Sunday, February 4, 2024

The real Nikki Haley crashes the fake Trump town hall plus Weekend Update mocks Taylor Swift conspiracy theories on 'SNL'

I promised the highlights of tonight's Saturday Night Live, which will serve as the Sunday entertainment feature, so I begin with CNN Town Hall South Carolina Cold Open, just like the show.

Gayle King (Punkie Johnson) and Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson) host a town hall with Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson).
I do not like Nikki Haley's politics, other than her standing up for Ukraine, but I like her better as a person after this. She showed that she has a sense of humor and can laugh at herself, which is more than I can say about Donald Trump. Speaking of whom, SNL's writers once again came up with better insulting nicknames for Haley than Trump ever did. He may be cunning, but he's not all that clever. I particularly like Nikki-Tikki-Tavi, which at least alludes to Haley's Indian heritage, although that might backfire if Trump actually used it, not for the racism, but because the fictional mongoose Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was fierce and heroic. Haley and her supporters might actually find that flattering in the way that Sarah Palin did for her high school nickname, "Sarah Barracuda." Look it up.

James Austin Johnson's Trump mentioned the Taylor Swift conspiracy theories. That resumed in Weekend Update: MAGA's Taylor Swift Super Bowl Conspiracy, Trump's $50 Million Legal Fees.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Nikki Haley targeting Biden and Trump with "grumpy old men" campaign ads.
Unlike my final SNL post of December, when I complained 'SNL' tries to turn a week of unfunny news into comedy and gets saved by Adam Driver and Olivia Rodrigo, there was a lot of funny news last week, even if the punchlines they produced were especially cringe-inducing.

Speaking of cringe-inducing, I can't resist including CJ Rossitano on Winning the SNL Ticket Lottery.

CJ Rossitano (Sarah Sherman) stops by Weekend Update to discuss his experience winning tickets to SNL.
The running joke on Weekend Update is to make Colin Jost the butt of the joke and this sketch shows there is no depth the writers won't plumb to mine that particular vein of comedy.

Follow over the jump for four segments featuring the Emmy and Golden Globe winning guest host, Ayo Edebiri, followed by The Bear's Primetime Emmy Awards.

Edebiri already made a cameo in the cold open, but she was the star of her monologue.

First-time host Ayo Edebiri talks about preparing for her role on The Bear and shares some ideas she wanted to submit to SNL.
I can believe people would react to her by asking where their tilapia is, at least before she became a star. Now, I think they would know who she is and show her as much respect as her co-star — I hope.

As I wrote above, I'll get to The Bear's Emmy Awards at the end of this post, but first I'm sharing two sketches about game shows that relate to her bad idea about Jeopardy! The first is Why'd You Say It?

Game show contestants (Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman) answer questions about comments they left on Instagram.
Unlike the Instagram comments, this sketch actually has a point. Just the same, I wouldn't mind more comments, although I'll still mock and delete spam.

Next, Trivia Quest.

A game show goes off the rails when contestants (Ayo Edebiri, Mikey Day, Sarah Sherman) answer trivia questions.
After watching those clips, I'm wondering if Edebiri would consider taking over for two-time Emmy winner Keke Palmer should she retire from Password. The two have worked together on Big Mouth and Palmer is already contemplating retirement, so it's not completely baseless speculation. That written, I'm not Edebiri's agent, so why would she take career advice from me? I'm sure the people she pays for that have better ideas for her.

I conclude the episode highlights portion of this post with Dune Popcorn Bucket.

A group of teenagers (Ayo Edebiri, Bowen Yang, Marcello Hernández, Devon Walker, Chloe Troast) sings a song about a special night.
As I last wrote in 'Trump' brags about his cognitive abilities as 'SNL' returns after winning 2 Emmy Awards, "This clip serves as another demonstration of the commercial...parodies being one of the best parts of 'SNL.' When they're on, they're on, and this one was ON!" I'm just surprised this ad parody didn't appear in Timothée Chalamet's episode.

Enough of that. On to The Bear's Emmy Awards!


I was right when I wrote 'Ted Lasso' leads comedies in nominations, but 'The Bear' may win more Emmy Awards. It swept its categories at the Primetime Emmy Awards, winning all six in which the series earned nominations, Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Jeremy Allen White, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Edebiri, and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Christopher Storer. Adding the four Creative Arts Emmy Awards the show won, Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series, Outstanding Picture Editing for a Single-Camera Comedy Series, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation, and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation, that's a total of ten, as the Twitter image above touts. In contrast, Ted Lasso won just two Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Sam Richardson and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for Ed Sheeran, Foy Vance, and Max Martin. That tied it with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which won Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (One Hour) and Outstanding Period and/or Character Makeup (Non-Prosthetic), and behind Wednesday with four, Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More), Outstanding Contemporary Costumes for a Series, Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic), and Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. Congratulations to all the winners!

I'm embedding Comedy Series: 75th Emmy Awards for the final video today.

The Team from The Bear accepts the Emmy for Comedy Series at the 75th Emmy Awards.
I think Moss-Bachrach should have saved his kiss for when Anthony Anderson's mom Doris held up her sign. That was a great way to shut up Matty Matheson, even though I agree with everything he said about restaurants.

I'll have more to write about the Emmy Award winners as opportunities present themselves. Stay tuned.

Previous posts about the 2023 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards
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