SNL Scorecard: Claire Foy/Anderson.Paak
There are hosts announced for Saturday Night Live that get you excited. There are hosts announced that make you say "Ugh, why?", or, "Ugh, I mean he's/she's fine, but like, again?!" Then there's Claire Foy.
In terms of the "now" factor, Foy wasn't a surprise choice. She's already swept across the awards circuit in the last couple years for her work as Queen Elizabeth in the Netflix show The Crown, and now is coming off a fabulous turn in the movie First Man. But the 30-year old Brit isn't a name you'd naturally think to see as a host of an acclaimed comedy show. She's done almost exclusively dramatic work, and isn't a household name as a dramtic actor, either. In other words, it's much more a "Liev Schreiber" type gig than a "Tom Hanks" type.
That being said, much like Schreiber just a few weeks ago, Foy aided in one of the best episodes of the season so far. Whereas the former's episode found comedically brilliant ways to feature him, Claire Foy played much more of a supporting role throughout the night. This didn't exactly seem necessary, as the actress displayed impressive versatility in both accents and comedic timing. She did the job sportingly, though, making the cast and the writing staff the true MVPs of the night.
Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 7th episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
“The War In Words”: 8/10
Bravo, writers; this was so clever. And the casting perfect: Mikey Day's flustered outrage, Claire Foy's understated composed response (her "hee hee" got me every time), and Kenan's jubilant obliviousness. Delightful.
The Good
“Mueller Christmas Song": 7.5/10
A not-too-distant 2nd place is this hilarious track. I'm always down for any skit that utilizes all the hilarious female cast members, but this was also just well-performed, witty lyricism. Unfortunately, I fear this will be forgotten amidst the solid slew of skits for a couple reasons. For one, the notoriously bad sound mixing on the SNL stage made a lot of the lyrics difficult to hear it first, which seemingly led to a muted audience reaction, and secondly, due to song copyright laws, there's no YouTube link of this anywhere. The best I can do is sauce you this NBC.com link (skip to the 1-hour mark).
"Charlie's Grandparents": 7/10
A juvenile joke, perhaps. But admit it, you were cry-laughing. Plus, "OHHH, you can't, and I won't!!" was perhaps the highlight of the night.
“Weekend Update": 7/10
Another solid outing from the Weekend Update team, who are starting to sew together more regularly good performances. Jost is getting better at making his deliveries his own, rather than a poor man's Seth Meyers, and Che is just getting more consistently hilarious. I enjoyed Leslie Jones' bit immensely, but the WU star of the week for me was Beck Bennet's perhaps-well-meaning-but-disgustingly-pretentious character; his name was Jules, because of course it was.
“HSN": 6.5/10
I giggled at Kenan and Claire's perfect accents at first, but I wasn't really sure where this was going at first. Then when it became clear it was just Cecily Strong having a breakdown and Aidy Bryant admonishing her, I was like "Oh, got it. Yeah, I like this."
“Dad Christmas": 6/10
This one felt like it was borne out of at least one person's actual experience, which I guess makes me sad. But it ultimately paved the way for a funny skit, so, I guess it all worked out? Sadly, this too is plunged into the annals of the Internet, likely due to Aidy Bryant's song parody. But don't worry, I gotchu.
“Trump Argentina Cold Open": 6/10
I'm still in favor of retiring Alec Baldwin's Trump, both because the impression is tiresome and also because of his problematic comments about African-Americans and arrests. But, in his first performance back from said arrest, he was given one of the better-written Trump skits (and Cold Opens) of the season. It was clever to bring back Ben Stiller's worrywart Michael Cohen and Kate McKinnon's slimy Rudy Giuliani. And Fred Armisen is always welcome on any episode of anything, ever.
“Morning Joe: Wedding": 6/10
I know I'm in the minority, but I laugh at these skits every time. It follows the same formula, but it's a winning formula. This wasn't the best outing, in part because they barely made use of a great Claire Foy performance, but Alex Moffat's obnoxious Scarborough, and Kate's quietly scoffing Mika are just inch-perfect.
“Good Morning Goomah”: 5.5/10
Okay, so not gonna lie, I had to Google what "goomah" meant (#iveonlyspent2daysinNewYorkever), but once I understood the context of the skit, it went from "the hell?" to "Oh, I get it, that's pretty funny!" So I recommend you do the same. For a 10-to-1 skit, it wasn't bad!
The…Less-Good
"Netflix Commercial": 5/10
The joke here is funny, and dead-on: Netflix's content is, well, endless. But the short drags on just a touch, albeit peppered with subtle jokes like the CEO holding multiple cans of Red Bull.
“Monologue”: 4/10
I've heard interviews with SNL castmembers and writers, and all explain that the monologue is nearly always thrown together at the last minute. Often times, you would have no idea, but this was one week in which that felt very evident. To Claire Foy's credit, the host was exceedingly comfortable on the stage, which is more than can be said for some first-timers. But the jokes were essentially "I'm British. I met the Queen. We have a great show tonight!!"
Musical Performances
Anderson.Paak (feat. Kendrick Lamar): 9/10
Ohhhhhhh doggies. This was the most excited I'd been for a musical guest yet this season, and Anderson.Paak did not disappoint. The rapper/singer/drummer's reputation as a performer preceded himself, but it didn't hurt that I'm fresh off listening to his new album Oxnard, which I highly recommend to you all. Paak brought the energy, the funk, the percussion, and sounded great while singing through the most famous grin in rap. It doesn't hurt that he sneakily brought out the best rapper in the game to perform his verse on their collaboration hit "Tints." I wasn't sure anybody would be able to top Travis Scott's SNL performances this season, but we just may already have a new leader in the clubhouse.
OVERALL SCORE: 6.46 (Comedy Only score: 6.23)