S42.E01: Margot Robbie / The Weeknd

[mtlchick]

Considering all the press Leslie was getting even BEFORE the hacking incident happened this summer,  I'm very surprised they waited until the end of the show to air it.  I know she's still not for everyone and probably never will be but I was thrilled at the applause and cheers she got during the monologue.  As for someone who loves Mr Robot (Christian Slater? I still would) I cackled over this.  Especially with Leslie shifting Pete back to the center of the screen.  I only wished they threw in a random Olympics line. 

 

Quote

Some people on Twitter and Tumblr were saying Kate was checking Margot out during the Family Feud sketch. I didn't notice when it aired but rewatching...... yep. Don't blame her though!

 

Margot has risen to official "girl crush" status for me.  I thought she was great.  Even the Hunch Bunch which was the weakest of the  night for me made it better as she became a little more off kilter as it went on. 

 

Cold open? What can I say?  I tweeted "God Bless you Tina Fey for suggesting @AlecBaldwin as The Orange Cheeto."  As of now 46 retweets and 187 likes and counting.  I think it says it all. 

 

Finally the newbies did pretty alright for themselves.  Mike Day must have seriously impressed people during the Marty and Maya stint to get that much airtime last night. 

[pivot]

Man, that was terrible. I thought Alec Baldwin sucked all the fun out of the Trump impression. He was trying WAY too hard. Kate McKinnon's Hillary was about the only thing decent in the show (and any scene with Leslie Jones and Darrell Hammond). Unlike Amy Poehler's Hillary, Kate's acknowledges how awful Hillary truly is.

Outside of Jones and McKinnon, the entire cast is D-level talent and the writing is worse than it was last season.  

[WendyCR72]

10 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

to have Darrell Hammond back as the OG Clinton

Not OG, though. That honor, as far as I know, will always fall to the late great Phil Hartman (and Jan Hooks was [an admittedly blander - and I liked Jan Hooks!] Hillary)!

[Tvtimebomb]

The debate skit was fantastic. Homerun for Baldwin and McKinnon.

Kate's Emmy was so deserved and this episode proves it. She was great throughout. Haha "Can America vote right now?"

Leslie Jones and her twitter hacking was on point.

[Sesquipedalia]

On 9/28/2016 at 3:07 PM, ruby24 said:

I'm actually happy about this. I posted over in the cast discussion thread how I think they've mostly whiffed on the Trump skits for the past year, because Darrell Hammond's impression is too outdated and toothless at this point, now that everyone can see the horrific, dangerous person that Trump has become. Darrell still plays him too laid-back, like he's the same, harmless billionaire who once hosted Celebrity Apprentice.

I think Baldwin can bring the nastiness, the racism and the heartlessness along with the stupidity and ignorance. I think maybe Lorne and everybody finally realized that something was missing too.

Wow, you really nailed it with this prediction. I came on here to say just that: Alec Baldwin's impression brought out how grotesque and sinister Trump is. Darrell Hammond's Trump is way too likable. 

I know this is blasphemy to a lot of people, but I've never been blown away by any of the Hillary Clinton impressions on SNL. Why can't anyone get her distinct midwestern accent down? Don't get me wrong-- McKinnon's Hillary is funny. She emphasizes a robotic quality that Clinton critics think she has. But I guess I most enjoy impressions that are truly uncanny like Tina Fey's Sarah Palin. The best Hillary impression I've seen was actually by an amateur comedian who had her own YouTube channel back in 2008, but I can't find it anymore.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Sesquipedalia

[SpikeGal]

All I can say is thank GOD for One Punch Man and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure on Toonami!

If this is where SNL is headed count me OUT!! Melania moments?! NOT funny!!! I want Bill Moments now!! I want Bill Moments!!

And I DEMAND more Hillary!  (buut seeing as how the DNC owns part of NBC now, I know that ain;t gonna happen!)

8 hours ago, pivot said:

Unlike Amy Poehler's Hillary, Kate's acknowledges how awful Hillary truly is.

Outside of Jones and McKinnon, the entire cast is D-level talent and the writing is worse than it was last season.  

Thank you!!! Finally!!! I'm Not alone!!! I thought I was all by myself on here in my hatred of Hillary.

[JTMacc99]

Oh my god, Matt Shatt. "You'd think with a name like Shatt he'd go with Matthew."

I giggled through that whole sketch. Actually, the whole first thirty minutes was fun. 

4 hours ago, Sesquipedalia said:

Darrell Hammond's Trump is way too likable. 

But his Bill Clinton is still great. "We are just getting acquainted..."

