S49.E18: Dua Lipa

[Galileo908]

Quote

Dua Lipa does double duty as host and musical guest.

Airs 5/4/24

Edited May 5 by Galileo908

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Oh joy, starting with a sketch about the college protesters. But god bless Kenan for getting that workout for carrying this sketch on his back like that. 

Monologue: Dua Lipa's parents were far more normal than I was expecting. And incredibly charming. I liked the fake Q&A bit, and it got the Kristi Noem bit out of the way. Just a plain "NOPE" and moving right on.

Spicy: Oh, bringing this one back. Come on, if there was ever a time to reference the Drake/Kendrick beef, it would be now. And they didn't.

The Anomalous Man: Just by the first shot I knew it was a Sarah Squirm sketch. It's an Elephant Man parody with Sarah as the lead, of course this was her. Hiding that he was sexting someone else was the twist I was waiting for.

Good Morning Greenville: Here's the Drake/Kendrick sketch. And of course spoken through the mouths of the whitest people they could find. I liked "As Soon As Possible Rocky." This oddly felt realistic for a dumb morning show to do.

Sonny Angels: Oh dear god, Bowen creeped me out here. And this kept getting weird. "Okay. I'm back. With churros." was my favorite line of the sketch. And these dolls are real?! And it's a reference to something that happened in Challengers?!

Penne a la Vodka: Okay, an ad for A Big Ass Aluminum Tray of Penne a la Vodka is genius. That IS the laziest, universal dish for any occasion. 

Dua Lipa 1: Okay, apparently that was Troye Sivan introducing her. I can see a sequel sketch incoming.

WU: Starting with puppy murder! Man, the guys had a glut of material this week. Even had on Marcello as one of her dogs. And That was Chloe Fineman as Jojo Siwa. Give the SNL makeup crew another Emmy for that one. And Jerry Seinfeld's problem isn't that he's doing too much press, it's the stupid crap he's been saying while doing too much press and they didn't even address that.

Fat Daddy: A BBQ pitmaster-turned-OBGYN is a great premise. Why did they save this sketch for AFTER Update?! This one was so great and silly. 

I caught the newspaper headline at the end of the sketch: 

Teeny Tiny Statement Pin: I'm in this sketch and I don't like it. I loved this one. I laughed at "Free Ellen" and all the vague statement pins. 

Soul Booth: "Oh, it's the jingle guys again!" Dua Lipa's accent carried this sketch.

I'm very relieved that there were no "This host is hot" sketches. Dua Lipa can do one American accent. It's vaguely New York that's also Southern, and they're gonna get all the mileage out of it. Next week is Maya Rudolph and Vampire Weekend and it can't come fast enough.

If one sketch should've gotten a sequel tonight, it was that Troye Sivan sketch since he was actually there.

[MrWhyt]

this was alright, nothing really stood out IMO. Though it seemed to me that DL was used less in the live sketches than other hosts usually are.

[JeanJean]

I really liked the Teeny Tiny Pin sketch and the recording studio was fun, even though I knew where it was going after the first beat. And WU, of course. And thank you, WU, for going after Kristi Noem.

I thought Dua Lipa was good in everything, but her songs didn't do anything for me. Maybe she has other, better, songs.

The rest of the sketches were unmemorable but the show energy was good.

[Pete Martell]

Dress rehearsal report. Wish we'd seen the Andrew sketch.

 

[Dirge]

2 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Jerry Seinfeld's problem isn't that he's doing too much press, it's the stupid crap he's been saying while doing too much press and they didn't even address that.

100%. 

I thought that WU might do something about Colin's WHCD hosting. 

I liked the tiny pin sketch and the big tray of pasta. 

[EtheltoTillie]

What are the things Seinfeld has been saying?  I haven’t caught any of his multiple appearances. 

[Ottis]

During the rap diss skit, I kept wondering what would happen today if they reversed it and had Black people talking cluelessly about something “only White people understand.”

The B&W writer film was the longest set up ever for a joke that made no sense, given the portrayed era. may as well had a Wookie show up.

Dua Lipa tried but her timing was consistently bad. She’s not a comedienne so no reason to expect differently. It did cause many of her punchlines to thud.

Her parents seemed nice, and like the kind of parents still shocked at their daughter’s career and degree of success. Kind of cool. They sent her to London when she was 15? Wow, that takes guts. 

Penne vodka was spot on.

I’ve only made it to WU. Will add more if it is worth it. 

 

[baldryanr]

46 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

What are the things Seinfeld has been saying?  I haven’t caught any of his multiple appearances.

Like many other comedians, he did talk about how "the extreme left and PC crap" have ruined comedy. Oh, and while it wasn't mentioned, his wife donated to a pro-Israel counterprotest at UCLA, so he and his wife can talk about who is getting more criticism. 

