Miles Teller soars but can’t save SNL from autopilot
The 48th-season premiere is a failure to launch with poor writing and stale ideas
TV Reviews Miles Teller
SNL returned for its 48th season after the mass exodus of eight former cast members, the addition of four new players, and a host from this summer’s biggest blockbuster—no, not Tom Cruise, but rather first-timer Miles Teller. The cold open addressed this as Teller, playing Peyton Manning, provided commentary to an unfolding secondary cold open sketch involving Trump at his resort. Perhaps this meta-approach seemed clever on paper, but in practice one might ponder: Instead of writing a sketch about why a sketch isn’t funny, why didn’t the writers use this fresh start to just come up with something actually funny, without the unnecessary quotations? This season opener revealed that, even with a committed and serviceable host, the show’s lackluster writing has veteran performers going through the motions and stunts the fresh new players from adding their own comedic voices. Here’s a breakdown of what happened.
Best sketch of the night
“Let’s BeReal:” contemporary SNL continues to thrive with non-live comedy. This sketch manages to explain the time-sensitive new social media phenomenon “Be Real,” by setting it against a bank robbery. The absurd situation also challenges the ethos of the platform suggesting that all it has done is made us instantly performative as we stage our “BeReal” posts.
Most redundant sketch
“Rooftop Bar,” the second segment of the night that focused on men’s inability to respectively or coherently communicate with women, was somehow more of a failure than the first. Combined with “Send Something Normal,” this sketch reveals the programs biggest problem: That even when making fun of contemporary masculinity, it is still stagnantly rooted in that point of view (see the Trombone Champ joke in “Weekend Update”).
Sponsored sketch of the night
The Charmin Bears sketch was the first baffling addition to the episode, followed by the McDonald’s segment and Caribbean Queens. It was pointless, almost exclusively relying on fecal humor and played-out family dynamics, and the climax appeared to just be Teller and Bowen Yang dancing in bear costumes. Its placement only made sense when an actual commercial for Charmin toilet paper followed. But why can’t SNL master the comedic product placement like 30 Rock did almost a decade ago with these Snapple and Verizon gags?
Better late than never sketch
For more than a year, it has remained a mystery why SNL hadn’t spoofed the now iconic Nicole Kidman AMC advertisement. Chloe Fineman continues to deliver on celebrity impersonations, combining Kidman’s gravitas with an exaggerated Australian accent. While it would have been funny for the sketch to focus on the less-desirable aspects of the multiplex (like people texting, sticky floors, or someone sitting next to you when there are an abundant amount of open seats), channeling the collective movie-going experience into a mystical conjuring that has Kidman take flight in some sort of transcendent ritual was an unexpected twist.
MVP of the night
Kenan Thompson, after 20 seasons, remains one of the highlights of the program. Hopefully, he is getting paid more than the other cast members as he seems to appear in nearly every sketch. Even in bad ones like “Charmin Bears” and “Send Something Normal,” he manages to find some level of humor. Well done.
Stray observations
- Where was Cecily Strong?
- Teller, as a first-time host, seemed game for anything. It’s a shame that the writing was so underwhelming.
- You could also really tell that Teller loves the legacy of SNL, as seen in the video of his family reenacting classic sketches.
- Where was Cecily Strong???
- SNL needs to stop chasing viral moments. Corn Kid and the Adam Levine scandal have already been played out via marketing and social-media platforms.
- Bowen Yang’s spotted lanternfly was enjoyable and seemed like it should have fully embraced the trashy ’90s-talk-show vibe as an independent sketch.
- No, seriously, where was Cecily Strong?????????????????
- Another problem with the show is how it deals with the immediacy of social media. A lot of the jokes it made have already played out on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. It would be better if SNL stopped trying to be so timely.
- Oh, I just discovered that apparently Cecily Strong, whose name was not in the credits this week and was sorely missed, is on leave currently for a play, but hopefully she’ll be back ASAP.
- Oh, I also really love the new font for SNL (see the top).
- And, just to close and be utterly shameless: I actually directed my own shot-for-shot remake of the Nicole Kidman AMC ad with a friend and drag queen.
179 Comments
I miss Dennis Perkins.
You are welcome.. https://www.pastemagazine.com/comedy/miles-teller-snl-review/
From that review:helped along by Teller’s, again, truly spot-on impression of the legendary former Colt, Bronco, and alleged sexual harasser.It’s that kind of piece. I’m sure someone will like it.
