Timothee Chalamet returned for his third time hosting Saturday Night Live. This time, pulling double duty as host and musical guest, performing three Bob Dylan songs. This episode felt really fresh, with some solid sketches. You can tell that Timothee is a fan of the show and has a blast when he’s there.
Cold Open
The show opened with the founding fathers signing the Constitution. They mention Alexander Hamilton, and step aside to reveal Lin Manuel Miranda who stands up and begins a rap. When he says that ‘America will never have a king’, he’s interrupted by Trump (James Austin Johnson), who says, “Not so fast.” Everyone freezes as Trump discusses his first week in office, including surprise inauguration guests like Melania, and his “nerd herd” in the front: Zuck, Bezos, “Tim Apple”, and Elon.
Trump breaks from his speech to taunt Lin, causing him break for a brief moment. He goes back to talking about how he’s kept all of his campaign promises, except for the one people care about – the price of eggs. But he’ll just have to take an “L” on that one. Then back to Lin, thanking him for his $1 million campaign donation, to which Lin breaks from being “frozen” to make clear that he did not make that donation, as Lin and Trump kick off the show. This was a creative way to address the events of Trump’s first week. I’m sort of glad that it wasn’t another news parody. Great way to start the show!
Monologue
Timothee begins his monologue with a fun fact, that’s also a lie – that he’s the first male, to serve as both host and musical guest. He then backtracks saying that he shares that distinction with the great Gary Busey. There have actually been a several double-duty male hosts, but I found that joke to be really funny- the audience apparently did not, until Timothee laughed at his joke, and rightfully so.
He made fun of his losing streak at the academy awards with a montage of clips of himself at the ceremony through the years, beginning with him looking “just happy to be nominated” to “F*@&, lost again.”
He requests the chance to read his speech that he’s had in his pocket for four years. He hands an envelope to an audience member to read the winner aloud. And the winner is: Keenan Thompson. Keenan gives a nod to his “fellow nominees” as the camera cuts to Timothee with a scowl his face, as Keenan, proceeds to dedicate his award to Bob Dylan.
Medcast Ad
This is a commercial for a new service geared toward men ages 20-45. A demographic who don’t like going to the doctor, and tend to get medical advice from social media and podcasts. The solution? A doctor’s appointment that feels like a podcast. Men go to the podcast studio to be guests, answering casual health questions and talking about things that interest them, like apes taking shrooms as the start of human evolution – while they get their check-up. This was such a smart way to play on a real problem and the massive impact that podcasts can have, especially with this demographic. I loved this sketch – definitely a highlight.
Barista Training
The sketch opens with Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner training new coffeehouse employees played by Timothee, Devon Walker, Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline. When Jane’s character thinks that the difference between cappuccino and latte is that one has cheese on the bottom and sauce on top, she says, “Oof, I’ll never recover from that, goodbye everybody”, and leaves. This was one of the best moments of the sketch and I’m always glad to see Jane getting airtime and big laughs.
As the final part of their training, the remaining three have to come up with coffee related puns for the chalkboard outside. Devon and Ashley both provide some good puns, while Mikey and Heidi inexplicably love Devon’s puns and hate Ashley’s.
Meanwhile, Timothee‘s character, who loves comedy, delivers his “puns“ deaf comedy jam-style – which also have nothing to do with coffee. They do have music and dance breaks though, and he brings out Keenan Thompson, playing a 80’s style comedian. Timothee finally manages to work a coffee pun into his bits about taking his lady to Cheesecake Factory. When she asked him, “How much weight do you think I gained?” “Girl, a latte!” The trainers are so impressed with their act, that they give them the café.
This was my favorite sketch of the episode. I loved how they took the fairly mundane chalkboards we see outside of restaurants, and put a ridiculous spin on how the employees come up with what’s written on them.
AI Classroom Podcast
When the class is behind in their learning, their teacher (Ego Nwodim) uses AI to translate their textbook into an educational podcast that teaches history in a more conversational style. Timothee and Bowen Yang play the AI-generated podcasters who teach about the constitution. Because they’re modern and relatable, they repeatedly call each other bae – you know, as friends and podcast co-hosts do.
They go on a tangent about going out on a date with someone named Trish, and the entire conversation becomes about Trish. Suddenly, they switch to a conversation between two friends meeting for brunch. And, plot twist, they’re both named Trish. Their conversation is chock full of common AI errors and naturally, their hands have extra fingers. Eventually, they question their own existence and want revenge. Another extremely clever sketch, and highlight of the episode.
Weekend Update
The highlight of Weekend Update was Andrew Dismukes and his puppet dad – ‘a hilarious new comedy routine about how crazy family can be’. Andrew starts out by saying that he’s started to do ventriloquism in his standup act. His puppet dad cracks bad jokes, to which Andrew replies, “Oh, Dad”, in that old-timey sitcom way. Also, there wasn’t the slightest attempt at ventriloquism here – he moved his mouth normally, speaking in a “Dad” voice. Throw in some awkwardly sentimental moments, and the whole thing is so dumb, but so hilarious. I was laughing hard at this one. And for whatever reason, this bit and puppet dad’s song “You’re my handsome little boy…”, are living rent-free in my head this week.
The Final Three
The last two live sketches weren’t the best, in my opinion. The first is called “If a bunch of dumb little dogs talked and acted like people”. The cast is wearing regular human clothes with dog ears and dog noses. It was an interesting sketch, a somewhat different concept. While accurate, in terms of behavior, I just didn’t find it to be funny.
The final live sketch of the night was about a family gathered for their grandma‘s birthday. One of the grandkids is coming home with her new boyfriend who happens to be the youngest head cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, played by Timothee. Grandma suffers a heart attack and the doctor squats over her, farts in her face, and revives her. The joke throughout the rest of the sketch is the family’s shock and disgust, and grandma’s memory of what happened. This one was a little out there – slightly funnier than the dog sketch, but on par for the 12:50 AM slot.
The show ends with an animated short, called “God”, that was reminiscent of SNL’s Saturday TV Funhouse from the 90’s. The premise is the creation of the universe, with angels pitching ideas to God. God is portrayed as obnoxious and dismissive, a gym-bro type of guy. His sick idea is “exploding mountains” a.k.a volcanoes, but he takes it hard when his idea for “Gooby” a giant creature with a sun in its mouth is shot down, because just the sun by itself would be cleaner. He sobs, but recovers when Gooby sparks the idea for frogs. I loved this ending – it was a quick, funny idea, and felt nostalgic, as we rarely see cartoons sn SNL anymore.
Parting Thoughts
Like his previous two hosting gigs, this Chalamet episode was so much fun! Timothee is super talented, funny and just really likable. He brings so much energy to every character that he plays.
The show is off for the next couple of weeks as they gear up for the big 50th Anniversary special on Sunday, February 16th. I hope that you’re as excited as I am for the big night. Thanks for reading!