[NeenerNeener]

I see "Please Don't Destroy" didn't make the cut again this week, and I didn't realize it until I started reading this thread just now. Maybe their contracts won't be renewed for the next (and probably last) season. 

[SHD]

2 hours ago, baldryanr said:

Like many other comedians, he did talk about how "the extreme left and PC crap" have ruined comedy. 

Which is weird, because even “back in the day” when comedians could say anything, JS had one of the least offensive, cleanest acts. So it’s not like the PC culture directly affects him. Outraged for friends affected, I guess.

This week’s show was fair at best but suffered greatly from coming after the excellent Gosling episode.

[Arkay]

4 hours ago, baldryanr said:

Like many other comedians, he did talk about how "the extreme left and PC crap" have ruined comedy. Oh, and while it wasn't mentioned, his wife donated to a pro-Israel counterprotest at UCLA, so he and his wife can talk about who is getting more criticism. 

He has every right, as does his wife, to be pro-Israel and he has earned the right as a comedy legend to have his own views on comedy today.

 

I thought DL did a decent job. I didn’t find too many sketches that were funny. 

I liked seeing Punky break for a minute—she usually keeps it together very well. 

[Kimmmmmm]

I thought Dua Lipa was fine... certainly no worse than stupid Heidi or Chloe and way better than Sarah Sherman.

[peeayebee]

I feel so old and out of the loop. There were a few names and things mentioned that I had no clue about.

First off, I had recently read a little article about Doja Cat, and I was then thinking that was who was going to host. I guess I conflated the short names together.

I thought she was being funny when she came out in the monologue and struck an Angelina Jolie-type pose. But then it looked like it was no joke. She reminds me so strongly of Gal Gadot.

12 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Sonny Angels: Oh dear god, Bowen creeped me out here. And this kept getting weird. "Okay. I'm back. With churros." was my favorite line of the sketch. And these dolls are real?! And it's a reference to something that happened in Challengers?!

I too was wondering if those dolls were a real thing. And what are you referring to re "Challengers"?

Quote

Dua Lipa 1: Okay, apparently that was Troye Sivan introducing her. I can see a sequel sketch incoming.

[googling Troye Sivan...]

Quote

And That was Chloe Fineman as Jojo Siwa.

[googling Jojo Siwa...]

Quote

And Jerry Seinfeld's problem isn't that he's doing too much press, it's the stupid crap he's been saying while doing too much press and they didn't even address that.

Yeah, I thought he was on to do some damage control, and I was wondering what he was going to say. Turns out, not much.

Quote

Soul Booth: "Oh, it's the jingle guys again!" Dua Lipa's accent carried this sketch.

I kind of enjoyed this. A bit. But I didn't care for her accent. I thought it was distracting and unnecessary.

The Anomalous Man was weird. I had no idea where this was going. 

I also need to google "bluey's mom marijuana" and "prosciutto recall" because we had prosciutto in our chicken marsala last night. (We feel fine.)

Teeny Tiny Statement Pins was pretty good. The vague ones were pretty good, but I think I liked "We have the meats" and the vegetarian "We NO have NO meats."

All in all, a boring ep.

[Irlandesa]

6 hours ago, SHD said:

Which is weird, because even “back in the day” when comedians could say anything, JS had one of the least offensive, cleanest acts. So it’s not like the PC culture directly affects him. Outraged for friends affected, I guess.

I haven't heard the full interview where he gives his remarks, but he's including himself in that, which is largely why it's so silly.  He's claiming that they could never make Seinfeld today because jokes would be removed, exec interference...etc. 

But in saying that, he's ignoring the number of long-running "offensive-comedy" sitcoms on the air today.  Heck, he even guest starred on the Curb Your Enthusiasm finale and Curb was far edgier than Seinfeld's most 'offensive' episodes.  And it's not like Seinfeld was exempt from network interference in 1990.  Larry David almost didn't do the show after some exec gave too many notes he didn't like. Things have changed about media/TV from back in the Seinfeld days but the only reason his show wouldn't become what it was back then is the fact that no network would put up with the very low ratings it had initially.  (And I'm saying that as someone who watched and loved the series from the beginning.)

He had a great opportunity to poke fun of himself in a way that was actually relevant but instead did the 'too much press' bit which is kind of untrue.  These days, because of how scattered media is, you kind of do need to hit a lot of different outlets. If it weren't for his stupid remarks, I wouldn't even know of his appearances.

Edited May 5 by Irlandesa

[Joimiaroxeu]

SNL actually found a humorous way to address the college campus protests. All I know is Alexis Vanessa Roberts better mind her business while her daddy's paying her $68k tuition.

Dang, Yung Spicy! You nasty!

Dua has some passable acting skills, or at least the ability to play straightwoman to an Anomalous Man. His thirsty texts were insane. This sketch had unusally good production values.

Please tell me Wayne Brady hasn't weighed in on the Kendrick vs Drake battle. As if.

