Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)

Founding Fathers

• Huh, an opening text scrawl. This should be a slightly more creative and pointed/poignant cold open than normal. Hey, wait a minute…

• Ok, Lin Manuel Miranda reprises his biggest role. That's unexpected. 

• Ah, I knew it. Well, even as Trump it's at least nice to see more JAJ airtime.

• Aside from the Office/Barron/Melania jokes and calling out the waste of an LMM cameo, not much of this is hitting with me so far.

• Nice jab at Elons’ relationship with his kids but a lot of this feels sadly toothless and hard to get into (aside from those “makeup” & “Eric” jokes)

• I liked the idea of a meta-jab at SNLs political sketches but the Hegseth/Zuckerberg joke was pretty awful.

• Well, if nothing else it's nice to see SNL go back to making political cold opens feel like as much of a non-event as they did prior to season 42. Yes, we got Lin Manuel Miranda but that at least served this sketch well and it wasn't exactly them going heavy on the stunt casting like they did when Baldwin was still hanging around. I'm just grateful a current cast member who's been on the show less than four years so far is playing the sitting president. C+

Monologue

• Right out of the gate, we're already directly addressing the double duty bookings. Allright. I would’ve liked the Gary Busey shout out a bit better if he'd done more with it.

• I'm liking this lower key, more sincere, less energetic monologue. It's more reminiscent of his season 46 monologue than his season 49 one so I'm on board with it right out of the gate.

• I like the goofy, meta self depreciating nature of this monologue with Kenan STILL beating him out for an imagined award he just wanted to finally read a speech for (even though we all know damn well that Timmy still has plenty if good years ahead of him to win various types of awards. I mean, look at Leonardo Dicaprio).

• Yeah, I got news for you Timmy. I WISH SNL did more “weird stuff” like this because this feels like the “weirdest” thing they've done in at least three years. B-

Bungee Class

• Oh, is this a very slight twist on the SoulCycle sketches from season 45 or an even slighter twist on the “booty” workout sketch from Megan The Stallions’ episode from season 48?

• It's nice to see Longfellow in a sketch even if he's just there to be tag team emasculated by Hedi and Timmy.

• Oh, and I see it's mostly just an excuse for everyone to swing around loosely. Too bad we didn't get some genuine non-manufactured breaking moments out of this. Sadly, this feels like an absolutely minimal twist on the Cecily Strong/Jason Bateman mall Santa sketch from season 46.

• I will admit I liked the Jimmy Carter joke and the Cinnabon cake thing was alright. Among other things, this needed a stronger ending. Hell, it needed an ending in general. C-

Medcast

• Huh, another “lol dudes and their podcasts, amirite?” sketch. Ok. I can get into it (not just as a podcaster myself…which I don't think should disqualify me from being able to talk about this sketch, by the way)

• I gotta say while this isn't the most ambitious premise ever I do like the way Andrew Dismukes and Heidi Gardner are coanchoring this. I like how they snuck in Ashley, Emil and Marcello, too.

• I wonder how Theo Von is gonna react? (‘cuz that's clearly who Dismukes’ character is a parody of here). His interaction with JAJ cracked me up.

• The only other critical thing I can say about this was that while I didn't hate seeing Mikey in this, he definitely felt like he was playing a role he should've aged out of by now. B+

New Barista Training

• Jane Wickline had some good lines in this. Timothee somehow looks impossibly young in this.

• This seemed way too scattershot for its own good at first but then Timothee and Kenans’ stand up jokes made me crack up.

• I feel like they leaned a bit too hard on the “big ol’ woman” jokes (and Mikey may have lapsed a bit too hard on his old habit of loudly over explaining whatever's’ going on in any given sketch) but still this might be the live highlight of the night for me. 

• I've heard that Carl Tart wrote this. Good for him. Part of me was expecting that PDD wrote it given how similar it was to their “Jim Hensons’ Kings Of Comedy Babies” pretape with Pete from last season but Carl really got something notable on the map here. B+

Oedipal Arrangements 

• Ok, I could already tell this was headed straight into Incest Town from the get go. It lingered there for a bit too long before taking an all too brief detour into Longfellows’ Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy but I appreciated how strongly and intensely committed he and Heidi were to it. C+

Educational A.I. Podcast

• Hmm, while I appreciate the idea of a sketch where the basic message is “generative A.I. produces nothing but muddled trash and should be shunned” (and how restrained this was for something where Bowen was a main part of the comedic focus) I feel this sketch was a little too aimless and directionless for it's own good. At least Andrew, Ego and Marcello had the best lines in this though. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Jost & Che each had their share of decent jokes this week among the detritus. I liked Josts’ Trump/Lincoln, I.C.E./Churches, D.E.I, Spelling Bee and Oatmeal jokes. I liked Ches’ Bobert/MTG, Emilia Perez and Price of Eggs joke. They almost made up for how much of a letdown his Elon Musk joke was.

