Nate Bargatze returns as host on “SNL” and another debate is on

It was less than a year Since comedian Nate Bargatze made his debut as host of “Saturday Night Live,” his performance was so well-received that he’s already back, along with a number of Season 50 hosts including Jean Smart, John Mulaney and Michael Keaton belongs.

Was the performance as strong as last time? Not quite. The monologue was more scattered and less finely crafted than last year’s and the sketches were less uniformly great, but there was still some strong material. Bargatze’s everyman vibe still works well on “SNL,” especially in skits where he plays with language, like a sequel by 2023 is fantastic George Washington Weights and Measures Scene or a absolutely perfect “Sábado Gigante” parody (it only took 50 years), in which Bargatze plays a confused viewer drawn into the show with only a rudimentary – but not entirely void – understanding of the Spanish spoken around him. Bargatze performed a funny pre-recorded skit in which a participant in a golf tournament repeatedly inadvertently harms wildlife on the course.

Elsewhere, Bargatze played a paramedic who, along with his partner (Michael Longfellow), tries to convince the employees of a water park Slide a corpse down a slide instead of carrying it down 255 steps. He portrayed a Coach who wants to get paid for football jerseys and a woman’s husband (Heidi Gardner) determined to win a very messy eating challenge in a restaurant. Musical guests “Coldplay performed”All my love” And “We pray“, the latter with The Palestinian singer Elyanna and Argentine singer Tiny. A title card before the final hug honored Kris Kristofferson, who died Sept. 28 at age 88. The singer-songwriter and actor hosted “SNL” in 1976 during the show’s first season.

As with Bargatze as host, this week’s cold open also said: “It worked great, we’ll do it again.” All the guest stars who appeared in The cold of last week was open were back for the “SNL” version of the vice president debate. Bowen Yang and Jim Gaffigan returned to the debate stage as Senator JD Vance and Governor Tim Walz, respectively, while Vice President Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) and husband Doug Emhoff (Andy Samberg) watched at home, attended by a vastly confused President Biden ( Dana Carvey).

Kamala, on top of the world, enjoyed the support of Liz Cheney and Bruce Springsteen, but her joy was short-lived as she watched Walz mess up the lines – “I’m friends with school shooters“ – and became too friendly with Vance. “Why are they friends?” she exclaimed. “Why are they vibrating?” On the debate stage, Vance and Walz become so familiar with each other that they try to touch hands during the split scene while “Take “My Breath Away” plays. Walz explained his mistake in saying he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre by telling viewers he had forgotten he was at Epcot. Vance, meanwhile, inserted mid-sentence requests not to be fact-checked while also expressing support for former President Trump.

But like last week, it was Dana Carvey’s Biden impression that stole the show, whether he was announcing dropped things like gas prices and Emmys for “The Bear” or brandishing an ice cream cone that squirted ice cream in Kamala’s face. While Rudolph maintained her composure despite ice dripping from her chin, it was hard to forget that Carvey and David Spade, co-host of the “Fly on the Wall” podcast, said this week that physical ad-libs or bloopers on the show sometimes happen truly by accident and on purpose, as was the case last week when Biden buried his head in Kamala’s hair.

Bargatze’s monologue was shorter than last time and lacked a strong conclusion, but he still had great lines as the comedian talked about attending a community college (“…where they say, ‘You’ll probably stay in your community.'”) and finally, his addiction to processed foods (“I’m a farm-to-factory-eat guy.”) and ordering junk food from DoorDash late at night. Bargatze said he’s even a doppelganger when he’s at Ordering food delivery from two places at the same time, which scares him when two different drivers show up at the same time. “I need one of them to get into a wreck!” he said ” in extra virgin olive oil and about what happened when he ate a raspberry for the first time at the age of 40. Unlike last year’s monologue, this one wasn’t as razor-sharp, but the material as a whole had the characteristic specificity and confusion about the World.

Best sketch of the night: Washington returns to demand freedom for hot dog lovers

Diminishing returns are sometimes okay when the original was so strong. In a continuation of the “Weights and Measures” sketch, George Washington (Bargatze) stands on a boat and tells his soldiers about the future of the English language. A dozen is a word for 12, but “Only 12 shall have a word of their own.” We’ll spell Jeff two ways, once with a J and “the stupid way with the G.” A hot dog, Washington says, won’t be made of dogs. But when asked what they are made of, he replies, “Nobody knows.” If a soldier asks that, he is told to get off the boat and go straight into the water. Like last time, Washington largely ignores a soldier’s (Kenan Thompson) questions about what will happen to the slaves after the war, at least after that war in 1776.

Also good: You don’t have to know Spanish to understand “Sábado Gigante”.

Bargatze plays an audience member who is called on stage by host Don Francisco (Marcello Hernández) and leads him through a random series of skits, dance numbers and game show segments that are not at all different from the real show; Ask anyone who grew up in a Spanish-speaking household before 2015. After Hernández’s absolute commitment to the sketch, after Bargatze’s so realistic confusion, after the kid with the beard dressed like Bargatze’s character, and after the orange puppet in the sailor suit, this one wins our hearts just as much as winning five dogs in a game show.

Likely to Go Viral: “Sushi Glory Hole” Is the New “Dick in a Box”

A new digital “SNL” short starring Lonely Island’s Samberg and Akiva Schaffer that aired so late in the show was so surprising, catchy and flavorful that it feels like something that could have a big hit online. (The term “Sushi Glory Hole” is actually was already trending on X shortly after the episode aired.) The premise? Two musicians (or are they businessmen?) propose the idea of ​​a hole in a bathroom wall through which you can get fresh sushi. That’s it. That’s the joke. But it’s done in hilariously stupid ways, even as the contestants (including Maya Rudolph) are trying to leave the room.

Weekend Update Winner: Jane Wickline stayed at the party too long

It sometimes takes a while to get to know new cast members, but this section was a nice introduction. Jane Wickline appeared in the waterslide sketch as the sole voice of reason and in a “Weekend Update” segment where she played the piano and sang about spending the night at a party that’s long since ceased to be a party. When Colin Jost tries to finish the song mid-song, she says, “I plan to keep singing.” Clever, playful lyrics and a strong performance have great things in store for Jane Wickline on “SNL.”

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.