SNL Season 42 review: Was Jimmy Fallon funny?
By Josh Hill
Jimmy Fallon stopped by Saturday Night Live as host, but was he able to nail the first coast-to-coast live show in history?
This weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live was more than just a return for former cast member Jimmy Fallon. It was the first time in SNL’s history that the show was live from New York to Los Angeles. Typically, the show airs on a delay for west coast markets that are still in primetime hours when the late night schedule hits out East.
Fallon was a fan favorite during his time at Saturday Night Live in the 2000s and has stuck the landing upon his returns, but there was a lot on the line this weekend. Thankfully, Fallon was able to pull of a decent show that rebounded from a surprisingly blasé episode with Louis C.K. last weekend.
Additionally, there wasn’t any plagiarism of skits — so there’s that.
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 ethering Donald Trump over his lack of progress over the first 100 days in office. The new caveat was Jimmy Fallon showing up to play Jared Kushner.
2. Fallon’s monologue wasn’t so much a monologue as it was a dance number. Singing Bowie’s ‘Just Dance’, it was a celebration of the first coast-to-coast show in SNL’s history.
3. It’s been a while since we’ve been gifted with a Family Feud sketch, but that drought ended tonight. The highlight here was Harry Styles playing Mick Jagger to perfection.
4. The reason the Feud skit is one of the best of the year, however, is thanks to the energy it had. Fallon played John Travolta from the 70s and Travolta in the present, meaning he had to sprint from side-to-side on the stage to change. It wasn’t seen but it was the hidden punchline in a wonderful skit.
5. Circling back to Harry Styles, he was more than just the musical guest. The One Direction alum and Dunkirk actor appeared in a few skits, serving a Timberlake-lite role in Fallon’s show.
6. He wasn’t half bad either, and we wouldn’t mind seeing this quasi-audtion result in Styles hosting in the future.
7. Fallon brought back the Pat Sullivan character — the stereotypical Bostonian — and it was great. Rachel Dratch returned as Denise and the duo hit all the greatest moments of the characters we enjoyed so much in the 2000s.
8. The Weekend Update saw the return of Bruce Chandling, Kyle Mooney’s take on the failed New York comic. The joy here is that audiences are slowly getting in on the joke and the awkward delivery and painfully unfunny jokes are starting to play well — which is great news for a fantastic character.
9. Melissa McCarthy returned to portray Sean Spicer for what she said was the last time. It wasn’t that she was retiring the character, rather she stated that Trump was probably going to bomb North Korea and this would be the last Easter. And yes, she played Spicer dressed as the Easter Bunny.
10. Finally, Nile Rodgers appeared as part of the SNL Band tonight, helping lead a rocking monologue dance number as well as other numbers throughout the night.
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. Alec Baldwin/Ed Sheeran — A
3. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga — A-
4. Benedict Cumberbatch/Solange — B-
5. Jimmy Fallon/Harry Styles — B-
6. Kristen Wiig/The xx — B-
7. Aziz Ansari/Big Sean — C+
8. Scarlett Johansson/Lorde — C+
9. Louis C.K./The Chainsmokers — C+
10. Felicity Jones/Stergil Simpson — C+
11. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd — C+
12. Casey Affleck/Chance the Rapper — C
13. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes — C
14. Kristen Stewart/Aleesia Cara — C
15. Lin-Manuel Miranda/TwentyOne Pilots — C-
16. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars — D+
17. John Cena/Maren Morris — D-
must read: 30 Best Late Night Jokes about Donald Trump
Next Week on SNL…
There’s going to be a bit of a break as we wind down to the final episodes of this season, but the last few are bangers. Chris Pine — a low-key amazing choice — will host. The musical guest will be the elusive LCD Soundsystem, a choice that will be sure to draw in fans looking to see the artists perform for the first time on SNL.
Date: May 6th
Host: Chris Pine
Musical Guest: LCD Soundsystem
TV Channel: NBC
Live Stream: Stream 1 | Stream 2
Be sure to check out Last Night On for all your SNL highlights.