Saturday Night Live recap: Ana de Armas charms Studio 8H
Adding sketch comedy to her resume, de Armas proves an agile first-time host
TV Reviews Ana de Armas
After securing her first Oscar nomination, Ana de Armas is a first-time Saturday Night Live host to promote her upcoming action-romance Apple film Ghosted. Earlier this week, de Armas’ frequent co-star Chris Evans discussed his aversion to the “terrifying” prospect of hosting considering himself “not a funny person.” In contrast to his trepidation, de Armas proves to be an enthusiastic and versatile host committing to characters and situations.
Best sketch of the night
A simple concept Yng Spicy, a new rapper, in search of a “sexy
and cool” producer tag for his new record, turns into comedy with a series of
misunderstandings. A fragile male ego in search of affirmation from a duo of
hot women, played by de Armas and Ego Nwodim, the rapper becomes frustrated as they
question his intelligence and cleanliness. The duo continues to deflate all the
fantasies he wants to project in a hilarious reversal of hip-hop bravado. Each
new setup manages to top the last like when the ladies are asked for something sexy
and return with a narrative about the realities of delivering a pregnancy. The
final dark twist into floating accusations of drugging and sexual impropriety
gives the sketch just enough edge.
Worst sketch of the night
Set in another game show scenario, “Matt Schatt Game Show”
as de Armas’ first sketch is a cause for alarm. A lazy sketch that simply
fixates on de Armas’ beauty feels superficial and one-note. Fortunately, the
remaining sketches allowed de Armas to show greater range. Completely reliant on the discrepancy of attractiveness of the couple, the sketch does not give anyone much to do at all. Perhaps it is best
to get this sketch out of the way early in the show, but it sparks a fear that
the entire episode would fixate on one aspect of de Armas’ persona.
Most uncomfortable sketch of the night
Sometimes everything going wrong in a sketch is hilarious.
Other times, everything going wrong is just uncomfortable. “Dog Acting School”
is the latter. It’s a shame because de Armas and Chloe Fineman look like an
interesting duo. However, the problem arises when the dogs enter the sketch. In
showbusiness, they say never work with animals or kids and this sketch proves why.
The dogs were fairly uncooperative and the attempts to get them in position
felt like something bad could happen at any moment. Instead of any comedy, the real
tension was if someone was going to drop a dog or not.
Right idea, wrong execution of the night
The original “Lisa from Temecula” became a surprise hit for SNL, so it makes sense to bring her character back. In recent years, SNL has drifted away from recurring characters. Part of that reasoning may have to do with the fear of being redundant. However, in this case it’s not the character, but the setting that is tired. Nwodim still delivers a hilarious performance, but the uninspired switch from a restaurant to a wedding dinner wears quickly. The sketch tries to hit a lot of the same beats from the original, which while funny fail to create anything new. The lesson here would be to continue with Lisa from Temecula, but put her in new and different situations. What would Lisa from Temecula be like in an office meeting, in court, or on an airplane?
MVP of the night: Ego Nwodim
Featured in four sketches tonight, Ego Nwodim continues to be one of the best performers on the show. Her presence continues to dominate whenever she is on screen. It is first proven with her excellent portrayal of a lady trying to find someone in the park, even interrupting the classic start to the show. Her skeptical delivery in “Album Recording Session,” anchors the sketch. She provides most of the punchlines for “American Girls,” and it would have been even better with more of her character. Finally, she earns the season’s first recurring character with Lisa from Temcula. The sketch itself is a little too repetitive, but Nwodim’s performance transcends the stale setting and continues to break her sketch partners.
Stray observations:
- How are all the SNL wigs so much better than the wig Ana de Armas is wearing in Ghosted?
- The fake nipples in “Matt Schatt Game Show” were impressive.
- “American Girl Doll Movie Trailer” is a great idea, but it would have been better if they had leaned more into the idea of a prestige drama movie trailer. It has so much potential and was reminiscent of the “Disney Housewives” sketch.
- The “Please Don’t Destroy: Hangxiety” is good, but unfortunately fails to live up to this moment from 30 Rock.
