You know it’s been a busy week for “Saturday Night Live,” and a sketch of Duane Reade’s new musical led by John Mulaney at the Port Authority Bus Terminal is an important one to discuss. It’s only about the fifth thing.
The biggest news, as previously reported, was that Vice President Kamala Harris appeared outside in the cold to “stop the drama” and literally mirror her portrayal of Maya Rudolph. I’ll explain this sketch in more detail later.
It was also notable that musical guest and festival sensation Chapel Lawn performed her hit song “Pink Pony Club” and also debuted her surprise country song “The Giver.” .
Another surprise was that Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the 2016 vice presidential candidate who ran alongside Hillary Clinton, played himself in “What’s That Name?” Game show sketch. In it, Mulaney plays a man who claims to care deeply about Tuesday’s presidential election but can’t remember Kaine’s name.
Maya Rudolph (left) and Vice President Kamala Harris under the cold sky.
(NBC/Will Heath/NBC)
Mulaney, who will host Netflix’s “Everybody’s in LA” in May and host a weekly live show for streamers in early 2025, did a great job of pulling it all together with a solid mix of sketches. . There was a sublimely silly video early in the show in which Mulaney played a ground controller trying to help a chimpanzee astronaut return to Earth. Two sketches later in the episode packed a lot of jokes into a simple setup. One was about Little Richard’s (Keenan Thompson) recurring appearances on the 1990s sitcom. In the other, Mulaney plays the real-life New York City Council candidate Harvey Epstein, who Epstein acknowledged in a campaign video that both names are deeply problematic.
Even without Duane Reade’s latest Broadway Fantasia (more on that later), Mulaney’s hosting would have been the best of the past 50 seasons, or at least tied with Ariana Grande a few weeks ago. . .
Before the final farewell, a title card was unveiled to honor Teri Garr, who passed away this week. The actor hosted the show three times in the 1980s.
In this week’s cold open, Rudolph finally came face-to-face with the real-life Harris. That mirror-talking conceit resembled a recent Jennifer Coolidge sketch. But three days before the national election, former President Trump (James Austin Johnson) wore a large orange vest at a rally because he was wearing it on a garbage truck, and former Wyoming Rep. Liz There were plenty of topics to cover, including mocking Cheney (“I just asked her to go hunting with her father”).
J.D. Vance (Bowen Yang) made a brief appearance before Jim Gaffigan (playing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz), Andy Samberg (playing Doug Emhoff), and Dana Carvey (playing President Biden) reappeared.
But, of course, it was Kamala Harris who caused the biggest reaction, following Rudolph by shouting, “Live from New York, Saturday night!”
Mulaney, making his sixth appearance as host, delivered a nimble monologue that jumped from topic to topic, but was notable for not mentioning the impending election at all. Instead, Mulaney began by updating viewers on his family life. He recently married Olivia Munn and currently has a 5-week-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. He described the relative heights of all the people in his life who were taller than him, including Mann, his even shorter stepmother, and his nanny, who was “minus a foot tall.” Mulaney talks about his parents aging too slowly for his liking (“They still have brown hair and go on bike trips”) and how at age 42 he’s already thinking about hip replacement surgery. talked about what it was like.
Best sketch of the night: Bringing Beppo Home
There’s something akin to “SNL” about Mulaney and Sal. Two years after starring as the ape judge, the host plays the role of America’s first chimpanzee, Beppo, who strives to bring Beppo back home safely. Beppo can communicate verbally via Icon’s keyboard, but when the controller loses control of the spacecraft, it’s up to Mulaney’s personality to break the bad news in language the chimps can understand. Beppo goes dark. Beppo is forever equal to zero. ” The video sketch takes some dark and absurd turns, includes a reference to “Hidden Figures,” and ends on a triumphant note… something like that. Extra points for making Beppo, the doomed chimpanzee, look so real and adorable.
You might also like: Duane Reade’s milk is organ, not organic
Whenever John Mulaney hosts “SNL,” there’s always a good chance he’ll bring back a musical homage sketch performed at the Duane Reade at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. This latest version sees the return of original cast member Pete Davidson, who tries to buy a jug of milk, only to discover that the milk belongs to a family of possums (Thompson and Ego Nwodim). I changed the bits to numbers from “The Lion King”. Marcello Hernández played a locked away shampoo bottle, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams (Thompson) performed an “Aladdin” parody referencing the Turkish connection. There was much else going on, but one that stood out was Samberg’s return for the opening number of “Hamilton,” a nod to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bizarre Central Park story. Maybe they played “Baby Bear Carcass”. As noted in the sketch, the former presidential candidate is still on the ballot in two battleground states. You either love these New York-centric music sketches or find them completely random, but there’s no denying they’re ambitious.
“Weekend Update” Winner: Reba!
Hernandez and new cast member Jane Wickline played “a couple who can’t believe they’re together,” but this week’s “Weekend Update” winner was “The Voice” coach and country superstar It was Heidi Gardner who played star Reba McEntire. In a segment that continues to showcase the show’s fascination with McIntyre (why not bring in her host from time to time?), Gardner painted McIntyre as an undecided voter. “I’m still thinking about it, so please call me Shawn Mendes,” she said. Gardner’s arm-waving impression was coupled with a strange story about McIntyre’s hometown of McAlester, Oklahoma. There was a story that said, “If you think your milk is spoiled, take another sip.” Even more disturbing, Reba says she is the daughter of a Republican mom and a dad who was Pennywise the clown from Stephen King’s “IT.” “Mommy worked 59 jobs. Daddy had only one thing to do: feed his children.” Was that the most accurate Reba comment? It wasn’t. Was it the weirdest thing? absolutely. Let’s get the real McIntyre on the show and do the mirror sketch again.
