12/7/24: Paul Mescal | Shaboozey

 I do want to point out that this episode has a Cut for Time sketch that was originally uploaded to YouTube, but is no longer on there, and I can’t find it anywhere online, so it’s not anywhere in the review.

Church Chat

• We get a surprise return of Church Chat, and Dana Carvey as the Church Lady! (At least it was a surprise at the time) I remember how shocked and happy I was to see this return, and also happy that it was a non-political cold open.

• Dana’s still got it as the Church Lady. Her opening lines are great, and “You know who was a great carpenter? Jesus” In particular was very funny.

• And this all comes to a SCREECHING halt, because we get the return of Sarah as Matt Gaetz. 

• The “you had me at 17” line from Sarah was just lame, and shows how generally weak the writing for this impression is.

• Oh hell yeah! David Spade makes an appearance as Hunter Biden! This is the type of cameo I can forgive, because this was David’s first appearance on SNL in over 20 years! And also David is one of my personal favorites, so I have a bit of bias.

• David’s “Easy, Church Woman” line honestly made me laugh harder than it probably should’ve.

• GREAT line from Spade saying “Pardon me”, which was a good subtle dig at Joe Biden pardoning Hunter. Didn’t really need the Church Lady pointing out the joke though, since the audience very clearly understood the joke.

• I don’t know who Marcello is playing here, and he feels kind of unnecessary and shoehorned in here, despite the material and his delivery being okay. 

• Dana, as Church Lady: So I hear they’re gonna pay you 700 million dollars to smack some balls around with your big stick!

• Good ending with some cast members coming out as a Church choir, and singing a song called “Satan had a good year”

Rating: ***

Monologue

• Already, Paul is coming off so likable and charming here.

• The clips of Paul’s “funny performances” are really funny.

• Another typical Charm-ologue, but Paul is carrying this with total ease, and is coming off great here.

• The Irish stereotypes Paul acknowledges aren’t anything great, but Paul’s delivery is making it work.

• The walk-on from Marcello continues the fun energy this has.

• Overall, a Charmologue that was boosted big time by Paul’s great energy.

Rating: ***½

Earring

• Heidi and Emil’s reactions to Paul’s pierced ear is pretty funny, and Heidi and Emil are giving fun performances here.

• The sarcastic applause from Heidi and Emil, after Paul accuses them of being homophobic was very funny.

• Heidi mimicking a bong with a candle at the dinner table was hilarious.

• Ashley as the Grandma getting shoved out the window by Heidi is so random, that it made me laugh.

• Longfellow’s appearance as the younger son at the end was a good way to end this.

Rating: ***½

Gladiator Twosical

• The concept of Gladiator being a musical has a lot of potential.

• So far, this has a very fun vibe, but not much comedy to it. 

• Paul’s cheesy line to the camera “I think I’m gonna like it here” was pretty funny.

• Jane’s song about waiting for her husband, and suddenly getting killed while singing was pretty funny.

• I got my first big laugh from it being revealed that the songs in this are composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Mikey and Paul’s rap battle was also pretty funny.

Rating: **½

Italian Restaurant Commercial

• Paul subtly trying to stop Ashley from doing a pasta pun is very funny.

• Paul trying to do a Pasta pun, and being shut down right away is really funny.

• Paul’s giving a very solid performance here, and his dismissing of Ashley is really funny.

• What’s with the random ending of Kenan? That just screamed “The writers couldn’t think of an ending” to me. Thankfully, it was a solid sketch otherwise.

Rating: ***½

Please Don’t Destroy: Paul Mescal Is Daddy

• Paul admitting he’s in love with the PDD boys is pretty funny.

• Paul’s vision of him and the PDD boys in a cabin during the winter is really funny.

• Martin: Paul’s back! He’s back from playing another sad, hot guy!

• I love the dark turn Paul’s vision is taking, with Townspeople coming to hunt him down, and Paul shooting them.

