SNL Scorecard: Jarrod Carmichael / Gunna

Saturday Night Live returned from a three-week break this past weekend, and picked a surprising name to do it: comedian Jarrod Carmichael, who like so many before him this season, made his debut as host of the show. It's of course not uncommon for a stand-up comedian to host SNL, it's just that when one does, it's usually a very big name, such as John Mulaney, or Amy Schumer, or Dave Chappelle, or *whispers* Louis C.K. Carmichael is much more of a 'comedians' comedian' and not a mainstream star, something he referenced in his monologue, and though he did just have a tremendously well-received special just released this last week, this episode was bound to be a whole lot of unknown.

Unfortunately, the episode couldn't really capitalize on the blank slate of expectations, yielding a few good sketches, a few bad ones, but ultimately little to no memorable ones. This was no fault of the first-time host, who played his various roles quite well, and seemed considerably more comfortable than many with more experience do. But he, as well as the cast, who brought good energy, were let down this week by the writers in what was probably the weakest episode of 2022 thus far.

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 16th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Story": 7.5/10

This was an example of how sometimes a one-joke sketch can still be hilarious, as long as it’s played well. Kyle Mooney’s obnoxious ‘active listening’ just got increasingly funny (and frustrating), and his ultimate trajectory towards sheepishly apologizing made this even better. This was great.

The Good

“Monologue": 8.5/10

Jerrod Carmichael is exhibit A of why I love when stand-up comedians host. A good monologue can totally set the rest of the episode for success, and this was a very good monologue. If Carmichael was using this an opportunity to promote himself to the masses who may not know him well, he did a terrific job.

“Weekend Update": 8/10

It was going to be hard for Che and Jost to top their last outing, which was one of the best of the year, and I don’t think they did this time, but it was still a very good performance by these two, with spitfire takes on everything from Will Smith to the Supreme Court hearings. The two guest appearances, which addressed those same topics, by Cecily and Kenan (in the form of Senator Blackburn and O.J. Simpson) were also terrific, making this an all-around great Update segment.

"Shop TV": 7.5/10

This bit took a little while to get going, but once it did, it was worth the wait. Cecily and Mikey’s increasing horror, Carmichael’s ‘doll-maker’ obliviousness, the non-pictured Odell’s production choices…this had a lot of highlights.

“Scattering Remains": 7/10

I hate that there were some timing errors and the audience didn’t seem to be fully on board this one, because I thought this had potential to be one of the funniest sketches in some time. Carmichael and Andrew Dismukes played their roles so effectively— honestly the hardest I laughed was Dismukes’ “oh, speak on that!”

"Short-Ass Movies": 6.5/10

I don’t know for sure if this is true, and I don’t care enough to look back and see whether it is or not, but I think this might have been our first Pete Davidson sighting since Kanye West’s very public, bizarre, occasionally intense feud with him. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it was in the form of pre-taped sketch. But it was a good one! He and Chris Redd have, I think, been the closest thing to Lonely Island in terms of quality pre-taped musical shorts. The fact that this doesn’t even come close to their best result says more about their track record than this particular sketch.

“Baby Clothes": 6/10

A pretty simple joke, but a funny one nonetheless. I also appreciated that they parodied a future that social conservatives are paranoid about and convinced is already happening.

“Seat Fillers": 6/10

I suppose they had to do a Will Smith/Chris Rock sketch, but I wish they would have stuck true to Carmichael’s monologue, and just not really talked about it, apart from in Weekend Update perhaps. This felt like something they sort of half-heartedly wrote because the Internet would be expecting it. I will say, though, I give them credit for at least coming up with a funny perspective to base the sketch around, in the form of a seat-filler’s viewpoint.

“Post-COVID Game Show": 5.5/10

This was a humorous concept for a sketch, and Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman in particular provided enough funny to make this more good than bad. But I don’t know, this one just didn’t really land the way I thought it would. I recognize COVID isn’t obsolete, but this felt like a sketch for November 2020, maybe, not April 2022.

The.... Less-Good

“Fox & Friends: Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings": 4.5/10

The last many years, SNL’s cold opens have often been throwaway political sketches, which is an unfortunate way to start the show, and that’s especially disappointing when it’s the first episode back from a three?-week break. This was wholly forgettable, but I will say, I can’t overstate how much better James Austin Johnson’s Trump is than Alec Baldwin’s was. Instead of tiredly tanking sketches, his Trump at least salvages humor in them, as was the case here.

Musical Performances

Gunna (featuring Future): 6.5/10

Gunna’s one of those artists I know is a decently big name in the Hip-Hop world, but I don’t think I could name a single one of his songs even though I’m sure I’ve heard at least a few of them on the radio at some point, so it felt a little bit like I was coming in blind to his performances.

His first performance, of single "Banking On Me” was solid, if a bit unremarkable. He sounded good and looked comfortable on the often unforgiving stage. I don’t know that I’d actually heard his second song, “pushin’ P”, but I certainly saw the the countless tweets referencing it when it was all the rage. The performance brought a good amount of energy, especially with Future alongside him, but the song itself was almost laughably short, so I can’t say this was a performance that’s going to be one people remember for a long time.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.68 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.70)