Saturday Night Live: Woody Harrelson / Jack White
February 26, 2023 1:08 AM - Season 48, Episode 13 - Subscribe

Double 5-timer episode.

  • Cold Open - Trump in East Palestine: James Austin Johnson, Chloe Fineman
  • Monologue: Woody Harrelson
  • Prison Visit: Woody Harrelson, Chloe Fineman, Kenan Thompson, Ego Nwodim
  • The Stakeout: PDD, Woody Harrelson
  • Mission Slingshot: Woody Harrelson, Kenan Thompson, Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Molly Kearney
  • Submarine: Kenan Thompson, Woody Harrelson, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Michael Longfellow, Bowen Yang, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Devon Walker
  • Cologard: Woody Harrelson, Kenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner, Andrew Dismukes
  • Jack White - Taking Me Back/Fear of the Dawn
  • Weekend Update: Michael Che, Colin Jost
    • Bill Walton: James Austin Johnson
    • Gina Bianchi: Heidi Gardner
  • Movie Rehearsal: Mikey Day, James Austin Johnson, Ego Nwodim, Chloe Fineman, Woody Harrelson
  • Jack White - Lazaretto
  • Most Beautiful Gym: Woody Harrelson, Bowen Yang, Michael Longfellow, Sarah Sherman
posted by rhizome (22 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Why do they keep letting people share trash views in the monologues: Woody Harrelson Rambles About Weed, Anti-Vax Conspiracy In 'SNL' Monologue [HuffPost]

Cut for time: Musical Promo
posted by ellieBOA at 4:46 AM on February 26, 2023 [3 favorites]


I don't know the guy's politics, but even if you give him the benefit of the doubt that he was joking about being a conspiracy theorist (he's not joking, is he?), that was still one of the worst monologues I've seen in a long time.

The rest of the show was pretty good, but it felt like there were a lot of missing cast members. Where the hell is Sarah Sherman? She's hardly been in the show at all since it came back. I'm worried she won't last if they can't write her into sketches.

I loved The Stakeout. Just perfect and wacky. I know not everyone loves the PDD shorts but I really enjoy them.

Cologuard was great. I assume it was an ad? I've had to do the cologuard and it kind of is a weird experience, especially when you drop it off at the UPS store.

I love love love Jack White and thought both his performances were pretty intense.

The Submarine sketch was probably my favorite of the night.
posted by bondcliff at 7:24 AM on February 26, 2023 [3 favorites]


Big Chappelle “I’m not antisemitic, but gosh there’s a lot of Them in Hollywood aren’t there…” energy. A pity, because otherwise this was a solid episode.
posted by Etrigan at 7:54 AM on February 26, 2023 [4 favorites]


I didn't watch the whole episode, but that was the first PDD sketch that I thought was really funny. And not just the "LOL at men kissing" — the whole idea and execution were really well done.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:05 AM on February 26, 2023 [1 favorite]


The PDDs are getting better. I might have to actually learn their names at some point.

I always want Woody to be better than he is, which is just OK. Big personality tho, and I thought he was funny to rope his agent into his rambling. Maybe that factored into the Underwhelming 5-timer Jacket thing? There was speculation that the SAG Awards might have put a crimp on the cameos, but maybe it's just him.

Two things I learned about Jack White last night: he's 6'2" and he's almost 50. Some interviewer should ask him about his skin regimen! He's also an artist I always think I should catch up on, so he was definitely a highlight of the night. Is he the first musical-guest-only 5-timer?

I don't follow basketball much, but I think the Bill Walton thing might have been pretty funny if you know how he is?

Overall I give it a middling score, maybe below average when taking the rest of the season into account.
posted by rhizome at 10:18 AM on February 26, 2023 [1 favorite]


I actually watched this one live and not the next day and was having a conversation during Woody’s monologue—guess I didn’t miss much? I also missed the Cologard commercial because I thought it was a real commercial and left the room. Usually the opposite happens where I see some ludicrous commercial and think it must be a sketch.

I was dying over Kenan in the Slingshot sketch, and absolutely loved the Most Beautiful Gym sketch. also enjoyed Heidi Gardner’s latest in her string of niche character archetypes. Her delivery when Colin asks about her daughters and she flatly states “they’re doctors” was hilarious.

