Jenna Ortega/The 1975 (03.11.2023)

Okay, here's my review. This episode of SNL was a little uneven, but overall, it felt like the show was headed back in the right direction. Jenna Ortega proved to be a dynamic host who proved she belonged on that stage immediately. It was clear from the beginning the show knew exactly how to use and play to the strengths of (given all the creative control she took on the set of "Wednesday" she was probably glad to tell the writers exactly how to use her in sketches and what her strengths were as an actress). Honestly, it was nice to have a host who didn’t bring an "off" vibe to the show. It's nice to get back to hosts who aren't just relying on their own overconfidence and actually have the performing chops to be on the show. Plus, no one felt shut out of the show completely (although a little more Punkie, Squirm, and Longfellow and a little less reliance on Mikey wouldn't have hurt). Anyway, let’s break it down, shall we?

Access Hollywood Oscars Red Carpet Show - Well, we get another left field cold open that was, unfortunately, too scattershot for its own good. Still, I really liked how they used Marcello, Molly (their Brendan Gleeson was the sole highlight of this), Dismukes, Devon, Sarah (minus the Chuck Schumer tag at the end), Kenan (he had funny enough dialogue to make up for his disappointing Tyson) and Longfellow (yeah, I could tell that was him as Del Toros' Pinocchio). The only things that didn't work for me were Heidi as...well, Heidi, Mikey as Colin Farrell, Bowen as Santos (played out) and Chloe Fineman as Kate McKinnon as Kristen Wiig as Jamie Lee Curtis. C+

Monologue - Already, this monologue feels halfway between Aubrey Plaza and Selena Gomez (in terms of material and how much faith the host had in delivering it). Still, Jenna bought the exact right energy the show needed at this point. I'll admit that Facebook/TikTok joke made me laugh even though it sounds like a lone that would’ve gotten cut from an episode of "Velma." I liked the "happy, extroverted people" joke, too. The only part I could've done without was Armisens' cameo, which just made me feel...uneasy on multiple levels. I was a little nervous when Jenna named "The Californians" as her all-time favorite sketch, but thankfully, I realized how many more cameos they would need besides Armisen to pull off another one of those. Now that I think about it, I could've done with less reliance on her old toothpaste commercial. Also, as someone who has watched this show in their infancy, I can never imagine someone being "too young" to watch the show. C+

School Vs. School - Hmm...I'm torn between thinking this sketch didn't go far enough with its premise of "Not! X-Men cause chaos on a college competition game show" and thinking "the over the top acting from Jenna/Mikey/Molly justifies it's short length because they left it with nowhere else to go". I mean, it's been decades since I've seen any of the X-Men movies or even one of the cartoons. I wouldn't be able to tell you for sure if the acting in the movies really is that over the top so maybe this would've landed better with me if I was a bigger X-men fan, I dunno. One thing I'm NOT torn in is Kenans' rambling about Covid butt swabs could've been cut way down. I'll add that Jenna Ortega is definitely the right host for this sketch (as I could see her taking this exact role in an actual movie in an alternate universe). C+

PDD: Roadtrip - I really didn't know what to make of this. It just felt like four different sketch ideas crammed into one (and at least two of them felt like ones we've seen before, unfortunately). Still, I like that they tried to add some dark vibes to this. I just wish it had felt a little more focused, is all. I will say that JAJ as Billboard Jesus gave me my first genuine laugh in this. C-

Parent Trap Remake - From the moment Armisen walked in, I knew this was going to be a challenge, but thankfully, I've seen worse sketches than this one where Armisen plays inappropriately brash characters. Plus, Fred and Jenna do have a decent enough chemistry to make this work. C+

Ridiculousness - Now, this DEFINITELY feels like something the show should've just done in say...season 42 and been done with (which they kinda did if you go back and watch the Kristen Stewart episode) but adding Jenna Ortega as the one who just adds intense and horrifying personal anecdotes makes this worth putting on the air in 2023. This is honestly the thing that got me fully onboard with this episode. B-

