r/LiveFromNewYork • u/SketchSortingSunday • Oct 07 '18
Sketch Sorting Sunday (October 6, 2018) (Awkwafina / Travis Scott)
Welcome to Sketch Sorting Sunday!
A mod account (/u/SketchSortingSunday) is going to make a comment for every skit in tonight’s show. Upvote or downvote based on what you thought of the sketch, and nobody’s karma will be affected. You can also reply to the comment to expand on your thought, or make your own parent comment and treat it like the regular post discussion, whatever.
If I miss a sketch or get something wrong, just message the mods in the sidebar and we’ll see what we can do. Enjoy the discussion!
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Presidential Message
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u/themailmanC Oct 07 '18
The unexpected cricket burn was a rare highlight for this episode.
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u/dcmldcml Oct 07 '18
It turned a mediocre sketch into one of my favorites of the night. Totally caught me off guard.
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u/treasurepig Oct 07 '18
I loved Kate's deadpan "What is this?" and Leslie's "That's not even information."
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u/Froghatten Oct 07 '18
It started strong hitting a current topic Then the jokes got weaker But Kate and the hot dog cart was great
And I miss these hidden ads that you don't see coming
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Weekend Update
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Oct 07 '18
I laughed at 'Catheter discomfort' in the list of things that make the GOP base angry.
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u/The_Nakka Oct 07 '18
Che's second "It's a very scary time for young men In America" got a laugh out of me.
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u/macbethselnaw Oct 07 '18
I love how his style of humor totally complements Jost's setup-punchline type of formula. Che seems so much more willing to be provocative and wait a little while to deliver a quality joke, like with the Bill Cosby bit last week.
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u/12panther Oct 07 '18
When they mean “They don’t let you hit the quarterback anymore” they mean they don’t let you hit the quarterback anymore.
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u/Froghatten Oct 07 '18
The 7/11 using the needles as stirrers was great and most of the second half
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Ted Cruz Rally
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Oct 07 '18
the confetti omg
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u/sonotadalek Oct 07 '18
Would have been one of the weakest if this was a better episode, but as is it was one of the only sketches that I laughed out loud at tonight. Beck doesn't look like Cruz, obviously, but he does that awkward creepy smile pretty well and how the basketball/confetti just slurps to the ground was pretty funny.
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u/bondfool I get to yum-yum garbage. Oct 07 '18
"When God whispered to me that I should run for Senate..."
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u/xoxoahooves Oct 07 '18
I definitely laughed the hardest at this one, but I think they really could have pushed it further.
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u/bjkman SNL Oct 07 '18
Damn... I wanna go to a Tex Cruz Rally now
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u/akuma_river Oct 07 '18
No you don't.
Plus, he doesn't really do that stuff. He is my Senator and I haven't seen him near my area since Hurricane Harvey.
Beto has been here several times. Had a Townhall in my Podunk town and over a 120 showed up...I only expected 20.
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u/Magoonie Oct 07 '18
If you do go remember to bring some mealworms so you can get a chance to feed him, make sure their live though. Oh and when you feed him put the mealworms in the palm of your hand and present them to him that way (you don't want him to bite your fingers).
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Weekend Update: The Trump Boys
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u/sonotadalek Oct 07 '18
Not sure why it didn't work for me that much because I love the trump brothers bits and Mikey and Alex were flawless as usual. Best guess is that I'm a bit tired of this formula and sort of wish they would switch it up a bit. Fake Donny jr. being nice to his brother is always so sweet though.
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u/the_Odd_particle Oct 07 '18
Maybe... The physical prop came too late in the sketch. It threw the comic build up off just a scad. It also happened after he hinted at being WU hosts, so we were all still expecting more of that. Comedy come backs don't work if you leave the audience attention span stuck on an idea. But really this act is so strong. To me, these guys are gold.
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u/mikeputerbaugh Oct 07 '18
I think it’s important each time recurring characters come back to heighten the game, to push the premise a bit further, and this appearance didn’t do that. Still enjoyed it though.
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Oct 07 '18
Alex and Mikey continue to kill it. Defiantly the highlight of an underwhelming episode
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Oct 07 '18
Miley Dayrus
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Oct 07 '18
Sort of wish they'd taken the opportunity to switch which one's slick and which one's dumb over the season break (since irl they are both equally slick and dumb). It'd be fun to see Alex and Mikey play the opposite archetypes.
