Did the episode work? Was it funny? Was it any better than the normal big budget TV variety show set up?
Well, first and foremost, let me just say that the DIY remake of the cast credits was pretty meta and silly, and Heidi Grardner in her Pinhead tee is everything.
The show in general was pretty standard as far as joke and sketch quality. I wonder if the cast were given prompts and a shot list with a deadline for each sketch to shoot and send in, after which editors of the show cut everything together to give it a semblance of a mirror of the normal show. The Ruth Bader Ginsberg skit definitely felt like it had this type of process.
As far as guests, the singer of Coldplay provided a solo acoustic song and the show was hosted by Tom Hanks in his house (really all he did was the opening welcome message, the Chris Martin intro and the show epilogue/thanks). Not sure how much money that set Lorne Michaels back, but it was smart as Tom Hanks was the first celebrity to announce being positive with Corona Virus back in March, and very top of mind. It was nice to see him recovering and doing well. His introduction monologue was nothing short of amazing with lines like “It’s not Saturday, because every day is today,” and a hilarious ”questions from the audience” portion where he played all the different audience members. He ended both his intro and outro by thanking the people who are keeping this country going right now. So good.
A few thoughts on the sketches presented:
Pete Davidson’s “Drake song” is better than any real Drake song ever written. Chill, funny, and with great pop-style rhymes. The music video was proudly directed by his mom, but I’m wondering if that was a backup plan. The song is too well produced not to have been recorded before NYC went on lock down. Feels like the quarantine forced their hands and the music video scene became Davidson’s mom’s basement. If they put it up on iTunes I’d buy it. Way better than his $2000 song near the end.
The Zoom Call sketch was a great premise, but I feel like it would have been funnier had it been a character study of the different co-workers (sales guy, marketing research, etc) and their personalities on a video chat instead of focused on these two older receptionists and their lack of tech savvy know-how. That focus killed the sketch.
Larry David reading a cue card was no different than his usual cameos as Bernie Sanders. Great, but nothing new.
The “Masterclass Quarantine edition” commercial had great post-production value, but it wasn’t as funny as it probably was in the virtual writer’s room. Pass.
For Weekend Update, Colin Jost and Michael Che invited some friends in on Zoom to laugh at jokes in real time, most likely to avoid the strange tell-a-joke-to-silence scenario that all the former SNL actors with late night tv shows are going through right now as they film their own brand of “at home during quarantine” shows. Baldwin joins as the Weekend Update guest with a hilarious “This Covfefe 19 is really nasty” line.
Heidi Gardner’s “Bailey goes to the Movies” character from Weekend Update got her own sketch as a faux-Youtube show…and it kind of falls flat. The character might need Colin and Che to bounce off of…or maybe even the live studio audience for the laughs during important moments.
The SNL animated short looked like early 90s TMNT cartoons, complete with the 4:3 aspect ratio. This remix of the cartoon was called Middle Aged Ninja Turtles and it included the new theme song and a few scenes about getting older. It was pretty funny to see the turtles become 40-50 year old has beens with families and medical issues.
Mikey Day headed up a Twitch Stream sketch that had surprisingly high quality production value. I found it funny because this is exactly what happens to me when I play online anything. I die. Die. Die. Die. Die. At the hands of inapproproate 11 year olds. It’s the reason why I’ve never purchased the online monthly subscription entry. Local Play only thanks.
Alex Moffat starred in a sketch called the Sky Sport Report where he plays a BBC-style sports reporter, but everything he reports on happens inside his home. Which match will burn out first, which laptop will boot up first, which popcorn will pop first, what things Jane and I saw outside the window. It’s funnier than it sounds on paper.
There was a great Zoom glitch sound effect song with Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney. Kudos to the video editor on that one.
Aidy Bryant’s tips for surviving corona monologue on a green screen and Ego Nwodim’s if you run out of makeup during quarantine fix it with crayola markers sketch were clever and just short and silly enough to be real gems.
The dud sketch of the episode award goes to : How Low WIll You Go, Sexy Singles coming out of Quarantine. Watching on Hulu? Skip it.
All in all, it was a very cool way to see the cast of SNL attempt this. Was it worth it? Was it hilarious? We can’t help but think Tom Hanks said it best in his monologue:
“Is it going to look a little different than what you’re used to? Yes. Will it be weird to see sketches without big sets and costumes? Sure. Will it make you laugh? Eh. It’s SNL.”
SNL scores for cinematic sketches, was by Hal Willner. He passed away this week and the current and past cast members and guests share memories and a song in honor of him.
Honorable mention:
The SNL FROM HOME “coming back from commercials” vignettes were clever and fun:
- paper cut out of the NYC skyline
- kitty cat, retro telephone and a post-it
- A Roomba sucking up the title
- Poker with a puppy
