Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)

The following blog post is a companion piece to the newest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast. Give us a listen, won't you?

A Message From The All-But-Certain-To-Be- Next-President Of The United States

Hillary Clinton (Poehler) gives a premature, shockingly petty and extremely condescending farewell speech with a brief appearance from Bill (Hammond) to her fellow 2008 Democratic Primary candidates under the assumption that she will win in both 2008 and 2012.

• Well, let's just start at the beginning with this one, shall we?

• First of all, I can't begin to tell you how strange it was for Darrell Hammond to be the first person you see in this cold opening. It's one of those things you may have had to have been around and regularly watching SNL at the time to know.

• See, at some point in November 2006, NBC actually aired a "Best Of Darrell Hammond" compilation...while Darrell was still in the cast. This was the first time this had ever been done for a still active current cast member before, so naturally...most people who saw this at the time assumed season 32 would be Darrell's last season.  Then again, most people who watched the previous live episode before this one (the Zach Braff/Maroon 5 season finale) assumed that would be Mayas' last and she's in this episode, so who knows just what the hell was going on at SNL/NBC around this time?

• Now, you may not remember or even be aware of any Best Of Darrell Hammond compilation because it only aired once on NBC and was never released on DVD. Hell, it's not even streaming on Peacock with the rest of the "Best Ofs" that actually DID get a proper home video release when they came out. As it turned out, this was at the request of Darrell himself as he didn't believe this compilation truly represented his "best" work. As far as I know, this is also the first and only time this has happened with a Best of as well.

• Anyway, on to the rest of this...MAN, this...oof. Well, I don't want to overstate the obvious, but...yeah. Considering how Hillarys' real life political career would go (and considering who the two real life Democratic presidential "hopefuls" mentioned by name in this were that she actually WOULD go on to talk to and interact with regularly are) this one has held up pretty poorly since...hell, since before this season even ended in real time. Just hearing her mentioning the year 2016 (even as much as that one turned out to be Hillarys' own "second, this-time-more- realistic bid for the White House") makes me cringe a little.

• Still, if memory serves, the shows' writers must've seen this coming and tried to overcompensate in the post strike half of the season by playing up Amys' Hillary as being extremely entitled, arrogant and nakedly scheming in the wake of the news media's sudden love affair with Fred Armisens' Barack Obama (ugh) so FOR NOW they kind of balance themselves out here but really who in the hell could've predicted what would've happened in eight years?

• Actually, you can hear me talk more about Amy's Hillary in this podcast guest appearance of mine from the summer of 2023...well before I even met or reached out to Deej, before We Heart Hader was even a gleam in my eye (or possibly even hers).

• Anyway, the only real highlights of this were Amy as Hillarys' comments directed at Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, John Edwards and Mike Gravel. Hair plugs and all, it's amazing to see how strikingly different Joe Biden looked 18 years ago. C+

Montage 

Don Pardo is pretty much inaudible until he gets to Darrell & Seth's names in the credits due to mic troubles. Right before he gets to Mayas' name, you can hear a crew member or audio technician comment that his mic is going out. Wow.

Monologue

Lebron James gives a shout out to his "family", the Lebrons, watching back in Akron.

• Lebrons' dancing to the theme music was a nice touch. His obligatory mention of the Cavaliers sweeping the San Antonio Spurs in that years NBA finals didn't do much for me.

• This is a partially pre-taped monologue that mostly turns out to be a continuation of the smooth, Klumps-style Nike ad campaign Lebron was involved in around this time which I do vaguely remember. The old/pops Lebron was funny and I got a kick our of his "pretty boy" version telling his girl on the phone he was watching SNL and then commenting "I thought they canceled that after Eddie Murphy, too."

• Although the transition to this pre-taped portion of the monologue lasted a couple of beats too long (even if it was meant to elicit a questionable necessary "awwwww" from the audience when he mentions his family wishes they could be here tonight, I got a kick out of the cut back being Lebrons' detailed chalkboard illustration on how to fix Americas' broken Healthcare System.

• This was a short monologue that got in, got its laughs and got out (which, considering the fact that this episode has an athlete host with mid-tier acting abilities, is probably for the best). C+

Angry Dog

Michael Vicks' new brand of dog food laced with synthetic testosterone and 7 psychoactive drugs makes all breeds of dog, big or small violent and aggressive enough to stand up to both real and perceived bullies.

• Yes, this was when Michael Vicks' dogfighting scandal dominated the late summer news cycle. No, he is not played by Kenan or even verbally mentioned by name in this. The only direct reference to Michael Vick is his face being on the front of the label of the dog food bag.

• Still, that alone gets a long and sustained "oooooooohhhhh" reaction from the audience mixed in with some slick shock laughter that suggests a knowingly subtle "are they really doing this?" reaction with just a hint of "if they are, then...we'll give 'em a chance and see how they handle it."

• Forte was definitely the right pitchman for this as he would be the most trusted member of this cast to put this one over. I especially loved his whole "don't you fuck with me" rant up top. Wiig as the mom was a nice counter to that.

• I also liked Armisens' aggressive seeing eye German shepherd (he may be the only other cast member besides Forte that could've put this over) as well as the aggressive circus poodles.

• Oddly, Hader as the hunter didn't do much for me in this but I did get a twisted kick out of seeing the bitten a d scratched/scarred up kids bringing the dog back at the end. 

• ...and to think, the last time SNL made fun of or even referenced Michael Vick was at the beginning of 2007 in the first ever "REALLY?!?" segment on Seth & Amys' Update when he was arrested for possession of weed at an airport. Oh, how easily time makes fools of us all. B-

Childrens' Hope Auction

Penelope (Wiig) shamelessly tries to one up everyone and draw attention to herself at a children's charity auction including fellow bidders (Poehler, Rudolph), event organizers (Armisen, Hader) and even guest of honor Lebron James (Himself) as he offers himself up for a bachelor auction.

• This is the third overall appearance of Kristens' Penelope character, so naturally she gets a brief smattering of recognition applause upon entering the scene. 

• This was never my favorite Kristen Wiig character, but she would go on to debut characters I liked much less than this one over the course of the next two seasons so I didn't have much of a problem with Kristen yet at this point.

• This sketch really wouldn't start to pick up until Lebron showed up and Kristen got to play off him. The highlights for me were Wiigs' line about having written the song "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" for Aretha Franklin and the whole "Crazypants/long beard" back and forth from when Lebron decided to get in on Wiigs' one-upmanship. B-

High School Musical 3: Return Of The Seniors

East Highs' newest student (James) isn't so sure he wants to try out for Zac Efron/Troy (Samberg) and Corbin Bleu/Chad's (Armisen) all singing, all dancing basketball team...until Vanessa Hudgens/Gabriella (Rudolph) tells him he might miss his chance at seeing her naked breasts and possibly hooking up with her.

• Well, I...don't quite know where to start with this one. IIRC, this may be the first full parody of the "High School Musical" craze SNL did around this time period. The two we would get in the following season ("Night School Musical" and the HSM sketch from when Zac Efron would actually host) would be better, but it's not exactly a good sign that both MADtv and SNL had done separate HSM sketches by this point...and MADtv ended up having the better, more creative one a full year earlier right out of the gate.

• Worse still, this sketch signals the start of a dangerous trend in SNL season premieres (that thankfully wouldn't seem to plague the show as much for at least another fifteen years or so) of sketches that parody something from the summer news/pop culture cycles just to acknowledge that these things occurred rather than comment on them with an actual take (especially with things that appeal to or are geared toward a younger audience)

• For example, this sketch only serves the purpose of acknowledging that High School Musical 2 had just recently premiered on The Disney Channel and that shortly afterwards, one of it's female leads just had her private nude photos leaked on the internet. Beyond that, it doesn't offer up much in the way of commentary or a comedic take than that. It's just...kind of explaining this thing that happened to SNLs' older, less "terminally online" viewers.

• Hey, at least Mayas' not playing her part in a way that slut shames Vanessa for having her nudes leaked (her part is so small she doesn't quite have enough room to do that) and at least Andy & Fred don't play their parts in a way that plays up any "lolgay" vibes (again, the sketch is mostly too short for them to get that in anyway aside from maybe a slight lisp from Samberg during his first song). For 2007, that's sadly pretty progressive.

• As wrong as it seems on paper for Fred to be playing the Corbin Bleu part (like they would ever let that stop them anyway) I did get a pretty big kick out of him chirping "you tell 'em, Troy" out of nowhere. I also got a kick out of the two basketball players throwing that one guy up in the air like they were male cheerleaders in the background.

• I also liked how off key Andy and Lebrons' singing were at the start of their songs and Bill did a fine job as the announcer here. C-

Digital Short: Iran So Far

Andy Samberg confesses his deep, undying love for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad (Armisen) through a soft romantic rap ballad with some help from Adam Levine and Jake Gyllenhaal (themselves)

• This would be one of two segments tonight in response to Ahmedinejads' then recent "there are no gays in Iran" comment in a speech he had given at Columbia University earlier that month. Somewhat surprisingly, this one would age better and come off a lot classier.

