Saturday Night Live: Jim Carrey, Mike Pence and a very pesky fly
The second episode of Saturday Night Live’s 46th season opened with a noticeably low-energy sketch skewering last week’s vice-presidential debate. Mike Pence (Beck Bennett) gets repeatedly called out by Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) for interrupting her, although he effectively puts her on the defense by pivoting to “the two issues Americans do care about: swine flu and fracking.”
The fracking question causes Harris to flip-flop and dodge, as does a later question regarding court packing.
But this is no match for the pesky insect that stakes its claim on Pence’s snow-white dome. It turns out it’s actually Joe Biden (Jim Carrey) who, sensing Harris needs his help, teleports to the debate but gets transformed into a half Jeff Goldblum/half fly creature in the process. (For those not up on their David Cronenberg, this is a reference to the classic Goldblum – starring The Fly).
The show takes the long route to make what’s essentially an unspoken (and brutal) Joe Flyden joke, but at least it’s finally trying something, rather than just lazily rehashing actual quotes from its targets. That’s got to count for something.
Comic Bill Burr hosts for the first time. The easily-aggravated everyman, who has slowly but steadily broken into the mainstream over the past couple of years, lays into a rollicking set in which he cheers people not wearing masks (“If you’re that dumb and you want to kill your own family members, by all means do it! It’s literally a dream come true!”), gleefully recounts Rick Moranis’s recent assault in NYC (“That’s what happens when you stick an M&M store in Time’s Square!”), and bemoans cancel culture (“They’re trying to cancel John Wayne … God did that 40 years ago!”). The standout moment sees him tearing into white women for “hijacking the woke movement”, noting that “white women swung their Gucci-footed feet over the fence of oppression and stuck themselves at the front of the line”.
It was clear the (paid) audience was on the fence the whole time, and a quick perusal of social media reveals that culture warriors on both sides of the political divide took the bait, but whatever one thinks about Burr’s worldview, at least his monologue made for a decent change of pace for SNL.
In the night’s first sketch, a group of friends hang out in person for the first time in months. Things quickly go south when one of the couples is corrected over their mispronunciation of the word “unprecedented” (they’d been pronouncing it “un-PRESIDENT-ed”) and the phrase “new normal” (“noon normal”). There’s lots of yelling and flailing, but it all ends with a whimper.
On The Blitz, Burr’s loudmouth sports commentator gloats over the victory of his favorite team, only to be find himself horribly embarrassed when his two black co-hosts mourn the latest racist police murder. This clever premise is unfortunately hampered by Burr noticeably flubbing his lines and missing his cues.
Enough is Enough is a decent, but muted, send-up of dopey celebrity viral videos. A desperate Clist actor get deservedly shamed for his awful anti-Trump spoken-word poem.He tags other celebrities, including Jason Momoa, who shows up just to lay into him for being a loser.
The night’s musical guest was supposed to be Morgan Wallen, but earlier this week, pictures surfaced of the country star carelessly partying in Alabama sans mask and with no concern to social distancing protocols. So, in a major case of trading up, SNL booted and replaced him with Jack White, who performs an apocalyptic blues ballad seemingly written directly in response to these troubled times.
Next up is Weekend Update. Burr’s sense of spleen appears to have rubbed off on the hosts, with Michael Che finding the silver lining in Trump’s (apparent) health rebound: “Either Trump’s telling the truth and we finally have a cure for COVID, or he’s lying and he’s still going to die. I’m not saying it’s a win-win, but it’s not a lose-lose.” Meanwhile, Jost is baffled to see someone come out of a near-death experience having learned nothing: “It’s like watching a guy smoke a cigarette through a hole in his throat.”
Kate McKinnon plays the first guest, Wayne Weknowdis, an eccentric doctor who discusses the Trump’s health by way of silly variations on the phrase “we know dis”. It turns out this somewhat baffling character is McKinnon’s way of coping with the pressures of the world. Next, Pete Davidson discusses his disappointment over JK Rowling’s recent spate of transphobic comments, saying: “It hurt because I have a close connection to those movies: I even look like Dobby the Elf, if he became a TikTok rapper.”
In the penultimate sketch, Burr plays an Italian mafia don recently returned from prison. He’s dismayed to discover that his underlings no longer care for his brash, politically incorrect style, having gotten woke after #MafiaSoWhite trended on Twitter. Mob stereotypes are always good for a few laughs, but this mostly plays like a lazy retread of bits from Burr’s monologue.
Short and sweet, Jack-O Pumpkin Ale is a commercial for Sam Adams’ new fall seasonal ale. The beermakers do a taste-testing with real Bostonians, including a Southie scumbag (played to perfection by Burr) who downs several bottles, even though he says it “tastes like sh**”, and gets in a fistfight with his grown son.
For the second week in a row, the musical guest closes out the show. White performs Lazaretto, playing an Eddie Van Halen guitar in tribute to the late, great rocker. (His bassist, meanwhile, sports a shirt that reads: PRINE, in honor of the brilliant country singer John Prine, who died over the summer). This is followed by a short clip of Van Halen similarly shredding on a past appearance.
This episode was small step up from last week’s season opener, thanks mostly to Burr’s monologue and White’s performances, although the show once again failed to produce any memorable sketches. Meanwhile, the election-oriented cold openers are pretty much a complete lost cause.