Saturday Night Live: Dan Levy / Phoebe Bridgers
February 7, 2021 12:09 PM - Season 46, Episode 11 - Subscribe

900th episode.

  • Cold Open - Super Bowl LV: Kenan Thompson, Beck Bennett, Mikey Day, Alex Moffatt, Chris Redd
  • Monologue: Dan Levy
  • Thoby: Mikey Day, Ego Nwodim, Dan Levy, Kenan Thompson, Andrew Dismukes, Bowen Yang
  • Zillow: Bowen Yang, Dan Levy, Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Alex Moffatt, Mikey Day, Cecily Strong
  • Superbowl Party: Beck Bennett, Dan Levy, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Heidi Gardner, Kate McKinnon, Bowen Yang
  • BET - Lifting Our Voices: Kenan Thompson, Aidy Bryant, Punkie Johnson, Chris Redd, Dan Levy, Ego Nwodim, Kyle Mooney
  • Phoebe Bridgers - Kyoto
  • Weekend Update: Michael Che, Colin Jost
    • Child Cancellation Project: Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner
    • Twins, The New Trend: Kenan Thompson, Chris Redd
  • Hot Damn: Cecily Strong, Dan Levy, Kenan Thompson, Ego Nwodim, Alex Moffatt, Beck Bennett
  • Wedding: Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day, Alex Moffatt, Dan Levy, Kate McKinnon
  • Phoebe Bridgers - I Know the End
  • It Gets Better: Bowen Yang, Kate McKinnon, Punkie Johnson, Dan Levy
Cut for time: Men's Cosmetics
posted by rhizome (23 comments total)
 
I love Dan Levy and thought he did a great job! The Thoby sketch was quite risque (TIL about softeners). It was nice to see Punkie Johnson a couple of times. Loved the Zillow spot and the cut scene.

I had never heard of Phoebe Bridgers. I was not taken with her style or music, and the screaming and guitar smashing in the last song was unintentionally hilarious and embarrassing. No thanks!
posted by mefireader at 12:28 PM on February 7, 2021 [4 favorites]


Hot Damn was funny. The rest was a little meh. But, yay, Dan Levy!
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 1:11 PM on February 7, 2021


I laughed at "Former social-media influencer Donald Trump"
posted by Mogur at 1:37 PM on February 7, 2021 [16 favorites]


Phoebe Bridgers was great as usual. She was in boygenius with Lucy Dacus, and Dacus is a Richmonder, so I've known about Bridgers for a while.

Phoebe Bridgers on Metafilter previously and previously
posted by emelenjr at 1:55 PM on February 7, 2021 [1 favorite]


I thought it was a decent show. Even WU was solid. Loved Zillow and the Child Cancellation Project.

Enjoyed seeing Eugene Levy make an appearance and tried not to think about how he potentially exposed himself on a flight just for a 30 second spot. I'm assuming Eugene hosted at some point so, if so, is this the first child host of a former host? I'm gonna guess "no."

Aidy was the star of the show, as always. Loved her as duel coaches in the cold open.

And how refreshing it is that there were no sketches about politics!

I had heard of Phoebe Bridges only by name but had never heard her music before. I enjoyed the first song, kind of fun and popish. It was nice to see a band enjoying themselves and smiling and generally having a good time. Then I thought the second song was kind of boring and when she started to scream and smash her guitar I rolled my eyes so far back into my head they came back around from the bottom.
posted by bondcliff at 1:57 PM on February 7, 2021 [2 favorites]


I thought it was a pretty solid episode! I too did not know about "softeners." I wonder if liking WU more these days just has to do with Trump being gone, like they don't have to be so desperate to come up with non-Trump items, and the selection process for those other items was all off-kilter because of the distraction of...everything else. Anyway, it does seem more wide-open, topically.

I thought I read in the past week or sothat Eugene Levy and John Candy hosted together in the 80s or something, but they didn't so apparently it was in my dreams. Candy hosted in 83 while still on SCTV, Levy never has, and really I don't know what he ever did that would get him asked. American Pie? Doubtful. Certainly not the Christopher Guest movies. As Dan went thorugh the hallway he referenced Catherine O'Hara hosting, but she's always been much more visible and hosted twice between Home Alones 1 and 2. /statsnerd
posted by rhizome at 2:21 PM on February 7, 2021 [2 favorites]


I kind of love the fact that Nwodim and Gardner seem like pals.