Varsity Valley - I definitely liked the premise of "high schoolers being somehow oblivious to the insane chaos happening in the literal background of their unfunny romantic mellodrama." That's much more fun to watch than something where we just see Jenna and Marcello having a weird interaction. I didn't much care for the completely telegraphed ending reveal of Mikey being Jennas' Dad, but I did like him shoving Dismukes taser down his pants. I'd say if any of these episodes' pretapes could be used as a bargaining chip by the post production editors to get paid and otherwise compensated what they're worth and avoid the April 1st strike, THIS would be it. B+

Update was once again more worth tuning in for guests than jokes. The only ones that stood out to me were Che's Trump/DeSantis/great great grandchild jokes and Josts Rite-Aid/shower eating/RuPaul jokes (more swap vibes, at least...and we got a callback to something from earlier to make up for the callback we could've gotten during last weeks update that ended up getting cut). Molly, as a crusty, old closeted anti-LGBTQ Republican was something I wasn't sure I wanted to see at first, but then I realized she bought some things to this role that Aidy wouldn't have. Plus, this is not the first time in this episode let alone this season that Molly has played cisgendered men on the show and I liked both their Brendon Gleeson and their Terry Bradshaw just fine (...yeah, you guys understand why I'm extremely hesitant to use the word "drag" here, right? OK, good... moving on). JAJ, as himself just filling time with impressions on Update, was a nice touch. This feels like something the show only does once in a certain number of years. Even if the Adam Driver/Kyle Ren thing may have just been taken directly from his audition tape and I could see him getting some flack for the Jay-Z voice, I liked seeing this just for how he made it impossible for Jost & Che to not break. B-

Exorcism - Well, with this host, this sketch seems pretty much like a given. It's good to see another Ego/Kenan sketch, but this one didn’t really do much for me. It honestly felt a little too predictable and didn't go anywhere. C-

Soul Booth - A musical sketch with a JAJ/Dismukes pairing as the centerpiece that involves lots of shouting. I liked that part of it WAY more than I liked Bowens' wild over acting. B-

Now, my latest ranking of the season so far...

1. Aubrey Plaza/Sam Smith (01.21.2023)
2. Michael B. Jordan/Lil Baby (01.28.2023)
3. Dave Chappelle/Black Star (11.12.2022)
4. Steve Martin & Martin Short/Brandi Carlile (12.10.2022)
5. Keke Palmer/SZA (12.03.2022)
6. Jenna Ortega/The 1975 (03.11.2023)
7. Travis Kelce/Kelsea Ballerini (03.04.2023)
8. Austin Butler/Lizzo (12.17.2022)
9. Jack Harlow (10.29.2022)
10. Pedro Pascal/Coldplay (02.04.2023)
11. Woody Harrelson/Jack White (02.25.2023)
12. Brendon Gleeson/Willow (10.08.2022)
13. Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar (10.01.2022)
14. Amy Schumer/Steve Lacy (11.05.2022)
15. Megan Thee Stallion (10.15.2022)

Well, that's a nice course correction for this season. Next month, Abbot Elementarys' Quinta Brunson makes her hosting debut. She's another name who has been overdue to host since the beginning of this season. She's definitely got the chops to host SNL, so I'm excited to finally get to see her. However, I still have to make up my mind as to whether or not I would watch live if the post-production editors strike does indeed happen that night. Some have said that even watching makes them feel like they are crossing a picket line (and that would make me feel like a big hypocrite for very personal work related reasons I cannot get into here) but to each their own I suppose. Still, I would like to take this opportunity to state that I personally wish the SNL post production team the best of luck in their negotiations. I hope they get everything they are bargaining for. I wish the same for the writers as well as I understand they may have to go on strike for similar reasons in two months. See you then!

(...and remember, I am still taking applications for guest blogger, so if you want to write your own guest post like Blood Meridian did or if you want to submit your own fan mailbag question for me to answer like I did for Ken George Jones, PLEASE let me know!)

Travis Kelce/Kelsea Ballerini (03.04.2023)

Okay, here's my review. After the confusing mess of last week where our expectations we based on an old returning hosts previous performances were decidedly not met, it was actually nice to see a bit of a change of course with a first time host we could easily temper our expectations for. Travis Kelce turned out to be a fun host who meshed well with the cast and writers. The show knew exactly what to do with him. The only real problem with this show was the cast imbalance as Dismukes and particularly Molly seemed to be shut out of the show completely (frankly, I'm starting to worry Molly especially since it will have almost been two whole months since they made an impact in any episode). Longfellow and Marcello only seemed to make one sketch appearance all night each but everyone else seemed to have a solid night. As expected, Heidi, Ego, Mikey and Bowen were standouts. Unexpectedly, Devon, Punkie, JAJ and Sarah had strong showings as well. Chloe and Kenan quietly faded into the background to provide scene support. Anyway, let’s break it down, shall we?

