Benedict Cumberbatch has energy and charm to burn in an ingratiating episode of SNL
Looks like we have another early candidate for the Five-Timer's Club
TV Reviews Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch showed up on SNL’s stage for his second hosting stint, ostensibly plugging his starring role in this weekend’s blockbuster Doctor Strange 2. Cumberbatch noted that the majority of pitches he’d gotten from writers involved the movie. The show didn’t ultimately go there, as foreshadowed by the monologue, which focused on charming, wide-appeal bits about his mother and wife ahead of Mother’s Day.
The show was clearly enamored of Cumberbatch; as in this season’s earlier Oscar Isaac episode, the writers realized what they had and put their host in as many sketches as possible. The writers also did this for Jake Gyllenhaal, to his detriment. The material was much better this time around, and cast in a wide range of roles from suburban dad to Western cowpoke to Downton-era dandy, Cumberbatch was completely successful. He made the show better in spots where it didn’t strictly need the help, and the actor was so good that I can see SNL calling on him again as soon as is practical; he may be a relatively quick inductee into the Five-Timer’s Club.
What killed
“Mother’s Day Gifts” was a repeat of a strong sketch on last season’s Regina King episode, but it’s actually better the second time around. A family takes turns gifting Mom (Aidy Bryant) with those cutesy wooden wall hangings purchased from suburban strip-mall craft hellholes. Things get more passive-aggressive—or just aggressive-aggressive—with each gift that’s given. For example: “We sucked your teats dry and now you look weird in a bathing suit” and “Were your ears ringing? I was in therapy.” Things escalate with impressive weirdness and pacing: Mom is accused of being an alcoholic, Dad of having a secret family, and the daughter assures mom that if she died, she’d come to accept her inevitable stepmother. Bryant is note-perfect here as one of her patented character types, the increasingly aggrieved matriarch who can’t believe she’s dealing with this bullshit in the politest way possible. Someone on the writing staff is highly adept at these list sketches, where things spiral into the LOL twilight zone (I’m thinking about the maid of honor’s speech on the Zoe Kravitz episode).
“The Fainting Couch” was a solid showcase for the always-capable and not-always-visible-enough Cecily Strong. The premise is just pure silliness: A wealthy Downton-era British couple are constantly confronted with news that sends them into respective swoons—but can’t quite make it to the couch planted in the center of the room for exactly that purpose—as their butler continually appears to serve them the latest in a parade of spillable liquids. You see where this is going, but it goes there in consistently laugh-out-loud ways. It was broad as hell, but it’s kind of thrilling to see the show venture into physical comedy, which Strong and Cumberbatch executed with total precision. Chalk up more points for the host—he couldn’t have seemed more comfortable, and he elevated a sketch that didn’t demand the assist, thanks to Strong.
Kate McKinnon is a wobbly impressionist—I’m not alone in observing that her done-to-death Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton don’t sound anything like the genuine articles—but her “Weekend Update” spot as Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett nailed the essence of the conservative jurist, who came across in her Senate hearings as an oblivious Catholic University sorority sister with blithe vocal fry and serious designs on Aunt Lydia’s role in American life. Here, commenting on the leaked draft of a decision that will apparently overturn Roe v. Wade, she advises women to “just do your nine” and “plop it,” birth an unwanted child and just leave it somewhere for someone to adopt, ideally a lesbian (“until we ban that too”)—absolute absurdity that’s not too far heightened from Barrett’s own views. Sharp writing and a precise portrayal made this a cutting moment; we could use more of them from the show.
Arcade Fire delivered two knockout songs. Maybe because it’s been a rough week or I was feeling the Mother’s Day mood, but “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)” actually choked me up a little. It’s nice to see an actual band on the stage, especially one that knows how to create a spectacle with pure musicianship and really come through the screen—even before they enlist the inflatable air dancers. It also helps that NBC’s tech staff remembered how to do an audio mix this week, with everything from tinkling bells to backing vocals coming through crisply and in proportion. The 360-degree camera work during the second song was cool (and captured portions of a studio audience in spontaneous applause). The band got an unheard-of third performance slot over the closing credits, and they fluffed it a bit, but it didn’t detract from their charm. SNL rarely captures the thrill of seeing live music these days, but this week both band and show absolutely brought it home.
What bombed
New Toilet. Sigh. Not sure who the 12-year-old is on the writing staff, but they need to have their phone taken away and be escorted out of the studio. If the writers need to air any material involving toilets—which they really, really don’t—look to 1991's “Love Toilet” for inspiration, which actually had a point besides “let’s be dirty and discordantly weird.”
