S50.E04: Michael Keaton / Billie Eillish

[Galileo908]

This week's host will be Michael Keaton with musical guest Billie Eillish

Airs 10/19/24

[Galileo908]

I'm pretty beat after NYCC, so no promises that I'll stay up to watch it. If you don't see my play-by-play, that's why.

[vb68]

OMG that zombie cookie sketch.  Not proud of it, but it's been awhile since I laughed that hard. 

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Alec Baldwin as Brett Baier?! Definitely a good casting choice. "I would never threat anything except, perhaps, violence." And Maya Rudolph just makes this looks easy. And this was somehow more sane than what actually happened.

Monologue: Yes, Michael Keaton's first gig was Mister Rogers. And an excuse to talk about Beetlejuice (and have Andy dress as him!). Beetlejuice, Lydia, and various mashups were VERY popular cosplays at NYCC so far this year. lol at Sarah "this is just how I dress."

Cookie Guy: The "zombie eye" was a big nipple. Shoulda seen that coming. So dumb, but I laughed so much. "Do the cookies come in different ethnicities?" slayed me.

Please Don't Destroy: This just kept escalating, just so silly and dumb. Laughed at the ones getting chopped up by the plane.

Hey Soul Sista: I'm with Kenan, not feeling this one.

TikTok: Yay, another one of these sketches! They actually referenced the Mr. Beast vid with all the fireworks going off. 

Way better usage of Kamala, Trump, and Biden than any of the cold opens so far.

WU: How can you write satire better than Trump saying "Harvey Weinstein got schlonged"?? "It's the 90s!" seems to be Che's new go-to save when he tells a groaner.

Emil's bit was pretty good. "Black guys with anime backpacks" was one hell of a specific observation. And loved seeing Sarah on update again.

Think About It: A Cash Cab like show hosted by a crazy uber driver was not on the bingo card. Birds are real, but pigeons are not. Makes sense.

Kill Scene: Michael Keaton as Bob Fosse training Michael Meyers was also not on the bingo card.

Guac: Wait, is this a sequel to the Hey Soul Sister sketch? Nah, just a similar set up in a different location. Just like that sketch, I didn't care for it, I had no idea where it was going. But I liked it more than the other sketch.

Surprising lack of Michael Keaton in this Michael Keaton show. The show has off til November 2nd with John Mulaney. Hopefully the writers can recharge by then.

And with that, I'm off to bed.

[Dirge]

The first thing I have to say is a heartfelt "SHUT UP DANA AND LAZY SNL WRITERS! KEEP BIDEN OUT OF YOUR MOUTHS." 

I liked Alec as Baier. Boy was this a crazy political week. 

Michael Keaton was amazing and creepy as Toby the Cookie Guy on ShopTV! His face was so TIGHT. 

"Now That's What I Call Dementia" was a perfect title for Trump's play list. As usual, I could have done without Sarah Sherman on Update. 

I liked the Uber game show and Nebraska Girl getting all the answers right. Did Jesus have a drivers license? Not MY lord and savior! It wasn't until Michael Keaton showed up that I realized he'd been gone for a while. 

The Mexican restaurant sketch baffled me. They must've had something that was cut for time that would've been better than this. And I wonder if they just have Samberg there every weekend just in case they decide to use him?

[JeanJean]

Maya's Kamala impression is mind-blowingly good. There are times she sounds exactly like her.

 

Meh show, though, except for WU, of course.

[vb68]

I thought the show started off pretty strong, but it totally collapsed after Update. I agree about the last sketch. It seemed a little off and just didn't work.

The Cold Open was actually a pretty good summary of the week campaign-wise. I thought it was a little awkward seeing Alec but whatever. I'll probably feel that way for some time.

I actually recognized Ashley Padilla. At least I know she's done something on the show now.

Michael Keaton was pretty strangely low key throughout the show.

