SNL Scorecard: John Krasinski / Machine Gun Kelly

It's 2021, and Saturday Night Live has returned! It feels like the Christmas episode with Kristen Wiig was a whole lifetime ago, for multiple reasons. For starters, it was a longer hiatus than usual between the last December and first January show, probably due in no small part to COVID precautions. But also, a multitude of things have happened from last show to this; two holidays, a terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol, an impeachment trial, the inauguration of a new President, Reddit bringing down the stock market, a variant on the coronavirus....it's been a lot, which is a fact that this episode did not shy away from.

As exciting as a new year of SNL always is, I have noticed-- at least the last several years --that the return episode tends to be somewhat of a dud, both in terms of the quality of writing and also general technical effectiveness. I was prepared for that to be the case again but hoped to be wrong, not just because of my love for the host John Krasinski, but also because the show really ended 2020 on a roll of consecutive good news. Happily, my apprehension was misplaced! Saturday Night Live got 2021 off to a fantastic start, with a night not only free of true duds, but also full of high-quality bits.

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 10th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

“Twins”: 8.5/10

Well, this is NOT where I thought this was sketch was going. This was a brilliant blend of timely commentary with good ol’-fashioned SNL absurdist humor. Krasinski played his role perfectly, as did all cast members involved, and this wild, eerie sketch is already a contender for the best of 2021.

The Good

“The Loser": 7.5/10

It’s definitely not new territory for SNL, but I’m a sucker for this kind of humor— the ‘hero standing up to the bully’ that actually just makes everything worse. Andrew Dismukes finally started getting some solid airtime the last couple episodes of 2020, and it was nice to see his momentum carry over into this year; some of his interjections killed me.

“What Still Works Cold Open": 7/10

The first cold open of the Biden Era was already miles better than 90% of the Trump Era cold opens, but in fairness, that’s because it was a more original sketch than a blatant copy/paste of the political goings-on. This was a terrific— albeit somewhat depressing —way to get everyone caught up to speed on all the insanity that has happened over the last month. It wasn’t consistently laugh-out-loud hilarious because of just how on-the-nose it was, but I really appreciated it. I was prepared to dock it half a point for trying to make me like Tom Brady, but the final punchline brought me back.

"Pandemic Game Night": 7/10

Where “Twins” was a ‘current events’ sketch that quickly took a sharp turn towards more vintage SNL humor, this was set up to be another everyday SNL sketch and instead it took a hard sociopolitical turn. I know the insurrection weighed heavy on the conscious of the episode, but I thought this was the best SNL did all night at actually deriving humor from the situation. This would have been funny anyway, but I feel like Beck Bennett being unable to hold it together at the outset (a rarity) took the energy level up several notches.

“Blue Georgia": 6.5/10

This was such a great premise for a sketch that I’m a little disappointed it wasn’t funnier, but I suppose the punchline was obvious pretty early on; it was even revealed in the name of the sketch. That said, a lot of responsibility for this not being as memorable as it could have been fell on the audience, who completely missed more than one great line. Still a solid one through-and-through.

“Monologue": 6.5/10

There’s no question John Krasinski is effortlessly charming, but I will admit I was selfishly annoyed we were getting more Some Good News Krasinski than Office Krasinski out the gate. Fortunately, the rest of the monologue took care of that problem, with a hilarious send-up of internet fandom (and a pretty delightful payoff). The first time Alex Moffatt “asked” his question, “Do The Office,” I laughed out loud for a long time (LOL4ALT).

“Subway Pitch": 6.5/10

This was just a great ten-to-one sketch. Nothing that’s gonna go viral or make year-end lists, but just short, sweet, random humor. I can’t tell if the point was to belittle Subway’s weird protein bowls idea, or to just let Krasinski and Bennett have fun yukking it up as out-of-touch industry vets, but either way, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I did find it a little odd that they did a Subway sketch without touching on the current tuna lawsuit, but whatever.

“Supermarket Sweep”: 6/10

This felt like a throwback to last year, when they kind of just let Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon do their thing. I have no idea how this sketch came to be, but it was hilarious, if not fully realized. Krasinski shone here as the affable, oblivious game show host.

“Ratatouille”: 6/10

This was a more traditional— and by that I mean absolutely ridiculous —ten-to-one sketch than the Subway bit. This definitely stemmed out of some joke a writer made offhand but I really appreciate the realization of said dumb joke in sketch form. One small quibble: the movie is Rataouille. The rat is Remy.

“Weekend Update”: 5.5/10

One oddity of Season 46 is that the quality of Weekend Update has tended to run counter to the quality of the episode at large. That stayed the same here. There were a few solid jokes, and energetic (if not consistently hilarious) cameos from Bennett as Mike Lindell, and Bowen Yang and Kyle Mooney as Fran Lebowitz and a speechless Martin Scorcese. But by and large, this was a pretty disappointing performance from the co-anchors, who on multiple occasions seemed to be waiting for the audience laughter that just…wasn’t coming.

“Opening Credits Song”: 5/10

I enjoyed the concept of this sketch, and it was more good than bad, but the joke ran dry pretty quickly. Most of the mock lyrics were pretty dumb, honestly; it definitely feels like it could have been a really memorable bit with stronger writing.

Musical Performances

Machine Gun Kelly: 6/10

I definitely thought Machine Gun Kelly was a rapper? I was way caught off guard by the style switch-up. I’m truthfully not a fan of the sort of emo pop punk MGK displayed in his two songs last night, and his vocals—while certainly stronger than I realized —were often times sloppy in pitch.

That said, I try to be more objective when it comes to rating the musical performances because I know everyone’s tastes are different. And objectively speaking, his first song “My Ex’s Best Friend,” was certainly energetic and catchy, and the second performance, “Lonely,” was nothing if not heartfelt. This won’t be among the best musical sets of Season 46, but it’s not easy following queen Dua Lipa….objectively speaking, of course.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.50 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.55)