Saturday, December 12, 2020

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE 46 REVIEW: eight - Timothée Chalamet & Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band



BonjourHi!

Without the risk of sounding creepy here (aw hell, you'll do it anyway -- despite being in an age of no judgement. [or is that only at Planet Fitness??]), I find Timothée Chalamet a very handsome actor. Perfect face that'll turn you out, sunkissed skin that warm your soul, chiseled cheekbones only God could construct, beguiling hazel eyes that can hypnotize anyone, and wind-swept hair that'll make anyone cry when mussed. He is the revival of golden-age Hollywood glam in the face. (Yes, I'm hella thirsty right now.)
Oh yeah, he's incredibly talented too. Throughout the past few years, we've been blessed by little Timo with awe-inspiring performances in Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, Beautiful Boy, Little Women and I'm Your Woman. Praised to the high moon and receiving major nominations, it's safe to say he's only just beginning reaching the non-existent limits of his talents. And we're only just starting by watching. Starting with SNL.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chalamet may just be beginning, but our musical guest this week has never even pictured stopping. He was Born to Run in this industry, He's sent you through The River in the Tunnel of Love across Nebraska and Lucky Town with only his Human Touch. He rose above High Hopes, Devils and Dust and across the Darkness of the Edge of Town on his Wrecking Ball. He's WildInnocent, and He's Magic. And he has told us "We Shall Overcome". And now, with Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., he's still among The Rising across the Western Stars with his Letter to You. What is there more to say? He is... The Boss. He is... Bruce Springsteen.
And alongside him is the greatest backing band of all time. Since 1972, they've rocked our world with their trademark blaring bombastic beats, and made millions of memories with their iconoclastic instrumentations. Their compositions have become one of the best touring acts in history (with Mr. Springsteen or by themselves). They are The E-Street Band.

This is one episode I'm excited for, and one I'm not going to forget. 

And here we go. The Cold Open spoofs the news on the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine with Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx interviewed by CNN's Wolf Blizer.

Other than the annoying applause break introducing them, Kate McKinnon and Heidi Gardner kill their respective roles. But I must give a slight edge to Heidi for perfectly capturing Birx's soft lying doormat of a quack on 45's "pandemic response team". The random throwing of brassieres is unfunny and weird though.

Making his debut, Chalamet shined among the poinsettias and Xmas decor in a bomb-ass red jacket I believe sold out as we speak. Throughout his dialogue, he speaks on his proud heritage in NYC, mentioning his mother's background appearances on the show, and sheds light on the many parts of his life that are NY-tinged. The whole thing is meh, but Timo's energy and excitement make it more than enjoyable. You can feel it in his voice and facial expressions. And Staten Islander Pete Davidson helped make it fun too with his less than pleasant life experiences.

Who knew even Coronavirus can celebrate Christmas?

This was actually pretty good. The writers did their research here and the creativity is infectious. Also, it's great to see the lower decks of the cast (mainers featured members Dusmukes, Lauren Holt(?), Chloe Fineman and Boyen Yang) get some good screen time off the bat. Best Sketch of the Week already.

And that leads to the Best Pre-Tape of the Week: a brilliant parody of the commercials of Lexus' December to Remember sale event. Instead of one guy giving his wife a car she'll love, she hates it because it's an expensive purchase she wasn't aware of... by the guy with no job... Who borrowed from his neighbor... While wanting to Mack on his son's girlfriend... in revenge to his wife for cheating. Awkward.


Next up on Dionne Warwick's Talk Show, Harry Styles talks about his music and why Wendy Williams is a bitch to her.
Oh my God! Ego Nwodom is Dionne incarnate. She knocked her personality, vocal tics and musical talent. This is the second time the featureds dominated. PUNKIE POWER!, Other Andrew and Lauren Holt were there, Timmy Tim was a dream as Harry Styles (two daddies in one? How am I alive?), Mellisa Vilasenor was genius as Billie Eillish, I want MGK's pink outfit because Pete Davidson wore it, Chloe Fineman was wonderful as not-Chalamet and this sketch ties as the Best of the Week.

Anytime Timothee Chalamet sings is a time to be happy to be alive. In this Pre-Tape, a boy has to let go his diminutive animal pal Tiny Horse as his family is struggling. The joke when TH runs out was funny and him finding success was just as so. I need that song as a single so I can try to get it to go gold. It's my life's destiny now...

The BOSS... is BACK!!!
And he and E-Street slayed their 8H return with a smooth yet boisterous ditty that made me jump across the room. It was that fun.

