S42.E17: Louis C.K. / The Chainsmokers

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Hosted by Louis C.K.; musical guests The Chainsmokers

[heatherchandler]

OMG Louie's monologue!

[Gemma Violet]

There were a couple of bright spots tonight, but overall, I thought this was a pretty weak show.  Surprising since Louis C.K. did so well last time. 

[Galileo908]

It's back! 

Cold Open: Of course Alec Baldwin is back as Trump. And yeah, reality is weird enough without SNL's help. This all seems TOO real for Trump to say to people.

Monologue: It's Louis CK, of course it was gonna be great. How many people are gonna bitch about Louis' monologue?

Maybelline Lawyer: This was incredible. I wasn't on board at first, but there was...something about Louis' character that won me over.

Thank You Scott: I liked this, a song about a man saving the world by sharing stuff on social media. This sketch is the most diverse SNL has ever been, and ever will be.

Soda Fountain: This is gonna get weird isn't and and then of course it did. And I loved it. I loved the punchline that all the girls knew how weird Louis was and just played along with him to taunt him.

Pepsi Commercial: All right, taking this down a peg! 

WU: "When Donald Trump is angry, he always presses send." Sad but true. "This is bad news for Merrick Garland, who convinced his family that he was coming home from yet another day at the Supreme Court." That was great. And so glad that Kate showed up to save the day, she's always welcomed.

The O'Reilly Factor: Alec as Bill O?! Now that's good casting. And then Alec as Trump talked to each other. Loved the sponsors: horse cialis, Dog Cocaine! and CHiPS. I gotta admit, it was a pretty low-energy sketch.

Clown: This got sad/weird/funny quick. I've been feeling like Ernest lately.

Sectional Couches: And we are officuially deep into Weird SNL and it didn't come a moment too soon. This was so amazing due to how weird it was. Cecily just killed me. "I used to have a family" is the line of the night right there. But...who were those other people if this wasn't a commercial?

Tenement Museum: This was good on their own, Louis and Kate trying to be Polish, but got great when they started to break. Of course Louis had to bust out a MY WIFE with that accent.

Well, that was...a show. Someone on Reddit described this as an entire episode full of 12:55 sketches, and that's not too far off. Next week is Jimmy Fallon because of course it is. Should be good, and filled to the brim with cameos. 

Aww, last minute tribute to Don Rickles. And Louis busts out the accent again for the goodnights! That was a great way to close the show.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Were the Chainsmokers the musical guest because Lorne lost another bet to Pete Davidson ?

The songs weren't that bad, but their first song was basically the same four lines repeated over and over and over again, and the only redeeming factor was the backup singers. And in their second song, it was repetitive and awkward that the audience had no idea the song was over -- they thought it was yet another overly dramatic pause.

Louis CK was great as always, especially in the last skit when he kept breaking character.

[vb68]

I thought it was mostly good. Nothing that was going to go down as best of the season great but nothing truly awful, either. I admit I liked the angle on the cold open that was aimed as much at the crowd as Trump himself. That's something that doesn't explored enough.  Otherwise I really enjoyed Update, and Kate killed it.  I actually thought the Pepsi ad could have been better, though.  I don't know. Maybe my expectations were too high.  And that last sketch was... something. Has Kate ever broken before?

I think Louis was having fun, and you can tell the cast loves him.  I did notice the most political bits didn't involve him. I wonder if that was on purpose (like him not playing Bill O"Reilly), and that's why we got things like the eyelashes and pervert maltshop guy. He went in a very different direction than talking about Trump in the monologue. That was fine and very funny, but still noticeable. 

Edited April 9, 2017 by vb68

[Bees]

I think the Sectional Couches sketch is one of my favorite sketches of the year. Something about the sheer ridiculousness and overdramatics just won me over from the jump. I mean there's still been a few funnier sketches (see: Tom Hanks and Dave Chappelle episodes for examples) but that one just hit the right notes for me.

[vb68]

I saw someone say on twitter that there was so much breaking in the last sketch that it was like Jimmy Fallon was already hosting!

[VCRTracking]

The one sketch I liked was the prosecutor with the AMAZING eyelashes sketch. The visual of Louis CK with those eyelashes and everyone irristably in thrall to them was so silly that I couldn't help but laugh. The rest I wasn't feeling at all. Louis and the show have done better in the past.

Okay I did also like the "sectional couch" commercial which was also so dumb that I found it funny. I liked Cecily's opera singing too.

Edited April 9, 2017 by VCRTracking

[Bubbles]

Was it just me, or did the clown sketch seem like a ripoff of Tig Notaro's short film "Clown Service"?

