S43.E19: Donald Glover / Childish Gambino

[Dev F]

3 hours ago, peeayebee said:

In the Barbie sketch, which I loved, I was thinking that Beck would have been much better in the Kenan role.

Eh, when Beck plays similar characters they tend to have a twinge of secret desperation or repressed rage. I liked the way Kenan played the character as totally dignified and self-assured. The fact that he genuinely knew and cared so much about Barbie made it even funnier that he had to deal with these three idiots who didn't even understand what sunset means.

Edited May 6, 2018 by Dev F

[jonesingjay]

1 hour ago, Fostersmom said:

The monologue was horribly bad, just painful. Maybe that's why I was underwhelmed for the rest of the show. I had heard of Donald Glover, but I an't say I'm familiar with him. And even less familiar was me having heard of Childish Gambino, but I had no clue he's actually Glover. That didn't help my "getting" this host or episode. 

Will someone please get Pete a decent haircut? I'm not sure what's going on with that boy's hair, but it's all bad. 

I didn't like this episode either. The only thing I liked was the A Quiet Place/Kanye movie mash up. 

[possibilities]

3 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

the added confusion of whether Melissa was in a new long-term relationship or if it was a recast of the same boyfriend.

Ha! I didn't even think about that part of it. Now I'm going to imagine that her relationships keep failing because of conflict over dirty talk, and yet she keeps using the same approach in hopes she'll find someone who likes it. It casts a whole new light on the character-- she's not incompetent, she's doing it on purpose!

[LuvMyShows]

20 hours ago, Maverick said:

 I am both impressed and saddened that I immediately knew what video they were parodying.  I have no idea how this became a skit because this video wasn't popular enough back in the day to make it on, even though it's totally parody-worthy.  

 

I actually remember that song, now that I've played the video link Maverick so kindly provided us with...serious props for having the useless-memory-recall to enlighten us!  The video is astoundingly cheesy, but super random that SNL would do a parody now from a 1986 not-that-popular video.

I found the Melissa bad-at-talking-dirty sketch much funnier last time, and not just because I knew the premise this time.  I think it worked better last time because I recall there being more development within each mini-scenario, especially one where she seemed to be doing well at the dirty talk, and then just slayed it with a terrible response.  

Donald Glover was excellent as the disturbed Barbie employee.  

[ombelico]

32 minutes ago, LuvMyShows said:

The video is astoundingly cheesy, but super random that SNL would do a parody now from a 1986 not-that-popular video.

I think the host is allowed to suggest ideas for skits - I wouldn't be surprised if this was something Donald Glover brought to the writers, since he was so committed to the parody (and on point - even the dancing at the beginning is straight out of the video). 

[stromk]

Speaking of possible 80s parodies, I’m just gonna leave this gem here:

 

Edited May 7, 2018 by stromk
paradise and parodies are two very different words.

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

Ha! I didn't even think about that part of it. Now I'm going to imagine that her relationships keep failing because of conflict over dirty talk, and yet she keeps using the same approach in hopes she'll find someone who likes it. It casts a whole new light on the character-- she's not incompetent, she's doing it on purpose!

I would love to believe in this interpretation, but isn't it (so far) always the boyfriend who initiates the dirty talk and Melissa is just oblivious? 

My problem with it is that the setup makes it absolutely clear that these are people who are placidly living together with an extremely dull sexual routine, but with all the staring at cue cards they give the impression they are always uncomfortable with each other. I think it would work much better if they were at ease with the dull routine and it's the dirty talk that makes the boyfriend uncomfortable while Melissa doesn't change (or gets more comfortable).

[ktwo]

1 hour ago, ombelico said:

I think the host is allowed to suggest ideas for skits - I wouldn't be surprised if this was something Donald Glover brought to the writers, since he was so committed to the parody (and on point - even the dancing at the beginning is straight out of the video). 

Also, when you rewatch, the dancing totally looks like the dancing one would do if one was trying to keep jewelry in one’s butt.

Quote

Cold Open: That was the most I have enjoyed a cold open in months. I think it was the “around the horn” nature of it, showing all the disasters underway. Plus the cameos. 

This cold open was reminding me of something and I didn’t realize it until now - the awesome cold open with Hammond’s Bill Clinton, Will Ferrell as Saddam Hussein, Molly Shannon’s Monica Lewinsky (not the real one although that did happen ala Stormy) and... Tim Meadows.

[rwlevin]

14 hours ago, Ottis said:

Star Wars event: Man, I’m really coming to dislike Star Wars. You’re the only black characters in sci-fi? You really should meet Uhura, Tuvok, Worf, the guy who created warp drive and a bunch of Federation admirals, to start with. 

Those characters are all in Star Trek. This was a Star Wars convention.

