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One of 'SNL's' All Time Best Cast Members Put On a Hell of a Show as Host

By Dustin Rowles | Saturday Night Live | January 28, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | Saturday Night Live | January 28, 2018 |


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Cold Open — Ten minutes before the show began, I thought to myself, “How great would it be if Will Ferrell brought back his George W. Bush impression and faced off against our current Idiot in Chief Donald Trump?” We got half of the equation with Ferrell addressing the audience from the Oval Office he built in his ranch. Best of all, Ferrell’s W. reminded us all that he was a terrible President. Ferrell gives us the greatest hits of why W. was terrible — there’s a lot of great lines here — and you know what? I’d still take him over Trump in a goddamn heartbeat, Dick Cheney and all. Best line: “Back in my day, we didn’t rig elections with Russians. We used the Supreme Court, like real Americans.” Great sketch, and one that may knock a few points off of Bush’s popularity ratings. (Watch Here) (Score: 9 out of 10)

Will Ferrell Monologue — Robert Smigel once said that Will Ferrell was the greatest SNL cast member ever, and this monologue is just more evidence of that. Ferrell bangs his head on a steel bar and then comes out and performs a song in a delirious, woozy funk. It’s great. The man is naturally funny and there is no better stage for him than this one. (Score: 8 out of 10)

Clown Penis — Will Ferrell may be one of the few guys ever who can take one joke — one joke — and turn it into an entire hilarious sketch. Ferrell plays a pilot. His call sign is “Clown Penis.” That’s it. That’s the joke. It sustains the entire sketch, and it is amazing. (Score: 7 out of 10)

The House — Here’s the real test tonight: Can Will Ferrell actually make a Kyle Mooney sketch funny? Uh, no. But he makes it watchable, which is better than I can probably say for any other Kyle Mooney sketch (there’s a Tracey Morgan cameo here, too). (Watch Here) (Score: 4.5 out of 10)

Baked in a Buttery Flaky Crust — A parody of a 5-year-old viral video? Sure, why not. It works! Sort of. (Watch Here) (Score: 6 out of 10)

Airline Rap — Three flight attendants sing a funny-lame safety rap, only one of the flight attendants played by Ferrell tosses in some very bleak rhymes. “Blood stains the water and you start to scream, ‘What benevolent God would allow such a thing!’” (Watch Here) (Score: 6.5 out of 10)

Next Deodorant Commercial — Oh, man: A men’s deodorant for the MeToo movement, “for when the truth comes out about you.” (Score: 7 out of 10)

Weekend Update — Another week with plenty of material to work with, and Che and Jost do a bang-up job with the Trump material (and Che crushes it with the Stephen Miller insults). Meanwhile, Ferrell brings back an old “Update” character, Jacob Silj (who suffers from Voice Immodulation Disorder), with terrific effect. Heidi Gardner also plays a teen film critic with a YouTube channel, and y’all are gonna hate it, I think, but I kind of loved it. (I think Heidi Gardner is my anti-Kyle Mooney. I love everything she does.) (Score: 8 out of 10)

Los Angeles Friends — Just a terrible sketch that Will Ferrell and Cecily Strong make work out of sheer will and really loud yelling (Aidy Bryant cracks a couple of times, too). (Watch Here) (Score: 4 out of 10)

Couples Dinner — Everything is going fine at dinner until someone brings up Aziz Ansari, at which point everyone at the table realizes that the rest of the dinner is going to go straight to hell. It’s just a lot of awkward half sentences from a group of people too afraid to voice their opinions for fear of offending someone, and then Kenan just had to mention race. It’s a really great, really brilliant sketch (you’re not gonna care for it, Mat). (Score: 9 out of 10)

Office Meeting — The boss (Will Ferrell) screws up a joke at an office meeting and he won’t let it go, and as things do in Will Ferrell’s sketch, things get way out of hand. (Watch Here) (Score: 5 out of 10)

Chucky Lee Byrd — Basically, Jerry Lee Lewis, the SNL sketch. (Watch here) (Score: 4 out of 10)