Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Given the afternoon's announcements about how the Covid situation in New York had ended up drastically affecting plans for tonight's show, I think they really made the right call turning this into an entirely prerecorded clip show with as little cast and crew in the studio as possible in the studio. I appreciate that there was some new material that was mostly pre taped either earlier in the week or on the home base stage hours before scheduled airtime to serve as wraparounds introducing each clip. Nice to know that they could walk a fine lone between canceling/not canceling the show and putting the audiences' fears that much of the cast and crews' health being seriously at risk to rest. Much like the first "At Home" Special from last spring (which is something I have mixed feelings about the show going back to on the new year) this is an episode I had a hard time reviewing since it was put together under such dire circumstances last minute. Still, I was intrigued by such a drastically different show than what we've been used to getting from modern SNL so if they're going to plug away as best they can, I might as well follow their lead. I'm not going to grade any sketches (as that wouldn't feel quite right) but this review rather will be a collection of my real time reactions rather than a polished critical review. Here we go.

Five Timers Cold Open - Hmm...pre taped guest cameos, a five timers club ceremony...I'm impressed by the way they were able to give us both what we were expecting/hoping for and do us one better here. It's nice to know Hanks and Rudds' presences this week weren't completely wasted. The only thing I really liked about Steve Martin's cameo was Martin Shorts' cameo within Steve's cameo. Was that filmed on the set of "Only Murders In The Building"? Still, it's good to see they could at least give us a stripped down version of what Paul's Five Timers monologue would've been (maybe give or take a few set changes and guest caneos). It was great to see right up front that a) they really were concerned with doing as little of the show "live" as they could get away with for the sake of the cast & crew's safety and b) the show was going to use this as an opportunity to wildly break from its usual format.

Casey HomeGoods - This was little repetitive and formulaic for my tastes, but I appreciate the whole "misguided attempt at something heartwarming" vibe they went for here. I did like the "scissors to cut holes in condons" and "weird opinions on Israel" lines and this did work much better than it should've in the absence of a live audience.

Digital Short: Dick In A Box - Well, I have technically reviewed this recently on the Saturday Night Vibes podcast so I'll just direct you there for my thoughts on that. Anyway, I have mixed feelings on the Tina/Kenan intro to this. I liked Kenans' "Mighty Ducks Forever, bitches" line but Tina's blatant mislead kind of annoyed me. I suppose it was unrealistic of me to expect some kind of compilation of footage of Tinas' cast skating on the rink with commentary from Tina and Kenan, but...oh, well.

An Evening With Pete - I loved the idea of Pete becoming a sad cross between Jake Lamotta and Joe Piscopo 40 years from now. I also appreciated the meta-ness of Jost being represented by a malfunctioning animatronic that catches fire (only those of us who regularly posted on the voy board would recognize that as being "meta"), Chloes' "who is the audience for this?" line during his bizarre Slim Shady/Warren Beatty rap, Mikey Day being the one in the audience yelling "do Chad!" (didn't he and Streeter cowrite those?) and of course, the whole "sex symbol" story at the end. I got a kick out of the MGK urn. I guess since he "IS Weed" he could've just OD'd on himself? Rudds' character really added the heart to this (wonder if he was based on any real writer friends of Pete?) and Pete did actually get a chance to show off his decent singing voice at the end. This was definitely the strongest of the new material tonight.

Santa And His Elves - Kenans' intro to this was very sweet and this sketch was alright. Good to see Bobby Moynihan again. Other than that, I don't have a whole lot more to say about this one, so I'll just move on.

Global Warming Christmas Special - YES!!!! I haven't seen this underrated gem in years and in spite of how sadly prescient it still is I personally would like to thank Tom Hanks for convincing the skeleton crew to dig this out of the vault and airing it unabridged!

Update was also pretty much what I expected. Che had some solid jokes and even some of Tinas' early jokes landed (she lost me after the Nintendo one but Che pretty much killed all of his). I guess whoever is my group chats' theorized that Tina MIGHT be able to do a better Update with this current writing staff rather than her own must be slightly vindicated then? I did like how Kenan, Hanks and Rudd were the sole "audience" members.

Christmas Socks - This was a little slow but I liked the special mildly heartwarming Kyle Mooney brand of absurdity behind it. Also, I'm glad they were still able to throw Charli XCXs' fans some kind of bone here (even if she had to wear a bird costume).

Steve Martin's Christmas Wish - This still holds up well and again, Rudds' intro made this more charming.

Short & McCartney - Kenan introduces another charmingly meta deep cut (from nine years ago which in SNL terms isn't that long ago) that is still fun to watch today. Too bad this got cut off before it could lead to Pauls' performance because that was an interesting transition. Still, Paul and Marty managed to sell the hell out of what little material they were given to work with here.

North Pole News Report - When I heard Tom Hanks mention Eddie Murphy as one of his favorite cast members, I got a little excited at the possibility of getting to see the Gumby Christmas Special from '82 (which I also covered on Saturday Night Vibes recently) but it was nice to see Eddie's strongest performance from one of the few non fan service holiday related sketches he did in his 2018 hosting episode (again, as chillingly prescient as it seems now).

Dan Charles: Adult One Direction Fan - This was just as funny as it was in 2013 and I loved Rudds' charmingly convoluted and long winded intro (mostly, because he turned out not to be setting us up for a Vogelchecks sketch).

NOW! That's What I Call Christmas - Tina's intro was short and to the point. This was another sketch my views on haven't changed much since 2013 (and since I remember not being that into it, I'll just move on).

TV Funhouse: Christmastime For The Jews - Tina's baby Santa suit/photo was very sweet (as little as it seemed to have to do with anything) and this claymation Smigeltoon is always fun (we would've bought this up on Saturday Night Vibes if our zoom meeting hadn't been cut off due to none of us having installed the latest update that prevents meetings of more than three people from being cut off after 40 minutes). Other than that, this was notable just for the novelty of seeing the TV Funhouse "come back here with my shooooow" animation overplayed onto a modern era host bumper.

Goodnights - Rudds' speech was very sweet and I liked hearing the "piano and sax only" acoustic version of the theme.

Now, for my updated rankings of this season (it'll be the only way I really "rank" this episode since I still have to see how it compares to the rest of the season)...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
6. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
7. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
8. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
9. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, if the show absolutely had to go on, that was really the best way it could have. I noticed there was no announcement of who will be the first host of 2022 but that's perfectly fine at this point since it's highly doubtful there will be any new SNL episodes in 2022 going forward. I just hope the shows' entire cast and crew just stays safe and well (and that goes for anyone out there reading this as well). Happy holidays!

Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)

Okay, here's my review. As expected, Billie Eillish turned out to be a fun double duty pop star host. She seemed to carry herself with a quiet confidence (in spite of herself as she would go in to explain to us) and bought the right level of energy to a very slightly uneven show. The writers seemed to know how to use her. Kate McKinnon finally returned and somehow managed to NOT take away anyone's airtime. No, not even Melissa suffered any side effects from both Kate and Billie (someone whom she previously impersonated) being in the building. Still, for some reason Cecily, Sarah, JAJ, Alex, Chris Pete were forced to take a backseat but at least this meant Andrew, Aristotle and Punkie got plenty of moments to shine! Anyway, let's break this down, shall we? It was a pretty straight forward show.

The Return Of The Mighty CDC Art Players - Well, they clearly just took the cold open from the Keegan Michael-Key episode in May, sprinkled in some Christmas references and added a few new impressions just to accommodate Kate's return from Australia this week. The Cuomo Bros. segment was the high point of this. Andrew Dismukes wouldn't have been my first choice to play Chris but he did well with the material they gave him. I did like seeing Cecilys' MTG again (especially since this turned out to be her only appearance of the entire show) and she had some good material as well. As a Coloradan (who is dangerously close to bring gerrymandering into her district) I have mixed feeling about Lauren Boebert finally making it on SNL. While I appreciated Chloes' take on her (even though Heidi would've been my first pick) I feel like they could've been a bit harder on her if they tried. As expected, Aidys' Cruz has just become white noise to me at this point. C+

Monologue - I liked seeing the more articulate side of Billie. She really seemed to have a clearly focused energy here. The jokes about her wardrobe were kinda iffy but I did like hearing about how she learned to accept herself and I did also get a kick out of her detailing how her mom killed her dreams of acting in a movie. Also, she was smart to realize early on "when in doubt, burn Colin Jost out of no where". C+

Silent Night Gallery - Right off the bat the things I liked the most about this sketch were how they gave Alex and Melissa prominent roles as the anchors of this sketch (wow, I guess they really DID break the trend of shutting Melissa out of the show completely when a celebrity she does an impression of hosts, huh? Finally!) and how much more a creative twist on the "rejected/damaged ornament parade" sketches we saw with Lucy Liu and Matt Damon. Honestly, it didn't really start to pick up steam until the first Kenan/Bowen segment. The Punkie/Miley card was pretty funny and a clever way to work in that understandable-this-week-and-hyped-up-a-bit-on-Twitter-once-it-happened-at-dress-yet-still-somehow-inexplicable cameo. Good for Billie for managing to be the strongest performer in the lead off sketch in her first episode as host. B-

TikTok Scrolling - I had some reservations about this at first but I'm glad I stuck with it the whole way and gave it a chance. At first, it seemed like Driver's License/Squid Game levels if "how do you do, fellow kids" trend/song/streaming show/ thing acknowledgment solely written to pander to the GenZ audience they expected Billie to bring in. Then, I noticed the rapid fire pacing of each individual TikTok gag and decided to along with it. Near the end, I noticed how about four or five of these TikTok characters turned into their own runners and were each given their own conclusion. Yes, this is one of the rare times in SNL history where a pretaped piece had its' mere existence justified by both it's pacing AND it's payoff! Naturally, Billie and Squirmy were very in their elements here. Kenan, Chris, Punkie, Heidi and Melissa were highlights. Pete, Ego, Bowen, Kate, Mikey and Aidys' material kinda washed over me but at least Aidy had the payoff of Kyle's character bring tied (no pun intended) into her storyline. Andrews' 2008 acoustic guitar rap covers were great. Chloes' growing conspiratorial insanity really grew on me. Finneas provided my first genuine laugh in this given the pacing and how certain cast members were just giving us their same old selves. Good to see JAJ being able to work his (improving) Homer Simpson impression into two consecutive episodes. Aristotle gave us a nice subversion of a tired old internet trend. Alexs' Dad getting in on this was a nice addition. B+