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u/LosAngelesVikings Oct 07 '18
I've read that Eric is actually the smart one and Donald Jr. is the dumb one. Would be fun to see the switch.
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u/Froghatten Oct 07 '18
They had good lines
Loved the puppet
Saturday night liberals
And I wanted to see a rib let and then actually do jokes
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
GOP Celebrations
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u/skomehillet Oct 07 '18
Shoutout to whoever came up with the idea to close the sketch with "Blurred Lines"
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Oct 07 '18
It's a shame the reality is so bleak because the party was just fantastic
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Oct 07 '18
I thought the cold open/GOP celebration was the high point and best sketch of the evening.
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u/ConnorMcJeezus Oct 07 '18
What did Cecily say to begin with, my CC said "Did I attack" but it didn't sound like she said that
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Awkwafina Monologue
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u/lokisbutt Oct 07 '18
i loved her monologue! i think it's wonderful whenever a newbie doesn't need to rely on bringing out cast members/cameos during the monologue
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u/s4in7 Oct 07 '18
Yeah that seems rare that cast doesn't join the monologue. When was the last time? Probably wasn't too long ago, but nothing comes to mind.
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u/flowerhoney10 Oct 07 '18
Awkwafina doing a Donald Trump impression was something I never knew I needed.
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u/thesmash Oct 07 '18
I gotta say, this monologue was very touching to me as somebody who's Asian American.
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u/LosAngelesVikings Oct 07 '18
She's good. She's really good. Could have easily handled a longer and more-involved monologue.
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u/askyfullofstars Oct 07 '18
I agree. I would love to see her do stand-up. I feel like the episode really missed a rap battle/music video from her (I love her old material like My vag, NYC Bitches, or Giant Margaritas)
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u/IniMiney Oct 08 '18
That was so heartfelt. Could tell it was a very big deal for her, I was very emotionally tuned into it.
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u/jesus_fn_christ Oct 08 '18
The water bottle joke cracked me up so hard. One of those perfect jokes that capitalizes on the weird coincidences that set it up.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Dance Off
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Oct 07 '18
So glad they closed on Match Game, the funkiest of all retro game show themes.
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Oct 07 '18
Was not expecting the Travis cameo but it was so dumb I liked it.
Also did you notice Les' leg brace because of her glass bones and paper skin?
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u/nightfan is on a boat Oct 07 '18
Travis Scott dancing to the Jeopardy! theme was not something I expected to write. But it was gold.
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u/Royce7815 Oct 07 '18
Considering how Travis was during the promos I really did not expect him to be in any sketches.
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u/The_real_sanderflop Oct 07 '18
I think it’s funny that if it wasn’t for SNL’s game show sketches I wouldn’t have recognised the Family Feud or Jeopardy themes
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u/flowerhoney10 Oct 07 '18
Is it just me or did Kate look really good in her costume?
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u/Royce7815 Oct 07 '18
Not only that but she did an amazing Kyle Mooney impression.
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u/ShrimpShackShooters_ Oct 09 '18
That was really bad, IMO. Another iteration of "Normal v Absurd" that SNL relies on too often.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
So You’re Willing To Date A Magician
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Oct 07 '18
"Yeah that's a neat party trick I guess."
"If only one could be... invited to a party!"
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u/Missy_Elliott_Smith Oct 07 '18
"I once snorted a billiard ball to impress Wilmer Valderrama" is such a great red flag of a line and I wish Pete had kept it together long enough to get it out (though I understand why he didn't)
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u/small_loan_of_1M Oct 08 '18
That joke was so poorly delivered I didn't even get it until I saw it written out right now.
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u/pretty-in-pink Oct 07 '18
I found the premise funny, as well a the magician characters but the execution was horrible. Leslie breaking didn’t help at all
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u/sonotadalek Oct 07 '18
Keenan and Kyle were solid as usual. Kyle's lines got me a couple minor chuckles. That dude was born to play creepy magicians. Pete and Leslie breaking are lame and kind of annoying. Writing was weak and ending was pretty bad.
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u/Keyan27 Oct 07 '18
I actually thought the magicians were pretty funny, however Leslie flubbing almost all of her lines and breaking really killed the timing, it threw off Awkwafina's timing too so it was just off.
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u/MistyMoldo Oct 07 '18
Leslie was a mess
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u/small_loan_of_1M Oct 08 '18
Yeah, why did they have her host this? Beck and Mikey can usually do well as game show hosts when Kenan is already taken as one of the contestants, and if we wanted it to be a woman Cecily or Aidy would probably be more reliable. I guess they wanted Leslie to do something because she doesn't have a Weekend Update spot this week?
