S43.E07: Saoirse Ronan / U2

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Hosted by Saoirse Ronan; musical guest is U2

[VCRTracking]

[vb68]

Saoirse told Seth Meyers that she is a great fan of Kristin Wiig's characters like Target Lady, Sue, and Penelope. So don't be surprised if there is a Wiig cameo for one or even a couple of sketches.

[VCRTracking]

[JZL]

I've heard of Lady Bird but not Saoirse Ronan.  At least I know how to pronounce "Saoirse" now.  (I wasn't even close)

[VCRTracking]

I first became aware of her in Atonement 10 years ago. Then she was in The Lovely Bones, Hanna. Then she was nominated for Best Actress for Brooklyn two years ago. The thing I remember most beside her name is her Irish accent whenever I see her on talk shows.

I wonder who's going to play Matt Lauer? Beck?

[Phishbulb]

13 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

I wonder who's going to play Matt Lauer? Beck?

I wonder if they will be willing (or if NBC will let them) go after one of their own (I mean, they did mention Al Franken last week, but just on Update- they didn't do a whole sketch about him). 

They did do a sketch once about Al Roker with Kenan (the joke was that Roker becomes a "thug" when the cameras are off), but it was fairly benign.

The only person to play Lauer on the show ever was Seth (in a sketch I don't really remember). Of the current cast, Alex Moffat's the most similar to Seth. 

Edited December 2, 2017 by Phishbulb

[VCRTracking]

14 minutes ago, Phishbulb said:

They did do a sketch once about Al Roker with Kenan (the joke was that Roker becomes a "thug" when the cameras are off), but it was fairly benign.

I think you're talking about the sketch where David Alan Grier played Brian Gumbel back in 1995.

14 minutes ago, Phishbulb said:

The only person to play Lauer on the show ever was Seth (in a sketch I don't really remember). Of the current cast, Alex Moffat's the most similar to Seth.

Also Dylan McDermott played Lauer back when he hosted in the late 90s.

Edited December 2, 2017 by VCRTracking

[Phishbulb]

16 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

I think you're talking about the sketch where David Alan Grier played Brian Gumbel back in 1995.

The sketch I'm talking about is from when Tina Fey hosted in 2010.  Tina played Lindsay Lohan's mom Dina in the sketch.

I remember watching it thinking about how similar it was to the other sketch you're talking about; it was basically the same premise.

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, Phishbulb said:

I wonder if they will be willing (or if NBC will let them) go after one of their own (I mean, they did mention Al Franken last week, but just on Update- they didn't do a whole sketch about him). 

They did do a sketch once about Al Roker with Kenan (the joke was that Roker becomes a "thug" when the cameras are off), but it was fairly benign.

The only person to play Lauer on the show ever was Seth (in a sketch I don't really remember). Of the current cast, Alex Moffat's the most similar to Seth. 

Speaking of Seth, NBC "let" him go in on Matt during his A Closer Look segment on Thursday so I doubt there will be any network interference. 

[VCRTracking]

3 hours ago, Phishbulb said:

The sketch I'm talking about is from when Tina Fey hosted in 2010.  Tina played Lindsay Lohan's mom Dina in the sketch.

I remember watching it thinking about how similar it was to the other sketch you're talking about; it was basically the same premise.

Oh okay.

[Gemma Violet]

The sketch they did about the gas explosion at the American Doll store was a rip-off of the sinkhole sketch with Margot Robbie (one of my favorite sketches BTW), but the rip-off wasn't as funny.

[VCRTracking]

The "Welcome to Hell" video was definitely the best sketch. Also I'm always surprised how great Melissa sounds when she sings.

Yes, the Floribama Shore is a real show on MTV.

Also for people wondering who played the lady boss in the "office race" sketch was played by Greta Gerwig, writer-director of Saoirse Ronan's recent movie Lady Bird.

