S46.E03: Issa Rae / Justin Bieber

[Pete Martell]

Regarding the Bonjour Hi sketch, I've seen reactions veering in many directions. One writer seemed to be aghast that a show as inferior as SNL even mentioned their city, rather than talking about the sketch itself; various people from Montreal replied to his tweet saying they weren't bothered by the sketch; Bowen Yang also replied before deleting his Twitter. I suppose it shows what a bubble I'm in because I thought it was a cookie cutter piece and wouldn't have remembered it if not for the controversy.

Here is a Global news piece interviewing various Montreal residents.

https://globalnews.ca/video/7404809/montrealers-react-to-snls-bonjour-hi-media-skit

[Quof]

1 hour ago, GussieK said:

both Jim Carrey and Justin Bieber are Canadian-born. 

They were both fine when we sent them; you broke 'em, you bought 'em. 

[Robert Lynch]

That cut segment about them discussing Lovecraft Country is so spot on.

[Milburn Stone]

On 10/18/2020 at 12:51 AM, Psychobunny said:

Just going to post my thoughts before seeing what others thought. Personally, I thought this was one of the worst episodes I’ve ever seen.

You have company in me. I can tolerate boredom more than stupidity.

[monakane]

On 10/17/2020 at 11:58 PM, duddley said:

Jim Carey's Biden is so off putting. Can we please have Jason back now?

It's wearing on me too.  Please bring back Jason.  Carey does the same schtick with every performance.

[shapeshifter]

Just now, monakane said:

Carey does the same schtick with every performance.

Carey's schtick could have pulled off a believable trump, but Alec already has that sewed up tight.

[possibilities]

I'm assuming Jason S isn't available, but I'm sure there are lots of people who can do a Biden impression. Pick one, show!

[Ms Blue Jay]

11 hours ago, GussieK said:

Also funny:  both Jim Carrey and Justin Bieber are Canadian-born. 

So is Lorne Michaels?  A lot of SNL alum are.

[Jody]

1 minute ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

So is Lorne Michaels?  A lot of SNL alum are.

 

        So IS Gilda Radnor !

 

[M.CoatesworthHay]

Those Montreal bagels look like what I was raised calling a bialy. I wonder if they're the same thing, or just look that way.

(Sorry, couldn't figure out how to quote) It's been a while since I've been there, but those did not look like Montreal bagels to me. They looked comically large, perhaps done on purpose. I still loved the sketch, though. 

Edited October 20, 2020 by M.CoatesworthHay

[Cornhusker12]

Siiiiigh this was a another bad episode unfortunately. The show is just absolutely not meeting the moment this season. The election season episodes in 2016 were electric, there were so many memorable moments and sketches, even sketches that had nothing to do with the election. The writing was sharp, the cast was on top of their game. It was all on point. This season everyone seems to almost not want to be there. I think they're understandably spooked and hesitant by the pandemic and the restrictions and only having half of an audience. I get it, but it's still resulting in a lackluster show.

I also think the cast and writers need pretty much a complete overhaul. The vets have stayed on so long they've been repeating themselves for years, 2/3 of the new hires seem to be blander than ever, and the writing is so lazy at times it's sad. "Crazy people make bug eyes at the camera! Normal guy is mystified! Sketch complete."

As for Jim Carrey, I give him a little slack because the writing is just a mess. I can't believe they had all this time to come up with an angle for Biden and they are going with "Senile crazed creepy old man who has no plans and can't remember where he is and is also boring." Basically just right out of the Trump playbook. So strange. Carrey can only do so much when he's given the material, and the material ends up making Trump to seem more grounded, albeit disturbed, than Biden, who is drifting off through the clouds somewhere. Yes, he is elderly, yes he loses his train of thought at times, those are ripe for SNL. But what they are doing with that isn't clever or funny, it's just turning Trump's Twitter caricature of Biden into reality. To his credit, Carrey has some of Biden's looks and voice down but the manic energy and details throw the whole thing off.

Anyway I liked Weekend Update! And the two commercials were really good, especially 5 Hour Empathy!

