Lizzo (4.16.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was definitely the strongest show of SNLs' April 2022 block mostly due to the host. The writing and running order still contribute to a show that's a little uneven but Lizzo really bought the energy and confidence she was expected to bring and really put the entire show over for me. It wasn’t all her (she and Dismukes worked surprisingly well together) but you can visibly tell she definitely lifted morale throughout the week (even if most of the visual evidence of this came across through points in the show where the entire cast was near breaking). Plus, this is the first show in a long time where every single cast member (minus Pete who has been M.I.A for two months now) got some screen time. Some of the underused women got their showcases tonight and even Aristotle got some small supporting parts (which isn't much but still must beat how the show has been treating him the past few weeks). Anyway, let’s get to it.

A Message From The Easter Bunny...And His Friends - I knew the very idea of us getting a non-topical non-grab bag cold open that was just pure evergreen Bowen weirdness (that's lighther on the camp) but this still had its moments. Kates' Fauci impression has passed its' shelf life and Cecilys' MTG may be getting there (but I did like the brief "God Bless Russia" joke) Good to see Redd as Eric Adams again. Only he could make a dicey NYC subway shooter joke work. Still, knowing what I now know about Eric Adams as a person from the actual news (particularly his treatment of homeless encampments in New York) I feel like SNLs take on Eric Adams shoukd be way more vicious. I'm still not sure what to make of Mikeys' Elon Musk other than it being basically a reheated version of Alexs' Mark Zuckerberg. Chloes' Britney was wasted here. I'm not too crazy about Kyle's Jared Leto either but I did like his "don't review Morbius" joke. It's nice to see JAJ settle into his role as Trump but the prospect of SNL NEEDING someone settled into that role is something I don't like to think too much about. I did like the Cap'n Crunch/Count Chocula/Little Ceasers' stories and Bowens' Bunny expressing his sheer confusion at them. I'll also admit to liking his "Covid will be over by Easter" joke as well. C+

Monologue - It's nice to see Lizzo start the show off right with the exact amount of confidence we expected of her, delivering a thoughtful personal monologue (apparently Lizzo had the most confidence out of anyone abour the material she had). B-

Guess That! - Jesus, another post monologue game show? This is, like, what, the fifth one in a row? The only thing close to a laugh this gave me was Kenans' name bring "Clint Litoris" but the rest of this seemed pretty aimless until it became obvious that the entire premise was "Lizzo plays an overconfident aggrieved dumb person who argues with Kenans' host over a minor slight". I appreciate Ego getting in on this, but it felt too little too late for me until Ego told her "People's Court" story and Kenans' host suddenly having a negative total on his podium despite not playing the game. C-

TikTok, Too - I figured this was going to be what we would get when The Standby Line Girls hinted we would get the return of a pretape from Billies' episode. I didn't mind since I did like the first one and I have to say this one was an improvement as it felt more focused and concise. It had an actual ending instead of just wrapping up four loose recurring themes. Plus, a lot of the cast just had better material from the first one (in particular Melissa, Chloe, Kate, Punkie, Andrew, Chris, JAJ, Mikey/Heidi, Ego & Sarah). I especially like the ending just being a simple reveal that JAJs' weird crawling guy is actually the father of our TikTok viewer (who, for some reason, unless his mom made a huge glarimg typo in one of the texts she sent him that she never caught also happens to be 27 years old and is somehow still in high school, still studying for the LSATS and has strong GoGurt flavor preferences...possible tribute to the Twitter persona of former SNL writer Dan Licata?). I also liked how Cecily made up for her absence from the first one by covering for Pete's absence from this one. Hey, if Aidy resembles any character from Euphoria...it's GOTTA be Kat, right? Also, were both of Bowens' contributions to these TikTok sketches just specific parodies of real viral TikTokers? I think i recognized who his "crying whille eating noodles" guy from the first one was supposed to be but the audience seems to have beaten me to recognizing his Tom's Diner cover artist tonight (which is a video we definitely need the full length version of, by the way!) B+

