Aubrey Plaza is beloved and for good reason. She was on fire from the second she walked on the stage and just kept killing it the whole show. We all knew how great her natural timing is, but it was wonderful to get a refresher course. Of course, we also got a cameo from Leslie Knope, which warms the heart.
Not every sketch was a home run on this episode, but it wasn’t for lack of effort and abandon from Plaza, who left it all on the field.
A word on Laughstatting:
Everyone has a different sense of humor, so the things that I laugh at will most likely not be the exact same things you laugh at. The goal of this exercise is not to convince anyone, but to say “here’s what worked for me” and hopefully, if our tastes are similar enough, maybe it worked for you too and the overall stats for the season will have some value. It also strangely works if you have polar opposite taste to me, because you’ll know the episodes that were a hit for me might not land with you.
I try to be very generous with my rankings in the hopes that eventually a more clear picture of the cast and season will shape itself and contribute to some additional insight. And we get charts.
Everyone likes charts.
NFL on Fox Cold Open
Concept: A satire of the Fox NFL pundit desk
Execution: Good
l – Molly Kearney: reveal as Terry Bradshaw
S – Devon Walker: reveal as Michael Strahan
S – Kenan Thompson: “South Philadelphia has been set on fire which means the Eagles lost. Or won.”
s – Devon Walker: “Even though they lost by 31 points in humiliating fashion.”
S – Kenan Thompson: “The white Charles Barkley, Terry Bradshaw.”
Monologue
S – Host: “They’re some of the sickest perverts I’ve ever met.”
S – Host: “Built in 1599 by William Shakespeare.”
l – Host: “Hey, Danny! How are you? You still a little bitch?”
S – Host: On Phone
S – Host: “That was Sir Paul McCartney.”
l – Host: “Bow to your queen!”
S – Host: “Stick around and we’ll be right back.”
Miss Universe
Concept: An over-the-top pageant satire
Execution: Excellent
S – Kenan Thompson: “Where we rank women.”
l – Chloe Fineman: “Albania!”
S – Ego Nwodim: “Canada!”
S – Molly Kearney: “Den-mark!”
l – Punkie Johnson: “Barbasossssseh.”
S – Host: “France!”
l – Chloe Fineman: “Bread and Butter!”
s – Kenan Thompson: “You don’t need to scream every answer.”
s – Kenan Thompson: “Also, Miss France, are you okay?”
L – Molly Kearney: “Dead.”
S – Kenan Thompson: “What?”
S – Kenan Thompson: “Are your brains broke?”
S – Kenan Thompson: What- now, no, don’t come over here.”
l – Kenan Thompson: head shake in disbelief
s – Chloe Fineman: “Shakira Super Bowl!”
s – Kenan Thompson: “The…Shakira Super Bowl Halftime show?”
S – Host: “Don’t take the vaccine.”
S – Kenan Thompson: “C’mon. C’mon.”
S – Host: “Tony Hawk!”
The Black Lotus
Concept: The White Lotus without the nonsense
Execution: More peaks than valleys but uneven. Came out hot and cooled a bit.
l – Kenan Thompson: “I don’t know you. I’m tryna run a bidness.”
S – Punkie Johnson: dancing
L – Ego Nwodim: “He gon kill her.”
S – Host: “But you don’t know what do do with a real ass.”
l – Kenan Thompson: “Welcome to Black Lotus, bitch.”
s – Devon Walker: “I don’t know nothin bout that.”
l – Ego Nwodim: “Is the ocean a hotel? Cuz I work at the hotel.”
Taboo
Concept: A game night with new neighbors reveals too much
Execution: Good. Unselfish setups everywhere.
l – Ego Nwodim: Reaction to ‘gun’
S – Mikey Day: “Help me out here, babe!”
l – Mikey Day: “Daughter!”
l – Heidi Gardner: Reaction to ‘it’s turning me on!”
s – Host: “Cars!”
S – Host: “Okay choke me!”
S – Mikey Day: “Naw not right now babe.”
s – Host: “Just do me on this ugly couch right now.”
Morning Announcements
Concept: Two best friend nuns say announcements while one has a crisis
Execution: Great but didn’t stick the landing.
s – Host: “Hallo!”
s – Molly Kearney: “Alright!”
s – Molly Kearney: “Lady guh-gah.”
l – Host: “When I was dead I didn’t see heaven.”
l – Sarah Sherman: “Sorry mom, I mean sister. Noooooo!”
s – Host: “Dyin’ and seein’ nothin’.”
S – Host: “So is murder and 69’ing.”
S – Host: “I want to try it!”
S – Sarah Sherman: “Right away Dad. Oh ho that’s worse!”
M3GAN 2.0
Concept: An upgraded psychotic android women is beloved by gays
Execution: Good, actually. But not funny.
S – Bowen Yang: “Work it out, mother.”
Weekend Update
S – Colin Jost: “But an insane thing to pretend to be.”
l – Colin Jost: “Girl, not at my yacht party.”
l – Colin Jost: “But George, I am gorgeous.”
S – Michael Che: “Thanks to China’s leading cause of death: protesting.”
S – Colin Jost: “That’s a nice happy ending to that joke.”
S – Michael Che: “Said the Gucci store.”
l – Colin Jost: “Could I touch the balls?”
S – Colin Jost: “I’m kidding. He didn’t ask permission.”
l – Michael Che: “Her cause of death was listed as answered prayer.”
l – Colin Jost: “Worse, it was deuce.”
s – Host: April Ludgate intro
S – Host: “I will when you stop yelling at me.”
Avatar
Concept: The Na’vi have a mole
Execution: Yikes. Rough.
s – Host: “Whoa! What happened to women supporting women, bitch?”
HIV Commercial
Concept: The shooting of an HIV commercial hits a bump
Execution: Great buildup but blew the payoff.
l – Devon Walker: “I ain’t gay, though.”
S – Devon Walker: “That’s how I did it.”
Film Noir
Concept: The proverbial femme fatale visits an old school dick
Execution: Rushed. The language was spot on but not funny.
s – Host: “Knew how to stink up a chair.”