That’s our Dennis!
Oh, thank you!
Well, I wouldn’t go that far. Some of his reviews were novel-length and often revolved around him spouting off on politics like all get out.
I took the sentiment as snark. Kind of like South Park’s cuttlefish or asparagus conundrum.
I mean, say what you will – at least he actually talked about the entire episode in more detail than one to two sentences per sketch.
New guy didn’t even talk about half the sketches or Weekend Update!
ya but does the show deserve more than that?
He very thoughtfully provided links to 8-10 sketches, complete with descriptions of why I should or should not watch. So at least I caught the weekly good stuff.
Every week: “Weekend Update, for the 5,000th consecutive episode, failed to deliver razor-sharp, Pulitzer-worthy political commentary, which I continue to expect for some reason. I’m deeply disappointed that SNL continues not to do a thing it has never, ever tried to do.”
I’m fine with Perkins’s politics, and I felt he actually watched the show rather than skimmed through it later for bits.
Nobody could trash SNL like Dennis Perkins.That’s when trashing SNL was funny and so much better than what the kids do today.
Yeah, but why was he trashing it? Usually it was for not parroting whatever he thought was the only correct opinion about whatever political issue.
Sorry, if you want Donald Trump, he’s in Florida, Snowflake.
lmao you ARE dennis perkins
Let’s not get carried away, now. That guy sucked too
miss your… mom….mmmsss… dick.
Peak 2022 AV Club = missing Dennis Perkins
Different reviewer; same abysmal show.
Different reviewer of same abysmal show on same/worse abysmal site by worse writer…we are through the looking glass here people
I miss Carl Perkins.
I hated so much about Dennis Perkins’ reviews (god, the political rants) and I miss Dennis Perkins.
If they’re coming out of the gate this season with a sketch about Charmin Bears and fecal jokes then I’m out. Best wishes, warmest regards SNL.
But they’ve got a new logo!
Was Kendrick Lamar so awful that he didn’t even rate a mention? That seems unlikely, but I haven’t watched yet, so who knows?
Kendrick’s performances might’ve been the first time I’ve watched both musical performances in full in like two seasons of SNL.
May have just been issues on my end, but the sound seemed off. It was weirdly muted, especially the vocals. But yeah, they were great performances regardless. He even had Sampha out to do “Father Time.” No idea why the reviewer didn’t even deign to mention them.
I watched them on Youtube and the sound wasn’t ideal, but Kendrick was his usual great self.
He was totally lipsynching, right? When he was on before he was clearly performing live and was amazing. Don’t know why he chose not to do it live..
I couldn’t tell, but to be fair he flows pretty fast and I wasn’t paying close attention to his face.
The sound is always “off” on SNL musical performances. Been that way for years and years. I suppose the studio just has bad acoustics for music. I appreciate them leaning into more visual performances the last couple of years to make up for it some.
Bc White. Lol
I normally FF through the musical guests but I remember Perkins always saying SNL was famous for having bad audio for all its musical guests.
The vocal mix is almost always garbage on SNL. Maybe it sounds better in the studio, but who knows. I also remember some rock acts where the guitar of all things was super low but man you could groove to that bass!
Since when do they not include a cast member in the credits if they’re not featured in the episode?
Looks like its gonna be a new thing going forward. I liked the new intro though. Bout time they freshened it up a bit
I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but I don’t think that Cecily is actually a cast member right now. The official explanation is that she’s “on leave” doing that play, but I think that’s a nice way of saying that the door is open for her to return whenever she likes. As of today, I don’t know that she has a contract.
She is. It has been confirmed. She’s in LA until mid-October. She was not in NY to film the new credits. They’ll film her when she gets back.
No, but they filmed new credits and Cecily is in LA right now. They just haven’t filmed her credit yet.
Looking for to Taika Waititi taking over as EP of SNL next season.
There’s so much great old SNL out there that people would enjoy so much if they weren’t all addled by Presentism.
Old school snl cast members didn’t need to stare into the cue cards for every single line of every skit either. Must’ve been all the coke.
Yes, the one thing SNL fans always say is how much better it is now than in the old days.
The first show is always a crap shoot. Its part “what i did last summer” sketches for things that happened while they were on hiatus and introducing new characters hoping it they will become a recurring sketch. The roof top bar sketch is hopefully one that will never return. I thought..oh the roxbury guys but with white guy bros instead of foreigners. And what was up with that bit with one of the new guys in Weekend Update? It was just a rambling mess.
