SNL After Party (S49 E5- Air Date 11/18/23) - "You Are An Ugly Person"

 Host: Jason Momoa
Musical Guest: Tate McRae

Look, it seems like host Jason Momoa was having fun this week, and maybe that should be enough for us all.

But, really, is it?

Did Aquaman save the day, or was this episode all wet? (And, with that, I realize I have no business critiquing anyone else’s work. Ever. But here we are).

Cold Open

The opening sketch is almost always current events based, and right now that means politics. Here, we have Mikey Day as President Biden giving a press conference about his meeting with Chinese Xi (or as Biden says in the sketch, “Chinese President Eleven”). The sketch starts slowly with reporters asking Biden questions about topics he is not comfortable with, including “I have a question. You’re old.”

The sketch is redeemed when Bowen Yang shows up as a panda, discussing his lack of interest in sex (“Have you had it? It’s crazy.”) and his return to China. Bowen is very funny in this, and is definitely the highlight.

Monologue

To call Jason Momoa’s audience greeting a monologue would be a disservice to the concept of monologues. Momoa is charming and enthusiastic, but no one seemed to have taken time to write him anything to say here. We got a couple of half-hearted jokes about his size, hair, and Baywatch. Also Iowa. But there was just nothing to this.

Maybe the writers got tired or something. I any case, Momoa seemed to be enjoying himself, so there’s that.

Masters of the Pen - L. Frank Baum

Heidi Gardner hosts a PBS show about writers, and Bowen is her guest who has early 1900’s footage that includes L. Frank Baum. The whole premise is people just stop in front of the camera and act silly, obscuring Baum. Mikey Day and Momoa are ridiculous as the early century photobombers.

The sketch is the epitome of stupid, but everyone is having fun, and that really does sell the sketch.

Sometimes there’s no shame in going for stupid. And I don’t mean that as an insult as all. Heidi and Bowen’s commentary provide a great frame for this.

Rome Song

This is a pre-taped segment that turns into a musical number related to the current trend about men thinking of the Roman empire. It’s well done and funny, and manages to escalate beyond the original premise, diving into kids’ love of dinosaurs as well as others’ obsession with astrology.

It’s a well executed bit of ridiculousness.

Bouncers

Momoa and Marcello Hernandez are bouncers at a club. Hernandez is trying to teach Momoa on how to reject people while being nice. Instead, Momoa just tells everyone they are too ugly.

Momoa and Kenan (as the manager) both do accents that, at some point, people are going to be mad about.

Hudson News Thanksgiving Parade

Bowen and Ego Nwodim host a Thanksgiving parade in an airport. The parade includes Couple on their last Thankgsiving together, Woman with service animals she clearly doesn’t need, and TSA agent saying the same thing 12 different ways.

Momoa is on hand as an airline pilot flirting with Ego.

It’s a funny enough sketch, but as is often the case, the sketch outstretches the premise.

Please Don’t Destroy: Ramen Fever

The Please Don’t Destroy boys enter this weekend with a movie release to their credits (The Treasure of Foggy Mountain). But their new-found fame hasn’t led them to leave their office at 30 Rock. This week, the boys are in the process of ordering Ramen when John gets a break-up call. The other lads try to listen to him while still ordering dinner.

It’s funny and well done. But, it feels like these videos are not quite as absurd as they used to be. And so it goes.

Weekend Update

After a couple of only one visitor to the desk, this week we got three (well, four…a band drops by). We get Bowen as George Santos, Devon Walker as Warriors player and anger control impaired Draymond Green, and James Austin Johnson and Andrew Dismukes as members of backup musical guest, Remember Lizards, a band that is similar to, yet different than, Imagine Dragons.

In addition to the guests, Che and Colin have their usual good, loose time. When a joke bombs, Che just says “Alright, whatever.”
Colin scores the best joke of the night when he does a story on National Fraud Awareness Week by pointing out he is aware of fraud every day when he looks in the mirror.”

Cast Away

Chloe Fineman and her husband Dismukes host Fineman’s former fiancé (Momoa), who has been shipwrecked for years.
The deal here is that Momoa is hot, and Fineman is seriously attracted to him, much to DIsmukes’ chagrin.

Really not much to see here. You could write the beats to this one yourself. Go ahead. I’ll wait….

Untold: Battle of the Sexes

Before Billie Jean King, there was Charna Lee Diamond (Sarah Sherman). She challenges any male to a match. Ronnie Dunster (Momoa) accepts the invitation. This pre-taped segment turns into a Monty Python sketch as Diamond is progressively more injured.

This is a funny bit and well done, with some nice little moments. Sherman really shines in out-there stuff.

A net-win! (There I go again. I have no business writing these things).

Cab Driver

Momoa drives a cab as Kenan has to listen to him discuss his various medical ailment with his doctor. This sketch is not the best, but it does play to Momoa’s ability to effortless be likable, as well as to Kenan’s incredulous discomfort.

Once again, the two seem to be having a great deal of fun, and that goes a long way towards selling this. That, plus the writing has some fun absurdity to it here. “Have you ever been to D.C. before? Aren’t we in Albany? We are. I just wondered if you’ve been to D.C. before. It’s a pretty wacky place.” and “You’re test results have come back and you are legally blind. Like Reese Witherspoon?”). It’s a good final sketch for the night.

The Goodbye Wave

Best Sketch: Rome Song is on my mind. It’s funny, well-produced, and very clever. The turns this one took were very entertaining.

Worst Sketch: Cast Away. Just about any sketch they do at this point that is dependent on pointing out the hotness of the host is a tad tiresome and repetitive. I felt stranded on an island watching this one.

Random Notes:

- And just like that, the parade of celebrity cameos ended. No bonus celebrities from the A, B, or C list showed up.

- I am not loving Day as Biden. I get that James Austin Johnson can’t do both Biden and Trump in light of the possible nominations. But, I guess I really miss Jason Sudeikis’s wild-man Biden. I know it wouldn’t make sense now. A lot of years have passed. But, that version of Biden was funny. The current version is just kind of sad. But, maybe that’s the point.

- This is another week where the old man (that would be me) does not have any knowledge about the musical guest. This is the way of the world, sunrise/sunset and all, but it’s only fair of me to point this out so you don’t think I’m ignoring the musical guest. I just don’t know her work. And, let’s be honest, I’m not going to make any effort to do so.

This was not an actively bad episode. The cast and Momoa had a lot of positive energy, and there were some funny moments. But, it was certainly not one for the highlights reel.

I guess what I’m trying to say is I want to be critical of this week’s show, but I want to be nice about it. But I won’t use an accent to say it.

Grade: C+

If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting us on Patreon.