Saturday Night Live review: Pete Davidson gets roasted by Dan Crenshaw

Somehow, Saturday Night Live once again became the Pete Davidson show, while host Liev Scheiber gave some great performances as the host.

Move over hosts and musical guests and pretty much anyone else involved in Saturday Night Live. Someway, somehow, Saturday Night Live has become all about addressing the things going on with Pete Davidson right now. Yes, last week he made quite the no-no by making fun of wounded Navy SEAL veteran Dan Crenshaw, who is now elected to Congress. And it does seem appropriate that the show took the time to address the controversy (read below to see how the two called it even). But moving forward, let’s please get some time away from Davidson and his personal life.

Otherwise, host Liev Schreiber showed off that he’s a fantastic actor, even when it comes to sketch comedy — especially through the variety of characters he had to play. This episode oddly had the mismatched feel of something from SNL’s yesteryear, which were the days of songs and silly sketches roughly 20 years ago. Some of them nailed that feeling, and others missed the mark. Read on to see which of these sketches nailed it, which weren’t too bad, and which could have been scrapped altogether.

The Good

Cold open

As predicted, this would be SNL’s farewell episode to Kate McKinnon’s Jeff Sessions. It was an emotional sendoff, but believe me, only because McKinnon was so funny as the attorney general. As for the real Sessions, so long.

Invest Twins

It’s a good thing this video is appropriately titled on YouTube, because the running gag in the sketch is that the twins are incorrectly labeled as the “Incest Twins.” Who’s to say we can’t have a taboo-oriented sketch in the good pile? Honestly though, this sketch is so juvenile (yet funny) that it feels like it comes straight from the ’90s/early 2000s SNL. How was this not a Mike Meyers or Will Ferrell sketch?

Weekend Update

Last week, Pete Davidson got quite the bit of flack for making fun of war veteran Lieutenant Commander Dan Crenshaw. During the week, Kenan Thompson revealed on Today that some sort of action was being taken to right the wrong from Davidson. And it looks like that involved bringing Congressman-Elect Crenshaw to the Weekend Update desk with Davidson to make amends. They buried the hatchet, but not without Crenshaw getting in a few jabs at Davidson first.

The Poddys

In a sketch that feels like it’s straight out of Portlandia, Saturday Night Live makes fun of all the typical podcast tropes in the podcast award show “The Poddys.” Schreiber actually gave a good performance as the Poddys host, which was something reminiscent of Fred Armisen. If you’re into podcasts (and who isn’t), you’ll likely get a good laugh out of all the awards up for grabs.

House Hunters

Okay, this sketch is utterly ridiculous. But so is House Hunters. So it’s pretty fit the sketch ended up that way. If you’re a fan of House Hunters, you’ll know how odd things get on each couples’ wish list, and how each house somehow just has way too many deal-breaking quirks that you’d never find in real houses. That’s exactly what this sketch brought to the table, and it’s pure fun.

Brothers

Beck Bennett and Kylie Mooney are a match made in SNL heaven. If you have a younger brother or younger boy cousins, their act will be way too familiar to you. Maybe it’s a combination of their antics and the slapstick humor here, but when cast members Cecily Strong and Aidy Bryant can’t hold it together, you know you’ve got something good.

The Okay

Monologue

There was nothing that really stood out about Schreiber’s monologue. It was the typical “I’m so thrilled to be here,” “it’s been a lifelong dream,” etc., etc. There were a few laughs here and there, but it didn’t feel like he brought a lot of energy to the stage, unfortunately.

Unity Song

Yes, there’s a lot of divide in this country, and Saturday Night Live aims to unite us all by showing we all hate the same things. This feels a bit like a digital short Andy Samberg would have put together if he were still here… and it might have been a little bit funnier if it had his touch.

Outside the Women’s Bathroom

I’m not sure what it is about this episode, but again, this sketch has the feel of an early 2000s SNL sketch. The silliness and the goofiness of the sketch is something that seems to have gotten lost after 2004 or so, and this just brings back that too-silly-not-to-enjoy feel.

The Bad

Permission

Maybe I’m nostalgic for the Andy Samberg era, but it seems like songs on SNL haven’t been the same since he left, and no one can quite get the formula right anymore. Writing a comedic rap song about consent is pretty dope, though the only redeeming factor about this song is that Future and Lil Wayne make a surprise appearance.

Paranormal Occurrence

This isn’t the first time SNL has done this type of sketch. And while Kate McKinnon has a few moments here as the women whose ghostly encounter was far worse than everyone else’s, a lot of the jokes weren’t as funny as they could be. Maybe it’s the formulaic nature of this kind of sketch that makes it so dry, since I already knew what to expect as soon as the sketch began.

Next week, Nov. 17, Steve Carell heads back to SNL, and Ella Mai is the musical guest.