[After7Only]

3 hours ago, ombelico said:

I think the host is allowed to suggest ideas for skits - I wouldn't be surprised if this was something Donald Glover brought to the writers, since he was so committed to the parody (and on point - even the dancing at the beginning is straight out of the video). 

Oran Juice Jones and that song is Black pop culture gold.   I agree this was all Glover’s doing.  

[VCRTracking]

1 hour ago, rwlevin said:

Those characters are all in Star Trek. This was a Star Wars convention.

I think that's what Ottis meant. That Star Trek has more POC characters.

Man Captain Panaka from Episode I never gets any love at all.

The OG Lando tweeted:

 

1 hour ago, After7Only said:

Oran Juice Jones and that song is Black pop culture gold.   I agree this was all Glover’s doing.  

I was 8 when that video came out so I was not familiar with it at all until I found out on Twitter, that's what it was parodying. I checked it out and holy crap, it's even funnier than the SNL parody! At least Donald Glover's version was trying to be cool. Oran "Juice" just comes off as so pitiful confronting his cheating girlfriend.

[Irlandesa]

I usually DVR the show and then watch back at a later date (so I can FF through the musical guest or any skit that I can tell I'm not going to connect with) but I happened to click over to the show during the "The Kanye Place" and the "Dirty Talk" skit, both of which made me laugh so I had high hopes for the episode.  Those ended up being highlights for me but I still enjoyed the episode overall.  The Jurassic Park skit really grew on me with the absurdity of Glover's lawyer and Keenan's perfect reactions. 

It reminded me of how much charisma I think Donald Glover has and that he can be very funny.  I watch Atlanta but Earn is just so ugh (which makes sense for the show) so it was nice to see him lighthearted again.

I normally am not into Childish Gambino but I liked the funky beat of his first song.  But more importantly, I think both performances were visually interesting which isn't always the case with musical performances.

 

16 hours ago, Ottis said:

WU: . Uh, Leslie, those men you dated may have been awful but you picked them, I’m guessing because you liked their looks or their badboyness. That’s usually how it works. Try widening your net.

Which she did acknowledge at the beginning of her bit. 

I also liked Weekend Update this week in that it was just comedians telling jokes.  There are very few WU characters who make me laugh in the context of WU.

[Princess Sparkle]

10 hours ago, ombelico said:

I think the host is allowed to suggest ideas for skits - I wouldn't be surprised if this was something Donald Glover brought to the writers, since he was so committed to the parody (and on point - even the dancing at the beginning is straight out of the video). 

 

7 hours ago, After7Only said:

Oran Juice Jones and that song is Black pop culture gold.   I agree this was all Glover’s doing.  

Apparently, Cecily has been waiting to do the sketch for awhile and just needed a host who knew what she was referring to

Also looks like Chris Redd was responsible for the Friendos sketch 

[Ottis]

9 hours ago, rwlevin said:

Those characters are all in Star Trek. This was a Star Wars convention.

That's kind of my point. They didn't say Star Wars, and the line in the skit wasn't that it was black characters in Star Wars, it was that this was a session for black characters in *space* and "all the black humans in the galaxy." Hence my comment.  In other words, if they want to call out Star Wars, call out Star Wars. There have been many key characters who were black on Star Trek, including some that broke new ground 50 YEARS AGO. The skit also made a crack about "lots of lizard men wearing vests," which had to be an allusion to the Gorn. Guess the show isn't familiar with Uhura, Worf, Tuvok, Michael Burnham and all the rest. 

Edited May 7, 2018 by Ottis

[zobot81]

Hiro Murai (who directed Childish Gamino's new music video, "This is America", and has been directed a lot of incredible things, recently) likely had a hand in directing its performance on SNL...I can't find confirmation, but I strongly suspect:

 

[absnow54]

I forgot to comment on Kate's Rudy Giuliani appearance. I liked it. Much better and more promising than her Mueller and Sessions, though I may change my mind when she does a longer bit.

I thought it was her weakest political impression, and when they first cut to her, I had no idea who they were trying to shoehorn her in as. After knocking so many casting choices out of the park, there has to be SOMEONE more qualified to play Rudy Giuliani than Kate McKinnon.

That's kind of my point. They didn't say Star Wars, and the line in the skit wasn't that it was black characters in Star Wars, it was that this was a session for black characters in *space* and "all the black humans in the galaxy."

But the sketch is told entirely from the point of view of the characters who are in the Star Wars universe, they don't know that there are other sci-fi franchises and that they have to specify which version of space they're in. I thought the fact that they only included Star Wars characters was enough to imply that we were only in the Star Wars galaxy, and that the diversity criticism was aimed solely at them.

