Saturday Night Live: Jonathan Majors / Taylor Swift

November 14, 2021 12:29 PM - Season 47, Episode 6

Jonathan Majors stars in the Netflix series "The Harder They Fall."

• Cold Open - Cruz Street: Aidy Bryant, Cecily Strong, Bowen Yang, Melissa Villaseñor, Andrew Dismukes, Kyle Mooney?, Pete Davidson, Alex Moffatt, Mikey Day, Aristotle Athari, Chloe Fineman, Chris Redd
• Monologue: Jonathan Majors
• The March of the Suitors: Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes, Heidi Gardner, Kenan Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Ego Nwodim, Punkie Johnson
• Three Sad Virgins: Jon, Ben, Martin, Pete Davidson, Taylor Swift
• Audacity in Advertising Awards: Jonathan Majors, Heidi Gardner, Kyle Mooney, James Austin Johnson, Andrew Dismukes, Alex Moffatt
• Strange Kid Tales: Kenan Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Aidy Bryant, Alex Moffatt, Heidi Gardner, Pete Davidson
• Man Park: Pete Davidson, Ego Nwodim, Alex Moffatt, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, Kyle Mooney, James Austin Johnson, Andrew Dismukes, Aristotle Athari, Melissa Villaseñor
• Taylor Swift - All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
• Weekend Update: Michael Che, Colin Jost
  • Sarah Sherman
  • Laughintosh 3000: Aristotle Athari
• Blythe and Brick: Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Cecily Strong, Bowen Yang, Jonathan Majors
• Dog Bones 'n Melodies: Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson, Chris Redd, Jonathan Majors, Kyle Mooney, Chloe Fineman, Alex Moffatt
• Open Marriage Pastor: Kenan Thompson, Ego Nwodim, Aidy Bryant, Jonathan Majors, Melissa Villaseñor, Chris Redd, Punkie Johnson, Kyle Mooney

posted by rhizome (13 comments total)

Sarah Sherman's WU piece was maybe the single funniest thing I've seen on Weekend Update in a long, long time.

I was enjoying Taylor for the first four minutes or so but it just went on way too long. I know it was all about that film but I kind of lost interest. Nice to see someone doing something different for the musical performance though.

I enjoyed Three Sad Virgins but I hope their whole thing doesn't become "lol we are nerds amirite" because I'm kind of tired of that sort of thing.

I was totally unfamiliar with the host (I've usually at least heard their names before) but, aside from an awkward monologue, I thought he did ok.
posted by bondcliff at 2:25 PM on November 14, 2021 [3 favorites]

All of the children in Strange Kid Tales were excellent, and the young actress celebrating at the end of the sketch was so joyous.
posted by autopilot at 2:34 PM on November 14, 2021 [4 favorites]

Audacity in Advertising Awards gave me a real chuckle.

Nice to see a couple of newbies on WU!
posted by porpoise at 4:11 PM on November 14, 2021 [2 favorites]

Host was just-fine and the sketches were above average and better! Even the last-5 Open Marriage Pastor thing was funny! Man Park was pretty great, I liked the premise of the Virgins song better than the lyrics and whatnot, Strange Kid Tales went off beautifully and funny on all sides, Laughinstock had all kinds of great nerdy detail like the very programmer-y bracketed debug statements 'this was...crowd work' bits and glitchy voice synthesis. Sarah Sherman, Dog Bones...March of the Suitors might have been the least of them all and Punkie put the button on that, so :shrug:

I'm not a fan, but Taylor seems great when I'm not wondering if she's a robot, since she could simply be perfect at executing her performances, and I understand it was a significant performance in the big picture. Jake Gyllenhaal?

All in all it didn't affect things too much that the host was weak (and I'd like to have a better term to use than 'weak' there).
posted by rhizome at 4:11 PM on November 14, 2021 [2 favorites]

Strange Kid Tales was great, as was the Bone Thugs -N- Harmony skit. The skits that depend on a pop culture reference from before when most of the performers were born often feel forced, but that worked really well. Was that Taylor Swift performance all one song? I fast forwarded once she started, and it kept going and going and going and going and going, and when I stopped fast forwarding like ten minutes into the performance, it seemed like it was the same song.
posted by jonathanhughes at 7:47 PM on November 14, 2021

Pretty solid episode. The host largely just blended in to the show, which is fine (though the monologue felt more perfunctory than usual). All the sketches were pretty fun without any clinkers. Probably my least favorite of the night was the cold open, just because I don't really like it when the approach to political humor is just repeat things Republicans say except with a humorous tone.