FOX & Friends - Well, this may be a more questionable cold open template than ever NOW (especially this particular week) but I do have to give them some credit for choosing an out-of-left-field topic for this week's cold open. Heidi had some funny lines with the subway/rats and wrong court case bits even if her delivery was a little over the top. I'll admit, the bit with the Laura Ingraham texts got me, too. Mike Lindell jokes may be beyond played out now, but it's more fun to watch JAJ put them over than anyone else. Speaking of played out, I also gotta give Kenan credit for a unique delivery of another solo LFNY. C+

Monologue - As someone who doesn't follow football too closely, Travis Kelce handled this monologue pretty much the exact way I was expecting him to given everything I've heard about him. Even in the face of what sounded like it could've been legitimate booing, he was charismatic, confident, and handled self deprication with ease. The "more...more...more" clips got me from the get go. I also liked the way they worked in the obligatory Jason Kelce cameo. I especially liked the shot of him laughing at Travis' joke about his old reality dating show not being on Peacock. B+

American Girl Cafe - I was expecting a prequel to Mikeys' American Girl sketch from the Saiorse Ronan/U2 episode from 2017 and what I got was the obligatory "huge, masculine guy in a dainty, feminized setting" sketch they seem to try to do some variation of with each athlete host. The fact that Travis' character was revealed to be more and more of a deranged, delusional creep throughout this really worked was nice but since this sketch had Mikey Days' fingerprints all over it, the fact that he was only onscreen for about the first third of it really worked in its favor and the ending with Devon as the security guard mistakenly shouting at Sarah really made it for me. C+

PDD: Self Defense - Ok, they had me right from the "little bitch boys" text from the interns with this one. You know, it's nice to see Please Don't Destroy take a break from the rapid fire quick cuts and give us something...linear with more of a straight throughline, something a little more static and grounded in just one outside setting. The fact that this was a lot darker and more violent than their previous shorts (with most of the violence being directed at them nonetheless...boy, they like to spoil their biggest online critics, don't they?) and that they threw that random old lady into the mix just to keep things from feeling too telegraphed) made this work for me. B+

Funeral At Miss Glendas' - Ego and Travis Kelce of all people keep the dark and weird vibes from PDD going with this. Great hydraulicized corpse work from Ego. She must have studied the old Merryville Brothers sketches for this one. The only bad thing I can really say about this was Devon, Punkie, and Sarah's timing seemed a little bit off (either that or one of them may have just skipped one of their lines entirely...and I'm not quite convinced that Punkie can be slotted into the Melissa Villaseñor role that easily...and it feels weird that Sarah would have such a peripheral role in a sketch that seemed to be so heavilywritten in her voice but none of these observations dragged the sketch down for me). B+

Straight Male Friend - It's nice to see something more quiet from Bowen that felt more from within his wheelhouse and felt more relatable to a wide swath of people. After seeing him play giant insects, inanimate objects and mythical demons its' nice to see Bowen take a break from carving out these odd niches for himself that don't quite work and start drawing his comedy from a more human place (and I mean that as LITERALLY as possible). One could make the argument that Travis' role could’ve been played by pretty much any straight male host but Travis Kelce was pretty much the ideal straight male host to execute this (I coukd also see this MAYBE working with Jack Harlow but a professional NFL player obviously fits the the role of "stereotypical central casting straight dude" more than a white rapper) so it was smart of Bowen to save this from him. B+

Tears Of An Ex-Girlfriend - Okay, the main conceit of this sketch seemed to have been given away right when Heidi got up since I could see the tube running up her dress, but this turned out...OK. This was a little less outlandish than what I was expecting (no sleeve vomiting, no floor peeing or...other bodily functions) but there wasn't a lot to dislike here. Good use of Jason here but the ending made me question (and thanks to Ellis Mitchell in the SNN Hot Take Show Livestream chat for answering this for me) whether Travis was also supposed to be fitted with some kind of hose that just so happened to be malfunctioning on a "Rookie Cop" level (he was not). C+

