‘Saturday Night Live’ review: Louis CK’s monologue, Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton, more (videos)
Tonight was the finale of “Saturday Night Live,” and the show wasted almost no time bringing out its first impression of the night: Kate McKinnon’s hilarious impersonation of Hillary Clinton. While Amy Poehler will always be our favorite Hillary, her interruption of a fun summer party was all sort of silly fun. The whole premise here was that Hillary was trying to desperately campaign to a variety of different demographics, including young people, to varying degree of success.
Also, what made this work even better was that it got progressively sillier as time went on, and eventually led to Hillary courting cyclists and then ultimately “kids” (Pete Davidson and Aidy Bryant). Also, a great cameo from Darrell Hammond, who still seems game to play this character.
Now, onto the other sketches of the finale!
Louis CK monologue – To say that this will be controversial is an understatement if there ever was one. The man joked about “mild” racism, Palestine, and molestation within the span of a few minutes. We’re surprised that he got it on network TV, and some people are going to definitely be offended. Still, we feel like comedy should never be censored, and there were some genuine laughs in here if you interpret the humor in the way he intended.
The cobbler and the elves – What in the world was this? It was so strange, and felt almost like a 12:55 sketch an hour and five minutes too early. Also strange? Having a phone number so that the audience can “choose” their desired ending. They never actually went back to it.
Sprint store – A really good payoff here, mostly because it involved Louis trying to talk like Leslie Jones’ character to keep himself from getting fired after she thought he was mocking her … but she eventually tricked him into admitting it. A simple payoff amplified by great performances.
Lumberjack ad – So random to feature Louie as a lumberjack desperate for recognition for his work; yet, so hilarious. It came back later during a bookstore-themed sketch, as well.
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Weekend Update – A very funny edition of the sketch this week, anchored mostly by the return of Pete Davidson and also Riblet, who trolled Michael Che once again in a way that only Bobby Moynihan could. The biggest flaw of the night interestingly was Taran Killam, who bungled some of his lines as Tom Brady.
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Vacay – Cecily Strong’s character grew on us a little of a British starlet desperate for attention, while CK played a perverted guy who refused to let another couple have any alone time at their cabana. Still, the weakest sketch of the night.
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Police lineup – It wasn’t hysterically funny, but we’re surprised the show hasn’t gone with the premise before of a police lineup full of aspiring stage performers who think they are auditioning more so than getting identified as a suspect.
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Forgotten TV gems – Another edgy sketch late at night! We also like Kenan Thompson in this role selling the sketch, which was for the most part all about “Whoops! I Married a Lesbian.” It every bit as offensive and bizarre as you probably would assume.
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In the end, this was a solid episode. We laughed a lot, but given that this is the finale, we probably expected a little more star power and overall “wow” moments. Grade: B-.
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