On the last episode, Jack Harlow pulled double duty as host and musical guest for the Halloween episode. This episode had some surprisingly great sketches, as well as cameo appearances from Tom Hanks and former cast member Bobby Moynihan. This episode also had the return of Drunk Uncle and David S. Pumpkins. This episode was also surprisingly one of my favorites of the season since I didn’t know what to expect with Jack Harlow hosting.
On this episode, Amy Schumer returns to host for the third time. Steve Lacy is the musical guest and also making his SNL debut. I’ve always loved when Amy hosts so I have a feeling I’m going to like a lot of the sketches in this episode.
Of course, with the midterm elections coming up, I figured there would be a political cold open. In the “President Biden Midterms Address Cold Open”, I always love seeing James portray President Biden and I thought the other impressions were good but some were pretty outdated, which maybe was a lot of the joke. Overall, this was a decent cold open but it wasn’t my favorite.
I thought Amy Schumer’s monologue was pretty solid. I loved a lot of her jokes that she told, especially the joke about her husband’s Autism Spectrum Disorder. I have the same diagnosis so I found those jokes hilarious and relatable. I thought the monologue was great and set a good tone for the rest of the show.
The “Soup” sketch was a sketch that I thought was a pretty strange one to start off the show. I did love Kenan as Amy’s character’s singing internal monologue. Even though I liked that part of the sketch, I found it to be pretty weird and just an okay sketch.
I thought the “COVID Commercial” sketch was funny but I do understand the backlash some people had about this sketch. I had a rough bout of COVID back in August and I still thought this sketch was funny and super relatable. I loved how they had the “COVID Always Positive Home Test”. I also thought it was funny how they had said that you had a story to tell at work. I remember after I was sick I would tell almost everyone I knew about the symptoms I had. Of course, COVID should be taken seriously but I also think it’s okay to have a little fun with it, especially now since there are more treatments available. I think this would have definitely gotten more backlash if this aired two years ago during the height of the pandemic but I also think they were smart enough to know not to do a sketch like this two years ago.
The “Jurors” sketch was one where at first I thought it was weird but after rewatching I thought it was funny. I loved Amy, Bowen, and Sarah as the jurors. I loved how they were posing as the sketch artist and the references to the newest Taylor Swift album “Midnights”. I also thought it was funny how Amy’s character was using the steak knife that was in evidence and the confetti at the end when they all realized the knife wasn’t sharp enough to kill someone. I thought this was a great departure from the typical courtroom sketch.
The “Twitter Council” sketch was one that I expected to happen with everything going on with Elon Musk purchasing Twitter. I did think the characters were great and James was great, as always, with his impression of Trump. I did find this sketch pretty funny.
“The Looker” sketch was another sketch I found funny but weird. I was a little familiar with “The Watcher”, which is the show it’s based on, but have not seen it. I did think the mention of the Property Brothers was funny. Other than that, it wasn’t one of my favorite sketches.
Steve Lacy delivered two great performances for his debut. His first performance was for his song “Bad Habit” and his other performance was for his song “Helmet”. I wasn’t as familiar with Steve Lacy but I have heard “Bad Habit” briefly either on the radio or in a commercial. I thought both of his performances were great and I would be interested in hearing more of his music and seeing him on the show again.
Weekend Update brought a lot of jokes about the midterm elections, Kyrie Irving, Elon Musk and Twitter, Kanye West, and CNN. My favorite part of Update was when Cecily came out as “Tammy the Trucker, Who Promises She’s Here to Talk About Gas Prices and Definitely Not Abortion”. I can tell Cecily likes coming up with characters that have long titles. I loved how Colin was breaking the fourth wall with Cecily and how she said “Tina the Trucker, whatever name I gave you”. I thought this was great commentary and also similar to her Goober the Clown bit that she did recently. I thought this was the best part of Update as well as one of the best parts of the episode. I thought it was also nice that they showed a tribute to Migos member Takeoff after Update.
“Jets Fans” was a sketch that I thought was very strange. I figured they picked the two teams of the Jets and the Bills because they played each other the next day. It also makes me wonder if Jets fans are actually like this. I’ve been tailgating a few times before and I don’t remember a lot of trash talking unless it was a big rival, which I’ve now found out that the Jets and Bills are rivals so the sketch makes a little more sense. Even though I now understand the rivalry, I still found this sketch really weird but also typical for right after Update.
The “Pinx Period Underwear” sketch was absolutely hilarious. I loved the scenes with the dogs. I laughed so hard at that because I’ve had that happen to me before. I also loved the different underwear sizes as well as the zoo scene. This had to be my favorite sketch of the night.
“WKTVN News” was a sketch that I found weird but also pretty funny. I loved the character name “Chance Harmstrong” as well as the line “set your house upon fire”. I also thought Bowen and Molly were hilarious in this sketch. I also thought it was funny how Amy and Cecily were “flashing” the camera. This was another sketch that I found weird but funny.
“Big Penis Therapy” was a sketch where I found it pretty weird and typical for the second half of the show. I did, however, like the line about the badge for completing six months. I thought this sketch just repeated the same joke over and over and this was probably one of my least favorite sketches of the night.
The “Big Dumb Hat” sketch was one that seemed typical for the last sketch of the night. I loved the use of Amy, Heidi, and Chloe together in the sketch. I also loved the hats and how some kept changing and some kept getting bigger. I loved the line about how this hat “comes in colors like tan and that’s it” and how the three of them were dancing to Hozier’s song “Take Me to Church”. I also loved the puppy at the end and how it was also wearing a hat. Overall, I thought the sketch was pretty funny and a great way to end the night.
Overall, I thought this was an okay episode which at first disappointed me because I usually love when Amy Schumer hosts. However, it was then revealed after the episode aired that Amy’s son, Gene, was rushed to the emergency room with symptoms of RSV which caused Amy to miss Thursday’s rehearsals. When this was revealed, this totally changed my view of the episode. Obviously, she’s a mom first and even though I don’t have kids I understand her needing to be with her son. I couldn’t even imagine being in that position. Thankfully, Gene is doing much better and is back at home.
This is my take on the episode with host Amy Schumer and musical guest Steve Lacy. 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
