Saturday Night Live: Larry David, Miley Cyrus
November 4, 2017 11:09 PM - Season 43, Episode 6 - Subscribe
Host: Larry David, Musical Guest: Miley Cyrus
- Paul Manafort's Apartment - Alex Moffat, Alex Baldwin, Cecily Strong, Beck Bennett, Kate McKinnon
- Opening Monlogue - Larry David
- The Price Is Right - Beck Bennett, Chris Redd, Kennan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Alex Moffat, Miley Cyrus, Larry David, Pete Davidson, Alec Baldwin, Melissa Villaseñor, Cecily Strong, Liam Hemsworth
- White House Press Briefing - Aidy Bryant, Beck Bennett, Cecily Strong, Heidi Gardner, Alex Moffat
- Ad Council Award Dinner - Cecily Strong, Larry David, Beck Bennet, Mikey Day, Luke Null, Alex Moffat, Kennan Thompson, Chris Redd
- The Baby Step - Pete Davidson, Chris Redd, Kennan Thompson, Miley Cyrus, Larry David
- Miley Cyrus - Bad Mood
- Weekend Update - Michael Che, Colin Jost
- Eric & Donald Trump Jr - Alex Moffat, Mikey Day
- Every Boxer's Girlfriend - Heidi Gardner
- Leslie Jones
- Home Room TV - Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, Kate McKinnon, Larry David, Chris Redd, Pete Davidson, Miley Cyrus, Luke Null, Leslie Jones
- Celebration - Beck Bennett, Kate McKinnon, Larry David, Chris Redd
- Miley Cyrus - I Would Die For You
- Cousin CJ - Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, Larry David
Maybe I'm just too dense to get the gag, but what was The Baby Step about? Just to rag on Keenan for being on the show so long and still having to play such childish stuff?
Che's straight-up backhand at Trump was very much needed.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:53 AM on November 5, 2017
Che's straight-up backhand at Trump was very much needed.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:53 AM on November 5, 2017
I was thinking about what an impressive, well-oiled machine SNL is when you get to view the operation even from the studio audience: All the crew keeping it rolling, the cast running around. This recent SNL vid amplifies this.
But writing/host-wise this edition seemed off and rather awful to me. (Altho per some tweets, I'm not a Jew so I can't blanch at concentration-camp dating jokes. And also evidently Larry David is the Official Spokesperson for All Jews & What Is Funny?)
Even him breaking was not amusing-cute but just awkward. I felt like the cast was staring, waiting for the line. (I wondered if something was wrong with him, like a minor stroke!) And hate to say it, but the Cold Open political stuff now is becoming something a late-night talk-show host did better three days earlier.
Some Bright Spots:
The old PSA's made me LOL - and I'm glad I could laugh, cos I'd swear out here in the midwest I've probably heard someone say, "That's so gay" within the past few years.
The Boxer's Wife bit wasn't hilarious per se, but gawd, I loved Gardner's commitment to it. Seems TPTB are considering her as possible successor to the Poehler-Wiig-McKinnon heavyweight lifter position.
And I've not been a Che fan previously. But man, I can't think of anyone aside from Sam Bee and Colbert who are so brazenly looking into the camera and telling the so-called Prez what worthless trash he is.
posted by NorthernLite at 6:58 AM on November 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
But writing/host-wise this edition seemed off and rather awful to me. (Altho per some tweets, I'm not a Jew so I can't blanch at concentration-camp dating jokes. And also evidently Larry David is the Official Spokesperson for All Jews & What Is Funny?)
Even him breaking was not amusing-cute but just awkward. I felt like the cast was staring, waiting for the line. (I wondered if something was wrong with him, like a minor stroke!) And hate to say it, but the Cold Open political stuff now is becoming something a late-night talk-show host did better three days earlier.
Some Bright Spots:
The old PSA's made me LOL - and I'm glad I could laugh, cos I'd swear out here in the midwest I've probably heard someone say, "That's so gay" within the past few years.
The Boxer's Wife bit wasn't hilarious per se, but gawd, I loved Gardner's commitment to it. Seems TPTB are considering her as possible successor to the Poehler-Wiig-McKinnon heavyweight lifter position.
