Saturday Night Live: West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose hosts underwhelming episode
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Saturday Night Live returns from hiatus with a message from Joe Biden (James Austin Johnson). The President is exhausted and frustrated by our “cold, dark winter” of Covid resurgence, but he knows how to make the virus go away: “STOP. SEEING. SPIDER-MAN. Think about it: when did Spider-Man come out? December 17th. When did every single person get Omicron? The week after December 17th. Stop seeing Spider-Man!”
Fielding questions from a skeptical press corps, Biden ties all of our continuing crises on Spider-Man: Inflation? “Spider-Man!” Voting rights? “You think people can focus on voting rights when Spider-Man’s Aunt May is a smokeshow?” Russian troops moving on the Ukrainian border? “If that doesn’t sound like a job for Spider-Man, I don’t know what is!”
We’re then visited from an alternate version of Joe Biden (Pete Davidson) from a different world within the multiverse, who reveals that our collapsing timelines was started as “a joke in 2016 when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series”. He also reveals that everyone in the “real world” is better off … except for Pete Davidson. “Your world is maybe more fun for him,” he says, offering zero in the way explanation (or punchline).
While not a great cold open by any means, it at least has an actual narrative arc. It certainly beats the rambling, walk-on riddled cold opens we were getting prior to the break. That makes it a step in the right direction.
West Side Story co-star and Golden Globe winner Ariana DeBose hosts for the first time. The young breakout actor is proud to represent not only the Afro-Latino community, but the Broadway community. Feeling like everyone “needs a little Broadway right now”, she sings a medley of songs from her film alongside West Side Story super-fan Kate McKinnon (who, like general audiences, stayed away from the movie while it was in theaters). DeBose nails the classic tunes, but the whole thing is unfortunately hampered by McKinnon, who does nothing but sing slightly off key and wriggle her limbs. As far as West Side Story sketches go, the show has given us much better.
An NBA halftime show on TNT covers a game between the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings, currently scored at 268 -1. Sacramento’s players and coaches all tested positive for Covid right as the game was about to start and had to be replaced by fans and custodial staff. The interviews with the brutalized Kings stand-ins hit the same beats and grow tiresome fast, but the back and forth between show hosts Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson) and Yao Ming (Bowen Yang, playing Yang by way of Lurch from The Addams Family) is a constant source of amusement.
Following up on the recently released trailer their forthcoming series Bel-Air – a dramatic reimagining of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air — Peacock debuts a teaser for “the next 90s show about the black experience to be given a serious, high stakes remake”: Family Matters. This new version, titled simply Urkel, gives audiences “the goofy characters you loved in the 90s with absolutely none of the fun or charm”. Steve Urkel (Chris Redd) is now an angry nerd from a broken home, trying to stay alive on the mean streets of “Chi-raq”, while neighbor Carl (Thompson) is gritty cop with a hair trigger temper. It’s almost impossible for SNL to properly parody Bel-Air, given how preposterous it already is, but they do a solid job here.
This is followed by a commercial for Ron and Donna Lacatza’s Formal Emporium, in which the husband and wife owners (Davidson and Sarah Sherman) of a girls’ dress rental shop spend all their time humiliating their teenage son Donovan (Andrew Dismukes), an awkward nerd with constantly smeared lips, a “soupy, wet ass”, and a violently unhinged love of the song Get Low. The sketch is admirably gross showcase for Dismukes – quickly eclipsing Kyle Mooney as the SNL’s go-to dweeb – but the other cast members don’t acquit themselves quite so well. Davidson’s Adam Sandler impersonation is so blatant its distracting, while Sherman’s one-note performance is utterly indistinguishable from every other character she’s portrayed thus far (including herself during her Weekend Update appearance).
Next, Redd plays new NYC mayor and “friskiest uncle at the barbeque” Eric Adams, who’s obsessed with bringing “swagger” back to his city. Antagonistically fielding questions from the press, he defends the various controversies already plaguing his administration, such as his decision to keep schools open amidst the Omicron surge (“There are too many swagless parents out there giving their kids no swagger at home”), his insults towards “unskilled” workers (“By unskilled workers, I meant folks with trash jobs”) and appointing his brother as head of his security detail (“JFK appointed his brother … but unlike JFK, I’m not gonna get popped in the head, I’m gonna receive some!”). Redd brings a little too much legitimate swagger to his characterization of Adams, but the impersonation is dead-on.
