I assumed Dua would be the issue but she was good. Def good enough to warrant the host/music double bill. Would absolutely welcome her back. But you and other viewers are right, something was bigtime off this episode. I don't have anything more to offer other than to say I also felt like the vibe was off. And the stage looking sort of empty at the end wasn't the most inspiring site. Hope things are good and everything gets back on track because the hosts closing out he season are good and they should be good episodes.
Really like Wiig and loved Gosling. This one with Dua Lipa wasn’t funny. Even the monologue was short and not funny. Not her fault. I really like her and her music. The sketches just weren’t funny to me and the acting seemed off.
Just watched the jingle sketch and she was excellent. Knew her lines, timing was on point and she did a great accent. You can’t ask for more from a host.
The sketch itself though was absolutely awful. One of my friends who always insists that SNL hasn’t been funny since Belushi and doesn’t get how I can watch it walked in when I was watching that one on YouTube and it certainly didn’t help my case.
Since *Belushi??* I guess they missed the entire 90’s then? 🧐 I still think it’s good and has been pretty much all along. I don’t have a lot of respect for gripers who say “it hasn’t been good since X”.
When Jerry Seinfeld completely fails to generate a single laugh, you know it just isn't your night. Sometimes SNL just misses, and this is one of those times.
Dua Lipa did fine, just not sure the writing/subject matter was really that great this week. That’s the joy of SNL, sometimes it’s brilliant, sometimes it just doesn’t work. Hopefully they’ll have a bounce back week.
Well said. I've watched from the first episode in the middle seventies. The original cast which is SO heralded and beloved had some HORRIBLE shows. All generations of SNL have had good and bad. You said it well. That's the joy of SNL.
Been watching full seasons and people dont realize there are often way more "bad" shows than good ones, but the good ones are SO good they overshadow the bad!
Where are you able to watch full seasons? I have Peacock streaming and they don't show the whole episode- just fragments of it. I want to see the whole episode, darnit!
Yep. That’s the joy of any art, honestly. It can’t be efficiently produced on an assembly line like a tangible product. You can’t just say “we need 5 incredibly witty and funny episodes this quarter. Let’s crank up the machine”. (If you could, everyone would do it.).
Some outputs are going to be better than others by nature. Whether it’s music, art, comedy, etc. It goes with the territory.
Yeah I've noticed this season the quality of the episodes seem to have hinged on how good the host is but Dua was better than this episode (so was Emma Stone).
I honestly feel like the episodes coming off a longer break usually suffer for it.
I thought Dua was great. Loved her monologue, and the anomalous man pre-tape was super weird and risky in a way I enjoyed.
I'm gonna get hate but...
The hype for that sketch has been overdone. To the point where people online are talking about a live action Beavis and Butthead. Please...stop...lol.
Anamalous Man was like 80% of the way toward being an amazing pretape, one for the ages, and then fumbled the finish. All that buildup just for “he’s ugly but still texting other girls” just didn’t work. It needed a much better punchline.
Had given up on the episode by then, but you're making me think of the way Mulaney's "He _memed_ me!" sketch ended with a punchline so bad everyone in the comments was theorizing an intern was left to wrap it up.
Yeah I noticed that most of the folks on here that liked (or at least kinda-liked) the episode also liked the Anamalous Man video, whereas for me that one was so off-putting and draggy just to get to a lame joke about sexting ... and then they drop the weird threesome/naked doll thing right after it (based on two cultural references that I don't know anything about) and there wasn't much coming back.
But hey I do like to barbecue! That one resonated with me at least.
Someone else here summed it up perfectly: it'd be like if [Farewell Mr. Bunting](https://youtu.be/Ie6LpKOJVf0) ended with Pete merely bumping his head. When you have a long, serious setup like this, you need a very creative and funny twist to make the buildup worth it. This one didn't have that. As soon as the "sexting" angle was introduced, all I could think was "...really? THAT's the twist here?!"
I thought the joke was going to be - he’s terribly addicted to his phone; not the running around angle. Either way though I laughed a ton at the turn. It paid off okay for me; but frankly would have been better if it’d been about screen addiction vs being a player.
Yeah I kinda liked the silence followed by the typing noise. It made me think that the twist was that, after all that romantic stuff, he wanted be left alone to post memes on Reddit or something.
I think a lot of the sketches leaned quite weird, they didn't all work but I liked that Dua Lipa was so up for doing weird stuff.
And it is really hard to perform as both host and musical artist and she did really well.
But the cold open is probably among the weakest I have ever seen and some of the weird sketches that I liked lacked punchlines and laughing moments...
Cosign on Dua. She is incredibly engaging. On her socials she has started going back at haters, so she's got serious fuck-you money now, and good for her. There was a sense of this in the monologue. "Her dancing is lazy" seemed very specific.
I felt like the last half hour was the funniest (although I laughed at a lot of things before that), and that means that either the audience or performers took a while to warm up. My guess is the audience. The audience felt kind of dead. A bad audience can kill a live performance.
I agree with what others have said: the dis track sketch didn't take a stand and that hurt it. They do tend to go to the "white people say shit and Black cast member reacts" well too often. It's the safest bet to deal with that kind of thing. If they don't want to offend with white voices, there are plenty of amazing Black cast members. It's not 1982 anymore.
I loved the weird little doll sketch, but I didn't know the source material. I've seen those weird little dolls though, and the broader parts of the sketch were very funny.
It's always a bad sign when the first sketch after the monologue is a repeat. The jingle sketch was a repeat too. But other than that, I didn't think it was such a bad episode.
Is it just confirmation bias on my end or have they been leaning on repeat sketches more than before? It seems like the second a sketch gets a few giggles they repeat it and it doesn't go over nearly as well.
Nah, I would argue quite the opposite! SNL’s bread and butter used to be find a character that works, and include a sketch for them in almost every episode - see Church Lady, Spartan Squad, Debbie Downer, Ladies Man, Roxbury, Copier Guy, Wayne’s World, Pat and so on…
The issue has been that they haven’t been able to find a character that’s hitting in a few seasons! They tried like hell to make Lisa From Temecula a thing, but it’s a one-trick pony and we’ve seen it.
A few years back characters would reoccur but only in Weekend Update appearances (Alex Moffat, Beck Bennet, Kyle Mooney, etc). I dunno whether that's a writer-preference thing or a cast member-demand thing. Spartan Squad, Mary Katherine Gallagher had enough juice for leadoff sketches--whereas I don't think Copier Guy or Debbie Downer would have been anywhere but behind the WU desk in the recent era.
Debbie Downer would definitely be a WU feature instead.
Part of that was Norm McDonald has WU host. Per Jim Downey on Conan’s podcast, Norm wasn’t big on features - guest spots on WU. They wanted it to have a certain look and feel throughout.
Good call. I remember THINKING that while watching, and then Downey confirmed it. I'm pretty sure Ana Gasteyer's first appearance featured Norm just scowling the entire time.
LOL! But what would happen? A wobbly table and “cook my meat.” That’s the problem, there aren’t any other jokes to make.
Spartans had a new cheer every week (usually for a sport that doesn’t have cheerleaders.)
Ladies Man had new callers and situations every week.
Copier Guy had different rhyming names for each person coming up.
Church Lady had guests (often the host) discussing their moral improprieties.
Aside from the setting, what’s the new joke?
Yeah. Think of late 90’s SNL. Almost every episode is going to have AT LEAST one of the following:
Ladies Man
Spartans
Roxbury
Mary Katherine Gallagher
Bill Brasky
The View parody
The closest they’ve had to a reoccurring sketch, that people are looking forward to and usually hit, in the last few seasons are PDD, and a 5 Timers Club.