[Primetimer]

The stand-up makes good on his recent promise to use more funny voices in his act with his latest SNL appearance.

View the full article

[Princess Sparkle]

I think I pulled something laughing at Kate during WU. "What would he look like if he had a stroke while saying 'Cheeeese'?" and "That's a smile that says 'I got a fish in my mouth and I'm trying to keep it in there!'" had me on the floor. Also loved Che's tribute to Don Rickles at the end of WU. 

[peeayebee]

Kate as Cecilia Gimenez is outstanding, esp here. All her lines about the bust were hilarious. (One joke I saw right after that bust was in the news was that this is the sculptor who did Scary Lucy. It should be true!)

I really enjoyed this ep. The sectional sofa sketch was just the right kind of weird. Louis' Borat/Yakov Smirnoff accent was hilariously bad. How could anyone keep a straight face listening to that!

My favorite part of the soda jerk sketch was every time he insulted Vanessa. He even shoved her out of the way when he came out from behind the counter to do the practice date.

The clown sketch was fun mainly because of Bobby. He was perfect.

I liked Baldwin as O'Reilly, but there were many times when he looked like LBJ to me. 

[LADreamr]

58 minutes ago, Princess Sparkle said:

 

I think I pulled something laughing at Kate during WU.

 

I laughed so hard through that whole bit, I actually heard something in my back crack. I think it was that the lines were so funny, but also that Kate seemed to really be enjoying it, too. 

[Phishbulb]

27 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

My favorite part of the soda jerk sketch was every time he insulted Vanessa. He even shoved her out of the way when he came out from behind the counter to do the practice date.

I don't know why it's funny when Vanessa takes abuse like this in sketches, but it always makes me laugh. There was a little bit of it in the eyelash lawyer sketch too where Kenan insulted her eyelashes saying they were "clumpy and unremarkable" or whatever.

[futurechemist]

I wasn't sure who the targets were during the open and Scott sketches.  The cold open seemed like it couldn't decide if it wanted to make fun of Trump's lip service to his core, or the people who support him despite potentially losing out on benefits.

And I didn't understand the show's message in the Scott song.  Was it saying that online commenting is pointless?  White guys shouldn't comment on other issues?  Or the exact opposite?

Several other sketches were humorously absurd, but it'd be nice if the more topical sketches had more clear messaging.

[BoogieBurns]

9 minutes ago, futurechemist said:

I didn't understand the show's message in the Scott song.  Was it saying that online commenting is pointless?

I'm pretty sure it was saying everyone thinks they are a keyboard hero. You have to do more than share and article or retweet 'RESIST' to make a difference. Doubt it had anything to do with him being white. 

[annewithaneee]

35 minutes ago, BoogieBurns said:

 

45 minutes ago, futurechemist said:

I didn't understand the show's message in the Scott song.  Was it saying that online commenting is pointless?

I'm pretty sure it was saying everyone thinks they are a keyboard hero. You have to do more than share and article or retweet 'RESIST' to make a difference. Doubt it had anything to do with him being white. 

 

I think it was pretty pointedly about Scott being a white man, in that the people singing and dedicating the song to Scott (giving him a pat on the back for giving the barest of minimal efforts) were women and POC. IMO it was both skewering social media only activism and oblivious white male progressives. 

I thought it was pretty funny, and a nice change of pace to see the dudes getting a hard time since white lady progressives have been receiving a lot of comedic kicks in the asses (deservedly so, to be clear) both during and after the election. 

[Traveller519]

I think we're bordering on Alec being played out. Both of his sketches were the worst of the episode. They could have easily gotten the message of the cold open across without Alec, and the O'Reilly factor bit felt like it was doing a disservice to the cast. I get why they didn't have Louis do that though. His subject matter toes the line on those types of things, that it would have been easy to strike back as hypocritical. And you know O'Reilly isn't taking anyone else in the cast seriously. Maybe having a guest spot hit him would have worked best, but two Baldwins felt like a different show.

Everything Louis was fantastic, WU hit its beats, and the Pepsi commercial stuff was gold, especially for production value given its timeliness.

[vb68]

3 hours ago, futurechemist said:

The cold open seemed like it couldn't decide if it wanted to make fun of Trump's lip service to his core, or the people who support him despite potentially losing out on benefits.

I think it was about both in equal fashion. I agree it could have been sharper, but I liked that it went in both directions.

