He’s funny. Damned funny. Daniel Craig proved he’s more than the world’s foremost spy by presiding over the funniest overall “Saturday Night Live” installment of the year.
Perhaps it was well served by the fact it didn’t kick off with yet another tired Democratic candidates sketch, though the real Elizabeth Warren did show up in a still-political but more random and coronavirus-driven variation of “The Ingraham Angle.”
Instead of tired, repetitive political impressions, we got some of the cast’s best impressions from the political and talking-head spheres, including Darrell Hammond reprising his Chris Matthews and proving he’s still got it (why don’t they use him more since he’s there announcing anyway?).
Musical guest The Weeknd even got in on the fun with the best music video parody we’ve seen in years, while Aidy Bryant added yet another song to the show’s catalog … though this one was more disturbing than funny. Rachel Dratch even brought back a classic character (quite randomly) to stoke even more coronavirus fears.
Throughout, Daniel Craig proved an incredible and versatile leader, committing fully to everything from gross-out humor, to danger, intrigue, violence, crazy accents and even making out with one lucky cast-member. Did they have to draw straws for that?
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.
Debbie Downer Wedding Reception
A show firing on all cylinders wasn’t in need of a surprise return appearance by a fan-favorite character, but who are we to tell Rachel Dratch not to bring the party down? They even brought back her original segment intro as Rachel brought to life everyone’s worst fears about coronavirus. The sketch was more of the same, though younger generations may not know the character, and it kind of petered out by the end. We’d have loved to see them go even darker or stick with coronavirus content. As it is, it just seemed like they enjoyed having Rachel back in this role for outbreak fears, but didn’t feel confident it could sustain a whole sketch. Shame.
Overnight Salad
It definitely earned its spot at the close of the show because this sketch was absolutely bonkers. There’s bizarre funny and then there’s what the hell is going on here because either I’m overtired or the show is overtired or maybe it was something I ate. Did I eat Aidy Bryant’s overnight salad? Is 911 open this late? We’re not sure if it was funny or not, but we love that it was a song, it was random as hell and incredibly gross and yet the visual array and design of the salad itself was quite lovely.
MONOLOGUE: Daniel Craig
Perhaps Daniel Craig knew that a monologue wasn’t his strong suit, or perhaps they just wanted some good Bond content (especially with the film’s release so delayed), but we’re not mad that we basically got a bonus sketch in the monologue showing us what happened when James Bond discovered craps and basically turned into an American tourist. It was absolutely delightful watching him so excited and clueless as the cast circled him as equally buffoonish casino enthusiasts.
Weekend Update
Colin Jost is stoked for the idea of Biden-Trump debates as he and Michael Che took a look at who’s left in the runup to the election. Che then explained why Democrats are like condoms: “I’ll use them because it’s safer, I guess, but it doesn’t feel good.” Also, can we say we absolutely love this new YOLO version of Che, drinking each week and caring even less than usual? Can we requisition to officially make it a thing?
Bowen Yang proved his versatility yet again with another ridiculous character — sporting a bizarre southern(ish) accent — obsessed with saving the plastic bags after New York’s ban on them. While some of his arguments held up a bit (picking up dog droppings), others made no sense (holding a pickle). But the character itself was such a delight, even Colin couldn’t help but laugh. Bowen went all in on this portrayal, from costume to voice to commitment.
The boys brought the laughs, with Che going even deeper into systemic racism than usual while talking about a woman wanting to get arrested for her 100th birthday and NASA’s diversity in space initiative, while we don’t even want to think about his take on William Shatner winning horse semen in his divorce settlement.
We think Cecily Strong’s “Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party” said more things almost right, but mostly wrong, than ever before. This dialogue must be so difficult for her to master, but she just sails through every bit of its ridiculousness without every breaking stride or character. We love that every time she comes this close to saying something meaningful but, nope, she’s just an idiot.