• Yes, it does play up a bit on the tired comedy trope of "all outspoken homophobes in politics must be either secretly gay or too afraid to confront their own latent homosexuality" trope in modern comedy but they take the same tasteful and tactful approach to it that the entire Lonely Island would with their "Spring Breakers" Anthem on "The Wack Album" so I have to give them credit for that.

• Yeah, this may be a little heavy on subtle (again, for 2007) gay jokes and innuendo but ending it with Andy saying "I know you say there's no gays in Iran...but you're in New York now, baby" gives this that feeling of "overly long and complex set up to a quick and simple punchline that hits you just right". 

• Plus, even that's proceeded by an even more biting line "You can deny the holocaust all you want, but you can't deny there's something between us" so there's some good old fashioned antisemite bashing in there, too that gives this a double message.

• Ok, even though Fred Armisen playing middle easterners (or any ethnicity outside of his own, really) on SNL has become a tiresome trope that would show a serious lack of awareness on both his and the shows' parts...I gotta say Fred does look just enough like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in particular with the right hair and makeup (emphasis more on hair than makeup here) that him being in this role makes whatever commentary they had on him that week worth putting in the air in this case because the material he is given puts it over (which...I don't know if I can say the same about for the second time Fred will pop up in this role tonight).

• Fred's goofy smile as Mahmoud works for me as does the brief sight gags of him slowly licking an ice cream cone, wearing an S&M harness over his business casual suit and later wearing a long, formal red gown sitting on top of Andy's piano. I especially like how that's absolutely as far as this goes with the homoeroticism.

• On top of all that, this is beautifully shot for a Digital Short and the song is...still pretty catchy and well composed (in spite if the Adam Levine and Jake Gyllenhaal of it all...at this point, I don't even mind that Adams' been in two back to back full length SNL episodes from this time period I've reviewed for this blog and podcast or that Mr. Gyllenhaal has come very close to doing the same).

• For some strange reason, I've always had some sort of nostalgic fondness for this SNL episode and this particular Digital Short in general that I haven't been able to let go of. I'm glad to see that these both just barely hold up enough for me to not have to (given what a real "late summer/early fall of 2007" time capsule/period piece this us turning out to be. Maybe I just have some sort of nostalgic fondness for this time in my life in general and haven't been able to figure out why I shouldn't have yet? Oh well...) B+

Read To Achieve PSA Shoot

Director Mike Underballs (Hader) must navigate a conflict between Lebron and stagehand Jeff (Sudeikis) which gets settled at the hoop.

• Ah, yes. The return of these guys!

• They've changed up plenty from the JLD edition of this sketch to make it feel fresh and not like a carbon copy of the previous one. 

• For example, Sudeikis' "JYYEEEFFFF!!!" is no longer a boom mic operator but rather, he is tasked with hitting his cue to toss a ball to Lebron for him to dunk. He goes from aiming too high to throwing too early to hitting his head to simply tossing a book at him since this is a literacy PSA which all played out great.

• In fact, I would say they improved on this formula since the last one. 

• Hader feels like he's doing a bit more than just playing straight man (especially when he backs up Jasons' "check ball" request) but this is another Jason showcase where he really gets to shine.

• Knowing Jasons' actual real life passion for basketball going back to his youth, you can tell this was probably written especially for him to showcase his skills on the court. I especially liked him bragging to Lebron that he "played high school ball", all his moves being immediately blocked by Lebron and him getting up with a bloody nose after "Bron-Bron" knocked the wind out of him and he fell to the ground. 

• This was definitely the best live sketch of the night. A+

The Lyle Kane Show

Dweeby former valedictorian Lyle Kane (Forte) stumbles through the first ever episode of his own inexplicable BET talk show as he interviews random bank teller Tim (James) and his own flute player/sole "band" member Daniel (Hader)

• Ah yes, the return of Wills' Lyle Kane character from the previous season's finale! This time, he is leading his own sketch!

• I loved seeing this obscure Forte character return from the Prom Committee sketch from the previous episode (last season's finale).

• I loved every absurd detail of this sketch from every person in the scene talking exactly like Lyle to the botched attempt to tell a joke to the awkward stage direction Lyle gives. 

• I also loved Lebrons character playing circles around Bills on the flute, giving a jazzy Ron Burgundy like solo and the sole explanation for Lyle even having a show being his straightforward, factual answer to Lebrons' "who did he have to give a BJ to" question (yeah, another gay joke that I can let slide for how absurd and out of left field it was).

• Even though I'm currently cohosting a podcast that's all about Bill Hader, I have to say I love how much the show gives us these patented oddball Will Forte sketches throughout season's 33 & 34. It almost makes up for him his lack of use and sudden departure (even if it may have been for personal reasons) by the end of 35. This is definitely my second favorite live sketch of the night. B+

Kanye West Performs A Medley Of "Stronger" And "Good Life" And Then Later On Performs Another Seperate Medley Of "Champion" And "Everything I Am"

• Let me just take this opportunity to say that it was certainly NOT mine or Deejs' intention to collect and review all the SNL episodes with this man as musical guest for our podcast (or mine for this blog).

• At this point, I suspect that there will only be one other episode his is as a musical guest that Deej and I would have any reason to talk about.

• As for these songs...eh, they're all right I guess. This was still at a point where I still disliked Kanye as a person more than I disliked his music.

• His performance of "Everything I Am" sounded like it might have been a freestyle but that's something I'm having a hard time seeing Lorne let fly (although if he did for just this week I could see this being the reason the final sketch of the show gets edited down so suddenly).

• Hey, at least now whenever I hear of think of the song "Stronger" I can always be reminded of this tweet.

• Thankfully, this is the last SNL episode he ever makes and legitimate sketch appearances in.

• Fun fact: it turns out that Kanye West was a last minute replacement for this episode's originally schedule musical guest, Amy Winehouse, who couldn't get a passport in time, so the show pushed her back to November 10, 2007 for an episode that was supposed to be hosted by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Unfortunately, this was the first of several planned episodes this season that had to be canceled due to the WGA strike of 07/08 and Amy Winehouse never got to appear in the show. This would be the first of two times that Kanye was apparently available to replace a female musical guest who had to back out of a season premiere that aired on September 29th (the second being Ariana Grande in 2018 which would be the final time Kanye was ever welcome on the show as a guest...which I won't go into any further because if you're reading this you're probably already as familiar with SNLs' 44th season as I am or as anyone else would ever need to be).

Weekend Update w/Poehler and Meyers

O.J. Simpson (Thompson) struggles to sufficiently explain his rationale for committing an armed robbery to get back sports memorabilia that he had previously sold.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad (Armisen) clarifies his "no gays in Iran" comment and his views on women through a translator (Rudolph)

• Seth's best jokes: Marcel Marceau obituary, Rudy Guilliani, Human Chimpanzee, Nickelodeon Day Of Play, Benadryl 

• Amy's best jokes: Crossword proposal,  Zara Handbag Recalled

• Kenan's O.J. commentary didn't do much for me. Sure, this may be the debut of his O.J. impression but he clearly hadn't found the right "hook" yet and was playing him like a typical Kenan character from this time. There wasn't much writing-wise here either, but I suppose this served its purpose of highlighting the sheer absurdity of O.J.s situation at the time.

• ...and here's Armisens second appearance as Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of the night

• ...and the entire joke here IS only that "he's a politician who's very publicly homophobic so he must be a closeted gay man lol"

• ...and that's it. There's no extra layer added to it like the fucking Lonely Island managed to add to their thing. Just naked gay humor (pun unintended, yet avoidable...but still used for some reason).

• This paired with the fact that it is basically just a foreign political leader speaking through a soft spoken translator makes me feel like I'm watching a lost season 30 cold open. 

• Speaking of which, why didn't Maya as the translator attempt to interpret Amy's questions to Fred's Mahmoud just to sell us on the illusion?

• At least it felt like a rare format break for this era to put it on Update instead of making this the cold open (especially with Amys' "Inches Magazine" joke at the end (even if the pause/sudden inexplicable applause break is probably what really made this episode run long)

• ...and at least this Update was worth it for most of Seth's jokes. 

• It's pretty eerie that I find myself reviewing an Update that ends with Amy Poehler telling another vagina joke about a woman who gave birth to a 17lb baby just two months after Amy came back and hosted and ended THAT episodes' Update with a "joke-off" between her, Tina and Seth vs Jost & Che based on...pretty much the exact same thing happening elsewhere in the world. C+

Best Of Solid Gold

Solid Gold Superfan C. Micah Kring (Thompson) enthusiastically pitches the Time-Life DVD Collection of all the best moments from the Solid Gold Dancers (Forte, James, Poehler, Rudolph, Wiig)

• Kenan really made a meal out of his part. Even though his character is named "C. Micah Kring" (and yes, he does pronounce it in a way that spells out the joke but still let's it get by the censors) he was actually pretty enjoyable to watch. I do like the various little moments in between his diatribes on his deep love of Solid Gold that briefly yet subtly allude to how pathetic his life has been.

• Most of the parts with the dancers were a bit dull and stiff despite the cast giving it their all. I did get a kick out the dance routines set to the Miami Vice theme and Jefferson Starship, though. The interview part worked better than it had any right to because the cast put that over.

