It’s not that the rest of the episode was downright terrible, because there are a couple of really funny sketches, but most of them felt stilted and awkwardly paced. Some of that falls on Gillis, but it also feels like the audience had a hard time getting back on the comedian’s side after a rough monologue (more on that later).
Just take the “Forrest Gump” inspired sketch above, where Shane Gillis plays one of the jerks who used to torment Forrest Gump when they were in high school. He’s the guy who used to drive around his friends to throw rocks at Forrest after school. While his friends are ashamed of their former antics, Gillis’ character hasn’t changed a bit, and he’s still a total douchebag. Focusing on a high school reunion where one of Forrest’s bullies is somehow unaware of his massive success, as well as the tragedies Gump’s life has endured, is a very funny premise. But Gillis’ timing and delivery for his lines never quite finds a groove. This was probably his best performance in a sketch (at least when it comes to the live sketches), so you can see why the episode struggled throughout the evening.
Then we have this “Fugliana” sketch, with Gillis leading a commercial about a sex doll that looks a little more attainable for a guy who looks like Gillis. Again, here’s a hilarious premise that Gillis is perfectly suited for, but he clumsily treads through the dialogue and can’t quite nail the delivery. Thankfully, the sketch is saved by the hilarious physical comedy of Sarah Sherman, Heidi Gardner, Punkie Johnson, and Chloe Fineman as the sex dolls in question, so there are still laughs to be had, but Gillis still struggled. At the same time, it’s hard to be mad at him, because he’s still enjoying himself, as evidenced by the sudden break at the very end of this sketch. Honestly, I think Gillis was so nervous about being there, especially after that monologue, and even after everything that has happened since his firing, he still wasn’t prepared for this stage.
Another sketch that could have been a home run with smoother delivery was this “They’re Listening” sketch, which focuses on how apps like Facebook and Instagram always seem to be listening to our conversations, because they always turn up eerily time ads about the very things we’ve been discussing with our friends and family. Gillis, of course, doesn’t buy into it, because he’s always getting ads for things that don’t apply to him, like a Green Bay Packers themed butt plug that plays the team’s fight song. Of course, we know where this is going, and though the gag is quite funny, the execution is fumbled and messy because Gillis just doesn’t seem like a good fit for sketch comedy, at least not live sketch comedy. If you look at all the pre-recorded sketches, Gillis is fine, but he seems to have trouble with the live bits — and when the show is called “Saturday Night Live,” that’s a problem.
As for the rest of the night, sketches like “HR Meeting” and “Church on Vacation” offered some amusing premises that never quite took off, for a lot of the same reasons that plagued the better sketches. A parody of the game show “The Floor” was underwhelming too, with a premise that feels like it’s been done much better in other game show sketches. The one true dud seemed to be a pre-taped sketch for a gambling app where you bet on just how hard your gambling-addicted friend will fall. It’s a decent idea, but it feels like it both overstayed its welcome and never really escalated beyond the basic premise. There’s also the politically themed cold open, with Republican politicians like Marco Rubio and Tim Scott celebrating Trump’s recent victories on the presidential campaign trail while remembering all the nasty things Trump has said about them in the past. It’s one of those sketches that’s too real and sad to be funny, because it’s not really all that much of an exaggeration from real life.