Saturday Night Live – Host – Charles Barkley (host), Migos (musical guest) with cameos by Alec Baldwin and Alex Rodriguez.
Written by Melissa Jouben & Mark Henely
Melissa: And we’re back! Going in, I wondered how much thought the writers may have put into the kind of material that felt like huge missteps before the Winter Olympic hiatus. Were they going to tone it down? Try something else for a bit?
Also, how kind of nuts is it that Charles Barkley is one more episode away from the Five-Timers Club? I wasn’t particularly excited about this episode because it doesn’t exactly scream “must-see,” and I ultimately think that my impression was right: this episode is not must-see TV. You can’t fault the show for having A LOT of current events to cover and not enough time to do it all justice, but I think that maybe the show came back a week too soon. It could have benefitted from some more distance, maybe?
I’m not a fan when the show goes in too hard on topical sketches without a nonsense sketch for a palate cleanser. Barkley also felt unready; a lot of his delivery felt rushed and I’m not sure how much fun he was having most of the time. Overall, a disappointing return, but I’ve got hopes for Sterling K. Brown’s SNL debut next week.
Mark: Watching Charles Barkley’s monologue in the cold open, you wouldn’t know this was his fourth time hosting. He clearly doesn’t have the ability to deliver a pre-written monologue without it sounding rehearsed and stilted, but he doesn’t under-perform enough to get in the way of the jokes. In fact, Barkley sort of rides the middle into a pretty fun performance overall. He certainly doesn’t have the range of talents that a regular cast member might have (abilities like singing, impressions, etc), but he was consistently funny in each sketch.
Melissa’s High Point of the Night – Weekend Update
Melissa: Rarely do I find Weekend Update a truly noteworthy part of the episode, but this is where the show shined last night. The political jokes were sharp, Che’s bit about hunting being considered a sport was well-spoken and thought provoking, Leslie’s piece that devolved into a public humiliation of Colin was enjoyable, and Kyle Mooney calling Colin out on not inviting him to his Oscar party was definitely the highlight of the entire episode for me. His delivery on the line “we only make 8 bucks an hour here” was exceptional. I didn’t particularly enjoy Weekend Update: Summer Edition, but this kind of Update segment is the kind of thing worthy of a full half hour.
Mark’s Favorite Sketch of the Night – Trump Cold Open
Mark: Alec Baldwin first rolled out his Trump sketch during the end days of the campaign when Trump was at his absolute angriest. Trump was getting so beaten up by the media that he had become a sort of junkyard dog, lashing out at anyone that crossed his path.
Then, Trump won the election and he sort of calmed down. Trump was still a terrible man, but he didn’t have the same level of rage as he did during the election. Baldwin’s impression, one derived from the rage of the campaign trail didn’t resonate as deeply in the subsequent skectches.
Until now.
Baldwin uses this sketch to introduce a series of new phrasings and joke forms that pivot the Trump impression in a new direction. This is the first sketch where Trump really rambles. Where he confirms and denies everything in every sentence. Baldwin’s Trump dodders through his press conference in the way that can only be done by a man who confidently doesn’t care.
Melissa’s Least Favorite Sketch of the Night – Hump or Dump
The concept is that it’s a dating game show where a woman asks questions to three men and ultimately decides which guy she’ll hump and which two get dumped. One guy (Charles Barkley) is so desperate to win that he repeatedly threatens suicide if she doesn’t pick him. I’m not a fan of making light of the kind of psychological abuse that people very often endure from their abusive partners, or of making light of suicide in any capacity, really, so this sketch was simply not my cup of tea.
What I found so unnerving about it was the fact that the sketch acknowledged outright what Barkley’s character was doing was abusive (Keenan as host reminded the woman more than once “his mental stability is not your responsibility”) and then the sketch ends with him being talked out of going through with it. Aside from the initial shock of hearing him say “If you don’t pick me I’ll kill myself,” none of the dialogue in this sketch rang as a joke and none of it felt the least bit funny.
Musical Guest – Migos
Melissa: Tom Scharpling said it best in a tweet he sent during Migos’ performance last night: “Who is doing sound over at SNL? They owe Migos an apology.” This is not, turns out, the appropriate venue to listen to Migos. Listen to them on Spotify if you want, or don’t listen to them at all if you didn’t like it, but if you’ve never heard Migos before, this is not the right entry point for you.
Mark: They took some bold swings with the way they dressed. And, I, for one, think it was a home run.
 and the results were kinda turrible.){kind=link}