Paul Mescal Showed His Comedic Chops on 'SNL' — Isn't That Special?

December 7, 2024

Photo: Mary Ellen Matthews / NBC

BY Vish KhannaPublished Dec 8, 2024

7

Back from a few weeks off, Saturday Night Live's strong season of writing continues, though some of the sketches prepared for Paul Mescal were a tad uneven, and musical guest Shaboozey had the crowd in his hands, if not the critics (at least not this one).

David Spade returned to the show that made him famous to join fellow alum, Dana Carvey, media personality Trish Paytas appeared as herself, and James Austin Johnson got his modern, mystical Bob Dylan impression onto the broadcast. Here's everything that happened on SNL this week.

The Cold Open

In a bit of 50th season nostalgia, Dana Carvey reprised the Church Lady, one of his signature characters as a cast member, who was not pleased with how satanic pop culture was in 2024. Sarah Sherman soon appeared as disgraced GOP figure, Matt Gaetz, whom the Church Lady guessed might be Satan. David Spade did a walk-on to play Hunter Biden, which elicited the first "Isn't that special?" from the Church Lady, who earlier replaced "special" with "convenient," which was confusing and likely an unplanned error. Marcello Hernández played $700-million Major League Baseball star Juan Soto, and some local Yankees–Mets ball rivalry fun was had. A little sluggish, this classic premise ended with a song and dance, as per Church Lady tradition.

The Monologue

Actor Paul Mescal bounded out excitedly to ridicule how dramatic and un-comedic his acting reel is, and jokingly plugged his role in Gladiator II. He then shifted into bits about his Irish heritage, which made even the usually stoic SNL guitar player smile and chuckle in the background. Marcello Hernández came out to riff on some short shorts jokes, and then Mescal, clearly emotional about his SNL assignment, promised us a great show.

Pierced Ear

Mescal played a son home from college, surprising his parents who freaked out because he revealed that he'd gotten an earring. Played by Heidi Gardner and Emil Wakim, the parents were the opposite of cool with this and screamed and gesticulated in maniacal, hyperbolic anger, which almost made Gardner break. This was decent.

Gladiator Twosical

In this remote, we learned that, due to the popularity of movie musicals like Wicked, Gladiator II had been reshot as a hokey yet bloody musical. It was already a solid satire, and then Mikey Day began drama rapping words purportedly written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and even the key song "There's No Place Like Rome" (completing the Wicked/The Wizard of Oz ripoff) had us sold on this new movie.

Capanelli's

In a commercial shoot promoting an Italian restaurant, Mescal and Ashley Padilla played actors, and the latter irked the former because of how funny her improvised pasta puns were. Mescal's Craig was increasingly angry and flustered about the attention the rookie actor was receiving, but his tantrum was comically interrupted by the owner of the franchise, who was played by Kenan Thompson, who was into his bits. This was well-written and well-played by all, notably Padilla, who has a knack for playing socially inept characters

please don't destroy: loving mescal

Back in their office for a remote, the pdd trio were entertaining Mescal who suddenly became very intense when they casually and, in a hospitable way, told him they loved him and his work. This prompted a homoerotic fantasy where the four lived together in a wintry paradise until a mob stormed their cottage-y home, which was dark and funny.

All-Male Revue

A bachelorette party attended a pirate-themed all-male revue that took the pirate stuff very seriously. Save for Ego Nwodim's character, the horned-up women were baffled by the narrative exposition and lack of flesh in this production, which they assumed would be a striptease. When they finally got some skin, the scurvy-ridden pirate was jettisoned. This was rather stupid and forgettable, but everyone looked very nice.

Shaboozey

Country star Shaboozey was backed by a giant band for the cliché-ridden "Good News," which aimed for deep emotional connection but felt lyrically rote as it went on.

When he returned clad head-to-toe in black leather, Shaboozey already had the crowd cheering warmly to the musical intro, which signified that he'd be playing his hit, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)." There was something very Lumineers or early Dan Mangan about this 10-years-ago indie folk crowd pleasing, but with a decidedly stereotypical modern Nashville sound that felt slight.

Weekend Update

Colin Jost led Update with jokes about the UnitedHealthcare CEO Assassin, who is still at large. Michael Che followed up with a bit about the assassin's online popularity and growing fanbase, and President Biden pardoning his son Hunter. Jost ridiculed Fox News host and potential Defence Secretary Pete Hegstreth, while Che made a dated Obama birth certificate joke. Jost told us about a satellite made of wood and Diddy hanging a woman off a balcony. Che prefaced a joke by telling us it was very intelligent (it wasn't), and then shared a silly cocaine boat riff.

Heidi Gardner played A Mom Whose Son Just Got Famous, while Marcello Hernández played the son, a media-trained NFL rookie who spoke about his love for God and robotically "trusted the process." Gardner is a genius, and these preposterous characters she plays bring out the best of her acting and physical comedy skills.

DEVO Hat

In a trial setting, Andrew Dismukes played an incompetent lawyer whose big strategic move was to populate the courtroom with 20 men who were dressed in loud green suits and red DEVO hats, just as his client, played by Mescal, was. The plan backfired, but this was a nice showcase for Dismukes, who excels at conveying false confidence and unreasonable incredulity.

Satoshi Gutman

At a gathering of friends, Mescal showed off his Spotify Wrapped, which baffled everyone because of the prominence of an artist and podcaster named Satoshi Gutman. Played by Bowen Yang, Gutman was a master of "acecore," and was friends with the real-life podcaster Trish Paytas. Overall, this was a clever satire of phone life.

Buzzfeed, Bob, the Boss and Bono

Heidi Gardner played a BuzzFeed red carpet correspondent who encountered Chloe Fineman's Timothée Chalamet, James Austin Johnson's Bob Dylan (he really looked like him), Andrew Dismukes's Bruce Springsteen (he did not look like him) and Mescal's Bono. With artist-specific, minute, detail-oriented jokes, this one was insularly written for the boomer heads and, though it landed a little flat in the studio, it was good.

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