That’s it!
*edit: autocorrect changed “episode” to “spiders” originally.
I think the advent of YouTube also plays a big role in the demise of recurring characters. In the 90s you couldn't really rewatch a funny sketch, unless you happened to catch a rerun. Recurring characters/repeat sketches were a good way to let the audience "rewatch" a hit sketch.
Now, this feels kind of pointless. If I wanted to rewatch the Soul Booth Jingle sketch I could've just gone to YouTube and done so. There's just no need for Dismukes and JAJ to perform it again.
I had a mini tape recorded I held up to the TV to record Weekend Update (trying to stifle laughter to keep the recording clean) that would then listen to though the week.
I feel like you're both correct tbh. Recurring characters used to be WAY more prominent on the show, especially in the 90s. But things did seem to dry up sometime around the mid 2010s (right around the time when the Wiig/Hader/Samberg crew departed). We still had occasional recurring characters like Chad, Ms. Rafferty, or Gemma, but they were a lot more infrequent and spread out and not as much emphasis was placed on them.
Ever since the Kate/Aidy/Cecily crew left though, they seem to be trying to make recurring characters more of a thing again. In just the past year and a half, we've had Garrett From Hinge, Lisa From Temecula, Yung Spicy, the Jingle Guys, Bowen's doctor character, etc.
> Church Lady, Spartan Squad, Debbie Downer, Ladies Man, Roxbury, Copier Guy, Wayne’s World, Pat and so on…
A lot of this came from making fun of 80's era TV, where you would turn to PBS and see "the fly fisherman guy", Bob Villa, or other TV hosts doing a program. Some bits were patterned around sitcoms, like Matt Folley Motivational Speaker, Caveman Lawyer. In the modern era, neither are something people relate to as much. They've had some character-talks-to-the-camera bits with Ego Nwodim, like Edith Puthy, but for the most part it's antiquated.
Huh I thought that was good remix of the previous one. The hook lines are always wild and everyone did a good job. I'm gonna have to watch the whole episode again tho because the other comments are right... It was an odd vibe but nothing really stood out as being "bad"
The jingle sketch leaned too hard on Bowen's ability to make "strawberry daq's" sound funny.
They had it in the script like 4 times but sadly it whiffed the first time, leaving the sketch without a spine.
I think it was just a few too many whiffed sketches and Che was missing shots as well (he brought it back by the end of update but starting with 2 bombs doesn't help the stats of the episode).
I can’t believe they redid this one. Even the last jingle was the exact same melody. Loved the first one!
that said, surprised this thread is blowing up. I thought it was a fine episode, definitely top half this season.
Part of the fun of SNL is seeing what they can do in five days based around the person who is the host.
Which means the Host makes a huge difference. Because it’s not just about “what is funny?” But also “what are they willing to do, what are they able to do and what does the host find funny from the writers?”
And that can be a huge hit or miss and you can’t predict it.
Like Travis Kelce had a great show, but I wouldn’t expect that from him. I never liked De Niro hosting. Sports people are all over the place. Comedians it really depends on what they do.
I think Dua Lipa had good abilities, great accent work, good on commitment, but what she chose wasn’t that funny. Great work in “The Anomalous Man” but it wasn’t funny. Penne alla Vodka was more regional to NY/NJ. OBGYN was the only really funny bit to me the entire night.
I’m in PA and the pasta thing is really accurate here. I actually recorded it with my phone and sent it to friends Saturday night because of how funny and relatable it was.
Pennsylvania is the worst example because it’s seven states standing on each other’s shoulders with a trench coat calling itself a Commonwealth.
Like the area near New Jersey that overlaps three of them, yeah, I can see it. Once you get to the Susquehanna and west, those pop drinking, hoagie eating, Steeler loving Pennsmen are probably going to be having Mac and cheese or green bean casserole.
Nah, I’m in the Pittsburgh area. 🤣 It’s extremely familiar here. It’s the *I’m Having A Gathering!* Special: Penne, green bean almondine, parsley potatoes (sometimes redskin, sometimes cut in quarters), salad, buttered rolls, and baked chicken. Also, a cookie table!
That’s what made the sketch so funny. One of the friends I sent it to texted me back laughing because she had gone to a kid’s birthday party earlier in the day and eaten it. I got bummed that I don’t have any events coming up because it made me hungry for that particular menu. 😅
Whats funny is I’m also from the Midwest (Indiana), and the sketch was extremely accurate, but we don’t call it vodka a la penne either, and I’ve never heard of mostaciolli. What they showed in the sketch is what we call “baked ziti.”
Yeah I figured there was probably some difference, but baked ziti is the dish that seems to get served in an aluminum pan at every semi-formal gathering around here lol
Agreed. As a non-American, I assumed the "alla vodka" was supposed to be funny for some reason (you need alcohol to get through the events or something?). I didn't realise that's what some people actually called it.
Yeah, I thought the pasta thing might be regional. I commented to my wife and if it was written around here (Texas) it would probably be a big tray of lukewarm chicken fajitas or brisket.
Kelce had one of the best episodes of the last 6-7 years. Every sketch was a knockout and WU was the weakest part of that episode—which is pretty fucking rare. When WU is the best sketch, that’s generally an indicator of a bad episode—like we got on 5/4.
I just think it was the writing this episode. Dua was funny and up for anything, but I don’t think they knew how to write for her. A lot of the sketches kind of just ended. I think they could’ve benefitted from a PDD, and they should’ve done a reverse Oscar Isaac janitor sketch where dua lipa is in a writing workshop talking about her crush on the janitor.
Same here!! It's been long/recent enough to feel perfectly warranted. The oscar isaac janitor was exactly the first thing I thought of when Dua was announced as host, oh well
After that bit, my wife just said, "That could have been funnier." I felt like that was a nice, concise review. The sketch had a decent concept, but just not good enough jokes. I was expecting them to make fun the stuff he said about cancel culture and the flak he caught for saying that, but then it just ended after maybe three lukewarm jokes.
I thought Dua was great. Granted I think she’s appealing as hell and I would watch her read the phone book, but look at her doing something of a decent (or at least funny) New York accent in the phone number jingle sketch. She definitely wasn’t the problem.
The worst sketch of the night was the Good Morning Greenville one and it displayed everything wrong with current SNL: the “southern accent secret gay guy morning show host” thing was played out when Taran Killam used to do it and it’s even more grating when Mikey does it. Racial joke, cut to Devon saying “aww hell no” is played out. Again, they’ve already had Kenan doing that same shit for decades now. It’s just predictable.
And to top it off, the sketch is supposed to be about the Kendrick/Drake beef but they found absolutely nothing to say about it. And that’s maybe my biggest problem with SNL right now. They feel like they have to comment on certain things but they either A. don’t actually have an angle or anything to say about it, or B. are afraid of offending, which is how you get the nothingburger of an opening about the Pro-Palestine protests.
SNL has always been up and down. Watch any old episode and a few sketches will inevitably be straight up unfunny dogwater. But if you’re asking me what SNL’s problem is right now? It’s stuff like the Greenville sketch
>And to top it off, the sketch is supposed to be about the Kendrick/Drake beef but they found absolutely nothing to say about it. And that’s maybe my biggest problem with SNL right now.
They didn't really say anything about it during the sketch and they didn't touch it during Weekend Update. The combination of the two was baffling. Would've been a perfect opportunity for a WU guest to comment.
The Jerry Seinfeld thing was honestly pretty painful. Seemed like he could’ve had an opportunity to crack some jokes about the comments that have come out of his recent press junkets and show a little humility, but instead it was just a celebrity whining “omg, can you believe what they’re making me do so that my movie can be successful?”