• Usually, with male athlete hosts SNL finds itself faced with its own compulsion to do at least one "huge masculine guy plays against type" sketch and oftentimes has a hard time resisting the temptation to just straight up put them in drag. Between this and the Lyle Kane sketch, SNL at least found two rather creative "non-drag" roles where he could play against type (even if he seems a little stiff here).

• While this, much like the HSM sketch earlier in the show worked better than expected without playing up the "lolgay" angles too blatantly (although this sketch does do that in a couple of spots), the parts that didn't work were the parts that relied on a specific type of physical comedy that not everyone in this cast showed they could pull off successfully. C+

TV Funhouse: Ambiguously Gay Duo in "First Served, First Come"

Bigheads' (Robert Smigel V/O) latest poorly conceived plan to "out" Ace (Stephen Colbert V/O) and Gary (Steve Carrell V/O) involves inviting them to a Mexican/Indian barbecue with only two connecting porta potties, one if which is being used for a sting operation by Minnesota PD Sgt. Karsnia (Robert Smigel V/O)

• Here we go, folks. One of the last three Smigeltoons to have ever aired on SNL. Truly, we're reaching the end of an era...and this being in the same episode as such a notable early Digital Short makes this feel even more like a true "passing of the torch" moment.

• In case you can't tell or don't remember, this was based on Minnesota Senator Larry Craig's recent scandal where he was arrested for soliciting gay sex in an airport mens' room. I guess even Smigel himself thought he was done with these two (since at this point it had been five years since the last one) until he saw the Larry Craig story all over the new and was just STRUCK with the inspiration to write something super topical

• Surprisingly, Bill Hader does have small but noticeable voices roles as three of the obscure one off villains at the barbecue. He plays, Flame-eye, Flatside and, of course, Lizardo.

• Frankly, I don't have all that much more to say about this except that it cemented in my mind how much I fobd the later editions of these funnier when Smigel & Company decided to put "seeing how many outlandish visual suggestions of gay/anal sex they could get past standards" on the back burner in favor of highlighting how Bigheads' plans became more focused on "outing" Ace & Gary and less about world domination and general destruction (you know, like a NOT totally shitty supervillain?)

• Speaking of supervillains, I always liked Dr. Brainio as the sane voice of reason in these. That's gotta be Colbert voicing him too, right? Also, what purpose does "Orbitrox" serve other than just being a...floating green robotic jack-o-lantern who beeps and makes vulgar wisecracks?

• The one gag that actually got me was Ace & Gary playing charades by just gyrating around like male strippers and somehow being able to guess "All About Eve" & "Letters From Iwo Jima" just based on that alone.

• Other than that, I at least appreciated how the gags in this were more verbal than visual...even at the expense of more scatological humor being sprinkled in. I wasn't too crazy about the ending reveal of Lizardo and the police officer (who apparently just blew his cover for no reason) seemingly about to...um, have an encounter. Seemed a little rushed and too easy of an out for me. B-

BETs 106 & Park Top Ten Live

Kanye West (Himself) offers up a weak, piss poor defense of his recent string of meltdowns and tantrums to hosts Rocsi (Rudolph) and Terrence (Thompson) after being denied wins at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, The Nobel Prize Ceremony and a pumpkin contest at a local county fair (not to mention being denied the hosting spot for tonight that ultimately went to Lebron).

• Ok, yeah...in order to review this I am going to have to put 2020s Kanye out of my mind for just a few minutes and remind myself that this is 2007 Kanye we're talking about...and this was still well before he went completely off the deep end.

• Seeing as he apparently asked to be in a sketch his week and accepted Seth's pitch (according to his own 2018 monologue), this was a time when Kanye was known to be an ass, but at least managed to convince the general public (myself included) he had enough of a sense of humor to be able to poke fun at himself for these antics.

• As I mentioned earlier, I was not a huge Kanye fan even back then...but I will admit that he earned a begrudging amount of respect from me AT THIS TIME for doing this sketch (even though it wouldn't last for very long, but still...)

• Plus, it does help that Kanye is basically making fun of his own penchant for interrupting other people's acceptance speeches at awards shows two full years BEFORE his most infamous and damaging example of doing just that would occur at the MTV VMAs.

• Speaking of, that kind of ruins that last part of Seth's 2018 hosting monologue for me, too. It's not that I watched his era of SNL closely enough in real time to know exactly what sketch he was talking about and when it aired, but I was also very young and attuned to pop culture of the time as well. 

• I do remember Taylor getting quite a bit of sympathy from that at the time and Kanye getting a lot of bad press for coming down on a white female artist who much younger than him (which this sketch oddly foreshadows, like, twice) so even the show realized that 2009 would've probably been the wrong time to humanize Kanye and make him seem relatable funny over this (especially since they would have both Taylor and her then boyfriend host separately from each other not too long after this had happened).

• Still, I gotta say the power of Seth's writing (if he did in fact write this) helps this sketch hold up better than you'd think it would...given how badly and irreversibly Kanye has damaged his image and legacy by 2025.

• The KCAs scene was decent. Even without lines, Forte and Sudeikis just visually make a decent Drake & Josh. Nice restrained use of Amy's Dakota Fanning here, too (one of three instances of IRL foreshadowing).

• Bill makes an appearance in the Nobel scene presenting the prize for physics to John C. Mather (Bryan Tucker) and George F. Smoot (John Lutz). The line "no disrespect, I ain't heard none of y'all theories" but what was with him suddenly yelling (what sounded like) "credit...fuck the Nobel" at the end? Did he really botch a line THAT badly?

• The county fair scene was fun. I got a kick out of Kanye pulling a champagne bottle out of his million dollar pumpkin (instance two of three of IRL Kanye foreshadowing).

• Of course, the scene with Kanye imploding backstage at SNL was the best possible capper with the "give a short black man a chance" line (as eerily as this seemed to foreshadow/predict Kanyes' actual backstage meltdown during his 2016 musical guest appearance over the crew tearing his own stage lighting without his permission...where he threatened to walk off the show entirely until Lorne had to step in and talk him out of it. This wouldn't even go on to be the most notorious thing Kanye said or did in the SNL studio that didn't make it to air. B-

Great Moments In Guidance Counseling 

In January 2003, St. Vincent St. Mary's High School Guidance Counselor Larry Baines (Sudeikis) tells a young Lebron James (Himself) to declare with the NBA and become their #1 draft pick and avoid college at all costs. Basically, Mr. Baines tells Lebron to abandon his dream of getting a diploma and pursue a life of immense wealth as an NBA player because graduating college doesn't guarantee you much other than a life and career of short sleeve shirts with your ties, sack lunches and sharing a dingy office with Glenn (Forte) and dealing with garage mechanics who didn't go to college making more money off you than you can ever dream of.

• The basic premise of this sketch might be a little top "Inside Basketball" for some but the performance from Sudeikis and the detail heavy writing of this sketch make it accessible to everyone (take it from me, I DID go to college...and look where I am today).

• I liked Sudeikis quietly berating Forte for now reason, telling Lebron to "dunk" on future teammates who DID go to college and his attempt to "sell" Lebron his own diploma for a million dollars (even though in the live version of this sketch there's this weird technical gaffe where the camera cuts too...the control room? Or another poorly lit part of the studio? Anyway, that does end up being fixed in reruns and in the Peacock edit along with several other camera miscues).

• Truly, the highlight of this sketch was Jasons speech about how the glove compartment pops open on his '93 Corolla every time he goes above 50 MPH and having to pay $400 to get THAT fixed.

• Another part of this sketch that was cut for time from the live airing was a "next week's show" preview where Kenan plays Kanyes' Guidance Counselor telling him to "go to college for a year, drop out and write songs about it". This is added into the Peacock edit and the repeats but somehow doesn't feel completely necessary. B+

Overall Thoughts

• This is an episode I've always had a certain nostalgic fondness for and I'm glad to say, WITHOUT looking at this episode entirely through rose tinted glasses, that it's still a quietly solid season premiere that still mostly holds up in the right places.

• Yes, there are a lot of very topical pieces in this based on politics and pop culture that may or may not be lost to the time fog nearly two decades later, but that's' pretty common for most SNL episodes from many different eras (especially season premieres).

• There's only a few things here that just flat out don't work and what doesn't hold up isn't too egregious or problematic to still be able to enjoy now.

• It does seem like Andy and Jason are emerging as the new "stars" of the breakout cast with Forte and Poehler holding down the fort as the established vets (I'd say Maya here too, but we already know she has one foot out the door as this point) but Bill Hader looks like he's going to emerge as the next breakout utility man he'll show himself to be in roughly a years' time.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, that's it for now, I guess. As of this publishing, we now know that SNLs' current season will resume on January 17th, 2026 with host Finn Wolfhard and musical guest A$AP Rocky, so right now I can confirm that my next blog post will be a review of that episode.

• Beyond that, Deej and I have not yet fully planned out what we are doing next on the podcast at this point but once the holidays are over and I've gotten everything figured out with my new job I'm sure we'll at least have plotted out what the next SNL related thing is we'll cover on the podcast.

• Speaking of the holidays, I hope you all enjoyed listening to the previous We Heart Hader episode we did covering the Disney+ film Noelle that Deej and I both agreed we needed had no excuses NOT to suddenly rush out in time for Christmas (because in the end, isn't THAT what the entire holiday season is all about?)

