Host: Druski
Musical Guest : The Strokes
Can online star Druski create laughs on SNL, or will audiences fail to like and subscribe?
Let’s find out in this week’s SNL After Party!
Cold Open
We knew it would be about the midterms, and it is. Chuck Schumer (Sarah Sherman) and Hakeem Jeffries (Kenan Thompson) generally talk about how ineffectual people think they are. Jeffries quips that he loves to prove people wrong, “Particularly people who think black guys are cool.”
They discuss how young Democrats have the base energized, and that maybe they should step aside. They then break into peals of laughter.
And then, in a breath of fresh air (he said sarcastically), Trump (James Austin Johnson) interrupts the scene and causes the Congressional leaders to freeze.
Trump takes credit for the Democrats’ flipping of the House and Senate by saying, “In the words of Moana’s big fat friend, ‘You’re welcome!’”
Trump prattles on about Millennial Cringe returning and launches into a discussion of New Girl.
He is briefly joined by JD Vance (Jeremy Culhane) and Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost). Hegseth talks about rumors that he may be impeached and asks, “Do I look like a person who gets less crazy when backed into a corner?”
Then the actual Democratic who flipped a Texas Senate seat, James Talarico pops in to thunderous applause. He introduces himself as the guy who has been texting you every day asking for $5.
He then says the parties can work together and get to the bottom of how many of these Trump opening sketches will there be, to which Trump replies, “Infinite.”
So, the writers know we are tired of these things, and just don’t care, presumably because it reduces the number of pitches than need to be made each week.
I might actually send a politician some money if they could put an end to these lazy openings that were funny for a while. But now, they are just something to endure.
Monologue
So, the host is Druski, a digital content creator with over 13 million estimated online followers.
In his monologue he says he is the first content creator/influencer to host SNL. And it’s a shame we never got an episode hosted by Mr. Beast or Mahir, the “I Kiss You” guy, with musical guest the “Chocolate Rain” guy or Keyboard Cat.
But, it becomes painfully obvious why this has never happened before in short order.
Druski mainly jokes about his online content. He is apparently known for doing white face drag.
He brings out Emma Stone to talk about a movie they just shot (!). The joke is that Druski thought she was his love interest in the movie, but that turns out to not be true.
He thanks his family, who are in the audience, and says he wishes he could repay them, to which his mother loudly demands money.
It’s a mediocre monologue that doesn’t accomplish much by way of laughs. But, at least he didn’t sing or tour backstage, so let’s count our blessings.
BET: Washington in Focus
Druski, Kenan, Saidah Belo-Osagie , and Andrew Dismukes discuss the midterms on this BET Show. They talk about Keisha Lance Bottoms’ historic win of the Georgia gubernatorial race, Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership position and Sherrod Brown’s win in the Ohio race for a Senate seat. These are all touted as major wins for Black candidates.
The thing is, as Dismukes points out, Brown is White.
The panel doesn’t believe it, so they pull up a picture and zoom in on a Black man in the background and claim that is Brown. (I THINK this is actually writer Carl Tart).
The thing repeats with Jerome Powell. Same confusion. Same zoom in to a guy in the background.
There’s not much to this one.
Dru Can See Everything
This pre-taped parody shows what would have happened if Druski had gotten Nathan Fiedler’s job for You Can See everything.
We see Druski interview Elizabeth Holmes (Jane Wickline) and her partner, Billy (Ben Marshall). Of course, it gets progressively weirder as Druski does white face and impersonates Holmes to her big-eyed face.
He also auditions Billy for Coulda Been Records (a Druski label from his online work that features comical auditions).
The critics say, “Somehow, this makes Nathan Fielder seem like the reasonable choice.”
Wickline’s performance as Holmes steals this sketch.
Bubu Mobile
Culhane and Mikey Day go to a Dominican owned phone store to buy a cell phone. They are met by Marcello Hernandez and Druski being over the top and effeminate. But, they advise that “We are not gay. We’re Dominican!”
I don’t know if this sketch is offensive, but it certainly feels like it is. In any event, it is more of an annoyance than a form of comedy.
Birthday Girl
Druski does a second drag bit. In this one, a group of friends is at a restaurant to celebrate Druski’s character’s birthday. Veronika Slowikowska makes the mistake of ordering fajitas. This harkens to an internet debate about whether ordering fajitas is rude at a birthday celebration because it can upstage the celebrant.
The bulk of the sketch is Druski being irrationally upset with Slowikowska for her etiquette breach.