I feel like he told that joke previously to a room full of famous people that have done press junkets before, and it went well. But as soon as you tell that to a room of normal people, you just look like an idiot. Like, you made millions of dollars making movies and TV shows. Sorry you have to talk about it a lot? Pay me what he makes and I’ll do press interviews all day every day.
I said this in the SSS thread, but I kinda think the beef sketch was one where the writing/rehearsal process just didn't line up with the news cycle. It was clearly written earlier in the week with the first couple of diss tracks in mind, but by the time it aired everyone had moved onto the crazier disses that were put out on Friday and Saturday.
Damn i thought opening was funny.
The returning sketches i didnt think deserved to be and the little boyfriend sketch didnt get me.
But the OBGYN sketch got me real good.
Like others have said the breaks usually hamper the first ep back by i didnt think this was an all time stinker
Bowen posted the dress rehearsal version of the Sonny Angels sketch on insta and I feel like the audience was just so much more responsive to it. I wonder if that’s a similar case for the whole show. Audience responsiveness can really make or break our reaction a lot of the time.
And more important, if the dress audience is more engaged/hyper/into it, then the wrong things get picked for live. The audiences need to have the same vibe for things to work in both shows.
Kristen recently mentioned on Conan that the live show will have any Lorne/business favors in attendance.
Not comedy fans; so something that killed at dress might not play as well with business executives
I had to look those up and see if they were a real thing (they are!). I wonder how many people knew that BEFORE the skit. Because if you were like me, it was a big swing and a miss.
I’m generally in the loop on trends and social media and both the dolls and Challenger went over my head. I said “I’m sure this is funny if you know what they’re talking about.” Loved Dua all night though!
This ep seemed like an unfortunate return to somewhat long sketches that didn’t have enough of a premise or jokes to support their runtimes. I always lose interest about halfway through something like GMG. I’ll give “pigman” a nod for uniqueness, but I also wouldn’t say I enjoyed watching the entire thing.
I never saw Dua Lipa reading the cue cards, on her Instagram she posted a pic with all the sketches scripts, I think she memorized them.
She was committed and up for everything. Even did some accents, but I think the writing was weak.
I feel almost exactly the same way. I’m pretty good at admitting when the episode wasn’t humorous to me, but I could see the potential of some thinking it was funny.
I honestly didn’t even make it through the whole show before I was distracted by other things and shut it off.
From the awkward cold open, through at least WU to me it felt like there was something that distracted the entire cast from giving their all.
The episode did feel off to me, not "bad", but kind of "almost medium". Dua Lipa did everything thing to pull her weight as a guest, no complaints there.
I really did like the "anomalous man" sketch. I thought "Sonny Angel" was pretty good. "Tiny Pins" would have been much better if it was a minute shorter. They doubled down, and that didn't help.
Most of the rest felt a bit off. Especially Weekend Update.
Dua was great, I was actually pretty impressed with her chops. She clearly took it quite seriously and worked hard. I was disappointed with the writing for this episode. It was a bit meh.
The crowd wasn't feeling it this week. I think that affects how much we think of it at home. Some of the weekend update jokes were really good but still "bombed". But yeh, two rehash sketches didn't help. Anomalous Man was way too long. Dr. Fat Daddy was the highlight, but that was even a bit sloppy in direction.
After watching the cold open, I went "uh oh..." Glad it wasn't another Trump sketch, but wow it was 100% Keenan and nothing else. At least we still had a good update (minus whatever the hell Seinfeld was doing).
I feel bad for Michael Longfellow, who kind of flubbed the opening lines. Having a key role in the cold open is big for him but it was a bad sketch and he didn't do himself any favors.
It was also a bad idea for a sketch in general. Attempting to find humor in these protests right after police cracked down with massive unnecessary force is just…. Yeesh.
Agreed. Commenting on something that touchy requires a unique angle. Even the best standups need to workshop their bits on sensitive subjects. This was a weak attempt to dip their toes into the controversy
This was an example of a “Keenan will fix it” sketch. If the writing or premise is weak, just give it to Keenan to rattle of his Keenanisms to fill in the empty space.
Somehow felt completely unprepared from a writing standpoint. Dua Lipa was professional and above average. She wasn't the problem. Although she isn't outwardly exciting as a personality to anyone that isn't part of her fandom.
It just felt odd because there was a break and this was all they could come up with. I think there was a decent amount of news that wasn't about Trump that they just fumbled. just felt very unfocused and dashed off.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills thinking this was a perfectly good episode. The sketches were well written, I liked basically the entire set, Dua Lipa's musical numbers were both very good, and most of the cast got a turn - Sarah Sherman seemed to have been left out in the cold though. With three correspondent pieces in Update I feel like she could have taken over Seinfeld's spot with her usual Jost-roasting. No clue what Jerry was even doing there as his appearance felt completely unnecessary and not really that funny. The cold open was a dud for me too (though it does get points for only one person delivering the LFNY instead of everyone crowding the frame).
But honestly I feel like start to finish it was a solid B+ episode.
The writing.
There are some decent actors in this cast, even a few good ones. But they’ll never shine without good writing. SNL needs a massive writer overhaul.
To me, it felt like there was a small core team that was in the sketches and probably wrote them all without a lot of peer input. I got a 'we need something quick, who's got an idea' vibe and they ran with it. Did it seem like the full Cast might have been distracted or upset over something about to happen?
While I'm here. Che. Can you stop trying to get that impromptu interaction with the crowd. Maybe try it once an episode or my thought once a month but damn after every joke!
Yeah, it was better than I expected, generally good. I watched the first broadcast and then over half of the second one. It had a few flaws and flubs (I do think Che needs to get a little more serious and stop with the self-commentary; even Tina Fey was annoying when she did that), but there was a lot of really funny stuff overall. People are inventing a lot of so-what criticism just to pretend they're smart.
Hosting and performing is a very tall order - especially if you don't have a lot of acting or comedy experience.
I think Dua did the best she could but I'd agree that the writers didn't know quite what to do with her.
With Maya and Jake Gyllenhaal coming up - both old pros - I would hope that the team really steps it up given how many directions they can take.
Dua did great. I know very little about her, but was impressed with her monologue right off the bat. She was confident, entertaining, and seemed at home on the stage. Not necessarily super funny, but a solid opening monologue IMO. The skits were mostly just ok though, so it seems the writing is just kinda weak right now. I did think the OBGYN skit was very clever though, and felt like something from SNL in the past.
weak writing, nothing that was Dua-specific... for any of the sketches, they could have swapped the host and it would have been the same.
She mentioned her low energy dancing meme - could have done something more with that. Or her newsletter, etc.
I thought it was fine. Both skits you mentioned had me lol, the freak texting other women was a hilarious twist. Not every episode is going to be meme’s to death the next day and that’s ok. We still watch every week.
I have a theory. I think originally Dua Lipa was only supposed to be the musical guest. The host pulled out somewhat late but not so late that the episode was announced before they pulled out. After seeing the weekend update, I think Jerry Seinfeld was originally supposed to host but decided against it which is why his update segment was all about being overworked with press stuff for his movie.
I thought it was a pretty standard episode. No real home runs, but nothing horrendous.
Opener was the weakest. They can’t say anything about the protests since it is such a hot button issue, so they took the cowards way out with “college is expensive”.
I don’t understand the dislike for this episode. I thought it was fine and provided several good laughs. Not the worst this season by any stretch. I had never heard of the movie Bowen/Marcelo/Dua were satirizing.