• Nice to see Ego back at the desk doing a niche yet still accessible character that seems more subtly played and laser focused this time. I chuckled at her “bowl cut/plate/Appalachian trail” string of jokes. 

• I especially liked seeing Dismukes and his puppet papa at the desk. I felt like I knew exactly what it was going to be (especially since it seemed like Jost was going to be doing similar jokes himself when he first started) but Andrew sold the hell out of it and injected it with some much needed wholesomeness that made up for it not going for hard laughs. I even liked the reveal at the end that Dismukes wasn't the sole puppeteer. 

• Overall, this felt like one of the more friendly and welcoming Jost/Che era Updates in a while and I liked that vibe it gave off. B+

If A Bunch Of Dumb Little Dogs Talked & Acted Like People

• Ok, I DEFINITELY spoke too soon when I called Medcast “unambitious” but this was…cute. Timothee, Marcello and Mikey weren't bad in it and I liked all the ladies’ parts. 

• Bowens’ part could've been cut but Kenans’ was OK. At least they knew exactly how long they needed to linger on that one. D+

Grandmas’ Birthday

• Ok, I got a little nervous when I heard the name “Kelsey” but thankfully I noticed Marcello was playing a distinctly non-Domingo role.

• Well, the “sudden medical emergency” nature of this sketch has me intrigued.

• …and even though this is essentially a long drawn out fart joke, I appreciate how this is played fairly subtly and with a drawn out, uncomfortable shock at the sheer strangeness of what they just saw. C-

An SNL Animated Short: God

• Well, on the one hand, even if it ain't no TV Funhouse I like the idea of a new regular animated segment appearing on SNL.

• On the other hand, I feel like the idea of “Gods’ team pitching and working out the kinks on the universe” is an idea we've seen executed better on SNL before (particularly in the Anya Taylor-Joy episode and in a cut sketch from Kristen Wiigs’ season 42 episode) so I felt like I couldn't fully get into this.

• Still, while the idea of Chalamet playing God as a seemingly Coke-addled manchild/bro type wasn't exactly the best twist on this, I did laugh at the “Gooby, the creature with the sun in his mouth”. C+

Ranking The Season (Best To Worst)

1. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
2. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
3. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
4. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
5. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
6. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
7. Martin Short (12.21.2024)
8. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
9. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
10. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
11. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)
12. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

Overall Thoughts 

• I have already seen some out there declare this episode the best of season 50 so far. While I wouldn't necessarily argue with that sentiment, (hell, there's a couple things in particular that kept it well out of my top five for this season) I clearly didn't rank it that high myself (but this episode did cause me to rethink my season rankings so far and rearrange them in a way I feel makes much more sense).

• To me, this episode couldn't quite escape the January blahs (or just the season 49/50 blahs in general) it does stand out. I do appreciate the shows willingness this week to genuinely experiment in the writing department and try some new things instead of falling back on old recurrers like Tiny Horse and Rap Roundtable (although part of me does hope the one I heard they tried at dress rehearsal that got cut does find its way to YouTube)

• Most of all, I appreciate that this episode allowed cast members like Andrew Dismukes, Michael Longfellow, Mikey Day, James Austin Johnson and (to a lesser extent) Ashley Padilla, Jane Wickline and Emil Wakim to make up for lost time as they have barely been on at all lately.

• Timothees’ more matured and mellowed performances as host certainly helped as well. His musical performances were intriguing enough and part of me is actually surprised they got Sandler to cameo just to introduce him.

• Overall, this was a slightly better lead up to the 50th anniversary special next month that I was expecting. Even though I personally found it a bit uneven in spots, there was a decent spark to it. Even during sketches with derivative and slightly unoriginal premises on display, the execution had something that saved them.

Closing Thoughts 

• The next new live “episode” the show has advertised is the SNL 50th Anniversary Special airing in Prime Time on Sunday, February 16th. After that, there will be another new live episode airing on Saturday March 1st with an as of yet unannounced host/MG lineup.

