S49.E03: Nate Bargatze / Foo Fighters

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Just Nate Bargatze; musical performance by Foo Fighters.

Airing Saturday, October 28, 2023.

[peeayebee]

I've been rewatching some eps of Somebody Feed Phil, and in the Nashville ep, there was Nate Bargatze! I said out loud, "I know that guy!"

I'm looking forward to this one.

[Pete Martell]

 

 

[JeanJean]

So far, meh. Although I was glad to see a cold open Biden impersonation that resembled Biden. (Was it Mikey?) Nate didn't make me laugh, I just thought some of his stuff was cute and chuckle-y.

I'm glad they brought Mike Johnson into the cold open. I can't wait to see what WU does with him.

The measurement sketch is fun.

Edited October 29, 2023 by JeanJean

[formerlyfreedom]

The George Washington sketch about killed me. 

[Kimmmmmm]

Sarah Sherman continues to suck.

[JeanJean]

I so love that the child dressed as Hoda knew to hold for laughter!!!!

Sarah as the agent looks like Walter Goggins.

I always hope to like PDD but nope. Not tonight again.

[Fostersmom]

32 minutes ago, Kimmmmmm said:

Sarah Sherman continues to suck.

It's like she's unable to be in a sketch without chewing the scenery the entire time she's on. 

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Biden Halloween sketch! Mikey Day is playing him now? JAJ wasn't even Trump to justify that, it's weird. Man, what a way to cover John Mikeson Mike Johnson and his adult black son. And then here comes Walken to save the sketch! Please tell me he's here to introduce the Foo Fightahs. (he was)

Monologue: It's been a long time since we had a standup that wasn't either a castmember or someone that hosted already. Was Amy Schumer the last one? This is what we get when there's an actor's strike. But he was funny.

Chef Showdown: The reveal that Nate made the perfect soul food dish was fun. Him being all apologetic is totally a mood. Even Padma couldn't believe it! Kenan outright saying "kill yourself" to this offense was not on my bingo card tonight.

A Stab At Love: A Hallmark Christmas movie but it's a Halloween slasher was a great premise. Honestly it's an untapped market.

Washington: Yeah, our units of weights and measures are weird. And yeah, taking out the "u" in words except "glamour" was only to get away from the British.

Drinking on a Lake Beach: This was a fun song. Yeah, lake beaches are lame. Dave Grohl really brought it.

Fran Drescher: Here's our Sarah Squirm sketch, taking the piss out of those SAG-AFTRA strike rules that seem really really pointless, like dressing up for Halloween or not doing NY Comic Con panels for shows that ended years ago. (Yes, I'm still bitter about that). "The wig is fake but the wine is real!" was line of the night. That little kid dressed as Hoda is going places.

WU: Of course they had plenty of material on Mike Johnson. Generated by AI and "looks like every MSNBC Host combined" are perfect descriptions of him. Apparently Sarah as Colin's agent was cut from last week. That wig alone was killing me. I loved it. 

The Kenya joke was upsettingly great, as were the Vermont and Olive Oil jokes.

Airplane Lawyers: I laughed at everyone booing the teacher and applauding the mother (before dunking on her). Liked Dave Grohl showing up at the end (honestly, why couldn't he host?!). Fun premise, and it was short! Feels like Dave got cut off after delivering the punchline. Apparently the real ending got cut, according to someone who was at dress. 

Please Don't Destroy: They invented Bachelor Chow! Just the boys eating dog food. Just stupid as all hell, I loved this one. Apparently John was only five years old? (in dog years he's about 35)

Aww, they had a tribute to Matthew Perry at the end.

All in all...okay show. We all want the SAG-AFTRA strike to end, most of all Fran Drescher Sarah.

Timothee Chalamet is hosting on November 11th, and here I am wondering how that's possible. He'd be on promoting Wonka, so maybe it's okay as long as he doesn't talk about it? I don't know.

