ICE Meeting
- What the absolute fuck?
- A diffie opening text crawl followed by an even DIFFIER political impression.
- I don't know how far down the list of "People Who Should Play Tom Homan On This Show" fucking Pete Davidson was, but I'm pretty disappointed that the guy who would've been my first choice if they absolutely HAD to stunt cast this (John Goodman, of course...I mean, he's gotta have a good handle on the voice) was obviously unavailable.
- Hell, I'd have a slightly easier time buying Pete in this role if he used the same voice and facial prosthetics that he was using to play Andrew Cuomo a few years ago.
- I'll say Kenan, Dismukes, Ben, Mikey, JAJ and Jeremy as the ICE agents Pete is addressing are picking up the slack from Pete and just BARELY making this work for me...and it is at least mice to get a break from another JAJ/Trump centered cold open...and this is probably preferable to a sudden cameo from Cardi as Nicki as a few people online were suggesting.
- Is this reminding anyone else of the Airport Security sketch from the season 32 premiere back in '06?
- It seems like there's not a lot here just because of the slow pacing of this (well, not JUST because of that), but there are some actually funny and decent lines here to pick out that were delivered well.
- Another reason there doesn't seem like much to go on here is that the main take seems to be reiterating what incompetent unqualified doofuses ICE agents are (a point that has been beaten to death by both "real" and "fake" news shows alike).
- Beyond that, having Pete Davidson of all people just barely gloss over what a corrupt evil bastard Tom Homan is and then have Pete Davidson of all people portray him as a mild mannered school marm is WAY the wrong thing for the show to be doing. In fact, this is almost MORE toothless and tone deaf than what they did LAST week.
- You know, this was one of many, many different moments in my life in the past 48 hours where I had to just sit in silence and ask myself...what the fuck am I even doing with my life right now?
- Granted, I find myself doing this a lot for a plethora of deeply personal reasons that are entirely unrelated to this particular SNL cold open that i refuse to divulge on this goddamn fucking blog right now (it's supposed to be a distraction from that, obviously)...but I'm starting to wonder how many people involved in putting this show on the air have the capacity to even ask themselves this and that makes me sad...well, not as sad as some of that personal stuff I refuse to talk about here...but still. C-
Monologue
- Wow, an actual mention of the 1000th episode. I like how Alexander underplayed that.
- Hey, this dude's legitimately paying tribute to the band...AND letting them speak! All right!
- Hey, Lenny's got jokes!
- Alexanders' saxophone bit was fun and a great capper to this.
- That monologue may just be one big clock punch for those of us who listen to (and even some times record and release their own) podcasts about SNL but...already this is LIGHTYEARS better than three of the last five episodes of the show put together (which already makes this episode better than but just as uneven as last week's show). A-
Mom's Confession
- Already this reminds me of the "bad thing" sketch from Kristen Wiigs' last episode but with Ashley trying to do a better version of it.
- ...and it turns out that Sarah, Tommy, Dismukes and Jane are her kids who are exasperated that she didn't turn on Trump sooner or more drastically.
- I liked Alexanders' line about how Ashley "gets a different internet" because her laptop is old and Jane's line about Ashley asking her if she "just liked hats" when she came out to her.
- I'll give the show this, the smartest thing they did all year so far was make this particular sketch an Ashley showcase and make it the first post monologue sketch. B+
Winter Olypmics Profile
- Hey, another weird ass Jane thing but as a flashy pretape and she's killing it with this already! All right! Alexander is pretty great as her coach, too.
- The only thing negative I could say about this is that it does remind me a bit of that Patti Harrison Shark Tank sketch from ITYSL which will probably make the discourse around this sketch/episode a bit annoying...but other than that I'm glad we got to see this on air. B+
Stench Of A Family
- Already I can tell this is going to be a sequel to that Chloe movie shoot sketch from Glenn Powells' episode.
- Smart move. That sketch did kill the first time and it does fit Alexander like a glove. Even Jane is scoring in this.
- This one seems to be going in a darker direction but making it work. It didn't have much of an out either but at least the Stellan cameo lent it some credibility...but not an actual ending or a non-rushed out, it seems. B-
Immigrant Dad Talk Show III
- This was a pleasant surprise. I genuinely wasn't expecting this to return any time soon, but I suppose Alexander playing up the repressed Nordic stoicism his homeland is known for works here just as well.
- This felt a bit more rushed but that's probably because they didn't need to establish as much with this being the third one and the focus shifting from sons amd daughters to wives.
- I don't think we needed to see the exact same beat with Mikey amd Dismukes as the father and son who kiss but the Stellan cameo that moment spawned worked even better.
- ...and if Cardi was going to cameo in a sketch, I guess this would be the one for her to be in. B-
Viking Raid
- Hmm, this seems to be the "obligatory host sketch" of the night.
- Huh, this turned into more of a "host plays against type" as it became more focused on Alexander overcoming his own insecurity.
- I liked how they played that against a backdrop of modern manufactured SNL pretape gore set during the crusades. That made for some interesting juxtaposition and this was well acted by all the cast members involved.