Also worth discussing
The concept for “Chuck E. Cheese” was the whole joke—the prepubescent pizza palace’s animatronic band has broken down, so a vaguely Teutonic/New Romantic musical act from 1983 has been drafted to fill in (tell me, which is more disturbing?). But Cumberbatch was great here, going so above and beyond with his characterization—literally into falsetto vocalise—that he single-handledly makes this worth a watch.
A strong and well-deserved showcase for super-talented impressionist Chloe Fineman, “The Understudy” lets her mimic almost every SNL cast member (OK, not Ego Nwodim) to their faces. The sharpest moment: Cumberbatch comes face to face with Elizabeth Olsen, along with Fineman doing Elizabeth Olsen, and remarks that “the multiverse is real.” Fineman is hugely capable, and this sketch is a reminder that week to week, the show has only allowed her to scratch the surface of what she can do.
Stray observations
• The cold open was fine, a flashback to the 13th century, from which Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito cited legal precedent in his draft that would overturn Roe v. Wade. The positives: The show didn’t shirk the cultural moment. Cumberbatch is comically rock-solid from the get-go. Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon have strong bits as an oppressed woman and a female soothsayer (who is not an ogre; she’s just in her 30s) who has confusing visions of a place called Florida that holds all the power. But overall, the approach was less than scathing—Alito using such an ancient reference point is so absurd it doesn’t require that much underlining—and the “keep fighting” conclusion was weak sauce. And I’m taking points off for the writers making Cumberbatch open with a poop reference. Seriously, what is up with this writing staff and body fluids? I’m saying this because some SNL writer needs to hear it: Body horror and shit jokes are not the same thing.
• Colin Jost carried Weekend Update this week, as Michael Che seemed unfocused, even giggly. Jost had the better lines on the urgent story of the day: “Today it’s Mother’s Day, whether you want it to be or not” and re: the Supreme Court’s leaked Alito draft, “The Supreme Court slipped up once and has to live with it forever.” Jost and Che trade off standing up and sitting back—Che dominated the Will Smith Oscars scandal discussion—but it seems like this anchor team is well past an inflection point. At the beginning of this season, I found them increasingly tiresome because the anchors themselves seemed tired—just not that into the gig anymore. They rallied midseason, but the disastrous Lizzo episode and this week’s drifting segment make me feel like we’re overdue for a turnover at the desk. It didn’t help that the immediately preceding SNL Vintage episode (10pm on the East Coast) featured Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler, both of whom were electrically sharp from first appearance to last.
• Don’t blink or you’ll miss featured player Aristotle Athari, who is a glorified extra in “Chuck E. Cheese.” I am really curious whose cornflakes he pissed in to be so marginalized on the show, after turning in one of the strongest “Update” debuts in recent memory (“Laughingtosh 3000").
114 Comments
The Understudy sketch was my favorite of the night and those small touches just made it. For some reason the highlight of it was how intentionally bad the Gardner impression was after all those superb impressions.By the way, I think Fineman is hitting the same wall than Gardner before her in that just like the show kind of treats Gardner as the secondary performer to Strong, they also seem to view Fineman as secondary to McKinnon. Not arguing that they are one to one performers in either case, but rather that because the show seems to always choose either Cecily or Kate as their focal point for big sketches, those other performers who occupy a similar space will have limited opportunities as a result.
I love these types of very peronalized sketches that hint about the show’s inner politics that seem to fly over Lorne Michaels’ head.
While I enjoy them as well, I genuinely don’t think they are going over Michaels’s head. Like at all. He knows his show with all the twists and turns involved.
He has say over every single second of the show, and you can ask Adrien Brody what happens when people try to do their own thing.
Thus the reason for a culling if the cast.
I’m so conflicted on this as I don’t want anyone to lose their job, but there has been this weird static at the top of the cast for a while now. Especially on the women’s side as Strong and McKinnon are clearly the primary players of the show, yet at the same time they have essentially cast people who seem to be meant to take their place once they leave. It is an utterly puzzling situation.It’s actually kind of weird as the difference is pretty obvious if you compare it to the male performers as there is no clear primary performer. Keenan is a treasure that must be protected, but he isn’t the go to performer and they have a sense of what kind of stuff he works in. The same with Mikey Day who is a prominent presence, but it is because he is a speciifc kind of a performer they need in some sketches rather than it needing to be him.Again, I have no desire to see Strong or McKinnon get fired, I just don’t understand why the show has been preparing for so long for their departure yet at the same time why the show is so hesitant to have the other women to be featured on their level.
it’s the stalemate of the upcoming 50th anniversary. everyone wants to stay for the big anniversary, but they keep adding new people, and those people want to be there for it, too.they should be on new update hosts by now, too.with mckinnon and bryant especially it’s like they’ve already practically run through their entire post-snl careers while still on snl.