[morgankobi]

The "Welcome To Hell" song was a great way to make fun of, yet not diminish, the current scandals. 

The ladies are continuing to kill it with the pre-recorded bits.

Edited December 3, 2017 by morgankobi

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: Of course we gotta open with Trump and Kellywise. And yeah, we had to do A Christmas Carol on him eventually. Wow, that was a quick change for Kate (then again, all she had to do was change a wig and put on a robe, but man I could definitely tell she was two different people).

"If you worked at NBC, you'd be fired, fired, fired, and out of money..."

Monologue: I appreciate this, it's about how nobody (especially me) can't pronounce Saoirse's name. And here I was wondering if she would sing because I like her voice...

Floribama Shore: Yes, this show exists. But filming it during a hurricane? Genius. Also genius was that stop sign piercing whatshisname. I miss Bobby as Snooki.

American Girl: This was awkward. Got funnier, but awkward as all hell. 

Welcome to Hell: This was good. I really liked the contrast of the heavy lyrics with the Barbie Girl/Katy Perry imagery. I laughed at the awkwardness of all the women when Leslie came in.

K-Mart Returns: These kind of sketches a formula for success. You can mine tons of humor at angry, dumb people in retail, and this delivered. Kate barging in was the best. Nice and short.

Evans: This was so dumb and silly, especially the ending. I loved it. The 80s office just fit it so well. I take it this was a Good Neighbor sketch? Gotta love randomly tossing in Chariots of Fire and Mac & Me references for no good reason.

WU: As Che said, Trump went on Twitter this morning and did half their job. Che is just DONE, and not the funny, ironic kind of DONE I brought up a few weeks back. He's DONE-done. Kate as stuffy Theresa May is fantastic. It's Angela Merkel if she was allowed to grow as a character.

Bachelor Auction: Chad! And he's in a live bit?! This was so great, why'd they save this for post Update?! Don't know what was better: Kenan's weird character, or John Freaking McEnroe showing up, doing The Doink Doink, then Kenan's character bidding more on him than on Chad. That came out of nowhere, I was expecting someone else. Hell, Bono's in the building and they went with him.

Class Clown: Hey, a sketch starring Luke Null?! I loved the twist that he was the new kid and got everything wrong, it really made his whole annoying act worth sitting through. Perhaps that was intentional, especially since Beck walks in as the same character and gets laughs? Loved that Kenan was starting to crack, and that's rare as hell.

Aer Lingus: And here's the sketch where everyone's doing their Irish accents, so Saoirse can talk in hers for once. Loved all the dogs.

This was pretty good overall. U2 wasn't bad, either.

[Annber03]

Watched this one for U2, and quite enjoyed their performances :). Especially the first one. They sounded good. 

Liked "Weekend Update", too. The commentary during the discussion of Flynn about a guy being in the news for lying...and not about sexual harassment, and noting that Trump's murder accusation barely made a blip in the now endlessly crazy news cycle was great. So, so painfully true. 

The opening skit about Trump being haunted by various ghosts was cute, too. 

[vb68]

My reaction to the whole thing was kinda meh.

I appreciated the effort with several sketches and thought many came close but lacked something. Like the Welcome to Hell sketch. Great concept, but I thought the execution  could have been much better.

Maybe it needed some energy. Saoirse was alright with what they gave her to do if not particularly memorable.

The best for me was Update even if someone screwed up Che's cue cards and he looked like a deer in headlights for a long two-three seconds.   Loved, loved the line that the Rockefellar Christmas Tree got lit. As did Ann Curry. It always kinda throws me when Leslie is suppose to be someone other than herself on Update.

I also liked the absurdity of Saoirse being a ghost in the Good Neighbor sketch.

So Luke Null finally got his own sketch and it was pretty rough.  I was so relieved when the character was suppose to be desperate because that silence when he was doing his thing was truly deadly.  It could have been paced better to make sure he had some actual laughs. 

