SNL Scorecard: J.J. Watt / Luke Combs
This past weekend, Saturday Night Live welcomed February with its second new show of 2020. After four consecutive shows hosted by awards circuit mainstays, SNL was helmed by somebody who, while not in the world of cinema, was no stranger to awards: three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt!
This season's hosts had exclusively been actors or singers, but that changed this weekend when SNL broke the mold by having, by my count, their first active athlete host since Eli Manning in 2012. J.J. Watt, of Houston Texan fame, was a perhaps surprising choice; the defensive end is well-known and well-respected for being a good sportsman and ambassador for the game, but lacks the name recognition of the Manning brothers, or Michael Phelps, or Derek Jeter, to name other examples of athlete hosts. He also lacks the showmanship-- read: attention-seeking -- of, say, Rob Gronkowski, or Odell Beckham, Jr.
But it felt fitting that the weekend an athlete finally host again be Super Bowl weekend, and considering Watt's musical guest accompaniment was Luke Combs, a member of the new guard of bro country, it certainly felt like an SNL for the good ol' boys. I kind of didn't mind the idea here: streamline an audience on a weekend that was only ever going to be about the Super Bowl (sorry, Iowa Caucus and Liverpool's record winning streak). Unfortunately, and perhaps predictably, that didn't translate to a very good episode on the whole; one of the weaker ones of the season, in fact. That said, it was not the fault of the host, who showed a surprising amount of comfort and versatility in the various roles he was asked to play.
Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 12th episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
“Madden 21”: 7/10
Sure, it was an easy premise, but this was the best use of the host all night. Watt was great as an exasperated athlete who's tired of the needless shots to his ego....it's almost like he could relate to that from his career or something.
The Good
“Monologue": 7/10
Watt is clearly not used to speaking on stage as opposed to being on a field-- his delivery was a little wooden. But, his stage presence was not bad at all! And I was impressed with the writing.
“Weekend Update": 7/10
After a really bright return last week, Jost and Che took a while to get started this time around. But the second half of their set was a lot more impactful than the first, perhaps buoyed by the solid guest spots. Bowen Yang's Chen Biao is always delightful, but it was especially fun to see the underused Ego Nwodim make an Update appearance, and a great one at that.
"The Sex Talk": 6.5/10
Kyle Mooney is so good at playing an awkward kid that the secondhand awkwardness came close to outweighing the humor in this one. But the detail to which Watt and Aidy Bryant took their well-intentioned conversation was just hilarious.
“Robbie": 6.5/10
Chris Redd is carving out quite a niche spot for himself as the helplessly inept hero of pre-taped sketches such as these. This was a great send-up of football movies, but it felt like it got to the punchline pretty quickly. (Also, in college football, it's just the "playoff," not the "playoffs." And Notre Dame wouldn't be hosting a playoff game, it would be played at a neutral site. Come on, SNL.)
“Pilot Hunk": 6.5/10
They've reprised this Bachelor parody sketch numerous times over the last several years, and it's pretty much always the same joke. Yet, it makes me laugh every time. Watt was consistently great with the half-laughing "I love that!" delivery.
“Food Dudes": 6/10
This was enjoyable, and certainly one of the more viral-ready skits of the episode. I can't tell if I didn't think more highly of it because it felt like it could have been funnier than it was, or because it hit a little too close to home...
“Men's Product": 6/10
Olay introduces "Brolay," a facial treatment that football players can wear as eye black. Fun, if not particularly memorable.
“Pizza Place”: 5.5/10
I was ready for Aidy Bryant's clueless middle school (or is it high school?) student to wander into the middle of what was obviously a porno set, and then was genuinely surprised when that didn't happen. For a 10-to-1 sketch, this was disappointingly less weird than it was capitalizing on low-hanging fruit (and NO THAT IS NOT A TESTICLES PUN), but it was still funny on the whole.
The...Less-Good
“Frozen 2”: 4.5/10
I guess the point is…the SNL cast is tired of hearing about Frozen? Or something? This had some memorable moments, but felt needlessly snarky, and not very funny.
“Society Debut”: 4.5/10
Maaaaan, I had high hopes for this one. The obvious My Fair Lady parody seemed like it was going to be the latest installment of hilariously wacky skits from this season, but it didn't build to much, other than some jokes about "dookies" that I admittedly laughed at harder than I should have. In the end, it was pretty much just weird.
“Impeachment Fantasy Cold Open”: 3.5/10
Sigh. SNL's futility at making the current political climate humorous continued with this snoozer of a cold open, which featured Alec Baldwin's tiresome Trump, Kate McKinnon's worst impression in her repertoire, and an unsettling Beck Bennett in Mitch McConnell getup. I think I only laughed at Pete Davidson's brief, but welcome stint as Hunter Biden. I'm really ready for some more presidential debates because nothing else from the political well has been working.
Musical Performances
Luke Combs: 5/10
I'll admit I'm not the biggest Country fan by any means, but I have actually begun listening to a few artists in recent years, and had heard good things about Luke Combs, so I was intrigued by these performances. My takeaway? Luke has a big voice, and a very energetic band. And pretty much just stands in place and bellows about beer and heartbreak. So, uh...that's all I got.
OVERALL SCORE: 5.81 (Comedy Only score: 5.88)