Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)

DISCLAIMER: Due to a long first week of training at a new job and some minor personal concerns, some of my ability to discern amd watch Saturday Night Live extremely critically and as more than just as an escape from substantial life changes may have been corrupted. 

Unfortunately, I did not have access to any deepfake or A.I. technology and neither John Higgins, Bill Brasky, Soaps and Scifi, or Blood Meridian were available to yassify this review on such short notice. 

Luckily, I had the idea to open with this lame attempt at a meta in-joke parodying one of tonights pretapes just to fully cover my own self consciousness at my latest batch of polished hot takes not exactly lining up fully with the groupthink of the small cult following of people I regularly interact with on Discord who I know are the only ones actually reading any of this and yo therapeutically acknowledge the nagging fear of losing considerable clout within said group.

Now, at the risk of possibly losing some of your respect for me as a writer, please enjoy.

Okay, whew. Sorry for making that disclalaimer, like, four times longer than what it was parodying (I swear, I'm gonna start learning to actually edit these better), but here's my review. As you can tell, this turned out to be a shockingly divisive episode amongst fans online. On paper, this isn't that far off from some of the weaker episodes of the season (so pretty much the ones not hosted by Bargatze or Chalamet but on a different level just slightly above Bad Bunny as that one was beset by its own unique issues). On the surface, what actually put this episode over (at least for me personally) was mostly Emma's performance and the fact that the show made use of some much beloved and underused new cast members who might not have seen as much screentime lately. Now, I don't know if the kids today still say things like "the Longfellow stans and the Troast tribe have been FED" on the TikkityToks and the YouFaceBlueThreadTwitters, but yeah, I would say that exact thing happened. Back to Emma, though, she proved she is still the solid reliable host she always was. As I've said before, Emma has a special way of working within the show to make sure none of her episodes feel exactly the same (well, aside from one recent recurring sketch) so even if the show itself was pretty cookie cutter in its basic outline, Emmas such a unique performer that she can bring her own special flair to sketch premises and templates that you feel like you've seen the show attempt multiple times before. Emma, Longfellow, Punkie and Troast in particular really helper push the highs of this show that much higher to take the sting out of how low the lows actually were. She just makes the show that much more fun to watch but smoke and mirrors aside, this reminded me more of her season 42 episode than anything else with it starting off fairly strong and falling off quite a bit by the bottom third (and her also hosting the first of three consecutive episodes taking place in December). As far as screentime, only Molly Kearney suffered a steep drop (don't worry, Molly... you'll get 'em next week), but everyone else really scored. Anyway, let's not waste any more time and just get right to it.

Situation Room - Well, opening the show with Squirm Blitzer was certainly a choic... Oh, THIS is what they scrambled to write for Bowen on Friday. Huh, I was kinda wondering how they would handle the Santos news? I gotta say, though, as cold as I've always run on Bowens' Santos, his actual performance here made this feel about a hundred times less "scrambled" than it had any right to feel. He actually imbued this with some dramatic theatrical energy that a Santos piece may have actually warranted by now instead of just cheekily droning his way through another Update desk piece (probably because he knew as well as we did or just flat out hoped this would be his last time ever playing him). I'm glad to see he had fun with it. I could even look past the boilerplate gay camp that came with this. The Princess Diaries and Beyonce references stood out to me the most. Even ending it with a slightly clumsy clunky "Candle In The Wind" parody was a nice touch (even if I thought replacing "candle" with "scandal" was far beneath even SNL but hey, it was probably 4:00am on a Friday night). His singing was decent, if not a little bit pitchy. I did genuinely laugh at the "evil Forrest Gump" line. I mean, I wouldn't go as far as to say that should've been cut or anything, but it did need some serious work. Eat shit, Randy Rainbow! Bowens got your number! B-

Monologue - Here it is, the obligatory jacket ceremony. We were all expecting this since we all know what a huge SNL nerd Emma is and what a deep and emotional connection she has to the show (not one deep enough that she felt she could do a solo monologue, apparently). I guess they're all gonna be as stripped down and bare bones as what Paul Rudd ended up having to get? Nice to see Tina and Candy again. If only I could forget that the last time they introduced the concept of a "ladies only" five timers club, Drew Barrymore and (somehow, inexplicably Jonah Hill) were involved. I genuinely did laugh at the Mulaney/Woody/Marty jabs and Tinas' "youngest members" and Candys' "places to cry" joke. Also, was anybody else actually hoping to get to see Dave McCary and maybe a brief overview of his history and involvement with the show rather than just visual confirmation that Lorne has...well, seen better days? B+