Black Eyed Peas 2008 Studio Sessions - Ok, thankfully I was able to let my aversion toward the inevitable creeping slide into full on late 00s nostalgia get in thecway of me enjoying this. Although Cecilys' Fergie is a little dodgy (especially when you compare it to Mileys' from season 36) this was pretty much perfectly cast. The premise was a bit thin (seemed better suited for a lame standup bit from someone like, say...I dunno, Dave Attell or a Family Guy cutaway than a full on sketch) but the performances (especially Chris and Bowen) really put it over for me. It didn't go on too long but it still felt like it could've used some cuts (like the "Let's Get It Started" reference because I know that song HAD to have been recorded way earlier than April 16, 2008). Overall, this wasn't too bad for a dated feelong sketch that needed real tightening up. C+

Six Flags Grandpa - As much as I'm not crazy about the prospect of MORE pointless mid-to-late 00s nostalgia as over explained by Mikey and/or Aidy with small dick joke liberally sprinkled throughout, I have to say I do like the prospect of Sarah getting her own vehicle out of this. I do like how Ego and Aristotle got in on it. I do like how Kyle and Kate basically ceded the spotlight to them, too and the semi-emotional ending here worked for me too. C+

PDD: Horny Zookeeper (ft. Lizzo & Andrew Dismukes) - This might have just replaced "Three Sad Virgins (ft. Pete Davidson and Taylor Swift)" as my favorite PDD SNL short of all time so far. I don't know what it is about the weeks where the show has big name female double duty pop stars return to the show as either hosts or musicial guests (and yes, I'm counting the one that got cut from Billies' episode in this because thst worked for me) that has made them produce all their straight up bangers so far but hey, more power too them. Also, I'm intrigued to hear more abour Dismukes history of literally getting away with murder. B+

Update seemed to have a running theme of "jokes I would've really hated if anyone other than Colin Jost or Michael Che were telling/saving face from them." That Sonic/Tails/Knuckles joke seems like it was beamed forward in time from season 45. Che clearly had the better Elon Musk Twitter joke but Jost made up for his short comings tonight with that dumbbell joke. Other than that, nothing else stood out to me. Thankfully, Melissa rolled in at the end to debut her new non-impression character "guy who is trying standup for the first time and immediately regrets it as all his jokes are just harsh slams against his nephew." I love getting to see the occasional glimpses into this side of Melissa that wants to give us more creative conceptual character work. I love that this also seemed more personal for Melissa as it seemed based in her own personal background and family culture. I also liked that the entire bit seemed to just be the longest setup to another slam on Jost ever done on Weekend Update. I know a lot of people probably would have preferred Aristotle got a character on here but Melissa has still gotta be second from the bottom on this season's list of "cast members who got the most airtime" so, hey I'll take it! B-

Debauched Orgy Prep - I appreciate that they went for a full cast ensemble piece (minus Melissa, Jost, Che, JAJ, Heidi, Chloe and the still absent Pete) at a point in the season of heavy cast imbalance (yes, even Aristotle scored here) but this might have been the weakest sketch of the night for me. Kate, Kyle, Sarah, Lizzo and Dismukes tried to give us something to save it (and so did Aidy with the unintentional comedy of the camera accidentally cutting away from her at a seemingly pivotal reveal-that-was-already-kinda-botched moment for her character) but other than that there wasn't anything for me to latch onto here. Honestly, Cecily and Bowen as the anchors of this sketch gave me bad flashbacks to that Cleopatra sketch from the lackluster Awkwafina episode from season 44. C-

Beverly Gas Joins The Devry Symphony Orchestra - I suppose it was inevitable that we would get a sketch that revolves around Lizzos' famed flute playing ability. I suppose I can see how it might have presented a challenge to not also make Lizzos' famed twerking abilities a part of it too. Still, I wasn't crazy about this either but the ending was admirable. Aidy and Kenan tried their hardest but I still couldn't fully get into this one. Also, this sketch HAS to have set a new record for "most castmembers near breaking in a single sketch", right? Glad to see everyone having fun here, though. C-

