Emmy Episodes: Saturday Night Live

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the sixth year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

Saturday Night Live: Season 46, Episode 16 “Host: Daniel Kaluuya” (B+)

Daniel Kaluuya really impressed me in this episode. I knew the actor was talented, as evidenced by the performance in “Judas and the Black Messiah” that, a few weeks after this episode aired, won him the Oscar, as well as the other work the young actor has done over the past few years, including “Get Out” and a personal favorite of mine, “Widows.” What surprised me here is how up for every single sketch he was, ready to jump into any role and actually be funny in a way that hosts don’t often manage to pull off. Some of the skits he was saddled with, like him being a host where he needed people to guess the right answer taking the vaccine, were better in concept than execution, but he was game for it all. I particularly enjoyed his British dog voice that got the other two people in the park upset, and his continued insistence on activities with the moms of his frat brothers. I wasn’t so big on the other sketches he was in, but, again, he did very well and is absolutely deserving of his Emmy nomination for guest actor in a comedy series. He wasn’t as funny as he was as Andrew Cuomo, but Pete Davidson’s Matt Gaetz was a close runner-up, and the Florida congressman was also the subject of some pointed jokes at his expense during Weekend Update. I’m not quite sure why, but Alex Moffat’s Guy Who Just Bought a Boat had me cracking up with his speedily-delivered series of double entendres. I like seeing players who are very much able to do a particular bit and execute it very well.