Edited December 3, 2017 by vb68

[ottoDbusdriver]

16 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Watched this one for U2, and quite enjoyed their performances :). Especially the first one. They sounded good. 

Could've done without the megaphone though.  On both songs.

[Lizzing]

I'm perturbed at my local NBC affiliate.  They cut to commercial in the middle of the Good Neighbor sketch, came in late to the cold open, WU, and the Class Clown sketch, and then it was a good 10 minutes of the same 3 commercials, so no second U2 performance, final sketch, and goodbyes.  I'll have to rewatch On Demand or something because I liked Saoirse a lot.  Though I knew who she was, I just haven't seen her in anything and liked her energy of being in it, but not too over eager to be the biggest thing in each sketch.

[Traveller519]

Oh my...  did anyone else feel like this was completely uninspired? I feel like I've defended SNL for the past few years, but I don't think there was a lot to redeem from beyond Saorise's enthusiasm. 

Was part of her opening monologue's humor supposed to include preceeding it with Darrell Hammond twice mispronouncing her name during the credits and introduction? If it was, it was uninspired; if not,  Hammond should be embarrassed, given she's been in the building for a week, with a whole bit around how to pronounce her name. 

Office Race was easily the best skit of the night. It actually had a coherent thought through the whole bit.

It seems like classroom skits are surpassing game show and talk show skits as the biggest crutch, but I haven't been particularly impressed by them over the past couple weeks. 

I will give Leslie props, since I've been hard on her this season. She nailed the Update sketch playing a character,  and in Welcome to Hell and the monologue she added to the concept without overtaking it. 

Kate, on the other hand, continues to tread closer and closer to Wiig territory for me. Was it necessary to have her play two parts in the cold open? Also, SNL, I don't think you update joke about Fox News not being able to let Hillary go carries as much punch when you can't let her go yourselves. 

[vb68]

2 minutes ago, Traveller519 said:

Oh my...  did anyone else feel like this was completely uninspired? I feel like I've defended SNL for the past few years,

That's exactly how I felt, and I'm certainly a big defender of the show, too.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I LOVED the Chad sketch, I found it so funny.

I really liked The Good Neighbour sketch (1980s with Greta Gerwig as the boss) and the song "Welcome to Hell".

The rest I was unsure about.

Oh yeah I liked Kate McKinnon doing Theresa May.  I'm repeating myself every week but they can please get rid of Alec Baldwin at any time.

The sketch with Luke Null as the Bad Boy in class was so weird.  His entire beginning was like 3 minutes of him just riffing and the audience sitting there in confused silence.  It was like an experiment.

Edited December 3, 2017 by Ms Blue Jay

[Caseysgirl]

I don't blame Alec Baldwin as much as I blame being over saturated with Trump night and day, seven days a week.  

[Traveller519]

12 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I LOVED the Chad sketch, I found it so funny.

Thanks Ms. Blue Jay for the reminder... I was tough in the show, but this was a great live sketch. It was fun to see Chad in a live sketch to mix up the character a bit. 

Not to mention, when checking in from the shallow end of the pool... Are the lady's wearing those dresses to the SNL Christmas Party?? And if so, h... how... How would one secure an invite to that event? 

[TheGreenKnight]

I loved the Cold Open. McKinnon's Theresa May was the highlight of the show though.

[Peace 47]

I agree that the Theresa May bit was a bright spot.  I had been thinking that the Merkel bits were getting really, really tired, and so this was a nice way to freshen up the formula.  I especially liked when May said “Flame emoji!  I’m practically a troll!”  

I like the concept of using “Chad” in different types of sketches (where he’s the clueless object of affection, or the chosen one, live, pretaped, etc.), but I didn’t care for McEnroe very much.

30 minutes ago, Traveller519 said:

I will give Leslie props, since I've been hard on her this season. She nailed the Update sketch playing a character,  and in Welcome to Hell and the monologue she added to the concept without overtaking it. 

