FIn the present day after the historic “blue-nami” midterm elections, Saturday Night Live opens at Democratic headquarters, where party leaders Hakeem Jeffries (Kenan Thompson) and Chuck Schumer (Sarah Sherman) are celebrating, even as they vow to hold on to power despite the wishes of their energetic base.
Their toast is interrupted by the man responsible for the Republican bombings, Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson). The president, who is now “a lame duck,” accepts the results, “which are, in some ways, more frightening.” But he’s also resigned to focusing on ballroom, even as he laments having to work with millennial Democrats (which leads to a lengthy rant about the show New Girl). We’re treated to a quick pass through a defeated JD Vance (Jeremy Culhane) and an extra-aggro Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost), only for Trump to get a taste of his own medicine when James “Telefreako” Talarico interrupts. The newly elected senator from Texas addresses one of the big issues of the day: “It’s clear that people want something new, they want something different. I’m talking, of course, about the SNL cold opens. How many of these Trump freezes are they going to do?”
What initially seems like a disappointing repeat of last week’s cold open is somewhat redeemed by the arrival of Talarico to not care (he has good timing for a politician). Yet the scale of this week’s political upheaval calls for something a little more memorable from what is supposed to be the country’s premier satirical institution.
Comedian and streamer Druski takes the reins for tonight’s episode. He claims to be the first “internet content creator and social media influencer…TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram star to host this show,” which isn’t entirely accurate given that previous hosts Issa Rae and Quinta Brunson both broke out on social media before landing hit TV shows. Like them, Druski is being tapped to move to traditional media, and is currently filming a film alongside Emma Stone. Stone joins him on stage for some light, if forgettable, banter.
Druski certainly has the energy and comedic chops to host, but it remains to be seen whether his style of viral comedy (which includes network no-nos such as swearing and white face) is a good fit for the — some would say hopelessly out of touch — attributes of Saturday Night Live.
Washington in Focus is a political roundtable program on BET. A white Atlantic writer (Andrew Dismukes) joins the all-black panel. A discussion about the historic midterm elections is derailed when regular panel members confuse white politicians Sherrod Brown and Jerome Powell with black men, solely because of their names. Half an idea from a note turned into a mercifully short sketch.
Dru Can See Everything is Druski’s version of the hit A24 documentary You Can See Everything. In Nathan Fielder’s place, Druski moves in with convicted tech fraudster Elizabeth Holmes (Jane Wickline) and her intense and crazy husband, Billy Evans (Ben Marshall). Scenes from the real doc are recreated here, including a symbolic bit of egg scrambling (“white people don’t know how to make fucking eggs”), a tableside demonstration of the Theranos blood scanner (“that’s the most Temu-like shit”) and the moment when Holmes is unable to imagine a famous comedy bit (with Who’s On First being replaced by one of Druski’s sketches). Instead of bringing in the surprise A-list actor for the meta twist in the doc’s second act, Druski breaks one of the series’ taboos and dons whiteface to play Holmes himself, giving us a new twist on the already classic (and parodied to death) close-up conversation.
Two men try to make a purchase in a Dominican telephone store. Druski and Marcello Hernández attempt to outdo each other with exaggerated accents, super tight pants, and lots of brutally unfunny slapstick. This lasts for what seems like forever.
It’s followed by another cringe-worthy one that sees Druski donning drag again, this time as a bratty birthday girl at the center of a taqueria dinner. Everyone is having fun until one of her friends orders a plate of fajitas (or “vagitas”), the equivalent of “taking the plunge at another woman’s baptism.” Druski’s timing is all off here, which only highlights how comedy on social media doesn’t translate to the stage.
