Critic Reviews

Not every skit landed, but more did than any on any 90-minute “Saturday Night Live.” I’m still not sure if Maya and Marty have comedic chemistry--maybe these crazy kids just need to get to know each other better--but I’m definitely going to be tuning in this summer to find out.

There were some dull and awkward spots during the premiere, which is the eternal price of variety, but I laughed through much of it, and through some of it I laughed a lot. Really a lot.

The old-school sketch comedy veterans pulled it off. They could help pass the time on a hot summer night. No rush. You could wait and catch a moment or two online.

A few of the bits were funny: Short reviving his fatuous interviewer Jiminy Glick, with David; Rudolph as the Civil War’s worst letter writer. Others, in that time-honored, SNL tradition, fell flat or went nowhere.

Other than the disorienting night and time period, Maya & Marty was disappointingly easy to pigeonhole. What audiences were treated to in the premiere was basically a not-hugely-funny episode of Saturday Night Live, an hour that occasionally made use of its gifted stars, but more frequently left them in sketches that fizzled out before reaching a real crescendo.

What a bland, pointless, and creatively empty endeavor, one that wastes two of our most talented comic performers.

In its first at bat, Maya and Marty felt forced and uneven.

After a mildly amusing opening taped piece featuring Tom Hanks as a duplicitous astronaut, the hour went downhill fast.

Maya & Marty feels like reheated leftovers rather than something that could demand popular attention every week.

The end result was often a lot of bombast and noise but not too many laughs. Maya and Marty, in many ways, is a ham sandwich with an extra helping of ham.