S46.E08: Timothee Chalamet / Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Timothee Chalamet hosts with musical guest Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.

Airing Saturday, December 12, 2020.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I like this tweet

Edited December 9, 2020 by Ms Blue Jay

[Pete Martell]

I laughed more at this promo than I have at any of these in a while.

Chloe talks about Timothee's reaction to her impression.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/snls-chloe-fineman-reveals-timothee-chalamets-reaction-to-impression-we-should-figure-something-out

Some table read photos.

 

[vb68]

The Rona Christmas sketch was so bizarre. 

[ebk57]

10 minutes ago, vb68 said:

The Rona Christmas sketch was so bizarre. 

Not quite as bizarre as Tiny Horse...

[formerlyfreedom]

I liked the Rona Christmas sketch. I...did not care for Tiny Horse.

[vb68]

1 minute ago, ebk57 said:

Not quite as bizarre as Tiny Horse...

Yeah, I was going to say....speaking of bizarre.

Ego killed on the Dionne Warwick impression and sketch. That was hilarious.

[formerlyfreedom]

Oh, yes! The Dionne Warwick sketch has been the best of the night so far. Sending Machine Gun Kelly away was GREAT! 

[vb68]

I LOVE Bruce and E Street. If you ever get a chance to see them in concert, by all means go. You'll have a blast.

[freddi]

Loved Bruce.  But yikes, that was a lot of close singing without masks.  

[vb68]

I thought the show on the whole was more quirky than funny. I did like Timothee as host. He seemed into it and had good energy. He's really interesting to watch. 

This last sketch is like the low rent version of Da Bears Superfans.

Edited December 13, 2020 by vb68

[shapeshifter]

39 minutes ago, freddi said:

Loved Bruce.  But yikes, that was a lot of close singing without masks.  

Considering NY/NJ was an early hot spot, maybe they all had it back in February/March?

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: So Kate is just gonna play EVERYONE, right? She's playing Fauci now, too. This was all a breath of fresh air. Pretty "meh" but at least no more Trump or Jim Carrey.

Monologue: Wasn't expecting to see Massive Headwound Harry (my favorite sketch!!) in 2020 , but I am here for it. It was sweet that Timothee's mom was actually in the audience. Oh NOW we get a musical monologue. It's been a while, right? This was nice.

A Rona Family Christmas: This was so audacious and dumb, and I loved it. I love that the rebel son drank Purell. The Herpes neighbors were great, as was Grandma Spanish Influenza. "Dancing with The SARS" is what got me.

Lexus: And now, a look at how these ads would REALLY go. Why buy a car without telling your wife? and you haven't worked since March? of 2019? And it kept going. So good.

The Dionne Warwick Talk Show: Wow, a sketch about Dionne Warwick! And it's starring Ego! Just earlier she tweeted about how much she loves Kenan. "One last question Harry Styles: Why is Wendy Williams being a bitch to me?" My sides. I'm with Dionne, I barely know who any of these people are, but I just kept laughing at this. Loved that this was the sketch that Chloe pulled out her Timothee impression (shame he wasn't onscreen at the same time). Ego needs to keep this sketch. Like, every week. It's a good showcase for celebrity impressions. Calling it now, not only sketch of the night, but in the top 10 of the year.

The Farm: Was not expecting a sketch about Timothee singing to a tiny claymation horse, but I liked it. That whole "go on, git" bit was great.

Gee, this Bruce Springsteen guy isn't half bad, Shame the sound mixing was awful.

WU: Yeah this week was stupid. All grown up Eric Cartman Bill Barr. Perfect. And since everyone was giggly tonight, Kate came back as Dr. Weknowdis and was great. I was also here for Melissa shoehorning that great Dolly Parton impression into the show. That was "Andy Kaufman imitating Elvis" level of good.

Holiday Baking Championship: Nothing's beating that Sonic abomination cake. But the butthole cake that spewed chocolate (and ate Timothee's arm) came awfully close. Loved that the one good cake was just deemed "okay."

XXL Rap Roundtable: Well, Kenan and Chris sat this week out, so they actually brought in Questlove for this. Pete and Timothee were perfect as the mumble rappers. Not surprised that their only exposure to rap were the KIA rat commercials and Questlove on Yo Gabba Gabba. Oh my god, Quest just smacking Timothee with the hairpick was certainly something Kenan couldn't pull off. That was just cathartic.

The audience wasn't booing Bruce Springsteen, they were sayin "boo-urns"! "Boo-urns"!

Sportsmax: Of course that the sports equivalent of Newsmax is all in for the Jets. Pete and Timothee just made a fantastic team tonight. Just a perfect scumbag duo. 

A kind of dud opening, but otherwise fantastic episode! I'm not too crazy about Wiig (never been shy about that), but it's the Christmas episode so I have hopes. This set a stupidly high bar, though.

[SHD]

Now I want to see Questlove host SNL.

[ebk57]

5 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Cold Open: So Kate is just gonna play EVERYONE, right? She's playing Fauci now, too. This was all a breath of fresh air. Pretty "meh" but at least no more Trump or Jim Carrey.

Monologue: Wasn't expecting to see Massive Headwound Harry (my favorite sketch!!) in 2020 , but I am here for it. It was sweet that Timothee's mom was actually in the audience. Oh NOW we get a musical monologue. It's been a while, right? This was nice.

A Rona Family Christmas: This was so audacious and dumb, and I loved it. I love that the rebel son drank Purell. The Herpes neighbors were great, as was Grandma Spanish Influenza. "Dancing with The SARS" is what got me.

Lexus: And now, a look at how these ads would REALLY go. Why buy a car without telling your wife? and you haven't worked since March? of 2019? And it kept going. So good.

