Steve Martin and Martin Short are comedy legends, but this wasn’t the best SNL episode.
With the exception of the unique and edgy take on ‘A Christmas Carol,’ I think the most enjoyable parts of the episode were the glimmers of connection between Martin and Short. You could really tell that they were having a good time, where they yearned to ad lib their way out of what felt like a very run-of-the-mill episode. PDD was fun, as usual, but even old standbys like ‘The Science Room’ and ‘Weekend Update’ felt a little hollow. Fairly or unfairly, it’s hard to see this:
And not compare it to this:
And in many ways the new cast is still gelling. Outside of the uneven episode, which was far more charming than funny, I’d recommend the first song by Brandi Carlile, where she does some impressive things with her voice. When she was done I said “damn!” out loud. The SNL stage is a notoriously difficult venue, but she killed it.
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.
Everybody likes charts.
Cold Open
Concept: An ensemble sing-along that captured many current woes
Execution: Pretty darn good considering that the song wasn’t particularly catchy
s – Kenan Thompson: “My drinking…”
S – Bowen Yang: “My mental health.”
S – Cecily Strong: “Why does he own all the things?”
L – Bowen Yang: “When did Hitler come back?”
s – Cecily Strong: “We freak out and threaten our ex.”
Monologue
L – Hosts: “And I’m Steve Martin”
S – Hosts: “And what a thrill it is for us.”
L – Hosts: “We tested positive for everything.”
S – Hosts: “You’ll tune in to watch anyway.”
s – Hosts: “Somehow I just can’t get into it.”
s – Hosts: “It streams for 32 minutes.”
S – Hosts: “Wow, not much of a turnout.”
L – Hosts: “Oh Steve, you bland, overrated, white-haired sonofabitch, where’d you go?”
S – Hosts: “I know Steve is looking down on us because he always looked down on everybody.”
l – Hosts: “You don’t need to restrict a urinal to just #1.”
Science Room with Steve Martin and Martin Short
Concept: A return to a sketch that has played well several times
Execution: Fun but messy and a little disjointed
s – Mikey Day: “To find out what happened to my brother.”
S – Cecily Strong: “Feel good for the girl?”
S – Hosts: “Shut up you idiots!”
Please Don’t Destroy – Chelsea
S – Martin Herlihy: “I smell like a dead guy’s fridge.”
s – John Higgins: “We got back together.”
l – John Higgins: “And she’s right here.”
s – Sarah Sherman: reveal
S – Ben Marshall: “Chelsea!”
S – Martin Herlihy: “Chelsea!”
l – Ben Marshall: “John what the hell.”
l – Ben Marshall: “Love it!”
l – John Higgins: “You already did. They’re watching on Zoom.”
L – Ben Marshall: “Close outta that one!”
S – Ben Marshall: “Damnit!”
S – Michael Che: “Always be kind.”
The Holiday Train
Concept: Ummmm. Wow. Maybe it looked good on paper?
Execution: It was bombing so hard the cast was breaking mid song. You know it’s brutal when Kenan can’t even squeeze a laugh out of it.
S – Cecily Strong: “I want to wash my hands, my hair and ass with snow.”
A Visit with Santa
Concept: A curmudgeonly elf helps a mall santa. Not a bad concept but execution is everything.
Execution: All over the place.
S – Hosts: “I like Pringles.”
S – Hosts: “I made a mistake! Drop it!”
s – Bowen Yang: “Who, me?”
A Christmas Carol
Concept: Scrooge has a change of heart.
Execution: Very good.
s – Sarah Sherman: second coin reaction
l – Molly Kearney: “‘es blinding the ole town e is!”
S – Hosts: “So you look like a total psychopath now.”
l – Molly Kearney: “es the devil e is!”
Weekend Update
s – Michael Che: “Unless he’s your biological father.”
s – Colin Jost: “He’s love an answer before he takes his kids to the mall.”
s – Colin Jost: “Since the unpaid workers who built the stadiums.”
S – Colin Jost: “I didn’t do it!”
S – Colin Jost: “Except for a tiny strip down the middle.”
S – Michael Che: “He’s so depressed he might jump off the edge of the world.”
s – Colin Jost: “While Santa may exist, god doesn’t.”
s – Ego Nwodim: “Your neck is strong as hell.”
S – Ego Nwodim: “There’s no such thing as a black Karen.”
s – Ego Nwodim: “I sue the city.”
S – Colin Jost: “She has been sentenced to life in the New Jersey Hall of Fame.”
s – Chloe Fineman: “My orgasm is on the way.”
S – Mikey Day: “Scarlet Johannsen. Do you know her?”
s – Mikey Day: “This spider bites, Colin.”
Minky
Concept: A spoof about how horrendous the 90’s were
Execution: Holy cow.
s – Cecily Strong: “It looked like an espresso cup.”
s – Cecily Strong: getting a fax
Father of the Bride
Concept: A sweet spoof of the Father of the Bride series
Execution: Hamfisted
S – Hosts: mouthing wtf