• ...and as I'm sure you heard us mention on the newest episode on We Heart Hader (if you listened to it before you read this blog post) it is very gratifying for me to be able to release this episode on what's not just my 35th birthday but also the exact to-the-day one year anniversary of this podcasts' debut. 

• I'm sure Deej will agree with me when I say if you ever had listened to our podcast (or read this blog or listened to Deejs' other podcast for that matter) we're extremely grateful for al if your support. It means the world to us that we can find an audience somewhere for something we both made.

• Happy New Year!

Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)

Presidential Address

• I was a bit surprised that they would return to the standard "and now, an address from the President..." framing for a cold open centered around JAJs' Trump...until I remembered that the REAL President Trump actually did give an address like this so, again...they really had no excuse not to.

• Nothing really stood out to me here aside from the redacted Epstein files material and the random Indigo Girls reference (even if the "screen of heavily redacted files" gag is literally something I saw on Twitter earlier today) and the "second favorite r-word" joke. 

• Still, this is far from the worst cold open I could've envisioned for this episode (as part of me was envisioning a cold open similar to one we got in mid October...but our host tonight said that character was dead and buried and she stuck by her word). C-

Monologue 

• Well, I liked the "Domingo/sequel" joke even though it doesn't quite play as well after they actually made three sequels to Arianas' original Domingo sketch without her involvement.

• I liked the Mariah parody. I mean, it's FAR from the worst "All I Want For Christmas" parody I've seen this show do, but...this would've hit harder had I not come across this YouTube clip from Sabrina Carpenters' Netflix Christmas special from last year where she sings a song with the EXACT same premise with Kyle Mooney of all people as the mystery relative.

• I don't want to accuse the show of plagiarism or anything. I'll just say that I thought this monologue was the better execution of this concept simply for not being as heavily autotuned and utilizing the current SNL cast much better.

• One line I particularly liked was "I panicked and ordered a Yeti mug/the Christmas equivalent of a shrug". B+

Elf On The Shelf Support Group

• Hmm...decent premise for a sketch in a Christmas show.

• The further this goes along, the more I can deal with the high pitch voice modulator percmeating this sketch.

• I liked Jeremy, Ariana, Mikey and Kenan's performances the best along with the confetti explosions being triggered by "bad thoughts". Hell, they even found a way to work Kam into this sketch. B+

Home Alone

• Well, I was disappointed to see we were moving away from a showcase of Ashley Padillas' Catherine O'Hara impression to another anachronistic Christmas gore fest pretape. 

• Still, I was mostly OK with this since they mostly backed off if these for what felt like at least a year (probably more since the Grinch/Whoville themed one that got put up online was cut for time from Martin Shorts' episode).

• I did like the visual of Colin Jost as Buzz just getting absolutely shredded by a fan just before the reveal of this entire thing taking place in the mind palace of a sleep deprived Ashley (which, honestly, made up for this being another one of...those in my mind). B-

Coreographers

• At first it felt odd, that Marcello would be the male lead in this type of sketch in Bowens last episode until it became obvious from Bowens performance that this was very much an ensemble sketch.

• This sketch felt incredibly disjointed and unfocused (almost like it was five sketch premises jammed into one) but again, given the ensemble nature and the already odd structure to this sketch, those things actually worked in its favor.

• Everyone really got a moment to shine here (even JAJ and Chloe but especially Jeremy). Marcello and Ariana played strongly off each other and I liked his line about making diabetes "look like something you want". Plus, it was the perfect length for what it was. B-

Peacocks' Random Duet Spectacular 

• So, I guess they decided they should do an updated 2025 version of the "Christmas song" impression parades they did for each of Fallons' hosting stints from the early 2010s?

• I was a little wary of this given how modern SNL fans have pretty much conditioned themselves to be sick of impression parades and how...just, modern pop culture in general is way too soft on its celebrities (and especially pop music stars) in general (some times for perfectly valid reasons) for this to be worth anyone's time (maybe this was because I had just seen some tweets reminiscing about how In Living Color used to brutally roast their musical parody subjects 35 years ago) but there were some fun moments here.

• Ariana did a fine Katy Perry even if her inexplicable space trip seems like ancient news now (can't have her host SNL and NOT do some singing women impressions, can we?) and pairing her with JAJs' Bob Dylan was wonderfully odd enough for me.

• Not quite sure what to make of Sarahs' Kate Bush but Bowens' Yoko was funny.

• I liked how they used Dismukes' Springsteen (it seemed like they were just repurposing his and JAJs impressions from that red carpet sketch from last season at first) but Marcellos' Bad Bunny seemed too...needlessly jammed in for me.

• Kenans' Stevie Wonder was fine. I liked the visual of Benson Boone just flying into frame, crashing into things but part of me was hoping he'd just be played by a blue sequined dummy being brutally thrown around, but i guess they had to hire a professional stunt person.

• Boy oh boy, I'm sure SOMEONE I know who I hope is reading this was tickled pink that they let JAJ play Cameron Winter from Geese!

• Surprisingly, Chloe's Bjork actually worked for me and I got a kick out of seeing Veronika as Post Malone.

• I was glad to see they found an impression for Kam that works for him as well as a way for Jane to just play herself in this sketch.

• Ending this on a duet between JAJs Andrea Bocelli and Arianas' Celine was very sweet...but almost too sincere of a note to end this on. C+

Black Santas' Burglary Trial

• OK, so...this isn't so much a goofy Kenam focused "Miracle on 34th St." parody as much as it is setting the audience up for a Cher cameo, isn't it?

• Stopping the "Believe" parody for this back and forth between Kenan and Mikeys' prosecutor is...kind of killing the momentum of this sketch.

• What killed the momentum of this sketch more in my mind was the dull thud of an ending where Arianas' judge sides with Kenans' character as they all march out into the audience to Kenan's "Believe" parody...with no Cher cameo at all? 

• Was this just an intro to her first song that sounded so much like "Believe" that it just as easily could have come out in 1998/99 as it did in 2025? 

• Was this a situation like the one Maya and Fred faced when they did Prince Show sketches when Prince and Beyoncé were actually on the show between 04 and 06 and they each made damn sure they never got to ask them in person?

• Maybe she was asked about this sketch and turned down a cameo here in favor of...a different sketch we'll get to later?

• Oh, well. Some cast members have all the luck in the world, I guess.

• Anyway, this sketch may have been a little uneven, but it was just fine on rewatch...so, I'll just leave it there for now. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: RFK Jr, Trump/Santa

• Che's Best Jokes: Bill Clinton, "Zero Illegal Aliens", New Statues, MTG Engaged

• Nice to see Kam making up for lost time in this episode with a "character" piece that works for him and plays up on his supposed "bad boy" image without having to let him go full on Kill Tony.

• I'm glad that we not only got in a joke swap but that they changed the format and length of it so that only Jost tells Che written Jokes and the episode still has time for...more appropriate things.

• As much as the "trend forecasters" never quite hot for me, it was very sweet of Aidy to actually show up for Bowens' last show. Even if part of me was hoping for Cecily or Ego, it's nice to see Aidy make her first cameo since leaving outside of SNL50.

• This does make sense due the fact that they did this exact bit on Aidys last show in 2022. I am glad they decided to hold off on making any references to this being Bowens last show.

• Really, the only thing I chuckled at during this was the visual of Che in that Marge wig holding two rainbow pride flags. B-

Love Is Blind: The Reunion

• Wow, Mikey must've really liked playing the Grinch last week, hun? We know he must like playing the Grinch more than Pete did.

• Still, I got some mild season 20 vibes from this for how visually expensive and elaborate it looked in service of something that seemed so...empty.

• This felt like it was written by someone who wanted to parody specific tropes and moments from "Love Is Blind" more than anything and there wasn't much beyond this other than "what if we just drag-and-dropped Mikey as the Grinch and he just...played him like a regular douchey dating show contestant?"

• Still, I will say it was a very nice switch to have Mikey be the "weird" outlandish one with everyone else in the sketch questioning HIM in an incredulous manner! (and no, just as i don't buy the umpteenth jammed in joke about a wigged Sarah character being the ugliest or least pretty woman in the room...I WAY don't buy Dismukes & Chloe as Nick and Vanessa Lachey. What the hell was that casting?). C-

Cher Performs "Run, Run, Rudolph"

• I did get a kick out of Ariana introducing this song as her castration character "Antonio" from her previous episode. Now, THERE’S a sketch I did want her to genuinely revisit!

• Even if the sound mixing was more noticeably bad than usual and Cher was inaudible enough that one might think she was lip syncing, I also liked that they used the regular home base stage for this performance rather than the regular musical guest stage. For a second, it briefly felt like this performance came straight out of her 1987/88 episode.

Delta Sky Club

• I should've guessed that Bowen would've gotten the same type of thinly veiled low key meta workplace themed sketch that Cecily got around this time three years ago. 

• Seriously though, I was very genuinely touched by this and moved by how honestly, deftly and expertly it summed up his SNL career (from the good to the even self-admittedly bad) and how strongly he expressed his own gratitude toward the show for the opportunities it gave him and everyone he worked with (and for).

• I haven't felt this much emotion watching an SNL cast members' "farewell" sketch since Stefon and Seth got married 12.5 years ago (wow, it's really been that long, huh?)

