Saturday Night Live recap: Go Dua Lipa, give us something!
The "Illusion" pop star joins the double-duty club as both this week's host and musical guest
TV Reviews Dua Lipa
After a few weeks of spring break, Saturday Night Live returned this week still buzzing off that season-high giggle fest of a Ryan Gosling episode. (His Beavis and Mikey Day’s Butt-Head walked the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of The Fall Guy on Tuesday.) And who better to usher us into the last few episodes of the season—and the beginning of a sultry summer—than the seemingly-perpetually-vacationing pop star Dua Lipa.
To support her third studio album, Radical Optimism, the artist formerly known as Dula Peep—who previously appeared as the show’s musical guest in seasons 43 and 46—joined a long line of musicians who’ve pulled double duty as SNL host, from Quncy Jones to Queen Latifah, Justin Timberlake to Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish to Bad Bunny.
Given that the singer does have acting experience—though we were hoping the episode would give more Barbie, less Argylle—and a healthy sense of humor about herself, Ms. Lipa was clearly eager to get silly alongside the cast. (A decades-late The Elephant Man bit? Sign her, and us, up!) Sadly, despite all of our radical optimism, the “Houdini” crooner wasn’t amplified or accentuated by the mostly mid writing this week, so much as she tried to give us “everything.”
Cold open: Kenan & Co. on college protests
If you’re going to do a touchy topical open—like this week’s kickoff interviewing parents of college students (Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner) about their feelings on the on-going Israel-Palestine protests happening at campuses across the country—the most surefire way to soften tensions is by bringing in Kenan, whose funny voices and facial reactions have been a humorous, and harmless, salve for 21 seasons.
After a notably shaky opening from Michael Longfellow, playing our NY1 host, Thompson got easy laughs as a Columbia dad who supports the student protests, but does not support his own daughter Alexis Vanessa’s involvement: “She better not be talking ’bout free this, free that, because I tell you what ain’t free. Columbia!” After detailing all of the various jobs it takes to afford the Ivy Leaguer’s $68,ooo-a-year tuition, it seemed a missed opportunity to not end the bit with footage of Alexis Vanessa out at the protests, complete with a characteristically over-the-top Kenan reaction. Instead, the sketch petered out long before we got to the “Live from New York” bit.
Opening monologue: Dua remains radically optimistic
In a too-short but sweet monologue, our first-time host highlighted her fun-loving parents (“We ended up at the club at 3:00 in the morning and who do I bump into but my parents, which was embarrassing because the last thing you want to see when you’re super high and drunk off your ass is your daughter”), gave optimistic advice to folks in the audience (we can’t wait for those “On the bright side, there’s always poppers!” reaction GIFs to hit Twitter) and shared her sheer willingness to do whatever it takes to make a good show. “I’m here, I’m hosting, I’m performing, I’m making the wigs, I’m dealing Adderall to the writers…I’m going to give you everything!” she proclaimed—we just wish those writers would put in the same level of effort.
The best sketch of the night:
The Elephant Man meets The Twilight Zone with a good deal of Poor Things horniness thrown in—this black-and-white body-horror bit stars Dua Lipa as a theater fan taken with a timid, disabled playwright (Sarah Sherman). From the costuming to the prosthetics, the production levels were high with this one, which made it all the funnier when it was revealed that our titular Anomalous Man not only secretly owns a cell phone but has been messaging other women on the side, and with increasingly graphic sexts. You can hear how much fun the staff had coming up with choice texts like “I’m tryna show you what this snout do!” and “I’m gonna ride your face until it looks normal.”
The “there had to be a better Challengers sketch” of the night:
Because I am a nearly 35-year-old working woman, I’d never before heard of Sonny Angels, the apparently very real and creepy little dolls that sport whimsical hats, rosy cheeks and small, fully exposed penises. Much to Marcello Hernàndez’s confusion, his date (Lipa) is obsessed with the faddish toys, particularly a grape-crowned one played by Bowen Yang.
Once the platter of churros (“the most penis dessert”) came out and that “stressful and horny” Challengers soundtrack cranked up, the surreal premise finally started taking shape, but it was let down by awkward timing and line stumbles. Given how unabashedly horny and genuinely funny the Luca Guadagnino-directed tennis flick is, we wish it got a stronger parody treatment than this.
