Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)

Okay, here's my review. Thankfully, this show was as strong as last week's with Kristen Wiig but I would rank it JUST below that one (which still places it squarely in my top five for the season). The highs were a bit higher for me personally but the lows were a bit lower. Ryan Gosling still proved himself a dependable host. Still, he didn't seem as comitted this time and he REALLY ramped up the breaking like he just didn't care. It was clearly infectious and while he obviously raised cast morale quite a bit this year, I can't say for sure he alone elevated that much of the material. Cast airtime was a bit scattered. Molly, Longfellow and especially Ms. Troast made up for lost time but Marcello, Bowen, JAJ, Devon, Punkie and possibly Kenan took some minor hits this week. Mikey, Heidi, Ego, Sarah, Dismukes and Ms. Fineman continue to maintain steady visibility on the show. 
Fair warning, this is possibly the most DENSE review I have ever written, but I still stand by it, so...last chance to turn back now.
To those of you choosing to stay, let's get right to it because there is a LOT to break down tonight.

Good Grief! Even More Close Encounters - Heh, and here I was thinking that "Papyrus" would be the only sketch from Ryan's previous hosting stints they COULD revive without the pre-Ego cast...because y'know I wasn't COUNTING on them getting any previous cast members to cameo but I guess Ryan used his Barbie connection to at least get Kate to make a cameo...a few months after she actually hosted, but whatever. Well, at least Ryan and Kate still have the sense to know that without the breaking brought on by bawdy suggestive physical bits, these really lose something but (if you'll forgive my phrasing here) having Ryan sliding an extended dick joke made this feel a bit...masturbatory? Oh well, even though Bowen is prone to breaking as well (and Sarah is getting there) they along with Mikey really balanced this out with a professional demeanor. Even though this kinda breaks the continuity of Ms. Rafferty now living with the alien planet permanently, I still liked the concise, non-blowout out ending to this even if it was another group LFNY. I will admit I kinda liked Ryans meta "same clothes" joke at the beginning. C+

Monologue - Last time Ryan started playing piano during his monologue, I had trouble NOT completely tuning out until Emma Stone shows up. Now, hearing Ryan sing a half baked parody of Taylor Swifts' "All Too Well" (I guess this means we WON'T be getting to see TayTay on the show to plug The Tortured Poets Department?) was enough to keep me engaged until Emily Blunt promptly showed up and just straight up started smashing shit over Ryan's head stunt man style in an effort to remind Ryan what movie he is SUPPOSED to be plugging (before she joined in on the singing and improved the musical portions of this monologue) and I legitimately started laughing. *Man, that was a long ass run on sentence. I really need to learn to either edit these better or cool it with the parentheticals and/or self conscious meta commentary on my own writing style.* Anyway, while I didn't really have a problem with the lyrics of the song or how it was performed, I thought for a brief moment that I might have been a little too hard on that cold open. I mean, if the premise of this monologue is Ryan Gosling dramatically "breaks up" with a character that he just played in a movie, I defy anyone (myself included) to call this any LESS "masturbatory" than...well, anything really. On top of that, this monologue cuts directly to a trailer for "The Fall Guy" that shows the exact scene Ryan just described where Emily Blunt busts his balls for crying to the exact song he parodies here in his car. Tell me THAT'S not "masturbatory"! Anyway, while portions of this episode truly made me feel that at least one person in the writers room thought they were still living in 2018, this monologue alone made me feel like the show itself (and possibly just America in general) could barely let go of the fall of 2021 (or even the fall of 2014 if you remember the monologue to Woodys' last truly great episode of this show) LET ALONE THE SUMMER OF 2023! Still, as I continue to examine this monologue, I'm picking up on something deeper. Maybe we're not just stuck in the past as much as we are just trying to cling to the last few moments in time when there was still a shred of what we now call "monoculture" where there was something big enough for the whole world to grab onto and popularize in an effort just to distract ourselves, even momentarily from just our own anxieties in life or even the true horrors of the real world we were too sad to really think about. Maybe I'm reading WAY too much into something here but I suppose that's just what you get when it's 1:30am and you've been up since roughly 7am because that's just what your body is trained to do now so you've been essentially microdosing caffeine throughout the afternoon just for THIS...just because you know some people out there you know online read these regularly and decide "yes, this is for me" and you're doing this for them and we're all mutually in an effort to distract ourselves from...something in our lives? Anyway, sorry for getting TOO deep there. Now, since I've more than said my piece on this monologue I'll just move on as QUICKLY (and thoroughly) as I can with the rest of my review before the density of my writing creates a black hole or a supernova somewhere. B+

But first, here's another fun Simpsons Gif that monologue gave me the perfect excuse to post...