After the first performance of musical guests The Strokes, it’s time for Weekend Update. After covering the midterm results, Jost reports on the White House chief of staff shakeup announced Friday: “Going (Susie) Wiles to (Stephen) Miller is like trying to get through a dinner party from wine to meth.” »
Elon Musk (Culhane) is Update’s first guest. After having a terrible week – the half-billion he spent supporting Republican candidates went nowhere, Tesla’s stock prices have plunged, and production of Cybertrucks will slow due to poor sales – Musk is trying to pretend he’s in the news because one of his new car models made a splash in a promotional video. He does his best to present Jost’s recap of his recent failures as an “epic, vulgar roast,” but he can’t maintain the illusion when even his own Grok AI robot demolishes him: “You’re the worst thing South Africa has ever done… When you’re on TV, it’s like an episode of Hate on the Spectrum… Maybe if you have 100 more kids, one of them will talk to you.”
Culhane absolutely nails Musk, not so much his accent (although it’s pretty close), but his off-putting speech patterns, vocal and facial tics, and, most importantly, his flustered attempts to be funny and cool, which combine to make him seem like the worst kid in your middle school. Previous Musk impersonations, such as Dana Carvey and Mike Myers, were acceptable, but they never captured the sweaty desperation that defines Musk and gives anyone watching him such a strong sense of second-hand embarrassment.
Musk is followed by returning guests from the update, Two People Who Just Hooked Up (Dismukes and Ashley Padilla). Moving on to the midterms, their segment quickly turns into a recap of their last date. This time, they upped the ante by engaging in a sort of tie-up: “Republicans say I’m long overdue for someone to knock over my seat and take charge. » However, talking about 2028 leads to arguments: “Maybe Republicans won’t even want that in two years. “Oh? They really wanted it on Tuesday when they were face down saying ‘I love you’ into a pillow!” Dismukes and Padilla continue to show real chemistry.
Culhane and Sherman play a couple who return to the restaurant where they had their first date. He proposes, only to be shot down. Heartbroken, he warns her: “The next four minutes are going to be really difficult. » True to his word, the restaurant explodes into a celebratory song and dance number featuring an R&B singer and choir, dancers, a full marching band, a bagpiper and a rap verse from the bride-to-be’s father, which is meant to be no-contact. Impressive showmanship from everyone involved.
The same cannot be said for the next sketch, which continues with the wedding theme. A distraction-free wedding sees the bride and groom harangued by Druski and Grace Reiter’s ultra-intrusive photographers. Like the cell phone store sketch, it’s boring buffoonery from top to bottom. The Strokes return for their second song, which sees actor Walton Goggins strutting on stage and joining them on bongos and backing vocals.
The final sketch of the evening is a look back at the classic 80s hip-hop group, Lenny & the Street Smart Crew. Their attempts to produce socially conscious rap continually fail: their confusing anti-gang anthem causes gang membership numbers to skyrocket, their single about racial unity is deemed “tone-deaf and bizarrely hurtful” due to its rampant homophobia, and their comeback song on the 2008 election campaign is both confusing and homophobic. A funny idea that could have resulted in something memorable, if it hadn’t been finished before it even started.
During the encore, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle show up to hug Druski. Nice gesture, but man, tonight’s show really could have used a lot of work on their part. Druski was by no means terrible in his role — like Inde Navarrette before him, he largely overshadowed the season’s first three awful hosts — but it was clear that, as natural as his comedic instincts are, he’s not quite ready for prime time.
That said, Saturday Night Live did him and the audience a disservice by saving him for the post-election episode. What would be a slightly subpar effort another week appears extremely misbegotten in light of Tuesday’s results. Granted, no one knew the extent of the Democratic explosion, but SNL should have at least prepared for that eventuality and reorganized things as best it could.
For a show that has been so closely tied to Donald Trump since he first entered the political arena — controversially hosting him during his 2016 campaign, making his caricature of Alec Baldwin the centerpiece of the program during his first term, and constantly earning rebukes from him and his allies in the headlines — you’d think they’d treat the collapse of the Maga movement like the seismic event that it is. The fact that they can barely be bothered is indicative of how – to borrow a favorite Trump term – low energy consumption SNL became.
Gn entert
