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Louis C.K. Delivers a Solid, Occasionally Icky Episode of 'Saturday Night Live'

By Dustin Rowles | Saturday Night Live | April 9, 2017 |

By Dustin Rowles | Saturday Night Live | April 9, 2017 |


Cold Open — Alec Baldwin is back as Donald Trump, who attends a town hall with his supporters and finds out to exactly what lengths they will go to continue supporting him. The entire sketch is summed up in an analogy Trump makes in the sketch: “You people stand by me no matter what. It’s like you found a finger in your chili,
but you still eat the chili, because you told everyone how much you loved the chili!” That’s about right. (Score: 6.5 out of 10)

Louis C.K. Monologue — Pretty good stand-up set, but not nearly as good as his Netflix special. On a Louis CK curve, it’s a 5.5 out of 10. On a SNL monologue curve, it’s a (Score: 9 out of 10). (Watch Here)

This week, I think I’m going to rank the rest of the sketches from Best to Worst:

Birthday Clown — Louis plays Ernest, a middle-aged man who invites a children’s birthday party clown to his birthday party of one, and Bobby Moynihan brilliantly plays a birthday-party clown in the awkward uncomfortable position of putting on a show meant for children for a middle-aged man. Stick around for the whole thing. It’s a clever sketch sprinkled with small, clever moments, and Moynihan kills it. (Score: 9 out of 10)

Tenement Museum — Louis and Kate McKinnon play a married Polish couple in one of those living museums, only instead of really talking about what it’s like to be Polish during their time period, they just make racist jokes about Italians, which is probably what it was like to be Polish during that time period. That in and of itself is so-so funny, but what makes the sketch transcend the material is that Louis keeps slipping into a Borat impression, and Kate McKinnon can’t keep it together. (Score: 8 out of 10)

Pepsi Commercial — While shooting that Pepsi commercial with Kendall Jenner, the director the the commercial (Beck Bennett) calls all his friends to brag about what a terrific idea he had, only to be confronted with the cold-hard reality when it’s too late to scrap the spot. Poor bastard. (Score: 7.5 out of 10)

Thank You, Scott — Scott (Louis) solves racism and all the other problems of the world through the simple act of sharing that article on Facebook and adding “Black Lives Matter” to his Twitter bio. Thank you, Scott! #Resist (Score: 7 out of 10)

Soda Shop — Louis plays Sam, a 50’s soda shop owner who creepily asks out a high-school girl (Cecily Strong) who hasn’t gotten a date for the spring fling. It’s a 5, but the clever ending elevates it. (Score: 6 out of 10)

The Lawyer — Louis plays a lawyer with beautiful eyelashes who manipulates everyone with his eyes. I have no idea why this sketch is funny, and yet … (Watch Here) (Score: 6 out of 10)

The O’Reilly Factor — It’s not that that sketch is terrifically funny in and of itself, because it’s not, but Baldwin brilliantly depicts the mannerisms of O’Reilly and really captures the essence of his creepiness. It’s the kind of SNL sketch that’s going to reverberate in the real world. Watch here. (Score: 5.5 out of 10)

Sectional — This genuinely feels less like a Louis C.K. sketch and more like a Zach Galifianakis sketch. It’s just a guy who really loves sectionals and takes out a television commercial not to sell those sectionals, but to profess his love for them. (Watch here) (Score: 5.5 out of 10)

Weekend Update — Blah blah blah Trump joke blah blah blah Che makes a joke about how white Colin Jost is blah blah blah obvious joke obvious joke obvious joke smirk condescension smirk Kate McKinnon. (Watch Part 1 and Part 2) (Score: 4 out of 10)

p.s. Sorry it’s late, Mat. The wife is out of town, and I have the twins by myself this weekend.