• I may make it a point to watch the 50th anniversary special. I'll see if I have enough thoughts on it to cobble together a decent sized blog entry but in the near future, you may want to look out for a few more retro SNL reviews here. Specifically, ones for the Matt Dillon/Arctic Monkeys episode from season 31 and Shia LaBeouf/Avril Lavigne episodes from season 32. As far as Deej and I have talked and planned it out so far, those will be the next full length SNL episodes we cover on the We Heart Hader Podcast. 

• Who knows? We might be able to get our first ever guest to come on for one of those episodes! Only me and Deej have even the foggiest idea who that may be. Chances are that guest has no idea they're even gonna be invited on yet. Hell, it could even be you, yes, YOU out there reading this sentence right now.

• As far as what we HAVE set in stone for the pod, the next episode of We Heart Hader will be our first character spotlight on Vinny Vedecci which, with any luck, SHOULD be released this coming Thursday January 30th (and come to think of it, I may have enough notes to cobble together a blog entry for THAT one too!)

• In the meantime, feel free to check out our first two shows if you haven't yet. Feel free to leave a rating and review, if you'd be so kind. See you in a few weeks!

Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)

Week Old Pre Show Thoughts 

• (*sigh*) Well, just when we all thought we dodged a bullet when Bill Burr was announced as host a few months ago SNL was like “haha, you didn't think we'd let you off THAT easy, did you?” Still, it makes it marginally more bearable than Dave Chappelle is hosting the last show of this administration instead of the first show of the next one.

• Seriously, WHO ELSE has dropped out of hosting this season? I'm thinking someone may have dropped out last month and they found themselves scrambling to find a replacement for this month (more due to the Los Angeles fires than this being “awards season” most likely) because if they actually had this planned and booked that far ahead the only reason they waited until last week to announce it MUST have been to minimize any online backlash or bad press towards the show as much as possible.

• Still, being the obsessive SNL completionist that I am, I will give this episode a chance and go into it with an open mind just like I did his last one in 2022 (and other more groan-inducing host choices in the years leading up to that one). Considering how his 2022 episode turned out, my baseline expectation for this episode is just going to be an extremely mid (at best) cold open, a monologue that will undoubtedly be the most insufferable part if the show (if not the whole season if we're lucky) and some surprisingly decent live sketches that may only use our host sparsely mixed with some pretapes and Update features that turn out to be the only appearances that Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman make all night.

• Seriously though, I get why a lot of people chose to (at least jokingly) just tune out tonight's episode and just focus on the one we got coming up next week instead and I respect that choice. I chose to actively engage this episode for the sake of this blog in case some of you out there decided you'd rather read my takes on this episode before you decide whether to actively give your clicks and attention to any individual part of it online or otherwise. It sure helps that I had no other plans tonight and the snow and freezing temperatures we just got where I live kept me from wanting to go out anywhere after work tonight but more importantly I know if you're reading this than you trust my judgment on what SNL episodes and sketches are truly worth watching probably more than anyone else so…thank you. I'm very grateful to any and all of you taking the time to read this right now. I'll try to steer you in the right direction and not let you down.

• Anyway, let's get on with the show…

MSNBC Reports

• Hmm, another season 43 style topical grab bag style cold open. Great.

• I liked the idea of subtle underplayed cold open parodying MSNBC anchors. Hell, I even like Squirm playing a subdued Rachel Maddow (badly biffed lines and all) and Marcello quoting DMX/Eminem lyrics in a scholarly, dignified tone but I just don't think “the media being too obsessed with Trump's outlandish tweets to responsibly report on real news” is a fresh enough premise. That's something that's for sure been done to death eight years ago.

• Ego and Heidi had some good lines and I liked the “Trump/Up” tweet. Chloes’ impression is probably the one I liked the least. Personally, I think Michael Longfellow should've played Chris Hayes instead of Andrew Dismukes.

• JAJs rambling as Trump was OK but Bowen as George Santos was just pure white noise to me. C-

Monologue 

• Jesus, that home base stage lighting is certainly a choice. Hey, at least that's something we haven't seen before.

• HA!!! I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW Lorne wouldn't let old host booking habits die that easy!

• My God, Dave is rapidly devolving into brutal self parody with that mock humble smug smirk followed by that “I hate poor people” line.

• Boy, he's really toeing the line of “this is what turned people against him” with those “sodomites/West Hollywood” jokes, ain't he?

• Now, he's just burned off the lamest Luigi joke possible before going all the way back to September for an “eating the dogs and cats in Springfield, OH” joke.

• Oh Christ, he's comparing “being famous” to “storming the beaches of Normandy” with a fake smile. Maybe I spoke a little too soon when I said “I hate poor people” was self parody.

