John Mulaney and David Byrne each returned to Saturday Night Live for an entertaining episode. Here's everything that happened this week.
The cold open
At a press conference to discuss the coronavirus, Beck Bennett's Mike Pence introduced his crack squad of savvy, motivated personnel, assigned to help in the effort to take on the disease. The sorely missed Jay Pharoah would've been welcome as Ben Carson, but instead, we were left with Kenan Thompson's less-than-great impression. Pharaoh surely would've made as much sense as Fred Armisen, Larry David and Rachel Dratch making cameos, as Mike Bloomberg, Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar, respectively. Host John Mulaney showed up early to play Joe Biden, but David stole this whole thing with his heightened, agitated and ultimately very funny take on Sanders.
The monologue
As the first host to ever helm the show on a leap year Saturday, John Mulaney had nothing to promote, but did have some great jokes. He began with a good run about how fathers between 60 and 75 years old don't have any friends, and took us through a journey about why he hates the founding fathers. He wrapped up with an amazing, SNL-related story about being a young child's Make a Wish wish, which made for yet another memorable Mulaney monologue.
The Sound of Music
In a parody of the "I am 16," sequence in The Sound of Music, Mulaney played Rolf and Cecily Strong was Liesl, in a strange and awkward bit about Rolf actually being frighteningly older than Liesl. With numerous, creepy references to statutory rape, this was not good.
The meme-ing
Mulaney played Uncle Ron to Pete Davidson's Tyler, a college student who memes his uncle to death. Ron presents myriad memes at a family gathering to prove his point, which was funny.
The Strip Club Sketch
In a remote, Kyle Mooney is despondent when Mulaney rejects him for a strip club sketch and decides he will do everything he can to get his body into shape for it. Aided by prosthetics, Mooney was funny in this elaborate piece that ended well.
Say, Those Two Don't Seem to Like Each Other
Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant have done this old-timey bit before, where they play sisters in their parlour, vying for a visiting man's attention, only to have him become smitten with someone else. In this case, Beck Bennett's Admiral cannot stop fetishizing Mulaney's young naval officer, and things got more risqué than funny.
David Byrne
A master of theatrical stage shows, David Byrne and many other performers, all barefoot and wearing grey suits, put forth an exuberant, well-choreographed "Once in a Lifetime." With all musicians somehow untethered by cables or any physical anchors at all, this was a free-spirited and arresting spectacle.
Somehow the lesser-known "Toe Jam," was even more infectious and impressive, with Byrne and his crew performing an utterly unique line dance.
Weekend Update
Colin Jost went in on Trump's mishandling of the coronavirus, just ahead of Michael Che completely breaking down over the prospect of being afflicted with the disease, which was funny. Chris Redd showed up to complain about this year's Black History Month, which, as he hilariously enumerated, was not a great year for this occasion. For his part, Che maintained his IDGAF anymore bit, which was admirable for his dedication.
LaGuardia Sushi
In a callback to past Mulaney episodes involving bizarre musical numbers set in gross diners and bodegas, Pete Davidson once again ordered something weird (airport sushi), which prompted an emotionally overwrought run through of classic numbers from productions like Phantom of the Opera, Annie, and West Side Story, among others. An airborne Jake Gyllenhaal and David Byrne turned up too, engaging in a satire of "Road to Nowhere," about planes. This sketch had everything.
Forgotten Figures of Black History
In this documentary series, Kenan Thompson's Terence Washington is remembered as the first Black man to ever boo and denigrate Jackie Robinson. As told by the show's host, played by Ego Nwodim, Washington got into disputes with fans in the stands, as played by Mulaney, Bennett, Mooney and a fairly quiet Mikey Day. This random thing had an amusing premise that worked alright.