Question Quest - Thank God this show held off on opening the show with a game show sketch until they could put together a very absurd, writerly, detail/premise heavy one anchored by Michael Longfellow with a BIG assist from Punkie Johnson and Emma and JAJ (who really has a realistic game show announcer cadence down) there to pick up the slack. Oh hai, Molly & Chloe Troast. I laughed consistently throughout this (especially at Punkies' "same color penis" line and her string of fake reindeer names). I mean, it was very reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite State sketches (just replace the tortoise with orphaned children) but this was different enough conceptually that I cannot count that against it. A-

Fully Naked In New York - Wow, two absurd detail heavy sketches in a row. This one really just hits you out of nowhere, doesn’t it? There is just so damn much going on in this sketch that it's impossible to fullly process in one single viewing. I'll say that my first official thought upon the reveal was that SNL has fully escaped the November sweeps trap of getting big names and pandering to a wide audience for ratings and ad money and have allowed themselves to return to letting previously well established friends of the show take over and do unique things. This really started to pick up for me once we heard the Troast/Hernandez duet. The brief cameos from Fineman, Dismukes Punkie and Sarah helped this, too. The last SNL cast member I saw jump on the back of a garbage truck before this was Dennis Miller in season 11 second intro. Thank God he wore a big plaid coat there. B-

Treece Returns - Hmm, I never thought we needed to see this again. Bowen filling in for Kyle Mooney and Emma going all Fargo on us didn’t do anything to change my mind. I mean, I remember the one with Seth Meyers from 2018 being just fine mostly due to Seth but this couldn't make it past dress when Eddie Murphy last hosted. I will admit to chuckling at the "sewage" and "human dumbass" lines. D+

PDD: Please Don't Deepfake - Were Please Don't Destroy a little self conscious about the light criticism they may have received for some lightly A.I. assisted crowd scenes from "Foggy Mountain"? Anyway, while I liked how they used Punkie here (besides just reusing the old framework of "Punkie doesn’t know white celebrities or pop culture very well") this is something I couldn't fully get on board with until I saw how they used Marcello and how they showed a self-Yassified John Higgins in this. Honestly, the constant disclaimers kinda hurt this for me. It led to an unhealthy "tell don't show" feel for this and kinda hurt the pacing of an already slightly inconsistent pretape that started to feel like four separate sketch ideas smashed together. It reminded me a lot of the cold open to Scarjos' season 40 episode in a not so good way. C+

What's In The Kiln? - Hmm, I'm not too crazy about the pairing of Chloe & Heidi right from jumpstreet. Still, this is far less over the top than their demonic posession commentary from a year ago. It's much more than just a watered down version of Delicious Dish or the baking competition sketches that Cheadle, Murphy, Chalamet and Simu Liu gave us. It's much more prop and visual based in a similar vein to the grey pigtails sketch with Natasha Lyonne or the big dumb hat sketch with Amy Schumer so...this definitely has the feel of a female writer who recently left the show coming back. Either way, it's something I have a surprising amount of appreciation for considering I'm not exactly the target audience for it. C+

Update was possibly the strongest it's been all year (and in terms of THIS season, that's really saying something). Jost & Che had a string of great pre-commentary jokes but they really started to taper off post-commentary. Ironic that Che told an A.I. joke since he seemed so stumbly bumbly tonight it was almost like he was replaced with an A.I. deepfake of himself. Mikey Longs absolutely killed it as the old fashioned cigarette. Good to see he can still absolutely crush Bowen at playing inanimate objects. B-

Mama Cass Sessions - While this wasn't QUITE the Troast showcase I was hoping for since she was deceptively snuck into more of a supporting role, her voice alone put this over for me. Anyone else get slightly more Aidy vibes than Cecily vibes from her here? While I wasn’t too crazy about the idea of Emma in drag being the main focus, I loved how committed she was to it. Once she started acting out violent montages with Bowen, Mikey and Dismukes I could fully get on board with it. I especially liked the ending, too. B-

Return Of The Posters - With Pete being in the first two and him already having come and gone this season, I seriously wasn't expecting them to bring this back at all (and I was kinda hoping they wouldn't but Chrissy Knox seems to be Emma's only recurring character on the show, but Emma must like playing her and Mikey must like writing them). Still, this had a level of variation to it the others didn’t have (and I'm not just talking about Marcello being used in a pinch). Even Chrissy herself seemed to have four or five brain cells instead of the usual two. Did they let other do a major punch up on this one? C+

Diet Coke By Olay - Thank god this got in and got out quickly. There seemed to be absolutely nothing to this besides "lol (mostly white) women be mainlining Diet Coke amirite?" Was this written by whoever wrote the vagina sketch from Pete's episode? Would Diet Coke have been replaced by Starbucks if they did this a decade ago? It's a shame we may never hear or see what cut for time live sketch this replaced at the last second. D-

Now, looking back at my review of Emma's 2019 episode, it seems I DID actually try to rank her previous ones, so let me try and update those rankings right now.

