S45.E06: Harry Styles

[Princess Sparkle]

Harry Styles does double duty as host and musical guest!

[Pete Martell]

[vb68]

Harry reminds me so much of a young Mick Jagger in the clip with Kenan.

Really looking forward to seeing what they do with the Cold open this week. I know. I could very well be disappointed. But this is one of those weeks you really want it to be good.

[Pete Martell]

2 hours ago, vb68 said:

Harry reminds me so much of a young Mick Jagger in the clip with Kenan.

Really looking forward to seeing what they do with the Cold open this week. I know. I could very well be disappointed. But this is one of those weeks you really want it to be good.

My feelings about politics and SNL are generally negative, so I will just settle for not seeing Baldwin. I've seen speculation about whether Bill Hader will cameo tonight (as Jim Jordan). I don't really expect it, but who knows.

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Days of Our Impeachment. Yeah, this has been crazy. And I'll take any excuse to shoehorn Jon Hamm into the show. This was weird, trying to cram in as many things that happened this week as possible. And the audience didn't seem to be there at all. They were probably all just there for Harry Styles.

Monologue: Harry Styles is already a big fat meh, but he's got some comedic timing, I'll give him that. The camera cutting to "his" hands at the piano was great, though. "It's why the show's not good anymore" was a warning for what was to come and he knew it.

Lunch: As soon as Harry mentioned the Popeye's chicken sandwiches I knew it was gonna be good. You'd think the white version of "Get Out" would be better.

Joan: Your dog can do better than Harry Styles, Joan (but that seems like that's a joke). This was weird.

Lamaze: Sexy Icelandic Instagram models in childbirth class. I wish this was funny. Harry's got commitment to the role, I'll give him that.

Plane: I knew that the intercom wasn't off, so I knew that hilarity was going to ensue. And again, someone thought putting a dog in a sketch was a good idea (at least this one behaved).

That's The Game: Amusing.

WU: Fox News calling Trump a baby is really doing the writer's job for them. I did like Che just comparing Coin with Stephen Miller, and Kyle's milk guy.

Sara Lee: Loved all of those weird comments. Now that's a way to use brand placement. Wasn't expecting to hear the word "twink" on this show, but here we are.

Baby Faye: This was a weird-ass sketch. Cecily was great enough, and Aidy gave me the biggest laugh so far. Cecily needs to do more sketches like this.

Funeral: What a weird way to make me remember LMFAO. I wish this was earlier in the show. "SHE'S IN HEAVEN SMOKING BLUNTS" was the best.

I'm half asleep, but I thought that this was a trainwreck of a show, with one of the lone highlights being a sketch about an actual trainwreck. They're saving the good stuff for Will Ferrell next week, I'm sure of it.

[ebk57]

I love the idea of a Gypsy parody.  This wasn't it though...  It really needed John Mulaney.

The funeral sketch at the end was funny, but I feel like they've done it before.  It felt like they'd done a lot of these sketches before.

And honestly, I thought Harry Styles was charming and game, but having Jon Hamm there just made me wish Jon Hamm was hosting.  

[HC87]

Start to finish, one of the worst episodes of the last few years....moronic and unfunny.

[Brn2bwild]

I related to the Joan sketch... not because I consider my dog my boyfriend, but because when you're a single woman, your pets really are your constant companions.

[vb68]

I don't know. I kinda disagree, Galileo. True, the Cold Opening was a big ol mess. There was enough going on this week without trying to revive Michael Avennati. I mean WTH. Seriously? And you got Jon Hamm there and gave him next to nothing to do.

But I pretty much really enjoyed the rest of the show. And a lot of it was due to Harry. I thought he was charming as hell and was committed to a pretty big range of roles. I thought he was much more polished than Kristen Stewart TBH. Big points for not singing in the monologue and actually being funny. (And for not whining that he had to do a monologue.)_

In the last sketch, I thought he was very Timberlake-ish.

He'll be back. I'm sure.

Loved Kyle's Dairy man. And glad to see Ego finally getting worked into the show more.

