Saturday Night Live: Adam Sandler / Shawn Mendes
May 5, 2019 1:24 AM - Season 44, Episode 19 - Subscribe

Adam Sandler's first time hosting.

  • Cold Open: Family Feud - Kenan Thompson, Alex Moffatt, Beck Bennett, Ego Nwodim, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Mikey Day, Cecily Strong, Kyle Mooney, Melissa Villaseñor
  • Monologue - Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Pete Davidson
  • CNN Libya - Cecily Strong, Beck Bennett, Mikey Day, Adam Sandler
  • Clothes Are Holes - Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, Adam Sandler
  • Romano Tours - Adam Sandler, Alex Moffatt, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kenan Thompson
  • Sandler Family Reunion - Adam Sandler, Chris Redd, Kyle Mooney, Mikey Day, Pete Davidson, Kenan Thompson, Aidy Bryant, Melissa Villaseñor, Leslie Jones, Beck Bennett, Kristen Wiig, Jimmy Fallon
  • Rectix - Adam Sandler, Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Heidi Gardner
  • Shawn Mendes - If I Can't Have You
  • Weekend Update - Colin Jost, Michael Che
    • Elizabeth Warren - Kate McKinnon
    • Opera Man - Adam Sandler
  • Closing Time - Kenan Thompson, Adam Sandler, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig
  • Shawn Mendes - In My Blood
  • Chris Farley Song - Adam Sandler
posted by rhizome (15 comments total)
 
I missed the first half. Good to see Opera Man again. I wanted to like Closing Time but it kinda missed.

Why on earth didn't they make Sandler the musical guest? Its kinda his thing.
posted by ian1977 at 5:00 AM on May 5, 2019


Good to see Sandler after all these years. Other than seeing maybe one of his movies and promptly forgetting it, I haven't really seen him in anything other than SNL. I didn't realize he had been fired along with Rock.

Loved the Sandler family reunion. They did a similar one with Walken a few years ago. Weird that they had Kristen and Fallon in it though since they weren't really part of Sandler's years.

Odd choice of cold opens, though it was worth it for Leslie's non-imitation of Groot.

Romano Tours was good, though Sandler's line readings seemed a bit off at times. Good premise.

I think WU is getting shorter lately. I'm always here for Kate's Warren and I'd forgotten just how good Opera Man was, though I always kind of liked Cajun Man better.

Nice Farley tribute at the end.

I have no opinion on the musical guest.
posted by bondcliff at 6:59 AM on May 5, 2019


I didn't realize he had been fired along with Rock.

Rock was fired in 1993, Sandler (and Farley) in 1995 (as part of a big overhaul).
posted by Etrigan at 7:06 AM on May 5, 2019


The tour of Italy thing was possibly the best written sketch I have ever seen on SNL. Mindblowingly good. Like I want a transcript of that and whoever wrote it was a genius.

Also, surprisingly touching with the Chris Farley stuff. And even Opera Man can nail how the Democratic candidates are doing.

I enjoyed it. What the heck.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:17 AM on May 5, 2019 [7 favorites]


Loved the Sandler family reunion. They did a similar one with Walken a few years ago. Weird that they had Kristen and Fallon in it though since they weren't really part of Sandler's years.

It's been too long & I just couldn't connect with or even remember all the bits they were riffing on. I have no idea what the musical instrument thing was.
posted by scalefree at 10:17 AM on May 5, 2019


I remember it as a hand flourish thing he would use with his "whoopadee doo!" character, they just described as like a clarinet or whatever.

I think the Instagram Libya thing was SponCon for "ooredoo," whose logo was on the screen of the phone. They're a Qatari cell company.
posted by rhizome at 11:38 AM on May 5, 2019


The Tour of Italy commercial is a parody of Perillo Tours of Italy (examples from 1995 and 2019).
posted by plastic_animals at 12:20 PM on May 5, 2019 [4 favorites]


Adam is from my hometown (I used to babysit for his niece and nephew, we went to all the same schools, had some of the same teachers, etc.). My mom was over at his sister's house last night to watch the episode with a bunch of people, but she got sleepy and left before SNL started. I'm glad it went pretty well!
posted by ChuraChura at 12:34 PM on May 5, 2019 [7 favorites]


It looked like he was getting choked up during the Chris Farley song, which was unexpectedly touching.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:33 PM on May 5, 2019 [5 favorites]


Also, surprisingly touching with the Chris Farley stuff.