Yeah, this is gonna be a long and DENSE review, so I thought I would just throw that visual gag in there to keep you guys engaged and awake. Ok, moving on...

The Engagement - I love that we actually open with a well written sketch with an actual beginning, middle and end. This also had some dark, writerly psycholigical thriller type details that it reminded me of the "Fliplets" sketch from Goslings' last episode that I actually enjoyed. It's like Goslings' character in "Fliplets" grew up and started the process of turning his life around. If I'm not mistaken, I'd say that Andrew Dismukes also wrote this and "Fliplets" because Goslings' last episode was Dismukes' first as a writer and both of these seem very much in his comedic voice. My only real criticisms of this wiuld be that Ryan seemed like he could've comitted to this a teeny bit more (he kinda broke mildly at an inappropriate time near the end and cut the tension too early) and also that Jojo Siwa reference felt too forced in. Otherwise, a solid opening sketch through and through. B+

Get That Boy Back - Wow, they FINALLY give Chloe Troast a break out moment where she is front and center AND she sings lead vocals! Just like I've been asking for! The assists from Gosling and Stapleton and the fact that this was a Carrie Underwood "Before He Cheats" pastiche that also felt well plotted with shades of "Barry" were icing on the cake. This may actually be a front runner for "favorite pretape of the season" for me. A+

Cuban Bar - This felt like a quarter of one sketch stitched on to three quarters of another, but really they were probably just too skittish to have Ryan sound like he was Marcellos' ventriloquist dummy without SOME explanation upfront as to why a white guy was doing a strong accent. They should've tried a different approach to making this feel like one cohesive sketch because the main focus seemed to be listing obscure pop culture figures who were supposedly going to be at a party Kenan couldn't attend because of an obligation to his significant other. I mean the whole "Jon Taffer/Hulu" rant was ok but didn't exactly save this for me. Yeah, that didn’t work for me. Other than the dogs' appearance at the end and Sarahs' "I love countries" line, this nearly devolved into pure white noise for me. C-

NewsNation A.I. Town Hall - Well, I'm sure some of you will have mixed feelings about them bringing back the template from the "Bert Sampson Google Talks" sketch with Jessica Chastain (also from season 43 incidentally) but that one was honestly a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, so I didn't mind. I especially liked how the expanded and improved on what they were doing this time starting with the fact that they didn't quite hang a lampshade on what they were doing here. I also actually enjoyed Heidi Gardner seemingly set a new record for "Hardest And Most Shamelessly An SNL Cast Member Has Broke On Air". Mikey and Ryan really captured the Beavis & Butt-head look and vibe expertly. While I felt the gag with JAJ, Molly, Dismukes and Marcellos' King Of The Hill cosplay was a bit telegraphed but I still appreciate that they put it in there nonetheless. B-

Update felt a little flat and uneven in some parts but a couple of unexpected factors at least bought the energy up a bit. I liked Josts' first two jokes just for the absurdity he was playing off of. I did like the slightly different than what I may have been expecting approach that Che and Jost took with those PJ obit jokes. I did like Che's Trump/Johnston joke. I wanted to like that Trump/abortion joke more just for the hard right turn after that long clapter baiting setup but the setup itself was a but clunky and hung a lampshade on most peoples problems with Che on Update this season (which they will address and attempt to correct/make up for later on). I didn't want to like Che's Golden Bachelor joke as much as I wanted to like the use of the phrase "sea-metery" as a punchline. It's nice to see Longfellow start to make up for lost time but this wasn't exactly my favorite commentary of his. I mean, the only time I could really get into it was the "duvet" rant and that was the very end. I did like the real Caitlin Clark stopping by to give Che his comeuppance for the string of borderline misogynist jokes right at the exact point he'd delivered the final blow that killed that horse. I also appreciated getting to see Che take the brunt of that "joke swap" energy instead of Jost for once. I genuinely laughed at that "Be. Funnier. Dumbass." punchline as much as Che did while delivering it. The only even slightly critical thing I can say about this is I feel like it couldn't been tightened up in the pacing department but then again we are dealing with a cameo (that was likely thrown together at the last possible second) from an athlete who hasn't been on the show before. For that reason (and that reason only) I got SLIGHT Dan Crenshaw vibes from this but this wasn't nearly as bad as that whole situation between Dan and Pete and Caitlin Clark isn't exactly someone I can see damaging American democracy or the voting process or anything by SNL "platforming" her. B-