 

She did do a great job with that Weekend Update character without a trace of evidence of the flubs that have followed her in live sketches this season (and in pretaped she’s continued to shine), but with all the news about victims of sexual misconduct, I have to say that I felt that this whole bit was slightly tone-deaf.  I know it’s different because they were willing spouses engaging in some kinky stuff, but Mikey was basically playing a physically abused spouse uncomfortable with how far things went, and I’m just over this stuff being played for straight laughs without any critical examination of the underlying situation.

From the perspective of that mindset, I thought Welcome to Hell was brilliant and great social satire.  Sketch of the night.

Edited December 3, 2017 by Peace 47

[Negritude]

Well that class clown was...a sketch. Damn. The audience couldn't even muster up some polite pity laughs. Do NOT bring that back. Poor new guy. Now if he did a digital short recalling the awfulness of that sketch or maybe did a bit about it on Update that would be funny.

[Spartan Girl]

The Cold Open was awesome. My mom totally saw the last "ghost" being Hillary coming. 

5 hours ago, Caseysgirl said:

I don't blame Alec Baldwin as much as I blame being over saturated with Trump night and day, seven days a week.  

Ditto. On principal I'm glad to see Alec Baldwin because his goal is to piss Trump off as much as possible but at the same time, it's getting old because this whole mess is getting old.

Loved "Welcome to Hell." It's exactly how I've been feeling.

[Mumbles]

Quote

Saoirse told Seth Meyers that she is a great fan of Kristin Wiig's characters like Target Lady, Sue, and Penelope. So don't be surprised if there is a Wiig cameo for one or even a couple of sketches.

Having watched Wiig take over the monologue and WE in the 10pm rerun of Amy Adams, I am so glad this didn’t happen.

Quote

The sketch with Luke Null as the Bad Boy in class was so weird.  His entire beginning was like 3 minutes of him just riffing and the audience sitting there in confused silence.  It was like an experiment.

I agree, and that’s why I kind of loved it. It took a cliche, turned it on its head and then reiterated how awful the guy’s behavior was, even if it was all an act.

They really should only trot out Trump if they have A+ material. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

7 hours ago, Caseysgirl said:

I don't blame Alec Baldwin as much as I blame being over saturated with Trump night and day, seven days a week.  

For me it's nothing to do with "blame" and I don't live in the US and I'm not over-saturated.  I don't want Alec Baldwin on SNL.  Blame doesn't factor in.  I just don't want to see him on the show period.

1.  I hate Alec Baldwin, he's a disgusting person.  We've known he's been disgusting for years and lately it's been even worse with him publicly attacking victims of sexual abuse and rape.  SNL continuing to give him airtime feels particularly awful after this.

2.  His Trump impression is not accurate and not funny and he doesn't look like him in the hair and makeup.  It's a horrible impression.  He's not even in the cast so there's really no loss if he disappears.  I am no fan of Trump but he doesn't do this thing where he hangs his mouth open and just shakes it around.  What is Alec doing?!

Edited December 3, 2017 by Ms Blue Jay

[hendersonrocks]

The high point of this one for me was being able to gape at The Edge for two songs (while trying to ignore Bono whenever he picked up his megaphone). I thought Saoirse had lots of energy and there were a couple of promising bits, but it was a bit of a dud overall. I can't believe this is the first time we've seen Teresa May. Kate really has a lock on female politicians around the globe.

[VCRTracking]

1 hour ago, Mumbles said:

Quote

The sketch with Luke Null as the Bad Boy in class was so weird.  His entire beginning was like 3 minutes of him just riffing and the audience sitting there in confused silence.  It was like an experiment.

I agree, and that’s why I kind of loved it. It took a cliche, turned it on its head and then reiterated how awful the guy’s behavior was, even if it was all an act.

Yeah I straight up hated the character and was relieved when he turned out to be wimpy new student.

