‘Saturday Night Live’ review: Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump, ‘Go Cubs Go,’ Church Lady, and Benedict Cumberbatch (videos)
Tonight marks the final “Saturday Night Live” episode before the election, and with that comes along with it an opportunity to see if the show decides to travel down a familiar road once more: An opening that revives Alec Baldwin and his famed portrayal of Donald Trump. It’s brought the show huge attention and ratings so far, but given that there was no major Trump scandal over the past few days and no debate, we figured that this would force the writers to get a little bit more creative.
So what did they come up with? Well, let’s just say that they went the CNN route. Through the lens of “Erin Burnett Outfront,” we saw what was practically a debate sketch in his own right given that the show was basically putting up Baldwin and Kate McKinnon as Hillary on a split-screen. The game of this sketch was that no matter what Trump said, all Burnett wanted to focus on was Clinton and her emails. This was obviously slanted in a specific direction, but we don’t really mind that for the most part so long as it is funny. Seeing Trump kiss Vladimir Putin, an FBI agent, and then someone in the KKK was funny. We’re sure that some won’t like this one, though, given that this was probably the most political opening that the show has done.
In the end, though, we’re probably happy to be moving past the election soon. Baldwin and McKinnon were both tremendous in the role, but it’s starting to run its course. The good news is that this one ended on an odd, surreal, but somewhat happy note as the two actors broke character and after decided to take off into the streets of New York to cheer themselves up. That’s really the perfect message after a super-depressing election cycle.
Be sure to check back throughout the night, as we’re going to have our take on every sketch the rest of the way!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxH6bKNPBIA
Benedict Cumberbatch monologue – Oh look, it’s an opening monologue featuring the host singing. We admire Benedict for going there and even mentioning the name that his fans have coined for themselves. Yet, we’d say that that this was more silly than funny. There’s nothing in here that we will really have a desire to watch again.
The KoohlToilet – Once again, we think someone probably drew this up thinking that the idea of a toilet for “cool” people would be a hilarious concept that people would get on board with rather quickly. Unfortunately, it’s too bad that it really didn’t land. The best thing about it was probably the initial gag of Benedict sitting on the toilet wearing shades, and from there it never quite went anywhere else.
Why is Benedict Cumberbatch Hot? – This was a completely random game show hosted by Beck Bennett that was all about the familiar subject that we’ve heard so much about on the internet. What was great about this sketch was the concept. However, we cannot exactly say that too much after that really did a whole lot when it comes to entertainment beyond just a few laughs. There wasn’t really a good way to get out of this either.
The return of Chad – We last saw this Pete Davidson character during the Julia Louis-Dreyfus show from last season, as he was a pool boy who she poured her heart out to while he just kind of sat there and said almost nothing. When we knew the whole game of this sketch in advance, there’s not nearly as much to be excited about when we actually see it. The first version was far funnier, even if Benedict did the best he could with the material.
Bachelorette Party -This was basically “Weekend At Bernie’s” but with a different setting — and that apparently nobody realized that Aidy Bryant’s character was actually dead. She was the real star of this sketch, mostly because of her superb ability to be able to keep it together even in the midst of one of the most ridiculous sketches we’ve ever seen. Benedict and Mikey Day danced all over her, Cumberbatch ate a cherry out of her mouth, and even the Chicago Cubs turned up at the end — or at least a few of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LrNmJB-G9c
Weekend Update – We did start off with some further reflection on the Presidential election, with the best joke being Michael Che coming out and saying that punishing Hillary for emails while voting for Trump is like losing a job because of pot in favor of a “crackhead.” Then, we brought out Dana Carvey as Church Lady! Glorious. The character brought a new energy to “Weekend Update,” and while this was great, it’ll probably be overshadowed in memory by the appearance once more of the Cubs players along with Bill Murray for a performance of the anthem “Go Cubs Go.” Someone at “SNL” is clearly a HUGE Cubs fan, no?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5JK-en8kW8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YreZRQupCYk
Fancy dinner – Cumberbatch was back here in the role of a rock-star illusionist and his date (Strong) who apparently knew Kenan Thompson’s normal-guy character from a body-praising workshop. We’ve seen variations of this all season, where the crazy characters do crazy things while the normal people are eventually won over by them. There were some moderate laughs in here thanks to the magic trick and Cecily’s singing, but nothing revolutionary.
Spy game – Benedict played here a criminal mastermind who apparently loved to use a strange voice and do riddles, but had a completely different personality when he was off the show. Most of the sketches tonight had at least some redeeming quality; this was a clear miss.
Meeting Mr. Shaw – This was almost like Baby Boss, with the main difference being that Baby Boss was actually a bald eagle wearing a suit. This was … stupid, and a strange way to end the night. What else is there to say?
Overall – We love Benedict, and we really wanted to love this show. However, there was no “Sherlock” spoof, no “Doctor Strange” sketch, and many of the ideas tonight were smart on paper but poor in execution. Probably the most disappointing outing of the season. Grade: C+.
For more news and highlights from all things “Saturday Night Live,” head over to this link! We’ll be back at the same time next week to chronicle the Dave Chappelle episode. (Photo: NBC.)