Well, I – for one – am really glad that Heidi got the lead and delivered in that blue bunny sketch, a role Kate would’ve hogged all to herself any given week……
That piece was a tour de fource for Fineman.What was particularly funny (and also striking) was seeing her do an impression of Villaseñor, who herself is renowned as an impressionist.
i know comedy is subjective but i thought ‘new toilet’ was hilarious. to me the joke wasn’t ‘haha toilet’ but the fact that they were trying to sell the idea of ‘a cool way to shit’. like, it was an absurdist concept not a grossout concept. plus it was an extremely well executed commercial parody and cumberbatch sold it.the fact that there weren’t fart noises throughout almost feels restrained.
Yeah, I thought it was successful too. Cumberbatch’s ‘Neo’ impression was a nice touch. It should also be noted that going to the toilet in that position would actually make for a much easier ‘movement’ (see: squat toilets- they allow muscles to ease and the colon to ‘straighten’ a bit more).
Isn’t a recline the opposite of a squat?
I feel like it would make it harder. Have you ever tried pooping lying down. It doesn’t let gravity work with you because your colon is nearing horizontal rather than pointing down. And the squat things are supposed to work because they put your body in the optimal position, which is decidedly not reclining backwards. The first thing I thought when I saw the gimmick was “that doesn’t look comfortable for pooping at all.” lol
yeah i think part of the joke is that it would also be less effective.
I never have tried pooping lying down. But this morning I did a little experiment – turning my bottom clockwise on the porcelain (so that the tank wasn’t directly behind me) – and I did lean back and gave it a go. Things seemed to go more smoothly, but that could be attributable to other factors. Sure, of course it’s a joke about selling people a cute idea. Reminds me of so many messages from those 1950s commercials promoting labor-saving devices. And although there were women in the commercial, the toilet did seem like it had the stereotypical “Lazy-Boy” in mind, lol.
Well maybe Amber Heard was lying down when she did her business in bed so we can ask her about it. I’ve never tried it either, admittedly.
I wouldn’t mind a little more info about that from AH. I think I’ll remain seated for now, although I did try the ‘squat’ thing for a couple of weeks. Unless one has perfect balance, I can’t recommend it. It’s a lot like being a bird perched atop a lamp post :/
The squat is not for me. I haven’t tried it and hardly know how. I once was in Pompeii and went to a bathroom. I walked in and saw it was just a hole in the ground and I couldn’t figure out how to make it work (I’m a woman), so I gave up and decided to wait until I got back to the train station. I think I could have figured out how to poop, but I only had to pee and I didn’t see how I could do that without getting pee all over my shorts and feet.
Fellow woman here. Apparently we can pee standing up (or squatting), although I haven’t tried it yet. This may be NSFW; not sure in today’s climate: https://www.wikihow.com/Urinate-Standing-Up-as-a-Female.I’m wondering what kind of revolution might result if we all just started standing up.
lol I love that there’s a whole instructional page for this. Maybe it’s just something I need to practice for unforeseen circumstances. There are places in the world where eliminating in a squat is common, so it must be easy if you just know how. I have a 3 yo son and I have a hard time helping him do it, too. He sits on the toilet, but there have been a couple of times he was in an emergency state and I had to help him pee outdoors standing up and we still struggled a bit to keep the pee off the shoes. lolAnyway, thanks, I’m gonna practice! I remember doing it a lot as a kid (we lived on the farm and peed outside a lot because it was easier than running inside), so I don’t know if I’ve literally lost the ability or if my tolerance for pee splatter has just diminished with age.
This is wild. I grew up on a farm too. Not many folks can say that these days. Cheers!
Whaaaat! I guess we had to pee outside a lot due to all that drinking from the hose. LOL
I admire your dedication to scientific method-ing a SNL shitter sketch.
Hey, thank you, bfred:). Better to try it at home than to risk it on TikTok. I still feel bad about the Guerrilla Glue Hair Gal, bless her.
