S44.E02: Awkwafina / Travis Scott

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Airing on Saturday, October 6 - host Awkwafina and musical guest Travis Scott.

[Phishbulb]

I'm looking forward to this ep and hoping to actually see Awkwafina in sketches. There were so many extraneous factors going on in the premiere (all the Kavanaugh stuff, Kanye being Kanye, etc.) that the Adam Driver ep didn't actually have much of Driver in it (although he did kill it as the old oil baron guy). 

[VCRTracking]

[GoldenGirl90]

I love Don Lemon :]

LOL Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It," playing over the Republicans confirming Kavanaugh... perfect, lol.

Watching Kate McKinnon's Graham impersonation again, I think I'm seeing what everyone meant last week when they said they saw a lot of her Jeff Sessions impression mixed in. It's... bleh. But the Susan Collins accent by Cecily Strong is pretty spot on. :D

And the Chuck Schumer impersonation, with the glasses low, is spot-on as usual.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Alexis2291

[rollacoaster]

I couldn't even laugh at the cold open. 

[GoldenGirl90]

"You've got to be pretty open-minded to try a devil's triangle." - Che LOL

And OMG the two Trump sons segment will never, ever get old.

[Wavy]

The guy who played McConnell really looked like him, chins and all.  When the Manchin character walked by, I was hoping Schumer would deck him.

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: I was at Comic Con all day, I did NOT need this news. It just makes me sick, but these impressions are killer (Kate as Graham needs more work). That was some makeup job to make Beck look like Mitch McConnell. You know they saved the beer product placement for this ONE sketch.

Monologue: Gotta love the water bottle callback from last week. I thought she did a good job. Anyone else hoping Lucy Liu would've showed up?

Dance Crews: Man, Chris Redd has SKILLS. God, I loved how Awkafina's crew danced to game show themes. Even brought in Travis Scott for good measure.

Presidential Alert: Well, I liked the reveal that it was for Cricket Wireless. Again, like the cold open, I couldn't muster up laughter for it. It's funny on paper, but...yeah.

Hidden Tales of Egypt: You had me at Xerxes and Becky. Kenan and Kate as your backup is always a formula for success. But they were the best parts.

Ted Cruz: Wow, Beck did a better Ted Cruz than Bobby did. Hell, I can imagine Beck being able to play both Ted and Beto. Now this was more like it. I like laughing at how awful Ted Cruz is. But this was more like gentle poking (he's totally lame and not a horrible person, right?) than outright barbs.

WU: Thank you Colin and Che (and the writers) for making an effort to make today's news funny. Gotta love being able to use Law & Order clips for free. Great to see Don Jr. AND I'M ERIC again. Loved King Funnyface and Eric's reaction to it. And I honestly couldn't believe they're actually providing an explanation of the Kanye speech...by Pete. "We both know which side of Kanye is at the wheel right now" is so true. It was sorely needed. 

1 minute ago, Alexis2291 said:

"You've got to be pretty open-minded to try a devil's triangle." - Che LOL

That was actually COLIN.

So You're Willing To Date A Magician: This was silly. And Leslie could not stop breaking. And it was honestly the best part. Kyle was my favorite of the magicians.

Baby Shower: The only thing I liked was how Awkafina never let go of that pizza.

The Pumpkin Patch: This was great. Of course it was going to be about Kyle & Beck screwing pumpkins.

Women's Round Table: Seriously, Debette Goldry was shoved to the 12:50 slot? Kate always brings gold, and a sketch like this should've been way earlier in the night.

1 minute ago, Wavy said:

When the Manchin character walked by, I was hoping Schumer would deck him.

Just taking a nutshot in stride is what Schumer does...

All in all, meh. And they wasted Awkafina, what a shock. Next week is Seth Meyers and Paul Simon AKA "who do we have on speed dial that can do a show on short notice?"

[MVFrostsMyPie]

Me: "Yay, Eric Trump is back!!!"

Also me: "wait.... I can't believe I just said that."

Loved WU! The GoT Johnnie White Walker "Yeah but... she's still your aunt."

LOL at Pete's bit about Kanye. "We thought Che should be the one to talk about Kanye cause Che's black, but like I'm crazy, and we both know which side of Kanye is at the wheel right now." "And I've seen Chevy Chase talk to an intern." "And then I'm like, 'I want a career!', so I leave." "Do you know how wrong about politics you have to be for *me* to notice?" (Who's going to jump on making money off of "Make Kanye 2006 Again" hats now?)
 

