S45.E01: Woody Harrelson/Billie Eilish

[Princess Sparkle]

Season Premiere!

[Inquisitionist]

Woody Harrelson.  How topical.  Not.

[Phishbulb]

He has "Zombieland 2" coming out in a couple of weeks. 

[helenamonster]

Promos:

Wonder if Billie will do a sketch. It's rare for them to have musical guests in the longer promos, isn't it?

[vb68]

Woody hosting the first episode reminds me of Adam Driver doing it last year-i.e., someone who has hosted before and is considered reliable.  I mean easing into the season with a host who doesn't need to be hand held so much? At least that's my guess.

What a week for them to start back on, though. I know not everyone likes the political sketches, but I always look forward to seeing what they do.  I hope this first cold open is as amazing as the one last year with Matt Damon as Kavanaugh. Probably an easy call that Kate will be playing Rudy.

Edited September 28, 2019 by vb68

[GoldenGirl90]

10 minutes ago, vb68 said:

What a week for them to start back on, though. I know not everyone likes the political sketches, but I always look forward to see what they do.  I hope this first cold open is as amazing as the one last year with Matt Damon as Kavanaugh. Probably an easy call that Kate will be playing Rudy.

Agreed. They have some amazing material to work with based on this week alone. I hope they don’t bungle it. 

[Maya S]

They HAVE to get Melissa McCarthy on at some point to play Spicy on Dancing With the Stars!

[Irlandesa]

I somehow feel like the more "material" the show has to work with is inversely proportional to how well they pull it off--or at least when it comes to the opening.  When there's a lot of material to use, I come away feeling like either the SNL material doesn't hold a candle to real life events or it oddly trivializes it (in a bad way) with either the angle they take or with its lack of bite.  Skits that air later on in the show tend to be better.

I'm going to miss Leslie tonight.

Edited September 28, 2019 by Irlandesa

[Galileo908]

6 hours ago, Maya S said:

They HAVE to get Melissa McCarthy on at some point to play Spicy on Dancing With the Stars!

Man, I almost forgot that was a thing. Monday seems like a month ago.

[ebk57]

"Actually, Liam might do it"

Best line in the skit... 

[Spartan Girl]

I thought Alec was done playing Trump. Guess he changed his mind...

Woody kind of sounded stone on the monologue.

[CarpeDiem54]

Woody - "The Chinese are taking over everything.  My wife is Asian, my daughters are Asian.  I can say this because I'm Asian - Caucasian!"

Bawahaha !

[vb68]

25 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I thought Alec was done playing Trump. Guess he changed his mind...

He ALWAYS does.

I totally called Maya as Kamala Harris. I thought it was obvious from the start. I thought she nailed it, too.   "That little Corn Pop was me."

[ebk57]

9 minutes ago, vb68 said:

He ALWAYS does.

I totally called Maya as Kamala Harris. I thought it was obvious from the start. I thought she nailed it, too.   "That little Corn Pop was me."

Love Maya, but my favorite line in that sketch was Biden - I'm like plastic straws: I've always worked, why are you mad at me now?

[SoMuchTV]

3 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

Love Maya, but my favorite line in that sketch was Biden - I'm like plastic straws: I've always worked, why are you mad at me now?

Also Elizabeth Warren:  I have the energy of the mom of five boys who all play different sports.

[freddi]

I thought the monologue was targeting political correctness and the recent cast controversy by skating too close to the edge of acceptability toward the end.    "Oops, I can't say that.  Thank goodness I didn't say *that*!"  

Edited September 29, 2019 by freddi

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Well, Alec Baldwin didn't keep his promise to stop playing Trump. Loved seeing Rudy on CNN & Joe Rogen, and Cecily Jeannie Pirro again. But hey, Bowen Yang is officially on the show! Liked Ray Donovan, er, Liev Shreiber showing up for whatever reason. I'm not shocked that Trump would call up fictional fixers after losing faith in his actual ones. Teriyaki69 was probably the best bit.

Monologue: Woody is always good for a reliable monologue. He seemed nervous the whole time, too. Did anyone else keep expecting him to burst out into song? The whole monologue seemed like it was the show's way of covering the Shane Gillis thing.

