S49.E01: Pete Davidson / Ice Spice

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Season opener hosted by show alum Pete Davidson and with musical guest Ice Spice. 

Season premiere airing Saturday, October 14, 2023.

[formerlyfreedom]

 

[formerlyfreedom]

Not the opener I expected, but I think it was one we needed.

[wonderwoman]

6 minutes ago, saoirse said:

Not the opener I expected, but I think it was one we needed.

unfortunately, the monologue, not so much.

[ebk57]

Opening was lovely.  

Monologue...took a turn... 

I was confused during the credits when JAJ showed up in the regular cast until I remembered it was a new season.  

 

Hi everyone!

[formerlyfreedom]

Okay but the football sketch? *chef’s kiss*

[buttersister]

It’s been downhill since the opening.

Wired sketch 🤮

Not sure it’s worth sticking around for the news. At this rate that’ll suck, too.

[Thalia]

Maybe it is just me, but the live skits seem very short.  

Always love the Do Not Destroy guys. 

Mulaney!

Edited October 15, 2023 by Thalia

[Galileo908]

I was praying real hard that the show wouldn't come back this soon. I've been at NYCC all weekend and I am drained and I was hoping to sleep for once.

Nevertheless, I am here.

Cold Open: Oh boy, a serious one. But very well done.

Hey, Please Don't Destroy is in the intro now! They made finally made it!

Monologue: I liked this. Laughed so hard at him losing the audience at "one for two."

NFL Sunday: Okay, it's a Taylor Swift sketch. I honestly love the premise of everyone on NFL Sunday being a Swiftie. And then Travis Kelche showed up for two seconds.

I'm Just Pete: And now the Barbie spoof. Pete is Kenough. And I've seen enough Barbie and Ken cosplayers the past three days to last a lifetime. It had to end with Pete driving into the Barbie Dreamhouse. That was great.

Wired Autocomplete Interview: I can see Pete ruining a Delta flight with terrible diarrhea.

Trudy: Smashing the desk was the biggest laugh for this weird sketch. 

Please Don't Destroy: lol, love watching kids at Showtime At The Apollo. And Mulaney bombing there. And yeah, the PDD guys are the whitest people that have ever been on this show, and that's saying something.

WU: Oddly big pop for Colin Jost. Got a laugh of "Gay's Porn For Kids."

That "Ebony Alerts" joke was a pure joke swap joke, I'm sure of it. Loved it. Kenan as Deion Sanders was worth it for constantly trolling Colin.

Marley: Oh, it's a Bowen sketch. Now he's a weird alien that used to work on a spaceship. I also couldn't take my eyes off of Pete's fingers. Are they naturally that long?

Beach: Andrew Dismukes having to console Pete while buried in the sand was fun.

Glamgina: Sarah Squirm time! Loved all the ladies popping up out of nowhere. New girl got a line, too!

Roadhouse Bar: Dismukes with an OnlyFans would definitely clean up. Definitely weird how he and Pete seemed so adamant to see Kenan's feet.

 

So all in all, fun premiere! Bad Bunny does double duty next week because the studios won't pay actors their fare share/can't let go of AI.

[formerlyfreedom]

Not a bad first episode after being off the air for almost six months. Definitely not the greatest, but everyone showed up, and the effort was there.

[Blakeston]

I'm sorry, but that first Ice Spice performance was just dire.

[Kleav]

12 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

I also couldn't take my eyes off of Pete's fingers

They looked rubbery too. Strange. 

[ebk57]

After opening and monologue... I liked the football/Swifties sketch.  Just Pete was hilarious. WU was pretty great although the Coach Prime thing went on a bit long.  Everything else was fine.  

And Taylor Swift.   I didn't even realize she was there (shows how close attention I pay) until I read it on the hellscape that is Twitter.  So I just ran through my DVR recording and yeah - there she is.  The world is a weird place right now. 

[Slade347]

53 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

I'm sorry, but that first Ice Spice performance was just dire.

