Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It says something when the funniest moment of a “Weekend Update” segment – or, in this case, a full episode, since NBC has brought back Weekend Update as its own half-hour summer show on Thursdays – is a wordless one.
Returning as Eric Trump, Alex Moffat – playing alongside Mikey Day as Donald Trump Jr. – continues to portray him as a dolt, revealing things he shouldn’t as his brother tries to defend himself and their father from allegations of Russian collusion. When Eric reveals a secret too many – after Don Jr. assures us that his father told him to tell the truth, Eric blurts out, “And then he winked” – his brother hands him a fidget spinner.
As his brother talks, Eric stares at the spinner, but doesn’t know enough to spin it. He just gawks at the stationary object for an extended period of time, until Don Jr. spins it for him. The look of astonishment on Moffat’s face when he realizes that the toy moves was priceless, and, for me, the funniest moment of the episode. The question, though, is this: Does that say more about the joke, or the episode?
Given that SNL is coming off one of its most watched seasons in decades, it’s little surprise that NBC decided to capitalize on that with a summer series. But the decision recalls that the biggest draws for this highly-rated season were portrayals of politicians by outside actors – particularly Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump and Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer – with “Weekend Update” earning a far weaker buzz.
Which is not to say that Weekend Update: Summer Edition didn’t dip into that well. In what could be seen as inspired casting, former cast member Bill Hader came on as briefly-tenured White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci – The Mooch! – who, despite that briefness, will remain in the pop culture firmament a bit longer, as he’s been announced as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert next Monday.
Appearing off-camera – The Mooch surprises co-anchor Michael Che with a FaceTime call – Hader has Mooch’s stiff, pursed-lipped, tough-guy-wanna-be edge down, oozing old-timey Brooklyn as he reveals that he heard them utter his name three times, and when that happens, “I appear like a goomba Beetlejuice.”
Correcting a misperception, the Mooch clarifies that he was misquoted as saying that presidential advisor Steve Bannon was trying to suck his own cock (this being network, he cleans it up as, “trying to S his own C.”) What he said, Hader’s Mooch claims, is that Bannon did S his own C. “He did it! I saw it!” the Mooch proclaims. “Tongue to tip. Next question.”
Describing himself as being like “human cocaine,” the Mooch is obsessed with what he believes is the public’s great interest in him, and also says he has no regrets, with Hader succinctly summing up the real reason for that interest.
“All I did was sell my company, miss the birth of my child, and ruin my entire reputation, all to be king of idiot mountain for 11 days,” he says. “The Mooch is loose!”
He ends his appearance by asking if Update is hiring, because he has jokes now. “Hickory dickory dock/Steve Bannon was sucking his…” At this point, the FaceTime call went dead.
The impression was fine, completely in Hader’s wheelhouse if nothing special, and yet another example of how the show can no longer create highlights – Kate McKinnon aside – without bringing in outside help.
The other desk appearances included Kenan Thompson as LaVar Ball, braggadocios father of L.A. Laker Lonzo Ball, pointing out that he could beat Michael Jordan in basketball because he’s eight feet tall and once jumped over a Super Target, and Leslie Jones talking about the summer of fitness she’s been documenting on social media. Somehow, this led to a minute-long monologue on how buttholes react to water, and her thoughts on how she hopes that after she dies, the coroner will want to have sex with her body.
Then, of course, there were the jokes, the segment’s usual blend of funny and meh. Among the highlights: responding to Trump’s statement this week that priority for immigration would be given to high earners who speak English, Che asked when the Statue of Liberty got so “bougie”:
“She used to be desperate, like, send me your tired, your poor, anybody, I just need a man, lord. Now she’s on Tinder like, he’s gotta be rich, and smart, and light-skinned, and 6’4″.”
Also funny – Jost lamenting that the Mooch controversy happened when SNL was off the air. “He was like Christmas in July. Actually, he was like Hanukkah in July, because he was around for about a week, and it’s a miracle he lasted that long.”
Then, less funny than insightful, there was Jost joking about the renewal of NBC’s Will and Grace revival before the first season even aired.
“This is unbelievable,” he said. “Anytime NBC has even a mildly successful show, they overdue it and dilute the brand. And I’ll have more thoughts about this on next week’s ‘Saturday Night Live, Weekend Update: Summer Edition.'”
At this point, we’re way past concerns about diluting the SNL brand. If that were possible, it would have happened sometime around the It’s Pat movie. But it is worth asking if anyone needed more “Weekend Update.”
With Che and Jost at the helm, Update is fine. It’s never great, and rarely awful. It’s functional. It works. Maybe, given the current state of network television, that’s more than enough to justify a show’s existence.
Larry Getlen is the author of the book Conversations with Carlin. His greatest wish is to see Stefon enjoy a cheeseburger at John Belushi’s diner. Follow him on Twitter at @larrygetlen.