The night’s musical guest is Bleachers, who performs How Dare You Want More. On Weekend Update, Michael Che invites Sesame Street’s Elmo (Chloe Fineman) to comment about his rivalry with pet rock Rocko. Elmo apologizes and attempts to move on, until Che brings on Rocko, sending Elmo into a jealous rage.
This segment represents that absolute worst quality of the show today: its shameless regurgitation of popular social media memes. For Saturday Night Live to swoop in and try to squeeze some more relevance out ready-made jokes is downright insulting. The only thing keeping a sketch like this from being outright plagiarism is the lack of authorship inherent to memes.
In the fourth Sound of Music parody the show has done since 2016, DeBose plays the new nanny of the von Trapp children. She attempts to teach the kids how to sing using a random array of references to Homer Simpson, Queen Latifah, Peter Gabriel, IUDs and more. There’s a palpable theater kid energy to the proceedings that should entertain Broadway nerds even as it bores everyone else.
Bleachers returns to the stage to perform Chinatown. Then, Debose and McKinnon play married academic giving a “sold out free lecture” at Cornell University on the ancient Greek poet Sappho. Their peers question whether their translations of newly discovered poems have been influenced by their personal lives, given that the verses contain arguments with a former lover named Nancy, references to “Helen of Generes” and Gillian Anderson, and Indigo Girl lyrics.
The closing sketch is set at Texarkana chain restaurant Longhorns on New Year’s Eve. The frustrated kitchen staff question why their shift manager adds “lurrr” to the end of every sentence, leading to a fight and then a reconciliation. An utterly laugh-free sketch where the only aim seems to be finding out which cast member can do the worst accent (DeBose takes it by a mile). It’s not particularly offensive in and of itself, but coming as it does at the end of an episode that fairly reeked of East Coast superiority – what with the toothless sketches centered around Broadway shows, New York politics and liberal academia – it can’t help but leave a bad taste in the mouth. It feels like were watching a bunch of smug high school theater kids poking fun at the poor, dumb hayseeds at their school.
The episode had a few redeeming moments – mostly courtesy of Redd, who continues to grow into one of the show’s most reliable performers – but it saw a noticeable drop-off in quality around the half-way mark from which it never recovered.
‘SNL’: Ariana DeBose plays fan drafted into NBA after entire Sacramento Kings team gets COVID
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The Sacramento Kings had rough game on “Saturday Night Live.” And so did their fans – who were forced to play for them after every member of their team tested positive for COVID-19.
During a sketch on this week’s episode of the NBC show, the Kings were set to take on the Brooklyn Nets in a NBA game. That is, until the Kings’ entire team, along with most of their coaching staff and trainers, came down with COVID.
As a result, the Kings’ players were pulled from fans or support staff in the arena.
Suffice it to say, the game was an uphill battle for the Kings’ stand-ins, who were down 268-1 at the half. One fan-turned-player was Alicia Miller, played by “SNL” host and “West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose.
“This is like the craziest girls’ night ever,” she said, adding that she scored the Kings’ only point so far by making a free throw. “It was underhand, too!”
But Miller admitted she wasn’t entirely up to speed on the rules of basketball, after getting called for traveling 39 times.
“I keep forgetting to bounce the ball,” the fan confessed and was ejected from the game for stopping to take a selfie with Blake Griffin.
“I had to,” she said. “I didn’t know if I would see him again. You know, you gotta like, shoot your shot.”
Sounds like a job for Spider-Man: Joe Biden blames omicron, inflation and everything else on ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ on ‘SNL’
Another amateur forced to play against pros was Riley Beckwith, played by “SNL” cast member Mikey Day.
“I was confident going in, because I play pick-up b-ball at my gym with a bunch of white guys my size,” he said. “But being out there against the Nets, I realized that basketball is an impossible sport played by giants and gods.”
Earlier in the show, DeBose, who just won a Golden Globe for her role as Anita in “West Side Story,” sang a medley of songs from the Broadway adaptation with Kate McKinnon, who crashed DeBose’s monologue to join her for “Tonight,” “I Feel Pretty,” “Something’s Coming” and “America.”
“I’ve been on Broadway,” McKinnon assured her and proclaimed “West Side Story” her “favorite show.” “Like, the sidewalk.”