He's got a special out on Netflix and that's his closer, or close to it, and it brings the house down. The whole standup is pretty great.

It took me a while to figure out what was up with the Sandler Family reunion ("They're all making fun of him? That's odd.") but once I got it I liked it. Enjoyed all of it except Closing Time which I always mostly hate and even more this time because Wiig was in it.

Agreed that Romano Tours was terrific.
posted by jessamyn at 8:49 PM on May 5, 2019 [4 favorites]


I've been rewatching Sandler Family Reunion all day, just for the Bobby Boucher bit. Melissa Villaseñor can do the most out-of-the-blue impressions to perfection.
posted by galleta monster at 9:04 PM on May 5, 2019 [4 favorites]


I don't watch Game of Thrones (tried to watch it once, lasted less than half an episode because I hate that kind of medieval violence no matter many wolf puppies you throw my way), and I didn't bother with Twitter this evening because it's ALL GOT, so I was quite cross that the cold open was GOT and Avengers-themed, given that I also don't watch Avengers. Is there no escape from GOT?

The monologue was okay (how the hell did Rock and Sandler ever get fired from SNL?!?!!), CNN Libya wasn't too bad, then we had "Clothes are Holes", which I hated. I was thinking this episode was going to be a dud, but there were highlights. "Romano Tours" was funny and also hit close to home for me, because it brought back memories of a trip to England in 2002 which was really difficult for me because I was a total wreck over the way a guy I was involved with had treated me. People travel to get away from things like that, but wherever you go, there you are.

"Rectix" was funny ("It's a butt plug," "It's a PILL!!!"), and Weekend Update was pretty good. Kate McKinnon makes a perfect Elizabeth Warren, and I liked that her routine highlighted the contrast between her and the male candidates she's running against rather than trying to come up with some bullshit criticisms of her. Adam Sandler's Opera Man was good and I liked the progressive/feminist bent of it. The Chris Farley song was a nice tribute, and Sandler was clearly having difficulty getting through it, which was sad.

And if they were going to have Kristen Wiig on, they should have given her some better material. Seemed like a bit of a waste as it was.
posted by orange swan at 9:24 PM on May 5, 2019 [2 favorites]


Yeah, I think if any TV archaeologists want to study a typical 2010's show with a sentimental favorite for a host, they would pick this one. It was not the best show, not the worst show... just straight down the middle. Nothing too offensive. Nothing dead like a bomb. Even the stuff I didn't get the reference to, I thought was good. SOme of che's jokes were like YES. And a couple more were, "come on, man, really?"

• Also wondering why, especially in light of his latest Netflix special consisting of more than 50% one-minute songs. That was always where he shined the brightest.

• Coulda done without Wiig. Both times. But that said, this is a typical SNL episode. Almost like the complete average of everything in amount and in humor.

• The last two choices of musical guests, targeting the 11-to-15-year-old cis-hetero-female demographic: BTS was great—they had the moves and they were like a team of teenage superheroes. Mendes was unimpressive, but the second song was better than the first. That said, I am way out of the target demo. I always wonder whom Lorne thinks or knows is watching.

• I've decided the Last Call sketch doesn't exist except for Kenan's reactions. The rest of the slobbering, my brain tunes out.

All in all, this felt like what that Google AI Dream Machine thing would crank out if you fed the entire history of SNL into it. The mathematical mean of all episodes.
posted by not_on_display at 5:27 PM on May 6, 2019


This is kind of my grinding-axe, but I think sketches like that are probably standard improv exercises. Cat Rescue, Debette Goldry...I don't want to stack all this up on Kate's back, but she always appears at the scene of the crime (no, I don't think they're that bad).
posted by rhizome at 12:13 PM on May 7, 2019


I, too, can't wait for Brooks Wheelan to make his triumphant return to SNL as a host. not_on_display should start a petition. It worked for Betty White!

So Kid Ruki and I are listed in each other's phones as Baby Groot and Groot. I took videos of Leslie saying "Bitch I'm Groot" and texted them to Baby Groot and it's our new favorite thing.

WU gets a pat on the head for Warren (my new favorite impersonation by Kate) and Opera Man lifting up female candidates instead of shitting on them.
posted by Ruki at 3:23 PM on May 18, 2019 [1 favorite]


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