Pam Bondi Hearing
Hey, another “off the beaten path” political cold open (I mean, that describes any modern SNL cold open that doesn’t feature James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump as JAJ but still).
Speaking of, I see JAJ is playing Senator Chuck Grassley tonight and the two new white guys are getting some airtime right up top. I did like Jeremy Culhanes’ “Jeff-rey Ep-stein” chant as Senator Whitehouse. Boy, Dismukes as Senator Kennedy from Louisiana looks like it will be a fun impression.
Among the miscues, I see Ashley Padilla is playing Amy Klobuchar…but, wait…this is supposed to be a Pam Bondi sketch and didn’t Ashley play Pam Bondi in last seasons’ “White Potus” or was that some weird random color blob? Wait, does this mean we’re getting…HEY!!! Amy as Pam Bondi! (or is this just Leslie Knope if she became a “bad girl”?)
Well, it was smart of the show to have Amy helm this cold open since over the past several years she has proven herself adept at producing light political comedy that functions as comfort food for liberal wine moms.
She’s trying her damndest to put this over. I especially liked her Blumenthal/Durbin/Klobuchar roasts and her line about “who fell asleep in the middle of a sentence” but…something about this makes it feel like the energy is off. Maybe the audience isn’t into it because it isn’t quite what they were expecting? Maybe they just wanted to get past the current politics and get into the instant nostalgia?
Kristi Noem? Wait, Heidi played her and she’s gone now. Who’s going to…wait, I recognize THAT voice more than that face at the moment. Is that…Tina under those prosthetics? Tina Fey impersonating a hardass right wing backwoods governor known for shooting animals with a goofy ass accent that makes her sound like a member of “Da Yoopers”? That’s totally new.
I think, bare minimum, cameo-wise people were just expecting some combination of Tina, Rachel and Maya (even if she seems completely burnt out on the show and another Bronx Beat so soon after the 50th might seem like overkill). Those women have always been a package deal on SNL whether they were in the cast, hosting or just making a plethora of cameos during the height of the Wiig era.
In fact, I’d say Tina had the best material in this with her ICE ad copy and it’s still fine by me if she wants to do some political humor on the show sometimes. Still, this grew on me and struck the right balance between how to work Tina well into political sketches and what type of political commentary works best on Update from her. B-
Monologue
This monologue seemed a little “all over the place” but the things I appreciated the most about it were Amy giving this casts’ newbies the same treatment she gave Taran, Jay, Vanessa and Paul fifteen years ago as well as the very heartfelt acknowledgment of this very moment in time being SNL’s actual chronological 50th anniversary aimed at longtime fans and aspiring comedians watching (or just regular viewers watching considering her “tough times” comments).
I also liked the lines about no one having asked her to do full frontal yet, SNL “not caring after 50” (boy, does that ring true but thanks for being diplomatic about it, Amy) and the fact that Amy Poehler may be the first host in SNL history to only be plugging a podcast. B-
The Rudemans
Umm, oookaaaaaayyyyy? I guess this is the Amy/Sarah/Ashley collaboration I’ve been wanting to see this week? Thanks? Especially for letting Sarah play yet another “generic grandma” role? Because that’s my favorite thing she does in this show, I guess?
So, this has a theme song? Like a season 30 sketch? Ok, thanks for giving us a flashback to THAT "beloved" era? I mean, whaaaaat? (all right, I’m gonna drop this whole tired ass “meta” bit here because I DID like this sketch a bit more than I am letting on)
I’d say Bowen, Amy, Sarah and Mikey (as “on the nose” as he felt in this) came off as more passive aggressively confused than rude or offended but their performances worked for me. Ashley and Andrew as a couple provided a fresh new dynamic that they played off of well.
I like how each beat came in at a specific point that felt like it was designed to keep the sketch from getting too stale. You can see this in the phone call bit with Amy, Sarah' s fall (as telegraphed as that felt with Dismukes final lines) and Mikey suddenly smashing his beer bottle over Andrews’ head. There was enough going on here in the end to keep this from feeling like someone just played one of Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayers “dictators two best friends from growing up” bits on super slow speed.
One last thing I will add. I heard in dress rehearsal of this sketch Sarah fell so hard her prosthetics ripped open and fell off and God dammit I've never wanted to see dress footage posted online so bad in my life. B+
Non-Non Alcoholic Beer
Hey, nice to see a Dismukes led pretape after barely being able to remember that such a solid player is still in the cast!