Steve's Investment - Good to end the night on pure unrestrained Dismukes madness. The ending was a little bleak for me, but the sketch itself still worked. B-

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

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. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Lizzo (4.16.2022)
8. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
9. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)
10. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
11. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
12. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
13. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
14. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
15. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
16. Ariana DeBose/Roddy RichBleachers (1.15.2022)
17. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
18. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that episode certainly carried the cast and crew into May. Speaking of which, next month SNL returns for its final block of shows this season with Benedict Cumberbatch as host. I remember his 2016 episode being pretty bad but that wasn't his fault so I definitely think he deserves a second chance to host during a week without any approaching dark clouds about to loom over America's collective heads and during a point when the cast and crew have had two weeks off instead of one and they've just produced the standard three shows in a row rather than four, so...y'know less burn out. See you then (oh, amd before I forget...make sure you catch me as a guest on the next SNL Network Patron Feedback show on Tuesday 04/19! Yes, that's the right date. I know those moved from Thursday to Wednesday but Jon has said he will be out of town on Wednesday).

Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was an episode that was shockingly far more uneven than last week. However, this is mostly due to the fact that the show was frontloaded with it's weaker material leaving it's truly great sketches at the bottom of the show. To me, this show started out with the strange feeling that something somewhere was a bit "off" but that may just be due to my own personal reservations about Mr. Gyllenhaal. Putting those aside just for a moment, I'll admit he was just as fine a host as he was 15 years ago. He seemed to be used more in this episode than his previous one but he still blended into the background a little too easily when he wasn't meant to be the main focus of a sketch. In fact, I heard that Jake was one of Jimmy Kimmels' guests (in L.A. of course) on Monday this week where even Kimmel questioned why he wasn't in New York as we speak. Since the last host I know of to have missed the Monday pitch meeting was Justin Beiber, I had a feeling Jake might have been just as difficult backstage, but thankfully there seemed to be no evidence of that onscreen. He still seems to have gotten along with everyone. Plus, Camilla Cabello turned in some fine musical performances. On the plus side, a lot of the newer, underused female cast members (and Alex Moffat) made major comebacks in terms of airtime this week! Still, Aristotle continues to be shut out and Pete continues to be skipping the show entirely. Other than that, the cast balance seems to makeup for the imbalance caused by this episodes runnning order. Let's just get right into it, shall we?

Kentanji In The Oval Office - Well, I liked where this WAS headed until Kate showed up but thankfully the queen of Gins-burns wasn't the sole focus of this. Kenan got it back on track. Punkie and Chris got the roles of a lifetime. Thankfully, this was more concise, focused and thoughtful than most of the political cold opens we've gotten this season. B-

Monologue - Well, I did like the mini-deep dive into his 2007 episode but I'm still not crazy about his singing (which doesn’t seem to have changed all that much in 15 years) but it's still preferable than another "personal" monologue where he goes on about method acting (which...honestly would've still been preferable to a monologue where he addresses the "All Too Well" drama at all). Oh, well. At least this was concise for a singing monologue that (thankfully) features Cecily, Ego and Chloe as backup singers. D+

Why'd You Like It? - Hmm, this felt like it could've been cut from literally any dress rehearsal since season 40 (which incidentally featured a sketch with Kevin Hart called "Why'd You Post That?" which was cut from Chris Rocks' episode earlier that season that this seemed to be a watered down version of). Still, Chris and Ego pretty much owned this with some assists from Kenan and Chloe (and helped offset the creepy "too on the nose" nature of Jake's presence in this) for me. C-

Dream Home Cousins - Hmm, I was hoping this would be more in line with the "House Hunters" and "Chopped" sketches Leslie Jones did with Melissa Villaseñor and Liev Schreiber in season 44. Unfortunately, this seemed to solely focus on Kate's unpleasant character (who had some decent line, I'll admit). Nice to see JAJ in another non-impression role but his intentionally weak character didn't do much for me. Overall, this sketch didn’t land. D+

