SNL Scorecard: Michael Keaton / Billie Eilish
Saturday Night Live’s 50th season has forgone the usual slow roll of a new season, starting earlier than usual, and coming out with a very rare 4 consecutive new episodes to open. It’s always interesting to see whether there’s a correlation between the patterns of live episodes and the quality of the comedy within them; as we head into SNL’s first week off thus far, you get the sense that the cast and staff probably feel like a respite is coming at a perfect time.
To clarify, I don’t mean that to say that this episode was poor, and the show needs a reset. Almost the opposite, in fact; this was a third consecutive solid output from the cast and writers, after a forgettable season premiere. However, there was a slight dip from the back-to-back bangers of the weeks preceding, and it came in a fashion that indicated fatigue: underdeveloped writing, missed cues by the host or cast, the occasional technical error. Given that the first new episodes of November will sandwich an extremely contentious and stressful election, a week off in preparation is probably a good call.
Zooming into this episode itself, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice actor Michael Keaton was a famous and familiar face as host. He’s made numerous appearances on the show (as host and as walk-on cameo) over the years, but interestingly enough, his last stint hosting was also in a historic season, 10 years ago amidst “SNL40.” I remember that particular episode as being an underrated banger— one of my favorites from that season —so in that regard, I was slightly disappointed with this outing overall, both because it felt like there were fewer original and memorable sketches, and also because the host himself seemed a little uncomfortable throughout the night, mistiming and misreading lines in multiple sketches. That said, it didn’t hamper the episode to the point of unwatchable: while not reaching the highs of the last two weeks, the floor for this one was high, only noticeably dipping in quality in the second half of the show after Weekend Update.
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 4th episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
"Fox News Kamala Harris Interview Cold Open": 8/10
When the episode opened on a shot of Alec Baldwin, I rolled my eyes, instantly concluding that this was Lorne Michael’s concession to the famous SNL figure for getting fired from his Trump impression, to let him impersonate someone else in the political sphere. But you know what? Turns out, if Alec Baldwin had only impersonated Fox News hosts throughout the Trump years, maybe we would have had a lot more fun. This was great; the best cold open of the season by some margin, and the show’s best political cold open in a while. Baldwin and Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris were obviously parodying a real (and really frustrating) interview, but their interplay also felt like a throwback to good ol’ fashioned duo comedy. And the cutaways to James Austin Johnson’s Trump were hilariously played as well.
The Good
“Weekend Update": 8.5/10
Co-anchors Jost and Che continued their red-hot form in Weekend Update this season. As we get closer to the election, their political punchlines have ratcheted up, and that was no different in this instance. Colin Jost, however, has never been more over than he was in this Update. He was catching strays from Che, from new cast member Emil Wakim, and of course from Sarah Sherman. The latter two had terrific— though wildly tonally different —first Update appearances, and all in all, contributed to a tremendous segment.
“TikTok": 8/10
This is the 3rd edition of these TikTok sketches; the humor in these pretty much relies on you knowing the social media platform, but if you know TikTok, you know this is a scarily accurate representation. Just about every impression included in these quick hitters was a winner, and I love that my favorite chaos agent Harry Daniels caught some strays.
“Shop TV: Halloween Cookies": 7.5/10
A reincarnation of a hilarious sketch from Adam Driver’s Christmas episode last year, Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner’s horrified sassy Southern QVC-adjacent hosts are 2 for 2. This was another hilarious entry in the “unintentionally sexual” humor; I don’t know if this one fit Michael Keaton’s abilities quite as well as the straight-faced Driver, and it had a bit of a sloppy ending, but the best parts of this sketch were some of the best parts of the night.
"Please Don't Destroy - Skydiving": 7.5/10
Boy, it was good to see Please Don’t Destroy back in action. Their absence from this young season was auspicious, but they came back with a banger. I still generally prefer their more stripped-back videos in their writing room setting, but this was a funny take on a simple premise.
"Forbidden Romance": 7/10
I can’t believe it took until the year 2024, but I’m so glad somebody finally pointed out how weird and annoying that Train song was; I’ve been saying it since high school. (And this sketch didn’t even reference the “hair on my untrimmed chest” lyric.) Couching it in the context of trying to be a historically significant song tearing down the pillars of segregation was hilarious. I think this would have been better served by being a little shorter, but overall, another solid bit.
“Monologue": 7/10
Tired: Andy Samberg popping up as Doug Emhoff in every cold open. Inspired: Andy Samberg popping into the monologue to poke fun at his frequent cold open appearances. Michael Keaton seemed to bring an almost nervous energy to the monologue, but maybe that’s just “Michael Keaton energy.” Anyways; cast walk-ons are hit or miss when it comes to monologues, but in this case, it was a ton of fun to see Samberg and Mikey Day play the obnoxious fanboys who won’t take a hint— good cameo here from Sarah as well, the first of many on the night!
“Horror Choreographer": 6.5/10
Another one that had some really good moments, but was a little undone by timing errors and a weak ending. Good physical acting by Day here, though, and Chloe Fineman barely being able to keep it together was enjoyable.
"Uber Game Show": 6/10
I really liked the idea behind this sketch, and I’ll never complain about Ego Nwodim getting a starring role, but it just seemed to run a little long. The central thesis of the sketch was a funny one, but could only get so much mileage, I think.
"Tableside": 6/10
The last sketch of the night perfectly summed up the second half of the show: an absolutely perfect premise for a wacky 10-to-1 sketch, and multiple moments (namely Keaton and Heidi’s reciting of nonsensical, wordy platitudes) cracked me up. But camera and timing errors derailed any sort of momentum this could have built— and prevented newbie Ashley Padilla from being in frame and thus earning several well-earned laughs —and a weak finish ended the night on a flat note.
Musical Performances
Billie Eilish: 7/10
It’s no secret— I’ve mentioned it many times in this blog —that Studio 8H is often an unforgiving soundstage for the musical guests. Billie Eilish, though, is no stranger to the SNL scene; the young star even pulled double duty as host and musical guest a few years ago, and was the musical guest for the Christmas episode just last year.
Yet, in this, her fourth appearance as a performer, Billie came across as a little nervous and shaky vocally, at least in her first performance of hit single “Birds Of A Feather.” It was a mild surprise not just because of her own familiarity with the setting and past instances of killing it on this stage.
It was far from bad, and visually appealing at least, but definitely not her best. The good news is she sounded far more assured in a beautiful second performance of “Wildflower” - nobody out there today can do the soft heartwrenching tune like she can, and she flexed that muscle again in a strong finish to her 2-song set.
OVERALL SCORE: 7.18 ('Comedy Only' score: 7.20)
Heading into the first “bye week” of SNL50, here’s where the episodes stand-- 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.:
Ariane Grande/Stevie Nicks - 7.46
Nate Bargatze/Coldplay - 7.27
Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish - 7.18
Jean Smart/Jelly Roll - 6.55
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