Cookie Crumbles - Hmm, yeah...I could see this was going to be another shameless Bowen vanity piece that people are getting sick of so seeing what Ryan was going to bring to it was the only thing keeping me from tuning out. This went for an absurdist vibe and came up short for me. I think this places a distant third behind the records set by Larry David & Rachel Dratch/Lindsay Lohan (tie) in the category of "Most A Castmember Or Hosts' Shameless Breaking Has Improved A Sketch". I did appreciate the attempt at a twist ending even though part of me saw it coming. This made me think I was maybe a little too hard on that Cuban bar sketch from earlier in the show because this truly felt like two barely formed ideas just slammed together and stretched out at 2am Wednesday morning. C-

Erin Brockovich Deleted Scene - Anyone else notice Ryan was wearing a fake mustache over his ACTUAL mustache? Talk about putting a hat on a hat, am I right folks? Anyway, speaking of, I still can't really decide whether or not Ryan's breaking got to be too much by this point or if it was the only interesting thing about this Chloe Fineman vanity piece (and I do mean "vanity" because the fact that she got Julia Stiles to come back just to recreate a scene from "Save The Last Dance" makes me think she at least wrote or pitched this). Still, even if this wasn't the last sketch of the night it would've been easier for me to lose interest in what was essentially Chloe, Ryan and Kenan getting caught in a loop of reciting a bunch of goofy, pointless "lists" to each other. C-

Lists? Did I just type the word "lists?" Well, here's a list of the rest of this season's episodes I have subjectively ranked from best to worst so far...

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.09.2023)
3. Kristen Wiig/Raye (04.06.2024)
4. Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)
5. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
6. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
7. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
8. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.02.2023)
9. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
10. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
11. Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (03.30.2024)
12. Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)
13. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)
14. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
15. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (01.27.2024)
16. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
17. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)

...and hey, here's another list of me doing a similar ranking of JUST Ryan Goslings' previous episodes from best to worst

1. Ryan Gosling/Leon Bridges (12.05.2015)
2. Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)
3. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z (09.30.2017)

So maybe I should just end this review here since I've already talked about the last sketch that aired...but wait, there's actually one more sketch I wanted to talk about, so why don't I just work in another format break this week just for fun?

Obligatory Band Shot...Wait, what's THIS?!? - Well, I AM grateful to the show for actually PROMOTING the thing that obviously got cut for time due to the truly historic amount of breaking in tonight's episode. I mean, I know the blame can't all be on Ryan there but it's like they just KNEW his breaking would just reach critical mass tonight and felt the need to prepare themselves and the audience. Anyway, I normally don't go that extra mile to include "cut for time" sketches in my reviews but since they mentioned this existed on air and encouraged viewers to seek it out (and this happens to be the only potential sequel/recurring sketch reprisal from Ryan Gosling I was actually interested in seeing) I'll make an exception this time and I will talk about it.

Papyrus 2 - Hmm, while I did like this and I did feel like this was a more than worthy successor to the original (which was really the only other sketch from Goslings' 2017 episode worth remembering) I get the feeling that this might still have gotten cut for time or at dress...just for being too dense for an already fairly dense episode. Still, I liked the way they included Sarah in a surprisingly grounded and appropriately subtle role for her. This is the most I feel like I've seen a Sarah Sherman character occupy the same plane of reality as every other character in an SNL sketch. I did like the character progression of Ryan's character in this (especially in terms of his sheer pettiness). I did appreciate both big reveals in this (both in the middle and at the end...I won't spoil them for you in case you are reading this review without having seen this). It was nice to see the show throw Kyle Mooney a bone even after his leaving the cast but the cosmic irony of him coming back once more just to be, once again, genuinely cut for time (and in the audience to see it in real time, no less) is a bitter pill for even me to swallow. B+

Well, the good vibes of April 2024 continue on SNL. Even if they peter out just a tad, let's hope the keep going on into May when Dua Lipa makes her double duty debut! Even though "Argyle" in which she made her acting debut seems to have bombed, I have seen a clip of her doing a guest host monologue on Kimmel during the Covid isolation era and she handled that well. I have no doubt that Dua Lipa will be a strong host.