The Cabaret Singers Four - Hmm, this seemed to be another "camp" sketch written solely for Cecily and Bowen to "vamp" in the vein of the one they did with Jonathan Majors (but with Jake and Kate sharing his role) but at least this had enough scattershot silliness to just barely work for me. C+

Flower Sprinkles - Hmm, Jake and Sarah in a sketch together was something I was hoping to see. Kenan, Cecily and Chris were solid here, too. Bowen performed well in spite of how badly he was greenscreened. Unfortunately, this seemed WAY to unfocused for its' own good and needed some serious edits to at least not feel like four rewritten versions of one sketch all jammed together. D+

Chucky - Now, THIS was a much better use of Sarah (and Chloe, Ego and DEFINITELY Melissa!) I love the insane amount if thought and visual work that went into this and the twist of Chuckys' reveal followed by the further twist of Aidy/Janet being openly badmouthed in the meeting and everyone simply being OK with that. B+

Update was more fun to watch for Che and Josts' chemistry than the jokes. However, I did like Josts' Tom Cotton/MTG Rabid Fox bite/Dosney hugs/injury attorney jokes and the meta turn in his "Will Smith should host next years Oscars as punishment" jokes. I also liked Che's Trump Capitol Steps/Obama/Miami/Tom Brady Gator/Lucky Charms jokes. I don't think we really needed to see Aidy and Bowens' trend forecasters again but I did like the "no more jogging to Kelly Clarkson" tirade and the "sounds" forecast (as well as Che being "out" as telegraphed as that was). As much as I don't like to think about who might have gotten cut, it was nice to see a short Update with only one commentary again. C+

Lights Camera Achoo - This was a very specific premise based sketch that was well acted by all involved (even if Mikey Day just had to Mikey Day the hell out of it and Cecily made a questionable choice). Plus, there was a neat little live TV verité moment with the fluid flinging stagehand crouching next to Kenan behind the bar and it was nice to see Alex and Andrew pop up. Still, it didn’t really go anywhere and the ending was kinda weak but it has to be my third favorite segment of the night. B-

Couple's Therapy - Well, Punkie is the lead in this sketch and it's the type of insane thing that ONLY Punkie could do. Plus, Melissa and Ego are her scene partners. Even Jake was put to good use here. So, automatically this is my second favorite sketch of the whole show. B+

Truck Drivin' Songs - Ooh, looks like somebody on the SNL writing staff must've been watching both John Oliver on HBO and old YouTube clips of Mason Ramsey on Sunday night and just ran with the first thing that popped into their head on Monday. This was an all right five-to-one sketch. Not all of the songs landed with me but everyone was great in it (especially Melissa and Andrew). I wasn't crazy about Aidys' performance here but I did like the idea of her doing an impromptu Wayne Porter vs Kim Plunkett/Jennifer Aniston for Privolin style fake ad for no one. C+

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

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. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
8. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)
9. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
10. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
11. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
12. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
13. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
14. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
15. Ariana DeBose/Roddy RichBleachers (1.15.2022)
16. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
17. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was that. It was the kind of show that made you really question what your owj expectations as a viewer were setting you up for. Next week, Lizzo returns to the show as not just mudical guest, but host as well! She may not have had much acting experience, but like most double duty pop star hosts the shoe tends to book she seems to have a big enough personality to do well with sketch comedy. See you then!

Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was just a very uneven episode that had its moments. Sadly, it's not one of those episodes that is likely to leave a long lasting impression on you or even stay with you for a long time. Having nearly an entire third of the show devoted to discourse on a certain subject that had been beaten to death by mid week didn’t help much either. Jerrod Carmichael may be a fine standup comic but he's practically invisible as a host and as a sketch performer. Speaking of "practically invisible" it was another episode where a number of cast members were shut out entirety. We didn’t see any Punkie, Melissa, Aidy or Aristotle. Pete was only in one pretape and Kate disappeared after the cold open and first post monologue sketch. Ego had one voice only part and then showed up on camera in only one post Update sketch. That kind of cast imbalance tends to throw the show off in some noticable ways. Anyway, let's break this thing down, shall we?

