Saturday Night Live: Louis C.K., The Chainsmokers
April 9, 2017 1:03 AM - Season 42, Episode 17 - Subscribe
Host: Louis C.K., Musical Guest: The Chainsmokers
- Boone County Town Hall - Booby Moynihan, Alec Baldwin, Mikey Day, Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, Aidy Bryant
- Opening Monologue - Louis C.K.
- Eyelash Lawyer - Vanessa Bayer, Kennan Thompson, Louis C.K., Alex Moffat, Leslie Jones, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant
- Thank You Scott - Cecily Strong, Kennan Thompson, Sasheer Zamata, Mikey Day, Louis C.K.
- Ice Cream Shop - Sasheer Zamata, Vanessa Bayer, Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant, Louis C.K., Pete Davidson, Leslie Jones
- Pepsi Commercial - Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, Cecily Strong
- The Chainsmokers - Paris
- Weekend Update - Michael Che, Colin Jost
- Cecilia Giminez - Kate McKinnon
- The O'Reilly Factor - Alec Baldwin, Cecily Strong
- Birthday Clown - Bobby Moynihan, Louis C.K., Melissa Villaseñor
- Sectional Sofa Emporium - Louis C.K., Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant
- The Chainsmokers - Break Up Every Night
- Tenement Museum - Cecily Strong, Louis C.K., Kate McKinnon, Kennan Thompson, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney
And now for a counterpoint opinion
I didnt like most of it. Not enough overt hard-hitting topical humor for me. Some of the other stuff was just weird And of course, not enough You-know-who.
Yes, this season I've suddenly become enthralled with one performer, but I'm not the only one to think the show lights up a most when she's on. Even when she breaks. (I said on twitter that when fallon did it you wanted to slap the snot out of him. But when the truly talented folks like Gilda, Dratch or Kate have occassionally broken, it's adorable.)
The cold open made an excellent point about tRump voters. "Keep eating that finger chili." Also, that 12:55 sketch was kind of topical, indirectly pointing out that Americans have always looked down on other races/newer immigrants.
But the show also suffers because of how fast communications moves now. twitter had already meme'd Pepsi to death a few days earlier. (Or was that actually product placement -who knows anymore?)
Oh, and Che comtinues to make WU "Weakened" Update.
But in, conclusion, Kate McKinnon is a land of wonderful talent.
posted by NorthernLite at 8:38 AM on April 9, 2017
I didnt like most of it. Not enough overt hard-hitting topical humor for me. Some of the other stuff was just weird And of course, not enough You-know-who.
Yes, this season I've suddenly become enthralled with one performer, but I'm not the only one to think the show lights up a most when she's on. Even when she breaks. (I said on twitter that when fallon did it you wanted to slap the snot out of him. But when the truly talented folks like Gilda, Dratch or Kate have occassionally broken, it's adorable.)
The cold open made an excellent point about tRump voters. "Keep eating that finger chili." Also, that 12:55 sketch was kind of topical, indirectly pointing out that Americans have always looked down on other races/newer immigrants.
But the show also suffers because of how fast communications moves now. twitter had already meme'd Pepsi to death a few days earlier. (Or was that actually product placement -who knows anymore?)
Oh, and Che comtinues to make WU "Weakened" Update.
But in, conclusion, Kate McKinnon is a land of wonderful talent.
posted by NorthernLite at 8:38 AM on April 9, 2017
Baldwin has done Trump enough that just getting in the makeup isn't enough to make the sketch funny anymore. In the Bill O’Reilly sketch they should have gone in another direction or given the Trump part to Leslie Jones.
posted by Gary at 10:29 AM on April 9, 2017
posted by Gary at 10:29 AM on April 9, 2017
Agreed, Gary. I couldn't even watch Baldwin this time. He's good, of course, but I feel like it's not making the point he used to make.
Moving it to Leslie (and really, even bouncing the gig around to other female cast members) would make it more relevant and watchable.
posted by mochapickle at 11:44 AM on April 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Moving it to Leslie (and really, even bouncing the gig around to other female cast members) would make it more relevant and watchable.
posted by mochapickle at 11:44 AM on April 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Not of fan of Louis C.K. at all. Ugh. Not a good choice as host at all. His monologue sucked.
That being said, the eyelashes sketch and the sofa sketch were pretty good, although both seemed like they were filmed ten years ago, for some reason. Neither seemed "fresh". Alec Baldwin is way better at doing O'Reilly than he is at doing Trump and I hope he continues with that. His Trump is just not that good. His facial expressions are just too over the top to be considered a good impersonation. His O'Reilly was almost flawless - much more subdued and on the mark.
