SNL Scorecard: Kieran Culkin / Ed Sheeran

Because of how much of an ordeal Saturday Night Live is to put on every week, it has 'bye weeks,' not unlike football or soccer. Now, most television programs will have weeks wherein they air a rerun, sure; but those are generally to space out episodes for contractual obligations. SNL's breaks are, like sports teams who get a bye week, more motivated by the fact that everyone involved full on needs a rest. And so, much like the same curiosity you may have about how your favorite football team will play coming off a bye week, there's always a level of curiosity about how SNL will perform coming off a rest week: will they come out firing, having been rested and rejuvenated? Or will they lose their tempo and momentum somewhat after the week away?

I almost always expect it to be the former, and yet for whatever reason, it generally ends up being the latter. That was no different this time around. The episode, fronted by yet another first-time host in Succession's Kieran Culkin, was far from bad. In fact, it was another solid entry in what has been a solid young season. Culkin, despite never really straying too far from playing himself in sketches, seemed extremely geeked to be a part of it all, and there were at least a couple sketches that could be in the running for sketch of the year at year's end. But it was undoubtedly an uneven episode- it felt like much of the cast and writers' energy were poured into those few sketches, while all others were mildly funny at best, tiresome at worst.

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 5th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Canceling Cable": 8/10

Cable companies and their awful customer service are an easy target for humor, but still, this was just gold. The various types of characters on display and directions this sketch was going could have just been distracting, but instead it just got increasingly hilarious, culminating in an ending in which all parties could barely hold it together.

The Good

“Please Don't Destroy - Calling Angie": 8/10

This is a Please Don’t Destroy fan site now. I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules. I know it might make me seem like an average white dude, but whatever. Everything they do cracks me up.

“Weatherman": 7.5/10

I'm such a sucker for the "character doing something goofy is unaware of the horrifying context" joke, so I loved this. Typically when the funniest part of the sketch comes early on (as was the case here with Culkin's rap being bleeped out by the overly dramatic storm warning), you risk the rest of it being anticlimactic, but this had enough delightful touches to keep it enjoyable to the end. That said, a somewhat sloppy finish prevented it from being even more memorable.

"Men's Room": 7/10

This was such a funny premise, largely because it’s SO. TRUE. These were exaggerations, obviously, but I’ve been some version of each one of these guys at some point, except maybe for Alex Moffatt’s character, which was a hilarious twist at the ending. However, even more so than the previous sketch mentioned, this had sort of a chaotic ending with the random (and fairly needless) Tracy Morgan cameo and then some missed line or timing queue. It put a damper on what was otherwise extremely enjoyable.

"Weekend Update": 6.5/10

This was another good Weekend Update outing, with some typically cutting jokes from Che and Jost. That said, it was probably the weakest edition of what’s been a very strong season. I’ve made the comment many a time that the co-anchors’ performance tends to follow the energy level of the show and that seems to have been the case here. That said, the segment was massively helped by two great guest appearances, one with Kenan in his delightful portrayal of Ice Cube, and another from Cecily Strong, whose emotional, layered performance of a “clown” who had to use the front of “clown things” to have an honest, vulnerable discussion of abortion is going to be replayed many, many times across the country.

“Aaron Rodgers Trump Cold Open": 6/10

This happened with another cold open this season already, but it really is rare that the more a sketch go on, the more I like it, and yet that was the case again here. What felt like it was headed for the annals of mediocre or downright unimpressive cold opens kicked way up with the arrival of Heidi Gardner’s incensed Southern mom, and especially with James Austin Johnson’s star turn in his debut as Donald Trump. Also, let’s quick play two truths and a lie: Pete Davidson’s impression of Aaron Rodgers was good, I went to church with Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin, and I’m aggressively attracted to Cecily Strong as Jeanine Pirro.

"Car Heist": 6/10

I audibly celebrated at the return of a Chris Redd pre-taped sketch; we’ve been deprived so far this year. However, there was not as much going on with this one comedically as there usually is with his bits. I still laughed at Redd’s incompetent character as I always do, but the premise was pretty flat over time.

The... Less-Good

“Monologue": 5/10

As an avid Succession fan, which these days is basically like saying “as a white millennial,” it was surreal to see Kieran Culkin on a live stage being, you know, himself. I know he joked about how it’s not really a compliment to be seen as Roman Roy— and he’s right —but he does such a fantastic job in that role that it’s genuinely strange to see him as anyone else. Anyways, this wasn’t a particularly funny monologue, but it was sweet and heartfelt at least.

“Dionne Warwick Talk Show": 5/10

I really like this recurring sketch, even if it’s pretty much the same thing every time. That said, while still consisting of quite a few laughs, this was the least memorable edition comedically. As much of a delight as I’m sure it was to have the real Dionne Warwick on, I feel like it kind of means they should retire the sketch at this point. It’s hard to continue celebrity impressions after the real-life celebrity has already joined in the bit. The ending was sweet, but very anticlimactic.

"The Jockey": 3.5/10

Another pre-taped sketch that I had high hopes for (something, perhaps, in the vein of the “Robbie” sketch with JJ Watt?) that ended up falling flat, and this one more drastically so. What is it about SNL’s writers and horse-centric sketches that feel like they were written by someone under the influence?

Musical Performances

Ed Sheeran: 7.5/10

As of last week, it was up in the air whether Ed Sheeran would even be able to perform live, as soon after he was unveiled as the next musical guest, he announced he had tested positive for COVID, spurring reports of SNL ‘scarmbling’ to find a fill-in musical guest. However, his quarantine period came and went with enough time to pull together a live set, and in what was a big night for the artist, he not only performed two of his new songs, he made an appearance on the Dionne Warwick sketch!

Look, in what has unfortunately been a trend for this season’s musical guests, I’m not generally a big fan of Sheeran’s stuff. That said, I’ll admit he sounded great last night. Though musically both songs are a much more pop-influenced departure from his usual acoustic ballads, the performances themselves were pretty simple and stripped-back. His vocals sounded great, though, and both songs were very catchy; I was partial to his 2nd song, “Overpass Graffiti,” in particular.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.25 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.14)