It’s not even edgy to bash Saturday Night Live anymore. The generations who’ve preceded me tend to reminisce about how great it “used to be” and how it’ll never be the same.
I don’t know. I kinda feel like SNL is underrated at this point. Like to where when something is funny, I’ll be genuinely surprised by how funny it is. Even though I shouldn’t be. Because in terms of the apex of comedy, it doesn’t get much higher than that.
Whatever negativity anyone has to spew about the long-running sketch comedy show, you can’t really talk smack about what happened last night. It delivered and then some — even luring in the likes of America’s couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for quick cameos and fodder for an excellent football-related sketch spearheaded by Pete Davidson.
Stellar as Davidson was in that bit, that wasn’t even his best material of the night. More on that in a hot minute.
Perhaps the only bigger story in all of sports — don’t come at me sideways, stans of playoff baseball — is Deion Sanders and Colorado. They blew a 29-0 lead on Friday. Not great! Speaking of people who might be viewed as overrated to the point that they’re underrated, Kenan Thompson.
Look at him channel his inner Coach Prime:
I get that the guy has a limited range in terms of how he can bend his voice and physically manifest different types of characters, but come on. He’s been around for YEARS. Consistent, solid and as reliable of a regular SNL player as anyone who’s ever graced the screen/stage. Am I wrong!?
Thompson really captures the essence of Deion here. No joke. The callback to not caring about other peoples’ opinions of him was particularly great. Saying he fell asleep and woke up confused as anyone that Colorado had blown that 29-point lead. Absolute gold. And Colin Jost saying “Chicago” instead of “Colorado” is the type of happy accident you can only get on SNL.
…Now let’s circle back to Pete Davidson, who lost his firefighter father on 9/11 and provided one of the most heartfelt speeches you’ll hear anywhere on television in your life — on SNL of all places.
Yep. Pete Davidson sounding off on the horrifying Israel-Hamas conflict. He’s self-deprecating to start, poking fun at himself as the last person you’d expect to hear from on such a timely current event. The way he seamlessly tied in his personal experience, managed to add in a twinge of humor to it and keep his composure throughout it all is the ultimate live TV balancing act. It’s as impressive as anything Pete Davidson has ever done.
Some lionize him for his dating life. Others truly appreciate his comedy on SNL or stand-up specials. As someone who doesn’t really fall into either of those categories — he’s actually a pretty darn good actor — I gotta say, this is peak Pete Davidson for me. Well done, sir.
