SNL After Party (S48 E11 - Air Date 1/28/23)

I am starting a new Saturday Night Live day (or so) after review feature. Let me first address the obvious questions here.

1.     Aren’t there already enough of these? Yes. Yes there are.

2.     Aren’t you outside of SNL’s target demographic? Yes, but only by about 25-30 years.

3.     Aren’t you really just jealous of everyone who has ever been an SNL write or performer? Yes, I am extremely bitter that I never got to be involved with the show, and equally outraged that Lorne Michaels won’t arbitrarily befriend me

4.     Isn’t SNL irrelevant now? No, and shut your big, dumb mouth.

5.     Surely you won’t try to review the musical acts. You are correct, unless there’s something I really want to say. Because I think it’s funny. But, overall, I'll pass because who needs it.

6.     Will you have any cooking tips? I will not.

7.     Will this be a regular feature? I don’t know. Depends on my mood. This may be the first and last one. Or I will bullheadedly decide to keep producing these. Beats me.

 So, let’s get started. I am not going to lock into a format yet. We’ll see how this goes.

Cold Open – Confidential Documents

As usual, the cold open takes on a current political event. In this case, it's the investigation into the proliferation of confidential documents that seem to be popping up everywhere.

Mikey Day kind of looks like Merrick Garland in this. So that’s a plus. Ego Nwodim scores with a solid joke as to why Vice-President Kamala Harris does not improperly have any confidential records (“Biden won’t even give this woman a pen”). Keenan Thompson makes a nodding reference to the tragic events this week in my city, Memphis. Bowen Yang, who I think too often is jammed into a one-trick pony slot shines in his description of searching Obama’s home for documents.

 Not the strongest cold open, but solid.

 Monologue

Host Michael B. Jordan is fine, if not dynamic here. There’s some funny stuff about his early acting days and a good joke about how a supposedly sad picture of him will forever be obscured by the other Michael Jordan when someone searches for “Sad Michael Jordan.”  But then we do the thing that is too often done with hot male hosts. The female cast members are trotted out to hit on him. Admittedly, this time is pretty funny, particularly Punkie’s go.

Overall, though, it’s a middling monologue.

 Southwest Airline Commercial

This taped bit is strong. Southwest employees explain the ways the airline is reacting to criticism, including a requirement for color-coded luggage. James Austin Johnson (who is inexplicably a featured player and not a main cast member) is a pilot with an obvious issue. Jokes about outdate equipment (including ThinkPads with that red nipple, as they put it) and a new Southwest passenger lounge are strong.

 This is one of the better commercials in a while.

 Good Morning Today

Oh, Sarah Sherman.  You are a wacky delight. This one is moronic on paper, but hilarious in execution. A morning show cooking segment presenter had been trapped on a rollercoaster for many hours the day before.  That’s the entire setup to allow Sherman to appear with her hair and top windblown, and her mouth held open by a mouthpiece to approximate the look one might have when being blasted by hurricane strength winds.  She repeatedly says “crostini”, tries to drink wine, and eat said crostini all while giving a wide-eyed performance that verges on the hysterical. Add to the fun when host Jordan playing the weatherman is revealed to have been in the same coaster mishap, and the two “Lady and the Tramp” some pasta.

 Sherman is the clear standout in this nonsense, but it’s fun to watch Keenan trying not to laugh. I think he sees a kindred absurd soul in Sherman.

 The Towel Guys

Keenan Thompson and Marcello Hernandez hand out towels and borderline uncomfortable accent work in a Dominican resort. Keenan is recycling his David Ortiz imitation here. Is it appropriate? I don’t know. But, ultimately this one doesn’t really go anywhere and really is just an excuse for cringey accent work.

 State Farm Commercial

This pre-taped commercial has Jordan as an overly helpful State Farm agent who takes over Mikey Day’s family and wife (Heidi Gardner).  Jordan’s menace is great here, and the twist at the end really puts the button on the sketch.

 Weekend Update

Colin Jost and Michael Che have the best hosting balance in the show’s history. I will fight you on this if you disagree, and it is fun to see their interplay.

As always, there were some strong jokes, namely one about a (fictional) bellicose Jimmy Carter defying agents looking for documents, and a real zinger about the parents of Taylor Swift fans.

The guests to the desk were okay this week.

When Heidi Gardner showed up as the boxer’s girlfriend character, I was prepared to be bored. Sometimes returnee Update guests work on multiple visits (Cecily Strong as Che’s neighbor, Gilda Radner’s Emily Litella) and sometimes they most decidedly wear out their welcome (I’m looking at you Opera Man and Drunk Uncle).  And Gardner’s boxer’s girlfriend character usually falls into the latter camp for me. Surprisingly, it worked well this episode as she played counter to Jordan as Creed.

Meanwhile, Keenan Thompson as Che’s doorman was funny despite having every reason not to be. There is something about Keenan’s casual approach over the past several years that made this sing.

 Overall, a good – if not great – Update

Male Confidence Seminar

They didn’t know what to do with this. Andrew Dismukes played an “alpha male” seminar leader who couldn’t deal with insults from Jordan as a delivery man who showed up during the presentation. The insults were funny (particularly one about Jimmy Neutron), but this is another sketch that was more of an idea than a fully formed piece. SNL has long been accused of not knowing how to end a sketch. This one is Exhibit A.

 Video Game Voiceover          

Literally the entire joke here is that Bowen Yang’s character is effeminate. Do better, gang.  Side note: I choose to believe that Mikey Day’s character here is the same one as from that State Farm ad. Do we have a Mikeyverse?

 Bachelorette Party

Jordan is a male stripper for a bachelorette party. This is only amusing when his very pregnant wife (Heidi Gardner) shows up and asks to charge her phone. Gardner pushes the ridiculousness and is the stand out here. Again, they had no idea how to end this one, so they just had everyone kind of sing.

 Toyota Commercial

You gotta love the weird sketch at the end of the show. This one didn’t disappoint, as James Austin Johnson and Andrew Dismukes did a commercial for a Toyota dealership plagued by traffic problems from a new Raising Canes restaurant. The absurdity of the ad and the hatred towards a specific city council member is punctuated by Jordan’s appearance as an out of town salesman who threatens to, bit by bit, divulge the secret to Cane’s sauce recipe if the restaurant does not move (“Ketchup!”  “Pepper!”) help make this work.

Falling Down

Taped segment where Jordan keeps falling down in front of Dismukes. It’s funnier than it sounds.

 The Goodbye Wave

Best sketch: Toyota Commercial by a hair over Good Morning Today

Worst sketch: Video Game Voiceover edges out Male Confidence Seminar

Overall, this was by no means a stand out episode. There were no timeless sketches here, but then again nothing should make the all-time worst list.  It’s a middle of the road SNL episode. And that’s, well, okay.   Grade: C+