[Peace 47]

4 hours ago, RogerDodger said:

SNL really needs to stop acting like they have some sort of moral high ground on the issue of sexual harassment considering Louis CK hosted this year, Donald Trump hosted last year, Alec Baldwin has a recurring gig and Al Franken wrote for the show for many years.

I do agree that everything that you pointed out in your post is or can be problematic to varying degrees, but I wouldn’t want SNL to stop making the commentary that they are currently making, either.

I mean, they didn’t necessarily have to have known to blacklist Louis C.K. before his story broke to have the right to comment on the current environment (and if in the past Franken engaged in sexual harassment while working on the show (not sure if he did), they’re at least calling Franken out now for unacceptable behavior, which is needed).  I wouldn’t want them to stop making skits like “Welcome to Hell” just because we can still point out how they can do better on avoiding hypocrisy (like taking on Matt Lauer in Weekend Update while also doing the Leslie/Mikey couple bit on Update).

Edited December 3, 2017 by Peace 47

[peeayebee]

14 hours ago, Gemma Violet said:

The sketch they did about the gas explosion at the American Doll store was a rip-off of the sinkhole sketch with Margot Robbie (one of my favorite sketches BTW), but the rip-off wasn't as funny.

I thought this was very funny, mainly because Mikey Day is so damn good. I also loved how Kenan would just stare at him in disbelief. 

 

14 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

Yes, the Floribama Shore is a real show on MTV.

What? Wow. Well, I don't watch MTV, so I shouldn't be surprised I don't know that. Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny, esp the bits with Chris Redd. I also loved when the one gal says her name is Epcot because she was born in the Chinese part of Epcot Center. Aidy was good too. The end with the stop sign cracked me up.

 

13 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

I like the concept of using “Chad” in different types of sketches (where he’s the clueless object of affection, or the chosen one, live, pretaped, etc.), but I didn’t care for McEnroe very much.

I thought McEnroe did really good. He was funny, esp when doing the Chad stuff. This sketch had a good ending, too. I never knew I'd come to love Chad sketches so much.

 

Quote

... but with all the news about victims of sexual misconduct, I have to say that I felt that this whole bit was slightly tone-deaf.  I know it’s different because they were willing spouses engaging in some kinky stuff, but Mikey was basically playing a physically abused spouse uncomfortable with how far things went, and I’m just over this stuff being played for straight laughs without any critical examination of the underlying situation.

I found this funny because the sexual positions were bizarre in a not-sexual way, as if a child was making stuff up. Also, the names were silly. And, again, Mikey Day was great. 

I am still entertained by Baldwin's Trump impression. DT is such a gross excuse for a human being that gross exaggeration is perfect for impersonating him.

Welcome to Hell was outstanding.

I also loved the Good Neighbor sketch. Everything about it was perfect. Beck is so good as a pompous bully. Loved the bit where he, Chris, and the other guy turn around and jog away in a line. Saoirse being a ghost cracked me up, as well as Greta Gerwig announcing it. Oh, and just sinking down out of the frame was funny. I really loved this one.

The Kmart sketch was pretty good. It needed an ending, but I still liked it.

The two sketches I didn't like at all were the school one and the Aer Lingus one. When the new student sat in the window ledge, I thought he was going to fall out. I didn't know what the point would be or what the joke might be, but I was expecting that to happen. Anyway, what was the joke? The guy tried to "make a splash" but was incompetent, unfunny, and annoying, but then another guy who basically seems the same comes in, and everybody loves him? I don't know. Honestly, I don't know what the joke was supposed to be.

The Aer Lingus sketch was... a sketch. Was this supposed to be a bunch of Irish cliches? Do Irish people have an OTT love of dogs? So they say they won't talk about something and then go ahead and talk about it? There was the potato joke. Not a good sketch.

I'm getting tired of Kate's politician impersonations. They're starting to seem interchangeable.

