After three good episodes in a row—well, one very good episode and two above average-by-recent-season-standards ones—it seemed as if Saturday Night Live might finally be finding a groove in this transitionary 39th season. While the many new cast member have indeed started making impressions and distinguishing themselves from one another as the season has worn on, last night's episode with host Seth Rogen was a magnificently decent affair.
The fact the first half of the episode was markedly better than the second says it all—if you've been reading these reviews at all this season, you probably know by now that I prefer when the SNL writers embrace their most surreal, weird tendencies. Those sketches—the ones that are often prime contenders for the anything goes 10-to-1 slot—have been coming more and more this season in the second half of the show, post-Weekend Update. Generally speaking, even when they don't quite work, the results are far more interesting when someone has Darth Vader stuck up their butt than when there's a pitiful attempt at political commentary (see: every cold open this season).
On that point: the first half of the show was better than the second half assuming you started at the Monologue. Last night's cold open—in which Republicans headed to Coachella and nothing funny happened—was so bad, it got me wondering when was the last time the show had a decent cold open. Was it Tina Fey as Sarah Palin back in 2008? Has there been a single redeeming (or just...memorable) cold open since then? The cold open is usually the show's chance to weigh in on some major political or social topic of the day, but they're starting to feel like milquetoast versions of Aaron Sorkin's conception of political humor. Has it always been like this, or has there been such a shift in political humor over the last decade (and a wellspring of creative comedians working in that field) that SNL no longer has a meaningful voice on these topics?
But on to the good stuff! Despite my gripes, there were a few fantastic sketches that speak to what this cast and group of writers CAN do well. The two must-watch highlights were Monster Pals, the spiritual sequel to last season's highlight Sad Rat (Monster Pals was written by Mike O'Brien and Tim Robinson, who seem to be two of the best "weird" SNL writers); and Blue River Dog Food, which took several unexpected twists and turns and was stolen by Cecily Strong.
Also good: Rogen had a solid Monologue (Taylor Swift maybe stole it with one line though: "Whenever a man shows emotion, that’s when I appear!"), and had great chemistry with the cast, especially Aidy Bryant in the otherwise so-so Dinner Party sketch (Bryant deserves an award for always being great, especially with physical comedy, even in the least developed sketches).
The return of Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy was also a major highlight, and a good sign for Strong at Weekend Update—we haven't had too many chances to see Strong interact with guests, and she seemed to have a different comedic rapport with Jacob than Seth Meyers. However, Colin Jost continues to underwhelm us; we know he's only been behind the desk for five episodes now, but his only notable personality trait thus far has been his affinity for the "do a poor job of stifling self-congratulatory smile after joke" mugging.
The rest of the episode was hit-and-miss, with the CNN Pregnancy Test and Herman And Sons Sperm Bank both solid enough. Undercover Sharpton was a great idea that just wasn't that funny; Engagement Party didn't work at all; and A Very Smokey 420 Time was a big step back for the Kyle Mooney/Beck Bennett digital short team after last week's Flirting sketch.
Click through for all those sketches plus the return of Shallon, David Ortiz on Weekend Update, surprise appearances from Swift, James Franco, and Zooey Deschanel, and music from Ed Sheeran. Andrew Garfield will be host of the next new episode on May 3rd with musical guest Coldplay.
