Saturday Night Live recap: Dakota Johnson weaves a tangled web
Even a Social Network reunion with musical guest Justin Timberlake can't fix this mess
TV Reviews Saturday Night Live
One word: Oof. Fumbles were frequent during this week’s Saturday Night Live, starting with a football-themed cold open overrun with missed cues, a mediocre musical parody (of Charlie Puth’s “See You Again”) and meandering writing—along with lamenting the end of the NFL season, the clip saw sportscasters like Nate Burleson (Devon Walker), James Brown (Kenan Thompson) and Bill Cowher (Mikey Day) bemoan those Barbie Oscar snubs, Boeing 737s and Blue Bloods’ final season.
It was an especially disappointing start for an episode that, on paper, had a lot of potential, as our host this week is one of Hollywood’s most low-key chaotic and unintentionally hilarious figures: Dakota Johnson. Promoting her new Marvel superhero flick Madame Web, which hits theater on February 14, the Ellen-ruining actress and noted lime lover (or is she?) returned to Studio 8H this week for her second hosting gig. (She previously hosted a season 40 episode in 2015.) This time had the added excitement, though, of an onscreen reunion with her The Social Network co-star and SNL Five-Timers Club member Justin Timberlake, who returned as musical guest for the first time since 2013.
But not even that pop of millennial nostalgia could pep up what is so far the worst episode of SNL season 49. (You’ve been spared, Jacob Elordi.)
Opening monologue: Hosting crashers
We started off well enough. The bangs were banging, the black jumpsuit was giving Fleabag season 2 and Johnson was poking fun at the delightfully unhinged public persona she’s crafted over the years. (“I’m just not good at talking to journalists. I think the problem is that I say stuff and then they write it down.”) That is, until Justin Timberlake materialized à la Beetlejuice at the mere mention of his name. Dakota managed to squeeze in a few funny barbs about the veteran pop star’s “comeback” before Jimmy Fallon inevitably crashed the monologue, too, wearing full Barry Gibbs cosplay. It was very much giving 2010s vibes, but this throwback was more tired than thrilling.
The most “peaked in high school” sketch of the night:
Speaking of, the return of Timberlake and Fallon’s The Barry Gibb Talk Show bit would have worked better had they not spoiled the surprise in the monologue. In its seventh SNL appearance—and first in a decade—the sketch’s gist remains the same: Jimmy as an increasingly irate version of the eldest Gibb brother (“I fear nothing! I watched Saltburn with my entire family and I knew about the bathtub scene beforehand!”) and Justin as his less-than-verbose brother, the late Robin Gibb. Given Timberlake’s extensive SNL creds, it was only natural that he’d appear in a sketch, but the Gibbs’ revival very much felt like the “coolest” guys in high school reminiscing at their 20-year reunion. (It doesn’t help that both performers’ reputations have taken a serious hit since the last time they collaborated on the show.) Plus, it would’ve been lovely to see this week’s actual host have a more substantial role here.
The best sketch of the night: Dakota kills Please Don’t Destroy
Ellen DeGeneres got off easy, as evidenced by this week’s Please Don’t Destroy digital short. Johnson had seemingly nothing but friendly intentions as she paid a visit to Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy—that is, until she leashed a roasting so brutal, the comedy trio were carcinogenic by the time she finished. Among her excellently harsh insults: “I’ve always wanted to meet the Lonelier Island!” and “I can just tell by looking at you that you guys just loved Hamilton.” But it was the “nepo truce” between the host (the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) and fellow industry babies Higgins and Herlihy (sons of longtime SNL writers Steve Higgins and Tim Herlihy, respectively) that really tickled us.
The most topical sketch of the night: Supersized Stanley
At the risk of making the majority of TikTok feel “so attacked right now,” this “Big Dumb Cups” product pitch featured Johnson, Chloe Fineman and Heidi Gardner as variations of a very specific type of woman: one between the ages of “12 and 70,” who is “physically or spiritually blonde,” and who may or may not resort to murder to get their hands on one of those large, ludicrously expensive and potentially lead-laden Stanley Cups. “This is the cup that says, ‘I’m a virgin, but I also have six kids,’” Johnson said. “It’s the cup that says: ‘My favorite rapper? That’s Kesha,’” Fineman added. Extra props, literally, to the props department, for the sight gag of those increasingly Jurassic water bottles.
