The morning after, Bill Burr and Mk.gee earned divided reactions to their performances on Saturday Night Live, but the new head writers and their staff continue to make Season 50 one of the most consistently funny ones in years, and this episode continued the trend. Here's everything that happened on SNL this week.
The Cold Open
Cast members Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner took to the stage to solemnly address Donald Trump's victory. But the sadness was fleeting. Soon, the rest of the cast showed up to comically pander to Trump and tell him they all voted for him, including James Austin Johnson as "hot, jacked Trump." This satire of the country's despair included Dana Carvey's remarkable mockery of Elon Musk, and a brief dance-a-long to "YMCA." Y'know, as a reaction to such a bad week in American politics, this phoney kowtowing was clever and funny.
The Monologue
Stand-up Bill Burr discussed getting over the flu and obsessing over how he contracted it. He segued into a discussion about vaccines but quickly did a post-mortem about the presidential election. He harshly dragged women for not being sensual enough while running for office, which was terribly and deliberately problematic, and then went after Trump, whom he described as insane. He had some good jokes about the failed assassination attempt against Trump and his strange McDonald's shift. He randomly ended with a bit mocking Shaquille O'Neal's incessant commercial spokesmanship, and then an uneven monologue was done.
The Craziest Man in Boston
Heidi Gardner played a mental health specialist speaking to a group of firefighters and asking them to take a Rorschach test. Burr played Ralphie, whose slides seemed to be much weirder looking than the others. Ralphie kept describing famous animated characters in provocative, sexual scenarios, which mortified everyone else in the firehall. This was rather amusing.
Buffalo Wild Wings
In this remote ad for a restaurant chain, a NFL game day promo featured Burr as a deranged and angry New England Patriots fan, which was rather intense and included a fist fight. Burr was solid in this basic bit.
Power Drive Records
A staged infomercial for "'80s Sex Rock" featured Burr as a dad teaching his son, played by Emil Wakim, all about a terrible hair metal band, Snake Skin. Man. Every cutaway to the band performing live was incredible, as Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes and James Austin Johnson conjured Poison.
The Janitor
In this silly remote, Good Will Hunting was satirized, with Michael Longfellow playing Donny, a janitor who was a mathematical genius but didn't know how to mop barf up off of a carpet. Much to the chagrin of his custodial supervisors, played by Burr and Andrew Dismukes, Donny was more interested in math than cleaning up. James Austin Johnson soon emerged as Robin Williams's character in the film, and then this funny send-up hit the deck (in a good way).
Dads Who Don't Talk
Andrew Dismukes and Devon Walker played middle-aged dudes who each called their respective fathers for heartfelt talks but found that their dads couldn't express their emotions honestly unless they were shrouded in cloudy metaphors. Some good stuff here.
Mk.gee
Backlit by bright red light, the heavily processed sounds of Mk.gee's vocals and three-piece band (guitar, second guitar, and a synthetic drum station) were definitely alluring as they tore through "ROCKMAN," which sort of recalled "Rock On" by David Essex, but was more frenetic. The eagle cry samples were certainly a choice and recalled the theme song from The Colbert Report.
Backlit again for "Alesis," Mk.gee's vocals were cleaner, and, in some ways more direct, and he sang with great passion, with the presence and demeanour and Fender guitar tone that was characteristic of Kurt Cobain.
Weekend Update
Colin Jost dug into Trump's political victory but mocked Democrats, while Michael Che, sipping from what looked like a glass of scotch, also ridiculed white liberal idealism. Jost attacked JD Vance, and Che said white shame enabled him to no longer hide his own interests.
Ego Nwodim appeared as a Woman Who Can't Find Something In Her Purse to discuss how to actively listen to your friends. The joke was that such a woman isn't really listening to what she's being told. This was uneven.
Jost had a good Dunkin' bit and a better one about "Glad-Dicked." Che did an old-timey Diddy prison sex joke, while Jost connected two good escaped monkey stories.
Kenan Thompson appeared as Che's neighbour Willie, who wanted to discuss voting in elections. Willie was supposed to cheer everyone up, but instead he told some terrible and sad stories with a big smile on his face, including sharing tales about fighting dogs and almost hanging himself.
Bald
Sarah Sherman and Mikey Day played characters in a restaurant on a first date. Day's character noticed that everyone else around them was a bald man, which led to a theatrical, musical number celebrating baldness and the pain that bald men must endure, which was well done and funny.
Trauma Support Group
Dressed as a long-haired hippy running a trauma support group, Burr led an ensemble sketch where Bowen Yang's Samuel interrupted and condescended to everyone else in the session. Just fine mostly, this had Yang and Ashley Padilla stifling laughter, and it ended so abruptly that Yang chuckled at its nonsensical premise.
It Sure Wouldn't Smell Like That
At a staff gathering in a restaurant, everyone's good-natured jokes were upended by Ashley Padilla's character, who wouldn't stop trying to tell a go-nowhere joke about dogs that killed the mood and made her seem very odd, which was rather funny.