The Chair is in the thick of finals — you know that part of May that simultaneously feels like the Christmas rush and Tax Day all wrapped into one? OK so you get it, it’s stressful.
Evergreen
But lucky for us, the Chair took a break and watched this week’s SNL featuring Abbott Elementary’s queen of all things Quinta Brunson — and he’s happy to report, it was a standout episode of the season. So, as the Chair dots his i’s and crosses his t’s, and doles out the As, Bs, and hopefully very few Cs, here are some highlights. Consider it a brain break, a glimmer of sunshine, or maybe just some stuff to watch at lunch.
Saturday marked the first episode of SNL’s 50TH anniversary season with guest host Jean Smart, a recent Emmy winner for playing another, albeit fictional, comedy stalwart of 50 years, Hacks stand-up, Debra Vance.
Was the combination fun? Yes.
Did it have some rough spots? A few. Sure.
Never need to see this monkey again
But were there any real memorable moments? Of course!
Can you say —
Maya/Kamala????
with Andy as Doug??? Yes, please!
Or —
Ms. Smart as: a romance writer reading salacious excerpts from her new math textbook; a too dramatic actress cast prior to Lucille Ball in faux clips from a very different I Love Lucy; a Real Housewife in Santa Fe trading bitchy bon mots in a Mexican restaurant ….all of which followed her sweet comic opening monologue to the tune of I Happen To Like New York?
But first…
Let’s get a few things straight.
So to speak.
Go off, Chair.
No, the Chair will not be writing about Saturday Night Live ad infinitum/for the rest of eternity despite the way it’s looked for the last 3 weeks.
Think of this as the final (Note: Well, maybe for a while) shameless self-promotion of his just published book, The SNL Companion: An Unofficial Guide to the Seasons, Sketches and Stars of Saturday Night Live.
Click here to purchase! #shamelessbutIdontcare
Yes, it’s available from Amazon in paperback or on Kindle at a discounted price – and it will make a GREAT holiday gift/stocking stuffer/Halloween favor or Thanksgiving something.
Yes, they could only have on one of us (Note: Cause it’s radio?) and I was more than pleased to be Doug Emhoff since, well, I’m the Jewish one and, well, who wouldn’t be?
Ahem.
Worth posting again because it was so good!
In any event, SNL’s return….
It was solid and had a great political opening with some fun guest cameos. We’ve seen Maya Rudolph’s Kamala but there was something about watching her at the podium center stage.
The swagger.
The joy.
The hope that she gets to do it a bunch of times for the next FOUR/EIGHT seasons.
The dream team
Not to mention Jim Gaffigan as Coach Walz (Note: Why didn’t I have his name in the pool?), Andy Samberg (Note: He’s Jewish, too) debuting in Studio 8H as Doug; James Austin Johnson returning as an endless loop of Trump; Bowen Yang as a decent but strange choice for Vance; and much-missed Dana Carvey doing a fairly on-target but slightly too beleaguered (Note: Was it the writing or him?) Joe Biden.
Sometimes when there is soooo much real-life political material to choose from it makes the task all that more difficult for SNL. But as Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost cracked from behind his fake anchor desk when he recalled that more than one person over the last 3-4 months asked him if he regretted not being on the air with all of the political upheaval:
I have a feeling there’s going to be more that happens when we get back.
We are all too familiar with these dumpster fires
The emergence of cable news and faux cable news shows in the 1990s, combined with the power of incessant and omni-present social media platforms with streams of creativity and craziness, has created a perfect storm of fame for all sorts of characters and borderline sociopathic behavior.
It might not be great for the world but it sure does help provide SNL and shows like it tons of opportunity to land a laugh in the oddest of ways. For example, it’s rare for a Weekend Update segment to in one moment have a set piece where we have commentary from the beleaguered 10-week old world famous baby Chinese hippo Moo Deng (Note: A hilariously costumed Bowen Yang) after just moments before hearing Jost remark that TikTok voters are using AI to translate Hitler speeches into English, whereupon he plays an actual short clip from a real post that shows the real Hitler ranting but has us hearing the actual debate voice of Trump claiming (about Haitians):
You may ask: How do I know that was an actual video from TikTok??
And I would answer: Because I saw it myself on Twitter/X last week.
And of course I’m embarrassed to still be in the cesspool that is Twitter/X. But please know I have not given Elon any money for my own verified check mark. Just as I have no plan to buy into Trump crypto.
Or any crypto.
I mean, why??????
I’m giving my money to whatever this is
But I do look forward to watching John Mulaney, Ariana Grande and Michael Keaton hosting SNL in the coming weeks of 2024.
notes from a chair 