That wasn’t even the first time they’ve done it:
Recycling sketches seems kind of a easy out, but this and the even more-blatantly-rebooted Mother’s Day Signs at least succeeded.
oh wow and this one is just fully the apple 1984 ad, interesting.
Holy shit, this makes so much sense. When the sketch aired I started laughing immediately at the setting but when he goes to sit on it my brain was like “I’ve seen this before, he’s going to sit on it backwards” The newer one works better, faster editing, slightly shorter.
I find it hard to believe that Michael thought the toilet sketch was awful, but that the sign sketch was even better this time. The sign sketch got old quick the first time – this time around when Aidy opened the first one, I thought, “oh not this bit again.”
Right. It seems to me that that sketch’s point was a look at how even the stupidest things will be depicted by advertisers as somehow transgressive and revolutionary.
agree 100% (except for the fart noises, which I think would have broke the “kool” effect of commercial and made it krass…)
On an otherwise erstwhile entry into ye olde SNL canon. C minor.
I think our reviewer Martin’s comedy taste is just a bit…bland? He blanches at anything sexual or to do with bodily functions but loved the sketch consisting of nothing but silly pratfalls so much it makes his “best of” list.My own top three were the prison workgang (which didn’t get a mention), the Chuck E Cheese, and the Understudy. Reclining toilet gets an honorable mention.Oh and IMHO Kate was once really good but now drags every sketch she appears in down, be it the cold open or Update. The only thing Martin and Perkins’ AV Club reviews have in common is their bizarre shared worship of her.
There is nothing bizarre about a worship of Kate McKinnon, who vies with Dan Aykroyd and Phil Hartman for the distinction of best cast member ever.
Nope.
What bombed… Like most of the whole show. I would give a D rating at best instead of a B.
The Fainting Couch was bad. If we’re going to make fun of early 20th century over-sensibilities we might want to check our contemporary inclinations to get fretful over every little thing too.
It was about 4 and a half minutes, and would’ve probably been just fine if they trimmed 3 off of it.
Well said!
Thank you Capn 🙂
The best part was Mikey Day’s deadpan “Don’t worry– I’m fine.”
…like our over-sensibilities about the quality of pratfall sketches?
What you did there — see it, I do….
It was just a fun physical comedy sketch – Cecily’s high kick to upset the tray second time around was a thing of beauty.
She’s a remarkably talented physical comedian. Her nailing Colin squarly in the face with a glass of wine over the shoulder from about 10 feet on WU was sublime.
I had to skip past Mother’s Day Gifts when it veered into the “we’re going to explain the premise every 3rd joke”. It seems Mikey Day’s entire job is to LOUDLY SPEAK WHAT’S GOING ON.
I heard they made an awful Amber Heard joke and that’s made me scared to watch the whole thing
Just skip Weekend Update. I almost turned the TV off after that joke. Yes, I get that nothing is off-limits in comedy, but maybe let’s not make jokes about someone a few days after they testify in court about physical and sexual assault. And the “joke” was about something that has already been proven false.
No mention of Heidi Gardner’s wonderful work in the Blue Bunny sketch.
Heidi is a solid performer, lots of strength and character… She is present day Anne Hathaway, calmer, more confident, less anxious and Chloe Fineman is old Anne—needy, more manic and looking for her spot as the wheel turns ‘round. Talented performers, but one has a little more maturity—though I enjoy seeing both of them in sketches.
Heidi Gardner is, for me, the MVP of the cast. She can plug into any sketch as either a lead or a supporting element and do it seamlessly. She’s like the second coming of Phil Hartman to me.
I think Ego is the Hartman, as she brings a specific world weariness and authority to her straight man characters, while still having break out roles like Dionne Warwick. She’s “the Glue” of this cast. Gardner absolutely inhabits the weirdo characters with such realness that she becomes them for the length of the sketch. The only other performer that has done that is Jan Hooks. The amazing thing is she keeps coming up with new ones. The Blue Bunny tester is totally different from Bailey or the Boxer’s wife or the Goop influencer. And unlike some recurring characters, *cough everything Kate has done for the past three years cough* I never get tired of them.
I wish Kate and Cecily would retire from SNL already. I love them both so much, but with each season I see my affection waning.
I agree about Kate, mostly because she brings similar weirdness to every sketch. Meanwhile Strong has a ton of range, from straight-up sexy to insane mess.