The Dionne Warwick Talk Show: Wow, a sketch about Dionne Warwick! And it's starring Ego! Just earlier she tweeted about how much she loves Kenan. "One last question Harry Styles: Why is Wendy Williams being a bitch to me?" My sides. I'm with Dionne, I barely know who any of these people are, but I just kept laughing at this. Loved that this was the sketch that Chloe pulled out her Timothee impression (shame he wasn't onscreen at the same time). Ego needs to keep this sketch. Like, every week. It's a good showcase for celebrity impressions. Calling it now, not only sketch of the night, but in the top 10 of the year.

The Farm: Was not expecting a sketch about Timothee singing to a tiny claymation horse, but I liked it. That whole "go on, git" bit was great.

Gee, this Bruce Springsteen guy isn't half bad, Shame the sound mixing was awful.

WU: Yeah this week was stupid. All grown up Eric Cartman Bill Barr. Perfect. And since everyone was giggly tonight, Kate came back as Dr. Weknowdis and was great. I was also here for Melissa shoehorning that great Dolly Parton impression into the show. That was "Andy Kaufman imitating Elvis" level of good.

Holiday Baking Championship: Nothing's beating that Sonic abomination cake. But the butthole cake that spewed chocolate (and ate Timothee's arm) came awfully close. Loved that the one good cake was just deemed "okay."

XXL Rap Roundtable: Well, Kenan and Chris sat this week out, so they actually brought in Questlove for this. Pete and Timothee were perfect as the mumble rappers. Not surprised that their only exposure to rap were the KIA rat commercials and Questlove on Yo Gabba Gabba. Oh my god, Quest just smacking Timothee with the hairpick was certainly something Kenan couldn't pull off. That was just cathartic.

The audience wasn't booing Bruce Springsteen, they were sayin "boo-urns"! "Boo-urns"!

Sportsmax: Of course that the sports equivalent of Newsmax is all in for the Jets. Pete and Timothee just made a fantastic team tonight. Just a perfect scumbag duo. 

A kind of dud opening, but otherwise fantastic episode! I'm not too crazy about Wiig (never been shy about that), but it's the Christmas episode so I have hopes. This set a stupidly high bar, though.

Agree with all of this... except (there's always something 🙂 ) I wasn't crazy about the baking or rapper sketches.  I loved Questlove being there and thought  Punky was great as Queen Latifah, but the sketch was only meh.  

Bill Barr/Eric Cartman is perfect.  And just as Pete and Timothee were starting to talk about the Jets score in Sportsmax, I started reading a column in the WaPo titled "In politics and sports, final score is sacrosanct".  Timing is everything. 

I though Timothee was charming.  Really enjoyed the show. 

[SHD]

7 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

I though Timothee was charming.  

Yes, he gave 100% in every sketch, even the odd ones. I did feel bad that the Lightning McQueen joke in the baking sketch fell so flat. It was a solid joke.

[Arkay]

Love Bruce and have been to many of his shows. I know he didn't want to do it but after the year we've had, I wanted the fun of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Just the way they do it would have have been a nice endcap for the year. 

No Kenan or Chris but Questlove was great.

Pete has so much hit his stride, and it's great to witness. 

I thought the Hasidic joke was offensive. All of WU was meh tonight, although Melissa does an awesome Dolly Parton. Her bit seemed the only part the audience responded to, plus a bit of Dr. Weknowdis.

Not so familiar with Timothy Chalomet, but he was good. Nice props to his mom. 

[FilmTVGeek80]

I thought the Tiny Horse sketch was just...yikes. The only part I found amusing was the part with the "git" (which went on way too long) and then you see that he's barely moved an inch.

I thought Timmy's best character was the idiot rapper. I have no idea if he started to break when he started covering his face or he was supposed to do that, but it was adorable.

I couldn't concentrate on his SportsMax character because as soon as he appeared on camera it was clear his fake mustache was falling off and he just could not stop touching it.

 

[Lantern7]

Who is Timothy Chalomet? This is not disrespect . . . I really don't keep up with popular culture these days. Funny to see an old sketch with a crowd of extras and not immediately go, "Where's Conan?"

52 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Sportsmax: Of course that the sports equivalent of Newsmax is all in for the Jets. Pete and Timothee just made a fantastic team tonight. Just a perfect scumbag duo.

I wasn't thinking "scumbag" so much as "striking a great parallel between a neo-conserative news outlet and an NFL team that has zero business existing." If you're a fan of the Jets and Knicks? That must have hurt so bad.

Quote

All grown up Eric Cartman Bill Barr.

I can't see it. At least Cartman entertains when he's being a selfish asshole.

A friend on Facebook figured they couldn't get Brad Pitt to reprise Dr. Fauci. I imagine Kate: "Dress up like another guy? Eh, twist my arm." She's got a gift, and I think she did the good doctor very well.

[MrWhyt]

Well now we know why Questlove keeps that pick in his hair.

Solid episode, TC definitely gave  it 100% which always help to elevate a show.

[JakeyJokes]

1 hour ago, Galileo908 said:

The Dionne Warwick Talk Show: Wow, a sketch about Dionne Warwick! And it's starring Ego! Just earlier she tweeted about how much she loves Kenan. "One last question Harry Styles: Why is Wendy Williams being a bitch to me?" My sides. I'm with Dionne, I barely know who any of these people are, but I just kept laughing at this. Loved that this was the sketch that Chloe pulled out her Timothee impression (shame he wasn't onscreen at the same time). Ego needs to keep this sketch. Like, every week. It's a good showcase for celebrity impressions. Calling it now, not only sketch of the night, but in the top 10 of the year.

They can do it next week with Kristin as Taylor Swift, because Dionne is apparently a Swiftie now! The last part of that sketch killed me. “You’re young. Unlock my phone. I’m need to send a clapback to Wendy Williams.”

