[8.3/10] A pretty great episode. Chadwick Boseman showed off a lot of range, playing many different types of characters and nailing almost all of them. The show was definitely on its game tonight and Boseman helped with that tremendously.
The stand-out sketch of the night was, once again, Black Jeopardy. Teasing out the differences in experience for someone like T’Challa from Black Panther versus the African American experience in the USA was a great vein of comedy, and shows how well this sketch teases that sort of thing out (see also, the Tom Hanks and Drake edition). And in terms of Black Panther humor, the final sketch of the night, playing with the idea of white people doing the “Wakanda Salute” was another good bit of humor that played in the awkwardness of racial fault-lines while drawing the comedy out of that somewhat fraught topic.
In terms of the pre-taped segments, the “Game of Life: DACA edition” sketch was an amusing enough idea that got a little too on-the-nose too quickly. The “Nike Women” ad about wearng leggings on the couch found the humor in using athletic wear as lounge wear. But I got the biggest kick out of Aidy Bryant’s “Aidy B/Cardi B” sketch. Bryant is such a great performer, and the way she switches from meek jovialness to in-your-face kiss-offs thanks to Cardi’s inspiration is delightful.
In terms of the political material, the cold open had a lot of the usual easy Trump gags, but there was also a little more bite to this one than these sketches normally have. Something about the way Trump just gives up and says something along the lines of “it’s me first, not America first, I don’t even care” could easily have been too blunt, but something about the stripping away of the artifice of it made it work.
Weekend Update was a solid-if-not-overwhelming mix of political observations and one-liners, but the real bright spots came in the correspondent segments. Alex Moffat’s Zuckerberg impression hit the right notes of awkwardness and alien attempts at human emotion, and Heidi Gardner’s “Every Boxer’s Girlfriend in the Movies” character was great in her specificity and ability to focus every news story through that lens.
That just leaves the pure comedy sketches, which were all hit or miss but each enjoyable enough. The “guy learns he’s giving birth through his penis” sketch had an idiotic premise that lent itself to dumb jokes, but it was saved by the strength of the performers and their reactions. There were also some nicely weird skits. People seeing R. Kelly in the magic princess mirror at Disney World was pleasantly out there and Boseman owned the role. And the group of diners singing for their supper sketch wasn’t great, but coasted on its inherent oddness.
The only true dud of the night was the skit about a fireman needing to leave a fire-fighting job early to pursue his pet-related business idea. The sketch just never got off the ground and never really built to a good punchline. And Boseman’s monologue was another solid outing, with the Panthro reference being a little too obscure to make comic hay out of, but tied in nicely to the “the writers are out of good Black Panther ideas 2 months after the movie’s come out” theme.
Overall, a very enjoyable episode with only one real low light of note.
I have really grown weary of Alec Baldwin's Trump impression. It's still occasionally funny, but mainly tired at this point. He should have done it at most for one season.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-04-14T18:19:44Z
[8.3/10] A pretty great episode. Chadwick Boseman showed off a lot of range, playing many different types of characters and nailing almost all of them. The show was definitely on its game tonight and Boseman helped with that tremendously.
The stand-out sketch of the night was, once again, Black Jeopardy. Teasing out the differences in experience for someone like T’Challa from Black Panther versus the African American experience in the USA was a great vein of comedy, and shows how well this sketch teases that sort of thing out (see also, the Tom Hanks and Drake edition). And in terms of Black Panther humor, the final sketch of the night, playing with the idea of white people doing the “Wakanda Salute” was another good bit of humor that played in the awkwardness of racial fault-lines while drawing the comedy out of that somewhat fraught topic.
In terms of the pre-taped segments, the “Game of Life: DACA edition” sketch was an amusing enough idea that got a little too on-the-nose too quickly. The “Nike Women” ad about wearng leggings on the couch found the humor in using athletic wear as lounge wear. But I got the biggest kick out of Aidy Bryant’s “Aidy B/Cardi B” sketch. Bryant is such a great performer, and the way she switches from meek jovialness to in-your-face kiss-offs thanks to Cardi’s inspiration is delightful.
In terms of the political material, the cold open had a lot of the usual easy Trump gags, but there was also a little more bite to this one than these sketches normally have. Something about the way Trump just gives up and says something along the lines of “it’s me first, not America first, I don’t even care” could easily have been too blunt, but something about the stripping away of the artifice of it made it work.
Weekend Update was a solid-if-not-overwhelming mix of political observations and one-liners, but the real bright spots came in the correspondent segments. Alex Moffat’s Zuckerberg impression hit the right notes of awkwardness and alien attempts at human emotion, and Heidi Gardner’s “Every Boxer’s Girlfriend in the Movies” character was great in her specificity and ability to focus every news story through that lens.
That just leaves the pure comedy sketches, which were all hit or miss but each enjoyable enough. The “guy learns he’s giving birth through his penis” sketch had an idiotic premise that lent itself to dumb jokes, but it was saved by the strength of the performers and their reactions. There were also some nicely weird skits. People seeing R. Kelly in the magic princess mirror at Disney World was pleasantly out there and Boseman owned the role. And the group of diners singing for their supper sketch wasn’t great, but coasted on its inherent oddness.
The only true dud of the night was the skit about a fireman needing to leave a fire-fighting job early to pursue his pet-related business idea. The sketch just never got off the ground and never really built to a good punchline. And Boseman’s monologue was another solid outing, with the Panthro reference being a little too obscure to make comic hay out of, but tied in nicely to the “the writers are out of good Black Panther ideas 2 months after the movie’s come out” theme.
Overall, a very enjoyable episode with only one real low light of note.