Hip Hop Nativity Pageant - Surprisingly, Heidi and Billie turned in my favorite performances in this with Chris a close third and Dismukes a slightly distant fourth and all the rest just set dressing. Billie was surprisingly well suited for her character (even though her and Heidi seemed like they were performing a script cowritten by Dan Licata and Stephen Castillo for Kristen Wiig last year that got cut at the table read). Honestly, the only problem I had with this one was its' serious lack of an appropriate ending. C+

Lonely Christmas - Hmm, I guess Kate returned slightly earlier in the week than I thought. Either way, while I thought most of Kates' "twists" were a little obvious and low stakes I did like the twist of Mikeys' entire "Rutger" character bring a victim of Kate's Munchausen by Proxy. The Next door tag wasn't too great a twist but I appreciated it nonetheless. C+

Update was a little uneven at first. Colins' Jussie Smollett jokes didn't quite land with me but pretty much every joke that followed did. The Russia/Ukraine and Anime/Omicron jokes were saved by Josts' delivery of it. The Vaccine cards and Cuomo jokes felt too much like retreads of the cold open to me and the Nunes joke should've just been cut. The Ghislane/Epstien and women doctors' jokes were pretty much saved by their audience reaction (or Che & Josts' response to the formers' lack thereof in the case of the former). Other than that, the rest of their jokes were alright. Punkies' commentary was so solid I'd say she immediately earned the right to giggle through the beginning and end of her debut as herself doing her own standup act at the Update desk. Hell, I'm just glad to see anyone added to the cast mid-Covid get any airtime this week. Speaking of which, Andrew's commentary gave me some odd deja vu but I loved how he sold the sheer ennui of it (even more than the dog was willing to...seriously, did NO ONE just think to turn the dogs' cart around? I mean, at this point, you might as well let a stage hand be visible on camera and at least TRY to create another "Inside The Beltway" style blooper. It might have actually behooved Dusmukes' tenure on the show). B+

The Night I Met Santa - Obviously, Billie seemed the most in her comfort zone here as the sketch as it was centered on her singing smooth jazz. She, Ego and Kate really sold the low key absurdity of it and Kenan as Santa was a nice touch. I'm actually shocked that PDD did NOT write this as it fit so well with their style of "awkward absurdity that lands just well enough for me personally" but at a much slower pace. B-

Kyle's Holiday - This is the second deja vu moment I've had tonight. I feel like we've seen numerous variations on the "Kyle tries and fails hard to awkwardly bond/make plans with his castmates outside the show". In fact, this reminded me the most of a piece that I think git cut from either last years' Dan Levy or Regina King episodes where Kyle tries to organize a Valentine's day party with the cast. Still, I did like how they changed things up by taking the turn towards "sweet and heartwarming then suddenly extremely dark and creepy with several 'Inside Baseball/fan service references for regular SNL viewers along the way." Good to see Kyles' trajectory on the show still going upwards when he's by himself. A-

Business Garden - Right off the bat, I appreciate how Kate is paired with Billie rather than Aidy. Even if they both still inexplicably broke, it's something a little different (and something we can give Billie a break for, I mean...c'mon). Aidy was put to slightly better use as the manic front desk pamphlet lady. Once again, Phineas comes out of nowhere with the best performance of the whole sketch. That was the only thing that stood out to me here since I feel like I've seen so many Anna Drezen penned bad local Kste commercials (and commercials parodying bad hotel amenities in general) that most of it kinda washed over me. C+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
6. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
7. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
8. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was just as much fun (and a bit more restrained) than I expected. Next week, Paul Rudd returns to host the final SNL of 2021 AND join the five-timers club. Even though his last episode was pretty forgettable without a big name musical guest seemingly there JUST to overshadow him (which at this point, I'd honestly say Charli XCX has about a 50/50 chance of doing depending on what she gets to do and how the show uses her) he will be a welcome comedic presence (especially at Christmas time). See you then (oh and speaking of Christmas, be sure and check out my guest appearance on the Saturday Night Vibes podcast where Greg, Emily and myself each break down our favorite Christmas sketches. Enjoy!)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/08ZuIXtynOfVsnTfAlEiyh?si=9J8Amyd2T-KZ0AAjyV4zFA&utm_source=copy-link

Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Simu Liu bought the exact right energy to the show as host and was used more appropriately than his fellow MCU alum Jonathan Majors. Simu blended in with the cast better (which was probably more due to the writers knowing how to play to his strengths as an actor more). His presence allowed for a more consistent episode than last week, but the highs this week weren't as high (thankfully the few lows that were here weren't lower either). Everyone except Punkie and Kate (still absent) managed to get some screentime tonight. Kudos to Sarah for her notable upswing in character roles this week. Anyway, let's unpack this one, shall we?

Justice w/Judge Jeanine - Well, if they absolutely HAD to write a Kyle Rittenhouse cold open at least they knew the most appropriate framing device for it (and to clearly give Redd & (for once) Fineman) the best material here. I always like seeing Cecilys' Pirro and I especially liked her Robert Durst/"that's on you, dum dum"/build back better lines. Mikey had some OK material as the judge in the Rittenhouse case but he gave off such strong "Meyers/McKinney as Judge Ito" vibes that I could barely get past I've already pretty much memory holed his entire part. I appreciate them moving on from this subject but I didn't particularly care for Alex as Kevin McCarthy (big "how do you do, fellow kids" vibes from that incredibly dated reference to the bottle flip meme). I did appreciate seeing James Austin Johnsons' Trump return. The biggest laugh I got out of this was how he worked in references to the OG pre-HBO Max reboot of Gossip Girl (maybe one of the women writers who got to meet Blake Lively when she visited the show last week to support Taylor pitched on this?) and a Dua Lipa word search (I trust one of my Twitter followers who I hope is reading this right now can tell me if she actually does have a husband) into his freestyle ramblings. C+

Monologue - I was impressed by Simus' charisma and his ability to immediately get the audience on his side. He effortlessly carried this material and got the show off on the right foot. B+

Karaoke Recap - Kenan and Chloe (seriously though, how many different ways are we gonna have to hear her repurpose that Tiffany Trump/Miley Cyrus impression of hers?) did a nice job of moving this along but the various highlighted guests really made this for me. Each cast member contributed something funny here but the only ones I can mention individually here that stood out to me the most were Alex/Heidi and Melissa/JAJ (whose Homer Simpson impression works best if you just imagine him doing Season 1/Tracy Ullman era Homer). Sarah and Aristotles' bit seemed tailored specifically to them but I have to say I gotta feel bad for Punkie for not managing to get worked into this somehow. B+

Target - Simu was well cast and I liked Kyle, Kenan and JAJs' characters the most. Otherwise, it felt a little too much like a modern day SNL Holiday retread casserole to me. C+

Dog Head Super Soldier - I wasn't too crazy about the original dog Head man sketch from 2018 with Sam Rockwell but I did like this one a lot more (mostly for Mikey and Cecilys' improv skills). Plus, this may have been the first time we've ever seen Mikey even come close to breaking character and this whole episode in general is a first for James playing more character roles than just impressions so those added something to this for me. B-

Republican Or Not - Honestly, I wasn't too crazy about this premise but I was okay with how it was executed for the most part. I liked Kenans' coyness and I thought Simu and Ego played off Kyle and Sarah's appropriately vague clues very well but adding Cecily as Cheneys' daughter at the end just muddied it up too much for me. C+

Walking In Staten - This is actually the first time in a LONG time I can say I've seen an SNL sketch that was actually IMPROVED by the surprise celebrity cameos. I couldn't quite get on board with a heavily autotuned (at least on Pete's part) trap/hip hop parody of "Walking In Memphis" that featured Robert Loggias' creepily deepfaked joint smoking ghost or a cameo from some hobby guy on YouTube until Marc Cohn showed up for a self-effacingly meta cameo and Method Man agreed to lend some Staten Island authenticity to this. I also really liked Pete & Wets' lyrics about "wild turkeys by the hospital" and how "our zoo is shockingly small". C+

Update started strong but kinda fizzled out near the end. Good on Jost to give us a healthy dose of silliness before getting into roasting Rittenhouse, Gaetz and Bannon. I didn't think we really needed to see Kyle's Baby Yoda again but the fact that they have him dating the mom from the Berenstain Bears alone and used THAT to continue his ongoing intense feud with Baby Groot was worth bringing this back. The fact that he is also basically a thinly veiled parody of Machine Gun Kelly/Travis Barker was just icing on the cake. Aidy as Mother Earth was a lofty concept that I couldn't quite get on board with. B+

Thanksgiving Baking Championship - I didn't think we needed to see a third one of these much less a fourth but at least Kyle, Heidi and Simus' cakes kept the stakes from getting too low. I wouldn't have cared for Pete getting lazily shoved into Beck' part if we didn't get to see him basically just go "fuck it, I'm just gonna eat my entire slice of cake live on air by the time this sketch ends". C+

First Asian Men To Recieve This Series Of Oddly Specific Awards - This was a nice personal two hander for Simu and Bowen to let the audience in on together but if them placing this right after perhaps the Sarah Squirmiest of all "baking challenge" sketches ever doesn't make you realize this needed to be earlier in the show (possibly the cold open) than I don't know what will. Kudos to Andrew Dismukes on squeezing in his one on camera appearance of the night and for Sarah for getting in on this too. B+

911 Calls - Thankfully, Kenan came in to save this one as soon as I started to think this wasn't going to be silly enough for me to be able to get on board with. Kudos to Simu for attempting a different accent for the first time all night. C-

Now, for my updated rankings of this season so far...

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
5. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
6. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
7. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that turned out to be one of the stronger Thanksgiving shows SNL has put on in God knows how many years! In two weeks time, Billie Eillish returns to make her double duty hosting debut. Young pop stars usually make for fun hosts who gel well with the show. Billie Eillish may bring a "weird 20 year old girl" energy to the show but at least she will bring the RIGHT kind of "weird 20 year old girl" energy to the show. See you again after Turkey Day!

Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)

Okay, here's my review. This was an episode that fortunately in some ways continued this season's trend of engaging and high quality episodes. Unfortunately, compares to the previous three episodes we saw, this was by far the most uneven. A couple of the highs were high but the lows were about the second or third lowest they've been all season thus far. Still, I can say that my expectation of Taylor Swift only having one ten minute musical performance instead of the standard two three minute ones INSTEAD of any of the sketches contributing to this episode's pacing issues was subverted.  Jonathan Majors showed promise as a host. However, he seemed to blend into the background a bit TOO Well (no pun intended) but again, when the hype surrounding the musical guest for some and then suddenly the newest cast members appearing on Weekend Update and the (fairly minor) expected fallout from a rather regressive cold open that's to be expected. Still, if Paul Rudd could get three second chances I'd say Jonathan Majors deserves a second chance to host some day just so we can see what he can really bring to the show. Kate (still filming in Australia as of this writing) was legitimately the only cast member to get no screentime this week. JAJ and Mikey took a backseat this week to let two certain underused players to get some MUCH needed airtime this week (we'll get to them later). Anyway, let's unpack this, shall we?

Ted Cruz Street - Well, my immediate takeaway from this was to be grateful Cecily, Pete, Mikey and Alex were written into this to keep it from being 100% centered around an Aidy impression I largely do not care for. Bert and Ernie provided the strongest laughs this had in my view. Pete as Joe Rogan was pretty funny too but I can't get over the sinking feeling I have that he may have singlehandedly just made Twitter insuffrable for the next 24 hours. Kyle and Chris tried their damndest to save the parts they were given and Melissa, Andrew and Pete were pretty much wasted (as was Count Aristotle but hey, at least that guys getting visible speaking parts now). Speaking of wasted cast members, while I usually like seeing Chloe as Britney, tacking her on to the end of this sketch was unnecessary. Still, at least they realized writing another apology based talk show sketch was NOT the way to go if they wanted to address the END of her conservatorship in a cold open. Thankfully, this wasn't too long. C-

Monologue - Thankfully, Jonathan comes right out of the gate with the type of energy this show needs to get off on the right foot. He seemed to be rushing this a bit, but he had a lot of confidence for someone who might be taking on the first ever comedic roles he's had in his career. B+

March Of The Suitors - It's nice to see Chloe get a lead-non impression role in this, but it seemed to have a bit of a shaky premise. Cecily got some chuckles, but Jonathan, Ego, Kenan and Punkie were the strongest parts of this. People who hate the way Mikey & Kyle are used in sketches are sure gonna have some issues with this one. Aidy, Andrew and Heidi were just...kinda there. Thankfully, this ended before it presented us with one suitor too many. C+

Three Sad Virgins - Well, as tired and played out of a trope as Pete's hip hop swag has been in the last three years worth of pretapes, it was smart of Please Don't Destroy to latch on to this and subvert each other's formats for a bit (in the earliest one of their shorts has got on the show, by the way).Taylor's guest verse was the perfect capper to this and it's good to see her return to the comedy portion of SNL twelve years after her successful hosting stint (I'd hate for that SNL40 Californians cameo to be the last thing she contributed to the show that wasn't a non-comedic musical performance). The only thing that bothers me about PDDs' presence at the top half of the show at this point is that they are still not officially credited as full cast members while doing so. Honestly, I can look past the nepotism by now. Still, if this goes viral (and it's got all the ingredients to) then I'm sure these boys have already secured their spots in the season 48 cast if enough people leave the show next year to the point that the cast will not be frustratingly huge with them in it. B+

Audacity Of Advertising Awards - So, apparently SNL awards show sketches either have to be interminable long or just edited far beyond what is necessary to the point of total incoherence and there's absolutely no middle ground (or self awareness) whatsoever? I honestly didn't care much for Heidis' Flo from Progressive and Jonathan noticably had quite a bit of trouble with his lines but thankfully Andrew, Alex, Kyle, James (in a rare non impression role) and Melissa had pretty solid bit parts. Also, why was tubi listed among the fake companies in the "in memoriam" segment? I quite enjoy tubi as a streaming service and didn't appreciate the out-of-nowhere slam (even if tubi just happened to go along with the theme of "infantile sounding names for new streaming platforms"). D+

Strange Kid Tales - I still don't quite know what to make of this except it felt like they just mashed Chance The Rapper's "First Impressions Court" together with Phoebe Waller-Bridges' "Mid-Day News" sketch and ended up with a sketch that, intentionally or not, came off like it was specifically designed to test the absolute limits of how much "Kenan Reacts" can be used in a script to save an aimless, directionless sketch. The child actors were a nice touch, though. I do recognize the kid playing Alex's son as the Mikeys' bearded son from the school board sketch from this season's premiere. I do have to wonder what his relationship to the show is? I did like seeing the final actress playing Heidi's daughter react to just having been on TV in general. That pretty much made the sketch for me. C+

Man Park - This was a rather unambitious premise (in terms of "relatable" humor) that was really saved by the performances and the fact that it was pretaped. As much as this felt like one of those pieces that SHOULD'VE hit too close to home for me personally, all the guys gleeful reactions to bonding with each other were what made this for me. The women played off of them (and each other well) and I especially liked the "Rick!/Morty!" shouting between Pete and Andrew (but I'm shocked that they seem to think the Killers Mr. Brightside meme reached all the dudebros before it died out). B-

Update was a shockingly high point in the middle of the show for once. Jost did a good job of getting the crowd on his side after that 10 minute Swift performance (considering the live audience was filled mostly with fans of hers anyways) and he and Che had quite a few great jokes. Josts' QAnon Shaman/nude Cambridge calendar/Vin Deisel open letter/DJ Khaled jokee were well constructed. As expected, Che was the one who tread the very shaky ground of the crying Rittenhouse testimony as well as only HE could. His Britney and Texas mask mandate jokes were telegraphed as hell but they still landed (he really shouldn't have rushed through the former to get to that very mid Josh Hawley joke but he had a nice save for the latter to transition us into that well done Santa Con joke). Ches' new e-bike joke may have been my favorite of his the whole night. It was really great to see Sarah got an Update commentary on. The fact that she was playing herself in a very meta deconstruction of the show was just icing on the cake. It may not exactly be as intense or as gleefully disturbing as what some were expecting from the woman we knew as "Sarah Squirm" prior to her joining SNL but as I said before, she's DEFINITELY someone the show had to ease the remaining generuc non-extremely-online portion of its audience into very gradually (and honestly, let's take a moment to be thankful the show is actually using her and letting her leave an impression if not for the sole purpose of shutting up those who've been saying she's been doomed since the premiere). Speaking of, great to see Aristotle suddenly get added to this Update at the last minute to bring out the second of his two Just For Laughs showcase characters (the first bring Angelo from the Rami Malek episode, the third being a Sir Patrick Stewart impression that I'd be surprised to see make it on air within the context of the bit). It was so expertly and intricately written and performed, too. The only thing negative I could possibly say about it is that I would hate to see Aristotle get baselessly accused of ripping off Max Headroom. Anyway, like I said, it's great to not only finally see SNL having been able to show us what all three of their new featured players this year can bring to the show but to also see the show allow their new featured players to have their big breakout moments during a show already taking place during sweeps month that ended up being very hyped up for ratings due to the musical guest that had just performed her big ten minute number. I could definitely see Sarah and Aristotle gaining some new fans and followers from the audience Swift bought to this show. A-

Broadway Benefit - I actually enjoyed this a lot more that I thought I would. It felt a lot more focused and sharp than previous Cecily/Bowen musical numbers. Plus, the premise of "a show tune about hard drug use with brief allusions sex acts and apparent suicide by LSD being performed in an upper class, cultured Broadway environment" was enough to keep my attention. Now, having seem the actual Rock Hudson/Bea Arthur duet this was based on and seeing that it was somehow a little bit MORE insane than the parody it inspired (I mean, Cecily and Bowen shockingly didn't work in any just straight up references to "poppers" or "amyl nitrates" like Hudson and Arthur did on one of her specials that presumably aired in primetime on CBS in 1980 nonetheless) I have to take a just a couple of points off but still, I appreciated how well crafted this was. Kyle and Aidys' parts felt a little unnecessary but thankfully they didn't cut to them too often. I guess I was a fool to expect this or "March Of The Suitors" to be the sketches Taylor makes a cameo in but at least this time my expectations were based on previous experience. B-

Dog Bones'-N-Melodies - Honestly, the thing that stood out the most to me was how Ego basically disappeared into her role of a male member of Bone Thugs-N-Harmomy. Otherwise, while I was glad Alex, Chloe and Kyle had small parts to keep this from getting too repetitive for its own good, I wish Kyle had a bigger part so he could unravel this premise a bit more (which felt so aimlessly silly I suspect Jonathan Majors may have pitched this himself on Monday). C+

First Damn Baptist Church - My main takeaway from this was how it felt like a much more successful version of Bowen pig boy/nightclub sketch where Kristen Stewart hit on Kenan and Ego as a similarly ages couple from two years ago. Otherwise, while Jonathan, Ego and Kenan did a fine job anchoring this sketch Kyle, Melissa, and Chris stood out the most to me out of those with small parts. Aidy was, once again, just kinda...there for me. Also, this sketch had just enough absurd lists and references to forgotten P!nk songs from 2003 to work for me. C+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
4. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
5. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
6. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, there was unexpected fun to be had this week! Next week, Simu "Shang-Chi" Liu makes his hosting debut with musical guest, rapper Saweetie. Again, this is another show I have to go into with zero expectations as both the host AND musical guest are first timers. The host, in particular, is another actor I don't believe I've seen in anything yet so hopefully this episode will be full of more fun surprises but given that it's the third show in a row and the show has had bad luck with their Thanksgiving episodes these past few years, I'm still going to tamper my expectations somewhat. See you then!

Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Any way you look at it, this was a much stronger episode than I was expecting. Keiran Culkin proved to be such a strong host that you might have had a hard time believing (no matter how reliable an Inside source you may have on this) that the show hastily made a lot of last second changes to its rundown because they didn't have the utmost faith in Keiran as a host. Well, whatever reservations he may have had throughout the week, he obviously got over them pretty quickly. I would put this episode at about the same level as the Rami Malek episode because the highs seemed a little higher and this one made up for what that one lacked in writing and pacing. Kate is still gone for now but everyone who remained (except for Aristotle who is the subject of a rather jarring rumor right now that I hope isn't true) got a fair amount of airtime tonight. Anyway, this show was pretty straightforward so let's just get right to it.

Justice w/Judge Jeanine - Well, it's nice to see Cecilys' Pirro works just as well (if not better) than anchoring a parody of Pirros' actual FOX News show as she does on Update with Colin. Pete as Aaron Rodgers is something that works better on paper or in one's imagination than it does when you see it but he did just fine with the material he was given. Alex was allright, he may have seemed like the weak link here but he set up Heidis' character (my first real laughs in this, shades of Cheri Oteri there?) and played off JAJ real well. Speaking of which, as much as it feels oddly stuck out of time James Austin Johnsons' Trump impression finally making it on air (I'm honestly surprised it only took them a month to find a way to work this into the show to be honest) was still a pleasant surprise nonetheless. He really nailed both the voice and the energy of modern Trumps' rambling pointless rally speeches better than anyone who came before him (especially Baldwin even when he was starting out before Trump actually got elected). Honestly, the only Trump impressionist I can fairly compare JAJ to would be Anthony Atamanuik. JAJs' Trump is a strong enough impression to make me wonder where the hell he was five years ago (y'know...when SNL REALLY needed him) and why he and this show weren't actively seeking each other out. Among other things, JAJs' Trump also makes me wonder if SNLs' political writing during the Trump presidency would've done justice to JAJs' impression (Chris Kelly & Sarah Schneider I could see having some fun with him, but Jost & Che maybe not so much) as well as what SNL plans to do if somehow the real Trump does launch another run for the presidency in 2024. I do know that they've done a partially pretaped debate sketch in 1992 (when Dana Carvey had to play both Bush Sr. live and Ross Perot on tape) but maybe it would work better if they actually DID try to keep Alex Moffat on until season 50 so he could play Biden opposite JAJs' Trump in a 100% live debate sketch. B+

Monologue - Keiran showed very faint early signs of nerves here that he quickly got over. Nice to see the "solo monologue streak" continues this season. It's also nice to see Keiran somewhat subvert our expectations of said monologue a bit by showing a clip of the goodnights of his brothers' show rather than a clip of the Lil Richmeister/Da Bears Thanksgiving/Medieval Scalders sketches we were all expecting and NOT just bringing out Macaulay for a cameo either. I mean, I certainly wouldn't have minded a MacCauley cameo but again, it's always nice when the show doesn't always just do EVERYTHING we expect based on who the host is. B+

Spectrum Call Back - I love how Andrew Dismukes pretty much walked away with this with only one line. Bowen was a great addition too. Nice to see the show remembers that Melissa and Sarah are still in the cast from time to time. Everyone else kinda washed over me (no fault of their own, just the very rapid fire pacing of this sketch). If I had to venture an early guess as to who wrote this, I'd have to say this just SCREAMS "Please Don't Destroy" (the pacing, numerous different characters, a banal callback twist on top of a surreal twist at the end, the slight need for some cuts). C+

The Heist - This seemed like an inferior retread of "That's The Game" from two seasons ago with Harry Styles. Chris Kenan and Mikeys' performances were honestly the best thing about this for me. I didn't really care much for the ending. C-

Dionne Warwick Talk Show III - I'm not always the most hyped for this sort of thing but I have to say the real Dionnes' cameo pretty much saved this from being the weakest of the three of these for me. Chloes' Miley was all right (not sure yet if I'd say I like it better than Vanessa's but considering these two sketches used the same set I'd say it's a nice moment of this sketch coming full circle) but Jason Mraz was a real random choice for an impression for Keiran that (along with Petes' Malone and Andrews' spurned vaccinator) didn't do much for me. Ed Sheeran certainly was...there.. After him and Nick Jonas, I'm starting to hope they end the Dionne Warwick Talk Show here just for the sake of not having to see that weeks male pop singer host/musical guest just lazily rolled out into one of these just as themselves. B-

Men's Room - This may have been my favorite live sketch of the night. Chris really carried this early on (based on his bit from the cold open of last seasons' finale, I'm guessing he cowrote this?) and the assists from Bowen, Keiran, Andrew and (especially) Alex and (out of nowhere?) Tracy certainly helped. The ending seemed a little odd and rushed for time to me though (did everyone just decide they were gonna step on Alexs' closing line there?) A-

The Jockey - Just when I thought the pretapes as a whole were going to be the weakest part of this episode, this wonderful piece of '90s flavored, green screen fueled ska absurdity comes along! I loved the sheer level of commitment to a premise that seems to cartoonist both visually and conceptually. Plus, Keiran showed he had enough confidence in his (taped, at lesst) sketch comedy ability to sing which is something he's not known for. B+

Update was a little uneven in terms of jokes. Jost & Che got off to a bit of a slow start but I did genuinely like their Jersey/Durr, Virginia Lt. Gov/Trump Tomahawk Chop jokes. Kenans' Ice Cube is always fun and although some of the fake movie titles made me laugh, dragging and dropping Kenans' Ice Cube into his Lavar Ball template (anyone still remember that guy?) isn't the best use of this impression. Cecilys' "Goober The Clown Who Has An Abortion Just Before Her 23rd Birthday" was something that it took me a minute to get an accurate read on. At first, it seemed like something that would've been firmly in Sarah's wheelhouse until Colin addressed her as "Cecily" early on and then I realized this was WAY more in Kate's wheelhouse (she's the cast member I most associate with the recent SNL trope of what I like to call "fourth wall breakdowns" where cast members wrap their true life confessionals or just general real world anxiety in a goofy character or costume and then just stop and address the audience and their scene partners as "themselves" but...weknowdis). Anyway, I do know Cecily has been going through some rough personal developments in her life while doing this show, Schmigadoon and other projects these past few years (she even wrote a book about some of them) so for her sake I'm actually pretty relieved to see her finally work through some of her deep personal issues on the show. Also, did anyone else think that she and Chloe might have been having a bit of an emotional moment over this at the goodnights? B+

Wake Up, Rhode Island - Thankfully, this turned out to be something much more ominous and chaotic than either of the two sketch templates I was expecting when I saw a local morning news sketch being set up. Keiran and Punkie turned in solid performances here. Too bad this couldn't realistically escalate any further though. B-

Please Don't Destroy - Wow, even as a setup for a turn I usually never expect any dramatic acting from these guys but this turned out pretty funny. I'm more sold on them continuing these types of short films on the show after this one than I was after the Selzer short. Good to see them work Sarah into this one, too! B+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
4. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
5. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was certainly another fun show! Next week, Jonathan Majors makes his hosting debut. Since he is another in a string of hosts who I've seen very little of acting-wise (I understand he's been in Marvel's Eternals and HBOs' Lovecraft Country) I'll be going into this with the same lack of real host expectations that I did for this and Ramis' episode and just hoping that the surprises will be pleasant ones. See you then!

Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)

 Okay, here's my review. As expected, this was unquestionably the best show of the season up to this point. Jason Sudeikis was still in top sketch form after an eight year absence from the show (aside for some small cameos here and there). His energy and performance skill really carried the show. Luckily, they maintained the high energy of last week's show with Rami Malek but produced an episode that was more consistent and less uneven. Naturally, Jason is a cast member I've wanted to see host since he was on during the era I was in high school and college so his cast was the first cast I really felt personally connected to. Still, I don't feel like the show now is too far removed from the end of that era even eight years later in terms of some of the writing and some of the cast overlap. Personally, there weren't a ton of old recurring characters of Jason's I would've rather seen over new original material where Jason just blends in with the current cast and let's them shine. Fortunately, we got a lot more of the latter and the bought back two of Jason's old characters that I really wanted to see done a certain way. They struck a perfect balance between late 00s/early 10s recurring bit nostalgia and new original stuff they could just plug Jason into with the current cast. Speaking of, everyone except Sarah (and the still absent Kate) managed to get a fair amount of airtime tonight. Bowen, Punkie and Aristotle could've made their presence visible a bit more. Kyle came roaring back taking up airtime that could've gone to Sarah or any of the others I just mentioned. Oh well. At least it's still good to see him find new places on the show he can still fit into without Beck there.  Anyway, let's just get right to it.

Ghost Of Bidens' Past - It's not always a great sign when the collective SNL online Fandom is so easily able to predict what the show will do but this time I was quite impressed! On top of the show being fair and giving equal attention to it's newer cast members when an returning alumni is hosting (props on them sticking to just using the Biden impersonators who were actually in the cast, by the way) they actually capped it off at four minutes and sharpened up they're political writing a bit. I'm glad to see the show is smart enough to realize that they have to actually address the differences between VP era Sudeikis Biden and Commander In Cheif era Moffat/Johnson era Biden in order to utilize Sudeikis' Biden at all in a way that works. Nice to see they could work in Chloe as Press Secretary Jen Psaki as well. I was wondering when/if SNL would find a way to parody her considering how much fun they had with two of the last three White House press secretaries. B+

Monologue - As expected, Jason's natural charisma and comedic timing carried this. Good to see Jason effortlessly combine his usual snark with some sincere self reflection. I would say that while I've been watching SNL my whole life several things that happened during Jason's time on the show changed my life since his era was when I started writing these reviews for two different message boards that are no longer around. His last season was when I started writing these reviews for this blog (I figured I might as well puy these on a blog since two projects in my journalism classes I had in college in the time required me create blogs for them) and eventually I started following and interacting with other SNL fans on Twitter which led to me listening to SNL related podcast which led to me being the featured guest on the upcoming SNL Network (neé Stats) podcast this Thursday so, yeah...you could say that monologue really got to me once it sank in. Also, I noticed Jason's sideburns were naturally graying a little bit so is it just me or does it seem like he's always going to look like he's wearing his old Mitt Romney wig? A+