• Diddy jokes? Well, I guess…how ELSE could he follow “storming the beaches of Normandy?”

• He's debating whether or not he's too ugly to be invited to a “freak off” over Family Matters’ Carl Winslow. Well, at least its’...something different. How in the hell that “snitch energy” bit is killing with this audience (even with the obvious jerk off motion) is beyond me. At least with the “baby oil/crisco” stuff he's just devolving into a run of the mill, garden variety hack now.

• Ok, now he's transitioning into a drawn out serious story about meeting Jimmy Carter in the middle east 20 years ago that's genuinely poignant and heartwarming if nothing else. Now, that he's reaching the “sermon” part of his set and we're 25 minutes into the show at this point, this must be coming to a merciful close.

• Haha, somehow the funniest part of that monologue might have been him getting cut off right as he said “we've got a great show tonight”.

• I've seen worse standup material from Dave Chappelle on this show. There still isn't a ton that immediately stands out as “controversial” to me or anything as outright bad as the Kanye/Kyrie stuff from his 2022 monologue even after having chewed on this one a bit and seen what the other online reactions were. D-

Immigrant Dad Talk Show

• Well, I'm glad to see Marcello bring back this character. I just wish he would've made Emil his new co host rather than Chappelle who seems to absolutely be phoning it in here. 

• I will admit the “let me TikTok to you”, “OCDeez Nutz” and “fourth C/pussy” jokes made me smirk.

• Ok, the scene with Mikey kissing Dismukes was way too telegraphed for my liking but I did like Dismukes giving Mikey a piggyback ride out of nowhere. Devons’ cameo was nice. C-

Evacuation Alert

• The sheer surprise insanity of this sketch was enough to intrigue me. I did like Dave, Ego and Devons performances as well as the blood spray from Longfellow and the stuffed dog. It's nice to see fake blood worked into a sketch in a way that didn't feel like a tiree crutch.

• Chloe and her fake French kids could've been cut but other than that, this may have been the highlight of the show for me. It's nice to see something in a similar vein as that Ego & Beck short from Daves’ 2020 episode. B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Ok, I liked Josts’ Biden “ungrateful bastards” joke and Che's MLK/dementia/bra size jokes. I liked the sheer strangeness of the “soup drops” joke. Other than that, not much else hit for me except for Jost really throwing himself into the Louisiana/Jabba The Hut accents.

• Uh oh. RFK Jrs’ confirmation hearing is next week? Does this mean we could get a Baldwin heavy cold open on the 25th?

• I did like how Jost & Che seemed to be having some natural, almost wholesome fun without it seeming like they were trying to subtly “out edge lord” each other or who can subtly troll the audience…at first.

• Oh, its’ been a minute since Longfellow did a commentary as himself on the show and this commentary on the pitfalls of TikTok is actually funny. It's nice to see him attempt some low key Lovitz style “acting” moments. 

• I can't really think about the fact that Longfellow is talking about how TikTok (but more importantly smartphones in general) have destroyed people's attention spans and ability to engage meaningfully with the real world while I am typing this entire review of the show on my own phone, glancing back and forth between my phone screen and my TV screen. After all, the more I think about it, the more it cements for me the fact that this is the ideal way to watch an entire live episode of SNL all the way through, with plenty of much more meaningful distraction.

• Ok, is Josts’ “Hear Me Out” segment something that was tossed around for a joke swap and actually written this week because they were running THAT low on ideas this week? Was Louis C.K. a guest writer on Update this week? I can't think of any other reasons this might have been conceived.

• Hey, Squirm as Nosferatu sounds like something that's genuinely within her natural wheelhouse and SHOULD be showcased on the show (especially in this of all episodes) but it feels a little too long and the obligatory Jost roasts aren't hitting for me aside from the “nose/cocaine” ones. The jealousy stuff is OK and the period stuff was a decent left field addition just for how she pulled Josts’ reaction out of it. Other than that, while this wasn't my favorite thing Sarah has done on the show, it's still a bit better than a lot of her recent output simply by being extremely “on brand” for her. C+

Police Sketch

• Hmm, a strange yet interesting sketch premise that allows Devon and Kenan to play well off each other. 

• I liked how the part where Kenan played it silently built to something. I also liked how it mixed some absurdity with some low key slice of life vibes. 

• Dave Chappelle not being in this sketch helped because he wouldn't have fit in Kenans’ role that well anyway. This would've been much too sincere and wholesome for Dave. B-

Pop That Balloon

• Yeah, there's no way I've seen whatever the hell YouTube thing this was based on but I generally liked this all the same.

