Posted in: NBC, Opinion, Peacock, TV, TV | Tagged: nbc, opinion, Review, saturday night live, season 49, snl

SNL Distractions Undercut Efforts; Ayo Edebiri, J.Lo Deserved Better

Host Ayo Edebiri, musical guest Jennifer Lopez & SNL's writers/cast shouldn't have had to compete with distractions outside of their control.

I went into this weekend's edition of NBC's Saturday Night Live ready to review it – pretty much my game plan every time there's a new SNL. Unfortunately, SNL proved to be its own worst enemy – with host Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), musical guest Jennifer Lopez, and the SNL team paying the price for it. Just so there's no mistake, Edebiri is a comedic gem with a ton of potential when it comes to the characters she can play – from the conversational humor of her monologue to over-the-top comedy ("School Hypnotist" was a big highlight). "Dune Popcorn Bucket" was timely, twisted, and on-point, and Sarah Sherman as Colin Jost's son CJ Rossitano was another classic in Sherman's not-so-secret mission to break Jost. Musically, Lopez killed it during "Can't Get Enough" – with Latto & REDMAN offering serious support. But everything else was overshadowed by things that took away from the show – and that's the problem.

While their focus should've been on the show, viewers found themselves jumping on social media to rage about GOP POTUS candidate Nikki Haley appearing during the cold open, fired ex-SNL cast member Shane Gillis being welcomed back to host later this month, and Edebiri addressing her Lopez/podcast controversy during a sketch. Edebiri, Lopez, and the SNL cast & writers deserved better from SNL EP Lorne Michaels.

Nikki Haley Gets Free Airtime in "CNN Town Hall South Carolina" Cold Open: Anyone remember when SNL used to wear its political beliefs on its sleeve, like during the first season when the show had President Gerald Ford's press secretary, Ron Neesen, as a host – when the writers used Neesen to pretty much help torpedo Ford's election chances? Last night's "CNN Town Hall South Carolina" Cold Open was a harsh reminder that these aren't those days anymore. Apparently, today's SNL is adopting more of a "Michael Jordan" approach to things – because even right-wing Republicans like to laugh, too… right? At least, that's what I'm told.

In a sketch that saw CNN's King Charles hosts Gayle King (Punkie Johnson) and Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson) host a town hall for Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson), Haley made a guest appearance as a "concerned South Carolina voter" to get into some awkward back-and-forths with "Trump" that left me feeling like her campaign had used & abused SNL to get what it wanted – their candidate looking a little more human. One shining moment was Edebiri bringing up Haley's Civil War/slavery controversy, and – even though there's no way she didn't know it was coming – the GOP second-placer still didn't seem comfortable with her answer before she got to.

Edebiri Addresses Her 2020 Podcast Comments About Lopez: In a clip from a 2020 podcast released by TMZ heading into the weekend, Edebiri and Scam Goddess host Laci Mosley addressed what they believed to be a "scam" – Lopez's singing career. Along with getting into an exchange over how Lopez was able to convince a lot of folks that she could sing when she couldn't, the duo discussed how they believed that Lopez had even convinced herself that she could sing. In addition, Edebiri alluded to rumblings about Lopez's in-studio work and questions surrounding whether or not "ghost singers" were ever used during Lopez's recording career. Let's just say it's not the best "icebreaker" for an SNL host & musical guest to have.

Well, the matter was addressed in "Why'd You Say It?" – a sketch that sees Kenan Thompson's game show host confront contestants about their social media posts to get them to explain why they posted what they did. "Okay. We get it. It's wrong to leave mean comments, or post comments just for clout, or run your mouth on a podcast, and you don't consider the impact because you're 24 and stupid. But I think I speak for everyone when I say from now on, we're going to be a lot more thoughtful about what we post online," was a response that Edebiri's character gave at one point – clearly referencing the controversy. When it comes to Edebiri's comments, I get it from the standpoint that she probably never expected to find herself in the same room as Lopez anytime soon. That said, you need to own it more at age 24 – especially after hearing some clips. That said, SNL bigwigs shoulder the majority of the blame for waiting until the show to address the matter – it would've been better to defuse the situation ahead of time.

Shane Gillis: Fired in 2019 – Hosting in 2024? Last night, we learned that SNL will be taking a few weeks off – returning on February 24th with host Gillis and musical guest 21 Savage. If Gillis' name sounds familiar, that's because the comedian was originally tapped to join SNL back in 2019 – alongside Bowen Yang & Chloe Fineman. But the long-running sketch comedy & music series would soon part ways with the newly-announced cast member only days after recordings of racist, sexist, and homophobic comments surfaced – part of a YouTube channel called Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast.

"After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL. We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as a comedian and his impressive audition for SNL," shared a spokesperson for SNL creator Lorne Michaels regarding the decision at the time. "We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days The language he used is offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier and that our vetting process was not up to our standard."

Now, a little more than four years later, Gillis will be back on the SNL stage as host – and that's already raising a number of questions regarding what's changed between Gillis and SNL/Michaels over that time. In one of the segments from a more extensive September 2018 YouTube post (which was removed), Gillis says to co-host & comedian Matt McCusker, "Chinatown's f***ing nuts. Let the f***ing ch**ks live there." Later in that same video post, Gillis has this to say about his experiences at Chinese restaurants: "The translation between you and the waiter is such a f—ing hassle, I'm pointing at it." Gillis then appears to attempt to differentiate their discussion by calling it "nice racism, good racism." Gillis would respond to the controversy by offering to apologize to anyone "who's actually offended by anything" and stating that to be "the best comedian" he can be, he must be someone who "pushes boundaries" and "takes risks."

Saturday Night Live Season 49: Ayo Edebiri/Jennifer Lopez

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Review by Ray Flook

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7/10

I went into this weekend's edition of NBC's Saturday Night Live ready to review it - pretty much my game plan every time there's a new SNL. Unfortunately, SNL proved to be its own worst enemy - with host Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), musical guest Jennifer Lopez, and the SNL team paying the price for it. Just so there's no mistake, Edebiri is a comedic gem with a ton of potential when it comes to the characters she can play - from the conversational humor of her monologue to over-the-top comedy ("School Hypnotist" was a big highlight). "Dune Popcorn Bucket" was timely, twisted, and on-point, and Sarah Sherman as Colin Jost's son CJ Rossitano was another classic in Sherman's not-so-secret mission to break Jost. Musically, Lopez killed it during "Can't Get Enough" - with Latto & REDMAN offering serious support. But everything else was overshadowed by things that took away from the show - and that's the problem.

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