1. Emma Stone/Coldplay (11.12.2011)
2. Emma Stone/BTS (4.13.2019)
3. Emma Stone/Kings Of Leon (10.23.2010)
4. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2016)
5. Emma Stone/Shawn Mendes (12.3.2016)

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

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
3. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)
4. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)
5. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
6. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)

Well, THAT was certainly a journey. Next week, Adam Driver returns for his fourth time hosting. Now, he's anothrr solid, reliable host I always enjoyed seeing on the show. For as much of a sharp dynamic performer as he is, even he could still use some help from strong writing to put things over. Let's just hope this episode turns out more like his 2020 one than his 2018 one. See you soon!

Natasha Lyonne/Japanese Breakfast (5.21.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This is a finale that was made for the Twitter stans and the Twitter stans only. Yes, Kate, Aidy and Pete did get the lovely goodbyes they deserved on air (Kyle is also leaving and he could've got something too but it's not like he was one of the cast members whose presence on the show required a big blowout send off) but other than that this episode seemed wildly unfocused and uneven. Natasha Lyonne showed endless promise as a host which is a shame since she only got to be used very sparingly throughout the show. I fully understand this wasn’t going to be a regular finale where the host was reasonably in focus but I still expected the show to use her more than they did. The only reason any other cast members got on was mostly due to one of the pretapes I'll get to later but still kudos to JAJ at least for managing to have a stand out night. 

Before we go any further, I want to say that I don't want to sound like I'm being too hard on Kate, Aidy, Kyle or Pete on their last shows or anything just because their goodbyes didn’t hit me as hard emotionally as some of you who may be reading this. I do feel the show has been misusing their talents so much in recent years that I'm less sad to see them leave SNL and more just relieved to see them finally get the opportunity to move on and pursue bigger and better things full time. It's more that this season in general has left me burnt out with the way it concluded after starting out with such promise in the beginning. Anyway, let’s get down to it.

Colleen Raffertys' Final Close Encounter - Wow...interesting choice to have this as the actual cold open. I wish I could have more of a reaction to this beyond how impressed I was that they closed this season with a non-political cold open (although that establishing Pentagon shot was an impressive fakeout) but these always kinda washed over me. Still, I guess this was to be expected tonight seeing as we finally got hard confirmation that two performers in this scene will not be returning in the fall and these characters certainly have their fans. This sketch seemed to have been written a bit differently than the others though (while still suffering from an acute version of palpable Debbie Downer syndrome courtesy of Aidy). I did like Natasha's line (who is an interesting fit for this sketch) about the Pentagon being her favorite shape and Kate's lines about her "wonderwear" and Yankee Stadium lines. I especially liked how the ending tried to bring some closure to this characters' storyline (the whole sketch felt oddly subdued up to that point). Incidentally, it's nice for me that we get some official confirmation that this characters full name is actually "Colleen Rafferty" as I just remembered I went to high school with a girl who had that exact name and I am genuinely curious what she has been up to all these years later. B+

Monologue - Natasha is the second female host in a row to bring an odd low-key energy to her monologue. Thankfully, Natasha bought something fresh, worthwhile and non-frustrating to her monologue. It felt different than pretty much any other SNL monologue I have seen because it as catered to Natashas' life and career as they could pull off (nice of her to show us the origin of her Twitter profile pic, btw) and written in a way that only she could deliver. She kept this entertaining enough to justify this monologues' seemingly longer than normal length. The half-expected Maya and Fred cameos went better than they had any right to (especially Fred given both their history together and just...Freds' history with women in general) and I officially declare Maya Rudolph the winner of the Natasha Lyonne impression-off. The one thing I am still left wondering is if the real Natasha's "I also wish I was Harry Styles" comment a reference to a possible reference to Styles originally being booked as this episodes host but having to drop out last minute due to the concert he was putting on elsewhere in New York last night or just a reference to the show simply being aware of that pocket of Twitter pretty much praying through the knees for Harry to have been in both Natashas' and Japanese Breakfast places tonight? B+