80 Comments
I am going to be honest I didn’t feel there was a standout sketch in this one. some were solid but none popped. Even the please do not destroy one barely had Ana in it. I would give it a B- really.
Also Michael Longfellow is best looking of the cast and I would like to see his him in more sketches
I don’t know where that B grade came from, this was a C at best. Album Recording Session was the only decent sketch. Everything else was bad. And the actual text of the review seems to agree! Ana De Armas was cute and competent. But the writing…
That it is this many hours later and yours is the only comment is stunning in its metacommentary.
You forgot how important the non-binary cast member’s speech was. Not actually funny in any way, but the importance…Without Pedro Pascal losing it, the Temecula sketch really gets unmasked. She’s not particularly funny in it, and just started doing the cutting thing even harder since the audience wasn’t really responding to it this time. And “cut my meat” sounds like a Larry The Cable Guy-level catchphrase.
It would have been a fairly funny sight gag if they had actually been allowed to leave the frame before asking if they were still in the frame, but somehow someone even managed to screw that up.
Barring a major break in the last few episodes, I feel like we’ll be seeing just how afraid or not afraid of Twitter the show is. If they cut the tall good-looking guy last year after one season, who wasn’t exactly blowing the doors down but at least had a memorable character, and then keeping Molly Kearney? Ridiculous.
which one is non binary?
Molly Kearney
How is she non binary? Did she used to be a man? She just looks like a woman to me.
I assume they concluded that they didn’t identify as either. They should have decided that they were funny.
I guess ChatGPT still has trouble giving grades that match the content of its writing.
Oh boy, where do I even start with this one? Watching Ana de Armas on Saturday Night Live was like watching a robot attempting to do stand-up comedy – it was stiff, awkward, and painful to witness.De Armas seemed completely out of her element, stumbling through her lines and delivering jokes with all the charisma of a wet sponge. Even the seasoned SNL cast members couldn’t seem to salvage the sketches she appeared in, leaving viewers wondering if they should just change the channel.If you’re a fan of cringe-worthy moments and painfully unfunny skits, then tuning into Ana de Armas’ episode of SNL might be right up your alley. But for the rest of us who prefer actual humor and talent, it’s safe to say this episode missed the mark by a mile.
Nothing else on this once awesome site reads more like an AI chatbot review than these weekly snl reviews. They’re laughably childishly written, seem to be untethered to any actual quality of the show, and often filled with weird ramble statements which don’t quite work. I’m 98% certain this credited writer is a computer. On a related note, after 20+ years as a reader, peaking in having a “HOW DID THIS GET MADE “ article about MY own horrible failure of my first screenplay (MASSACRES ON AISLE 12) and being interviewed by the wonderful Alex McLeavy, I’m finally done checking or reading this sad, sorry shell of a site anymore. It’s unfortunate because I used to read and comment daily, sometimes several times a day, and thoroughly enjoyed everything about it. Now it’s cringey, poorly written, edited, and presented, and spends seemingly endless time pandering and whining about whatever person they believe worthy of cancelling today, then embracing that same person tomorrow when their publicist throws an interview to av. The writing borders on elementary grade level and there is not a single identifiable voice, personality or style left on the entire site. (Sean o’Neil, nathan Rabin, Alex— where have ye gone?!?) the reviews are beat by beat write ups describing every joke and word and plot point uttered (because that’s what you want in a review- annotated screenplays) and everything else is basically shitty writing, unfunny snark (and believe me it used to be laugh out loud funny snark!) And (I hate to use the term but I’ve never seen it more clearly myself until… this site) virtue signalling nonstop (am I on Jezebel or a web site about fucking movies and TV?) with no parsing subtlety, artistic value, or anything else besides surface appearance and which way the wind is blowing today socially and cuculturally. I regret that my last comment and likely Last story I’ll ever read on my once beloved site is a barely comprehensible word salad about SNL hosted by ana DeArmas but its almost fitting since even a simple thing like that used to be worth a click. Now, it’s the end of the line for a once great site that has died a slow ugly long death of brain tumors, heart failure, character unraveling and obviously, cancerAIDS. (before you accuse me of something awful now understand that’s an old av club reference, not a homophobic outrage insult, ok?) Hope to see you again somewhere in a better place in the future. If anyone has any good recommendations for better pop culture websites please let me know at [email protected]. Seriously. I need one.Goodbye, av club. My early 20s dream of one day writing a weekly column or taking over HOME VIDEO HELL or something like that is now one more missed life goal to add to my disappointing life list. Thanks for the good times. AJ Via/deniros fiddle/whatever name I used to go by is officially out. Politico and Washington post’s commentary and fanboy spaces aren’t quite as much fun as the old av club but I guess its what I’ve got now. I guess what I was trying to say, overall, is…fuck Dawes. Peace out, y’all.
Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon did a much better dog sketch back in the day, Dog Show. The dogs didn’t have to do anything but wear stupid costumes.
Heather Graham hosting. She’s doing an English accent and I found that interesting. This episode played in 1999, but didn’t actually use an English accent on screen until From Hell in 2001 (I thought it was a very good film by the Hughes brothers). She later said that she’d never do that again.Just a little trivia for a Sunday. This dog show was actually funny.
Definitely shows the virtues of fully committing to being silly and weird (see also a large percentage of sketches from Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, and so on).Sara Sherman is a natural at it. Gardner seems to be stretching more in that direction. Bowen can kinda do it although he usually plays it pretty deadpan and/or self-conscious/ironic. Kenan sorta the same—his weird characters are usually more sly than fully silly. Michael Longfellow maybe has some potential, but again usually more subtle than fully silly so far.
I guess my point is they don’t seem to be really well-staffed for truly broad, silly, weird comedy these days.
The original “Lisa from Temecula” became a surprise hit for SNL
To me this time the idea stunk. Maybe it would have been better if it was done in a home setting.
B? The April 15 SNL was dreadful. The only part I appreciated was Molly Kearney advocating for transgender youth. Everything else was a sh*t show.
My favorite part of the episode was Sarah Sherman antagonizing Colin Jost. Unlike Lisa from Temecula, that premise will never not be funny to me.(LFT is the new Debbie Downer – the sketch worked perfectly because the cast broke the first time, but it’s diminishing returns once you know the premise.)
I just don’t think the salad-tossing matched the crazy energy of the frantic, table-quaking tough-steak-cutting of the first sketch, and I don’t know if they’re going to come up with a basic physical activity that can be as funny. Lisa’s other quirks were kind of the dressing on the main joke that was the relentless sawing away that threatened to wipe out the table, making them the meat of the sketch is not going to deliver as much hilarity as that first time.
It also made no sense that the table would shake when she had the salad bowl way above it.
Best performer in that sketch was the balsamic dressing container for keeping itself vertical and on the table for so long.
i honestly thought they were going to have someone under the table forcing an infinite amount of salad up through the bowl as she was tossing it. that would have *maybe* added some humor to the sketch. imagine other foods coming out of the salad bowl that couldnt fit: fish (real ceaser dressing), full head of lettuce, full baguette, maybe someones car keys or ipad.
Yeah, that’s the very simple reason the Lisa from Temecula sketch wasn’t as funny this time — Pedro Pascal broke completely and de Armas mostly kept it together. Not much more complicated than that.
My favorite part of the episode was Sarah Sherman antagonizing Colin Jost.
Not that I’m complaining, but all her WU characters are basically just her shitting on Jost.
Yep, and again always funny. He’s the perfect punching bag precisely because he’s so inoffensive.
Gotta disagree with you there, bfred—Colin Jost’s smug entitled White Maleness is very offensive, and having it punctured, hopefully in a way painful to him, never gets old.In fact, they should end each episode with Michael Che slapping him, punching him out, or using a bullwhip on him, since Che has to put up with him every week….
Good for her!
And I am very okay with that.
I liked Debbie Downer more than once. NOT LFT…
Sarah Sherman’s bit was my favorite part of the show and was surprised it went un-commented-upon. And despite having a lot of similarity with the prior “Sarah tortures Jost” bits, her doing it in character was different enough I didn’t mind.