[MrWhyt]

best show yet. And most consistent, not a stinker in the bunch IMO. Bargatze slotted right in, didn't have to really stretch in terms of character but still good. Always great to see Walken, and it was nice of Dave Grohl and the guys to take time off from fighting Foo to play some music.

[Fostersmom]

4 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Timothee Chalamet is hosting on November 11th, and here I am wondering how that's possible. He'd be on promoting Wonka, so maybe it's okay as long as he doesn't talk about it? I don't know.

 

I'm wondering if they could possibly mock the original or even the Depp version... kinda like Pete's I'm Just Pete didn't mention Barbie, but we all know what movie it was from. And I'm going to need a Pete cameo for Timothee's episode. 

[ebk57]

I really enjoyed this one.  I didn't hate any of the sketches and I love Dave and the Fighters of Foo. I liked Nate, although he sorta faded into the sketches.  I was convinced he wasn't in many sketches until I just read @Galileo908's recap and realized he was in most of them.  I guess that means he fit right in. 

This was a good one. 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

I liked Nate's monologue; I haven't seen him much so it was new to me. 

There were an awful lot of empty minutes at the end, weren't there?

[Apathy]

19 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Cold Open: Biden Halloween sketch! Mikey Day is playing him now? JAJ wasn't even Trump to justify that, it's weird. 

Yeah, I thought the same thing. I don't think JAJ was in any of the other sketches either, except for the Lake Beach one. Maybe he was out sick?

Edited October 29, 2023 by Apathy

[EtheltoTillie]

Heidi Gardner seems to be in nothing lately. 
I like Sarah Sherman. She’s so silly. 

[Irlandesa]

32 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Timothee Chalamet is hosting on November 11th, and here I am wondering how that's possible. He'd be on promoting Wonka, so maybe it's okay as long as he doesn't talk about it? I don't know.

Yes, actors can make appearances as long as they don't promote work they've made for any of the American studios.  It's why actors are still showing up on talk shows and podcasts now that the writers strike is over. 

22 minutes ago, Fostersmom said:

I'm wondering if they could possibly mock the original or even the Depp version... kinda like Pete's I'm Just Pete didn't mention Barbie, but we all know what movie it was from.

I'm also guessing he could get away with it because he wasn't in Barbie.  

Anyway, for tonight's show, the highlights for me were the sketch about measurements, the soul food competition and the lake beach song.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Irlandesa

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, Apathy said:

Yeah, I thought the same thing. I don't think JAJ was in any of the other sketches either, except for the Lake Beach one. Maybe he was out sick?

He was in the Washington sketch.

[NeenerNeener]

Sarah needs to work on her Fran Drescher impersonation. It wasn't anywhere near nasal enough. I think the little kid dressed as Fran was actually closer with her laugh.

I had no idea who Nate Bargatze was before watching this. 

[baldryanr]

They were going to need someone else to do Biden for the presidential debates next year, so maybe Lorne said screw it, let that person get their reps in now since he can't count on Jim Carrey or Jason Sudeikis to be available to moonlight for a few weeks.

[Ottis]

8 hours ago, saoirse said:

The George Washington sketch about killed me. 

It is so rare that a skit has actual funny lines, delivered perfectly, about something that is true. This one did, loved it.

Also loved the “I’m a mother” line and reaction in the airline skit. It’s about time.

And the cooking skit was enjoyable, if one-note.

I enjoyed this show more than any so far this season. 

[nickp1991]

SNL making fun of Fran Drescher’s no character Halloween costumes for the SAG-AFTRA strike is hilarious! 

[peeayebee]

I didn't care for the CO. It's tired joking about Biden's age. However, is it really a thing that Mike Johnson has a black son? I had read a rumor that he had a gay encounter in his past -- no idea if that's true -- but I didn't hear anything about a black son. Oh, I did like that Christopher Walken's name in South America is Papa Pumpkin. Of course nothing will beat David S. Pumpkins.