The thing I noticed was just how short both of her songs were. Were they even five minutes combined? 

Highlights included Pete's monologue, the Wired sketch, the PDD video (especially Mulaney bombing), Weekend Update and the beach sketch. Overall, I thought it was a pretty fun opener, and I was really happy  just to see the show return again.

Lastly, the cold open was perfect.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, ebk57 said:

And Taylor Swift.   I didn't even realize she was there (shows how close attention I pay) until I read it on the hellscape that is Twitter.  So I just ran through my DVR recording and yeah - there she is.  The world is a weird place right now. 

Oh she was?  I thought Pete was making a joke thanking her.

[xls]

3 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I'm sorry, but that first Ice Spice performance was just dire.

You don't have to be able to sing now, just bounce a big butt around? I don't get it, didn't see anything remarkable about her. couldn't even make out her voice above the electronics!

[Ottis]

That was … horrible. This is what they come up with after what, 5 months off?

Pete shouting a monologue, a yawner of a football skit about something most of us don't care about (and no, a skit mocking it isn’t any more interesting), and and some kind of Sad Pete/Barbie mash up I skipped (still haven’t seen Barbie, so I’m guessing that’s what it was). The airplane poop skit was a little better. Trudy was annoying, as intended. But I gave up at that point. Maybe I’ll watch the rest eventually. 

[Spartan Girl]

I don’t even like Pete, but “Just Pete” was GOLD.

[ottoDbusdriver]

5 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Oh she was?  I thought Pete was making a joke thanking her.

Taylor Swift introduced Ice Spice's 2nd song.

[SomeTameGazelle]

3 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Taylor Swift introduced Ice Spice's 2nd song.

I wasn't sure whether it was Travis or Jason at the end of the football commentary sketch and I'm not sure it mattered then but when I was squinting to figure out whether this was Taylor introducing the music I spent a lot of time wondering if there was a reason why Pete was unavailable like he would be part of the musical performance or something. If I had been 100% sure it was Travis earlier I would probably have just recognized the Taylor bookend and moved on.

My expectations for the monologue were clearly too high. I had read a review suggesting that Pete's standup had become more mature and sophisticated. It's funny because I had watched John Mulaney telling a story about watching an uncomfortably erotic show with his girlfriend's mother on Colbert and that made me laugh. Pete's bit about the discomfort of watching Game of Thrones with his sister just didn't seem to have any craft behind it. 

It was a little distracting in the beach sketch that Pete took a call on a cell phone and yet they were inexplicably waiting for Ego to fetch a camera to take buried Andrew's photo.

7 hours ago, Kleav said:

They looked rubbery too. Strange. 

They were just supposed to be a slightly alien feature, like Bowen's ears. 

i probably enjoyed the space sketch turning into a former employee visiting the office and then the Glamgina ad most. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

21 minutes ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

It was a little distracting in the beach sketch that Pete took a call on a cell phone and yet they were inexplicably waiting for Ego to fetch a camera to take buried Andrew's photo.

Yes! When Ego went to get the camera, I wondered if this skit was taking place in the past, before cellphones, and then he pulled his out.

I also thought that there might be a point at which Pete confessed relief that he was no longer bound to his grandmother's bean farm.

8 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

I also couldn't take my eyes off of Pete's fingers. Are they naturally that long?

 

8 hours ago, Kleav said:

They looked rubbery too. Strange.

That's because they were rubber. They were definitely fake. Probably a slight homage to the hotdog fingers in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

I thought that Heidi's costume in the spaceship skit was great.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Kimmmmmm]

10 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I'm sorry, but that first Ice Spice performance was just dire.

They both were!!! Uggghhhh!!!

[SeanC]

10 hours ago, Slade347 said:

The thing I noticed was just how short both of her songs were. Were they even five minutes combined? 

TikTok has been shifting a lot of artists' song lengths to decidedly under three minutes, akin to 50s radio singles.

