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The real Jerry Seinfeld tries not to get upstaged by the fake JoJo Siwa, Sarah Sherman's twisted genius playwright, the worst people ever to discuss the Kendrick-Drake beef, and Kenan Thompson's most inappropriate and funniest sketch of the season!
update at 7:15am PT 5/6/24
JoJo Siwa has reacted to Chloe Fineman's impersonation of her and her "Bad Girl" era from this weekend's Saturday Night Live -- taking to her Instagram Story to praise the sketch.
"ICONIC. I literally don't know what to say. This is f--king crazy. 3 and a half minute skit on SNL," she wrote, before also sharing the segment.
Watch the skit and see a breakdown of the full episode -- hosted by Dua Lipa -- below!
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It's always a gamble when a musical guest on Saturday Night Live is also the host because you don't know how good they're going to be as a sketch performer. Sometimes you're pleasantly surprised, like with Justin Timberlake and Billie Eilish. Other times you get Dua Lipa.
Dua has a certain charm about her, but she came across as perhaps a little too self-aware (maybe self-conscious) and calculated. She wasn't even given a lot of heavy lifting to do comedically, and she still couldn't quite bring it.
Luckily, the cast didn't really need her to bring some classic moments. Sarah Sherman dazzled as a reclusive playwright, Marcello Hernández broke our hearts as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's new dog, and Chloe Fineman gave us all the "bad girl" JoJo Siwa can muster. The real Jerry Seinfeld was a fun surprise, too, as a man definitely promoting his latest project way too much.
The cast definitely found the most-est wrong-est people possible as the most-est wrong-est characters possible to wade right into the deep end of the ongoing Kendrick Lamar and Drake rap feud. But even that wasn't the night's most inappropriate moment.
Kenan Thompson gave his single funniest performance of the season in a sketch that we're still a little shocked made it onto television -- it's shocking, uncomfortable, and hilarious! It was finger-lickin' yikes!
As usual, we're ranking all the sketches from worst to first, including the Monologue, Cold Open, "Weekend Update" and any sketches that were cut for time but made their way online. We'll skip the musical guests, because they're not usually funny -- unless Ashlee Simpson shows up. We wrap up with a look at the cast-member who had the strongest week.
Cold Open: Campus Protests
A sketch responding to the ongoing campus protests over the Middle East conflict is certainly timely, but the premise of this one felt a little slim to kick off the show. Kenan Thompson's dad character railing about how his daughter better be attending class and his daughter will be walking across that stage and graduating in a ceremony if he has to do it himself was all well and good … but that was it. Heidi Gardner and Mikey Day as fellow parents had little to add, while Michael Longfellow seemed deeply uncomfortable kicking off the show as the host of this moderated spoof. Even the transition to the sketch-ending LFNY didn't seem to flow well, as if someone signaled Kenan it was time. His character should have been one of multiple extreme reactions to the protests rather than the only one.
Monologue: Dula Peep
Right off the bat, the most awkward thing about this monologue was when Dua Lipa pointedly stuck out her left leg to strike a pose. She didn't hit it naturally when she stopped walking but after a few beats she seemed to realize that's how she wanted to stand. She then returned to that pose throughout, making the whole monologue feel a whole lot less natural.
It's a shame because the material was very natural and personal, with Dua poking fun at her Dula Peep nickname, running into her parents at the club, and even her viral dancing meme. She did a bit of audience Q&A, as well, which allowed SNL to establish that maybe there is a limit to Dua's concept (based on her album name) of radical optimism -- and that limit is South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
Sonny Angel Challengers
This was an interesting twist -- well, really its own thing entirely -- on the Challengers movie craze with Bowen Yang as a little Sonny Angel (think anatomically correct kewpie doll) that somehow horns in on Marcello Hernández' date with Dua Lipa? While Marcello and Bowen were pretty funny in their delivery, Dua totally failed in the opening segment to sell the conviction of her character, as well as her slightly unhinged side. A stronger delivery would have better set up the silliness to come, but she wasn't quite able to tap into real acting here. As such, the emotional beats of the strange journey fell kind of flat throughout.
Teeny Tiny Statement Pin
This was a pretty straightforward poke at celebrities wearing pins to support various causes, and how to wade carefully into that territory with a pin so tiny no one knows quite what it says unless they zoom in. This way you can confidently (but not really) wear your most controversial takes and maybe even get away with no one knowing you support whatever it is you probably shouldn't be supporting. Sill and just short enough to not wear out its welcome. What a statement!
Flooring Theme Song
Andrew Dismukes and James Austin Johnson return once again to try and make a jingle out of a terribly uncatchy phone number, just as they did when Jenna Ortega hosted. The problem was that this sketch was basically a beat-for-beat remake of that with Dua Lipa replacing Jenna. Don't get us wrong, we adore the performances of both Andrew and James as these characters, but we would have loved something fresh to happen in this sketch somewhere. If it was your first time seeing them, it was a lot funnier, we're sure.