[Peace 47]

6 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Next week is Seth Meyers and Paul Simon AKA "who do we have on speed dial that can do a show on short notice?"

That HAS to be a cancellation by someone they were planning on being host and musical guest, doesn’t it?  When that announcement was made, I was like, who cancelled—Gaga or Bradley Cooper or both?

Pete Davidson’s Update bit was the piece that I actually laughed out loud at.  Then he ruined my goodwill a little bit by not even trying to keep a straight face during the magician sketch, but still, he was on fire during Update, and I have to give him his due.  (I liked how Kyle was the waiter for the other date, but it’s not like the magician sketch would have otherwise been a classic if Pete had kept a straight face, either.)

[opus]

4 minutes ago, Peace 47 said:

That HAS to be a cancellation by someone they were planning on being host and musical guest, doesn’t it?  When that announcement was made, I was like, who cancelled—Gaga or Bradley Cooper or both?

When Pete was on Seth’s show a few weeks ago he revealed Seth was going to be hosting.

[Trini]

11 minutes ago, Peace 47 said:

 Then he ruined my goodwill a little bit by not even trying to keep a straight face during the magician sketch,

He started out breaking - like, DUDE.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Trini

[vb68]

It's kinda weird that my main takeaway from the show tonight is that they really do consider Pete one of the STARS of the show now. It's really interesting. (Maybe the Kyle film from last week had a point....date a major celebrity? But I digress.) Pete gets to do the response to Kanye. Uhh, OK. And he did a good job. But I was so hoping for some Tina Fey-level slayage.

It felt like a different vibe this week. I can't put my finger on it. Maybe they were all exhausted from last week or just very happy for a  relatively calmer week without an insane person causing commotion nonstop. The Cold Open was ok with mostly good impressions. I appreciated Cecily's Susan Collins and hopes she gets to perfect it even more to get it more vicious. She had that annoying grade school teacher lecturing voice down.

I thought Awkwafina was endearing in the monologue and the shoutout to Lucy Liu was very sweet. You could tell it was genuine.

Leslie was the one who killed me in the Danceoff.  Her face said it all, and she was having the time of her life.

I have to say I thought the silence was pretty deadly during The Hidden Tales of Egypt. That sketch was dead in the water.

I thought Update woke the show up a bit. Loved the Law and Order recap of the FBI Report. And yeah, Don Jr and Eric are always gold.

The Magician dating sketch was a giant mess, but at least they were all having fun. And I notice Awkwafina has one of the best "Bitch. I. Do. Not. Give. A. F--k" faces I have seen in quite awhile.

The pumpkin patch sketch amused more than it probably should have.

In short, I think it was something of a down week after such a big, epic in multiple ways, loud, and boisterous premiere. Awkwafina was fine and did what she could even if I'm not sure it will be all that memorable.

Edited October 7, 2018 by vb68

[MBayGal]

I thought it was lame, tho the Trump brothers were funny, and Pete's bit on Kanye was good.  Kate McKinnon's characters are getting real old.

[SHD]

Pete's bit on Kanye was good. It bugged me that when he showed himself in the stupid hat, they had to show Arianna with him. They could've easily cropped her out and just shown him (since that's all the joke required). Already tired of that coupling being thrown in our faces every week.

I loved the Cricket reveal. 

Leslie Jones still has trouble with cue cards. I thought she would've gotten past that by now.

Was that John Mayer on stage at the end? If so, was he part of the musical performances? (I hit FF for the songs.)

[Peace 47]

19 minutes ago, opus said:

When Pete was on Seth’s show a few weeks ago he revealed Seth was going to be hosting.

That was just last Thursday or Friday, though, wasn’t it?   Nothing wrong with Seth Meyers or Paul Simon, but two friends of the show who aren’t having any kind of a “moment” definitely seems a little odd (in this kickoff run of shows).

19 minutes ago, vb68 said:

I have to say I thought the silence was pretty deadly during The Hidden Tales of Egypt. That sketch was dead in the water.

There were some clever history jokes in there that I’m blanking on right now.  But my reaction was definitely more “cute” than lol.  Caesar as a douchey, vain boyfriend was pretty funny, though.

[SHD]

1 minute ago, Peace 47 said:

There were some clever history jokes in there that I’m blanking on right now.  But my reaction was definitely more “cute” than lol.  Caesar as a douchey, vain boyfriend was pretty funny, though.

I liked when she said something like, "Put my organs in a jar, because I am DEAD!"