The worst celebrity cameo of the night:
Fellow pop star Troye Sivan dropped into Studio 8H to introduce Lipa’s first musical performance of the night, for the single “Illusion,” but he wasn’t the only starry appearance. During this week’s “Weekend Update” segment, Colin Jost and Michael Che were joined by “A Man Who Did Too Much Press,” a.k.a. Jerry Seinfeld, who showed up to promote his new Netflix film Unfrosted and seemingly walk back some of the boomer crap he recently spewed about the state of modern-day comedy. (Like most 70-year-old billionaires, he’s annoyed with “woke culture.”) “Where am I, exactly? Is this a podcast?” the frazzled comedian intro’d his middling cameo. Real edgy stuff, Jer. (Far more enjoyable was Hernàndez as Kristi Noem’s other dog and Chloe Fineman as good-girl-gone-bad JoJo Siwa.)
The better returning sketch of the night:
That “Young Spicy” bit has pretty much lost all its flavor, but we do see long-term potential in the recurring “Jingle Pitch” sketch, which debuted during the Jenna Ortega-hosted episode last year.
Playing a local band tasked with crafting a catchy jingle for a family flooring business, Andrew Dismukes and James Austin Johnson were giving Samberg-and-Timberlake before the latter got insufferable. And it was nice to see the powers that be actually let Lipa give something, which was actually not-the-worst New Yawk accent we’ve ever heard. We don’t know if the sketch quite hit the “Daiqued down, Pepped up, Luched out” levels that Bowen Yang was demanding, but we wouldn’t be unopposed to boogying down with Soul Booth in the future.
Stray observations
- One of the best editions of Saturday Night Live this season was hosted by Kristen Wiig, and next week her fellow SNL alum and frequent costar Maya Rudolph gets her turn as host, in support of the second season of her Apple TV+ series Loot. One of the best SNL cast members of this century, Rudolph is always a joy to watch on the Studio 8H stage. The comedy great will be joined by Vampire Weekend as musical guest; the band recently released its first LP in five years, Only God Was Above Us.
- And for our big season finale on Saturday, May 18, Lorne and Co. has tapped Jake Gyllenhaal as host for the third time. The actor has had a busy year so far, between the Road House remake and his new Apple TV+ limited series, Presumed Innocent, which premieres in June. And pop star Sabrina Carpenter will make her SNL debut as musical guest, bringing with her some of that “me espresso.”
69 Comments
Constantly amazed at how much access Seinfeld gets. When I saw him drop – first thing! – into John Mulaney’s new Netflix series, I was hitting the fast forward button.And no one else watching with me complained.
Weird how a guy who co-created one of, if not the most successful sitcom of all time gets so much access.
No shit, Sherlock. There’s also decades of this sort of vile comedy-killing action, or are we just playing dumb here?
I understand if that bothers people. When I first learned about it in the early-00’s, it certainly gave me the ick. But I struggle to hold a relationship from thirty years ago against him when he’s been married for twenty-five years while Shoshanna Lonstein went on to become a writer and fashion designer. That’s just me, but clearly the people booking him must feel the same way. Other people can feel however they want, IDGAF.
Funny thing to me is the Jerry Seinfeld I know and love from the show would never date an 18 year old. Not because he thought it was morally wrong necessarily but because he’s so hyper-aware of the rules of society I don’t think he could go through with it.
He turned down a threesome because he “didn’t want to be an orgy guy.”
That would have been a good episode. lol
SNL took a big risk having edgelord comedian Jerry Seinfeld show up. They must have been sweating the entire time worried he’d go full Michael Richards at any second.
If you read the entirety of Seinfeld’s comments, they’re not radical or even unreasonable. Jerry Seinfeld’s biggest problem is that he’s smug and not particularly funny, anymore.
You die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the establishment – also see Bill Maher.The comedy establishment is never, ever, truly insightful because the establishment can’t challenge itself, so all it can challenge is the anti-establishment, and that mainly consists of whining to each other about Kids These Days.
Right, because Jerry Seinfeld is known for his offensive rants.Have I fallen into a universe where Seinfeld is considered to be some controversial entertainer?
Every couple of years Jerry gets a Bee Movie in his bonnet about how “woke” killed comedy and how you couldn’t make Seinfeld today. Then everyone gets upset and rightfully points out that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is still going strong and doing stuff that they couldn’t get away with on Seinfeld. It’s baffling because he’s famously a clean comedian like you said. It would be like if fellow clean comedian Brian Regan hit the podcast circuit and was complaining about how he can’t say the “N” word on stage.
Ah, that’s just Seinfeld stroking his ego and lying to himself that he’s an insightful, subversive comedian who pushed boundaries, etc etc etc.Dude thinks he was the new Bill Hicks or George Carlin instead of an adequately competent sitcom actor. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I got the feeling he is simply feeling kranky because he missed the era when multicam soundstage era of sitcoms were the king. Nowadays, you barely see that type of sitcom that really a hit anymore. TBBT was the last true king of that type of sitcom.