The Blue Bunny tester was amazing, but she also shared some DNA with some of Heidi’s other weirdos (eg the deep quoter and James Franco’s cousin Mandy.)That’s not a knock—I thought the Blue Bunny sketch was the best thing going tonight.
That sketch and the prison sketch she showed a pretty strong chemistry with Cumberbatch. That should show up somewhere else, either on SNL again or hopefully on some outside project.
I just wanted to post a Cecily Strong appreciation post as the more time she’s been in this show, the funnier she gets. It’s a shame the show never used her as well as they are now because she’s just great
I have a feeling she had a great background in general for performance. She sings beautifully, has great physical skills, strong in single character (Update bits) while being as calm as Keenan no matter what the “assignment”. Kate gets a lot of kudos and air time but Cecily is just as impressive.
I seem to be alone on this but I still think Benedict’s American accent is really bad.
I think on-the-fly in a live show it was fine. Beat some of the Brit accents by the cast in this episode, but again on live TV, good enough.
But you know who would have loved that accent?BRONCO HENRY!!
No, you’re not the only one.
Yo, Broadchurch Crumpetmuffin? Gargling your words does NOT make you sound “just like an American”….
The fact a guy with his name can pull one off at all is pretty impressive.
They put him in everything front and center, rather than working around as a side character and enduring limitations (known as Kardashi-ing). Agree about the strength of a confident and willing host who has energy and enthusiasm even in the silliest of sketches. His deadpan delivery, commitment and range (singing and physical feats plus all-in for a toilet sketch) were icing on the cake. I had a good time watching, happy to see my faves Aidy and Bowen kicking it, and enjoyed the music too.
Cumberbatch was a superb host. He delivered 100% in every sketch. That falsetto both impressed and killed me. Heidi was so funny in Blue Bunny. This is that, this tastes like that… I’ll be saying it all week. Cumberbatch and Isaac were the best hosts of the season so far with BC edging out OI on the strength of that falsetto and Kravitz coming in third.
How the Benedict Cumberbatch movie opened in alternate universes:Sebastian Bigglesworth in “Dr. Universe’s Magical Madness”Theodore Bumbershoot in “Mad Steve’s Magical Universe”Abethall Dimpledong in “Mr. Magic’s Universal Madness Tour”Brandenburg Finglesmythe in “The Mad Universe of Strange Magic”
I actually really liked this week. The Chuck-E-Cheese sketch felt partially written by the “Podcast: The Ride” boys with the amount of knowledge it had about the Chuck-E-Cheese band members. And man could Benedict belt out that falsetto.When I saw the promo for this week I thought Cumberbatch was really putting out Dad vibes and I am guessing so did the writers, because he played a lot of Dads this week.
Oh, it’s Eggsbenedict Englishmuffin.How — utterly charming.
Three performances is not unheard of. McCartney closed out an episode performing Let it Be. The Rolling Stones also performed three songs in one segment, which I don’t think has been done before or since.
I think U2 may have done it once as well.But the reviewer’s right, Arcade Fire absolutely brought it. Good thing the tech crew got it together since that’s one band you want mixed correctly.
It also helps that NBC’s tech staff remembered how to do an audio mix
this week, with everything from tinkling bells to backing vocals coming
through crisply and in proportion.
It makes you wonder if maybe NBC’s tech staff gets blamed for bands who can’t be arsed to come in a day or so early and run through a couple rehearsals so the Audio Mixer can get the mix right. I’m guessing Arcade Fire had no problem doing rehearsals pre-dress rehearsal so the sound people could do their jobs better….
It was a lot easier back in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies when all everybody got was mono from a tinny television speaker, and the sound crew just had to mic and mix for that.
Was I the only one disappointed that Cecily Strong’s Goober the Clown did not make a return visit to Weekend Update? Surely she has thoughts on the reversal of Roe v. Wade? The show will be on summer hiatus when the final ruling is announced.
I’m saying this because some SNL writer needs to hear it: Body horror and shit jokes are not the same thing.
Probably the same writer who wrote the “fainting couch” sketch — it’s what s/he does at the trailer for Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future.
Now there’s a Guest Host I’d come back to SNL for — David Cronenberg.
My favorite line of the night was when Cumberbatch in the opener said he was beat by Will Smith…for the Oscar.
“not-always-visible-enough Cecily Strong”…. She’s been on the show for 10 years. Cecily was featured in the cold open, both filmed pieces, andthe fainting couch. How much more visible did you need her exactly?