4 minutes ago, Peace 47 said:

That was just last Thursday or Friday, though, wasn’t it?   Nothing wrong with Seth Meyers or Paul Simon, but two friends of the show who aren’t having any kind of a “moment” definitely seems a little odd (in this kickoff run of shows).

They announced Seth as a host on 9/27. If it was due to a cancellation, I'm glad they didn't drag Fallon in.

[Trini]

17 minutes ago, SHD said:

Was that John Mayer on stage at the end? If so, was he part of the musical performances? (I hit FF for the songs.)

This is my question also. It sure looks like him!

[possibilities]

I liked the cold open a lot. The Schumer impression is terrific. I'm over Kate, though. Her Lindsay Graham is just lazy. I feel like everything she does lately is lazy. Cecily is great, though. You can actually tell Cecily's characters apart. She's not just phoning in the same schtick every time.

I liked the monologue. It was short, but I appreciated that it had some funny, some serious, and no filler. The water bottle was an easy line, but I still loved it.

Dance Battle was the perfect mix of weird and silly and fun.

Presidential Alert was funny to me, especially since I have a cheap crappy phone and I did not get the alert either!

I loved Hidden Tales of Egypt!

Ted Cruz rally was ok, I guess. He's not getting that kind of huge "rock concert" style turnout like Beto, though, is he? All the news I hear about Texas right now is how big Beto's events are. So when they flashed a Beto pic at the beginning, I thought it was going to be about that, and that they were going to contrast it with a sad sack Ted Cruz low turnout thing. Making it Cruz with big turnout but still being a sad sack was... odd.

WU was terrific. But I will say that no woman would be allowed on camera with dark circles under her eyes like Pete gets away with. At minimum they'd pancake her face to cover it. Even Maria Bamford, another comedian who makes a living talking about being mentally ill, gets all prettied up to perform. So I guess I'm saying: Pete, you look ill; it's not chic to look like you haven't showered or slept. But: you did a good job talking about Kanye, despite this.

They used Akwafina as an accessory to the guys on Willing To Date A Magician. A big waste, and an insult to her as an actress and as a host.

Baby Shower was awful, but I kind of appreciated it because those things often are awful. And Cecily's character was awful but she did a great job with it, and I've known attention seeking people like that, so spot on. And then they were all glad to have banished the new mom, and that was a surprise ending. Plus, Akwafina with that slice of pizza-- was it clued to her hand? I dunno. I think I hated it because I find the situation inherently irritating. I feel the same about a lot of the sketches they do, where they have someone disrupt an otherwise polite social event, and all you can do is just feel irritated.

Pumpkin Patch was another sketch where they reduced Akwafina to being an accessory and gave the guys all the lines. I really like what a good sport she is, and that she plays characters that express that. But I hate that they didn't fully utilize her and were content in TWO sketches, to set her up to be a mere sidekick to a group of males who got the focus.

I thought the actress roundtable could have been way better. Kate's character was funny in the past, but this time I thought it was undercutting, not enhancing, the message. And again, Akwafina was hardly used. I like when the host is part of the ensemble. They don't need to steal all the focus. But they could have at least given her an equal focus.

I really like Akwafina, and I hope she doesn't regret doing this. She looked seriously bummed out during the good-nights. Then again, it was a brutal day in general and I know I almost didn't watch at all because I wasn't in the mood for comedy, and felt like it would amount to laughing during a funeral. But I thought they handled the news of the day well. I think the show started strong, but in the second half they hardly gave Akwafina anything to do, and that was disappointing.

Edited October 7, 2018 by possibilities

[Traveller519]

Pete's sweet spot is the meta-humor about the show, both in his update bits and when he gets pulled on for monologues. I'm glad he's found his new niche.

I liked the Baby Shower. Any opportunity to send up the ridiculous self-congratulatory behaviors of Yuppies with a silly premise is always welcome by me. That was Awkwafina's best character by far.

2nd best was her Dance crew, which was really just an exaggeration of her Rap/Comedian persona, but I loved the hook on this one. This was unfortunately another reminder that Kate's best performances and era of relevance on the show are dwindling. She was completely out of place in that sketch and stuck out. 

Travis Scott'ss second performance redeemed his first one

Edited October 9, 2018 by Traveller519

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

It's kinda weird that my main takeaway from the show tonight is that they really do consider Pete one of the STARS of the show now. It's really interesting. (Maybe the Kyle film from last week had a point....date a major celebrity? But I digress.) Pete gets to do the response to Kanye. Uhh, OK. And he did a good job.