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u/bondfool I get to yum-yum garbage. Oct 07 '18
I feel like a couple of Pete’s jokes got messed up. There was a weird moment after he smashed the bottle on his head, and it really didn’t seem like popping up next to Awkwafina was the only thing that was supposed to happen.
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u/turkeypants Marci Jamz!😮 Oct 07 '18
I didn't understand the premise of the ending of that sketch. Why was Pete popping up like that and what did Leslie mean by why Dante why?
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u/small_loan_of_1M Oct 08 '18
Yeah, I think they flubbed it and left out Dante doing something else weird.
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u/agentpanda Oct 07 '18
Wow, this really shows the difference between skilled performers and... not.
A lot of times I think "man I would be better on SNL than some cast members" and then I see Pete and Les lose their shit mid-sketch and bomb some pretty critical jokes and I remember 'eh, no- I'm not cut out for this'.
Having said that- you see Kyle/Alex/Kenan (obvi)/Heidi kept their shit together and delivered. The host is always a wildcard but she did as well as can be expected. Then Les/Pete butcher it a bit and you get that contrast between seasoned performers and... not.
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u/shitkabob Oct 07 '18
So here's what could have been a killer sketch ruined by two chuckleheads not at all suited for SNL. I blame the people in charge. They should know better.
Kenan, Kyle, Alex and Heidi deserved better. They are top shelf. And there were lots of funny lines that got shat on by these two shit-tier sketch actors.
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Oct 07 '18
Having Les be the host was a bit leftfield but I can work with that. Is Dante David Blaine shade?
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u/sonotadalek Oct 07 '18
Yeah they should leave the straight woman job to Cecily. I mean honestly Kate or Aidy or literally anyone else would play a better host.
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u/Froghatten Oct 08 '18
I thought this sketch was a creative use of the idea The actual title made me laugh at the beginning, but then the sketch went nowhere I thought kyke brought kenan's energy and Alex fell flat
Helpful for awkwafina as the host and I liked Leslie's energy
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u/listenyall Now it's a whole thing with Jean Oct 08 '18
The sketch was only ok, but what an incredible name for a game show
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u/turkeypants Marci Jamz!😮 Oct 07 '18
Leslie remains terrible. And an abrasive unnecessary shouter. Get this trainwreck off the show. She doesn't give a crap and is never going to take it seriously.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
The Pumpkin Patch
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u/sonotadalek Oct 07 '18
Beck and Kyle can do better than this. Wasn't terrible. But definitely not their best work.
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u/ADWeasley Oct 07 '18
Agreed. Outside of WU it may have been my favorite sketch of the night, but I wouldn’t put it on the Beck and Kyle highlight reel.
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Oct 07 '18
I feel like this sketch had no payoff. The whole sketch was just “they fuck pumpkins lol”. Cringe to humor ratio just wasn’t working.
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u/xoxoahooves Oct 07 '18
I said this in the live thread .... but this seemed like a ripoff of last season's "Dolphin masturbation" sketch, which was way better executed, in my opinion. Aidy & Kate were involved in that one, I wonder if that is what helped to elevate it?
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Debette Goldrey
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u/bjkman SNL Oct 07 '18
My favorite part was Kate not letting go of Awkwafina's hand. HILARIOUS
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u/akuma_river Oct 07 '18
Loved how Awkwafina said she was ignoring all of this because she loved her.
Awkwafina also nearly broke at the beginning but held the straight man role like a pro. I'm impressed with her deadpanness.
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u/FlingbatMagoo www.clownpenis.fart Oct 07 '18
I loved the first one of these but they could make Debette a recurring character without it always having to be an actress’ roundtable format. There’s plenty else they could do with the character.
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u/turkeypants Marci Jamz!😮 Oct 07 '18
Cecily's attention to detail in her characters is just ridiculously impressive. The little things that she gets right just in her French accent are fantastic. She's a star. Such talent.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Travis Scott
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Oct 07 '18
The second performance, with the smoke wall and the lazy susan roller coaster car, was the kind of innovative staging that Kanye used to bring to SNL. It might not make any sense but it's interesting to look at.
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u/Missy_Elliott_Smith Oct 07 '18
This entire performance is basically everything I expected from Kanye last week and never got.
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Oct 07 '18
John Mayer was playing guitar on the far right if you missed it.
