11/16/24: Charli XCX

 

Trump and Biden Meeting

• While I normally would complain about Dana appearing as Joe Biden again, I think his appearance here actually makes sense, since it’s actually related to the real Biden, unlike all his previous appearances, where he was there just for some hacky “old man” jokes.

• Decent moment with Dana as Biden saying he’s gonna relax and ignore the big fire in the fireplace behind him. No comment about the split screen meme comparison though.

• Dismukes, as a reporter yelling “Should I move to Canada???” before getting kicked out was pretty funny.

• Yeah, Dana’s “old man” schtick is just painfully unfunny, at this point. It says a lot about the quality of the political writing in this era, when THIS is the best they could come up with for Biden.

• JAJ as Trump describing how Elon won’t leave is pretty funny, but I did NOT need the “cringe AF” comment.

• I hate how JAJ as Trump is becoming the straight man to Dana as Biden in this cold open.

• I finally got a big laugh, from JAJ calling Elon and Matt Gaetz “Alien vs Predator”.

• Oh yeah, Sarah as Matt Gaetz makes an unnecessary appearance, here.

• Sarah is literally just doing her normal voice, she’s not even trying with this impression.

• The “giggity giggity” line honestly just made me cringe.

• Another unnecessary appearance, this time with Alec Baldwin as RFK Jr.

• Alec’s RFK impression just sounds like his Trump impression with the raspiness turned up to 100. 

• Overall, a pretty rough cold open, despite some decent moments.

Rating: **

Monologue

• Typical Charm-ologue so far, and Charli’s delivery is good so far.

• Charli thanking Auto-Tune for being there for her throughout her entire career is really funny.

• Hey, Kyle Mooney! Nice to see him get lots of applause. He was funny in his walk-on, being his typical goofy self here.

• Overall, a pretty short monologue, but it was still decent.

Rating: ***

Babymoon

• We get an unnecessary sequel to the Domingo sketch from the Ariana Grande episode.

• This is pretty much the same joke from the first sketch, but it’s still okay. It helps that Hot To Go is a very fun, and catchy song.

• I love how you can see Ashley as the mom in the background, shocked, along with Dismukes.

• I also like that this is going further into detail about Chloe’s relationship with Domingo

• Overall, this was decent, and surprisingly not bad for a sequel sketch. It also helps that it had a short length, so the main joke couldn’t get too old.

Rating: ***

Wicked Screen Tests

• A welcome return of the Celebrity Auditions sketches that used to appear a lot throughout the McKinnon era.

• Eh, I didn't need Chloe as Jojo Siwa.

• Charli’s Adele impression is hilarious. 

• Devon as Shannon Sharpe is very fun.

• There are a couple of impressions here I could do without (Sarah as Bernie Sanders, Bowen as Charli XCX, and Charli as Troye Sivan), but most of them are really good (Marcello as Sebestian Maniscalco, in particular), and this has a very fun vibe.

Rating: ***½

Thanksgiving Baking Championship

• Eh, we get an unwelcome return of the Baking Championship sketches. Each installment of these sketches was a step down from the previous, so I’m gonna go into this with caution.

• Marcello’s performance here as a cheesy Foot Network contestant is not working for me AT ALL. He’s trying way too hard here, and his performance is honestly annoying. 

• The reveal of Marcello’s cake didn’t make me laugh at all, and Marcello’s putting himself down isn’t making it any funnier.

• I did get a good laugh from Charli’s cake, and the animated element having the chicken legs moving is really funny. Stuffing coming out of the turkey cake was a hilarious addition.

• Didn’t care for Kyle’s cake being a 9 inch dildo, and they don’t even go any further in this section, the sketch just ends after that.

• Overall, the section with Charli was great, but everything else was painfully unfunny.

Rating: **

SNL Digital Short: Here I Go

• We get another surprise Digital Short from the Lonely Island. I remember really not caring for this when it aired, but I’ll go into this with an open mind.

• This has a very fun vibe so far, but the joke of this short being Andy calling the cops on people in his yard just isn’t funny to me at all.

• I did get a good laugh from Andy trying to justify his behavior by saying who he snitched on was white. The person he snitched on being Colin was also a funny addition.

• Nice inclusion of Charli as Andy’s wife.

Rating: **

Banger Boyz!

• This is a spoof of those bro-y type podcasts that have been becoming popular over the past few years. I’m not familiar with those types of podcasts, but I’m interested to see where this sketch goes.

• Marcello finding out Trump won the election late is decent enough.

• One of the sponsors of the podcast being Nicotine pouches for kids is pretty funny.

• Something about this isn’t fully clicking for me. There are some good moments, but this sketch is a bit too all over the place for me to fully enjoy it.

• Marcello saying he’s gonna fire “that Geico snake” is really funny.

• This is going on a bit too long.

Rating: **

Weekend Update

• Colin saying Matt Gaetz happened when Frankenstein raped Dracula was a great joke.

• Colin saying we should give RFK “a shot” was really good.

• Che’s joke about the song “Let Them Fly” being about an immigrant catapult was great.

• Why are we getting a Joe Exotic commentary 4 years too late?

• Bowen’s performance here is honestly just obnoxious.

• A tiger arm appearing and tearing at Bowen is just way too stupid to be funny. I find it so crazy how Bowen went from doing great, and absurd Update commentaries with very solid writing, to stuff like THIS.