The Science Room III - Given how far apart these sketches have been spaced, I didn't quite think of it as a recurring thing but then I immediately realized how PERFECT Jason would be as the host so kudos to SNL for really thinking outside the box and plugging an old cast member into a new formula that seems tailor made for him. This one seemed a little long compared to the previous ones with Sam Rockwell and Adam Driver, but that's okay since Jason is one of the most likable cast members in the shows' history and he's pretty much the master of the slow burn. This one was really enhanced be bringing out Kyle and Melissa as Mikey and/or Cecilys' parents for Jason to berate. I also liked the Planet Hollywood/Arizona/matter/gravity jokes. B+

Mellen - Wow, well...first off, I've already seen some people say this was too long and I can definitely see that but it actually behooves a sketch like this to be nearly four minutes long when you try to cram in as much sheer material as this did. I mean, I probably would've made some cuts to this too but I'm really not sure which cuts I would've made since a lot of madness like Chloe beating up Gritty in a woman's bathroom, Chris' Kyrie Irving getting a sneak-up Covid shot, Pete's brutal takedown of Jake Paul (in his only appearance in tonight's show strangely enough) and the return of Alex's Connor McGregor actually meeting the challenge of a random audience member all really worked for me. I especially like JAJs' Louis C.K. (wow, I guess he really is "cursed to play cancelled men, huh?) I'm impressed they came up with a specific enough sketch premise that he could get away with using that impression. Plus, Jason really sells the premise. At first, I wasn't quite sure that him selling such a masculine bro-out daytime talk show for men would work with him playing it with Ellen's light, airy energy but that's something only he can pull off and it really helped sell the stark contrast between "why daytime talk shows work BECAUSE they're aimed solely at adult women" and "why things solely marketed to men wouldn't work for any type of talk show". Plus, with Ellen having been "cancelled" for her general mistreatment of guests and staff alike last summer this might as well be what she does on her show for real now anyway. B-

Annie - I was expecting something in the vein of the Home Alone sketch from Kristen Wiigs' episode last season, but once Jasons' character was introduced as someone adding a much darker element to the sketch instead of an impression of a character actually from the original film commenting on an odd plot hole it became clear that wasn't what this was. Even though it's a little sad to see Melissa couldn't quite carve out "meta parodies of 80s/90s family films featuring late '00s/early '10s returning alumni" as a new little niche of hers yet, this sketch still worked for me due to the escalating  implied horror of it. B-

Parent Teacher Conference - It didn't take too long for me to figure out where this was going but once it got to the premise it started to feel like each role was perfectly cast (Jason captivating a woman with his charisma, Ego being hot for teacher, Kyle being the awkward cucked guy on the side line) because the performances were really bringing up the real unambitious premise. This was expertly written to play specificallyto Ego and Jason's hidden strengths (and Kyle's not so hidden strength). Thankfully, they also knew when to end this, too. C+

Jakes' Non-Stick Underwear For Men - Is it just me or did this feel more like a Family Guy bit than anything that really belonged on SNL? Anyway, despite Jason not being in this this was saved by a combination of performances and this being a pretape. Chris and Ego really made this for me. Some assists from Alex and Kyle really helped and kudos to the show for gradually finding more and more ways to substantially use JAJ in non impression roles. C+

Update remains strong. Che and Jost were obviously having a lot of fun this week (especially Che). I was bummed that the story about Will Forte handing out soup to the stand by line turned out to be a hoax but at least Jason was able to bring back the other Forte-less Update character he did that I liked. Even though it took a little while to get going and find its' bite, I loved seeing The Devil return. The Brady/Limbaugh/Prince Andrew/Epstein/QAnon/ScarJo jabs really provided this with the focus it needed to work and made it feel less scattershot (although considering that the previous times The Devil appeared on Update he was ranting about the Catholic Church & Penn State child abuse scandals, the Prince Andrew/Epstein jokes felt a little like an unnecessary retcon). B+

What Up With That XII - Well, this was something I had some mixed feelings about seeing return. For one thing, it was probably the worst offender of 2009-2012 era of SNLs' cookie cutter/copy and paste/Mad Lib style of recurring sketch writing that was one of my biggest pet peeves of that era. Plus, it was an odd use of Jason since he wasn't really the main focus of these but I guess he must've been really quite fond of doing the running man in a red Adidas tracksuit and chain so he'll take any chance he can get. On the other hand, it was interesting getting to see who the random non-speaking celebrity guest cameos were. Oscar Issac and Emily Ratajowski (sp?) were all right here and I liked how they basically just got Nicholas Braun to cameo just so they could reference his Succession role to dance around the fact that Bill Hader was unavailable for a cameo that week. Honestly, having Hader there just to reprise his Lindsey Buckingham role would've been an even bigger waste to me so even though it feels odd to me for SNL to get one Sucession cast member on the show right before a different Succession cast member hosts, I liked what they did in his absence. This sketch made good use of Mikey, Chris, Punkie, Melissa, Ego, Cecily and Bowen (weird that he wouldn't get any airtime until this late in the show though). C+

Declaration of Independence - This seemed like a paper thin premise, but it was definitely saved by the performances. Kudos to Andrew Dismukes for finally getting his big break out moment as a sketch lead considering that before tonight his previous big break moment was his "Brink!" commentary on Update back in May and that seemed a bit unfocused. I'm glad to see Aristotle get some more airtime but the ending with him and Aidy felt a bit too tacked on for me (and it felt like they were setting up an appearance from Andy Samberg as Nic Cage for a sec so that was a little disappointing). C-

An Incoherent Proposal - This whole sketch was pretty much just "Kenan offers Jason varying amounts of money he doesn't have to have sex with Heidi". It may have been the weakest sketch of the night, but there's no denying the performances...made it watchable. C-

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
3. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
4. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was a fun way to keep this season right on track! In two weeks time, Kieran Culkin will make his hosting debut. I've seen very little of "Succession" so I'll be going into this blind. I do remember him cameoing in sketches with his brother Macaulay hosting 30 years ago. They both did well (especially considering neither were allowed to use cue cards and had to simply memorize all their lines simply because their dad demanded it for some insane reason) so I'll be hoping for another Rami Malek-level of pleasant surprise. See you then (and don't forget to check me out on this Thursdays' upcoming SNL Network Patron Feedback podcast with Jon Schneider which will be livestreaming at 10pm EST on October 28th).

Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.16.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Despite being a little uneven, this turned out to be the strongest show of the season so far. Still, that's less "by default" and more due to the strong performances put on by Rami and the cast. Malek did thankfully contribute to this episode's high energy more than I expected him to and managed to blend in with the cast just well enough that you didn't forget he was making his hosting debut tonight. Speaking of, they continued to find a way to work absolutely everyone into the show (aside from the still out-of-the-country Kate). Let's get right into it, shall we?

NFL Press Conference - Well, I do like that they are continuing to make some more "out-of-left-field" choices when it comes to cold opens lately. I also like that they gave even Redd, Dusmukes and a heavily prostheticized JAJ a chance to shine. Alex and Pete definitely had the best material here and Kenan especially elevated what he was given. Casting Jost as Roger Goddell was a clever move. Heidi and Kyle's part I could’ve done without. B+

Monologue - Anyone else get strong Peter Saarsgaard mixed with James Franco and John Malkovich vibes here? Given how Pete's impression of Rami on this show seemed focused on his low key sinister intensity, I guess this is the monologue I should've expected instead of Pete coming on stage so they can point out how much they look alike. Kudos to Rami for making the most out of what he was given here too. B+

Bug Assembly - Hmm...I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Bowen and Anna Drezen co-wrote this (or that this is the sketch that Sudi and Fran supposedly came back to write)? Honestly, I don't know what else I could’ve possibly taken away from this. Bowen anchored this just fine and Rami played well off him but I was a little disappointed seeing him run away with this after Dismukes and Sarah seemed to have such prominent parts upfront. Honestly, the funniest part of this for me was seeing everyone just play off the moment one of Bowens Daddy Long "legs" just fell of completely. I guess this is just another one of those modern SNL pieces that's best appreciated through the lens of "camp" and this will always be partially lost on me.. C+

Squid Game - Well, they certainly Trojan Horse'd this one on us, huh? This turned out quite funny for me. I'm sure certain SNL podcasters out there whose Discord server I just happily posted a link to this review on who would have a problem with this piece. This certain podcaster (who shall remain anonymous) would probably see this piece as SNL simply acknowledging a piece of hot current pop culture without really having anything to say about it but...as someone who has simply heard about Squid Game and not actually gotten around to seeing it yet...I found this quite funny. I especially liked the ending where Pete won and blew all his winnings betting on the NY Jets (I especially liked them having the Broncos being the team that beat them 28-3) but the funniest part to me was probably something they didn't intend. It was revealed on the latest SNL Hot Takes podcast that aired immediately after this episode did (by the way, if that certain other podcaster I mentioned earlier is reading this...you crushed it on that one, bro...and also watch out for me on the upcoming SNL Patron Feedback episode on the 28th) that the unnamed fat bearded guy with long hair who had a line in the song about breaking his cookie and thus being eliminated was NOT one of the new writers as I had suspected but was actually a real life country trap artist (hey, at least Pete found a new genre to move on to now) who goes by the name "Big Wet". That was truly the funniest thing to come out of this pretape for me. C+

Prince Auditions - I definitely have to say this seemed like a paper thin premise at first but everyone (especially a gleeful Kenan) kicking down the fourth wall really sold this for me. I really could’ve done without the Daniel Craig cameo though (not just because it felt like putting a hat on a hat and it made the sketch too long but because he obviously threw the timing of this sketch completely off. C+