• I only sense this is a real thing because I think I may have seen Ego post about it on her socials. Either way, this looks like something she may have had a hand in writing.

• Kenan and Devon played dumb sleazes very well and I liked Andrew's character.

• Although I feel the Player Haters segment went a little too long, I appreciate that they tried to naturally Trojan horse them and Ashy Larry on us rather than try to awkwardly force them into another prestige HBO drama or something. Even GloRillas’ cameo felt natural and not too shoehorned in.

• Huh, I'm actually surprised Jane Wickline was willing to appear onscreen with Dave in this. Too bad this appeared to be her and Ashley's only appearances all night. Sadly, they both still did better than Emil this week. 

• This was a nice showcase for all the ladies of the cast nonetheless. B-

Ranking The Season (Best To Worst)

1. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
2. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
3. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
4. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
5. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
6. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
7. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
8. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
9. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
10. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)
11. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

Ranking Each Of Dave Chappelles’ Episodes From Best To Worst

1. Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest (11.12.2016)
2. Dave Chappelle/Black Star (11.12.2022)
3. Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11.07.2020)
4. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Well, that was certainly the weakest of Dave's four SNL episodes so far (mostly due to it just having the stink of 2024/25 and season 50 all over it).

• Still, there were a few bright spots here and there so there were some pleasant times to be had. If nothing else, it was the MOST uneven and oddly paced Chappelle hosted SNL episode ever. I know, I know, they're all “uneven” and “oddly paced” due to the length of his fucking monologues nowadays bur this one also frontloaded itself with most of it's weaker material leaving most if the better stuff for the end (and sprinkled over Update a bit somehow).

• Still, I can't be too mad at it since I got pretty much exactly what I was expecting from a Chappelle SNL episode; but just a much more empty “mid” version of that formula given his previous outings.

• I would say this episode is almost on the same level as Martin Shorts’ from last month. They both felt empty but whereas Shorts’ was overloaded with guest cameos and recurring sketches, Chappelles’ was overloaded with mostly his standup material and other than that they mostly tried to do different, more original, unique things this week in a few spots (Evacuation, Police Sketch, Longfellow on Update). There were still a few recurring sketch templates though (cable news cold open, recurring talk show, YouTube related pretape). Too bad what they tried to do different wasn't enough to excite me about this episode. The highs weren't that high (considering it was a January episode and all) but the lows weren't as low as I was expecting (considering who the host was).

• As far as cast airtime goes, Emil sadly got shut out entirely. Ashley, Jane, JAJ, Kenan, Chloe, Mikey, Heidi and somehow Marcello took some hits but made their presences known. As expected, Ego & Devon had strong nights. Surprisingly, we saw a bit more of Bowen and Sarah than expected and Dismukes …reminded us he is still on the show.

Closing Thoughts 

• Well, SNL has officially entered 2025. Whoopee.

• Next week, Timothee Chalamet returns to the show for his first time as host and (somewhat surprisingly) his first time as a musical guest! Timothee has been a solid host in the recent past and I'm intrigued to see how SNL is going to commit to something it hasn't really officially tried before because MY GOD they've got to try SOMETHING even remotely different at this point. See you then!

Shameless Podcast Plug

• The second episode of “We Heart Hader” is officially available on Spotify, Audible, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever else you can get your podcasts from. 

• This episode is titled “No Small Roles” where Deej and I each examine various bit parts, from substantial support roles to “blink and you'll miss him” type bit parts and evaluate whether the whole movie is worth seeing just for Bills’ part or if you're better off just watching a clip of his role online.

• Deej and I just recorded episode three this past Wednesday. It will be our first SNL “Character Spotlight” on Vinny Vedecci. 

• Hope you're listening and enjoying the podcast so far! Please feel free to rate and review!

Steve Carell/Kanye West (10.01.2005)

White House Press Briefing

Tim Russert (Hammond) throws to President George W. Bush (Forte) insisting that the Hurricane Katrina devastation in New Orleans was "getting better" as he has been there "seven times". He gives evasive answers on the federal budget, the war in Iraq and the investigations into other prominent Republicans to Terry Moran (Sudeikis) Wolf Blitzer (Parnell) and Nora O'Donnell (Poehler).

- Fortes' George W. Bush may not have been as technically accurate or as crowd pleasing as Ferrells' but his whiny defensiveness works here. Still, he doesn't do a whole lot to liven up this dry ass late period Downey material.

