S46.E18: Elon Musk / Miley Cyrus

[formerlyfreedom]

Elon Musk is the scheduled host and Miley Cyrus is the scheduled musical guest.

[BC4ME]

Not watching this because of Elon Musk FWIW. Not that SNL cares but I have my own personal problems with having him as host.

[sempervivum]

34 minutes ago, BC4ME said:

Not watching this because of Elon Musk FWIW.

And I'm only watching it FOR Elon Musk. I will possibly switch channels when Miley is performing, though.

[Cobb Salad]

Maybe I missed it but why is he hosting anyway?  Aren’t there plenty of people in the entertainment world they could get?  Even someone who has hosted multiple times?  I usually watch it through the clips on YouTube the next day so whether I watch or not depends on how well they title the clips.  

[juno]

21 minutes ago, Cobb Salad said:

Maybe I missed it but why is he hosting anyway?  Aren’t there plenty of people in the entertainment world they could get?  Even someone who has hosted multiple times?  I usually watch it through the clips on YouTube the next day so whether I watch or not depends on how well they title the clips.  

I totally agree. His business dealings aside he has no acting ability and that bothers me most. You need to act to be on this show.

I hope I am wrong but I expect him to be an absolute dud unless he is playing himself.

There is absolutely no reason for him to be on this show except the celebrity factor (the click factor). In this era I am sure there is hundreds of actors that would host and do a better job.

[BC4ME]

55 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

And I'm only watching it FOR Elon Musk. I will possibly switch channels when Miley is performing, though.

What do you think he's bringing good to the table?

[sempervivum]

1 hour ago, BC4ME said:

What do you think he's bringing good to the table?

I don't know if he has as much entertainment value as.. say, Lance Armstrong or Al Gore😬, but to me, it's sort of like (if there had been an SNL 100 years ago) they had Henry Ford* or Thomas Edison* as host. Entirely imo, but Elon Musk- warts and all- will be a historic figure long after Timothee Chalamet is, well, forgotten.

Musk also seems to be a real weirdo who likes to provoke, and that might produce some memorable moments. It's certainly more interesting to this viewer than the 'I'm Promoting Some Movie That Nobody Cares About' actress of the week.

* Yes, I know they both did and thought terrible things.

[akr]

I'll watch Weekend Update, but otherwise I'll wait and see whether people here & elsewhere liked the episode before I decide whether to watch. I don't care for Elon Musk, but I like a lot of the cast, so I won't hold it against them.   

[Pete Martell]

20 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

Maybe I missed it but why is he hosting anyway?  Aren’t there plenty of people in the entertainment world they could get?  Even someone who has hosted multiple times?  I usually watch it through the clips on YouTube the next day so whether I watch or not depends on how well they title the clips.  

Publicity and ratings. NBC probably came up with the idea, but Lorne has always been fine with "controversial" hosts to try to get interest, especially during end-of-an-era seasons. 

[Trini]

Controversial or not, he's not any type of performer, so I don't see the entertainment value; that's where I'm confused about this choice of host. Unless they expect people to tune in to see him bomb?

[vb68]

The commercials I'm seeing are very much stressing in big bold letters

MILEY is BACK on SNL!!!!

 

....and oh yeah, coughelonmuskcough will be the host, but MILEY is BACK!

[helenamonster]

I noticed that too. Since she's been on before and he hasn't it kind of makes sense, since they actually have footage of her to use, but I'm hard pressed to remember the last time a musical guest was pushed this hard over a host, even if the musical guest was returning and the host was new.

Considering I thought this was only done as a ratings stunt, it's not the approach I was expecting.

[possibilities]

Maybe they're realizing Musk is not as popular as they thought, and have noted the blowback. Or maybe he's acting out during rehearsals and they are regretting the invitation. Or maybe he turns out to be incapable of even reading cue cards and they're hoping to sub in Miley as a sort of unofficial emergency host.

[One Imaginary Girl]

On 5/2/2021 at 3:05 PM, akr said:

I'll watch Weekend Update, but otherwise I'll wait and see whether people here & elsewhere liked the episode before I decide whether to watch. I don't care for Elon Musk, but I like a lot of the cast, so I won't hold it against them.   