The “these cameos deserved better” sketch of the night:
That upstage attempt by Timberlake and Fallon wasn’t the only celebrity drop-in of the night: we also got appearances from Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban, who crashed a book-club sketch that saw Johnson as the “inventor” of a T-shirt that read, “Don’t ask if I’m ok. I’m ok. But if everyone starts asking if I’m ok, I might start crying’ on it.” (“I distilled the entire human experience into three sentences,” she quipped.) The clip was clearly conceived to have the TV investors swim in for a surprise, but the ending was underwritten, and it left said sharks splashing around aimlessly.
Stray observations
- A largely lousy episode, but we did enjoy two new characters introduced during “Weekend Update”: Heidi Gardner’s tarot reader Jan Janby, who offered up predictions on the 2024 presidential election, and some guy named Ethan (Bowen Yang), who showed up to put in his two cents on those Oscar nominations and reveal the winners of his own awards-show body, the Ethans. Ex: In the category of “Best Performance That Reminded Ethan of a Moment in Ethan’s Past,” you’ll find “Bradley Cooper Marrying a Woman, Maestro” and “Paul Giamatti’s Eye Condition, The Holdovers.”
- Uh, Dave Chappelle? The increasingly controversial comedian randomly appeared stage left during Dakota Johnson’s episode close-out, though the actress didn’t mention him at all. What’s the deal? Plus, according to Twitter, both Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal were also in the house, but we sadly didn’t get any onscreen sighting of either Internet boyfriend.
- However, next week, we will be getting sightings from both Emmy-winning The Bear star Ayo Edebiri, who makes her hosting debut, and superstar Jennifer Lopez, who returns as the musical guest.
146 Comments
I’m starting to think, and hear me out on this, that a 79-year-old producer might not be the best arbiter of what’s funny.
I always wonder how much Lorne is actually involved with on the show now. He seems way less visible than he was in the past and so many recent episodes feel too sloppy to have someone that controlling supposedly at the helm.
Cone on, if an episode ever deserved an F this was it. It’s also bizarre that they’d let an asshole like Timberlake be on the show. But if you are buddies wiht Lorne he doesn’t care how much of a prick you are to people (see Alec Baldwin). The audience gushing over him in the monologue was gross. The only satisfaction was how awful his musical performances were. That dude’s career is over.
And then Chapelle showed up at the end. Why?
Seriously…him? That’s disgusting.Also, I’d appreciate if writers could learn to use the English language, take some responsibility, and banish the evasive term ‘controversial’ to describe him. The evidence is in: He’s a bigot.
Bigot? What’d he say/do? Haven’t heard about this.
I feel the same way about the word “divisive.” They keep using that word…I don’t think it means what they think it means.
Agree.I did think the Timberlake-Johnson scene from The Social Network was right there for parody:JT: I used to be in a boy band.DJ: Justin Timblerlake used to be in a boy band.JT: Nice to meet you.DJ: I just slept with Justin Timberlake?JT: You just slept on Justin Timberlake …
Yeah, it’s one thing to look all soulful or misunderstood, but this guy’s constant expression is a combo of petulance and misdirected rage. He still thinks he’s the cutest kid on the stage. I read he’s going to tour and wondering if it will all be bad dancin’ N’SYNCing because I doubt he can do those vocal runs IRL.
He’s just not cool.
Yet I’d wager he’s probably still cooler than all the commenters here combined. Just sayin’.
Oh, you’re just sayin’? Okay.
Thanks, dude!
I usually heavily eye-roll at the usual “SNL hasn’t been funny in 25 years!” comments, but this ep… oofa. That opening skit was probably the absolute worst skit I’ve ever seen. Not worst SNL skit, worst skit EVER. Like, the waitresses can’t remember the order and say “chicken fongers” instead of “chicken fingers?” That’s the joke? In years past there at least would’ve been some truly weird ending that could half-save a terrible skit, but my god… How could that have been the FIRST skit of the night? How did that get out of dress rehearsal?
