SNL Scorecard: Nate Bargatze / Foo Fighters
The Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live has, over the last several years, featured some big-name hosts. Mega-popular musicians Chance The Rapper and Megan Thee Stallion hosted this same weekend in previous years, and in the seasons between them, two former SNL greats-turned-comedy stars in John Mulaney and Jason Sudeikis handled proceedings. Thus, it was a bit of a surprise when the announcement came that this weekend's host would be comedian Nate Bargatze.
This is not, of course, to suggest that I or anyone thought Bargatze would do a bad job. It's just that the comedian from Tennessee, while certainly successful and admired, isn't a huge name in the world of comedy, and has only ever plied his trade in standup. The host touched on the unexpected selection right off the bat, beginning his monologue by saying "I'm just as surprised as any of you that I'm here right now."
Having never actually seen his stuff, but knowing firsthand numerous fans of his, I was curious to see how he'd handle the live sketch format. And to be honest, the host definitely seemed like a fish out of water for much of the night. He didn't tank by any means, but often was a little late on his cues, and rarely strayed from playing his token deadpan personality in various sketches. That said, whether by the aid of or simply inspiration from the host, the writing in general continued its upward trajectory from last week, which was already miles better from the premiere episode. This won't go down as an all-time great episode, but was the first start-to-finish good outing of the season, and hopefully will prove to be a real momentum-builder into a strong Season 49.
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 1st episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
"Washington's Dream": 8/10
None of the ideas in this sketch were novel, but what a creative way to parody some of the more absurd aspects of American exceptionalism. Kenan Thompson and his character added a terrific additional layer on top of an already-great running joke.
The Good
“Weekend Update": 8.5/10
One week after the weakest segment in a while, Weekend Update came back with a vengeance last night. There was once again only one walk-on guest this week, but none more were needed when it involved a welcome return of “Sarah Sherman Finding An Excuse To Roast Colin Jost.” Besides, Jost and Michael Che did some heavy hitting with their much-improved jokes in this Update.
“Monologue": 8/10
As mentioned in the outset, I wasn’t familiar with Bargatze’s material, but had heard good things so I was excited for this. I’ve discussed before how stand-up comedians tend to give the best monologues, and this was no different. It took the host a little while to get going, but you could tell the moment he started winning the audience over, and he didn’t lose his stride from there.
"Lake Beach": 7.5/10
This is American heritage! And a genuinely catchy tune, at that, coming from someone that doesn’t typically enjoy Country music. I appreciated that this was a loving rib of Southern culture from a trio of Southern men, rather than mean-spirited skewering of ‘rednecks.’
"Chef Show": 7/10
Hilarious concept, and the funniest moments from this sketch were up there with the funniest of the night. But this one lost steam a little as it went on, and it really felt like the writers could have done more with what was a great setup.
“Airplane": 6.5/10
Okay, this wasn’t the funniest or wittiest sketch of the night, but I seemed to be more into it than most of the audience was. The idea that asking for a doctor on a plane would instead yield a collection of the most insufferable people you’ll meet was so funny to me. And unlike many of the sketches on the night, it ended on a great note.
“Trick-or-Treat with Fran Drescher": 6.5/10
This was a creative way to mock one of the few silly missteps from SAG-AFTRA leadership while still overtly supporting the strike overall. And what a great job by the various kids, whose cameos were hilarious! Once again, the writing felt like it was lacking something…a little more punch, or a change in direction might have helped this one from running a little dry. Solid overall, though, and I will never complain about a Sarah-centric sketch.
"Please Don't Destroy - Dawg Food": 6/10
It’s rare to see Please Don’t Destroy get the 10-to-1 spot these days; their content has become so popular, it’s usually early in the show, where Lonely Island’s “Digital Shorts” once reigned. But, if any of their sketches were gonna end up in that time slot, it makes sense that it was this one, which focused more on the bizarre than their usual clever interplay. It was still enjoyable, with a couple token misdirects, but among the weaker ones of theirs over the last few seasons.
“Hallmark Horror": 6/10
Another one in which the concept was funnier than the sketch itself. The hardest laughs— both from me and from the studio audience —came at the reveal, but then the sketch went on far too long, even if it was a very good parody of Hallmark movies.
“Biden Halloween Cold Open": 5/10
As is the case more often than not, we got a pretty toothless political cold open, filled almost entirely with “Biden old!” jokes, save for a small nod to the new Speaker of the House’s very weird personal life. The Christopher Walken cameo was fun, though, and it was interesting to see Mikey Day as Joe Biden. For those of you keeping track, that’s the 7th different “Biden” portrayal on SNL in the last 4 years. James Austin Johnson had seemingly locked down the role, but I’ve gotta imagine the show is now prepping for the inevitable Biden-Trump redux met year, in which Johnson will play his note-perfect Trump. It’s funny, one episode review I scanned called Day’s impression “the worst the show had ever seen,” but I actually thought it was pretty decent. Maybe I just had low expectations, since nearly every sketch he’s in, he just sounds aggressively like Mikey Day.
Musical Performances
Foo Fighters: 6/10
As long as they’ve been around, I’ve never actually really done a deep dive into Foo Fighters’ music. But my stance on their tunes has always been neutral-positive, and they’re clearly beloved SNL stalwarts, as they rank among the most common musical guests in the show’s history.
On their first performance, “Rescued,” Dave Grohl’s vocals were a bit all over the place (my computer kept auto-correcting his name to “Dave Growl,” and that felt very apt). But man, they have not lost a step with the energy levels after all these years, and after what had been a strong first half of the episode, they kept the momentum going well. Their second song, however, was a little rough. “The Glass” sees Grohl basically singing a ballad, which frankly, he’s not really cut out vocally for, and though H.E.R. was a welcome face (and certainly better suited for the song), she wasn’t able to boost a somewhat draggy performance.
OVERALL SCORE: 6.82 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.90)
As we enter the first 'bye week' of Season 49, here's where the episodes of the season 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.:
Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters - 6.82
Bad Bunny - 6.54
Pete Davidson/Ice Spice - 5.75
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