Oh yeah, was that cocaine joke in the monologue an actual dig at Tina for that podcast interview that Helena posted in the media thread? That was sly. Only people who read our thread here would catch that. (Without knowing the podcast.) 

Edited November 17, 2019 by vb68

[freddi]

So, I guess Jon Hamm had the meter running on a taxi outside?  He was dressed to exit in the good nights...

Edited November 17, 2019 by freddi

[MrWhyt]

aside from the funeral sketch that was a big pile of meh

[Pete Martell]

11 minutes ago, freddi said:

So, I guess Jon Hamm had the meter running on a taxi outside?  He was dressed to exit in the good nights...

Jon's role with the show in recent years is a bit odd to me - he's at tapings, goes to parties, but only does these random appearances oncamera. I kind of wonder if someone else dropped out and he was asked to appear tonight. I'm surprised he's never wanted to host again. Maybe he didn't enjoy the experience but enjoys being a part of the show itself.

[vb68]

1 minute ago, Pete Martell said:

I kind of wonder if someone else dropped out and he was asked to appear tonight.

I actually wonder if he was there as "just in case" host. I know he shadowed Lindsay Lohan the last time she hosted. Sometimes they just have a vet there to help somebody who might a little out of their comfort zone. I think Hanks was there when Elton John hosted.

They still could had given Hamm something actually interesting to do.

[laugard]

double post

Edited November 17, 2019 by laugard

[Mystery]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

Loved Kyle's Diary man.

I did too, and I think he's much better looking without all that hair. 

[vb68]

Granted I had to look up the name, but somebody really should have played Elise Stefanik in the opening.

[Pete Martell]

Cold open: Well, this didn't have Baldwin, which is good. The rest is mostly soap cliches from 30 years ago, and the "we're just running off a checklist because we don't have any actual opinions on current events" vibe of modern SNL I did enjoy Alex Moffat as Schiff.

Monologue: Light and charming (if a bit overlong), not the try-hard vibe I was sort of dreading. Had a throwback feel, similar to Harry himself. My favorite part was when he kept teasing the audience about whether 1D would be there.

Lunch run: I liked the idea of spoofing the Popeye's craze, that we got to see more of the lesser used cast, and most of the performances were fun (my favorite was Heidi's double take at the Whole Foods line), but this felt a bit sluggish. The Jordan Peele bit wasn't needed.

Joan Song: Alright. The cutesy Aidy stuff is never really my favorite from her. The dog theme this season is...it's nice the show is committed to something? I liked how Harry played this, with that vibe you could find in, say, the Tommy musical.

Childbirth: Nice to see a Heidi Gardner showcase, even if this one gave me flashbacks to some of the old, iffy Maya Rudolph/Fred Armisen sketches. I was very happy that Melissa got a good punchline ("You can't have sex this far along." Well, actually..." "NO, YOU CAN'T")

Airplane: I actually did laugh at the Harry and Mikey nonsense portions of this. Mikey was a lot of fun here and Harry joined right in. I wish they'd just focused on the cockpit and not cut away to the passengers (at least we got another cute dog though...). Bad ending.

That's the Game: Great performances from Kenan and Chris Redd. Chris has so much talent; often I don't feel SNL knows how to use it, but this was an exception. Nice to see a 5 minute pre-tape that was such a goofy character piece getting a chance to air.

Music: I have little to say here (pleasant enough), but Kate, Cecily, and Aidy feels like a huge red flag that they are leaving this season. I got flashbacks to Seth Meyers introing Miley Cyrus in his last season.

Update #1: Che saying he didn't watch the hearings but would be happy enough to see Trump go (which is, oddly enough, my position) sort of sums up how apathetic the show now is about politics. So many people seem to NEED SNL to be a political voice but they clearly aren't there. My favorite part, as always, was Che trying to convince people that Jost is a white supremacist. I shouldn't laugh, but I do. And thankfully he avoided his feud with social media.

