Saturday Night Live: David Harbour / Camila Cabello
October 13, 2019 4:42 PM - Season 45, Episode 3 - Subscribe

David Harbour is from "Stranger Things."

  • Cold Open, "Equality in America": Alex Moffatt, Billy Porter, Chris Redd, Aidy Bryant, Colin Jost, Kyle Mooney, Kate McKinnon, Beck Bennett, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Melissa Villaseñor, Woody Harrelson, Bowen Yang
  • Monologue: David Harbour, Aidy Bryant, Beck Bennett, Pete Davidson, Lorne Michaels, Kenan Thompson
  • Little Miss Teacher's Friend: Aidy Bryant, David Harbour, Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Kate McKinnon, Melissa Villaseñor, Chloe Fineman, Extras
  • Grouch: David Harbour, Chris Redd, Ego Nwodimb, Bowen Yang, Kenan Thompson, Chloe Fineman, Alex Moffatt, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Melissa Villaseñor, Beck Bennett
  • Soulcycle: Ego Nwodim, Alex Moffatt, Cecily Strong, Bowen Yang, David Harbour, Heidi Gardner, Kate McKinnon
  • Camila Cabello - Cry for Me
  • Weekend Update: Colin Jost, Michael Che
    • Bailey at the Movies: Heidi Gardner
    • Pete Davidson: Pete Davidson
  • Folk of the Past: Alex Moffatt, Aidy Bryant, David Harbour, Kate McKinnon
  • Father Son Podcasting Microphone: David Harbour, Kyle Mooney
  • Nona & Papa: Cecily Strong, Kyle Mooney, Melissa Villaseñor, David Harbour, Kate McKinnon
  • Camila Cabello - Easy
  • Dog Court: Cecily Strong, Chris Redd, David Harbour, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffatt, Melissa Villaseñor

posted by rhizome (22 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I laughed a lot. Good episode.

I hope Woody's Biden doesn't become the new Baldwin's Trump.

The monologue was kind of weak. It seemed a bit off or badly timed or something. Plus, David Harbour wasn't even attempting to look at the people he was supposed to be talking to.

Pete does not look healthy. I hope he's ok.

Grouch was, of course, one of the best things in a long time. Just perfect, all of it.

I had never before heard the name Camila Cabello but I liked her. That first number with the All Along The Watchtower backing was neat. Is she someone who is already huge but I am just out of touch?

I am a sucker for the sketches that are just an excuse to hold animals.

Liked the podcasting microphone commercial.

The folk song was ok. I laughed a few times.
posted by bondcliff at 5:08 PM on October 13, 2019


I would watch the Grouch movie.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:03 PM on October 13, 2019 [1 favorite]


Pretty good! Dog court is best court.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 6:26 PM on October 13, 2019


The cold open was okay. Kate McKinnon does such a perfect Elizabeth Warren.

I thought David Harbour wasn't bad at all, and he seemed very game.

The Grouch trailer was fun and creative, but I think the most laughing I did in this episode was when I was watching Cecily Strong struggle to stay in character and maintain her hold on a very uncooperative dog,
posted by orange swan at 8:00 PM on October 13, 2019 [6 favorites]


I'm a fan of 'Stranger Things' but is David Harbour milking it a little too hard? He was on Late Night or (and?) Daily Show recently and... erg.

Monologue: he humble bragged about 'gaining 20 pounds for the role' - when nobody asked him for it. The joke is that it's usually 20 pounds in fat - but in his sleeveless Soul Cycle skit, he's got a ton of muscle and has the genetic background to do such muscle mass gain more naturally than most.

Redd's Booker impression is pretty good. I really hope Woody isn't a regular.

I'm completely not sold on Bowen Yang. If the recurring punchline is that he's an effete Asian with a high voice, low stature, myopia requiring glasses, poor spoken English, then fuck the writers and forget Yang for not fighting against those roles. It's pretty gross.

The Matteo character in 'Superstore' completely turned me from that show.
posted by porpoise at 8:16 PM on October 13, 2019


But, yes, 'The Grouch' was marvellous! Glad mainstream is criticizing the joker movie.
posted by porpoise at 8:19 PM on October 13, 2019


Mr. Yang did a fine job as the anchor for ABCDEFG News.
posted by Guy Smiley at 8:25 PM on October 13, 2019 [16 favorites]


Eponysterical!
posted by jessamyn at 8:27 PM on October 13, 2019 [7 favorites]


This was about a hundred times better than the first two episodes. It was okay. Pete Davidson is too good for this, but I'm glad he's there. Grouch was pretty dead on, but what made it for me were the Bert and Ernie impressions. Astonishing.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:46 PM on October 13, 2019 [4 favorites]


But on the other hand, what was that "it's a me, Mario" Italian grandparents sketch? I'm not even a little Italian and it offended me. Just terrible.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:51 PM on October 13, 2019


I thought it was a good episode. Grouch was definitely the standout of the episode.

Woody as Biden is something that would be fine in isolation but I'm getting tired of every political figure being a special guest. It's just one more reason for me to hope Warren wins it all, I guess.