[Phishbulb]

Also, why didn't Kenan have the Forest Whitaker wonky eye when he was playing Saw Gerrera. I feel like he did when he played him once before.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Phishbulb

[Dev F]

4 hours ago, absnow54 said:

I thought it was her weakest political impression, and when they first cut to her, I had no idea who they were trying to shoehorn her in as. After knocking so many casting choices out of the park, there has to be SOMEONE more qualified to play Rudy Giuliani than Kate McKinnon.

It wasn't one of her stronger impressions, probably because it's so far outside her wheelhouse. She tends to be better at portraying characters who are quietly or amiably crazy, and Giuliani is screaming-maniac crazy. I don't know who would've been the right choice for the role, though; the whole current cast is relatively subdued, except for Aidy, Leslie, and Kenan, who would each be an awkward fit for other, obvious reasons. (Though maybe Aidy could've pulled it off; I just don't recall her doing much gender-bending work before.)

During the Rudy bit, I was also really distracted by whatever weird thing Kate was doing with her hand. It almost looked like she was wearing a prosthetic to suggest that Rudy has some sort of deformity. I wasn't aware that Giuliani had any sort of hand-related quirk, and it made me a little uncomfortable given how much shit our president (rightfully) got for mocking the New York Times reporter with arthrogryposis in his hand.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Dev F

[Ottis]

1 hour ago, absnow54 said:

But the sketch is told entirely from the point of view of the characters who are in the Star Wars universe, they don't know that there are other sci-fi franchises and that they have to specify which version of space they're in. I thought the fact that they only included Star Wars characters was enough to imply that we were only in the Star Wars galaxy, and that the diversity criticism was aimed solely at them.

If you can name a Star Wars character who is a "lizard in a vest," I can almost see your point. Otherwise, that's a Gorn, and the show chose to include it and therefore Star Trek.

53 minutes ago, Dev F said:

During the Rudy bit, I was also really distracted by whatever weird thing Kate was doing with her hand. It almost looked like she was wearing a prosthetic to suggest that Rudy has some sort of deformity. I wasn't aware that Giuliani had any sort of hand-related quirk, and it made me a little uncomfortable given how much shit our president (rightfully) got for mocking the New York Times reporter with arthrogryposis in his hand.

ITA. I actually looked up whether Giuliani had had a stroke when I saw that, because it was weird. 

[absnow54]

If you can name a Star Wars character who is a "lizard in a vest," I can almost see your point. Otherwise, that's a Gorn, and the show chose to include it and therefore Star Trek.

Does Bossk the bounty hunter count? I'm not that up on my Star Wars background character names, but I feel like every cantina-esque scene also has more lizard like creatures (possibly wearing vests) than black people.

[BTBAM310]

Am I the only one who fast forwards through the cold open every week? Baldwin's Trump became way too over the top a long time ago - just his facial expressions alone are bad enough. And watching Kate McKinnon impersonate Jeff Sessions and Rudy Giuliani is really creepy.

[stillhere1900]

nm

On 5/5/2018 at 11:17 PM, possibilities said:

 

Stormy looked newvous during the good-nights. I hope everyone was warm and welcoming to her.

Really ?!

Edited May 7, 2018 by stillhere1900

[BoogieBurns]

2 hours ago, Dev F said:

It wasn't one of her stronger impressions, probably because it's so far outside her wheelhouse. She tends to be better at portraying characters who are quietly or amiably crazy, and Giuliani is screaming-maniac crazy. I don't know who would've been the rest choice for the role, though; the whole current cast is relatively subdued, except for Aidy, Leslie, and Kenan, who would each be an awkward fit for other, obvious reasons. (Though maybe Aidy could've pulled it off; I just don't recall her doing much gender-bending work before.)

Was Mikey being used? Anyone else could have played Alex's FBI role. Maybe they should use any dude next time? I hated Kate as Guiliani, plus she was doing Bob Dole's hand and I was tres unimpressed. Why did it have to be Kate? Guiliani has sharp pointy facial features, almost sunken. Kate is childishly plump in her face, particularly her adorable button nose. Not even an ounce of resemblance.

1 hour ago, stillhere1900 said:

nm

Really ?!

with Seth and Amy. (Which part are you shocked about, that she looked nervous or that people should have been nice to her?)

[peeayebee]

4 hours ago, Dev F said:

During the Rudy bit, I was also really distracted by whatever weird thing Kate was doing with her hand. It almost looked like she was wearing a prosthetic to suggest that Rudy has some sort of deformity. I wasn't aware that Giuliani had any sort of hand-related quirk, and it made me a little uncomfortable given how much shit our president (rightfully) got for mocking the New York Times reporter with arthrogryposis in his hand.

