“Totes McGoats and Totes McBoats”
Cold Open: Press Conference
3 Stars
2nd appearance of Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer in as many episodes. We get more gum chewing, props, yelling, and podium attacks. At about the 5 minute mark I was done with this and felt like this was enough. Can’t say I hated it but I got real bored real quick. We also get he debut of Kate as Jeff Sessions.
Alec Baldwin Monologue
17th and possibly final time for Alec as host. He’s joined by Pete who makes a bunch of jokes about how old and fat Alec has gotten since he first hosted in the 90’s. I laughed at a few of the digs and the one about Pete looking like Steve Buscemi’s lesbian sister but this was two guys obviously reading off cue cards. It felt like awards show patter.
Russell Stover's Black History Heart Shaped Box
If your lover is black you can now kill two birds with one stone and get her a heart shaped box celebrating African American leaders in chocolate form. The George Washington Carver is peanut butter flavored.
Pitch Meeting
Alec and Aidy pitch commercials for Cheeto’s that have powerful messages about racism and trans rights. Kyle and Melissa pitch fun commercials about kids enjoying a cheesy snack. Enjoyed Alex and Cecily as the Cheeto’s executives but this got too repetitive for me and then offered up a pretty weak punchline involving the twin towers.
Jake Tapper
I’m trying to remember how I felt about this at the time, I don’t think I liked it then either. This was probably around the time I was very tired of Kellyanne Conway both in real life and on SNL. This is a Fatal Attraction parody with Kellyanne trying to get booked on Jake Tapper’s show. Without context it’s not funny, there’s no jokes in it other than it’s Kellyanne Conway saying the lines Glenn Close said. With context it’s not that funny either. I’ll give it credit for being well shot and having a good sight gag at the end of Kellyanne reanimating after falling out a window.
Drill Sergeant
Alec plays a drill sergeant and his son is one of his privates. He screams at and berates his soldiers but heaps praise on his little boy. Another very repetitive sketch with just one joke and another one with a weak punchline (his mom comes to visit him too). The biggest laugh I got was Alec mistakenly calling a chili cook out a cookie chill out.
Ed Sheeran
"Shape Of You"
Weekend Update
Elizabeth Warren starts questioning Colin and Che as if they’re appearing before Congress. I found this very dull.
Guy Who Just Bought A Boat makes his debut and it’s also the first time I can recall Alex having a big moment to shine (unless I’m forgetting something). He speaks in hip white guy speak while also alluding to his tiny penis.
The People's Court
Saving Trump for the back half was probably a good call. If you start with it you blow the whole reason Alec is here. He’s basically hosting to promote the fact that he’s on SNL a lot. Trump is suing the phony judges who appealed his travel ban and brings with him Vladimir Putin as a character witness.
Beyonce's Babies
Beyoncé is giving birth to twins and we see inside her womb and find Kenan and Tracy Morgan as her babies. It’s good to see Tracy again but this felt corny as all hell.
Leslie Wants To Play Trump
The cast is wondering who could replace Alec as Trump. Surely he won’t be doing this for the next four years, right? Leslie wants the job. She studies tapes, gets a wig, and marches into Lorne’s office to show off her new impression. Lots about this I liked, Lorne’s immediate ‘No’, Leslie’s subsequent beating of Lorne, the continuation of Leslie and Kyle’s backstage romance, and Vanessa playing a perfect mean girl.
Ed Sheeran returns with "Castle On The Hill"
Gym Class
Mikey does sit-ups in gym class. Every time he sits up he farts. That’s all this sketch is. No escalations, just farts. You want a punchline? Go fuck yourself, here’s another fart. One of the most generous 1 star ratings I’ve ever given.
FINAL ANALYSIS
Average
2.6 Stars
MVP
Alex Moffat
Russell Stover's Black History Heart Shaped Box, Pitch Meeting, Drill Sergeant, Weekend Update, The People's Court, Leslie Wants To Play Trump, Gym Class
Best Sketch
Leslie Wants To Play Trump
Worst Sketch
Gym Class
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
I kinda want to swap the front half with the back half. Move People’s Court, Beyoncé’s Babies, and Leslie as Trump before Update and move Pitch Meeting, Kellyanne Conway, and Drill Sergeant to the back half. And you can just end the show 5 minutes early and cut the farting sketch.
Host Analysis
It’s almost assuredly because I’ve already seen him in 10 episodes this season but I was strangely not feeling any excitement for Alec. Even in his weaker episodes there’s usually a different energy that forces you to take notice. This just felt like business as usual. It probably didn’t help that the sketches were weak. He also didn’t do much. Other than the Trump sketch there was nothing here I couldn’t see any other host do.
Final Thoughts
I honestly didn’t like much of this. We get the 2nd Sean Spicer, the 11th Trump, another Kellyanne Conway, a Tracy Morgan cameo that felt lame, and we end with farts. And knowing that this isn’t the end of Trump or Spicer it left me wondering that the point of any of this was. Why have Alec host when he’s gonna be there anyway? Why have Alec host if you’re just gonna plop him in weak sketches? And it’s possible that it’s just the weakness of this episode but I think I’m officially over Sean Spicer and Trump and definitely Kellyanne Conway. If only this was a final victory lap for all of this. One last middle finger to the Trump administration before we move on with our lives and get back to comedy. But I’m painfully aware that it’s just the beginning…
Up Next
Octavia Spencer hosts with Father John Misty but first since this is the last Alec Baldwin episode I've yet to watch for this blog it's time for a ranking.
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