[peeayebee]

3 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

It was a little distracting in the beach sketch that Pete took a call on a cell phone and yet they were inexplicably waiting for Ego to fetch a camera to take buried Andrew's photo.

I couldn't stop thinking about that either. Before Ego left, she should have said something like, "Don't anyone else take a pic. I want to take it."

The ep overall? Meh.

In the opening credits, this is the first time Michael Che has been first right? I got a chuckle out of hearing, "Michael Che! Mikey Day!" 

I haven't seen Barbie yet, but I figured something about it was coming up since there was a bunch of pink. I didn't get much out of this. I'm assume it would have been more enjoyable if I'd seen the movie.

I've read Wired online, but does it have a YouTube show?

The law office sketch was ok. I kind of liked that Trudy was using a typewriter. I guess that was appropriate since she was an old-timey secretary. I loved when she fell on the desk. Great pratfall.

I FF'd thru the first musical number.  I watched some of the second one, but just enough to think it sounded like Childish Gambino's This Is America.

I thought Bowen's Christopher Columbus was pretty good. Loved the gag with "I discovered that." I couldn't understand what Michael said about the rabies vaccine. It can cause what?

As Kenyan was doing Deion Sanders, I realized I was sitting here with a huge grin on my face. There's something inherently funny about Kenan.

The spaceship sketch didn't do much for me. Didn't go anywhere.

Did not like the Glamgina sketch.

The bar sketch was ok, but jeez I get tired of them always relying on sex jokes.

[MrWhyt]

pretty pretty pretty good. Not great, but solid. The unexpected joke swap on WU was the highlight. The NFL sketch was probably the best sketch of the night.

Quote

That was … horrible. This is what they come up with after what, 5 months off?

people always say this, do you think they're writing during their time off?

A: there was a writer's strike

2: nobody is paying them to write during the season break

iii: there is a good chance that anything they do write during the season break won't be topical/relevant once the season hits the air.

Edited October 15, 2023 by MrWhyt

[Arkay]

I appreciated Pete’s opening remarks.

 

Other than that, I really didn’t find anything very funny. It felt like maybe the writers were still on strike. I’m sure they need time to hit their stride.

 

I did like PDD.

 

And definitely Pete’s long fingers were just part of the alien costuming.

[SHD]

11 hours ago, Slade347 said:

The thing I noticed was just how short both of her songs were. Were they even five minutes combined?

Wait…you wanted them to be longer? LOL

1 hour ago, MrWhyt said:

Quote

That was … horrible. This is what they come up with after what, 5 months off?

people always say this, do you think they're writing during their time off?

A: there was a writer's strike

2: nobody is paying them to write during the season break

iii: there is a good chance that anything they do write during the season break won't be topical/relevant once the season hits the air.

I don’t think people assume the writers were writing during the strike. But there is the burnout factor when they do too many shows in a row, so I think people assume after having a break that long, they might come back with something special. There’s always that hope, anyway.

 

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

I couldn't understand what Michael said about the rabies vaccine. It can cause what?

It can cause PAW-tism.

[theredhead77]

Oh, I am so happy SNL is back and stoked Peacock airs SNL live and has the reply available as soon as the initial airing is over.

I have a soft-spot for Pete. His cold-open was solid and I loved his monologue / bit. My favorite was I'm Just Pete and found myself laughing at everything except the spaceship sketch. I'm not a fan of rap and while the days of SNL's musical guests being for 'me', I love being exposed to new music during their musical acts.

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

I got a chuckle out of hearing, "Michael Che! Mikey Day!"

Same. It also seemed Punkie Johnson's name was said with more enthusiasm. Her name used to sound flat - James Austin JOHNson, Punkie Johnson.

[SHD]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

In the opening credits, this is the first time Michael Che has been first right? I got a chuckle out of hearing, "Michael Che! Mikey Day!"