I felt that they were trying to make Michael Longfellow into a Pete Davidson. And, I’m not a Davidson fan per se, but whoa the new guy is no Pete Davidson. Awkward.
Wow, I couldn’t disagree more. Obviously Longfellow’s Weekend Update bit was just a recycled standup bit, but it was actually funny.
Although I will say that the guy looks so much like a Seventies Tiger Beat centerfold pinup it’s kind of freaky. Just way too pretty.
I should watch that bit again. The timing just felt off. I hope that the Bill Maher Libera reference was meant in Jost/jest. I’m kinda thinking that is was. Especially since Longfellow then said, “oh so a Republican”.
Everyone under 50 agrees present day bill maher sucks.
and won’t shut up about it either, I noticedit’s funny because he was once a liberal Democrat who kinda should be a heroic type to anyone on that side, but he didn’t toe the company line and now my team has decided he is no longer allowed to be a democrat or call himself that and if he does or says anyhting has to be called a boomer and reminded that he’s old and no longer hip enough to count as meaningful or relevant, which is…interesting.kill your idols and all that, i suppose. I chuckle to wonder what AOC or Omar or someone like that will do in the next 5-15 years to get slandered as “not on our side enough” and be pushed out as well.
Mostly he was good talking to straight to camera, and poor in his stilted back and forth with Jost. That’s where Davidson killed it.
Ha! The first thing I said when I saw that guy was “my god, his mom must be smokin’ hot.” That was a weirdly pretty man.He also seemed to be out of scale with Colin Jost. If they were model trains, Longfellow seemed to be one scale up from Jost. Just an… odd-looking guy.
As a matter of fact, his mom is hot:
Michael Longfellow looks like Tom Sandoval from Vanderpump Rules and it distracted me the entire time. Granted his set wasn’t particularly interesting so I had time to think, but still
lol goddamn you i am never going to be unable to unsee this
I don’t think so? It’s not uncommon to have featured players come on update just to kind of introduce themselves and do a bit of stand-up. Sherman has done it, Dismukes has done it, P. Johnson has done it.
I watched it immediately after finishing Blonde and it was almost as hard to watch as that movie. I don’t remember the last time an audience was that awkwardly silent during a bit. I do really like the idea of putting the spotlight on newbies early on to introduce them to the audience and hopefully prevent the talented ones from getting lost in the cast, ala Jenny Slate or Melissa Villasenor. But there’s got to be a better way than Open Mic Night at the Update desk.
“I don’t remember the last time an audience was that awkwardly silent during a bit.”I just rewatched it and I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Every joke got a decent laugh, and several got big laughs and applause.
Yeah he prolley feels like shit rn. That stunk.
Note to publisher… all of the linked videos are “Not available in your country” so maybe host your own vids or just don’t bother. Page filled of black squares is not great.Also, this was dire.Nite Dennis.
I’m not in the US but fully aware that the primary market for SNL and the AV Club is the US. If the videos are not made available to your country then that’s a decision by NBC for some reason. Yet you want AV Club to break copyright by hosting the videos themselves and breaking geo locks? Why the hell would they do that?
Blame NBC, it’s their decision to restrict their videos.
Apparently they aren’t ready for the rest of the world to know that this episode, sadly, did indeed suck.
The show is an abomination! Kill the beast with fire, says I!
I give this writer an F on reviewing this show. You don’t mention the musical guest ot the new players. You write a list at the end of random sentences. You could have easily found out where Cecily strong is for this piece. Not mentioning how good Longfellow s brief update spot was also lax. Read EW review for a better take.
I think it was weird that he called out his parents being there and they didn’t even show them. Maybe they didn’t want to be on camera but it was weird.Also weird when they have Neil deGrasse Tyson character on a skit about not being creepy when he has been accused of harassment. I mean, he was cleared but they could have picked literally anyone else in the skit.
Um, what? Your reaction is much weirder. Why should they show his parents?
I want to see them!
“Also weird when they have Neil deGrasse Tyson character on a skit about not being creepy when he has been accused of harassment”That was literally why they had his character on. He, along with the other characters (except Bowen), has been accused of harassment. Why is it weird to have him on there and not the others? The skit wasn’t about not being creepy. The skit was about how they are all creepy.As for showing Teller’s mom…I think you’re just looking for things to find weird.