John Mulaney was all over that monologue, right?

[JakeyJokes]

25 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Who is Timothy Chalomet? This is not disrespect . . . I really don't keep up with popular culture these days. Funny to see an old sketch with a crowd of extras and not immediately go, "Where's Conan?"

 

Timothee was nominated for an Oscar for “Call Me By Your Name”, one of the youngest nominees ever for that category. He was also in “Little Women” and “Ladybird”.

[possibilities]

I looooooved the Dionne Warwick show, Corona Family Xmas, and Sportsmax. 

I must like quirky, because I was laughing out loud a lot tonight.

Was glad to see Cecily. Enjoyed the Fauci and Birx bits. Dolly on WU was fun. Also loved the joke (?) about money for a "space army" but not for vaccines. I really have no complaints tonight, except I was glad I'm not the only one who thought the sound mix on Bruce and the E was bad. 

I'm not actually a big fan of Chalomet, but I thought he did an excellent job here. I always like it when someone actually acts, so all their characters don't come off the same.

[madpsych78]

The Cartman/Bill Barr connection was cute, but whenever I see Bill Barr I just see Baby Sinclair from Dinosaurs. At least in looks.

 

The Dionne Warwick sketch killed and that needs to be recurring.

At first I thought people were booing for Bruce Springsteen because the sound sucked, especially on the first song. That sax also seemed out of tune with everyone else. The second song went better but still people were booing. 

 

Edited December 13, 2020 by madpsych78

[Irlandesa]

47 minutes ago, JakeyJokes said:

 

Timothee was nominated for an Oscar for “Call Me By Your Name”, one of the youngest nominees ever for that category. He was also in “Little Women” and “Ladybird”.

He is also starring in the new Dune which was supposed to come out around this time but was bumped to next year.  It kind of makes me wonder how far in advance some of these shows were booked.  And for people who don't watch movies but do watch TV, he was in the second season of Homeland as the VP's son.

Anyway, I did like the episode tonight.  It felt like there were a lot of sketches and, for the most part, they were pretty economical. 

A Corona Family Christmas was silly and pun after pun but it made me laugh. 

Tiny Horses was bizarre and didn't make me laugh much but it was structured and acted so well--even that tiny horse gave all he had--that it unexpectedly made me a little emotional.  I did not want to feel emotional.

I loved the Lexus Commercial.  I especially loved the bit where it's revealed Alex got an earring to impress Timothee's girlfriend.  It's that kind of detail that just screams what a loser he is. 

Ego's Dionne impression was terrific, especially when she was singing. 

I know a lot of people have made jokes about "mysterious dumps of points" on Twitter during sports games but I did like how SNL built it into the Sportsmax sketch. 

I have to give props to the fake punches thrown tonight in the episode.  They looked quite real. 

1 hour ago, JakeyJokes said:

John Mulaney was all over that monologue, right?

Now that he's in 30 Rock with Seth's show, I did wonder if wanted to get his hands on any part of the show. 

 

 

[Jody]

11 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Cold Open: So Kate is just gonna play EVERYONE, right? She's playing Fauci now, too. This was all a breath of fresh air. Pretty "meh" but at least no more Trump or Jim Carrey.

Monologue: Wasn't expecting to see Massive Headwound Harry (my favorite sketch!!) in 2020 , but I am here for it. It was sweet that Timothee's mom was actually in the audience. Oh NOW we get a musical monologue. It's been a while, right? This was nice.

A Rona Family Christmas: This was so audacious and dumb, and I loved it. I love that the rebel son drank Purell. The Herpes neighbors were great, as was Grandma Spanish Influenza. "Dancing with The SARS" is what got me.

Lexus: And now, a look at how these ads would REALLY go. Why buy a car without telling your wife? and you haven't worked since March? of 2019? And it kept going. So good.

The Dionne Warwick Talk Show: Wow, a sketch about Dionne Warwick! And it's starring Ego! Just earlier she tweeted about how much she loves Kenan. "One last question Harry Styles: Why is Wendy Williams being a bitch to me?" My sides. I'm with Dionne, I barely know who any of these people are, but I just kept laughing at this. Loved that this was the sketch that Chloe pulled out her Timothee impression (shame he wasn't onscreen at the same time). Ego needs to keep this sketch. Like, every week. It's a good showcase for celebrity impressions. Calling it now, not only sketch of the night, but in the top 10 of the year.

The Farm: Was not expecting a sketch about Timothee singing to a tiny claymation horse, but I liked it. That whole "go on, git" bit was great.

Gee, this Bruce Springsteen guy isn't half bad, Shame the sound mixing was awful.

WU: Yeah this week was stupid. All grown up Eric Cartman Bill Barr. Perfect. And since everyone was giggly tonight, Kate came back as Dr. Weknowdis and was great. I was also here for Melissa shoehorning that great Dolly Parton impression into the show. That was "Andy Kaufman imitating Elvis" level of good.

Holiday Baking Championship: Nothing's beating that Sonic abomination cake. But the butthole cake that spewed chocolate (and ate Timothee's arm) came awfully close. Loved that the one good cake was just deemed "okay."

XXL Rap Roundtable: Well, Kenan and Chris sat this week out, so they actually brought in Questlove for this. Pete and Timothee were perfect as the mumble rappers. Not surprised that their only exposure to rap were the KIA rat commercials and Questlove on Yo Gabba Gabba. Oh my god, Quest just smacking Timothee with the hairpick was certainly something Kenan couldn't pull off. That was just cathartic.

The audience wasn't booing Bruce Springsteen, they were sayin "boo-urns"! "Boo-urns"!

Sportsmax: Of course that the sports equivalent of Newsmax is all in for the Jets. Pete and Timothee just made a fantastic team tonight. Just a perfect scumbag duo. 

