‘Saturday Night Live’ Recap: Drake Is Tired Of Your Memes

Next week is Saturday Night Live‘s season finale, and it might be coming just in time. Yes, the show’s writers can use a recharge after several lackluster episodes. But even more, it gives them – and us, and everyone – a break from their having to make fun of Donald Trump every single episode.

The Republican nominee-to-be is dominating the news so thoroughly that one could see where SNL automatically slots him into the cold open and the first half of Update by rote. But as this loooooong campaign season rolls on, it’s increasingly the case that shows highlight him out of habit, merit not withstanding.

This week’s cold open featured Darrell Hammond’s Trump making phone calls as his own publicist, Joey Pepperoni, a take on the news this week that Trump called the press as his own publicist, using the names John Barron and John Miller.

This was ripe for parody, but SNL’s writers bait-and-switched, instead mocking Trump’s search for vice-president, a topic there was much discussion about this week, but no real news. Bobby Moynihan provides Chris Christie, assisting Trump with his search in hopes of taking the slot, with the perfect amount of obsequious self-promotion. But as he slams the other VP contenders, mostly the opponents Trump vanquished, it’s clear that the jokes have already been told. All season, we’ve laughed at Little Marco and Low Energy Jeb, and trotting them out now just to lob insults feels like reworking worn territory. The last minute cameo by Jay Pharoah as Ben Carson was welcome, if too brief.

Drake was this week’s host and musical guest, and put all his skills to work at once with a monologue that found him singing about all the memes he’s generated. His song was fine. The memes were funny. Special shout-out to whoever thought up Drake-as-ET, and Aidy Bryant as a human-size chicken. As to whether Drake-as-Rihanna was awesome or disturbing, YMMV.

This applies as well to the next sketch, where Drake and Pharoah play two horrible rental car employees. Drake’s first big laugh line here is to tell honeymooning customers Vanessa Bayer and Beck Bennett that they’re talking to an “ice cold bitch.” Dialogue-wise, that’s about as funny as this sketch gets, riding the “rude employee” trope without taking it anywhere new. As his manager, Pharoah adopts a clipped, overly-mannered accent not unlike Kristen Wiig’s Target Lady. The sketch got some laughs from the studio audience. I found Pharoah’s catch phrase here – “the situation is unbeknownst to me” – not that funny the first time he said it. By number three, I was more than ready for this to end.

Next was a taped parody of American Ninja Warrior, featuring Moynihan as a contestant seeking to win the competition to honor his hometown, which was recently decimated by a tornado. Moynihan’s casting gives away the game. Think they’d cast him for a contest of physical dexterity if they wanted a winner? Moynihan fails quickly, is given a special do-over, and fails again. Little originality here, but points to Moynihan for his usual committed, flailing physical performance. The shot of Moynihan trying to run across water was meme-worthy.

The next sketch starred Drake as the host of a “sexy” 1970s special, with Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon as the glamorous back-up singers trading flirty barbs with the host. Drake’s host pissed off the show’s director by forgetting his name, and now the director has sabotaged the show. Drake has to sit on a footstool for his monologue, his mic has been tweaked up several octaves so he sounds like a chipmunk, and his sexy revolving bed revolves too quickly for comfort. The sight of the three of them, in their suit and gowns, shifting around on the bed fighting to face the camera before flying off it makes for a solid laugh.

With Taran Killam as Paul Ryan, Bennett brings back his baby-boss character, Mr. Patterson, as Ryan considers him as a candidate for a third party bid. Setting aside, the sketch is little more than an excuse to bring back Baby-Boss, which had three successful runs to date. This is Bennett’s best character, and for an actor who’s not known overall for his physical comedy skills, his work here is, as always, impressive. As Ryan looks at his file, for example, Bennett grows scared every time, believing Ryan has disappeared behind the file. His work on the floor, balancing on his stomach and flailing his limbs as babies do, is uncanny. There’s not much more to this, but the character is worth bringing back once a year, and this was as good an excuse as any.

Weekend Update featured the now-requisite Jost/Che opening dual screed against Trump, including a few solid lines. Che suggested Trump can prove publicist John Miller is an actual person by producing his birth certificate, a slag against Trump’s birtherism. Jost noticed that if Trump truly believes John Miller is a separate person, we “might have a Fight Club situation.”

At the desk, McKinnon brings back Olya Povlatsky to comment on Trump while emphasizing the nothingness of her life, saying that our being burdened with Trump is like “candy in my mouth to me, I’m assuming,” and that our insulting Vladimir Putin when we have Trump is like “pot calling all my toes black.” Olya says that Trump secretly goes to her village every ten years to pick a new bride, and that she envies Melania Trump (her competition last time), because when she looks in Melania’s eyes, she sees that she’s truly dead.

Leslie Jones did a quick bit at the desk about chasing your dreams as you get older (she’s 48), noting that it was a good thing Oprah was fired at 23 so should could become the Oprah we know, and that if Lorne Michaels had been fired, maybe he wouldn’t be working the same job for 41 years. Pharoah then did a hip-hop version of his recent Secret Comedians’ Meeting bit, imitating Jay-Z, 50 Cent, T.I., and Lil Wayne, among others, and finishing with a Drake-off with the man himself at the end. As usual, his vocal mastery was on point.

The return of “Black Jeopardy,” one of the show’s funnier recurring sketches from recent years, was neutered by replacing the panel’s white foil (Louis CK and Elizabeth Banks in past episodes) with a Canadian, played by Drake. Having the white fish-out-of-water contestant flailing to address black life has been the sketch’s successful premise, and the reason it’s been funny so far. Pitting black culture against Canadian culture is pointless by comparison, and the jokes here lack the power of previous installments.

Drake brought his music to the comedy with a pre-taped bit called “Drake’s Beef,” where his sweet Canadian exterior is shown to be a lie as he raps hostility about every SNL cast member he comes in contact with, plus Lorne, who has the audacity to tell him he’s doing a “good job.” Good, he says as he mocks his own real-life feuds – I was great, bitch.

The night’s final sketch finds Drake dressed as a Hulk Hogan wanna-be to chaperone a school dance, telling inappropriate tall tales to high schoolers. Blah.

There’s one episode left to the season. Fred Armisen is hosting, and odds are at least several former cast members will make surprise appearances. Let’s hope the writers left a few things in the tank before they take off for summer break.

[You can stream Saturday Night Live on Hulu]

Larry Getlen is the author of the book Conversations with Carlin. His greatest wish is to see Stefon enjoy a cheeseburger at John Belushi’s diner. Follow him on Twitter at @larrygetlen.