FOX And Friends - It's good to see this is still a palatable and flexible cold open template all these years later. I liked the jabs at the new right wing social media app burning up everyone's phones (ranking all of SNLs' Brian Kilmeade impersonators, I'd have to go Bobby Moynihan > Mikey Day > Beck Bennett...I know Beck was the most accurate with the voice but other than that his impression was pretty forgettable). I also liked the sight gag of Cecily Pirro shotgunning wine and SNL showing enough restraint to channel their (hopefully non-Update) commentary on "the slap" through JAJs' Trump badly describing the plot to "Hitch". I also like how they turned his Trump into a blatant self-incriminator. It shows they're trying out different things with JAJ as Trump than just having him blast through rundowns and wordles. Kenan as Clarence Thomas didn’t do much for me but Kate's Ginni and her whole "biblical vengance/release the Kraken" speech. Also, Alexs' Steve Doocy has improved but Heidi just seemed to be playing herself. Overall, a pleasant down-the-road-less-traveled surprise of a cold open. B-

Monologue - Well, I certainly respect Mr. Carmichaels' approach to tiptoeing around the topic everyone wants to address so vaguely one could argue that he didn't even address it at all (and knowing what Lorne has been like for years, I totally buy that he would tell Jerrod to "heal the nation" by talking about it). He should be glad to know he is FAR from the least famous SNL host of all time. That honor goes to Miskell Spillman. Hell, Jerrod Carmichael doesn’t even crack the bottom ten on the "all time least famous SNL hosts list". B-

Is My Brain Okay? - Well, Sarah, Chris and Bowen made this for me but I couldn't get past that nagging feeling in the back of my head that Twitter is going to pick this sketch apart for unfairly making fun of those with long haul Covid symptoms without knowing or really caring who at the show has them. I've already seen some people saying that this felt like a sketch from last season but if thst were the case, Kate would jusy be playing herself and waiting for the very end of the sketch to reveal it. C+

Short Ass Movie - This had its' moments and the premise didn’t feel too banal or derivative to make it on air. Say what you will about Gunna, but he was surprisingly decent here (but then again even an overrated professional rapper would probably bring a little more to a rap video than Pete and Chris would). I wasn't sure how to feel about the Simon Rex cameo (mostly due to me barely knowing who Simon Rex even is) but I loved how the entire reason for his cameo seemed to be to take advantage of his facial resemblance to the late Jim Varney. I also appreciated Pete mumbling his weak defense of "King Of Staten Islands'" length. Basically, my main takeaway from this piece was to start reccomending MST3K to people more since every episode of thst show is basically a 90 minute movie. Hell, even the ACTUAL MST3K movie is a mere 75 minutes (which is one of the reasons so many people say it is a good starting point for getting into tye show itself). B-

Rhylee Rainbowlocks - It was a bit of a long walk at first but I liked how such elaborate writerly details went into such a subtle reveal of something so casually raunchy. My only criticisms were that Cecily and Mikeys' characters seemed too similar to the "Right Side Of The Bed" hosts she played with Taran and it seemed like Jerrods' character could've been played by any host but other than that I had no real problems with this sketch. B+

Oscars - Well, I'm not crazy about the fact that they decided to devote a whole sketch to this but I will say it was well acted and written. Chris Redds' Will Smith works well enough for a sketch where the main focus is him trying to carry on a casual conversation with now-former fans of his who are unfortunately meeting him for the first time in *that* moment and Will being blissfully unaware that they've instantly lost all respect for him they once had. Kyle and Jerrod acted their parts well and it was a decent length for what it was. Some might say Jay Pharroh did a better Will Smith impressions but only Chris Redd could've sold Smiths' apparent obliviousness in the moment. C+