And I've not been a Che fan previously. But man, I can't think of anyone aside from Sam Bee and Colbert who are so brazenly looking into the camera and telling the so-called Prez what worthless trash he is.
posted by NorthernLite at 6:58 AM on November 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
I don't think I've ever seen a host bomb the monologue like that. Man, that was atrocious.
posted by komara at 7:14 AM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by komara at 7:14 AM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm not much of an SNL fan although I will tune in for Michael Che. The concentration camp dating thing was imo jaw-dropping (really - you're going to go there ?). High point for me was Miley Cirus (who I'd never seen perform) - that second song was quite good. And I found out I still don't like Larry David much.
posted by parki at 7:26 AM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by parki at 7:26 AM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm still watching, Miley's second song is on. Don't really understand what the previous sketch was about, wasn't paying much attention until Larry's wife character counted to 4 in Mandarin. My dad spent part of his childhood in China, following his Navy Captain father stationed in Chifoo before WW2. He never learned more than a few words & the only ones he still remembered by the time I came along were...the numbers 1 to 10! Eee err saw sur woo lau key bah jao shur (phonetically). Going from just listening in the background to "Hey! Did she just count to 4 in Mandarin? Why is she counting in Mandarin?" was a moment of mental whiplash.
Aside from that it was a mediocre episode. I enjoyed both of Miley's songs but the rest was forgettable. Not Larry's best.
posted by scalefree at 9:32 AM on November 5, 2017
Aside from that it was a mediocre episode. I enjoyed both of Miley's songs but the rest was forgettable. Not Larry's best.
posted by scalefree at 9:32 AM on November 5, 2017
Huh, my Miley takeaway is that these performances were disappointingly synthetic. Now, I like a good plastic performance, but typically as a substitute for emotion, not an aping of it. Watch her hair flips in the first song.
I agree the monologue was pretty flat but I did appreciate the dating bit as a distinctly Larry David thing, and as a non-Jew I feel I should defer judgement on the joke itself.
The Boxer's Wife was a little overlong and slightly repetitive, but the bit and her delivery is genius.
posted by rhizome at 11:30 AM on November 5, 2017
I agree the monologue was pretty flat but I did appreciate the dating bit as a distinctly Larry David thing, and as a non-Jew I feel I should defer judgement on the joke itself.
The Boxer's Wife was a little overlong and slightly repetitive, but the bit and her delivery is genius.
posted by rhizome at 11:30 AM on November 5, 2017
Just a so-so episode. The monologue was a dud even without the concentration camp jokes. I will withhold judgement on those other than to say... really? Doing holocaust jokes on TV in 2017 is kind of like wearing a Nazi uniform to a Halloween party. People should just kind of know better.
I liked the Ad Council dinner a lot. Things really were kind of that way and I'm sure in 30 years we'll look back on shit we did in 2017 and it'll be the same sort of cringe worthiness.
I liked Cousin CJ just because I love those quirky Kyle Mooney short films. I love the bad editing and the flat acting and everything about them.
Not much for Miley's music but it was nice to see her show up in a bunch of sketches. She's clearly become a friend of the show and I'm happy to have her around.
The Price is Right was mostly just an excuse to get Baldwin to do Tony Bennett which is one of my favorite things ever so I was happy to see it.
I like that Weekend Update is just flat out calling Trump out on his bullshit every week. More of that, please.
posted by bondcliff at 1:56 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
I liked the Ad Council dinner a lot. Things really were kind of that way and I'm sure in 30 years we'll look back on shit we did in 2017 and it'll be the same sort of cringe worthiness.
I liked Cousin CJ just because I love those quirky Kyle Mooney short films. I love the bad editing and the flat acting and everything about them.
Not much for Miley's music but it was nice to see her show up in a bunch of sketches. She's clearly become a friend of the show and I'm happy to have her around.
The Price is Right was mostly just an excuse to get Baldwin to do Tony Bennett which is one of my favorite things ever so I was happy to see it.
I like that Weekend Update is just flat out calling Trump out on his bullshit every week. More of that, please.
posted by bondcliff at 1:56 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Was David's monologue a lot longer than the usual monologues? It wasn't like any one part bothered me and I think it could have been salvageable if it was like half as long, but it seemed like it just went on and on. Unfortunately this will probably convince Lorne Michaels that they should just go back to doing songs every week instead of monologues.
