Timothée Chalamet's Solid Saturday Night Live Brings Back Tiny Horse And Stirs Controversy

It's great to have "Saturday Night Live" back in the swing of things, especially now that the Screen Actors Guild strike is over, and the show can have big name hosts arrive in Studio 8H with the ability to parody (and promote) their upcoming movies. This week, "Dune" star Timothée Chalamet was the first host to take full advantage of the Hollywood strikes being over, and he even musically celebrated with a little bit of Willy Wonka thrown in there for good measure. 

The first time Timothée Chalamet hosted "SNL," it was a delightful holiday romp, where he had a blast with Pete Davidson. But with Davidson not part of the "SNL" cast, was it just as much of a good time? Chalamet certainly had fun without Davidson, but this episode wasn't quite as consistently funny as his hosting debut. Having said that, Chalamet brought back two of his beloved sketches from last time with hilarious results. However, playing around with the comedy trio known as Please Don't Destroy has drawn some criticism for a certain poorly timed topical reference. We'll dig into that and the highlights of Timothée Chalamet's latest "Saturday Night Live" below. 

Little Orphan Cassidy – With the presence of alternative comics like Sarah Sherman and Andrew Dismukes bringing a lot more strange comedic flair to "SNL," the traditional 10-to-1 slot that's typically reserved for more oddball comedy isn't utilized as often anymore, with a lot of these sketches fitting into a primetime slot. But tonight's episode was a return to form, with new featured player Chloe Troast providing a weird spin on "Annie." 

In this sketch, an orphan named Cassidy sings about her woes of not being adopted and feeling out of place to a full moon (Chalamet). Troast has both a beautiful and hilarious singing voice, providing surprisingly rich baritones and genuinely pretty musical moments. But it's the slow reveal of Cassidy's true nature as a 26-year-old con-woman that makes this a home run. Chalamet's reactions to these revelations are perfectly incredulous, and it takes a lovely fairytale setting and makes it absurdly funny. I think Troast is going to fit in perfectly with this "SNL" cast, and I can't wait to see what else she can do. 

Even though the rest of the episode wasn't as good as Chalamet's first time hosting "SNL," there were still some great highlights. First of all, we have the return of "Tiny Horse," but with a sci-fi twist. With a mix of "Terminator" and "Return of the Jedi," Chalamet's lovely Tiny Horse has turned into an apocalyptic Giant Horse wreaking havoc. But Chalamet is able to remind the Giant Horse of who he used to be. Honestly, I wasn't in love with "Tiny Horse" when it debuted, but it was certainly memorable, and the fact that they put such a wild spin on bringing the premise back may have made me love it even more. With a little Darth Vader/Emperor Palpatine twist at the end, this is the right way to bring back a beloved sketch, and I hope they figure out a way to do this whenever Chalamet hosts "SNL."

Museum of Hip Hop – Chalamet also reprised the role of SoundCloud rapper SmokeCheddaDaAssGetta, which he originally played alongside Pete Davidson as fellow internet rapper The Guap Lord. Even without Davidson, Chalamet is great as this white kid trying way too hard to have a rapper persona in front of an all-Black panel that includes Ego Nwodim reprising her role as XXL correspondent Nunya Bizness, Punkie Johnson as Mary J. Blige, and Kenan Thompson as scholar Cornel West. Chalamet is so great as this character, and it's bits like this that make it feel like he could be part of the "SNL" cast with no problem. Gotta love that reference to West's role in "Matrix Revolutions," and the end of the sketch with Chalamet dropping his image and calling his mom for a ride is a great way to wrap it up. 

The Woman in Me: Auditions – Every now and then, "SNL" rolls out a sketch like this, which allows the entire cast to showcase celebrity impressions that otherwise might never make it into other sketches. Not only does Chloe Fineman do a solid Britney Spears, but this sketch has an impressive stream of impressions from the comedian, including the return of her Timothée Chalamet impersonation and an amazing Natasha Lyonne, and it's a shame she doesn't have more opportunities to stretch these muscles. Other notable appearances include Chalamet with a just-okay Martin Scorsese, Sarah Sherman with a stellar John Mulaney, and James Austin Johnson with a superb Werner Herzog. 

