‘SNL’ Recap: Adam Sandler Cameo Saves Shaky Host Chris Rock

There’s no denying that Chris Rock is a comedy legend, but it’s not because of the time he spent on Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1993.

The former performer, who rose to stardom after “SNL” with his show-stopping stand-up comedy, returned to host for the fourth time this week. He made the biggest impression this time in his spiky and thematic monologue and in some pre-recorded pieces – not in the live sketches, in which he seemed slow to react or had difficulty reading lines from cue cards.

Despite these problems, Rock still managed to sell the first main sketch of the night, which features a Christmas mall elf Presenting parents with an uncomfortable choice between a white Santa Claus (James Austin Johnson) and a black Santa Claus (Devon Walker) for their children. It had a similar vibe to the video “Grandpa’s magic car“about a 1950s Herbie-esque car that has human qualities but also happens to be racist. Rock’s brief appearance in a video about a boring Christmas party in the office worked well too.

Less successful: a Secret Santa sketch that focused on the gift Make Rock look like a “Simpsons” character; one about two men from the same building (Rock and Kenan Thompson) It is accused of sexually harassing employees; and a sketch shown late in the show about a kidnapping man someone else’s blind date with Ego Nwodim’s character.

The biggest surprise that brightened the otherwise mixed episode was Adam Sandler showing up as a patient in a surgical sketch. He bleeds cast members Emil Wakim, Sarah Sherman, Nwodim and Bowen Yang as well as Rock while breaking the fourth wall and commentating on the show. It was unclear how much of it was improvised, but it seemed like Sandler had a lot of fun giving the rock his character.

Musical guest Gracie Abrams delivered two solid performances in her “SNL” debut with songs “This is so true” And “I love you, I’m sorry.”

Nancy Grace, host of the YouTube show “Crime Stories With Nancy Grace,” has been a mainstay on “SNL” long before YouTube even existed. She was previously played by cast members Ana Gasteyer and Amy Poehler, but now Sarah Sherman has taken over the role, giving Grace a highly exaggerated tone and a more manic demeanor. In the show’s opening remarks, she called Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a “murderer” and chided America for turning the suspected killer into a sex symbol. Grace mocked Mangione for looking like “Dave Franco with Eugene Levy’s eyebrows” and revealed that she wants a “ghost gun” like the one allegedly used in the crime because “Every night I wake up with JonBenet’s ghost screaming : ‘You used me!'” ‘” Since this is YouTube, her show was repeatedly interrupted by supplement advertisements.

When Chris Rock began his monologue, the comedian sounded out of breath, as if he had run up the stairs to get to the stage at 30 Rock. But it didn’t take long for him to settle in after congratulating producer Lorne Michaels on “25 great years of ‘Saturday Night Live'” – marking its 50th anniversary. From there, Rock went after targets like Mangione (“If he looked like Jonah Hill…they would have given him the chair already”) and Mike Tyson’s boxing opponent Jake Paul (“Is this what the white man has reduced himself to?”). . Who will he fight next, Morgan Freeman?”) and President-elect Donald Trump’s amazing year (“It could “happen to a nicer guy”).

The monologue became increasingly sensitive as it went on, with Rock speculating about American presidents being considered rapists (“Do you know how many rapists are in my wallet right now? A cup of coffee in America costs seven rapists”) and which Latinos Trump might have deported. “J. Lo will remarry Ben (Affleck) just so she can stay in the country,” he said. “I know she’s not Mexican… but Trump doesn’t know that.” Even if he has the thoughtful poignancy at his best Lacking stand-up, the monologue was at least a reminder that rock takes no prisoners when it gets going.

Best sketch of the evening: The office Christmas party starts on a Tuesday at 5:45 p.m

The lameness of office Christmas parties is well-worn comedic territory, but this pre-recorded skit gets to the heart of why keeping employees who only know each other through work together after work is a bad idea. From the laptop music fail to the OnlyFans account reveal to “The squishiest food you’ve ever seen… so wet,” the video used awkward zoom-ins and a wide variety of characters to get its point across. The highlight was Rock and Nwodim play a married couple who argue about the man’s “work wife.” Best detail? The 45-minute Secret Santa with a giant whiteboard map that never seems to end.

Also good: The surgery is terrible, but stay because of the bleeding

What started as a sketch about an unfortunate assistant named Leslie (Sherman) botching a gallbladder operation turned into something completely different when it was revealed that former “SNL” cast member Sandler was the patient under the sheet. After a few moments of technical difficulty, Sandler managed to get a blood splatter going and doused everyone else, including his former castmate Rock. It was one of those moments that got funnier the longer it went on, with Sandler riffs and no one quite sure what to do next. It’s hard to fake that kind of spontaneity, and in Sandler’s (bloody) hands, the skit went from potential failure to something with real viral potential.

Weekend Update Winner: How many bald jokes is too many bald jokes?

New performer Jane Wickline sang a clever and funny song about why people don’t speculate about pop singer Sabrina Carpenter’s sexuality. But as clever as it was, it couldn’t shine quite as brightly as Andrew Dismukes’ head when he played a hairless man reveling in a… Months old case from England where calling a man “bald” could constitute sexual harassment. Dismukes told “Weekend Update” co-host Colin Jost that “my eyes are down here” and recounted the time he sat on a jury with 11 other bald men and they were described as looking like an egg carton looked like. This could have just been a series of bare jokes, but Dismukes has a way of playing this type of character with complete seriousness. Let’s just say he did a good job of getting into the character’s headspace.