Update #2: If they have a chance to show Kate off then they will, of course, but I don't like the Jeff Sessions impression. Never have. It's too "cute." I did enjoy the bit where he kept mentioning being a dumbass, but this piece just went on way way too long.

Update #3: Already said this but Kyle's Update segment was a much-needed shot in the arm for the night and a chance for Kyle to show another side of his talent. And it reminded me of the old Mary Gross ranting pieces on Update from the early '80s. Good stuff.

Sara Lee: Favorite of the night. The absolute filth was somehow hilarious, helped even more by Harry's downbeat delivery. "Toxic in the community" seriously cracked me up. A good example of writing gay-themed material in a way that didn't feel like pandering to straights.

Baby Fae: Why do I have a feeling Cecily Strong has tried to get this on the air for years? This veered between funny and disaster and curio piece. Aidy's part made it all a bit messy. Needed an edit and a clearer ending. Nice to finally see Beck Bennett (and his thighs).

Pros: Harry was a likeable, good host who blended into the cast. Sara Lee. Chris pre-tape. Much better use of full cast. Much less breaking. Kyle on Update.

Cons: Weak cold open, lack of energy (especially pre-Update), many sketches lacked focus, w/too many floating pieces.

This is a strong cast who have had solid hosts week in and week out but either because the show is so incoherent or we are on the verge of major cast turnover, it just never clicks. I don't mind watchable, sluggish episodes, but I know they can do better. C+

[Melina22]

6 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

I'm half asleep, but I thought that this was a trainwreck of a show, with one of the lone highlights being a sketch about an actual trainwreck. They're saving the good stuff for Will Ferrell next week, I'm sure of it.

For once I really have to disagree with you. I'm not in Harry's demographic, and have barely seen him do anything outside from appear in gossip sites, but I found him very charismatic and talented last night. He acted, sang, and danced his way through the whole show, he showed some excellent comic timing while barely looking at the cue cards, and he did a variety of great accents. I was impressed.

The writing wasn't spectacular, but I laughed several times.

For my final unpopular opinion, I'm going to openly admit that I love it when they include live animals in the sketches. Sure, it's not the height of wit or cutting edge or PC, but it makes me laugh. Thats all I ask early Sunday morning, watching SNL over my bacon and eggs. 

[Pete Martell]

25 minutes ago, Melina22 said:

For my final unpopular opinion, I'm going to openly admit that I love it when they include live animals in the sketches. Sure, it's not the height of wit or cutting edge or PC, but it makes me laugh. Thats all I ask early Sunday morning, watching SNL over my bacon and eggs. 

I don't mind animals in the sketches, per se, it's just when they have them every week I start to think they're used as props a little too often. I didn't mind in this episode, like when Kate was holding the cute little dog. I think the one that bothered me was Cecily and the dog in Kristen Stewart's episode because having such a big dog on the stage and having to have the dog perform just felt a bit unfair to me, somehow. I was worried for it. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

The whole show was kind of meh, but the funeral sketch did make me laugh.
Go Grandma !

Was really underwhelmed by Harry Styles' musical performances.
Didn't really care for the 1st performance and the 2nd performance, I'm not sure if the phrase 'sugar high' was mentioned quite enough.  Maybe if he sang it 30 or 40 more times in the song then he might have a hit on his hands.

[Peace 47]

I was trying to think what I wanted to post about the show, but my mind is a void.  It certainly wasn’t an aggressively awful show by any means (except maybe the cold open), but I’m not sure I actually laughed out loud at anything, either (smiled a few times in amusement, though).

Not a knock on Harry Styles, though.  I thought he did very well.  Agreed that he did strong accent work and had a lot of charisma.

[nickp1991]

Someone in the SNL writers' room saw that Days of Our Lives was putting their shooting on hiatus

[Thumper]

I don’t know much about Harry Styles, but I thought he did a great job (didn’t watch the monologue), was enthusiastic, displayed a range of acting, and sang well.  He has a good voice and can actually sing.

I loved Aidy’s “Joan Song!”  So silly and her voice and facial expressions made it funny.