- Parnells' Wolf Blitzer gets sudden unexpected laughter. Fortes' FEMA rant gets unexpected clapter with the line "who's in charge of this situation?" The "wake up calls" ramble was a solid way to end this. C+

Montage 

Same as season 30 but in wide-screen with Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis credited as featured players (Sudekis officially joined the cast in May of 2005).

Monologue

Steve Carell, coming hot off the critical and commercial success of "The 40 Year Old Virgin" (which just made $100,000,000 at the box office) and the first season of The Office, sings of his greatness (compared to other "frat pack" comedic film stars of this time).

- Steve Carell mentions this is the first SNL episode filmed entirely in high definition. He then claims he auditioned for SNL in 1995 but lost to Will Ferrell. Ten years later, Carell would tweet that this was an untrue joke. That tweet has since disappeared along with Carells' entire Twitter feed. Funny that he would still name check Ferrell twice in this monologue.

- This felt like a cute, quaint throwback to the years when an R-rated comedy was seen as a viable box office success by most studios. Amy, Kenan and Horatio made decent cameos.

- I did like the the "Stillers' a big kiss ass and Owen Wilson is gay" line as well as the repetition of "money falls from my ass". C+

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley insurance agent (Forte) is tougher on a high school girl (Poehler) and her friend (Samberg) than her own dorky, eager to please, push over father (Armisen)

- I remember this being one of the better non-Digital Short commercial pretapes of this season. Unfortunately, the show having repeated one too many times throughout the season lessened its impact.

- Sambergs' first appearance on the show (well, his first pretaped appearance but still...)

- Fortes' line to Armisen "Dammit, Frank. Grow a pair!" was the perfect button to end this on. Already, this episode feels worlds away from the doldrums of season 30. B+

Jet Blue Flight 292

A passenger (Poehler) on a Jet Blue Flight watches a CNN report on the very same plane she's on having malfunctioning landing gear which will cause an emergency landing in Los Angeles. She is much more frightened than her oblivious ignorant husband (Carell) and even the plane's pilot (Parnell V/O) about their situation as she watches anchorman Aaron Brown (Hammond) discuss their doomed, sealed, fate with aerodynamics expert Greg Benedetto (Meyers) and psychologist Dr. Daniel Lane (Hader). She is extremely relieved that this plane has landed safely.

- This feels like the type of specifically hyper topical sketch that the show could've only pulled off in mid to late 2005.

- Steve played the dumb husband well and his "three weeks in Burbank" line got a laugh out of me.

- Haders' first ever live appearance on SNL. He does a great job of switching between "stuffy professor" voice and "casual slightly freaked out regular guy" voice between his two lines in this sketch. Still, he doesn't quite compare to Amy Poehler playing "existential terror" perfectly. 

- Not only is this Bill Haders' first ever appearance on the show, it's also a young Colin Josts' first sketch as a writer that made it to air. Impressive for two different newbies!

- Seth's part was fun with the computer models of the exploding plane and fire trucks. Darrell was great at displaying a callous, morbid detachment as he strung this sketch together. B-

Anderson Cooper 360

Anderson Cooper (Meyers) reports live on the scene from the damaged site of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (Mitchell) thanks those who turned out to support the cause, including big name Hollywood Celebrities who showed up in person. We see Tony Danza (Armisen), Sharon Stone (Poehler), Al Pacino (Hader) and Aaron Neville (Sanz) very ineptly help build a house for displaced Hurricane victims Mamie Thibodaux (Rudolph) and her son Gartrell (Thompson). Ray Romano (Carell) has even showed up to calm down an angry, gun toting Sean Penn. Suddenly, Geraldo Rivera (Hammond) shows up to steal the focus before being scared away himself by errant gunfire.

- Seths' not exactly known for his impressions but you can tell he's trying to hit some really specific beats and tics with his Anderson Cooper and that works well enough for me. He did a fine job anchoring this sketch (no pun intended). Maya and Kenan as mother and costumed son were a nice touch and set up a nice callback later. Finesse as Mayor Ray Nagin didn't add a whole lot but I liked his rant about Sean Penn and his boat full of guns.

- It's a bit strange to think that SNL could mine this much comedy out of a natural disaster that got the attention of the entire country, but it was after roughly six weeks and it's more satirizing self serving media coverage than anything.

- Not only that, but this sketch somehow got four different mini applause breaks for four different impressions. 

- Speaking of, Hader has his first real breakout moment and nearly runs away with this sketch with his DEAD ON Scent Of A Woman/Frank Slade era Al Pacino impression. Seriously, he pretty much nails it! That was the first big applause break of this sketch and got him a lot of buzz on SNL message boards at the time (even around Conans' offices that time as well as you can see from his first appearance).

