“Trick or Treat, schmell my feet”
Cold Open: Biden Halloween
4 Stars
The debut of Mikey's Joe Biden impression. Who’s your favorite Biden? I’m more of a Kevin Nealon man myself, why not bring him back to play Biden? I liked Mikey here, specifically his Chevy-like buildup while climbing a ladder. They had me for awhile thinking this was gonna be a Gerald Ford pratfall cold open. What I’m not too hot on is the usual inside baseball political references. I have no idea who Mike Johnson is and I don’t feel bad about it. But the real MVP is Christopher Walken as Papa Pumpkin who has traveled through the toilet to deliver the true meaning of Halloween. With his first line all I can wonder is why it’s been over 15 years since he’s hosted. Hint hint Season 50. He even gets the “Live from New York…”. Damn, it’s rough to be a guy who always rolls his eyes at random cameos on a night they do it right. I seem to have some egg on my face.
Nate Bargatze Monologue
5 Stars
I’m not super familiar with Nate Bargatze but I’m excited for a standup to host (that’s not Pete Davidson). I liked him, he comes off as a normal dude and I laughed at his bits on donkey diving, Afrin, grandmas talking to each other, and wet hotel floors.
Chef Showdown
3 Stars
Nate and Ego are competing in a soul food challenge with black judges and Nate’s dish is the winner. While I liked that reveal and thought the white guilt angle was funny at first this sputtered pretty quickly. I almost think it may have been funnier if Nate was obliviously happy rather than apologetic. That would give the judges a reason to hate him, as it stands now they hate him because he’s a good chef with diverse skills. It would have also given more bite to the punchline that he’s become a honorary ambassador to Howard University. Good news, I’m back to hating random cameos again. Who watching SNL is excited for a Padma Lakshmi cameo? Gotta say, that plate of soul food looked damn good.
A Stab At Love
3 Stars
A horror movie turns into a Hallmark Channel romantic comedy. Another sketch with a good reveal that keeps spinning its wheels afterwards. It hits all the beats of a Hallmark movie while inputting serial killer cliches. It’s cute and funny enough but feels like it could’ve been better with a few more surprise beats.
Washington’s Dream
5 Stars
George Washington dreams of the freedom for America to choose its own standard for weights and measures. I took a lot of notes during this one but I realize now that I was just writing down jokes I laughed at and I basically wrote a transcript of the whole sketch. This was good, loved the inspirational music behind the whole thing and Nate’s stilted and dry delivery. It may just be coincidental but this is the third sketch in a row with unneeded racial humor, this one working the best. I laughed at Washington constantly ignoring Kenan’s questions about what the plan was for black people and instead solely focusing on measurements. The previous sketch had Punkie as the ever skeptical black friend who thinks all white women are crazy. I don’t have a problem with it, it’s just something I noticed.
Lake Beach
4 Stars
Now we go to a music video about white trash lake parties. Again, it’s probably just coincidental that we’ve had 3 sketches with jokes about white people being uncomfortable around black people and now we’re celebrating white trash. Catchy and funny song with appropriately fun visuals. A snapping turtle biting a dong, diapers in the water, and Dave Grohl as the dude who’s really into cornhole.
Strike Costumes
3 Stars
But now we have a sketch with an interracial couple where that’s never mentioned, so I am probably reading too much into the race thing. I totally forgot there was a writers and actors strike, didn’t affect me too much. Fran Drescher, SAG president, promotes Halloween costumes for non-copyrighted characters like Hoda Kotb and minor characters from the Bible. Some good laughs in this one, mostly Nate being called out for dressing like Kevin Bacon in The Woodsman, love when they drop a reference that seems just for me. But it got preachy at the end, even if I agree with the message, it felt pandering and without edge.
Foo Fighters
“Rescued”
We get a Walken introduction, this time emphasizing the “foo”. Always happy to see the SNL stage free of foo as it has all been fought.
Weekend Update
Nothing to say about Jost or Che this week but I loved J.J. Gordon, Colin's agent, offering opportunities to his client like Not All Heroes Are Sandwiches - The Jared Fogel Story and the porn version of Jurassic Park. I always enjoy these Sarah pisses on Colin Update pieces. The only slight ding is Colin’s terrible acting. He comes off very disingenuous which in a way makes it more fun to mock him.
Airplane
3 Stars
When a pregnant Chloe calls for a doctor, it starts a debate over what’s the second best job. A fun start that fizzles near the end and really stalls at the punchline. Dave Grohl comes out as a doctor but it’s a Halloween costume. Feels like something got cut as that was a weak way to go out. It did remind me of being a kid and wanting to be either a doctor or a lawyer when I grew up just because those were the highest paying jobs in the Game Of Life.
Foo Fighters return with H.E.R. with “The Glass”
Please Don’t Destroy
Dawg Food
3 Stars
Seems late for a PDD short but this also feels like one that may have been stockpiled in case the show needed some time filler. It’s still fun as the guys eat dog food marketed to dudes but it seems like a step back. But it’s good to be in a position where you only let me down because I expect guffaws instead of chuckles.
FINAL ANALYSIS
“My parents are white, I’m sorry”
Average
3.6 Stars
MVP
Mikey Day
Biden Halloween, Chef Showdown, A Stab At Live, Washington’s Dream, Airplane
Best Sketch
Washington’s Dream
Worst Sketch
Strike Costumes
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
No real notes other than the show ends on kind of a whimper. Might as well work it out so Foo Fighters close out the night. Or you could end with Strike Costumes, I may not have minded the direct plea at the end if finished off the show.
Host Analysis
I loved his delivery and timing. He got laughs by playing everything completely straight. He didn’t seem to be trying too hard but he didn’t really have to. He has a natural timing that reminds me a little of Bob Newhart.
Final Thoughts
Not sure if I can go as far as modern day classic but it’s my favorite of the season so far and my favorite episode in a while. It was consistently good. I had a hard time picking my worst sketch which is a good problem. Everything worked at least a little, some had better premises than executions but at least they had something. It was a very writer-ly episode too which I appreciated, no big wacky characters, not a lot of noise or frills, just funny. Then you add on Foo Fighters, Walken, and a solid and short Update and I’m saying this is a rare top to bottom solid episode of SNL. Not everything is great but everything is at least a fun idea. I liked this one so much that I put it on for my dad and brother while we were hanging out on Thanksgiving and they dug it too. But I actually stopped watching live after this one. I wanted to watch the season fresh when I got around to writing about it so going forth almost all of this is new to me. With the exception of the Shane Gillis episode which I watched out of curiosity and the Jacob Elordi episode, which the wife wanted to watch, I gotta whole new season of SNL ahead and am hopefully optimistic that there’s more like this one.
Up Next
Timothee Chalamet and boygenius
I must be getting old cause I have no idea who the last 2 hosts are.
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