I think the show is having kind of a mini-revival these days. It's rare for a total dog of a sketch to make it on the air, and even when a sketch flops it doesn't seem like it's the fault of the writers. That wasn't the case, not so long ago. Watching that Halloween special reminded me how uneven the Horatio Sanz era could be. They had a sketch about one of those ghost hunter shows and the whole joke was that the lead ghost hunter (Hugh Laurie) had farted and the other ghost hunters were so stupid they were convinced the fart was some sort of ghostly thing. There was another where Amy Poehler's Hillary Clinton was throwing a Halloween party and we kept getting gags about people thinking Hillary's bride costume was a witch costume, because she's an old hag I guess. Watching it I thought, "This stuff probably wouldn't make it on the show now. Even if they did sketches that weren't terrific, they wouldn't be this lazy." (That being said, Leslie Jones' bit about the big sportsball game gave me some bad flashbacks to the SNL days when Jim Breuer would be imitating Joe Pesci and then, Oh shit, the real Joe Pesci would show up to glare at him while the audience applauded for like nine minutes.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:26 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
I think the show is having kind of a mini-revival these days. It's rare for a total dog of a sketch to make it on the air, and even when a sketch flops it doesn't seem like it's the fault of the writers. That wasn't the case, not so long ago. Watching that Halloween special reminded me how uneven the Horatio Sanz era could be. They had a sketch about one of those ghost hunter shows and the whole joke was that the lead ghost hunter (Hugh Laurie) had farted and the other ghost hunters were so stupid they were convinced the fart was some sort of ghostly thing. There was another where Amy Poehler's Hillary Clinton was throwing a Halloween party and we kept getting gags about people thinking Hillary's bride costume was a witch costume, because she's an old hag I guess. Watching it I thought, "This stuff probably wouldn't make it on the show now. Even if they did sketches that weren't terrific, they wouldn't be this lazy." (That being said, Leslie Jones' bit about the big sportsball game gave me some bad flashbacks to the SNL days when Jim Breuer would be imitating Joe Pesci and then, Oh shit, the real Joe Pesci would show up to glare at him while the audience applauded for like nine minutes.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:26 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Is Alec Baldwin back on as a permanent cast member? His more recent Trumps don't really have the "zip" they used to have, and his body type is not nearly dumpy enough.
But that was some sweet Tony Bennett.
The Dip Stix bit was wonderful. Moffat and Gardner absolutely stole Weekend Update.
I think the punline to Baby Steps is that Larry David just sucked all the enthusiasm out of the group, who then felt sheepish at being called out for being silly and stupid and having a good time.
posted by porpoise at 3:50 PM on November 5, 2017
But that was some sweet Tony Bennett.
The Dip Stix bit was wonderful. Moffat and Gardner absolutely stole Weekend Update.
I think the punline to Baby Steps is that Larry David just sucked all the enthusiasm out of the group, who then felt sheepish at being called out for being silly and stupid and having a good time.
posted by porpoise at 3:50 PM on November 5, 2017
And I've not been a Che fan previously. But man, I can't think of anyone aside from Sam Bee and Colbert who are so brazenly looking into the camera and telling the so-called Prez what worthless trash he is.
John Oliver will do it while having Russian dancers and pee tape imagery.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:07 PM on November 5, 2017 [4 favorites]
John Oliver will do it while having Russian dancers and pee tape imagery.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:07 PM on November 5, 2017 [4 favorites]
That was the first time Miley didn't want to make me put my head in a microwave.
The monologue was awful and way too long. Even if it had been funny it would have been too long.
Cecily Strong is amazing.
The Cousin CJ sketch was the greatest thing I've seen from SNL this season, BUT I just rewatched the entire run of Full House on Hulu (shutup) and the vibe was perfectly 1990 sitcom so I might be biased.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:42 PM on November 5, 2017
The monologue was awful and way too long. Even if it had been funny it would have been too long.
Cecily Strong is amazing.
The Cousin CJ sketch was the greatest thing I've seen from SNL this season, BUT I just rewatched the entire run of Full House on Hulu (shutup) and the vibe was perfectly 1990 sitcom so I might be biased.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:42 PM on November 5, 2017
Altho per some tweets, I'm not a Jew so I can't blanch at concentration-camp dating jokes. And also evidently Larry David is the Official Spokesperson for All Jews & What Is Funny?
As a MOT I find Larry David's humor pretty cringeworthy to me personally, but at the same time I am so happy he's up there ahead of Woody Allen as a Funny Jew Who Isn't Awful basically being decent and making the jokes we've all silently been making about Weinstein. I think he specifically likes to push the envelope on uncomfortable humor and in these times of rampant anti-Semitism just getting up and being so weird and Jewy feels, to me, like resistance, even if I think not all his jokes landed.
Like, it's just so very Larry David to have his monologue not once but three times (I think) have me thinking "Oh god, I hope he pulls this off because this might be really really awful" and feeling a sort of relieved nervous laughter bubbling up at the end of it. Totally get why other people might hate it, but that's why I did not. Same with the Ad Council thing. I felt bad laughing at a joke where the punch line is someone lazily using the word "retarded" but I did laugh. I appreciated his character in the last bit which was the only non-Larry-David character he did.
