Aquaman's Jason Momoa Is Loving Life In A Half-Baked, Stale Saturday Night Live
"Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom" isn't hitting theaters until December, but "Saturday Night Live" took full advantage of getting franchise star Jason Momoa to host the show before he gets super busy on the international publicity tour. Momoa first hosted "SNL" back in 2018 before the release of the first "Aquaman" movie, and it was a pretty decent episode that happened just before Christmas, giving us a new holiday favorite with Momoa as a member of Santa's Elf on the Shelf team.
Sadly, this new "SNL" episode taking us into Thanksgiving week wasn't nearly as good. Strangely enough, this felt more like it was Momoa's first time hosting rather than his second trip to Studio 8H in 30 Rockefeller Plaza. While there are a couple of standout sketches, many were subpar, a couple squandered great premises, and some were just plain bad.
So let's dig into the highlights from Jason Momoa's second time hosting "Saturday Night Live."
What was the best sketch of the night?
For those who may not be aware, "Untold" is a series of sports documentary films on Netflix, focusing on stories you might have never heard before. In this case, "Saturday Night Live" gives us a faux episode about a female tennis player who tried to break barriers before the famous "Battle of the Sexes" between professional tennis players Billie Jean King and Bobby Rigg. It's Sarah Sherman who steps up as a tennis player who isn't unlike Billie Jean King, and picks the biggest male tennis player to take down. But this one takes a gruesome spin that is perfect for Sherman's comedic sensibilities, and she gets a tennis ball blasted right through her midsection. It's just the right amount of gore and slapstick to make for a fantastic bit.
How was the rest of the episode?
As for the rest of the episode, one of the funnier bits of the night came from the Weekend Update desk, giving us another satisfying team-up between Andrew Dismukes and James Austin Johnson. The two were introduced as Remember Lizards, a back-up musical guest that may be taking more than a little bit of inspiration from the chart-topping band Imagine Dragons. Any time Johnson and Dismukes get the chance to do something musical together, it's magical, and this was no exception. Though it's a repetitive bit, that's the point, and it worked splendidly. Really hoping Remember Lizards is touring nearby sometime soon.
Old Timey Movies – Here's a case where an "SNL" sketch is bolstered by some great production design elements. The grainy black and white filter and the old timey, sped up look to the visuals made this work much better than it otherwise would have. While I wish the visual gags offered a little more variety, especially with regards to references to L. Frank Baum, it helped that the writers made Bowen Yang's character catty and spicy for no apparent reason. Watching Momoa gleefully ham it up for this vintage camera was also fairly enjoyable.
Rome – Ya know, when you have a sketch comedy show that's put together every single week, it allows the bits to be more timely and relevant than most other comedies on the air (aside from the late night talk shows). But sometimes "SNL" likes to beat a dead horse, such as making fun of the trending topic about men revealing that they think about the Roman Empire more than you might have guessed. This revelation made the rounds on the internet back in September, and there have been several episodes of "SNL" between then and now, but this is when they chose to execute a sketch. Did it not make the cut in previous episodes? Were they waiting for someone like Momoa to fit the role of a Roman soldier? Anyway, this sketch was fine, and it was thankfully shaken up by the additional turns it took in the back half, but overall, it still felt a bit stale because of how long it's been since that viral sensation unfolded.
Thanksgiving Week Airport Parade – Speaking of stale, here's a perfect example of a missed opportunity. This isn't the first time that "SNL" has used a parade show setting for the basis of a sketch, and this one felt like it had real promise, because everyone knows that flying during Thanksgiving week is an absolute nightmare. But the sketch felt like it barely scratched the surface, and Momoa's performance didn't help matters any. Plus, this sketch had yet another "old" reference, by bringing in that woman who went viral for screaming at nothing in the middle of a plane. I guess "SNL" was really holding onto some stuff for a couple months.
As for everything else, there was an amusing "Cast Away" bit that wasn't quite as good as it could have been, a tired cab driver sketch with such a basic premise that not even Kenan Thompson could save it, a night club sketch with Momoa trying really hard to do his best "Scarface" impression, and yet another awful political cold open.
Is Please Don't Destroy in a rough patch?
Let's not forget that there was also a new Please Don't Destroy sketch. But you might have forgotten since it was a rather forgettable entry. If I'm being totally honest, the comedy trio hasn't exactly been operating at the typically exemplary level of comedy that we've come to expect from them. The premises have felt half-basked for the past few episodes, almost like they came up with them at the last minute before the sketch was due. Granted, that could be said about all of their sketches, since that's the overall vibe of their work that always finds the guys working on an "Saturday Night Live" writing night. But there's just been some magic missing from their past few sketches. Maybe it's because they've been busy promoting their new movie, "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain," which is now available on Peacock. I'd recommend just watching that instead of this episode of "SNL."
How was Jason Momoa as an SNL host this time?
Since this was Jason Momoa's second time hosting "Saturday Night Live," you would assume that he'd be even more comfortable this time. But for some reason, Momoa felt more nervous, and it felt like he kinda forgot how this worked. Maybe we should cut him a break, because it's been five years since he hosted "SNL." And it's not like the lackluster episode was entirely his fault. This time, it's mostly the writers that didn't come through with a strong episode.
However, one can't help but notice that Momoa even felt off during his monologue. Despite bringing a certain level of confidence and enthusiasm to the stage, it kinda felt like his brain was working faster than his body. In fact, almost the entire monologue sounded like it was something that Momoa was coming up with off the top of his head. And at under three minutes, there just wasn't much happening here other than Momoa being excited to be there, loving life, and talking about his environmental exploits. Good for him! But next time, it would be great if they gave him some more jokes to open up the comedy show that he's hosting, especially after such an abysmal cold open.
Anyway, that's all for November on "Saturday Night Live." We'll be back in a couple weeks after Emma Stone hosts the for her fifth time on December 2. For more on "SNL," be sure to check out the Ten to One Podcast.