I had heard some rumblings about Taylor Swift's new rerecorded album having a 10-minute song, but I hadn't listed to any of it so I didn't realize this was it until about minute 5 or 6 when I started thinking this was going on pretty long.

Seemed like a lot of child actors this episode, not sure if that's a factor of kids getting vaccines now or just because they felt like it.
posted by ckape at 8:39 PM on November 14, 2021

"Was that Taylor Swift performance all one song? I fast forwarded once she started, and it kept going and going and going and going and going, and when I stopped fast forwarding like ten minutes into the performance, it seemed like it was the same song."

Yeah, she just dropped a long-rumored 10-minute cut of epic break-up anthem "All Too Well," which is about Jake Gyllenhaal being kind-of a creep, that got so famous that Maggie Gyllenhaal is STILL being asked about whether she has Taylor's scarf at her house.

Taylor doing the new 10-minute cut of "All Too Well" live is a HUGE get for SNL. I enjoyed the shit out of it live.

Man Park felt like someone was watching my life, lol. Laughintosh kind-of blew my mind, just the voice!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:09 PM on November 14, 2021 [6 favorites]

a 10-minute song

Which Jost, on WU, immediately poked fun at as the opening line.

"Well guys, I think the lesson we all learned this week is never break up with Taylor Swift. Or she will sing about you on national television. At the very least. The very least, return the scarf."
posted by porpoise at 11:01 PM on November 14, 2021 [2 favorites]

Laughintosh 3000 was my favorite. Aristotle Athari's silliness and originality has been a highlight of the season so far. Of all of the current cast members (besides Cecily Strong! Who is doing a revival of The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In The Universe next month, sigh!) Aristotle is the one I'd be most interested to see in a full-length show.

Man Park was Truth. Also can we have a Lady Park too? I feel like we can all do with a little bit of low-stakes socialization right about now.

I didn't like 3 Sad Virgins. Stretching a joke about "ha ha you lack swagger and you look like women don't want to have sex with you" into a full music video is so dull and tired. Sure, if you put Pete Davidson and Taylor Swift in a music video, people will watch it, but it's not because it's great.
posted by rogerroger at 8:00 AM on November 15, 2021

My teenagers are big Taylor Swift fans and they were SO EXCITED that she played the full 10-minute version of the song. I thought that she really pulled it off: she was beautifully in sync to the giant video playing behind her, and had a good mix of emotion and performance.

Maybe it's because my kids get so much from her songwriting and musicianship (especially at a time in history that is spectacularly hard for teenagers), but I really admire what she has been able to do in her career.
posted by AgentRocket at 8:12 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]

This was another solid, A-game material show. Pete's settling into his adult role on SNL, and totally took the piss out of himself in that video with those Jon, Ben, and Martin writers. And, that's been an unexpected surprise, a new funny film trio out of nowhere.

I was amazed at the quality of the news this week. Che was making some seriously funny jokes, and people were uncomfortable because what he was saying was true. And Sarah's and Aristotle's desk pieces were hilarious. I like that we're just starting to see Aristotle's range, and with him, Sarah, and Bowen in the cast, I think (a) they make it not just the Bowen Yang Show whenever Bowen appears, and (b) they are all great absurdist humorists, and it's hard to bring absurdity to the masses. I hope those three stick around a good long time. And Dismukes, too.

The rest of the show, apart from the stumblebumble meandering nature of the monologue, was solid. The host had chops and didn't look like he was reading cue cards, and acted like he was invested in the show. The skits had funny, surprising, but fitting endings. There was nothing that was intentionally button-pushing, or making one same grody joke over and over and over.

Really, I'm extremely surprised that the show has been of such a high quality this season. And happy too!
posted by not_on_display at 9:45 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]

I really admire what she has been able to do in her career.

Same, though I don't follow it too closely so I was largely confused by her performance ("She seems to be singing over a music video of someone breaking up with her, but there's someone else playing her for some reason?"). I really enjoyed this whole show. Didn't know the host but I felt he was fine. Man Park made me laugh out loud as did Sarah and Aristotle's desk bits. Che made a couple of edgy jokes that were finally in the "punching up" direction which I appreciated. Lot of good Ego and Chris in this show. Really pleased to see two good shows in a row this month.
posted by jessamyn at 8:48 AM on November 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

I was gonna write this last week, but ... Aristotle will rise to the top if given the chance. He's giving me all kinds of "my favorite eras of SNL had guys this good" vibes. I know talent, goddammit! /logan roy voice

But the cast is really strong: I think the cast is much stronger than that period of time not that long ago that I have no ability to guesstimate because time has lost all meaning.
posted by sylvanshine at 3:55 AM on November 20, 2021