Sonny Angels with those tiny scrotums. Why is this thing? The tenuous reference to Zendaya's new film  was pointless unless those dolls are in the movie.

If I've ever eaten Penne alla Vodka I'm confident I never will again. Ugh.

Dua: y'all say I'm a bad dancer? Hold my beer. She's trolling the world, right?

WU:
That Noem joke took a dark turn at the end with the mention of Pence.
Good doggie, Cricket #7!
Please tell me Jojo Siwa doesn't really have face tattoos now.
It'll be too soon for Cosby jokes forever.
Jerry Seinfeld out here looking desperate. Bet non-billionaire, non-whiny Ryan Gosling had good laugh.

A fake OB/GYN wanting to eat a newborn baby. Who thinks of this stuff? Punkie coming in already breaking didn't help.

Wonder if Seinfeld tried to hit on Dua? Nah, there might not be enough of an age difference for him. 😈

I liked the 2nd song Dua did. I don't think I've heard it on the radio yet.

In that Met gala sketch, was Dua imitating Kim K? If so, she didn't have the vocal fry down.

The phone number jingle bit generally seems like a waste of time to me without Justin Timberlake. Dua's accent sounded like she was channeling Lady Gaga in the movie about the original Gucci family.

Troye Sivan. How old is he, 14? Dua didn't seem to pay much attention to him or Jerry in the signoff. Where were most of the cast?

Okay, Dua was game, had decent comedy chops and energy, and she dealt well with the cue cards. She can host again the next time she has an album to promote.

Edited May 5 by Joimiaroxeu

[DXD526]

WTF is the only way I can describe the Seinfeld appearance. Why was he there? He said absolutely nothing. And, as many here have pointed out, no one is accusing him of doing too much press, so addressing that is a waste of time. It's what he's said, not that he's talking in the first place, but he didn't bring that up.

The turn at the end of the Sonny Angels sketch was unexpected. So she brings guys home and turns them into horrible little dolls for her collection? That's pretty dark for SNL. 

[Scout Finch]

I had to look up 'Challengers' and 'Sunny Angels.' The plotline of the first sounds ridiculous and as for the latter, I discovered it's Sonny Angels and they do exist. They're expensive and come in blind boxes so you don't even know which one you're getting!

[peeayebee]

I had looked up Sunny Angels, too. I didn't read too much about them. Can you take the hats off?

I just looked up Challengers. When was this mentioned in the show?

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

I had looked up Sunny Angels, too. I didn't read too much about them. Can you take the hats off?

I just looked up Challengers. When was this mentioned in the show?

It was in the same Sonny Angels sketch. I didn't recognize the title but they said something about tennis and  there is apparently enough in the commercials for the movie that eventually I figured out the relevance. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

8 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

SNL actually found a humorous way to address the college campus protests. All I know is Alexis Vanessa Roberts better mind her business while her daddy's paying her $68k tuition.

They said her name so many times that I imagined that they were going to drop breaking news that Alexis Vanessa Roberts was in fact protesting HARD.

[RobertDeSneero]

I really appreciate Che for going with it with the not sending military aid joke.

[proserpina65]

On 5/5/2024 at 1:15 AM, JeanJean said:

I thought Dua Lipa was good in everything, but her songs didn't do anything for me. Maybe she has other, better, songs.

I liked them well enough, but yes, she does have better songs.  Levitating is still my favorite dance groove.

[topanga]

On 5/5/2024 at 1:00 AM, Galileo908 said:

WU: Starting with puppy murder! Man, the guys had a glut of material this week. Even had on Marcello as one of her dogs. And That was Chloe Fineman as Jojo Siwa. Give the SNL makeup crew another Emmy for that one. And Jerry Seinfeld's problem isn't that he's doing too much press, it's the stupid crap he's been saying while doing too much press and they didn't even address that.

That was a great makeup job. I wasn't 100% sure who the actress was. The character had Chole's energy, but the look really transformed her. 

And I love how meta it was for Jerry to do press about doing too much press. BTW, I thought Unfrosted was hilarious. I know it was a polarizing movie. 

On 5/5/2024 at 1:00 AM, Galileo908 said:

Cold Open: Oh joy, starting with a sketch about the college protesters. But god bless Kenan for getting that workout for carrying this sketch on his back like that. 

Yes. Tough subject to spoof. I like that the writers focused on the parents of the protesters and not the actual protests, but the audience still wasn't sure if it was okay to laugh or not. And yeah, Kenan is a national treasure. 

 

On 5/5/2024 at 2:14 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Please tell me Wayne Brady hasn't weighed in on the Kendrick vs Drake battle. As if.

It was actually the rapper Lil Wayne. He caught a stray when Kendrick implied that Drake was involved with Wayne's girlfriend. But I loved that joke -- of course the hosts thought it was Wayne Brady.