Yeah, same here. I don't even like the musical guest, who is the most desperate person on the planet.

[marketdoctor]

Quote

Or maybe he turns out to be incapable of even reading cue cards and they're hoping to sub in Miley as a sort of unofficial emergency host.

So, what's the over/under on how many sketches Miley will be in?

I'm at 2.5 (fewer than 2 or more than 3 would surprise me, and that depends on how you count a person in the background in crowd/group scenes.)

I'm also going to guess one hard rock song (like she did at the NCAA tournament) and one song we're more familiar with as fan service.

[peacheslatour]

On 5/6/2021 at 11:49 PM, possibilities said:

Maybe they're realizing Musk is not as popular as they thought, and have noted the blowback. Or maybe he's acting out during rehearsals and they are regretting the invitation. Or maybe he turns out to be incapable of even reading cue cards and they're hoping to sub in Miley as a sort of unofficial emergency host.

Lorne gave the regular cast the choice to opt out of tonight's show but hearing how vindictive he can be, I doubt there won't be any repercussions for those who decide to not participate.

[JZL]

WTF?  Gee, I wish MY boss let me pick and choose with whom I worked. 

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, JZL said:

WTF?  Gee, I wish MY boss let me pick and choose with whom I worked. 

I can almost guarantee you they'll all be there. Lorne is notoriously vindictive.

[Arkay]

I have no feelings for Elon Musk either way. Richest guy, a weirdo, no bearing on my life, but he’s not an actor so who knows why he’s hosting. Maybe Lorne wants something. I’m sure he can afford a Tesla, so maybe he wants a ticket to Mars. Who knows. 

[Pete Martell]

 

[Galileo908]

See you next week for Keegan-Michael Key!

I'm skipping this too if you were gonna wonder where I went this week.

[JZL]

I think a lot of geeks who haven't watched SNL in forever may be tuning in.

[Ms Blue Jay]

32 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

See you next week for Keegan-Michael Key!

I'm skipping this too if you were gonna wonder where I went this week.

Samesies.  Good on you.

[vb68]

And Miley opens the show singing to all the moms. When was the last time the musical guest opened the show?  This already looks like the Miley show.

Nice to see all the moms. Aidy's mom is beautiful.

[Galileo908]

6 minutes ago, vb68 said:

And Miley opens the show singing to all the moms. When was the last time the musical guest opened the show?  This already looks like the Miley show.

Nice to see all the moms. Aidy's mom is beautiful.

Honestly good to see this tradition come back. They haven't shown off the moms in quite a few years.

And if anyone DOES watch this, please tell us how it went. I'll let someone else do the play-by-play this time.

Edited May 9, 2021 by Galileo908

[formerlyfreedom]

Just now, Galileo908 said:

And if anyone DOES watch this, please tell us how it went. I'll let someone else do the play-by-play this time.

I won't be doing a play-by-play, but I'm watching, unfortunately. And his monologue is painful, even with his mom there.

[ebk57]

10 minutes ago, vb68 said:

And Miley opens the show singing to all the moms. When was the last time the musical guest opened the show?  This already looks like the Miley show.

Nice to see all the moms. Aidy's mom is beautiful.

That was exactly what Mr. ebk said about Miley opening the show.  The whole thing was lovely. 

The monologue wasn't good, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  His mom, though, was pretty bad. 

[Kimmmmmm]

16 minutes ago, vb68 said:

And Miley opens the show singing to all the moms. When was the last time the musical guest opened the show?  This already looks like the Miley show.

Nice to see all the moms. Aidy's mom is beautiful

Worst opening ever...especially Miley...ive heard vomiting that was more melodic

[mtlchick]

I’m watching because I know next to nothing about the guy outside that he started Tesla, Space X, his mom did Cover Girl ads and named his kid the worst thing ever.

[ebk57]

The Mare of Eastown parody was hilarious and spot-on. 

[vb68]

I agree the monologue was hella awkward- whose idea was it to do OJ jokes?- but so far the sketches are generally alright. He's there just enough to say he's there. But he's pretty inconsequential so far.

