Review: Saturday Night Live with Octavia Spencer, and Father John Misty
Host: Octavia Spencer
Octavia Spencer is an incredible actress and a deserved Oscar winner, but she wasn’t a strong host for SNL. Her night started off strong with her reprising her oscar winning role from The Help for a good sketch about Jeff Sessions and she also competently delivered a straight, uninterrupted monologue, but the episode never really gained momentum. Spencer seemed to have trouble reading off of the cue cards (it’s harder than people think) and none of her characters were memorable. This will certainly go down as one of the weakest episodes of the season.
Best Sketch of the Night: Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. on Weekend Update
In an episode of weakly executed ideas, the bit with Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. on Weekend Update stands out as a complete piece. This isn’t the first time we have seen Mikey Day and Alex Moffat as Donald Trump’s two adult sons, but this is the first time we have seen them speak more than one or two lines. What viewers got was a fully realized pair with a compelling and detailed dynamic. I laughed out loud more in this sketch than while watching any other sketch on this show. This is one to watch.
Worst Sketch of the Night:Tie Between The Chocolate Man and Wine Bar
In an episode of mostly weak sketches, this one stands out as being the worst. A lot of the other weak sketches of the night (Drug Company Hearing, Zoo-Opolis, Sticky Bun and Wine Bar) at least sound good on paper. But, the Chocolate Man sounds misguided at best. The premise is that a previously fired psychotic, sexually offending employee comes back the day after his firing dressed as a friendly chocolateer. While I think the idea of playing off a situation as a chocolateer sounds like it could be funny, the fact that he is a sexually menacing, would-be murderer makes the whole thing more dark than funny. A sketch based around a character this unlikable is the definition of high risk low reward.
Musical Guest: Father John Misty
I know that people with good taste in music love Father John Misty, but it just doesn’t land with me. I like his mustache though.