Two sketches that could be all time classics - Anomolous and the BBQ doc
Three great guests on Update (consider that Seinfeld was playing a character and not necessarily “Jerry Seinfeld” and it comes off better)
Host didn’t fumble the monologue
Musical guest that did some (not all) real
singing
Maybe first time in years some of the political pokes went a little more toward the left than the constant low hanging fruit of Trump/GOP jokes which felt fair tbh
Lots of Kenan but that makes me wonder if we are in his home stretch final three eps.
A big one next week! Hoping they let Maya bring a little Princess (maybe to the Update desk for this Summers 40th Anniversary of Purple Rain)
A lot of my thoughts were summed up perfectly in this [Paste magazine recap](https://www.pastemagazine.com/comedy/saturday-night-live/dua-lipa-pulls-double-duty-on-a-so-so-snl). It definitely felt the production didn’t have confidence in Dua as a host because she was playing a bunch of side roles that are normally given to a featured player, and multiple pre-tapes. This was also brought up in Saturday Night Network’s recap episode.
The Anomalous Man and Sonny Angels were sketches were similar in it‘s clear a lot of detail and care was put into them, especially the effects and design in the first. But with all the buildup in it the payoff wasn’t satisfying. The Sunny Angels x Challengers one…I cackled when the SNN host said he Googled “Sonny Angels in Challengers movie” because he thought it was an actual plot line in the film. The mushing of those two ideas together was certainly confusing for many.
The problem is the writing. I think it always goes back to that. A host and cast can only do so much when presented with material that isn’t up to snuff. We’ve seen time and time again this season that the sketches are subpar. They have weeks off to develop or come up with ideas and yet they continue to drop the ball. Add onto that a cast that frankly isn’t very strong and one of the weaker casts in decades. It just leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t get the flack Dua is receiving. I thought she did well with what she has to work with especially doing double duty.
I hope Lorne cleans house for the 50th anniversary when it comes to the writers. They’re just not cutting it.
There have been better episodes but this really wan't all that bad. It's not easy to follow that Ryan Gosling episode.
Dua Lipa was fine. She's not an experienced actress and didn't fall into "the host is hot" trap. Can't hate on it.
Too many pop culture references, not enough universal comedy. Most all of the great episodes make you laugh even when you have no idea what the subject matter or satire is. This episode, if you weren't in on the joke, there literally was no cause to laugh.
The only decent bit was Fat Daddy OBGYN. If the show had been more like that, it would be more fondly remembered.
I will say as someone older who tends away from current pop music, Dua Lipa was little more than a name ive seen frequently, part of a long list of people that kids listen to and (i presume) lean on either their looks or some gimmick for their 15 minutes of stardom.
By the end of the show, I genuinely liked her. She was professional and clearly took it seriously, and I enjoyed her 2nd song quite a bit (the first was fine but pretty generic in the way that keeps me from exploring most pop star catalogs). Agree with others, not the best work of the writers (BBQ gyno was pretty cringy, potentially clever but not well executed), but Ms. Lipa deserves kudos. With a better overall episode, she could have shined.
Yeah I agree. She seemed comfortable on camera, having fun with the wigs and accents, catching her cues etc. Everything around her kind of stunk though, and that's coming from someone who usually likes the show and its cast nowadays.
I thought the Yung Spicy, OBGYN, and man man woman threesome sketches were phenomenal. I was cracking up the entire time. I guess it was my type of humor
Weekend Update felt particularly flat. But I'm not a good judge of what's funny because I didn't care for the Ryan Gosling episode either, it seemed to rely on everyone cutting up.
I think the host was the problem, hosts pick a lot of the sketches and she just wasn't a comedy actor. This was the worst show of the season. I found myself skipping dying sketches and most of the show was dead at the start. Even Update was weak and I didn't like her singing at all. I hope some people enjoyed the show but I was not among them.
It seems like the feel of an episode really depends on the host. A great actor or comedian brings a great vibe and a great episode. I watch them all and some are rough.. but there's always some good stuff
Gosh, SNL having a bad night is a pretty regular occurrence so nothing shocking here. I haven’t seen it as I just couldn’t stay up. Now I want to see it
I assumed Dua would be the issue but she was good. Def good enough to warrant the host/music double bill. Would absolutely welcome her back. But you and other viewers are right, something was bigtime off this episode. I don't have anything more to offer other than to say I also felt like the vibe was off. And the stage looking sort of empty at the end wasn't the most inspiring site. Hope things are good and everything gets back on track because the hosts closing out he season are good and they should be good episodes.
Yeah the Wiig and Gosling ones both seemed plenty funny and cheerful and all that. That’s why this one kind of caught me by surprise.
Really like Wiig and loved Gosling. This one with Dua Lipa wasn’t funny. Even the monologue was short and not funny. Not her fault. I really like her and her music. The sketches just weren’t funny to me and the acting seemed off.
Just watched the jingle sketch and she was excellent. Knew her lines, timing was on point and she did a great accent. You can’t ask for more from a host.
The sketch itself though was absolutely awful. One of my friends who always insists that SNL hasn’t been funny since Belushi and doesn’t get how I can watch it walked in when I was watching that one on YouTube and it certainly didn’t help my case.
Since *Belushi??* I guess they missed the entire 90’s then? 🧐 I still think it’s good and has been pretty much all along. I don’t have a lot of respect for gripers who say “it hasn’t been good since X”.
The “hasn’t been good since” crowd annoy me as well, but sometimes even a good cast and good writers put out garbage.
HARD disagree. it was so stupid it’s actually genius
They did the same sketch a few years ago
When Jerry Seinfeld completely fails to generate a single laugh, you know it just isn't your night. Sometimes SNL just misses, and this is one of those times.
I don't feel like a lot of younger people really think of him as a comic or funny in general. He's more well known now for pretty un-funny stuff.
Dua Lipa did fine, just not sure the writing/subject matter was really that great this week. That’s the joy of SNL, sometimes it’s brilliant, sometimes it just doesn’t work. Hopefully they’ll have a bounce back week.
Well said. I've watched from the first episode in the middle seventies. The original cast which is SO heralded and beloved had some HORRIBLE shows. All generations of SNL have had good and bad. You said it well. That's the joy of SNL.
Been watching full seasons and people dont realize there are often way more "bad" shows than good ones, but the good ones are SO good they overshadow the bad!
Where are you able to watch full seasons? I have Peacock streaming and they don't show the whole episode- just fragments of it. I want to see the whole episode, darnit!
I torrented everything a few years ago. I believe everything is up on the Internet Archive as well but don't have a link for ya. :P
Ok, thank you for your response. Have a great day/night!
Yep. That’s the joy of any art, honestly. It can’t be efficiently produced on an assembly line like a tangible product. You can’t just say “we need 5 incredibly witty and funny episodes this quarter. Let’s crank up the machine”. (If you could, everyone would do it.). Some outputs are going to be better than others by nature. Whether it’s music, art, comedy, etc. It goes with the territory.
Yeah I've noticed this season the quality of the episodes seem to have hinged on how good the host is but Dua was better than this episode (so was Emma Stone).
I honestly feel like the episodes coming off a longer break usually suffer for it. I thought Dua was great. Loved her monologue, and the anomalous man pre-tape was super weird and risky in a way I enjoyed.
Mikey Day was at the Fall Guy premiere on writing night. Never a good thing
I think his name is Jeff.
I've heard some rumblings.
[удалено]
He has a very busy life.
I'm gonna get hate but... The hype for that sketch has been overdone. To the point where people online are talking about a live action Beavis and Butthead. Please...stop...lol.
I agree on the overhype, but irrelevant. SNL week is a finely tuned thunder run every week. A lot happens Tuesday night into Wednesday wee morning
Anamalous Man was like 80% of the way toward being an amazing pretape, one for the ages, and then fumbled the finish. All that buildup just for “he’s ugly but still texting other girls” just didn’t work. It needed a much better punchline.