I don’t recall if Che was first before, but at least last year he was back to back with Mikey Day. Because I remember thinking “I really wish Tina Fey was still a cast member and came next!” 

[xls]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

As Kenyan was doing Deion Sanders, I realized I was sitting here with a huge grin on my face. There's something inherently funny about Kenan.

Hes a jem! Thank goodness he is still there!

[Pamela]

Never mind, already answered.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Pamela

[cpcathy]

Ummm, not great. Loved the PDD, yes, they are white nepo babies but they are hilarious and I love them.

I’ve only heard of Ice Spice just this year, in part due to Matty Healy, unfortunately, but doubt she’ll be around for awhile. Two super short songs and a bunch of posing? Naw. 

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, SHD said:

I don’t recall if Che was first before, but at least last year he was back to back with Mikey Day. Because I remember thinking “I really wish Tina Fey was still a cast member and came next!” 

And Will Forte!

[Blakeston]

I actually hated the Deion Sanders Weekend Update segment.

Deion Sanders gave a really terrific, brutally honest press conference after that loss. It was the kind of media appearance I'd love to see other coaches emulate.

And then Kenan uses it as an opportunity to do the exact same "this person is delusional" shtick we've seen him do for 20 years now. Like most of his "impressions" he barely even attempted to sound anything like the celebrity, and he just put a shit-eating grin on his face and broke a lot.

The only thing that segment had in common with the actual press conference was the way he was dressed.

[grif305]

Quote

The law office sketch was ok. I kind of liked that Trudy was using a typewriter. I guess that was appropriate since she was an old-timey secretary. I loved when she fell on the desk. Great pratfall.

   I took it to be set around the 1970s, from the cars in the stock video of the outside of the building at the start of the sketch.

[possibilities]

Ice Spice's set design seemed geared toward giving me a seizure, so I have no opinion about her actual singing because I fast forwarded the hell out of there as fast as I could. Maybe SNL might want to consider a warning before they air a bunch of flashing lights or other similar hazards.

I liked Glamgina-- ever since I heard of "cosmetic" labiaplasty and "vagazzling" I have thought that there needs to be a massive campaign to teach people not to be mind-bogglingly self-hating and/or medically illiterate. What's next? Dick Glitter? Rhinestone Testicles? 

[cdnalor]

1 hour ago, grif305 said:

   I took it to be set around the 1970s, from the cars in the stock video of the outside of the building at the start of the sketch.

Those were 50s cars judging by the huge fins on one of them.  I had to rewind because I wasn't sure what I'd seen until they got into the sketch and I understood the setting.  I still don't get why it's set in the past, though.  I found it  neither funny nor relatable.  Just an excuse for Heidi to try out a "gal Friday" character, I guess.  She looked great as the Seven-of-Nine type character in the sci-fi sketch, though.  Look out, Jeri Ryan!

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, grif305 said:

   I took it to be set around the 1970s, from the cars in the stock video of the outside of the building at the start of the sketch.

I didn't even notice that.

[Quickbeam]

I loved “Just Pete”. It was a hilarious send off of the Barbie movie. Plus, work for the dance people which is always a good thing. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Poignant cold open. Pete handled it perfectly.

Ugh, AFAIC they didn't need to bring back that NFL on Fox sketch back just to mess with Taylor and Travis. Most of those  depictions are tragic, IMO. Especially Walker as Strahorn.

Haven't seen Barbie yet so I'm not sure I fully got Pete as Drug Addict Comedian Ken.

The Please Don't Destroy little boys Live at the Apollo was insane!

Ice Spice got that body ody ody. Kind of low energy though.

Bowen Yang as Christopher Columbus. My head exploded.

Sorry, Taylor introducing Ice Spice still came across to like a PR "see, I'm cool with Black people" move to me.I doubt Ice Spice needs the street cred a collabo with Taylor provides. (Over on reddit they're calling Ice Spice an industry plant. Can't say I don't buy it.)