Yea that was really bad. Kept waiting for some kind of reveal that would complete whatever joke or point of the skit was. Also, im getting sick of Sara Sherman and her constant screeching and jerking around, always grinning like a psycho and showing as much teeth as possible in every single skit she’s in.
The funniest part of the show was how many Black folks JT needed to surround himself with to look cool in his first act. At first it was a full backing band and singers, then like 12 more dancers and a rapper come on stage, lol.
He’s the Rachel Dolezal of the music world. Cornrows, Blaccent, the dancing. I think that, down deep, he knows he doesn’t get the respect that Black artists do (and deserve) and somehow that pisses him off. He has collaborated with a lof of Black artists (Beyonce, especially), but it’s got to be about him.
Now that’s entitlement.
This is a lot to read into it.
Because I’m the only one on this site who ever does that.I got so lucky that someone picked me today, yay.It’s all true, though.
Haha yeah sorry I didn’t catch this episode live and I still like Timberlake (which I’m guessing is out of fashion now from what I gather in these comments) so reading your comment after all the others reminded me of someone reading a perfectly fine email but getting irrationally angry by the end of it because of how much they filled in themselves, you know? I used to work with a person like that and found it amusing and a tad worrisome. It was lots of fun to have them read the emails out loud and listen to the inflection they chose to use, though. A little like the Key and Peele ‘texting’ sketch.
I liked JT a long time ago. I’ve just read too many interviews with him. His antics are tiresome and he has develped a creep factor that irritates me. White musicians appropriating Black culture pisses me off, I won’t lie.
Translated: You liked him when it was okay to like him and now that it apparently isn’t you don’t. Get off Twitter and think for yourself.
I get it. I will say as I’ve gotten older I’ve discovered the more I know about most celebrities the less I like them. Not always true, of course, but seems to be true more often than not. He’s one I still don’t know much about (though living near his home in Tennessee I do know a few people that have met him and say he is very nice in person, for whatever that’s worth) but I tend to not keep up with celebrity gossip as I find it tiresome and often one-sided depending on the ‘general vibe’ of the public towards that person at any given time.
Whatever a DatNi99 is, I don’t do twitter, lol.
And it’s called X.And it’s fun that I can dismiss your funky ass self.
yes most people when they put out art/music are out to help other people, not themselves. sure, that makes sense. What a monster!
Lol! That’s the perfect description, male Rachel Dolezal 👍
Everyone is featured on his songs, but you never see anyone feature him on a track. Sums it up.
Good point.
My wife and I thought that Timberlake’s first song was better then anything that came out of his last album, then his 2nd song sounds muddy, like they f’ed up his mics or mixing .
I caught the “Home Movies” bit first on Youtube last night and genuinely thought that was hilarious. Weekend Update was okay. Didn’t finish anything else they posted.
I made a post about it earlier, but letter grades don’t matter for this site anymore, if they ever did. D-s and Fs were once only used for shitty right wing propaganda movies.
I need to stop staying up, hoping this show will be good when I can easily go to bed at a decent hour on a Saturday night, watch it the next day on Peacock, immediately realize it’s awful and then find something else within minutes.The sooner someone else takes over this show the better. I’d say the show was lazy, but that would mean someone would had to have done something, right?
You got to embrace the Sunday morning hate watch while you make breakfast or fold laundrey.
I need to stop staying up, hoping this show will be good when I can easily go to bed at a decent hour on a Saturday night, watch it the next day on Peacock, immediately realize it’s awful and then find something else within minutes.The sooner someone else takes over this show the better. I’d say the show was lazy, but that would mean someone would had to have done something, right?
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It’s insane how consistently bad this show has become.
Yeah these “Please Don’t Destroy” skits routinely get singled out as the best, yet I find them and the trio just aggressively mediocre. I can’t imagine how bad the rest of the show is.