Voters For Stupidity - At first, I liked how this was just going for sheer gleeful silliness but it got muddled a bit by its own surprise political "message" at the end and I was suddenly a bit soured on it. This started out well with a series of rapid fire gags (some of my favorites included Cecilys' unnecessary voice box/stained glass window joke/bubble blowing, Kenans facial expressions and cat/horse drawing and the use of JAJ in his role in general) but after a certain point it just felt all for nothing. C-

Yankee Stadium, 1951 - As soon as Natasha uttered the word "methamphetamine", this felt less different than the original sketches we've been getting in this era. Still, it was worth watching to see just her absolutely swing for the fences (if you'll forgive the expression). I also liked the continued use of JAJ in non-impression roles. Otherwise, it reminded me too much of the BBC soccer announcer sketch from Idris Elbas' 2019 episode. That wasn't necessarily a bad sketch but I just don't like being reminded too much of a previous sketch when i'm expecting something different and original. B-

Treece Hendersons' (Possible) Farewell Performance - Aside from this being an oddly fitting choice of farewell sketch for Kyle Mooney, I don't think we really needed to see this again. I didn’t mind seeing Chloe or Natasha dragged and dropped into this template at all and I didn’t mind seeing this hit all the same beats that these odd Kenan sketches usually always hit but still, my night could’ve done without it. C-

Places We'll Go - Wow, I loved the real low-key "theater of the mind" approach to this with Dismukes' narration but I feel like there could've been a few cuts made to keep this from feeling too telegraphed and "samey". Still, I understand how both the sheer size of this cast and the nature and timing of this piece necessitated it being a full cast showcase. This felt like it succeeded where the Zoe Kravitz wedding toast sketch with Kyle and Cecily failed. B+

Update once again had Che come out swinging with Jost only catching up with those Liz Cheney/Florida student jokes (and he just HAD to follow those up with those Trump/Segal/Swift jokes that HAD to have been cut from some dress rehearsal from 2016, right?). I would’ve rather seen Alexs' Guy Who Just Bought A Boat than Kate's Dr. Weknowdis (even though it's the more appropriate choice for tonight and the exact thing I thought Jost was setting us up for) but the only things I took away from it were Alexs' "this is the worst thing that happened in Germany" joke and Josts' sudden "people are visibly ill" joke. I understand that this is Aidys' last show, too but it feels way too soon for her and Bowen to bring back their "trend forecasters" since they were just on last month. Still, I genuinely did like the "time/greeting" trends and the "future trends" was a sweet way to end this (but if they were gonna bring back Che being "out" I would’ve appreciated it more with some more definite confirmation that this WAS going to be his last Update). Speaking of, Pete's official goodbye was perhaps my favorite of the entire night. I was thinking about which of his season finale commentaries I liked better between this one and the last one and I think I liked this one better because with this being the confirmation of Pete's last episode, the tone of it felt more sincere. I especially liked how he called out FOX News blatant hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance over the Crenshaw matter. As much as the Oscars slap is a beyond tired topic I like how subtle Pete's Trojan horse like segue into it was and his Lorne impression was a nice addition. Honesty, the only thing I didn’t like about this commentary is that it ended Update and thus deprived us of our possibly final joke swap ever but it might be more Alex's fault that we didn't get one. B-

9:15 To 5:10 - I liked this as a showcase for Heidi and Ego and eventually I got on board with the whole noisy, senseless, unrelenting chaos vibe this went for (in spite of Fred's presence in what one could say is a sketch seemingly designed to make its performers break) but I imagine the people that hated the Benedict Cumberbatch fainting couch sketch are really gonna hate this! Still, it felt less "old variety show camp for the sake of camp" and more "Tim And Eric try their hand at directing local Branson dinner theater". My only other real complaint is that the writers seemed unable to settle on wanting this to be a parody of "9 To 5" or "Weekend At Bernies'". They made a real mistake giving us a shot of Natasha in a mustache and suspenders during the commercial break. They were really setting us up to be disappointed based on that. C+

Grey Adult Pigtails - Hmm...from the opening shot of Melissa, Chloe and Sarah I was expecting more of a "long overdue passing of the torch moment" than just an Aidy & Kate two hander advertisement. Still, it was short and it was the last of these we will ever be seeing. Heidi and Natasha fit the vibe of this sketch well. Weird sketch for Kyle of all people to go out on, though (and Aidy and Kate now that I think about it given the lack of emotional significance this seemed to convey but then again, something was obviously just cut...probably the Pete/Eminem "Forgot About Lorne" video that was put up on IG/YouTube which while uncomfortably reverent toward Lorne and kinda soured by Marshall's cameo was better than a lot of what made it to air and hearing about the original cold open from dress made me realize they cut a lot of the wrong stuff from this episode which was another thing this one had going against it). Honestly, Japanese Breakfast was the big highlight of this for me given her being the absolute last of this season's musical guests I would ever expect to appear in a sketch and absolutely killing it in her part. B-

Now, for my final rankings of Season 47 of SNL.

