Dwayne Johnson Announces Presidential Campaign On 'SNL', Watch The Best & Worst Sketches

This past weekend the 42nd season finale of Saturday Night Live arrived with host Dwayne Johnson joining the Five Timers Club, just like Melissa McCarthy did last week. Not only did Johnson get his honorary jacket, but he was joined by fellow Five Timers Club members Alec Baldwin and Tom Hanks, and he picked one of them to be his running mate when announcing his candidacy for president in 2020.

Watch what happens and see the best and worst sketches from the Dwayne Johnson hosted Saturday Night Live after the jump.

The Best

World's Most Evil Invention – This is one of the most shocking sketches to be on Saturday Night Live in awhile. I honestly cannot believe they got away with this punchline on network television. If you haven't watched it yet, I'm not going to spoil it, but suffice it to say that Dwayne Johnson's character has certainly crafted the most evil invention ever. Also, I'm wondering if White Castle approved of their mention at the end of the sketch. There were White Castle commercials during the telecast, so it makes me wonder if they approved some kind of product placement in a sketch and didn't demand approval. Or White Castle is just a cool company and understand that some of the best comedy is subversive.

WWE Promo Shoot – This sketch was done last time Dwayne Johnson hosted, and it was with Bobby Moynihan back then too. It's the same premise as last time with Dwayne Johnson's wrestling character using personal information to take jabs at Moynihan's character rather than the usual trash talk. What really sells it is Bobby Moynihan's heartbroken and tearful reaction to being humiliated.

Rap Song – At first I thought this was going to be a straight-up music video with a new comedic song, but instead it's lampooning the high amount of rappers that appear in single songs. It's a bit of a simple premise, but it's the characters themselves and their names that make it funny, including a special cameo of a character from a previous sketch that I won't spoil if you haven't watched the sketch yet.snl-dwaynejohnson-bumper3

The Average

RKO Movie Set – Listen, farts are certainly one of the lowest forms of humor. But sometimes they're also just funny. In this case, it's the varying sounds that makes the sketch funny, not to mention the rare character break by Vanessa Bayer, which got Dwayne Johnson to crack a smile a bit too. It was just amusing enough.

Enhancement DrugSaturday Night Live really knows how to parody commercials, and this is perfect spoof of erecticle dysfunction advertisements. But in this case, I love that the doctor is totally against whatever this weird drug is that Dwayne Johnson has found to help with his problem. It's a derivative sketch to be sure, but it still made me chuckle.

Wingman – Beck Bennett's performance in this sketch is what makes it work just good enough to get by. The fact that his tone of voice never really changes and he's totally chill about whatever comes his way is pretty great. But it never really goes in all that creative of a direction. This seems like the premise of something that a terrible roommate would do in a sitcom, and while it's comical, it's not all that unique of an idea.

Scorpio – This is a premise that I would have liked to seen explored in a different way. When it comes to superheroes, I've always wondered how some of them make their wardrobes. Do they have tailors who know how to keep a secret? Do they make their own suits? Batman Begins and Spider-Man have provided answers to those kind of questions, but other movies kind of just let it go to the wayside. It's not all that important of a question, but it's something I've always been curious about. This takes it in the direction of the superhero having girl talk about fashion, but I would have liked a more serious round of questioning about superhero suits instead.

Senior Video – This is the goodbye sketch for Bobby Moynihan and Vanessa Bayer, both departing Saturday Night Live. Since it's their farewell, I wish it was a little more heartfelt. It's a charming sketch, and it's a solid parody of how high school sketches usually go, complete with obvious pop culture references. And just so we're clear, Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett are not leaving SNL as well, though this does seem like they could be.

The Worst

Cartier Ad – Fidget spinners are the subject of much debate right now, so this is topical, but I'm not sure this should have made it to the show. The idea of a fancy Cartier fidget spinner for a mindless girlfriend like this is vaguely  amusing, but it just feels like a bunch of other SNL ads with ditzy female characters.

Halleljah – This reprise of the cold open that had Kate McKinnon singing this song after Donald Trump won the election was probably a better idea in theory than in execution. It has significance and meaning, and it's even kind of bold in how it's essentially predicting that the downfall of the Trump presidency has truly begun, but it just didn't feel like the best thing for SNL to do when this was the season finale and they will be away for a few months without offering satire of the forthcoming insane headlines that we'll undoubtedly encounter in the coming months.

Note: This seems to be the last time Alec Baldwin will play Donald Trump on SNL if this tweet means what we think it does. If that happens, we offered up some solutions as to what SNL could do in order to keep lampooning Donald Trump.

Gemma with Dwayne Johnson – Oof. This sketch did not land at all. Not only was it technically imperfect (though it was a cool set), but the pacing of the sketch felt off comedically as well. But at least that pig was cute.Dwayne Johnson Hosted Saturday Night Live

Weekend Update

This was a solid edition of Weekend Update, especially with Michael Che and Colin Jost interacting with the guests at the news desk this week. There was obviously a lot of political stuff at the top of the segment with all the nonsense that happened this week, but it feels like they maybe held back a bit for some reason. It might be just because they can only do so much without it overwhelming Weekend Update the way it does the rest of our lives, but I feel like it could have been punched up a bit somehow.

Dawn Lazarus on Memorial Day Weekend – This character was pretty popular after debuting last weekend, but I'm surprised that they brought Vanessa Bayer back to Weekend Update with this character instead of one of her standbys. Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy made a recent appearance, so that was probably out of the question, but she could have come back as the child actress who delivers the news. But this was still a funny return for the character.

Drunk Uncle on President Trump – Yes! I'm so glad we got to say a fond farewell to Drunk Uncle, though I wish they would have doubled up on Bobby Moynihan's appearances and had Anthony Crispino come back too. But this was a great final appearance for Drunk Uncle, and it really made me sad that Moynihan is leaving the show.

The Host

It's still amazing to me that Dwayne Johnson has become such a big star and has impressive comedic chops. In this monologue, Johnson addresses the chatter about him potentially running for president and leans into it hard by announcing his candidacy, as well as picking Tom Hanks for his running mate. This should be a clear indicator that Dwayne Johnson won't really run for president, but it's fun to think about a ticket where Johnson and Tom Hanks. Then again, America would probably be dumb enough to vote for them, even though they're totally unqualified, so maybe it's best not to think about it.

The MVP

Saturday Night Live - Bobby Moynihan and Vanessa BayerBobby Moynihan & Vanessa Bayer – Of course the MVPs are the retiring cast members of SNL. It's not just a default reward, but these two were all over this episode, and they were both hilarious. Bobby Moynihan was a bit strong this evening, but they both had their great moments, and I think we're really going to feel their absence when the 43rd season comes around this fall.

The Final Word

As far as season finales go, this one was a little underwhelming. The Five Timers Club opening helped a bit, as did a couple cameos, but otherwise, this felt like more of a typical episode in the middle of the season rather than a big season finale. Dwayne Johnson was a great host as usual and there were a few great sketches, but otherwise it was a middling end to the season.