SNL After Party (S49 E10- Air Date 1/27/24) - "There Is No Other Live TV That Is Even Remotely Watchable"

 Host: Dakota Johnson
Musical Guest: Justin Timberlake

Dakota Johnson returns to host SNL for the second time, with musical guest Justin Timberlake, who is making his probably 100th appearance on the show. Could we foresee that the star of the upcoming Marvel film Madame Web would have a better show than last week’s Jacob Elordi led show?

All answers will be revealed in this week’s After Party.

Cold Open

No politics this week, as the cold open turns to football. The premise here is that the playoffs are the real end of the football season, and it makes the cadre of commentators very sad. So sad that they are driven to sing. I think it wants to be a Barbie style commentary (even bringing up Barbie and how “Ken was the first time I‘ve felt seen.”)

This was not a strong kickoff for the week, but we are barely into the first quarter, and, hey, the opening credits promise a “Please Don’t Destroy” video. Surely, we won’t be led astray two weeks in a row.

Monologue

Dakota Johnson comes across as likable enough, but there’s not a lot to her monologue. She gets a laugh by showing a clip of her as a child making a funny face as her dad, Don Johnson, gives an interview.

Then Justin Timberlake comes on stage to - essentially - upstage her. With help from Jimmy Fallon dressed as Barry Gibb. Is this a harbinger of things to come? Yes. Yes it is.

Overall the monologue has one effect. And that’s to make us all ask why they didn’t just have Timberlake serve as host and musical guest. We know he can pull it off.

But, such is life. And, in fairness, Johnson did well throughout the show.

Waiters

The Mason family is at a restaurant. for a mini-reunion. Server Sarah Sherman can’t memorize everyone’s order (referring to chicken fingers as chicken fingers), and refers to the family as the Mansons. Dakota Johnson takes over as the manager, who proceeds to have the same issues. Kenan appears as the chef, who is equally befuddled.

There’s not much to the sketch, and it can’t really find an ending, but everyone gamely plays along.

Home Movies

Andrew Dismukes visits his parents (Mikey Day and Dakota Johnson) and grandmother (Sherman) in this pre-taped bit. While looking for a remote, he uncovers a stack of video tapes labelled “home movies”. Dad suggests they watch the one where he learned that Dismukes was going to be born.

Turns out, it’s actually a tape of a Maury Povich-style show, and his parents acted like participants in Maury’s paternity test shows. Included in the mix is another possible father, Spooky (Marcello Hernandez).

There’s a fun, if predictable, twist ending to this well executed piece. (Yes, Spooky shows up).

Barry Gibb Talk Show

I will admit that this was never my favorite JT sketch. If he’s only going to do one sketch, why not give us one of his “Bring it on Down…” sketches. Or reunite him with Adam Samberg. But we already saw Fallon as Barry Gibb, so we knew this was coming.

It was the same premise as always. Barry Gibbs hosts a talk show with politicians as guests, along with his brother Robin (Timberlake). The interviews really just trigger Barry to rant and sing with Robin. Either you love this or you don’t.

My biggest concern was that appeared there was a real chance that Fallon was possibly going to die during the sketch. Fortunately, he did not. But it looked like it was possible.

That said, Fallon was over the top and manic in the sketch, and Timberlake did a good deadpan. The songs were amusing, and Fallon’s outbursts were genuinely funny, including the line “I will devolve your corpse and use your rib cage as a lobster trap.” This somehow made for a good song as well!

Please Don’t Destroy

We were not lied to! The boys are back.

In this installment, Dakota Fanning drops by the writers’ office and they all exchange very funny and cutting insults. Johnson kicks it off by saying she’s seen all the PDD videos and that they just aren’t for her.

The guys ask if she still auditions for movies, or if they just automatically give her the parts that Aubrey Plaza rejects. She calls them the Lonlier Island, and so on before they reach a nepotism truce. (Two members of PDD are songs of SNL writing alums and Johnson’s parents are Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith).

The sketch is basically a roast battle, but the guys and Johnson play it very well, and the barbs are as funny as they are pointed.

Good to see the crew again.

Big Dumb Cups

Heidi Gardner, Johnson, and Chloe Fineberg mock the Stanley Cup craze. The three are “still rocking our big dumb hats” but are now rocking their “big dumb cups.”