The Sands of Modesto
Coronavirus fears hit the production of a soap opera leading to some hilarious modifications, like Barbie cat-fights, ridiculously long fake arms, and Daniel Craig covering Kate McKinnon in saran wrap so they can make out (they should not have cut away as she was trying to wrestle her way out of it, though). With hints of “The Californians,” the content of the soap was as ridiculous as the virus mods, making it a one-two punch of comedy. Our favorite line was when Chloe Fineman showed up as Kate’s daughter, who thought she’d died. “That’s what they told me,” Chloe explained. Sketches are so much stronger when the comedy is layered so well, and this was a gem from start to Cecily Strong’s sneezy finish.
Game Night
Surprisingly, it was Kate McKinnon who kept causing Daniel Craig to break as his “flick daddy” went flick-for-flick with Heidi Gardner’s “quote queen” in a ridiculous game of name-that-movie-quote if the quotes were lines no one knew and it created a bizarre sexual tension between a middle-aged husband and a socially awkward yet bizarrely aggressive young woman. Kate never did get it together, but it didn’t matter because the subject matter was so stupid that every bit of it worked. Plus, Heidi got to live out so many dreams as Daniel apparently channeled Ryan Gosling for the final “quote” of the night.
Accent Coach
We’re not always hoodwinked by a grossout sight gag, but the concluding twist of this over-the-top sketch had us laughing despite ourself. Mostly this was about Beck Bennett getting to show off his cartoonish Southern accents, with Daniel Craig along for the ride as he’s cast in Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” movie. We certainly hope things didn’t go quite like this, but the stupidity escalated so well that we were all in by the time the cast lost it themselves at just how crazy things got. And no, we won’t spoil it here, because it works so much better as a surprise.
COLD OPEN: Ingraham Coronavirus
Well, that was a rare treat of a cold open, light on Democratic candidates — what’s left of them — and with Kate McKinnon coming face-to-face with the real Elizabeth Warren. Kate was in her Laura Ingraham guise where she welcomed some of the show’s best impressions with Cecily Strong’s Jeanine Pirro, and Mikey Day and Alex Moffat’s Trump boys. They even let announcer and former cast-member Darrell Hammond prove why he’s one of the best impressionists around by bringing back his Chris Matthews. Then the makeup department proved their mastery by shifting Kate into Elizabeth Warren so they could meet face to face and it was absolutely worth it. This was probably the sharpest and funniest cold open in months, from Laura’s sponsors to every single guest bringing big laughs.
The Dierdre Show
Ego Nwodim was fantastic as an overly-offended R&B diva when Daniel Craig’s celebrity chef cracked a joke that she not eat the foil on an hors d’ouevre he’d prepared. That was all it took for Ego to run away with just how dare he, does he not know who she is? Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner added an extra layer as audience members of Aidy Bryant’s show eating up every bit of the drama, while Daniel did a great job of being flustered and still trying to carry on. Even better, the writers and Ego crafted the perfect ending for the sketch, wrapping it all up in a nice, shiny, silver bow.
On the Couch
This was easily one of the strongest original songs this show has produced since “(Do It On My) Twin Bed,” with a beautiful twist about halfway through that took a song that already had us gut-laughing and took us to the next level. It was brilliance in writing and execution, and on top of that, as The Weeknd got in on the sketch action, it showcased pretty solid singing voices of the entire cast, with Chris Redd and Melissa Villasenor especially impressing us. This was both hilarious and catchy as hell. We’re still humming it!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong both had incredibly strong nights, bringing out some of their strongest impressions and best characters, with Kate absolutely slaying her soap opera diva, but this week we have to give the shout-out to a newer player finding her voice more and more each week.
Ego Nwodim has had breakout moments, but it really felt like she came into her own this week, whether in bit roles like the game night and accent sketches, or when taking the lead, as the offended diva in Aidy’s talk show sketch.
Add to that her fantastic performance in the couch number, and Ego had a strong week in a very strong show. It was a pretty balanced night overall, making it that much harder to stand out from the rest of the cast, but she definitely made her mark and makes us only want more.
“Saturday Night Live” returns March 28 with host John Krasinski and musical guest Dua Lipa.
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