Season 40 Episode 21: Louis C.K.
The finale for SNL’s season 40 was hosted by comedian and actor Louis C.K. We wren’t big fans of the comic’s last two outings on the show, but would the third time be a charm? Let’s take a look.
Far and away Louis C.K. was the winner of tonight’s episode with a solid 28 point score. This was 12 points ahead of top scoring cast member Kenan Thompson and his 16 points. Six other cast members joined Thompson in double figures, with the rest of the cast (excluding the Weekend Update guys) in the mid to high singles. No one got outscored by lone cameo and show announcer Darrell Hammond.
Louis C.K. scored less than 20% of the episode’s points, but he did combine with Kenan Thompson for more than 25% of the points in the episode. Given the steadily cascading nature of the cast scores, there weren’t many other remarkable scoring dynamics when it came to point portions.
Since a third of the cast didn’t have much to do and 40% of the sketches called for four or fewer people (compared to 30% that called for six or more,) the cast average was going to drop. In this case, it fell by nearly three points to the bottom half of the average standings.
The downward trend extended to the individual main cast scores with five decreases, one steady, and only two increases. Of those case members with decreases, Jay Pharoah tied his season low score. Sadly, no one hit a season high to close out the season.
Things were only slightly less negative for the featured players, who had three decreases, three steadies, and only one increase from Sasheer Zamata. Not counting the Weekend Update team, no one hit their high or low for the season.
Even third-timer Louis C.K. couldn’t end the season on a high note, as he closes things in 15th place. What a numerically underwhelming episode!
Unfortunately we feel the same about this episode’s content as we do about its numbers. We think Louis C.K. is a decent comedian, but we don’t think he performs well in this format. Even with good experience with the show, Louis C.K. continually flubbed his cue card readings, leading to a sloppy feel across the episode. The episode wasn’t a total garbage dump, as the Cold Open with its great pacing and light topicality hit well, as well as “Forgotten T.V. Gems” with its snappy rhythm and solid performances from all the performers. The common factor in both of those sketches is Kate McKinnon, who didn’t rock the numbers but made a great use of her screentime. On the other hand, newly recurring sketch “My British Girlfriend” had severely diminishing returns and a very “Mad Libs” quality about its punchlines. The rest of the sketches seemed like they were trying to be irreverent but came across as kind of empty. Does Louis C.K. really get along with the nuttier side of the writers’ room? (We’re looking at you, Mike O’Brien.)
Coming up next we’ll do our great big wrap-up post on SNL’s 40th season, followed by a return to Classic SNLs.
Staturday Night Live 