• Good ending, with Paul putting them to sleep.

Rating: ***½

All Male Revue

• Fun performances from the male cast members in this so far.

• This seems like another segment tonight that doesn’t have much comedy to it, but has a very fun vibe.

• Marcello getting thrown overboard, because he was sick was pretty funny.

• I’m not really caring for the straight men sections of this, and Ego being the only one into this is making it a bit too muddled for me.

• Funny cutaway to Emil having two peg legs.

• Heidi getting thrown off the ship was decent.

Rating: **½

Weekend Update

• This is my first time mentioning it, but the audience in this episode has been very hot, and it carries over to the beginning of Update with Colin trying to get them to calm down a little bit.

• None of the jokes here have been noteworthy, and it says a lot when the audience is a bit subdued.

• It feels a bit like foreshadowing to see Colin making Pete Hegseth jokes, considering he actually impersonates the man during the homestretch of this same season.

• Che says “it’s the 90s” again, and it makes no sense again.

• Colin’s joke about how scientists inJapan launched the first ever satellite made of wood “Great, now aliens are gonna think we’re poor!” was so stupid that it made me laugh harder than ANY other joke has so far. That’s the type of joke that only Colin can make funny.

• Che’s warning before his “Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day” joke was pretty funny. And Colin’s disapproval afterwards was also really funny.

• Interesting pairing of Heidi and Marcello.

• I’m not really caring for this so far. Heidi’s performance is a bit too broad for me to enjoy. Marcello’s dead-eyed and emotionless performance is funny, though.

• The “Last name is Dookie” stuff here is not working for me, and is way more stupid than funny.

Rating: **½

Brilliant Lawyer

• I’m SO EXCITED to rewatch this, because I remember this being one of my favorite sketches from this season.

• I’m enjoying Dismukes’ smug performance in this so far.

• HILARIOUS reveal that Dismukes’ client is wearing the same outfit that everyone in the jury is wearing. 

• Dismukes’ thumbs up he gives Paul is way funnier than it probably should’ve been.

• The jury starting to shuffle, and Paul as the client putting his head in his hands is hilarious.

• Dismukes going up to someone in the jury pretending it’s his client is really funny.

• Dismukes: Your honor, if you don’t dismiss this case, I’m gonna kill myself.

• Dismukes: Your honor, if you dismiss this case, I will give you oral.

Rating: ****½

Spotify Wrapped

• I’m really not caring for this so far, with Bowen’s goofy costume, and the song he sings in his Spotify video.

• I don’t understand what the point of the random meta comment from Ego pointing out Paul saying ya’ll even though he’s Irish was, it just felt unnecessary to me.

• Bowen’s lines here are just dumb to me, and I have NO IDEA why Trisha Paytas makes a cameo here.

Rating: *½

BuzzFeed Red Carpet

• I’m not caring for Chloe’s Timothee Chalamet impression.

• JAJ’s Bob Dylan impression on the other hand, I’m really enjoying here.

• Dismukes is fun here as Bruce Springsteen, and him and JAJ’s banter is pretty fun.

• Dismukes: Of course like all my stories, that’s not true.

• Fitting casting of Paul as Bono from U2. Paul’s serious message on climate change is pretty funny.

Rating: ***

Thoughts

A very fun episode, but quality wise, it actually wasn’t that great. There was a noticeable amount of sub-par material (including a fairly weak Update), and only one sketch stood out as strong. But to be honest, that doesn’t matter to me because even including most of the sub-par material, this episode was very fun. A red-hot audience, a very solid, and charismatic host in Paul Mescal, and enough decent highlights keep this from being forgettable for me.

Segments ranked Best to Worst

Brilliant Lawyer

Please Don’t Destroy: Paul Mescal Is Daddy

Italian Restaurant Commercial

Earring

Monologue

BuzzFeed Red Carpet

Church Chat

All Male Revue

Gladiator Twosical

Weekend Update

Spotify Wrapped

6.0/10