You’ve only brought it up a few times, I think it’s just a memorable story. 

Oh dear, have I become known as the guy on AVClub who always has to bring up his unpleasant experiences with Dan Levy?  ;)

I don’t want to be too mean about it, but it does feel like the AV Club would benefit from having fresh eyes on SNL for their reviews. SNL can vary in quality pretty wildly episode-to-episode, and even within episodes, and it’s certainly fair to point out when a sketch doesn’t work or note systemic problems like how…

I’d say it’s more that SNL has kept a number of theater kid type performers on for a long time and some of the writers who also love this vibe, and even as it is well past its prime, they are still having their last kicks before Cecily, Aidy, etc. leave.

You just have something against her personally is all. 

If you want to read about Ebersol’s attempts to poach the SCTV cast for SNL, Dave Thomas (not the Wendy’s guy) discusses it in his book. Ebersole actually succeeded: he got Martin Short, of course, but Catherine O’Hara also agreed to join SNL, but backed out at the last minute because she didn’t want to move to NYC…

I don’t know why Saturday Night Live had to resort to the cheap, hackneyed stereotype that all lesbians own iguanas.

I liked the cold open alot–it didn’t ‘go nowhere’, it went everywhere, it took a basic premise and went nuts with it, which has been a recipe for success lately.  

most of us have had to accept circumstances under which we leave our metaphorical plastic bubbles and risk exposure.

Eh, but most of the situations the characters were putting themselves in (going to a “wrestling club” or “raw-dogging it in the park”) were absolutely avoidable. Yeah, people still have to go the grocery store and laundromat, but those were just foils to the absurd shit, like going back to work as a “mouth masseuse.”

I keep mixing up Phoebe Bridgers with Phoebe Waller-Bridge. So I wondered for a split second why a tall funny Englishwoman was smashing a perfectly good guitar.

It’s been 5 years. If Melissa had the talent to be a superstar in this format it would’ve happened already. Fineman outshines her on any impersonation showcase. There only so many Owen Wilson sketched they can write for her. Be happy that she can keep cashing those checks.

Qanon is indeed a dangerous cult, and just like the Nazis they cloak themselves in the drapery of Christianity. In this case it’s more like the fever-swamp, tongue-speaking, demons-walk-among-us Christianity. As such, all of their wacky bullshit theories and predictions actually play out as tests of faith - you have…

The really unfortunate thing is that when Qanon people open their mouth they sound so utterly deranged that it’s difficult for most normal people to take them seriously as a threat without a lot of additional context, something our media is notoriously bad at providing.

-I liked the opening skit and it was nice to return to a time when opening skits could be about things that aren’t political. I just saw the skit as goofing on super bowl commercials and the vague liberal, corporate platitudes behind many of them

Dude, dude, dude since when was Eugene Levy Johnny Galecki's Dad? I legit thought that this guy was Johnny Galecki but like he's not. He's like the guy off Schitt's Creek? Why is he like Johnny Galecki? Like why is this guy literally and like literally Johnny Galecki? Has this guy always been Johnny Galecki but like…

Part of the problem is these people are all reprehensible, so any jokes along those lines has a certain limit, but it would still be a better idea than essentially begging Trump to testify so you can have a joke to tell.

Disagree. The episode was hilarious and filled with very Dan Levy moments, especially on the Hollywood Tour. The cold open was fabulous, and for the first time in a while, the monologue was funny (especially seeing Eugene Levy in a glass cage (of emotion)). The Zillow ad - porn for people in their late 30's - was…

“I know that a seemingly stable, functional, not-dangerously insane guy who’s never appeared in a Bo Derek movie in the White House makes political zingers harder to come by, but, you know, that’s your job and stuff, guys.”

The “Manstain” commercial is hilarious, “Lifting Our Voices” should be a regular feature and two Black dudes reacting to music could probably be a reoccurring sketch too. Idk about the Superbowl host sketch though: Comparing BLM to Cheezits? The Zillow porn was inspired but also scary because it’s like the writers…