Why would he miss that era? He went out on top, and the fact that sitcoms like that don’t really become hits anymore means his record will stay intact.
Why not? A lot of retired athletes still reminiscing their best years in sport. It’s no difference here. Especially when you went out with the bang.
Fair enough, I’ve just never gotten the impression that he’s attached to multicam sitcoms (somewhat evident by the fact he never created, or even appeared on another one). Even though he’s obviously proud of his show, in every interview that I’ve read or watched with him, he’s been steadfast in how stand-up is his first love. I actually agree that he’s cranky for an era that’s gone by, just not that particular era.
Hey now, apparently the anti-woke comedy movement isn’t a thing, despite…y’know…math and metrics and entirely predictable media cycles that have played out multiple times, and no fewer than (at least) three pretty recent multi-million dollar specials marketed that way and predicated upon that very tactic (Chappelle, Gervais, Carr).
Yep. And, like…it’s okay to recognize that pattern? No one is out here calling for Jerry Seinfeld’s head or career, or whatever.
I feel like the original comment was facetious, but who even knows with kids and the interwebs these days?
Have I fallen into a universe where Seinfeld is considered to be some controversial entertainer? Nah, but you’re definitely in a universe in which stale comedians court controversy specifically to spike relevance and/or land a multi-million dollar Netflix special.
I can’t imagine he’s said any of this stuff to “spike relevance”? Why would saying something outdated make him sound relevant? It just makes him sound old, which he is old, so. It’s more likely he says stuff in interviews because he just believes them.
Why would saying something outdated make him sound relevant? Let’s not pretend that the “woke culture is destroying comedy” -> rebrand to an “edgy” persona -> (usually) Netflix special isn’t a thing. It is. That was the thrust of my comment.The latest flurry of “anti-woke” pablum he’s been spouting is pretty conveniently close to the release of his first major project in decades. People can read into that as they will.Me? I’m not a fan of Jerry Seinfeld, never have been, and am neither going to defend him as if he were my father nor attack him as if he killed my father. My overall point was that a group of established comedians very much have been leveraging “anti-woke” sentiment into buzz for their upcoming projects. Does Seinfeld need to do that? I’d say no. Is he doing that? No idea, don’t really care. Are we in an era of comedy in which that is happening? I’d say yes.
Except he’s Jerry Seinfeld. If he wanted Netflix special he could just tell Netflix he wants a Netflix special. They’re doing a Pop-Tart movie for him. If we’re not pretending let’s not pretend that Jerry Seinfeld needs a gimmick to get a comedy special.“My overall point was that a group of established comedians”I don’t know who this group is.“Is he doing that? No idea, don’t really care.”No idea, correct, and no reason at all to think that he would.
I don’t know who this group is. Chappelle, Gervais, Carr, Matt Rife, to name a few recents. Add in Schneider, on the right wing side. A case could also be made for Shane Gillis, though he seems to just be trying to ignore the whole thing.Pretty sure I’ve seen you in past comment threads arguing over some of those comedians, but I could be mistaken.In any event, not really looking to have a debate of the century over this. You apparently disagree with me on Seinfeld, and are extrapolating that disagreement into a wholesale disregard of the “anti-woke comedy” movement, so I’ve linked a smattering of articles here, in case you care to learn more (though I could’ve sworn you already knew about this). Turns out it’s a whole thing in comedy circles, and the medium in general!https://consequence.net/2024/05/jon-stewart-mocks-anti-woke-comedians/https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv/2023/09/jimmy-carr-tedious-unfunny-anti-woke-comedyhttps://www.cracked.com/article_41265_joe-lycett-says-that-ricky-gervais-anti-woke-material-would-bomb-at-a-comedy-club.htmlhttps://bleedingcool.com/tv/bill-maher-anti-woke-comedy-freedom-of-speech-hypocrisy/
Okay I don’t know about most of these, but with Chappelle and Gervais, I don’t know that I have enough information to say that they “leveraged” these comments into Netflix specials. What I saw was rich people saying rich people things, and then Netflix gave them specials. I don’t see evidence that Netflix wouldn’t have given Chappelle and Gervais (very famous comedians) specials anyway, and I don’t see evidence that these comments were made with the intention of getting a Netflix special, which is what the term “leveraged” suggests. In fact, Gervais’s comments were not far out of line with stuff he’s been saying his whole career.“You apparently disagree with me on Seinfeld”I’m not sure I do. All I said was there’s no evidence that he is saying these things deliberately to “spike relevance” rather than just saying them because he’s a 70 year old rich white man and these are the things he believes, which you yourself said you had “no idea” if he was doing it to get a Netflix special either and acknowledged that he would have absolutely no reason to need to do this to get a Netflix special, so I’m not sure we disagree on that at all.“and are extrapolating that disagreement into a wholesale disregard of the ‘anti-woke comedy’ movement”This seems made-up.I’m really sorry you chose to spend your time gathering those links. 🙁
Why did you delete my comment when all I said was that you and I agreed on Jerry Seinfeld? Did I say something that wasn’t true?