I enjoyed Nate's monologue. "Reading is the key to smart."

The Chef Showdown was pretty good. Like Heidi, I was cracking up after Kenan knocked the plate off the table. It was weird, however, that Miss Maddie had absolutely no lines.

A Stab at Love was fine.

The absolute best sketch was the 1777 American army camp one. So much was great in this. Really well-written.

I also liked Lake Beach.

The best thing about the Fran Drescher sketch was the girl dressed as Hoda. "The wig is fake but the wine is real." She was good. A minor note: I liked the blue bats in the background.

In WU I got a chuckle out of seeing the sketch of Trump at trial, and then Colin saying that we're all wondering which trial it's from. I also liked the line about Southwest, "Why don't YOU tell US where your bag is."

The airplane sketch was ok. I liked that after everyone applauded the mother, Nate then said, "OK, in terms of real stuff...." I also thought it was funny when they kept booing the teacher.

Please don't destroy was not great. Sometimes I really like their stuff, but other times it falls flat.

What did 37138 mean on Nate's shirt at the end?

[Baltimore Betty]

10 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

What did 37138 mean on Nate's shirt at the end?

It's a zip code for Old Hickory Tenn...I Googled it because I was curious too.

11 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

Mike Johnson has a black son?

There is a whole thing about his supposed son, at this point it is the only thing keep Speaker Johnson interesting.

Lil' Hoda was really funny.

I will never be mad at Christopher Walken on my TV.

Overall I thought this was one of the better shows in past seasons, Nate Bargatze is really funny, I loved his monologue.

 

[opus]

7 minutes ago, Baltimore Betty said:

It's a zip code for Old Hickory Tenn...I Googled it because I was curious too

And a bit from his stand up act …

(paraphrasing here)

“The government, being lenient about the intelligence of the town, made it easy for us to remember. 37+1=38”

[Fostersmom]

30 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I didn't care for the CO. It's tired joking about Biden's age. However, is it really a thing that Mike Johnson has a black son? I had read a rumor that he had a gay encounter in his past -- no idea if that's true -- but I didn't hear anything about a black son. Oh, I did like that Christopher Walken's name in South America is Papa Pumpkin. Of course nothing will beat David S. Pumpkins.

The bigger question to me wasn't that he had  black son, it was this son is a grown man who is 11 years  younger than Mike Johnson? Did I hear that right? 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

24 minutes ago, Fostersmom said:

The bigger question to me wasn't that he had  black son, it was this son is a grown man who is 11 years  younger than Mike Johnson? Did I hear that right? 

He uses him as an excuse for some of his political positions. And don't miss The Blind Side reference (which hasn't aged well): On Race, Mike Johnson Says His Views Were Shaped by Raising a Black Child https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/us/politics/mike-johnson-house-speaker-son.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6Uw.IyqS.-WuvYGcYV7Fk&smid=nytcore-android-share

[Scout Finch]

Apparently, I was watching a different show because I thought it was terrible! I laughed once during the cold open and only a couple of times during WU, which was fewer times than usual for the latter. After watching several minutes of each skit and none getting any funnier I ended up fast-forwarding through nearly all of them. However, I didn't even have to wait to start FF when Sarah Sherman was on WU. Can't stand her!

Edited October 29, 2023 by Scout Finch

[theredhead77]

I was cracking up through most of the episode and I think it was the best one of the season (so far). While I want the strike to end, I'm loving the variety of hosts we're getting in the interim. 
 

2 hours ago, Fostersmom said:

The bigger question to me wasn't that he had  black son, it was this son is a grown man who is 11 years  younger than Mike Johnson? Did I hear that right? 

Yes. 

Foo Fighters can do no wrong.