Host? Did I just type the word "host?" Well, here's the name of one other "host" who's talk shows got me through middle school, college and...well, the last few years of my life honestly.

Conan O'Brien.

Yes, I had heard a rumor originating on Twitter/X that he would be the next host. Someone said they had a connection at the show who saw his name on a piece of paper. My first thought was that paper being tonight's rundown and he would be making a cameo in TONIGHT'S show (since he was already in NYC and in the building this week). Since that didn't happen, I guess that person just couldn't squint hard enough to truly make it out and just severely misread "Caitlin Clark" from a distance? 

My second thought was of that paper not being a list of already booked May hosts, but a list of hosts they were TRYING to book for either the mother's day show (hey, that's when they had Elon on a few years ago, so...stranger things have happened) or more likely the finale.

While it's still a long shot, I would truly love to see ol' Conesy come back to studio 8H just once more. He did make a cameo in Mulaneys' five timers club sketch just two years ago and his first SNL episode from March of 2001 (an all time banger, btw) was my first real exposure to him before those two years when Comedy Central was the cable channel airing next day repeats of Late Night instead of CNBC. Ever since then he's been an idol and a role model of mine, and it's just gratifying to see the output of love and respect he gets on Twitter/X during the rare times he does something outside of his podcast. Whether it's his graceful retirement from TBS or his new Max streaming series FINALLY coming out, it's nice to be reminded that Conan O'Brien will live on even through YouTube clips of his old work. We'll always have those and our memories of them if a time comes when he's no longer out somewhere in the world making people laugh with new content of his own.

So maybe, since it's now 3:15 am as I write this part, I can't milk a third callback out of that Erin Brockovich gag and this review had gotten WAY too long and abstract already, I'll just end it here by saying...

See you all in May!

Kristen Wiig/Raye (04.06.2024)

Okay, here's my review. Like many of you, I've had some problems with the way SNL used Kristen Wiig in sketches in the latter part of her tenure. Fortunately, this episode didn't use her as a host in the same way. This episode worked mostly by focusing on Kristens' strengths as an actress and what made her work as a cast member when she first started out in the show. Thankfully, the two recurring characters of hers they dug out of mothballs for tonight were both semi obscure deep cuts that actually worked the few times they were done in the late 2000s/early 2010s rather than her big, hammy, over the top, scenery chewers that have already made previous comebacks because they somehow made a strong impression on more casual viewers. This may not have been the absolute best show of the season for me because it was a little uneven compared to Bargatze/Foo Fighters and the highs weren't quite as high as the ones in Driver/Rodrigo but it is still a top three episode for me nonetheless. The casts airtime felt pretty balanced (moreso than last week except for only Longfellow seemingly getting shut out but at least Molly and Punkie were allowed to make a bit of a comeback). Hell, you know it's a really solid episode when even Andrew Dick of all people says he can get on board with the parts that he saw (and Andy, if you happen to be reading this...you didn't miss much from the cold open but I would highly recommend you check out this monologue if you can. I'll fully lay out why two paragraphs from now. Also, if you make it to my review of the final sketch of the night...I'd be curious to know what you think of my assessment of it). Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?