..and Katy Carrot! But regardless of that, calling for more Cecily can never be wrong.
Maybe Aristotle has been sidelined because they were threatened with a lawsuit over the similarity between the laughingtosh robot comedian sketch and the Michael-6 ‘robot talk show host’ character that Peter Serafinonwicz does?
It’s not likely, of course, but SNL did have a plagiarism scandal a couple of years ago…
Surprised no one has mentioned the Not-A-Perfect-Person-but-a-Perfect-Mom sketch. Easily the best of the night; the intergenerational hypocrisy was outrageously funny, even to McKinnon’s grandma screaming at David Bowie to take her panties. ‘You blew my roommate/I thought it was you!” was definitely the spit out your drink moment of the night.Also, made any of us who were doing stuff in the 90s feel a wee bit old, which was perfect.
Not to mention Cumberbatch in perfect Ned Flanders drag.
I felt the same way when I realized where this was going that I felt watching the “funny signs” sketch, like “oh this’ll be funny but the more everyone laughs, the more it guarantees eventually they will absolutely FLOG this to death over time”.
That was probably my favorite sketch of the night and I’m kinda surprised it wasn’t mentioned at all.
I could’ve sworn the show’s done filmed pieces with the same concept (something Christmas-related?) but this one worked well.
(ditto on the 90s thing too…)
As a parent (and having friends who were absolutely insane when we were younger) that one hit the center of the mark.
That’s a good point about the absence of Aristotle Athari. He deserves better. His “Angelo” character has killed every time it has appeared. I want more of that character; and I want to see him doing other things, as well.
Lately, featured players have hit the ground running, immediately demonstrating their ability to be important cast members. Examples are Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang, and, most recently, Sarah Sherman. (Sherman’s “meatball men” sketch merits a spot in the top tier of the show’s history.)It took Ego Nwodim and Andrew Dismukes a little longer to break through; but both are now turning in consistently good performances. James Austin Johnson has the huge advantage of having been hired to play Trump (reminiscent of John Roarke being hired by Fridays mainly to play Reagan).But Athari seems to have been left behind, along with Punkie Johnson. To be honest, I don’t have a sense of what Johnson can do. (Her punctuation to Fineman’s “Understudy” bit was good; but it didn’t really show her talent.) Whereas, with Athari, I have seen a glimpse and am hungry for more.
I feel like the Chuck E Cheese sketch could have starred him, but Cumberbatch’s falsetto was so hilariously good that they threw him a bone as the dancer. When he does get that one line or moment in a sketch he stands out. It’s just too crowded right now. Dismukes, Athari, the Johnsons, and Sherman would be absolutely killing it any other season.
To say it’s normal for featured players to hit the ground running is revisionist history, even lately. It sucks for Aristotle to be the odd one out, but it also sucked for Punkie and Lauren and Noelle Wells and Jenny Slate and Brooks Whelan and Luke Null and blah blah blah for thirty years.
I didn’t exactly say that featured players hitting the ground running was the norm. My point was that there have been quite a few notable examples of this in recent years. Athari srikes me as having the talent to join that group, if given the chance.
My two quibbles are these: I don’t think it’s a question of talent at all. Julia Louis-Dreyfus had one lackluster year and she’s probably the greatest actress of the last three decades of TV. Robert Downey Jr had the same and he’s perhaps the biggest box-office draw there is. Tim Robinson’s running the best sketch show going, but what did he get on SNL aside from Roundball Rock? Aristotle has talent, but that’s not the question. It’s a matter of fit.My second quibble is about him “deserving better”: nobody deserves anything. SNL doesn’t owe a spot to anyone. It isn’t a question of deserving, again, it’s a question of fit. The first Angelo sketch and Laughintosh were both solid sketches, but both characters predate his tenure on the show. If he wants to last he needs to figure out how to get new stuff on or work with writers that complement his strengths. If it doesn’t work out, it won’t be a reflection on his worth. Just a question of how he fit into a particular workplace and meshed with these particular co-workers.
Well, I will take issue with your assertions that “nobody deserves anything” and that “SNL doesn’t owe a spot to anyone”. If a brilliant and versatile performer is right under the show’s nose, then, yes, the show has an obligation to the peformer — and to the audience, as well as to Comedy as an art form — to make room for that person. Please don’t tell me that, if the show had failed to make the good use of Fineman or Gardner or Wang that it has in fact done, that this would not have qualified as a major injustice.