I loved the very detailed, writerly nature of this sketch. I especially liked Kam telling Andrew his breath smells like gasoline, the jokes about the hyphen/skeleton key/double negative marketing and the breathalyzer chase. A-
Miss Lycus The Fast Psychic
Hmm, a real early 2000s topic with a very 2010s/20s premise specific approach. I like it
This is definitely a sketch that’s appropriate to put up top after the monologue due to its sheer rapid fire pacing and energy. This sketch even applied gastrointestinal humor well with the colonoscopy gags.
I liked Amys’ comments to Jeremy, Ashley, Ben and Veronica. JAJ had some great asides. The speed round with the appearances from Bowen and Marcello were the perfect beat to end this on from both a pacing and writing perspective. C+
The Hunting Wives Season Two
Well, my favorite thing about this sketch by far is how they glammed up Sarah the most they’ve ever done since she’s joined the show. I mean, damn…
The Aubrey Plaza cameo was a nice touch (for something else we were all half expecting to see in the back of our collective minds after her hosting stint from a couple of years back was one of the few things that brought Amy back to the show after a long absence from just…acting in general).
Other than that, it’s not a great sign that the fake Steve Higgins voiced fake reviews were the sharpest jokes in this. This sketch was…well, visually dazzling (which is as much as I CAN say about it) but there wasn’t enough here to distract the viewer from the basic joke was “hey, look how horny this fake ass country Netflix show is that you probably actually haven’t heard of until now”. C-
Work Birth
Uh oh, after the last time Molly Shannon hosted I get a bad feeling whenever I see a sketch where a former female alumni is very visibly pregnant. Thankfully, this just focuses on the actual pregnancy and not gas…or anything else apparently.
I gave this a chance based on the idea that this might be something Amy could draw from some of her own experience on from her “leaving SNL and heading into doing Parks and Rec full time” era but…this just didn’t go anywhere.
Since there were no real twists, I’ll just say a few more things. I’m glad they finally gave Ben Marshall the chance to play a “character” character that wasn’t just a background straight man that any cast member could’ve played. Mikey and Kenan didn’t add much for me (when you don’t think about how weird it feels that this is Kenans’ first appearance in the whole show since he and Jost are the only onscreen regulars that were there when she was in the cast).
Thankfully, this was also one of the few sketches that knew where it needed to end before it officially went on too long. Kenans’ walk on was a good place to wrap it up and Bowen being birthed Will Ferrell/Ted Brogan style was as good an ending as any. C+
Weekend Update w/Jost & Che
Gee, Che doesn’t LOOK that sick. Stage health?
The only things I laughed at were Ches’ “MTG/Trump coin” joke and Josts’ RFK/Kristi Noem/Saw/German day gags. (boy, that Gen-z/trad sons joke hits close to ho….ah, nope…not going there right now)
You know, as much as I like Sarah Sherman…I wish they would have her do more than just an inverse of Heidis’ “mom who’s only read about NYC from Facebook comments” but from the perspective of an actual New Yorker that took until it got very horny five minutes in to actually go anywhere.
Dear GOD, I hope that clip of Jost strutting in the background of that old clip of Trump and Epstein at that party was made with a green screen and some good old fashioned video editing software and NOT Sora 2.
Normally, I liked Grant and Alyssa and the energy Marcello usually brings to the show at this point but…for some reason I felt it necessary to tune halfway out to take some notes here (which is a better sign for this episode because last week I started doing this straight from the cold open).
Weirdly, Jane had the better lines in this with her Sylvia Plath, “please calm down” and “jack o his lantern” jokes. Good to see her get this after being shut out last week.
Ok, Amy has come out at the Update desk followed closely by Tina so we’re getting to the part most people really want to see (even if they don’t quite know why). Finally, we get a Joke Swap (which I liked probably a bit more than I should’ve) and suddenly the show feels like it’s somewhat back on track again.
Hey, A Seth cameo! Wasn’t expecting that…given how infrequently Seth has cameoed on the show since leaving. The lack of Jimmy Fallon here makes this feel a bit…unbalanced but at this point, I think we’ve all seen more than enough of Jimmy Fallon for one lifetime.
Anyway, I liked most of the jokes here enough that I don’t want to single out any ones in particular and the sheer energy from the previous eras’ Update anchors really carried this. C+
Experienced Lawyers
Hey, we haven’t seen a JAJ/Dismukes pairing in a while. Let’s hope this is worthwhile.