I have to say, I chuckled a few times at the very unPC Polish thing at the end. I'm Italian and loved every second of it.
Kate McKinnon is the glue holding this show together. No offense to the other actors but damn.
posted by the webmistress at 12:37 PM on April 9, 2017
That being said, the eyelashes sketch and the sofa sketch were pretty good, although both seemed like they were filmed ten years ago, for some reason. Neither seemed "fresh". Alec Baldwin is way better at doing O'Reilly than he is at doing Trump and I hope he continues with that. His Trump is just not that good. His facial expressions are just too over the top to be considered a good impersonation. His O'Reilly was almost flawless - much more subdued and on the mark.
I have to say, I chuckled a few times at the very unPC Polish thing at the end. I'm Italian and loved every second of it.
Kate McKinnon is the glue holding this show together. No offense to the other actors but damn.
posted by the webmistress at 12:37 PM on April 9, 2017
Moving it to Leslie (and really, even bouncing the gig around to other female cast members) would make it more relevant and watchable.
I want to see Kate impersonate Mike Pence, for (obvious?) reasons.
posted by NorthernLite at 1:23 PM on April 9, 2017
I want to see Kate impersonate Mike Pence, for (obvious?) reasons.
posted by NorthernLite at 1:23 PM on April 9, 2017
Saw Mr CK's monologue on yt, funny and as edgy as possible for network tv, bet there was a fair bit of negotiation and it'd be fun to hear what was eliminated but it was quite fun to see a monologue without Kenan videos or Ms's McKinnon or Wiig fake interrupting. ("oh surprise, look who's helping me get through 2 minutes") I mean some of the hosts are quite decent actors, and actors can perform a monologue, perhaps not write their own classic routine but, wait, the show has a huge staff of writers, that all know stand up. Don't get it. </SNLRANT>
posted by sammyo at 2:52 PM on April 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 2:52 PM on April 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
sammyo: I mean some of the hosts are quite decent actors, and actors can perform a monologue, perhaps not write their own classic routine but, wait, the show has a huge staff of writers, that all know stand up. Don't get it.
Due to the way the week is structured, the monologue is the last thing they write (maybe so they don't replicate ideas done in sketches?). Possibly it's also because the environment there is so competitive - if a monologue is great, the host gets all the credit. If it's bad, well, most monologues are bad. The only monologues I can really remember are stand-up comedians who came in ready to do their own material (Dave Chapelle, Aziz Ansari, Louis CK) or the ones with great cameos (Steve Martin welcomes Tom Hanks into the 5 timers club.)
posted by bluecore at 3:23 PM on April 9, 2017
Due to the way the week is structured, the monologue is the last thing they write (maybe so they don't replicate ideas done in sketches?). Possibly it's also because the environment there is so competitive - if a monologue is great, the host gets all the credit. If it's bad, well, most monologues are bad. The only monologues I can really remember are stand-up comedians who came in ready to do their own material (Dave Chapelle, Aziz Ansari, Louis CK) or the ones with great cameos (Steve Martin welcomes Tom Hanks into the 5 timers club.)
posted by bluecore at 3:23 PM on April 9, 2017
The whole episode came across as a little odd. It wasn't actively bad, but I didn't get too many laughs, with one exception: the Birthday Clown sketch was hilarious and I howled with laughter all the way through it. Louis C.K. has to be the first grown man who ever succeeded in creeping out a clown. Usually it's the other way around. I also thought the Pepsi Commercial was enjoyably understated.
posted by orange swan at 9:55 PM on April 9, 2017
posted by orange swan at 9:55 PM on April 9, 2017
Louis' last two hosting gigs weren't very good so I came in not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. The thing is, they really didn't seem to use him much, at least in the first half of the show. His role was mostly just fluttering his eyebrows or in a pre-recorded sketch.
I liked Thank You Scott a whole lot because it reminded me of like half my facebook feed. The Pepsi commercial was also pretty good. WU was good as well.
The Chainsmokers? Next.
Really the whole show was decent. Nothing too memorable, non of these sketching will be the More Cowbell of 2017, but most of them were good enough.