Edited December 3, 2017 by peeayebee

[Ms Blue Jay]

In the sex positions sketch, Mikey Day's character actually says (to Colin or Michael) "Well I don't have a choice" which implies that he isn't even consenting to the sex.  Very creepy strange idea for a sketch honestly.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

3 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I'm getting tired of Kate's politician impersonations. They're starting to seem interchangeable.

Cause all these politicians seem to be interchangeable.

[TheGreenKnight]

I don't think Theresa May, HRC, or Angela Merkel are anything alike outside of all being women. I think Kate's Hillary and May are much better than her Merkel though.

[Irlandesa]

I love the 80s feel of the office skit.  And all the references to the 80s underdog sports movies. 

Welcome to Hill was nicely on the nose.

But my favorite joke of the night had to be how, in the Floribama Shore skit, how the one character was trying to chug beef but the hurricane winds blew it out of of the way of his mouth before it landed.

[Princess Sparkle]

19 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I thought this was very funny, mainly because Mikey Day is so damn good. I also loved how Kenan would just stare at him in disbelief. 

 

Mikey Day is really fantastic, and when he and Alex Moffat are in sketches together (even outside of their Don Jr/Eric ones) they play off each other so well. I was dying in that American Girl sketch when Alex was holding up the American Girl doll, and Mikey ran over and said "Well, if she's going to be on tv, she needs her hat." and was struggling to get it on while Alex just stood there and rolled his eyes.

I think my favorite tiny joke of the night was in the 80s office sketch, when Beck, Alex, and Chris all jogged away after taunting Kyle. 

That "bully" sketch was one of the most painful I've seen since Jon Rudnitsky's "Happy Pirate" sketch. I actually thought the middle was funny, where Kenan was yelling at him and the other kids were pointing out why he was a jerk, but the ending was off, and the beginning went on for way too long.

[Inquisitionist]

On ‎12‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 0:36 AM, Ms Blue Jay said:

The sketch with Luke Null as the Bad Boy in class was so weird.  His entire beginning was like 3 minutes of him just riffing and the audience sitting there in confused silence.  It was like an experiment.

If that "character" is from Luke Null's audition for SNL, I have to wonder why he was hired.  If it was written specifically for him this week, I have even more wondering...

Meanwhile, Mikey Day and Alex Moffat are hitting it out of the park each week with their versatility.

[Mumbles]

Quote

 I actually thought the middle was funny, where Kenan was yelling at him and the other kids were pointing out why he was a jerk, 

Quote

Meanwhile, Mikey Day and Alex Moffat are hitting it out of the park each week with their versatility.

The line that makes me laugh every time I watch it is when they get to the janitor and Alex says, "....And that leaves me...." and proceeds to reveal that his wife is dead.

[Dev F]

6 hours ago, Inquisitionist said:

If that "character" is from Luke Null's audition for SNL, I have to wonder why he was hired.  If it was written specifically for him this week, I have even more wondering...

It's especially weird because it's not like Null is filling a vacant role in the show's ensemble. What does he bring to the table that, like, six other guys in the cast haven't already proven themselves more than capable of doing? Why not fill that slot with a gifted male impressionist to fill Jay Pharaoh's still-empty slot? Or a woman of color to replace Sasheer Zamata? Or, heck, even the requisite Farley-esque chubby guy to replace Bobby Moynihan?

Edited December 4, 2017 by Dev F

[Hanahope]

31 minutes ago, Dev F said:

Or, heck, even the requisite Farley-esque chubby guy to replace Bobby Moynihan?

Or as us older folks say, Belushi-esque. 

I too wasn't enthralled with the Luke Null skit.  It just went a little too long.  Don't think it needed the janitor, for example.  And I really wasn't into the Chad skit, other than I guess the joke is that the women were all over Chad, but ignoring John McEnroe and the tennis stars he included.  And Aer Lingus was just ok.  Sometimes, I do think I should just turn off the show after WU if I'm not interested in seeing the musical act a second time.