A kind of dud opening, but otherwise fantastic episode! I'm not too crazy about Wiig (never been shy about that), but it's the Christmas episode so I have hopes. This set a stupidly high bar, though.

 

       Galileo, Was Pete And Timothee In A Movie Together ? This Is about The Most Pete Has been On I Think ! Also, They Have A Lot OF Chemistry Together ! Galileo, Jimmy Fallon Wears A Cowboy Hat And Has Some Times ONE And Some Times TWO Strands OF Hay In His Mouth And He Spreads His Legs Apart And He Says Go On Git To Various Things ! Maybe Jimmy Wrote That And Told Quest Love To Give IT To Timothee OR Maybe One OF The Other Writers Had Given That To Jimmy AT Some Point ! !

11 hours ago, ebk57 said:

Agree with all of this... except (there's always something 🙂 ) I wasn't crazy about the baking or rapper sketches.  I loved Questlove being there and thought  Punky was great as Queen Latifah, but the sketch was only meh.  

Bill Barr/Eric Cartman is perfect.  And just as Pete and Timothee were starting to talk about the Jets score in Sportsmax, I started reading a column in the WaPo titled "In politics and sports, final score is sacrosanct".  Timing is everything. 

I though Timothee was charming.  Really enjoyed the show. 

     Hey, I Also Did NOT Care for the Baking Or Rapping Sketches, But I Love Quest Love Because I Watch Jimmy And The Tonight Show And I Also Like Tariq And He Should Have Been Rapping In The Rapper Sketch ! He Could Be A Guest OF Quest Love OR He Could Crash The Sketch And Every Body Could Wonder Who's This Guy ! Then, Punky Could Say, But You Know, This Guy Ain't Bad !

[Tdoc72]

3 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

 

Monologue: Wasn't expecting to see Massive Headwound Harry (my favorite sketch!!) in 2020 , but I am here for it. It was sweet that Timothee's mom was actually in the audience. 

Still makes me laugh when the dog is just supposed to lick the wound but starts trying to actually eat it and Dana is trying to hold it on. 

2 hours ago, JakeyJokes said:

 

Timothee was nominated for an Oscar for “Call Me By Your Name”, one of the youngest nominees ever for that category. He was also in “Little Women” and “Ladybird”.

I knew he was a young actor but thought he was foreign (maybe British or Scottish?). Color me surprised when he said he was from NY. 

2 hours ago, madpsych78 said:

 

At first I thought people were booing for Bruce Springsteen because the sound sucked, especially on the first song. That sax also seemed out of tune with everyone else. The second song went better but still people were booing. 

 

I thought they were saying “Bruuuuuce”.  I really don’t think people would boo him. 

[Pete Martell]

I liked this episode, although a part of me liked it more for what it wasn't than what it was. The cold open being trimmed in half meant the show did not feel bogged down and they were able to get more material in. They also managed to use almost all of their cast (those who were actually there - Aidy, Chris and Kenan were filming elsewhere), which meant the featured players and Melissa finally got a chance at some comedy (I'm still hoping Lauren, Andrew and Punkie will get some kind of showcase sketch or a short film before it's too late). Timothee was a very likeable host who threw himself into everything but didn't seem smug. Even the monologue, which could have easily been a bit smug (it came across that way last season with Harry Styles at the piano, although the writing was different), was instead awkward and sweet (I loved the shoutout to his mother and the clip of when she was on SNL - never thought we'd get two clips back-to-back weeks of sketches from so long ago). 

My favorite part of the episode was the Tiny Horse pre-tape. It had a retro feel, from the early '80s/Dick Ebersol era of the show (they used to have a few shorts with weird claymation figures [after Mr. Bill], and the 81-82 season also had a lot of singing), but also felt perfectly suited to Timothee Chalamet - the main piece of the night that did (although he was fine with what they gave him). I got a few laughs (like when he kept telling the horse to go and the horse was so tiny that his running away took forever), but I was glad they let this piece have a sweet ending rather than an edgelord type moment where the horse was killed. 

I also liked the Rona Family sketch, which reminded me of the Ebersol period (especially their headgear), and got some laughs out of an uneasy topic. The writing was somewhat corny, but the performances were great, with some good lines thrown in at times (my favorite was the "joining antifa" bit). Melissa also got one of her best sketch roles in a long time as Granny Spanish Influenza. I'm sure there's plenty to get mad about (the Cuomo reference, making light of COVID, what have you) but for modern SNL I thought it was different and I thought it worked. 

The rest of the sketches were not as memorable, but were mostly fine, although I don't think we needed another Holiday Baking Special (this is the third and the only time I enjoyed myself was Eddie Murphy cursing).

It was interesting to see them bring back the impression parade in the Dionne Warwick sketch. The return of the celebrity talk show might be lazy, but then Dionne gave them a huge gift this week (it's a shame Kenan wasn't there to be a part of it). The impressions were all so brief nothing much could be done with them, but better to be short and harmless than to drag on and on. Ego usually just plays the straight woman so I was glad she got some chances at a character here - it's a very good performance, especially when I went back and rewatched. My favorite part is probably her just talking over her chef the entire time (a meta moment for Andrew Dismukes regarding his airtime, I guess, intended or not). I was surprised they didn't have a scene of Timothee "meeting" himself via Chloe, but I can't say I'm sorry we avoided that cliche. (Chloe didn't get as much airtime as I'd expected - even Deborah Birx, which she'd played on a cut sketch last season, was taken by Heidi)

I know Tiktok rappers are an easy joke, but this one became more and more amusing for me as it went along, between the awful screeching, Timothee breaking, and Questlove going over to give them both a smack. Pete seemed to be really into the sketch, as he also was with the Sportsmax sketch (he was doing a good homage to the Swersky brothers - I kept waiting for the heart attack at the end). I still think it's probably time for Pete to move on from the show, but he's been doing some good work this season. I also wonder if, silly as it sounds, he now helps get people booked on the show, as he has worked with Bill Burr and I think he's friends with Timothee Chalamet, and I didn't think either of them would be hosting SNL.  

