S43.E06: Chance the Rapper / Eminem

[rmontro]

This is a rarity:  I've actually enjoyed the musical guest two weeks in a row on SNL (Taylor Swift and Eminem)!  I wondered if Eminem just didn't want to do two separate musical performances, and just decided he would do a medley of three songs instead.  He's probably one of the few acts with the status to make that demand.  Skyler Grey did a nice job with the singing.

[vb68]

2 hours ago, Mystery said:

But sometimes it feels to me like SNL is normalizing Sessions instead of pointing out what a liar and horrible person he is. He's not a cute elf. He's a racist perjurer. 

I disagree there. Kate's lines as Sessions always very deliberately  take shots at his character.  In this episode, her Sessions said "I had a childhood trauma - the passage of the Civil Rights Act!"

I would agree that the portrayal is downright creepy more than anything.

[Inquisitionist]

I thought the Wayne Manor/Batman sketch was about the best thing the show has done since Black Jeopardy with Doug.  Chance's Steve Harvey impression in Family Feud was delightful, and I thought he did a very good job in the hockey sketch as well.  My favorite bit in the cold open was Donald Jr. correcting Eric about the pronunciation of "Live" in "Live from New York," followed by Eric listing "Mom" among those their father has thrown under the bus.  Very solid show; I laughed a lot.

[AriAu]

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I wouldn't be sad if they sent Kate's Jeff Sessions out to pasture. There's never anything new to it. It's the freaking Gilly of political impressions.

Then maybe he shouldn't keep giving them soooooo much material.

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But sometimes it feels to me like SNL is normalizing Sessions instead of pointing out what a liar and horrible person he is. He's not a cute elf. He's a racist perjurer. 

Oh, I don't think they are normalizing him at all, although they did make him more of an elf this time, but I think they know that everyone is in on the joke at this point-that he is just a "country liar" and a racist prick, who has only a passing acquaintance with the truth.

Good show, some inspired sketches (particularly "Come Back Barack"), but it seemed like they were all reading the cue cards a little too much in many of the sketches. And Eminem is not one of my favorites, but that was one of the great SNL musical performances of all time.

[roseslg]

that Comeback Barack was 150% Boyz II Men, down to the cane.  I remember all the videos those were based on.   Ah, it was such a different time then. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Exactly -- Boyz II Men!  112 and Dru Hill didn't have a guy with a deep voice who made speeches during the songs (I don't think??), but Boyz II Men sure did.

[valandsend]

Instead of basing the cold open on Wikileaks, I wish they'd covered the Trump boys' penchant for big-game hunting, with Don Jr. and Eric in a "Planet of the Apes" parody:

Under fire in the Russia probe, Trump's sons would evacuate the White House in an escape pod found in the basement, joined by Kellyanne Conway and Ben Carson. Waking up centuries in the future, they discover Kellyanne's desiccated body in her cracked hibernation tube but, unable to see any difference, are surprised when they can't revive her. Soon after exploring this strange new world, Carson is quickly taken out in a hunt by a group of elephants, who also capture Eric and remove part of his brain, which no one notices. Don Jr. is befriended by a couple of elephantine scientists, who help lead him to the Forbidden Zone, where the riches of the 1 percent are piled to the top of the ruins of Trump Tower. The zone is now flooded by the rising sea level, the elephants insist, which he refuses to believe. Still, touched by the elephants' kindness and intelligence, Don Jr. sees the error of his ways and rides horseback with a primitive humanoid woman (who strangely looks like Sarah Huckabee Sanders) toward the wasteland of the interior, eventually finding a modified Mount Rushmore with his father's face to the right of Lincoln's. "Damn you all to hell!" he cries, falling off his horse . Pounding the ground, he sets off an ancient oil well built at the foot of the monument during his father's administration. Covered by the black spray of oil, he sputters, "Oh, come on!" Fade to commercial.

[Tachi Rocinante]

On 11/19/2017 at 9:26 PM, Mystery said:

I couldn't put my finger on it during the show, but you hit the nail on the head for me. When Melissa McCarthy made fun of Sean Spicer, it was because he was so awful. Everything she did was supposed to be awful. But sometimes it feels to me like SNL is normalizing Sessions instead of pointing out what a liar and horrible person he is. He's not a cute elf. He's a racist perjurer. 

I don't like it because the impersonation in both look and sound sucks.

He doesn't look like a rat, and his speech isn't marble-mouthed.   It's pathetic.

[possibilities]

On 11/19/2017 at 1:38 AM, Trini said:

Yeah, it was weird there was only one musical performance. I wonder why??

Maybe they needed more time for the set change? I can't remember what came right before and after, so I'm not sure if that's true, but it's all I can think of.

[charmed1]

On 11/19/2017 at 0:01 PM, JZL said:

I'm sorry but eminem reminds me a of a meerkat. 

Ha! But Meerkats are so cute though. Eminem, not so much.

As a Jodeci fan, I swear I thought I heard the voices of the Hailey brothers singing the chorus to "Come Back Barack." If they were, I definitely want them to capitalize off of it and reunite with DeVante and Dalvin for an Obama reunion album.

[ktwo]

Finally got around to watching this as I’ve been away and agree that it was really great. Particularly Pete on WU, Cecily/Aidy on career day, hockey sketch and Steve Harvey. I had watched Come Back Barack already because it was everywhere instantly. For those who mentioned the cue card reading, I only noticed it in the skank babysitter sketch, and I think it was a deliberate choice because the “acting” in porn is so bad.

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I wouldn't be sad if they sent Kate's Jeff Sessions out to pasture. There's never anything new to it. It's the freaking Gilly of political impressions.

I feel the exact same way about Kate’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg impression even though I love RBG and I usually love Kate. Don’t mind her Sessions, though.

@vb68 is correct that Prince did one long medley instead of two separate performances in what turned out to be his last appearance (sniff.) I had never seen it done before that.

[Milburn Stone]

I don't know anything about rap or rappers, but Chance surprised me with his charm and aptitude for comedy.

[Trini]

So I caught the Weekend Update part of this when they reran it tonight, and the bit with Pete Davidson vs. Staten Island still cracks me up! "That's a death threat!!"

[helenamonster]

7 hours ago, Trini said:

So I caught the Weekend Update part of this when they reran it tonight, and the bit with Pete Davidson vs. Staten Island still cracks me up! "That's a death threat!!"

"In a newspaper!"

[Lantern7]

Wasn't it the Post that made the "threat"? I just figure that if you think Staten Island Advance, "fawning over Colin Jost" should come to mind first.