Oh yeah, Pete is way higher on the radar now.  Well, good for him.  Like some of the other posters here, I thought his response to Kanye was humorous, but for a different reason:

Pete says Kanye is a musical genius, therefore we shouldn't care about his non-musical opinions.  And Joey Chestnut is a hot dog eating genius, and therefore he doesn't want to hear his opinions on things that are not hot dog related.  But apparently we are supposed to want to hear about Pete Davidson's political opinions?   To borrow your line, Uhh, OK.  Hypocrisy much?

[cambridgeguy]

3 hours ago, rmontro said:

It's kinda weird that my main takeaway from the show tonight is that they really do consider Pete one of the STARS of the show now. It's really interesting.

Maybe Lorne sees him as the next Jimmy Fallon?  Every generation of SNL has its one or two chosen ones and Kate's probably headed out the door so it's time to pick a new one.

[Pete Martell]

The Graham impression is so clunky that it kills whatever the writing is even trying for. It’s just Kate McKinnon making bug eyes in bad prosthetics. She doesn’t even sound like Lindsey Graham. The McConnell impression also seems to just be prosthetics, although McConnell is so soulless there isn’t much else to do with him anyway.

I also see that Lorne Michaels made sure to do the “both sides” routine by having Chuck Schumer looking weak and also completely apathetic to the situation. If SNL is consistent in nothing else it’s making us know there isn’t much point in caring about anything in politics. 

To be fair to them I don’t think you can laugh at a situation like this anyway, but I didn’t laugh or even smile once. It’s just more of the states-the-obvious, this happened, this happened, laugh now school of writing.

Probably the strong point (no pun intended) was Cecily Strong as Susan Collins.

The only things I could think of when Pete Davidson was going on about Kanye are:

1) it's a bit awkward having Pete in that role as I know some people are concerned about some of his own comments and actions since his relationship with Ariana Grande started, and have wondered if he will be heading toward a breakdown 

2) SNL knew exactly who Kanye was when they booked him to be a musical guest, so seeing them now lash out at him because his behavior suddenly made THEM look bad just felt very self-serving. (not even getting into the optics of having a white man lecturing a black man about his behavior, which was so questionable even SNL called it out)

[yellowjacket]

Re:  Seth Meyers/Paul Simon - It's totally planned, not a substitution.  I don't know what Meyers is bringing to the table, but Paul Simon had been doing a retirement tour, and given what he has meant to SNL, it has to be one of his tour gigs.  I can't wait and I expect to cry.  Also please make him wear the turkey suit!

[Brn2bwild]

6 hours ago, possibilities said:

I liked the cold open a lot. The Schumer impression is terrific. I'm over Kate, though. Her Lindsay Graham is just lazy. I feel like everything she does lately is lazy. Cecily is great, though. You can actually tell Cecily's characters apart. She's not just phoning in the same schtick every time.

I had the opposite take, except for your observations of Kate and Cecily, which I agree with.  Cecily is so underrated.

I hated the cold open.  If Tina Fey (or any woman, really) was the head writer, I don't think that would have been green lit.  There's nothing funny or satirical about watching horrible men celebrate something that much of the nation regards with horror.  Whatever subtext they were going for ("haha, they were just pretending to care about civility/women/something"?) wasn't outlined nearly enough.  And regardless of how you might feel about Schumer, portraying the Democrats as naive and ineffectual in this matter is just lazy and dumb, and ignores the fact that several were willing to cast No votes that could potentially end their career.

I didn't like how last week focused only on Kavanaugh's testimony and not the ridiculous ways Republicans on the Judiciary Committee treated Dr. Ford.  This was even worse.  

[Ottis]

I don’t think I’ve ever said this... I didn’t laugh in this episode until The Price is Right theme played. The skit wasn’t especially funny, but the concept of game show theme songs was.

Aside from that, what most struck me was how bitter the tone of this show was. I miss the SNL that would stake out a POV based on a thoughtful position vs. emotion.

Egyptian hair dressers? Blech. 

Oh look, Ted Cruz... another political skit with no substance, just an emotional dislike of a candidate. And I voted for Hilary and detest Cruz but come on, mindless bumbling? 

I love hip hop and like a lot of rap, but even I am really missing actual bands on SNL.

Now more bitterness in WU with nary a word about any other POV. I’m amazed at how it is impossible for anyone to be seen as more than one thing. Like you can be privileged and white and also be concerned that being accused of something 35 years ago with no evidence might ruin your life. Both are possible. Eric makes me laugh, anyway. And it might have been interesting to touch on why Seattle specifically has these issue with hyperdermic needles, vs. making a joke about 7-11.