The Sportsmax sketch was another where seeing some of the lesser used players made me enjoy it more, but even without that factor it was still an interesting idea, mostly well-executed. I wish they would let Alex Moffat play less generic parts though. I like Beck Bennett and I think he has done a surprisingly good job taking over the increasingly difficult (with 20 people in the cast!) utility/"glue" role, but I'm not sure he needed to get that character part in the Sportsmax sketch as well as so many of the father roles earlier in the night. He has been dominating airtime this season. Again he's done  great, and I know he is probably leaving after this season so caring too much is moot, but I wish they could give a few of his roles to someone else. 

Speaking of that, I just have no interest in more of Kate dressing in drag and doing the same impressions as always - I just zone out, as I also zoned out with the reprisal of the "we know dis" Update character. I know a lot of fans love Kate and take comfort in her work during such tough times, so I'm not trying to be negative about what they enjoy, but if Kate is staying (I still wonder if she is leaving next week), I wish she would at least try something new. I'm just glad that cold open wasn't 10-15 minutes, the way it would have been not long ago. If there's ever a "back to normal" these days, shorter cold opens may be the closest we get. 

I never can quite get into Melissa's impressions, as they are technically very good, but often feel empty to me. I'd much rather see her bring back a few of her old Update characters, or just talk about herself. However, if we get the impressions, this was one of the better attempts at making it seem less like just doing the voice - she tried to have fun and build a little story, with those weird segueways she manages to wring some comedy out of. Her last Update appearance mostly just got some controversy and felt flat; this was a nice redemption.

The car pre-tape was OK (I imagine it will bring back all the debates about product placement and if this was product placement), but it's a topic SNL has done so many times in the last few years (the midlife crisis husband and harried wife). I did still appreciate the performances, as Beck and Heidi are always terrific in these parts. Timothee and Mikey Day (is it me or does it feel like Mikey is less and less a part of the show) were good support.  

Overall I've enjoyed these last two episodes more than I thought I might, even if they haven't been masterpieces. I hope that will continue with Kristen Wiig and that they will write to Kristen's strengths, not all the mugging and bad camp.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Pete Martell

[Ottis]

I haven't googled him yet, but I have no idea who Timothee Chalamet is. He said he has an acting career, and he also sang in this ep. Hmmm. I was excited when I heard the name at first because I thought they said Shalamar, and I liked some Shalamar songs in the 80s.

Not his fault, but I FF through Tiny Horse. That's the first time I have done that through one of the musical parody skits, but I just didn't see any humor in it.

I did enjoy the point of the Lexus Christmas skit. Many of us are capable of buying a car for Christmas for my SO, but really, who does that? The commercial with the couple buying the two trucks is especially galling.

The Rona virus was decent but pretty cliched. Would have liked it to be more edgy.

And the Dionne Warwick skit was charming. Don't know much about her today, but if that is how she is, I like it.

Bill Barr as grown up Cartman ... bwahahahahahaha.

Just an aside, the skits on WU where a guest just blathers on the same comment over and over, then acts inexplicably silly, are not funny, Dr. Weknowdis.

Indiana Jones and The Tomb of the Jamaican nurse ... ha.

Poor Melissa. I really like her, and yet they shoehorn her into WU as awkwardly as possible. Can they just have her do an impression in a skit?

The baking skit *should* have been funny, but wasn't. The last time they did this skit it was hilarious. I think the problem was they had the contestants immediately acknowledge their cakes were bad, instead of be proud of them. The last cake should have been fun but they had the guy own up to what it looked like. This whole concept was off.

Probably the funniest part of this episode was Springsteen wearing a rolled up jean jacket. Talk about 80s. wow.

I wish there were enough Questloves to do that to everyone on Tik Toc.

Heh, the Fox lies as sports was great and should have broadened to all sorts of lies beyond the election, and made the cold open. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Ottis

[blueray]

7 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Who is Timothy Chalomet? This is not disrespect . . . I really don't keep up with popular culture these days. Funny to see an old sketch with a crowd of extras and not immediately go, "Where's Conan?"

 

I thought the same thing. So I looked him up on Wikipedia and was surprised to see that he didn't appear to be in any major things (for a lack of a better word). He was in a few oscar type movies that I have heard of but never saw and upcoming Dune which isn't out yet due to Covid. Normally when I haven't heard of the host, I look it up and go "oh" they are in game thones or something lol. But it was kind of refreshing to see some host that was mostly in indy or oscar type films and is there by talent not what they recently starred in.

Anyhow, I watched up until weekend update but for the part liked it. I thought Timothee did a good job as did most of the cast. I especially liked the car commercial. My husband and I have a running thing where we make fun of those commercials. Who right now would buy to expensive trucks right now and then surprise someone with them?

Edited December 13, 2020 by blueray

[blueray]

6 hours ago, madpsych78 said:

At first I thought people were booing for Bruce Springsteen because the sound sucked, especially on the first song. That sax also seemed out of tune with everyone else. The second song went better but still people were booing. 

 

No body was "booing" it was a sound track from his old preformances and they are chanting "Bruce".

[txhorns79]

Quote

The Dionne Warwick sketch killed and that needs to be recurring.

I thought Ego was fine, but thought the sketch needed a lot of work.  There were funny moments, but it was kind of disjointed, like they were just kind of throwing things out there, hoping something would land with the audience. 

