New season of Saturday Night Live, new swing and a miss at a President Biden impersonator! A quarter way through the man’s presidency, SNL still hasn’t found their guy. Apparently, hickory bat earnestness doesn’t lend itself to good comedy.
Newcomer James Austin Johnson, whose bullseye send-ups of Trump launched him from YouTube to Studio 8H, has got to wish he had another chance to make a first impression. His take on Joe was as basic and clumsy as, well, good old Joe himself. But at least we didn’t have to wait long into season 47’s premiere episode for sign of Cecily Strong.
Despite speculation at the end of last season that Strong might not return for another year, the go-to hitter for bizarre, blowsy women threw on a sleeveless shift and chunky necklace to play Arizona Senator Krysten Sinema in this week’s cold open. And Aidy Bryant, who loves to play amoral meatballs, did good bottlenecking as Joe Manchin: “If we give children too much leeway, how are they going to get them to work in the mines?” the centrist democrat worried about the child tax credit. “We need their tiny hands to dig!”
In his monologue, host Owen Wilson leaned right into his shaggy dog persona. He shared a harsh toke from a critic who once wrote that “Owen Wilson’s on-screen persona has all the ambition of a golden retriever laying next to a fire.” Part of what makes Wilson so likable is the fact that you can tell he kind of liked that review. While often a complete pleasure on screen (Mobius!), he never seems to be working very hard. He’s going to drawl a little and wink a little; his well-meaning characters are going to get to their destination eventually, even if they drive 10 miles under the speed limit.
Unfortunately, that Barton Springs peace sign of an acting style just didn’t seem like a great fit for sketch comedy. The poor man was married to his cue cards Saturday night, and he was too often the least interesting and committed person on stage. But good for him; he warned us. “I know everyone comes out here and says it’s going to be a great show,” Wilson closed out his monologue. “Is it? I dunno.”
You want to know who was working hard? Kacey Musgraves’ guitar. In her first performance, the country star and musical guest appeared to be clad in nothing but her cowboy boots and her strategically positioned six-string. Her voice was lovely, her limbs radiating spray tan. Twitter immediately lit up with questions of “is she or isn’t she,” with a clever subset speculating she was paying homage to Forrest Gump’s Jenny. But why, Twitter? For her second song, another wistful heartbreaker, Musgraves went with flannel.
Weekend Update opened with an acknowledgement that these maddeningly bureaucratic times—will Joe get the votes? —are not fertile soil for comedy writers. A breakdown of the infrastructure deal isn’t as deep a cut as President Trump being rushed to Walter Reade with COVID. Ego Nwodim, who came into her own last season, was the first special guest. “Black Woman Who’s Been Missing for 10 Years” had some thoughts on America’s sick fascination with missing white girls. If the tragically missing has a straight blonde ponytail, she’s going to get an Amber alert, the promise of a hefty reward, portraits of her grieving parents, and around-the-clock news coverage.” Nwodim’s character, meanwhile, complained that she got a flier with the word “Wanted” above her a photo and a squib on the obituaries page that read “Girl Not Home for 40 Days. Probably Nothing. Family Cool with It.”
Pete Davidson came out next, to tell Colin Jost about being Pete Davidson. He wore a sentimental t-shirt with Norm Macdonald’s much-missed mug on it. He talked about going to the Met Gala, about wearing a dress and nail polish to the event, about his Uncle Steve’s dislike of his outfit. His whole bit—being a dirtbag, and feeling defensive about that, but also kind of bragging about it—has grown stale. Davidson is so much funnier in actual sketches, like when he popped up as Dog the Bounty Hunter at the District 7 School Board Meeting. “I can’t believe I’m back,” he said to Jost at the end of his Update spiel. It’s hard to tell if Davidson meant that he was surprised to be invited back to the party, or surprised that he still found himself stuck there. Well, you are there, buddy. So have some fun, Pete Davidson! And trust that your colleagues and the audience wish you well.
Funnily enough, it was the last sketch of the night that gave me the most hope for the season ahead. Newcomer Sarah Sherman and second year cast member Andrew Dismukes were playing a married couple shooting a commercial for their mail-in stool testing. It was out of left field, and yet also sort of in the ether of conversation. It was loose and physical and odd, and Sherman and Dismukes went for it. Here’s to a weird season. Here’s to energy. Here’s to Kate McKinnon coming around next week. Speaking of, answer me this Twitter: Is it or me or did the announcer flub and say that Kelly Kardashian West was going to be our next host? If so, hands down funniest moment of the whole night.
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