Also liked “That’s the Game” a lot.  Chris’s backing down but not admitting it was very funny — great job.

The cold open went on too long.

[LennieBriscoe]

23 hours ago, vb68 said:

Harry reminds me so much of a young Mick Jagger in the clip with Kenan.

Really looking forward to seeing what they do with the Cold open this week. I know. I could very well be disappointed. But this is one of those weeks you really want it to be good.

He played Mick Jagger on an older SNL "Celebrity Jeopardy."

Edited November 17, 2019 by LennieBriscoe

[Ottis]

Wow, that cold open was the biggest bomb I have seen on SNL in years. Barely chuckles from the audience. They picked the wrong format. Soap operas are 20 years ago. They should have done a version of Big Brother or one of the newer “reality” shows. Or if they were going to do a soap opera, go 100 percent and do The Californians. 

Harry Styles should smile more. Thanks for telling me who you are. I vaguely knew the name but couldn’t place it. The cocaine line was pretty good. 

Intern Rob would fit in nicely on The Monkeys. And White Get Out was a puzzle until the end reveal. The audience didn’t seem to know what to do with it. 

My dog is my boyfriend. OK. Aren’t people like that character usually cat people?

Childbirth instructors talk to the dads? That’s new! 

Airplane pilots.... OK, I think this ep is just off. What was the set up? Two idiot pilots? Skits work best when they have some sort of tie to reality.

Haha. The drug dealer skit was good. “Quan, you know what you doing?” Ok, that was good. Should have escalated at the end though. 

WU... split screen of Colin and Steven Miller, heh. Kate’s ability to be Jeff Sessions is amazing. I kept looking at her face during the close ups, wondering how she did it and trying to see Kate behind Sessions. The milk headlines were fun, props to WU for paying attention to that story.

”We think it would be better if Sara Lee stopped having threesomes.”

ACTUAL stage shows like this Baby Faye thing are grating. A mock show is... still grating. Finally had to fast forward. 

I hope when I am 89 I have friends like Marcus and Luke. 

 

Edited November 17, 2019 by Ottis

[LennieBriscoe]

Harry was used a lot,  yet under-used. I don't know; I just find him very likeable. I thought that having him act raunchy (Lamaze skit; some of his pilot lingo, e.g.) was not the right tack to take with him. But then,  he turned down the role of some Disney Prince to shed his "boy band" persona,  so what do I know.

He seemed to be amongst the few who learn their SNL lines. 

Too bad the show gave a free commercial to that bigot-owned chicken place whose stupid spelling I'm not bothering to Google.

[SomeTameGazelle]

16 hours ago, ebk57 said:

I love the idea of a Gypsy parody.  This wasn't it though...  It really needed John Mulaney.

It didn't really rise to the level of a parody. They used the tunes from Gypsy with slightly different lyrics. The joke that Mama Rose kept the stale act going even after June was too old to play Baby June is part of Gypsy. The escalation was that Faye was as old as 45 and therefore completely decrepit! Although realistically if she had actually been performing the show continuously for her whole life either she would have been still capable of doing the splits or else the Newsboys would have been more prepared to vamp.

Edited November 17, 2019 by SomeTameGazelle
Deleted duplication

[hendersonrocks]

I loved the funeral sketch with the exception of the record-scratch-moment insertion of Pete into it. Harry and Chris were giving it their all and Pete...wasn't.

The only other thing I was going to say is just how much I adore Harry's fashion stylings. He looked incredible in both of his performances and in the intro.

[helenamonster]

If they insist on always doing political material for the cold open, I at least appreciate when they try something different with it (like that Bachelor parody they did with the Mueller investigation a season or two ago). Unfortunately, it didn't land at all. They also pretty much instantly dated the sketch with the Days of our Lives framing, given it's been reported that the actors' contracts are not getting renewed, all but confirming a cancellation.

There was outdated material scattered all over this show. The Popeye's chicken sandwich thing was months ago (I know they've brought it back but the initial craze is long gone) and the funeral sketch was clearly using LMFAO as an inspiration, a duo that have not been relevant since 2012. It was very odd.