Celebrity School - First impression parade of the season, huh? Man, it feels like an eternity since we've done one of these, so let's just run down the list real quick. Top prize definitely goes to James Austin Johnson for nailing that Adam Driver impression. It really helps that Driver is the first celeb JAJ played that he already naturally looks like without much makeup beyond fake facial hair. Melissa comes in a close second with her Wiig. She really showed us what got her hired five years ago. Meanwhile, her airtime bring so sporadic over those five years still sadly remains a mystery. Mikey does a solid John Oliver (almost over does it, really) but I'm still left wondering why Kyle couldn't at least attempt a John Oliver. Chloes' Jennifer Coolidge came out sounding more like Abby Eliotts' Anna Faris to me (or maybe that's a side effect of having seen quite a few Jennifer Coolidge impressions recently since it seems like every chick wants do their own Jennifer Collins impression out there on their social media since Ariaja Grande did hers on Fallon a few years ago) but she still managed to make it work for this sketch. Bowens' George Takei was exactly what I expected it to be and Redds' Lil Wayne was pretty much exactly what it was four years ago when we first saw it. Pete still does Ramis' voice well but Rami overshot Pete's voice (and Pete's overall energy) badly enough it actually made me see less of a resemblance between him and Pete. I mean, it was already obvious to me that Rami and Pete looking like each other wouldn't be enough to write a whole sketch around but this really should've bought it home for everyone. C-

Update was pretty strong. Jost opened with a couple of strong jokes about the climate bill, bats carrying things and Che's emails to him while Che continues to take all possible opportunities to push the envelope. Bowen and Che's commentaries worked for me just for the sheer conceptual absurdity of them Kenan and Mikey seemed like quite an odd pairing for an Update commentary but thankfully only they could make that material work. B+

Sleepy Town USA - Well, everyone really sold this (especially Bowen for some reason) but I was especially impressed with Aidys' performance. She's been criticized a bit for staying on needlessly but she really showed she can turn in a strong performance when paired with the right performer (namely just about anyone besides Kate or Cecily). If she is actually leaving this year (which given some of the rumors I've heard seems more and more likely) than hopefully she can keep this momentum going enough and do try enough different things to have as strong a season as Pete did last year. B+

Angelo - Kudos to Aristotle on finally getting his debut sketch three episodes into the season. Unfortunately, he underplayed it too much for my tastes. I'm still trying to get a handle on Aristotle Athari and what he brings to the show and this sketch didn't exactly give me any clues aside from possibly being the cast member who certainly nails "this sketch is based very closely on a real thing I once saw in my life" type material. At this point, the only other way I can really process this sketch is as sort of a self aware meta commentary on the show itself since most SNL fans I interact with say that they tune out most modern sketches that involve Cecily and singing to the point that they sound like total gibberish. This bring Aristotles' first sketch makes me think that was not what they had in mind when they wrote it, but still. D+

Now, time for me to start ranking this season more or less for real. Best to worst, here we go...

1. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.16.2021)
2. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
3. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was almost the exact show I was expecting. Next week, Jason Sudeikis makes his long awaited return to host. Personally, I'm just happy to see him on the show again. I really don't care about him parading out any old recurring bits of his (although I wouldn't mind if he bought Forte along for some Jon Bovi or some ESPN Classic) I just want to see how he interacts with this cast (and hopefully give us a more consistent show than this one). See you then!

Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Okay, here's my review. I went into this episode with low expectations (not the lowest but still) and aside from Update exceeding then this show started off exactly as stable as I could hoped for but gradually slid downward after the absolute peak that was Update. Kim Kardashian-West was pretty much the exact mix of "stiff, non actress" and "emotionlessly showing an acceptance of the general idea of poking fun at herself" as I was expecting but the way the show had to write around her didn't exactly help. Everyone (except the still absent Kate) got some screen time (although the new featured players made far less of an impact from last week). Anyway, let's get right into it, shall we?

C-SPAN Facebook Hearings - Well, I never thought I'd be saying this about a C-SPAN congressional hearing cold open that devolved into a sideshow of random meme and ended with Pete portraying MySpace Tom but this was actually a pleasant surprise! Cecily, Chris and Kyle had some great lines and Aidy as Ted Cruz...was there...but at least tonight's host or her relatives or anyone else she's ever met wasn't on screen just yet. The real highlight for me at least was seeing James Austin Johnson (hopefully, not temporarily) replacing Kate as Lindsay Graham. He even managed to elevate the same old stale "lolgay" writing they would've given to Kate if she were there. Good thing they kept their obligatory Squid Game references here this week. Also, was Alex playing Mark Zuckerberg or was he playing present day Rifftrax era Michael J. Nelson? Incidentally, I am dressed just like Joel Hodgson in the MST3K Seasons 1-5 opening title right now (red jumpsuit, yellow Gizmonic hardhat and all because...why the hell not? It's almost Halloween. Let's have some fun!) Pete as MySpace Tom felt heavily telegraphed but he was decent here. The audience response suggested he might be all over this episode since the demo they were going for with this host was obviously "people who keep up with tabloid celebrities." C-

Monologue - (*sigh*) Here we go. Anyone else getting major Paris Hilton vibes from this so far? I'm glad that that "gold digger" reference turned out to just be a jab at her moms' boy toy rather than her bringing Kanye out on stage. I wasn't crazy about her kissing his ass as much as she did either at first but that long walk to that "divorce/personality" joke was worth it. Speaking of jokes that made this monologue worth sitting through, those OJ/Caitlyn jokes actually made me chuckle and I also liked the "I'm running for...just kidding". Otherwise...eh. Just more self promotion (but not totally as "shameless" as I expected). C+

Aladdin - Wow, THIS is something we really should've seen coming. Didn't Kim actually go out dresses as Jasmin for real on Halloween one year? At least this seemed like a fresh take on the basic premise of Aladdin...until Cecily and Kenan came floating in. Pete's still a solid, reliable presence on the show and God bless him for trying but not even he could quite put this over for me. Bowen seemed quite miscast here. C-

Women In The Club - Well, Punkie got a real chance to shine in this and Kim slept through a great deal of it. Ego offering Aristotle $500 for his sneakers was funny. I love seeing Ego and Cecily still on the show in general and while this seemed well within their wheelhouse, I appreciated seeing them share their spotlight with Punkie here. C+

The Dream Guy - Wow, that's a lot of genuinely unexpected male cameos! God bless Chris Rock for being a good team player but why the hell did Amy Schumer have to kill whatever miniscule momentum that Rock and Mooney were building up here in the middle of a D.O.A. nothing of a sketch? Also, God bless Kyle Mooney for bring Kyle Mooney and John Cena for showing his special talent for bring able to draw chuckles without any lines but it was far to late to salvage whatever this was. D-

The Switch - Given the fact that Aidy vocally protested Elon Musks' booking in May, I have to say I was a little disappointed that she would willingly appear in a pretape with Kim but then again, Aidy herself had also been trying to break into the world if fashion so I guess I should've expected something like this. It almost seemed like this was going to go somewhere worthwhile until Kim's mom and her worst sister showed up (although I'm glad Kim chose to kept the obligatory cameos from her own family out of the live sketches up to this point) but instead this just had to hit all of it's predictable beats as it limped to the finish line. C-

Lotto Drawing - Well, I'm glad this DIDN'T turn out to be a third Mikey Day/Matt Shatt sketch. It May have felt like a leftover script from season 39 that they had Sarah Squirm help punch up the ending on but I'd still take that over the one big thing literally everyone in my online SNL fan circle couldn't stop themselves from predicting. Honestly, the ending mixed with the performers all really pulling this off well (yes, even you Kim) made this the strongest sketch of the night by default. B-

Update was pretty much exactly what I needed at this point of the show. Even if Jost & Che had a few jokes that didn't quite work, their sheer chemistry was refreshing tonight. Kudos to Alex Moffat for absolutely demolishing it with the long awaited return of his acid-riddled movie critic Terry Fink (even if they did have to work in a shameless plug for a movie she just did a voice for). Kudos to Heidi for managing to play her third Weekend Update character who ISN'T supposed to be some kind of social media influencer (I guess she figured she couldn't compete with the host, huh?) but while I loved her energy, I couldn't quite get into this one. I had heard Heidi had a cut for time Update piece last week and without having known that I would've guessed that this (and not the cold open) was the thing that was written at 11pm last night after everybody else left since it was written entirely around an old Icona Pop/Charli XCX collab. B-

Peoples' Kourt - Well, I guess my first question would by why couldn't Kendall have been the one sister of Kim's to cameo in person here instead of Khloe? I'm glad this gave Melissa and Halsey some sketch time on air but I would trade the real Khloe for the real Kendall any day. Other than that, I'm real glad that we got Chris Redd as Kanye instead of Kanye as Kanye. That alone saved this sketch from being a GenZ Hospital/Musk Wario level trainwreck (which honestly would've been about 90% Kris and Khloes' fault). Kudos to Kim for having a Met Gala outfit that SNL can recreate in order to justify having Heidi Gardner play her. Also, did Mikey cowrite this sketch just so he could get Kim to sit in his lap? I guess the only reason it made more sense for Chloe (Fineman) to play Megan Fox instead of say, Cecily, was to accurately portray the height disparity between her and Pete/MGK (ditto Melissa/Kylie)? Furthermore, wouldn't a show like this be on Peacock instead of Hulu?? Didn't this family make a deal with Peacock to have all their shows on there now? Finally, I'll just note the brutal irony of Kim as Kourtney saying "eww, this is so cringe" as well as Steve Higgins saying this had "structure" and how frighteningly close to people's predictions this came and just leave it at that. D+

Please Don't Destroy: Desk Hard Selzer - I'm very glad SNL let these guys film something that has the exact same rapid fire vibe as their Twitter videos that I genuinely liked. I just wish I could’ve gotten into this more (I guess designer seltzer craze jokes just don't land with me) but I'm excited to see more from these guys on the show in the future. Also, it helps to rewatch this when it is NOT immediately preceeded by something like "People's Kourt" to appreciate the low key absurdity of it. It's also nice to see SNL do something they also haven't done in decades and give airtime to guys who are just writers and thus aren't credited in the opening montage like normal cast members. My God, if there were anytime for SNL to do SOMETHING to break from their rigid format...THIS would be the time to do it. C+

SKIMS For Thick Dogs - Well, at least this also gave Melissa, Sarah and Heidi some airtime (with actual spoken lines). Otherwise, this was completely lost on me despite Kenans' best efforts. D-

Now, it's time for me to officially start ranking season 47 from best to worst and yeah...this one's definitely a no-brainer so far.

1. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
2. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was that. Next week, Rami Malek makes his hosting debut. From what little I've seen of him, he doesn't seem that different in person than Pete's unsettling low key portrayal of him but let's hope he can really surprise us (because now more than ever would that be the thing this show needs). See you then!

Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)

Okay, here's my review. I have to say this may have been the strongest season premiere since Seth MacFarlane/Frank Ocean in 2012. I compare it to that one because both episodes showed noticable amounts of promise that each of the shows' three new featured hires for that year were helping bring the show into a new era even though some of the writing and cast seniority issues of the previous era were still lingering. I know, it's hard to take me seriously when I say this while two of season 38s' "new featured hires" are somehow STILL with the show, but just go with me on this, OK? As we all know, season premieres aren't always the strongest of any seasons early run of episodes but this season premiere certainly showed enough promise to make a lot of viewers want to stick around and see how the rest of the season shakes out. Owen Wilson proved to be a fine host who was used well and managed to blend in well with the cast (which is probably due in part to how much if the post episode discussion centered around how much of a mark each NEW cast member made on the show vs why certain other cast members bothered to stay on). Even in just one or two bit parts, every member of the cast (except Kate who is filming an outside project in Australia) got some screentime tonight. Anyway, let's unpack this, shall we?

Biden Unites Democrats - Well, I gotta say the show seems to have quite a great deal of confidence in James Austin Johnson just come out on stage as a sitting president in the cold open of his very first episode! He and Pete's Cuomo gave me my only genuine laughs in this. I do like that he actually seems to have a focused take on Biden but the fact that Moffat was playing Chuck Schumer (whose line about alarmist democratic party emails I quite liked) in the same sketch after he was reportedly telling people he was still playing Biden this season and Jason Sudeikis hosting in three weeks does make me wonder if the show views "JAJ as Biden" as a permanent thing or not. Also, I find it a bit odd that the show seems to have developed more of a focused take on Kyrsten Sinema than they have on Biden at this point but hey, they were just gradually laying off politics in general as they wound down last season outside of a few notable figures on the right. It seems as they are just now figuring out what they have to say about the left so I say we give SNL some time to figure out what they're actual post-Trump era is going to be even though it's an era that we're firmly ten months into. Ego as Ilhan Omar works for me but might get an unexpected reaction. I liked seeing Melissa get to use her AOC again. I guess her placement in this right at the top almost makes up for them NOT using her impression of tonight's host on the show? Either way, I'm pleasantly surprised that that this political open had enough strong things going for it to almost make you forget that they cast Aidy Bryant as Joe Manchin. It's good to see SNL is still making progress on not having to lean on politics as hard as they did during the last presidency. Even when they just relegate politics to Update and cold opens now, it feels like the big talk about them is more "who is playing the president now" and less "what was their obligatory take on the weeks' events and why was it irresponsibly tone deaf and completely wrong?" or "how is SNL irritating insuffrably smug DSA far-leftists on Twitter who think they're so above the show but just can't seem to help themselves from putting it down each week?" B+

Monologue - Owen handled his monologue as strongly as I expected. Glad to see they just let him be himself here he was self depreciating in a charming way. Smart move to kick off a season where the show is supposed to be getting back to "normal". The ending almost felt like they let Melissa write a few of his lines. B-

The Talking - The fact that they made this a Mr. Show/CBB like "Not!The View" type sketch made me think that this could've been at least cowritten by any of the new writers (especially since one or two of the writers who I believe cowrote the two direct parodies of The View have left the show). As for the sketch itself, I'd say it's a lot sillier and more fun than the more direct View parodies the show did in season 44 (or even season 34 for that matter) even if I couldn't quite tell where they were going with it or why it was necessary. C+

Star Trek: Ego Quest - I have to say I liked the casting of Owen Wilson as Jeff Bezos and Mikey Day as Elon Musk. Owen really bought the right goofball energy to this and Mikey really nailed certain vocal tics of Elons (as wrong as it feels to have anyone on the show poke fun at him AFTER he hosted). Alex was all right as Richard Branson, Kenan had some funny lines and Heidi as that old astronaut Wally Funk is something that concerned me a bit. I'm noticing a trend that started with her performance in the Michael Jordan pretape from Keegan Michael-Keys' episode being continued here. I'm not crazy about the idea of Heidi being used to fill the Kate-in-drag void that didn't exactly do wonders for Kate's reputation among fans (but maybe as long as Heidi keeps her drag roles strictly apolitical it would be easier to take?). Other than that, this piece as a whole felt a bit too long and aimless for me. C+

Cars 4 Session - I was honestly hoping for something more reminiscent of a certain voice over sketch from Octavia Spencer's episode from 4 & 1/2 years ago and less reminiscent of a similar sketch from J.J. Watts' episode 1 & 1/2 years ago (and I'm sure I'm not alone). Still, this had enough of a random dark streak to keep it watchable and throwing in James as Larry The Cable Guy for Owen to play off of was a smart choice. C+

District 7 School Board Meeting - Well, I should've guessed that some of the writers would've seen this summers' Covid/CRT/Ivermectin related protests as a comedic gold mine. Overall, I was very pleased to see (mostly from the inclusion of Aidys' Jan Krang and Kenans' Scary Gary Loomis) that whoever wrote those two town hall meeting sketches from season 41 figured out a way to improve on that formula (it makes sense that the guys from Please Don't Destroy would be involved in writing this since it is as rapid-fire paced and character driven as some of their videos that I've seen). Good for them to realize Cecily works better as an audience participant in these and that Alex and Ego were the perfect performers to play the straight men running the meeting. Still, I was a little disappointed seeing Sarah Squirm just get quickly hustled of screen in her first ever appearance as a cast member but at least I'm grateful she got that instead of being given the Luke Null cold shoulder treatment. Speaking of, while I do appreciate them trying to cram each cast member in this and tighten the pacing this up as much as they could, it still could've used a few cuts here and there. Kudos to Kyle for making his one appearance of the night and proving he didn't leave with Beck Bennett. Pete as Dog The Bounty Hunter was terribly miscast. Since this was such a rapid fire scattershot showcase for everyone, I'll say that the cast members they performers they made the best use if here were Punkie, Chris, Mikey, Owen, Bowen, Andrew and James. B-

Update was worth watching more for the guest commentaries than the jokes. The only ones that really stood out to me was Josts' white paint and Che's Chicago egg jokes. Josts' opening spiel about infrastructure seemed like he wrote is specifically to give Seth Simons a nosebleed. Che's Obama joke stood out to me less for the pointedness of it or the reaction it got than the fact that it reminded me that Jost & Che may now be the only Weekend Update anchors in SNL history whose tenured at the desk saw them cover THREE presidential administrations rather than the standard two. Great to see two fresh takes on old media tropes from Ego & Pete (even how weird it felt given how he ended his last commentary on the season finale). I especially liked Ego burning Che for his Instagram presence. Kudos to them for throwing in a still from her Discover Card/Jordan Peeles' US ad parody from her first season. I also appreciate Jost & Che give Norm as much of a tribute as Wiig & Hader gave to Jan Hooks when the latter first came back to host 7 years ago. B-

Funeral Song - This was pretty low key in terms of recent "funeral song" sketches (I'm somehow not all that surprised that Che wrote this and Anderson didn't) but I liked that there was more of an escalation to this besides just the songs and had an actual ending. Unfortunately, it kinda desecrated into an undeserved emotional ending. Also, the glaring miscue at the top of this and in the cold open really drives home the fact that the old director is still there showing the ropes to the new director. C+

Crazy House on NFL On FOX - This was something else worth sticking with for the escalation of it. Unfortunately, they didn't escalate this far enough, in my opinion. I mean, JAJs' voice talents really let this some authenticity. I kinda liked the idea of a white middle aged sportscaster bring forced to stiffly read copy riddled with lines that sound like they were edited out of the first draft of "Gen Z Hospital" but I expected more out of something with a random puppet next to Sarah Squirm (once I recognized that was her). Heidi was pretty good here but I probably would've cast Cecily as Erin Andrews myself. I'm sure I'm not the only person who was reminded of "Mark" from Will Ferrells' 2009 episode but I honestly can't decide which of those two sketches was a watered down version of the other one. I'm thinking this was the watered down version of that. C-

Mail-In Stool Testing - This was just about the perfect thing to end this show on. I'm very glad to see they let Sarah Squirm do something a little Sarah Squirm-ish in her first episode with some assists from Dismukes & Redd. I mean, yeah, it seems a bit watered down compared to her pre-SNL work but hey, when SNL hires someone like Sarah Squirm they gotta pace themselves with her a little bit. B-

Well, that was a pleasant surprise in many ways. Next week, Kim Kardashian West makes her hosting debut and while I really don't think this is the right thing for either this host or this show to be engaging in right now, this show has had much worse hosts that I have said this about in the past. You all know who I'm talking about. Two guys (one of which was just impersonated on the show) who may match Kim's wealth and fame but don't quite balance being a "business figure" and an "entertainment figure" as well as she has managed to. Plus, from what I've heard Kim may just be a more pleasant person to work with behind the scenes and seems more enthusiastic to be a part of the show and she's a fairly less consequential person for them to have on at this point. That and the fact that SNL may have just dulled my sense of outrage toward their more outrageously irresponsible choices of host by now are the reasons I am going in with the most cautious of optimism at this point. See you then!

Anya Taylor-Joy/Lil Nas X (5.22.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Anya Taylor-Joy turned out to be another host that was far more capable for the show than they let on, but that's a little more excusable this time because this show turned out to not be about the host at all. With this being the finale to such a historic season and roughly half the cast being rumored to leave (everyone has their own little theories they've been speculating on) it was only natural that the host would get overshadowed a bit. Anya Taylor-Joy did show us she was capable of a lot more than what the show gave her, so I'd like to see her get another shot at hosting in the middle of a much more stable season some time in the future. Since there was a lot going on tonight and a bit of buzz surrounding this episode, I'd like to keep this intro short and just get right to it.