[Blakeston]

For those wondering, Timothée Chalamet hasn't been in any blockbuster movies, but he's a big name nonetheless. He's easily the most acclaimed male actor of his age group, and he's a big deal among Gen Z and younger millennials. He's also seen as quite the heartthrob, despite (or maybe because?) he doesn't fit Hollywood's conventional idea of leading man hunkiness.

I thought he was very good, with the exception of the Harry Styles impression. He just seemed kind of generically British. He can certainly do the accent, but I didn't get much of a sense of Harry Styles beyond that - and I would think that would be an impression someone could have a lot of fun with.

It makes sense that Chalamet and Pete Davidson are friends, because they certainly seemed to be put together as much as possible in the sketches.

[mtlchick]

24 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

I thought Ego was fine, but thought the sketch needed a lot of work.  There were funny moments, but it was kind of disjointed, like they were just kind of throwing things out there, hoping something would land with the audience. 

For me it was due to Maya Rudolph's version of Warwick (not sure if she did that on SNL but did on Kimmy Schmidt) that I couldn't get into Ego's version.  Mind you Ego's version was solid but needed to be a bit more...weird. 

 

5 hours ago, Tdoc72 said:

Monologue: Wasn't expecting to see Massive Headwound Harry (my favorite sketch!!) in 2020 , but I am here for it. It was sweet that Timothee's mom was actually in the audience.

That is one of my favourite one off sketches EVER.  The dog was SO into it that I still cry from laughing at the dangling piece of the wound. 

 

I have to watch the rest of the episode past Weekend Update (I heard SportMax was a hoot.)  But from what I saw, it was ok.  At least I chuckled a bit through the Rona Family but Tiny Horse was....there. 

[Robert Lynch]

Timothee is a Mama's boy, so his mother being there is not big news. His mother is pretty prevalent in most of the award shows he attended. Not that I have a problem with that and I think that's pretty cool of him doing that. I knows others bring their significant other on award shows, but I always thought it's always cool for Timothee to bring his mother. 

[yellowjacket]

People have been yelling "Bruuuuuuce" at his concerts for 50 years (at least I have).  Also I wouldn't worry about maskless singing, these people all basically live together.

Timothy Chalomet and Pete Davidson should do a movie together.

Questlove!

[Fostersmom]

10 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

The Farm: Was not expecting a sketch about Timothee singing to a tiny claymation horse, but I liked it. That whole "go on, git" bit was great.

 

XXL Rap Roundtable: Well, Kenan and Chris sat this week out, so they actually brought in Questlove for this. Pete and Timothee were perfect as the mumble rappers. Not surprised that their only exposure to rap were the KIA rat commercials and Questlove on Yo Gabba Gabba. Oh my god, Quest just smacking Timothee with the hairpick was certainly something Kenan couldn't pull off. That was just cathartic.

 

The Farm was inane and bizarre, but I loved it! the Tiny Horse riding off on a regular horse was great. 

5 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

My favorite part of the episode was the Tiny Horse pre-tape. It had a retro feel, from the early '80s/Dick Ebersol era of the show (they used to have a few shorts with weird claymation figures [after Mr. Bill], and the 81-82 season also had a lot of singing), but also felt perfectly suited to Timothee Chalamet - the main piece of the night that did (although he was fine with what they gave him). I got a few laughs (like when he kept telling the horse to go and the horse was so tiny that his running away took forever), but I was glad they let this piece have a sweet ending rather than an edgelord type moment where the horse was killed. 

 

I know Tiktok rappers are an easy joke, but this one became more and more amusing for me as it went along, between the awful screeching, Timothee breaking, and Questlove going over to give them both a smack. Pete seemed to be really into the sketch, as he also was with the Sportsmax sketch (he was doing a good homage to the Swersky brothers - I kept waiting for the heart attack at the end). I still think it's probably time for Pete to move on from the show, but he's been doing some good work this season. I also wonder if, silly as it sounds, he now helps get people booked on the show, as he has worked with Bill Burr and I think he's friends with Timothee Chalamet, and I didn't think either of them would be hosting SNL.  

 

I never can quite get into Melissa's impressions, as they are technically very good, but often feel empty to me. I'd much rather see her bring back a few of her old Update characters, or just talk about herself. However, if we get the impressions, this was one of the better attempts at making it seem less like just doing the voice - she tried to have fun and build a little story, with those weird segueways she manages to wring some comedy out of. Her last Update appearance mostly just got some controversy and felt flat; this was a nice redemption.

 

Overall I've enjoyed these last two episodes more than I thought I might, even if they haven't been masterpieces. I hope that will continue with Kristen Wiig and that they will write to Kristen's strengths, not all the mugging and bad camp.

Tiny Horse was by far my favorite sketch of the night.

The TikTok rappers was genius, it really encompassed everything I hate about these new internet "celebrities".  I mean, I just turned 44 last week and I see these "kids" acting like fools and making millions for stupidity, not even genius stupidity like Tiny Horse, just actual stupidity. The face tattoos made me laugh, I see more and more of them and all I can think is why. Questlove hitting both of them was pretty much my dream with so many of the idiots I see making pop culture news these days. 

Empty is a great way to describe Melissa's impressions. I guess they are technically good, but I can't get into them either. Chloe's are so much more enjoyable and fun. I've never really been into impressions, a little go a long way, and trying to make a whole career out of imitating others just seems, I don't know, like an easy way out? 

I have no doubt Kristen will be all mugging and bad camp, that's all she does. 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Fostersmom

[peeayebee]

10 hours ago, SHD said:

I did feel bad that the Lightning McQueen joke in the baking sketch fell so flat. It was a solid joke.

I didn't get the joke. Maybe he flubbed the delivery, or maybe I was distracted for a split second, but I didn't follow what exactly happened with the car.