 

2 hours ago, BoogieBurns said:

I'm pretty sure it was saying everyone thinks they are a keyboard hero. You have to do more than share and article or retweet 'RESIST' to make a difference. Doubt it had anything to do with him being white. 

Yeah I agree there.  It never occurred to me that it had anything to do with race.  I took it as a "get off your lazy butt and actually do something".

Edited April 9, 2017 by vb68

[possibilities]

During the good-byes, CK was wearing a t'shirt for "The Fistula Foundation". I decided to take a deep breath and check what it referred to, and it turns out to be a great organization that helps women around the world who have very serious injuries due to prolonged obstructed labor (childbirth labor, not general work type labor), and need expensive surgeries they otherwise would not receive: https://www.fistulafoundation.org/

Apparently they have helped tens of thousands of women.

[Phishbulb]

43 minutes ago, Traveller519 said:

I think we're bordering on Alec being played out. Both of his sketches were the worst of the episode. They could have easily gotten the message of the cold open across without Alec, and the O'Reilly factor bit felt like it was doing a disservice to the cast. I get why they didn't have Louis do that though. His subject matter toes the line on those types of things, that it would have been easy to strike back as hypocritical.

Having Alec play O'Reilly in the sketch kind of bordered on being hypocritical to begin with, considering he is not exactly a Boy Scout himself. Putting aside the time he called his own 10 year old daughter (or however old she was at the time) a "rude, thoughtless little pig", allegations came out this very week about him rather inappropriately hiring an underage actress once to do romantic scenes with in a movie, KNOWING she was underage when he did it, and then lying about it afterwards. While these are merely allegations, it maybe wasn't the best time for him to be throwing stones at O'Reilly and being all winky-winky about sleazy older men hitting on younger women. 

[Ottis]

I laughed more at this episode than at any episode in a long time. 

"There's no protocol for something like this."

"McManatee."

The monologue... from chickens to white privilege. 

Pepsi commercial... duh, dude. Can't do that with PC police. 

But could you have laid off the sectionals and Scott? Too close to home.

Given the news all week about the 50yo teacher and 15yo student who ran away with him, the soda jerk skit was edgy. 

The Chainsmokers were far more boring performing live than I expected.

At this stage, the less said about Trump and especially O'Reilly the better. 

I thought the Poland skit was going more toward a "privileged Americans who don't understand history" direction than a slam on Italians and others. 

All in all, really enjoyed it.

[Mockingbird]

8 hours ago, Bubbles said:

Was it just me, or did the clown sketch seem like a ripoff of Tig Notaro's short film "Clown Service"?

Considering how familiar Louis CK is with Tig's work, that felt really weird. Bobby was great as the clown, but, yeah. That was Tig's sketch with a darker ending.

She posted a link to "Clown Service" today without mentioning SNL but DID mention everywhere she's been showing it. Clown Service, in case anyone wants to compare. 

[helenamonster]

It feels like years since we've had a new episode.

Thank You Scott was the perfect ode to slacktivism and white mediocrity.

I involuntarily cringed when Michael started a sentence with "I might be oversimplifying this" but damn if I didn't end up being right. Yeah, Assad might hate ISIS (and even that is questionable), but he literally gassed his own people. Believe it or not, but this Syrian situation is complicated and nuanced. I'm at the point where I need to believe he's being this dumb on purpose for my own sanity. It's every week with this misinformed bullshit.

So happy to see the return of Cecilia Jimenez, mostly because Kate just absolutely kills the character but also because I am continuously amused by how much objectively terrible art is released for public consumption. Between the Rinaldo sculpture and "Scary Lucy" from a few years ago, yeesh!

I absolutely loved the Sectional Sofa Emporium sketch. It is everything I look for in post-Update material.

The Chainsmokers are exactly as underwhelming in person as I was anticipating. Also, is it just me or is the one dude a lot older than the other one? I thought they were both supposed to be frat guys or something? Or is it an LMFAO situation where one of them is the other guy's uncle?

Surprised they're having a new show next week, considering it's a holiday. They don't usually do shows Easter weekend, do they?

[Milburn Stone]

7 hours ago, Phishbulb said:

I don't know why it's funny when Vanessa takes abuse like this in sketches, but it always makes me laugh.

I wonder, does she get the lion's share of "character getting abused" roles because she's so good at it, or does all the cast play abused characters about as often but we remember Vanessa's more because she's so good at it? In any case, I agree with you.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Milburn Stone

[TeeVeeStevie]

That last sketch made no sense. There were never any antagonisms or hierarchies between Poles and Italians. They both immigrated around the same time, were both near the bottom of the social ladder, and were both considered "not real whites." Was the "joke" supposed to be the hypocrisy of the Poles? The cluelessness of the tour guides? Or was it just an excuse for the writers to slam Italians?