Update was another instance of the commentaries being more worth watching than the jokes. The only ones that stood out to me was Josts' TikTok ban/Alex Murdaugh/Jesus Lizard/James Bond jokes. Other than that, they tried to carry over the "joke swap vibes" from last week except instead of "who can tell the most outrageously offensive joke?" it became "who can make the other deliver the weakest punchline?" Michael Longfellow as a quietly deranged bizarro world Frank Grimes-like Dilbert made the whole show for me (anyone else get Rachel Dratch as Peppermint Patty vibes?). It was nice to see Mikey and Punkie just being their natural selves (hell, it's nice to just see Punkie on the show, period) and I liked how wildly Punkie defied my expectations. This is a pairing I would never expect on Update but given that Mikeys' been paired with Ego in sketches multiple times, has done two different 50 Shades Of Grey commentaries with Leslie in 2017 and, again, was on season one if Nick Cannons' "Wild N' Out" I guess I should've remembered he does have a certain type of chemistry with black women. Nice to see more "Sarah News". Not crazy about her returning to mostly Jost roasts, but at least she went harder on them and everything else in general she did tonight. My only complaint was that the cake was just a normal cake with nothing disgusting about it. B-

Parent's Song - It's nice to see this finally make air after being cut from the Pedro Pascal episode but I guess reading that detailed Reddit description kinda dampened my expectations for this sketch since I knew pretty much how it was going to go down. For some reason, I wasn't expecting the musical numbers to feel as scaled back as they felt. Also, is it just me, or did it seem like this sketch was written solely around a Michael McDonald impression that JAJ was trying to get on air? C+

Garrett From Hinge - OK, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting to see a Heidi/Travis sketch begin like this for some reason but thankfully Bowen showed up playing a different, more grounded type of oddball I've been wanting to see him play. I got a kick out of the Stewie shirt, the inexplicabky green and glowing poison, and Travis repeating Bowens' "sucka at Buccacinnos (sp?)" line but not so much the breaking. Hey, maybe we should introduce Garrett from Hinge to...Lisa From Temecula? Something tells me they'd make a perfect pair! B+

Too Hot To Handle - Ok, this sketch went right over my head. It seemed like another one of those sketches written specifically for people who have watched the specific show its' parodying with everybody doing a specific impression of someone from said show. This would explain why Chloe seemed to be doing a specific voice that ended up coming out as a hopefully unintentional Garth Algar impression. Maybe Travis Kelce and Chloe both watch this show and they bonded over it? That might explain where this sketch came from and why it's the only time all night Travis attempted any kind of accent? Either way, I am left with far more questions than answers here, so I'll just leave it at that. D+

Now, my latest ranking of the season so far...

1. Aubrey Plaza/Sam Smith (01.21.2023)
2. Michael B. Jordan/Lil Baby (01.28.2023)
3. Dave Chappelle/Black Star (11.12.2022)
4. Steve Martin & Martin Short/Brandi Carlile (12.10.2022)
5. Keke Palmer/SZA (12.03.2022)
6. Travis Kelce/Kelsea Ballerini (03.04.2023)
7. Austin Butler/Lizzo (12.17.2022)
8. Jack Harlow (10.29.2022)
9. Pedro Pascal/Coldplay (02.04.2023)
10. Woody Harrelson/Jack White (02.25.2023)
11. Brendon Gleeson/Willow (10.08.2022)
12. Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar (10.01.2022)
13. Amy Schumer/Steve Lacy (11.05.2022)
14. Megan Thee Stallion (10.15.2022)

Well, that was a nice course correction. Next week, Jenna Ortega makes her hosting debut. She's someone I've definitely heard about way more than I have actually seen act (haven't seen Wednesday yet or whatever Disney Channel show she happened to be on) but I'm excited for this one because she's sure to bring more youthful energy to the show (at a time when it is desperately needed) and I have a hunch we might just get another episode like Aubrey Plazas'. See you then!

(...and remember, I am still taking applications for guest blogger, so if you want to write your own guest post like Blood Meridian did or if you want to submit your own fan mailbag question for me to answer like I did for Ken George Jones, PLEASE let me know!)