Review: Let’s Be Real “Episode 103”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

This week’s episode consists of new sketches like Leslie Jones’s racist version of Supermarket Sweep, Ellen DeGeneres’s new home renovation show, and First Take at a funeral.

Our Take:

Another week offers another collection of puppet-filled sketches to amuse us with their satirization of politics and entertainment. I’m sorry. Did I say “amuse”? I meant “torment us with its uninspired and tasteless jokes as well as its dull sketches”. Honestly, I was not surprised by this, considering how lowbrow this sketch comedy series has become so far.

The episode immediately started with Anthony Fauci yelling into his microphone, telling people to put their masks back on. Of course, some people angrily refused, which only frustrated Fauci even more. Hey, I don’t blame the guy. I would be upset too if I tell someone to put their mask on and they refused. While not the worst way to kick off an episode, I wouldn’t say that it’s amusing either.

After that, the first sketch that appeared was the puppet version of Leslie Jones hosting Supermarket Sweep with a twist. Admittedly, I haven’t watched Supermarket Sweep before, so I should give it credit for introducing the concept to me. But, of course, when I found out what the twist was, I immediately took that credit back and squashed it like a helpless bug. It turns out that the twist involves the black contestants encountering white racist puppets while trying to score some points. This would’ve been a funny satirization of racial discrimination if it wasn’t portrayed in such poor and mediocre taste. I think I would be better off with the racial equality version of the game show. Thank you very much.

Another sketch involves Ellen DeGeneres leaving her talk show to start a home renovation show. Entitled “Ellen’s Fun Flips”, the show has Ellen buying off the home of her former worker and his family. Unsurprisingly, the family didn’t take the news very well, so Ellen tried to cheer them up by, you guessed it, flossing. Since Ellen is ending her talk show next year, it’s not too shocking to see this sketch poke fun at that scenario. However, with the recent controversy surrounding the host, the fact that this sketch is degrading Ellen further for comedy was distasteful, in my opinion.

The last couple of sketches include the First Take hosts disrupting a funeral and the Biden and Trump puppets. The former sketch is pretty much what you would expect, and that is Stephen A and Shaquille O’Neal arguing with a person for comparing the late Coach Bell to Uncle Lewie. As someone who hasn’t watched First Take, I thought the sketch wasn’t too bad, but it still suffered greatly from its flat execution and Stephen’s obnoxious yelling. The latter has Biden and Trump coming together to announce their plans on making America a “better place”, including removing stairs from national landmarks and filling up the Grand Canyon with packing peanuts. It ended with the two being stranded on their podiums after the conference. I guess they didn’t want to run the risk of exposing the puppeteers. This is yet another unfunny segment that Trump’s fish lips couldn’t save.

Overall, “Episode 103” continues the show’s slow and torturous journey to the end with another round of offensive and poorly-made puppet sketches. We’re only three episodes in, and the series still lacks the improvements needed to keep itself in the presidential seat. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if next week ended the show’s campaign on a sour note.