Ok, Amy as a jacked old man with disturbingly realistic arm hair (and painted nails for some reason) crashing through a break away wall is a strange enough burst of high energy to keep me intrigued.
I liked how they’re both giving Veronica a shot to play a “character” character instead of just a straight role and also excluding her from playing another old woman. Dracu-Law was delightfully dumb and felt more in Sarah' s wheelhouse.
I wasn’t crazy with this winding down with the visual of Bowens’ face superimposed over a tree after we meet several clones of the JAJmukes characters and some turtles (I did like how you could clearly see the in studio monitor reflected in the turtle cage at one point) but Kenans’ line as Zeus and the closing jingle made up for that (and made up for his weird absence from this episode, too).
The only real flaw is how all the lawyer introductions just wash out the client testimonials but I don’t want to split hairs here. B+
Perimenopause
Amy is a goth/scene/punk/emo mom whose kids have to confront HER about her attitude and behavior. Wow, THERE’S a switch!
Again, this was another concept that only Amy Poehler could put over for me. Still, I liked the visual of Kam, Jane and Ben as goth kids. Chloe, JAJ and Jeremy played well off Amy, too (especially the “superintendent” line and his stumbling through the mosh pit to unplug the boombox).
I also liked Amys’ “F my life” speech and the heavily infected tattoo reveal at the end (as well as how Amy and JAJ reacted to the camera panning away from them as the sketch ended). B-
Composers Symposium
So…this sketch explores the rather common theme of “hey, why aren’t there any more early 90s Fresh Prince style expository rap theme songs to TV shows that explain the entire premise to you anymore?” and then spent the whole sketch insisting upon itself so hard it made you question why Mikey Day wasn’t in this?
Ok, I will admit that Amy Poehler is literally the only comedic performer that would put this over for me (yet another sketch that carries this theme). Other than that, it does have very small but noticeable traces of tropes that remind loyal SNL viewers of what they haven’t liked about Bowen centric sketches since 2022 (or just sketches where people react to questionable songs since 2018).
Bowen threatening to whip Jane's character with a belt felt very “Garrett From Hinge” to me. Kenans’ character didn’t add much either. C-
Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst
Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.1975)
Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)
Ranking Each Amy Poehler Hosted Episode From Best To Worst
Tina Fey & Amy Poehler/Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (12.19.2015)
Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
Amy Poehler/Katy Perry (09.25.2010)
Overall Thoughts
Well, it’s certainly nice to have had a seasoned comedy professional that got her big break on this very show to help right the course of this season. Granted, last week set an incredibly low bar to clear, but a lot of the pacing problems were non-existent.
There wasn’t a lot to distract from the current shows’ ongoing problems but Amy’s performances and sheer commitment here reminded us of why she was considered to be such a beloved cast member during such a troubled era of the show. I’m sure the current cast benefitted a lot from her presence this week.
Sure, we got to see a lot more of Kam, Jane, Ben, Tommy, Jeremy and Veronica than we did last week but it will still be quite a while before we get a real bead on this season's newbies to be able to figure out who they are and what they bring to the show. Still, it’s nice that Amy could give them a voice this week.
Nice to see lots of Sarah and JAJ this week (although when he’s not playing 47 he seems to be getting stuck with a lot of dorky dad type roles when he should be getting to play more original characters) and I even liked how they figured out the strongest ways to use Bowen, Marcello and even Chloe this week.
Closing Thoughts
Next week, Sabrina Carpenter makes her hosting debut. Her appearances at SNL50 make me think she is going to handle the show well. Still, this season hasn’t really gotten far enough off the ground yet for me to make any kind of call as to how her episode will go. Let’s just hope she brings some youthful, bubbly l pop star energy to keep morale up.
Hey, one thing I know about Sabrina Carpenter is that she once did voices on an animated Disney show called “Milo Murphy’s Law” opposite one Mr. “Weird Al” Yankovic. Now, this show is probably too obscure for SNL even reference let alone parody in a live sketch but on the extremely off chance that it isn’t, one thing I would personally like to see is some kind of variation on this sketch with either a possible cameo from Al or maybe just JAJ playing him or something, I don’t know.
Hey, be sure to listen to the newest episode of the We Heart Hader podcast where me and Deej react to all three Greg The Alien sketches. It’s a short one, but it’s a lot of fun. After that, our next episode will be a full length review of the Zach Braff/Maroon 5 season 32 finale (which you will also be able to read on this blog in two weeks). See ya next time!
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