Who has more to be thankful for this year than Pete Davidson? Free Yeezys, a seat at Kris Jenner’s holiday table, and now one of the best digital shorts of his career.
“Walking in Staten” was the highlight of last night’s very strong Saturday Night Live. Equal parts sentimental and cutting, it was a win even before big baritone Marc Cohn donned his own Staten Island black hoodie. Davidson, Big Wet, and the “Walking in Memphis” singer were already a delightfully absurd trio, but their group went super status when Method Man dropped by for a few dope bars. “Tell me, are you Italian?” a dude looking to fight asked the Wu-Tang member in a dive bar. “And I said, ‘Man, I am tonight!’” May Kim Kardashian West wake up Monday morning not to a foyer full of gifted white roses in the shape of a cursive K, but her concrete floor covered in Staten-approved individual slices of cheese on grease-stained white paper plates.
Simu Liu was the gallant and good-natured host for the evening. The Marvel star, whose jawline, biceps, and abs were all heroes of the night, paid homage to his humble Canadian roots in his winning monologue. The first “openly Chinese” superhero, and first ever Chinese SNL host, recalled tweeting Marvel a polite request back in 2014: “How about an Asian superhero?” The audacity of a man who made extra change by dressing up as Spider-Man for little kids’ birthday parties! Liu remembered a particularly obnoxious 7-year-old harumphing that he wasn’t the real Spider-Man. “You were right,” he declared on the floor of Studio 8H. “I’m Shang-Chi, bitch!” On with the show.
‘Tis the season of annoyingly jolly commercials, and the show was right on time with their Target spoof. Ego Nwodim and Mikey Day took the hit for all of us weary hosts. They had to contend with Kyle Mooney’s dirtbag cousin nagging at the dinner table for the Wi-Fi password, the relative who ignored the specific request to leave the dog at home, and Liu as the niece’s new boyfriend in shaggy hair and groovy cardigan droning on about why he couldn’t eat meat after watching a life-changing documentary. Target has special deals on all the wine and beer that will numb a person to dead-hearted conversations about cryptocurrency or gender pronouns, and whether kids should get the vaccine (they should). If you can figure out how to take advantage of Target Circle rewards—though, P.S., you will not—there’s a special on a new air mattress to keep your Mooney-equivalent family member from driving drunk at the end of an already endless day.
Republican Or Not? was truly a gift of a game show. Hosted by Kenan Thompson, the game welcomed contestants Liu and Nwodim, who came in cocksure of their ability to spot a GOP member from a distance. But Mooney’s plaid-shirted and blue-jeaned fellow could have been either a Chicago Bernie Bro or recent incel recruit: “I think Facebook is evil… I buy all my produce straight from a farm… I respect pro athletes who stand up for their beliefs… God, I hate cops.” Nope; that brother wears MAGA Underoos. First-year cast member Sarah Sherman, already a terrifically assured presence, was next. “My favorite comic is Dave Chappelle,” she teased Nwodim’s destabilized contestant, who asked nervously, “Starting when?” These are disorienting times. Just ask Liz Cheney.
So thank God for dogs. Nothing on SNL puts me in as good a mood as a sketch starring Cecily Strong and a dog. And she needed cheering up after the cold open in which her Judge Jeanine delighted in the acquittal of “lovable scamp” Kyle Rittenhouse. Liu played a military general espousing a newly-invented super soldier. The curtain parted, revealing a handsome golden retriever putting together a gun with human hands. Behold: Dog Head Man. The gentle-eyed good girl gaped sweetly at the crowd as its human hands flailed wildly with a knife. She munched on her sandwich, losing half of it to the floor, while then trying to defuse a bomb with a wad of bread lodged above her eyebrow. This is truly the content our adrenals can handle right now.
It isn’t James Austin Johnson’s parody of Donald Trump, in which he delivers a word salad of amoral nonsense. One’s ears and heart hasn’t healed yet for any of that to be funny. It isn’t Weekend Update’s joke about Matt Gaetz offering Rittenhouse an internship, or even Michael Che’s dead-on musing that hopefully Rittenhouse “got all that shooting out of his system before he becomes a cop.”
It’s Mikey Day kissing the top of that dog’s head. And Mooney’s Baby Yoda spilling the details of his sexy new fling with the mom from The Berenstain Bears. And Bowen Yang and Liu delighting in how the two of them standing in a room together is like the living embodiment of the Spider-Man pointing meme. “Except you have abs, and I have ibs,” sighed Yang, before clarifying: “irritable bowel syndrome.” It’s Staten Island babies in golden chains and Chloe Fineman in a pink-fringed BOY BYE top and the promise that one day, let it be soon, Kate McKinnon will return. When the humans start driving you nuts on Thursday, just find a dog to walk.
— Playing Princess Diana Was Kristen Stewart’s Fairy Tale
— Remembering Halyna Hutchins, Rust Cinematographer Killed in Tragic Shooting
— How Edie Falco Protected Hillary Clinton on Impeachment
— The Five Goopiest Moments in Gwyneth Paltrow’s New Show
— Review: There’s No Life in Chloé Zhao’s Eternals
— The Ending of Army of Thieves (and Its Origin) Explained
— A First Look at Harry Connick Jr. in Annie Live!
— From the Archive: Excavating the Private Saga of the Clintons’ Very Public Marriage
— Want to obsess over the best of television? Sign up here to receive text messages from the Still Watching hosts or text (213) 652-6731.
— Sign up for the “HWD Daily” newsletter for must-read industry and awards coverage—plus a special weekly edition of “Awards Insider.”