So it was State of the Union this week, right?!? Saturday Night Live has done live shows during the American wars before, but somehow we stayed apart enough to enjoy the comedy, didn't we somehow? It sounds ominously different for whatever reason (Putin. It's Putin). So how will the show handle it? SNL fully opened last week. Could President Biden's big primetime address give him reason to lighten it up a bit?
What's the Deal for Last Night's (03/05/22) SNL Cold Open?
He took it lightly and then some, going to the opposite extreme for an occasional take on Ukraine. There is no union state. No Biden. SNL would rather go back to Trump country, aka Mar-a-Lago, where Laura Ingraham (Kate McKinnon) and Tucker Carlson (Alex Moffat) hosted "The Fox News Ukrainian Invasion Fest Spectacular," which is so is not big. Fox News anchors her early support for Russia and Putin as much as it is a fundraiser for all the poor Russian oligarchs who could face some financial consequences from the world's sanctions on them. Alex takes a concrete look at Tucker's voice as well as his politics, at one point describing his desire to focus our attention on the Mexico border, "In my defense, I'm a racist, so I thought it was true." Was." James Austin Johnson still gets the stream-of-consciousness gamble on Trump, but who among us really wants to think about Trump, anyway? Bowen Yang is far better as a joke of Steven Seagal. We also subject Donald Trump Jr. (Mickey Day) and his fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle (Cecile Strong), who duet on a modified lyrical version of "Shallow". JAJ's Trump also gets in on the singing act, dedicating "My Funny Valentine" to Putin. Please dear god, let it end soon. War and this sketch.
How did SNL guest host Oscar Isaacs do it?
Oscar Isaac has been on the show before, but only to rise up in a live "What Up With That" sketch. So that was his proper start as a host!
And if you've seen Isaac act before, you know he'll be pretty good at it. And that was it!
Even his monologue was extraordinary, as Issac reminds us that show-biz only uses his half-Guatemalan, half-Cuban name (that's Oscar Isaac Hernández Estrada), and that he made his first film debut. Shown several clips of what he'd ever produced and starred in, "The Avenger," at the age of 10. He was surprised when he signed a licensing deal with NBCUniversal to share clips on the show, and he'd be in awe of how his childhood friend made the film. But even better, Issac's explanation for doing so: "It's important to encourage kids to be weird."
so inspiring. Made all the more inspiring by Isaac's enthusiasm for being super awkward throughout the show.
The first sketch, "Paw Patrol", cast him as a town councillor who, under the command of a 10-year-old boy, seeks to recall the mayor (Ago Nvodim) to replace the police and fire departments with dogs. . What if Paw Patrol were real life, really. Kate and Mickey take on the roles of concerned citizens. Andrew Dismukes plays Isaac's child, who can't read well because Paw Patrol has taken over everything. The idea is funny and weird, but it should have moved too fast and shouldn't it? Because the surprise joke in the end is a good button, but it took a long time to get there.
His next live sketch puts him in a position to run the annual "HR meeting" sexual harassment symposium at a company with Cecily Strong as a work (and more) partner as an HR representative and try to have "raw sex" with it.
In a sketch that sounds like a callback to Eddie Bryant's pleas in the week's promo for a reason to kiss the host and/or musical guest, Issac dutifully played whatever role he played in "Eddie's Dream." Even if that means using her real name halfway through the sketch, after already sitting on her lap and then calming her down and announcing that she gave him a big Official language has given 'bonner'. In the pre-taped backstage bits where Eddie lays out his reasoning for it, apparently he got to do whatever he wanted in exchange for playing 150 characters he didn't care about before. or something like that.
He also proved game for the wrong sketches for the "Home Repair Show", in which he electrocuted himself in an attempt to re-wire his place. Kenan and Ego play husband and wife in this sketch, in which they overturn their proverbial apple cart revealing their tool box to be filled with cans of beer, and all of their tools are really just chocolate. Ok.
How relevant was musical guest Charli XCX?
Charli XCX, a decade after first breaking big with "I Love It" and becoming even more popular in 2014 (when she performed "Boom Clap" on SNL), made her second appearance as a musical guest in December. Had to make But the Omicron version of COVID-19 took away part of her crew and sidelined her performance, although she appeared in a previously taped bit of that episode. Rain checks were delivered and cashed this week. She had already released four singles from her upcoming album, "Crash", on March 18, and sang two of them here.