- I did like the various gags that involved vikings just casually holding severed limbs. C+
Weekend Update w/Jost & Che
- Che's best jokes: Kristi Noem, Jost/ICE Mask, Jamaican bobsled team, Luigi Mangione, Obese Americans
- Josts' best jokes: Dry January, Walz/Epstein, Kash Patel/Mr. Bean, Waffle House, McDonalds Decaf Coffee, UPS
- Well, this Update seemed like it might slowly grind this episode to a halt at first...but Che and Jost actually had some decent jokes later on.
- I dunno, editing Melania footage into Rush Hour still seems a little beneath SNL to me.
- Interesting coincidence that we're seeing Sarah's "out in the cold" weather report the same week That Week covered the episode with "Dratch On The Ones" on Update.
- It's MUCH less interesting that she immediately turned it into another perverted Jost roast but I liked her dress (and how she interacted with the audience during that reveal). The Jack McBrayer cameo was nice.
- Speaking of now recurring sketches that debuted in November, it was smart of them to being back Ashley and Andrews "two people who just hooked up". I know Ashley does most of the heavy lifting in these (and she did great as usual) but Dismukes had a lot of the lines I liked (especially "game of inches" and "tush push"). C+
Agnes
- So, Alexander is in very basic low frils drag...and shouting at the girls in a Farleyesque manner when they are incredulous about what she does and doesn't know about things...and Ashley is the mom
- This may be the dumbest thing ever on paper but I kinda like the absurd direction this is going in with the repeated Sarah dummy toss.
- Even Jane had the line that made this sketch for me: "Stop asking her if she knows things". C+
Tarzan & Jane
- I like the use of miniatures here.
- Anyone else get slight CBS era Kids In The Hall vibes from Alexander here? This does seem like something a Don Ohlemeyer type would casually suggest.
- I do like how this is fundamentally reconstructing the basic relationship between Tarzan and Jane in a way that makes it feel so evergreen that it COULD have actually been done as early as 1993.
- Kenans' leopard bit was cute but I could've done without it.
- I do like the fourth wall break that suggests "Jane" is a long islander faking her English accent. Did she cowrite this with Martin and Ben? Some of the other slight Sarah self depreciation (the "boobs" line mostly) makes me think so.
- Overall, another decent sketch in a standout episode but probably one of the things that "blew me away" the least. B-
Funny Boyfriend
- Hmm, a sketch built around "Cards Against Humanity"? This sounds like something that had been cut from many dress rehearsals...since about 2011.
- I didn't care too much for the reveal but I'll say that I liked how Andrew, Ashley, JAJ were great at dramatically calling out what they just found out Alexander said on his cards earlier that day.
- Also, Alexander did great with his dramatic origin story. I didn't even mind how telegraphed the ending was since I had just enough fun with this sketch to enjoy it. B-
Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst
- Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
- Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
- Alexander Skarsgard/Cardi B (01.31.2026)
- Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
- Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
- Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
- Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
- Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
- Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
- Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025)
- Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
- Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)
Overall Thoughts
- Well, if nothing else, this episode shows just how well this season of SNL can dig itself out of a hole. This is at least the third time this season alone that this show had managed to pull off a shockingly strong episode just after a demoralizingly bad and empty one just in time for a notable chronological milestone in the show's history.
- We've seen this at the very start of this season with Amy Poehlers' episode following by Bad Bunnys' on the actual to the date 50th anniversary of SNL and if you want to count Bowen leaving as such a milestone we saw it with Ariana Grande/Cher following Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen.
- Now, we just saw them pull this off in time to give us a surprisingly fun 1000th episode that honestly may not have seemed quite as good had it not been preceded by that dreadful one two punch of Finn Wolfhard/Teyana Taylor.
- Yes, Alexander was a much more game host than Teyana who bought the right energy and showed quite a bit more range, but the writing is still a bit uneven and their political commemtary does still fail to "meet the moment" in a way that makes one wonder why the hell they are even still doing this show anymore (hell, SNL can't even tell "the moment" from either it's own collective asshole OR a hole in the ground let alone find it with a map in a flashlight) but still, there were a lot of refreshing little elements to this that made me glad to see such a feel good episode close out its January run.
- One thing that I think is the leading cause of the show's instability problems right now is the shift in cast dynamics in Bowens' absence but it is still great to see the show remember how best to use Jane, Ashley, JAJ, Marcello, Dismukes, Sarah and even Chloe lately.
- It's a shame we didn't see as much of Kam, Kenan or Jeremy and that they're still figuring out what to do with Ben, Tommy, Mikey and Veronika at this time.
Closing Thoughts
- At the end of thext month when the Milan Winter Olympics are over, Connor Storrie makes his SNL hosting debut. At this point, I'm glad that Ben Marshall has already gotten "Heated Wizardy" out of his system but given that the current show's staff still let that on the aid as their first big pop cultural parody pretape of 2026, I'm extremely wary of how such an episode COULD go.
- Well, I hope you've enjoyed my reviews of both SNLs' 1000th AND 638th live episodes (the latter of which is the subject of of the latest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast as well as my previous blog post). Later this month, we'll be reviewing more of Documentary Now (the "Dronez" episode specifically) and I'll be a guest on the "Cover Wars" podcast (more on that later, closer to when my episode comes out).
- See you soon!
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