Another recurring premise put Chalamet in a soundbooth for a Calm App recording session, but it didn't go nearly as well as previous renditions of similar sketches. Another sketch turned internet personalty Troye Sivan into a sleep demon, and I didn't even know who Sivan was before this sketch came along, so it didn't land very well for me. But did you know that Sivan played a young Wolverine in flashbacks from the disastrous "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" awhile back? The more you know! The sketch "Gym Call" was all right, but it was certainly a one note joke that felt reminiscent of the '90s.

Meanwhile, Please Don't Destroy had a pretty funny sketch featuring Chalamet as a man literally on the edge of throwing himself off a building. When the trio try to convince him to stop, they agree to hear the music this guy has been working on, as a way of encouraging him to keep on living his life. Sadly, the music is terrible and comes with some strange quirks, such as always thanking people for listening. 

However, this sketch has landed Please Don't Destroy and Chalamet in some hot water, at least in the more reactive circles of the internet. That's because Chalamet's character reveals that his band's name is "Hamas" (pronounced Hay-miss), and the trio can't bring themselves to support a band called "Hamas" on Instagram right now, for obvious reasons. 

This threw people online into a tizzy, with many of them pointing fingers at "SNL" for making light of the death of hundreds of innocent civilians due to the ongoing deadly conflict between Israel and Palestine. While this might be an ill-timed reference, this joke is hardly making light of the overall situation, no more than a joke alluding to World War II is making light of the millions of deaths that occurred in that historical fight. It's merely finding comedy in the cluelessness of a character who has no idea that using a name like "Hamas" for music like this could be problematic right now. Ironically enough, it's not unlike how this very joke turned out to be problematic. There's nothing about this bit that's making light of tragedy, and while it might be tone deaf and poorly timed, it's certainly not being dismissive.

This was Timothée Chalamet's second time hosting "Saturday Night Live," and since he gave us a great episode a couple years ago, our expectations were maybe a little high. Thankfully, Chalamet was just as good as he was the first time, even if the episode's quality of writing didn't fully come to match. He's game to have a good time with, he's packed with energy, and he has no problem fitting in with this young cast. Plus, Chalamet seems to have an affinity for music-based sketches, even though his first musical will be "Wonka" later this year. Maybe it's because he was doing rap videos on YouTube before he became super famous. Whatever the reasoning, I'm certainly not mad about it, and I'd be very happy to watch him host again and again.

If there's one complain I have about Chalamet, it's that he occasionally feels like he's on the verge of breaking like Jimmy Fallon used to. It's almost like he's a little too giddy to be on the show. But I suppose I can't blame him. If I was hosting "SNL," I probably wouldn't be able to stop smiling. 

It's another week where "Saturday Night Live" feels like they have to start the episode with timely political satire. Sadly, as we head into an election year, it's only going to get worse, and we got a preview of what this might be like with "SNL" rolling out many cast members to play the Republican presidential candidate hopefuls. 

However, I will say even though they shoehorned James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump into the equation, despite the fact that he wasn't part of this debate, this was a more clever way to approach it. By having Trump roast his opponents in a fourth-wall-breaking way, it did something at least a little refreshing. For me, the best part was Johnson as Trump talking about who "SNL" cast in certain roles, such as having Ego Nwodim as Vivek Ramaswamy and John Higgins as Ron DeSantis. But even with that redeeming element, the rest of the sketch just doesn't pack any punches worth throwing.

Anyway, we'll be back next week after "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" star Jason Momoa hosts "SNL" on November 18. For more on "SNL," be sure to check out The Ten to One Podcast, wherever podcasts are available.