Saturday Night Live review: Jonah Hill joins the Five-Timers club with Tina Fey
By Mia Johnson
On this episode of Saturday Night Live, Jonah Hill joined the Five-Timers club, and the show tried their best attempt at making a Pete Davidson joke.
Let the celebration begin, because Saturday Night Live welcomed a newcomer into the elite Five-Timers club. This time, Jonah Hill donned the fancy jacket and was greeted by some of SNL‘s best. The show, overall, hit it just in the middle this time — being quite funny at some times, but not as funny as their last episode with SNL veteran Seth Meyers.
As we’ve mentioned before, SNL (or Pete Davidson), was smart not to make a sketch about his and Ariana Grande’s breakup. But Pete Davidson still had to address the elephant in the room, and quite in good taste during Weekend Update. (Or, rather, it was as good of an acknowledgment as it’s going to get from Pete Davidson.) If you haven’t caught up on this week’s episode, check out the best sketches here. And if you dare, read on to see which sketches didn’t hold up so well this past Saturday night.
The Good
Cold Open
The show was back with another hit cold open this weekend. This time, they broke out their punching bag, Fox News, to help satire clearly one of the most ridiculous misconceptions out their right now: the migrant caravan. The show made fun of these wild misconceptions about who’s a part of this caravan, from a horde of migrating crabs from a nature documentary, to claiming Thanos was one of the people behind it all.
Monologue
We don’t doubt that Jonah Hill could have had a great monologue by himself, but thank goodness this monologue was a special occasion: he joined the Five-Timers club. This is a club that few SNL hosts can say they’ve joined, for you have to reach the ranks of hosting five times. In this monologue, Hill was joined by some fabulously great women in Hollywood, Tina Fey, Drew Barrymore and Candice Bergen.
Benihana
It was a given that Jonah Hill would return as the wisecracking kid, Adam Grossman. It’s a staple character that he’s done pretty much every time he’s hosted. So we were extremely delighted to see young Adam make his return.
Weekend Update
Weekend Update was all about the midterms. They even brought in to Pete Davidson break down some of the candidates from this year’s midterms — well, the candidates who give him the creeps. But after, he did address the elephant in the room about his breakup, saying Ariana Grande is a “wonderful, strong person, and I genuinely wish her all the happiness in the world.” Then, he encouraged everyone to forget about the drama and vote.
America’s Got Talent: Wait, They’re Good?
As a huge fan of America’s Got Talent, this sketch was a delight to see. But it can happen on pretty much any televised talent show. One person looks like they’ve got nothing to offer; they’re a little weird and them bam. They’re a hit. Only, SNL takes this concept to the next level.
HuckaPM
I’ll admit, the beginning of this sketch didn’t seem so promising. But believe me, and I apologize, it’s hilarious to watch Aidy Bryant as Sarah Huckabee Sanders literally fall right to sleep.
The Okay
Midterm Ad
Despite some being hopeful for the supposed “blue wave” that’ll keep Washington and the Trump administration in check, SNL still exposed all of us for our fear that… maybe things really won’t get better until the next presidential election altogether. Scary.
KRC News
There’s nothing too stand-out about this sketch, minus that fact that Jonah Hill’s character does some pretty hilarious things to win over the affection of this weatherwoman girlfriend.
The Bad
Teacher Fell Down
Classroom sketches never really seem to go well for the show (with the one exception of Adam Driver’s sketch from the season premiere). Kate McKinnon’s character as the teacher wasn’t really anything to laugh at. Though you might get a kick out of Pete Davidson trying not to break character.
Political Musical
SNL has had better “bad plays” sketches before. (War Horse and Tommy Palmese are two of my favorites). But you have to give it up for Jonah Hill as the Lin-Manuel Miranda-like actor.
Dog Infomercial
Don’t hate me for this one. Dogs are cute, and dogs in wigs are cute. But sometimes using pets for laughs seems like a last-ditch effort. I’ll admit, for some, this could be the highlight of their night. But animal comedy doesn’t always prove to be the best route to take.
Next week, Nov. 10, Liev Schreiber heads to 30 Rock to host, and Lil Wayne makes a comeback as the musical guest.