Pete on Kanye was very funny. Though his comment about not wanting to hear Joey Chestnut on subjects aside from hot dog eating raises an interesting point about Alyssa Milano. This is what I mean by emotional with no perspective. 

Watched a minute or so of the magician sketch and then fast forwarded.

No boyfriend. Whatever. This is like the Cleopatra hair skit.

Pumpkins... heh. 

At this point, I skipped the rest of it and deleted the episode. 

[Pete Martell]

58 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

I hated the cold open.  If Tina Fey (or any woman, really) was the head writer, I don't think that would have been green lit.  There's nothing funny or satirical about watching horrible men celebrate something that much of the nation regards with horror.  Whatever subtext they were going for ("haha, they were just pretending to care about civility/women/something"?) wasn't outlined nearly enough.  And regardless of how you might feel about Schumer, portraying the Democrats as naive and ineffectual in this matter is just lazy and dumb, and ignores the fact that several were willing to cast No votes that could potentially end their career.

The Schumer impression was so half-assed and the Joe Manchin impression looked like they had the makeup ready to go for Trump Jr and just called him Joe Manchin. For all the surface elements of how terrible Republicans are, the Democrats end up looking worse in the end - and completely pathetic and irrelevant. The sketch also sets a clear contrast between people who may be loathsome, but get things done, and people who are completely useless.

Of course it wouldn't be a comedy sketch if the Democrats were portrayed as crusaders - unless it's done as some kind of smug meme like the Ruth Bader Ginsburg routines - but by going out of their way to remind us that Democrats are no better (as they did last week when they made sure to tell us Cory Booker mostly just cared about how he looked oncamera) it veers away from any real point beyond SNL's standard "both sides suck, we're so funny and cool for telling you how much they suck." And this is probably the worst possible time to send out a message telling voters how everyone sucks and there's no point caring. 

Lorne Michaels manages to "both sides" his way into any political event. It's exactly why the show feels so dead. If you don't care about anything, then you aren't saying anything. And these sketches don't care about anything other than getting a pat on the head for trying and getting some cheers for putting actors in makeup and passing it off as an impression.

[Ms Blue Jay]

The writing was terrible.  But the milestone of Awkwafina being the second Asian woman to host was INCREDIBLE.  I burst out crying when she brought up Lucy Liu.  There are so many women like me who also probably idolized Lucy and still do.

Awkwafina has proven she has comic timing in Ocean's 8 and Crazy Rich Asians, so I was a little stunned that they wrote the episode THIS poorly.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[Melina22]

Quote

I really like Akwafina, and I hope she doesn't regret doing this. She looked seriously bummed out during the good-nights. Then again, it was a brutal day in ge

Did we watch the same show? I thought she looked really happy. (And probably relieved the show went so well. Even for seasoned performers, hosting SNL must cause incredible anxiety, and I always assume they're so relieved when it's over and they haven't made any major gaffes in front of literally millions of people. I can't believe people willingly put themselves through this.) 

[opus]

9 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

That was just last Thursday or Friday, though, wasn’t it?   Nothing wrong with Seth Meyers or Paul Simon, but two friends of the show who aren’t having any kind of a “moment” definitely seems a little odd (in this kickoff run of shows).

He was on Sept. 27 (two days before the SNL season premiere).

Edit- just read the comments and SHD beat me to it

Edited October 7, 2018 by opus

[VCRTracking]

I thought the show was just okay. Not terrible but not memorable either.

Things I liked:

The monologue with Awkwafina telling that story about being outside when Lucy Liu hosted 18 years ago. That was sweet.

The dance battles to game show themes sketch. It actually made me want to try dancing to the "Price is Right" theme!

Pete Davidson's segment on Kanye West. Much better than his one about his engagement last week:

"What Kanye said after he went off the air last week was one of the worst, most awkward things I’ve ever seen here. And I’ve seen Chevy Chase speak to an intern."

Alex Moffat and Heidi Gardner as the disturbingly close brother-sister magicians.

Heidi Gardner's impression of Allison Janney.

Additional note:

I would have loved the baby shower sketch more if Cecily had done more crying like in the shower sketch in the Amy Schumer episode where Cecily couldn't find her purse. Cecily is the funniest crier since Mary Tyler Moore!