Everyone is more than welcome to their opinion, but to mention how repetitive and boring an episode is and then to spend half the “stray observations” talking about a missing Cecily Strong seems like a real choice. You can’t criticize people for not being clever in such an uninteresting way. I think you are upset because your homemade video didn’t get you an audition with Lorne and you’re taking it out on a perfectly fine episode.
It’s always a great time to watch SNL fans’ mental gymnastics.
I was trying to figure out if mentioning things being played out in social media twice in the observations was intentional or not.
Cecily Strong is on leave to be part of a play. It’s like, in the news and stuff.
I dunno, I didn’t think it was bad.
It wasn’t. This review on the other hand…
I’ll give them this much. I went in blind, not knowing who the host was, and I had to do a double take on Peyton Manning. If it wasn’t for the hairline I might not have realized it was Miles Teller for a few minutes
There was a couple sketches that didn’t feel fully fleshed out, but the D+ rating is way too low. I thought the setup for the cold open was pretty creative, all considering.
Wow so whoever wrote that toiletpaper bear sketch kind of clearly ripped off this much better skit:
“That’s a one-ply kind of thought.” Classic.God, that makes it so much worse. Someone quite literally wrote the entire sketch for them, and they still couldn’t make it funny.
everybody thinks those commercials are fucked up
I love the pre recorded sketches, because it always feels like SNL saying they don’t actually want to be SNL anymore. They’d rather just be another sketch comedy show.
SNL has always had filmed/pre-taped bits.
Like this old nugget
Or Payton Manning’s first appearance (timely!). Probably the gold standard for guest hosts.
How on earth did Punkie Johnson get promoted to main cast while James Austin Johnson is still only featured? I can’t think of any especially memorable bits by Punkie since she joined, whereas James is playing major roles like Trump and Biden. . .
(I don’t begrudge her getting bumped up, mind you, but was stunned that JAJ had not been as well).
AFAIK the standard thing is 2 years as secondary, then up to main cast. Punkie’s been there since 2020.
I had to look that up – yes, she’s been there for two seasons. I had no idea.
I hadn’t realized it was that rigid a system these days – my memory is folks in prior casts were featured for maybe a year and change and then got promoted if they clicked with the audience.
This is Punkies third year and JAJ’s second.
Seriously he carried this show ON HIS BACK last season. Well I mean him and Keenan.
Keenen should look at the end of every episode like a NFL lineman after a September day game in Florida with as much work as he does for this show.
Yeah…yeah… I’m always rooting for everybody Black, but Punkie Johnson has never done it for me. I don’t think Johnson is so much better, but I don’t see how she got promoted. I’d rather see Sherman move up.
i forgot punkie was on the show more or less
She is sadly forgettable. I need to look up some of her old standup because maybe she has more charisma in that context and she must be some talented to have gotten cast.
Yeah, I was stunned by that as well. The show should be a meritocracy, not a waiting room. JAJ has been in literally every other sketch for two seasons and killed in many of them; Punkie has been… a cast member. He should have gone to the bigs, she should have been cut after her first season.Also, enough Mikey Day. I guess he’s sort of the the bass player of the show, the straight man you plug in whenever you need one, but he’s the same shout-talking exasperated guy in every single sketch he’s in — I don’t even notice him anymore. ENOUGH.
I know everyone is going to tar and feather me but I actually liked the cold open.
I think the cold open was the only good part of the episode
Peyton & Eli are worth doing a sketch on.Miles Teller’s Peyton impression (wig seam notwithstanding) was good enough that I didn’t recognize him right away.Using the cold open to mock the political cold opens / bad impression roulette from prior seasons actually shows signs of admitting the problem. (Double credit for mentioning Kate McKinnon’s low-effort “impressions.”)They made a Biden joke during the Trump sketch.Jon Hamm was game as a guest for the sketch-inside-the-sketch.…if the show’s opens improve on form, the Peyton & Eli sketch may prove to be the roadmap.
That only works if they try something completely different for the cold opens for the rest of the season. I’m guessing… they won’t.
You’re probably right, but it was fun to believe that it was possible, even if only for a few minutes.
I thought it was terrific.
I thought the cold open was pretty funny. Actually, I liked the whole episode a lot more than the reviewer. It was nice to see Teller be up for anything and self-deprecating during his monologue too.
How can any show that alleges its a comedy one not Do Harris at the border ? She is comedy gold and they pass?
