Chris Hemsworth first hosted Saturday Night Live earlier this year. It was an all-right show whose only real memorable moment came courtesy of a live chicken. It’ll be interesting to see if Hemsworth improves his track record or not. Or if another barnyard animal is brought into the studio.
Like I always do, I’ll be writing the recaps “live,” meaning I’ll watch a sketch and immediately write a short blurb reviewing and recapping it. For each segment, I’ll rate it on a scale of 0-5 stars. At the end of the piece, I’ll share some quick overall thoughts and the best/worst sketch of the night.
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George W. Bush Cold Open: * * * ½
Will Ferrell is back, y’all! With such an over-saturation of political humor and commentary these days, it’s a smart move to reintroduce former president Bush to give his take on the election. Besides, Ferrell is one of the greatest all-time SNL players so just having him back in 8H is a joy. But while a few jokes hit hard (“It’s a pretty good plot twist that I turned out to be the smart one” is probably the best cold open jokes of the season), a lot of the material felt a little ehhh, at least for Ferrell’s standard. You get one of the funniest people on the planet AND the stellar SNL writing team and all you can come up with is a lame Leprechaun joke? Perhaps I’m over thinking this. Sketches like this can coast on good will and will be shared on social media like crazy. I just wish the material itself was just a little bit funnier.
Opening Monologue: * * ½
It’s interesting, when recapping Hemsworth’s first SNL episode I wrote about the fact – whether consciously or not – that a number of sketches revolved around how handsome the host is. Now I don’t know Hemsworth at all, but it created a sense that he needed some ego stroking from the SNL writers. Now, right off the bat, we have a monologue where Hemsworth plays an egotistical jerk. Interesting. Perhaps it’s just a comic persona that fits him well. But it makes me wonder…
Star Wars Toy Collection: * * * ½
On one hand, this took a rich comic premise and expanded it really well without overstaying its welcome. The cast, especially Moynihan, did a nice job and there was good energy throughout. The problem is that the premise itself – hey look, geeky adult men like to play with toys! – seems so old by this point. True perhaps, but old.
On The Record: * * *
Gosh, Pharaoh’s Ben Carson is just the best. Even his body language is so on point. But the sketch as a whole felt lazy and recycled from material done nightly on Seth Meyers or Colbert.
Time To Bleed: * * * * ½
This is the perfect example of a sketch that took a simple premise and just ran like hell with it. With a wonderfully serious tone that perfectly contrasted with the silly premise, this sketch had me laughing throughout with each new, outlandish scenario. Hemsworth is also doing his best work of the night in this pre-taped segment. People may be sharing the Bush cold open on social media tomorrow, but this is the sketch that should be making the rounds.
Brother 2 Brother: * *
While that ridiculous sketch involving Hemsworth’s love affair with a chicken space captain (yeah, just go with it) was my favorite sketch the last time he hosting, I quite enjoyed Brother 2 Brother. But this is clearly a one-joke sketch that just didn’t need repeating. We get it, Hemsworth is much better looking than Killam. Ha. Ha.
Christmas Sing-A-Long: * * * * ½
When this started, it seemed like a sinking ship in the vain of that dire “don’t make me sing!” caroling sketch. But the minute Strong started “Deborah’s Song,” I was completely hooked. The song, which sounds something like a cut number from Next To Normal or an amateur Marvin Hamlisch tune, was just so ridiculously serious and on-the-nose, a perfect example of the type of poor musical theater song young people love to audition with. With the exception of Time To Bleed, a lot of the sketches have set up solid premises but had trouble expanding then. This one did that perfectly. Really, really funny.
Weekend Update: * * * * ½
There were three parts of this Weekend Update: the typical WU back-and-forth, McKinnon’s phenomenal Angela Merkel and a televised version of Jones’ Breaking Bad live-tweeting. In a rare Weekend Update move, all three hit a bull’s-eye. Merkel’s SNL alter ego just keeps getting better as does Jost/Che’s interactions. Really strong showing.
Brunch: * *
Another sketch that shows Hemsworth in an…interesting light. Again, the premise here was OK but stuttered between “isn’t it funny to see Chris Hemsworth” in a dress and an increasingly weird scenario about how despite said celebrity is. This one just didn’t work for me.
Pirate Ship: * ½
I’ve recent just completed an original adaptation of The Pirates of Penzance for a local production this spring. So I’ve been thinking and writing a lot about pirates. I don’t know why I bring this up. It has nothing to do with SNL. Well that’s not true, I included it because “My, this is unfunny” doesn’t quit fill up a paragraph.
Male Strippers: * * ½
This sketch wasn’t particularly good – in general, I’d just recommend re-watching the classic Patrick Swayze Chippendale’s skit and forgetting this even happened – but this was saved from worst of the night due to three little details: Jones’ sheer delight in the horrible strippers (does anyone do crazed delight better than Leslie Jones?), the strippers asking for character shoes and how Hemsworth put his dollar bill straight into his wallet. There’s clearly something here – even the idea of actors trying to be strippers holds water – it just wasn’t executed very well.
Aron’s List (Originally aired during the Elizabeth Banks episode): * * * *
This is a great idea for a sketch but I’m not sure it went where it needed to. Beyond the initial punchline, it didn’t really go anywhere. Perhaps that’s best, as sometimes it’s best to get in and get out, but something felt missing here.
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Best Sketch: Christmas Sing-A-Long
Worst Sketch: Pirate Ship
Musical Guest: Chance The Rapper
I’m not a big rap guy, so I may be way off, but I wasn’t too impressed with Chance. His rhymes didn’t seem that interesting or unique. Just me.
Overall Thoughts:
I’m still not sure how I feel about Chris Hemsworth as an SNL host. He’s fine, but he doesn’t quite have that comedic spark needed for the job. The show, too, had some strong points (especially ‘round the middle) but seemed to generally flounder.