'Saturday Night Live' Recap - Matthew McConaughey & Adele

Last week’s Saturday Night Live was an honest-to-God miracle, a top-notch show from top to bottom. It was the proverbial rainbow after the thunderstorm that was Trump. From Black Jeopardy to Horny 2 You to Uber for Jen and, perhaps most of all, Mirror To America, we got one of the best SNL episodes I’ve seen in years. Tonight, we have Matthew McConaughey and Adele. While McConaughey isn’t exactly known for comedy (although he did host back in 2003), he clearly has a good sense of humor and is willing to throw himself in a myriad of different parts. So I’m hopeful.

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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Fox & Friends: * * ½

I see why SNL loves to use Fox & Friends as a cold open. It’s a Madlibs kind of sketch where you can plug in topical jokes, impressions and random pop culture references without having to retool the sketch’s basic format. But besides Pharaoh’s terrific Ben Carson (used much better than in the stand-alone sketch last week) and Moynihan’s reliably delightful Kilmeade, this one felt flatter than most. Plus, there were no corrections? What a rip off.

 

Opening Monologue: * * *

I’m not sure what to make it this monologue; it was basically McConaughey just telling a shaggy dog story about his Dazed & Confused days. It wasn’t a bad story but was it particularly funny or worthy of being an SNL monologue? I don’t think so.

 

Thanks Adele: * * * *

You knew Adele’s “Hello” had to come up sometime tonight and this was a good use for it. While this sketch was executed very well and the idea was solid, it seemed to go on about a good minute too long. Had it been tighter, the whole thing would have really soared.

 

The Blues: * * *

While this sketch basically came down to #WhitePeopleProblems in song form and the ending punch line didn’t really work, there was an infectious energy to the repartee that I quite enjoyed. Maybe this is because watching Kenan Thompson react to things is one of my favorite activities.

 

3D Printed Man: * * *

The good news is that McConaughey did his best work of the night, capturing the robotic 3D printed man’s quirky affect. But the actual sketch never quite worked. Once you got the initial joke in the first 30 seconds, it didn’t really go anywhere. This has been shaping up to be a surprisingly bland night of SNL. Not bad, per se, just rather boring.

 

Star Wars Screen Tests: * *

These screen test skits have been redone over and over again, mostly because they are an easy impression-o-rama to pull out every time the cast comes up with new impersonations to do. This one didn’t really work. Not because the impressions were bad but because the writing was just bland and watery. Where were the jokes? And why are Michael Buble, Emma Stone and Jon Hamm there but given nothing to do?

 

Weekend Update: * * * *

There was a loose, almost unrehearsed quality to WU that I really dug this week. The back and forth between Che and Jost, culminating in that penis surgery joke, was really great. Besides, Vanessa Bayer is just one of those people who can make almost anything funny. Even thought she’d done this character before in those acting commercials, this was a better use for it. Her flat singing and insincere line readings made me laugh harder than anything else tonight.

 

Should You Chime In On This: * * * *

This was a smart sketch. Like Black Jeopardy, it used a typical game show format to comment on very topical issues in a clever way. But it also turns out that Black Jeopardy was riotously funny. Intellectually, I quite liked this one. But did it actually make me laugh? Not really.

 

Wrong Side Of The Bed: * ½

1: Ooph. Enough said.

2: That half star is due to McKinnon’s Ed Sheeran. Now that’s funny.

 

Amtrak Meeting: * *

I’m tired. I do have a college degree. I do have two working hands. None of these things made me like this sketch.

 

Best Sketch: Should You Chime In On This

 

Worst Sketch: Wrong Side Of The Bed.

 

Musical Guest: Adele

Excuse me while I step away from recapping for a moment to download 25 on iTunes. Be back in a minute.

 

Overall Thoughts:

This wasn’t a repeat of the Trump trainwreck, but it was incredibly tepid compared to last week’s brilliant offering. This wasn’t exactly a bad episode, as it was a dull, forgettable one.