For the second sketch in a row, it feels like the writers were going for irritating instead of entertaining.
New Health Tracker
In this pre-taped commercial, a company sells an alternative to fitness trackers that keep your data. Instead, they have guys hanging out on corners shouting rude, but oddly accurate comments about people who run by. The comments are insulting and/or harassment.
Druski leads the sketch as a vocal “corner guy”.
This is closer to funny than most sketches this week, but still relies on somewhat dated and primarily misogynistic schtick.
Weekend Update
The news opens with the Midterm Elections. Jost admits his grandfather is right when he says, “This whole damn country’s transitioning.” He also states that Trump blamed the blue wave on the poor quality of Republican candidates and says he is surprised Trump couldn’t find any new, young talent because he used to have a guy for that (cut to picture of Trump and Epstein).
Che says Mike Johnson won’t stay on as leader of House Republicans, and will return to his old job of baking cookies in a tree.
The jokes are fine if not spectacular this week, and the desk guests are middle of the road.
Culhane pops in as Elon Musk. He plays Musk by way of Robin Williams and mocks the billionaire’s eccentricities and recent failures (from campaign spending, to stock losses, to the end of the abomination that is the Cybertruck…the electric vehicle for people who, until recently, declared that electric cars were for commies or something).
Ashley Padilla and Andrew Dismukes appear to analyze the election as two people who just hooked up for the first time. The two are both adept at these roles, where they flirt and turn everything sexual. It is inarguably well-executed, but I think this bit has run its course.
Proposal
Culhane and Sherman are on a date (in a restaurant, where, by law, 40% of all sketches must take place). Culhane proposes and Sherman says no. This is unfortunate, as Culhane had an elaborate show set up.
Druski and a band appear to sing about how she said yes, a marching band arrives, and ultimately Culhane is hoisted up to fly.
This is a silly and innocuous sketch that works reasonably well, even if the laughs don’t exactly flow.
Wedding Photographers
Hernandez and Belo-Osagie are getting married and are hoping for a distraction-free wedding. Unfortunately, they hired Druski and Grace Reiter, who approach wedding photography like paparazzi. They are aggressive and do things like shove cameras in the couple’s faces and roll on the ground. Towards the end, they deploy drones to photograph the ceremony.
The sketch is frenetic and loud, but that doesn’t make it funny. This was yet another sketch of the night that was high on annoyance and low on laughs.
Golden Age of Hip Hop
Dismukes hosts a history show with an episode focusing on “Lenny and the Street Smart Crew.”
The old school hip hop group led by Druski sings songs about how all races can be brothers, as long as everyone’s straight.
They follow this up with an apology song that is unintentionally more homophobic than the original offending number.
This goes on in that manner for several snippets. It’s that thing where the idea is that homophobic material is mocking homophobia. It doesn’t quite gel here.
The Goodbye Wave
Best Sketch: I don’t know. Really. So I will go with the cold open, despite my weariness of the format. But the audience got really excited when Talarico showed up, so let’s give it this one. The fact that I am naming this as the best sketch should really give you an idea of my opinion of this episode as a whole.
Worst Sketch: We are spoiled for choices here. I think I’m going to go with Birthday Girl, because it really was that annoying.
Random Notes:
- Musical guest The Strokes used (intentionally obvious) autotune and interesting visuals in their two numbers. And, for some reason, Walton Goggins showed up and played bongos on the second song. Why? Mankind may never know.
- An in memoriam card for Susan St. James appeared before the final curtain. St. James, who starred in Kate & Allie as well as McMillan and Wife, hosted the show in 1981 and 1983, and met her husband, NBC exec. Dick Ebersol.
- There was a pre-taped commercial by losing Republican candidates that was cut for time. That was an error. It would have been one of the stronger (arguably the strongest) pieces of the night. See below.
- Why were Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle in the goodbyes, but not in the show otherwise?
Look, Druski inarguably has a huge following. But, what works on Instagram or YouTube does not necessarily translate to live sketch comedy on network television.
In a season that has been exceptionally weak, this one stands out as coming in below a very low bar that has been set.
It’s times like these that I have to remind myself that SNL is not really for me anymore, despite me holding on the cliff by my fingernails in the hopes of still be a relevant demographic and student of comedy.
This is the one that may have finally pushed me over the edge and into the abyss of my own dotage.
Grade: D-
As always, we grade SNL episodes in comparison to other SNL episodes. Not TV in general. If you want to support our content, consider subscribing on Substack