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire (5.7.2022)
8. Lizzo (4.16.2022)
9. Natasha Lyonne/Japanese Breakfast (5.21.2022)
10. Selena Gomez/Post Malone (5.14.2022)
11. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
12. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)
13. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
14. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
15. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
15. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
17. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
18. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
19. Ariana DeBose/Roddy Rich Bleachers (1.15.2022)
20. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
21. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, it's obvious we've truly come to the end of an era for SNL once and for all. At this point, we have the rest of the summer to wait for news of any further cast member departures than what we just got. There's a chance we might get some new additions as well, but with the cast size still as large as it is, I think that would be truly unnecessary. More cast members would still make it almost impossible for underused newer players to get airtime. I mean, it would be intriguing but the promise of the show being left in its most capable and creative hands (with its own featured players moving on up) is enough to make me want to keep this blog going into next year (or at least just not want to announce MY immediate retirement from SNL review blogging this year). See you all next year!

Selena Gomez/Post Malone (5.22.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was the most frustrating episode of the season for me. If you're reading this because you clicked on the link to it I shared in our Twitter group chat or in the That Week In SNL Discord server, there's a good chance you probably thought this episode was better than I did...and that's fine. I wanted to like this episode more too, but while it wasn’t necessarily in my bottom five of the season, it was the most jarringly uneven episode I've seen in a long time. If I'm being honest, I feel like I just had set my expectations too high. A lot of people in the same online SNL fan community were hyping up Selena for how great of a host she would be because she has such a great sense of humor and comedic timing (especially with her real dry, droll, sarcastic delivery) and I trusted their judgement because they made it abundantly clear that they'd all seen way more of her on "Wizards Of Waverly Place" than I did (I was always more of a "Hannah Montanna" guy anyway) and I have seen her new show "Only Murders In The Building" getting rave reviews. Plus, we've always seen hosts who rose to fame as teen pop stars (especially ones who rode the Disney/Nickelodeon trains to fame) always bring a high level of youthful energy to the show. Unfortunately, she seemed to bring very little if that fun, upbeat pop star energy and pretty much nothing but dry, sarcastic delivery in pretty much every single role. I believe my dear friend and fellow SNL Network podcast contributor Nicole Rovine put it best when she said simply that "Selena didn’t bring the range". Still, Selena Gomez does seem like a lovely person in real life who got along and worked very well with the cast during her first time hosting (and I know she's faced some personal health struggles of her own in the past few years) so I'm not gonna hold anything against her just for being a different type of performer than I expected her to be on a sketch comedy show. There were some great sketches I truly liked and some where something about the writing just rubbed me the wrong way. One thing I really did like about this episode was how it made excellent use of some of the more underrated newer cast members I like seeing (unfortunately not Alex or Aristotle who were completely shut out of the show again or Dismukes who unfortunately was out with Covid and Pete who's still pretty much a departed cast member who's still in the credits for some reason). Let me get to breaking this episode down so I can explain exactly what I mean by that.

MSNBC Depp v. Heard Cuckoo Trial - Well, this might strictly just be a "me" thing but seeing as this something I have actively tried to avoid as many details about as possible...it took everything I had in me not to immediately "nope" out of this cold open. I was kinda put off by Kyle being put into the role of Johnny Depp (there's NO WAY that role could’ve gone to Aristotle, huh?) but seeing as Kyle played a villain type role in his show "S.M.A.S.H" on Netflix that was basically just a parody of late 80s/early 90s 21 Jump Street era Depp, I completely understand why they put him in thst role. I've never been more thankful in my life that Lorne hired Ego Nwodim, Melissa Villaseñor, Chris Redd and Kenan Thompson than I've been while typing this sentence into my phone as this aired. Man, thay felt longer than it actually was, didn’t it? Anyway, I appreciated that they let each of those cast members I just mentioned do their obligatory group LFNY via video screen from the next stage over. That was a nice touch in what, to me at least, was hands down, the absolute worst cold open of the season. D-