More ‘SNL’: Elmo attempts to murder viral nemesis Rocco the rock in explosive ‘Weekend Update’
SNL host Ariana DeBose learns the limits of a fresh start in this week’s promos
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“You know what they say, ‘New year, new me,’” is how Saturday Night Live star and Emmy nominee Bowen Yang kicked off the previews for this week’s first new show of 2022.
Sporting a bleached blond ’do as evidence of his attempt to kick off the new year with a bang, Yang’s hopeful enthusiasm might be an echo of SNL’s as a whole since the show’s planned big finish of a Paul Rudd-hosted Christmas 2021 blowout was scuttled at the very last second by the Omicron variant.
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Alongside this week’s host Ariana DeBose and musical guest Jack Antonoff of Bleachers, the newly blond Yang proclaimed his readiness for a whole new Yang (and SNL) for this first show of the third year under a global pandemic.
“So it’s mostly the hair?,” DeBose prodded, with Yang admitting that, yes, that’s pretty much all that’s actually new. Still, Yang’s been having a solid season so far (studio-emptying pre-Christmas bug-out notwithstanding), and DeBose, coming straight off her West Side Story triumph, looks ready and willing to inject the show with some Broadway-quality live energy.
In his review, A.A. Dowd notes of the scene-stealing singer and actor, “Ariana DeBose offers a rainbow of conflicting emotions as Sharks moll Anita, her brassy confidence shattering into heartbreak.” (Plus, anyone who had the guts to step into Rita Moreno’s dancing shoes is just the right choice to kick 2022 off with a bang.)
As for this week’s (fingers crossed) return to live comedy, it’s likely SNL will have plenty to say about the unprecedented, show day evacuation and resulting clip show that sent the 2021 half of Saturday Night Live’s 47th season off to an appropriately sputtering end.
Look for Kenan Thompson and Michael Che to lord it over everyone else that they were the only two cast members asked to stay behind on the belatedly abandoned and creaky ship that was episode 9. Plus, Kate McKinnon’s finally back from her Tiger King hiatus, meaning that—Omicron willing—there’ll be a full complement of comedy sailors on deck for DeBose hosting debut.
Ariana DeBose Sings ‘West Side Story’ Songs with Kate McKinnon During ‘Saturday Night Live’ Monologue - Watch!
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Ariana DeBose is making her Saturday Night Live debut!
The 30-year-old actress, who played Anita in West Side Story, hosted the NBC sketch comedy series for the first time on Saturday (January 15).
During her opening monologue, Ariana was joined on stage by SNL cast member Kate McKinnon.
Since Kate‘s such a big fan of West Side Story, she and Ariana started singing a bunch of songs from the musical, including “Tonight,” “I Feel Pretty,” and “America.”
At one point, Ariana showed off her Mamba dancing skills, but when it was Kate‘s turn to dance, she jokingly said, “oh no, they already know I dance.”
Click inside to watch Ariana DeBose’s monologue…
If you missed it, Ariana DeBose recently explained why she had to say “No” to director Steve Spielberg, who directed the West Side Story remake, during her audition!
West Side Story, Ariana DeBose, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, More Win 2022 Golden Globes
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West Side Story, Ariana DeBose, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, More Win 2022 Golden Globes
The best film and TV of 2021, according to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, has been revealed as winners for the 2022 Golden Globes were announced January 9. Among them were West Side Story for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, along with the film’s stars Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose for Best Performance By an Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
Also taking home honors were tick, tick…BOOM! star Andrew Garfield for Best Performance By An Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Pose leading lady Michaela Jaé Rodriguez for Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series - Drama. The latter has reportedly made history by becoming the first transgender performer to win the coveted award.
Other notable theatre alumni winning Golden Globes this year for their performances on screen were Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), Tony nominee Jean Smart (Hacks), and Succession stars Jeremy Strong and Sarah Snook. Encanto, featuring songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, won Best Motion Picture – Animated and Kenneth Branagh took home Best Original Screenplay for his semi-autobiographical film Belfast.
As previously announced, the ceremony, always a lightning rod for conversation between the boozy annual ceremony and protests surrounding the HFPA’s equity and inclusion, was a subdued affair this time around. An untelevised press event announced the winners after NBC pulled the plug on an option to air following a report by The Los Angeles Times.
For a complete list of winners, click here.