Edited October 7, 2018 by VCRTracking

[possibilities]

5 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

Maybe Lorne sees him as the next Jimmy Fallon?  Every generation of SNL has its one or two chosen ones and Kate's probably headed out the door so it's time to pick a new one.

But why? At least Jimmy seems to be somewhat reliable, and he showers like a grown up. Pete can't possibly be in line to take over the Tonight Show or anything else, so what the hell is Lorne thinking? Pete has even started breaking and not even trying not to, like Jimmy! I thought Lorne hated that! The show has so many more talented players nowadays. Maybe Lorne is just glomming onto Pete because he wants to curry favor with Ariana Grande?

I take the point about how the false equivalences and both sides treatments made by SNL can promote apathy, but I don't really think that they were going equally after both sides or making a moral equivalence this time. I think they were saying: this psucks, and here are the things that psuck, and most of it was on one side, and by comparison the other side's psuckage was kind of pathetic and small.

They were definitely not highlighting the things that anyone did right, or praising anybody who was courageous or inspiring. The show pretty much never praises anyone, and dwells in the gross and absurd and cringey and outrageous and terrible, at least 85% of the time.

And sure they could always be funnier, more deep and insightful, or just overall better written (and not only when it comes to politics, either!). I will never argue against that complaint!!

I actually had more problems with last week's cold open than this week's, though. I think that, while I'm clearly strongly on one side of the partisan divide, that it doesn't mean the other side should be exempt from criticism. I didn't think they gave equal criticism to both sides this week, or that they were making an unfair attack on Schumer, either. I DID think the attack on Booker last week was completely bullshit.

So some of it is going to come down to the specifics, which vary from week to week and sketch to sketch throughout the show, whatever the topic. I think SNL is and always has been mediocre and inconsistent. For the really hard hitting stuff, I go elsewhere. But when they hit, they really hit-- I still think about "Welcome to Hell" and they CAN be funny and smart. But most of the time I think they are really not that cerebral, or trying that hard, so it's almost always going to be kind of emotional and vague.

[Joimiaroxeu]

I'm not very familiar with Awkwafina's work except her big role in CRA which I was lukewarm on. My expectations were not high but I appreciate the significance of her being only the second Asian woman host. (How did they not get Mindy Kaling when she was hot with her own show?)

Step Off: The Price is Right.

Ancient Egyptian Anna Wintour.

Mikey Day looks to me like he's lost a lot of weight. Weight that he probably didn't need to lose.

Quote

they wasted Awkafina

Yeah, that was my take too. She seems to have the comedic chops so I wonder what went wrong?

Edited October 7, 2018 by Joimiaroxeu

[msrachelj]

12 hours ago, MBayGal said:

I thought it was lame, tho the Trump brothers were funny, and Pete's bit on Kanye was good.  Kate McKinnon's characters are getting real old.

i'm starting to dislike every sketch she is in. i don't know what it is, overexposure, too much whoring for the camera?

[JZL]

1. It really sucks that the only way Kevin Parker, the leader of one of the best bands of the 10's, gets to be on SNL is as a bass guitarist on a Travis Scott song*.  Scott's second song was great, imho.  It's odd that black performers like Donald Glover, Rihanna, and Travis Scott recognize Parker's talent, but SNL is totally oblivious.

2.  Akwafina:  I liked her in Ocean's 8 and liked her in the monologue.  The rest of the show she was a cue-card-fixated cardboard cut-out.  The baby shower sketch was almost painful; even the camera work was lousy.  WTF.

3.  It's surprising there was such a bad writing let-down the second show of the season.  It's expected sometime in the middle of the fall, but already?

Edited October 7, 2018 by JZL
*It was bass and I liked the song more second time around.

[Rina99]

47 minutes ago, msrachelj said:

i'm starting to dislike every sketch she is in. i don't know what it is, overexposure, too much whoring for the camera?

I think they're relatively restrained in their use of her, compared to the way they used to insert Kristen Wiig in every single sketch. The problem to me is that her male character imitations are her weakest and tend to blend together, and they've been having her do more of those.   

[boochay8888]

Yes, for those asking, that was John Mayer playing guitar and on stage during the thank yous.  John is one of the producers on the Astroworld album.  (Total John Mayer fangirl here...I squeed when I saw him!!!)

[SoMuchTV]

Any NPR listeners here?  I noticed that two WU bits in a row (gender reveal & party goats) were also featured on the most recent Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.  I guess there's only so much weird news to go around.

