On his third go-round as guest host of “Saturday Night Live,” Jake Gyllenhaal presided over the 49th season finale with everything going for him. His lead role in the Prime Video revival of “Road House” was well-received. He’s still getting bad-boy mileage out of “All Too Well,” Taylor Swift’s 10-minute take down of him. And his new series “Presumed Innocent” for Apple TV+ will be out next month.
But is he funny? The night’s grab bag of sketches, several of which required full-throated singing from the actor, made a strong case that maybe Gyllenhaal is one of those actors who is presumed (innocently?) to have a strong sense of humor due to one-offs like his classic “Mr. Music” bit in “John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch” until it’s actually time to perform comedy in a live setting like “SNL.”
The season finale was rough, folks, and not because of giggles or any technical problems. You couldn’t blame the writing completely because there were some novel premises along the way and some decent jokes. But in at least half of the sketches where the host was driving the sketch, line deliveries felt off or flat and the audience response seemed muted. These included a disastrous one about an uphill bicyclist interrupting a couple (Mikey Day and Chloe Fineman) mid-breakup, a filmed “Scooby-Doo” parody that was more gory and gross than funny, a customer service sketch targeting Southwest Airlines and a domestic scene about a father threatening his daughter’s boyfriend after sneaking a cookie.
Better were sketches about an NYPD press conference meant to protect character actors (in which Jon Hamm made a cameo), a dance revue featuring beautiful girls and very plain boys, and a late sketch about a high-voiced tavern dweller named Snake Eyes (James Austin Johnson). Johnson book-ended the show with that performance and a cold open as former President Trump, while a “Weekend Update” joke swap once again went well past the line of good taste. A title card near the end of the show honored actor Dabney Coleman, who died this week.
Gyllenhaal gave it some real energy, but given that this was the last episode of the season, even his enthusiastic singing couldn’t save the episode from feeling disappointing. Speaking of singing, this week’s musical guest Sabrina Carpenter performed her viral hit “Espresso” and a mix of “Feather” and “Nonsense,” though she ended the latter with some risque new lyrics for the show.
The last cold open of the season returned to politics. Johnson did his Trump impression, showing the former president at his new home: a barricade outside a Manhattan courthouse. The embattled politician complained about his trial (“They say very mean things about me while I am trying to sleep.”) and he remarked that the gag order placed on him “sounds like a challenge on ‘RuPaul.’” In the course of the speech, Trump asked his supporters to dox a juror who appears on camera (“She’s juror No. 9, but to me she’s like a six, maybe.”) and revealed that the worst sentence he could get is more time at the White House; he’d rather lose, call the election rigged and raise more money for “Stop the Steal.” He dangled the possibility of revealing his “Veepee,” who could be Tim Scott (Devon Walker), Kristi Noem (Heidi Gardner, holding a gun and a toy puppy), or Hannibal Lecter (Michael Longfellow), who Trump said was “giving me Pence vibes.” The former president promised it’ll be the “Summer of Trump with Trump Espresso,” a Jan. 6-style event in July and a Jewish edition of the Bible he calls “Trump Torah.”
Gyllenhaal’s monologue focused on him hosting the finale of the 49th season, instead of the more prestigious slot of the episode that will kick off the historic 50th season. So, the actor passionately sang a version of “End of the Road” by Boyz II Men with help from cardigan-wearing cast members Ego Nwodim (who sadly did not play Rep. Jasmine Crockett this week), Kenan Thompson, Walker and Punkie Johnson. Gyllenhaal sang that Pedro Pascal, Zendaya and even recent host Ryan Gosling turned down the gig. He sang, “It’s been 49 years, over 900 shows, costumes and wigs and a room full of blow.”
Best sketch of the night: Don’t think too hard about a retailer’s cheap goods
A mock ad for Xiemu (a parody of problematic Chinese retailers Temu and Shein) promises fast fashion at incredibly low prices. How is it so cheap? “Don’t worry about it,” the ad says. They’re not made with forced labor and no prisoners are involved. “Why bring that up?” one of the actors in the ad asks. The ad also coyly denies long working hours, and promises all workers are paid, “Even ones with wrong religion.” The clothes and jewelry soon fall apart, cause rashes or induce lead poisoning for the fashion models in the ad. When one of them (Nwodim) asks, “Is this shady?” the response is, “If it was, would you stop buying?” Everyone responds, “No.”
Also good: There’s something about these boys
The daffiest sketch of the night may have been this old-timey musical revue that at first featured a trio of ladies (Nwodim, Fineman and Sarah Sherman), but then shifts gears as the host (Gyllenhaal) sings an introduction for “beautiful boys, luscious salty boys,” who are all wearing variations of khaki pants or shorts and gray shirts. Two patrons watching the show (Thompson and Gardner) are at first unimpressed (“It’s like they didn’t even try”) but are soon captivated by the story of each boy, one sporty, one a scholarly virgin and another the son of a burger scion. It’s very silly, but the naughty wordplay in the song is clever, and the crane shot with the boys swinging their legs in the air toward the camera is sublime. Bonus points for the high notes Gyllenhaal and Thompson both hit at the conclusion.
‘Weekend Update’ winner: Another Colin Jost-Michael Che joke-off
Marcello Hernandez and Thompson were great as cicadas returning to mate and scream after years underground, but of course it was Jost and Che’s joke-off, where they write jokes for each other that they must read for the first time on camera, that stole the show. Che admitted at the start of the joke-off that the civil rights leader who sat in on December’s installment was an actor. This time, he said, he invited a real-life rabbi, “Rabbi Jill,” who appears to be Jill Hausman from the Actors Temple in New York. Hausman grimaced but stayed almost silent throughout the segment as Che and Jost read jokes about protesters at a Jerry Seinfeld commencement speech (Jost: “The only chant you’ll hear from me is ‘Free Weinstein!’”) and one for Che about Pope Francis saying sexual pleasure is a gift from God, but in response to a question about altar boys. Things got worse with a joke about texting middle school kids with sexual innuendo, a dig at Jost’s wife Scarlett Johansson‘s voice from the movie “Her” being used by ChatGPT (Jost: “Without that body, what’s the point of listening?”), and the introduction of a puppet dressed in Jewish religious wear. Jost was forced to read some antisemitic material in front of the rabbi while holding the puppet, but it was Che who was most roundly defeated by being forced to start a public feud with rapper Kendrick Lamar. He read, “I want to call out the biggest b— of all, Kendrick Lamar. No! Or should I say littlest. Your war with Michael Che is just beginning.” A visibly shaken, yet laughing, Che muttered, “I don’t like that one bit.”