Young Spicy on the Track
Another rehash we've seen before on this show, Dua Lipa and Ego Nwodim were nevertheless fun with their off-beat ad-libs about Devon Walker's Spicy character. What really added to the outrageousness of their statements about his character as they tried to lay down some catchphrases for him was his reactions. When they suggested he was gay, he said he was still figuring out his sexuality. It's as if at least some of the things they said were on the mark, though potentially controversial in his industry -- like his take on Trump. As always, Kenan Thompson offered stable support as he whined about needing to put change in the meter. Little details like that really help ground a bit.
Penne Alla Vodka
Short and sweet and spot-on when it comes to this dish that seems to show up in big trays at every significant moment in your life … whether you want it there or not. We loved the sincerity, the disgusting sound effects, and all the little details. This is one of those things you don't think about as being funny until it's point out and then you realize just how ridiculous it is. Why is this dish everywhere when no one really loves it?
Weekend Update
Michael Che had a rought start on this one, as far as the audience was concerned, but we found his Japanese xenophobia joke probably pretty accurate. Colin Jost, meanwhile, got quite the reaction when he touted Trump's claim that he was target "anti-white" racism as a main priority if elected. "My people have suffered long enough," Jost lamented.
Fantastic work by Marcello Hernández as Kristi Noem's other dog, Cricket VII. His praise of his master while using dog talking buttons to tell the real story was really delivered well, as was his hidden terror and slipping Colin a note. He stayed in character throughout the piece, which was cleverly written and perfectly presented. Marcello is really stepping up as more than just the show's newest pretty boy with these past several episodes. He's becoming a reliable, solid player.
Che was proud of his Sylvester Stallone accent as he started to read the one run-on rambling word that should make up Stallone's upcoming memoir. Meanwhile, Jost revealed that not only might Bluey's mom have smoked a doobie back in the day, but the CoComelon kids all get their acid from Kentucky Derby winner Mystic Dan. After a prosciutto flop, Che decided, "This is a really rough episode for me, Colin."
Chloe Fineman almost perfectly captured JoJo Siwa's bizarre "Karma's a Bitch" transformation, which is way more costume than actual persona. It's the same bubbly, hyperkinetic, over-the-top, energetic (exhausting) JoJo, she just looks more like Mad Max (or KISS) on Broadway. It's almost too easy to make fun of as most former child stars who transition through a "bad girl" phase do so en their entire lives, and not as a carefully strategized publicity moment. The faux-niness of it all was captured perfectly here.
Jerry Seinfeld then dropped by as a guy who did too much press for his Netflix movie Unfrosted with a cautionary warning for the Ryan Gosling's of the world. He used to be handsome and funny, too. Now look at him. It was a cute bit that thankfully didn't go on too long, as Jerry had to take a call for another press opportunity with Univision.
The Anomalous Man
This pre-taped bit has a great twist at the end that comes so far out of left field, you're not sure you heard things correctly. But it's well-earned and really pushes the whole piece to the next level. Props to both Dua Lipa and Sarah Sherman for embodying their characters so fully -- especially Sarah who always manages to bring life to "weirdos" so beautifully and believably. This may be her strongest bit of acting we've seen so far on the show; she really has grown so much in a short time. This was an oddball piece but ultimately a brilliant one!
Good Morning Greenville
Who better to break down the Kendrick Lamar v Drake feud than two very white, very Southern morning news anchors? This was probably the best way to wade into this ongoing battle between the two rappers as Heidi Gardner and Mikey Day were so beautifully clueless about everything to do with hip-hop culture. The detail of Dua Lipa's piano teacher doing a deep dive into the feud to discover crucial details like the fact Drake is Canadian added to the humor, while Devon Walker was great as the weatherman both horrified and fascinated by everything his white colleagues were saying while so completely out of their depth.
Dr. Fat Daddy
By the time Punkie Johnson came in to write down a prescription, we were laughing right along with her. Kenan Thompson gave one of his funniest performances in months as a former pit master BB Q man turned OB-GYN who appears to not know at all what he's doing. Ego Nwodim kept things stable -- except when he sprayed her in the face and got a laugh -- as the pregnant patient. We can't even get into all the finger-licking nonsense he employed to give her a routine checkup, but we'll say it was equal parts deeply wrong and hilarious.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Singling out individual strong performances was easy this week, as we definitely found ourselves loving Chloe Fineman's JoJo Siwa, Kenan Thompson's Dr. Fat Daddy, Andrew Dismukes and James Austin Johnson's Soul Booth, Sarah's brilliant playwright, and Marcello Hernández' not-dead-yet dog.
It was a night of strong singular performances, but who did the most the enhance that one breakout moment? While Kenan had another leading moment, and Chloe did the most on the night, we're going to go with Marcello, who also sold his part of that goofy Sonny Angel sketch.
Marcello has been growing by leaps and bounds in his second season and we can already see him as a key player in the future for this show. While Bowen used to be the go-to for laughs on "Weekend Update," Marcello is proving just as capable of taking goofy characters and finding big laughs in them. We're looking forward to his journey on the show.
"Saturday Night Live" returns next week with host Maya Rudolph and musical guest Vampire Weekend.