What We Learned From This Year - Wow...OK, there's a lot to break down here, but let me just start by saying...I think I have a good idea of who's leaving (or at least who is still seriously consider leaving and may make or publicly announce that decision in August) right off the bat just based on facial expressions alone. Say what you will about the actual quality of this season, one cannot deny that the historical moment it took place in and the circumstances that forced them to adjust their production process accordingly absolutely warranted this cold open. For me, this really kicked into high gear with the positive test result jokes from Cecily & Pete (whose green screen was obvious) followed by the Adele nose swab story from Chris and Beck & Kenans' stories. I'm sure Cecily (even ironically) naming Wario Musk as a "highlight" and even mentioning Morgan Wallen by name will get some online reaction but, what the hell? The whole theme of this monologue was already about leaving tragedies in the past and learning from them! I also liked Cecily pointing out the previously unseen audience medical reader. This was also one of the best possible uses of Andrew, Lauren, Punkie and Akira all season (as well as making sure tge entire rest of the cast gets on). Chris Rock really hit this out of the park for me. He really did highlight how it felt like way more than just ONE season of television had just passed us by, right? Overall, they struck the exact right balance between sentimentality and levity here to give us the perfect topical yet apolitical cold open to close the book on a momentus challenge of a season. A-

Monologue - Nice of Anya to acknowledged this being the first (and now only) show to full audience (who, come to think of it, did seem to do most if not all of the heavy lifting required to make this really feel like a finale) this season and then acknowledge her own...unique ethnicity. Even though "Queens' Gambit" seems to be a full year old at this point, it was smart of SNL to base most of Anya Taylor-Joys' monologue around it seeing as that's probably the thing she'd be most recognized from. Still, while Anya seems just as likable as she's been made out to be and I appreciate her ending the monologue in Spanish (possibly an SNL first?) I do wish there could've been a bit more energy here. B-

Hollywood Squares 1998 - Yeah, this is definitely my SECOND favorite Tom Bergeron era Hollywood Squares parody I've seen SNL do (but this does give Dustys' Love, Jingleheimer Junction and The 17th Annual Adult Film Awards and countless others some serious competition for the title of "favorite heavily edited TV broadcast sketch" in my book!) I feel like the comedic concept of "TV and movies from the past now bring incredibly problematic and thus necessitating heavy glaring edits" has already been heavily explored over the past few years. Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, Matt Lauer and Jared Fogle have certainly (and deservedly so) been the butt of many of those jokes in that time. Thankfully, this sketch got those references out of their system quickly and spent most of its runtime hilariously piling on the overlooked target of pre-inexplicable YouTube/Comedy Central fame Jeff Dunham (who Mikey might have been my last choice to play but hey, Beck was already cast as Tom Bergeron) and giving us Aidy, Chris and Beck as anchors with Anya Taylor-Joy as my first conscious celebrity crush, Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton to tie up all the loose ends. I was a little conflicted about how this sketch was presented at first but thankfully it's the type of thing that (ironically) holds up better on rewatch! Additionally, it appears the squares we didn't get to see were Dismukes as Kevin Spacey, Lauren as Roseanne and a cardboard cutout of Apu from The Simpsons. Gee, I'd hate to think Lauren and Andrew had their lines cut there but I'd like to think that the Apu thing could've been done by just simply having another male cast member (possibly Dismukes? get another writer or extra to play a vague outline of Kevin Spacey?) to just play Hank Azaria being asked to do one of his Simpsons voices just before another edit sets in but now that I think about it, they kinda already covered that with Jeff Dunham (even if chronologically it would make more sense to do that joke with Azaria INSTEAD of Dunham). B+

Picture With Dad - I liked that this went the extremely dark route it did because it would’ve seemed extremely cliche otherwise. The level of commitment to this exhibited by Beck, Heidi, Aidy and Andrew were what made this for me as repetitive as Beck made parts of it. B+

Human Man Design - This also felt like a comedic concept that has been done do death before but I think the bigger problem here was how unfocused this felt both times I watched this. I couldn't tell if the humor was based on fake names for extremities, first drafts of things that thankfully aren't real (like one giant toe) differences between male/female body functionality. It seemed like the latter but they should've tightened the script up a bit to make that clearer. Also, I was left a bit confused by the inclusion of Kyle as Jesus. Normally, I'm a fan of Kyle's but this seemed so pointless it was almost like they realized that this was something they absolutely had to edit but it somehow didn't occur to them to edit Kyle out of the sketch entirely. Finally, it was nice to see Melissa get a very Melissa role in this sketch rather than being edited out entirely after her recent Instagram drama. As far as my take on that, I'll just say that while it would be a bummer to see her go without the show even having come close to utilizing her to her full potential I would support her seeking better opportunities for herself elsewhere if it came to that. C-

It's Pride Again - Well, I appreciate Bowen and Kate getting big pretapes that allow them to celebrate their sexual identities but like most pieces if that nature, I recognize it as something where the jokes were lost on me because I am far from the target audience here. Thankfully, I decided to give this a rewatch in order to process the hidden secondary theme to this piece of "quarantine driving us to miss interpersonal drama and other minor irritants we had no business missing in the first place but we only miss anyway because they were outside and not at home with us." Shout out to Bill Kenney of SNL Stats for pointing this out. Thanks,, Bill!! I believe this marks the first time for me that joining the live chat of a post episode SNL Stats stream has actually made one of reviews better rather than gotten in the way of me finishing them. Good way for them to sneak in the obligatory Lil Nas X rap pretape cameo, though. I also liked the "theory/podcast" bickering between Bowen, Kate and Anya. It's rare you see something that real and leftist Twitter on SNL. B+

Celtic Woman - At least I could immediately recognize this as having a clear focus and being able to introduce me to something I was unfamiliar with but not necessarily excluded from. Yeah, I've seen the phrase "Celtic Woman" in emails from the Paramount Theater in Denver listing their upcoming events but never actually considered going so, it's nice to be filled in on what I've been intentionally missing. The brief cameos from Chris, Beck, Kyle and Chloe made me laugh. Good use of Lauren, Punkie, Heidi and Alex as well. I also liked "Sweet Home Alabama" as a random set list inclusion. Also, did anyone else get the vibe that Cecily was playing the same character she played in the Irish Dating Game sketch from Bill Haders' Season 43 episode (or that this also could've been a pitch that Saiorse Ronam rejected when she hosted that season)? B-

Update was one hell of a way to cap off this season. Thank God the "gift exchange" has become a bi-yearly Jost/Che tradition since those were the strongest ones tonight outside of Josts' Biden Truck/Boom Airline and Che's Andrew Guilianni ones. I appreciate Jost really having gone H.A.M. on Che (do the kids still say that? "going H.A.M"?) with that police brutality joke and I'm sure Dennis Perrin will have some extremely mixed feelings on Josts' Woody Allen joke. Yeah, I can see that "Man Of Steal" getting some light unfounded accusations of plagiarism tossed SNLs' way. Please don't ask me why I think this, though. Pete and Cecily gave us some strong commentaries to have gone out on (and yeah, they very unsuited hinted to us that they were in fact going out). The only things that surprised me were that Cecilys' as-of-this-very-writing-unofficial final Update piece was that it was Judge Pirro instead of Cathy-Anne or "Party" Girl and that she found a way to top vomiting Jost and soaking him via Zoom but a big musical number was a very Cecily way to exit the show. She did promise an "Irish Goodbye" for this season and since we already saw her play Irish in the previous sketch it's nice to see her make the "goodbye" part just as obvious. Overall, I liked how much of a throwback this Update was to the Eddie Murphy/Lizzo one from last season. B+

Enid & Astrids' Brawr Barn - Well, I spent most of this sketch just being thankful that Anya Taylor-Joy had what would’ve obviously been Kate's part given the fact that Aidy was standing right next to her. Now, I'm starting to wonder if there was a specific reason for that? Maybe Kate just couldn't emotionally handle being on camera in this sketch with Aidy of she knew it would be their last and thus Anya was a last minute replacement? I know neither of them ha e dropped hints that they were leaving yet but maybe they each know something we don't? Beck and Heidi brief walk ons along with the "load bearing brawr" were the highlights for me. Other than that, I kept imagining a viewer tuning into the show just in time to catch this sketch, mistaking Anya Taylor-Joy for Emma Stone and becoming very confused. In fact, I'm starting to think a lot of the sketches in tonight's show were just dress rehearsal cuts from Emma Stones previous episodes. C+

NYU Panel - At first, I was trying to determine if Che wrote this since he may have had to plug his own HBO Max show recently and this piece seemed largely critical of white women. Then, the names "Sudi G" and "Fran G" were both mentioned and suddenly this got a lot looser and sillier and then I noticed how coherent this always was and I was like "yeah, nah this ain't Che". I did like Bowens' slow burn and how the direness of the questions aimed at him, Ego, Punkie and Heidi contrasted against the light puff piece trivia lobbed at Pete. B-

Vin Deisel for AMC - Nice of SNL to close out this season with some escalating silly baritone nonsense from Beck with some assists from Chris, Melissa, Kenan and Anya Taylor-Joy. Plus, (again, as Bill Kenney said) that secondary theme from the Pride pretape was there but with much lower stakes. B+

Now, for my updated rankings for this season…
1. Timothee Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (12.12.2020)
2. Regé-Jean Page/Bad Bunny (2.20.2021)
3. Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)
4. Anya Taylor-Joy/Lil Nas X (5.22.2021)
5. Keegan Michael-Key/Olivia Rodrigo (5.15.2021)
6. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)
7. Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa (12.19.2020)
8. Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11.7.2020)
9. Regina King/Nathaniel Rateliff (2.13.2021)
10. Daniel Kaluuya/St. Vincent (4.3.2021)
11. Maya Rudolph/Jack Harlow (3.27.2021)
12. Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers (2.6.2021)
13. Elon Musk/Miley Cyrus (5.8.2021)
14. Carey Mulligan/Kid Cudi (4.10.2021)
15. Nick Jonas (2.27.2021)
16. John Krasinski/Machine Gun Kelly (1.30.2021)
17. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)
18. Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)
19. Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen (12.5.20)
20. Bill Burr/Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, good or bad, we may never see another season of SNL that resembles this one. So, as SNL and the world at large prepare to go back to a rough approximation of "normal" let's hope for a livlier, safer season. Here's to also hoping for a more manageable cast size this fall that gives the less senior cast members more time to shine. Whoever doesn't return, we thank them for the great moments they gave us and wish them the best with their careers. Have a great and fulfilling summer, everyone!