SNL Scorecard: Quinta Brunson / Benson Boone

We're in the final stretch now of Saturday Night Live's Season 50, with this past weekend marking the first of the last three episodes of the season. I promise not to do a deep meta-analysis of the show's choice of host every week, as I have done the last few times out, but I did find Quinta Brunson both a great and a fascinating choice of host for here and now. She's more of a relevant and fresh face than Jack Black and Jon Hamm, hosts of two terrific April episodes, were, but she's also not a new host, having helmed it for the first time around this time two years ago. Furthermore, while her show Abbott Elementary has been both a critical and popular hit, its less-watched 4th season wrapped a few weeks back, and as far as I know, Brunson isn't involved in any other big projects at this time.

Regardless, you can always tell a difference in the show's energy when they have a host whose background is primarily in comedy, and perhaps especially in sketch comedy. Quinta was never going to steal the show in the way Black and Hamm did, but neither was she going to feel completely out of place like April's other host Mikey Madison did. And while her style and background might have been a little different than her predecessors, last Saturday did mark the third consecutive episode in which the host, for her part, could not have done much better.

Sadly, unlike what was the case for much of Jack Black’s and nearly all of Jon Hamm’s episode, neither the writing nor a weirdly low-energy live audience gave Quinta’s episode much of a lift. This episode had more highs than lows-- a couple really great sketches, and very little “bad" among them --but numerous premises that felt so promising and were sold so well by the host weren’t fully realized and sort of fizzled out as a result. This became enough of a trend over the course of the show to result in an uneven and overall underwhelming, if not generally enjoyable, episode. 

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 18th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Leadership Summit": 8.5/10

The Lord’s Prayer opening line didn’t get enough laughs, in my opinion, and everything after that was just increasingly hilarious. This had incredible joke after joke, became increasingly weird, and very effectively most of the cast - that's a recipe for my favorite genre of sketch. I just wish it had a stronger ending.

The Good

"OnlySeniors": 8/10

It’s funny that the audience didn’t seem to catch on that OnlySeniors was a play on OnlyFans until the mock ad referenced it directly because it was clear to me that’s where they were going. That didn’t make it any less delightful, mind you. This was awesome, and the repeated references to the “chat babies” killed me every single time.

“Forever31": 8/10

My 32-year old roommate watched this with me, didn’t laugh once, and at the conclusion turned to me and said “I feel attacked.’’ Apologies to Mya, then, but I thought this was really funny, if not, yes, a little mean-spirited at the expense of my beloved fellow millennials. The repeated whoops took me out, and Ego Nwodim and Ashley Padilla both delivered inch-perfect line reads of great jokes.

“Will and Todd's Radical Experience": 7/10

This had sort of had the same issue as the show’s beloved “Washington’s Dream” sketch (in my opinion, at least): once you know the joke, it can get draggy, and I did find myself wanting this to be over a couple minutes before it actually was. Still, a good enough premise and acted well enough by Quinta, Kenan, Andrew Dismukes and Marcello Hernández to make for a good sketch overall.

"Weekend Update": 7/10

This was Jost and Che’s toughest outing in a while, to be honest, but I weirdly enjoyed that even more in some ways. Even if their self-referential banter can go on a little too long, I enjoy watching them get dark and make the audience squirm a little, Michael Che in particular. And Colin doing something a little more unhinged with his “Oh Hell Nah” bit was a fun change of pace from him. The segment as a whole was just okay, though, and certainly helped by solid outings from walk-on guests. Michael Longfellow had one of his best appearances yet, discussing his refusal to get a “Real ID” and including a sly dig at both himself and the show regarding his minimal airtime. And of course Bowen and Sarah Sherman were hysterical as a couple of Applebees barflies. How could they not be? What a duo. 

"Monologue": 6.5/10

Quinta’s monologue was fun, if not particularly funny at first. But it kicked up several notches when it turned into a song and dance number with a slew of guests. If a monologue isn’t going to be memorable for how funny it is— and very few are! —it might as well be memorable for its production value. Also, surprise walk-on guest Sabrina Carpenter is carving out a nice little SNL legacy in very short time: in the last year alone, she’s appeared as the official musical guest for the first time, opened the SNL50 anniversary special with Paul Simon, and now has made a celebrity cameo in someone else’s monologue. I’m telling you now, pencil in a “Sabrina host/musical guest doubly duty” episode for Season 51.

