Season 50, Episode 5, John Mulaney

Lorne Michaels doesn't like to express much regret in interviews. He seems to prefer to appear somewhere between steadfast and philosophical, which means he is often aloof. This sometimes means that his reflections on mistakes or triumphs – but especially mistakes – in the history of Saturday Night Live must be brought out between the lines. We can infer when he feels that a particular hire may have been a mistake when it is fired (usually early) after a season or two. And perhaps we can conclude that he (dare to dream!) realizes how useful it would have been to give them more camera when he made writers and artists like Tina Fey and John Mulaney almost permanent presenters in their alumni network. Afterlife makes time when he had it regularly at his disposal. It's like he has a chance to answer the usually hypothetical question, “If not now, when?” and create the illusion that there is somehow time for corrections in the continuum of a definitely time-sensitive show. (What this says about his apparent desire to keep his cool with Shane Gillis is troubling.)

Then again, perhaps he's simply bringing these characters back into greater on-camera prominence so that over time people will forget that they weren't on screen as much when they were actually working there, and keep Michael's firmly entrenched in their career narratives. (A sort of reversal of the Steve Martin effect, in which he hosted so often that people later assumed he was a performer.) And of course Tina Fey was present on camera; She was a real showstopper on Weekend Update. But it also seemed to set the precedent that at least one Update anchor would have to forego sketches whenever possible — which struck anyone who, for example, regularly attended the Sunday ASSSCAT shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in the early 2000s, where Fey would perform improvised sketch comedy and easily keep up with Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch. It would still seem strange if Fey played the lead role 30 Rockmade films and did it SNL Drop-ins and hosting performances are what she is most familiar with SNL Parts came after her six years on the show.

Mulaney, for his part, had one or two on-air test runs during his time as a writer; I will say that there were two Weekend Update posts, one (or the only?) of which was about his father being a spokesperson for Rockport shoes without anyone at Rockport knowing about it. (As a Rockport enthusiast who wore them to every adult job I ever had until I eventually gave up and just wore regular sneakers, I found this very funny.) Apparently, despite my enthusiasm, it wasn't seen as doing particularly well, and Mulaney remained a writer – only to become such a frequent host, he reached the five-timer mark faster than anyone except Steve Martin and Buck Henry. This week's episode brought him to six – tied with Fey (and Scarlett Johansson, Elliott Gould and Drew Barrymore, among others). Only seven people have hosted multiple times, and one of them is dead. Another reason is what happened to Chevy Chase.

But Mulaney will likely never fully blend in and be mistaken for a former cast member, as his episodes, perhaps more than those of any of the other recurring hosts save a few Martin episodes, have an increasingly auteuristic bent. This does not mean that they are perfect, that they are immune to various influences SNL Pitfalls, or that Mulaney is an inimitable visionary who only writes next-level sketches. It has no less than three recurring parts. (And furthermore, of course, he doesn't write every sketch single-handedly just because he used to work there.) But this final episode in particular made you feel confident in every single piece that was in it, and in allowing Mulaney to take center stage even if that meant not doing as many pieces as usual. This is a long-winded way of pointing out that there were a total of three live sketches performed this week (not counting the cold open, which always feels like something else ).

Some of it is just a matter of luck. Having a host deliver a stand-up monologue will give you something more robust in what might otherwise be the most perfunctory spot of the evening, but it will also eat up a bit more time. If there is more than one update guest, like tonight, a few more minutes have passed. Oh, and what if the new President of the United States, rooting for her, stops by at the end of her campaign and makes a candid remark already committed to incorporating five different political impressions? Honestly, it's a wonder they even had time to do proper sketches. But one of the best parts of the episode – aside from the fact that nothing was bombastic and that Chappell Roan was even luckier in pulling off a few elaborate numbers that included what appeared to be a brand new song – was that the skits were never abrupt endings seemed to be a panic or a slip-up from a good premise or even a fast-track through a bad premise. On the contrary, sometimes they developed patiently, even when audiences had no idea why anyone would want to do a sketch about Little Richard ruining a family sitcom in the early '90s. While these sketches weren't exactly slow, their patience suited Mulaney's performance style. His performance is based on his specific explanations and elaborations and tonally precise turns of phrase and not on quick punch lines.

