SNL Scorecard: Jonathan Majors / Taylor Swift

Elephant in the room: this piece is late. It's arriving much later than it normally does. I'll own that. But this is what happens when you vacation during a new episode of Saturday Night Live, and don't watch the episode until two days later: your recap piece arrives two days later too!

Anyways, I'll keep the preamble brief here, because of the lateness. For the sixth time this season (and yes, if you're keeping track at home, that's every single episode), SNL was fronted by a first-time host. I'll confess I knew-- and still know --very little about Jonathan Majors. I have never seen him in anything, which is clearly my own fault for not watching much Marvel content nor Lovecraft Country. But I know he's a rising star, and in an interesting move, the show paired him with a relative veteran of a musical guest, Taylor Swift; Swift is not only one of the biggest pop stars there is, she made her 5th appearance on the show as a musical guest, dating all the way back to 2009.

It's always interesting to see how someone who is an up-and-comer fares on a show as unique as SNL; sometimes, as in the case of Rege-Jean Page earlier this year, they brilliantly capture the excitement and energy surrounding their host. Other times, the writers and the cast seem to not yet know how to use them. Unfortunately, this weekend was a case of the latter. Jonathan Majors performed admirably as a host, showing off his good nature and comedic chops throughout, but, save for some notable exceptions, was for the most part let down by a subpar writing night.

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 6th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Man Park": 7.5/10

This was a simple enough idea, but executed so so well. I laughed at all the delightful little remarks the different men made, both to each other and to their girlfriends. And lest you think this is just "man stupid and bad" humor, it actually has a pretty touching undercurrent of sympathy, calling out the ways toxic masculinity affects men, too.

The Good

“Weekend Update": 8/10

A week removed from what I considered their weakest-- albeit still a good-- installment of the season, Che and Jost came back with a strong slate of jokes. Few things give me more enjoyment than watching Michael Che's reaction after a joke that was a little *too* dark for the audience. But this segment was made especially good by the two guest appearances, both by new featured players. First, Sarah Sherman absolutely burned the place down with a hilarious take on 'the show through a newbie's eyes,' which was really a front for skewering Colin Jost. And then Aristotle Athari wrapped it all up with an unbelievably good 'stand-up robot' bit that frankly, I don't think got nearly as much laughter as it deserved.

“Three Sad Virgins": 7.5/10

The Please Don’t Destroy trio has gotten a significant amount of run in this young season, and have gotten a pretty decent-sized following in the process. It’s not surprising Pete Davidson (or at least his character) tabbed them as the hot new things for this sketch. I do think this was not quite as funny as their three previous installments, but I still greatly enjoyed this bit. And of course it was fun to see Taylor Swift pop in with a cameo to put the shame cherry on top.

"Broadway Benefit": 6.5/10

I’m always a sucker for good musical productions on SNL, and I’m even more of a sucker for all things Bowen Yang and Cecily Strong, so it’s no surprise I enjoyed this one. It did have an underwhelming, abrupt ending, but the twist was enjoyable.

"Strange Kid Tales": 6.5/10

This was pretty much a one-note joke, and thus ended up not being a STANDOUT on the night. But it still made me laugh all the way to the end. Majors and Kenan Thompson’s commitment to the bit kept it fresh all the way through.

“Pastor Announcement": 6/10

This has to have been based off a true story, otherwise I don't really know how this sketch could have been thought up. Whatever the motivation behind it, I enjoyed it. The writing wasn't pristine once the main joke was revealed, but there were enough highlights (from Ego and Kenan primarily) to make this a good sketch on the whole.

"Audacity In Advertising Awards": 5.5/10

This reminded me of the "Poddys" sketch from the Liev Schreiber episode a few years ago, where they make an awards show mocking a cultural trend. Like that one, it was a really funny idea that led to some really funny barbs, but unlike that one, this ended up fizzling out a good bit.

The... Less-Good

“Ted Cruz Sesame Street Cold Open": 5/10

It’s weird because this had so many ingredients I liked: a creative idea for a Cold Open rather than just a simple re-enactment of some political proceeding. Aidy Bryant’s Ted Cruz. Cecily Strong’s Marjorie Taylor Green. Chloe Fineman’s Britney Spears. Alex Moffatt. And yet, the end product was aggressively “meh.” Not bad, just not memorable in any way.

“Monologue": 4.5/10

For the second week in a row, the monologue was one that seemed pretty clearly done at the last minute. This isn’t exactly a surprise, as former cast members and writers have been open about the fact that this is pretty much always the case, but some monologues hide that fact better than others. This time, just like last week, it seemed like the writers couldn’t think of anything funny to say, and let the host go out there and wing it, banking on his natural charisma and likability. It wasn’t a terrible strategy, but it resulted in a “fine but not good” monologue.

"March of the Suitors": 4.5/10

This one felt like it had so much potential, but other than Ego and Punkie Johnson's hilarious cameos, the joke just sort of fell flat. And though I rant and rave about how annoying it is when SNL tries to be self-aware, it admittedly would have been funnier if the, ahem, well-endowed farmboy was played by Pete Davidson, famous ambassador of "BDE."

"Pet Store Ad": 4/10

Yet again, a sketch that I wanted to like more than I really did. Considering how much I love all the cast members involved with this one, and how game Majors was to take part in it, I had pretty high expectations. But at the end of the day, it didn't really progress past "wouldn't it be funny if Bone Thugs-N-Harmony ran a dog bone store?!?"

Musical Performances

Taylor Swift: 5/10

I'm not really sure how to judge this performance from Taylor Swift, and the reason is, more so than any other musical guest I can think of in recent history, this was an event. Swift has no new albums or radio singles out at the moment; this guest appearance was to mark the re-release of her 2012 album Red. If you have any form of social media, you've seen people buzzing about the new old album, as well as the new version of the old song "All Too Well."

That very song was the sole one she performed on the night, all 10 minutes of the new and extended version. And here's where I don't know how to rate her one-song set; as the musical performance? Or as the event of "All Too Well (Extended Version) (Taylor's Version) (Remix) (Part II) (History In The Making)"'s first, and perhaps only, live performance? Because quite frankly, it didn't sound very good. The SNL soundstage is unkind to many a musical artist and even one with as much magnitude as Swift is not immune to that. Her voice was wobbly throughout, and the weird sound mixing made that more prominent than usual. However, the general spectacle of the event was worth watching. It was pretty crazy to watch a woman at the absolute center of the cultural moment belt out a 10-minute song with the wildly popular music video playing on a large screen behind her, complete with cheeky deliveries of certain lines, and impassioned glares into the camera. So at the end of the day, I'll split the difference in my rating.

OVERALL SCORE: 5.88 ('Comedy Only' score: 5.95)