Camila Cabello is a name I've heard of, but not really familiar with her beyond that. The songs were pretty good, and I'm a sucker for when the musical guest gets theatrical.
posted by ckape at 8:54 PM on October 13, 2019


I'm still amused by Pete. Always.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:22 PM on October 13, 2019


Pete does not look healthy. I hope he's ok.

Same. He was in the monologue sketch, but the lighting was such that I couldn't tell if it was making Pete look more Pete-like, or if he was genuinely ill.

Then, his appearance during Update really had me wondering. Pete's dark, sunken eyes always makes him look somewhat unwell anyway, but he really looked gaunt in the face. And his manner was pretty weird, like he was about to jump out of his skin. And the bit had this thrown-together-at-the-last-minute feel of "Hey! Pete's in the building! See if he'd do a quick bit just to let the fans know he's still on the show."
posted by Thorzdad at 4:22 AM on October 14, 2019


Skipped the cold open, don't care for their way of downplaying and cutsiefying the horrors of the political scene these days. Opening monologue was really awkward, seems like nobody really knew what to do with him including himself. The bit with Kenan and Lorne was good but the timing was really off, seems like maybe Lorne missed a line?

Grouch was best skit and overall the skits were much better than last couple weeks. I liked the Weekend Update, though I always am a little confused by the edginess of the catholic-priests-are-child-molestors type of jokes, it's too common and too true to be getting that kind of reaction I think. I liked Pete's bit and have had similar jokes or experiences, I've only ever gotten one STD but it was basically no big deal at all, took some free pills at a place and it was gone -- I don't even remember which one. So that bit had me cracking up.

Dog court was pretty funny and the final joke was spot on too.
posted by GoblinHoney at 7:57 AM on October 14, 2019 [1 favorite]


But on the other hand, what was that "it's a me, Mario" Italian grandparents sketch? I'm not even a little Italian and it offended me. Just terrible.

Yeah a few places where SNL falls flat for me are when Kate plays older people and some of the jokes are just "Ha ha old people are weird," the same for (most of the time) when male characters dress up as women and the jokes are "Ha ha this person doesn't look female and/or is portraying a woman in an awkward manner" and also bad "ethnic" impressions. This had all three and was terrible!

I liked most of the rest of the episode. I agree that Yang needs to get some better wider-ranging bits going, but I've been happy with some of the stuff he's been willing to do on the show. Redd is likewise short and he gets to play taller folks (Booker) so hopefully they'll have some stuff for Yang that is outside of his (I agree, too narrow) things he's done so far.

Grouch was masterful and made me realize just how bad the first two episodes were. I agree the monologue was weird but I thought Harbour in general was just fine. Teacher's Friend managed to be pretty funny while NOT having some weird inappropriate kid/teacher crush lines which SNL seems to go for. Was really hoping to see Suedekis do Biden, hope we're not stuck with Harrelson. The opener was a LOT more funny if you'd read about it in the news (Jim hadn't, and I had to tell him "That REALLY happened basically" a lot)

Along the lines of hoping Pete is OK I really hope Kyle gets along with his real-life dad because that's been two "dad....?" bits with him this season.

I liked the musical guest though I'd never heard of her. I miss Leslie. I thought Folk of the Past was better than I was expecting. Same for Dog Court. Ending with Cecily getting worked over by that pug was hilarious to me.
posted by jessamyn at 8:43 AM on October 14, 2019 [2 favorites]


I agree with the AVClub review that Warren's actual zinger was better than anything the SNL writers came up with.
posted by ckape at 10:27 AM on October 14, 2019 [6 favorites]


I think Pete is chronically ill by default. Doesn't he have like, Crohn's or something like that, which is why he smokes all the weed?
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:33 PM on October 14, 2019


I feel like Dog Court was a really good sketch they ran out of time to write and would otherwise be earlier in the episode. Horny Grandpa was just a bucket of easy improv like they do. Maybe they spent too much time on Soulcycle, which was just a kitchen sink of everything that occurred to anybody.
posted by rhizome at 2:50 PM on October 14, 2019


I think Pete is chronically ill by default. Doesn't he have like, Crohn's or something like that...?

Yeah, you're right. I forgot he has Crohn's. According to Wikipedia, he's also dealing with Borderline Personality Disorder.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:53 AM on October 15, 2019


I feel like Dog Court was a really good sketch they ran out of time to write and would otherwise be earlier in the episode.

Yeah, it was a really not-weird ten-to-one sketch. I wonder whether they tried it out and realized that the dogs had the potential to derail it (and possibly the whole show) entirely.
posted by Etrigan at 6:25 AM on October 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Yeah, it was a really not-weird ten-to-one sketch. I wonder whether they tried it out and realized that the dogs had the potential to derail it (and possibly the whole show) entirely.

Kate had a line in one of the sketches about a cat scratching her cornea, and although it was a joke, I remembered the Whiskers R We sketch where a cat took a swipe at her. I'm pretty sure that was the last Whiskers R We sketch!
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:27 AM on October 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


Kate McKinnon doing the Sasha Velour rose-petal reveal had me scream-laughing.

Hearing Pete Davidson say "syphilises" was also a treasured moment.
posted by en forme de poire at 10:27 PM on October 15, 2019 [1 favorite]


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