The best and the worst sketches

Seth Meyers owes a lot to Saturday Night Live. All the customs he perfected during his 12 years at the show – writing, editing, punching Weekend update – have proved useful in turning Late at night with seth meyer in a success. (Of course, professional relationships with Lorne Michaels, who produces Late at night, aided too.) The big part of bringing Meyers back to Studio 8H for a host gig is knowing that all his expertise as a former senior screenwriter will accompany him.

This week, we are also trying something a little different with the recap: we are classifying all the sketches in order of quality, from best to worst. We will always be fullist about the episode, but if you want to know which sketches you should definitely see, just start at the top.

A guy (Meyers) arrives in prison for the first time, but discovers that his roommate is none other than Bill Cosby (Kenan Thompson). Although the Coz was only in prison for four days, he settled down and loved him. He dug a small tunnel in which his belongings hide and had fun with a turtle he thinks is Quincy Jones. His new roommate, however, is a little less happy: "It's so disappointing to meet you now." The new guy also wants to know if Cosby has considered dying. The most disturbing element: Cosby does not stop to quote the ranking Cosby Show Episodes long enough to "cope with what he actually did". To make a sketch of Cosby is a big trap, and this one manages to avoid the hole and to generate bursts of laughter; congratulations to the writers, and to Thompson for a relatively sober impression.

This music video reveals the secret facets of conifers and hardwoods of Chris Redd and Pete Davidson. These guys can not have enough trees. And they do not want to say weed – well, that's what Davidson thought about the origin, but he's happy to change the subject and talk about Al Gore's virtues instead. The sketch is really rhythmic and the committed performance of Redd shines. His roaring resonates perfectly on a convincing trap-like facsimile and lines such as "Trees take a lot of time" only kill him. This one was cut in a strange place during the show, but the full skit is definitely worth watching.

It takes a few minutes before Update talks about the Kanye-Trump summit. Let's start with the UN report on climate change, referred to as "Obituary for the Earth". Colin Jost says it's too overwhelming: "If you owe $ 1,000 to your bookmaker, it's like, I have to pay back this guy. If you owe a million dollars to your bookmaker, it's like I guess I'm just going to die."Michael Che thinks that to reach more people, the report should involve specific things that people like. For Fox News viewers, he suggests Confederate statues; for blacks, Atlanta; and for white women, thread. Che and Jost then welcome Baskin Johns (Heidi Gardner), Goop's staff member, whose nerves win when she thinks Gwyneth Paltrow could look somewhere. Gardner is great with small moments and finding little things between his lines, even if it does not give the impression that this character has a lot to do.

There are some gags lost before Meyers comes to make a segment "Really?!?" With Che and Jost – yes, it's about Kanye and Trump. "Do not you have anything better to do?" Meyers asked, though he did not know exactly which of the two he was targeting. Che recounts how he negotiated four uses of the word-N per season and deployed one for jab Kanye: "How much money does this nigga owe in taxes?" In regards to Trump's picture kissing Kanye, Meyers said to say, "It is so rare that you can see blacks and white supremacists betrayed at the same time." It's the smartest and most cut-off line of the night.

In this reenactment of the Kanye West – Donald Trump circus at the White House, Kanye's (Redd) "lucid brief remarks" are not forthcoming. Instead, he explains how he flew to California using the power of his MAGA hat and how Chicago will soon have a negative murder rate. Meanwhile, Trump (Alec Baldwin) gives free rein to his inner monologue and Jim Brown (Thompson) plays the voice of reason. While Kanye talks about being a stable genius with a big brain and the best words, Trump whispers "a panic", they do not just seem to be places of co-existence, but almost places of commerce. Trump asserts that both are "genies, both married to gorgeous women and both of them undoubtedly recorded by pronouncing the word-N". It's well done, but it hurts a bit because late at night and Twitter have already made their way with it.

Four friends (Gardner, Alex Moffat, Beck Bennett and Melissa Villaseñor) gather around a campfire to hear the scary story of another boyfriend, Brandon (Meyers). But Brandon's story is far more intense than urban legends that talk about prisoners with hooks for the hands, because it's real. It all began when Brandon had a coffee with his father's son, an aspiring 22-year-old filmmaker (Kyle Mooney). The young man's point of view on Hollywood ("These are all franchises and reboots!") Is tasteless, but he speaks as if he was "the first to have ever said it". His big movie project is that he's talking about Brandon with Brandon. Then Brandon starts receiving SMS, tons of SMS – and there is only one way to get rid of the curse. It's an intelligent variant of a standard trope, and the grandiose and naive idiocy of details makes the Mooney young man quite recognizable.

