Saturday Night Live: “Jimmy Fallon/Harry Styles”
Images courtesy of NBC / Mary Ellen Matthews
Jimmy Fallon returns to his Saturday Night Live stomping grounds in a late-season episode that mostly plods along, dutiful but uninspired. Fallon’s Tonight Show is broadcast just two floors below SNL’s Studio 8H, and that short trip up the elevator points to the lack of effort that might’ve made this episode such a dud. The two shows share some of the same writers and producers, so maybe it just never felt like anyone had anything to prove this week; at the end of the day, it was all an inside-job.
There are two major problems with “Donald Trump Cold Open” that ultimately doom the piece to relative obscurity amongst the season’s typically on-point political riffs. One, the sketch is premised on rumors of palace intrigue within the Trump White House—something only political junkies know or care about. And two: who still watches The Apprentice? In an episode hosted by one of NBC’s biggest stars, the reference to the NBC reality show Donald Trump once emceed may be expected, but it need not be the premise for an entire sketch. Still, Alec Baldwin’s Trump is a thing of wonder. All is not lost.
Tonight Show host and former SNL cast member Fallon trades the traditional opening monologue for an opening song and dance number—remaking David Bowe’s “Let’s Dance.” Much has been made of Fallon’s penchant for singing and dancing on his show. In particular, are these half-joke, half-serious excursions into variety show antics funny? It’s worth noting that Fallon’s intent here is to kick off a party, to have a good time. It makes sense that he would see it that way. Guest hosting SNL must have a kind of playing hooky feel to it. Still, to the audience watching at home, it is odd that a sketch comedy show would forgo tone-setting monologue laughs in favor of a karaoke game.
“Celebrity Family Feud: Time Travel Edition” offers an intriguing twist on SNL’s Family Feud joke form by pitting 2017 celebrities against 1977 celebrities. More to the point, the time travel twist gives Jimmy Fallon an excuse to play old John Travolta and young John Travolta in the same sketch. Fallon’s dueling Travoltas are cute, but probably funnier as cocktail party banter. Here, Fallon’s lightning fast costume and wig changes do little to elevate the sketch beyond Jimmy doing Johns.