“While it would have been funny for the sketch to focus on the less-desirable aspects of the multiplex…”
No, it wouldn’t have, and most likely had they done it? You’d call it out for being pedantic.
It’s sad when these reviews are as much on autopilot as you deemed it to SNL.
But please, ask about Cecily a few more times. Comedy comes in threes. Especially in listicles.
They also did that last year:(To be fair, it was pretty funny.)
Thank you! I swore SNL had done the very parody that the reviewer described, but now I realize I had Mandela-ed the Vin Diesel sketch with the Nicole Kidman ad.
I read in a review of last night’s episode that Cecily is off the first couple of episodes this season because her revival of Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe is still playing in L.A. Now, I read that on an amateur website where people just do it for fun; you’d think a “professional” site where people are paid would have at least as much of a clue as to what’s going on.
Link please. My list of sites to read keeps shrinking.
Hey now every time he asked about Cecily he added a few more question marks. That’s comedy!I miss Nathan Rabin
I miss Vanderwerff.
Thought Teller’s Manning was pretty, pretty good.
I know that Cecily is in LA with the Lily Tomlin play, and so she was probably missing from the filming of the opening titles (which I like a LOT more than the boring “fuzzy still photo / fuzzy still photo / fuzzy still photo / sharp photo” one of the last two seasons), but since she wasn’t there, I think they could have at least acknowledged that she is still in the cast in the goodnights.
For what purpose? The goodnights are a time for the host to say thanks and whatever he wants to say. Not to talk about the show’s HR happenings.
D+ seems harsh. I don’t know that this was some massive downgrade from last year’s episodes, for example, that had all of the apparently “legendary” cast members we’re now supposed to miss. Even Kate McKinnon, I don’t know that I really wish was around anymore; her last few seasons felt like coasting on an already mixed legacy.I don’t see this being SNL ‘80 Part II. In terms of either the departing or remaining talent levels.Miles Teller’s face looks it always has prosthetics on.
When the new guy came out in the cold open as the “corn kid”, I was stunned at first, because it looked EXACTLY like Pete Davidson in black-face. Resemblance was weird and uncanny.
I promise I’m not just calling him fat, but that dude has at least 30 pounds on Pete. I kinda see it in the face but they have completely different builds.
No.
I can’t believe I didn’t notice that. Hopefully they won’t be afraid to reference that somehow.
D+ was the reviewer self grading their effort.
“
SNL needs to stop chasing viral moments. Corn Kid and the Adam
Levine scandal have already been played out via marketing and social-media platforms.”Wasn’t that the entire point of Corn Kid in the cold open? It was SUPPOSED to be too late and desperate.
This whole episode felt like that. I had already forgotten about that stupid social media app that made you take picture the same time every day. That was like popular for a week.
Yes.
Dennis Perkins stans (lmao) seething right now
Yeah we are. And we call ourselves Perkins’ Gherkins.
He’s going to write a 1,500-word piece on it – all one sentence.
Thought the cold open pre-emptively snarking on the rut they got into last year was a solid choice, and it gave Teller good lines and Hamm a chance to do a cameo that actually delivered comedically.But then, I’ve reliably gotten the most enjoyment out of sketch humor that is self-critical. It takes performers off a pedestal, makes them relatable, and acknowledges some of the ridiculousness inherent in their endeavor.
meta-approach —> meta approachnew social media phenomenon “Be Real,” by setting it —> new social media phenomenon BeReal by setting itchallenges the ethos of the platform suggesting that —> challenges the ethos of the platform, suggesting thatour “BeReal” posts —> our BeReal poststhe programs biggest —> the program’s biggestproblem: That even when making fun —> problem: that even when making funmovie-going experience —> moviegoing experiencesocial-media platforms —> social media platformsCecily Strong????????????????? —> just no
I dont think they actually have copy editors, fwiwso it isn’t like they are trying and failing
Anyone who paid attention in 3rd grade wouldn’t make half these errors in the first place
I’ve literally never heard of this supposedly “iconic” AMC ad before this review.Makes me suspect that it’s not as iconic as all that.
Have you been to an AMC any time since the beginning of COVID? It’s played before every movie since then. You would definitely recognize it if you’d seen it. It has also been endlessly commented upon, parodied, and memed over the past year and change. I think it’s a you problem.Edit: To clarify, it’s a pre-show ad shown at AMC Theaters. Not a TV commercial. That may be why you’re confused about its prevalence.
Ah, I think my local theater is Regal and I’ve only been to the movies three times since the pandemic started.
