Happy weekend, Conehead hive.
They also performed together in 2019.
So he’s not a novice to Studio 8H.
Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
So tonight will be notable in a few ways.
I am joined this week by formerSNLcast member Matthew Laurance.
“Nobody knew what was going to happen.
Run throughs, everything.
It was like all hell broke loose.
Nobody knew what to do.
We all felt like there were going to be big repercussions for it.
There was no doubt about that.”
Let’s see if Nick Jonas can bring a similar level of unpredictability and excitement tonight!
There is a lot of confusion around getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
So Fauci has opted to host a game show.
), and Gretchen Whitmer (Cecily Strong).
Whitmer turns her down.Ego Nwodimis next as a pretend granny.
She’s going out on a date and wants the vaccine.
Melissa Villasenor is pregnant, but Cuomo has no clue if she qualifies.
Bowen Yang lives in New Jersey and is pretending to smoke to get the vaccine.
And Aidy Bryant returns as Senator Ted Cruz.
He is fresh off CPAC, and doing a stand up routine on his Cancun scandal.
This was a good idea, but poorly executed.
After last week’s instant classic with Chloe Fineman, this felt like a slog.
Matthew Laurance says: “Kate is a genius, an absolute genius.
Probably in the top five of any cast member overall, of all these years of the show.
I love Cecily when she’s on.
But Kate to me is a league of her own.”
Monologue
Jonas comes onstage with a bright orange jacket, and a grey turtleneck.
His brother Kevin is in the audience.
He asks if “Mmbop” was one of their songs.
(It wasnot!)
Matthew Laurance says, “I’ve always loved the Jonas Brothers.
I’m excited for him to host.
I think they’re really talented.”
Jonas performs a tribute to Broadway, which has been dark for a year due to the pandemic.
McKinnon and Kenan Thompson join him, as do Beck Bennett and Strong.
They’re singing “Drink With Me” fromLes Miserables,a stage show Jonas has been in.
Don’t worry, Cecily has her weekly song in, already.
Pretty weak start to this episode.
Workout Mirror
Chris Redd and Day are preparing for a workout together.
Jonas is the mirror hologram trainer.
“Swole is the goal,” he says, intense bro vibes.
McKinnon is Shannon Delgado, trapped inside the mirror.
She was rude to a fortune teller, and as punishment was inserted into this.
“I’m Team Shannon.
I hope she’s okay,” says Redd.
“She does stretching I guess?”
Davidson shows up as the gatekeeper Azule.
Shannon gets Day to liberate her, swapping places with him.
I like the weirdness here.
And it’s a full story beginning, middle, end.
They harmonize about wanting a high body count, going down the rabbit hole by listening to podcasts.
And binging these shows while Zooming with mom.
Jonas returns to sing about cult shows.
Cinderella
It’s a reimagined ending forCinderella.
He brings out the “Monopoly token” shoe.
Not super memorable this has a few good one-liners, but I personally do not love bestiality humor.
Bachelor Party
Mickey (Bennett) is getting hitched.
He is celebrating with his buddies in the woods when two strippers arrive with pizza.
He begins a song about the timeless tradition of “getting hard” with his bros.
This is funny, as that is a very real, peculiar male bonding ritual.
“One night away from our lame ass lives.”
Then they’ll never discuss it again.
“Boner/ Boner/ Boner next to my friends!”
The disconnection and ennui we have felt over the past year is certainly real.
Does he knock this one out of orbit?
Is it out of this world?
(Sorry, space metaphor.)
Not a banger like “Jealous.”
I asked Matthew Laurance whether his kids are Jonas music fans: “They’re not.
They never have been.
They’re 17 and 14 and they’re totally into rap.
It’s the only thing they listen to.”
It was nice to see Thompson and Redd introduce Jonas.
BTW, who is watching their new show on NBC?
And Michael Che laments Democrats never get mad like MAGA supporters this is misplaced.
Meanwhile, Jost kills several jokes about Senator Cruz.
“Ted Cruz is always the Kill, in F, Marry, Kill” is hilarious.
(Recurring theme!)
Thompson returns as Lavar Ball, the enthusiastic ultra NBA dad.
He previously played him a bunchin 2017 and 2018.
This is a fun showcase for Thompson, though Ball really had his moment a few years ago.
And I LOVE, LOVE Kenan talking about his chocolate shoe.
“Chocolate, caramel, nuget.”
Brings me a lot of memories who remembersCooking With Randy & Mandy fromAll That?!
Next up: Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (Strong) appears to discuss her latest horrific actions.
Strong also played her inlast month’s cold open.
Her sneeze is an instant meme/TikTok/gif/whatever.
One time she sneezed and no one said bless you, so a demon entered her.
(Shout out Patient X fromExorcist III.)
MTG is like a modern Drunk Uncle here.
Jost had an especially caustic performance tonight, and both of the commentaries were very lively and fun.
Viking Voyager
A bunch of high school seniors are on their graduation trip.
Day and Gardner are scheming to sit together.
Kyle Mooney recently won a giant stuffed version of Joe Gardner, the Jamie Foxx character from Pixar’sSoul.
He doesn’t care who he sits with, he just wants to get wet.
They keep calling him Cuck.
They captured the vibe of teenagers very well here Heidi especially lands this.
I could feel this moment, I remember it well.
Her first guest is the Weeknd (Thompson).
“You gave me vertigo,” she tells him.
“Why are you from Canada?”
Jonas then appears as himself.
“Explain yourself.”
He is the most boring judge onThe Voice, despite appearing alongside John Legend.
He has to clarify which songs are his, and not his brother’s.
Gotta love when celebs take some good humored hits about themselves.
Andrew Dismukes appears with a loud bird.
Davidson is back as his bud Machine Gun Kelly.
She finds him too scary and he is dismissed.
The sketch ends with audience member Lauren Holt winning tickets to tomorrow’s Dionne Warwick Show episode.
Nwodim has a strong Martin Show energy in her performance here.
That’s a nice touch, without a doubt undoubtably.
Still, the audience is crazy about Jonas here.
You think about the music legends that have gracedSNL’sstage over the years, true artists.
Imagine being feet away from, say, Prince.
Matthew Laurance remembers “Nobody outside a select group knew who he was at that point.
I remember Prince coming out, like ‘Who is this guy?’
He was very tiny and pretty eccentric even back then.”
Hotel bar
McKinnon is attempting to flirt with Jonas.
They have been in lockdown for a while and are rusty.
They perform magic tricks.
This is charming and human.
McKinnon tends to go broad these days, but mostly she keeps it endearing and offbeat.
Final thoughts
What did we think?
Comment below to weigh in, orvote here.
Thank you to great Matthew Laurance for his contributions tonight.
I hung out a lot with Charlie and Gail Matthius and Denny Dillon.
Ann Risley, also.
My absolute favorite people on that show.
Nobody had any idea he was going to do this, obviously…
It’s hard for people now to remember how bigDallaswas.
It was almost bigger than any single thing going on now, or in the last few years.
We didn’t have cable, or all these other channels.
That show “Who Shot J.R.?”
It would follow him around.
And at the very end the gun went off and he grabbed his neck and went down.
Immediately it brought me joy because of all the things that had happened during that year so far.
I was overjoyed that something that huge had happened.
People have to remember now, you still can’t drop an F-bomb on live TV.
People have done it but back then, this was unheard of.
A live show, even though it was late at night… That whole scene was just remarkable, an audible gasp from people in the audience."
Maya Rudolphis hosting next month.