Also, who advised Louis to get rid of the black t-shirt and go with a jacket and tie? I noticed the same thing in his 2017 Netflix special.
posted by bondcliff at 7:00 AM on April 10, 2017
I liked Thank You Scott a whole lot because it reminded me of like half my facebook feed. The Pepsi commercial was also pretty good. WU was good as well.
The Chainsmokers? Next.
Really the whole show was decent. Nothing too memorable, non of these sketching will be the More Cowbell of 2017, but most of them were good enough.
Also, who advised Louis to get rid of the black t-shirt and go with a jacket and tie? I noticed the same thing in his 2017 Netflix special.
posted by bondcliff at 7:00 AM on April 10, 2017
I watched Louis CK's new Netflix special and I mean ... I'm not, like, an expert on his stuff. I've seen a few of his sets, a few interviews on talk shows. It just seemed like he crossed a line from weary cynicism to angry cynicism. There was just this undercurrent of apathetic bile that turned me off a little bit.
And maybe because that was so fresh in my mind, I didn't really dig this episode. Okay so the birthday clown bit was A+, and by itself I would have declared it a winner. In conjunction with the rest of the episode I just felt it built up a whoooole lot of the aforementioned weary-angry cynicism.
okay so anyway aside from that: appropriate amounts of Bennett, insufficient McKinnon. Really happy to see Davidson in a sketch getting a chance to do anything approaching an accent (as opposed to just showing up on Weekend Update occasionally).
... in hindsight, it feels like everyone was missing from a few skits this week. I guess that's because from Pepsi Commercial through Sectional Sofa Emporium we had no big ensemble skits, just some two- and three-member bits.
Hey, unrelated to this episode but I want your opinions: this feels like a really shitty thing to say but I've decided at this point that Zamata must not be funny at all, because they certainly never give her a chance to prove that she's not. Am I right in feeling like she's the singlemost under-utilized cast member?
posted by komara at 7:26 AM on April 10, 2017
And maybe because that was so fresh in my mind, I didn't really dig this episode. Okay so the birthday clown bit was A+, and by itself I would have declared it a winner. In conjunction with the rest of the episode I just felt it built up a whoooole lot of the aforementioned weary-angry cynicism.
okay so anyway aside from that: appropriate amounts of Bennett, insufficient McKinnon. Really happy to see Davidson in a sketch getting a chance to do anything approaching an accent (as opposed to just showing up on Weekend Update occasionally).
... in hindsight, it feels like everyone was missing from a few skits this week. I guess that's because from Pepsi Commercial through Sectional Sofa Emporium we had no big ensemble skits, just some two- and three-member bits.
Hey, unrelated to this episode but I want your opinions: this feels like a really shitty thing to say but I've decided at this point that Zamata must not be funny at all, because they certainly never give her a chance to prove that she's not. Am I right in feeling like she's the singlemost under-utilized cast member?
posted by komara at 7:26 AM on April 10, 2017
Well, I quite liked this one from beginning to end. My only complaint is that Villasenor and Zamata remain underused. Villasenor got one line in a taped bit, and Zamata keeps getting pushed back to background supporting stuff, and not for lack of skill.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:16 AM on April 10, 2017
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:16 AM on April 10, 2017
Also, who advised Louis to get rid of the black t-shirt and go with a jacket and tie?
The same folks that are booking him into the five star hotels that he hates.
posted by sammyo at 9:11 AM on April 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
The same folks that are booking him into the five star hotels that he hates.
posted by sammyo at 9:11 AM on April 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I was only half-engaged during the Chainsmokers' first number, and I kinda liked it, and then I watched the second one and said to my spouse "Are they intentionally going for a Theta Chi spring talent show vibe?" We googled them and found that, yeah, that seems to be the case.
posted by Etrigan at 11:07 AM on April 10, 2017
posted by Etrigan at 11:07 AM on April 10, 2017
You had ONE LINE, Leslie. One. And, nope, she fucked it up.
SO WHY DO I STILL LOVE SEEING ANY GLIMPSE OF YOU ON THE SHOW!!!
posted by not_on_display at 12:25 AM on April 15, 2017
SO WHY DO I STILL LOVE SEEING ANY GLIMPSE OF YOU ON THE SHOW!!!
posted by not_on_display at 12:25 AM on April 15, 2017
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It was lot of fun, and my wife Harley and I laughed pretty much through the whole thing, though it was edgier and a little creepier than most episodes. More like Louis' new stand-up film, 2017. Still, I think this was my favorite SNL of the year.
posted by Stanczyk at 7:48 AM on April 9, 2017