The Movie Rehearsal sketch was like if one of the writers saw all the online fatphobia and fat-suit discourse around The Whale and said “let’s start that again!”
posted by ejs at 11:05 AM on February 26, 2023


Ha ha I had to rewind to watch the Cologuard commercial too! I didn't see the NBC corner watermark at the beginning, so just returned to my game, then I was like "Woody?"
posted by rhizome at 12:16 PM on February 26, 2023 [2 favorites]


Woody Harrelson may have a different relationship to conspiracy theories than the average person, given that some people claim his father killed JFK.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 2:18 PM on February 26, 2023 [3 favorites]


"This gym is so classy it should be called James."
posted by mochapickle at 5:17 PM on February 26, 2023 [5 favorites]


Normally I'm excited to have a monologue that's actually a monologue and also not a repurposed stand-up bit, but that wasn't very good. And he didn't even mention the most important part: that he was wearing an onion on his belt, which was the style at the time.

Looks like Woody set a new record for longest time between 1st and 5th hosting gigs at 33 years, I had always assumed nobody was going to beat Drew Barrymore's 24 years.

I think my favorite of the night was The Most Beautiful Gym, which definitely lived up to the 10-to-1 slot. Cologard was another good one.

Movie rehearsal was one of those sketches where they just had one joke that wasn't really enough to support a sketch, but went ahead with it anyway. Then again, if you had simply described the Submarine sketch to me I would've probably said the same thing, but the rapid fire pacing kept it from floundering.
posted by ckape at 6:22 PM on February 26, 2023


I watch SNL on youtube these days. I was wondering if they finally gave him a jacket during the closing goodbyes.
posted by lilywing13 at 7:10 PM on February 26, 2023


The antivax monologue joke fell completely flat. I'm giving Harrelson the benefit of the doubt for making a dumb edgy politically "balanced" instead of actually holding those sentiments to heart.

The sketches were ok. 'The Stakeout' and 'Cologard' had fun Woody punchlines. Austin Johnson had a fun character.
posted by porpoise at 7:38 PM on February 26, 2023 [1 favorite]


Is he the first musical-guest-only 5-timer?

A bunch of musical guests have appeared 5 or more times, though I can't find a good list. I found a listacle with 6 appearances or more. Dave Grohl has appeared 14 times. But I think this may be the first time they've handed out a jacket and specifically said it was for musical appearances.

Although, Paul Simon has only hosted 4 times but was in the first five timers sketch. So his musical appearances must have counted towards him getting the jacket.
posted by Gary at 8:00 PM on February 26, 2023 [1 favorite]


This was my favorite episode in awhile as in I LOL’d through most of it. For some reason the jokes were funnier than usual. Does the host get to help write? Could this be because Woody’s comedy clicks with me?
posted by bendy at 8:39 PM on February 26, 2023


It is a safe assumption that some hosts definitely write, especially former cast and writers who host. There are lots of stories of hosts pitching ideas. I believe I recall that some, notably Tom Green, brought in their own writers...to not much success.
posted by mmascolino at 9:09 PM on February 26, 2023


Kenan's physical acting in the Slingshot sketch was amazing. I'm assuming that in reality the ride wasn't moving at all and he sold it. Hilarious.
posted by mmoncur at 9:42 PM on February 26, 2023


They missed a joke, should have come out with a straitjacket for Woody.

(Though TBH I only peeked at that opening monologue because some people on the internet were freaking out about it, and, well, meh. The controversial bit wasn't funny, nor really very controversial, or even legible. Fake outrage! The best kind!)
posted by chavenet at 2:29 AM on February 27, 2023


Where the hell is Sarah Sherman? She's hardly been in the show at all since it came back. I'm worried she won't last if they can't write her into sketches.

Spin off her own show please.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 9:52 AM on February 27, 2023


lilywing13: They did give him the jacket during the closing; I think it was even ScarJo who popped in to give it to him.

I only know Bill Walton as a character from Comedy Bang Bang podcast, so was mildly surprised to learn he's a real person.
posted by Marticus at 2:14 PM on February 27, 2023


I think SS is doing fine. She's in at least three, usually four, sketches per episode and she was in five when the Martins hosted. Regardless, I think she's got a bright future.
posted by rhizome at 5:54 PM on February 27, 2023


I saw on Instagram that Sarah is touring with Patti Harrison and Meg Stalter, which could possibly explain why she didn’t do much this week…
posted by ejs at 3:54 PM on February 28, 2023


I googled Harrelson. Apparently he's said COVID set protocols are nonsense and there shouldn't be mandatory masking, testing, or vaccination requirements, so I think there's some reactionary attitudes there.

During Weekend Update, I was even more disgusted with Michael Che than usual, which is saying something.

There were a few funny sketches in this one, but it was a tainted episode for me.
posted by orange swan at 8:07 PM on February 28, 2023 [2 favorites]


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