[vb68]

Did anyone else notice Alex getting up and creeping out before the end of the eyelashes-courtroom sketch?  Interesting detail. I assume it was by design since he seemed to still be in character.  Though I did wonder at the time.

[Phishbulb]

4 hours ago, vb68 said:

Did anyone else notice Alex getting up and creeping out before the end of the eyelashes-courtroom sketch?  Interesting detail. I assume it was by design since he seemed to still be in character.  Though I did wonder at the time.

Haha, yeah, given the fact that he had kind of a sneaky look on his face and looked like he was taking advantage of the hubbub in the courtroom to make a quick escape, I have to assume it was an intentional joke and not a Jon Rudnitsky-esque mistake :)

[hoodooznoodooz]

16 hours ago, peeayebee said:

My favorite part of the soda jerk sketch was every time he insulted Vanessa. He even shoved her out of the way when he came out from behind the counter to do the practice date.

Loved the delivery of, "I don't think they're driving to the school."

[wknt3]

19 hours ago, possibilities said:

During the good-byes, CK was wearing a t'shirt for "The Fistula Foundation". I decided to take a deep breath and check what it referred to, and it turns out to be a great organization that helps women around the world who have very serious injuries due to prolonged obstructed labor (childbirth labor, not general work type labor), and need expensive surgeries they otherwise would not receive: https://www.fistulafoundation.org/

Apparently they have helped tens of thousands of women.

He's been a supporter for some time. It was his charity when he won on Jeopardy. I think he was trying to get people to Google it like you did to boost awareness and get them some online donations like his Jeopardy appearance.

Edited April 10, 2017 by wknt3
typo

[hendersonrocks]

I guess I was left wanting more, after so many weeks off and with Louis CK as host. I didn't think it was bad, mind you...but it wasn't even close to the best of the year for me or to his last episode. The pre-taped bits were strong* but the live sketches all felt pretty iffy. 

*The Pepsi slam was obviously necessary and well done, but I could NOT believe they didn't somehow incorporate Kendall Jenner throwing.her.wig.at.a.black.woman. 

[Bruinsfan]

On 4/9/2017 at 0:28 AM, vb68 said:

And that last sketch was... something. Has Kate ever broken before?

I seem to recall an out-of-character smile a time or two when doing Weekend Update characters, but I don't recall her ever losing it like she did in this sketch.

Louis' comedy doesn't appeal to me much, so most of the episode except the cold open and WU was so-so to me, though nothing was really bad.

All I can say about the Chainsmokers is if that was live rather than lipsynced it's impressive that the lead singer can hop around like a hyperactive child in a bouncy house and not sound winded.

[Hanahope]

I'm starting to think that if its not political/current even humor, I just don't 'get it' anymore.  Not much that SNL does beyond the WU, the political cold open and this time, the Billo/trump bit was that funny.  The polish tenament bit was only a litte funny because of Louis and Kate breaking.  Ok, the Pepsi one wasn't too bad, but it took a bit too long to get to the point.  But other than those, a real 'meh'.

[potatoradio]

The Steve sketch would have been funnier to me if Steve had actually thought he was a hero. I didn't get that impression. The way LCK played the character, it was like he bumbled his way into a few clicks and didn't really care about the outcome. He wasn't trying to cure our social ills, whereas I've known plenty of keyboard heroes who genuinely believe that if someone just reads this one article, their lives will change.

I do love a true stand up monologue. Any stand up comedian has to be 'take my wife...please' or 'heh heh...so I saw a girl's pussy and thought...whoah, dude, I haven't gotten any in a long time...' level of bad before I'll give up, and I thought the monologue was one of the sharpest written pieces of the show. 

Sectional was kinda funny.

Alex Moffat only appeared in a tiny bit and still confirmed my new (short eyelash) batting hope. I think he's really talented and has a lot  of potential. 

The rest? Meh....lukewarm. Forgettable. Nothing new.

And I agree with the poster who hopes that Che is deliberately playing dumb as part of his schtick.

Edited April 10, 2017 by potatoradio

[peeayebee]

14 hours ago, TeeVeeStevie said:

That last sketch made no sense. There were never any antagonisms or hierarchies between Poles and Italians. They both immigrated around the same time, were both near the bottom of the social ladder, and were both considered "not real whites." Was the "joke" supposed to be the hypocrisy of the Poles? The cluelessness of the tour guides? Or was it just an excuse for the writers to slam Italians?

