SNL After Party (S50 E8Air Date 12/07/24) - "Brava to the Edge Lord!"
Host: Paul Mescal
Musical Guest: Shaboozey
Can a serious Irish actor bring the comedy goods to 30 Rock?
Let’s see what the crowd is saying at the SNL After Party!
Cold Open
I am now seriously wondering if they just can’t get Dana Carvey to leave.
This week’s cold open doesn’t have him as Joe Biden. Instead, it now has him reviving Church Chat.
Although Carvey has now actually aged into the role of Church Lady, the sketch falls flat, and clearly does not resonate with the studio audience. Presumably many members of the crowd were not alive when Church Chat was an overplayed staple on the show.
In this episode, Church Lady interviews Sarah Sherman’s Matt Gaetz (“It looks like your forehead is trying to go to Heaven without you”), David Spade as a listless Hunter Biden (“Pardon me….”), and baseball player Juan Soto (Marcello Hernandez).
Church Lady’s echoing declaration of “Satan!” doesn’t have the power it once did. And, in point of fact, the bit wore out its welcome long before Carvey left SNL in 1993.
As for these weird 90’s cast cameos, my wife pointed out “You’re not going to catch Bill Murray doing this.”
Overall, if asked if the cold open was special, the answer would have to be no.
Monologue
Gladiator II star Paul Mescal addressed the obvious issue of why a serious actor was hosting SNL. He had a clip reel of his supposed funny work, which was just a montage of him crying and punching walls. This was amusing.
The Irish actor then addressed some stereotypes his people face. He said the Irish don’t hate the British, “We just don’t consider them people".”
He also stated the Irish are not upset by the logo of the Fighting Irish, pointing out his local school had an equivalent American mascot . Watch the clip. It’s a solid laugh.
Okay, so maybe this episode won’t be so bad after all….
Earring
Mescal is home visiting his parents (Heidi Gardner and Emil Wakim), when they notice he has an earring.
They do not take it well, and they go increasingly over the top in expressing their displeasure. At one point Gardner says “You think we’re homophobic, your dad’s been gay for 15 years.”
The sketch culminates when Gardner hangs a spatula from her ear (asking if she can come to the ketamine party), and then tossing grandma out the window.
Gardner and Wakim really shine in this sketch as they both heighten emotions and reactions. It feels like a vaguely on edge sketch that really works.
Gladiator II Trailer
This pre-taped segment shows a reworking of Gladiator II to cash in on the success of Wicked and Moana 2. It is now a musical.
The trailer includes the musical number “There’s No Place Like Rome” led by Kenan Thompson. Jane Wickline has a song as the wife destined to be murdered, and Mikey Day is the emperor who raps in a piece by Lin Manuel Miranda.
It’s not a gut buster, but it’s a solid, well made piece that does end with Mescal riding over ancient Rome on a broom.
And that’s pretty funny.
Italian Restaurant Commercial
Here, Mescal and Ashley Padilla are actors in a commercial for a local Italian restaurant. Mescal is and experienced actor, and this is Padilla’s first shoot.
During the first take, Padilla’s character flubs a line and says “pastabilities” instead of “possibilities”. But, the director (Day) likes it.
This annoys and threatens Mescal, who improvs ridiculous lines., such as “Spaghetti or not, here we come.”
It gets more ridiculous, and Mescal’s interactions with Padilla grow tenser.
The sketch ends with Kenan popping in as the owner of the restaurant (complete with ludicrous accent) who really likes Mescal’s lines, particularly “Spaghetti or not, we’re going to kill you.”
It’s a very silly and oddly funny sketch, and really shows Padilla’s long-term character possibilities.
Pasta la vista, baby. She’ll be back.
Please Don’t Destroy
The scamps are back! In this installment they are meeting with Mescal, and one of them off handedly says they love him. Mescal takes this the wrong way, and professes his actual love for them. This leads into an extended fantasy sequence in which Mescal takes them to a cabin in the woods and treats them as his children.
It escalates from them.
Good Please Don’t Destroy pieces are classes in the use of heightening, and this one is no exception.
I’ve missed these guys.
Pirates
In what I was afraid was about to be another Domingo sketch, a group of bachelorettes attend a pirate theme all male review.
When the show, “Treasure Guyland,” begins, Mescal leads a crew of pirates and doles out a lot of exposition about life in the golden age of piracy. The bachelorettes are not into it (except for Ego Nwodim, who really has a thing for that history apparently).
