Pete Davidson's Hit Or Miss Saturday Night Live Hopped On The Taylor Swift Hype Train
After "Saturday Night Live" ended season 48 a little prematurely back in the spring due to the Hollywood strikes beginning, the late night sketch comedy show returned for season 49 this weekend. Despite the fact that the Screen Actors Guild is still on strike while negotiating for a new deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), SAG-AFTRA gave its full support for the cast of "SNL" to return to work, which meant former cast member Pete Davidson finally got to make his hosting debut.
While it might seem like a quick turnaround for Davidson to return as host so soon after leaving at the end of season 47, plenty of other more recent cast members have come back to the show as host just as quickly, such as Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg, and Bill Hader. However, since Davidson wasn't exactly known for many recurring characters or impressions, it didn't force "SNL" to bring back any familiar bits. Not even Chad was brought back in a pre-recorded sketch. Instead, we got a wholly original batch of sketches, which included a "Barbie" parody song about Pete Davidson himself, a Please Don't Destroy sketch, and a mixed bag of other ideas.
But "SNL" will undoubtedly attract some attention this weekend for jumping aboard the Taylor Swift hype train. As the pop star's concert movie "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" is poised to make box office history this weekend," "SNL" couldn't help but capitalize on all the attention she's been getting due to her new relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and previous "SNL" host) Travis Kelce. In fact, Kelce and Swift even made a surprise appearance, though not together, in the episode. Let's take a look at the highlights (and lowlights) from Pete Davidson's "Saturday Night Live."
What was the best sketch of the night?
Hot off the debut of the trailer for their first movie, Please Don't Destroy came back to "SNL" with a vengeance. In fact, the opening credits made an adjustment to feature Please Don't Destroy, but not as cast members. Instead, the comedy trio of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy were featured with Darrell Hammond's voiceover saying, "A film by Please Don't Destroy," similar to when the opening credits would tease, "A cartoon by Robert Smigel," whenever he did something like TV Funhouse. Not even The Lonely Island got that kind of treatment, so that was a surprise to see.
Anyway, this time the Please Don't Destroy boys were looking back at some of young Pete Davidson's stand-up comedy footage when he was just a teen. This prompted the trio to reveal that they all used to be adolescent stand-up comics. However, you might be surprised that the very white comedians were basically Def Jam comics, performing at the Apollo and eventually garnering enough acclaim to be known as "The Original Princes of Comedy," a riff on the theatrically released stand-up special "The Original Kings of Comedy" with Bernie Mac, Cedric The Entertainer, DL Hughley and Steve Harvey.
It's the kids who double as younger versions of Marshall, Higgins, and Herlihy who make this sketch, so they deserve a round of applause. But overall, this was a hilarious premise that was executed perfectly. Maybe they were influenced by my recent oral history about "The Comedians of Comedy." That's what I'm going to tell myself when I go to sleep.
For the Swifties
Alright, before we talk about the rest of the episode, let's get this out of the way. Yes, there was an entire sketch dedicated to how the NFL has been publicizing and commenting on the recent romance between NFL player Travis Kelce and singing superstar Taylor Swift. It's a simple premise, with Fox NFL Sunday commentators Curt Menefee (Kenan Thompson), Howie Long (Mikey Day), Jimmy Johnson (James Austin Johnson), Michael Strahan (Devon Walker), and Terry Bradshaw (Molly Kearney) initially being resistant to Taylor Swift coverage, and then slowly revealing that they're actually just as much of a Swiftie as her diehard fans.
Of course, the cherry on top of the sundae was a brief appearance by Travis Kelce, introduced as the one person who really just wants to talk about football. As someone who did not enjoy Kelce's hosting stint on "SNL," it came as no surprise that the delivery of the one line that he had was poorly timed and ended the sketch awkwardly. Let's just say, it's a good thing he's such a talented football player.
That wasn't the only moment Taylor Swift fans went crazy for, because Miss Americana herself made a brief appearance to introduce the second performance from rapper Ice Spice, who recently collaborated with Swift, both on her tour and on a new version of her staple song "Karma." Swift and Kelce didn't stick around for the goodbyes at the end of the night though, so that's all we got.
How was the rest of the episode?
As for the rest of the episode, there were a couple sketches that landed, a couple that were solid but didn't quite reach greatness, one weird premise that needed more time in the oven, and a couple downright terrible bits. So it was a mixed bag of hit or miss sketches, which is par for the course when it comes to "SNL."
Not far behind Please Don't Destroy was the above "Barbie" parody, where Pete Davidson again used music to poke fun at himself. "I'm Just Pete" took a cue from Ryan Gosling's incredible "I'm Just Ken" song from the "Barbie" movie and really leaned into all the entertainment and social media coverage he's been given over the years. It was a perfectly self-aware bit that really makes you appreciate Davidson's attitude about all the attention he gets for things no one should actually care about.
Besides that, the best live sketch might have been this absurd 1950s office sketch with Heidi Gardner playing a secretary who knows exactly what her boss needs before he even tells her. That might sound inappropriate, but she simply knows what documents he needs, what he's going to ask for, and when. At least, she does at first, then she slowly devolves into being awful at her job, right down to a staggeringly great pratfall — one that worked so well that it reminded my of Chris Farley's great slapstick moments of breaking furniture with a fall. It only gets more absurd from there, with the fall having made Gardner's shirt completely fly off for some reason. There was just enough absurdity in this one to make it work.