• Say what you will about Bowen, you have to admit that on SNL, he bought his own voice and distinct semi-absurdist sensibility to everything he did. More importantly, he never once denigrated his own people and also bucked every cultural stereotype that people tried to put on him since before he even officially started in the cast.

• Yeah, he did a lot of gay themed sketches but they weren't ever "stereotypical". Coming from him they felt very genuine and from a place of Bowen being his true self.

• Boy, I've seen departing cast members get emotional during these types of sketches for them but Bowen...seemed like he was literally unable to keep from crying mid sketch. Kudos to him for keeping it together and pushing through this.

• I wonder if the bit of Bowen spraying Kenan with a bit of egg nog was planned or not?

• Ah, THERE’S the Cher cameo we were all waiting for! I gotta say, his big send off got lined up pretty perfectly because I can hardly think of two better people to bid farewell to Bowen live on air than Cher and Ariana (as much as her performance makes me think Sarah may have originally supposed to have been a part of this but backed out suddenly).

• Farewell, Bowen Yang. We hardly knew ye...but we do know you came along at a time when SNL needed you the most. You always stood out on this show and you'll always occupy a very unique space all your own in SNLs' history.

• There's no doubt you got noticed by the powers that be during your time on the show and you're already making a big splash outside of SNL...so here's to the very bright future you have ahead of you. A-

Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst

1. Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
2. Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
3. Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
4. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
5. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
6. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
7. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
8. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
9. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, SNL gave me just what I wanted from them specifically for Christmas this year; a lower key episode similar to the McKinnon and Butler episodes from previous years that wasn't loaded with cameos and was more sketch and idea focused.

• I guess with Bowens' departure being confirmed the day before the show and the host and musical guest already being two of the biggest names in pop music/culture they decided they didn't want anything to steal too much focus from them, huh?

• Speaking of, I wonder why mid-season departures are ALWAYS more quiet, low key celebrations compared to the big, flashy blowouts we tend to get when established cast members are announced to be leaving the show during a proper May season finale? Is it because the holidays are already an emotional budget-stretched time that they don't want too add too much to? Is it also because they know they'll be coming back from a Christmas show in three or four weeks vs the three of four months they usually take to come back from a season finale?

• Anyway, even though this episode did actually give me what I wanted from it and had a solid host performance...I still wouldn't name ot the best of the season. It was a top five episode for this half of the season for sure, but not everything worked for me, so it was a little uneven in a way that I was totally expecting given the lineup. Still, it was another Christmas episode hosted by a big name that got by on holiday cheer and good, cozy yuletide vibes without just completely coasting on them.

• It feels a little odd to talk about cast usage for an episode where the main focus was on one single cast member but I have to point out what I did notice. Bowen felt like he was going to be used surprisingly lightly this episode until the very end but Sarah was ACTUALLY used shockingly lightly for Bowens' last episode considering how close they are. 

• Unsurprisingly, Kenan, Mikey and Chloe otherwise dominated the show. Dismukes and Ashley quietly provided support when needed. JAJ still gets chances to branch out from the White House little by little. Kam, Veronika, Jeremy and Ben really got to make up for lost time (so did Marcello to a lesser degree). Jane and Tommy seem to have taken some small hits, though.

Closing Thoughts 

• In three weeks time, the show returns in a new year with Finn Wolfhard as host, no doubt promoting the seemingly endless rollout of Stranger Things' final season which had somehow been stretched into movie theaters. 

• I was thinking about what an interesting choice this might have been seeing as...roughly 95% of the main Stranger Things cast would be the closest thing the show would be able to have to a "child actor" host these days until I read that Finn Wolfhard is 22 which must mean that none of the Stranger Things kids are really "child actors" anymore. 

• Still, I can't say I've seen enough of Finn Wolfhard in all of the things he's been in to be able to get a bead on how he would be as a host...so, in my eyes this makes him another "wild card" host (and we didn't have much luck with the last one we got a week ago...and January shows tend to be a bit of a dull wash anyway but I'll go into this episode with an open mind).

• In the meantime, I would encourage you all to listen to the newest episode of We Heart Hader that Deej & I just put out (and maybe, make sure to do so sometime before Thursday). 

• It's our first ever official Christmas episode AND our first ever movie review episode. We review the 2019 Disney+ title "Noelle" Starring Bill opposite Anna Kendrick as the children of Santa Claus who must prepare to take over their father's Christmas eve duties in the wake of his passing. It's exactly as heartwarming as it sounds.

• After that, we will finally release our long awaited review of SNLs' season 33 premiere hosted by Lebron James on January 2nd. I will post my own review of that episode right here on this blog the same date and time as the episode is released. 

• This date is important to me because it's not just my 35th birthday, but also the exact to-the-date one year anniversary of the podcasts debut. I'd like to thank Deej for allowing me a space to call my own with her in the SNL adjacent podcasting world and I'd like to thank anyone who's ever listened to We Heart Hader or read this blog. I wouldn't be doing any of this without you.

• Happy holidays and happy new year everyone!

Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)

Air Force One Press Briefing

• Yeah,they didn't fool me for a second into thinking this wasn't going to be Trump themed...but it's interesting from a visual/directing standpoint to see them try something different by framing this as a parody of Trumps Air Force One Press Briefings.

• Seeing the show seemingly comment on Trumps' treatment of female reporters seemed like an interesting angle until it was more about Trump "simping" over Karoline Leavitts' mouth (which did lead into a neat segue into "the line" at least) and then they backed away entirely.

• Seriously, this whole cold open just reeked of wasted potential. It seemed like they had plenty of new ideas from what was on the news this week to focus on but just glossed over each of them. Also, they've been making so much progress in changing the format of these and suddenly they throw that away to go back to doing the exact same things they were doing two years ago.

• Other than that, there sadly wasn't too much to differentiate this from any late season 48/season 49 cold opening centered around JAJ as Trump. I thought the "ambien vs adderall race" was OK. The Santa drone strike footage was cheap amd stupid but I liked Jeremy's reaction to it. C+

Monologue 

• O'Connor seems like your typical charming, self-effacing British actor host, but that's not enough to mitigate my own personal disappointment at a "host gets stuck on the idea of him being the lead in a live action Ratatouille remake" monologue that DOESN'T involve a sudden walk-on from Patton Oswalt.

• At least this was a fairly short monologue where O'Connor just got his plugs in and got out. Still, seems like he'll be a good host despite me not being into that monologue. C-

Let's Find Love

• A post monologue game show sketch where Kenan is a host named "Garth Vader". Ugh.

• Is this somehow going to be another play on Joshs' role in "Challengers"?

• Nope. Instead, the premise is the age cap is lifted to "as old as we can find".

• Well, at least Ashley is the obligatory 84 year old rolling in on a scooter.

• My basic take so far is that even if sketch feels too...empty for me to fully get into, it's still fun to watch Ashley make an absolute meal out of her part.

• The only lines from Ashley I really liked were "I've got a joke; my sister's a bitch" and the "Toy Story 5" stuff. C+

Uber Eats Wrapped

• Oof. Yeah, there's no way this didn't hit a little too close too home...conceptually with everyone watching this in one way or another.

• I liked both of Sarah's scenes in this and JAJ and Ashley played great off each other (as did Ben and Kam). Andrew did fine here, too. B-

Teaching Hospital

• Ah, a Bowen character I never got into. That's just great.

• Look, I'm not saying I'm hoping Bowen leaves next week or anything...but I am hoping that IF he is that it's the only reason he bought this character back this week.

• At least Josh and Andrew are doing...decent with the material they were given. Didn't care for the Bowen/Josh "hope" we're not related" stuff.

• I like Joshs' "plain English" line and I'll admit Bowens' "All That AND a bag of chips" line did get me. D+

Bachelorette Party

• Hmm...sensitive male strippers. Ok, at least this has a little bit more of a "concept" to it...and Ben being one of the male leads in this should make it worthwhile.

• This is a play on the type of "softboi" roles Josh mentioned he is known for playing in his monologue, isn't it?

• Ha, I wonder who did that sad, slow Bon Iver sounding cover of Ginuwines' "Pony"?

• I gotta say every line Jane shouted got me and Ashley played into the premise of this pretty well.

• Ben and Josh had great visuals (like them tearing off their sweaters and pants to reveal another sweater and anothe pair of jeans on each of them and them beating the hell out of a dummy of Mikey at the end). 

• I also got a kick out of Josh's line "I think the President should be Cynthia Erivo" but I wasn't crazy about the "Zorhan" tattoo on Bens' abs or the buildup of them kissing though. B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' best jokes: "Not My Fault, Sell Your Blood", Noem/Excorcist, "Trumps' days are lettered", Michael Che in "Hold Up, Madea Got A Daughter?", Waffle House Parking Lot

• Che's best jokes: "Fatmentia", Trump/Kennedy Center Events, Skydiving Accident

• Hmm, Marcello as himself? Doing his own standup? What is this, October 2022?

• OK, I liked the "you don't like the food, you just like having sex with my cousin" line.

• Isn't the "unwarranted sexual advice" bit just straight up lifted from that "ChatGPTio" sketch he did with Bad Bunny (which was apparently "lifted" from some random TikToker? Eh, nevermind).