Time for an Update.
Jost and Che tackled the COVID vaccine distribution, Barr contemplated resigning, and Trump mooching off supporters, Jewish lions, Biden hiring a woman named Fudge to head HUD, the fifth Indiana Jones movie, a 27-year old embryo becoming a baby in 2020 and astronomers finding a not-so-black galaxy.

Kate McKinnom returned as medical correspondent Wayne Wenodis. Meh.

But the best guest was resident impressionist Melissa Vilasenor appearing as Dolly Parton, trying to reveal her favorite Christmas tunes, but they end up turning in the Country icon's classic ditties. Good Golly , Mellisa is a damn brilliant Miss Dolly. Her voice, her singing, her ever-vibrant personality and energy, and her not so big but equally glorious tit-taaaaays!! It was 
earthshaking. There is a reason she is in the cast.

Returning from last year, The Holiday Baking Challenge... Show featured more decadent cake ideas turning into demented comfections. A cut baby cake reminiscent of that Beatles compilation album with such things, a cake featuring legendary leaders turned into what seems to be Megan Thee Stallion's Wet Ass Pussy, a cake that look like the winner (but was ignored), and a phallic "masterpiece". I want to eat one.. You'll have to guess which. And did Ego's judge character have more than one accent?

In this XXL Rap Roundtable, femcee icon Queen Latifah, The Roots drum 
extraordinaire ?uestlove (played by guest star himself) and two shitty Soundcloud "rappers" discuss the history and impact of the genre. Things go downhill when the noise "Yeet" is spoken more than once.
It was boring half of the way, but picked up with the duo (name I'm not writing here) made it hilarious. I'd like to think this is a brutal indictment of Soundcloud rap by everyone else's reactions by their embarrassing behavior and nonsense responses, and XXL for endorsing this trash. ?uestlove smacking both (the palm-colored one with his iconic hair pick) was breathtaking. Something we all would have done to all of them. Maybe something more... piercing.

Springsteen and E-Street returned with a more warm and sweet track that showed neither have lost a beat in the years since their last appearance.

Love Newsmax? In which you hear what you want to hear (even though it's really not true) in the country of freedom and bravery (watched by the shittiest enforcers of them)? Well, introducing Sportsmax whixh is the same thing for equally garbage people -- New York Sports Fans. This was an okay sketch that fits with the people they serve. Even though I have no idea what they really are, I can be lead to believe them.

Overall this was a really good episode. I enjoyed  all the live and pre-taped sketches. Most were hilarious and proved the writers were on their A-game this week. Comsidering their guest is a multi-award-nominated young actor with a ton of talent and promise, they couldn't be bothered to half-ass it.
Speaking of said young actor, he certainly didn't half-ass it either. Timothee was absolutely amazing as host. His spunk, high energy and excitment as shown in the monologue was everlasting through, showing a significant range for the different roles he was given and a range of comedy for each one that I really enjoyed. If there is a chance for him to return next season or sometime in the decade, I'll do my best to make the standby line (although I'll turn down the list considerably).
As for the cast, oh wow, the featured cast and least used main members came to dominate this week. Either they launched pitches to Lorne and the producers that they really liked or Lorne realized they're on his payroll and decided to have them actually work for it. Either way, it made me grin so hard to see the featured cast get big spots in the live sketches, as they do have major talent and promise. Hopefully that's the reason and not because Kenan, Aidy Bryant, Chris Redd and probably one more wasn't there (although they do deserve a break). The rest of the cast were also great, especially the main MVP Ego Nwodim, whom stole the spotlight with her appearances. I usually despise when a cast member or four appear in most of an episode but she isn't Mikey Day (whom also aside from the Lexus pre-tape, also didn't largely appear), so bravo! I see a new Lorne's favorite coming soon. So watch out Beck Bennett.
And what is there to say about Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band? They destroyed the stage and then some.
This episode was a fun, enjoyable installment that should've been the Christmas episode. But that's coming next week. So join me as I review said Christmas episode hosted by former cast member and to-be-four-time host Kristen Wiig with music by legit and actually good musician Dua Lipa (or as once referred to by that bitch Dionne Warwick hates, Wendy Williams, Dula Peep. I don't like her ass for that.)

Until then, this is Andrew Pollard, saying "Let's be good to one another and share kindness and goodwill to all this holiday season. Unless they're shit to you first, so in that case, be even worse in return." Goodnight... and Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish readers out there, Shalom...

THIS IS THE LITERAL END OF A LIVE BLOG.

No comments:

Post a Comment