Dude, it has been what we’d call “a day” on my end. I threw out an off-the-cuff comment this morning, you asked me to justify it, I gave it my best, and said I didn’t want to have a debate over it.You responded by…picking apart things I said, trying to leverage semantics, and making a debate out of it.If I misread you, hey, my bad. I’m just really not in the mood for saying “Yeah, I’d rather not do this today” only to have someone (by all appearances) totally ignore that and try to do that very thing. I cannot imagine that you would appreciate someone doing that, or that you’ve appreciated it if/when it *has* happened.Again, if I misread something, my bad. I was not attempting to declaratively state that Jerry Seinfeld or other comedians are absolutely and craftily seeding media outlets with “anti-woke” screeds with the specific aim of landing a special. My overall point was that there’s quite a lucrative market for controversy-courting comedians, and that the threat of “cancellation” or “danger” in doing anti-woke comedy is pretty overblown when those “dangerous” comics tend to land multi-million dollar comedy specials and massive audiences *directly on the heels* of having done or said the things that *they’re* saying would ruin their careers.Fuck, I don’t even think Seinfeld is an “edgelord,” as the OP suggested. But there’s definitely a modern ecosystem for “edgy” comics that Andrew Dice Clay and Sam Kinison would’ve killed for, and I think it’s disingenuous for Seinfeld to act as if there’s things that comics “just can’t SAY anymore” or whatever. They’re saying it, and taking it to the (literal) bank.
I’m not a dude, just fyi, and I didn’t make you “have a debate over it,” and I didn’t ask you to justify shit in my first comment. I expressed curiosity about something you said—that’s what we call having a conversation. If you didn’t want to respond back, all you had to do was ignore it. I ignore people on here all the time. It’s chickenshit to delete someone’s comment just because you don’t feel like responding and so you can look like you had the last word. “You responded by…picking apart things I said, trying to leverage semantics, and making a debate out of it.”No, I responded by responding. You said things and I said things back based on the plain English meaning of your plain English words. Again, a conversation. Literally all I said was Jerry Seinfeld has no reason to say these things to get a Netflix special. That’s not picking apart anything.“and making a debate out of it.”Any time someone has a slightly different take they’ve “made a debate out of it”? The only one making a debate out if it is you, since WE AGREED.“and I think it’s disingenuous for Seinfeld to act as if there’s things that comics ‘just can’t SAY anymore’ or whatever”Of course it’s false! I never said I agreed with what Seinfeld said. ALL I SAID was that I don’t think he’s saying it to “spike relevance,” which, AGAIN, you said you didn’t think he was either. So who’s debating here?Anyway, good luck with your “day.” No need to respond (obviously you can if you want but I don’t want you thinking I’m forcing you to just by having said something lol).
Sadly you deleted my comment below, and I’m not sure why since I only noted that we don’t disagree on Seinfeld at all. All I said was that there’s no evidence that he said these comments purposefully to “leverage” a Netflix special (rather than because he’s a 70 year old rich white man who actually believes them). I’m not sure why that was offensive enough to you to delete since you also said you had “no idea” if he was doing that and you agreed that he would have absolutely no reason to need to make comments in order to get a Netflix special. So that’s strange.I also don’t know why you think I am disregarding the “anti-woke” movement in comedy? I know that people say “anti-woke” things. I just don’t think it’s a “movement” designed to get Netflix specials. People say this stuff because it’s what they believe. Gervais has always been “anti-woke,” and Chappelle could have read a list of zoo animals and still gotten a Netflix special. He didn’t need to go off on trans people.Anyway I’m sorry if that bothered you?
::says not really looking to have a debate of the century over this::::person responds by lawyering my OP and playing to semantics::Nah, I’m set. Off you go. We generally agree on things, but there’s no point to this, and I’m not going further with it.
You know, I prefer the term “edgeserfs” to “edgelords”. I feel like granting a Lordship to them gives them power they don’t deserve. Give them a title that shows how bound they are to their respective bandwagons.
lol there’s no way Jerry Seinfeld would do that and no reason to expect that he would.