I like the first conversations since covid started and then Murdur Durdur.

Edited May 9, 2021 by vb68

[vb68]

Well Update was having one of it best outings of the season....and then Musk showed up and ruined it.  But Colin and Che started off ripping on Elon pretty good. Colin said  Musk was only there as an alibi with this Chinese rocket crashing to Earth.

Edited May 9, 2021 by vb68

[freddi]

Weekend Update is totally worth watching (you can tune out when EM shows up).

"Pauline" was fabulous.  Especially "I used to be a sexy thang. <does a little chair dance as she says this> Men would buy me appetizers, many, many appetizers."  The whole segment is worth transcribing.  Perfect Mother's Day interview.

I thought the many mothers in the opening were lovely.  

Edited May 9, 2021 by freddi

[vb68]

1 minute ago, freddi said:

Pauline was fabulous.

I cracked up when Che said "Where are you kids now?"

"You are worried about OUR kids now??"  

[Frisky Wig]

It was remarkable how much more comfortable Elon was in the SpaceX skit than the monologue or other skits. Clearly in his element!

Edited May 9, 2021 by Frisky Wig

[Galileo908]

I wasn't expecting a total trainwreck, I'd imagine bits that Elon wasn't in (or not in very much) were decent at the very least.

[freddi]

They had all the mothers on stage for the end credits -- and gave it a LOT of time, including a final camera shot that panned to the small audience as well.  

[vb68]

Well that's over. My station came back late in the goodbyes. They were already hugging, so I missed whatever he said.

I hated the last sketch which felt like an excuse for Elon to brag. We also got the darkest Chad  sketch yet.  I hope Chad isn't  really dead. 

I meant to say earlier that one thing that truly got me in the Cold Open was Cecily with her mom.  Her mom smiled sweetly and told her to deliver the punchline. Cecily, about thisclose to fully bursting out crying, said she couldn't because she was too happy. That was wonderful. I remember hearing how Cecily was having such a rough time when the pandemic started. 

Edited May 9, 2021 by vb68

[Galileo908]

1 minute ago, vb68 said:

I hated the last sketch which felt like an excuse for Elon to brag. We also got the darkest Chad  sketch yet.  I hope Chad isn't  really dead. 

No SNL character ever stays dead. Toonces died multiple times a sketch, Ass Dan died every time he appeared, Harry Caray did his talk show despite dying earlier in the week. Chad will be back.

[ebk57]

Murder Durder - fabulous

Update - pretty good

Opening - lovely, as were the goodbyes with all the moms

One line in the last sketch - something about a self-driving horse being just a horse - made me laugh.  If only it had been delivered with a tiny bit of timing... 

And, I admit it, I like Miley.

Otherwise... I thought it was pretty not good. 

[formerlyfreedom]

Chad has died in previous skits. He’ll be back.

[opus]

1 minute ago, ebk57 said:

And, I admit it, I like Miley.

Me too. I think at times she tries too hard to be “outrageous“ but I do like Miley the singer.

1 minute ago, saoirse said:

Chad has died in previous skits. He’ll be back.

Okay 

[vb68]

9 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

No SNL character ever stays dead

Probably. I was just thinking it's near the end of the season, and that could be Pete's way of saying he's done with it. But yeah, he's died before.

 

Quote

Me too. I think at times she tries too hard to be “outrageous“ but I do like Miley the singer.

It's so ironic that she's considered an old hand at this show now, and a reliable and safe option to be paired with a wildcard host. 

Edited May 9, 2021 by vb68

[saber5055]

I laughed out loud several times during the monologue and liked all of the sketches. I thought Elon was tops, and he delivered lines better than other hosts who have been wooden and stare at the cue cards while re-ad-ing-them-so-slow-ly. I very much enjoyed this episode. A lot. One of my favs of the season. Got a big laugh out of the "What is a dogecoin" segment. Blockchain, baby! Also really liked GenZ Hospital, bruh. Elon was in pretty much all the sketches, which was cool.

