After two strong episodes with Jenna Ortega and Quinta Brunson, this week’s “Saturday Night Live” hit a rough patch with host and “SNL” alumna Molly Shannon. Shannon’s infectious energy, kicked off by an opening monologue song, couldn’t save sketch after sketch that relied on one-note premises and only rarely took advantage of the fearlessness she shows in “The White Lotus” and “The Other Two.” An early sketch about three techniques for valets fell flat, a mock Netflix ad featuring one of Shannon’s lesser-known characters was unfunny on purpose, and a bit about an office worker who confuses her gassy belly for pregnancy was ghastly. All were missing funny lines and more for Shannon to do.
Shannon carried the weight of a misguided sketch about a playwright whose material is way too confessional. Things got better whenever the writing veered to stranger places that allowed the actor’s zaniness to shine through, like a late-in-the-show sketch featuring Shannon’s character Sally O’Malley (with this week’s musical guests the Jonas Brothers), or the best sketch of a mostly bad lot, “Molly Shannon 2K23.” Shannon deserved better, especially since it was the writing and not her performance that felt weak in this episode.
The show’s cold open starts off as a “Last Supper” sketch, with Mikey Day as Jesus, until former President Trump (James Austin Johnson) interrupts the proceedings. Trump compares the unjust arrest of Jesus to his own situation, but the similarities, he says, don’t stop there. “We’re both very tall, very popular and both, frankly, white Americans.” Trump says he could have resurrected faster than Jesus — two days, tops — and that Jesus got in trouble for the same reason he did — for telling his followers to “get very violent and start a war.” And he says, “Christ was, let’s call it what it is, a nepo baby.” I have sung enough praises of Johnson’s Trump impression this season, but this sketch in particular shows why it’s so good: with no gimmicks like on-screen graphics, it’s just Johnson firing off solo with pure Trump logic. The monologue takes time to repeatedly tease Day, who, as Jesus, must sit frozen in place with his hands up through the rest of the sketch.
In her opening monologue, Shannon referenced her autobiography, “Hello, Molly!,” where she wrote about some of the tragedies that shaped her life. Her father, she says, helped her build positivity in her life, leading her to sing the famous “Gypsy” show tune “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” Shannon, partly in song, helps current and former cast members with their troubles, like Molly Kearney‘s need for more airtime, Kenan Thompson’s Rolex addiction and Martin Short’s problem: “I ran out of Ozempic!” He says it just before scarfing down a burger while standing next to a highly amused Lorne Michaels.
Best sketch of the night: Shannon gets the ‘Madden’ treatment
The “Please Don’t Destroy” team is on a streak. This week’s offering, “Molly Shannon 2K23,” suggests a world where a video game series based on the life of Molly Shannon is as popular as the “Madden NFL” series. Shannon is surprised to discover the game, which the writers are playing, even exists (and that she seemingly hasn’t made any money from it). The game allows players to tell anecdotes on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” and to make crucial career moves, like whether to go on a cancel-culture rant for a college commencement speech. Shannon gets hooked on the game and makes her virtual self a rapper, where she cuts loose with lines like, “My fingers in my armpits / pull ‘em out / like Excalibur / Season 25 caliber.”
Also good: Sally O’Malley makes it all kinds of awkward
Bringing back a beloved “SNL” character decades later is always a roll of the dice, but Shannon’s super-loose comfort with her Sally O’Malley character (“I’m 50!”) wins here. Her interactions with the Jonas Brothers as their new choreographer are silly. But it’s the extended bit where Shannon adjusts her bright red pants ever higher to emphasize her body that keeps the audience and other cast members in stitches.
‘Weekend Update’ winner: Jafar puts Gov. Ron DeSantis in his place
Bowen Yang nails the “Aladdin” villain Jafar, playing up the character’s sly voice and queerness in a rebuke of the Florida governor’s war on Disney, and he repeatedly refers to Ron DeSantis as “The Boy.” Jafar points out that many Disney characters and even Main Street USA are inherently gay (“If you use Grindr on Main Street USA, your phone explodes”), and there’s nothing gayer than getting married there, he says, as DeSantis did. The segment has strong jokes, but it’s Yang’s pitch-perfect delivery of Jafar’s imperious tone that makes it truly great.
