SNL After Party (S49 E9- Air Date 1/20/24) - "You Didn't Die and You Got a Cool Story"
Host: Jacob Elordi
Musical Guest: Renee Rapp
After what seems like a several month hiatus, SNL returned this week for the first show of 2024. Saltburn and Priscilla star Jacob Elordi took on hosting duties. Would his movie charisma translate to 30 Rock, or would viewers leave the show feeling a little uncomfortable (just like they did with Saltburn?)
Let’s pull up to the After Party and find out!
Cold Open
2024 is going to be a very long year politically. So, we might as well get the ball rolling with James Austin Johnson’s always reliable Trump. Here, Trump is addressing the media outside of his defamation trial. (It’s odd that we have to clarify which trial we are talking about, right?)
JAJ is - as always - brilliant as Trump. From throw away lines dismissing his unpaid attorneys and saying “I’ll see you at Shakey’s” to pointing out he has arms like G.I. Joe and that he’s “more cognitive than ever,” it’s all good stuff.
That said, it’s probably not a good sign for me that I am already getting fatigued by the bit, regardless of how well executed it is.
November is eleven months away. Pray for us, one and all.
Monologue
Jacob Elordi has enormous magnetism in his movies. His Saltburn character somehow comes across as intensely likable while also being intensely unlikable. It’s a gift, really.
This, however, does not translate to the monologue. Presumably knowing that Elordi likely couldn’t pull off a normal monologue, the show went to the old chestnut of having people in the audience ask questions.
Would this lead to the first use of the “Hey, we have a hot host, let’s make a point of that repeatedly” trope in the show. Yes. Yes it would.
Overall, this fell pretty flat, though Kenan got a laugh playing one of his goofball characters.
My hopes are not high here, but the into promised a return of the “Please Don’t Destroy” guys. So there’s something to look forward to!
Crown Your Short King
Chloe Fineman is the star of a dating show in which a bachelorette chooses from short guys. The shocking twist is that Jacob Elordi is added to the mix at the end and she picks him, despite him being a jackass.
See, the deal is women like hot tall guys. Or something.
Did we mention that Jacob Elordi is attractive?
Club Shay Shay
Taking on the viral sensation of Katt Williams’ recent and raving interview, SNL released the “extend cut” of the comedian’s interview with Shannon Sharpe. Ego Nwodim was Williams to Devon Walker as Sharpe.
The imitations weren’t particularly good, but that doesn’t mean the bit wasn’t funny. It was a good take on Williams’ off-the-rails interview, and it was fun seeing Walker’s Sharpe react so enthusiastically to Nwodim’s Williams.
Entertainment Tonight Awards Coverage
Nwodim and Heidi Gardner host an E.T. awards show special. They bring on lip reading experts to analyze what celebrities are saying. Elordi and Bowen Yang provide bad lip reading work that is kind of funny. But nowhere near as funny as actual bad lip reading videos you can find online. Musical Guest Renee Rap joins in to do court ordered community service for her many interview faux pas of late. (Though, as a Gen. X’er, I fully appreciate someone now making Millenials feel old. Take that, you darn kids!)
At this point, I am still eagerly awaiting the return of “Please Don’t Destroy”!
Bowling Pins
Elordi and Gardner are on a bowling date, and watch increasingly bizarre score-keeping videos. The videos get longer and odder, and the bit is genuinely funny, even if the sketch has a bizarrely abrupt end.
Still, points for doing something unique here.
Alaska Airlines
Fortunately, no one was hurt in a recent Alaska Airlines misadventure in which a “door plug” (a term no one had ever heard before the incident) flew off the plane in mid-air, causing a boy’s shirt to somehow jettison off his body and into into space.
The lack of any injury made it perfectly okay for SNL to do a pre-taped commercial touting the excitement one can have while flying on Alaska Airlines.
The absurd situation made for a funny commercial that we don’t have to feel guilty about laughing at.
