Well here we go. In the face of all the protests and boycotts, Donald Trump comes back to host SNL for the second time, and pretty much gives new meaning to the term "low energy." Frankly, it was no better or worse of an episode than usual though, at least by SNL standards.
COLD OPEN: Larry David is back as Bernie Sanders in the MSNBC democratic forum- he's good and funny, but boy that was fast. I guess he really liked his own impression of Sanders last time around.
MONOLOGUE: Trump comes out looking pained frankly, joking about his feuds and how he can take a joke, Taran and Darrell Hammond bring out their own Donald's- Darrell's is the superior. Larry David shouts that Trump's a racist from offstage, joking about the "bounty" for protesting live- well, the protests were legitimate, considering Trump's decision to actively stoke racism and xenophobia, even if it is all an act, so I'm not sure it's in particularly good taste to joke about it, but there 'ya go.
WHITE HOUSE 2018: Trump is president with Cecily as Melania, reveling in his success in all areas, also joking about how he can just make everything better by magic (odd thing to make fun of himself for if he's serious about trying to win). Ivanka shows up to brag about the White House interiors (to zero applause) and Beck appears as president of Mexico to bring a check for the Wall- this sketch is BAD, really bad. Oof. The audience is eerily silent in this one too- I guess the prospect of an actual Trump presidency is too frightening to giggle about, even in jest.
BAD GIRLS: The female cast members lead a video for bad girls doing mildly annoying things in public but bragging about their rebel nature- eh, kinda funny but goes on too long (no Trump in this- are they purposely trying to use him as little as possible?)
LIVE TWEETS: Trump "live tweets" a sketch where Cecily and Taran are at an Italian restaurant- he insults both of them on twitter, and Kate when she shows up as the restaurant owner. It's really not funny though, which is ironic, since Trump keeps tweeting about how not funny it is. They do go to a joke about Trump tweeting that Kenan is Kenyan and hiding his birth certificate, which is fucked up when you think about how Trump really DID that to Obama and it wasn't much of a joke then. Ick.
DRAKE: Jay mocks Drake's dance moves with a cameo by Ed Grimley! Hi Martin Short! Wish you were on the show- Trump dances here too for a second. It's kinda funny.
UPDATE: Jokes about Jeb Bush's dying campaign and Ben Carson being a liar; Michael jabs Trump hosting the show once, but hey, the show's still letting him host, dude- can't really hold your head up high on that one. Leslie's back as the relationship expert- real tired of that, while Che and Jost's new thing is to try harder to interact and make fun of each other- is that better for Update overall? I don't know- it still seems hostile to me. Drunk Uncle shows up as Trump's biggest fan- yay!- so it gets to end on a high note.
BAR BAND: Kenan leads a band performing in a bar (he likes these, doesn't he- it's reminiscent of What's Up With That), with Trump on the "laser harp," complaining about the long solos for each band member. Trump is really stiff and unfunny, no wonder they don't want to use him much. He's mostly just awkward in these skits.
MR.CROCKER: embarrassing family dinner with Beck playing music with himself singing and trying to get a record deal in front of his daughter's date- Trump is the music producer recruiting people for about three seconds. Weird.
SIA: They do a weird skit with Kenan as Toots, the last guy who was the music guest when Trump hosted in '04, needling Trump about giving him his number- why are they doing this? "Toots" tries to make him choose him as a running mate before Trump finally intros Sia. Odd.
PORN STARS: The show tries to go out on a high note with a classic that almost always works- this time the porn stars do a paid advertisement for Donald Trump for president in 2016, so they can live in his hotels. Vanessa and Cecily are still funny here, with Bobby coming on as Ronald McDonald Trump (his Trump is better than Taran's- why didn't they have him do the official Trump impression?). Then the real Trump shows up to NOT approve the message.
Okay, so now that it's over, my opinion is that this episode was in no way worse than a typical middling SNL episode, and anyone who says it's the worst thing they've ever done is only really saying it because they object to Trump hosting on moral grounds. They might be right there, and he certainly wasn't funny and appeared very awkward with the audience helping out as little as possible, but he was hardly onscreen and I liked exactly three skits- the porn stars, the Drake dancing, and Drunk Uncle. So I give it a C-. Maybe I should grade them lower for having him on in the first place, but there it is. Elizabeth Banks takes the stage next week, so hopefully the writing will be a little better for her. See you guys then!
Larry David didn't seem too jazzed about Donald Trump's appearance last night
