I love me some Woody Harrelson, and his monologue was reminiscent of Brendan Gleeson’s in that they’re not Ha-ha funny comedian types, but you get the sense that you’re watching the best dude in the world. Woody’s monologue, in particular, bombed. The concept was supposed to be him being a burnout and meandering through topics the way potheads do, but we had just seen psychopath Donald Trump in the cold open and that toxic demon has generally destroyed all the pleasure of meandering through topics.
In general, this episode had a decent overall score because Woody kept stacking small laughs and he got a huge assist from Update and a little help from big laughs from PDD. Kenan Thompson, as usual, single-handedly saved entire sketches. That said, I wasn’t as high on it as the score might suggest. It was fine, and Woody is a mensch, but I don’t know if it had a single memorable sketch. Very little Mikey Day this week, and almost no Sarah Sherman, Molly Kearney or Punkie Johnson, all of whom have surged in the late season. Marcello Hernandez and Devon Walker were mostly ghosts as well.
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.
Who doesn’t like charts?
Trump Train Visit Cold Open
Concept: Trump visits the site of a train disaster in Ohio.
Execution: Johnson is a master of the impression. I never want to see Trump sketches again, but judging from the YouTube comments I’m in the vast minority.
S – James Austin Johnson: “He was too busy being a nerd and being gay”
l – James Austin Johnson: “No, you guys watch Yellowstone, right?”
s – James Austin Johnson: “She’s either 7 or 40, we can’t tell.”
s – Chloe Fineman: “Potentially.”
s – James Austin Johnson: “They’ll elect anyone. I started that.”
S – James Austin Johnson: “You’d normally blame it on the dog, but they’re all dead now aren’t they?”
Woody Harrelson Monologue
S – Host: “No jacket? Okay.”
s – Host: “It’s like a pattern I noticed.”
l – Host: “And I never wake up covered in blood.”
s – Host: “I don’t know why I went Irish there.”
s – Host: “Newly single, very handsome.”
s – Host: “But whatever, I’m no salesman.”
s – Host: “Still no jacket.”
Jail Scene
Concept: Two prison guards can’t keep their opinions to themselves.
Execution: It swerved from where I thought it was headed and that was fun, but it was just okay.
s – Ego Nwodim: terrible wig reveal
l – Chloe Fineman: awful deep voice reveal
S – Ego Nwodim: “I can’t buy a house and I’m not even in jail.”
s – Ego Nwodim: “And not from her head, either.”
s – Ego Nwodim: “I had a house. Ex-boyfriend caught it on fire.”
L – Kenan Thompson: “No she not.”
S – Kenan Thompson: “That little boy look like Chucky.”
Please Don’t Destroy – The Stakeout
s- Martin Herlihy – PDD: throwing his phone away
S – Ben Marshall – PDD: “Did he just throw his phone away?”
L – Host: “Time to go in there and kill them?”
L – Martin Herlihy – PDD: kissing
L – John Higgins – PDD: kissing
L – Ben Marshall – PDD: “What?”
l – Ben Marshall – PDD: “Uncle Kenan?”
S – Kenan Thompson: throwing phone away
Slingshot
Concept: A man can’t take the G’s on a carnival ride
Execution: This is 100% “just let Kenan be Kenan” and it works, mostly
L – Kenan Thompson: blacking out
S – Kenan Thompson: “Yeah yeah, of course.”
l – Kenan Thompson: “I’m passin out!”
l – Kenan Thompson: passing out a third time
Cologuard
Concept: A by-mail way to screen for colon cancer
Execution: Fun, with a decent button
S – Host: “ I don’t love that you have a face and a little mouth.”
S – Host: “Why is the UPS guy watching?”
S – Kenan Thompson: watching
l – Host: “God, no. I just wanna be screened for colon cancer.”
l – Host: insert of fending off the box’s advance
S – Andrew Dismukes: “Actually I’m gonna stay.”
Submarine Launch
Concept: A naval vessel is named by online poll
Execution: Fun use of the military question cadence, but ultimately ineffective
l – Bowen Yang: “We got more views on our stories but our followers grew at pretty much the normal rate, sir.”
s – Bowen Yang: “Because we didn’t want to die on something called the Gooch Balloon, sir.”
Weekend Update
s – Michael Che: “Every New Yorker.”
S – Michael Che: “The catch is the 12 parts have to be assembled by children.”
S – Colin Jost: “Tucker Carlson, seen here at a Whites-only rave.”
s – Michael Che: “Georgia representative and cocaine bear Marjorie Taylor Greene”
S – Michael Che: “Sounds like a Black history book he’s banned.”
S – Colin Jost: “Who’s gonna get slapped this year?”
s – James Austin Johnson: “The refs are gonna take a look at this one.”
s – James Austin Johnson: “Foul on Davis, that’s his fourth.”
S – Michael Che: “Unfortunately the WNBA pays less than a Russian prison.”
S – Michael Che: “You’re not gonna like this next one.”
s – Colin Jost: “While the worst roads are the ones that go into New Jersey.”
S – Michael Che: “Which is just a terrible way to end Black history month.”
L – Colin Jost: “Someone’s a little jealous that we took their precious dunk contest.”
S – Michael Che: “Previously known as polar bears day.”
l – Michael Che: “It’s like you always say, Colin, Koons ain’t safe in Florida.”
S – Colin Jost: “You’re gonna get me killed.”
S – Heidi Gardner: “Anthony’s 38 years old.”
s – Heidi Gardner: “You’re not pretty enough to be this irritating.”
s – Heidi Gardner: “Like she completely ignores his balls.”
S – Colin Jost: “Why are you thinking about that?”
The Hippo
Concept: a competing obesity project is canceled
Execution: Read the room, people. Jesus.
S – Host: “I have something called triabetes now.”
l – Host: “I wasn’t included in your original friend count?”
Beautiful Gym
Concept: Uhhhhh…okay so two weird, dumb, moderately insane beards chat in a luxury gym?
Execution: I mean, I’m not sure what I watched but I fucking dug it. (Decidedly not for everyone, though).
s – Bowen Yang: “Well she looks ugly.”
S – Bowen Yang: “She has a face for a KN-95.”
s – Michael Longfellow: “A big piano, sir.”
S – Host: “Ahh, I thought so.”
S – Host: “I like the one that makes the toast.”
s – Host: “and the stationary Vespa.”
S – Bowen Yang: “This gym is so classy it should be called James.”
S – Host: breaking
l – Bowen Yang: “In that I keep a beautiful rose under a bell jar.”
Musical Promo
Concept: A musical about people singing alone
Execution: Blergh
l – Molly Kearney: “Everybody’s on the Zoom talkin’ outta their ass.”
