Written by Melissa Jouben and Mark Henely
Saturday Night Live – Kristen Stewart Hosts, Alessia Cara Performs. Melissa McCarthy and Alec Baldwin Guest Star
The Host – Kristen Stewart
Melissa: The big story you probably all heard by now is that Kristen Stewart dropped an f-bomb in her monologue. She did. Getting that out of the way, I’m not sure if anything else I’d have to say about her performance maters because she’s probably not getting asked back any time soon. She was nervous and talking about how nervous she was when it happened, and I really feel for her. For what it’s worth, she seemed way more comfortable after she cursed. Maybe at that point she had nothing left to lose. She relaxed a bit after her monologue, but throughout the entire episode she still gave off that trademark Kristen Stewart nervous and awkward vibe.
Luckily, they played to her strengths in that area and crafted some characters that her unique delivery worked for. It almost made them seem charming in their uncomfortableness. I’m thinking specifically of her character in the “Dry Fridays” sketch, and how perfectly suited she was for the role of a college student with an alarming drinking problem and a mysterious social life, painfully unaware of how troubling her anecdotes sounded to the rest of the group. She’s also an excellent actor, which is evidenced in several pre-recorded sketches. Whether the reason they aired so many pre-recorded sketches was to show off her acting skills or to hide her discomfort performing live on stage remains to be seen, but I enjoyed most of her performances either way.
Mark: This was not a highly anticipated episode of SNL. With Alec Baldwin hosting for the 30th time next week, most were looking to overlook Kristen Stewart this week. I’m not quite sure why. Maybe Twilight is still viewed very negatively all these years later, but people were sure that this would be bad.
But, it wasn’t.
I was very impressed by her monologue. She stated off on the right foot by smiling a lot. This might sound absurd, but I think her detractors thought she wasn’t capable of smiling. And then her monologue was focused and, when the cast members inevitably came out to assist in the monologue, it didn’t feel like they were rescuing a sinking ship. It felt like they were lending a hand to someone who was already doing fine.
Also, about the fact that she cursed: no cares that she cursed, except for the fact that we know that it isn’t allowed and that SNL will be charged a big fine. No one at home was offended. It’s a word people say everyday. She didn’t hurt, kill, or even belittle anybody. We are taught that this is something controversial, but I don’t think anyone actually believes this is wrong.
Best Sketch – Sean Spicer Press Conference
Melissa: I was torn between this and “Totinos with Kristen Stewart,” which I still implore you all to watch. But when it comes down to it, the point of picking out the best sketch of the evening is to show you which ones are an absolute must-see, and this is something we should probably all take a look at. I’ll admit that I’m getting really tired of SNL’s political satire. I remember being a kid watching the show and wishing I could fast-forward through the cold open and all the political sketches because I didn’t understand them. As an adult I sometimes find myself wishing the same, but now I understand the politics behind them a little too well and I don’t think they’re helping anything.
Trump’s absolute recklessness and unpredictability leaves it hard if not impossible to heighten him. This leaves Alec Baldwin with no other option than to go out there and give us direct quotes right out of Donald Trump’s mouth. I guess on the one hand it would be good for people who get their news through mediums like SNL to know what Trump is saying, but at times it can just feel like too much Donald Trump. I also have my qualms with Steve Bannon being portrayed as the actual grim reaper. Bannon’s a highly dangerous man and to portray him as a cartoon skeleton isn’t helping anyone understand the actual threat that Bannon poses.
But when Melissa McCarthy stormed the stage as Sean Spicer, I was honestly awestruck. She came out swinging and just did not let up. Sean Spicer is a figure who is very damaging and seemingly unstable, but who hasn’t gotten a lot of attention for it. As a Press Secretary he is volatile, prone to petty arguments, lies a lot, and also gets into Twitter fights with Dippin’ Dots that last for five years. He, by his own admission, chews and swallows 35 pieces of cinnamon gum every day before noon. He’s a madman and Melissa McCarthy captured that beautifully. It’s important that the audience sees figures from Trump’s administration being satirized in a way that doesn’t sugar coat their level of awfulness while still being capable of heightening for comedic effect and Melissa McCarthy nailed that. If you didn’t know before that Sean Spicer is a man off the rails, you do now. Her stamina is absolutely incredible, and I really hope she can come back to play Sean Spicer in the future. I don’t think there’s a single person in the cast that could handle doing that kind of performance without needing the rest of the night off to decompress.
Mark: I think this is an open and shut case, McCarthy as Spicer is absolutely perfect. This could be a great recurring character (especially for weeks where they don’t have Baldwin to do the cold open). Just the visual of her attacking people with her podium makes this an absolute must watch
Worst Sketch – Celebrity Family Feud: Super Bowl Edition
Melissa: This sketch didn’t do anything for me whatsoever and maybe that’s because I don’t like football and I hate when they do Family Feud sketches. Kind of a double whammy. I thought that Kristen Stewart was woefully miscast in this, even if her performance was a good effort. The one shining moment was when Leslie Jones laughed at her own terrible Samuel L. Jackson impression.
For me the true hallmark of a bad sketch is when you’re like “what sketch was my least favorite?” and you have to actually look at the list of sketches from the episode to remember that a sketch even happened, and that was my experience with this one. The game here is that it was an episode of Family Feud, one team being celebrity Falcons fans and the other being celebrity Patriots fans. A lot of weird choices here, like Beck Bennett playing the guy who suspended Tom Brady for deflating those footballs that one time, playing on the team of Falcons fans because he hates Tom Brady.
Mark: Unlike Melissa, I don’t hate the Celebrity Family Feud sketches. In fact, I kind of like them. I understand that they are just vehicles to show as many impressions as quickly as possible and that it never really gets elevated to anything past generating the thought “Oh, that was a nice impression”, but I think they serve a purpose. The really good Celebrity Family Feud sketches give us highlights like Arianna Grande’s Jennifer Lawrence and Bobby Moynihan’s Kevin Smith. And I think that seeing them coming fast and furious (like Vin Diesel) is a good spectacle and I think spectacle is a major aspect of what makes SNL great.
That being said, I think forcing the Celebrity Family Feud sketch into the small box of the Super Bowl is definitely limiting and confuses what really makes these sketches fun. While there were some good lines and some fun impressions, others were complete duds and do not make this sketch into the spectacle it could or should be.
Musical Guest – Alessia Cara
Melissa: She seemed alright. She had a nice voice and her songs were enjoyable to listen to. I’ve never heard of her before she was announced as a musical guest and I’m starting to think that if that’s the case, I should start researching this musical guests before their episode airs so that I have a little bit more to write about them.
Mark: I wiki’d her last night and I found out that she got her start performing acoustic covers of songs on YouTube.
However, that knowledge has not given me any insight and I also have nothing to say about her.