• OK, he kinda lost me somewhere around the "phone calls from Santa/Spiderman/'Lorne'" bit.

• Ooh, another Jane Wickline song about the end of the human race. At this point, why the fuck not?

• Now, she's singing about how we should kill the cast of Stranger Things for absurd reasons. Because again, at this point...why the fuck not?

• What does it say about this episode that...THAT was genuinely the best part of it? C+

Wizard Of Oz: Deleted Footage

• A fake lost scene from "The Wizard Of Oz? Wow, what a truly innovative, original sketch concept that absolutely no sketch show has ever done before. I'm dead serious right now.

• So, we got Squirm as Dorothy...Kenan as the lion...Josh as the Tin Man...and Andrew as the Scarecrow...and Bowen as the "wizard"? Ok.

• The lion wants a "big ol' thang"? He...wants a big...ass or something?

• Oh, he wants a DICK! Like, a big, super long penis. I see.

• Yeah, this was something I was far too mentally checked out of this episode by this point to be able to get into...but I did admire the effort put into this by the performers (especially Kenan who seemed to be the only one trying with his impression...Dismukes came in a distant second...Sarah an even more distant third because I don't know what the hell she was even going for with that voice).

• As much as I disliked this sketch, I did appreciate it ending on a shot of a chroma keyed prostheticized Bowen. D+

Brad And His Dad

• Hey, it's...nice to see a Christmas one of these (even if I wasn't as into this one as I was into the first one from Nikki Glasers' episode from last month).

• Again, maybe I'm just mentally checked out if this episode at this point...but I liked the overall heartwarming nature of this more than anything. B-

College Class

• I have a feeling that pretty soon, the writers of this sketch may have to publicly claim (on the advice of their lawyers) that they've never seen or heard of "Young Sheldon" and that this is all a big coincidence.

• So...this sketch is half Bowen and Ashley screaming at each other and half Ben, Josh, Sarah and Veronika?

• Again, this is another sketch where I respect the performers commitment (Bowen and Ashley) specifically but I'm a bit too mentally checked out if this episode to get into it.

• Also, this feels like it went on way too long and as much as I saw the ending with Chloe and Josh coming a mile away, I just appreciated them ending it there. C-

Varietys' Characters on Characters

• OK, I do appreciate the absurd character nature of this, but maybe I'd appreciate these a bit more if I'd actually watched any of those "Actors on Actors" videos this is parodying...or, again, if I hadn't already burned myself out on this fucking episode about a third of the way into it.

• I did like the Mikey/JAJ and Chloe/Ashley scenes. Wasn't that into the Josh/Bowen and Marcello/Kenan scenes though. I did get a kick out of JAJs very last line as the announcer, though. B-

Lily Allen Brunch

• Wow, a sketch set around a restaraunt table. That's another fresh and innovative concept SNL is bringing to this season.

• So, someone mentioned tonight's musical guest, Lily Allen, and now this sketch turns into everyone going around the table...singing in her accent about however they've just been minorly slighted or inconvenienced?

• ...and presumably this is a musical parody sketch to the tune of one of the songs she sung earlier in the night? 

• Actually, going back and looking at her performances from the episode this doesn't sound like either of those songs, so maybe it's a parody of an album cut she *didn't* perform?

• Come to think of it, the running song in this sketch reminds me the most of Lily Allens' song "The Fear" which came out nearly two decades ago. Huh.

• ...and this ends with the real Lily Allen coming in and bring mistaken for a waiter because she is too polite to raise any objections?

• I didn't dislike this because they pretty much set up the audience for what this was but I feel like this will be lost on people who haven't listened to Lily Allen's new album who watch this on YouTube completely out of context from the rest of the show due to how fractured modern consumption of music is now.

• Still, it grew on me a bit on rewatch. I didn't hate the concept or the framework of this or anything but I did like the individual performances more, so...yeah, it kind of fits the theme of the night.

• I liked Veronikas performance (glad to see she got some standout moment for once) as well as Kenans. I did get a kick out of seeing Chloe just plain get steamrolled by Bowen. 

• Most of all, I liked Jane's performance just for the sheer strangeness of her talking at length about her ferret who mysteriously shows up and singing about her telepathy.

• I guess the thing I liked most about Jane's performance was her choice to not to her part in the hackiest cockney accent she could conjure. 

• I don't have much else to say about this sketch, so I'll just say that it doesn't bode well for the episode that I found the most interesting part of this episode to be the point where i figured out that it was actually Dakota Johnson hidden in the shadows at the end of Lily Allens' second musical performance (and that was at the very end so I figured it out at the same time you guys did. C+

Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst

1. Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
2. Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
3. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
4. Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
5. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
6. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
7. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
8. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Yeah, if you've read this far, you can probably tell by now that I didn't care all that much for this episode. It wasn't the absolute worst of the season, but it's definitely in my bottom five. Nothing in it was egregiously or aggressively bad, it was more like passively bad. This episode just felt like one big...nothing. Only two sketches felt like they had any thought put into them at all.

• Josh O'Connor wasn't a bad host, not Elordi level bad or anything. He just seemed like a host who gave it his all in spite of the writing staff not really knowing how to use him at all. 

• Considering who next weeks' host is, I got the sense that the show was just on auto pilot and running out the clock this week because they were saving all their energy and ideas (and hopefully not just their list of potential A-list cameos) for the big Christmas blowout they were planning.

• Cast use mostly seemed balanced. If anyone really stood out from the established names, it would probably be Kenan, Bowen, Mikey, Andrew and Ben. JAJ got to do a bit more non-Trump stuff this week. The women as a unit really shined with Ashley standing out as usual. I was really impressed to see the show finally start to figure out how to use Jane and Veronika in a way that makes them shine and plays to their strengths.

Closing Thoughts 

• Next week is this season's big Christmas show as well as the last new SNL of 2025 with Ariana Grande returning to host...surprisingly soon after just hosting in the first half of last season but hey...who else are they gonna be able to get to plug "Wicked For Good"? 

• Also, Cher is the musical guest for some reason...just like Stevie Nicks was the musical guest in Arianas' previous episode for some reason. I don't know how she's able to do it but somehow Ariana Grande is able to pull impossibly big name musical guests when she hosts.

• A lot of people seem to think Bowen Yang may be leaving this season and this may, in fact, be his last show based on...I dunno, the fact that's he's in the same movie that Ariana is plugging and he's got a deal to make another one...and that he's made his mental health struggles with the show quite public and that he posted the shot of the corkboard announcement of this episode to his Instagram story with the simple caption "byeeeeeeeeeeeee"? 

• I mean, we thought the same thing about Colin when his wife hosted last seasons' finale back in May based on similarly specious reasoning...but cast members of Bowens' ilk have left at Christmas time semi-unexpectedly (Maya, Amy, Cecily) so...I'd say it's plausible but I'd believe it when I see it.

• Well, any way you want to look at it, this sounds like it's gonna be a BIG show...but it's pretty obvious they've lost a great deal of the momentum for this season they've built up back in November, so at best...I'm cautiously optimistic.

• I'm not the biggest fan of Arianas in the world and probably not the target audience for this episode but I will admit that aside from maybe one or two specific sketches (you all know which ones, I'm sure) she turned out one of the more solid episodes of season 50 that I did enjoy and she's always performed well in sketches on the show. 

• The Christmas episode of that season however (hosted by Martin Short, another beloved performer who has a strong history with the show) was one I wasn't as big a fan of. I got the sense that it was a big, flashy Christmas blowout but it was one too heavily loaded with big name cameos and retreads of previous sketches that didn't quite work for me.

• This year's Christmas episode has the potential to go either way and I'm hoping it doesn't go the way of big flashy cameos again (which thankfully isn't something that Ariana relies on in her episodes at all) and gives us something a bit lower key and idea- focused like recent previous Christmas shows hosted by Kristen Wiig, Austin Butler and Kate McKinnon (so yeah, maybe keep the cameos to a minimum of two or three and make sure they're all performers the host has chemistry with).

• Hey...speaking of Christmas episodes, you may have heard me mention on the last episode of We Heart Hader that Deej and I would be doing a review of the SNL season 33 premiere hosted by Lebron James. Well, we had a very sudden changes of plans. We decided to push that episode back to a later date. That episode will now be released on Friday, January 2nd 2026 which is Noth my 35th birthday and the exact one year anniversary of our podcasts debut (thanks to all of our listeners, we couldn't have done it without you).

• As for our next episode coming out on December 19th, well...that will now be OUR Christmas episode. As for what we will be talking about or why and how it's now holiday themed, I will reveal that in due time. Check my socials.

• See you again soon!

Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)

Pentagon Press Conference

• Smart of them to open with another Jost as Hegseth sketch. He pretty much owned this whole thing. Bowen, Ben, Ashley and Andrew played off him extremely well. 

• For some reason, the "Dane Cook/Super-finger" and "Anmaniacs/countries of the world references got me the most. This might be the strongest "acting" Jost has ever done on the show.

• I initially wasn't crazy about how they snuck Sarah's Matt Gaetz in there, but watching Bowen easily resist her attempts to break him was...a nice touch.