- The second big applause break comes from Steve Carells' Ray Romano. Maybe not as good as Haders' Pacino but...it's serviceable even if it feels more like Carell affecting a generic goofy voice than anything. It's at least good for a callback to "Sean Penns' boat full of guns" gag.

- The third applause break came from Horatios' Aaron Neville. Oof. Well, in spite of the strange use of makeup and prosthetics and the general "oopsie doo" nature of it all, it's a little less awkward than it was as the focus of it's own sketch last season (see "Aaron Nevilles' City Court" from season 30s Hilary Swank/50 Cent episode). At least it makes Armisens' Tony Danza seem much less awkward than it really is.

- The fourth applause break was from Darrell Hammonds Geraldo Rivera suddenly running scared from gunfire. I've always liked this impression of Darrells and this was definitely the best use of it. I'll say the same about Amys' Sharon Stone even if I was always pretty ambivalent about that one. The callback here to the three costumed sons was a nice touch.

- Overall, this was a real, multifaceted time capsule of a sketch but it was still the real highlight of the episode and they were wise to make it feel like the real centerpiece of the night. B+

The Needlers

Neil & Karen (Carell & Dratch) come to regret their decision to announce their engagement to intensely bickering Sally & Dan Needler (Poehler & Meyers)

- This is now a recurring sketch as it was the followup to a very similar sketch from the previous seasons' Johnny Knoxville/System Of A Down episode from May of 2005. The main difference is that the names of Amy & Seth's characters were changed from "Henderson" to "Neddler".

- This feels like something only Seth & Amy have the right chemistry to pull off and put over. 

- The combination of Amy and Seths' natural warmth mixed with their penchant for snark helps keep this from becoming too offputting.

- Steve and Rachel play uncomfortable bystanders real well. Sudeikis had possibly his best lines in the entire show as the waiter. B-

Girls Gone Wild Katrina

Doug Stanhope (Sudeikis) swims through the wreckage of Katrina offering fresh water and shelter to women who will flash their breasts on camera.

- Wow. This wasn't quite as tasteless as I remembered (in fact, it's a little more grating and repetitive with all the censored flashing and screeching) but still, the audience is pretty much stunned into near silence as if the barely knew how to react. 

- It serves as a scathing indictment of the culture that gave us "Girls Gone Wild" in the first place, that's for sure.

- I'll also say that I liked the cheap digital camera feel of this. This also looks and feels different than any pretape SNL has done in the past. I wonder if Jorma and Akiva were involved in filming this seeing as it would be their first show as writers, too? C+

Backstage

Lorne convinces Maya her eighth month of pregnancy is unnoticeable on camera and asks Finesse to make sure Kanye isn't going to say anything too crazy on live TV. An immediately suspicious Kanye walks out for his performance of "Gold Digger" and "Touch The Sky" and has an awkward reunion with Mike Myers (Himself).

- After appearing in this episode, Maya would go on maternity leave and miss quite a great deal of this season up until the Steve Martin/Prince episode in February of 2006.

- It's amazing that Kanye once had the ability to convince America he had something resembling a sense of humor about himself. I genuinely have to wonder what really happened to Kanye over the years that made him increasingly self absorbed.

- Mike Myers was fine here. He did a fine job of mining his own awkward discomfort...six weeks later.

- Even Maya was charming here but Finesse and Lornes' parts felt like something that could've been cut from this (especially Mayas' "he still works here?" line). 

- Maybe this wasn't the best "meta/backstage" sketch the show has ever done, but hey...I'll take it. C+

Weekend Update w/Amy Poehler & Tina Fey Horatio Sanz

Amy Poehler immediately announces Tina is on "assisgment" maternity leave as she has just had her first child. 

Horatio Sanz is filling in the anchor chair and delivers an editorial explaining why President Bushs' increasingly damaging scandals make him look like "a genius".

Finesse Mitchells' report on the New York club scene turns into a story about his accidentally picking up a cross dresser.

Featured players Bill Hader and Andy Samberg introduce themselves with a "friendly new guy impression off".

- Horatio Sanz delivering Weekend Update jokes is truly a sight to behold. He's not necessarily bad, but you can sense an awkward stilted discomfort in his delivery...kind of like Aykroyd in season 3 but worse. His panda bear mating joke has aged particularly poorly given certain personal revelations about him that came out in more recent years. His Bush editorial was fine though. He seemed more in his element there.