Edited October 20 by vb68

[Pete Martell]

I liked the last sketch - it's the type of sketch I could have seen them doing a better job with years ago with people like Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks, but the show's content is so cookie cutter now I appreciate any throwback.

I also liked Andrew's sketch, and Ego's. The Update commentaries were watchable too.

Michael was so underused, but all the hosts this season have been, aside from Ariana Grande. 

This was cut from Weekend Update (apparently there actually is a tiktok challenge to dress like the Menendez brothers).

 

 

Edited October 20 by Pete Martell

[Spartan Girl]

I’m still in shock that Alec was there. I know the Rust shooting was an accident and not technically his fault, but still. He did great as Baier though.

Michael Keaton was criminally underused. Yes, I laughed at the zombie eye skit.

[peeayebee]

8 hours ago, vb68 said:

I actually recognized Ashley Padilla. At least I know she's done something on the show now.

Ah thank you. It takes me a while to learn new cast members' names. I kinda liked her in this sketch. She didn't do much, but she made a good impression on me.

5 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

I liked the last sketch - it's the type of sketch I could have seen them doing a better job with years ago with people like Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks, but the show's content is so cookie cutter now I appreciate any throwback.

I didn't particularly like the last sketch, but I agree that with different people (like Hartman and Hooks) it would have been much better. It always amazes me how a sketch can succeed based on who's performing in it. I know that sounds inane or naive, but it's just interesting to me how some performers make everything funnier while others lack something.

I thought the CO was very good. Alec Baldwin did great as Baier. Of course Maya excels as Kamala. The writing was very good.
Kamala: Well then you have to listen.
Bret: Well I can't because I'm talking.

And all the dialog from Trump was spot-on as usual. "America's a terrible place full of jerks and idiots but we love it. It's really bad." One thing I wonder: Why does JAJ do Trump dancing that stupid dance with only one hand? Trump's signature move is the two-hand wiggle, or whatever you want to call it. Somewhere I had read that it's like he's jerking off two giraffes.

The monologue was ok. Actually, thruout the show Keaton just seemed off to me. Of course his reading the cue cards was uncomfortably noticeable. I don't always feel critical when the hosts do this, but here it wasn't seamless.

On ShopTV I liked Heidi's and Mikey's characters. The cookie joke was ok. I know lots of people found this hilarious. 

I liked the please don't destroy video, esp the pilot with "How to fly airplane" on his smartphone.

OK. White gal here. Is Soul Sista seen as a problematic song? 

Loved Colin's joke "Now That's What I Call Dementia." Yup. (OMG, what Trump said yesterday! I only read about his Arnold Palmer monologue, but apparently there was more than that. I need to google.)

Emil Wakim was pretty good, though I thought Colin's intro about Emil talking about getting young people to the polls was a nonsequitor.

I didn't realize there was a Thanksgiving pizza. For real? Ugh.

Still not a fan of Sarah Sherman, though I liked her line about wanting Victoria's Secret to use "underwear that looks like a flag at the end of a war." However, she should not have followed that excellent line with the hand waving like a flag. 

The Uber 'Think About It' made me miss Cash Cab. 

For once, an excellent CO. The rest of the show was not much.

[Trini]

12 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

"It's the 90s!" seems to be Che's new go-to save when he tells a groaner.

Ugh -- It'd be great if they'd stop reacting to the reactions. I find it annoying; especially when it's almost every joke. A couple of times would be fine.

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Emil Wakim was pretty good, though I thought Colin's intro about Emil talking about getting young people to the polls was a nonsequitor.

"Colin wrote that joke" -- LOL - nice save, bro! This helped; but so far, the new castmembers are still pretty much invisible to me.

 

12 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Hey Soul Sista: I'm with Kenan, not feeling this one.

Somebody on the show really hates that song!

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

OK. White gal here. Is Soul Sista seen as a problematic song? 

Not that I know of; but I'm not about to look up anything about a pretty 'meh' song, though.