Edited October 20, 2020 by Cornhusker12

[vb68]

1 hour ago, Cornhusker12 said:

Siiiiigh this was a another bad episode unfortunately. The show is just absolutely not meeting the moment this season. The election season episodes in 2016 were electric, there were so many memorable moments and sketches, even sketches that had nothing to do with the election. The writing was sharp, the cast was on top of their game. It was all on point. This season everyone seems to almost not want to be there. I think they're understandably spooked and hesitant by the pandemic and the restrictions and only having half of an audience. I get it, but it's still resulting in a lackluster show.

I agree with all of this so much. So well said. Wish I could Like it 100 times! 🙂

[Pete Martell]

3 hours ago, Cornhusker12 said:

Siiiiigh this was a another bad episode unfortunately. The show is just absolutely not meeting the moment this season. The election season episodes in 2016 were electric, there were so many memorable moments and sketches, even sketches that had nothing to do with the election. The writing was sharp, the cast was on top of their game. It was all on point. This season everyone seems to almost not want to be there. I think they're understandably spooked and hesitant by the pandemic and the restrictions and only having half of an audience. I get it, but it's still resulting in a lackluster show.

I also think the cast and writers need pretty much a complete overhaul. The vets have stayed on so long they've been repeating themselves for years, 2/3 of the new hires seem to be blander than ever, and the writing is so lazy at times it's sad. "Crazy people make bug eyes at the camera! Normal guy is mystified! Sketch complete."

I think that season had some great highlights and was overall a decent year, but when I watched some of those 2016 pre-election episodes earlier this year, I felt like they were surprisingly choppy compared to what I had expected, other than the Tom Hanks episode, which was pretty good almost all the way through. The Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda episodes in particular (although as is usually the case with SNL there were still a few things in each I enjoyed). I suppose one big difference is this was when people like Mikey Day first joined the cast and his presence and some of his sketches could add some new energy, and you also had people like Kate, Cecily and Aidy who were at their peak. Now you have a lot of people who are clearly in the process of leaving, and you have people like Mikey who have mostly repeated their sketches for about 4-5 seasons now.

I think the new people have mostly been a shot in the arm for the show - Ego is a very natural and charismatic utility player, Chris is a smooth, likeable presence who excels in the pre-tapes and is strong support in sketches, Heidi is a great dramatic actress (even if her attempts at playing 'weird' don't work for me), Bowen has a lot of energy and fun (even if I don't really like his sketches as much as I wish I did), Chloe is one of the best impressionists they've had in years, and the glimpses we've seen of Punkie and Andrew also seem promising to me (I'm afraid Lauren will just end up being seen as Aidy 2.0). But we haven't seen them get enough of a chance due to the older cast members.

I agreed with you more about the cast in the premiere, but I think overall their work has improved quite a bit these past two episodes.

The election material is pretty weak, and I don't believe they get anything out of writing for Trump or Biden and just feel they have to because of ratings (I don't think the 2016 election material was much good either but I could at least say that others did). I think they have toned Biden's malevolence down heavily from when Woody Harrelson played the role, but now it just feels like a mush rather than a character.  So it's hard to know when we are even meant to laugh or why we should care or why we are just watching a checklist.

Whoever wins, if they cut down the bloated cold opens and allowed for more material, then the variety alone would make the episodes breathe easier.

I may not be the best judge because, outside of the cold opens I kind of like the halting style and attempts at finding some sort of different direction and having a more serious tone the last few weeks - it feels like the show starting to finally realize they have to move on and trying to figure out how. But the last two weeks may be a blip and we may be back to "somebody has a funny name, let's make a face," this coming week, I don't know. I am trying not to get my hopes up about long-term changes until we finally get the cast exodus which we are now just getting hints of.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Pete Martell

[Delphi]

On 10/19/2020 at 10:11 AM, Pete Martell said:

Regarding the Bonjour Hi sketch, I've seen reactions veering in many directions. One writer seemed to be aghast that a show as inferior as SNL even mentioned their city, rather than talking about the sketch itself; various people from Montreal replied to his tweet saying they weren't bothered by the sketch; Bowen Yang also replied before deleting his Twitter. I suppose it shows what a bubble I'm in because I thought it was a cookie cutter piece and wouldn't have remembered it if not for the controversy.

