Paul Mescal hosts with musical guest Shaboozey

Hiyo Conehead nation — welcome back to Saturday Night Live in Review — we have started our December stretch of season 50. First up: Gladiator II’s Paul Mescal, who was so magnetic in both Normal People and Aftersun. 

Gladiator II is a Ridley Scott movie. I am joined today by former SNL cast member Jeff Richards, who was on the show back when Josh Hartnett came to host, promoting Scott’s Black Hawk Down. He notes the Attack of the Clones sketch which cast him and Hartnett as members of N*Sync: “I remember that one because of all the choreography, which I’d never really had before except maybe in elementary school.”

Shaboozey is tonight’s musical guest. Let’s go! An iconic Dana Carvey character awaits.

Cold Open

“Let’s go!” someone in the audience hollers, as we open to the familiar Church Chat logo and Phil Hartman’s soothing intro narration. Dana Carvey’s iconic character jokes about Sabrina Carpenter and how Jesus Christ was the best carpenter. 

The classic “Satan!” echo fails to land with the crowd — you see Carvey waiting for a bigger reaction. One issue could be Sarah Sherman’s Matt Gaetz. That bit of Trump news is old hat by now, and Sherman’s casting and emasculating appearance is so unnecessary at this point. Usually I enjoy Sherman’s brand of live-sketch work, but this gets a huge thumbs down. 

David Spade appears as the next guest, Hunter Biden. This exchange is better received (it’s way more timely) and “Isn’t that special” gets a nice response. Carvey, of course, has a podcast with Spade, so we are like, four layers deep on SNL lore here. (Here’s a fifth layer: Spade recently knocked an interview I did with Alex Moffat during an episode. Not nice!)

Marcello Hernandez plays Juan Soto — Church Lady takes him to task. “Satan had a good year,” the Church Lady choir coos, name-checking the likes of Diddy.

Church Lady last appeared in season 42 during Weekend Update to talk about the November 2016 presidential election. (Back in season 41, Ted Cruz, played by Taran Killam, and Darrell Hammond’s Trump were Church Lady’s guests FWIW.) I am unclear why we are going to the Church Lady well now. I get Carvey’s Biden was essential earlier this season, but feels like that was the most relevant moment for such a legendary incisive cultural sketch character. But this echoes that they should just call Carvey a cast member.

Monologue

A montage of Mescal crying! As he makes clear, he is game for emotional scenes and nude scenes and nude emotional scenes. “Safe to say, not a ton of comedy on the resume!” he says. He checks off some of the stereotypes about being Irish. This reminds me of something off late night — he’s doing well until Marcello Hernandez shows up in short shorts. Why did they interrupt him with this? 

Mescal regains form and ends well — he feels lucky to be here! This was charming, didn’t need Hernandez though.

“Thanksgiving”

Parents (Wakim, Gardner) are welcoming their college-aged son (Mescal) home for dinner when they request he take off his hat at the dining room table. A surprise: He recently got his ear pierced with some friends. They overreact, with references to Ben Shapiro, Metallica and going to work naked. Mescal accuses them of homophobia; they think he’s being an “edgelord.” 

Gardner delivers a tour-de-force here, drop-kicking Nana out of the window. She mutilates her own ear to make a point. This is histrionic and fun and has a nice ending with Michael Longfellow. This is good! Watch it.

“Gladiator II: A Musical”

Wicked and Moana 2 have been huge successes — even more than Gladiator II. So filmmakers have added an extra 50 minutes of song! Mikey Day gets to spoof Lin-Manuel Miranda’s rap style; Mescal goes full 8 Mile. Speaking of Gladiator, Jeff Richards is a fan of Joaquin Phoenix, the bad guy from the original, as well as Denzel Washington, who chews the scenery in the sequel. He recommends folks check out former SNLer Dean Edwards’ Instagram for his spot-on Denzel impression. Indeed, Dean Edwards’ Denzel is hilarious and dead-on, Kenan Thompson’s impression here less so.

I enjoyed James Austin Johnson’s Christian character. This is clever! Watch it.

“Italian Dinner Commercial”

“Pastabilities!” A young actress played by Ashley Padilla accidentally improvs during a taping for an Italian restaurant commercial. The director likes it, her costar Craig (Mescal) less so. He gets competitive. The crew thinks she is a “comedy machine” — she admits she’s feeling “saucy,” another pasta pun. The camera clearly loves Padilla. Craig is withering, his resentment growing. 

The restaurant owner Mario Capanello (Thompson) appears. This was okay!

“Please Don’t Destroy”

Our heroes are back in their normal setting: their office. They have Mescal in their room, hanging out. They are relieved that he is normal, not self-serious or emotional. That compliment backfires, as he is very moved. He wants to move in upstate — maybe sex in the future. Well, that isn’t fair, he wants to be “Daddy,” teaching them about life as they remind him what it is all about. Things get dark and absurd in a fantasy vision, living together in a cabin.

This was a safe one for PDD — their past few installments did not land nearly as well.

“All Male Revue”

A bachelorette party is out for a Magic Mike-style show. My first thought: Is this a Domingo prequel? It’s mostly the same performers, but I note Dismukes is in the revue. Instead, this is a male stripper pirate story, practically straight from Pirates of the Caribbean. The women lament the wild level of detail and lack of skin. 

Okay, this isn’t Domingo — Hernandez’s stripper has scurvy and gets thrown overboard. Wakim has a funny moment but otherwise I was not moved by this.

Shaboozey “Good News” Performance

This country ballad was released last month. All he needs is a little good news! 

Jeff Richards jokes: “As far as Shaboozey goes, I don’t know a lot of his music but my overall feeling is when you have Shaboozey, you can’t ‘lose-y’!”

“Weekend Update”

Colin Jost jokes about the suspect wanted in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and says one reason the shooter got away was that most cops in the city were guarding the tree outside their office. The murder happened only three blocks away from 30 Rock. (The show joking about NYC crime actually has a long history.) Other jokes: Trump in Paris, Biden in Africa, Diddy. 

Che tells a very smart joke about time travel. Che and Jost have great chemistry tonight. Lots of laughter at each other’s jokes.

NFL season is halfway over, and Heidi Gardner comes out. Her Dookie son was drafted this year, so she’s new to fame. She wants Shaboozey and comments on a Jost joke about cucumbers. Hernandez plays her athlete son, he is dead behind the eyes. (I like this Hernandez performance better than the braying act earlier in the show.) Some people should not get famous, Che notes, as the camera cuts to Jost.