‘SNL' host Quinta Brunson once again teaches a comedy master class
When she appeared for the first time on 'Saturday Night Live' a year ago, 'Abbott Elementary' creator and star Quinta Brunson gave one of last year's best hosting performances, bringing great comic timing and characters to the show.
It was no fluke. Returning to the show for her second outing, Brunson proved just as adept at bringing her comedic sensibilities to an episode that featured an overall strong lineup of new sketches. There was only one retread and even that one, a reprise of the standout 'Traffic Altercation,' was worth revisiting.
It's interesting to compare Brunson's just-as-excellent second shot to two other comics who hosted in Season 49 and Season 50: Nate Bargatze and Shane Gillis. While Bartgatze's return was good, it didn't quite reach the peaks of the first appearance. And Gillis, inexplicably called back into service after a not-great debut as host, was much worse the second time around.
But Brunson didn't lose a step since last year; she was funny playing a time-traveling Harriet Tubman who, along with Kenan Thompson as Frederick Douglass, didn't want to go back to the past in a 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' parody; went daffy as one of several bad employees at a leadership summit; played a model in an ad for Forever 31's sad, oversized clothing; and one of 'Two B— vs. a Gorilla' (the other was Ego Nwodim), about trash-talking women facing off with a gorilla at the zoo.
If that wasn't enough, she played a joke-spouting old-time boxer, Jerry 'Jackrabbit' Tulane, who stops being so funny after getting beaten up multiple times in the ring, and one half of a feisty and unexpectedly sexy 'OnlySeniors' couple in an insurance ad.
Bruson scored again and again and even sang in the monologue; she should have an open invitation to return next season.
Musical guest Benson Boone backflipped before performing, 'Sorry I'm Here for Someone Else' and did not do a backflip before performing 'Mystical Magical.' He briefly appeared on Weekend Update as an Applebee's waiter, referencing his hit song 'Beautiful Things,' which Boone didn't perform.
Just as President Trump has dominated news cycle after news cycle this year, so has he commandeered the 'SNL' cold open: once again, James Austin Johnson played the hard-charging POTUS, delivering a string of executive orders with creepy lord of darkness Stephen Miller (an increasingly vampiric Mikey Day). Trump signed orders to deport 'Sesame Street' along with Elmo ('Brought to you by the letter L for El Salvador'), pardon J.K. Rowling for transphobic comments and bring back Columbus Day for Italian-Americans such as Tony Soprano, Benny Blanco (who is Jewish) and Childish Gambino (the stage name of Donald Glover, who is Black). Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernández) appeared for an order to keep Hispanic babies from getting their ears pierced, and Trump also made moves to make the New York Times Connections game easier, turn the word 'Recession' into 'Recess' and outlaw ghosts. 'Every Christmas Eve, I get visited by three ghosts. I don't know what the hell they're talking about,' Trump said.
Brunson began her monologue with jokes about the time she worked for a phone sex line ('By the end of my first week, I had only made $1.38.') before landing on the topic of her song and dance number: her height. The 4-foot-11 actress said, 'They tried to cast me as a kid on 'Abbott Elementary' and I wrote that!' Eschewing a microphone that was too high, she sang about the great things about being small, such as being a cheap date with wine. She was soon joined by another diminutive star: pop singer Sabrina Carpenter, who compared notes with her, asking, 'When you read short stories, do they feel like novels?' Former NBA star Dwyane Wade towered over the ladies, but insisted he's still short compared to other basketball players at 6-foot-4. 'I just really want to be in the song,' he said.
Brunson and Thompson play elderly parents whose kids (Nwodim and Devon Walker) find out they've got life insurance through a service that requires them to have sex and spend a lot of time naked for online fans. 'We set up our camera and do stuff to each other. And watch the money just start pouring in,' they're told. When they're not interacting with their 'Filthy little chat babies,' they're spending time with their also-naked neighbors and (checks notes) sitting on cakes? In these uncertain economic times, it's a business model that seems very viable.
Mikey Day and Brunson faced off again in separate cars (but didn't seem to recognize each other from last time) to battle with a series of hand gestures and facial expressions over bad parking on a ferry. Day's character can't forgive the other driver for parking too close, saying he needs more than half an inch, which invites a devastating response from the woman in the other car. Day's daughter Quinn (Chloe Fineman) participates with over-the-line sexual gestures, prompting Brunson's character to make gestures for a gardening tool as she tells him who he raised. Sure, it's a repeat, but again it's executed perfectly on both ends, with the only disappointing note being an appearance by Colin Jost, who's trying to sell the real-life ferry he bought with Pete Davidson. It's not that Jost is bad, it's just that it couldn't possibly live up to Mellssa McCarthy's appearance when they did a version of this sketch with Martin Short.
Sarah Sherman and Bowen Yang played horny barflys at Applebee's who are sad about chain restaurants closing down. But it was Michael Longfellow's declaration of not getting a Real ID that won 'Update' this week. Longfellow said, 'You already gave me an ID. If it's fake, you fix it. The Pope is dead, let me mourn.' It didn't quite follow, but Longfellow went on to joke about his light work schedule of 12 hours a week at 'SNL' ('I'm just not in that much stuff this season.') before making up rules for air travel including, 'If the TSA touches your crotch, they have to keep going until you climax.' It's true, Longfellow has been a light presence this season, but in segments like this, it's clear he's got a great command of his delivery. It will be nice if he's back for Season 51 and gets more screen time to show off his talents.
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