Nine times! Try to say that like Ed Rooney telling Ferris Bueller’s mother how many times her son’s been absent from school this year. You can also now say that for Tom Hanks as its his 9th time hosting Saturday Night Live. Something he’s been looking forward to since his 8th time hosting. Hanks is a blast when he hosts SNL. One of our earliest memories of him on the show is playing roadie for Aerosmith in a Wayne’s World sketch a few decades back. He seems like someone willing to have fun with the job and always around the fringes of SNL when he’s not hosting. Last night he took the reigns as the show was coming off a 4th consecutive show and delivered a fun night of Hanks! Being America’s dad and at the same time spooking us with David S. Pumpkins.
Let’s run it down.
Cold Open: Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton Third Debate
There’s a reason Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump impression works so well. As in the past, the show has utilized the likes of Darrell Hammond and Taran Killam to spoof The Donald. But it wasn’t until Baldwin’s take on him did it promote the Presidential candidate to get ruffled by the show. Why now? Plenty of people out there have pulled a Trump impression over the year. It’s not like Baldwin has the mannerisms down better than others, in fact there people we could point to that have better ones. Rather the reason Baldwin gets to Trump is the fact probably more based on what SNL writers choose to spoof of him. It’s not a parody of Trump the person, rather a parody of the failures he’s making as a Presidential candidate. So while making fun of The Donald for being too rich or landing too many pretty women, they rather spoof things like his scandals and lying. That played against Kate McKinnon’s decision to portray Hillary Clinton as socially awkward just works.
“In the first debate, I set the table. In the second, I fired up the grill. Tonight I feast.”
Monologue Tom Hanks kicked off his monologue by giving us some advice. He is America’s Dad after all. Awe, we can’t keep anything from you papa, you did notice our complextion was a bit darker and we are a big gayer than before.
Black Jeopardy When you break it down, were more similar than we think. This sketch reflects this. Hanks, is a fish out of water on Black Jeopardy wants to just “win some money and get ‘er done.” Rather than ruffle feathers, he turns into a big of a hero among the group. Well, that’s until it comes time for lives to matter. This was a nice flip of the script for a sketch where we thought we saw the joke coming from a mile away and didn’t.
Halloween Block Party If you’re planning a block party this Halloween season and don’t want a neighbor to perform, you need to make your intentions extremely well known. Otherwise you might end up with musical set to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” about a vampire love triangle starring, mother, father, and daughter? Funny New Comedy Just the other day we had a conversation with a colleague about how there are a lot of comedies out there that don’t have any jokes in them. Maybe the lead is a comedian, maybe it’s on a comedy network. There’s been an influx of shows that claim to be a comedy but come off more like a drama. Some do it to help them win awards in less cluttered fields. Even awards shows have taken notice and set up parameters for dramas to be less disguised as a “dark comedy.” The writers decided to bring some light to this with all the crying people they could muster.
Haunted Elevator This is easily the sketch of the night. It starts off innocently enough with typical scares. But then we’re introduced to David Pumpkins, sorry David S. Pumpkins. Who truly scares us with his general creepinies. If this sketch seemed like we’ve seen it before, its because it strikes a similar tone to the Kevin Roberts sketch we saw last season when Larry David hosted the show. The only thing missing from this sketch to draw them both together was if Pumpkins asked, “can a bitch get a doughnut?”
Lady Gaga “A-Yo” Gaga is back with her song “A-Yo” a country inspired (at least in dress) jam. For the most part of this clip we tried to determine if it was Mark Ronson playing guitar with Gags, lo and behold it was.
Weekend Update Weekend Update was strong once again as its had a wealth of material to mine. Michael Che’s chunk about Trump’s thoughts on the election being rigged. Leslie Jones has become the defacto hacker expert on SNL, having had her own share of cyber attacks. What you also should know about Jones is that she’s not scared of any trolls. She knows the real trolls don’t tap away at keyboards, they swing shovels. It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with the girl at a party, we’re sure she has some well-thought out ideas about the election.
Cockpit Have you ever wondered if famed flight captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger ha a jealous side, this sketch explores that question. With Hanks coming off his recent turn as Sully in the movie made about his life, why not utilize him in a sketch. This was probably a blast of a sketch to hear in the pitch meeting, it just makes you cringe seeing Sully in any other position than one of power.
A Girl’s Halloween When an SNL sketch works it’s usually because the writers touch upon a premise that’s universal to many. If you’ve ever been out in a city on a Saturday night, this is often the scene once it gets past 2am. A sketch that anyone whose done their share of partying can relate to. The night starts off innocent enough, but once we pass the point of no return with alcohol all hell breaks loose. Items get lost, embarrassing things are said, outfits are ripped, and quests for late night eats are desired. This sketch hits this premise square on the nose but framed around Halloween so we get the opportunity to see a green Pete Davidson.
Lady Gaga “Million Reasons” Gaga is back, she removed the cowgirl outfit and piano’d the sh*t out of this song.
America’s Funniest Pets The 10-to-1 sketch of the evening has Hanks as his pal Ron Howard hosting a clip show about funny pets. Sounds funny when pitched but it was a bit tired in the execution. Even guests narrating it weirdly can’t make it funny. And that’s a wrap. Next week the show takes a week off then returns with Dr. Strange himself, Benedict Cumberbatch hosting with Solange Knowles.