Speaking of "cool," I was happy to see Miley doing both sets fully dressed, top to toes. I say this after watching the repeat that had Halsey, who I love, in some sort of corset that made me spend her entire song staring at her crotch and ass (and also scoping out the back-up dancer's cheeks) and not hearing the song at all. And dude, I'm a straight female. So, kudos Miley.

Edited May 9, 2021 by saber5055

[rmontro]

Thought it was a pretty good show.  I don't know how much credit Elon Musk gets, but it was mostly well written, and that helps a lot.

[Jody]

On 5/2/2021 at 2:02 PM, sempervivum said:

I don't know if he has as much entertainment value as.. say, Lance Armstrong or Al Gore😬, but to me, it's sort of like (if there had been an SNL 100 years ago) they had Henry Ford* or Thomas Edison* as host. Entirely imo, but Elon Musk- warts and all- will be a historic figure long after Timothee Chalamet is, well, forgotten.

Musk also seems to be a real weirdo who likes to provoke, and that might produce some memorable moments. It's certainly more interesting to this viewer than the 'I'm Promoting Some Movie That Nobody Cares About' actress of the week.

* Yes, I know they both did and thought terrible things.

     I Like To See What They Are Like ! AT First, I Was A Little Bored And He Generally Wasn't Very Good ! He Can Act A Little Bit Because He Was Being Like Mario On The Video Game So He Can AT Least Do That Which I Did Not Think He Could Do That ! Later, I Enjoyed Chad In Outer Space So I Thought Elon Did Okay With That ! The Best Sketch I Thought Was The Last One in The West Where Elon Had A Tunnel And Nobody Was Interested In The Tunnel, But I Enjoyed That Sketch !

11 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

See you next week for Keegan-Michael Key!

I'm skipping this too if you were gonna wonder where I went this week.

         Galileo, I Wish You Had Watched This ! You Could Just Describe Every Sketch And Say He Sucks ! This Was Terrible ! You Could AT Least Done That ! Actually, I Liked The Last Sketch Which Was A Western ! He Was Talking About A Tunnel And I Thought He Looked Pretty Good In That Sketch ! He Was Involved With Pete Being Chad In Outer Space And I Thought Elon Did Good With That  Sketch Also ! They Had An Earlier Sketch Where Elon Was Mario And He Acted Like He Was In A Video Sketch ! I Was Surprised Because I Did Not Think He Could Act Like Mario On The Video Sketch ! There Were Other Times When He Was Boring OR Did Not Do Good In Those Other Sketches ! How Ever,You Watched Other Bad Shows And I Think You Even Watched Donald Trump BOTH Times So You Should Have Watched This And Then Decided What You Thought About Elon After You Had Seen Him !

On 5/7/2021 at 6:55 PM, One Imaginary Girl said:

Yeah, same here. I don't even like the musical guest, who is the most desperate person on the planet.

       Maybe, There Is Some Thing That I Don't Know, But I Don't Know IF Miley Is THE Most Desperate Person On The Planet ! She Seems Okay To Me And Maybe There Are Other People That Are More Desperate Than Miley Is !

10 hours ago, vb68 said:

I agree the monologue was hella awkward- whose idea was it to do OJ jokes?- but so far the sketches are generally alright. He's there just enough to say he's there. But he's pretty inconsequential so far.

I like the first conservations since covid started and then Murdur Durdur.

        Yeah, Those Were Pretty Good And I Thought Murdur Durdur WAS Funny ! I WAS Laughing AT That ! Either That Or That Western WAS The Best Sketch ! Galileo, They Were Talking In A Pennsylvania Accent And Then They Mentioned That Joe Biden Lived In Pennsylvania And Said What Have We Gotten Ourselves Into OR Some Thing Like That ! Galileo, You Can Stream This Episode Tomorrow IF You Want To Watch This After All !

9 hours ago, Frisky Wig said:

It was remarkable how much more comfortable Elon was in the SpaceX skit than the monologue or other skits. Clearly in his element!

       Yes, He Was Good In That And I Though He Was Very Good In That Western ! ! I Thought He Was Pretty Good Being Mario !

9 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

I wasn't expecting a total trainwreck, I'd imagine bits that Elon wasn't in (or not in very much) were decent at the very least.