• Even though I knew EXACTLY how this was going to end, I at least appreciate how they actually transitioned to the JAJ/Trump "stream of consciousness" (although the Mamdani jokes seem a bit out of date). A-

Monologue 

• Nice to see Melissa back on this show again. I wasn't too crazy about the "mouth horn" bits and the snow thing I kinda saw coming from 50 miles away, but I got a big kick out of the physical business with the piano.

• The singing and dancing with Kenan and the others was a fine capper to this. I guess I was just expecting something a little more...sprawling around the studio from Melissa and less...a more broad version of an old Adam Driver monologue. B-

Free Samples

• Hmm, intriguing choice to pair Melissa with Jeremy right up top. I do like the idea of a woman (totally platonically...until the very end) reading WAY too much into the intentions of a simple grocery store employee offering free samples to the point of offering him her mother's ring. This is definitely the type of concept that ONLY Melissa McCarthy could make work.

• For some reason, I was expecting the return of Melissas' "Hidden Valley Ranch" character but I guess this is more one of Melissa's dimmer "not all there" Barb Kellner/"pass that mash" type characters. Looks like we're about to go on a bit of a journey, here.

• Out of the non-Melissa bits of the sketch, I liked the business with Ashley and the cart. Mikey telling Melissa to untie her racist dogs may have been my favorite part of this. B+

Helping Hand

• Hmm, a slight twist on a similar short from Billie Eilishs' 2021 episode where the elderly neighbor is still a psycho, but this time just actively torments those who lightly tease a very young child.

• I already like how there are different elements to this one that escalate the sketch to some new height of absurdity each time.

• I'm sure I'm not the only one who got a kick out of seeing Marcello tied up...or Sarah and Chloe as Anora-esque hookers. 

• I wonder how it would take Mikeys character until he fired the gun to mistake it for a "Nerf" one?

• The ending was wonderfully deranged, especially with Jeremy as the cop and Melissa as the new "snowman". It gives this a real air of "who is the real unreliable narrator here?" B-

UPS Personell Management 

• This seems like it’s going to be a cross between the Harry Styles Sara Lee sketch from 2019 and the horror flick test screening sketch from Melissas' 2016 episode (but with Ashley in the role that Cecily would've gotten).

• Maybe they sprinkled in a little bit of Barb Kellner, Hidden Valley Ranch Lady and Sheila Kelly in for good measure? I draw those specific comparisons as this character came off as "dim witted yet wildly aggressive".

• Even though this sketch kind of meandered without really escalating or going anywhere, I did get a kick out of the "peoples' elbow", the live bat, Melissas' "fainting" and the tearful "17 Days" line. This whole sketch might have been the closest I have seen Mikey come to breaking...ever.

• I didn't mind the USPS button so much as I was expecting something like this at the end. I just wish they had executed that gag completely differently. Maybe Donna could've been promoted to CEO of UPS or something more absurd and/or ridiculous than another fucking "unexpected" commercial button? B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Trump/MRI, Star Wars Ponchos, Epstein Island Photos, TikTok, White House Christmas Decoration

• Che's Best Jokes: Franklin/Dora, Speaker Mike Johnston, New Train Video Game

• Hey, Ben got his first Update feature! I mean, it's pretty much a way less one joke version of Alex Moffats' "Guy Who Just Bought A Boat" but still, good on him. He performed this very well.

• I wasn't crazy about the TV dinner stuff, but I loved the added detail that his extreme sunburn came from him falling asleep with his overhead reading light on from the plane ride to Ireland. The all ginger, all sunburned children's choir was a nice touch, too.

• As for Sarah's commentary, it's a lot different than previous update commentaries of hers where she played a talking animal or some other kind of non-human creature. Thankfully, she was less focused on Jost roasts to the point where the only two she got in really landed.

• This was a great showcase for her physical comedy skills, too. Honestly, part of what kept me drawn into this bit was the anticipation of how something so elaborate might fall apart so easily. For example, I don't know if her letting the bottle of alcohol fall over the desk was intentional or not, but she handled that along with the slight night vision Ring doorbell camera miscues like a total pro. B+

Truth Or Dare

• So, was this just "Mild Southern Lesbian Experimentation: The Sketch" or just a more repressed remake of "The Hunting Wives" without the guns or Amy & Aubrey? Either way, it was cute and charming and I certainly liked it.

• For some reason, I could see this sketch being done during the Kate/Cecily/Andy era. It was the first piece of the night that felt less like it was written specifically for Melissa McCarthy and felt more like any female host who could pull off a passable southern accent. Also, this seems to be Jane's first appearance of the night. Fitting.

• A mayonnaise AND yogurt dip? Ew, what the hell?

• I got a kick out of all the dares Sarah's character was involved in. I especially liked the use of the phrases "reveal our breasts" and "choke me sexually". I especially liked the visual of Jane and Sarah coming back from their pantry wearing each other's shirts backwards.

• This might go without saying but Ashley did a great job anchoring this sketch. I liked her revealing her Spotify age to be 210 (and apparently I don't even get to HAVE one myself right now since I only use Spotify infrequently to listen to certain specific podcasts...yes, including my own). C+

Sunday Supper

• This seemed like Andrew Dismukes just punched up and old Kyle Mooney sketch that someone submitted in, like, 2018 to better match his own "pure id" comedic style. Still, it might legitimately be the funniest sketch of the night.

• I got a kick out of the visuals of of Dismukes dressed as a hobo with a stick and bindle and a small suitcase with just a hat and feather boa from a "dress up box" and then just straight up drinking gasoline.

• I liked Melissa's anecdote about him trying to hop a freight train after accidentally saying "I Love You" on the phone to the pizza guy but coming back because he got scared after bring offered some crack.

• I got a kick out of Melissa saying she hopes Dismukes doesn't return because he is a burden on her right before he comes back saying "the neighbors' dog was outside and I got scared".

• Strange that this would be Kams' first and only appearance of the night. B-

Cousin Planet

• Did anyone else think for a second from those brief three seconds of Windows 95 desktop graphics we got upfront that we were about to get another Jarretts' Room?

• The janky ass graphics, DIY homemade costumes and set design paired with the handicam shot video style do make this feel like it could've been an early Lonely Island Digital Short. It felt out of a time and place sometime between "Laser Cats" and "Virganica Horsen".

• This was a lot of fun. I especially got a kick out of Melissa as the "mayor" explaining the "flexible" no hooking up rules.

• It's good to see they're letting Jane Wickline and Veronika Slowikowska branch out with their songs and musical showcases and even with all the Obama First Term era autotune this was pretty catchy. 

• Still, I gotta ask. We've seen Jane do a song where she said she was supposed to be Sabrina Carpenter and heard of a cut for time Update feature where she said she was supposed to be Harry Styles. Was she supposed to be Charli XCX for this one? It sure sounded like it. From what I've heard of her more recent music, this sounded like it would've been right at home in her episode from last year with her in Veronikas' place in it. B+

Christopher & Guillaume 

• Does "Weird Al" Yankovic know Bowen and Melissa have been raiding his wardrobe?

• I got a kick out of the Minion Nativity Scene and the "Gingerbread Slumlords" line but beyond that, I didn't quite know what to make of this...other than that I wouldn't want Bowen or Melissa to run into Nick Kroll or John Mulaney for a while.

• My biggest problem with this sketch is that it's mostly crosstalk and high speed patter which we get a lot of right out of the gate so...that alone made it a bit harder to not tune out long enough to parse crucial elements of it.

• As for Melissa's presence, this didn't feel written specifically for her either. This feels like it could've starred any host (male or female) in another era if Bowen didn't decide to make this a vehicle for just him and either Kate, Cecily or Sarah and stick the host in Tommys' reporter role.

• Speaking of Tommys' role, him revealing his name to be "Ribbed Con-Dom"...yeah, that bummed me out a little bit. 

• Back to Melissa, again...this isn't a sketch that plays to her strengths nor did this feel like a sketch only she could enhance (maybe except for her line explaining to Tommys' character that she is, in fact, a woman) so...yeah, this was kind of a wash. C-

Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst

1. Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
2. Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
3. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
4. Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
5. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
6. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
7. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts

• Overall, this was a pleasant show that started off strong, but it was a rather uneven one. Still, this was strong enough to make it into my personal top five of the season so far.

• The strange thing about this episode was that it felt like a tale of two halves. The first half of the show felt like they knew how to play directly to Melissa McCarthys' strengths as a performer. The second half felt like they were trying to fit Melissa into the modern show's templates. 

• While the latter type of sketch didn't bring down the show or anything, it does show how far the show is removed from the era of "Big theater kid energy" in which Melissa has previously thrived on the show.

• Still, I guess the more subdued and less wildly sprawling nature of this episode is partly due to Melissa herself having grown and matured as an actress and wanting to move away from the type of broad, physical humor that defined her previous hosting stints.

• Melissa managed to dominate the show anyway with Sarah and Ashley tied for a close second and Chloe a distant third. Of course, Melissa got some assists from Mikey as well due to their long time Groundlings connection, no doubt. Aside from people like JAJ, Jane, Tommy and Kam who were seemingly only used once or twice, everyone else seemed to get a fair amount of airtime.

Closing Thoughts

• Next week, Josh O'Connor makes his hosting debut. Now, THIS is the true wild card of the season. Here's an actor who isn't known nearly enough for anyone to get a bead on how he might do as a host. 

