The comedian Nate Bargatze made his debut as host of « Saturday Night Live, » and the show acknowledged the recent death of « Friends » star Matthew Perry.
It may be, just from some of the social-media reaction during the latest “Saturday Night Live,” that half the country thinks Nate Bargatze is one of the hottest, stadium-filling comedians working today while the other half … well, they’re not exactly sure who this guy from Tennessee is. But in his first outing as “SNL” host, Bargatze again proved the rule that stand-up comics and sketch-comedy veterans can often make the best hosts (see also: John Mulaney, Dave Chappelle and Melissa McCarthy).
Bargatze seemed to struggle a bit with cue cards in a sketch or two, particularly one in which he delivered a monologue as George Washington, predicting the strange ways the United States would adopt inconsistent systems of measures while ignoring the legacy of slavery. But he was on point in his brilliant monologue as well as a standout early sketch, “Chef Showdown” and some filmed pieces including a Hallmark Channel parody of a horror movie called “A Stab At Love” and a mock CMT music video, “Lake Beach.” He also played a competing lawyer arguing that it’s the second best profession (behind doctor) on a flight where a passenger is going into labor, and one half of a couple being lectured by SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher (Sarah Sherman, a rising “SNL” star) about what costumes are strike-friendly for kids to wear on Halloween.
This week’s “Please Don’t Destroy” video finds the guys eating dog food (or rather “Dawg Food”) and it’s a one-joke sketch that doesn’t go anywhere. Dave Grohl appeared in two sketches (“Lake Beach” and the airplane sketch), and his band Foo Fighters performed “Rescued” with an introduction by Christopher Walken (correct emphasis on the band’s name this time) and had performer H.E.R. joining in for their second song, “The Glass.”
As is the custom on “SNL,” a silent photo card acknowledged the death of Matthew Perry, who hosted in 1997, before the close of the show. The actor, who was 54, was found unresponsive on Saturday afternoon at his home in Los Angeles.
“SNL” has switched up its presidential portrayal once again. In this week’s cold open, “A Halloween Message from President Joe Biden” featured a recast Biden.