Monologue - Selena seemed a little more low energy than I was expecting (especially when I was hoping she would use this monologue to get this episode off to a better start than that dreadful cold open did) but I did like how she delivered that string of Steve/Marty/Miley jokes. I wasn't crazy about them bringing the "married cast members hit on the hot female host" template out of mothballs but I liked that "Jeff" Austin Johnson got to get in on it just so he could have an excuse to play himself in something (and I liked what Punkue bought to this as telegraphed as it felt). C+

Bratz Come To Life - Boy, the people who hated the Six Flags and Black Eyed Peas sketches in Lizzos' episode last month are REALLY gonna hate this sketch, right? Anyway, I wanted to like this sketch more for casting Sarah in such a big straight role (even a straight one) and for the way Bowens' chatacter was written but...once the Bratz dolls started to express their interest in Kyle's dad character tye whole sketch started to feel too unstructured and too unfocused for me. Also, anyone else get reminded of that sketch from the season 40 premiere where Chris Pratt, Taran Killam and Ariana Grande played Kyle's He-Man/Thundercats action figures who came to life? Still, for all this sketches' flaws I have to admit that it holds up better on rewatch. C-

Old Enough: Longterm Boyfriends - I didn’t think I would like this at first given that I hadn't seen the specific show it was parodying (and I wasn't too crazy about the specific twist they had on it) but the writing and performances behind it were what really sold me on it. This was honestly both Selena and Mikeys' strongest performances in the entire show. I loved his chance encounter with Kenan on the street and Heidi talking him through his emotional breakdown in the middle of Sephora. Speaking of which, when Kaleena Steakle said on the SNL Network Hot Take show that Sephoras' actually are that overwhelming to shop at, that comment (and this whole sketch) reminded me of when I recently went to my local Kohls' to get some new clothes and noticed that they were about to open a brand new Sephora in the middle of Kohls. Yes, literally in the center of the whole building. This means that people who are just shopping at a Kohl's now have to constantly be meandering around in a circle to find what they want because everything is centered around an entire unrelated building housed within this store. That's how bad Sephora must be. I've never shopped in one myself, but I've still had an unrelated shopping experience made that much more annoying by one. B+

A Peek At Pico - For all of this sketches MAD TV vibes, it was the first sketch the whole night that really put me at ease. Melissa finally got a lead role and Selena finally played a character that wasn't just "herself". It gave me a brief feeling that the show was on the right track to not disappoint me completely (however short that feeling was). Mikey (who is having an unusually strong night tonight...which should tell you pretty much all you need to know about this show in particular) and Heidi did a grear job playing off of them and Chris Redd pretty easily walked away with this. Thankfully, this had a few different elements to it to keep it from feeling too low key and "samey". B-

A Storm Within - Kenan did pretty much all the heavy lifting in this. Cecily and Selena were just there to make sure this premise wasn’t stretched impossibly thin and build upon the absurdly specific setting he just detailed. Bowen was there to give this a solid ending. Mikey and Melissa's parts seemed wholly unnecessary. Still, everyone involved did a fine job. B-

American Inventors - The fact that they used this as the vehicle for the obligatory pretaped Steve Martin cameo was the best thing this had going for it. The use of photoshopped '70s era Steve in fake magazines and photos of Frank Sinatra hitting the town to lend his character some authenticity was a nice touch. Aidy was pretty solid when she wasn't either farting or getting hit by lightning. I liked the idea of her being the muse behind all the classic novelty gag toys but I wish they'd done more with that instead of just letting it get as repetitive as it did. I liked Selenas' narration (especially the "between her and God" line). This was one of many pieces tonight where I liked the idea more than the execution because it didn’t have enough variation to it. C+

Update left me without much to say for the first 3/4ths of it. Che had the lion's share of better material as usual but I did like the Trump IRS/Pussy Riot/Wordle Fetus/Ukrainian Orchestra/Pregnant Chimp jokes from Colin. I'm usually not as down on Kyle's Baby Yoda as some but at this point even I have to agree its run its course. It's nice to see them put this on air after it got cut from Lizzos show (and give those of us who saw the clip of it from her episode she posted some context for Kyle's "cult leader" look) but not even giving us Selena as Baby Groot (considering the escalation of their feud is usually my favorite part of these) pretty much left us with nothing. Sarah Sherman provided us with the sole highlight of the entire show. While I'm still not crazy about the fact that punishing Jost while kissing up to Che seems to be all she is allowed to do as herself on Update, I really do appreciate the fact that she employed some wild format breaking to do so here. While I loved every minute of this, this really peaked with the way both Sarah and Jost played off that unexpected blooper. B+