However, I thought this was one of the stronger episodes this season (not saying much, but you know). I worried about Harry when he first started his monologue...he was just SO deadpan, and I thought he was supposed to be, like, the "goofy one" of the group? Anyway, he pulled it together and had great timing. He seemed game for anything throughout the show, which is all I can ask for.

I thought pretty much all the sketches had moments that worked. Baby Faye was the only real dud for me.

Chris is really talented. I hope that if this big cast shakeup we've been anticipating comes to pass, he gets more to do.

Saw her in the goodnights, but I don't think Chloe was in any sketches this episode.

11 hours ago, vb68 said:

Oh yeah, was that cocaine joke in the monologue an actual dig at Tina for that podcast interview that Helena posted in the media thread? That was sly. Only people who read our thread here would catch that. (Without knowing the podcast.) 

I caught that too. It wouldn't surprise me if at least one person in a room full of SNL writers listened to Conan's podcast regularly, and maybe a few more might tune in for Tina. She didn't have too many kind things to say about the state of the show right now, and I can imagine people taking that personally.

She wasn't wrong, though.

8 hours ago, vb68 said:

Granted I had to look up the name, but somebody really should have played Elise Stefanik in the opening.

It seemed like such a Cecily role. I thought she was good as Yovanovitch, but that's a part I could see Kate taking just as well.

[Peace 47]

Okay, there was one part of the show that I thought was pretty funny.  I rewatched the funeral sketch, and the part where they say, “Even though Betty isn’t here doesn’t mean that she’s not around.  [deep bass voice] She’s in heaven smoking blunts.”  The inappropriateness was pretty good.

@ebk57, you mentioned that you felt they had done the funeral sketch before.  That was kind of why I was overall hostile to it. It seemed derivative of the funeral sketch they did a few years ago, where Kenan and Scarlett Johansson performed “inappropriate” club music at a funeral in front of a picture of a straight-laced looking older guy.  Except in that sketch, the dead guy really knew and was friends with the performers.

[sempervivum]

I thought Harry Styles was one of the better dual musician/hosts they've had. Not Bruno Mars level, but very charming. I'm surprised it's taken him this long to get into acting; he seems like a natural. Also, I really liked his first song; didn't realize he had such a strong voice.

[Writing Wrongs]

I can't believe they never did a Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer on Dancing With The Stars. Oh, well.

[Pete Martell]

1 hour ago, Writing Wrongs said:

I can't believe they never did a Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer on Dancing With The Stars. Oh, well.

I don't think Melissa would have wanted to do it. 

1 hour ago, sempervivum said:

I thought Harry Styles was one of the better dual musician/hosts they've had. Not Bruno Mars level, but very charming. I'm surprised it's taken him this long to get into acting; he seems like a natural. Also, I really liked his first song; didn't realize he had such a strong voice.

He was in a war movie, Dunkirk, a few years ago. He got some critical acclaim.

[Pete Martell]

1 hour ago, helenamonster said:

If they insist on always doing political material for the cold open, I at least appreciate when they try something different with it (like that Bachelor parody they did with the Mueller investigation a season or two ago). Unfortunately, it didn't land at all. They also pretty much instantly dated the sketch with the Days of our Lives framing, given it's been reported that the actors' contracts are not getting renewed, all but confirming a cancellation.

There was outdated material scattered all over this show. The Popeye's chicken sandwich thing was months ago (I know they've brought it back but the initial craze is long gone) and the funeral sketch was clearly using LMFAO as an inspiration, a duo that have not been relevant since 2012. It was very odd.

I thought they may have brought the Popeye's sketch in because there was news a week or two ago of someone being stabbed to death over one of their sandwiches. 

From what I've read, DAYS probably is not getting canceled and this is a cost-saving exercise, but the sketch still didn't work for me because it parodied old soap tropes that haven't been true in many decades. It felt like something an 80 year old would have written, and it also wasn't funny. They also continue to have no idea what to do with AOC.