Impeachment Town Hall: And here's our Dem Debate sketch. Loved everyone as each candidate. Bowen Yang as Andrew Yang, Chris as Cory Booker, and New Girl as Marianne Williamson were great. Larry David back as Bernie! Colin Jost in a sketch! MAYA is Kamala Harris! Woody is Biden is so perfect. Yeah, notice that three of the four frontrunners are all guests? The other is Kate McKinnon. But man, they're all so good. They definitely went to Woody for old, creep Biden instead of Jason Sudeikis as Uncle Joe like they went from Darrell Hammond to Alec Baldwin for Trump.

World's Biggest Cheeto: Now this is the sponsored content I can get behind. Ha, loved that it exploded and covered everything in Cheeto dust. his was fun.

Billie Ellish 1: Jeez, epilepsy warning, much? But performing in a rotating stage was a neat idea.

WU: The World's Angriest Game of Guess Who only needs to show you the actual thing and these jokes just write themselves. I know they had to have Big Papi come back after he was actually in the news again. "HairBnB" slayed me.

"I'm sorry to be a Grammar Nazi, I know you hate one of those things." Well, damn.

Man, only ONE guest and it ended before 12:30?! What is happening to this show?!

Locker Room: This was just pure Heidi and I really loved it. She just plays that type of ditzy character so well. "Always helmet to helmet." Yeah, now I can't think of duck sounds the same way again.

Inside The Beltway: We're hoping that THIS is what sticks...well, I'm not gonna fault the show for being so defeatist, but let us all have this one, dammit! Gotta give props to the crew for all those quick changes...and then one of the stagehands missed her cue and now she's the hero we all need. Well, there was no punchline because of all that. She's fired, right?

Downton Abbey: About time they went after Downton Abbey again. "Were the stakes always this low?" Man, Kate as Dame Maggie Smith never fails to make me laugh.

"JOKER: It may not be perfect but at least stuff happens." Hey, some of us would like a mellow low stakes melodrama to distract from what's going on around us.

Billie Ellish 2: Way more lowkey than the last one. I have no idea what she's saying. Also, that's Billie's brother with her. It was a sweet song, but not one to be done with siblings, I think.

Dads!: Kyle's song is so wonderfully, painfully 90s. Giant phones and DJ Jazzy Jeff/Zack Morris aesthetic and everything. 

Chickham's Apple Farm: "For $45, you can bring home $10 worth of apples." "It's far." "In the part of New York State with Confederate flags." "It's Halloween, almost." "We found animals, now they're in prison." There were no lies in this sketch. And man, seems Aidy still had the giggles from that sketch, because it spread to Kate.

Goodnights: Woody with a Greta Thunberg shirt!

Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag hosts next week. I'll be at NYCC, but I'll most likely still stay up for this.

That stagehand got more screentime than most of the cast. And Pete was MIA (most likely filming Suicide Squad).

Edited September 29, 2019 by Galileo908

[freddi]

What was that first musical number?  Camera work, or CGI?  

Edited September 29, 2019 by freddi

[ebk57]

4 minutes ago, freddi said:

What was that first musical number?  Camera work, or CGI?  

I'm gonna guess it's like the Fred Astaire number in Royal Wedding - a rotating set and set camera. 

[Galileo908]

5 minutes ago, freddi said:

What was that first musical number?  Camera work, or CGI?  

Camera work in a box, most likely.

[freddi]

3 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Inside The Beltway: We're hoping that THIS is what sticks...well, I'm not gonna fault the show for being so defeatist, but let us all have this one, dammit! Gotta give props to the crew for all those quick changes...and then one of the stagehands missed her cue and now she's the hero we all need. Well, there was no punchline because of all that. She's fired, right?

Downton Abbey: About time they went after Downton Abbey again. "Were the stakes always this low?" Man, Kate as Dame Maggie Smith never fails to make me laugh.

"JOKER: It may not be perfect but at least stuff happens." Hey, some of us would like a mellow low stakes melodrama to distract from what's going on around us.

Didn't they bring back the dresser in the final second, as irony?  (Like the Samurai Band-Aids in season two?)  I think she will be fine.  

Were those actual Downton Abbey reviews?  Hoping yes.  Our local paper said "this one is for the fans."  

[Lantern7]

Apple Farm for the win. I'll have to show my mother that sketch because she likes donkeys. The one on-screen looked sedate, but the thought it also says "stop" should be hilarious.