Edited October 20 by Trini

[cpcathy]

The cold opens are trying to get too much news crammed into them, it was hard to focus. Okay show, but I feel the way about Billie Eilish that some people felt about Coldplay doing their eighth appearance, it’s too much, please let her take a breather so we can miss her for a bit.

[iarwain]

I always like seeing Billie Eilish, they can make her a regular as far as I'm concerned.  

Thought the show was pretty weak overall, but it's funny it took them four years to find someone who could do a good Joe Biden (Carvey).

[SomeTameGazelle]

3 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I didn't particularly like the last sketch, but I agree that with different people (like Hartman and Hooks) it would have been much better. It always amazes me how a sketch can succeed based on who's performing in it. I know that sounds inane or naive, but it's just interesting to me how some performers make everything funnier while others lack something.

I think the writing was also a bit off -- it escalated too quickly and didn't lead much of anywhere. And there wasn't any room for the other people at the table, so it would probably have been better just to have the older couple out to dinner. They established early that Heidi's character had been born before Michael Keaton ever knew Beth so it wasn't going to turn out that she was his daughter. But I would have liked more complications and more interesting reactions from Ashley Padilla as the wife as well as from Heidi. The other characters were pointless. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Cold Open:
Great Breaking Bad joke. They need to get Bryan Cranston in a cold open. (Per the googles, he hasn't been on SNL since 2010!)
Meh, Dana again.
Alec almost broke on the JaBiden stuff. Maya was on fire.

Opening Monologue:
Does Michael Keaton have a speech impediment?
Andy Samberg's Beetlejuice. Meh.
I'm amazed they got Keaton to do the Beetlejuice voice. It's clear to me he's been over the whole Beetlejuice thing but for the paychecks and residuals.

Jumbo Zombie Eyeball cookie might not be suitable for children. Or cookie-loving adults who don't swing the cookie's way.

PDD is back!

Could an interracial couple marry in 1955, even in Detroit? And ugh, not that awful, racist Train song. Wonder if they still perform it?

Hennessy habañero sandwich. Placebo cheese sticks. Yeah, the trad wife thing on TikTok is nuts. They just film themselves doing needless housework.

Love the first Billie Eilish song. Also loved how she was actually singing instead of lip syncing. (Looking at you, Sabrina Carpenter.)

Weekend Update:
Did SNL make Kamala seem like she was slurring her words or did that happen for real?
Schlonged.
The show edited something out after Che's Univision joke. There was a perceptible jump in the video.
Christian Lebanese are spicy Greeks!
That Tom Brady slam. Ice cold. 😼
Saw the three penis joke on reddit last week.
Well, Victoria's Secret was asking for it and Sarah delivered. With face-down cream cheese.

Cash Cab meets Who Wants to be a Q-Anon Millionaire. Kinda out there but okay.

The Michael Myers bit went right by me. I've never seen any of the Halloween movies.

Glad Heidi was serving in the restaurant sketch this week instead of assaulting herself with food.

Good episode. Michael Keaton is always game when he hosts, though he seemed relatively subdued this time.

[Milburn Stone]

Have only seen the cold open and WU so far but thought they were both great. Nice to see a reputation-rehabbed Alec Baldwin, and he and Maya were like buttah. Really good writing that went beyond the expected.

[baldryanr]

4 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I didn't particularly like the last sketch, but I agree that with different people (like Hartman and Hooks) it would have been much better. It always amazes me how a sketch can succeed based on who's performing in it. I know that sounds inane or naive, but it's just interesting to me how some performers make everything funnier while others lack something.

Isn't that true of actors in general, especially in sketches?  Technically anyone who's literate could stand there and read off a cue card but most of us would absolutely suck no matter how good the lines are.

[SomeTameGazelle]

2 hours ago, baldryanr said:

6 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I didn't particularly like the last sketch, but I agree that with different people (like Hartman and Hooks) it would have been much better. It always amazes me how a sketch can succeed based on who's performing in it. I know that sounds inane or naive, but it's just interesting to me how some performers make everything funnier while others lack something.

