The standup and actor can’t help but cover the Will Smith and Chris Rock incident with mixed results
Justice Thomas worries about his recent hospitalization, while Ginny - aka, "Yoko Ono of the Supreme Court" - denies unconvincingly his role in the Capitol riots, even as he helps may not, but may call on "a tidal wave of biblical vengeance". To lead the Biden crime family to Gitmo. ,
After a brief satire from network resident Vino, Judge Jeanine Pirro (Cecile Strong) about Disney "turning your kindergartener gay", the hosts are visited by former President Trump (James Austin Johnson), who kills- Called from bed in A-Lago. , He thinks about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars ("I saw the slap, I enjoyed the slap, I was very impressed with my slap,"), before outright bout his part in the rebellion ( "In many ways it was a deliberately planned coup, yes") and its cover-up ("I was too busy with phone calls, and burner phones and coups.")
It suffers from the cold open narrative and lack of thematic coherence that most Fox News segments do, but Johnson's film-obsessed, definite article-allergic Trump proves to be a winner and a crowd pleaser.
The host of the night is standup comic Jerrod Carmichael. Simply put, Carmichael says he's "not going to talk about it..." before doing exactly that, even though he never says what "it" is. Instead, he talks about how it feels like we've all been "talking about it for so long," asking, "Doesn't it look like it happened between Jamiroquai and 9/11? Where did it happen?"
Despite his reticence, he says that Lorne Michael told him that he would have to discuss it, as "the nation needed to heal". He is shocked that Lorne would pressure him on him, noting that "must be the least famous host in SNL history". Nevertheless, he uses the opportunity to introduce himself and promote his new HBO special Rothaniel (in which he comes across as gay), although when it comes to the burden of national responsibility, he is more likely to be a member of former President Obama. gives deer.
The first sketch of the night is a game show called Is My Brain OK?, which tasked contestants with identifying simple things they "knew for sure before Covid", such as common objects like wheelbarrows. (guess "bicycle", "farm bicycle", and "wheelmonkey"), days of the week, names of close friends, and ways to start everyday conversations. It's a clever idea that tries to coast on its cleverness, but the funniest bits are Sarah Sherman acting like a weirdo.
The short ace movie is a new musical number by Pete Davidson, musical guest Gunna, Chris Redd and Red Rocket star Simon Rex. In it, he raps how his short attention span makes him unable to watch any film for more than 90 minutes. It's a blatantly obvious bit of male humor that doesn't even track with the examples they give: We're led to believe modern day bros can't hang with the heat, but will happily toss at an eraserhead? please. Rex delivers something with funny bars about his love of Ernest movies and a good dig on Davidson's endless comedy vehicle The King of Staten Island, though his appearance is so random that it's shocking, especially when you consider that his The recent breakout came in a film which runs at 128 minutes.
On Shop TV, the sassy Southern host (Strong, Day) welcomes a doll maker (Carmichael) to show off his latest toy: the Riley Rainbow. Things are going smoothly until she changes the doll's outfit, revealing a huge, rainbow-colored bush growing from her crotch. He explains that it is not what it looks like - a "Vagafro", as one angry caller refers to it - but simply "the end of the head-spool inside ... it is an anchor point, any The doll maker will know this". His explanations are unconvincing, but the doll proves to be a hot commodity with the house – or a collar, prison – in the audience's case nonetheless.
After this, the show finally gets ready to address the elephant in the room. Carmichael plays a seat filler at the Oscars who lands just behind his protagonist Will Smith (Red) just after Chris Rock takes the stage. Smith's intense friendship before, during, and after the violent outbursts gradually reveals the depth of their madness. It's not a particularly brilliant take on the story, though Red's thorough delivery of "Get my wife's name out of your fucking mouth!" Talking about his infamous interview on wife Jada Pinkett-Smith's Red Table show from 2021 earns some big laughs, as does their near breakdown.
Before Gunna takes the stage for a Banking On Me performance, Weekend Update completes the first news for the Oscars debacle. Michael Che says he understands where Smith is coming from, noting that "you can't expect him to sit there and see another man jump on his wife ... sign the NDA without doing it." He's also tired of pretending that everyone knows Jada is being diagnosed with alopecia: "As much as we've heard about Jada and Will's personal lives, you can't expect us to keep everything intact. It's like Kanye, 'Don't act like you didn't know about my psoriasis!'"
Meanwhile, Colin Jost is confused that Oscar let Smith in just because Chris Rock said it was okay: "So now we ask the victim right after his head injury, 'Hey, You're cool if the guy who just attacked you wait a while? You don't want to drive him crazy again. I can't believe the academy has a worse concussion protocol than the NFL."
They eventually move on, with Jost inviting Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn. She defends asking Supreme Court candidate Ketanji Brown Jackson (Strong) "What is a woman?" And she doubles down on her sensationalized questions by popping out of those "big, stupid, stupid boards and big, stupid, stupid pictures" that she loves to use. Strong's Blackburn impersonation is completely indistinguishable from her Marjorie Taylor Green, though he probably says less about her than the Republican Party does.
Che returns to the Oscars controversy one last time, bringing in OJ Simpson (Thompson) to give his take. He tries to see both sides of the issue, noting "they both seem like good guys", though he is quick to fly off the handle at several points, such as when Chee takes Smith's trophy. Refers to the Academy by considering. Blast aside, there's nothing here that matches the actual OJ's video on the subject for sheer awkwardness or brazenness.
Afterwards, a family and two morgue assistants gather on a seaside cliff to see the remains of their late grandfather. The family expects a standard scattering of ashes, only to watch with horror as the morticians throw their loved one's entire body over the edge. A hilariously simple visual gag, it's a pity the sketch couldn't end on that, as the rest are awkwardly drawn.
The same awkwardness plays out in the following sketch, which sees Kyle Mooney playing a strange tourist who is too invested in a friend's boring story about a New York lunch.
Before the show closes with a pre-filmed sketch about gay-friendly baby T-shirts with slogans such as "Future Twink", "Little Lace", "No", Gunna returns to the stage and joins Future. Pushing performs p. Kink at Pride" and "I Heart Kristen Stewart".
After peeping around the big story of the day for the first half of the episode, SNL certainly paid a lot of attention to it during the show's back-half. He also did a decent job of things, at least when you think about how bad it could have been. The show was very clear in taking the "side" of Rock, about Smith being as tough as he was willing to go with anyone outside right-wing politicians. No doubt a lot of people would be offended by this, but you had to hope SNL would stand up for one of its own.
That said, even outside of Carmichael's monologue, there was an air of grim inevitability every time the topic came up, the way our social media-driven culture makes any story come to a complete end within days or hours. There is a great need for the continued existence of Saturday Night Live.