      Elon Was In The Western And In The Space With Pete Being Chad And The Video Game Where He Was Mario ! ! ! Elon Was Telling The Others About A Tunnel That They Could Use In The Western Sketch ! Elon Thought There Was A Problem In Outer Space And He Was Telling Chad What To Do ! Chad Made a Horrible Mistake And They Had To ALL Get Off The Rocket Ship IS What I Call What They Were On ! Elon Was Moving Around Like He Was Mario In A Video Game And I Thought He Did A Good Job OF Moving Around Like Being In A Video Game !

8 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I laughed out loud several times during the monologue and liked all of the sketches. I thought Elon was tops, and he delivered lines better than other hosts who have been wooden and stare at the cue cards while re-ad-ing-them-so-slow-ly. I very much enjoyed this episode. A lot. One of my favs of the season. Got a big laugh out of the "What is a Deutsche coin" segment. Blockchain, baby! Also really liked GenZ Hospital, bruh. Elon was in pretty much all the sketches, which was cool.

Speaking of "cool," I was happy to see Miley doing both sets fully dressed, top to toes. I say this after watching the repeat that had Halsey, who I love, in some sort of corset that made me spend her entire song staring at her crotch and ass (and also scoping out the back-up dancer's cheeks) and not hearing the song at all. And dude, I'm a straight female. So, kudos Miley.

         I Did Not Think IT Was As Good As You Did, BUT, I Did Think IT Was Better Than Most OF The Other People On Here ! ! Elon Was In The Sketches And George Carlin Who IS A Comedian Was Not In Any Sketches ! Even Richard Pryor Was In Sketches And George Carlin Was Not ! Only Betty White Did More Sketches Than Elon Did And She WAS In Her NINETIES !

[meatball77]

It seems like they just went ahead and wrote for Elon's personality.  It worked sometimes and didn't others.

[Pete Martell]

Of the people who were most openly critical about Elon Musk, Aidy appeared solely in the cold open, having no interaction with him, while Andrew mostly appeared in small pre-tape roles that had little interaction with him, while Bowen was in one pre-tape and one live sketch. 

CO: Great Dolly song choice. The cuts between Miley and the moms/cast didn't work, but the latter was equal parts funny, awkward, and moving, as always. The Redds had my favorite joke, but Cecily's moving moment with her mom was the perfect close. Best use of a group LFNY. The bit where the audience barely reacted to the Mary Katherine Gallagher reference, which would have killed for many years, shows you how time does change, even if SNL itself tends to have eternal growing pains. I was happy Melissa and her mother got a big round of applause. 

Monologue: Is it me or did Elon sound like Darrell Hammond's Donohue impression? Went as expected - half-hearted self-deprecation and an awkward transition into the monologue format. The delivery wasn't as bad as I expected, and the involvement of his mother was interesting.

Genz: Perhaps the most brutal edition yet of "Is SNL trying to make fun of 'the kids,' making fun of people who make fun of them, or...do they have no idea?" Really rough stuff to open the night with. The most interesting part was the audience dying off. It hasn't come out who wrote this sketch yet. Some are saying Gary Richardson and Michael Che. If so, then this will be the second recent sketch where many seem to think the writers were white, and felt the material was racist (this sketch has been criticized for using so much AAVE). Neither Che nor Richardson tend to do "how do you do fellow kids" writing, so if they did write this I may take it more as trolling or mocking - and possibly a very subversive attempt to alienate viewers, like the original writing team did in 1976 when Ron Nessen hosted.

Quarantine: Some clever writing and the presence of many of SNL's best pre-tape actors helped elevate an idea that could have felt overly familiar. The Chris and Ego cousins thread was my favorite, but the very bitter Heidi and Elon segment was also surprisingly strong. I will say the Heidi Gardner segment reminded me so much of a very specific, uptown type of hard-edged writing of the late '80s. I always felt like she was suited to that era. I'm even more sure now.

Ooli: Ooli's journey as a recurrer (cut 'woman on the street' pre-tape/at-home piece/talk show bit) is fascinating; more interesting than the warmed-over Maya Rudolph sketch from 2004 here, Pete's Buscemi impression...also fascinating. Elon would have killed a Sprockets sketch. Melissa did a very good Bjork.