I'm not sure Harry's line was meant as a dig at Tina or not, since cast members have talked for years about how the show was set up to be written around drug use, but given how fond Lorne is of Tina I don't know if he'd let them take a shot at her. 

[vb68]

2 hours ago, helenamonster said:

I thought pretty much all the sketches had moments that worked. Baby Faye was the only real dud for me.

That one reminded me a little too much of "Baby Billy Freeman" on that HBO show The Righteous Gemstones, and I got enough of that on there.

FWIW, politicalwire summed up the Cold Open this way-

 NBC’s Saturday Night Live took a barely-veiled shot at NBC News in the first moments of its cold open sketch this week when a C-SPAN voiceover noted that “some people” felt the first impeachment hearings were “lacking in pizzazz,” the Daily Beast reports.

I didn't get the jab at NBC News at all. Maybe the sketch was a little more subversive than I thought it was, but it still wasn't very good. I think the real problem is the writers who use to handle the political sketches are gone. I don't know if they all ended up on Seth Meyers' staff or whatever, but it's very obvious the writers now don't like writing political sketches. It's a problem, especially with the primaries knocking at our door.  They should aim higher than Che's attitude of " Uh, I guess I'll do this if you really want me to, but sigh. Yeah, I really don't want to, okay?".

24 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

I'm not sure Harry's line was meant as a dig at Tina or not, since cast members have talked for years about how the show was set up to be written around drug use, but given how fond Lorne is of Tina I don't know if he'd let them take a shot at her. 

  The timing sure was a remarkable coincidence, though.

Edited November 17, 2019 by vb68

[ebk57]

14 minutes ago, vb68 said:

 NBC’s Saturday Night Live took a barely-veiled shot at NBC News in the first moments of its cold open sketch this week when a C-SPAN voiceover noted that “some people” felt the first impeachment hearings were “lacking in pizzazz,” the Daily Beast reports.

I didn't get the jab at NBC News at all. Maybe the sketch was a little more subversive than I thought it was, but it still wasn't very good.

Someone at NBC News wrote an opinion piece that the impeachment hearings lacked "pizzazz", like that was important and not the content.  I'm guessing that's what they're referring to. 

I agree the sketch wasn't very good.  Which is a shame since there's so much to work with.

Edited November 17, 2019 by ebk57

[vb68]

4 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

Someone at NBC News wrote an opinion piece that the impeachment hearings lacked "pizzazz", like that was important and not the content.

Thanks. I knew that sentiment was being expressed in the media, but I didn't know where it originated.

[Delphi]

41 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

I thought they may have brought the Popeye's sketch in because there was news a week or two ago of someone being stabbed to death over one of their sandwiches. 

I figured that as well.   That happened right down the street from me so that was what my mind immediately went to. 

That Sara Lee sketch was the sketch for me.  Not only because it's hilarious,  but someone did their research for the emojis and they were so spot on. 

[Racj82]

That Funeral DJ sketch was the perfect example of Saturday Night Live at it's laziest.

Someone is doing or performing something that is not normal or unexpected. 

They keep cutting back in between the act and a group of confused people.

There is usually one person who digs it while everyone else is appalled.

There is no real ending to the sketch.

People complain about game show sketches. These are the truly lazy sketches to me.

[Pete Martell]

34 minutes ago, vb68 said:

That one reminded me a little too much of "Baby Billy Freeman" on that HBO show The Righteous Gemstones, and I got enough of that on there.

FWIW, politicalwire summed up the Cold Open this way-

 NBC’s Saturday Night Live took a barely-veiled shot at NBC News in the first moments of its cold open sketch this week when a C-SPAN voiceover noted that “some people” felt the first impeachment hearings were “lacking in pizzazz,” the Daily Beast reports.

I didn't get the jab at NBC News at all. Maybe the sketch was a little more subversive than I thought it was, but it still wasn't very good. I think the real problem is the writers who use to handle the political sketches are gone. I don't know if they all ended up on Seth Meyers' staff or whatever, but it's very obvious the writers now don't like writing political sketches. It's a problem, especially with the primaries knocking at our door.  They should aim higher than Che's attitude of " Uh, i guess I'll do this if you really want me to, but sigh. Yeah, I really don't want to, okay?".