[peeayebee]

13 hours ago, possibilities said:

I liked the cold open a lot. The Schumer impression is terrific. I'm over Kate, though. Her Lindsay Graham is just lazy. I feel like everything she does lately is lazy. Cecily is great, though. You can actually tell Cecily's characters apart. She's not just phoning in the same schtick every time.

I remember not liking Cecily when she was a WU anchor. I'm so glad that changed because, as you said, she is great at creating characters. They're distinct and very funny.

It's too bad what's happening with Kate. I don't really know what it is, but her characters are all blending together. Well, almost all. I thought the Egyptian hair assistant and the dance-off person were pretty good. As far as her Lindsay Graham goes, last week I hated it, this week I hated it. It was basically a big nothing.

I LOVED Beck's O'Connell. Wow. That was great. 

I think the Cold Open had possibilities. Unlike last week's, this time it kind of had a point rather than just being a retelling of what happened. I think maybe they needed to push it a little more, exaggerate their glee in denigrating a woman's story while celebrating a liar's coverup.

Awkafina did fine. I haven't seen her in anything else, and I thought she was pretty good.

I thought the musical guest was going to be Travis Tritt, and I wondered why he would be paired with Awkafina. Duh.

Loved seeing Eric and Don Jr again.

The dance battle sketch was silly, so I liked it. The magician skit was also silly. I liked the weird magician characters, particularly Kenan's Marconius Wilde with his long fingernails and always saying, "I'm gonna need that back."

The whole thing about Presidential alerts seems pointless to me. I doubt that the President -- any President -- is the one sending out the alert. Anyway, I liked how this turned into a Cricket ad. $2.99 for a decade. "Our phones have candy inside."

I also liked the Ted Cruz sketch because everything he touched bombed. I esp loved when he hit the confetti machine, it just kind of barfed out a wad of wet confetti. Oh, and of course when he tried to dab and hit himself in the nose.

Great line in WU -- About Kavanaugh get 50 yes votes, "50 is the most yeses that Kavanaugh has ever heard."

I didn't really like the baby shower sketch or the pumpkin patch one.

[jschoolgirl]

19 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I LOVED Beck's O'Connell. Wow. That was great. 

It was amazing. I couldn't tell which cast member it was!

[rustyspigot]

I didn't really laugh at all this episode, but I was kind of amused by the world's saddest merry go round choreography in Travis Scott's first song.

[Pete Martell]

9 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

Maybe Lorne sees him as the next Jimmy Fallon?  Every generation of SNL has its one or two chosen ones and Kate's probably headed out the door so it's time to pick a new one.

I think this is mostly down to the Ariana relationship. He's famous at the moment so they are capitalizing. With Jimmy Fallon, from what I remember, he was put into cute/adorable type stuff to showcase him fairly early on (he was also co-anchoring WU within a season or two I think). Pete has mostly been a background player who popped up on WU sometimes, was known for breaking up, and likely kept around because a lot of girls and guys thought he was adorable and/or relateable.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Pete Martell

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, Pete Martell said:

I think this is mostly down to the Ariana relationship. He's famous at the moment so they are capitalizing. 

Yeah, if it weren't for the Ariana pairing, I doubt that he would have any larger a profile on the show than he did last year.  That doesn't mean they don't really see potential in him necessarily, maybe it just took this for them to notice him.  

Plus, maybe they figure Ariana likes him, so he must have something going for him.

[helenamonster]

Cecily's Collins, Alex's Schumer, and Beck's McConnell were the highlights of the cold open. And McConnell--holy shit! The makeup team is earning their paychecks, my lord!

I saw Awkwafina in Ocean's 8 and Crazy Rich Asians and my takeaway was that this girl is a star. For somebody who's just hit mainstream success I found her completely confident and self-assured in her monologue, hitting all the funny and sweet moments perfectly. I thought they really underutilized her this episode, which is strange because she seems like the kind of host who would be down for anything. 

It could have used some pick-up in the pacing, but I liked The Hidden Tales of Egypt. They got a lot of great quips in, and I'm a sucker for puns. Also "World War II: Lost in New York."

The pumpkin patch sketch was brought to you by this vine:

If you had told me five years ago I was going to type this out I would've told you you were crazy but here it is...I too think Kate has officially overstayed her welcome. I don't think she's reached Kristen Wiig levels of overexposure. Screentime appears to be distributed as evenly amongst the cast as is possible on this show, and they are definitely stretches of 3+ sketches where she doesn't show up. But when she is there, whatever spark she used to have has completely fizzled. Maybe she's burnt out. Maybe she thought Clinton would win and she'd have a cushy four years of getting to play the president and now doesn't know what to do since that didn't happen. Maybe she's counting down the days until she doesn't have to pull writing all-nighters for what I've heard is a pretty measly paycheck and can enjoy a much more luxurious film career instead. But I agree with the assessment that her characters, especially her Republican male ones, are lazy and indistinguishable. I really don't think she wants to be here anymore, and I won't be surprised--or all that upset--if she leaves at the end of the season.