So I do indeed think that Athari has been treated poorly. Of course, you mentioned fitting in with the other people on the staff; no one who is not there has any idea of that. But on the level of the ability to contribute comedically, Athari has shown that he fits. I hope that he gets another shot next season.
Athari is not the first outstanding performer to be underused by SNL. Other featured players who experienced a similar fate were Abby Elliot (who actually did get promoted from featured player to the main cast, but still didn’t get the parts that her talent warrants) and Damon Wayans.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is indeed one of the handful of greatest television performers of all time. But note that she had an impressive three-year run as a cast member.And I disagree about Robert Downey, Jr. He sure has become a bankable movie star; but he has very little charisma as a sketch comedy performer, and didn’t shine at all in his one season in the cast.
Thanks for responding! I totally screwed up on JLD being a one-year-and-gone (I think I conflated her tenure with Garofalo’s), although one person’s “impressive three-year tenure” is another person’s protracted failure to launch. At any rate, I do think it’s become clear that scripted comedy was a better fit for her incredible talents than a mercurial sketch show.I agree that RDJ was also not a finished product (who is at 18 or 19?), but reading your response I think I didn’t do a good job at communicating my point. There’s (1) being talented (RDJ and JLD); and (2) being talented at sketch comedy (Abby Elliot fits this for me — I agree she was a pro!); and (3) being talented at sketch comedy AND a good fit in this particular sketch comedy program.Aristotle’s success with previously developed sketch ideas tells me he’s got (2), and he’s certainly got (1) given his stand-up. But does he have (3)? I have to agree to disagree that SNL owes the comedy gods to make best use of the actors at their disposal, in the same way that I think it’s a mistake to try and mix oil and water through stirring and elbow grease. Some people don’t fit in — that’s okay.To take your example: if Bowen + writing partners (or Mikey Day + Streeter Seidel, or Sarah Sherman + PDD) were writing things for Aristotle, he’d be in them. Clearly, they’re not saving parts for him. Is it morally wrong for them to omit him? SNL isn’t some overlord cruelly ignoring one minion; it’s an organic collection of independent writing cliques that are alternately working cooperatively and in competition to get their own material on the air.Bowen, Heidi, Ego, and Chloe are on as much as they are because they either write material that gets on or they’ve made connections with writers that put them in material that gets on. If Artistotle doesn’t do that, it’s neither his fault nor that of the writers (who also need to worry about their own job security!) or the other cast. It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just the way this particular enterprise is run.People may criticize that environment, but it’s given us some awfully good (and some awful, tbf) comedy over the years, and it isn’t as though anyone is obligated to work there if they don’t want to.
omg, I find Aristotle Athari painfully unfunny, his lame singer sketch is complete torture…
Until this show gets rid of some of the ones that have overstayed their welcome, people like Athari will just be glorified extras. McKinnon particularly is a few years overdue at least.
The lyrics, for lack of a better word, by the 80s band were spot on, and hilarious. The grey hair was perfect, too. Cumberbatch was terrific fun!
“You blew my roommate!”“I thought it was you!”
Just commenting to say it’s weird remembering Benedict Cumberbatch is Dr Strange when I see him in pictures like the above one, because he doesn’t look like him!It must be the facial and head hair lol.
we’re overdue for a turnover at the deskdidn’t Che already say he wasn’t coming back next season? or are we getting to the part of the season where all the unhappy cast members start firing shots across Lorne’s bow that they’re gonna want a raise to stick around next season?
I watched the toilet sketch, laughed my ass off, and felt a moment of… well, release.It was the release from continuing to read the AVClub. I think it’s time to part. There’s nothing left. Time to flush.
Chuck E. Cheese was one of my favourite SNL sketches ever. I unironically adored that whole song.
Also New Toilet was A+ hilarious.
In the toilet sketch, the joke is taking the piss out of those overwrought 80s ads that began with apple. Not simple “haha poops.” Come on guy.
The toilet ad wasn’t great, but what was more incredible is that I can’t remember the last time SNL actually had a fake ad that was a normal ad length like this. Some longer taped pieces are great (I couldn’t stop laughing at Chloe’s), but I miss at least one fake ad per episode. And remember back in the day (probably not since the 90’s or early 2000’s, before Andy Samberg) when they would replay a fake ad later in the season? Colon Blow, Love Toilet, Mom Jeans. Those were the days.
