With musical guest Machine Gun Kelly.
Welcome to 2021 a new year, a new president for our favorite late-night sketch program.
Krasinski, of course, rose to superstardom playing Jim Halpert in all nine seasons of NBC’sThe Office.
There’s Krasinski the deft horror filmmaker, releasing A Quiet Place in 2018.
I am curious which Krasinski we will see tonight there are surprising layers of versatility.
I am joined tonight by formerSNLcast member Gary Kroeger.
He is a big fan of Krasinski and specifically admires “the intelligence that he carries with him.
He finds the thread of intelligence in his characters and that is very authentic.
He carries a certain weight behind his eyes and that appeals to a wide audience.
Jim inThe Officeprobably being the most relatable.”
He is the latestOfficealum to host the show, following the likes of Steve Carell and Ed Helms.
(Do we count Amy Adams?
Let’s ponder.)
Who can forget Jason Sudeikiscapturing peak slacker Jimduring the Rainn Wilson monologue in season 32?
It’sSNL in Review: 2021 edition, y’all.
“It’s a new year, with a new president so something should work?”
The answer is, sadly, no!
The first guest is Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (Cecily Strong), the QAnon conspiracy theorist.
“You represent the U.S…. people can Google you,” questions McKinnon.
“So, government does not work.”
Perfect down-the-middle-casting for Cecily; good to have her back.
Alex Moffat is back with his hilarious, deranged Mark Zuckerberg.
And Jack Dorsey is played by Mikey Day.
They demonstrate that social media has never worked.
Kenan Thompsonreturns with his O.J.
Simpson, after previously playing him in anSNL at Homeepisode.
Simpson got the vaccine but teachers haven’t yet.
Last but not least, Krasinski comes out as Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
He is the only thing in America that still works.
But almost no one is rooting for him.
It’s fun seeing Kate here as herself slowly losing her mind.
On brand Kate, with an intense “Live From New York!”
Monologue
Krasinski comes out dancing in a poorly fitted suit a little awkward.
He is coming on a little strong, comparingSNLto appearing onPaw Patrol, his kids' favorite show.
Alex Moffat confuses him for Jim fromThe Office.
“DoThe Office… where is Pam?”
Ego Nwodim interrupts with an audience question and tells him to stop working out; Jim is soft.
“He sits all day.”
This is a little sad it is totally true, however.
Krasinski is still Jim!
Kroeger disagrees: “I watch everything John does.
Kenan needs him to kiss Pam.
Pete Davidson comes out and explains everyone has been watchingThe Officenonstop during the pandemic.
They need Jim and Pam to be real.
We get a rehash of the Jim shrug then he kisses Pete.
This was a depressing cold open.
The opposite of Krasinski’s heartfelt efforts in 2020.
Kroeger mentions he envied how successfulSome Good Newswas.
He considered doing his own however"nothing I could have done would have improved what John was doing.
And, Emily Blunt wasn’t going to make any appearances in mine.
It worked because he nailed the sentiment of a majority of us.
Why not let that alter the negative chemistry we are all feeling at the moment?”
Side note: a geriatric Wayne and Garth are doing an Uber Eats commercial.
That should have been included in the What’s Not Working cold open sketch.
Blue Georgia
John Krasinski is the sheriff; his cousin is from New York City.
“Good to see a fellow blue stater!”
says a homespun Crystal (Aidy Bryant).
She hates CNN’s corporate both sides-ism; give her Rachel Maddow any day!
They have all-gendered restrooms, they/them pronouns, and read former First Lady Michelle Obama’sBecoming.
The rural Southern folk, it appears, are very progressive and woke.
“This is Stacey Abrams country … home ofStankonia!”
They escort a Trump supporter to the state line.
Bullies
Andrew Dismukes is reading a manga comic after school.
Inadvertently, he continues to insult him.
Strong Kyle Mooney vibes to this one is Dismukes the heir apparent?
His artwork is deeply disturbing.
This is hilarious, given the ubiquity of at-home Zoom interviews.
They hate Beck Bennett’s fellow talking head for disagreeing with their father.
He worships at the altar of the hedge funds.
She brings back her Nicole Kidman (singing the theme fromThe Undoing) and Kim Cattrall.
This is a great spoof of that ego flex.
What if other shows allowed their cast members to sing their show’s opening numbers?
Cecily Strong is Julie Andrews fromBridgerton.
We need to talk about Kyle Mooney’s recurring Baby Yoda it is unpleasant.
