The Best & Worst Sketches Of John Mulaney's SNL Season 50 Episode

Since his time spent writing for "Saturday Night Live," John Mulaney has become quite an accomplished stand-up comedian. But he's also stuck to his roots by becoming one of the most consistently great hosts of "SNL," so much that we've actually named him as one of the 10 best "SNL" hosts of all time, along with some historical heavy hitters. That's why we couldn't be more thrilled to have seen him return to Studio 8H in 30 Rockefeller Plaza for the first time since he joined the prestigious Five Timers Club.

One of the most wonderful staples of John Mulaney's "SNL" hosting appearances, along with a typically great monologue of fresh stand-up bits, has been a series of musical sketches situated around some kind of quirky, dingy staple of New York City. From "Diner Lobster" to "Subway Churro," they all use strange covers of songs from iconic stage musicals to fuel these riffs on the culture of the Big Apple. Thankfully, we got a new one in Mulaney's latest hosting gig at "SNL," but did it turn out to be the best sketch of the night? 

Let's dig into the best and worst sketches from John Mulaney's season 50 episode of "SNL."

Beppo – Following the amazing pre-taped sketch that was "My Best Friend's House" with Ariana Grande, writer Dan Bulla is back with another edition of his Saturday Night Live Midnight Matinee. This time it's in the form of an "Apollo 13" kind of drama that follows a tiny, adorable monkey named Beppo sent into space for the first time. Played with the perfect amount of sincerity, you can really feel the audience pulling for the adorable puppet of Beppo, and that vintage robot voice used for his simple communication with mission control only made him that much more endearing. The dark twist that this sketch takes was already hilarious unto itself, but the fact that it eventually results in a proper happy ending for the monkey astronaut, complete with an absurdist turn, makes it another home run for Dan Bulla. Since we're not getting as much Please Don't Destroy this season for some reason, these short films make for a wonderful substitute. Can't wait to see what Dan Bulla does next.

What's That Name: Election Edition – The good news is that even though this was the worst sketch of the night, it's actually far from a terrible sketch. The last time "SNL" forced a game show twist into one of their political satire bits, it didn't go that well. This one fares better, but only because the formula that was used on a previous episode that Mulaney hosted is one that still lands rather well. The use of Hilary Clinton's vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine was a fun twist, and I'm glad they didn't force further guest appearances by Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Dana Carvey, and Jim Gaffigan, especially after they were given such a superb farewell at the top of the show (more on that below).

While the initial "What's That Name" game show sketch was much funnier, this one still had some solid moments, especially with that surprise reveal that Sarah Sherman was playing "The Handmaid's Tale" author Margaret Atwood. Really, it's the self-righteousness of John Mulaney's character that helps this one succeed, mixing up the formula enough to provide some fresh laughs. In an episode that was packed with really good sketches, one of them had to be the worst of the night, though I'll reiterate that it's actually not an awful sketch.

As for the rest of the episode, Mulaney may have delivered the best episode he's ever hosted. However, it should be noted that some of the success comes from the fact that there were actually only six proper sketches in this entire episode. Why? Well, the political cold open was around eight and a half minutes, Mulaney's monologue was longer than most due to the stand-up nature landing it right around seven minutes, and this episode's big NYC musical number also clocked in at eight and a half minutes, so that's a big chunk of "SNL" real estate right there. In fact, with the exception of one sketch, all were on the longer side, which explains the much lower sketch count and the odds for higher quality among them.

Duane Reade Port Authority – Here's that musical sketch we teased at the top of the article. Former "SNL" cast member Pete Davidson returned to join Mulaney for this one, and one of the funnier moments comes from the fact that Mulaney's character actually acknowledges Pete as playing himself in this sketch. While this one start off a little shaky, it eventually soars into greatness when Bowen Yang shows up as the Greyhound driver, followed by a parade of Timothée Chalamet impersonators led by Chloe Fineman, and ending with a "Hamilton" riff featuring Andy Samberg as the bear that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dumped in the woods of Central Park.