Lake Beach... omg this hit so hard. When I moved from Long Beach, CA to Atlanta, my new friends tried to sell me on how amazing this beach they go to was and how much fun I'd have. Yea, no. It was literally a little patch of sand and rock in the Chattahoochee. So gross. 100% looked like the Lake Beach in the video. Everyone knows the pacific ocean is gross, but I don't have to walk through it to get to the "beach", I can look at it while sitting on the sand.

[possibilities]

3 hours ago, peeayebee said:

is it really a thing that Mike Johnson has a black son? I

 

2 hours ago, Fostersmom said:

The bigger question to me wasn't that he had  black son, it was this son is a grown man who is 11 years  younger than Mike Johnson? Did I hear that right? 

I had not heard about this, so I looked it up. I am guessing the NYT article upthread has a paywall, but these don't:

https://news.yahoo.com/speaker-mike-johnson-explained-why-102654162.html

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/what-s-up-with-speaker-mike-johnson-s-black-son/ar-AA1iVmkt

[lou ann b]

13 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Heidi Gardner seems to be in nothing lately. 
I like Sarah Sherman. She’s so silly. 

Heidi was in several things last week.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

9 minutes ago, possibilities said:

 

I had not heard about this, so I looked it up. I am guessing the NYT article upthread has a paywall, but these don't:

https://news.yahoo.com/speaker-mike-johnson-explained-why-102654162.html

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/what-s-up-with-speaker-mike-johnson-s-black-son/ar-AA1iVmkt

I always "gift" NYT articles, so everyone should be able to read it, too (that's why it has a lengthy url with "unlocked" in it): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/us/politics/mike-johnson-house-speaker-son.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6Uw.IyqS.-WuvYGcYV7Fk&smid=nytcore-android-share

[Phebemarie]

45 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:Everyone knows the pacific ocean is gross, but I don't have to walk through it to get to the "beach", I can look at it while sitting on the sand.

Beg to differ.  The Pacific Ocean off Oregon is spectacular.  
 

Although I enjoyed most of the skits and thought the host was funny, I did not appreciate the booing of teachers (or the “joke” about Meghan Markle).  Maybe I missed something, but it seemed like a mean dig at a group of people who’ve had a challenging few years.  

[peeayebee]

I thought the booing of the teacher was very funny because that's simply not how most people would react. Whenever I see a show (like a game show or other show with 'real' people), when a person says they're a teacher or their spouse is a teacher, the audience erupts in applause. In this sketch, most of the people on the plane are jerks, arguing over which job is the best or hardest or whatever. So their booing was a reflection on them rather than on the teacher or her value.

[Phebemarie]

Although I respect your opinion, peeayebee, I still thought it wasn’t funny.  It would have been more realistic if the teacher sat back down and started grading papers after being booed.  

[Crashcourse]

I had heard of the Foo Fighters, but never listened to them until last night.  That first song they banged gave me a mild headache.  I didn't stick around to listen to the second one.

[lou ann b]

16 hours ago, Apathy said:

Yeah, I thought the same thing. I don't think JAJ was in any of the other sketches either, except for the Lake Beach one. Maybe he was out sick?

JAJ was in the George Washington sketch

 

[Galileo908]

16 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Yes, actors can make appearances as long as they don't promote work they've made for any of the American studios.  It's why actors are still showing up on talk shows and podcasts now that the writers strike is over.

Yeah, that makes sense. It's why Pedro Pascal can come on, as long as he's like "hey guys, I'm Pedro Pascal" and be in sketches where he plays Marcello's mom.

[Tdoc72]

6 hours ago, Baltimore Betty said:

It's a zip code for Old Hickory Tenn...I Googled it because I was curious too.