Yeah, that was weird. I was wondering if it was some kind of reference to his bit on Fox w/ Perrino where he mimicked petting a cat, or Hillary petting a cat, or something like that.

 

5 hours ago, absnow54 said:

But the sketch is told entirely from the point of view of the characters who are in the Star Wars universe, they don't know that there are other sci-fi franchises and that they have to specify which version of space they're in. I thought the fact that they only included Star Wars characters was enough to imply that we were only in the Star Wars galaxy, and that the diversity criticism was aimed solely at them.

I agree with you. This was in the Star Wars universe.

3 hours ago, absnow54 said:

Does Bossk the bounty hunter count?

I think it counts.

[stillhere1900]

57 minutes ago, BoogieBurns said:

Was Mikey being used? Anyone else could have played Alex's FBI role. Maybe they should use any dude next time? I hated Kate as Guiliani, plus she was doing Bob Dole's hand and I was tres unimpressed. Why did it have to be Kate? Guiliani has sharp pointy facial features, almost sunken. Kate is childishly plump in her face, particularly her adorable button nose. Not even an ounce of resemblance.

with Seth and Amy. (Which part are you shocked about, that she looked nervous or that people should have been nice to her?)

Both. She has sex with anyone/everyone while a film crew watches

Nervous ?

[BoogieBurns]

33 minutes ago, stillhere1900 said:

Both. She has sex with anyone/everyone while a film crew watches

Nervous ?

Oh, like they should have been mean to her because she has sex on camera? Hmmm. I respectfully disagree.

[MrWhyt]

2 hours ago, stillhere1900 said:

Both. She has sex with anyone/everyone while a film crew watches

Nervous ?

performing in porn is different from doing SNL... or so I've been told *shifty eyes*

[vb68]

6 hours ago, BoogieBurns said:

Oh, like they should have been mean to her because she has sex on camera? Hmmm. I respectfully disagree.

I can't imagine the cast and entire staff being anything less than polite to anyone who has agreed to guest on the show, particularly someone who would be considered a "huge Get".

For one thing, why risk being slammed in the press that they were rude? Her TV-loving attorney wouldn't be shy about calling them out.  

Regardless, I think she was an incredibly good sport for agreeing to do it at all.

[possibilities]

13 hours ago, absnow54 said:

 

But the sketch is told entirely from the point of view of the characters who are in the Star Wars universe, they don't know that there are other sci-fi franchises and that they have to specify which version of space they're in. I thought the fact that they only included Star Wars characters was enough to imply that we were only in the Star Wars galaxy, and that the diversity criticism was aimed solely at them.

That's how I took it, too. I was surprised that Glover was willing to criticize the franchise this way when he's got the Calrission gig. It was either bold or reckless, but I'll call it bold and wish him luck.

I have to say, I always thought his music name was "Childish Bambino" and I always hated it. I don't know why I was reading it that way all this time, but I have definitely looked at it written down, and heard it spoken, many times and never realized until this weekend that it's actually "Childish Gambino"-- totally different idea.

[VCRTracking]

[Unclejosh]

I am gonna go against the majority and say this episode was one of the worst episodes in a long time.  I think I only laughed once which was during WU and the crowd seemed really dead as well.  I don't know why as I normally enjoy Donald Glover and the musical performances were good but not one of the sketches including the pre-taped ones worked for me at all.

[Tachi Rocinante]

It was OK, but I can't stand pretentious artists who have to adopt a separate persona or change their name in order to do something.

[Cough] Chris Gaines [Cough] The Edge.

What is he ashamed of?  He could've used Donglover. (Get it?)

[Blissfool]

On 5/10/2018 at 11:58 AM, Tachi Rocinante said:

It was OK, but I can't stand pretentious artists who have to adopt a separate persona or change their name in order to do something.

[Cough] Chris Gaines [Cough] The Edge.

What is he ashamed of?  He could've used Donglover. (Get it?)

This is the reason I give for disliking The Weeknd. Yet, I like Childish Gambino. ??? 

[helenamonster]

I am stunned they got Stormy Daniels to do this. And that she stayed around for the goodnights.

Most of my other thoughts have already been covered here...I thought it was interesting that Colin mentioned he had a girlfriend when she was actually in the studio. ScarJo didn't stay around for the goodnights, did she? Their relationship seems like it's trying to be on the DL even though everybody knows about it, it's very strange.

Donald's performance of the now infamous "This Is America" had some great lighting effects. The staging/lighting for the musical guests is always top notch on this show, actually. If only they could ever get the audio quality to match.

[SomeTameGazelle]

2 minutes ago, helenamonster said:

ScarJo didn't stay around for the goodnights, did she?

She was there -- I particularly noticed that Leslie hugged her, which I thought was a nice reminder that the Update hostility is not real.