Here is a Global news piece interviewing various Montreal residents.

https://globalnews.ca/video/7404809/montrealers-react-to-snls-bonjour-hi-media-skit

Wow,  that guy just hanging out at his home just seems very unnecessarily bothered by all that,  like calm down sir. 

[Pete Martell]

Bowen on the sketch. (not intending to dredge this up over and over, just saw this today)

Kate was wearing Savannah Guthrie's actual outfit.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1199804/how-savannah-guthrie-helped-perfect-kate-mckinnons-saturday-night-live-sketch

[Pete Martell]

Before this becomes completely irrelevant - someone talks about a few of the cut sketches and being in the audience. 

(the Standby Line podcast goes into detail about a few other cut sketches)

 

[Jody]

On 10/18/2020 at 12:01 AM, Galileo908 said:

Cold Open: "NBC laid a thirst trap for President Trump." Well, that's all I think we'll get of SNL justifying why NBC hosted Trump's thing in the first place. As much I love Jim Carrey...he just can't stop being Jim Carrey. Much like the real thing, the dueling town halls were a blessing in disguise. They were both one-sided conversations. Everyone talking AT the president, or someone talking AT the audience. I loved that they actually went to Jim Carrey as Mister Rogers and Bob Ross, while Trump's in Wrestlemania. Maya's fourth wall break was weird and unnecessary. 

Monologue: Wow, she was supposed to host in March! But she's here now, and I liked her monologue. It's been a while since a non-standup did a genuine monologue WITHOUT a cast member helping them out.

Bonjour Hi: And now for French-Canadian jokes. Bowen's attempt at a French accent and Drake Watch were highlights for me. This was a dud. Apparently all the Canadians on Reddit loved it.

5 Hour Empathy: Of course Beck drags his feet to drink it. Loved that. Kenan being the VO was the best touch. "Are too many NFL players kneeling again?" killed me.

Date: Did I seriously just hear "titty meat" on this show? Yep, I realized they're getting their money's worth after Bowen showed up and said it. Weird, short sketch. The pan out at the end with them breaking down the sketch was nice to see, but it was a weird choice. It's like they just decided to say "nope" after Punkie's bit fell flat.

WU: Trump's totally gonna flee to Russia the first chance he gets, right? Just don't threaten us with a good time. Like I said last week, why need Alec Baldwin as Trump when he just says weird crap on his own? But seeing the return of Don Jr. AND I'M ERIC after forever was really welcomed. I visibly shuddered at Eric drinking the hand sanitizer. And somehow Tiffany/Not Ivanka was even dumber. 

"NBC: We have a type!" Well, DAMN. Yeah, Cosby, Trump, and the other guy.

Loved the Aidy remote, and Che just calling out the audience after every joke. "Was that voice blackface?" killed me. Way to make me think Stefon was coming back. Instead we got Heidi as weird Cocaine 80s Wife. Which was so freaking weird but I couldn't stop laughing.

Your Voice Chicago: This was awkward. Well...congrats for Diamond & Silk finally getting spoofed? I'll take any excuse to hear Maya sing.

Earlier This Week: Kyle sketch! This started weak, but like any good Kyle bit, it just got more awkward and funnier as it went on. Loved "Mr. The Rapper!" 

Justin Bieber has always been "meh" to me, but I appreciated that performance that started backstage.

Jack Flatts: Appreciated the left turn of this ad into a QAnon/kidnap the governor crazy person video. But this had like zero energy to it.

eBay: Yeah...quarantine buyer's remorse is a total thing. I WISH PreBay was a thing. I've said "why did I buy this" quite a few times this month.

Boy, this was a dud. There were good parts, but like lots of SNL episodes, it lost steam after Update. Tune in next time for...? Did anyone see if anyone got announced for next time? 

 

              Galileo, The Other Man With Donald Trump And Bill Cosby Was Matt Lauer Who Was On The Today Show ! I Think He Was Harassing Women So He Got Fired From The Today Show !