October 24th SNL Review — Adele and H.E.R
This past Saturday, SNL was hosted by pop megastar, Adele, with the musical guest being the indie band, H.E.R. Adele was a first time host and definitely showed some nerves in her monologue, but thanks to some great writing from the cast, and two of the best video sketches yet this season, the show was a success despite a few miscues.
As usual, Alec Baldwin, Jim Carrey, and Maya Rudolph did a great job with the cold open, in a hilarious recap of Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s final debate. Adele’s monologue, as previously stated, left something to be desired, but that’s nothing new from non-comedic hosts. Two sketches absolutely killed, the first being the “Madame Vivelda” sketch. In this highlight, Kate McKinnon plays a fortune teller, speaking to a group of friends in 2019, who are really looking forward to seeing what good fortune 2020 will bring them. As you could guess, hilarity ensues as the friends all realize their years aren’t going to be the dream they want. The next sketch that crushed with the live audience featured Maya Rudolph, who is slowly returning to a role as a regular on the show, even beyond cold opens, playing an elderly woman, who’s grandchildren come to visit her at a nursing home, yelling to her from outside up to her room. Between Rudolph not understanding what their saying, to not understanding what things like a startup and open relationship are, this is an undeniably funny and light-hearted sketch. As far as sketches that didn't translate as well, the Bachelor sketch fell a little flat despite a great premise, and if not for Adele being unable to quit laughing during it, which was undeniably funny, I’m not sure if the African tourism sketch would’ve done very well either.
Two video sketches were what stole the show in this episode, the first being a reprisal of Pete Davidson’s “Chad” role, this time being guided through a haunted house by the ghost of Adele. The second video sketch that impressed was a fake election ad, where Adele was barely even featured. In this ad, a group of concerned citizens discuss their concern for what they’ll do if Donald Trump is no longer president in a few weeks. Complaints include their personalities only being hating Donald Trump, Trump being the only thing that families talk about anymore, Trump’s tweets being the main topic of comedic relief for a friend group, etc. This sketch was on the nose, took a rare turn to poke fun at the political left, which SNL does well when they do it, and hit at every key point. The “Angel Ass Jeans” ad video sketch, on the other hand, was forgettable and seemed unnecessary.
Weekend Update was mostly successful as usual, with a few especially raunchy jokes drawing groans from the crowd. Despite Mellisa Villasenor providing an unusually lackluster appearance on Update, it was still a solid segment as a whole.
6.5/10