The Three Daughters - Hmm, I wanted to like the idea of a hard subversion of the sketch trope of "Kate plays the strange odd woman out when a male cast member has to obviously choose both the female host and the prettiest female cast member over her" but...I feel like if they didn’t stretch this too thin, then having fucking Mikey Day of all people be the one to break this down for us (without the second layer of genuine self awareness that would require HIM to display) was the biggest thing this had going against it. It had a sweet ending but Kate revealing an exposed bubble blowing ass kinda ruined it for me (but it at least explained why Selena seemed to be low key breaking). If the show is signaling that we're not going to be seeing these types of sketches anymore because Kate is finally leaving, this may be the subtlest hint we'll get. C+

Intuition - This seemed oddly placed considering it was right after a totally different sketch that also explored themes of expectation, paranoia and self doubt but Punkie and Chris Redd were the best things about it. I also kinda liked the wild overreactions to it too. Is it just me or did anyone else think Selena might have just been playing herself by just revealing she had dated a lot of "basketball players and celebs"? - C+

Guidance Counselors - An absurd campy vanity sketch led by Ego, Bowen and Selena may have been just the thing the show needed at this point (hell, it was definitely the thing that Selena needed to be in given the acting style she chose for this show...and the fact that she does make ONE HELL of a frigging model, can we all agree on that). Some may have thought it was too short for it's own good but I'm still glad it didn’t go on for too much longer than it did. C+

Baby Monitors - I wanted to like this more for just the Bowen/Sarah pairing but it just didn’t go anywhere interesting enough for me. I did like the fairly meta ending and how everyone involved pretty much threw themselves into it, but for some reason I just couldn't get into it. I really didn’t care for Post Malones' cameo and I thought Selenas' line about how she had never had a drink in her life felt like it belonged in a totally different sketch. C-

Now, for my updated rankings of the season so far...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)

2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)

3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)

4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)

5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)

6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)

7. Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire (5.7.2022)

8. Lizzo (4.16.2022)

9. Selena Gomez/Post Malone (5.14.2022)

10. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)

11. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)

12. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)

13. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)

14. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)

15. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)

16. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)

17. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)

18. Ariana DeBose/Roddy Rich Bleachers (1.15.2022)

19. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)

20. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, maybe this show just suffered from what I like to call the "second of three May shows" curse but that's two shows in a row that made me seriously consider whether or not I still want to blog about SNL next season. Fortunately, I have plans to do a write-up of next week's season finale with host Natasha Lyonne and musical guest Japanese Breakfast. Quite frankly, I'm surprised this is the season finale because that sounds more like a lineup SNL could only give us in January or April. Still, Natasha is a beloved comedic actress who surely will not underwhelm as much or defy the high expectations I have set myself to have for her (don't worry though, I'm sure Selenas' episode will grow on me over time). Plus, a less high profile female host should easily blend in sketch wise with any female cast members we expect to be departing this season or dominating the show going into the next one and not steal focus from them. See you then!

Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire (5.7.2022)

Okay, here's my review. Benedict Cumberbatch certainly made up for how, shall we say...awkward and forgettable his November 2016 episode of SNL turned out to be (as low of a bar as that is to clear). He was an instantly likable and committed performer who elevated a lot of sketches he was the focus of (even if a lot of then were familiar if not flat out repeated premises) and certainly made the most of his second chance at hosting SNL. Everyone in the cast (besides Pete who I legitimately wonder if he's just already left the show without telling anyone) got some screentime tonight (even if they had zero lines or only appeared in pretapes). Anyway, let’s get right to it, shall we?

