SNL Scorecard: Amy Schumer / Steve Lacy
Considering all the upheaval Saturday Night Live underwent right before the start of Season 48, I think it's far too early to begin panicking about the trajectory of the show, especially when there still has yet to be an episode that was just, start-to-finish, bad. That said, we're now five episodes into the season (aka about a quarter of the way through), and it seems like the show is still very much struggling to find its footing. Where the unevenness of previous episodes could perhaps be attributed to first-time hosts and unknown quantities-- the hosts this season have been a younger action movie star, an older mostly dramatic actor, and two musicians --this weekend doesn't get that excuse. Amy Schumer is a well-known, very successful comedian who would be naturally suited for the program anyhow, let alone the fact that this was her third stint hosting. And yet, just like almost every episode before it this season, her show came and went with very few memorable highlights.
Other sources have made the point that this episode played like a live episode of Inside Amy Schumer, and I think that's a pretty fair categorization, at least in terms of the type of humor. But where Schumer's original sketch show from last decade felt subversive, original, and daring, this episode felt pretty formulaic and docile, even at its weirdest. I don't mean to cast this episode as a total loss; there were plenty of funny moments, and Schumer, as always, seemed up to all of it. I just can't help but feel like we're in the 'transition year' rut.
One note in case you forgot- I know my rankings can seem a little arbitrary, and truthfully there have been times where even I will look back at scorecards and think "Now, why did I rate (x) an 8.5, if (x) from this other episode was only a 7...?". So, both to hopefully clear up my scoring system for any curious readers, but also really to help keep myself consistent, here is the rubric to reference:
10/10: Perfect, no notes
8-9.5/10: Very funny-to-hilarious, definite rewatch
6-7.5/10: Pretty funny-to-funny, but won't necessarily be a rewatch
4-5.5/10: Not BAD, but not particularly funny or memorable
1-3.5/10: Terrible/poor taste, to simply bad/unfunny
Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 5th episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
“COVID Commercial”: 7.5/10
Amidst weaker episodes, mock ads-- which are reliably funny --tend to stand out more, and that was very much the case with this one. Close to 3 years from its onset, it still feels risky to make jokes about COVID, but this take on the reality of it in America present-day was dead-on.
The Good
“The Looker": 7.5/10
Apparently this is a parody of a real show? I honestly had no idea that show even existed; this would have worked as a general genre parody regardless. Anyhow, I very much enjoyed this one. Even when Schumer's character was revealed to be the butt of the joke, I appreciated that it continued to find creative ways to poke fun at the family's habits.
“Jurors”: 6.5/10
I hoped I would like this one more than I ultimately did, because I was rolling at the start. Schumer, Bowen Yang, and Sarah Sherman were terrific as the obnoxiously dramatic jurors. It fizzled out somewhat, though, as the writers seemed unable to figure out where else to take it.
“President Biden Midterms Address Cold Open": 6/10
In the last show before the Election, the cold open made a good point about the nature of the GOP candidates on display, and introduced some solid impressions in the meantime. Still, as far as pre-Election political sketches go, this was pretty tame and not particularly profound.
"Weekend Update": 6/10
I first named it last week, and unfortunately the trend has continued: Weekend Update has gotten worse week-by-week. It was always going to be hard to match the very high bar the first couple Updates of Season 48 set, but still, Che and Jost's one-liners seem to be less of a hit with the audience with each passing week. There's still more good than bad, and this Update was vaunted by Cecily Strong again doing a poignant bit about abortion through the guise of a silly character (though it wasn't quite as impactful after having already seen Goober The Clown discuss it). But still, I can't help feel like with the trajectory they're on, we're just an episode or two away from Update being one of the worst bits of the show.
“Twitter Council": 6/10
There was no way SNL wasn't going to do any Twitter commentary, after the fiasco of a week Elon Musk had in taking over the site. I'll confess I was hoping for something a little more meaty than this; most of the jokes felt like low-hanging fruit. But between Schumer's "bot" and James Austin Johnson's consistently hilarious Trump, there were several 'laugh out loud' moments.
“Jets Fans": 5.5/10
This was another one like "Jurors" in which, though I liked it, I anticipated enjoying much more than I did. I loved the energy, but it overstayed its welcome a bit, and never really evolved to anything beyond raucous Jets fans bellowing at others.
The... Less-Good
"Big Penis Therapy": 5/10
Another one in which it felt like there was potential for this to be funnier than it was, because the writing was just underdeveloped. I love when SNL does 'toxic masculinity' humor, and the joke that Amy Schumer's character got Andrew Dismukes' to therapy by convincing him it's only for men with big penises is actually brilliant. But again, this just didn't really go anywhere that was particularly new or cutting.
"WKTVN News": 5/10
As far as 10-to-1 sketches go, this was appropriately bizarre, I suppose. But, as much as I appreciated Cecily's and Amy's energy, similar to the "Joker" sketch from last week, this didn't do much other than poke fun at country accents.
"Pinx Period Underwear”: 5/10
Certainly the inferior of the two pre-taped mock ads from this episode. It wasn't painfully unfunny, just that (stop me if you've heard this before!) there didn't seem to be as many laughs as there could have been. There are a lot of jokes that can be made regarding periods/women's health and hygiene that can be gross-out hilarious, and/or make the punchline more on people (men) that are easily thrown by normal bodily functions than the women that undergo them. The sole joke being smell of blood attracting animals doesn't really accomplish either.
“Monologue": 5/10
I remember being pretty blown away by Schumer's monologue the first time she hosted, and not so much her second time around. I was curious how this one would play out, given that, to my knowledge, she wasn't in the course of a big comedy tour. Unfortunately, it was much more in line with her more recent appearance, where she had a couple good (and sweet) anecdotes, and a good punchline or two, but for the most part didn't have particularly strong material.
“Big Dumb Hat": 4.5/10
This is the sketch I've seen most referenced, and most applauded from the episode, and I've got to admit, I don't really understand why. The entire joke of the sketch is in the name! I know it's a tongue-in-cheek satire of #whitegirl culture, but the sketch itself didn't really have any laughs beyond the presentation of "...get it?? They're basic bitches(tm)!!!"
“Soup": 4/10
Man, SNL has got to stop leading off with ultra-weird sketches. This is at least the third consecutive episode (I can't remember the Miles Teller or Brendan Gleeson episodes' sketch order off the top of my head) in which the show's first post-monologue sketch was completely off the wall absurd. Far be it from me to decry weird humor, but in each case, it was just more bonkers than funny, and the result is that it loses the audience, both in the studio and at home, early on in the episode.
Musical Performances
Steve Lacy: 7/10
Steve Lacy has had an enormous breakout this year. The R&B/pop rock artist has been known and celebrated in more indie music circles for several years now, but has blown up in 2022 with the release of his latest album Gemini Rights and especially lead single "Bad Habits," which has seen a long stay at or near the top of the charts thanks to its ubiquity on TikTok.
"Bad Habits" unsurprisingly was the first performance, and I actually feel like Lacy's performance perfectly mirrored how I feel about the song: the first half, which has the famous refrain you've no doubt heard if you've been anywhere near TikTok or a radio this year, was terrific, and then lost some steam after the bridge and into the extended outro. Lacy's second performance, of "Helmet," was a much more consistent performance, keeping the same vocal quality and energy throughout the entirety of the song. It wasn't the most mindblowing set we've seen or will see this season, but overall, Steve sounded great, and at any rate I'm happier these seemed to go much better than his tour seems to be going.
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