Saturday Night Live returned to form after two weeks away with an extremely entertaining episode. A lot of that can be attributed to the great work done by host Dwayne Johnson, but also a nice, diverse set of sketches that poked fun at Disney, the WWE, fraternities, and Robert Durst.
The show is at its best when the host allows him or herself to be made fun of, but also when they put in the work and become essentially an extra cast member during the week. Johnson appears to feel very much at home when he hosts SNL, which makes the job of the writers and cast members that much easier. Here’s hoping Johnson’s next time hosting is sooner than seven years from now.
Cold Open: The Rock Obama
Fans were really hoping for another visit from Johnson’s own SNL recurring character, The Rock Obama, and they were not disappointed. Well, they might have been slightly disappointed since this appearance lacked something — Joe Biden? A better Obama impression from Johnson? An actual wall for Cruz to run through? — that easily made it the least funny of the character’s three appearances.
While this cold open may have left something to be desired, it did answer the question of the week: Who will play Texas senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz? The answer, of course, was Bobby Moynihan. It also introduced She Rock Obama, who was played by Leslie Jones in her only appearance of the night.
Best Sketch: The Circus
The best sketch of SNL40 featured Kyle Mooney awkwardly interviewing people around Rockefeller Center. Unfortunately, that sketch didn’t actually air during SNL40, and everyone had to wait a couple of days before it was posted online. Thankfully, it appears that the buzz surrounding that sketch garnered enough attention to let Mooney awkwardly interview people at the circus.
This episode might have been the most screen time Mooney has seen since joining the cast last season. He’s firmly establishing himself as SNL’s resident weirdo, and it seems to be paying off with more and more screen time during SNL skits before “Weekend Update,” which has allowed him to continue creating sketches with his absurd humor for later in the night.
Second Best Sketch: The Improv Group
“Interrogation” might actually be the second best sketch of the night, but this sketch deserves notice for Kate McKinnon’s amazing impression of millionaire and alleged murderer Robert Durst. She had the blinks and cadence down, and added to her already impressive list of amazing impressions, even if there wasn’t enough burping.
Weekend Update Moment: Was There A Moment?
After writing about how I was enjoying the looseness of Colin Jost and Michael Che on “Weekend Update,” they decided to play it pretty straightforward this time around. Return appearances from Olya Povlatsky (Kate McKinnon) and Willie (Kenan Thompson) were funny as usual, and the best joke of the night — a takedown of the opening credits to The Jinx — had to be cut before posting “Weekend Update” online due to music copyright issues. So there really wasn’t anything that stood out as a “moment” this week for me.
Standout Performer: Dwayne Johnson
As I said in the introduction for this recap, Johnson did some really great work in this episode. He’s clearly very comfortable making fun of himself and his macho action star/wrestler persona. This might be the best episode of the season, and it largely has to do with the comedic work of Johnson.
The names of the two wrestlers in this sketch, Koko Watchout and Trashyard Mutt, are a nice little shout-out to WWE Hall of Famers, Koko B. Ware and Junkyard Dog with Taran Killam appearing to do a loose impression of former WWE announcer “Mean” Gene Okerlund.
Other Notes:
Johnson had a busy weekend. After SNL, he made his way to Santa Clara, Calif. for Wrestlemania Sunday night, where he appeared with UFC champ Ronda Rousey.
Fans who follow SNL on Twitter may have noticed several tweets about Meerkat during Saturday’s episode. The livestreaming app — which includes Jared Leto and Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video as investors — was streaming backstage all night.
Did anyone else think that the shirt Johnson was wearing during the “Dinner Date” sketch was a nod to the shirts he would occasionally wear on Monday Night Raw in the late 90’s?
Saturday Night Live returns on April 4 with host Michael Keaton and musical guest Carly Rae Jepsen. Here’s hoping the star of Jepsen’s latest video makes an appearance.