TBS March Madness Postgame - This was a surprisingly muted cold open for an episode with...this host (kind of a bummer that a sketch wity both Devon Walker and Kenans' Barkley got this muted a reaction from me), but I guess it shows they know what audience Wiig would draw and...that the knew how to play to that audience, I guess? Good to see them finally off set that women's basketball sketch with Paul Reiser...30 years later. I didn't even mind Heidi in this but once she started talking aboyt how hard she works her girls I started wishing Melissa McCarthy could be in this (even if it would be a carbon copy of a sketch she did 11 years ago). At least it was nice of them to give us a break from tired, moribund political material when we really needed it. C-

Monologue - Wow, I liked this a lot more than I thought I would (even the "saying 'hi' to the band" part at the very beginning). It seems like it was going for the same thing Tina Feys' monologue from 2018 was going for but in a less needlessly self-indulgent, demeaning middle finger to the audience way. Instead of talking down to the audience like we were all idiots for not madly embracing big flashy stunt cameos in big flashy political roles to serve the shows' commitment to big and flashy yet ultimately tootlhess political commentary, they actually appeared to be on the audiences side for once as they addressed a legitimate concern we've raised recentlt. Does the ever growing, ever expanding and thus far FAR less exclusive nature of the modern day five-timers club renders is meaningless or does it still truly means anything anymore? I have to say though, it truly does mean something to me that they finally gave Paula Pell the proper fitting acknowledgement for her contributions to the show and her place in its history. Thankfully, if the show had to be loaded with cameos as it would've been a few years ago (will Paul Rudd EVER truly have made up for lost time due to his five timers club show being canceled due to an Omicron Covid outbreak?), they were mostly pleasant people I didn’t mind seeing again and they were mostly condensed to the monologue. Even Matt Damon turned in a genuinely funny performance although when he was explaining where he got his five timers jacket from I kept thinking "dude, just say Affleck let you borrow his...he legitimately hosted five times and that joke actually works better". Fred felt a little tacked on but he was fine. Glad to see Jon Hamm is aa worried he'll never get to host again as we all are. He truly deserves even a fourth time. Still, I wish I could get inside Marty Shorts' head just to find out his rationale of WHY he thinks his episodes where he cohosted with Steve and/or Chevy don't count at all toward his total. Ryan Gosling was OK too. I'm just glad to see him make up for how disastrous the last episode hosted by a season 32 alumni wher next weeks' host makes an actual cameo with Lorne during the monologue turned out to be. I did also appreciate how if you look closely, you'll see how this joke carried over into the goodnights with each castmember (even Longfellow...and Raye...and apparently Kaia Gerber who we'll see later starting with the first pretape of the night if you can manage not to blink) each having their own five timers jacket. Yes, as much as we were all expecting Wiig to make a big deal out of joining the five timers club, truly something this subtly off the wall would've been preferable to another big blowout sketch with the whole set. B+

Ticket To Ride - Ok, as soon as I could visually tell Wiig was NOT playing Surprised Sue and she uttered the phrase "I'm afraid of being Jumanji'd" I knew I was getting into this. It felt a little repetitive (as some escalating heavily detail oriented Dismukes sketches cam) but I loved the perfectly comitted intensity and conotrolled chaos of it (especially from Wiig & Dismukes). A frigging Forte cameo was the active ingredient of the perfect ending to this. B+

Pilates - This oddly felt like a premise for a "trendy" pretape that should've been done at the beginning of Wiigs' era as a cast member (you know, when it would've only felt two years out of date at most instead of twenty. I only say this because it immediately made me think of Amy Poehlers' "Sesame Street/Cookie Monster/Pilates Monster" joke from an April 2005 Weekend Update which was mere months before Wiig first joined the show). Still, I liked the details that went into the writing of this and the fact that it gave Molly, Troast and Punkie SOMETHING to do (it's about time someone threw each of them a bone). Even though it felt a little flat and static for a fake horror trailer that Sarah Sherman has a substantial supporting role in (thankfully I stopped myself from getting my hopes up because that descriptor NEVER turns into what I hope it does) I enjoyed this enough. C-

Secretaries - Ok, I actually liked this much more than I did when it appeared in Pete's episode this season. It REALLY helpee that Wiig & Hamm were there for Heidi to play off of as they're obviously both much better suited at playing these types of '50s/'60s office archetypes and selling them without getting too ridiculous and over the top. This also ended at just the right place before it got too annoyingly cartoonish. Glad one of my Twitter mutuals on Reddit was able to post a dress report that confirms my personal theory that the big table break was planned but didn’t go as smoothly on air as it was supposed to in dress. C-