• Glenn Powell was a first time host who has previously cameoed on the show but outside of that he's a popular enough actor that people would've accurately guessed he'd do well on the show. Josh O'Connor is a guy we've got nothing on, but I'm still going into this show hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

• Hell, I'll be starting a new job next week anyway so I'm sure my review of that episode will be a little...off.

• Also, please listened to the newest episode of We Heart Hader that just dropped two or three nights ago. See you next week!

Top Five Bill Hader SNL Sketches & Moments From Season 32

The following blog post is a companion piece to the latest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast with special guest, Demi Constantine, whom you might know from the SNN Patron Feedback Shows or as new permanent third cohost of the new Saturday Night Ladies podcast (which they very graciously allowed me to be a guest on very recently)

Give either one of our shows a listen, won't you?

5. The First Chocolate (Matthew Fox/Tenacious D - 12/02/2006)

The downfall of the once mighty and powerful Mayan civilization is attributed to the invention of hot chocolate. It's sheer overpowering sweetness is enough to completely destroy their fighting nature of their warriors.

• This is mostly a vehicle for Fred Armisen and Matthew Fox to ham it up over how great they find the taste of chocolate, but Bill stumbling in and delivering the world's first brownie recipe as he is dying from an arrow through his torso, switching from dramatic wounded warrior mode to casually talking about chocolate practically steals this.

4. Buying Beer (Shia LaBeouf/Avril Lavigne - 04.14.2007)

A convenience store cashier (Thompson) isn't persuaded by two obvious underage teens (LaBeouf and Samberg) to let them purchase two six packs without seeing their IDs despite their exaggerated talk of their adult ages, work histories, number of children or the other times they previously bought beer and cigarettes at other stores. He is then given a “certificate of responsibility” by an “official” ATF agent (Hader) whose wallet is taken by a “robber” (Forte) who assures everyone that the ATF agent's ID is very much real. 

• Yeah, this is mostly a patented goofy Samberg/Lonely Island sketch thar I have written and talked about before...but Bill does come in and unravel one of four additional layers that needed to be peeled away for this sketch to arrive at it's conclusion in a cheerfully stiff manner. 

• Still, he's very peripheral here and doesn't really show up to drive the plot until about halfway through the sketch.

3. Dry Eyes (Justin Timberlake - 12.16.2006)

A game show where host Gary Pierce (Hader) challenges contestants NOT to cry at heartbreaking/heartwarming scenarios and quotes researched from their own real personal lives or during a medley of emotionally charged songs during the final speed round. Today's competitors are school teacher Jerry Bertrand (Armisen) and 22 time returning champion firefighter Brett O'Connor (Timberlake) 

• This is the first of many game show host roles for Bill (setting up an archetype he would reliably excel at throughout his SNL career).

• He does a great job of setting up the basic premise and rules of this sketch, laying the groundwork for Armisen and Timberlake to flesh out the more emotional parts of it.

2. Late Night Movie: The Curse Of Frankenstein (Hugh Laurie/Beck - 10/28/2006)

Frankenstein (Hader) somehow turns the tables on a group of angry, torch wielding villagers (Laurie, Wiig, Poehler, Armisen) tricking them into going after Dracula (Sudeikis) instead of him but then shames them for judging his appearance too harshly when Dracula sends them back to him.

• I put this at #2 on my list because Bill anchored this and was the main focus of it especially calling out the angry mob at the end. You can actually read and hear more of my thoughts on this sketch in the previous podcast episode and blog entry I put out reviewing the episode it came from.

• The only thing keeping it from being #1 in my mind is that there is another more Bill centric sketch from this season that hit harder for me that I haven't talked about yet...

1. Al Pacino Checks His Bank Balance (Dane Cook/The Killers - 09.30.2006)

Al Pacino (Hader) calls Wells Fargo customer service because the mattress store won't accept his debit card. A Teller (Wiig) moves 620.00 from his savings to his checking leaving him with 606.00 to purchase a mattress.

• I put this at number one because it's pretty much pure, unfiltered undiluted Bill Hader dominating a scene in the season premiere by shouting pure nonsense doing one of his most famous impressions. Doesn't get much better than that.

• Bills' Pacino was a hit with the audience of the previous season's premiere so it makes perfect sense for him to this in a sketch in the following season's premiere. Plus, you get to see him put his theory of how impression sketches should work into practice (i.e. they work better when you remove them any of their previous acting roles place the subject into an everyday situation where they must deal with a mundane disappointment).

• Hmm, something about seeing someone talk to an actual person at their bank on a flip phone JUST to find out what their balance is makes this feel...quaint. I mean, obviously, this was the pre-iPhone/Android era when there were no apps on your screen designed by your bank to let you SEE your balance, but still.

• Kristen, of course, plays well off of him as the chipper customer service rep but Bill had so many great lines in this it's tough to single out just one. What does stand out to me though is that this is all in service of Bills' Pacino wanting to buy "an astronaut mattress that comes with a glass of wine on it."

• This may be a reference to a commercial that's very specific to this time (and may not be all that well remembered 20 years after it aired) but the performance by Bill sells this so well you don't need to know the reference to find it funny.

• Some light Googling does reveal that he was referring to a NASA designed memory foam mattress from Tempur Pedic, who around this time aired commercials where people would "test" their mattresses by jumping on one side with a glass of wine on the other to show that because the mattress absorbs energy WITHOUT transferring motion, the wine glass won't spill. Somehow, this was supposed to help you sleep better than a SleepNumber bed.

Honorable Mentions

Monster Under The Bed (Annette Bening/Gwen Stefani, Akon - 12/09/2006)

Casey (Poehler) sees a monster in her room which terrifies and alarms her parents (Bening, Forte) more than it does her. Eventually, Caseys' parents turn on her caring more about their own safety and well being than hers.

• This is mostly an insane, screaming Will Forte vehicle (and may be a cheap ripoff of a 32 yr old Simpsons joke, now that I think of if) but it still manages to be the most memorable moment of an otherwise "lame enough to never get repeated" episode of SNL mostly thanks to Bill.

• Hader steps out of Poehlers' closet as the "monster" in question, wearing insane gargoyle/demon makeup and singing "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas" way off key in a voice that can be best described as "Dean Martin meets Vincent Price" before being suddenly shot to death by Will and Annette, leaving Poehler to sleep next to a dead monster.

• Ladies and gentlemen, this is the only way you can truly follow insane, screaming Will Forte.

Monologue (Matthew Fox/Tenacious D - 12.02.2006)

After falling on dark, hard times since the cancelation of his previous hit series "Party Of Five", Matthew Fox has come to terms with being one of the only cast members from a hit TV series to not get asked to host SNL. After having a talk with Cheers' John Ratzenberger at a bar, he realized he's in the same league as Friends' Matt LeBlanc and Seinfelds' Michael "Kramer" Richards (Hader) who barges in to pitch him on the two of them cohosting SNL together as he's falling on even harder times after the Laugh Factory incident.

• Hmm, I...guess Lacey Chabert was either considered too young to host during Party Of Fives' heyday or the show got canceled before she even COULD host?

• Anyway, Bill comes roaring in to lighten up what was turning out to be a grim, creepy, almost too "low energy" for its own good monologue with a Kramer impression he was forced to study old Seinfeld clips come up with in two days time because it was one impression he didn't have in his back pocket then. 

• Apparently, whoever wrote this monologue insisted on keeping in Bill as Kramer. To Bill and that writer's credit, Bill developed an impressively good handle on this impression in such a short amount of time. I can tell how well he got the voice down by how many traces of Michaels Richards' early '80s pre-Seinfeld/Kramer "Fridays" era voice I can hear in there to point you'd think he'd studied whatever footage of that show was available at the time and just paired with with Michaels' exaggerated physical shtick as Kramer. The impression as a whole worked so well he decided to reuse it in a later sketch that season that turned out to be Vinny Vedeccis' talk show debut.

• Fun fact: in real life, Michael Richards was actually booked to host SNL in March 1994 but apparently NBC executives forced Lorne to dump him in favor of Nancy Kerrigan. He may have been booked again in 1998 but backed out saying he thought he couldn't do it anymore. A little "Fridays" related anxiety, perhaps?

Closing Thoughts

• …and that's my list of top five Bill Hader sketches and moments from his very first season of SNL which, once again, is the topic of the newest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast. 

• Of course, my regular co host Deej Barens and our gracious guest Demi Constantine each made up their own lists which you will have to listen to the podcast to get from them.

• Also, I have more in depth thoughts on some of these sketches that I have already gotten into in previous episodes of the We Heart Hader Podcast. If you would like to hear them, please listen to this episode as well as this one and also this episode.

• I've also posted full length reviews of these episodes on my blog so if you'd simply like to READ my thoughts on these sketches and episodes feel free to read them here, here and also here.

• The next episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast will be another "Impression Spotlight" focused on Bills' James Carville impression. After that, we will start our season 33 coverage with a full length review of that season's premiere with host LeBron James & musical guest Kanye West.

• Before we get to either of those though, I will continue my own personal coverage of SNLs' 51st Season as it progresses with next weeks' Melissa McCarthy/Dijon episode. See you guys then!