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Posted in: NBC, Peacock, TV | Tagged: saturday night live, snl
SNL Cast, Host Ryan Gosling Make For Okay Effort Undercut by Breaking
After last week's season-owning effort, SNL took a step backwards last night, with Ryan Gosling and the cast victims of too much breaking.
Article Summary
- Breaking plagued SNL with Ryan Gosling, distracting from sketches and lowering the show’s overall impact.
- Monologue and Cold Open felt off, with Harry Styles overshadowing and Trump missing from the mix.
- Weekend Update delivered sharp jokes, but the audience energy felt mismatched with the material.
- Standouts included the surreal “Otezla” ad and “Passing Notes” sabotage sketch with live, unrehearsed jokes.
The difference between last week's Connor Storrie-hosted show and this weekend's Ryan Gosling-hosted edition of NBC's Saturday Night Live is like the difference between being invited to a really cool party and being invited to watch a really cool party. A large part of that had to do with way too much breaking across the board last night. Aside from Jimmy Fallon, I've never had an issue with SNL cast members breaking over the seasons. It's a nice reminder that the cast can appreciate the humor in the moment, which enhances the sketch overall. For example, ex-cast member Heidi Gardner breaking during Season 49's "Beavis and Butt-Head" sketch helped elevate it to classic status. But this weekend's show saw Gosling and the cast breaking all over the place, especially in "Wedding Tradition" and "Cyclops" sketches, to the point where it took me out of the show and left me feeling like I was watching some very talented people put on a show more for themselves than anyone else. Considering it's been reported over the years that series creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels isn't a fan of breaking, I would be interested to know what he thought about the effort.
While there weren't any sketches that missed the mark this week, there were many missed moments that could've made them much better. As great as Colin Jost and Ashley Padilla were in the SNL Cold Open, it needed James Austin Johnson's Trump to really drive it home. The opening monologue suffered from the very thing that it was trying to have fun with: Harry Styles overshadowing the proceedings. He did, and it was done in a fawning way that has me concerned that we might have another "Jacob Elordi" show on our hands next week. Michael Che and Jost had a strong and hard-hitting "Weekend Update," but the audience vibe was off to the point where it felt like Che and Jost were dropping headline jokes just to spite them.
"Monty McTreats & The Pastry Bakery" felt like a lot of build-up (and some quality musical moments) for some rather light "shock" moments. At this point, when SNL serves us up something that is sugary sweet, we're expecting things to get really dark, really fast. In this case, we could see things taking a turn from a mile away, but when it did – eh. Martin Herlihy's "Lies" suffered from being too loud and too all-over-the-place at too late an hour. The sketch would've fared better before Gorillaz's first set; by the time we reached it ahead of the final bows, the only thing I could think was, "Why's Martin Herlihy yelling at me?" That said, there were to very different sketches that stood out to us:
"Otezla": It's the medication that works miracles for those suffering from plaque psoriasis. It's also an entity of unknown origin that can change its shape, can see the future and the past simultaneously, has played a major role in mankind's evolution, and may or may not be looking to create a collective hive mind across the planet. Oh, and there's a very good chance it actually feeds on plaque psoriasis. The best compliment that I can give the fake ad is that it reminded me of those creepy-great infomercials that Adult Swim used to air late at night – the ones that would have you laughing, then feeling creeped out, and then having more trouble getting to sleep than you expected.
"Passing Notes": During what we're calling a "sabotage sketch," Padilla and Gosling play a teacher and principal, respectively, speaking to a class (Mikey Day, Marcello Hernandez, and others) about bullying – but there's a huge twist. The notes Padilla and Gosling read on the air weren't the same ones they'd read during rehearsals, with a notice at the start of the sketch offering a heads-up. We're not saying this should be a regular thing (maybe drop it in randomly once or twice per season), but it was a fun twist on how SNL usually operates, and made for some great real-time reactions from Padilla and Gosling.
Saturday Night Live Season 51: Ryan Gosling & Gorillaz
7.5/10
The difference between last week's Connor Storrie-hosted show and this weekend's Ryan Gosling-hosted edition of NBC's Saturday Night Live is like the difference between being invited to a really cool party and being invited to watch a really cool party. A large part of that had to do with way too much breaking across the board last night. Aside from Jimmy Fallon, I've never had an issue with SNL cast members breaking over the seasons. It's a nice reminder that the cast can appreciate the humor in the moment, which enhances the sketch overall. For example, ex-cast member Heidi Gardner breaking during Season 49's "Beavis and Butt-Head" sketch helped elevate it to classic status. But this weekend's show saw Gosling and the cast breaking all over the place, especially in "Wedding Tradition" and "Cyclops" sketches, to the point where it took me out of the show and left me feeling like I was watching some very talented people put on a show more for themselves than anyone else.
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