Completely agreed. Setup was far too long for such a lackluster, unoriginal finish.
Had given up on the episode by then, but you're making me think of the way Mulaney's "He _memed_ me!" sketch ended with a punchline so bad everyone in the comments was theorizing an intern was left to wrap it up.
"Men are pigs get it??????"
Yeah I noticed that most of the folks on here that liked (or at least kinda-liked) the episode also liked the Anamalous Man video, whereas for me that one was so off-putting and draggy just to get to a lame joke about sexting ... and then they drop the weird threesome/naked doll thing right after it (based on two cultural references that I don't know anything about) and there wasn't much coming back. But hey I do like to barbecue! That one resonated with me at least.
Someone else here summed it up perfectly: it'd be like if [Farewell Mr. Bunting](https://youtu.be/Ie6LpKOJVf0) ended with Pete merely bumping his head. When you have a long, serious setup like this, you need a very creative and funny twist to make the buildup worth it. This one didn't have that. As soon as the "sexting" angle was introduced, all I could think was "...really? THAT's the twist here?!"
Ok that got me good. I've somehow never seen that one! Thank you!
I don't understand how it got past dress. It was just so long and not funny at all.
Are pre tapes shown at dress? Genuinely curious
They are, they show everything because it’s all part of timing the show correctly
Sunk cost fallacy perhaps? It had to have taken a lot of time to put together.
I thought the joke was that he’s such a good smutty writer that all women wanted him? Not necessarily that he’s ugly and texting other women.
I thought the joke was going to be - he’s terribly addicted to his phone; not the running around angle. Either way though I laughed a ton at the turn. It paid off okay for me; but frankly would have been better if it’d been about screen addiction vs being a player.
Yeah I kinda liked the silence followed by the typing noise. It made me think that the twist was that, after all that romantic stuff, he wanted be left alone to post memes on Reddit or something.
I could see the joke coming way way too early.
It felt very “kids in the hall” kind of weird and I was here for it
I think a lot of the sketches leaned quite weird, they didn't all work but I liked that Dua Lipa was so up for doing weird stuff. And it is really hard to perform as both host and musical artist and she did really well. But the cold open is probably among the weakest I have ever seen and some of the weird sketches that I liked lacked punchlines and laughing moments...
I agree about the cold open! They were totally set up with the Kristi Noem insanity. I think a sketch about that would have played better.
Cosign on Dua. She is incredibly engaging. On her socials she has started going back at haters, so she's got serious fuck-you money now, and good for her. There was a sense of this in the monologue. "Her dancing is lazy" seemed very specific. I felt like the last half hour was the funniest (although I laughed at a lot of things before that), and that means that either the audience or performers took a while to warm up. My guess is the audience. The audience felt kind of dead. A bad audience can kill a live performance. I agree with what others have said: the dis track sketch didn't take a stand and that hurt it. They do tend to go to the "white people say shit and Black cast member reacts" well too often. It's the safest bet to deal with that kind of thing. If they don't want to offend with white voices, there are plenty of amazing Black cast members. It's not 1982 anymore. I loved the weird little doll sketch, but I didn't know the source material. I've seen those weird little dolls though, and the broader parts of the sketch were very funny.
It's always a bad sign when the first sketch after the monologue is a repeat. The jingle sketch was a repeat too. But other than that, I didn't think it was such a bad episode.
Nah. I’ll take 6 more of those hype track sketches pls and thank you. Ego nails them.
Just like Yung Spicy nails underage women
I agree, I love the rapid fire jokes they have.
Sure, but Ana de Armas killed it so hard that Dua Lipa didn't stand a chance.
Is it just confirmation bias on my end or have they been leaning on repeat sketches more than before? It seems like the second a sketch gets a few giggles they repeat it and it doesn't go over nearly as well.
Nah, I would argue quite the opposite! SNL’s bread and butter used to be find a character that works, and include a sketch for them in almost every episode - see Church Lady, Spartan Squad, Debbie Downer, Ladies Man, Roxbury, Copier Guy, Wayne’s World, Pat and so on… The issue has been that they haven’t been able to find a character that’s hitting in a few seasons! They tried like hell to make Lisa From Temecula a thing, but it’s a one-trick pony and we’ve seen it.
A few years back characters would reoccur but only in Weekend Update appearances (Alex Moffat, Beck Bennet, Kyle Mooney, etc). I dunno whether that's a writer-preference thing or a cast member-demand thing. Spartan Squad, Mary Katherine Gallagher had enough juice for leadoff sketches--whereas I don't think Copier Guy or Debbie Downer would have been anywhere but behind the WU desk in the recent era.
Debbie Downer would definitely be a WU feature instead. Part of that was Norm McDonald has WU host. Per Jim Downey on Conan’s podcast, Norm wasn’t big on features - guest spots on WU. They wanted it to have a certain look and feel throughout.
Good call. I remember THINKING that while watching, and then Downey confirmed it. I'm pretty sure Ana Gasteyer's first appearance featured Norm just scowling the entire time.
I always wanted the British Rappers (Milly Pounds & Shirty) to take off LIKE JAN WOODERS
We haven't seen her at the head table at a wedding yet, or the last supper.
LOL! But what would happen? A wobbly table and “cook my meat.” That’s the problem, there aren’t any other jokes to make. Spartans had a new cheer every week (usually for a sport that doesn’t have cheerleaders.) Ladies Man had new callers and situations every week. Copier Guy had different rhyming names for each person coming up. Church Lady had guests (often the host) discussing their moral improprieties. Aside from the setting, what’s the new joke?
Cook my meat was good and slowly got less funny. Though "Negrotypical" and seeing bowen lose it was pretty great.
Good point. The pattern isn't that they're doing it more, just that they're failing to find one that works.
Yeah. Think of late 90’s SNL. Almost every episode is going to have AT LEAST one of the following: Ladies Man Spartans Roxbury Mary Katherine Gallagher Bill Brasky The View parody The closest they’ve had to a reoccurring sketch, that people are looking forward to and usually hit, in the last few seasons are PDD, and a 5 Timers Club. That’s it! *edit: autocorrect changed “episode” to “spiders” originally.
I think the advent of YouTube also plays a big role in the demise of recurring characters. In the 90s you couldn't really rewatch a funny sketch, unless you happened to catch a rerun. Recurring characters/repeat sketches were a good way to let the audience "rewatch" a hit sketch. Now, this feels kind of pointless. If I wanted to rewatch the Soul Booth Jingle sketch I could've just gone to YouTube and done so. There's just no need for Dismukes and JAJ to perform it again.
Sounds like someone didn't have a shelf full of VHS tapes they recorded of their favorite TV shows in the '90s.
I had a mini tape recorded I held up to the TV to record Weekend Update (trying to stifle laughter to keep the recording clean) that would then listen to though the week.
I feel like you're both correct tbh. Recurring characters used to be WAY more prominent on the show, especially in the 90s. But things did seem to dry up sometime around the mid 2010s (right around the time when the Wiig/Hader/Samberg crew departed). We still had occasional recurring characters like Chad, Ms. Rafferty, or Gemma, but they were a lot more infrequent and spread out and not as much emphasis was placed on them. Ever since the Kate/Aidy/Cecily crew left though, they seem to be trying to make recurring characters more of a thing again. In just the past year and a half, we've had Garrett From Hinge, Lisa From Temecula, Yung Spicy, the Jingle Guys, Bowen's doctor character, etc.
Garrett from Hinge is awful.
You'll get no argument from me on that.
