Bill Burr Lights Up a ‘Saturday Night Live’ That’s Much More Satisfying Than the Season Premiere

Bill Burr Hosted Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live got off to a bit of a rough start last weekend with an uneven episode and a production that was full of hiccups. But perhaps it was just season premiere jitters for the first show back in the studio since the coronavirus pandemic forced the series to do three remotely produced episodes to close out the previous season. The new episode of SNL with comedian Bill Burr hosting for the evening saw a big step up in quality, and it was even a little more edgy and dark than what we usually get from the sketch show.

The Best

Sam Adams – Following in the footsteps of the Dunkin’ Donuts commercial with Casey Affleck while back, this faux Sam Adams ad has real Bostonians trying a new pumpkin spice ale from Sam Adams, and you already know how that’s gonna go. Bill Burr brings his standard mouthy, blue collar antics to this sketch to great effect, and that fight at the end with Mikey Day ends the whole thing with a huge laugh. We need even more of these Boston-set commercials.

Don Pauly – The premise for this sketch is a brilliant one. The head of a major Italian crime family has just gotten out of jail after a 20-year sentence, and he has some catching up to do with the woke times. All of the younger mob members have progressive attitudes and keep calling out Don Paul for his problematic choice in words. Burr, famous for his politically incorrect rants, is the perfect person to lead this sketch, and it takes it a level hilarity that I’m not sure many other hosts could have achieved.