 

I’m a postal nerd so I recognized it by the first 3 digits (which is the region/state). So it made my heart so happy! 
~~~~

I thought Nate did a great job. I’ve been a fan of his standup for awhile but he’s very low key so I wasn’t sure how he would fit in. I’d love to have a beer with him  and have him just tell me funny stories. Someone above (sorry I didn’t quote you) mentioned him fading into sketches. I agree but I think that’s just his style. 

[Apathy]

1 hour ago, lou ann b said:

JAJ was in the George Washington sketch

 

I know, ItCouldBeWorse reminded me. So it's probably like baldryanr said: Lorne might want another cast member to get comfortable playing Biden just in case they need him and Trump in the same sketch.

[SeanBug]

19 hours ago, saoirse said:

The George Washington sketch about killed me. 

What about 1,000 pounds? Nope. 

Is there kicking? A little bit. 

I wondered how much he helped write this sketch, it sounds like stuff he would do in his stand up.  I have been a huge fan for years since I discovered him on a comedy podcast.  It's his dry delivery I think.  

I had heard he had a development deal with a network, but then Covid happened so it probably got shelved.  Dude played Radio City and hung out with Seinfeld, now he's hosting SNL. Could not happen to a nicer guy. 

Be sure and check out his specials on Amazon or Netflix. If you aren't in tears laughing at the Starbucks story, then I can't help you. 

[SoMuchTV]

Maybe a year or so ago, I started hearing recommendations for Nate Bargatze from multiple sources, and I checked out his streaming show (Amazon, I think?)  I thought he was fine but the live audience seemed to be a lot more into him than I was.  I never did finish the show. 

Anyway I figured hey, if SNL wants him on, I should probably keep an open mind. Again, he was fine, but the studio audience seemed to think he was hi-larious!  I can’t remember ever noticing the audience laughing as much as this show. Things that I had a mild chuckle at, they were bustin’ at the seams.

So, didn’t hate him, not mad that he was on, just had to get that off my chest 🙂

[Quickbeam]

I really like Nate’s comedy so I really enjoyed it especially the weights and measures bit. When I was in middle school the big push was “Metric 1970!”. Yeah, no. 
 

Jason Sudeikis ruined anyone else’s Biden for me. As glad-handing, slightly addled Joe, he rules. 

[cpcathy]

57 minutes ago, Quickbeam said:

 

Jason Sudeikis ruined anyone else’s Biden for me. As glad-handing, slightly addled Joe, he rules. 

 

His debate with Paul Ryan was a classic Sudeikis sketch.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Meh on Mikey Day's Biden imitation but yay for Christopher Walken. He's still got it, baby!

I had no idea who the host was but thought his monologue was quite funny.
 
WTAF are deconstructed black-eyed peas? Please tell me that's not really a thing.

The George Washington sketch was brilliant. Nothing about the US system of weights and measures makes sense and that sketch tore it all down. (But did they mention shoe sizes?)

Dave Grohl in the Lake Beach song. Huh, he actually has some comedic chops.

Not a great Fran Drescher. Fran doesn't really do the Nanny voice anymore, especially when she wants to be taken seriously as the SAG-AFTRA president.

Is Hoda Kotb known to be a lush? Yikes on that little girl knocking back the wine while she went trick or treating as Hoda.

What ever, Foo Fighters. I used to be a big fan of theirs until I learned during the COVID pandemic that they used to be HIV/AIDS deniers.

King Charles going to Kenya to try to return his DIL Meghan to slavery. Guess he hasn't heard her Black ancestry is in Nigeria, lol.

Every time I see the new featured player Chloe Troast, I think it's Meghan Trainor and I wonder why she keeps doing cameos on SNL.

Yeah, I wouldn't put engineers over lawyers either though on average they've probably got higher IQs than lawyers. And what "kind of a doctor" was Bowen supposed to be, a drug dealer?

The Dawg Food sketch concept must have been rooted in those commercials where someone finds Freshpet dog food the refrigerator and gets rude about it.

Is 37138 to TN as 90210 is to CA?

Guess Tom "David S. Pumpkins" Hanks was busy. Or maybe he was afraid people would mistakenly think he was scabbing.

Someone on reddit pointed out that Nate Bargatze is the only one of this season's first four hosts who isn't dating/hasn't dated a member of the K Klan. (As far as we know, anyway. 😏)

Quote