20 hours ago, possibilities said:

Ted Cruz rally was ok, I guess. He's not getting that kind of huge "rock concert" style turnout like Beto, though, is he? All the news I hear about Texas right now is how big Beto's events are. So when they flashed a Beto pic at the beginning, I thought it was going to be about that, and that they were going to contrast it with a sad sack Ted Cruz low turnout thing. Making it Cruz with big turnout but still being a sad sack was... odd.

I think that's what they were going for. They make you think it's going to be a sketch about Beto because of how pumped everybody is, then pull the rug out from under us when they reveal it's a Cruz rally. I think the joke was that Ted "Zodiac Killing Soup Hoarder" Cruz makes everything he touches super lame and is like kryptonite to a good time. The execution was flawed, though, and the whole bit fell flat.

[Dev F]

On 10/7/2018 at 3:12 PM, peeayebee said:

I remember not liking Cecily when she was a WU anchor. I'm so glad that changed because, as you said, she is great at creating characters. They're distinct and very funny.

Yep, she's one of the few performers who consistently rises above the weak material with her sharp comedic takes, and I wish she'd get more recognition for it. 

Cecily's voice work is especially strong. Her performances always have a unique sound that's tailored to the character and the needs of the sketch, whereas most everyone else has like one or two vocal modes that work or don't work depending on how well they happen to fit with whatever the bit is trying to do.

Edited October 12, 2018 by Dev F

[willco]

I know this info is online somewhere, but maybe someone knows... what do the main players make per episode on SNL these days ? I remember, long ago, I heard a figure of something like $25 K per episode. I can't remember how long ago it was, though. Doesn't really seem like a lot-- and yeah, it is to the average worker, but I mean for someone in showbiz. Especially when you know that other tv players are making 10-20 ( or more, Big Bang Theory, talking to you !) times that per week on other shows ( that aren't live !). I'm just curious.

[SnarkEnthusiast]

Pete looks like he's doing harder drugs every week. I know he's said it's only weed, but...idk man. Ariana could fund anything.

[JZL]

1 hour ago, helenamonster said:

If you had told me five years ago I was going to type this out I would've told you you were crazy but here it is...I too think Kate has officially overstayed her welcome. I don't think she's reached Kristen Wiig levels of overexposure. Screentime appears to be distributed as evenly amongst the cast as is possible on this show, and they are definitely stretches of 3+ sketches where she doesn't show up. But when she is there, whatever spark she used to have has completely fizzled. Maybe she's burnt out. Maybe she thought Clinton would win and she'd have a cushy four years of getting to play the president and now doesn't know what to do since that didn't happen. Maybe she's counting down the days until she doesn't have to pull writing all-nighters for what I've heard is a pretty measly paycheck and can enjoy a much more luxurious film career instead. But I agree with the assessment that her characters, especially her Republican male ones, are lazy and indistinguishable. I really don't think she wants to be here anymore, and I won't be surprised--or all that upset--if she leaves at the end of the season.

Agreed.  I hadn't really considered the HRC angle and its impact on her career.

I hope she can pull out of it.  She's one of the best castmembers ever.  It would be sad to see her stint end as you describe.  Maybe she just needs some new characters.  The aged movie dame sketches are now as well-worn as the character being portrayed. 

[LuvMyShows]

1 hour ago, Dev F said:

Cecily's voice work is especially strong. Her performances always have a unique sound that's tailored to the character and the needs of the sketch, whereas most everyone else has like one or two vocal modes that work or don't work depending on how well they happen to fit with whatever the bit is trying to do.

I had never thought about it like that, but that explains what's so disappointing about Kate...a lot of her fictional characters sound alike and sort of blur together:: Debette, the alien abduction woman, the bar closing time woman, the cat shop woman, and almost everyone she plays on Weekend Update.  Where I think she's very good, is her impersonations: Justin Beiber, RBG, Angela Merkel, HRC, and Kellyanne Conway are the ones that come to mind.

[JZL]

Kate may be on to something-- has anyone ever seen Lindsey Graham and Jeff Sessions in the same room together?

I know I never have . . .