SNL Scorecard: Megan Thee Stallion
If you're an avid fan of Saturday Night Live and/or The Couch, I'm sorry to keep you waiting on this piece. And if you're a casual fan of both, no, you did not miss a new episode of SNL. I'm writing this scorecard a full week after the actual episode instead of the customary day or two after, for two reasons! One, we've reached the first 'bye week' of Season 48, so we have space to fill between last week and next. And two, the much more accurate and impactful reason, between a friend visiting town, an immediate trip to New York afterwards, and a full-on rewatch made necessary due to the level of intoxication (along with said friend) during the live show, I needed the additional time.
Like Lizzo last season, and Chance The Rapper and Halsey in years before that, Megan Thee Stallion made a quick jump from 'first-ever appearance on the show' to 'debut host, who also pulls double duty.' As tends to be the case with hosts who also perform as musical guest, the show really was all about Meg, for better or for worse. Unfortunately, in this instance, it was mostly for the worst. Not, to be clear, at any fault of the host; Megan is organically charismatic and though there were times one could tell she was a little out of her element, she mostly did her best with the material she was given. However, for the most part, the writing relied too heavily on lazy jokes centered around her public image and appeal, likely counting on a number of viewers being more Hot Girl Meg fans than SNL fans. Slow-developing (or even no-developing) sketches and unusual production errors conspired to make this a fairly forgettable episode on the whole, that not even a fiery, memorable musical set could salvage.
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 3rd episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
“We Got Brought”: 7.5/10
Considering Bowen Yang and Megan Thee Stallion are literally going to be in a movie together, I'm a little surprised we didn't see more of them together in sketches. Unsurprisingly, the one bit centered around the two of them (plus Ego Nwodim, another star) was the best offering of the night. This was both catchy and humorous, and I lost it at Bowen's increasingly futile attempts at making conversation.
The Good
“Please Don't Destroy - Wellness": 7.5/10
This wasn't PDD's strongest material, as the joke, which never really progressed past "Get it? We AREN'T taking care of ourselves!", seemed more written for the SNL cast and writers than the audience. Yet, they still found a way to turn it into a humorous bit; they sold their misplaced earnestness so well. On a relatively weak night, it was good enough to be one of the highlights.
“Weekend Update”: 7.5/10
The one thing-- and I do really mean the one thing --that has been consistent in this young season is that Weekend Update has been very good throughout. This was arguably the weakest installment yet, but that says more about the quality of the Update episodes this season than about the quality of this particular one. Che and Jost's punchlines on average didn't hit quite as hard this time, but there was still much more good than bad. And the segment was only lifted by the guest appearances. Chloe Fineman's and Heidi Gardner's lunacy played off each other brilliantly, and Devon Walker made it three "new featured player Update debuts" out of three episodes! Though he took a little while longer to get going than Michael Longfellow and Marcello Hernandez did, once he got there, it was another great mini-set.
“Jan 6th Hearing Cold Open": 7/10
I suppose if I'm going to consistently complain about underwhelming political cold opens, it's only fair that I also give the good ones credit, right? This was a solid one! It won't make any year-end best-of lists or anything, but it was refreshing to see a political cold open be timely, make use of some hilarious new impressions (Sarah Sherman's Chuck Schumer and Heidi Gardner's Liz Cheney) and the welcome return of other old impressions (James Austin Johnson's Trump), and most importantly of all, actually be pretty humorous.
"Women's Charity": 7/10
Most of the best parts of the night were pre-taped, and this was no exception. The fake ad for a charity to support cold women was a simple joke, but well-done and cute.
“Girl Talk": 6.5/10
It was nice to see Punkie Johnson get some more airtime this episode, but Ego and Megan in particular sold this sketch. Had they not played their roles so well, this wouldn't have amounted to much more than a less-funny retread of a Key and Peele bit.
“Classrom": 6/10
This had so many enjoyable individual parts, and again, I thought Ego sold her 'well-intentioned, no-nonsense' teacher extremely well. But between a weirdly slow pacing and the fairly obvious punchline(s), it ended up not being as memorable a sketch as I thought it could and should have been.
The... Less-Good
"Monologue”: 5/10
As mentioned in the introduction, Megan Thee Stallion has inherent star power; she exudes confidence and charisma. Thus, it was no surprise she seemed undaunted by her first time helming the Studio 8H stage as host. But, in what would be a running theme on the night, she was left somewhat out to dry by the writers, who evidently couldn't think of much material to give her, beyond "Idk, just go out and talk about how you're a bad bitch and a hottie!!! <3"
“Deer": 5/10
This one finally grew on me, and Kenan's reactions in particular got some laughs out of me. But woof, it took a long time to get there, and though I love random humor as much as anything, I don't think the payoff was worth the long buildup it took to get there.
“Hot Girl Hospital”: 4/10
This early sketch had, I think, one of Megan's best acting jobs on the night, and some genuinely hilarious moments. Devon Walker's cameo and the Variety pull quote legitimately made me laugh out loud. But most of this was rough; by and large, it still just felt like lazy fan service for Megan's "hotties" and honestly, somewhat mean-spirited at its core.
“Workout Class”: 3.5/10
Again, this had some individual highlights, and it's not that the overall premise wasn't entirely funny. But it felt like a huge wasted opportunity to not have the joke amount to much more than "Get it?? Megan has a big butt and these ladies don't!!" Besides, the comedy of production errors really made this one feel like a mess from start to finish.
Musical Performances
Megan Thee Stallion: 8.5/10
This was actually Meg's third appearance on the SNL stage as musical guest, but only her 2nd as the lead artist, as her first appearance came in the form of a feature cameo for Chance The Rapper's set in 2019. Her live performance of "Savage" in 2020 was one of the most electrifying musical sets of the entire COVID-affected Season 46, so she had her own high bar to live up to.
Fortunately, as we have established already, no moment is too big for Hot Girl Meg. Her song "Anxiety" was an interesting choice for the first performance; it's not as well-known a track, and is a lower-energy song than most of her radio singles. But the rapper, unsurprisingly, did a great job in a beautifully costumed performance, and even got a bit emotional at the tail-end of the abnormally vulnerable song.
Megan saved her fireworks for the second performance of the night, evidently; a medley of her two hits "NDA" and "Plan B" set to live musical backing by a rock band was the exact floor-stomping, door-kicking, ass-shaking performance that has seen her rise to the top of the game.
OVERALL SCORE: 6.25 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.05)
As we enter the first rerun week of Season 48, here is where the episodes stand thus far-- keep in mind the episode's overall score factors in the musical performance, so what I considered the funniest isn't necessarily the top-rated overall, etc.:
Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar - 7.14
Brendan Gleeson/WILLOW - 7.09
Megan Thee Stallion - 6.25
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