I think Shiv is being true to character. She’s been extremely entitled and self centered since episode one. I think a lot of us latched on to her in the beginning because she was the outsider and claimed to be progressive but that was never a true belief any more than it’s Kendall’s now. 

Surprised there is no mention of Albert Brooks stepping into the show now that Funkhouser, his real life brother, has passed.

You can tell just how much more varied casting is with McKinnon out of the picture. If she had been there the new guy, Athari, would most likely not have been standing next to Aidy in the Founding Fathers sketch. 

As much as I enjoyed McKinnon and her talent, she fell into the Wiig/Poehler trap of Lorne basically letting her do whatever she wants regardless of if it’s funny or not.  And with a cast this large, you can’t tell me that other cast members weren’t getting a little irritated with her getting every single role, male…

Very solid episode, but I guess the column’s tradition is to take off a point for not being John Oliver.

In the Annie sketch, I thought Sudeikis was channeling Dan Akroyd as Irwin Mainway.

Possibly unpopular opinion - I really don’t miss Kate McKinnon. And Perkins, this was definitely a B+, if not an A- episode. No clinker sketches, and a great non-lipsyncing musical guest that wasn’t singing to tape - what more could you ask for at this point in the show’s history?

Johnson’s Biden was inspired but it went on for too long and he lost steam. Kind of like every bit from this episode.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: This is the year of Dismukes!

Sure, a Joe Biden offers less in the way of low-hanging political fruit than a Donald Trump, but that’s an opportunity to try a little harder than just having someone read out already-insane transcripts while making requisite funny faces.

Mikey Day and Alex Moffat

He might give it all away

Ha ha! I do love my Costello, but Flowers in the Dirt is a profoundly inconsistent album.

It’s especially egregious because their political cold opens are already struggling to overcome their other high-profile one-note political impersonation, in which all Baldwin does as Trump is shape his mouth like a butthole. Seeing both of them is just incredibly frustrating.

Darryl Hammond portraying Trump was kinder to Trump than Jim Carrey is portraying Biden. I think there’s something in that.

He's supposed to he doing a Biden impersonation, but his performance has no grounding in reality.

Most of the men in this cast are one note. Moffatt, Day, Davidson, Mooney, Redd. Beck Bennett has a bit more range than those guys but that’s not saying a whole lot. There’s no great all-around guy like they had in Bill Hader. Kenan comes closest I guess but he’s not all that versatile IMO. The women in the current…

I’m not going to say Issa Rae or the show were doing brilliant work out there...but the audience seemed less responsive than I’ve ever heard them. It’s almost like the essential worker audience was replaced with people who actually have COVID. The anchors were openly complaining about how little feedback they were…

Anyone else not liking Mikey Day? I feel like he plays the exact same character in ever scene. He’s the “Oh my God, what is happening right now!” guy in every sketch. I get that sometimes you need a straight man, but he’s just so bland.

Yes, it was a joke.