• Another typical “Spirit Airlines is bad” joke from Colin, but it worked for me.

• Che’s joke about “rubbing one out like an adult” to get to sleep was hilarious.

• Everything about this Sarah commentary puts emphasis on all of my biggest issues with her as a performer. (Distracting over-acting, smirking after almost every line, and coming off very obnoxious)

• Overall, a pretty rough Update, with 2 bad commentaries, and mostly forgettable jokes.

Rating: **

Acting Teacher 

• Marcello is giving a fun performance here so far, as a typical pretentious acting teacher. It’s nice to see him playing a different type of character than what he usually plays.

• Marcello’s directing of the students is really funny, his walking to go get coffee in particular was great.

• Marcello and Charli’s Capitol One scene in particular was really funny. I’m surprised at how much I’m loving this. This sketch is very welcome after the LONG streak of weak sketches that started with the Baking Championship sketch.

Rating: ****

It Girl Thanksgiving Special

• So far, I don’t understand anything that’s happening. I don’t know who any of these people are, I don’t understand any of the jokes that are being told, and I’m pretty sure this is another example of the niche sketches that Jimmy Fowlie has been bringing to the show ever since he started as a writer.

• The cutaways to Heidi as Cher are really funny, though, and were my only laughs from this entire sketch.

• What the hell was this sketch going for??? I’m honestly shocked at how all over the place this was.

Rating: *½

Shrek the Musical

• Charli having green makeup on her face from making out with Shrek is okay enough.

• Why are all the other characters in this sketch acting so obnoxious? It’s not adding anything to the main conceit of this sketch, and feels so unnecessary.

• Sarah walking back into the scene with green makeup on her face was pretty funny, and handprints being on her shirt was a funny addition.

• This sketch seems lost on what it’s trying to be. Is it a sketch about Charli and Sarah hooking up with Shrek, or is it about past experiences this group of people have had with each other?

• Longfellow’s walk-on as Shrek was executed perfectly by him.

• Why is this taking a dramatic turn?

Rating: **

Cut for Time: Please Don’t Destroy - Mean Cute

• Great moment with Charli asking Ben to “watch where the f*ck he’s going”. 

• This feels like a variation of the fantastic Roast PDD short that aired in the Dakota Johnson episode from S49, but this has a different feel that stops it from feeling uninspired.

• I’m loving all of Charli and PDD’s insults to each other, and how they’re being delivered in a rom-com style manner.

• Charli calling John a “dumb, hairy Italian” is really funny.

• Martin’s drawing of him running over Charli with a garbage truck was hilarious.

• I wish this could’ve made it to air, as it would’ve easily been the best piece of the night.

Rating: ****

Cut for Time: Cayden

• So far, this sketch has a very slow, and non-comedic start. Sketches like these can be hit or miss for me, but I’m interested to see where this goes, especially since this is my first time watching this.

• JAJ’s story about his 4 year old son, Cayden watching the election is decent enough, and it was helped by JAJ’s reliable delivery.

• Heidi’s story about Cayden is okay, but this sketch feels way too slow so far, so I’m hoping the stories get a lot more funny.

• Yeah, the more this sketch is going on, I’m realizing that I’m just not into this one. I feel like it would’ve been a lot better had it not had such a long, and slow start, and much more escalation in Heidi and JAJ’s stories about Cayden. Heidi and JAJ are giving solid performances here though, so that’s keeping this from being a total flop for me.

• Another thing I don’t care for about this sketch is how Charli XCX is being completely sidelined here.

• I didn’t really care for the ending, with Cayden being revealed.

Rating: **

Cut for Time: Bonjour-Hi

• Not really caring for the goofy French-Canadian accents Bowen and Chloe are doing so far, and it doesn’t help that something about Chloe’s delivery is off.

• Charli is doing a good job at the goofy French-Canadian accent, which unfortunately is the only positive I can find in this so far.

• I did get a chuckle from Charli’s character calling Chipotle an American grocery store, and the only place in America you can buy fresh produce.

• Yeah, this sketch is not working for me AT ALL. It seems so aimless, and dull, and lost on what it’s trying to be. Is it a “Mikey reacts to goofy characters” sketch? Is it about French-Canadians making fun of America? Is it about how French-Canadian accents are hard to understand?

• The Sport Report by Chloe was delivered really well, but (like with almost everything else in this sketch) it didn’t make me laugh.

• And now this ends with Bowen singing for no reason, a fitting way to end a complete dud.

Rating: *

Thoughts

A rough episode that somehow managed to be worse than I remember it being. There were only FOUR segments in this episode that got a passing rating, and only one sketch stood out to me. One positive aspect about this episode was Charli XCX. I remember being shocked at how solid, and fun of a host she was when this episode aired, and my original opinion still holds up. I would love for her to host again, but with MUCH better material than what she got.

Segments ranked Best to Worst

CFT: Please Don’t Destroy - Mean Cute

Acting Teacher

Wicked Screen Tests

Monologue

Babymoon

SNL Digital Short: Here I Go

Banger Boyz!

Trump and Biden Meeting

Weekend Update

Shrek the Musical

CFT: Cayden

Thanksgiving Baking Special

It Girl Thanksgiving Special

CFT: Bonjour-Hi

4.9/10