Following demands that the pirates take it off, Hernandez removes his shirt, only to show signs of scurvy and imminent death. He is immediately tossed overboard.
It goes like this until the women decide to leave. After they leave, of course the pirates are about to swab the deck in the nude.
This one was funnier than it had any right to be.
Weekend Update
This week’s update had a breezy ease to it that has seemed to be missing lately. Colin and Che seemed to be having fun, and the comedy didn’t feel like they were forcing offensiveness. Though Che did have a “It’s the 90’s” moment, that itself seemed like a half-hearted attempt at outrage.
There were jokes about the killing of the UHC CEO, noting that it’s weird that the two main take aways are “healthcare sucks and girl he hot”.
Hunter Biden’s pardon got a mention, as Colin noted that Biden indicated he will celebrate way less than he used to.
And there was only one desk bit. Gardner (having a strong week) appeared with Hernandez as a mom whose son just got famous. Gardner was spectacular as the mom really enjoying the benefits of a son signing with the NFL. Hernandez gave a strong assist as her dim bulb son. And, as a topper, the family was named Dookie. This lead to the juvenile jokes you’d expect.
By which I mean I laughed at them.
This was a fun Update with no major tanking.
Brilliant Lawyer
Well, this one happened.
Mescal is a criminal defendant. His lawyer - Dismukes - has a strategy for trial that involves dressing his client and 20 other men in ridiculous outfits (a DEVO hat, a green jacket, and a beard) in an attempt to confuse a witness (Sherman).
Neither Sherman nor the Judge (Bowen Yang) are confused or amused.
It just gets more ludicrous from there.
This is not a great sketch, but its silliness keeps it from being a bad one.
Spotify Wrapped
A group of friends (Dismukes, Mescal, Nwodim, and Sherman) reveal their Spotify Wrapped information. Mescal’s is dominated by an artist named Satoshi Gutman (Yang). His big hit, as shown in a video, is “Y’all Made Me Celibate”.
Gutman also has a podcast, with guest Trisha Paytas. Paytas is a social media star, whose podcast “Just Trish” has reportedly attracted over 30 million views.
The sketch is a mess, and ends with Gutman and Playtas arbitrarily showing up at the apartment with the friends.
I will confess I do not know Paytas’ work, but based on the reaction of the audience and my wife, she is a very big deal, and this was a cool cameo.
It was better than a semi-comatose David Spade, I must admit.
A Complete Unknown Red Carpet
Gardner asks vapid questions at the red carpet for the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown. '
Fineman is an energetic Timothee Chalamat, and Dismukes arguably doen’t even really try to imitate Bruce Springsteen. He tells a rambling story about how he grew up in a chocolate factory town and adds that “But of course, like all my stories, that’s not true.”
Mescal shows up as Bono. When asked if he had a Brat Summer, he says he did not, due to climate change.
But, James Austin Johnson’s Bob Dylan steals the sketch. It’s not a particularly great imitation, but it is a hilarious one. Johnson walks around like a weird little cartoon character and is very hungry.
He is very funny.
It’s a solid 11:50 sketch.
The Goodbye Wave
Best Sketch: I’m not even going to be coy. Please Don’t Destroy wins this week.
Worst Sketch: There were two contenders here. Spotify Unwrapped and the cold open. Both are victims of having cameos just for the sake of having cameos (I mean, why did you need David Spade as Hunter Biden?) But, I think Spotify Unwrapped edges out this win because it just felt so sloppy in execution. And some people may have been happy to see Church Lady again.
Why? I do not know.
Random Notes:
- It was a good week for the newbies. All three got real airtime and got to show off some character work. Padilla edged out Wakim for best, but both got to do characters that really showed off their potential.
- Country music star Shaboozey did two solid sets, and wore one ludicrously large bolo tie that had more turquoise on it that I have seen cumulatively since the 1970’s.
- The episode felt fast paced and did not really drag at any point. That’s a good thing!
- Kenan is sputtering towards what may be the end of his final season. (Of course, every season for the last several has supposedly been his last). Let this man go out with a Kristen Wiig style farewell. Don’t let him just fade out.
- Am I wrong, or is Heidi Gardner really stepping it up this season? Her character work has always been good, but she seems to be batting, I don’t know, .750 lately
After a two week break, the gang seemed more relaxed and put together a solid show. It had a fun feel to it that has been missing sometimes. Now that we are past the election, maybe taking a short breath let them chill for a bit.
We’ll see what happens in January.
Grade: B
As always, we grade SNL episodes in comparison to other SNL episodes. Not TV in general.
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