Of course, there were inevitably some bad sketches. Undoubtedly the worst was the sketch merely called "Spaceship." Set aboard a starship inspired by "Star Trek," the crew gets interrupted by an annoying former crew member who used to work there, played by Bowen Yang. There's some amusement in the fact that Yang is dressed in mostly human attire, with an ugly sweater and a little crossbody purse, but the character reminded me of a retread of "It's Pat" without the gender mystery material, and that's not good. However, there was one sketch that wasn't too far behind in poor quality, but thankfully, it ended up being overshadowed by something better.
The Andrew Dismukes spectrum
On two different ends of the spectrum, we have some oddball sketches courtesy of Andrew Dismukes. Ever since Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney left "SNL," Dismukes has been able to shine a bit more with some strange sketches that would otherwise be relegated to the 10-to-1 spot that's reserved for the weirder bits. But the presence of Sarah Sherman and greater openness to alternative comedy sensibilities have ushered these sketches into more primetime slots.
The one that didn't work so well was "Beach Day," seen above. There's potential here, with Dismukes playing a friend who gets buried in the sand and now wants to make it worthwhile by getting a picture of him buried up to this neck. However, Davidson's character has just found out his grandma's bean farm that he inherited was destroyed by a tornado, so now he's eager to leave beach day and inspect the damage. There's a nugget of greatness here, as Dismukes tries to negotiate and eventually becomes frustrated with not getting a picture taken, but it never feels like it really achieves liftoff.
On the other hand, the last sketch of the night, "Roadhouse Bar," had just the right amount of nonsense and character work to land more firmly. Dismukes plays a peculiar cowboy who left his factory job when he started making money selling pictures of his feet on the internet, and he just wants to buy Kenan Thompson's truck driver a drink, which thoroughly confuses the man. Then Pete Davidson shows up, wearing a ponytail and poncho, and he's in the same line of employment. Davidson and Dismukes have two ridiculous characters to play, and Thompson does what he does best, by reacting to them incredulously. It's a formula that has been executed in a variety of ways before, perhaps most famously (or at least most recently) in the "Last Call" series of sketches with Kate McKinnon, but it's reliable, and it worked fairly well this time.
How was Pete Davidson as an SNL host?
Right now all eyes are on the Middle East as the conflict between Israel and Palestine makes news full of heartbreaking tragedy. If you told me Pete Davidson would be the one to address this sincerely and soberly with the opening of "SNL," I wouldn't have believed you. But as Davidson explains, he's somewhat uniquely equipped to address this, because his father, a New York firefighter, was one of the many casualties in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Davidson's opening isn't exactly eloquent, but it felt honest, heartfelt, and intimate. It brought to mind the first episode of "SNL" that unfolded in the wake of 9/11, though that's a little bit tainted now because it prominently featured Rudy Giuliani.
Anyway, kudos to Pete Davidson for opening the show respectfully and thoughtfully.
As for the rest of the episode, it was nice to see Davidson appear so prominently in sketches. Though he was a cast member for eight years, he wasn't known for his regular roles in sketches. More often than not, Davidson was best at stand-up-esque appearances at the Weekend Update desk or pre-recorded sketches that were often rap songs. But here, Davidson showed off his comedic side that skews close to Adam Sandler's sketch comedy sensibilities, a comparison that has been made many times before. After all, Sandler also found success at the Weekend Update desk, and the characters he played weren't remarkably dissimilar from each other, especially when it came to their voices.
This may be the best that Davidson has been on "SNL" in years. Towards the end of his "SNL" tenure, Davidson felt like he was phoning it in. But as host, he was lively and felt like he was happy to be back in Studio 8H. Then again, I'm sure he was happy just to be performing again, since the strikes took Hollywood out of commission for over 150 days.
How about new cast member Chloe Troast?
Hey, don't forget that we have a new cast member! Chloe Troast was announced as a new featured player at the same time that the return of "SNL" was announced. Troast only appeared prominently in one sketch, the "Glamgina" bit that you can see above. It was a brief role, though she clearly has natural comedic timing and abilities, and she didn't seem nervous or flustered.
When the last batch of featured players hit the show, they got a surprising amount of screen time and had some shining moments in their debut. Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Michael Longfellow, Sarah Sherman, and Devon Walker all had moments to show off their skills and strengths, so hopefully we'll get to see even more of Troast soon.
Bowen Yang's still got it, baby
Finally, Weekend Update was particularly strong in the season 49 premiere of "SNL." Michael Che didn't waste anytime hassling Colin Jost by giving him a surprise story about "Ebony alerts" for missing Black children. Jost is totally caught off guard by it and even comments about this being the first show back. I'm sure Che missed messing with Jost while the strikes were happening, so it was nice to see this duo back in proper form.
However, the real star of Weekend Update was again Bowen Yang, who has done many memorable bits at the desk before. This time, he was Christopher Columbus, discussing how he feels about people wanting to take down all the statues that paid tribute to him for "discovering" America. Ultimately, it turns Christopher Columbus into a very Italian version of George Santos, another bit that Yang has done at the desk before. But it's the ridiculous Italian accent that makes it work so well.
That's all for the return of "SNL." We'll be back next week when hip-hop star Bad Bunny pulls double duty as host and musical guest on October 21. For more about "SNL," be sure to stay tuned to "The Ten to One" podcast after every new episode.