Part of me was really, really hoping that Dua Lipa would pratfall into that wall of Sonny Angels.
Same! “NO ONE HELP HER!”
Now I’m sad again that Jay turned out to be a piece of shit. At least we still have Paul.
We’ll ALWAYS have PFT. And Scott and Bob and David. Most of the cast and writers, really. Pretty good track record, to be fair. Altho I guess “only one of us stormed the Capitol” isn’t exactly a brag.
I have never been a Seinfeld fan, but I must say the man looks extraordinarily great to be 70.
What’s the deal with wrinkles?
I’m a huge Seinfeld fan (the show not the man or the comedian) and had the same thought. Doesn’t appear as if he’s had any work done and looks like he’s 55.
When it comes to celebrities, the ones who don’t look like they had worn done are just the ones who had the best work done.
Incrementalism is key. When people try to shave 10 years at a pop it never turns out well.
He’s also barely done any work since he was 55.
being insanely rich helps a lot
The Annomolous Man might have had great make up/production, but it took way to long to get to the point.
The Elephant Man thing was a really, really long walk to get basically nowhere. Dropping in an anachronism is not inherently funny, and the fact it wasn’t even explained made it worse.
yeah it was an odd bit for sure. One of those ideas that’s funnier in theory than practice I think.
I found it funny but it took a REALLY long time to get there. I get that the slow set up helps the ending land, but I think they still could have accomplished it in half the time. It took so long I was going “this is the worst thing I’ve seen them do in a long time” before the joke finally hit
Yeah if it had been like, half the length (or maybe shorter still), I think it would’ve worked fine but they went way too in on the “freakish appearance” bits like the 3rd eye/frog tongue/etc. The texts themselves were quite funny, it just took way too long to get there.
I don’t think it needed an explanation, even for people who don’t know about The Elephant Man.And he wasn’t even really Elephant Man, he had a horn.
I think they meant the anachronism part needed an explanation…
I didn’t mind the premise and some of the jokes were good, but that set up took so long I asked my wife “are they just doing a dramatic sketch to switch things up?” Terrible pacing.
no mention of the BBQ baby with ego and kenan? mostly awful ep outside of that
Was gonna ask that too! That sketch had me (and everyone in it but Kenan) cracking up. Punky couldn’t even hold it together before coming in.
Nwodim only breaking a little as she got sauced up and then sprayed in the face must’ve taken a heroic effort.
Using the BBQ brush for the gel was one of the funniest things I’ve seen on that show this season, outside of Beavis and Butthead of course.
It was a great sketch that managed to finally do something interesting with the “quirky doctor” concept they’ve been swinging-and-missing on for years now. It also felt like an adult version of a sketch Kenan might have done on All That; there was an inherent silliness and excellent use of sight gags and props that were the show’s trademarks.
Pretty sure Seinfeld wasn’t trying to be “edgy” with his podcast joke.
Biggest laugh of the entire episode for me was “’til he drinks”. Bad sketch but a couple of funny moments.
Devon Walker can’t be long for SNL, when I saw him I thought “isn’t whatever that guy’s name is off the cast now?” but nope, he’s still there. Doesn’t bode well, but best of luck to him!
In case I never get to mention him again: is it just me, or does he look like a black Pete Davidson?
That’s all anyone has ever said about the dude lol. I can see it in the face but he has a completely different body type.
So, Dua actually has at least two meanings: one is “Love”, the other? Is “I want”…
Even Weekend Update came off as kinda desperate.
Honestly this was probably the worst SNL I’ve seen since at least Musk hosted.
“we wouldn’t be unopposed to boogying down with Soul Booth in the future.” You—-you know that “wouldn’t be unopposed” is a double negative. So, in the English language that means you *would* be opposed.
Right?Yes, I have friends and a life. Why do you ask?
Sweet Jesus Christ, Dua is one of the hottest women on earth. Also, we need a recap of the Tom Brady roast. That was some of the most unhinged, funniest shit we’ve seen in a long time. Thank fuck they moved the roasts to Netflix.
“it seemed a missed opportunity to not end the bit with footage of Alexis Vanessa out at the protests”Nah that would have been both expected and inauthentic. An oldest (presumably) daughter raised by a father with these expectations would meet those expectations 100%. I agree that the ending did peter out but a funnier one would have been seeing Alexis Vanessa (Ego Nwodim in a Kenan Thompson wig) in a full lecture hall by herself furiously taking notes while the professor teaches.
I don’t know much about Dua Lipa and I don’t think she was a particularly strong host overall, but she held her own more than most musicians/sports celebrities/other non-comedians-or-actors that take on the hosting gig.