I can’t stand them. It’s amazing that when I read about them they discuss how they created some stuff during the pandemic and SNL came knocking while conveniently leaving out that 2 of the 3 have decades long connections through their parents to the show. Dakota is one thing. She may have gotten the boost trading on her name. These guys simply went to work at their dad’s company in a very real way since Tim Herlihy is Adam Sandler’s longtime writing partner and Steve Higgins has been writing at SNL and serving as producer for 27 years. Now they have a movie as well. Not sure making fun of their nepo baby status was the way to go when most people would kill to get a foot in the door and these guys coast along on mediocre talent. The only reason I found this sketch funny is because everything Dakota said is exactly how I feel only with more hatred in my heart. They’re average writers and even worse actors who. It’s not much of a surprise the only one of them I kind of like that seems to put in any effort at all is the one guy who doesn’t have a parent that worked at SNL and is probably grateful he fell in with these idiots.
I’m back for round two on my dislike for Lonelier Island. The Herlihy boy has about as much charisma as the character Sandler played of the same name. Watching that bit it’s kind of incredible how little self awareness they seem to have thinking that they can make fun of all this stuff because they’re somehow delusional enough to think they’re better than that. Dakota is legitimately talented. She can’t seem to get a role that plays to her strengths. I think Ben and Kate was the last thing she was in I actually enjoyed. Meanwhile these guys, with the sometimes exception of Ben Marshall, are devoid of personality. Their line delivery is flat. The writing is kind of lazy except when it was Dakota talking about them. Maybe because those jokes practically write themselves and even their severe lack of talent can’t miss when aiming at such an easy target as themselves. It’s ironic that John Higgins played Ron DeSantis because both he and Martin Herlihy have the most unnerving smiles. Martin especially looks like some kind of weird deep fake. OK, I think I’m done. That was cathartic.
The movie was … meh. Not terrible, mind you: parts of it were funny.
The skit with Timothée Chalamet was reasonably amusing, I guess. The appeal of those guys is that there is a small, yet non-zero chance that one of their bits might be amusing. I mean, some of the roasts in this week’s skit were pretty good, even though it failed to cohere.I think the biggest problem they have is the one that Dakota alluded to in the roast when she called them “The Lonelier Island”: they are doomed because they will be inevitably be compared with that trio, and they are nowhere near as talented or funny.
Or the Stella comedy troupe. And you nailed it. At the end of the day, those guys just have no star qualities. It’s like they all have taken for a given that they’ll be comedians, but haven’t, you know, attempted to develop personas, routines or anything comedic.
I feel like these sketches really only appeal to the writers.
Not sure why Christina is carrying the water for Dakota, she’s a lousy actress. (I’m shocked she doesn’t get tossed in as the Uber-Nepo Baby.)Guess I can just hit delete on the DVR, wasn’t expecting great things anyway!
Nobody who watched Ben and Kate would say that. (To be sure almost nobody watched Ben and Kate.)
I cant tell how much I’ve aged out of it, and its just seems bad as its a shittier version of Gen Z internet skits with a larger budget* aimed at people about 25 years younger than me ,and how much is just plain bad. (*I mean in fairness the mid 90s to early 2010s was probably just a shittier version of college improv skits** with larger budget but since I was in teh age bracket it was aimed at a lot..well some of it was funny )(**I’m guessing the 2030s version will be shittier version of those tiktok skits where one guy plays all the characters ,only with a bigger budget)
I really think it’s worse now, not just that fans are aging out of it. Lonely Island, Bill Hader, Will Ferrell. There were just more talented people on in the past.
This week was especially bad. I hate watch this in Sunday mornings when I make breakfast and this week I had to shut it off it was so bad.
Same.I watch in the am with a cup of tea in one hand and the remote (for fast forwarding) in the other hand. I FFd through just about this whole episode.I come to AV Club to find out if it was just me or if it the show actually sucked. This one wasn’t me.P.S. – The worst thing I saw (other than the Gibbs thing) was that restaurant sketch.
I catch the clips as they’re posted on youtube. Show is much shorter that way, and you can bow out 10-15 seconds into most skits.
