The Matthew McConaughey who hosted Saturday Night Live in 2003 was a different person. The McConaissance was still 10 years away and he was there to promote How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the latest in a string of romantic comedies that led to the Texan being typecast and ultimately, a change in the type of films the Texan would later pursue.
Twelve years later, McConaughey is the type of A-list Hollywood star who can appear on SNL with nothing to promote, and exude confidence throughout an episode that may have been the most solid all-around (sketches, musical guest, Weekend Update) episode of season 41. Season 40 was more important historically, but the pieces put in place over the past couple of seasons are really blossoming in season 41.
Cold Open: Fox & Friends
Fox & Friends returned for the second time this season, and even brought back Kate McKinnon’s Florida representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. The highlight here was the quick return of Jay Pharoah’s Dr. Ben Carson. Obviously, last week’s “The Adventures of Young Ben Carson” made a big enough impression to have him back just one week later.
One other side note for this sketch: Instead of scrolling a list of corrections, the Fox & Friends crew asked Fox News fact checker, Carla (Leslie Jones), how they were doing. You can probably guess her response.
Best Sketch: Star Wars Screen Tests
It has been almost 20 years since the first Star Wars screen test sketch starring Kevin Spacey aired in 1997 and since then, they’ve made the screen test a recurring bit adding Back to the Future, Top Gun, and 50 Shades of Grey the past few seasons.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams introduced the latest Star Wars screen test sketch, which included cameos from The Force Awakens actors Daisy Ridley and John Boyega along with Emma Stone, Jon Hamm “Solo,” and Michael Buble. While I tend not to like the sketches with a bunch of random celebrity impressions, this was one of the best sketches of the season even without Bill Hader’s amazing Alan Alda impression.
Second Best Sketch: A Thanksgiving Miracle
If the conversation this Thursday starts getting a little awkward, you may want to have Adele’s current blockbuster “Hello” cued up because it has magical powers. It’s either this or trying to watch the Lions or Cowboys game, and who wants to do that?
The singer was clearly having a good time watching this sketch if this Instagram post is any indication:
Weekend Update Moment: Vanessa Bayer
During my recaps last season, I frequently mentioned how little Vanessa Bayer was appearing in sketches and wondered if it might have been time for the long-time cast member to move on from SNL. Thankfully, no one listened to me and Bayer is having a great sixth season.
Bayer’s appearance as Laura Parsons, a child actor who won a young newscaster contest and doesn’t really understand the topics (Donald Trump, AIDS, Charlie Sheen) she discusses with Michael Che was one of the highlights of the night.
Musical Guest of the Season Contender: Adele
Adele released her latest album, “25,” on Friday and according to Billboard, it will sell over two million copies in its first week and already has almost one million downloads on iTunes. Adele is clearly the most popular artist in the music industry and it’s easy to see why after her performances of “Hello” and “When We Were Young” from Saturday night.
Other Notes:
This episode had one other sketch, “3D Printer Man,” that deserves recognition for McConaughey’s brilliant reading of lines like, “Using pens. That’s cool and smooth like a real sunglasses guy” when asked about his hobbies.
Pete Davidson had no lines and only appeared in the “Town Hall Meeting” sketch holding up a picture of Thomas the Tank Engine with a Hitler mustache.
The “Blues Bar” sketch reminded me of Mississippi Gary (Mark McKinney) from The Kids in the Hall. They even had a sketch where an audience member accuses Gary of not having the blues.
Saturday Night Live returns on Dec. 5 with host Ryan Gosling and musical guest Leon Bridges.