Update was...something. As expected, Che way outclassed Jost with the "slap" material (but I did like Josts comment on the academy supposedly asking Rock if they should remove Smith or not). Other than the Black Bear/Madea sex voice/Mtn Dew Breast Milk jokes and Che's subtle plug for the second season of his HBO Max sketch show, not much else stood out to me. I never thought I'd have an actual favorite out of all the dim blonde Republican women Cecily spouts pure Fox News word salad as, but her Marsha Blackburn comes close. I wanted to like Kenans' O.J. commentary just for his performance but I definitely feel like OJ even offering his take in real life it was too close to parody itself (and too many people have pointed that out already) for me to really get into it. Hey, at least by random chance I picked the right option in the SNL Standby Line "guess the update commentaries" twitter poll (well, I picked Kenan deliberately just because I had a gut feeling he could be the only one to deliver their commentary on "the slap"). B-

Funeral At Sea - I'm glad that Dismukes is getting more time and I especially liked that they gave JAJ an opportunity to act in a non-impression role in a momemt of pure chaos. Heidi and Kyle were great in supporting roles. Other than that, they should’ve aimed a little shorter if they were aiming for a short sketch. I don't think that the parts with the urn and Dismukes kidnapping that random biker were necessary. Plus, this is the second sketch of the night where I got an "interchangable host" vibe from Jerrod Carmichael. C+

French Waiter Story - I wanted to like this a lot more just for Kyle's performance but it felt too much like Nassim Pedrads' "Tibby" character from season 38 and Kyle's "cut to" musical short from last season for me to get into it. Plus, even though it had a silly enough ending for me it felt like "socially awkward character needlessly/incredulously interrupts a mundane story from someone they just met  to the point where they don't even register that the story has ended" is a trope I've seen a few too many times on SNL. Plus, I feel kinda bad that this was Ego's first appearance of the night. C-

Born This Way Onesies - Wow, I don't really know what to make of this one. I mean, the only joke I even remotely liked was "Alexander Hamilton was a TERF" just for the sheer outlandishness of it but other than that, it seemed so jumbled, confused and on the verge of just punching down I'd have a hard time believing Che didn't write this. D+

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

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. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
8. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
9 Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
10. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
11. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
12. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
13. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
14. Ariana DeBose/Roddy RichBleachers (1.15.2022)
15. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
16. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was that. Next week, Jake Gyllenhaal returns for his second time hosting with Camilla Cabello as his musical guest in what has to be both the most ill-advised AND ill-timed host/MG booking in SNL history. I mean, I hope they can either figure out a way to make Gyllenhaal feel like as much of a low-impact host as Carmichael was or just do what they did in '07 and just use him like Dick Ebersol used his hosts in the early '80s (barely...and hopefully only in sketches with JAJ/Squirm/Aristotle where he can give them a boost) because with certain other more *recent* revelations that have come out about him, I don't really want to see that much of Jake Gyllenhaal right now. Basically, Gyllenhaal might be the third worst host SNL could've booked right now after Jared Leto and Kanye (the latter of whom I only compare to because they both breifly convinced 16yo Casey back in 2007 to admit to himself "OK, these famous guys who I don't think all that much of do have a sense of humor about themselves and can be funny sketch performers, so...maybe they've earned a little bit of respect from me" but then both guys would quickly undo most of the goodwill they've earned from me and the general public at large who aren't their most devoted fans over the next 15yrs as we learn more about them and the messed up stuff they've done/would do (particularly to a certain other performer who's been in this show six months that I've semi-shamelessly yet still ever-so-subtly dropped blink-and-you-might-miss-it type hints that I am a genuine fan of...and yeah, that reminds me...I'm sure Tay-Tay and Baby C's friendship is going to be a bit strained for a while). Seriously though, some may say Gyllenhaals' not quite as bad a person as Kanye (I may not be willing to go that far myself but YMMV) but it's still a case of "I know too much about this guy to fully be into seeing them give it their all in an SNL sketch in 2022". See you then.