I’d like to thank all of the commenters for saving me the agony trouble of watching this. The comments are the best part of Sunday but I guess you can’t grow flowers without some shit.
It’s become really, really stale. They keep doing game show sketches, and are those really a thing anymore? Followed by the same sketch involving friends getting together in someone’s living room, with the one friend acting eccentric. Oddly enough, one area that the show seems to have moved on from is having recurring characters. Which is funny, since they were such a staple in the 90’s and early 2000’s.
You hire someone with absolutely zero personality to be your host and this is what happens. I just don’t get why she’s a thing at all. I’m sure she’s nice enough, but she is not a good actress. Why not let Timberlake just…be the host? He is the current times Tom Hanks and should be leaned on to save a season, not half-assed to save an episode.
It’s insane how someone has to say this literally every week regardless of the quality of the episode.
Everybody gets 0ne!
lol Fair enough.
Eek. I didn’t watch this episode but if the Stanley cup one was a highlight than it must have been really bad. I have been enjoying the Stanley cup spoof videos but this one was bad.
There was a “home movies” filmed segment that was quite decent, yet bizarrely didn’t get mentioned in this recap. It was FAR more satisfying than the Stanley segment full of missed cues that went on well beyond its runtime.
I thought I was crazy for a minute–I usually catch the ‘show’ through pieces as SNL posts them on Youtube (they post almost immediately after that particular sketch airs–it’s kind of impressive how fast their channel updates) but I’m never entirely sure if it’s from that night’s episode or from one earlier I missed. Not seeing it on the recap I figured it was cut from the episode (SNL’s page sometimes posts stuff the stuff cut for time or dress rehearsal stuff that was cut). I thought it was one of the funniest things I’d seen from any SNL in the past few years. So weird it wasn’t even mentioned if it aired on the live show.
The Stanley cup one was NOT a highlight. That one wasn’t funny, and went on far too long, during which it also was not funny.The “Home Movies” segment was the high point of the episode. Following that was the Please Don’t Destroy segment, which involved an absolutely amazing exchange of barbs between the PDD guys and Johnson. After that, the episode trails off rather badly. I’ve never seen an opening sketch (“Chicken Fongers”) be so completely devoid of anything even tangentially related to the concept of humor. The Shark Tank sketch was also painfully unfunny to me.
In the classic “sketch went on way too long” tradition of SNL, the Big Dumb Cups sketch eventually became a literal ad for the fucking thing.
The “stealth” SNL ad had been a thing for years. Only way Lorne keeps the show on these days I imagine.
I’m expecting the Ugg Stanley cup to show up in Target by Mother’s Day.
I had a weird fondness for Dakota. She lived up to that in the Please Don’t Destroy sketch, but she’s not suited for the live stuff. Her approach to comedy (lol) isn’t served by the show. Worst though was Justin Timberlake’s obvious desperation to be loved again. Like, you could tell on his face that he knows people don’t like him anymore.
He looks absolutely miserable, doesn’t he? It might indeed be jealousy but I don’t think he’s talking about a woman. I’ve read he’s doing a world tour. The audience is going to be full of moms with bleached out hair; I don’t know if his ego will be able to take it, lol.
Moms with bleached out hair and big dumb cups!
Dammit, you made me look. That was 4 minutes and 2 seconds too long.There will be cups. No hats though. That salon bill was $400. Everyone’s gotta see that hair.
I was very, very shocked at how awful Dakota Johnson was in the live skits. The Please Don’t Destroy was fine, even good, but man… was she high or something? Every single line was like a an extremely awkward second or two late.
Yea, and the Madame Web trailor looked like incomprehensible garbage. Looks like it’s Morbin’ Time all over again.
See, this is how I picture her movies going–lots and lots of takes to make her seem reasonably human, even if her expression never changed one tiny iota.
I hafta admit, I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen any movie she’s been in except the Social Network, which I just learned from SNL that she was in that movie. I guess she’s the girl JT sleeps with at the beginning.
I’m sorry and I’m sure she’s very nice, but holy hell she is not a good actress.