Expand  

Isn't that true of actors in general, especially in sketches?  Technically anyone who's literate could stand there and read off a cue card but most of us would absolutely suck no matter how good the lines are.

There is definitely a whole range in terms of performance, and I think that's what @peeayebee (the quote was misattributed) was marvelling at. There are loads of performers who do better than stiff reading -- but then there is the truly top tier who manage to add something both surprising and real to even the silliest words and absolutely elevate the whole scene, even in a comedy sketch. It's amazing when it happens.

[Hanahope]

These days WU hardly has to write any Trump jokes themselves.  Just play his speeches.

[possibilities]

15 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I’m still in shock that Alec was there. I know the Rust shooting was an accident and not technically his fault, but still.

He has no shame. He never did. Apparently Lorne doesn't, either. Disgusting.

 

[Pete Martell]

3 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I think the writing was also a bit off -- it escalated too quickly and didn't lead much of anywhere. And there wasn't any room for the other people at the table, so it would probably have been better just to have the older couple out to dinner. They established early that Heidi's character had been born before Michael Keaton ever knew Beth so it wasn't going to turn out that she was his daughter. But I would have liked more complications and more interesting reactions from Ashley Padilla as the wife as well as from Heidi. The other characters were pointless. 

If they hadn't had to rush I think the sketch would have made more sense, but I think the show just doesn't know how to write sketches now that have layers and aren't quick laughs (they don't even know how to write a lot of those). I did enjoy it for what it was, especially on a rewatch.

I agree they didn't need so many people in the sketch. I felt like they were trying to make up to the cast for having them almost entirely shut out of the cold open (and even in the monologue Andy Samberg was thrown in just because I guess we were all meant to be honored that he made an appearance...).

One of the reasons I was more of a fan of Heidi in her first 3-4 seasons is because she reminded me, at times, of Jan Hooks, who also had that dramatic streak in her comedy. Heidi has lost that (to put it kindly) over the last few years, but her work in this sketch reminded me of what might have been.

 

5 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Cold Open:
Great Breaking Bad joke. They need to get Bryan Cranston in a cold open. (Per the googles, he hasn't been on SNL since 2010!)
Meh, Dana again.

I actively dread these Biden appearances. Not because I think the show is being mean but because it's just so shockingly hammy, I am surprised any pieces of the set are left.

Bryan made a cameo in 2016. I wouldn't mind if he came back.

13 hours ago, peeayebee said:

OK. White gal here. Is Soul Sista seen as a problematic song? 

I think the controversy is because a lot of people see it as being a song about a woman of color, with cringey lyrics, while he says it was just written about an image he had of women dancing around a fire at Burning Man.

[Phishbulb]

I have to admit, I've never really thought of that song as being about an interracial relationship, although to be fair I've never really paid that much attention to the lyrics. The only other lyric which even hints at that is the "You're so gangster, I'm so thug" line, which is admittedly cringy.

If the singer is trying to relate to his black girlfriend, why is he referencing Mr. Mister, one of the whitest bands ever? 😄

[Kel Varnsen]

One small thing. On WU when Jost was setting up the joke about Peanut M&M's being the healthiest Halloween candy I really thought we were going to get a Norm style punch line about what the unhealthiest Halloween candy was:

Spoiler

crack.

 

Edited October 22 by Kel Varnsen

[Joimiaroxeu]

22 hours ago, Phishbulb said:

I have to admit, I've never really thought of that song as being about an interracial relationship, although to be fair I've never really paid that much attention to the lyrics. The only other lyric which even hints at that is the "You're so gangster, I'm so thug" line, which is admittedly cringy.