Trae doesn’t watch the whole show.
Isn’t that also the only reason they kept bringing back the Hot Tub couple years ago? Because it was guaranteed Fallon could never keep a straight face.
It was hilarious. It drives me crazy that this reviewer just completely ignores entire parts of the show. Does he even watch it? How do you not even mention Update, especially when it had a sketch as funny as that one (and a sketch as strained as the Molly Kearney part).
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed the high quality makeup work on the nipples. He clearly had those on before the show started. There is no way they got put on in a couple minutes.
This was my favorite skit. The gringo spanish teacher who thinks he knows how to speak spanish, but learns from two real latinos that he doesn’t really know how to speak spanish.
The only thing that made me laugh was the dog sketch because dogs are funny and don’t do what the actors want them to do. Which is entirely why they put these sketches in. They are easy laughs and I’m an easy mark.
Even if they’re not funny, they’re still dogs, so I for one am always rooting for them. If they come out with a bunch of crazy energy, that’s adorable. If they’re anxious and trembly (or rigid with fear), that’s also adorable plus my heart goes out to them. And if they actually do what they’re supposed to do, they’re good doggos and who doesn’t love a good doggo? (I am also an easy mark.)
Just say “dog”.
I REFUSE!
Next you are going to say we should just fall them “cats” instead of “Clawed Chaos Bringers”
Was the first dog (Henry?) trying to sniff crotches?Cause that’s also never not funny when unexpected.
I thought he was going for the spaghetti behind the counter.
There was a plate of pasta back there for a later bit. I think he was going for that
Love dogs but the obvious, trembling fear that last puppy was going through really rubbed me the wrong way and it seems to always happen when they do this. They really need to knock it off with the dogs. It’s not like it’s some killer bit that can’t be replaced at the best of times.
Sarah Sherman finding new ways to demonize Colin Jost is something I did not realize I needed in my life.A little bit of a soft episode for me, not a lot of things really landed, but the most awkard was the Matt Schatt sketch, which partially surprised me because I’ve liked the previous ones. I think huge issue is that Mikey Day has had a physical transformation while on the show. While I never thought he was bad looking, he had this awkward physical energy to him that just isn’t there. Instead when he was standing next to de Armas, I kept thinking how I could easily believe that couple.
A little bit of a soft episode for meCoincidentally, my favorite part of the Jost/Sherman set was when she commented on how soft Jost’s arm was, and then his hands.
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Am I the only one who doesn’t get Ego as a performer? I feel like she’s always fumbling her lines. The Matt Schatt skit failed not because the premise was dumb but because Mikey Day is actually a pretty good-looking guy.
Haven’t they done that “guy who is so obviously over-chicked” bit before? It seemed like a complete repeat.
I mean it’s an entire subplot in The Other Guys, which is consistently funny but damn far from original. Plus I agree with others’ observation that Day has gotten better-looking the longer he’s been on the cast.
… and in Parks and Rec with Christie Brinkley.
Not only have they done it but Schatt himself is a recurring character. This is the third time he has shown up. The bit is the same each time.
Yes, and also with Mikey. Who, again, would probably be the best-looking guy in most office buildings.
Yes, I had recently rewatched the skit with Jennifer Lopez and Mikey Day winning a home makeover with the exact same premise and Kennan being the main person questioning their relationship. Very lazy.
I wanted Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island” ugly, not Cornelius on “The Planet if Apes” ugly. TV ugly, not… ugly ugly.
Yes. She’s fantastic.
Ego is a great at characters, but I think they would benefit from a longer form than sketch. There’s a lot of well-observed behaviour that feels like it comes from real people she knows, but the gags aren’t really there. As a supporting character over a whole season, I could see Lisa from Temecula being pretty funny as it’s slowly revealed how insane she is. I could see her getting bigger after the show.
As my wife and I were watching the show, she thought it was a repeat b/c of both the Matt Shat Game show sketch (didn’t they do that sketch already w/ Margot Robbie a few years back, right? She’s hot, he’s not and everyone is stunned) and the Lisa from Temecula sketch just didn’t work this time b/c really the only reason is was mildly funny the first time is b/c of Pascal Pedro breaking. Do hope they bring Ana De Armas back (she looked like she had a blast), I just hope there is better writing involved. Oh wait, it’s SNL, so yeah, probably not.
