Forever rising to the occasion as Saturday Night Live host, Amy Schumer was funny in everything she appeared in (even the half-written stuff) and Steve Lacy was a compelling and likeable musical guest. Here's everything that happened on SNL this week.
The Cold Open
James Austin Johnson appeared as President Joe Biden, making a televised public address ahead of the midterm elections, and suggesting that perhaps the Democratic field could be jazzed up. This began a parade of micro-impressions of unlikely candidates including Marianne Williamson, Guy Fieri, Stormy Daniels, Azealia Banks and Tracy Morgan. Not huge laughs here, but at least it was all rather brief (and prompted the question, how will the show eventually have Biden debate Donald Trump if Johnson plays them both?).
The Cold Open
James Austin Johnson appeared as President Joe Biden, making a televised public address ahead of the midterm elections, and suggesting that perhaps the Democratic field could be jazzed up. This began a parade of micro-impressions of unlikely candidates including Marianne Williamson, Guy Fieri, Stormy Daniels, Azealia Banks and Tracy Morgan. Not huge laughs here, but at least it was all rather brief (and prompted the question, how will the show eventually have Biden debate Donald Trump if Johnson plays them both?).
The Monologue
Amy Schumer bounded out on stage and told a series of jokes about giving birth and marriage. Bits about her sex life with her husband were amusing and thoughtfully paced, and she made a subtle and sly dig at Kanye West when discussing her husband's autism. Her material about the latter was both poignant and funny, and Schumer did an exceptional job of putting risqué material across without alienating anyone.
Manny's
Heidi Gardner, Schumer and Ego Nwodim were friends gathered at a restaurant where bad news disrupted their lunch. Schumer's character was obsessed with enjoying a much-anticipated bowl of matzo ball soup, but social graces dictated that her friend's anguish precluded her from having even a slurp of soup. This was fine.
Get COVID
In this remote ad, burnt out people promoted contracting COVID to take inarguably legitimate five-to-10-day breaks from all of life, which made all of the potential brain damage worth it. This was funny.
Jury Duty
In an amusing court scene, Schumer, Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman played jury members who could not contain their shock and awe about the evidence presented in court. The high-maintenance jurors were very disruptive during this murder trial, doing increasingly absurd things that caused one fiasco after another.
Twitter Content Moderation Council Meeting
Banned Twitter account holders were given an opportunity to make cases for reinstatement. Schumer played a bot, and got a good laugh for providing a scam url. James Austin Johnson appeared as Donald Trump, making strange and crazed non-sequitur statements, but overall, this was not good and the crowd, perhaps shell-shocked by the reveal that next week's host would be controversial comedian Dave Chappelle, were mostly silent.
The Looker
In this remote faux Netflix trailer, which parodied The Watcher, a family has just moved into a new house when they receive a creepy letter from someone claiming to be observing them and their activities. Most embarrassingly, Schumer's housewife was seen engaging in a series of secret and private things, including eating late-night snacks like a raccoon, suffering from constipation and repeatedly masturbating to episodes of The Property Brothers. This bit of comic mystery hit many remarkable notes.
Steve Lacy
Emerging star Steve Lacy made a bold and energetic SNL debut with "Bad Habit," fronting his three-piece prog pop band, which featured a rather inventive looking drumkit and Lacy throwing his Stratocaster off-stage so he could vibe with the song as it wound down. Good stuff.
There was little variation in the staging and Stevie Wonder-esque sound when Lacy and his band returned for "Helmet," but it was still low-key infectious and compelling.
Weekend Update
Colin Jost began by lambasting Republicans like Donald Trump Jr. for how they reacted to the attack on Paul Pelosi. Michael Che handled the Kyrie Irving antisemitism controversy, while Jost went in on Elon Musk's mismanaging of Twitter and made a clever self-effacing joke in the process. Jost zinged CNN for their weird editorial decisions, but also made surprised us with a bit about a child being blown up by a grenade on a beach.
Cecily Strong appeared at the desk as Tammy the Trucker, a bit of misdirection to enable her to plead with voters to consider what these midterm elections really meant for women and American healthcare. This was pointed and powerful and an excellent use of this platform.
Jets Tailgate Party
Two couples were enjoying a tailgate party at a New York Jets game and making smalltalk in between screaming at Buffalo Bills fans in the parking lot, including pregnant women and children, and someone in a wheelchair. Revealing that they were parents and teachers, they seemed to have split personalities whenever a Bills fan was nearby, which marginally funny.
Pinx Period Underwear
In this remote ad, a new underwear product enabled women to wear period underwear for up to 12 hours. For Schumer's character, Pinx drew the attention of many bloodthirsty dogs and zoo animals, which was quite hilarious.
WKTVN News
Michael Longfellow played Chance Harmstrong, a new field correspondent for a local news team, covering a house fire, which seemed to have impacted lower income people in the middle of some kinda family turmoil (or else, simply wanted to be seen on TV). Centred on cousins in a tryst played by Schumer, Bowen Yang, and Cecily Strong, this was sort of dumb and snobby and not worth the minimal effort that went into it.
Big Penis Therapy
Characters played by Schumer, Sarah Sherman, Ego Nwodimand Andrew Dismukes were enjoying a game of Uno when it was revealed that Schumer's character had convinced her partner, played by Dismukes, that his therapy was specially for men with large penises. Somehow, this ruse was funnier than it sounds, thanks especially to performances by Schumer and Dismukes.
Big Dumb Hat
In this live ad, Chloe Fineman, Schumer and Heidi Gardner played insufferable wealthy women who sport unnecessarily giant hats for attention, all of which was a sharply written rebuke of pretentious idiots, performed expertly by the trio, particularly Gardner.