Murder Durdur: Kate Winslet homage aside, this reminded me of a sloppier version of Seth Meyers' Boston piece. Too repetitive, but strong performances, especially from Kate, Bowen, and Beck ("my durdur had a baby durdur!!!"). First end was weak but the Biden tag made me laugh.

Update #1: Whether it's down to the Elon factor or just being burnt out, this was one of the more hesitant nights for Jost and Che (especially Jost). Most of the jokes didn't really land and I'm not even sure how many were intended to. The best was the one million meth joke.

Update #2: Ego Nwodim giving energy to the night. She tried to get this character on in seasons 44 and 45, but it fits more now due to all the performance art pieces Heidi and Bowen have done at the desk. Very committed performance from Ego, and who can say no to a Khia reference?

Update #3: There's something horribly compelling when a host who has no comedy skills is on Update. I don't know anything about crypto, and the attempts to address it just make SNL seem like a 70 year old trying to be 20, but the piece had a squirmy fascination throughout.

Update #4: Of all the episodes, this is probably the one Baby Yoda was most suited to, but after four (!) appearances there's nothing left to say. Kyle Mooney tried very hard, and the prop steroid arms were a good idea, but...nah.

Wario: A sketch people use for years to trash SNL, and like the gen z sketch, I wonder if that was part of the reason for it (along with trolling). People who hate watch/tweet still watch/tweet. There is a fine line between deliberately bad and just bad. This doesn't find it. I did like the coin sound effect with the gavel, the stupid sound effects in general, and Kyle's work as Luigi. The ridiculous visual of Elon as Wario also worked. But the rest...eh, just too labored to get much out of in positive enjoyment or hate watch pleasure. (and between Elon's resemblance to Darrell Hammond and my thinking Grimes was Chloe Fineman, I spent the last third mostly befuddled anyway)

Chad: The Adele appearance made me feel that Pete has aged out of the Chad role. I still do, but aside from some leaden work from Miley and Elon, this was stronger and funnier than his last 3 appearances. And a perfect ending. I hope this is the final appearance for Chad

Cowboy Standoff: A suitable end for this episode. The expected "Elon the genius inventor" sketch; stumbly, unfunny, and tonally incoherent. I would be curious to know who wrote this. The best I can say is Cecily Strong gave one of her most spirited performances this season.

Final: Never hit trainwreck status, as it takes a lot for modern SNL to break out of a shell of mediocrity to hit those marks. The episode reinforced SNL 1) doesn't know what it wants to be 2) squanders opportunities to gain new fans. 3) sounds ancient when trying to seem young. Elon could have been worse, which is something, I guess, but my main takeaway from the night is there need to be a lot of changes on the way and this is the type of episode which has the Hail Mary vibe suggesting Lorne knows as much. I guess we'll see what happens.

[cpcathy]

 Murder Durder was the hardest I’ve laughed at an SNL sketch in awhile. 
 

[Ottis]

This was the “Funny but ...” episode.

Loved seeing the moms, cringed every time they cut back to Miley singing and her irritating vibrato.

Gen Z is usually the kind of sketch I like, making fun of a younger idiot generation, but I haven’t noticed Gen Zers talking that way and it was only about talking and not actually being idiots (as Millennials are).

Quarantine spoke to all of us, seeing others after so long, but seems like our memories would still allow us to remember who people are, including cousins. Though I loved the subtle pullback when the cousin said he got the J and J vaccine.

I was really enjoying the truth telling about what a drudge going to a Disney park is during WU, because the crowds are way too big and the whole fast pass/reservation thing is irritating and absurd, but then they get weird at the end with the kids being Che’s and undermind the whole thing.

Merder Derder and Luigi were just grating.

Aw, poor Chad. Hope he survived. Always good for a few  laughs.

Cowboys was actually funny, with its parallel to IRL.

And I have to note this was the first time I have seen the Nike “Play New” commercial, which I loved. Great message.

Musk did fine. His awkward and sped up line reading made him hard to understand sometimes, but this isn’t his main gig. 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by Ottis