SNL Scorecard: Adele / H.E.R.

In a year full of “unprecedenteds,” Saturday Night Live being on TV a lot doesn’t really move the needle much. But bucking the usual trend of ‘three episodes and a week off,’ SNL saw their fourth consecutive episode of Season 46 last night. And with John Mulaney rapped to host this weekend, and I would assume a post-election show on the docket for the week after, we’re looking at least a crazy six consecutive episodes to open the season.

For a show that is already so demanding just to make happen, let alone in the era of COVID-19 precautions, the natural assumption would be that the cast and writers are running out of steam. To my pleasant surprise that was not apparent last night in the least. While the episode started and finished on the weaker side, for the better part of an hour, it was my favorite episode of the year. Granted, if you’ve been following along, you know that’s a very low bar to clear but still, even if it produced few memorable sketches, it was fun to see what felt like a normal episode for the first time: very few references to the ongoing pandemic, very few timing or cue card screw-ups, appearances by more cast members, and generally, seemingly high spirits by all.

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 4th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

“The Bachelor”: 7/10

SNL is no stranger to Bachelor parodies, and I thought this would be just another take on the brainless contestants. The twist of having Adele play herself was a terrific choice, though. It ran the risk of feeling too referential, but the way she played off of the bachelor and other contestants was hilarious. And of course, this was mostly an excuse to get her to show off her vocals. In case you were wondering, girl can still SANG.

The Good

“Madame Vivelda": 6.5/10

Maybe it’s just months of seeing memes with this kind of content, but “can you imagine thinking about this year in 2019?!?!?!” jokes are a little tired. That said, this was definitely still a clever bit. Kate never gives less than 100% to her characters, and her loopy psychic was no different.

“Weekend Update": 6.5/10

Contrary to the show as a whole, Weekend Update has had one of its strongest starts to a season in recent memory. And while, again contrary to the show, this was probably the weakest installment of the year so far, there definitely were enough highlights to make it more good than bad. It was really good to see Melissa Villaseñor for what felt like the first time all season, and her vocal impression talent is undeniable, but her appearance as a whole didn’t feel fully realized. And the guys in the Village People bit seemed like they were having a great time, but it was unclear what the joke was, exactly. That said, many of Che’s and Jost’s punchlines were sharp once more, and like I mentioned last week, their ability to laugh at themselves over a joke that DOESN’T go well is a real asset.

"Chad In A Haunted Mansion": 6/10

I vacillate between wishing they would just retire Chad and loving seeing him back in action. This was a really clever usage of the character— and of Adele —for a while, although it did somewhat run out of steam down the stretch.

“Election Ad": 6/10

I realized during this sketch that it was something we really haven’t seen yet this election season: a mock campaign ad. I enjoyed this one! It pretty much was just one single joke played out, but it was a funny and creative premise. I especially loved the line “What am I supposed to do now, talk to my kids? No thanks!”

“Visiting Grandma": 5.5/10

I’m confused how this sketch came to be. And still a little confused about what the point was. But man, Maya Rudolph is a national treasure. She, Pete Davidson and Ego Nwodim provided some really great moments, enough to make what could have been a dud of a sketch worthwhile.

“Monologue": 5.5/10

Adele seemed nervous! We're not used to seeing that. It only served to make her more endearing, though.

This wasn't really funny, but it was fun and charming. The swear jar bit with Kenan was great.

The...Less-Good

“Ass Angel Jeans”: 4.5/10

This was a little disappointing because “ass perfume for your jeans” sounds like such a funny fake ad idea, in a juvenile kind of way, but this ended up being more bizarre than funny. Still, it was nice to see the return of the bona fide weird 10-to-1 sketch, and man, Beck Bennett gave it his absolute all.

“Final Debate Cold Open": 4/10

Let’s start with the positives: Jim Carrey’s Biden was a little more bearable this time. We didn’t have a needless celebrity cameo (Maya Rudolph as moderator Kristen Welker actually made sense). I chuckled at Trump continuing to call the moderator by names of other women of color. But other than that…yeesh. I don’t think I laughed once. What a disappointing trio of debate sketches from this writing staff.

“Africa Tourism": 3.5/10

The only reason this even gets a 3.5 is because of Adele’s delightful inability to keep herself together. Otherwise, this was in pretty poor taste. Unless I’m misunderstanding the joke, the entire sketch was based off a racist trope about black men. And if I am misunderstanding the joke, perhaps it shouldn’t have been so hard to find.

Musical Performances

H.E.R.: 7/10

I could not have been more excited for H.E.R. to make her SNL debut this weekend. The 22-year old R&B singer and musician is one of the brightest young talents out there, and, with few breakthroughs on mainstream radio is a very well-kept secret.

Unfortunately, her first performance, of her song “Damage,” was uncharacteristically sloppy. The Studio H stage is notoriously unkind to many musicians but it was surprising to see not even she was immune from that. “Damage,“ while a catchy tune, already isn’t her usual style and the performance saw her shaky in vocals and poor sound mixing led to her backup music nearly drowning her out. Fortunately, she recovered extremely well with her second song “Hold On.” It was clear to see that this was H.E.R. much more in her element, with her strong, smooth voice in control, and a forceful guitar solo to see it out.

OVERALL SCORE: 5.64 ('Comedy Only' score: 5.50)