[marketdoctor]

Quote

but I REALLY want a desk piece tonight of Leslie Jones tearing into all those awful trolls that went after her all summer. 

With the Mr. Robot sketch, this was kind of close.  (It was more about the people who hacked her, but still, points to her.)

ETA:  Even though it started slow, The Hunch Bunch sketch built to something, and had an end point.  In that sense the writing is getting better again.

Edited October 3, 2016 by marketdoctor

[ChromaKelly]

7 hours ago, SpikeGal said:

All I can say is thank GOD for One Punch Man and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure on Toonami!

If this is where SNL is headed count me OUT!! Melania moments?! NOT funny!!! I want Bill Moments now!! I want Bill Moments!!

And I DEMAND more Hillary!  (buut seeing as how the DNC owns part of NBC now, I know that ain;t gonna happen!)

Thank you!!! Finally!!! I'm Not alone!!! I thought I was all by myself on here in my hatred of Hillary.

The DNC owns part of NBC? Really? Source? This is the network that aired The Apprentice and had Trump host last season.

Melania moments cracked me up. I thought Alec Baldwin's Trump was great. Michael Che did a good job as Lester Holt. I don't really know who Margot Robbie is, but she was one of those hosts who just blended in, and that's fine. I'm glad they didn't do too much "hot girl" skits, the Matt Shatt one was funny though.
I missed Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah. Still puzzled about their firings.
Edit - Mr. Robot sketch. That was awesome. I don't really care for Pete Davidson, but he seriously had Rami Malek and the character down. I almost thought it was him for a moment.

Edited October 3, 2016 by ChromaKelly

[hendersonrocks]

Quote

Not OG, though. That honor, as far as I know, will always fall to the late great Phil Hartman (and Jan Hooks was [an admittedly blander - and I liked Jan Hooks!] Hillary)!

You're totally right! My comment was confusing - I meant OG as in Bill himself, not OG as in the original portrayer of Bill on SNL.

Now I'm going to go pour some out for Phil & Jan. 

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Watch The Highlights From Margot Robbie's Debut On Saturday Night Live

Will there be Trump and Hillary jokes? Oh, yes. Plenty of them.

[helenamonster]

20 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I would call Susan Sarandon as "Bernie-Broish" as they come but not Sarah.  Sarah was an active Bernie supporter, no doubt, but even during the primaries I seem to recall her saying that she would support Clinton if Bernie lost.  And she has been pretty active since the convention.  Bernie was also someone as a latecomer to supporting Clinton until after the primaries but was on her team.

Plus, Trump had some late supporters of his own on his "team" in Chris Christie and Kellyanne Conway. And now I've analyzed the people in that skit more than I ever thought I would.

Yeah, Susan Sarandon is definitely of the "Bern It All Down" variety of Bernie Bro, much more than Sarah is or was (I do remember her saying she'd vote for Clinton in the general if it came down to it, and I believe her support to be genuine). I guess what I meant to say is that I wish they had picked a more fervent "Clintonista" (I see this word a lot but have never actually seen anyone refer to themselves as such), and it seemed like they just picked Sarah because it was an impression that Melissa can do and they had to slot her in somewhere, as she didn't show up anywhere else the whole show (I'm guessing she's one of those "we picked her only for the impressions" cast members?). But Lin's inclusion didn't make sense to me either. Is he a fervent Clinton supporter? I don't really follow him at all.

So for me, it was less about people joining the "team" late on either side and more about who I would associate the candidates with. For me, all of Trump's people made sense, even Christie (I will never forget that speech where he stood behind him and stared for what felt like five days). The Clinton side felt weaker, as Sarah and Lin's presence felt a little out of left field.

[BoogieBurns]

15 minutes ago, helenamonster said:

Is he a fervent Clinton supporter? I don't really follow him at all.

I think he hosted a fundraiser for her recently. Also, he publicly endorsed her in July, which was a big enough deal for this article to exist. 

[vb68]

Quote

I guess what I meant to say is that I wish they had picked a more fervent "Clintonista" (I see this word a lot but have never actually seen anyone refer to themselves as such), and it seemed like they just picked Sarah because it was an impression that Melissa can do and they had to slot her in somewhere, as she didn't show up anywhere else the whole show (I'm guessing she's one of those "we picked her only for the impressions" cast members?).

You know who would had been perfect and would had been a great cameo? Sen. Al Franken!

[withanaich]

Baldwin's Trump impression is the most scary-good thing I've seen since Tina Fey's Sarah Palin (and that was built on their existing resemblance to one another).