  The timing sure was a remarkable coincidence, though.

I think the interview was a month ago, so they had a while to make a dig if it was meant for her, but I'm not sure.  Anna Drezen wrote the monologue, apparently. Considering the way Tina breezes in and out of the show while slamming it I wouldn't blame them if they made a comment, but it feels so vague.

I don't think anyone at SNL has known what to do with politics in a very long time. I'm biased because I absolutely loathed most of their writing for Clinton (once Darrell Hamond took over) and Bush, but I can admit that was a hit with viewers until Will Ferrell left. Since then they've been stranded, outside of the 2008 Hillary and Palin sketches.  I think that the few writers they had who were still there and presumably wanted to write for politics, like Jim Downey, didn't know how to write for the later Bush years, or Obama. And it's continued that way. It didn't matter as much in years where politics weren't 24/7, but with Trump, they are 24/7, and the show also is seen by many as being partly responsible for Trump's election, so they can't even find a safe distance to write.

I think there have been some fun political sketches this season, but there's a big gap between the writers of some of them (like the lgbtq forum, and the climate change debate) and the rest. I think those two are written by a few writers who don't write any of the others (or if they do they don't take credit for them), like Sudi Green and Fran Gillespie. Others, like Jost and Che, clearly don't care. I wonder if the tone may change when they leave.

Edited November 17, 2019 by Pete Martell

[Racj82]

I feel like I'm going to single forever. Single women, in particular, seem to love having pets and I never ever want to be around animals. It's like the first thing I look for on dating apps. My dream woman is a one with no pets. That Doug sketch just reminded me of this fact.

I was hoping for one week for sketch to not involve a dog. Just one. 

When SNL gets stuck in patterns, they REALLY get stuck in them.

[Melina22]

52 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

Ithought they may have brought the Popeye's sketch in because there was news a week or two ago of someone being stabbed to death over one of their sandwiches. 

This was one of the extremely rare occasions when I had no clue what the sketch was referencing. Despite being Canadian I almost always do, so this was a weird experience. (I was probably watching the impeachment hearings.)

I was thinking, "Hmmm. Something about chicken sandwiches? I guess Popeyes restaurant sells chicken sandwiches? So what? Oh, black people really like them? Why is that funny?" Comedy sketches lose a lot when you have to Google the topics. 

[JZL]

Wow.  I'm surprised at the negativity.  Like Helena, I thought it was overall pretty good except for the Baby Kate sketch, and even then we got to see Cecily cartwheel.

They totally botched the camera work for the CO.  No one seemed to know when Heidi was about fake-feint. 

I was actually shocked at Harry Stiles' comedic ability.  I was also shocked that the funeral sketch turned out to be hilarious.  Props also to Kyle Mooney's dairy dude.  I actually had to go back and replay the spit take at Che in slo-mo.  It may be the funniest thing he's ever done on the show.

Kate is barely there any more, which is too bad.  She does her now over-used political caricatures and some window dressing (airliner sketch) and that's about it.

Edited November 19, 2019 by JZL
Misspelled Helena

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

FWIW, politicalwire summed up the Cold Open this way-

 NBC’s Saturday Night Live took a barely-veiled shot at NBC News in the first moments of its cold open sketch this week when a C-SPAN voiceover noted that “some people” felt the first impeachment hearings were “lacking in pizzazz,” the Daily Beast reports.

More outlets than NBC News have criticized the hearings as boring.

1 hour ago, Racj82 said:

That Funeral DJ sketch was the perfect example of Saturday Night Live at it's laziest.

Someone is doing or performing something that is not normal or unexpected. 

They keep cutting back in between the act and a group of confused people.

There is usually one person who digs it while everyone else is appalled.

There is no real ending to the sketch.