“Two Bitches vs. a Gorilla": 6.5/10

This one bummed me out, because it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t terrific, and it felt like it had the potential to be. Ego and Quinta gave 110%, had undeniable chemistry, and there were some truly great lines in there (“You need to evolute!!” is entering my permanent lexicon). But plenty other lines felt half-cooked, and the audience just never fully got on board, which would have helped sell the premise a little more.

“Ferry Altercation": 6/10

This sketch, which was an instant classic the first time Quinta hosted, and got reprised brilliantly in the Martin Short Christmas episode, followed the exact same formula as the other two times. The good news is we now have proof that it works well enough of a premise to be funny every time thus far. The bad news is this time, unlike in the first sequel, the jokes felt less fresh, and the send-up less surprising, and also had a weak finish with a tired “Colin Jost owns a ferry” joke. I think they need to to take a break from this one for a little while.

The... Less-Good

“Jerry 'Jackrabbit' Tulane": 5.5/10

Great energy from the host here, and fun to see Quinta once again playing a small man with a big attitude, as she did to hilarious effect on a couple occasions last time. James Austin Johnson also was brilliant as the documentary show host. But all in all, the joke here was pretty obvious from the start, and dare I say, disappointingly not unhinged for a “ten to one” bit! Give me more chaos, more truly, mind-wrinkingly bizarre stuff! Plenty of fun, but not particularly funny.

“Trump Executive Orders Cold Open": 5.5/10

The framework around this sketch was pretty unremarkable- so-so impressions of Trump’s cabinet, and a weak writing concept (in which Trump signs increasingly niche and increasingly silly executive orders). It felt like it was trying to toe the line between scathing parody and more wink-nudge acceptance of the figure Trump is, but it succeeded in doing neither. Fortunately, as is usually the case, James Austin Johnson’s impression provided ample comedy on its own to save this from being a total dud.

“Addicts Anonymous": 5/10

It was fun to see Kenan truly star in a sketch; despite how long he's been at the show, it feels like it had been forever since we had one of those, and unsurprisingly, he crushed it. But I was disappointed Quinta was relegated to such a minor and 'straight man' role, and also disappointed that this sketch already felt pretty tired about a minute in. Maybe this would have worked better as a Weekend Update character rather than a full-length skit? 

Musical Performances

Benson Boone: 6.5/10

I don't have the science on this, but I would venture to bet that something like 99% of America falls into two camps on Benson Boone: 1. They have never heard of him in their life, or 2. They know him only from that uber-TikTok-viral and incredibly-obnoxious "Beautiful Things" song. But the young former American Idol singer was able to parlay that niche fame into a couple Grammy nominations earlier this year--including for Best New Artist, a big one --a debut full album release, and ensuing arena tour (!!!) announcement. So either the uninitiated are missing out on a clear rising star, or there are some industry influencers that are misled in being reeeeallly convinced he's the next best thing.

Anyways, if you couldn't surmise form my tone, I came into his live set with a bit of a snarky disposition towards Boone, but as I do with all musical guests, did my best to put my objective hat on and rate the performances strictly on how good the songs and performances were, less so on whether I personally liked his style. His first performance, of "Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else," began with some fun interplay with Brunson after she introduced him, which felt fresh and fun. The song's vibe was "Shawn Mendes meets Young the Giant": pretty formulaic pop rock song, but pleasant enough, and Benson demonstrably grew into it vocally the more the song went on after somewhat of a rough start. He saved the new single "Mystical Magical" for the second performance later in the night, and I can see why it's the single option. It has a really catchy beat, and a nice chorus that seems to interplay Olivia Newton-John's "Physical." However, Benson's voice just really isn't built at this point for the softer, more restrained verses....he's a belter by trade, and it's clear most of his performances for now are mostly about getting to the point of the song where he can truly belt.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.71 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.73)