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Posted in: NBC, Peacock, Review, TV | Tagged: saturday night live, snl
SNL Team, Bill Burr Trade Mourning for Mocking in Much-Needed Effort
With Bill Burr hosting and Mk.gee as the musical guest, SNL nailed the post-election show - beginning with a much-needed opening message.
After last Tuesday's election results, one thing was clear. A whole lot of U.S. voters told Democracy, "It's you, not us," and hopped right into bed with fascism. With the real nightmare officially getting underway after what we're assuming will be a Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan-fronted inaugural shindig in January, a whole lot of folks (myself included) were wondering how NBC's Saturday Night Live would respond this weekend (with host Bill Burr and the amazing Mk.gee as the musical guest). Would the cold open end up being a sad, depressing televised wake? Would SNL start shifting away from Trump and his ilk being satirical targets? Based on the cold open, it appears SNL isn't looking to change how it's doing things anytime soon – and with Burr and Mk.gee in top form, SNL gave me exactly the show I needed at this point (mileage may vary). Here's a rundown of what went down…
The "SNL for Trump" Cold Open kicked off with Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, and Kenan Thompson in an understandably serious mode as they began making a statement about all of the offenses that Trump has gotten away with over the year – before being joined by Marcello Hernandez, Sarah Sherman, and Colin Jost (who made sure to throw Michael Che under the bus) to "pledge their allegiance" to Trump (and make example out of featured cast members Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim, and Jane Wickline).
It was the perfect snarky "Fuck You" to anyone who thinks the long-running late-night sketch comedy and music series would be rolling over anytime soon. Bonus points go to James Austin Johnson for his "Sexy Trump" and to Dana Carvey, who looked like he time-traveled back to his original run with his take on Elon Musk.
By the time Burr wrapped his opening monologue, I could tell that it was definitely going to get a wide range of reactions on social. It did. Much like his 2020 monologue, there was a lot I liked about Burr's monologue on Saturday night. That's not to say that there weren't cringe moments – the "joke" aimed at feminists was an unoriginal cheap shot that felt out of place with the rest of Burr's run. But there was also some heavy, brutal "reality sarcasm" being dropped by Burr that's being written off at face value, which isn't fair, and those labeling Burr as "another Trump comedian" clearly didn't listen to the entire monologue.
Referring to Trump as "the orange bigot," Burr went on to call him "a lunatic" and "not a sane human being" – adding this about the attempted assassination attempt on Trump: "I think the number one reason Trump survived is he's got all those herky-jerky movements he does." Again, there was a whole lot to like about Burr's opening – and while I can understand that some parts of it may not have hit too well with some, it worked as a follow-up to the cold open.
SNL 50: Bill Burr/Mk.gee – Some Quick Sketch Thoughts
"Rorschach Test" saw four firefighters (Burr, Hernández, Wakim, and Andrew Dismukes) taking a psychological test, with Burr doing a great job as the one who is definitely seeing much more than "butterfly" and "two people kissing" (and a lot of viewers having their animation fetish fed into). While "Sex Rock CD" does a great job of noting the confusing sexuality going on in and around the 80s hair metal band universe, it's all of the fun that Sherman, Dismukes, and Johnson are having as fictional band Snake Skin that steals the sketch (yes, we need an actual "lost album" of theirs to be unearthed). "The Janitor" was an excellent showcase for Michael Longfellow, as we get a look at a "Good Will Hunting" situation from the custodial perspective.
"Calling Dad" saw two friends (Dismukes and Devon Walker) calling their dads (Burr, Thompson) in an effort to connect. It was a nice effort, but it didn't hit enough on either a comedic or emotional level. And since we're talking about sketches that didn't quite work for me, "Trauma Support Group" was surprisingly disappointing considering the lineup (Burr, Johnson, Yang, Wickline, Padilla, and Wakim), but it felt like it was being made up as it went along and left me feeling annoyed for some reason.
But the "Buffalo Wild Wings" filmed sketch was killer, showing the difference between NFL fans and real Patriots fan Sean (Burr) in a commercial for the popular wings restaurant chain. I've rewatched it twice, with the beatdown between Sean and his son (Mikey Day) the biggest highlight for all of the wonderfully wrong (yet still hysterical) reasons. Day and Sherman helped set up "Bald Guys" nicely, and based on social media reactions shortly after, it seems like a lot of bald guys out there feel seen – and have a new theme song. In my previous life, I used to have to attend office dinner parties, holiday parties, and other corporate-forced socializing. With that PTSD still in play, "I Got One" hit home because there are so many people at those things who are exactly like Padilla's character. They're funny, goddammit – and they're going to keep being funny until you find them funny, too.
Of course, we're not going to forget "Weekend Update," with Thompson's Willie (Che's now no longer neighbor) trying to find the bright side of everything – including the recent election results. Nwodim's Woman Who Can't Find Something in Her Purse checked in with Jost to offer some advice on active listening. Thompson and Nwodim are SNL gold, and these segments just added to that fact. But WU was all about Jost and Che this week, with the duo playing "good anchor/bad anchor" this week. While Jost went with the news-focused satirical knife-twisting, Che drank while calling out some brutal truths about how things went down with the election – and that back-and-forth worked perfectly.
Saturday Night Live Season 50 Episode 6: Bill Burr & Mk.gee
8.5/10
After last Tuesday's election results, one thing was clear. A whole lot of U.S. voters told Democracy, "It's you, not us," and hopped right into bed with fascism. With the real nightmare officially getting underway after what we're assuming will be a Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan-fronted inaugural shindig in January, a whole lot of folks (myself included) were wondering how NBC's Saturday Night Live would respond this weekend (with host Bill Burr and the amazing Mk.gee as the musical guest). Would the cold open end up being a sad, depressing televised wake? Would SNL start shifting away from Trump and his ilk being satirical targets? Based on the cold open, it appears SNL isn't looking to change how it's doing things anytime soon - and with Burr and Mk.gee in top form, SNL gave me exactly the show I needed at this point (mileage may vary). Here's a rundown of what went down...
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