This sketch gets progressively more ridiculous and is full of great lines like “You can really taste the bacteria” and “Each cup weighs up to 35 pounds.”

It’s a fun, silly sketch. Not all the jokes land, but I really appreciate the commitment to the ridiculous here.

Weekend Update

The Trump civil verdict led the proceedings. Jost pointed out that the $83 million verdict showed how much everyone in the courtroom disliked Trump based on the fact that OJ only lost a fraction of that for his alleged double murder, to which Che (offscreen) said “That he didn’t even do!” Whether that was planned or not, the comment got a big laugh. Jost followed this up by pointing out that even the sketch artist didn’t like Trump because they drew him like “the lady who got her face ripped off by a monkey.”

The jokes included some significant groaners about the British returning stolen art to Ghana and the President of the Spanish Soccer federation’s criminal charge for kissing a female player without consent. Oddly absent were any comments on Vince McMahon’s resignation from the WWE based on serious accusations against him. That might not have been so glaring an omission if they hadn’t included the soccer story.

The guests to the set were very funny this week. Bowen Yang was “some guy named Ethan:” who gave out his own movie awards. A highlight was the In Memoriam reel.

Keeping up the psychic theme inherent in having Madame Web host the show, Heidi Gardner appeared as British tarot card reader and “ghost notices” Jan Janby, who read cards for Che and made a lot of jokes at his expense. It was very funny. And, Heidi really put some oomph in her acting for this character. She really sold what was already a pretty funny bit.

Book Club

Well, I don’t know.

Dakota Johnson disrupts a book club meeting to discuss her upcoming appearance on Shark Tank to promote her t-shirt that says “Don’t ask if I’m Okay. I’m Okay, but if everyone starts asking if I’m okay, I might start crying.”

Heidi Gardner express doubt about the value of the shirt, until everyone asks her if she’s okay. And then she cries.

Then, actual Shark Tank sharks Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban pop in to buy a stake in the shirt company for a lot of money.

This felt like a gratuitous excuse to dilute the show with more guests and to promote Shark Tank, for some reason.

Lost Bag

Johnson attempts to recover a lost bag from the Delta Airlines counter as an odd employee (Devon Walker) requires increasingly personal information from her to prove the bag is hers. His co-worker/father (Kenan) shows up to help out, and we see where the son got his people skills from.

It’s an odd little sketch with the major punchline being about “unusual diarrhea.” Am I kidding? No. No, I am not.

The Goodbye Wave

Best Sketch: Big Dumb Cups

Based on audience reaction, I am probably in the minority on this one. But, I really enjoyed how this one heightened as it went in silliness and prop use.

Worst Sketch: Cold open

This one just did not land. At all. It was an awkward (and overly long) opening for the show. I have the feeling this one could also be a controversial pick.

Random Notes:

- I liked Dakota Johnson’s performances in the show. But Justin Timberlake was also there, so it made it hard to appreciate the show without him in more sketches. As for his musical work, Memphis native Timberlake performed the rock/gospel “Sanctified” as his first piece. The set for this harder rock song looked like a church. Timberlake was joined by rapper Tobe Nwigwe, who was backed by dancers in stylized choir robes. This was a really cool production that had just a touch of Hozier to it. I mean that in a good way.

Timberlake’s second number was “Selfish” a single from his upcoming album. This one was more of a slow jam with a light intensive set.

- Was that Dave Chappelle on stage during the end credits? Why?

- Something felt off on the stacking and timing of the show. There was only one sketch after Timberlake’s second song. I haven’t done a deep dive analysis here, but maybe the sketches were a little long overall this week? I am not sure.

- Timing out the show is almost certainly what led to last week’s cancellation of the Please Don’t Destroy video. I don’t know what’s going on in the writer’s room and/or the booth at Studio 8H, but it feels like there’s an issue with show pacing. Speaking of last week’s PDD, the video has been posted online. And it was very funny and well produced. Enjoy it, won’t you?

Dakota Johnson was solid as a host. She used her acting chops well in a show with some uneven material. This was certainly an improvement over last week’s offering, if still not the best of the season.

Grade: C+

As always, we grade SNL episodes in comparison to other SNL episodes. Not TV in general.

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