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Source: The Guardian

Alec Baldwin returns as Donald Trump, declaring a national emergency in order to fund his border wall. He laments the legal process in a bratty sing-song tone, lies about his health exam (“I’m still standing at 6ft 7in, 185lbs – shredded!”), avoids questions, rambles about his meeting with Kim Jong-un and his tariff deal with “Gina”, before circling back to the need for “Wall”.

It’s a typically unfocused and toothless rundown of political talking points, Baldwin phoning it in even more than usual. That being said, given the president’s surly, resentful tone during his actual speech on Friday, it’s one of Baldwin’s more convincing impressions.

Don Cheadle, who “entered the Avengers SNL host raffle” and won, takes the reigns for the first time. He recognizes that he’s one of those actors people recognize but can’t necessarily name. He charts the looks people give him depending on what role they know him from: Boogie Nights, Hotel Rwanda – “Rwanda Forever”, as star-struck Leslie Jones makes him say when she interrupts his monologue for a picture – or even his turn as Ice Tray on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

The cold open.

Fresh Takes is a freshman high school news show hosted by three awkward teens. They are joined by teacher Mr P (Cheadle), a nerdy gossip who cluelessly divulges personal info about fellow staff members and admits to giving weed brownies to students. It’s a mostly forgettable sketch but Cheadle goes all in on making a silly character memorable.

Extreme Baking Champion features four contestants baking cakes modeled on famous cartoon characters. Save for one well-made SpongeBob SquarePants (which the judges inexplicably hate), the entries are all a disaster. They included a poorly constructed Olaf the Snowman, a penis-sporting Yoda and a deformed, sentient Cookie Monster (named, for some reason, Sean) that begs to be put out of his misery between vomiting streams of blue goo. Cheadle’s deflated contestant is a constant source of hilarity, and the show gets points for going weird early on.

Pound Puppy is a giant furry dog costume/tent that couples can use to hide their lovemaking from confused pets. There’s nothing more to it than that, and it’s over before it begins.

Rocker Gary Clark Jr is the week’s musical guest. He performs the song Pearl Cadillac. Weekend Update then takes aim at Trump’s “coke-binge” of a speech. Che admits that he’s tired of making jokes about Trump and his “dumb-ass wall” and admits to wanting to see what it would actually look like.

The hosts welcome Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Kate McKinnon) and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (Alex Moffat). They pretend to have been played by Trump but can’t hide their gloating over having so easily outmaneuvered him. It’s not particularly funny, but you had to imagine it might work Trump into a lather. On Sunday, it duly did.

Self-satisfied tool Jules, Who Sees Things a Little Differently, joins the panel to discuss the Oscars. Ever quick to prove he’s super-woke, he says he’s rooting for Black Panther (“or as I call it, Equal Panther”) though he also admits to loving Green Book (a movie about “a wise black musician teaching a mentally challenged Italian man how to love”.) Lastly, super-centenarian Mort Felder (Mikey Day) covers stories about other super-centenarians, the gist being that they’re all dead. It’s an enjoyably ambling bit, and the contrast between Day’s adorably tweedy caricature and the grimness of the material works well.

Celebrity Family Feud: Oscars Nominees sees Film Veterans (Spike Lee, Glenn Close, Sam Elliot, Olivia Coleman) square off against Movie Newbies (Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Rami Malek, Mahershala Ali). It’s been a while since SNL has gone all-out with celebrity impressions, and even longer since they’ve done so with good reason, so you would think they would go all-in and make this the centerpiece of the episode.

Extreme Baking Championship

Unfortunately, it’s over right almost as soon as it gets going. Most of the attention is given to Melissa Villasenor’s Gaga – understandable, given how well her impression went over last week – but McKinnon’s manic Close and Cecily Strong’s drunk Coleman are the standouts. Credit is also due to the beautifully simple joke of Pete Davidson, sans costume or affect, being a dead-ringer for Malek.

In Bar Fight, a meathead biker (Beck Beckett) and redneck trucker (Cheadle) square up, only to have their rhythm thrown off balance after another patron accidentally puts Mika’s ultra-addictive dance jam Lollipop on the jukebox. Soon both men are cutting loose, joined by the rest of the cast. This sketch is going to drive up searches for Lollipop, catchy as it is.

Gary Clark Jr performs his incendiary protest anthem This Land. Then, Roach-Ex is a typically cartoonish commercial for a roach killer spray (replete with anthropomorphized roaches invading a suburban home), that quickly turns into a disturbing and violent domestic drama. It’s another good idea that isn’t given enough time.

Regal Promenade Pavilion is an overly-glossy, badly acted commercial for an events center in Queens. McKinnon and Aidy Bryant star as the ambiguously ethnic husband-and-wife owners, who run down a list of small inconveniences and absurdities: tacky wall-to-wall carpeting, child valets, rough pink bathroom hand soap, creepy and incompetent photographers. Anyone who’s ever experienced a wedding or family gathering at a mid-budget venue will find much to relate to here.

All in all, a mediocre episode that would have been better served by giving some sketches time to breathe. Still, a solid host and musical act help elevate things. Hopefully, both return in the future.