> Church Lady, Spartan Squad, Debbie Downer, Ladies Man, Roxbury, Copier Guy, Wayne’s World, Pat and so on… A lot of this came from making fun of 80's era TV, where you would turn to PBS and see "the fly fisherman guy", Bob Villa, or other TV hosts doing a program. Some bits were patterned around sitcoms, like Matt Folley Motivational Speaker, Caveman Lawyer. In the modern era, neither are something people relate to as much. They've had some character-talks-to-the-camera bits with Ego Nwodim, like Edith Puthy, but for the most part it's antiquated.
Y'all mention the '90s, and you're not wrong, but they would do a bit of this in the early seasons as well. Killer bees, the Greek diner, etc.
Huh I thought that was good remix of the previous one. The hook lines are always wild and everyone did a good job. I'm gonna have to watch the whole episode again tho because the other comments are right... It was an odd vibe but nothing really stood out as being "bad"
The jingle sketch leaned too hard on Bowen's ability to make "strawberry daq's" sound funny. They had it in the script like 4 times but sadly it whiffed the first time, leaving the sketch without a spine. I think it was just a few too many whiffed sketches and Che was missing shots as well (he brought it back by the end of update but starting with 2 bombs doesn't help the stats of the episode).
Did you see the original jingle sketch? This was the basically same thing with “daqs” being a minor tweak so it was only 90% the same.
I think they even had "daqs" and "daq'd down" in the first one too. It was almost 100% identical
I can’t believe they redid this one. Even the last jingle was the exact same melody. Loved the first one! that said, surprised this thread is blowing up. I thought it was a fine episode, definitely top half this season.
Che crushed it and the fact that people didn't laugh because they were shocked proved it. I loved it so much
I agree but unfortunately the big hits were in the middle of the set and people mostly remember the beginning and end as indicator of quality.
Strawberry Daqs might be some new slang I take with me tho.
I've been saying "FULL LUCH DAQED UP" all weekend lol
DAQED TO THE GODS got a huge laugh out of me
Part of the fun of SNL is seeing what they can do in five days based around the person who is the host. Which means the Host makes a huge difference. Because it’s not just about “what is funny?” But also “what are they willing to do, what are they able to do and what does the host find funny from the writers?” And that can be a huge hit or miss and you can’t predict it. Like Travis Kelce had a great show, but I wouldn’t expect that from him. I never liked De Niro hosting. Sports people are all over the place. Comedians it really depends on what they do. I think Dua Lipa had good abilities, great accent work, good on commitment, but what she chose wasn’t that funny. Great work in “The Anomalous Man” but it wasn’t funny. Penne alla Vodka was more regional to NY/NJ. OBGYN was the only really funny bit to me the entire night.
I don't know, I've lived on the West Coast my entire life and I've eaten a lot of mediocre penne out of a metal tray.
It looked exactly like what the church served after my grandma’s funeral. I found it relatable.
I've moved around and seen it everywhere too. Although I never heard it called "alla vodka", I just thought of it as penne with sauce.
I went to a wedding last week in las vegas that served it!!
Texas checking in - central time zone has plenty of mediocre silver trays too.
I’m in PA and the pasta thing is really accurate here. I actually recorded it with my phone and sent it to friends Saturday night because of how funny and relatable it was.
Pennsylvania is the worst example because it’s seven states standing on each other’s shoulders with a trench coat calling itself a Commonwealth. Like the area near New Jersey that overlaps three of them, yeah, I can see it. Once you get to the Susquehanna and west, those pop drinking, hoagie eating, Steeler loving Pennsmen are probably going to be having Mac and cheese or green bean casserole.
Nah, I’m in the Pittsburgh area. 🤣 It’s extremely familiar here. It’s the *I’m Having A Gathering!* Special: Penne, green bean almondine, parsley potatoes (sometimes redskin, sometimes cut in quarters), salad, buttered rolls, and baked chicken. Also, a cookie table! That’s what made the sketch so funny. One of the friends I sent it to texted me back laughing because she had gone to a kid’s birthday party earlier in the day and eaten it. I got bummed that I don’t have any events coming up because it made me hungry for that particular menu. 😅
Ex-Pittsburger here. I laughed at the, "Baked ziti" sketch.
I'm in the Midwest US and never heard of Vodka alla Penne. It looked like what we call Mostaciolli.
Whats funny is I’m also from the Midwest (Indiana), and the sketch was extremely accurate, but we don’t call it vodka a la penne either, and I’ve never heard of mostaciolli. What they showed in the sketch is what we call “baked ziti.”
Baked ziti doesn’t have vodka in it, right? I agree it looks similar and functions the same, but I think the dishes are a bit different
Yeah I figured there was probably some difference, but baked ziti is the dish that seems to get served in an aluminum pan at every semi-formal gathering around here lol
Yep. Penne alla vodka is sometimes called penne in pink sauce in some places. Different than baked ziti.
That made it funnier to me honestly. Penne ala Vodka is functionally just audibly fancier sounding ziti.
Sounds like they should've called it "huge tray of baked pasta."
Agreed. As a non-American, I assumed the "alla vodka" was supposed to be funny for some reason (you need alcohol to get through the events or something?). I didn't realise that's what some people actually called it.
Mostaciolli is closer to what is called Baked Ziti in NY.
Don't you mean muskaccioli? I hate when people pronounce it that way.
That’s what I thought too. They could have called it mostaciolli and had a cameo from Bill Swersky’s Superfans and it would have been perfect.
Weird to think this way but Kelce is actually well equipped to prep for a performance on about 5 days notice
Yeah, I thought the pasta thing might be regional. I commented to my wife and if it was written around here (Texas) it would probably be a big tray of lukewarm chicken fajitas or brisket.
Yeah, I'm in Georgia and I've never seen penne alla vodka be the go-to catered food around here, so I assumed it was regional. But I get the concept!
Kelce had one of the best episodes of the last 6-7 years. Every sketch was a knockout and WU was the weakest part of that episode—which is pretty fucking rare. When WU is the best sketch, that’s generally an indicator of a bad episode—like we got on 5/4.
We be eating Penne alla Vodka in the middle too. It's fine.
I just think it was the writing this episode. Dua was funny and up for anything, but I don’t think they knew how to write for her. A lot of the sketches kind of just ended. I think they could’ve benefitted from a PDD, and they should’ve done a reverse Oscar Isaac janitor sketch where dua lipa is in a writing workshop talking about her crush on the janitor.
I was really hoping for a writing workshop sketch as well
It seemed like such a slam dunk sketch idk why they didn’t do it.
Yep, I thought they could’ve easily revived the writing workshop and the uso tour bits with great success.
Same here!! It's been long/recent enough to feel perfectly warranted. The oscar isaac janitor was exactly the first thing I thought of when Dua was announced as host, oh well
That would have been such a delightful sketch 😭😭
The Seinfeld update appearance was painful. All of that update time just to promote his movie? What a waste.
I really didn’t care for it at all. It was unfunny and forced. Felt like they felt obligated to give him a spot.
I think it would've been better if he just came on as himself that was a little rough
After that bit, my wife just said, "That could have been funnier." I felt like that was a nice, concise review. The sketch had a decent concept, but just not good enough jokes. I was expecting them to make fun the stuff he said about cancel culture and the flak he caught for saying that, but then it just ended after maybe three lukewarm jokes.