 

8 hours ago, madpsych78 said:

The Cartman/Bill Barr connection was cute, but whenever I see Bill Barr I just see Baby Sinclair from Dinosaurs.

Me too. It's so obvious to me that I can't really appreciate any other comparison.

I actually enjoyed Kate as Fauci. She looked a lot like him, and the jokes worked. I also liked Heidi as Birx. The one criticism I have is re the bra tossing. The thing about Fauci being a surprising sex symbol is old news. It was weird bringing that up at this point. 

At first I wasn't sure about the Rona Family Christmas sketch, but I was soon converted. I thought it was perfectly executed. All the performances were fantastic. But, boy, when Andrew Dismukes entered, for a moment I thought it was John Mulaney.

The Lexus commercial was also a winner. Again, everyone was great in it, and the joke progressed nicely.

Loved the Dionne Warwick Talk Show. Ego did a wonderful Dionne. 

I couldn't help but think of Lil Sebastian during the Tiny Horse sketch. But I appreciated the randomness of the whole thing.

WU didn't do much for me. First off, I don't care for Dr Weknowdis. And this is the second time that Colin ends up asking Kate if she's all right. I can't remember if the previous time she was also doing Weknowdis. I thought Melissa's Dolly Parton impression was pretty good, but at first all I could see was Parker Posey.

Please, no more Holiday Baking Championship. That was too gross. The only thing I like is the pointless comments the judges make. "I like your hat."

The rap roundtable was ok. Best part was Questlove slapping Pete. Very well done. 

I thought Timothee did a good job.

Edited December 13, 2020 by peeayebee

[Arkay]

40 minutes ago, yellowjacket said:

People have been yelling "Bruuuuuuce" at his concerts for 50 years (at least I have).  

Me too...it's a signature of his concerts. I guess the young 'uns here are not familiar so they thought it was booing.

Not looking forward to Kristin Wiig.

 

[Guest]

Melissa's impressions are great, and Dolly was especially great, but where she really got me was the goofy delivery of really dark lines. Like as Spanish Flu Grandma: "Give me a kiss, I"ll kill you", or talking about Dolly saving a kid from being hit by a car: "Which made me sad, 'cause I was speeding up to hit them!" *squinty eyed, cheery smile* It's a funny contrast that they could use more. But at least she's there! In multiple sketches!

Poor Alex, though.

Edited December 13, 2020 by tracyscott76
Added a missing contraction

[vb68]

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

For those wondering, Timothée Chalamet hasn't been in any blockbuster movies, but he's a big name nonetheless. He's easily the most acclaimed male actor of his age group, and he's a big deal among Gen Z and younger millennials. He's also seen as quite the heartthrob, despite (or maybe because?) he doesn't fit Hollywood's conventional idea of leading man hunkiness.

Yeah, I'm genuinely rather surprised so many seem not to know Timothee or recognize his name. He is a rather big deal. He was nominated for a leading Best Actor Oscar, and he's probably the biggest name actor of his age group save Tom Holland. I thought it was something of a coup that they got him.

6 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

I still think it's probably time for Pete to move on from the show, but he's been doing some good work this season.

I strongly disagree. it took forfreakingever but he's finally just now hit his groove as a sketch performer. He has this confidence now and it's really wonderful to watch. I don't understand why he should go when he's finally comfortable.

 

6 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

I never can quite get into Melissa's impressions, as they are technically very good, but often feel empty to me.

I agree there. It's like she has no idea how to put them in a larger context.  Dolly could have been in her own sketch, and I thought the impression needed room to breathe.  I also don't think it helps her at all when Colin says something like "you've been trying to get this on for awhile."  It gives the whole thing a loser-ish quality that's unfair.

6 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

and Mikey Day (is it me or does it feel like Mikey is less and less a part of the show)

I don't see that. He had an off show this week, but we still plenty of those sketches of people with unfortunate names or kids putting embarrassing filters on  their dad, etc. He still gets way more time than say, Kyle.

 

56 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I actually enjoyed Kate as Fauci. She looked a lot like him, and the jokes worked. I also liked Heidi as Birx.

I didn't think Heidi brought much to that one at all.  It reminded me of her Jill Biden.  I wish they had Chloe do it.

 

56 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I couldn't help but think of Lil Sebastian during the Tiny Horse sketch.

Wow! That's a brilliant comparison.  I wish I thought of it! 🙂 

Edited December 13, 2020 by vb68

[helenamonster]

Ego truly shined in the Dionne Warwick sketch, I hope this gets her more screentime. Also, don't know if this is Dionne or the writers being behind the times, but Kesha dropped the $ 3 years ago as part of her post-Dr. Luke rebrand.

They really swung for the fences with the Rona family sketch and I think it paid off. Lot of great wordplay and they kept it just this side of "too soon" I thought.

I would have enjoyed the Lexus sketch more if it wasn't so obviously a barely-disguised Lexus commercial. I'll never be happy with the shoehorned product placement on this show.

A strange but overall fun episode. Timothee seemed like he was having a good time and got a lot to do, and I thought it was very cool that he his mom was there given her history with the show.

[Crashcourse]

1 hour ago, yellowjacket said:

Timothy Chalomet and Pete Davidson should do a movie together.

I hope they do!  

[cpcathy]

I thought it was just an okay episode. Loved Tiny Horse, the “Git!” Was supposed to take forever, and I laughed with each “git.” I agree on he could have had more fun with Harry Styles, who seems to have a lot of fun being Harry Styles. 
I can’t understand anything Bruce Springsteen sings, but, I’m not a fan. I didn’t click with either song, so, there’s that.

[MrWhyt]

8 hours ago, Tdoc72 said:

I knew he was a young actor but thought he was foreign (maybe British or Scottish?). Color me surprised when he said he was from NY.

yeah I thought he was french

[FilmTVGeek80]

1 minute ago, MrWhyt said:

yeah I thought he was french

He’s half-French. When I saw the Call Me By Your Name trailer, I thought he was a foreign actor playing American but the accent is real. His dad is French and his mom is American.

