The Jan. 24 episode of SNL’s season 51 was hosted by actress Teyana Taylor, with musical guest Geese. This was the 11th episode of the season.
Cold Open: The Trump Awards
A lavish cold open that features nearly the entire cast as various people at the 1st annual Trump Awards. That included a cameo by Mike Myers as Elon Musk.
This is what we get as penetrating satire these days: pretty lame jokes (“Speaking of beards, how’s your wife?” James Austin Johnson‘s Trump asks Jeremy Culhane‘s J.D. Vance); and sight gags.
I thought they missed a big opportunity to show how self-serving awards ceremonies are AND attack the Trump administration. This was long (nearly eight minutes), but missed the mark.
Monologue: Teyana Taylor
The “One Battle After Another” co-star has had a huge week: a nomination for an Oscar; and hosting the show cast member Kam Patterson says “is for white people.”
Strangely, the monologue didn’t land with the studio audience, which could be felt through the screen to the audience at home.
Airport Delay
A pair of singing airline employees (Taylor and Kenan Thompson) in the Mel Gibson Terminal.
Mikey Day does his signature Mikey Day “what do you mean…” character, and we also see Marcello Hernandez, Andrew Dismukes, and Chloe Fineman.
I’m not making this up: James Austin Johnson appears as a drunk pilot again. Which is supposed to be funny, apparently.
It ended up as a very brief sketch and a puzzling one.
One Battle After Another Action Figures: Pretape
A parody of an action toy commercial. Taylor is featured, with Day, Dismukes, and Season 51 breakout star Ashley Padilla. This pretape isn’t as strong as others we’ve seen in Season 51.
AFC Championship Game: Quefs
Dismukes as Troy Aikman and JAJ as Joe Buck in an NFL on ESPN pregame parody that serves as a vehicle to promote a Hulu show called “QUEFS,” which features lesbian chefs.
Taylor appears as a sideline reporter, and unfortunately shows us that she’s not good at humor. I mean, “come on.”
This feels like a ripoff of the much better written and performed ESPN Classic sketches with Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis where they sprinkle in ad placements for feminine hygiene products. Google those instead of watching these.
The Power of You
Padilla appears as Kathy, a confidence coach with a seeming lack of confidence.
Day, Hernandez, Thompson, and Taylor are attendees at Kathy’s confidence class. Once again here’s Day doing his “wait a minute, you did that…” bit.
In the end the attendees feel better by comparing themselves to the sad sack, unprofessional “Kathy.”
This is the type of sketch we used to get frequently, and it’s been done better. But it’s also been done worse. This sketch was brilliant compared to what we got elsewhere in the episode.
Musical Guest: Geese
Any band that says they’ve been influenced by the Velvet Underground, Radiohead, and the Beatles is worth a listen. And let’s face it: a band is a rare thing these days. Especially an American band.
This four-person group from Brooklyn was joined by a keyboardist in Studio 8H. It’s nice to see that there are quirky, artistic young people still glomming together to create music as a group these days. A nice break from the ego-centric performances we’ve seen in much of Season 51.
Weekend Update
Last week the show was criticized for cutting a Weekend Update segment where Tommy Brennan defended his home state of Minnesota against ICE. Thus far in Season 51, SNL showrunner Lorne Michaels has failed to show the willingness to confront the fascist policies of the Trump administration. We didn’t get much biting commentary this week either.
Weekend Update rundown:
- Michael Che took a shot at ICE, sort of.
- Colin Jost seems to have decided it’s time to dye his hair.
- Best joke of the segment: Che’s dig at Melania Trump‘s villainous appearance at the inauguration.
Marcello Hernandez appeared as a Gen Z translator to explain current slang to Jost. This was basically another installment of a “Jost Roast,” which is pretty tired and been done about a 955 times in the (what seems like ) 33 years Jost has been behind the anchor desk on SNL.
Culhane appeared as Mr. On Blast, a colorful guy unafraid to share his opinion. This was an entertaining character from Culhane, who deserves a chance to break out on the show. It didn’t necessarily seem to land with much of the studio audience (maybe the audience was bad tonight). it also needs some refining, specifically better coordination between Culhane’s dance moves and the music, but it gave off some funny vibes. Culhane has been compared to former cast member Bobby Moynihan. This character has a little of Drunk Uncle in him. The segment should be brought back, but the format needs to be better defined link Moynihan’s Update appearances.
Weekend Update runtime: 16 minutes
Grampa Jackson
Padilla and Patterson as a bridal couple at their wedding reception. Taylor plays Grampa Jackson, an octogenarian who can’t resist grooving on the dance floor. This was designed to show off Taylor’s skills as a dancer. Once again, the lukewarm studio audience kept the energy very low on this sketch.
Thompson is the father of the groom, Day is the disc jockey, Dismukes the father of the bride, and Fineman the mother of the bride. JAJ is a doctor attending the wedding reception.
A number of things sunk this sketch: a one-note premise; a stiff performance again from Taylor; Patterson looking completely disinterested; and Thompson underselling his lines. This may be the worst sketch of the season so far, which is saying a lot.
Backstab Island
Taylor plays an against-type contestant on a Survivor-like reality show. Her character is on the show to make friends and be a nice person. Some good writing here that takes shots at shows like this.
This sketch at least actually serves as satire. At times it feels like the SNL writing room doesn’t know what that word means.
Geese musical No. 2
The second appearance by Geese in Studio 8H was a mesmerizing number (titled “Trinidad”) that featured an explosive chorus tempered by quiet, slowly building verses that was reminiscent of Nirvana. This is the music every 16-to-20 year old should be listening to. A primal, soaring, inspiring performance.
Beyond the Headlines
Taylor as the host of a news talk show. Day and Fineman are commentators who explain issues surrounding ICE activities and religion, while Taylor and Thompson react by making noises implying that the black community wouldn’t agree.
A few other sketches in recent years have explored this same topic: that many white, liberal Americans are only now seeing what the black community has long understood: that the government and law enforcement can basically do anything they want to disenfranchise segments of people.
Again, the studio audience almost seems asleep during this sketch. There were some funny jokes here.
10-to-1 Sketch: Blowing It from Martin Herlihy
Sarah Sherman as a woman bringing her boyfriend to meet her parents in the south. Culhane and Padilla play the parents. The boyfriend, played by SNL writer Martin Herlihy, offends the parents by mocking them. We learn that it’s part of his strategy to force his girlfriend to break off the relationship first and sell his course “50 Ways to Get Your Lover to Leave You.”
This pretape segment could have led the show. It shows again how Michaels just doesn’t want to put anything smart near the top of the program, preferring to spit out safe sketch ideas.
Episode Grade: C-
After a very weak start, the episode found itself a bit after the long Weekend Update segment. (The cold open and Weekend Update accounted for 24 minutes of the episode).
The musical numbers lifted the show toward average rating. But, the lineup of this show was bizarre, and ultimately the choices and weak writing, paired with either chopped or incomplete sketches made this a very forgettable episode.
Teyana Taylor was a mediocre presence on the stage of Studio 8H. She seemed to be tying a wee-bit too hard all night. She seemed ill-suited for much of what she was asked to do, mispronouncing names and words in sketches. And, strangely, even though she was a professional dancer, the writers for some reason wrote a sketch where they needed to bring a stunt-double in to dance for her.
Only Geese, the Herlihy pretape, and good performances from Culhane, Sherman, and Padilla helped keep this show near average. This is not one that NBC will want to send in for Emmy consideration, or even in the time capsule.
