REVIEW Saturday Night Live (Elon Musk episode)
Did Saturday Night Live throw its integrity away yet again by asking Elon Musk to host the latest episode?
Occasionally, Saturday Night Live makes some boneheaded (read: purely ratings-driven) choices when it comes to hosts. The most notorious in recent years was Donald Trump, who gave the show a viewing figures boost while on the campaign trail in November 2015. It was the venerable comedy institution at its most uninspired, a blemish that my friend Dennis Perkins, who reviews the show for The A.V. Club, referred to as “The Episode That Shall Not Be Named” for a while after it had aired.
When it was announced that Elon Musk would host the Mother’s Day episode, reactions prior to broadcast were generally, and justifiably, negative. After all, the South African-born billionaire – basically a real-life Flintheart Glomgold – sounds exactly like the kind of questionable character Lorne Michaels would invite only as a ratings grab, comedy be damned. And to an extent, that’s what happened, especially when one considers they could have just asked Miley Cyrus, who was on board as the musical guest, to pull double duty like she did in 2013.
And yet, the episode was not the dumpster fire that Trump’s infamous second outing as host was. For one thing, Musk actually has a sense of humor, both in general and about himself, and was perfectly willing to make (and be the target of) jokes at his expense, most notably in the monologue, where he poked fun at the pronunciation of his son’s name and lampshaded his own lack of range.
In fact, perhaps not surprisingly, the best sketches were the ones that took advantage of Musk’s slightly off-putting persona and non-existent versatility, be it the Mare of Easttown spoof that cast him as the murderer or the latest version of the Chad sketch, where Pete Davidson’s chronically indifferent character accepts a suicide mission on Mars and has no idea who Musk is. Equally unsurprisingly, these were filmed pieces, rather than live material, the latter generally faring better in the host’s absence (chiefly with the delightful cold open, with the cast interacting with their actual mothers).
Having said that, was it really worth it? For years now, the show has been in a creative slump, with a writing team that is largely unable to fully utilize the tremendous – and, in fairness, oversized – cast. Save for occasional hosts who, more often than not, used to work on the show and therefore know how to make it better (e.g., John Mulaney and Tina Fey), recent seasons of SNL have been serviceable at best.
This was particularly – and painfully – obvious during the Trump era, when the show’s idea of political satire was to state the obvious and have Alec Baldwin in a silly wig (when Trump lost the 2020 election, Baldwin was visibly happy to call it quits). Sure, it’s hard to satirize something that is cartoonish to begin with, but the recent development with Joe Biden – initially impersonated by Jim Carrey and now, in his current incarnation as played by cast member Alex Moffat, barely ever seen on the show – suggests that the current team and/or Lorne Michaels sees no point in doing politics unless there’s a big star involved.
Which brings us back to Musk: while he may not be as actively deranged and dangerous as Trump, he definitely is no saint either. The show did poke fun at his previous anti-mask stance, but it was the kind of gentle jab we’ve come to expect at this point. His other questionable statements or actions went largely ignored, turning a controversial figure into a moderately self-effacing buffoon for 90 minutes. Hopefully, next week (with Keegan-Michael Key hosting) will wash away the aftertaste, but SNL as a whole is in desperate need of an overhaul, and avoiding certain choices for host would be a good starting point.