I'm not a fan of these one-note hosts that inspire one-note sketches ("You know how Margot Robbie's hot? So what if this sketch is about how she's hot?"), so I don't have high hopes for Lin-Manuel Miranda ("So what if this sketch is about Hamilton ... and this one is about a guy who raps ... and this one is also about a guy who raps") but he's actually a writer so he might be able to pitch in and steer lazy writers in a different direction. I think the show works best when things are unexpected.

Edited October 3, 2016 by withanaich

[Traveller519]

Overall really solid. The bumper card with Margot in the Kangaroo jumper was as much fun as anything.

I echo that Family Feud feels a bit tired. I thought they nailed it with the Tracy Morgan episode where it was his new family vs his old one. That many celebrity impressions bogs it down. But I'm always higher on unique skits than the impression ones.

I think Leslie learned this summer that taking a stand-offish and combative approach to her detractors just makes everyone dig in deeper. The Mr. Robot skit was a great way of sending up the situation while not poking anyone. She'll never be everyone's cup of tea, but this was the best "Featuring Leslie Jones" bit since Black Ninja and the Naked and Afraid bit.

I can tell it's going to take some time to try and tell the two new guys apart. It didn't help me that they appeared in a bunch of the same skits together. Darrell really hit the accents in the Melissa's name hard during the intros.

 

It's amazing how much a confident Weekend Update helps everything else.

[vibeology]

12 minutes ago, withanaich said:

I'm not a fan of these one-note hosts that inspire one-note sketches ("You know how Margot Robbie's hot? So what if this sketch is about how she's hot?"), so I don't have high hopes for Lin-Manuel Miranda ("So what if this sketch is about Hamilton ... and this one is about a guy who raps ... and this one is also about a guy who raps") but he's actually a writer so he might be able to pitch in and steer lazy writers in a different direction. I think the show works best when things are unexpected.

I don't know exactly how the schedule works but he had his first SNL meeting this afternoon so he might get some input. I get the feeling he'll be writing a rap somewhere in the show, probably the monologue but writing good rap is hard so unless he's writing a whole bunch of sketches, I can't imagine anyone else on the staff can step up and do that. I do hope they don't go the lazy "this is your one trait" approach because I agree that with Margot those got old. Sinkhole was okay for a minute and then it stopped being interesting. By Librarian I was over it.

[Traveller519]

They should have had Christie knock Bill on his ass after he and Ivanka were "getting acquainted." 

"The only person who can touch Ivanka is Mr. Trump himself!"

[merriebreeze]

Alec's a good Trump, but the wig's a little thick. Need much less "hair" on the part side. On the mic check, how about "bigly" or is it "big league" along with "stamina, stamina"?

[Paws]

Lin -Manuel Miranda's father is an advisor to the DNC and to Hillary. Lin-Manuel has hosted fundraisers for Hillary at the Richard Rodgers theater and Renee Elise Goldsberry (Angelica Schuyler) has done fundraisers for HRC as well. They're looking for a mind at work.

I wonder if next week they'll do a Schuyler Sisters skit with Angela (Merkel) Theresa (May, and Hillary.

Edited October 4, 2016 by Paws
Hamiltonia

[mtlchick]

Quote

The bumper card with Margot in the Kangaroo jumper was as much fun as anything.

You mean with her holding the cigar? That was Pikachu from Pokemon (which I'm a bit surprised they didn't have a joke about that.)

[formerlyfreedom]

This is the topic for the Margot Robbie episode. A bunch of posts that were about future episode wishes and discussion were moved to The Wishlist topic. 

[Traveller519]

2 hours ago, mtlchick said:

You mean with her holding the cigar? That was Pikachu from Pokemon (which I'm a bit surprised they didn't have a joke about that.)

I was referring to this picture where she's jumping. It's definitely a kangaroo kigurumi (I had to look the term up, though I know I'd heard it before), It looks like she's wearing the same one in the cigar picture

[Blakeston]

3 hours ago, Traveller519 said:

I was referring to this picture where she's jumping. It's definitely a kangaroo kigurumi (I had to look the term up, though I know I'd heard it before), It looks like she's wearing the same one in the cigar picture

Add me to the list who didn't realize that was a kangaroo. Wow, if they wanted people to realize that she was dressed as a kangaroo and not as Pikachu, they should have gone with a different costume.

[peeayebee]

4 hours ago, Traveller519 said:

It's definitely a kangaroo kigurumi (I had to look the term up, though I know I'd heard it before)

I googled. Y'learn something new every day.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Odd -- I thought it looked like a onesie of Kanga and Roo from Winnie the Pooh.  Because the pouch was occupied.