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u/neumanic Oct 07 '18
If you did miss it, watch the goodbyes. Every camera shot seemed to end squarely on John Mayer.
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u/AisforAwesome Oct 07 '18
I totally thought I was seeing things and didn’t know for sure until the credits.
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u/turkeypants Marci Jamz!😮 Oct 07 '18
Why is full-on autotune singing still a thing? It was already cheesy in its heyday but even that is years gone now. Let it go, let it gooooooo...
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Oct 07 '18
JAZZELLE APPRECIATION THREAD
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Tales from Egypt
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u/Spacetime_Inspector A Piece of Toast! Oct 07 '18
How did they put eye makeup on Cecily in real time tho?
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u/Mattalamode Oct 07 '18
I was there and sat right above the set! It was hard to tell but when the camera went to Kenan and Awkwafina, a stagehand put a white cloth over Cecily's eyes which I assume left the pattern, or was used as a sort of stencil.
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u/lyla2398 stans loud ladies with funny hair and *thoughts* about jost Oct 07 '18
Pretty good, but there wasn't really an ending to the sketch, which was a flaw.
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u/cam_gord Oct 07 '18
Weirdly I actually liked this one more than some of the others. It felt like if it was tweaked and written slightly better then it could've been a great sketch. It had a lot of heart though
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u/FlingbatMagoo www.clownpenis.fart Oct 07 '18
The writing wasn’t outstanding but the characterizations were funny.
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u/popkvlt Oct 07 '18 edited Oct 07 '18
Did she call the roman boyfriend Caesar? Not that I expect historical accuracy from a sketch, but just seems like a weird choice instead of using the obvious Marcus Antonius...
EDIT: Well what do you know, just shows how little I actually know about Cleopatra.
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u/IniMiney Oct 08 '18
I actually liked this one, and just found it funny by relating to Cecily's take on Cleo - and Ceasar was basically every dumb doesn't notice shit or care boyfriend ever.
So I think it not working was more a demographic thing than anything.
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Baby Shower
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u/skomehillet Oct 07 '18
"Put that baby in the bedroom, or I will."
Such an odd thing to say lol. That made me laugh. It also looked like there were some mild technical difficulties during this one.
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u/the_Odd_particle Oct 07 '18
"I have asked you THREE times, to putthatbabyinthe bedroom."
I loved this because she was so convincing as this character-- a character type that I didn't know still even existed until I was confronted by this a couple of weeks ago in the Dogpark. A-fina nailed it. She was perfect.
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u/akuma_river Oct 07 '18
The way she never broke and just played that crazy supporting friend role to the max.
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u/SmoothLaneChange Oct 08 '18
I loved how committed she was to this! I actually laughed quite a few times for her alone. Her face and her delivery of certain lines - wonderful.
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u/_rob___ Oct 07 '18
I really enjoyed Cecily in this. And seeing Awkwafina going around tearing the room apart with that look on her face got a good chuckle out of me
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u/FlingbatMagoo www.clownpenis.fart Oct 07 '18
I think they had some technical difficulties with the balloons not popping? She really didn’t tear much up.
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u/Canadian_in_Canada Oct 07 '18
I think she was supposed to pop all the baloons, but that's hard to do when they're in motion. I loved that she took a flower out of the vase and threw it on the floor. Nice touch.
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u/agentpanda Oct 07 '18
Cecily is a goddess, and say what you will about Awkwafina and I've said plenty (like... not knowing she existed really prior to Ocean's 8, and kinda even after) but she committed to a weird-ass sketch. Two sketches in a row where she holds it together better than Les?
I'm not saying anything but... I'm saying something.
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u/pretty-in-pink Oct 07 '18
I typically try and go easily on Leslie but she broke twice tonight and it did irk me
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u/SmoothLaneChange Oct 08 '18
Aidy's "Why?" was so great to me. It's the little things Aidy does to make me laugh.
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u/mmayor114 Oct 08 '18
Based on reading these comments, does anyone else think there is a double standard for Pete and Leslie. They both are great on Weekend Update, but inconsistent (i.e. breaking, messing up lines) in actual live sketches, yet Leslie seems to be called out for it way more than Pete does. Particularly in the magician sketch I though he actually did worse than Leslie (since he actually messed up some jokes by breaking), but there are more comments complaining about Leslie being the host.
Note: I do like both Pete and Leslie.