I'd say None of the above. The sketch required that these Poles were racist. Another ethnic group was chosen to be the target. Italians probably seemed to be a simple option. 

[theatremouse]

20 hours ago, TeeVeeStevie said:

They both immigrated around the same time, were both near the bottom of the social ladder, and were both considered "not real whites." Was the "joke" supposed to be the hypocrisy of the Poles? The cluelessness of the tour guides? Or was it just an excuse for the writers to slam Italians?

I didn't enjoy this sketch or find it funny (other than the breaking which itself was funny) but the impression I got was they were going for some sort of commentary about an oppressed group sometimes "races to the bottom" and hating on another equally bashed minority in an attempt to get in on whatever holier-than-thou happens to be en vogue at the moment. It didn't really land for me at all, but that's what I thought they were going for.

[hoodooznoodooz]

Could someone explain the CHiPs movie sponsor joke?  Thank you.

[hoodooznoodooz]

"What's your favorite color?"

"Uh. . . I don't know."

 

"There is no protocol for whatever this is."

[peeayebee]

9 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

Could someone explain the CHiPs movie sponsor joke?  Thank you.

I think it's considered to be such a bad, nothing movie that it even advertises on The O'Reilly Factor.

[BTBAM310]

This was a mostly terrible show, like all SNL episodes after an extended break.

I saw Louis CK do stand up back in January - we left early because he just wasn't funny and there were some really obnoxious people sitting behind us. I love Louis' FX show, and he has been a great host in the past. He was awful tonight. His monologue wasn't funny at all. The lawyer/eyelash sketch was just odd. I didn't laugh at all until weekend update, and then it was only twice. I was ready to proclaim this one of the worst SNL episodes ever, then it almost redeemed itself with 2 great sketches towards the end - clown and tenement museum (mostly due to Louis' awful accent and he and Kate trying not to laugh...Louis doing the accent during the goodnights was great).

Edited April 11, 2017 by BTBAM310

[theatremouse]

15 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

Could someone explain the CHiPs movie sponsor joke?  Thank you.

I don't know if this is actually the case, but the way it struck me in the moment was that they'd possibly looked at an actual list of advertisers that had not dropped and that may have been one (which makes sense for a movie since it's so time sensitive, a film is unlikely to "drop sponsorship" of any program because they basically have ads for a month and then disappear so anything they already paid for it's probably simpler to just leave it and be done; it's not like any film provides long term support for any program). I think it may just have been going for the juxtaposition, especially if that movie really did have ads during the show. But I don't know if that's real. They might just have meant they assume the sort of people who will be interested in that movie probably watch O'Reilly, scandal or no.

[Bruinsfan]

The movie's gotten criticism for tone deaf homophobic jokes, so maybe they thought that was a good fit for the O'Reily audience.

[PatternRec]

On 4/9/2017 at 0:22 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Were the Chainsmokers the musical guest because Lorne lost another bet to Pete Davidson ?

The songs weren't that bad, but their first song was basically the same four lines repeated over and over and over again, and the only redeeming factor was the backup singers. And in their second song, it was repetitive and awkward that the audience had no idea the song was over -- they thought it was yet another overly dramatic pause.

Louis CK was great as always, especially in the last skit when he kept breaking character.

The Chainsmokers are pretty much d-bags who are trolling their fans.

On 4/9/2017 at 11:15 AM, Bubbles said:

Was it just me, or did the clown sketch seem like a ripoff of Tig Notaro's short film "Clown Service"?

Just watched Clown Service, and yes I totally agree. I was already pretty underwhelmed by CK's monologue and his "why doesn't privilege work for me" bit, then seeing this just made me sad. 

On 4/9/2017 at 2:11 PM, Phishbulb said:

I don't know why it's funny when Vanessa takes abuse like this in sketches, but it always makes me laugh. There was a little bit of it in the eyelash lawyer sketch too where Kenan insulted her eyelashes saying they were "clumpy and unremarkable" or whatever.

I love that when Bayer does her thing like that. She gets the perfect expression which goes from realizing someone insulted her to slightly putting her head down and to the side while averting eye contact. 

[fastiller]

Re Tig Notaro: Tig Notaro Seems to Agree That Louis CK's SNL Clown Sketch Might Have Ripped Her Off.

[questionfear]

I lost it at the polish immigrants. Not because it was that funny, but because apparently Louis CK does the worst Polish accent of all time. Kate's is solid, but his sounded like the Swedish Chef doing a Polish immigrant impression.