Saturday Night Live review: Sean Spicer’s Easter Bunny, Kristen Stewart, Jared Kushner (videos)

Given the sheer amount of star power that Jimmy Fallon attracts, it was hard to tell who would open his edition of Saturday Night Live.

How about with Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump? We actually didn’t think that we were going to get this given that he just appeared on the show last week, but we got it! Not only that, but we also had Beck Bennett as the typical boring Mike Pence. It’s hard to come up with a take on a guy like Pence.

However, the show still does still have Steve Bannon! Not only that, but they also have Jimmy Fallon in to play Jared Kushner as a privileged boy-band member with a vest on over his suit. It was ridiculous, but also perfect when it comes to the character he’s been established as in the press.

Trump lined up Kushner and Bannon, and then decided that the next thing that he wanted to do was have an America’s Next Top Model elimination between the two. In the end, Trump picked … Kushner! Feels right given some recent highlights. Also, we loved the actual Grim Reaper coming to take away Bannon to what we assume to be the innermost circle of hell.

All in all, we have to say that this was a pretty good opening for the episode. It made us laugh consistently, and it was a new take on Trump.

For more, refresh the page as the episode goes on!

Jimmy Fallon opening – As a musical number, this was impressive. As a moment of great comedy, there wasn’t much to write home about here. It was mostly just Jimmy going up and having fun with a crowd of people. This is our concern for Jimmy given that he is very fun, but he’s also not as hilarious at times as we’d like.

Celebrity Family Feud – The idea of time-travel was an interesting way to frame this, especially since it gave us Liza Minnelli, Harry Styles as Mick Jagger, Kate McKinnon as Kristen Stewart, and Fallon playing TWO different editions of John Travolta, one from the seventies and one today. Pretty hilarious from start to finish.

Stage show – Much like the Fallon opening, this was a little too strange and experimental for our liking. While we did think that it was for the most part entertaining, it really did toe the line between funny and strange. We anticipate there are plenty of people out there who loved the staging and the cacophony. We are just not one of them.

 

Dating – Everyone loves an awkward date, right? Well, this one had everything from Savage Garden to Pepsi references. Not super-funny; actually, it was fairly forgettable thanks to what is coming up next.

White House Easter Bunny – As if seeing Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer was not enough, we also had her dressed up as Sean Spicer inside an Easter Bunny costume, a reference to the fact that he used to do that for the annual Easter Egg Roll. Yes, the format was fairly similar to the past ones, and that does take away the element of unpredictability. Still, the demonstration of Passover was brilliant, as was the throwaway about North Korea at the tail end of the message.

Harry Styles performs – Be sure to head over here to read our full take on “Sign of the Times.”

Weekend Update – This was an odd one, mostly because despite having Fallon in the building, SNL still went with two guests in Bruce Chandling and Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy that nobody was clamoring for ever. There were a few good jokes in here (Bruce was surprisingly better than Jacob), but overall we’d say this was a missed opportunity … save for seeing Michael Che and Colin Jost completely obliterate United and how much we tend to be somewhat biased on how we protest — if there’s a great deal offered, we’ll somehow all be coming right back for tickets, presumably.

Soldier camp – This somehow was more entertaining than it really should be, with Fallon playing the role of a soldier who had a very contemporary way of singing along to the music. This was certainly strange, but we got a number of laughs out of the way that over time, Jimmy was able to get everyone else on board with his message.

Turtle Shirt – Ever wanted to get away in an awkward situation? Apparently, it’s as easy as just buying this Turtle Shirt and tucking yourself away whenever an awkward moment arises. If only we knew that it was this easy, right?

Harvard – Fallon got a chance to don his Boston accent and have a little bit of fun with an alumni we absolutely didn’t expect to see on the show in Rachel Dratch. This was fun! It was entirely silly and probably unnecessary, but we still gotta say that we enjoyed just about every second of it. With that said, there was almost no story here whatsoever.

Basketball pre-tape – There was a lot of physical comedy that was thrown into a very short period of time here, mostly because of how terrible the background performers were for a scene being filmed about basketball. Somehow, we have to think that something like this has happened in real life.

Overall, we did laugh a lot in this show, though we’re also going to admit that nothing that we saw in here necessarily blew us away. While fun, there were little things within this Saturday Night Live (such as the two sketches before McCarthy’s appearance) that could have been taken up a notch. Grade: B+.

What did you think about this Saturday Night Live episode? Share some of your thoughts below!

Meanwhile, head over here to get some other news when it comes to the show. (Photo: NBC.)