Weekend Update
The number of high quality, yet groan inducing jokes, this week was pretty high. Mocking the age of both Biden and Trump, Jost pointed out that the current election is “beginning to feel like elder abuse.”
A visit from South Carolina Senator Tim Scott (Devon Walker) led to a hilarious joke at Jost’s expense. I won’t describe it, but it’s in the clip below:
The second desk guest was Punkie Johnson as a criminal defendant whose attack of a judge created a viral video. This was amusing mainly on the strength of Johnson’s amusement at the situation. It made the piece work.
Women’s AA Meeting
Women (and I THINK it was the entire female cast) attend an AA meeting. Mikey Day tries to join, but he is turned away as it is a women’s only meeting. Then Elordi shows up.
And guess what? They let him join.
You know why? Turns out, he’s hot. I don’t know if this has been pointed out.
Anyway, we still have the “Please Don’t Destroy” video any minute now!
Acting Class
Yang teaches an acting class, and has a special treat for his students. A working actor (played by Elordi) shows up to answer questions.
It turns out he has had no trouble with auditions, rejections, or having to wait for his big breaks. Why, you may well ask?
It appears - dear friends - that the answer is he is, in fact, hot. Enough already. Put on the “Please Don’t Destroy” video. Time’s a wasting. But, Rachel McAdams cameos as an acting student who looks like, well, Rachel McAdams.
(McAdams was mainly there to introduce a song by Renee Rapp, since both of them have played Queen Bee Regina George in versions of Mean Girls).
Garret From Hinge: Wedding
Yang reprises his wacky 11:55 Garrett from Hinge character to crash a wedding (Elordi and Chloe Troast). Don’t worry about the setup, the sketch is an excuse for Yang to monologue in a mirror, and for the cast to do Family Guy impressions. it’s actually funnier than it sounds like and is a great final sketch piece.
Final sketch? Did I say final sketch? But that means there’s no…..OH MAN.
The Goodbye Wave
Best Sketch: Alaska Airlines
There were some solid jokes here, and the piece was well done. A funny use of a near tragedy handled well. Most week’s this would not have been in the running, however.
Worst Sketch: There were a lot of options here. I’m going with the Women’s AA meeting, simply because it was the most egregious sketch of the night to use Elordi’s hotness as a punchline. By this point, the bit was getting as gross as any scene in Saltburn. Even that one.
Overall, Elordi just didn’t have the chops to carry this middling episode. He wasn’t given great material, and he seemed kind of - I don’t know - bored by the proceedings. It’s stunning how his film charisma did not translate to TV charisma at all.
Random Notes:
- Renee Rapp’s first number “Snow Angel” had her in what looked like cosplay of Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb. Her second number (“Not My Fault”) was introduced by Rachel McAdams and included a surprise appearance by Megan Thee Stallion (who was hiding in a cake!)
- Lorne (we are on a first name basis in my mind), do not make promises you cannot keep. We were told there would be a “Please Don’t Destroy” video, and there was not. Considering the break and the fact that the boys didn’t appear in episodes leading up to it, this was an egregious cut. Any - and I mean any - other sketch could have been cut this week to make time for a video. This aggression will not stand, man.
- We had two Regina George’s show up, how did we not get a Tina Fey pop in, particularly in light of the current theatrical release of Mean Girls (the movie based on the musical based on the movie)? Seems like that would have made sense, particularly in light of recent rumors that Fey could be Lorne’s heir apparent. Although, Lorne leaving SNL is bound to lead to a whole Succession scenario. I don’t know who Fey is in this situation.
By and large this was a flat episode that visited the same well repeatedly. There just wasn’t a lot of energy here, and Elordi’s strength clearly does not lie in sketch comedy.
That’s not to say he’s not a good actor. And, it is certainly not to say he is not hot. I am told - by this week’s show - that he most certainly is.
Grade: C-
As always, we grade SNL episodes in comparison to other SNL episodes. Not TV in general.
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