Tell me you haven’t been to the movies in the last year, without….
I saw Thor 4 in theaters.
Go to AMC next time, lol. Like the other 10 million ppl who got the nationally broadcasted joke last night. I don’t know what else to tell ya
It already has a pretty good parody video, where the film she’s beatifically watching is replaced with a Lady Gaga sex scene from House of Gucci.
Since the McDonalds sketch was clearly sponsored, does that mean all the McDonaldland friends are canon bi? I’m choosing to believe that. Also I’m probably not the only person who noticed the new “adult Happy Meal” toys include Ronald, Hamburglar, Birdy, and notably NOT Grimace.
Grimace is fat-shaming. There’s also no such thing as a purple milkshake, for fuck’s sake.
I don’t mind hating on SNL and lord knows they usually deserve it, but this was a much better show than a D+. It’s at least a C, maybe even B- if we’re generous graders. Miles Teller did a fine job as host, throwing himself into several roles (his Peyton Manning was so close that initially I thought it actually was Manning). He did everything you want in a host and I actually wouldn’t mind seeing him back. Kendrick Lamar’s performances were good for anyone wanting to know since the review didn’t mention them.
None of the sketches were home runs, but most were entertaining enough. The only one that was bad was the Charmin sketch which never should have seen the light of day. If you want to give the show a D for that sketch alone, I wouldn’t fault you. WU was serviceable with some good chuckles here or there and the guests were great. Thompson was great as Herschel Walker. Sadly, much of what Thompson said in parody would be believable if you told me it came from Walker. He’s that fucking dumb. And Yang delivered as the lantern moth. It was stupid and absurd and a little repetitive (Yang seems to play the same character tonally) but it worked. People claim they want SNL to do weird stuff and take chances. Well a moth fighting corn in a Maury spoof is weird and taking a chance. This worked.This wasn’t a bad episode. It’s a decent if unremarkable start to the season and I didn’t feel like I wasted my time watching it.
Teller IMO has moved on from his punchable face meme persona and developed into a fine actor. I only watched the Be Real skit up there so far but even that was smooth and natural work for something he probably rehearsed twice.
Excruciating as usual, but the Kidman bit was long overdue. There’s only one problem with the sketch though: Kidman’s face never moves.
As funny as that would be, it would also be unnecessarily mean. I think we all mourn what Kidman has done to her face.
Millennials aren’t funny. You have to know real suffering before you can make people laugh.
Comedy must have been the best around the year 536 CE then.
I’d bet on that. There was surely comedy, but it was ‘dark’.
All hail King Cyrus! This tablet recording the transaction of 40 sacks of wheat and 20 skins of wine is the funniest shit I’ve read in ages!
I’d say drowning in student loan debt and probably being unable to afford a house constitutes suffering.
Those two things you mention are literally the worst (and weakest) excuses to whine.
I’m just going to address the elephant in the room: is the article writer hip to the musics of today?
For six minutes a week, give Sarah Sherman the keys to the bus and let her MAKE IT WEIRD
I just now realized that Miles Teller and Ezra Miller are different people
I had a theory that most of peoples SNL comes from nostalgia. It’s the first “edgy” comedy most kids(especially Gen X and early Millenials) get to see. So whatever you saw when you were ten automatically had to be great. Some of it probably was but a lot of every episode of SNL, even early on, was inconsistent filler. I feel like some seasons did manage to be really good but overall there have been more seasons that were hit and miss with a few stand out skits.
The idea that everyone’s favorite SNL season is the one that aired when they were 18 has been around for decades
I was going to write that I’ve never liked SNL and always thought it was stupid but then thought about it more and realized you’re dead on. I really liked the Mr. Bill era stuff and I was nine and ten at that time. Mr. Bill getting smushed. Mr. Hand and Sluggo. Of course right around that time SCTV was also there so it was a mix between that era SNL and SCTV, specifically for me Bob and Doug McKenzie. My Mad Men-era parents weren’t into any of that but my best friend’s dad was a Summer of Love refugee straight out of Haight-Asbury so he was hip to all that stuff. Also, Sniglets.
Kind of reminds me of when Kids In The Hall was on. SNL was actually doing pretty well at the time. But to see the two show next to each other really exposes the hackiness of even the best SNL stuff.
That was also the Eddie Murphy era, which could be hit and miss but generally had some truly inspired stuff (again, mostly due to Murphy).I wonder what would happen if his whiteface skit aired today.