That, in particular, was both the inspiration and the curse behind Mulaney's signature role as host: staging a large-scale musical parody of a kind of New York rudeness. The first time around, the realization dawned on me that for some reason this was going to be an escalating series Les Miserables The comments about guests inexplicably having lobster on the menu were great. But later iterations didn't just lose that sense of surprise; They also reduced conceptual discipline in favor of a more revue-like approach, mixing and matching songs from various Broadway shows and, more annoyingly, a few movie musicals as well.

The ship sailed according to this sketch, adhering more strictly to a set of rules that, I must admit, may not seem particularly important to many. But this issue, which began with Pete Davidson buying a gallon of milk at a Port Authority outpost in Duane Reade, somehow felt more affirming: like a new batch of New York annoyances; about the joys of giving even a wary audience really silly Broadway parodies (yes, a few cheap Disney tunes, but also: Andy Samberg does the opening track for Hamilton as a dead bear); of Mulaney's undying love for this routine in general. It was eight minutes long and I immediately felt silly for thinking that Dan Bulla's (very funny) movie about a monkey astronaut might have run a little longer than expected. That's what Mulaney episodes are supposed to be for, right? The writing features more jokes and strange asides than is conceptually necessary – in which a primate character named Beppo is mercilessly blown up and allowed to return to Earth in an eerily enchanting way. Where Little Richard supposedly actually shot a dog on a sitcom set. Where Sarah Sherman stands around on set for minutes just for a Margaret Atwood topper. If not now, when?

What was going on?

In addition to the aforementioned space monkey, the episode managed to bring back “What's That Name?” for an election-themed issue with a sharper bite than anything else in the show's designated “Political Humor” sections.

On the other end of the episode, looking at the upcoming election on a more granular level, a fake ad for a New York congressman, unfortunately named Harvey Epstein, was completely absurd, but perfectly placed on a live broadcast where I live, at least , contained about 80% political ads fighting over who could best secure the Nassau County border. (I wish I was joking.)

What was going on?

I haven't talked much about Weekend Update in these recaps so far because there's not much to say about a decade-long tenure as anchor team that was supposed to end this season since “three years ago” is no longer an option. But in an episode that was mostly pretty good, the shrugging update jokes stood out more than usual. As for the big cold open thing, I may be a little softer because I know that no matter what happens on Tuesday, we probably won't see many of those five-for-one imprint sketches again, but Jost and Che will We will be here at least until May and possibly until 2035. As for Kamala Harris' actual cameo, there's almost nothing the show can do with that stuff that wouldn't be met with multi-layered mockery. It was fine. A little sweet, a little stupid.

Most Valuable Player (who may not be ready for prime time)

Michael Longfellow has a certain deadpan thing about him that he perfectly turned into menacing as host of “What's That Name?” (And it can't be easy following Bill Hader in a Mulaney-centric skit). This might seem like a minor thing to hang an MVP title on, but in reality most of the cast (except perhaps Kenan as Little Richard and Heidi Gardner as Reba) were in utility mode this week, to good effect had.

The next time

I don't normally think one way or the other about Bill Burr, but I felt a wave of relief when I learned that he had replaced Dave Chappelle as the stand-up host tasked with getting us through the potentially difficult times ahead lie before us. (Or, perhaps more likely, did Chappelle reject Lorne?)

Crazy observations

• • Literally dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands of people joked about how an episode hosted by John Mulaney with music by Chappell Roan will lead to record levels of normal behavior online. There's a perverted part of me that wishes one or both of them would do a little more to drive their parasocial networks crazy. But “make a solid episode” is probably the better choice in this regard.
• • I like Chappell Roan, but “Pink Pony Club” sounds like it fits in Rock of Ages and that doesn't suit me! Making a non-album track (apparently called “The Giver”) for the second song is a badass move, though.
• • The update portion, with Marcello and Jane as the couple you can't believe are together, leaned into the stereotypes that may have formed about each cast: that Marcello is very loud and Jane is very loud recessive. But it leaned so much that it started working properly again.
• • Where the hell was…? Here's the part of the recap where I ask where the hell a particular cast member was. Where the hell was Ego Nwodim? Again?! She wasn't completely absent, but this season could use more of her in general.