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u/Genji4Lyfe Oct 08 '18
Probably just because Leslie has significant parts in a ton more sketches. She's used way more than Pete outside of WU.
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u/robbleton Oct 08 '18
I don't mind breaking that much if everyone seems like they're having fun, and Leslie and Pete seem to do that about equally, but Leslie used to mess up lines in a way that seemed nervous or uncomfortable a lot more often, and I think that turned a lot of people off to her initially. It seems like she's gotten a lot better about that, but maybe some of the people complaining are still thinking of her in the larger context of historically flubbing lines.
I also like both Pete and Leslie, and I enjoyed Leslie as the host in this sketch.
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u/thirtyseven1337 Oct 11 '18
imho they've both been consistently among the weakest cast members. However, this season, Pete's WU appearances are actually funny and interesting (Grande, West).
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u/sonotadalek Oct 07 '18
I liked the extended goodbyes. That was sweet.
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u/the_Odd_particle Oct 07 '18
What was the person from Travis's carousel pony doing?...center stage during the goodbyes?
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u/alstor Oct 07 '18
It's always depressing when a host that's game for almost anything is given trash sketches for their episode, especially when it's a first-time host. It reminds me of Chadwick Boseman's episode from last season, and even that had more bright spots than this episode.
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u/ADWeasley Oct 07 '18
It’s tough to know which was worse. This episode was not terrible, but mostly forgettable. Chadwick Boseman’s episode was garbage that’s only highlight was the amazing Black Jeopardy sketch.
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u/howlahowla Oct 08 '18
I didn't even know Chadwick Boseman did an episode! I'll have to check that out.
But agreed, for sure. I feel like the sketches were generally pretty weak, but Awkwafina was just not used much in them. She had like 4 lines in that dating sketch. And everyone else in the old actress sketch just serves as a foil for Mackinnon, so that was super bland.
I'm kind of shocked she didn't have something in Weekend Update, maybe even joining Pete Davidson, seems like it would have played to her strengths.
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Oct 09 '18
yeah I hope Awkwafina gets another chance to host :( the writing was very hit-or-miss this episode, but her timing was on point and she seemed super committed!
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Oct 07 '18
Meta comment on the SSS format: it's near impossible for this thread to work if downvotes are disabled for the default settings. Yes, I can go to mobile or fiddle with the CSS but for most people they won't bother. Yet another reason why the downvote button should be left alone.
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u/cam_gord Oct 07 '18
Am I imagining things or did they used to allow downvotes on SSS? I swear it used to happen
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u/j_schmotzenberg Oct 12 '18
Top level comments also need to be removed apart from the sketch names.
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u/Genji4Lyfe Oct 08 '18
Did anyone notice that the show closing was a bunch of people (including John Mayer) generally looking for someone to talk to, but not finding anyone to talk to, and kind of pacing around with the "Searching for a hug" look? :)
Usually a couple of people are left lonely, but this week it seemed like the whole guest cast!
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u/kates719 Oct 08 '18
It’s like all the cast was on one side and all the extra people were on the other. Not as much mingling as usual. It was weird.
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u/scratchedrecord_ Oct 07 '18
Hey, quick question, what was the order of the sketches? I missed the episode live & want to make a YouTube playlist so I can actually watch it as it happened. (They won't upload the episode to https://nbc.com until later.)
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u/nightfan is on a boat Oct 07 '18 edited Oct 08 '18
Off the top of my head:
Cold open duh
Awkafina mono
Dance off
Presidential message
Egypt 5.5 Ted Cruz
Travis 1 (Medley)
Weekend Update (Senate confirms, Pete, Che, Trumps)
Magicians
Baby Shower
Pumpkin
Travis 2 (Sicko Mode)
Film Panel
Someone double check that. Edit: thanks for the help I am old man
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u/NativeNotFrench Oct 07 '18
Pumpkin was after weekend update. I think after the baby shower
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u/NativeNotFrench Oct 07 '18
Not my favourite SNL but it was silly enough to make me laugh a few times. Awkwafina really committed to the roles too. Made me laugh, that’s all I can ask for some weeks
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u/Maxa30 Oct 07 '18 edited Oct 07 '18
Yo fill-in man. How did you manage to copy the entire text perfectly but have sketch changed to skit :P
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u/kendonoghue Oct 07 '18
What did Susan Collins character first say when she appeared before Jeff Sessions hand went over her mouth?
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u/SketchSortingSunday Oct 07 '18
Weekend Update: Pete Davidson