Cool to have Krasinski sing the “original” lyrics toThe Office.
Eventually, everyone is arrested easily caught.
The premise flatlines but it is clever.
I wondered howSNLwould tackle this national tragedy.
I think they’ve done that here.
But it definitely slaps for what it is vibrant guitar work, and cool throwback production from Travis Barker.
Kroeger says Kelly “is enigmatic and charismatic.
He’s a musician, an actor, and a comedian when he wants to be.
He can’t be pigeon-holed and that, to me, is the mark of a true artist.”
Colin Jost salutes diversity white people are now a terrorist watch group.
1 movie on Hulu.
Jost brings out Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO who was just banned from Twitter.
Of course, Beck Bennett plays him.
I may have said this before: Bennett is the living embodiment of Randy Marsh.
“Dude, you are all over the place,” scoffs Jost.
“I don’t know, my brain’s on fire!”
Kyle does not have an impression of Scorsese beyond the laugh + makeup.
(Remember when Scorsese appeared as himself in “The Chris Farley Show?”
Finally, Cathy Anne returns!
We have not seen her since theRuPaul episode last February.
She’s an ideal person to be commenting on the DC insurrection.
I wish they had based a sketch around her instead of the listless, offensive “Blue Georgia.”
You need that kind of avatar to ground it, win the audience over.
Supermarket Sweep
“It’sJeopardy!for food!”
says Krasinski, as the game show’s previous host, David Ruprecht.
First and foremost: where is thegame show reboot’s host, formerSNLstarLeslie Jones?
Gina is a unitarian minister.
They are a classic Aidy & Kate pairing.
They seem to be having fun.
It’s the ’90s, so the joke is that no one recognizes they are clearly a lesbian couple.
Kris proposes to Gina on the floor, after hurting her knee.
They didn’t find the blueberries!
Subway Pitch
The company’s internal marketing team is wondering if Subway needs to update its message.
It’s been a while since one of their campaigns has had traction.
John Krasinski and Beck Bennett are Rocky and Dino; they are proud of their legacy.
They found Jared they are storytellers.
Brandon (Andrew Dismukes) came over from Chipotle.
And he is a man, not a kid.
He wants to promote sandwiches without the bread a protein bowl.
As you might expect, the old school is not a fan of the new guard.
The alternate Subway jingle is goofy and well-executed.
Rocky and Dino threaten to kill themselves.
“Lonely” Machine Gun Kelly
Playing his own guitar no less!
“I got in trouble,” he murmurs.
This has such a nostalgic Blink-era ’90s vibe to it.
Like Kelly’s “Adam’s Song” cosplay.
Ratatouille
Chloe Fineman and John Krasinski are post-gaming their sex.
Turns out John is being controlled by Ratatouille (Kyle Mooney).
Andheis controlled by a bug played by Aidy Bryant.
“That’s a bug’s life!”
she screams after being flicked.
So bizarre, it almost works.
Deep 10-to-1 weirdness that never quite feels ready for air.
(Much like a lot of this episode!)
Pete Davidson is the sex critic, wrapping up the sketch.
He is spoofing Anton Ego, voiced by Peter O’Toole in the movie.
Pete Davidson impersonating Peter O’Toole in 2021 welcome to the new year!
Final Thoughts
What did you think ofSNL’s first 2021 show?
Sound off below, orvote here!
This is the first episode all season whereall 20cast membershave been present and utilized.
Felt like a lot!
Thank you so much to Gary Kroeger for his excellent thoughts tonight.
MGK is one of Pete Davidson’s close friends.
He said: “I wanted a Beatle as the musical guest.
But I would have loved to have hung out with Paul McCartney.
Or George Harrison as well.”
Former cast member Victoria Jackson weighs in: “I sound like Debbie Downer…
I can’t understand a word of what the singer, Machine Gun Kelly, was singing…
I love the Fran Lebowitz series on Netflix and they are doing a good impression.
Liked the beginning best when Lebowitz stayed in character.
I love when people stay in character and don’t laugh at themselves.
But, it’s funnier for us when the actors stay in character.
When I was on the show Lorne told us to stay in character.
He said ‘breaking character was Carol Burnett.’
Then, Adam Sandler did it and I guess Lorne changed the rules.”
The show ends with a nice hat tip toCicely Tyson, the first black woman to ever hostSNL.
Thelegendary actress and icon diedthis week at age 96.
