nosedive from which it never recovered. It was weird, almost as though the folks behind the show just stopped caring or putting in the effort, and we got a barrel of crud from that point on – hacky jokes, lame premises, and dumb sketches.
Let’s start with the bad, so we can get to the good. That “Leslie Jones is a wife who beats up her husband during sex after watching 50 Shades of Gray was such lame, broad stuff. The “bondage goes too far” thing is such an old joke, and there was nothing novel about it here.
While “The People’s Court” segment provided the weekly dose of Trump, it was a paint-by-numbers bit of satire, that hit the same notes the show’s hit with Baldwin’s Trump before, haphazardly applied to the news of the week with general statements to the tune of “this is bad” rather than any clever commentary or insight. The same goes for the Beyonce sonogram sketch, which was just a bunch of lazy Beyonce references with hardly an original thought or punchline in sight.
At least the Leslie Jones as Trump sketch gets points for some originality. Still, it was one of those “weird for the sake of weird” sketches that didn’t really go anywhere and didn’t know how to end things. And my god, the episode ended with a “guy farts during situps” sketch, where the only thing you can say in it’s favor is that it was mercifully short. I’m not above scatological humor, but there was nothing to this one beyond “farts are funny” and that concept wasn’t deployed with any creativity.
That also speaks to the only “meh” entry in the first half of the show – the Colonel who insults the company he’s inspecting, except for his son. It’s a one-joke sketch that was ably performed by those involved, but the rhythms of the bit were established early (I’m going to insult everyone but gush over my kid) and never really progressed past that.
It’s a shame because otherwise the episode was on fire. Last week, I said I hoped that Melissa McCarthy’s impression of Sean Spicer was so singular that I hope she never did it again. Part of me still wishes for that, but McCarthy just has such a perfect energy and commitment to the bit that she won me over yet again. Bits of escalation like the giant stick of gum or the Segway podium were great, and McCarthy just owns that character from the word go.
The monologue was great, with Baldwin and Pete Davidson trading barbs about how Baldwin’s aged since his first hosting gig and Pete’s general gawkiness. It’s rare that the monologue is so amusing or distinctive on its own. And the pre-taped bit featuring a heart shaped box of chocolates for black history month is a silly gag, but a creative one with absurdity and social commentary baked in. By the same token, the pre-taped bit with Kate McKinnon’s Kellyanne Conway reenacting Fatal Attraction with Jake Tapper is another solid bit and showcase for McKinnon’s talents as an actress and comedian.
The sketch on commercials, with one group pitching a series of socially conscious issue ads and the other pitching traditional "fun" ads was an amusing riff of companies using social issues in a mercenary fashion to hawk their wares.
That just leaves the rest of Update, which was fairly strong. Jost and Che had some amusing lines, particularly about how exhausting the pace of Trump’s nonsense is. McKinnon’s turn as Elizabeth Warren was solid, with her take that Warren’s always on and even interrogating Jost working pretty well. (I'm sure Dennis Perkins's ears were burning.) And Alex Moffat’s boat guy had shades of Kevin Nealon, with his fast-talking, perfectly-crafted quick character piece at the desk. It’s the kind of broad but specific shtick that works on Update.
Overall, it’s a tale of two halves. Baldwin brought his A-game, but the writers only brought it for the first 45 minutes of the show. Afterward, it seemed like they had taken the rest of the night off.