A few weeks after Larry David and Melissa McCarthy hosted two of the best episodes of the season, Jonah Hill made his fourth hosting appearance on Saturday Night Live last night with musical guest Future. And although Hill is always a pretty good host (even when he has nothing to promote but his appearance in the Hail Caesar! trailer), this episode was largely a laughless mess—not the nadir that was Donald Trump's episode, but likely the second or third worst episode of the season.
Just because most of the sketches didn't really work—and even the ones that did came with baggage attached—doesn't mean there weren't some funny individual performances and moments. Weekend Update was the best part of the evening: Colin Jost and Michael Che seem to have finally found a looser rhythm and style that suits them and their chemistry, Cecily Strong brought back Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started A Conversation With At A Party, and Kate McKinnon was just wonderful as 110-year-old woman Flossie Dickey. And to top it off, Jay Pharaoh saved the best for last, throwing out about 10 flawless impressions of black comedians in quick succession.
Then there were two solid-if-unspectacular political sketches (as keeping with SNL's general blah-ness this season with political humor, outside of any Larry David/Bernie Sanders appearances): the Cold Open (which was a basic summary of the week's big political events, highlighted by Jason Sudeikis returning as Mitt Romney, and Bobby Moynihan's defeated Chris Christie), and the Racists For Trump ad (which was very good...except then you remember that SNL gave Trump airtime for sketches about how great he would be as president, and suddenly their critiques feel pretty hollow).
Other than that though...the Monologue was extremely disjointed (with Hill jumping from some "audience questions" to performing "Jumpman" with Future), The Champ was an attempt at a surreal digital short that never took off, and Inside SoCal was unfortunately one of the weaker entries of the recurring bit (though it was nice to see a bit more Kyle Mooney this week than previous episodes this season). Murder Mystery and Fond du Lac Action News were only as funny as the accents, and School Auction was probably one of the worst sketches of the season.
But everybody has an off-week! Click through to check all that out, plus 2.5 performances from Future. We're back next week with Ariana Grande pulling double duty as host and musical guest so...that'll be something, indeed.
