Saturday Night Live: Quinta Brunson / Lil Yachty

April 2, 2023 12:36 PM - Season 48, Episode 16

First-time host, first-time musical guest.

• Cold Open - Message from Trump: James Austin Johnson, Kenan Thompson, Devon Walker, Mikey Day
• Monologue: Quinta Brunson
• Buying Cocaine: Andrew Dismukes, Devon Walker, Marcello Hernandez, Quinta Brunson, Kenan Thompson, Punkie Johnson, James Austin Johnson, Michael Longfellow
• I Was a Bridesmaid: Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Quinta Brunson, James Austin Johnson, Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman, Punkie Johnson, Molly Kearney, Chloe Fineman
• Couple Goals: James Austin Johnson, Quinta Brunson, Kenan Thompson, Michael Longfellow, Punkie Johnson, Devon Walker, Ego Nwodim
• Road Rage: Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Quinta Brunson, Ego Nwodim
• Lil Yachty - The Black Seminole
• Weekend Update: Michael Che, Colin Jost
  • Michaelangelo's David: Michael Longfellow
  • Short Kings: Marcello Hernandez
• Delivery Room: Heidi Gardner, Quinta Brunson, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes
• Lil Yachty - Drive Me Crazy
• The Penis Brothers: Bowen Yang, Molly Kearney, Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, Quinta Brunson
• Street Eats: PDD, Quinta Brunson

posted by rhizome (13 comments total)

I thought Lil Yachty's set, which really he shared with his band, was amazing. Overall the best musical performance for me in a while and a really solid episode otherwise.
posted by os tuberoes at 1:32 PM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I was quite impressed by Lil Yachty, as well.

Overall, this was a pretty good outing. The cold open was kinda predictable, but the rest of the first half, up to and including WU was solid. Couple Goals and Road Rage were the standouts for me.

Colin breaking during WU was priceless. I get the feeling he and Che are having a lot more fun with the set this season.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:32 PM on April 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Quinta Brunson was hilarious, and this episode was funnier than usual. Another point for my theory that having experienced comedic TV actors host gets the best results.

At the beginning of Weekend Update, I was really surprised that Trump Indicted jokes were getting no response whatsoever. It being an April Fool’s prank by Che was *chef’s kiss*. And then Marcello’s bit about the short kings—I guess the idea of scoring points against Colin is now open to everyone in the cast?

I’m loving Bowen Yang’s new style of awful character—Midwife Barry was so much like the murderous jilted Tinder date from the Travis Kelce episode.
posted by ejs at 2:49 PM on April 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Everybody knows I gush over James Austin Johnson's impressions.

"You... are a ... little bitch." ... ... "She was a ... bitch." ... "Hey!"

Good April's fool on Jost - kudos to his professionalism to finish his line.
posted by porpoise at 5:51 PM on April 2, 2023

That was a great episode. I don't watch Abbott Elementary but I might have to start. She was wonderful.

Loved the cocaine dealer sketch.

Lil Yachty was great.
posted by bondcliff at 8:43 PM on April 2, 2023

Do Colin and Che not share their jokes before the show? There are so many times where they look like they’re reacting to something they haven’t seen before.
posted by bendy at 11:25 PM on April 2, 2023

Love Quinta Brunson and she was great! I didn’t know that Lil Yachty had gone full psych-rock recently, he was good and Diana Gordon who was singing with him is amazing!
posted by ellieBOA at 3:47 AM on April 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

I think Colin and Che know that breaking and cracking up during WU is a huge part of their success and play into it. These folks are professional writers and performers. They know exactly what they are doing when they are on stage. I don't think it's 100% fake, but they lean into the bit.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:50 AM on April 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

You definitely lean into the role to play up the drama.

Also there is extensive re-writes of the show's material between dress rehearsal (9pm-11pm) and the live show (11:30pm-1am). The sketches can be rewritten (usually shortened) during the show in reaction to things going long in the first half of the show.

So it is quite possible they are reading some of the material cold and quite possibly the order and exact wording has changed.

(This is in addition to what they did with Stefon's material where it was purposefully changed so that Bill Hader would struggle not to break while performing).
posted by mmascolino at 9:01 AM on April 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

For people who haven't seen Black Lady Sketch Show I think that the cocaine and road rage skits are the closest to BLSS.
Maybe also the bridesmaid skit.
posted by fiercekitten at 12:26 PM on April 3, 2023 [4 favorites]

I'll have to check this out -- Lil Yachty's latest album is amazing.
posted by vverse23 at 6:56 PM on April 3, 2023

This was Kenan's 400th episode. The next closest cast member is Darrell Hammond at 267 (appearances while a full-time cast member only). The closest currently is Colin with 187.
posted by Etrigan at 7:58 PM on April 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

I would have gotten nowhere in life without "oop let me scoot right by ya".
posted by Catblack at 8:13 PM on April 5, 2023 [2 favorites]