For any hardcore anime fans . . .  looking at her hair, especially in her first song . . . Billie Ellish = Jolyne Kujo?

Cheeto sketch was okay, but the "dust" takes it to another level.

9 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag hosts next week. I'll be at NYCC, but I'll most likely still stay up for this.

That's subscription television, right? I don't have that yet. I'm old. Old and going to New York Comic Con all four days. That's a special type of sad, isn't it? 😛

ETA: Still waiting on the real David Ortiz to "sneak" up on Kenan one of these days.

Edited September 29, 2019 by Lantern7

[Mystery]

4 minutes ago, freddi said:

What was that first musical number?  Camera work, or CGI?  

They showed the frame for the "room" to turn on. It looked pretty good I thought, without having Astaire to do it. 

Was that a misplaced cow sound effect that gave Aidy the giggles in the apple farm sketch? Her eyes got really big. 

[ebk57]

Weekend Update did seem short.  But it was good.  I guess quality over quantity is a good thing.  I did love the Grammar Nazi joke a lot. 

Loved the apple picking sketch and the Downton Abbey commercial.  The rest of the show had moments, but it didn't quite work for me on the whole  

[Galileo908]

5 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Old and going to New York Comic Con all four days. That's a special type of sad, isn't it? 😛

Billie Ellish is the first SNL guest born after 9/11. If THAT doesn't make you feel old, nothing will.

[ebk57]

6 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

That's subscription television, right?

If you're asking about Fleabag, it's on Amazon Prime, so if you have Amazon Prime for shopping, you can watch it.  One of these days, I'll watch it. 

[vb68]

I'm glad the show is back. It's comfort food at this point. Woody was a good choice as host. He  can take center stage or be supporting.  He was practically another cast member.

Update really did feel truncated. On the first show back? What's up with that?.

I thought Kate was barely around too until the apple sketch.

Poor Aidy had the giggles tonight. She was giving me Debbie Downer vibes in the Beltway sketch.  I think she really meant it when she said " go to commercial"..."before I completely fucking lose it!" 

I liked Billie's second song.

Looks like the role of Joe Biden may be up for grabs. Can't see Woody coming back like Alec or Larry David for it.

Happy Season Premiere everybody!  Missed you guys!

Edited September 29, 2019 by vb68

[possibilities]

I want to call her Silly Eyelash. I FF'd the epilepsy song. I am glad I'm not the only person who has no idea what any of her lyrics are. She sounds fine, but it's completely impossible for me to discern what any of the words are, and that's when she's not trying to give the audience seizures.

I thought the show was mostly good, not great but not nearly as bad as many from last season.

I'm tired of Heidi playing the same girlfriend trope while they rotate the boyfriend characters around her. Can she do anything else?

Liked the Greta shout out.

I'm sorry to say I loved Maya's take on Kamala. I like Kamala, but still....

[sheetmoss]

57 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

I'm gonna guess it's like the Fred Astaire number in Royal Wedding - a rotating set and set camera. 

Remember Lionel Ritchie's Dancing on the ceiling?

[MrWhyt]

1 hour ago, Galileo908 said:

Billie Ellish is the first SNL guest born after 9/11. If THAT doesn't make you feel old, nothing will.

ouch, time to crawl into my casket

[vb68]

2 hours ago, ebk57 said:

Love Maya, but my favorite line in that sketch was Biden - I'm like plastic straws: I've always worked, why are you mad at me now?

Thinking about it, my favorite line for Biden was "Barack."

To paraphrase possibilities, I like Joe Biden, but still...

I saw a tweet that I think was joking that Pete was nowhere to be found because Larry David was in the building.  Like I said, it was a joke but makes you wonder.  

[Manda317]

10 hours ago, Maya S said:

They HAVE to get Melissa McCarthy on at some point to play Spicy on Dancing With the Stars!

I can't believe he wasn't even mentioned, especially after his outfit in the premier lol. I guess I now have a reason to be glad he wasn't eliminated now though.

[Ms Blue Jay]

15 hours ago, Maya S said:

They HAVE to get Melissa McCarthy on at some point to play Spicy on Dancing With the Stars!

I absolutely agree.

I didn't miss this show at all in the summer which is not good.