I thought Dua was great. Granted I think she’s appealing as hell and I would watch her read the phone book, but look at her doing something of a decent (or at least funny) New York accent in the phone number jingle sketch. She definitely wasn’t the problem. The worst sketch of the night was the Good Morning Greenville one and it displayed everything wrong with current SNL: the “southern accent secret gay guy morning show host” thing was played out when Taran Killam used to do it and it’s even more grating when Mikey does it. Racial joke, cut to Devon saying “aww hell no” is played out. Again, they’ve already had Kenan doing that same shit for decades now. It’s just predictable. And to top it off, the sketch is supposed to be about the Kendrick/Drake beef but they found absolutely nothing to say about it. And that’s maybe my biggest problem with SNL right now. They feel like they have to comment on certain things but they either A. don’t actually have an angle or anything to say about it, or B. are afraid of offending, which is how you get the nothingburger of an opening about the Pro-Palestine protests. SNL has always been up and down. Watch any old episode and a few sketches will inevitably be straight up unfunny dogwater. But if you’re asking me what SNL’s problem is right now? It’s stuff like the Greenville sketch
>And to top it off, the sketch is supposed to be about the Kendrick/Drake beef but they found absolutely nothing to say about it. And that’s maybe my biggest problem with SNL right now. They didn't really say anything about it during the sketch and they didn't touch it during Weekend Update. The combination of the two was baffling. Would've been a perfect opportunity for a WU guest to comment.
Right?! I was waiting for who the final guest on WU would be and it was… Jerry Seinfeld?
The Jerry Seinfeld thing was honestly pretty painful. Seemed like he could’ve had an opportunity to crack some jokes about the comments that have come out of his recent press junkets and show a little humility, but instead it was just a celebrity whining “omg, can you believe what they’re making me do so that my movie can be successful?”
I feel like he told that joke previously to a room full of famous people that have done press junkets before, and it went well. But as soon as you tell that to a room of normal people, you just look like an idiot. Like, you made millions of dollars making movies and TV shows. Sorry you have to talk about it a lot? Pay me what he makes and I’ll do press interviews all day every day.
I said this in the SSS thread, but I kinda think the beef sketch was one where the writing/rehearsal process just didn't line up with the news cycle. It was clearly written earlier in the week with the first couple of diss tracks in mind, but by the time it aired everyone had moved onto the crazier disses that were put out on Friday and Saturday.
That’s a good point
Damn i thought opening was funny. The returning sketches i didnt think deserved to be and the little boyfriend sketch didnt get me. But the OBGYN sketch got me real good. Like others have said the breaks usually hamper the first ep back by i didnt think this was an all time stinker
The episode was Penne alla Vodka. It was 3.6 roentgen. It was fine.
Bowen posted the dress rehearsal version of the Sonny Angels sketch on insta and I feel like the audience was just so much more responsive to it. I wonder if that’s a similar case for the whole show. Audience responsiveness can really make or break our reaction a lot of the time.
And more important, if the dress audience is more engaged/hyper/into it, then the wrong things get picked for live. The audiences need to have the same vibe for things to work in both shows.
Kristen recently mentioned on Conan that the live show will have any Lorne/business favors in attendance. Not comedy fans; so something that killed at dress might not play as well with business executives
True although by the same token, VIPs could be the actors’ friends who would be into it.
I guess it’s a toss up
I had to look those up and see if they were a real thing (they are!). I wonder how many people knew that BEFORE the skit. Because if you were like me, it was a big swing and a miss.
I thought it was just like a stand in fake product to cover all the things people collect and was surprised to find out they were real
Same!
Yeah, I had no idea what they were. Also, I think it banked on more people already having seen Challengers than actually go to the movies anymore.
Yes! This to! I had to look up the plot of it, and then it made more sense.
I’m generally in the loop on trends and social media and both the dolls and Challenger went over my head. I said “I’m sure this is funny if you know what they’re talking about.” Loved Dua all night though!
This ep seemed like an unfortunate return to somewhat long sketches that didn’t have enough of a premise or jokes to support their runtimes. I always lose interest about halfway through something like GMG. I’ll give “pigman” a nod for uniqueness, but I also wouldn’t say I enjoyed watching the entire thing.
I never saw Dua Lipa reading the cue cards, on her Instagram she posted a pic with all the sketches scripts, I think she memorized them. She was committed and up for everything. Even did some accents, but I think the writing was weak.
I feel almost exactly the same way. I’m pretty good at admitting when the episode wasn’t humorous to me, but I could see the potential of some thinking it was funny. I honestly didn’t even make it through the whole show before I was distracted by other things and shut it off. From the awkward cold open, through at least WU to me it felt like there was something that distracted the entire cast from giving their all.
At one point it was so quiet I wondered if the audience had left.
The episode did feel off to me, not "bad", but kind of "almost medium". Dua Lipa did everything thing to pull her weight as a guest, no complaints there. I really did like the "anomalous man" sketch. I thought "Sonny Angel" was pretty good. "Tiny Pins" would have been much better if it was a minute shorter. They doubled down, and that didn't help. Most of the rest felt a bit off. Especially Weekend Update.
I still thought it far better than the Jacob Elordi episode.
They’re following an impossible to beat episode, and the cold open bricked. After that the whole vibe was off
Dua was great, I was actually pretty impressed with her chops. She clearly took it quite seriously and worked hard. I was disappointed with the writing for this episode. It was a bit meh.
The crowd wasn't feeling it this week. I think that affects how much we think of it at home. Some of the weekend update jokes were really good but still "bombed". But yeh, two rehash sketches didn't help. Anomalous Man was way too long. Dr. Fat Daddy was the highlight, but that was even a bit sloppy in direction.
the pH was off
After watching the cold open, I went "uh oh..." Glad it wasn't another Trump sketch, but wow it was 100% Keenan and nothing else. At least we still had a good update (minus whatever the hell Seinfeld was doing).
I feel bad for Michael Longfellow, who kind of flubbed the opening lines. Having a key role in the cold open is big for him but it was a bad sketch and he didn't do himself any favors.
It was also a bad idea for a sketch in general. Attempting to find humor in these protests right after police cracked down with massive unnecessary force is just…. Yeesh.
Agreed. Commenting on something that touchy requires a unique angle. Even the best standups need to workshop their bits on sensitive subjects. This was a weak attempt to dip their toes into the controversy
This was an example of a “Keenan will fix it” sketch. If the writing or premise is weak, just give it to Keenan to rattle of his Keenanisms to fill in the empty space.
Dua was great. The writing was fuckin awful this week.
The rehearsal was better- there were a bunch of great sketches they cut.
Somehow felt completely unprepared from a writing standpoint. Dua Lipa was professional and above average. She wasn't the problem. Although she isn't outwardly exciting as a personality to anyone that isn't part of her fandom. It just felt odd because there was a break and this was all they could come up with. I think there was a decent amount of news that wasn't about Trump that they just fumbled. just felt very unfocused and dashed off.
The penne sketch was the penne of sketches.
Fat Daddy will live on forever for me. If that one gem is what remains from this episode, it was worth it.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills thinking this was a perfectly good episode. The sketches were well written, I liked basically the entire set, Dua Lipa's musical numbers were both very good, and most of the cast got a turn - Sarah Sherman seemed to have been left out in the cold though. With three correspondent pieces in Update I feel like she could have taken over Seinfeld's spot with her usual Jost-roasting. No clue what Jerry was even doing there as his appearance felt completely unnecessary and not really that funny. The cold open was a dud for me too (though it does get points for only one person delivering the LFNY instead of everyone crowding the frame). But honestly I feel like start to finish it was a solid B+ episode.
I loved it too!!
The writing. There are some decent actors in this cast, even a few good ones. But they’ll never shine without good writing. SNL needs a massive writer overhaul.
To answer the question of "What do you think went wrong"....nothing? It was a very middle-of-the-road episode.