Agree with all. Timberlake was sweaty as hell in his efforts to win over the audience.
Same. I really liked her in Bad Times at the El Royale. I don’t think she’s so bad. She even tried her best in Fifty Shades. I think people are just holding those movies against her. (They were terrible, but that’s not all on her shoulders, and they seem to have forgiven Jamie Dornan.)
F you Lorne Fallon and Timberlake. Oh and Chapelle too.
I want to punch everyone in the comedy friends group that loves Dave Chapelle and keeps inviting places and promoting is awful work.
His best work is long, long behind him. I mean, yeah, The Chappelle Show was funny at the time, but it’s been 20 years, and he’s still coasting on that success.
Come on some of his stand up (before he was openly a bigot, of course) was pretty funny. I can’t watch him now the same way I refuse to give Louis C.K. a pass
When only some of the jokes in the Weekend update are the best part for me this show should get an F rating. So bad….
The problem with this show is the writers. Weekend Update is ok, but the sketches (not “clips” – who calls sketches clips? Clips are selections from a movie or show that are shown on a talk show or the news) are uniformly bad. The cast is very good, but they have terrible material to work with.
The cast is very good, but they have terrible material to work with.The cast is part of the writing staff. They can come up with their own ideas and characters. That’s the best way to get screen time.
Sure, but even the best casts of SNL relied on great writers who were never or rarely onscreen like Robert Smigel, Conan O’Brien, Rosie Shuster, Adam McKay, etc., etc.
I always wonder if the writing would improve if they had two weeks in which to write and revise a sketch instead of five days.
Maybe, but past seasons have pulled off putting together great shows in one week.
Yup. Other than PDD and those Weekend Update characters, this was a total dud. I’ve never seen a “Barry Gibb Talk Show” skit and are they always so bad? Fallon couldn’t even reach a falsetto.
I’ve never seen a “Barry Gibb Talk Show” skit and are they always so bad? Fallon couldn’t even reach a falsetto.
When they first started, they were reasonably funny. Probably the best thing Fallon did on the show (which isn’t saying much but still). But like a lot of SNL recurring bits, the law of diminishing returns hit fast. Much like tonight, they treated it as an obligation that any time Timberlake was associated with the show whether he was host or musical guest, they had to trot out Fallon to do the bit.
this is the first time I had ever seen the Gibbs sketch and I felt so out of the loop on what was going on. It felt aggressively terrible and I’m pretty sure both Fallon and Timberlake knew it sucked.
100% agree. it had the stale, awkward & slightly sad feel of when Meyers trots out the pull-date Wayne’s world character or Short reboots Ed Grimly.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Martin Short can reboot Ed Grimley as often as he likes. I will tolerate no Ed Grimley slander!
It felt like 10 minutes too long.
I really liked the pre recorded Maury skit. It was the only other thing that got a laugh out of me.
Yeah, that wasn’t bad. A total twist on what I thought was gonna happen.
This was the only part of the show I’d seen until earlier today and wow was the rest of it a huge disappointment (didn’t finish most of the other sketches). Out of the awful context of the rest of the show the Home Movies segment was hilarious. The rest of the show around it made it seem worse.
“are they always so bad?”The first one 20 years ago was reasonably funny.
I’m just grateful it wasn’t another “Bring it on in to Omeletteviiiillllle-aaahh” sketch
So it turns out Lonely Island was doing all the heavy lifting on making Timberlake funny.
Is Timberlake wearing a toupee now? His hairline looks funny.And after Tobe Nwigwe came out in the musical number, I could only wonder why we wasted all that time watching Justin Timberlake.
He was just unnecessary at that point.
They let him in the Black church so now they have to be nice to him. Next week they’ll meet at the AME on the other side of town and not tell him.
I dunno, watching him get upstaged by his own backup singers and dancers was fun.
“one of Hollywood’s most low-key chaotic and unintentionally hilarious figures: Dakota Johnson.”
She’s just….there. That’s the most kind thing I can say for her ‘acting’ skills. She’s ‘there’ and I guess that sort of counts for something? People keep putting her in stuff for some reason (though I guess for three of those films it was ‘she’s willing to when most others aren’t, and her mom and dad are famous’).
