It is that time of year again! A new season is upon us! As Lorne Michaels mentioned at the most recent Emmy Awards, this would be a “transition year”. This was in response to the exit of several long time cast members and eight cast members in total exiting the show for various reasons. That being said, four new cast members were hired prior to the start of the season. The new cast members are Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker. Kearney also makes history as the first non-binary cast member. Another change to the cast included Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson being promoted to repertory status. Other changes to the show included new opening credits, a new font and logo, as well as a new variation of the opening theme music. As of right now, the opening credits do not contain Cecily Strong due to her commitments to the revival of the one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe in Los Angeles. Strong has confirmed that she will be returning towards the end of October once the show has completed its run.
For the season 48 premiere, Miles Teller was tapped to host for his first time with returning musical guest Kendrick Lamar. Teller hosted to promote the movie Top Gun: Maverick. Lamar’s last performance as musical guest was back in season 40 with host Woody Harrelson.
The show opened up with a cold open that was a parody of Peyton and Eli Manning’s ESPN show. At first, I didn’t even know that it was Miles who was playing Peyton Manning. I thought the impression was great and I loved the rare opportunity the show used to use the host in the cold open. I also thought Andrew was very funny as Eli Manning. I loved how they did a play-by-play of the sketch as well as the commentary on the recent cast departures. I loved how when they saw it was a Trump sketch, Miles as Peyton went “Oh good, Trump sketch. Way to mix it up”. I also loved Bowen mispronouncing corgis, Sarah peeking through the window, the stats shown, and Devon, one of the new cast members, as Corn Kid. I also loved how all four of the new cast members made an appearance as well as getting to say “Live From New York, It’s Saturday Night” with the rest of the group. I also loved the cameos from Jon Hamm and Shaun White, even though White’s appearance was very random but I’m guessing that was the point. I also loved Jon’s dig at Miles since they were both in Top Gun: Maverick. I thought this was a great cold open and I loved the self-deprecating and meta humor of the sketch.
Miles Teller’s monologue, I thought, was very funny. I loved how his friends thought he looked like Rachel Maddow and then showed a side-by-side picture. I also thought it was funny that when he was learning piano for Top Gun: Maverick that his piano instructor was J.K. Simmons, in reference to Simmons’ character in the movie Whiplash. I also loved how Miles mentioned how he grew up watching the show and performed the sketches in his living room with his sisters. I also thought it was funny how they showed a home movie of Miles and his sister doing the “Spartan Cheerleaders” sketch. I think it’s great how many hosts talk about how they grew up watching the show and how much the show has meant to them.
The “Send Something Normal” sketch was a pretty good game show sketch. I thought it was funny that Mikey was playing Adam Levine, James was playing Armie Hammer, Kenan was playing Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Bowen was on as himself. I pretty much knew the direction of this sketch when the first two impressions appeared in the sketch and where it was going. I thought it was funny how every contestant wanted to see the most liked vacation photo as well as Bowen’s DM coming from Dua Lipa. I did think this sketch was funny.
I felt that the “BeReal” sketch was one that was coming with how popular the app was becoming. I’m not on the app myself but I’m familiar with the concept of it. I loved how Miles’ character was engaging with the hostages and asking them about BeReal. I also thought it was funny when Mikey’s character asked if everybody in the bank worked for the app. I also thought it was funny how even the security guards were using the app. Even though I saw a sketch about this app happening, I did think the sketch was funny.
The “Charmin Bears” sketch was one that was funny but also pretty weird. One thing that was a little weird were the bear costumes. The name of the degree was laughable with it being called a “Bachelor of Flushing Arts” along with the other names mentioned. I thought it was funny how Miles’ character wanted to be a dancer. I did think that Bowen’s character was funny. I loved how when his character mistook the kitchen for the bathroom, he said “you have my deepest apologies”. I did love the dancing at the end and thought that was a funny way to end the sketch.
The “Rooftop Bar” sketch was one that I wasn’t sure of the direction it was going. It ended up being really weird, especially with Miles and Mikey’s characters interacting with Chloe and Ego’s characters. I did like Heidi as the bartender and thought she was a great comic relief in this sketch. I honestly could’ve done without this sketch and now I’m wondering what sketches were cut for time.
The “Nicole Kidman AMC Ad” was a great way to utilize Chloe and her spot-on impressions. Her Nicole Kidman was so spot on. I thought it was funny how at one point they had Chloe floating in the air with a changing voice. Kenan and Punkie were also great in this sketch. Again, I thought this sketch was super funny and shows off another one of Chloe’s amazing spot-on impressions.
As previously mentioned, Kendrick Lamar last performed on the show back in season 40. His first performance was a medley of “Rich Spirit” and “N95”. I thought this was a good performance but the strobe lights were a little strong. His second performance was “Father Time” featuring Sampha. I thought this was another good performance.
Weekend Update brought the return of Colin Jost and Michael Che to the desk for another season. It brought the usual and expected jokes about Russia, President Biden, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ response to Hurricane Ian, King Charles III, and the typical jokes about members of United States politics. I thought it was funny that James and Kenan appeared as Mitch McConnell and Herschel Walker, respectively. Even though I liked James’ impression, it did make me miss Beck’s impression. Kenan’s impression was very funny and had some great one-liners. I thought it was great that Michael, another new cast member, made an appearance as himself with commentary on having conservative family members. I loved how relatable this commentary was. I also thought it was funny how Michael called Colin a Republican, to which Colin responded that he was more of a “Bill Maher liberal”. Michael responded saying again that Colin was a Republican. I also thought it was funny that Michael said he was only a Republican when he was in Boarding Group A. I also thought it was funny that Bowen appeared as a Spotted Lanternfly and it was done in the style of a mix of “Jerry Springer”, “Maury”, and “Dr. Phil”. I also loved when Andrew came out as a corn crop and the two of them began fighting. Overall, I thought Weekend Update was funny and a good start to Weekend Update this season.
I thought that the “Grimace” sketch was going to be funnier than it ended up being. My main issue with it was that they kept referring to the fact that Grimace had just come out as bisexual as well as the change to his appearance. Maybe I just didn’t get the joke but I wasn’t sure why they kept referring to Grimace’s sexuality. Then, by the end of the sketch, all of the other characters said that they were also bisexual. Honestly, I was very confused by the point of the sketch. This was definitely one of my least favorite sketches of the night. I was also not surprised this sketch aired after Weekend Update.
I thought that the “Caribbean Queens” sketch was a really funny way to end the show. Ego and Heidi were great and I think they are the new sketch duo to watch. I thought it was funny how they had a segment called “Google if Billy Ocean is Still Married”. Punkie was hilarious in this sketch as well as Devon playing Frank Ocean, who Ego and Heidi’s characters said was Billy Ocean’s little brother (there is no relation between the two).
Overall, I thought this was a good start to the season. That being said, I think Lorne was right that this season will be not only a transition year but also a rebuilding year. A lot of big names left and those losses were felt. Cecily was also missed in this premiere but there is a sense of relief knowing that she will be coming back in a few weeks. I’m also excited to see what the new cast members bring to the new season. I also think that Miles Teller was a great choice for hosting and I would love to see him host again in the future.
This has been my take on the season 48 premiere hosted by Miles Teller with musical guest Kendrick Lamar. My next post will be my thoughts on the next episode with host Brendan Gleeson with musical guest Willow. Make sure to follow me on Twitter at @SNLBlogger for SNL news and live tweeting every new episode. Thank you all again for your continued support!
Thanks for reading!
Lauren
No comments:
Post a Comment