[JZL]

This was one of the best shows top-to-bottom in forever.  Even the newbs contributed.  WU continues to rock.

Poor Zasheer.  She's been on the show over a year now and she's had maybe a half hour of total air time? 

Edited October 5, 2016 by JZL

[helenamonster]

I think the fact that Margot was dressed as a kangaroo in that one bumper makes the most sense, with her being Australian and all.

11 hours ago, JZL said:

Poor Zasheer.  She's been on the show over a year now and she's had maybe a half hour of total air time? 

Sasheer's actually been on for two and a half seasons, but yeah that airtime estimate is probably still accurate.

[7-Zark-7]

On 10/2/2016 at 8:06 AM, absnow54 said:

Mad TV alum. I don't know that anyone else has made the jump though. Maybe Jordan Peele or Keegan Michael Key will host someday.

SNL wanted to hire Jordan Peele specifically for Obama back in 2008, but Mad TV wouldn't release him from his contract.

On 10/2/2016 at 3:46 PM, mtlchick said:

Especially with Leslie shifting Pete back to the center of the screen.

This and Baldwin's first time doing Drumpf's strange pronunciation of "China" were two small things that cracked me up.

8 hours ago, helenamonster said:

Sasheer's actually been on for two and a half seasons

I'm surprised she wasn't let go before this season, since she hasn't found her niche. When SNL made a point of finding black women for the show, they chose Zamata over Amber Ruffin, who is currently hilarious in the "Jokes Seth Can't Tell" sketches on Seth Meyer's Late Night. She would have been great on SNL.

[JTMacc99]

On 10/3/2016 at 4:06 PM, Traveller519 said:

I echo that Family Feud feels a bit tired. I thought they nailed it with the Tracy Morgan episode where it was his new family vs his old one. That many celebrity impressions bogs it down. But I'm always higher on unique skits than the impression ones.

For me, it can't get tired for two reasons:

1. Keenan is phenomenal as Steve Harvey, so I will always like that part of it.

2. Because there is always a chance that somebody is going to throw an impression that is unexpected and awesome. Most won't, but there is always a chance of something great.

To me, bits get tired when it's the same characters doing different versions of the same thing. With the way they use Family Feud here, we usually get eight different characters from the last time they did it.  Sure about half of the characters this time were ones we've seen before, but hey, Bernie Sanders is still funny. 

[DollEyes]

My verdict: great show. The debate sketch was epic. Kate McKinnon's Hillary Clinton was more hilarious than ever, whether it was the Willy Wonka entrance, her promise to the undecided voters who hate looking at her that if she's elected they'll never see her again or her baiting Donald Trump with Alicia Machado, the  ex beauty pageant contestant whom Trump fat-shamed or Hillary's reeling Trump in like an orange blowfish. Speaking of Trump, Alec Baldwin's Trump was priceless. Baldwin captured Trump at his arrogant, ignorant, megalomanical & borderline psychotic best.  Declaring himself the winner of the debate and trying to leave the stage 90 seconds after it started, accusing Hillary and President Obama tampering with his microphone in Kenya and his pronouncing China as "gina"-as in "vagina," were funny enough, but the way he just said nothing and made faces like Trump was comedy gold. 

  Host Margot Robbie did a great job. The fact-checking monologue with the cast was inspired, as were the librarian, Hunch Bunch, Matt Shatt & "Polotical 'Family Feud'" sketches, where she played Ivanka Trump in the latter. Since there wasn't a Suicide Squad parody, I think it would have been perfect if one of the Trump sons was played by Jared Leto, who was in American Psycho as one of the targets of Patrick Bateman, whom Donald Jr. bears more than a passing resemblance to. Leave it to Larry David to make it even better. As always, David's Bernie Sanders was not only flawless, IMO his comparing Hillary Clinton to prune juice was spot on.  The Weeknd's new music, new look and new update were all on-point. The Mr. Robot sketch with Leslie Jones was hilarious. That Jones could make something funny out of all the shit that's happened to her is a testament to her talent. 

Edited October 8, 2016 by DollEyes

[mtlchick]

Quote

1. Keenan is phenomenal as Steve Harvey, so I will always like that part of it.

2. Because there is always a chance that somebody is going to throw an impression that is unexpected and awesome. Most won't, but there is always a chance of something great.

Arianna Grande's impression of Jennifer Lawrence floored me.  

[Fostersmom]

3 hours ago, mtlchick said:

Arianna Grande's impression of Jennifer Lawrence floored me.  

Her impression truly was amazing.