Yep, and it’s hilarious
Yes, the Matt Schatt sketch is a repeat of the Margot Robbie sketch, and not as well executed.
And didn’t they do that with Jennifer Lopez, or Sophia Vergara as the wife, or some other hot actress?
It’s the third time. First with Margot Robbie, second with Jennifer Lopez. This version was by far the worst. And they gave the host nothing to do.
If the Great Cake-off skits are any benchmark, we can look forward to the Matt Schatt skit about 5 more times.
Yeah, exactly. It’s recurring, and every time it gets worse. The Matt Schatt sketch with Margot Robbie was really good, with the structure of a news report, anchors/experts, the puppets, crocs with socks, etc. Jennifer Lopez, less so. Then you take away Beck Bennett, have it basically just be Kenan spiraling on his own. Don’t get me wrong, Kenan is great, but he can’t sell an old joke all on his own.
Felt bad for Ana de Armas. Every sketch except the recording studio one, where she was funny, was just her standing there. They treated her like she was an athlete or singer. Also Lisa from Temecula was funny the first time but with no one breaking or trying to hold it together, it’s just a loud unpleasant person, which is like 3/4 of all SNL sketches. Also is every PPD sketch “Look how cool our lives are!” Do any of them have jokes?
That PPD sketch made their lives look cool to you?
I can’t stand the Please Don’t Destroy sketches. They’re the same thing each time.
At this point, this show is background white noise for early bedtime or napping. It’s just people standing around saying things that are very obvious (so we all know about it, am I right, haha) but not at all funny. Making jokes about really obvious things is an old trope but comics made it funny by pointing out the things that are obvious but which few of us actually notice (and how often very strange those things actually are) or those obvious things that few will talk about. Obvious things aren’t funny merely because we’ve all experienced them. That’s all I see in today’s ‘humor’.
Ego has talent but that sketch is insulting. “Toss my salad?” A reference to oral sex, haha. The wedding couple is upset with Lisa’s behavior and she asks “because I’m gay?” which I’m guessing is supposed to be funny because she’s been given the role of the “angry Black woman” but, no, it’s not because of that.This show can’t even do allyship right.
why are they obsessed with american doll?
““American Girl Doll Movie Trailer” is a great idea, but it would have been better if they had leaned more into the idea of a prestige drama movie trailer.”Yes, that would’ve made it a much better parody of the Barbie trailer.*sigh*
I thought the point of the dog sketch was that the dogs weren’t cooperating? Wasn’t the joke that they are bad dog agents and their clients are terrible at acting? I thought it was funny.
Not a great episode. The retread “mismatched couple”, the same season reprise of LfT and the dog skit that was funny until you’re trying to force a puppy into objects. Not to mention Kennan’s Funky Kong was a soft retread on his Weekend Update Jean K. Jean. The retreat that was done RIGHT was Sarah Sherman’s takedown of Colin, but mixing it up in another character rather than it being herself as in the past.
Two words………Funky Kong. Keenan is alway on point and this was no different. At this point the only thing worth watching on SNL with consistency is Weekend Update. Both Funky Kong and Sarah Sherman were high points imho.
That Spanish class sketch was done by Python (sub for Italian) sixty years ago.
Honest question , is SNL a thing where you lock to a certain age , and everything after it is terrible? Because early 00s- maybe 2015/2016 was the last time it was actually funny , at least for me , and after that it’s been just ….awful?.
Yes. For example to me the best SNL is mid-to-late 80s, because that’s when I was a teenager. The 35 years since then have been a real low point.
I didn’t see this episode when it aired the first time but just watched the rerun. At the end when Ana gave her thanks and said, “Please have me back,” I noticed that Ego Nwodim shook her head like she was saying no to that idea. I went back and watched it a few more times, and it really looks like she was responding negatively to the idea of Ana returning. Did anyone else see this and interpret it the same way?