Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party is VH1’s glimpse into the unlikely friendship of Martha Stewart, domestic goddess, and Snoop Dogg, rapper and weed enthusiast. Like a nature documentary depicting cross-species animal friendships, the show never misses an opportunity to marvel at the novelty of the bond between two people from such different worlds—hers, a Connecticut preppie’s fantasia of prim dinner parties, DIY projects, and not knowing who Jonathan Cheban is; and his, a hazy cloud of Death Row Records memories and words ending in -izzle. With every new episode (there have now been three), the show seems to ask, surely this can’t last another week? But last it has so far. This week, the show presented the pair with their greatest challenge yet: surviving Thanksgiving.
“If you don’t like the way I make my turkey, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out of Martha Stewart’s house,” Stewart announced toward the beginning of the show, going for sass but sounding slightly out of her depth. Two live turkeys, penned up on the side of the stage, joined Stewart and Snoop in the studio (the two stars gobbled at the poultry awkwardly but gamely), as did actress Naya Rivera, rapper 2 Chainz, and basketball player Chris Bosh, all of whom seem decidedly more comfortable with Snoop but ready to bow at the alter of the all-powerful Stewart. (2 Chainz’s deference to her resulted in a very sweet apology later in the show when he accidentally said a curse word.) For the cooking portion of the episode, she made a perfect roast turkey with 2 Chainz’s help—when Martha was soaking the cheesecloth in butter and wine, Snoop wondered aloud what a T-shirt was doing in the pot—while Snoop and Rivera prepared a baked ham (“with blaze, not glaze”).
If you sometimes have a sneaking suspicion that Martha and Snoop’s endlessly improbable connection is less deep and abiding friendship and more shrewd business alliance, this program will not convince you otherwise. Considering her daytime television show’s cancelation in 2012 and her company’s constant downsizing, Stewart’s dominion over lifestyle media has looked precarious in recent years: What’s a domestic guru without her propaganda organs? A gig on VH1 with a hip young hip-hopper (in Stewart’s estimation, anyway) would be just the thing to combat that. Snoop Dogg, meanwhile, is a self-styled entrepreneur who’s always eager to endorse a product, contribute a guest verse, or drop his own line of candles.
Of the two of them, it’s Snoop who does a better job masking that the show’s raison d’etre is likely financial. When Stewart uses a special device to turn large cubes into “ice balls” and “cider balls,” Snoop takes the bait and asks whether one is supposed to put the balls in one’s mouth. “You can try whatever you want” is Stewart’s wan response. When Snoop tries the cider with a frozen cider ball, he exclaims, “It’s strong, Martha!” corny but selling it, in a similar mode as all the odd moments in the show when he busts out a fun little dance move. Martha also proves herself to be a less cordial Thanksgiving host in other ways. During an activity about awkward family moments—everyone picks a paper turkey feather with a “what would you do?” prompt written on it—the question of what one should do if a sibling’s significant other is feeling up your leg under the table comes up. Stewart suggests stabbing the person with a fork, which would have been funny if it wasn’t terrifying.
Snoop is also deft at bringing the show’s guests into the conversation and translating Martha’s habits. When Bosh asked Martha if she was left-handed, Martha snootily replied that she was eating “European-style.” Snoop used the opening to crack that the way he eats, with no utensils at all, must be “Eastside Long Beach–style,” and it was all gravy.
This isn’t to say Snoop is perfect. Asked what he would do if he caught his kid making out with a girlfriend or boyfriend during Thanksgiving dinner, he said he would congratulate a son—“Good lookin’, that was fly”—but punish a daughter’s suitor—“He gettin’ whooped”—proving that smoking all the marijuana in the world won’t make you more progressive on issues of gender equality.
Still, it was Stewart’s lack of good humor and civility that stood out when she and Snoop broke a big wishbone together at the end of the show. When Snoop held up the bone, she insisted he switch sides with her. (You don’t get to where she is without knowing a few tricks, ruthlessness among them, one guesses.) Upon switching, they both pulled, and she of course won the bigger half. No matter, though, as they had both wished for the same thing: more seasons of Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party. As of Monday, that wish has been granted: VH1 has renewed the show for Season 2. It’s a Thanksgiving miracle.