It's always frustrating to me when the show does this with sketches. It's like the writers aren't confident enuf in their jokes or just want to dumb things down for the audience, so they insert audiences or bystanders to comment on the meat of the sketch. 

Anyway, I didn't really have an opinion on Harry Styles before the show, but now I'm a fan -- not of his music, which is blah to me, but his personality and comedic abilities are wonderful. That was one of the best monologues I've seen in a long time. Even when the piano was being put on stage (off camera) and you could hear a thud or clunking, Harry wasn't distracted. His bit at the piano had great jokes, and he delivered them flawlessly. "In Britain we play piano on the other side of the road." "I don't know if you've heard, but I'm not in a boy band anymore; I'm in a man band." I was very impressed AND entertained.

The CO was a dud. I was excited to hear beforehand that Jon Hamm was going to be on, but he was wasted. 

The Popeye chicken sandwich sketch was pretty good, maybe for the performances.

I LOVED the Joan and Doug sketch. Aidy was great. The lyrics were clever. 

The Childbirth Class sketch was fine. Again, the performances were better than the writing.

I liked the pilots sketch. They had great lines. 

Chris Reid in That's the Game was outstanding. What a talent. Great sketch, and he was perfect.

I rarely enjoy WU, and this was no exception. I actually disliked Che's comment that he didn't care if Trump was found innocent and went to prison. Just... no. A stupid thing to say. 

The Sara Lee sketch was ok. Not much there IMO. 

I wish Baby Faye & the Grown-Up Male News Guys had been executed better. I'm not even sure what the point was. But again, Harry was very good.

And I enjoyed him and Chris in the final sketch. 

BTW, I love how game Harry is. I was thinking about him in the ballerina outfit in the interstitial photos (or whatever they're called). He's not afraid to look silly.

[madpsych78]

7 hours ago, Ottis said:

Wow, that cold open was the biggest bomb I have seen on SNL in years. Barely chuckles from the audience. They picked the wrong format. Soap operas are 20 years ago. They should have done a version of Big Brother or one of the newer “reality” shows. Or if they were going to do a soap opera, go 100 percent and do The Californians. 

Good point. A "Days of Our Lives" impeachment would have been BRILLIANT with the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal.

[Snow Apple]

Clips Harry in the Late Late Show and his banter with his concert audiences prepared me for his sense of humor, and I knew he got praise for his acting in Dunkirk so I figured he'd be at least decent. 

What surprised me was his "generic American" accent in the Sara Lee skit. It was surprisingly good. I wouldn't be surprised if he plays an American in a future acting gig.

[rmontro]

This was kind of an unusual show in that the last half hour was better than the first.  Baby Faye and the Funeral sketch were both strong, I think Funeral was my favorite.  The Popeye's sketch earlier on was also good.

Michael Che saying that even if Trump wasn't guilty, he still wanted to see him imprisoned sounds like another political opinion instead of a joke.

Styles isn't my type of music, but I enjoyed his performances well enough considering.

[BuckeyeLou]

11 hours ago, nickp1991 said:

Someone in the SNL writers' room saw that Days of Our Lives was putting their shooting on hiatus

I thought it was clever PR of NBC to use SNL for a spoof of "DAYS" since the soap opera has been much in the news recently, regarding cancellation.

[possibilities]

11 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Too bad the show gave a free commercial to that bigot-owned chicken place whose stupid spelling I'm not bothering to Google.

Is Popeye's bigoted? I thought it was Chik Fil A which had that problem.

[vb68]

Micheal Avennati is trying to be funny in his response to Pete's impression last night.

Key word is "trying."

Quote

Anyway, I didn't really have an opinion on Harry Styles before the show, but now I'm a fan -- not of his music, which is blah to me, but his personality and comedic abilities are wonderful. That was one of the best monologues I've seen in a long time.

I felt exactly the same. I can take or leave the music, but his personality was so charming and confident. Again not to make it a contest, but I did find him so much more polished and at ease than Kristen Stewart from the previous show. I would never had guessed he was the one lacking experience had I not known. 

Edited November 18, 2019 by vb68