SNL After Party (S48 E14 - Air Date 3/4/23)

Host: Travis Kelce
Musical Guest: Kelsea Ballerini

SNL episodes hosted by athletes can go one of two ways. They are either great or terrible. Did Super Bowl championship Kansas City Chief’s tight end score a touchdown, or was the episode as bad as that holding call from the big game?

 Fortunately, he scored and proved to be likeable while also having comedy chops to an extent he did not even need any help from the official!

Cold Open – Fox & Friends

This was the fairly standard Fox & Friends setup piece that focused on the Dominion lawsuit, veered into the Murdaugh conviction, and was peppered with guest bits by James Austin “Why Am I Still A Featured Player” Johnson as MyPillow exec Mike Lindell (and his wife Pillowmina!) and Kenan Thompson as O.J. Simpson because, well, why not? 

This was a fairly funny opening , but nothing too exciting.

Monologue

Travis Kelce was probably not as funny as that weird suit he was wearing (two lapel and an extra sleeve. What is this nonsense?).  But, he was charming and self-effacing.  Also, good use of his brother, Jason who played as center for the Eagles who faced the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. 

While I wouldn’t say the monologue was hilarious, it set a very comfortable and encouraging tone for the show – funnier than expected and Kelce was just so likeable.

American Girl Café

Kelce is a single adult man at an American Girl Café at lunch with his two dolls. The creepiness and absurdity is played up very well, and only got better when Kelce’s dolls started to flirt with Kenan’s son’s doll. Mikey Day did his Mikey Dayest as the slightly flustered waiter who has concerns.

As could be said repeatedly throughout the night (and, indeed as I already have said here), Kelce was surprising funny here. He actually – heaven forbid – seemed to be acting and doing it well! 

Hopes are high at this point.

Please Don’t Destroy Video

Man, these guys just can do no wrong. The boys are being disrespected by interns, so they decide to take an assertiveness class from Curt Lightening (Kelce). After a series of beatings (of the gang and an elderly woman), it appears they have earned the respect they deserve.

And then they put the punctuation mark on the sketch, and man does it work. Great stuff!

Mama’s Funeral

Ego Nwodim does a Weekend at Bernie’s stint as a deceased grandmother whose late in life paramour (Kelce) eulogizes her. Some funny lines here and there (particularly from Kenan calling Kelce “Vanillasauras Rex”), and generally silly. But it has absolutely no ending and felt a little meh overall.  It also felt like there were some weird technical pacing issues.

Straight Male Friend

Bowen Yang leads this taped commercial bit promoting the benefits of having a straight male friend for those times when you just don’t need drama. Kelce was great as the deadpan friend. This was a very solid and funny bit that was well written and executed.

Abby, the Ex Girlfriend

Well, it can’t all be wine and roses, alas. This sketch featured Heidi Gardner running into her ex (Kelce) at a bar. Then she cries a lot via tubing in her hair. It’s like when they do that thing with blood or puke. But it’s tears. There’s not much to this, and although Heidi did make some pretty funny faces, it was clearly just an excuse to have water shooting everywhere. I hope this doesn’t become a thing.

Weekend Update
The jokes were firing on all cylinders this week.

Sadly, my home state – Tennessee – got raked over the coals for recent anti-drag legislation. It’s not comforting to see us as a national punchline.

There was a lot of Dilbert material due to Scott Adams’ recent loss of his syndication deal due to a racist rant. A joke to the effect of Dilbert being replaced by a Peanuts “Oops, All Franklin” strip triggered a cough inducing laugh at my house.

Unfortunately, Michael Longfellow as Dilbert didn’t land. I am normally a fan of intentional anti-comedy (just ask anyone who has ever seen me do stand-up), but this bit just did not connect.

Mikey Day and Punkie Johnson were loose and relaxed as they did a bit on how Punkie does not know any celebrity names. It was endearing.

And then there’s Sarah Sherman. She did a birthday version of “Sarah News,” which is generally hilarious over the top insults of Colin. This edition did not disappoint as she repeatedly accused him of monitoring the female cast members eating habits, being an anti-semite, and being overly fond of quinceanares. Sarah is just a delight.

The Family Meeting Song

Well, I don’t know. Ego and JA gather their kids to explain the status of their relationship…through song. Everyone performs gamely, but there’s not a ton of comedy meat on this bone, and they certainly had no idea as to how to end it. This wasn’t a disaster, but felt like a time filler.

Garret From Hinge

Bowen had a pretty great week. Here, Bowen shows up at Heidi’s apartment after she stood him up on a Hinge date so she could hook up with Kelce. This sketch was not really all that good, but Bowen and Heidi seemed to have fun with it. Bowen was particularly funny in his monlogues in the bathroom mirror, along with his comment about Kelce being a Hemsworth brother he didn’t know existed. This absurd little piece felt like the last sketch of the night, but was not.

Too Hot To Handle     

Unfortunately, this was this last sketch of the night. It was a dating show bit that allowed everyone – mainly Chloe FIneman – to do intentionally bad accents. And, while Chloe gobbled up the scenery very well, there wasn’t a lot to this. There was really not a lot to heighten, and this thing kind of just fizzled out.

The Goodbye Wave

Best Sketch: Tough call here. I’m going to go with Straight Male Friend, but only because I don’t want to give a Please Don’t Destroy segment the title two weeks in a row.

Worst Sketch: Abby Tte Ex. I hope we don’t run into this bit again.

Random Notes:

Unless I am misreading my own notes – which is possible due to my terrible handwriting – Kelce was in every sketch (other than the cold open and Update) and appeared in both taped segments. 

He did solid work, and the show was overall a fun one. I was pleasantly surprised by this episode.

 As for musical guest, Kelsea Ballerini, I have honestly never heard of her before (but I am old and this is true most weeks these days). My wife described her by saying, “She’s just like every other blonde girl singer. Just without personality.”

 That said, we agreed she was perfectly okay.

 So, while this episode wouldn’t win the Lombardi, it was entertaining and fun, and blasted past all expectations.  It was as chill and comfortable as hanging out with your Straight Male Friend.

Grade: B+