If the singer is trying to relate to his black girlfriend, why is he referencing Mr. Mister, one of the whitest bands ever? 😄

The song is about a White guy objectifying a Black woman, and presuming to have a "ghetto pass" because he'd been with her. The Mr. Mister thing is because again, the White guy had preconceived ideas about what music a Black woman would enjoy. IMO, at best the song was clueless and at worst it was racist. And I say that as someone who has otherwise been a fan of Train's music.

[SomeTameGazelle]

11 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

The song is about a White guy objectifying a Black woman, and presuming to have a "ghetto pass" because he'd been with her. The Mr. Mister thing is because again, the White guy had preconceived ideas about what music a Black woman would enjoy. IMO, at best the song was clueless and at worst it was racist. And I say that as someone who has otherwise been a fan of Train's music.

 

The funniest part of the sketch for me was the anachronism of namechecking Mister Mister in 1955.

I can't begin to understand what Train was thinking because if they knew it was about objectifying a black woman they failed to include one in their music video. The Burning Man inspiration is also weird (apparently the writers, two of whom are Norwegian, had never attended and relied on imagination). But it's easy to see how the sketch got there.

[proserpina65]

I found this episode to be pretty "meh" overall.  And I find Billie Eilish inexplicable.

On 10/20/2024 at 7:06 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

The Michael Myers bit went right by me. I've never seen any of the Halloween movies.

I've seen the first two.  A big feature of Michael Myers' character is how slowly and deliberately he moves.  (Side note: Ewan Mitchell references him as an inspiration for how Aemond Targaryen walks on Blonde Dragon Peop- oops, I mean House of the Dragon.)

On 10/21/2024 at 12:28 AM, possibilities said:

He has no shame. He never did. Apparently Lorne doesn't, either. Disgusting.

 

I don't think he should have to never ever appear on tv or in movies again.

On 10/21/2024 at 12:39 AM, Pete Martell said:

I think the controversy is because a lot of people see it as being a song about a woman of color, with cringey lyrics, while he says it was just written about an image he had of women dancing around a fire at Burning Man.

I did not know that.  I don't mind the song but it's not exactly fantastic either.

On 10/22/2024 at 10:35 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

The song is about a White guy objectifying a Black woman, and presuming to have a "ghetto pass" because he'd been with her. The Mr. Mister thing is because again, the White guy had preconceived ideas about what music a Black woman would enjoy. IMO, at best the song was clueless and at worst it was racist. And I say that as someone who has otherwise been a fan of Train's music.

Is it about that, though?  The person who wrote it said otherwise, apparently.  I don't have much familiarity with the background of the song, admittedly, so I could be completely wrong.

That interpretation was definitely how it was used in the sketch.  I agree that the funniest bit was referencing Mr. Mister in the 50s.  And Kenan's reactions.

 

 

[Joimiaroxeu]

2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Is it about that, though?  The person who wrote it said otherwise, apparently

Of course he did, after the controversy arose. Again.

I'm still trying to figure out why SNL even brought it up. I know Train is touring right now so maybe they're still performing the song in their shows.

[proserpina65]

19 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Of course he did, after the controversy arose. Again.

I'm still trying to figure out why SNL even brought it up. I know Train is touring right now so maybe they're still performing the song in their shows.

He might've been telling the truth.  Why would he have said anything if there wasn't a controversy?  Maybe, maybe not.  Honestly, idk.  I do agree that it's odd for SNL to have that skit now.

[iarwain]

I saw the real Kamala Harris on TV the other day, and she wasn't quite saying J'Biden.  She almost was though, I see where Maya Rudolph is getting it.

[proserpina65]

The worst thing about the Hey Soul Sister sketch is that song is now stuck in my head.

[peeayebee]

Ditto. I was going to post that this morning.

[Ottis]

On 10/21/2024 at 12:21 PM, Phishbulb said:

If the singer is trying to relate to his black girlfriend, why is he referencing Mr. Mister, one of the whitest bands ever? 😄

Mr. Mister opened for Tina Turner in the 80s. I saw 2 of their shows.