Saturday Night Live: Dakota Johnson / Justin Timberlake

January 30, 2024 2:36 AM - Season 49, Episode 10

Jimmy Fallon invades, but just for a few moments.

• Cold Open - NFL Championships: Andrew Dismukes, James Austin Johnson, Kenan Thompson, Devon Walker, Mikey Day, Michael Longfellow, Heidi Gardner, Molly Kearney
• Monologue: Dakota Johnson, Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon
• Buccatinos: James Austin Johnson, Molly Kearney, Sarah Sherman, Devon Walker, Chloe Troast, Dakota Johnson
• Home Movies: Andrew Dismukes, Mikey Day, Dakota Johnson, James Austin Johnson, Marcello Hernandez, Sarah Sherman
• Barry Gibb Talk Show: Justin Timberlake, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, Dakota Johnson
• Please Don't Destroy: PDD, Dakota Johnson
• Big Dumb Cup: Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Dakota Johnson
• Justin Timberlake - Sanctified (with Toby Nwigwe)
• Weekend Update: Michael Che, Colin Jost
• Ethan's Award Nominees: Bowen Yang
• Jan Janby Predictions: Heidi Gardner
• Shark Tank Book Club: Chloe Fineman, Molly Kearney, Dakota Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Punkie Johnson, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran
• Justin Timberlake - Selfish
• Airline Lost Bag: Dakota Johnson, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Kenan Thompson

posted by rhizome (14 comments total)

Never have I more wished that it was Andy Samberg that was constantly dropping by rather than Jimmy Fallon.
posted by ckape at 5:24 AM on January 30 [10 favorites]

To be honest, I wondered if Fallon was ill, then I figured it was just mugging and being bad at comedy.
posted by Stanczyk at 5:57 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]

As a positive, the Please Don’t Destroy roast was hilarious.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:52 AM on January 30 [12 favorites]

I watched until the musical number and whew, one stinker after another. Please Don't Destroy and Big Dumb Dump were funny but that should've been the floor, not the ceiling.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:54 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]

This cast seems to have a great lineup of supporting comedic actors but few (Bowen, Sarah) who seem willing to take chances. Maybe they're being reined in by the network, but the skits seldom seem to have any edge or room to expand into something iconic. Dakota seemed fine, but just wasn't given much to work with beyond the roast.
posted by OHenryPacey at 9:34 AM on January 30

Lorne Michaels turns 80 this year. I think it's well past time to move things along to the new generation.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:39 AM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Not a great episode and fuck Justin Timberlake!
posted by ellieBOA at 10:20 AM on January 30 [5 favorites]

I was surprisingly tickled by the “Don’t Ask Me If I’m Okay. I’m Okay. But If Everyone Starts Asking Me If I’m Okay, I Might Start Crying” sketch but sadly they botched the ending by bringing in the Shark Tank folks. They should have cut right after Ego’s offer.
posted by ejs at 12:28 PM on January 30 [3 favorites]

Was it just me or was Dakota purposely throwing-off the timing in some of the skits? I swear she was reading her lines slooowly and putting long pauses in.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:32 PM on January 30

I think she was acting. Classic mistake. Its like the opposite of sports hosts.
posted by kittensofthenight at 3:37 PM on January 30 [4 favorites]

I thought the Home Movies and Please Don't Destroy sketches (and the clip of seven-year-old Dakota doing an eyeroll during her father's red carpet interview) were quite funny, but the episode was otherwise mediocre.
posted by orange swan at 12:35 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

This was a tough watch. There were a few bits that had decent writing but they were botched in the execution. The lost bag bit felt like it could've been a real passing of the torch, with Kenan playing one of his cheerful weirdo characters and Devon Walker as his equally eccentric son, but then the sketch just never found its groove at all.

Dakota Johnson must have been absolutely killing it in rehearsals, because they loaded her up with all this stuff to do. Unfortunately she choked during the actual show and she seemed stiff and uncomfortable throughout. She might be the first host I've ever felt sorry for. If they've got a basketball player or some other non-performer they know how to write around that, but in this case it felt like they were writing for somebody they expected to be a lot better at sketch comedy. Like, that character in the book club sketch could've been magic if you gave it to a Kristen Wiig, somebody who could really dig in and get weird, but Johnon had major "just let me get through this" energy.

Mostly I was glad they never had Fallon and Timberlake resurrect that bit where they dress up as goddamned food mascots. It felt like they did that 30 times back in the day, and you know they tried to sell SNL on it again this time.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:12 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

> Big Dumb Dump

💩
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 8:38 PM on February 3

As a positive, the Please Don’t Destroy roast was hilarious.

I enjoyed that one. I do not want to watch Fallon ever again if possible, he just seems like a "try too hard" guy. Many of these sketches seemed like they had good bones and were destroyed by timing. Like Big Dumb Cup had some great lines (and Chloe1 and Heidi were giving it their all) but Dakota just didn't have the right... something. I also was hoping that Buccatinos was going to have a punch line about AI after the "chicken fongers" thing but I guess not. I liked Toby Nwigwe of the Timberlake song. and why was Chapelle on the stage at the end??!! Loved Bowen in the news segment.
posted by jessamyn at 8:01 AM on March 5