I thought Chloe Fineman was fantastic as Marianne Williamson and Maya Rudolph was so great too.  Half of the rest of them haven't yet mastered waiting for the audience to stop applauding before you speak…

What was that woman doing to Aidy in the Inside the Beltway sketch?  She was a wardrobe woman and she interrupted the middle of the sketch by mistake?

Downton Abbey was really good.  Well, coming from someone's who's never watched the show.

Edited September 29, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Pete Martell]

4 hours ago, Manda317 said:

I can't believe he wasn't even mentioned, especially after his outfit in the premier lol. I guess I now have a reason to be glad he wasn't eliminated now though.

I get the feeling Melissa is well and truly done with that part. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

7 hours ago, Mystery said:

Was that a misplaced cow sound effect that gave Aidy the giggles in the apple farm sketch? Her eyes got really big. 

Yeah, that's why Kate was hysterical the next time the camera panned to her and she had to read lines.  I assumed it was a real animal making noise unexpectedly?  But I could be wrong

[ottoDbusdriver]

6 hours ago, possibilities said:

I want to call her Silly Eyelash. I FF'd the epilepsy song. I am glad I'm not the only person who has no idea what any of her lyrics are. She sounds fine, but it's completely impossible for me to discern what any of the words are, and that's when she's not trying to give the audience seizures.

Plus it might have helped if Billie didn't breathily whisper most of the 1st song, you could barely hear her.

At least she wasn't wearing a Fiji water bottle outfit, so we got that going for us.  #sarcasm

[SomeTameGazelle]

30 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

What was that woman doing to Aidy in the Inside the Beltway sketch?  She was a wardrobe woman and she interrupted the middle of the sketch by mistake?

She must have been there for Aidy's quick changes (she was tugging at her hot pink top) and got the timing wrong. 

I enjoyed the dad rap as well as the apple-picking. 

6 hours ago, Mystery said:

They showed the frame for the "room" to turn on. It looked pretty good I thought, without having Astaire to do it. 

It seemed like an odd choice for a live performance, though. What would the studio audience see?

[Darian]

I'm old and happily uncool. Fine with not knowing the newest bands and artists and half the time, I skip the musical guests. I had a vague awareness of a Billie Eilish, but I enjoyed both performances so much. 

Pretty good show. Woody always amuses me, and the cast had a good night. 

I'm one of those people who count down to pumpkin/pumpkin spice season and loves fall a ridiculous amount. I live in Massachusetts near enough to those apple orchards that have farmstands and apple picking, and the whole hayride/petting zoo/country store experience. I go for the cider donuts, but I loved that skit so much. 

Loved Woody's t-shirt at the close. Was watching Larry David, who is surrounded by smiling, hugging, cheering people, right out front, looking bored. I thought he was still in character and waited to see if he'd so much as smile. Maybe? Could have been a grimace. I'm a cheeseball, so I love the hugging and camraderie at the end and he was just a wet rag.  

[SoMuchTV]

9 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

World's Biggest Cheeto: Now this is the sponsored content I can get behind. Ha, loved that it exploded and covered everything in Cheeto dust. his was fun.

Locker Room: This was just pure Heidi and I really loved it. She just plays that type of ditzy character so well. "Always helmet to helmet." Yeah, now I can't think of duck sounds the same way again.

Cheeto:  My brain kept kicking in a little too much.  Where did they get the Cheeto?  Couldn't they just make another one?  It's not like it just occurred naturally, right?  Best to watch this one without thinking too much.

Locker Room:  I have to say I was let down.  We were promised Corgis!

[EtheltoTillie]

8 hours ago, MrWhyt said:

ouch, time to crawl into my casket

Well, I was a college senior when SNL debuted.  Now I'm about to register for Medicare.

[nickp1991]

Seriously love when Larry David plays Bernie Sanders

[Robert Lynch]

12 minutes ago, nickp1991 said:

Seriously love when Larry David plays Bernie Sanders

He's related to Bernie, so that explains it. I think they are 2nd cousins or something.

[Ohwell]

I've always liked Woody Harrelson and I'd love to see him come back as Joe Biden (Barack!).  Those teeth, that smile had me cracking up. 

Maya was spot on impersonating Kamala Harris.  *snerk*

[helenamonster]

Woody's monologue felt like two different monologues smashed together. I preferred the second half.

Why did they give Mayor Pete to Colin when that impression is tailor-made for Mikey?

Always good to see Maya and her Kamala was spot on.