The Dip Stix bit was wonderful. Moffat and Gardner absolutely stole Weekend Update.
I love how Moffat and Day seemed like sort of interchangeable white dudes when they started and have really differentiated themselves. This may be my favorite Moffat character.
I loved Gardner's commitment to it.
Yeah I think she and Redd have been doing solid work, want to see more from Luke Null.
posted by jessamyn at 7:16 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]
As a MOT I find Larry David's humor pretty cringeworthy to me personally, but at the same time I am so happy he's up there ahead of Woody Allen as a Funny Jew Who Isn't Awful basically being decent and making the jokes we've all silently been making about Weinstein. I think he specifically likes to push the envelope on uncomfortable humor and in these times of rampant anti-Semitism just getting up and being so weird and Jewy feels, to me, like resistance, even if I think not all his jokes landed.
Like, it's just so very Larry David to have his monologue not once but three times (I think) have me thinking "Oh god, I hope he pulls this off because this might be really really awful" and feeling a sort of relieved nervous laughter bubbling up at the end of it. Totally get why other people might hate it, but that's why I did not. Same with the Ad Council thing. I felt bad laughing at a joke where the punch line is someone lazily using the word "retarded" but I did laugh. I appreciated his character in the last bit which was the only non-Larry-David character he did.
The Dip Stix bit was wonderful. Moffat and Gardner absolutely stole Weekend Update.
I love how Moffat and Day seemed like sort of interchangeable white dudes when they started and have really differentiated themselves. This may be my favorite Moffat character.
I loved Gardner's commitment to it.
Yeah I think she and Redd have been doing solid work, want to see more from Luke Null.
posted by jessamyn at 7:16 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]
"want to see more from Luke Null"
This has become my favorite game every week - at the end of the opening credits I look at Luke Null's name and face and say "Who?"
I feel like they're setting him up to be the next John Milhiser.
posted by komara at 7:22 AM on November 6, 2017
This has become my favorite game every week - at the end of the opening credits I look at Luke Null's name and face and say "Who?"
I feel like they're setting him up to be the next John Milhiser.
posted by komara at 7:22 AM on November 6, 2017
This has become my favorite game every week - at the end of the opening credits I look at Luke Null's name and face and say "Who?"
When you commented about him in the last (not Halloween) thread, I genuinely had no idea who or what you were talking about. So this time I had a moment of "Huh, he IS real."
Is it confirmation bias on my part or has Pete Davidson been appearing a lot more ever since he went on Weekend Update and said he should be in more sketches?
posted by Ruki at 9:07 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]
When you commented about him in the last (not Halloween) thread, I genuinely had no idea who or what you were talking about. So this time I had a moment of "Huh, he IS real."
Is it confirmation bias on my part or has Pete Davidson been appearing a lot more ever since he went on Weekend Update and said he should be in more sketches?
posted by Ruki at 9:07 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]
Breaking isn't usually a big problem and sometimes it makes the sketch funnier, but it completely killed that Celebration sketch.
posted by ckape at 2:20 PM on November 6, 2017
posted by ckape at 2:20 PM on November 6, 2017
The scene with Melania talking to the Trump dummy on Air Force One was so painfully true that it made me feel sorry for Melania Trump. There's no way Cheeto ever listens to her talk about her day. A stuffed dummy would treat her better than the loathsome pig she's married to.
And I've not been a Che fan previously. But man, I can't think of anyone aside from Sam Bee and Colbert who are so brazenly looking into the camera and telling the so-called Prez what worthless trash he is.
I do love it when Michael Che tells Donald Trump what's what. I often think of his response to Donald Trump's description of a chocolate cake as "the most beautiful chocolate cake you've ever seen": "Donald Trump, you don't know what cake I've seen."
posted by orange swan at 10:54 AM on November 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
And I've not been a Che fan previously. But man, I can't think of anyone aside from Sam Bee and Colbert who are so brazenly looking into the camera and telling the so-called Prez what worthless trash he is.
I do love it when Michael Che tells Donald Trump what's what. I often think of his response to Donald Trump's description of a chocolate cake as "the most beautiful chocolate cake you've ever seen": "Donald Trump, you don't know what cake I've seen."
posted by orange swan at 10:54 AM on November 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
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Larry David breaking in Celebration was very entertaining, and the Cousin CJ sketch was splendidly weird. Every Boxer's Girlfriend paid off a lot better than I would have guessed, I'd probably enjoy that character returning.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:48 PM on November 4, 2017 [2 favorites]