I wonder if they threw the Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch in on Thursday or Friday after they realized that Johnson was going to struggle to carry the show. She wasn’t superb 9 years ago, and she hasn’t improved.
In all fairness, “The Lonelier Island” dig got a a huge giggle from me.
I loved The Lonely Island and I still enjoy their ‘music videos’ on YouTube. They always put me in a good mood. “Shy Ronnie” with Rihanna can get stuck in my head all day.
The Michael Bolton one gets me every time. Instantly cheers me up.
That was abysmal. It wasn’t just because the surprise was ruined. Why did they decide to pile on extra bits throughout when the sketch has been fine without. I found all the extra things like the zipline selfie or using the rib cage as a lobster trap seemed to indicate they were no longer confident in the core idea and needed something else to keep the audience with them. If so the sketch shouldn’t have been used. Given how bad the rest of the show was they probably had nothing to replace it with. What in the name of all that is good and holy was that bit in the restaurant at the start? The wordplay was pathetic and it ended as abruptly as it began. To think I was actually looking forward to this. Also can we please replace the Update hosts? As much as I enjoy Che finally settling into a persona where he craves the audiences disgust instead of smiling awkwardly like he’s embarrassed to get a laugh I feel like Colin has run out of steam. I get the feeling Lorne won’t risk someone untried heading into the 50th though which means at least another season and a half with Colin looking increasingly tired for a guy who is only 41.
He’s been there almost as long as Kenan.
“the sight gag of those increasingly Jurassic water bottles.” The water bottles increasingly came from the second period of the Mesozoic era?
Right? what a weird size reference that attempted to be. I mean, I guess I understood but I pondered that phrasing a while.
Very little Ego in this show for some reason. She wouldnt have fixed this disaster, but when shes on lot it can patch up some of what sucks.
Her last line in the selling-shirt-to-Shark-Tank sketch should’ve been the last line of the sketch, if only because we would’ve been spared the cameos.
I thought the Maury Povich sketch was funny/horrifying.It hadn’t occurred to me that there’s actually real twenty-somethings out there who can go to YouTube and watch their father get “The Big Announcement” on TV after arguing with their mom about who’s the biggest whore/deadbeat.
I mean, these are real kids. Can you imagine being one of them?
That was a great sketch.
Mikey Day nailed it, with his look and portrayal on stage. The extra baggy button up shirt, the hair, the chin beard. On point.
He seemed entirely too comfortable in that role. lol I don’t want to see photos of him from 20 years ago.
“Y’ALL DONT KNOW ME!”
Please those real kids dads were not in their lives (and probably not the mom either).
I see most SNL on Youtube anymore, and this was the only part of the show I caught last night and figured the rest of the episode had to be a banger, as this was the funniest filmed bit I’ve seen in a very long time. I’m sure I don’t have to explain my disappointment at not being able to even finish anything else but Weekend Update. Even the stupid cup thing-and I do not understand the craze at all, so it seemed like low hanging fruit that should have been a slam dunk-was just annoying.
Agreed. Amazing that once again the funniest sketch of the show doesn’t get a mention in the AV Club review.
Probably the high point.
Agreed, that was a good one.
I didn’t think last week’s episode was *that* bad, but jeez this one was pretty dire. So much dead air and that Gibbs sketch may be among the show’s worst.
Once again for a “live” show the only funny bits were the pre-recorded ones. The “The day I found out I was your father” home movies sketch was gold, and as usual the “please don’t destroy” guys were solid. “I love workaholics” almost made me choke on my coffee. Literally everything else about this shit fest was absolute garbage.
When I can bring myself to watch I always prefer the recorded skits too. I’d be fine if the show just went to Saturday Night.
Actually the Workaholics line is incredible because Workaholics is fundamentally funnier than anything the “Don’t Destroy” crew have ever conjured up. Mistaking them for Workaholics is flattering and badly fails as a laugh line.
Timberlake officially has the Most Punchable Face (at least on SNL). The lip syncing was dreadful. And now he’s singing in a Black church. Fo shiz.
