In his third appearance as a guest host on “Saturday Night Live,” Jake Gyllenhaal presided over the finale of season number 49 with everything going for him. His lead role in the Prime Video revival of “Road House” was well received. He's still cashing in on the bad boy'sAll very well” Taylor Swift's 10-minute commentary on him. And her new series “Presumed Innocent” for Apple TV+ is coming out next month.
But is it funny? The night's many sketches, several of which required the actor to sing at the top of his lungs, strongly demonstrated that perhaps Gyllenhaal is one of those actors who is presumed (innocently?) to have a strong sense of humor because to specific situations. like your classic “Sir. A little music on “John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch” until it was time to do a live comedy like “SNL.”
The season finale was roughfriends, and not because of the laughter or any technical problem. You can't entirely blame the writing because there were some novel premises along the way and some decent jokes. But in at least half of the sketches in which the host led the sketch, the lines felt out of place or flat and the audience response seemed muted. These included a disastrous one about an uphill biker interrupting a couple (Mikey Day and Chloe Fineman) in the middle of their breakup, a filmed parody of “Scooby-Doo” that was more gory and gross than funny, a customer service sketch customer. targeting Southwest Airlines and a domestic scene about a Father threatens his daughter's boyfriend. after stealing a cookie.
The sketches on a NYPD Press Conference intended to protect character actors (in which Jon Hamm had a cameo), a Dance magazine with pretty girls and very simple boys.and a late sketch on a high-voiced tavern dweller named Snake Eyes (James Austin Johnson). Johnson closed the show with that performance and a cold open as former President Trump, while an exchange of “Weekend Update” banter once again he far exceeded the line of good taste. A title card near the end of the program honored actor Dabney Coleman, who died this week.
Gyllenhaal gave it a lot of energy, but since this was the last episode of the season, not even his enthusiastic singing could keep the episode from feeling disappointing. Speaking of singing, this week's musical guest, Sabrina Carpenter, performed her viral hit “Espresso“and a mix of “Feather” and “Nonsense” although he ended the latter with some bold new lyrics for the show.
The last cold open of the season returned to politics. Johnson did his Trump impression, showing the former president in his new home: a barricade outside a Manhattan courthouse. The embattled politician complained about his trial (“They say very bad things about me while I'm trying to sleep”) and commented that the gag order imposed on him “sounds like a challenge to 'RuPaul'.” After the speech, Trump asked his supporters to condemn a juror who appears on camera (“She's juror number 9, but to me she's like a six, maybe”) and revealed that the worst sentence he could receive is more time in the White Court. Home; He would rather lose, say the election was rigged, and raise more money for “Stop the Steal.” He raised the possibility of revealing his “Veepee,” which could be Tim Scott (Devon Walker), Kristi Noem (Heidi Gardner, holding a gun and a toy puppy), or Hannibal Lecter (Michael Longfellow), who Trump said was “ giving me Pence vibes.” The former president promised it will be the “Summer of Trump with Trump Espresso,” a Jan. 6-style event in July and a Jewish edition of the Bible he calls the “Trump Torah.”
Gyllenhaal’s monologue focused on him hosting the Season 49 finale, rather than the more prestigious slot in the episode that will kick off the historic Season 50. The actor then passionately sang a version of “End of the road” by Boyz II Men with the help of cardigan-wearing cast members Ego Nwodim (who unfortunately did not play against Rep. Jasmine Crockett this week), Kenan Thompson, Walker and Punkie Johnson. Gyllenhaal sang that Pedro Pascal, Zendaya and even recent host Ryan Gosling turned down the gig. He sang, “It's been 49 years, over 900 shows, costumes and wigs and a room full of emotion.”
Best skit of the night: Don't think too much about a retailer's cheap products
A mock advertisement for Xiemu (a parody of Troubled Chinese retailers Temu and Shein) promises fast fashion at incredibly low prices. How is it so cheap? “Don't worry about it,” the ad says. They are not made with forced labor and there are no prisoners involved. “Why mention that?” asks one of the actors in the ad. The ad also coyly denies long work hours and promises that all workers will be paid, “even those with the wrong religion.” Clothes and jewelry soon fall apart, causing skin rashes or inducing lead poisoning in the models in the ad. When one of them (Nwodim) asks: “Is this shady?” The answer is: “If that were the case, would you stop buying?” Everyone answers: “No.”
Also good: there's something about these guys.
The zaniest sketch of the night may have been this vintage musical revue that initially featured a trio of ladies (Nwodim, Fineman and Sarah Sherman), but then changed gears when the host (Gyllenhaal) sang an intro to “beautiful boys , delicious salty boys,” who wear variations of khaki pants or shorts and gray shirts. Two customers watching the show (Thompson and Gardner) are initially unimpressed (“It's like they never even tried”), but they soon become captivated by the story of each boy, one a sportsman, another a scholarly virgin, and another the son of a hamburger scion. It's very silly, but the mischievous wordplay in the song is clever, and the crane shot with the. kids swinging their legs in the air toward the camera is sublime. Bonus points for the high notes Gyllenhaal and Thompson hit at the end.
'Weekend Update' Winner: Another Jost Between Colin Jost and Michael Che
Marcello Hernandez and Thompson They were cool like cicadas returning to mate and scream after years underground., but of course it was Jost and Che's prank contest, where they write jokes to each other that they must read for the first time on camera, that stole the show. Che admitted at the beginning of the joke that the civil rights leader who attended December installment He was an actor. This time, he said, he invited a real-life rabbi, “Rabbi Jill.” who appears to be Jill Hausman from Actors Temple in New York. Hausman grimaced but remained mostly silent throughout the segment as Che and Jost read jokes about protesters at a Jerry Seinfeld commencement speech (Jost: “The only chant you'll hear from me is 'Free Weinstein!' “) and one for Che over the Pope. Francis says that sexual pleasure is a gift from God, but in response to a question about altar boys. Things got worse with a joke about texting high school kids with sexual advances, a dig at Jost's wife Scarlett Johansson's voice from the movie “Her” being used by ChatGPT (Jost: “Without that body , what's the point of listening?”), and the introduction of a puppet dressed in Jewish religious clothing. Jost was forced to read anti-Semitic material in front of the rabbi while he held the puppet, but it was Che who was defeated most soundly when he was forced to start a public feud with rapper Kendrick Lamar. He read: “I want to call out the biggest p… of them all, Kendrick Lamar. No! Or should I say smaller. Your war with Michael Che is just beginning.” Visibly shaken, but laughing, Che muttered: “I don't like that at all.”