Nah, Gen X grew up on Richard Pryor records.
First stage vs second stage Gen X, big difference between having your childhood to preteen in the ‘70s vs ‘80s. For me it was Kids in the Hall.
As I pointed out on the best of season 47 piece, Thompson barely appears at all in the “best of”. He’s never bad, but he very rarely makes me laugh out loud. If he’s the MVP, they are in trouble.
I was completely unfamiliar with the AMC commercial before the show, so not gonna lie, I was trying to figure out why Chloe Fineman was doing an impersonation of Anna Delvey (or at least Julia Garner’s portrayal of Delvey).Had no idea that was supposed to be Kidman until today. *facepalm*
“Oh, I also really love the new font for SNL (see the top).”
I always liked the stencil “15th Anniversary” circle logo they had in 1990.
What a miserable review. I thought this episode was a lot of fun and I laughed a lot. I thought the cold open was a great deconstruction of how terrible the political cold-opens of the last several years has been, and I think (hope) it serves as the show acknowledging that they aren’t funny and and telling the audience it’s sorry and won’t be doing it again.I don’t know anything about Miles Teller—I didn’t see Top Gun—so I didn’t know what to expect, but I thought he was a very game host. You could tell he was having a blast as Peyton Manning.I grinned ear to ear during the Herschel Walker/McConnell part of Update, and I legit hollered when then Longfellow fellow called Jost a republican. The say something normal gameshow was hilarious; I don’t know what this reviewer’s problem is (I don’t know what this means or why it’s a particular problem with the comedy: “That even when making fun of contemporary masculinity, it is still stagnantly rooted in that point of view”).The lower points for me were BeReal and the Caribbean Queens sketches, but they weren’t terrible and each one wrung a laugh or two out of me. I didn’t find Charmin Bears funny at all.Anyway, I’m very encouraged by this episode and don’t know why the reviewer is being such a stick in the mud. Also, did it occur to you to just look up where Cecily Strong was before you took up half the stray observations asking about her?
Stop! In the name of Miles!
Nobody gonna mention that SNL stole that Charmin sketch from Joel Haver?
I don’t see the point of “reviewing” SNL as if it’s a standard TV show. It’s on late Saturday night because you’re supposed to watch it drunk. That’s what I do, and it makes every episode a gem of comic perfection.
Can I review the review? Because it sucks.
It’s one thing to criticize when criticism is warranted. It’s another thing when a recapper is just hateful to seem edgy, which is obviously what’s going on here.
First of all, it’s very easy to find out why Cecily Strong wasn’t there so the idiotic questions at the end just make you look unprofessional and like you are too lazy to do basic research. Google is your friend.
“While it would have been funny for the sketch to focus on the less-desirable aspects of the multiplex (like people texting, sticky floors, or someone sitting next to you when there are an abundant amount of open seats”
Um, no it wouldn’t. And if they had, you’d have called them out (rightly) on using tired, hack-y cliches and easy jokes that have been done a million times before. What else does your comedy genius tell you they should do, a sketch about airline food?
Oh wait, you answered my question:
Another problem with the show is how it deals with the immediacy of social media. A lot of the jokes it made have already played out on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. It would be better if SNL stopped trying to be so timely.
So, the answer is that they should do old hacky routines instead of contemporary stuff. Maybe we should have a cruise line sketch next week!Please find a recapper who knows something about comedy.
Rooftop bar wasn’t supposed to be about men in general. It was specifically about the lower level finance guys (thus the matching fleece vests all the NYC finance guys wear) who want to be “alpha bros” but in reality are pretty much awkward math nerds who also don’t earn the pay packets yet to flash the cash and impress (which is why they lived together). I’m from Hong Kong and even I know its a blight on the NYC nightlife scene. Dude…
Your issue with the Kidman sketch boils down to “I wanted it to be about something else.” But mate, it’s about the Kidman ad and how ridiculously intense about going to the movies is with an almost culty vibe. That’s what the sketch was about. You made absolutely no sense with your commentary on it.
Your review missed half the damn sketches man. Please do your job better than the average Reddit post.
jesus christ this is one of the worst things i’ve ever read
A) very short review, I think D+ is a little harsh
B) Kenan was in like every sketch, and good
C) Mikey Day was in almost every sketch and bad, leave!