In the wrap/ closer, it looked like Nwodim was pushing Gardner closer to center stage to show off her matching dress and face mask... then the camera pulls back and they're both wearing matching sparkly shoes!
posted by porpoise at 2:22 PM on February 7, 2021 [1 favorite]


Oh, and Bridgers' guitar smashing seems to be a topic of some controversy and ridicule on Twitter today. Shrug. To me she looks like whatsherface from Gone Girl, Rosamund Pike, so I imagine some stereotypes about suburban white girls underlies a lot of it. I don't begrudge her even if it's "extra." They seemed like real songs played by a real band.
posted by rhizome at 2:26 PM on February 7, 2021 [2 favorites]


I don't like SNL but I did watch Phoebe Bridger's performance and loved it and getting a chuckle over all the pearl-clutching over her Pete Townshend act.
posted by octothorpe at 3:05 PM on February 7, 2021 [10 favorites]


I'm assuming Eugene hosted at some point
According to EW,
Over 35 years ago, on the SNL Film Festival special, SCTV star Eugene Levy appeared alongside John Candy to plug the following week's episode with musical guests Hall & Oates. A brief strike by the Writers Guild of America kiboshed their episode, and Levy never appeared.
posted by cheshyre at 3:58 PM on February 7, 2021 [3 favorites]


I did watch Phoebe Bridger's performance and loved it and getting a chuckle over all the pearl-clutching over her Pete Townshend act
Oh man, exactly. I thought she was great.
But in these troubled times it's been so nice to finally get to hear what a whole bunch of middle-aged dudes on twitter think, particularly the insights on who smashed a guitar first and how to properly smash a guitar the man-way.
Only slightly less humourous are the people saying stuff like she should have donated the guitar instead.
posted by chococat at 4:06 PM on February 7, 2021 [19 favorites]


Sometimes the whole "guitar as penis" metaphor gets embarrassingly obvious.
posted by MrVisible at 4:19 PM on February 7, 2021 [2 favorites]


Phoebe Bridgers' guitar didn't even break! I'm sure it was damaged but as far as I can tell, the neck didn't even snap.

She told Danelectro she was going to do it & they were like "good luck because our guitars don't really break." I actually have 2 Danelectros & I like them quite a bit but one was more or less free (my boyfriend had given that shop a lot of money & they were selling it for around $100) & the other cost me like $150 more than 10 years ago. Even new ones start around $500. They are good instruments but they're not anything super fancy or prestigious.

I'm not particularly a fan of smashing instruments but I also recognized it's a grand rock tradition. I thought that whole performance was a lot of fun.
posted by edencosmic at 4:55 PM on February 7, 2021 [7 favorites]


I really enjoyed the guitar smashing.

We had to pause the show to discuss the Back to the Future theory.

I felt PERSONALLY ATTACKED by the Zillow skit.

"Former social-media influencer Donald Trump" was a great line.

If you haven't seen the actual Twins video (of them watching "In the Air Tonight") it's genuinely delightful.

My favorite line in the whole show was in the wedding skit when Dan Levy said, "rail me daddy". I died.
posted by joannemerriam at 6:41 PM on February 7, 2021 [3 favorites]


Kenan and Chris really nailed the Twins energy. I called the kid in to watch that in advance of our usual Sunday highlight reel (and then rewound for the Morgan Wallen bit because fuck him and his unearned second chance).

I took my sleeping pill before the show ended and had a vivid dream about the iguana. And it’s a little thing, and far too late, but it was just nice that there were enough gay and lesbian cast members to make the It Gets Better sketch happen. Likewise, there’s been an increasing number of sketches written by Black comedians for a Black audience in the past few years. I know they brought on Sasheer Zamata as a diversity hire but I feel like the representation has become more real since then.
posted by Ruki at 7:06 PM on February 7, 2021 [4 favorites]


I kind of love the fact that Nwodim and Gardner seem like pals.