Jerrys' Retirement - I really do appreciate that at this point in the night, the only true recurring Wiig character we've gotten was not just a deep cut that I actually remember enjoying the first two times they did it, but an ensemble piece where the cast played off each other well. I was relieved when this moved away from Bowen (even though he, Punkie, Chloe F and somehow Paul Rudd) and I actually laughed at Wiigs' "Gail" (channeling Kate McKinnon perhaps?), Armisens' "rock & roll shorts guy" and Fortes' Hamilton. Even Damon had funnier lines than he had in the monologue expertly expertly crafted for him here. It's too bad Bobby Moynihan couldn't make it this week because Marcello awkwardly grabbing the mic and then farting into it doesn’t hold a candle to Bobby's guy who says "WHAAAAAATTT?!?" and drops it. B+

Update was a pretty mixed bag. As far as jokes, the only ones that really worked for me from each anchor were Josts' podium/cocaine like and Che's Kanye joke and cicadas/mouse genitals line (the assist from Jost really helped). The rest of them really just washed right over me. No need to offset that cold open there, Che. I ended up liking Marcellos personified NYC earthquake much more than I thought I would because he sold it in only the way he could have. It felt like this was written specifically for Marcello and not like he was just slotted into a potential Bowen/Longfellow role. I didn't care too much for Kenan as the literal face of the eclipse but it was nice of him to provide some balance and pick up some slack so Marcello doesn't have to sustain that energy the WHOLE time. I was legitimately glad to see Wiigs Aunt Linda again. She was definitely at the top of my list of "recurring Kristen Wiig characters I had no actual problem with" (and that was mostly because she was only used in her first two years before the show tipped the scales away from "playing to her actual strengths" and "overindulging her as the next big beneficiary of the shows' 'star system'"). I even laughed at the line "don't get smart, Tina & Amy." I just wished she could get her desk slapping habit under control. B-

Go Karts - This was all right, but I couldn't really get to into it because I didn't feel like there was enough there. It didn't really go anywhere at all (pun not intended). Still, I appreciate how it made a decent use of each cast members dramatic acting chops to the exact degree this sketch called for it (well, except for Mikey but Wiig, JAJ, Troast & Dismukes were great in it). C-

La Maison Du Bang - Ok, while I hate to overuse this phrasing/joke structure in my reviews but this really TRULY felt like they threw Les Jeunes De Paris in a blender with those two Soul Train/New Jack Thanksgiving Time-Life record sketches in a blender with some diluted Deep House Dish and sprinkles of "don't make me sing/dance" other recent PBS Retrospective sketches. I didn't hate it but I felt there was nothing to really grab on to here. It just kept moving along from the next dadaist song & dance gag. It legit felt like they tried to replicate the pacing and audience confusion of a Turn-on episode and condensed it into one sketch. That may seem like a wild, swinging for the fences comparison but I say that with my full chest because Wiig, Mikey, Bowen & Chloe F (and at this point, let’s face it...JAJ & Dismukes) had the innate ability to arrest my attention but the material they were given didn’t keep me comfortable for very long. Ego and Chloe T could've kept me comfortable but they were on the screen only in very short bursts. Speaking of Ms Troast, I'm glad they finally gave us even a bit more than two seconds of her singing. I just wish they could do the same again without making her singing or her voice itself the central gag. Still, everyone in my favorite Discord server* seemed pretty high on this one so I'm sure it might grow on me if I ever decide to rewatch it. C-

*I know I post links to these reviews in two different SNL relayed Discord servers so in case you happen to be reading this from the other one, I won't reveal which one is which.

Now, for my updated ranking of season 49...

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.09.2023)
3. Kristen Wiig/Raye (04.06.2024)
4. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
5. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
6. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
7. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.02.2023)
8. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
9. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
10. Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (03.30.2024)
11. Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)
12. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)
13. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
14. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (01.27.2024)
15. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
16. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)

Well, that was the most pleasant, confident and self-assured I've seen SNL manage to be this season. Next week, Ryan Gosling hosts for his third time. Now, he has previously hosted one very strong damn near classic episode and one disappointing dull and lifeless episode so...batting average isn't great there but I know his comedic chops well enough to go into this one with an open mind. Hopefully they can carry on the good vibes from this week into the next week and Ryan Gosling had proven that wouldn't be a problem with him as host. See you then!