Ya know, even when the writing and directing are having issues, the props department is always on top of their shit with this show. That Cheeto dust was inspired.

Sam Bee already made that Grammar Nazi joke earlier this week. Nice try, though!

Usually the makeup people are flawless, but did anybody else notice anything weird with Kenan's Big Papi goatee during Update? It looked like it was peeling off.

There was a little camera malfunction with Billie's first song, but I thought she herself did a great job pulling the effect off, especially with that boot on her leg. Good for her for trying something different. She seems like a solid kid. I always worry about young women in the music industry so I hope she's surrounded by people who look out for her and make sure she isn't taken advantage of. However...

10 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Billie Ellish 2: Way more lowkey than the last one. I have no idea what she's saying. Also, that's Billie's brother with her. It was a sweet song, but not one to be done with siblings, I think.

Her brother's involvement with her music has always made me uncomfortable, given the content of her lyrics. Who writes songs with their underage sister where she describes seducing older men?

10 hours ago, Mystery said:

Was that a misplaced cow sound effect that gave Aidy the giggles in the apple farm sketch? Her eyes got really big. 

I think the donkey from the petting zoo brayed unexpectedly and threw them off.

4 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

What was that woman doing to Aidy in the Inside the Beltway sketch?  She was a wardrobe woman and she interrupted the middle of the sketch by mistake?

Looks like she was there to do Aidy's quick change and jumped the gun on her cue. While I'm generally anti-breaking, Aidy trying to keep it together was hilarious. Very Debbie Downer-esque, as somebody else pointed out.

I hope that woman's not in too much trouble--Aidy seems like the kind of person who would stand up for her if she was, though.

[heatherchandler]

11 hours ago, ebk57 said:

If you're asking about Fleabag, it's on Amazon Prime, so if you have Amazon Prime for shopping, you can watch it.  One of these days, I'll watch it. 

Oh watch it, it’s really good!!  I put off watching it and now I’m wishing there was more.  It won a crapton of awards too.

[ebk57]

4 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

Oh watch it, it’s really good!!  I put off watching it and now I’m wishing there was more.  It won a crapton of awards too.

Our local TV critic has been recommending it since it started.  I'm just so far behind on my TV watching...  Her stand up show that started the whole thing is going to be shown in movie theatres...soon (it's either a Fathom Event or a National Theatre Live event).  Check your local listings. 

[Ottis]

I enjoyed BE, and understood most of her lyrics.

There was a lot of breaking up at the end... the audience enjoys it but supposedly Lorne doesn’t. I do wonder if wardrobe lady will be fired. I hope not. 

I also kind of enjoyed WU with straight jokes and no characters. Most of the characters annoy me and I FF through them. Oh wait... Big Papi was on. I FF’d through it. 

[cpcathy]

Fun show, loved the cold open, loved the debate. I see online Maya gets a lot of “she’s not funny” comments, but I thought she was great. We all knew she had to play Kamala, just like we knew Tina Fey had to play Sarah Palin.

I agree on the monologue. It was all over the place. I love Woody and always have. Is his accent becoming more Texan as he ages? 

The apple picking sketch was the highlight of the night. It harkens back to the Don Cheadle episode with Kate and Aidy as proprietors of a wedding venue. I still go back and watch it now and then. “I’m gonna slap my daughter in front of everyone!”

[Guest]

12 hours ago, ebk57 said:

If you're asking about Fleabag, it's on Amazon Prime, so if you have Amazon Prime for shopping, you can watch it.  One of these days, I'll watch it. 

I couldn't recommend anything more. I'm being 100% genuine when I say that S2 of Fleabag is one of the most well-executed, funny, and poignant masterpieces television has ever had to offer. The episodes are usually under 30 mins each (six eps per season), so you can binge the entire show in about six hours.

[Ms Blue Jay]

4 hours ago, Darian said:

Loved Woody's t-shirt at the close. Was watching Larry David, who is surrounded by smiling, hugging, cheering people, right out front, looking bored. I thought he was still in character and waited to see if he'd so much as smile. Maybe? Could have been a grimace. I'm a cheeseball, so I love the hugging and camraderie at the end and he was just a wet rag.  

Larry's ex-wife is known for her environmental activism so when he complimented Woody on giving Greta a shoutout, I thought that was pretty cool.