'Saturday Night Live' Recap - Ronda Rousey & Selena Gomez

It can be a mixed bag when athletes host Saturday Night Live. Sometimes their lack of performance experience translates to a dull, stiff host mostly relegated to playing versions of themselves. But sometimes, athletes can be unexpectedly great. I’m guessing that Ronda Rousey, fighter extraordinaire, will be the later. She has great personality and certainly knows how to entertain a crowd.

Like I always do, I’ll be writing the recaps “live,” meaning I’ll watch a sketch and immediately write a short blurb reviewing and recapping it. For each segment, I’ll rate it on a scale of 0-5 stars. At the end of the piece, I’ll share some quick overall thoughts and the best/worst sketch of the night.

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Republican Debate Cold Open: * * *

Nostalgia is a funny thing on SNL. Everyone loves Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. I love Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. And, of course, now is an obvious time to trot her out again to huge applause. The goodwill and social media buzz is off the charts. But I wonder if SNL coasted a little too much on that goodwill. Was it great to see Fey back? Of course. Did she actually make me laugh with the stale material written for her? I gotta say no.

 

Opening Monologue: * * *

I like when SNL tries something different for the monologue and this ring-side approach was novel enough while still fitting comfortably into the SNL monologue mold. Rousey seemed a bit nervous but relaxed a bit once Thompson’s hilarious coach showed up (no one on SNL does facial expressions better than him). Oh, and we got Rousey slapping Bieber. So we’re off to a fine, if not great, start.

 

Screen Actors Guild Awards: * * * * ½

This is about as pointed and biting a piece of pop culture satire the show has done in a long, long time and given its own storied history with lack of diversity, it’s great to see SNL at a place where they can do this sketch and not have it comment back on them. The set-up is very simple (only the white actors get nominations!) but the set-ups for each film are very funny and performed extremely well. It went on a little long for a one-joke premise, even if that one joke was phenomenal, but still an all-star piece of sketch writing.

 

Bullies Against Mixed Martial Artists: * * * *

Look, SNL knows what Periscope is! You knew SNL would do a Ronda-Rousey-kicks-someone’s-ass sketch and this was a pretty great example. The set-up was perfectly paced as was Vanessa Bayer’s increasingly tipsy bully. This wasn’t a sketch that reinvented the wheel by any means, but it’s very solid and funny.

 

Bland Man: * * *

Yes, it feels about 10 years late for a Bachelor spoof like this but at least SNL tried to combat that by going weird. The result was a mixed bag – some of the ladies were really funny and appropriately strange, others fell flat.

 

Weekend Update: * * * *

No, I don’t know what World Star Hip-Hop is and, yes, I saw Brooklyn. I am very, very white. The Oscar takedown was really strong in Weekend Update, with Che and Jost’s chemistry growing better every week. Also great was Leslie Jones who can make just about any simple phrase hilariously funny. I could watch her monologues all day long. That being said, I could do without Willy. As much as I love Thompson, that character just doesn’t do anything for me.

 

Court Case: * ½

My problem is less about the fact that SNL already did this exact same sketch without much change and more about the fact that this is a borderline offensive sketch when you really think about it. I’m a firm believer that no subject should be off topic, but a sketch ostensibly about statutory rape from the POV of a grinning, horny teen just turned me off. You can go there if you had something to say. This doesn’t.

 

The Super Crew: * *

Almost every SNL cast member had a role in this sketch and only about two of their introductions were funny. Except for “I have gaydar but only for black men,” most of them needed a few more rewrites.

 

“I’ll Go Down On You”: * * * ½

I hated this sketch when it started as I expected a male version of Dongs Around The World. But Beck Bennett’s desperate rap solos got funnier with each verse.

 

Citizens Forum: * * * ½

This felt like a lot of separate sketch characters that didn’t work on their own so they tried to jam them into one concept. It didn’t work. Just flavorless and forgettable.

 

Party Invite: * * ½

This episode started very strong. What happened?

 

Settl (Originally from the Ryan Gosling episode): * * *

(What I originally wrote) There was nothing wrong with this sketch, per se, it just felt rather safe. It was an OK riff on online dating but that’s about it. Fine, but I’ll forget about this by the end of the episode.

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Best Sketch: Screen Actors Guild Awards

 

Worst Sketch: Pete Davidson’s court case

 

Musical Guest: Selena Gomez

We get it Selena, you’re not a little kid anymore with all the cleavage-bearing, simulated threeway and chorus of snapping men. Okay, I ran out of examples at #2. But really, this felt desperate and out of character besides the fact that Selena was pitchy and breathy for far too much of her two bland songs.

 

Overall Thoughts:

Rousey did really well, in fact, I wish they gave her more to do. Mostly the show stuck her in the background or as the straight women for other, more seasoned SNL players. But, even in small roles, Rousey shined with good personality and fine comedic chops. I’d be happy to have her back anytime.