[Joimiaroxeu]

That Rona skit. Yeah, might've been too soon. But I laughed at "call me Jen."

The Lexus product placement was on target IMO. Every time I see the commercial where the guy has bought two trucks and his wife takes the bigger one I can't roll my eyes hard enough. I think that company (which is not Lexus) is basically calling tens of millions of people--many of whom can barely afford to eat or may be homeless soon--losers because they can't buy a brand new gigantic vehicle right now, much less two at once. Ugh.

UO apparently but that was not a great Dionne Warwick impression IMO. But the impression wasn't the point I suppose. Now if they could work in a Patti LaBelle character it could get interesting to me.

I think Bruce Springsteen has had great work done on his face. He doesn't look like he's aged much at all. I barely recognized Steve Van Zandt though. I've never really been a fan of Springsteen but oddly enough I do have one of Patti Scialfa's CDs.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I actually enjoyed Kate as Fauci. She looked a lot like him, and the jokes worked. I also liked Heidi as Birx.

I didn't think Heidi brought much to that one at all.  It reminded me of her Jill Biden.  I wish they had Chloe do it.

I thought Heidi was good as Dr. Birx - the fact that she didn't do much kind of sold the (exaggerated) point that lots of people love, respect and listen to Dr. Fauci, but Dr. Birx, not so much. And Chloe could have done a fine job, too, but they would have lost the slight visual humor (and accuracy) of Birx towering over Fauci.

[Fostersmom]

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I didn't get the joke. Maybe he flubbed the delivery, or maybe I was distracted for a split second, but I didn't follow what exactly happened with the car.

He was hit, or hit, I can't remember which, Lightening McQueen.... the "character" in the Disney animated movie Cars at Disney world. 

51 minutes ago, helenamonster said:

 

51 minutes ago, helenamonster said:

I would have enjoyed the Lexus sketch more if it wasn't so obviously a barely-disguised Lexus commercial. I'll never be happy with the shoehorned product placement on this show.

I don't mind the barely disguised ads since they always openly mock the company being advertised. It cracks me up companies are more than willing to be mocked for their SNL ads. 

[Pete Martell]

7 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

UO apparently but that was not a great Dionne Warwick impression IMO. But the impression wasn't the point I suppose.

I agree it wasn't the strongest impression, although I liked that she went for sly and cutting rather than a big diva moment. I wish they had not put in the bits that made her seem a bit addled (being out of touch, not knowing how to use her phone) as it kind of got in the way of the rest. 

55 minutes ago, helenamonster said:

Ego truly shined in the Dionne Warwick sketch, I hope this gets her more screentime. Also, don't know if this is Dionne or the writers being behind the times, but Kesha dropped the $ 3 years ago as part of her post-Dr. Luke rebrand.

They really swung for the fences with the Rona family sketch and I think it paid off. Lot of great wordplay and they kept it just this side of "too soon" I thought.

I would have enjoyed the Lexus sketch more if it wasn't so obviously a barely-disguised Lexus commercial. I'll never be happy with the shoehorned product placement on this show.

A strange but overall fun episode. Timothee seemed like he was having a good time and got a lot to do, and I thought it was very cool that he his mom was there given her history with the show.

I got the feeling it was meant to show Dionne being out of touch.

I spent a lot of that car pre-tape thinking people would be peeved over the product placement. Streeter Seidell wrote this, apparently - his sketches get that criticism [last season he addressed the same over the Macy's pre-tape he did and he swore it wasn't product placement, which led to a whole Twitter back-and-forth as some people told him even if he wasn't, NBC might be. The overfamiliarity bothered me more, as they have done these types of pieces with marital drama so many times now, but I did like the performances (and apparently a lot of people really hate those ads so I'm glad they got a catharsis).

1 hour ago, tracyscott76 said:

Melissa's impressions are great, and Dolly was especially great, but where she really got me was the goofy delivery of really dark lines. Like as Spanish Flu Grandma: "Give me a kiss, I"ll kill you", or talking about Dolly saving a kid from being hit by a car: "Which made me sad, 'cause I was speeding up to hit them!" *squinty eyed, cheery smile* It's a funny contrast that they could use more. But at least she's there! In multiple sketches!

Poor Alex, though.

Alex is perpetually misused or underused. He's good with goofy expressions and is a good physical comedian yet he always ends up being in straight roles. I guess until some older cast members go, nothing will change, but it may be too late by then. The same is probably true for Melissa. I too think she's better at the quirky line deliveries - the studio audience rarely responds to them, but she knows how to use that weird quasi-deadpan style of hers to good effect. That was my favorite part of the sketch - the clever variation on the "look how much your grandparents sacrificed" trope.

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

I strongly disagree. it took forfreakingever but he's finally just now hit his groove as a sketch performer. He has this confidence now and it's really wonderful to watch. I don't understand why he should go when he's finally comfortable.

I don't see that. He had an off show this week, but we still plenty of those sketches of people with unfortunate names or kids putting embarrassing filters on  their dad, etc. He still gets way more time than say, Kyle.

 I suppose I'd rather Pete go on a high, rather than staying because he feels obligated (I'm not saying you are saying he feels obligated - I mean last season, he seemed to hate doing the show and basically said he was only staying because of loyalty to Lorne). I see your point though.

Kyle is an odd duck at this point as I feel like he's either on a lot each week or barely at all. Overall, Mikey has had a bigger voice on the show, but I haven't felt it as much this season. The "funny news sketches" in particular haven't had as much focus (we have had one this season, out of 8 episodes...I think last season they scaled those back some as well).