Saturday Night Live Season 42 review: Was Felicity Jones funny?
By Josh Hill
Star Wars actress Felicity Jones hosted the first new episode of Saturday Night Live, but was the force with her?
The first new episode of Saturday Night Live arrived tonight, and it was a fantastic way to kick things off in the second half of the season. Rogue One actress Felicity Jones stopped by to host, and while things were’t totally perfect (few times are they anyways) she turned in a fantastic performance.
Jones hosting marked the second time in two years that SNL kicked off a new year with a Star Wars actor. The first show of 2016 was hosted by Adam Driver, who played Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens. While we didn’t get a classic skit out of tonight’s episode like we did with the ‘Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base’ on Driver’s show, things still went swimmingly for Jones.
The Trump trolls were strong, Mikey Day is continuing to emerge as a stud cast member and we both Michael Che and Pete Davidson kicked off the new year on high notes. Here are all the things from tonight’s SNL episode you need to know about for the water cooler this week:
SNL Rundown…
1. The cold open wasted no time in trolling the hell out of Donald Trump and this whole Russian hooker scandal. Alec Baldwin returned as Trump and the troll game was as strong as it’s ever been, setting the stage for his inauguration performance next Saturday.
2. Felicity Jones’ monologue was helped thanks to a couple of cameos. Keenan Thompson played the role of Saw Gerrera from Rogue One, but the real treat was Tina Fey offering advice as a hologram.
3. The first skit of the night didn’t live up to the hype, though. While great in concept — a troll job of how dumb the Bachelor is — it was a skit that has already been done and has been done better.
4. One unsung star of this season on SNL is Mike Day. He appeared in a skit where he played an old man who needs constant medical attention, and the way he played it was a throwback to classic Mike Myers and Will Ferrel skits from the 90s and 2000s. He’s a gem and better be here to stay.
5. Michael Che also deserves a ton of praise for continuing to be the best thing about SNL. Not only is his comedy funny but week in and week out he demonstrates sharp intelligence in his comedy writing.
6. Colin Jost also came off the top rope with a couple of zingers on Weekend Update. The best was a shot at Trump for calling out Nazi Germany — who Jost said at least had the guts to stand up to Russia.
7. There was a joke about Trump killing ISIS like he kills trees that fell flat in a hard way. But Jost chuckled it off in a way that kept the Update from missing any beats. His chemistry with Che is still there.
8. Let’s not forget Pete Davidson, who came out strong with a new segment on Weekend Update about first impressions. It further demonstrated his talent as a comedy writer and reminded us how big of a star he’s going to be as his role grows.
9. Usually, mentioning the musical guest here is a bad thing. But holy s–t, Sturgil Simpson killed in his second performance. The stage at SNL is small, but Simpson burst through the seams and showed as much energy as we’ve ever seen in a musical performance. It was incredible.
10. Kate McKinnon didn’t get a ton of screen time tonight, but she saved the last skit of the night. We need more of her in 2017.
Verdict
Here’s where this episode stacks up against the others that we’ve seen this season:
1. Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest — A+
2. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga — A-
3. Benedict Cumberbatch/Solange — B-
4. Kristen Wiig/The xx — B-
5. Felicity Jones/Stergil Simpson — C+
6. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd — C+
7. Casey Affleck/Chance the Rapper — C
8. Lin-Manuel Miranda/TwentyOne Pilots — C-
9. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars — D+
10. John Cena/Maren Morris — D-
must read: 30 Best Late Night Jokes about Donald Trump
Next Week on SNL…
Saturday Night Live is coming in hot for it’s first post-Trump inauguration episode. Comedian Aziz Ansari will be hosting what should be a sharp and politically charged episode. Rapper Big Sean will be stopping by as the musical guest on the evening.
Date: January 21st
Host: Aziz Ansari
Musical Guest: Big Sean
TV Channel: NBC
Live Stream: Stream 1 | Stream 2
Be sure to check out Last Night On for all your SNL highlights.