Ok what scene was Dakota Johnson when in in the social network? I’ve heard this mentioned repeatedly and can’t for the life of me remember her appearing in it
She had blond hair at the time, and looked quite different to how she does now, so you wouldn’t really recognize her, but she was in the introductory scene with Sean Parker. It’s the morning after the two have hooked up, and Sean Parker discovers facebook. It’s like a five minute scene.
I looked at her IMDB page earlier today. Haven’t seen the sex ones, and every single other film I’ve seen she’s been in, I could not tell you one thing about her performance. I mean, that’s weird, right? I’m a movie guy and a couple of them I’ve seen more than once, and had zero recollection of her part in them at all.
That was a really bad night, did we really need Jimmy Fallon trying to take over the show?
This comment section feels like a women’s lit circle jerk. This ep was funnier than the one joke last ep.
Fella, I think someone needs to explain some things to you about circle jerks and female anatomy (which your apparent unfamiliarity with does not seem remotely surprising based upon this comment)…
I thought this Do Not Destroy was the funniest thing, because of how chronically unfunny every one of those bits are, week after week. The studio audience reaction to it proves my point.
I also thought Lost Bag was pretty funny. Better than most of last week.
Not great, but above average for that time slot, and I’m not always crazy about Kenan’s goofier characters.
Timberlake on SNL is for all-time nothing but a d*ck in a box.
Dakota Johnson is my fetish.
Decent episode if you skip all the Timberlake, Fallon, and political nonsense. Solid 8 minutes of entertainment.
Why did Mark Cuban look like he was wearing a grey witch mask from a Bugs Bunny cartoon? It was upsetting.
Jesus just write John Mulaney huge check and make him the head writer and host of every 5th episode. Also do some screening on whether someone is fit to host.
I thought the Maury Povich sketch was pretty funny and a pretty good premise.
yes @Bam Sarbantihttps://shorturl.at/azO38
I agree it was the worst show in quite a while, but not so long ago everyone was raving about Emma Stone, Nate Bargatz and Pedro Pascal. Predictably weeks like this make the hardcore haters come out of the woodwork and begin tired calls for putting the show out of its misert, But SNL quality has always been up and down, that comes with scrambling to pull togehter a 90 minute live show every week. When it works, it’s thrilling. When it doesn’t, it’s a bummer, but it’s not like we get stabbed in the eye. If you can’t chill every week and be grateful for what lands, then don’t watch anymore. As the rating show, there are plenty of fans who aren’t frothing to tear down on of the few remaining pop culture institutions because Don Johnson’s daughter isn’t good at sketches.
I thought the paternity test / family short film was pretty funny. Spooky!
Yeah, this was shit. Weekend Update had some fun bits, but the fuck ups were glaring, and whatever charisma Dakota Johnson has is lost on me.
Johnson in that Stanley mug skit kinda looks like Allison Brie.
I just want to remark on the letter grades for this site, if I may, and how low their importance has fallen (fitting to the quality of this site).D-? Really? I know letter grades were always bullshit, but I miss the days where AA Dowd had to defend when he gave A-’s to movies that people thought should have been As. When Ignatiy Vishnevetsky reviewed Cats (CATS, FOR GOD’S SAKE) he gave it a D+:
Yes, Cats is as bad as it looks (avclub.com)Are you saying this particular episode of SNL is worse than CATS? Or does a D not mean anything on this site anymore?
This episode wasn’t great. It also wasn’t good. I have no problem with Dakota Johnson and she tried, but the lack of laughs sometimes was LOUD. Like legit there were pauses for laughter and zero laughter, especially during the dumb cup sketch, but that wasn’t the only one. It was pretty rough. The PDD video was good, as was the Maury sketch.
Bowen Yang’s “Ethan Awards” thing was way too long, though I’m not sure that trimming it would have made it funny. And how is his racist “Asians don’t raisin” comment funny? What he’s saying is that his race ages better than others. What if “Asians” were replaced by “Whites”? Ignoring the loss of the rhyme, would that be acceptable?