Totally agree
“as an oblivious Catholic University sorority sister”Notre Dame doesn’t have sororities/fraternities.I thought this was a good episode, but I’m a bit over Bowen Yang’s musical sketches. I like him a lot but it just keeps rehashing the same note in different contexts and costumes.I liked the cold open, and that wasn’t a “poop reference” for the sake of making a poop reference. It was a comment on the fact that these people couldn’t even find a sanitary way to shit, but here they are making policy for us in 2022. I also thought new toilet was funny. Not hilarious, but funny, and the reviewer said it was “dirty,” but it didn’t even so much as make a poop sound. It was literally people just sitting on toilets, clearly not actually pooping or peeing. Martin seems to have a weirdly low tolerance for anything body-function-adjacent.
Agreed. It was a pretty direct Apple 1984 riff.
I loved the detail in the Imperfect Person, Perfect Mom sketch that both the guys the mom supposedly lost her virginity with were wearing Blockbuster employee shirts.
That, and the nugget that she was the biggest mess of all their friends in school. “It’s not a party until Sloppy Sandy pukes!” followed by her doing the boot and rally.
Benedict said he’d allow himself to have more fun this time around and he followed suit. That singalong prison sketch had to be the funniest
This is the sly, non-subtle, gentlemanly retort to Sam Elliott, right?
Compared to Denis, this is a one out of ten review.
This is not constructive criticism. Dennis (note the spelling) would not approve.
I guess I’m glad it’s not just me who thinks Jost and Che are just going through the motions these days and have lost whatever edge they may have had. Che has seemed bored for awhile and his half hearted laugh at almost everything he says makes me feel sad instead of what I assume is what they hope I’ll feel, mild boredom with the occasional chuckle when Che says Jost sucks in some way. He really does. It’s long overdue for a shakeup. I watched an old episode a few weeks ago with Cecily. She was fantastic as she is in all things but being on the desk means we don’t get any of her brilliant characters so it’s probably best she’s able to do whatever. Otherwise we’d never have gotten Goober the Clown and that’s completely unacceptable.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Colin won’t do well outside SNL. Honestly, I don’t think he’s doing too well now but hosting Update and being a head writer makes it seem like you’re important. He doesn’t have the kind of Charisma Seth had on Update and has since perfected in the way he just has fun on Late Night. Colin would never be able to do that. Once he leaves here I don’t expect to see much of him again. That’s why he wrote his biography early, he knows that nobody will give a crap once he’s gone. In what I’m sure will be just a coincidence (that’s what she’ll say anyway) I expect the marriage between Colin Jost and mega star Scarlett Johannsen will be over when he leaves the show. At the moment he can delude himself into thinking they’re in the same league. But men are idiots when it comes to their wives making more money. It creates an imbalance and men’s egos can’t take it. Amy Poehler’s split from Will Arnett almost certainly had some of that behind it as she was getting more popular with Parks and Rec, Arrested Development was cancelled. Suddenly they were no longer equals. She was the bread winner and star/creator of one of the best series ever made and he was a guy who was a little funnier than most. Last I heard she was seeing Nick Kroll which is much closer to equal status. Love…it’s the worst. Unless it’s the best. It’s confusing at least.
What up y’all? This is Australia speaking. Rather it’s a person who lives in Australia but I feel pretty comfortable speaking for everyone. So I just saw the bit on Update about the flight from New York to Australia that takes 19 hours. Book that at your earliest convenience. New Yorkers, I understand that New York isn’t just a place. In some ways it’s an identity. Who would want to be somewhere that didn’t have weird homeless people dressed as superheroes? Fair question. We are also yet to legalize pot which I don’t really get but it’s easy enough to obtain. Or you could just go live in Nimbin. I’m not going to argue Melbourne isn’t a nice place and has some really incredible culture and art. However you should probably join me here in Sydney or somewhere in the greater NSW area. There’s some amazing coastline property. We know where Chris Hemsworth lives. Our politicians do a lot of stupid stuff too but sometimes they actually care about us and do the right thing. It has been completely legal to get an abortion for awhile. We have universal health care. Our minimum wage is something you can live on since we don’t tip here. Prostitution has been decriminalized and made legal. Other good things. Plus we’ve had very strict gun laws for decades. You may have seen it on The Daily Show when John Oliver came down to look into it. So you don’t have to worry about that. It’s not perfect but nowhere is. It’s much better than the inevitable crash America seems to be headed for. Do yourself a favour and hop on a plane and get down here before republicans finish the place off.