- As far as Amys' jokes went, her first one (about what was "hurting the nations' image" at that time) was the only one that hit for me. All her others just slid right out of my brain.

- Finesses' stand up bit is...pretty embarassing at this point. This is definitely something that would NOT have flown at any point in the last ten years or so. Still, he debuted his catchphrase "snap famous" with this one which he would use as the title of a future standup special, so...at least HE got something out of it.

- At least they already have a new cast member who could deliver MUCH better commentaries on the NYC club scene five years down the road...

- Obviously, Bill and Andys' debut was the true highlight of this Weekend Update. According to The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast, this was mostly written by Andy Samberg. Bill Hader may have helped as he and Andy had been bonding and becoming friends at this time.

- According to him and Seth, all of Andys' attempts at writing original weird sketches were bombing at table reads and getting cut so they took someone's suggestion to write an Update feature since it's typically much easier for new cast members to break into the show that way.

- It expertly showcases Bills' talent for mimicry with Andys' penchant for silly abstract goofiness. You can see how these two guys would be major players in making the show feel fresh and relevant to a new generation again. 

- Speaking of, even though all of Bills' impressions in this episode have been strictly apolitical and of movie stars (only two of which were still alive at the time and one of which was still somewhat relevant to modern audiences in 2005) it didn't hurt him or this episode at all seeing as he and Andy were just the type of fresh blood the show needed to move it into a new direction at this time. C+

Lundford Twins Feel Good Variety Hour

The Lunford Twins (Armisen and Carell) emcee an old timey Hee Haw/Smothers Brothers type musical variety show from 1967 with special guests Canadian singer Connie Brenda (Rudolph), the Lunford Dancers (Forte, Parnell, Dratch, Danielle Flora) "cry song" king Dimothy Daniels (Thompson) and of course Dorothy Winkster as "Granny Crabtree".

- This was a sequel to a sketch that originated with the Paul Giamatti episode from the previous season. I do have to wonder if Tina and Maya had a hand in writing the first one? It definitely feels like something that would be well within their wheelhouse especially since they both did lowkey one woman tributes to 70s variety shows on Mayas' short lived 2016 sketch show with Martin Short.

- This was fine. It might have felt a little dry years ago but it wasn't too self indulgent for a musical sketch that Fred Armisen was front and center for.

- It's the type of sketch that grows on you over time. I might not really have been able to appreciate this at all today without having seen the various 70s variety offerings the That Week In SNL Twitch stream occasionally provides (especially on "weird nights").

- Fred and Steve did a fine job anchoring this. Maya performed her song well (I liked how much of an obvious "I Am Woman, Here Me Roar" knock off it was) and Kenans song may have been the funniest part of this.

- The dance number was fun. Longtime SNL coreographer Danielle Flora was obviously filling in for Tina this week as she was one of the dancers in the last installment. That was NOT writer Liz Cackowski as some people had originally thought. B-

TV Funhouse: Fun With Real Audio

Supreme Court Chief Justice Nominee gives long winded, evasive legalese filled answers to questions in everyday situations to even the simplest of questions.

- I liked the visual gags of Judge Roberts having sex with his wife (very toned down by Smigel standards) in the McDonalds' drive thru, discovering a Janitor is Chuck Schumer in disguise, at a Rolling Stones concert and getting beat up as a Referee at his kids Little League game. 

- Otherwise, this was another political piece that felt too tied to one very specific point in history and partly confirmed my suspicion from this time that Smigel was losing his edge a bit and TV Funhouse was starting to run out of steam with political "Real Audio" stuff. C+

Debbie Downer

Debbie (Dratch) is immediately smitten with similarly minded Bob Bummer (Carell)

- Wow, between this, Nick Burns, Merv The Perv and The Needlers the early to mid 2000s turned out to be a real underrated golden era for "recurring characters that have their own opening montage and theme songs", didn't they? Boy, those made comebacks in a big way!

- I was never that big on Debbie Downer (the revival in Daniel Craigs' season 45 episode was just fine) but this might have been my favorite. Carells' facial expressions, "boing" sound effect and his theme song really added something to this. B-

Overall Thoughts

- This had to have been one of the stronger season premieres SNL has seen in some time (especially coming off the downward spiral that lead into one of the most historically weak SNL seasons of all time). 

- There was a lot of promising stuff that hinted toward a newer, brighter era for the show that would lead to it producing more creative and formative humor for my generation and beyond. Maybe Seth filling in for Tina as head writer this week helped give this episode a fresher feel?