Leave it to Academy award nominated actor, Timothee Chalamet, and Bruce Springsteen to deliver the most feel good episode of this season of Saturday Night Live to date. Both did a great job by doing what they do, and I”m happy to write a positive SNL article for a change.
The show started out with Kate McKinnon’s Anthony Fauci and Heidi Gardner’s Rebecca Birx giving us a briefing on the COVID vaccine. The Coors cooler joke, along with the England line and the necklace gag all made me at least smile.
Chalamet took the stage and gave us a sweet dedication to New York and his mom, and the show was already off to a really good start.
My favorite skit of the night that had me shouting good things at the TV was the realistic Lexus holiday ad. That “ish” is the way it really is! And I’m so happy SNL delivered a funny skit that also gave us a little reality on those bad holiday car commercials.
I loved Ego Nwodim in that Dionne Warwick segment. I enjoyed Chalamet as Harry Styles, and I really enjoyed Chloe Fineman as Chalamet in the same skit. When SNL gets a good impressionist on the same stage as the star it works really well. Alex Trebek and Will Ferrel. Andy Samberg and Nicholas Cage. Charles Barkley and Keenan Thompson. All good.
And there is space for a recurring Wendy Williams joke leading up to an appearance there.
Bruce Springsteen absolutely brung it during his two numbers. Even at 71 years old, this man belted out some great stuff that lined up with on a night where we were having a good time.
The show wasn’t perfect. McKinnon’s Fauci is the same as her Giuliani. And goodness, Weekend Update was another loser. They’ve had a really bad year with no memorable laughs in site. We also didn’t need Pete Davidson riding shotgun with our host on three different occasions.
But it was a win. And a lot of fun to watch.
The best SNL of the season so far. Although with Kristen Wiig and Dua Lipa lined up before Christmas, that might not stand for too long.