Yes, i saw that too!! That was neat. I thought this episode had a lot of really good bits, more ensemble sketches which are always good and not_on_display had never seen the Twins' YouTube so I sent him some links. I agree, they did it really well.

And it’s a little thing, and far too late, but it was just nice that there were enough gay and lesbian cast members to make the It Gets Better sketch happen.

Agree. I don't know if it's entirely intentional but I feel like the show makes an effort to have people playing roles they are right for. And they have women playing men for laughs sometimes (Aidy as coaches, was so good!) but rarely the "Hey it's a guy in a dress har har" the way they used to and I think the show is better for it. And oh gosh the iguana. Kate is so at the top of her game.

I was taken with the gorgeousness of Bridgers' set dressing in the second song, really enjoyed the first song, and don't really love instrument-smashing when anyone does it. Her voice is lovely and I was poking around Wikipedia to try to figure out what big hit I might know her by (anyone?).

No Pete, no Chloe, no Lauren (I think?). Man Stain made me laugh and the Super Bowl party sketch was all too relatable (NOT PERSONALLY)
posted by jessamyn at 8:27 PM on February 7, 2021 [2 favorites]


Phoebe Bridgers is the best and I thought she was terrific.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:11 PM on February 7, 2021 [4 favorites]


is this the first child host of a former host? I'm gonna guess "no."

I did some research on wikipedia and found the following pairs (I may have missed some):

Martin Sheen / Charlie Sheen
Martin Sheen / Emilio Estevez
Kirk Douglas / Michael Douglas
Melanie Griffith / Dakota Johnson

Eugene Levy has never hosted.
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 9:41 PM on February 7, 2021 [7 favorites]


Found another: Blythe Danner / Gwyneth Paltrow
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 10:01 PM on February 7, 2021 [5 favorites]


Thanks! I was too lazy to do the research but I should have remembered about the Sheens and the Douglasses.
posted by bondcliff at 7:55 AM on February 8, 2021


If it helps assuage fears of Eugene Levy flying in for a brief bit - I saw a photo being circulated on Twitter of Eugene Levy standing in the wings and clapping like mad when Dan went out to do his monologue, so he may have shown up anyway to just be a proud papa.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:37 AM on February 8, 2021 [1 favorite]


Yeah, I am totally hooked on watching Twinsthenewtrend now. It's not like reaction videos are new to me, but when jessamyn told me these kids were real, I had to tune in. Now I am hooked.

Phoebe Bridges: was expecting a lot, got very little. The "swerve into the other lane and become all loud rock" and then non-smashing of the guitar was wincingly embarrassing. With those costumes and the guitars, I was expecting Throwing Muses or Go-Go's kind of energy. What I got was weaksauce Lilith Fair side-stage also-playeds lah-dee daaah yawn. I bet Phoebs and her band can do better than standard radio-friendly spacey mid-90's alternative—but not this time.

The show itself was a vast improvement on last week. If you'd told me I'd like Dan Levy better than Krasinski, I'd have said "?" but Dan was great. The news was a bit hit-or-miss; I didn't like the Child-cancelling desk-piece, most of the jokes were funny otherwise. I get the feeling that the writers try every show to get Che to say something offensive without having read it beforehand.

The Superbowl Party was good in the same vein as the "Dinner Party where each guest is arrested one by one" sketch last week. Zillow-as-Porn hit close to home (no pun intended but I am not deleting it).

And the rest of the sketches were good and solid, had arcs and actual endings... I love it when "Kenan reacts" finally becomes "Kenan gives up and joins in the madness" like at the end of the Hot Damn number. This is where musical sketches belong, and NOT IN THE MONOLOGUE. I think SNL's finally come back around to better spoken (and not sung) monolgues, too; Dan played the "I'll take you on a tour" trope excellently.

The Wedding sketch was one of the best sketches this season.
posted by not_on_display at 10:29 PM on February 8, 2021 [4 favorites]


HAH I'm trying to buy my first house and had literally just called a realtor through Zillow an hour before that skit aired. Most relatable thing I've ever seen on SNL!
posted by mollywas at 11:20 PM on February 8, 2021 [3 favorites]


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