Kenan outright saying "kill yourself" to this offense was not on my bingo card tonight.

I thought Kenan's character was saying that to the Black chef not the White one. The stuff she cooked was unappetizing and probably shamed the souls of all her African-American ancestors, ha ha.

[possibilities]

In my social circle, "FOO" refers to "family of origin". It never occurred to me before last night, to wonder what FOO means to Foo Fighters. Does anyone know if they hate their families?

I thought the show was great, overall. Some sketches were funnier to me than others, but there wasn';t anything I flat out disliked, and some of it was soooooo funny to me.

Weights and measures was my favorite, though. That one, I think, will endure past the news cycle.

I thought "Dawg Food" was just silly-- not in a bad way. I have no objection to silly. I do wonder whose dog it was. On the other hand, I remember hearing about "people eating dog food because of poverty" so it made me shiver a little bit in that dimension.

Hallmark Halloween was genius. I genuinely am surprised they haven't exploited this market. Or... do they? I wouldn't know for sure, because I have never actually gone looking.

We have some nice lake beaches here. But not so many that I don't recognize what they were singing about.

I need to go looking for Nick Bargatze's stand up. I wonder how much of the show he wrote, because I thought the writing was way more energized and fresh than it's been in a long time. 

The strike sketch gives me an opening to ask something I've been wondering about: how does the SNL cast get to perform on the show? Are they not union members? Are they not acting? I don't understand this, nor did I like them going after strike rules. They could have done the sketch without implying that the need for off-brand costumes was wrong, and it would have been funnier to me without the dig at SAG. The kids were great, though. Sometimes kids on SNL seem stressed out and overwhelmed. But these were well-cast and seemed like comfortable pros. I hope that's true and not just an illusion. 

I thought you aren't supposed to fly anywhere near your due date. But I guess people do it anyway. 

Mocking Colin Jost seems to be an entire industry. If one cast member who does it leaves, they give someone else the job.

 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

12 minutes ago, possibilities said:

The strike sketch gives me an opening to ask something I've been wondering about: how does the SNL cast get to perform on the show? Are they not union members? Are they not acting?

I wondered about this, too, when they came back. They work under a Network Code agreement, not the contracts that SAG/AFTRA is striking. 

https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-statement-regarding-saturday-night-live#:~:text="The program is a SAG,show prior to the strike. 

SNL takes shots at who they want to, so it didn't bother me that they had Biden up on a ladder or people throwing wadded-up paper at a teacher. As a lawyer, I have to say that I would put engineers above us in the "help deliver a baby" category. I expected that the pilot was going to say he could do it. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 10/29/2023 at 7:01 AM, NeenerNeener said:

I had no idea who Nate Bargatze was before watching this. 

Me, neither, but anyone who comes up with "I have more in common with a pilgrim" deserves to be searched for.  I found a couple of his comedy specials free on Tubi.

On edit:

I searched for Bargatze and it turns out what I found on Tubi were specials directed by Nate Bargatze.

However, I'd read this upthread:

Quote

Be sure and check out his specials on Amazon or Netflix. If you aren't in tears laughing at the Starbucks story, then I can't help you.

and one of the descriptions of programs I found mentioned a Starbucks story.  So I got confused.  But I ended up watching a performance by Greg Warren and it was a riot.  And I'm guessing that every standup act has a Starbucks story these days, so I shouldn't let it be a filter.

Edited October 30, 2023 by StatisticalOutlier

[theredhead77]

I tend to rewatch episodes as background noise and I'm laughing so hard at Chef Showdown I'm crying. I'm sorry.

[Mediocre Gatsby]

56 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

 I'm sorry.

The way he kept apologizing. 

[MrWhyt]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

It never occurred to me before last night, to wonder what FOO means to Foo Fighters

 

Foo Fighter = WW2 slang term for UFO