Glamgina lip-plumping gloss. OMG, no. Applying facial cosmetics to that area is a  UTI waiting to happen.

I thought Travis Kelce's last name was pronounced like "else"? Whatever, guess he and Taylor had better things to do than stick around for the closing. They probably would've overshadowed the host. (I've seen the pap photos of them in NY after the show. They just don't look like a real happy couple to me.)

Quote

Bad Bunny does double duty next week

Does he speak English? I've been under the impression he doesn't, or at least he prefers not to.

[Galileo908]

22 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I'm sorry, but that first Ice Spice performance was just dire.

"Damn, Sailor Moon" was the only thing I could make out.

Speaking of NY Comic Con, Kenan somehow managed to be awake in time to show up to the Good Burger 2 panel with Kel today. It was a real good time, and we saw the first ten minutes!

There was also a big booth that recreated the Good Burger from the movie. You sat in it and played a rhythm game about burgers against someone else, and you got a sweet Good Burger pin if you won. I didn't win.

[SeanC]

27 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Haven't seen Barbie yet so I'm not sure I fully got Pete as Drug Addict Comedian Ken.

I don't think there's much to get about it, beyond that it's a parody of this musical number:

 

[HC87]

Pretty bad overall imo....but I'll give them the first time out this year excuse.

[Beezella]

6 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I thought that Heidi's costume in the spaceship skit was great.

She looked great! Also, I assume she was an Android, and I think she did a good job of getting that across.

I am not the target audience anymore, was around when the show first premiered, but I thought this episode was pretty awful. Best part was the serious opening with Pete, the ending gathering that went on for a full 2 minutes where everyone seemed to be having a good time, and the saxophone player.

[heatherchandler]

15 hours ago, peeayebee said:

 

In the opening credits, this is the first time Michael Che has been first right? I got a chuckle out of hearing, "Michael Che! Mikey Day!" 

 

They are alphabetical.  Was someone else in between them before?

 

 

6 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

 

 

Sorry, Taylor introducing Ice Spice still came across to like a PR "see, I'm cool with Black people" move to me.I doubt Ice Spice needs the street cred a collabo with Taylor provides. 

I agree.  And then she was smiling weird, like she didn’t want the attention off her.  

[SomeTameGazelle]

14 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

They are alphabetical.  Was someone else in between them before?

 

Yes. Pete Davidson used to fall alphabetically between Michael Che and Mikey Day.

[Winston Wolfe]

1 hour ago, heatherchandler said:

8 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

 

 

Sorry, Taylor introducing Ice Spice still came across to like a PR "see, I'm cool with Black people" move to me.I doubt Ice Spice needs the street cred a collabo with Taylor provides. 

I agree.  And then she was smiling weird, like she didn’t want the attention off her.  

Taylor Swift always looks weird to me. Kinda like a Preying Mantis.

[RobertDeSneero]

I wish there was a featured player with a last name starting with A or B to set up a future gag where Che sabotages them to kill their career so he can remain first in the intro.

Monologue was very much my kind of humor.  Christopher Columbus was just George Santos with an Italian accent.  I appreciated the meta-ness of the space skit.  I pretty much liked everything except the beach skit.  

 

[Tachi Rocinante]

17 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I actually hated the Deion Sanders Weekend Update segment.

True, it was weak satire, but Deion has always been about Deion.  Wanting to be called "Coach Prime" instead of "Coach Sanders" is dumb.

Ice Spice is yet another in a long line of lame SoundCloud rappers.

Bowen is growing on me.

WU was good.

Uneven overall, but not a bad opener.

[Baltimore Betty]

On 10/15/2023 at 1:10 AM, Blakeston said:

I'm sorry, but that first Ice Spice performance was just dire.

I was unfamiliar with her (but then the Dunkin spots are airing constantly, I can hardly understand anything she says in those spots, Ben A. is not real clear either). She gave low energy performances, like Kanye sort of energy, non existant enthuiasm to be on stage. I FF'd thru her second number.