Little Richard – The next superb sketch comes in the form of a recurring bit that began when Mulaney hosted back in season 43. Mulaney brings back sitcom creator Jay Paultodd to talk about his old (fictional) sitcom "Family Bonds," following a widower (Mikey Day) raising his kids (Marcello Hernandez and Chloe Fineman) with his sister (Heidi Gardner). This PBS "Sitcom Pioneers" episode focuses on one particular episode where recording star Little Richard was the guest star, and Kenan Thompson basically turns Little Richard into Tracy's Morgan's silly animal show host Brian Fellow.

New York City Council Campaign – At first, I thought this was going to be a very New York-centric sketch riffing on a specific political ad that residents of NYC had been seeing repeatedly during election season. While it pokes fun at a totally real candidate with the very unfortunate juxtaposition of first and last names, Harvey Epstein, it will works on a much broader level. Mulaney, looking surprisingly good in a bald cap, keeps reassuring New York citizens that he has nothing to do with the notorious sex offenders Harvey Weinstein or Jeffrey Epstein, but he can't help but keep stepping in misguided phrases and moments that don't help his pleas. What I like about the sketch, aside from the obvious, is that this actually serves as a bit of deeper satire that shows just how fickle politics can be. You know there are people out there whose names have kept them from succeeding in politics, even if they might have benefitted their constituents the best. 

Weekend Update continues to be strong this season, though this week's may have actually been outshined by the greatness of the sketches on display. Of course, that doesn't mean Colin Jost and Michael Che aren't worth complimenting, especially in the second half with that great punchline Jost delivered at the expense of Che — complete with a picture in picture video, which is the first time that I think they've gone that route instead of using a still photo. The disregard of the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series followed by a second joke about the fan who tried to steal a ball that was still in play landed firmly. 

Meanwhile, the guests at the Weekend Update desk were top notch this week, included Heidi Gardner debuting a new impression of Reba McIntyre, offering some commentary on the election. I could listen to her talk about stinky flappin' naturals all day. 

Plus, I wasn't expecting a great duo from Marcello Hernandez and featured cast member Jane Wickline as The Couple You Can't Believe Are Together. I hope this turns into a recurring bit, because this could be a lot of fun. Plus, Wickline gets the rare distinction of showing up to the Weekend Update desk twice within her first five episodes, which is a rarity among featured players. 

However, as good as Weekend Update was in general, the political commentary from the first half (above) suffered a bit from the same issues that the cold opens have been hit by. Speaking of which...

Election night in the United States is nearly upon us, and that means we won't be getting these long-winded cold opens anymore with Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris, Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff, Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz, and Dana Carvey as Joe Biden. While there's a chance we could still see them pop up occasionally, especially the weekend after the election, this dedication to politics won't be taking up quite so much of the show's runtime. It's likely Maya Rudolph who would be the one returning here and there for presidential sketches, which is why all of the other guest stars got farewells in this sketch. 

In fact, even Rudolph herself got a big moment that could end up being send-off, since Kamala Harris herself joined in to replicate a similar bit that Jimmy Fallon once did with Mick Jagger. Harris has no problem keeping up with Rudolph, and the two bounced off each other wonderfully. Politics aside, if you compare just the performance of Harris on "SNL" to the abhorrent job her opponent did when hosting the show, there's one clear winner here. 

It'll be interesting to see how the political satire side of "SNL" continues after the election. It largely hinges on who wins the presidency, and one of them would be a lot more depressing than the other. Let's just say that we'd have a lot more fun watching Maya Rudolph pop up as President Kamala Harris every now and then, just so we can give James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump a break. Again, while Johnson's impression is great, nothing that "SNL" does as parody can truly outdo the pure insanity of real politics when that man is involved. 

That's all for now. We'll be back next week when comedian Bill Burr returns to "SNL" to host on November 9. For more on "Saturday Night Live," be sure to tune in to "The Ten to One Podcast," available wherever you get your audio entertainment.