Ryan giggled like a schoolgirl during the whole episode, and I swear I had seen the exact same Santa & the elves sketch before on SNL, and not just a similar sketch, the same sketch word for word. I didn't know they were running this short on new material.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2015-12-10T05:40:10Z
6.5/10. I have mixed feelings on Ryan Gosling. I was ready to declare him a fine actor, but not suited for live comedy. When he wasn't cracking up during sketches, he was delivering some semi-stilted and awkward line readings. But then, he came alive as the Second Hand News guy's Third Hand News Guy, and followed it up with a pitch-perfect Scarecrow impression in The Wiz sketch. So maybe he just needs a character to disappear into rather than playing the straight man. Either way, his breaking helped a couple of rougher sketches, and he was clearly game even when he didn't always bring the goods, which helps.
The best sketches of the night were the two pre-taped sketches. Gosling and Bayer's freaky Santa-obsessed couple had such an interesting tone to it, with an almost Tarantino-esque vibe to the proceedings that made it so gonzo and hilarious. It was definitely my favorite sketch of the night. The second sketch, with the Clooney-Devito Nespreso ad seemed like it was a reference to an actual ad, but either way, the premise was silly enough, and the premise played so straight that it worked surprisingly well.
The live sketches were a little more hit and miss. The show doesn't have much of a take on Trump, and the alien abduction sketch was pretty sub-standard until it had a hook with everyone corpsing. Similarly, Kyle Mooney continues to be a pretty weak link in the cast, as his "old friend of Gosling" character was just annoying in a sketch that never really went anywhere. The monologue was also pretty weak, despite a walk-on from Mike Meyers who proved he can still be a stellar physical comedian. And "Settl" was a decent premise, and was short and punchy, but didn't have anywhere to go.
Aidy Bryant's "13 year old hitting on the dad" sketch was a little weird, but at least had a fun energy to it than seems to be drafting on Chris Farley's old material (crashing through the table). It was one of the better live sketches, though that wasn't a high bar. The other solid entry was The Wiz sketch, which leaned a bit too far into standard "white people are different from black people" jokes, but at least had a fun premise that it explored. The S&M elves sketch, on the other hand, had been done before in a slightly different form, and wasn't any funnier this time around.
That leaves Weekend Update, which wasn't as good as in prior weeks, but is finding its footing and picked up steam as it went on. The gags got a bit darker and funnier later in the segment, and while Che struggled a bit, Jost seems more relaxed out there. The correspondent bits were funny, with the Second Hand News Guy's bit going into full on left turn weirdness with the teapots, and Cecily Strong's fashion gadget correspondent finding a real character and committing to it.
All-in-all it wasn't the best episode, with the overall batting average being somewhat lower, but the stronger elements of the episode were enough to elevate it overall.