'Saturday Night Live' Recap: Dakota Johnson & Alabama Shakes

We’re back! It’s great to be back to Saturday Night Live after a few week break due to SNL 40. While I didn’t recap that show (it just seemed pointless to grade sketches in a 3.5 hour special that was clearly a tribute rather than a typical stand-alone sketch format), 40 did feature some great moments (Wayne's World! Music Time with Marty and Beyoncé!) and some tepid ones too (The Californians! The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Eddie Murphy appearance!). With that huge show still casting it’s shadow, we might see a slightly off-kilter show this week. Plus, the host – Dakota Johnson from Fifty Shades - is a complete unknown. But we can hope for a show that’s not just full of bad S&M jokes, right?

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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Giuliani Cold Open: * *
The idea of a Birdman parody is a good one, especially because Taran Killam does a killer Michael Keaton impression. But I’m not sure the Birdman stuff fully meshed with the Rudy Giuliani storyline. It seemed like two solid ideas smooshed together for no real reason. The audience, too, seemed surprisingly dead, perhaps due to much of the filming taking place in the halls. But anyway, it seems like a weak way to start the show.

Opening Monologue: * * ½
How do you write jokes about Fifty Shades of Grey? I mean, between late-night shows and Twitter almost every mommy porn gag has been done. Perhaps that’s why this monologue seemed so slight. Yeah, not much to say about this one.

Father Daughter Ad: * * * *
Yes, Father Daughter Ad is basically a one-joke sketch, revolving around a twist ending where we find out the college-aged daughter is joining ISIS. But to its credit, it’s a pretty great reveal. I wish they had stretched the post-reveal portion a little bit longer, which might have allowed a little more commentary on the part of SNL, but it’s a solid effort.

Cinderella: ½
(OK, this is a side note but when writing these recaps, I use the same template week-to-week and, for some strange reason, until now each sketch has reseived the exact same sketch as the one in the same slot in the last episode). I like Cecily Strong but Cathy Anne, her trailer parkish, pink sweatshirted, chain smoking character first seen in the dismal troll sketch is perhaps the least funny thing she has done on the show. I don’t get why they brought her back. Pass, please.

Say What You Want To Say: * * * * ½
What a fun sketch! This gleeful ode to the rude things we all want to say but never do is just so entertaining to watch as performed by the ladies of SNL and so relatable to just about anyone. Besides the Sara Bareilles song, which is used perfectly, this also had a wonderfully timeless feel to it as, with a different choice of song, this could have played exactly the same twenty years ago.

Press Junket: * * * ½
Kyle Mooney is great at playing this kind of a character, a precocious middle school reporter sent to interview Dakota Johnson about 50 Shades. He’s so strange and borderline creepy but so cute and likeable too. I can’t think of another cast member right now who could pull that off so well. The sketch he was placed in had its moments, but it felt like another rewrite was in order. A few more offbeat jokes and a little swifter pacing would have made this come alive just a bit more.

I Can’t: * * *
I’ve only been out of college a few years but every time I come across a current freshman from my alma mater on social media it seems they talk like the characters in this sketch. I guess it was clever that the three interns “can’t even” while Aidy Bryant’s character literally couldn’t do anything with two broken arms. But there just wasn’t enough meat to this sketch beyond Johnson, Strong and Moynihan doing annoying voices.

Weekend Update: * * * ½
It’s been a fairy rocky night of SNL so far and tonight’s Update continues that trend. The best part (besides a few good jokes about that stupid color-changing dress meme) was Jay Pharaoh’s Kanye West who came to the Update desk to give the greatest apology of all time. The material wasn’t the freshest, but Pharaoh’s impression is so spot-on and so enjoyable that it’s just a pleasure to watch. While Kate McKinnon is also a joy to watch, her take of Ruth Bader Ginsburg just felt stale.

Emergency Room: * *
I have never seen an episode of any Star Trek series in my life. So perhaps I’m missing something. But as is, the sketch had a solid premise – an on-call doc dressed up in full Star Trek regalia must rush to the ER to care for a critically ill patient – but it just felt tepid and unsure of what it wanted to be. It needed to be darker or sillier or weirder.

Net Neutrality: * ½
For some reason, SNL really dislikes the internet. I don’t know why, and don’t have the time to get into more detail here, but there’s something interesting in the fact that the show is generally very harsh when dealing with the online community. In this sketch, they reduce the internet culture to a foursome of vacuous, self-obsessed hotheads. I don’t get it. It’s like the Game of Thrones sketch a few years back built about the odd theory that all GoT fans were idiotic man-children. There’s good comedy to be written about internet culture and net neutrality. This clearly isn’t it.

Mr. Riot Films: * ½
Oy. What the hell happened this week?

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Best Sketch: “I wanna see you be brave!”

Worst Sketch: Cinderella.

Musical Guest: Alabama Shakes
She can get a little loud and unwieldy, especially with a larger band and back-up singers, but the lead singer has a helluva blues voice.

Overall Thoughts:
This was a pretty dismal show, a problem that was (mostly) not Johnsons fault. She just happened to be there on a really off week.