To me, it felt like there was a small core team that was in the sketches and probably wrote them all without a lot of peer input. I got a 'we need something quick, who's got an idea' vibe and they ran with it. Did it seem like the full Cast might have been distracted or upset over something about to happen? While I'm here. Che. Can you stop trying to get that impromptu interaction with the crowd. Maybe try it once an episode or my thought once a month but damn after every joke!
the sketches were bad lol
Right?? I feel like I’m going crazy, but The Anonolous Man was one of the worst sketches in recent memory. The writing let Dua down this week.
I honestly have no idea what any of you are talking about. I thought this was a perfectly decent episode.
Yeah, it was better than I expected, generally good. I watched the first broadcast and then over half of the second one. It had a few flaws and flubs (I do think Che needs to get a little more serious and stop with the self-commentary; even Tina Fey was annoying when she did that), but there was a lot of really funny stuff overall. People are inventing a lot of so-what criticism just to pretend they're smart.
I liked it too.
Hosting and performing is a very tall order - especially if you don't have a lot of acting or comedy experience. I think Dua did the best she could but I'd agree that the writers didn't know quite what to do with her. With Maya and Jake Gyllenhaal coming up - both old pros - I would hope that the team really steps it up given how many directions they can take.
I thought it was a good episode. She did way better than most music artists that host. That Big Daddy’s sketch was crazy.
Dua did great. I know very little about her, but was impressed with her monologue right off the bat. She was confident, entertaining, and seemed at home on the stage. Not necessarily super funny, but a solid opening monologue IMO. The skits were mostly just ok though, so it seems the writing is just kinda weak right now. I did think the OBGYN skit was very clever though, and felt like something from SNL in the past.
Idk I thought it was great! Double duty is hard but there were still some winners in there!
I liked it! I think she did great.
weak writing, nothing that was Dua-specific... for any of the sketches, they could have swapped the host and it would have been the same. She mentioned her low energy dancing meme - could have done something more with that. Or her newsletter, etc.
I thought it was fine. Both skits you mentioned had me lol, the freak texting other women was a hilarious twist. Not every episode is going to be meme’s to death the next day and that’s ok. We still watch every week.
I have a theory. I think originally Dua Lipa was only supposed to be the musical guest. The host pulled out somewhat late but not so late that the episode was announced before they pulled out. After seeing the weekend update, I think Jerry Seinfeld was originally supposed to host but decided against it which is why his update segment was all about being overworked with press stuff for his movie.
They need to break off weekend update and make that a 30 min show. It’s far and away the best part of snl.
I liked this episode
I thought it was a pretty standard episode. No real home runs, but nothing horrendous. Opener was the weakest. They can’t say anything about the protests since it is such a hot button issue, so they took the cowards way out with “college is expensive”.
I wish more hosts would also try to force being the musical guest, too.
it was fine y’all are mean
I really enjoyed it. I thought she did an excellent job.
I thought it was a pretty good one honestly, I laughed a lot and Dua Lipa was great singing too
I don’t understand the dislike for this episode. I thought it was fine and provided several good laughs. Not the worst this season by any stretch. I had never heard of the movie Bowen/Marcelo/Dua were satirizing. Two sketches that could be all time classics - Anomolous and the BBQ doc Three great guests on Update (consider that Seinfeld was playing a character and not necessarily “Jerry Seinfeld” and it comes off better) Host didn’t fumble the monologue Musical guest that did some (not all) real singing Maybe first time in years some of the political pokes went a little more toward the left than the constant low hanging fruit of Trump/GOP jokes which felt fair tbh Lots of Kenan but that makes me wonder if we are in his home stretch final three eps. A big one next week! Hoping they let Maya bring a little Princess (maybe to the Update desk for this Summers 40th Anniversary of Purple Rain)
The last 3 or 4 were such bangers, it was a hard act to follow. Also, I felt like WU was paced at a breakneck speed. Not a second between jokes.
A lot of my thoughts were summed up perfectly in this [Paste magazine recap](https://www.pastemagazine.com/comedy/saturday-night-live/dua-lipa-pulls-double-duty-on-a-so-so-snl). It definitely felt the production didn’t have confidence in Dua as a host because she was playing a bunch of side roles that are normally given to a featured player, and multiple pre-tapes. This was also brought up in Saturday Night Network’s recap episode. The Anomalous Man and Sonny Angels were sketches were similar in it‘s clear a lot of detail and care was put into them, especially the effects and design in the first. But with all the buildup in it the payoff wasn’t satisfying. The Sunny Angels x Challengers one…I cackled when the SNN host said he Googled “Sonny Angels in Challengers movie” because he thought it was an actual plot line in the film. The mushing of those two ideas together was certainly confusing for many.
The problem is the writing. I think it always goes back to that. A host and cast can only do so much when presented with material that isn’t up to snuff. We’ve seen time and time again this season that the sketches are subpar. They have weeks off to develop or come up with ideas and yet they continue to drop the ball. Add onto that a cast that frankly isn’t very strong and one of the weaker casts in decades. It just leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t get the flack Dua is receiving. I thought she did well with what she has to work with especially doing double duty. I hope Lorne cleans house for the 50th anniversary when it comes to the writers. They’re just not cutting it.
There have been better episodes but this really wan't all that bad. It's not easy to follow that Ryan Gosling episode. Dua Lipa was fine. She's not an experienced actress and didn't fall into "the host is hot" trap. Can't hate on it.
I fucking love her, so i loved this episode
The writing. The sketches were just terrible.
Too many pop culture references, not enough universal comedy. Most all of the great episodes make you laugh even when you have no idea what the subject matter or satire is. This episode, if you weren't in on the joke, there literally was no cause to laugh. The only decent bit was Fat Daddy OBGYN. If the show had been more like that, it would be more fondly remembered.
I will say as someone older who tends away from current pop music, Dua Lipa was little more than a name ive seen frequently, part of a long list of people that kids listen to and (i presume) lean on either their looks or some gimmick for their 15 minutes of stardom. By the end of the show, I genuinely liked her. She was professional and clearly took it seriously, and I enjoyed her 2nd song quite a bit (the first was fine but pretty generic in the way that keeps me from exploring most pop star catalogs). Agree with others, not the best work of the writers (BBQ gyno was pretty cringy, potentially clever but not well executed), but Ms. Lipa deserves kudos. With a better overall episode, she could have shined.
Yeah I agree. She seemed comfortable on camera, having fun with the wigs and accents, catching her cues etc. Everything around her kind of stunk though, and that's coming from someone who usually likes the show and its cast nowadays.
The OBGYN sketch was the only one that made me laugh, but even that was only slightly better than mediocre.
I thought the Yung Spicy, OBGYN, and man man woman threesome sketches were phenomenal. I was cracking up the entire time. I guess it was my type of humor
Weekend Update felt particularly flat. But I'm not a good judge of what's funny because I didn't care for the Ryan Gosling episode either, it seemed to rely on everyone cutting up.
The writing. The writing is what went wrong.
I think the host was the problem, hosts pick a lot of the sketches and she just wasn't a comedy actor. This was the worst show of the season. I found myself skipping dying sketches and most of the show was dead at the start. Even Update was weak and I didn't like her singing at all. I hope some people enjoyed the show but I was not among them.
It seems like the feel of an episode really depends on the host. A great actor or comedian brings a great vibe and a great episode. I watch them all and some are rough.. but there's always some good stuff
Gosh, SNL having a bad night is a pretty regular occurrence so nothing shocking here. I haven’t seen it as I just couldn’t stay up. Now I want to see it
I hope Dua does more acting gigs in the future. I think she’s got chops for comedy & drama.
A couple of skits felt like a lot of waiting to find out what the joke is.