[Princess Sparkle]

One thing I forgot to mention that I thought was sweet - since I watch the show on Hulu, I always get the extended credits. So I have no idea if the extended credits made it to broadcast, but when Saorise turned to hug Kate she gripped her in a real bear hug, and Saorise looked near tears (from nervousness I think) and you could see Kate mouth "You did great!". I thought that was very sweet; both that Kate gave her a little pep talk and that Saorise cared enough to want to make sure she did a good job.

And in a 180 degree different note - Pete really did nail the "Jim Carrey in the Grinch" impression. That was shockingly good, and I don't really think of him as an impressionist. 

[slowpoked]

I know there's a bit of Kate McKinnon overload right now, and it may be charting into Kristen Wiig territory, but dammit if Kate didn't hit it out of the park with Theresa May! I do like her Angela Merkel and her endless infatuation with Obama, but this Theresa May is awesome. Just enough restraint and subtlety on all the shade throwing, but savage nonetheless. The tweet to King Jong Un had me LOL'ing. I hope her Theresa May comes back.

[JZL]

It's never good when one person is over-exposed on this show so we can hope that doesn't happen with Kate. 

It's nice to see others share my disdain for Kristen Wiig and for apparently the same reason.

At least Kate has talent. 

[wknt3]

17 hours ago, Dev F said:

It's especially weird because it's not like Null is filling a vacant role in the show's ensemble. What does he bring to the table that, like, six other guys in the cast haven't already proven themselves more than capable of doing? Why not fill that slot with a gifted male impressionist to fill Jay Pharaoh's still-empty slot? Or a woman of color to replace Sasheer Zamata? Or, heck, even the requisite Farley-esque chubby guy to replace Bobby Moynihan?

I used to agree with you. I mean does this show really need another generic white guy? But given their recent focus on topical humor and the makeup of the current administration I guess they felt they could never have enough generic white guys. I mean if you need an impression or a different body type you can always get a celebrity friend of the show to cameo, right?

[Mumbles]

Another big difference between Kate and Kristen is that Kate seems to be a generous co-star. She lets the other players in the sketch shine as well. 

[Milburn Stone]

On 12/4/2017 at 6:43 PM, slowpoked said:

...dammit if Kate didn't hit it out of the park with Theresa May! I do like her Angela Merkel and her endless infatuation with Obama, but this Theresa May is awesome. Just enough restraint and subtlety on all the shade throwing, but savage nonetheless. The tweet to King Jong Un had me LOL'ing. I hope her Theresa May comes back.

Ditto.

Was Luke Null's laugh-free stint one of the worst bomb's in SNL history, or one of it's most brilliant performances ever? I can't decide. It turned out that his character being null and void of humor was the concept, so was this his brief? "OK, Null, your job is to go out there and be so genuinely, repulsively obnoxious that not a single audience member can do anything but sit in stunned silence. It's a rotten job, it's gonna be scary having nowhere to hide without a single audience chortle to give you cover, but somebody's got to do it." If that was the brief, he executed it to a fare-thee-well! And maybe it was.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Milburn Stone

[Phishbulb]

Yes, this seemed like a weird way for them to introduce a new cast member (Null has done other things here and there in sketches, and he actually cowrote the "Floribama Shore" parody in this episode, but this was the first sketch where he really played a central role). 

It seemed like when the sketch started that the joke was supposed to be him coming into the room and zinging everyone with jokes and being an obnoxious class clown, so for the first 3 minutes to be met with COMPLETE silence was definitely odd. It just seemed like a stand-up comedian bombing, and not in an obvious, Bruce Chandling kind of way.

I was really wondering what was happening, and then thankfully the turn happened and the sketch made more sense, but yeah, to give someone purposely bad material and then throw them out there when the audience has zero knowledge of who they are or built-in goodwill towards them was a risk.