D) There were two excellent jokes in Weekend Update – CIA joke and Italian Prime Minister joke were both great…then Trombone Champ 🙁
E) Miles Teller, who gave an interview where he compared his penis to a martini glass and nearly wrecked his career by coming off like such a fuckwad (and it should have worked) impersonates Peyton Manning…another problematic person. Are we leaning in to scandal? Like everything else, are we just going to have Sean Spicer host next?
F) the new guy on Weekend Update was okay, him smiling at his own joke was a little Norm-ish…maybe almost a Norm impression?
G) did anyone else find Kendrick’s songs really weird? sounding pre-recorded, inexplicable motions…that’s one of the best albums of the year but I wouldn’t have bought it after watching those songs.
Miles was surprisingly great as Peyton.
Cold open was funny
Nice to see you’re a coward and left all the negative comments in pending purgatory.
That was a rough start. Given the mass cast shakeup wouldn’t it have been an optimal time to try something new at the Update desk. By which I mean why is Colin still there and can he please leave the show. His fingerprints are all over this mess as head writer. I’m not sure where they get their writers from but maybe it’s time to look further afield. Get some voices in there that may not necessarily come from the improv community. Combining a different point of view with more experienced writers, while also obviously bringing in new people with comedy and improv training, would surely open up new directions for sketches. While she is a comedian Sarah Sherman has managed to bring some of what she does best into the show and consequently her sketches usually come off best. Why are we keeping the same old writers around? Doesn’t matter if you replace the entire cast. You need writers who can write for those performers and are a little more familiar with how comedy works today. It’s evolved, same as any form of entertainment must if it’s to entertain and stay relevant. Yet they insist on keeping writers around who have been with the show for decades in some cases. They’re going to write how they’ve always written because SNL is a kind of echo chamber. They aren’t going out and trying to see what’s going on. They do what they’ve always done which was getting mundane and now plain does not work. Seriously, if Lorne can’t see that he has some serious problems maybe it’s time for him to go. A full top down restart. Just do something.
While it was a little much I did love Chloe’s Nicole Kidman impression. The Aussie accent is hard to do. I appreciate when it isn’t painfully awful. However there’s one thing that Americans exclusively will trip up on. Pronunciation. We say things like aluminium instead of aluminum. But it’s words like can’t that is the focus today. Americans say a short “a” as in cat. In Australia it’s said with an “ah” sound in the middle. Kind of like “carnt”. Does that make sense?
I’m sorry to keep on about this but Colin Jost is such a dull guy and needs to be replaced as co-host of Update. Keep Che if you want, he’s become pretty reliable. But Jost needs to go. He’s part of the problem. Lorne will get rid of a cast member without warning (I’m still not over the dropping of Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah when they were contracted to come back) but he keeps writers around that have been in the business for 3 or 4 decades. The performers are the face of the shows but the writing is what’s brining it down. I don’t care how talented you are, nobody can make most of this stuff work. It’s dated, unfunny and Colin is right in the middle of it. He’s been on the Update desk for 8 years now. Seth Meyers also had 8 years but the big differences are that it’s Seth Meyers. If anything Colin is kind of Seth lite. Set also had a few different co-anchors to keep things interesting. Colin has been working with Michael for the entire time. You could pair someone else up with Michael although he could go and focus on other things because he’s being wasted. Colin has never been interesting and he’s part of the institutional problem. He’s been a writer on SNL for 17 years and he’s been a head writer since 2012. Staying at Update is a selfish choice that should be given to someone else to help bring the show into this new era it’s trying to build on. Any changes will be minimal as long as he’s still the head writer.
Given the fact that they are trying to rebuild after so many cast members bailed on the sinking ship this would’ve been a great opportunity to promote some new talent. So why, in what insane universe, is James Austin Johnson still in the opening credits as a “Featuring” instead of “Starring”? He’s practically indispensable at this point. James, Kenan, Chloe, Ego and Cecily (come back soon) could probably run the show themselves. They are by far the most talented. Between James and Chloe they could probably play anyone they were asked to. James himself is now playing Trump, Biden and now that Beck is gone he’s playing Mitch McConnel and as always is doing an incredible job. Ego, Kenan and Cecily can handle anything you throw at them and make it gold. Seriously, Kenan’s bit of physicality after “Divalent Magnesium” was hilarious. James deserves a “Starring” cast member’s pay since he’s in almost every sketch now. I hope Kenan is also getting extra since he’s been with the show the longest and is actually in every sketch now because they know the chances of a laugh increase dramatically if he’s there.