At first, this commercial parody seems to be about testosterone pills, designed to help middle-aged men with decreasing hormone production feel stuck in their bed. But the sad guy who begins to take Maxxx (Meyers) becomes a kind of moron: he is aggro, bald, has a black goatee, gets caught by his trainee and "porn-railing" by his wife. The side effect that these testo hawkers do not mention is that it becomes an "aggressive alpha nightmare". Fortunately, there is a compound designed to thwart Maxxx and bring these types back to Earth. This parody is dense with details; it's a long, winding walk to a fun and unexpected line of strikes.

When Smith and Watts (Leslie Jones and Ego Nwodim) arrest a driver (Meyers), he does not know that they are "thirsty cops". While the cops ask the driver if he wants to go to town or not, he likes it, he says it all sounds like harassment. "His assent or my assent?" They ask, sticking their assertions in the air. Another cop (Kate McKinnon) introduces himself and the driver is convinced that the order must be reinstated in such an inappropriate situation. "What's inappropriate is that you walk around with that ass," said the third cop. Then the driver is forced to put his hand on his lap and "look back". It's simple and silly, but the energy is contagious.

After a screening, director Andrew Phillips (Meyers) and host Malcolm Seats (Thompson) face a range of increasingly bizarre questions about the new Phillips movie, South of Mason. "Did a man play father?" Asks a woman (Aidy Bryant). "I noticed that you are not a woman either. Interesting. A sensual stranger (McKinnon) weeps at the credits, a guy from the concessions (Bennett) claims to be the father Phillips never met, and a brave young actor (Gardner) gives an impromptu audition. After the useless strike of a guy (Mooney) and a woman who calls a dog his daughter (Cecily Strong), the truth is revealed: tickets for the screening were given in a public bus. Although this is a parade of wackos, the wackos are well executed and they bring lots of good jokes.

Despite the fact that it is 23:45, two couples (Bennett and Bryant, Villaseñor and Thompson) wait in a restaurant for their friends to show up. The final couple (Meyers and Gardner) arrive, looking very windy, dressed in bright colors and jubilant about his trip to Cuba, uh, "Coobah". they have the rhythm. In addition, travelers were taken to an event that they call "Cooban Rooster Exam", which is clearly a rooster fight. (The traveling duo also called what they saw being "kabuki bird," an excellent replica that did not land in the studio but that I loved.) Soon after, the manager (McKinnon) ejects everyone because she no longer hears anyone say "Coobah. Hard to beat Jimmy Smits saying "enchilada", but Meyers and Gardner play their part.

Delighted to be at the center of the stage at 8 am, Meyers tells his story with SNL. He mentions his friendships with cast members and the team, including Andy Samberg (for whom he named his children Dick and Box) and the fact that he cried during his last show before to work "down the hall". Meyers also discusses the execution of sketches with Trump and the drawing that convinced him to never be surprised by anything that Kanye West does. All of Meyers' stories are thoughtful, brilliant and authentic.

Conductor Treece Henderson (Thompson), his keyboardist (Mooney) and teammate / electric piccolo player (Meyers) make noise at the Marriott. Between the musical interludes and Treece's calls "Tweedle dee twee, tweedle dee twoah", it is clear that the piccolo player is waiting for sensitive information from his doctor. The guy might have the athlete's foot, or the "Cigot Panty", but in any case, Treece presses his boyfriend too hard for answers. Then, as Treece is an emergency contact, the group member learns her destiny. If the hairstyles alone could succeed a drawing, Yanni's curly wig by Meyers would do just that. In fact, this recurring character is not the best of Thompson, even if he always gives everything to sing.

Bayou Benny (Bennett), a liberal party from the South, invites a large number of guests – including Seth Meyers, Taylor Swift (Gardner) and a giant pepper (McKinnon) – to talk about the problems of the day. The only problem: his accent is so thick and his idioms so impenetrable that it is impossible to hold a conversation. And, when someone makes an important political argument, he may be brought to fight with a giant cookie wearing a MAGA hat (Moffat). Fortunately Late at night belongs to the NBC family, so Benny can do a segment called "Da Closer Look at Dis Heah". Even if it's a wacky accent that has a lot in common with "Maine Justice", it's at least the least energetic and the most deliberately ridiculous.

Given Meyers' skills – and the presentiment that SNL writers would like to make him proud – it follows that this episode would be strong. This week's sketches are also very varied: they impressively describe a Cosby skit, a well-made hip-hop parody, and a great twist on a horror shot. And that's only the beginning. It's hard to know what sort of editorial advice was given by Meyers during the week, but he happily plunges into almost every sketch and gives Weekend Update a boost with "Really?!?". It is worth celebrating the great sketches here, but also that there are no failures in the lot. Next week, SNL will try to keep the momentum with the host Jonah Hill.