S46.E07: Jason Bateman / Morgan Wallen

[Pete Martell]

6 hours ago, vb68 said:

This is interesting. Watching the episode, I noticed that more and more and I'm feeling that way about Mikey Day. Don't get me wrong. He's great at what he does, but he has his familiar beats he repeats all the time. I even noticed it this time in the cold open. I feel like I'm seeing the same thing  from him on repeat.

Kyle has never bothered me as much. I think because he seems like he usually gets sidelined to that 12:55am spot. For some reason I do feel like he's been sidelined and/overlooked to some degree, and any real showcase he's ever gotten, he's really had to fight to get.  

And don't get me started on poor Alex Moffat, who I still suspect might be the most talented of all those guys.

Hey Pete, I saw elsewhere where you (I think it was you) referenced the long ago Rob Morrow sketch that had the same premise as the "Kill the Bit" Kyle sketch. Brilliant recall. I had forgotten all about it. I wonder if anybody who works on the show now remembered it. I rather doubt it. 

"Clam chowdah!" is a line I always remember from that sketch. One of the reasons I have fond memories of that season (1991-1992) is they had a big cast but wrote for all of them. Something SNL usually struggles with (big or small casts).

I like Kyle a lot - he's one of my favorite cast members from this past decade and I think he gets a lot of unfair stick - it's just that he tends to get a lot of this type of piece on, the awkward, lonely, etc. Other moments I enjoyed, like his '80s or '90s sketches with Beck, have faded, so he's mostly left with the one note. 

Many agree with you about Mikey. I do as well, but I feel like Mikey's airtime has significantly decreased in the last season or so, and the type of sketches he used to get on (the "Mikey reacts" sketches) have also decreased, so it doesn't bother me as much.

[ruby24]

I didn't like that Morgan Wallen sketch. They made it seem like the reason it was bad that he was partying was because it would get him kicked off SNL, not that he was deliberately out there partying during a pandemic. They didn't even bring that up! That was super lame. So if he hadn't gotten caught he could have just come into SNL and potentially infected everyone and that would have been okay?

[Fostersmom]

6 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

He's such a treasure.  I just love it that he appears to have thrived during the pandemic.

Yep, I've said for a while now, quarantining with his mom and sister was the best rehab ever for him. I'd guess he'd regularly hang out with the same people he hung out with before rehab when he got out all the other times, but hasn't been able to see them during the pandemic, therefore staying away from the same old demons. He looks so healthy! Although, was I the only one who noticed he had a cowlick sticking up on the back of his head last night? LOL!

 

[Milburn Stone]

Except for Weekend Update, that was horrible.

[rmontro]

I thought the Morgan Wallen sketch was the best one of the night (not saying much), except for maybe the Stan parody.

[JakeyJokes]

Dido sang “Stan” with Eminem on SNL and plays the girlfriend in the video. She gives him a lot of credit for boosting her career (her album had been out for over a year when he sampled “Thank You” for the hook, and then more people discovered her).

The Kill the Bit sketch was okay, but whenever someone says “cut to me”, I can only think of the Will & Grace episode where Madonna plays Karen’s quirky roommate named Liz who always says it.

LIZ: [WHINING] Karen! You shouldn't have bought this cheesecake. I'm, like, totally eating healthy this week. Ugh! Heh. Cut to me eating this whole cheesecake.

KAREN: [GIGGLES] Oh, Liz. I love when you do "cut to me."

LIZ: Everybody does.

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 12/7/2020 at 12:51 PM, Milburn Stone said:

Except for Weekend Update, that was horrible.

Yup

[Pete Martell]

Ratings for the Jason Bateman episode.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-saturday-sunday-dec-5-6-2020

More on the Eminem cameo, and reaction from Devon Sawa (who was Stan in the video).

https://www.etonline.com/how-eminems-surprising-saturday-night-live-cameo-came-to-be-157459

[One Imaginary Girl]

I was amused by the bit on Update with Pete as the Staten Island explainer, because Colin is from Staten Island, too. He doesn't conform to the popular image of it, between Harvard and the WASPiness and the marriage to Scarlett Johansson. It would have been great if at the end, his connection could have been revealed.

[vb68]

11 hours ago, One Imaginary Girl said:

I was amused by the bit on Update with Pete as the Staten Island explainer, because Colin is from Staten Island, too. He doesn't conform to the popular image of it, between Harvard and the WASPiness and the marriage to Scarlett Johansson. It would have been great if at the end, his connection could have been revealed.

I know they have highlighted that at least once before that I can recall where Pete was complaining that a writer in the local Staten Island newspaper said something like Pete sleeps with the fishes while Colin is the golden boy .  "That's a death threat!" 

Not that they ever hesitate to repeat a bit, but the reveal wouldn't be surprising now.

Anyway, I rewatched the show last night skipping over the music and generally liked it more a second time. The only thing that seriously bugged was excusing Morgan Wallen for his behavior as others have said.

 I noticed this time that Wallen resembles a younger Billy Ray Cyrus.

[DEL901]

Morgan Wallen is an idiot.  
https://www.tmz.com/2021/02/02/morgan-wallen-n-word-nashville-neighbors/

[vb68]

Well I wonder if they regret booking this guy as the musical guest for a second time now with the recent headlines.   I knew he wasn't worth it when he was kicked off the first time.

It also gives the sketch they did with him in the bar celebrating his second chance a really bad look.

I don't think this episode will be repeated again anytime soon.

Edited February 5, 2021 by vb68

[helenamonster]

I thought the same thing when the news broke. "SNL really caped that hard for this guy?"

[Pete Martell]

On 2/4/2021 at 9:11 PM, helenamonster said:

I thought the same thing when the news broke. "SNL really caped that hard for this guy?"

My guess is this was down to NBC and the higher-ups, more than Lorne being desperate to have him back. Initially I thought that might be the case, because the show does try to lean into that bro-country sound at least once a season, but when I saw that awful sketch, it felt like a mandate to me. I've rarely seen SNL go that far. They were brutal to Ashlee Simpson in comparison. This guy really seemed to have a lot of strings being pulled for him based on all the chances he kept getting after his various screw-ups this past year.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 2/3/2021 at 8:36 AM, DEL901 said:

Morgan Wallen is an idiot.  
https://www.tmz.com/2021/02/02/morgan-wallen-n-word-nashville-neighbors/

SNL is disgusting to support this person.  How many screwups can a person be allowed.  So stupid.