Musings On Abortion Circa 1235 A.D. - Well, I'm glad they chose to cast Dismukes, Redd and JAJ to play off Benedict Cumberbatch in this cold open that's such an abstract take on a current political topic that it almost distracts you from the fact that it's political. Hell, since Cumberbatch was in it I even found myself wondering if this was even the cold open at dress? Cecily was a fine addition but I could've done without Kate's part personally, but up until she came in this was steadily becoming just absurd enough to get me on board and get some laughs out of me. I especially liked Dismukes and JAJs' definition of "birth control". C+

Monologue - I liked that Cumberbatch gave us another personal monologue with a self effacing touch here after giving us a rather sloppy self promoting musical number on his 2016 episode. Given how his whole first episode in general turned out, I'm starting to think HE may not have been the problem there. B-

Mother's Day Present - Well, I was much more impressed with the fact that they finally broke their "post monologue game show sketch streak" than I was with the fact that they reheated a sketch from Regina Kings' episode last February without a different enough take on that premise. I did like how much more absurdly specific and abstract in bringing down Aidys' character instead of just beating the one joke of her being perceived as a raging alcoholic into the cold, cold ground. B-

Blue Bunny Focus Group - I was hoping for something similar to the Harry Styles Sara Lee sketch but it looks like we got someone similar to the Donald Glover/Rachel Brosnahan Barbie Instagram sketches written by someone who'd just seen Power Of The Dog recently funneled through a Sam Eliott impression Benedict Cumberbatch told the writers he wanted to work into the show on Monday. I appreciate his and Heidi's increasing committment to the point where they got me on board with this as much as Ego, Mikey, Melissa and Kenan did. C+

Just Like You - Hmm, a slightly unexpected twist on the old "family holiday quick cut flashback" short we've seen countless times in the past six years. This one, in particular, seems to be a companion piece to the one Emma Thompson did three years ago just with the roles reversed. Kate and Benedict actually made me laugh in their flashback scenes. Cecily and Chloe acted their present day parts pretty well. The casting of Strong amd Fineman as mother and daughter seemed inevitable, didn’t it? C+

Georgia Chain Gang - The level of acting was what sold the very straight forward premise of "man freely and openly admits to snitching on his fellow prisoners" to me. Benedict anchored this sketch well and it didn't hurt that they also cast Kenan, Chris, Alex and JAJ (in another increasingly less rare non-impression role) either. B+

Update was a pleasant surprise. Once again, Che had the better Roe V Wade opening rant but I admire Jost for really going there with his "mother's day/adam and eve/good luck, cancer" jokes as I did Che for his "afro-latino/Jackie Robinson/220 Carat Diamond" jokes (although I feel like his Alabama cave drawing joke was too much of a non-sequitir) I wasn't sure I would like Kate as ACB but the sheer silliness of it got me. B+

Landsdowne House - Once again, we get another sketch with a thin premise that is saved by its acting. To me, it was a slightly better take on the Mt Everest sketch from Mr. Show. Benedict and Alex really shined here. Mikey and Cecily do what Mikey and Cecily always do. In fact, this sketchs' placement in the show disproved my theory that Cecily showed up late enough in the week to only be able to be used in the cold open and pretapes. C+

ReKline from Kohler - This honestly might have been my favorite piece of the entire night as it was the most unabashedly ridiculous (yet also restrained just the right amount considering it was...y'know, LITERAL toilet humor). The use of an old, all-but-forgotten Fat Joe/Remy Ma track from 2004/out of nowhere was what really made this for me. Honestly, the only criticism I have of this was that I was disappointed that this was Sarah's first appearance of the night byt something tells me she might have had a hand in writing this. A+

Reflection Denied Live At Chuck E. Cheese - Nice to see that a dense '80s synthpop based sketch co-anchored by Benedict Cumberbatch and Bowen Yang has exactly as much promise as I thought it would! I also liked the interaction between Chloe and Cecily. Melissa, Alex, Kenan and Aristotle (oh...so, he IS still in the cast...I see) were great additions as well. This could've been edited down a bit (I'm not even sure what I would cut anyway) but overall not bad. B-

The Understudy - This was an enjoyable use of Chloe even if it was just a clothesline for her to hang her unseen impressions of her (white) female castmates (and Liz Olsen...who seems like one of those celebrities who barely gives a cast member like Chloe anything to work with) off of. I'm sure the Marvel/Multiverse fans were pleased by that one but it didn't do a whole lot for me. Still, this has honestly connected with me more than anything Chloe has did on the show so far. I have to admit though, I don't agree with Heidi's assessment of Chloes' impression of her being her "worst one" as I feel it's a close second to Chloes' impression of Melissa. I liked the idea of Punkie being Chloes' understudy but I think a better joke would be having Aristotle be Chloes' understudy (which would also explain his dire lack of airtime). B+

Now, for my updated rankings of the season so far...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire (5.7.2022)
8. Lizzo (4.16.2022)
9. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
10. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)
11. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
12. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
13. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
14. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
15. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
16. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
17. Ariana DeBose/Roddy Rich Bleachers (1.15.2022)
18. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
19. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was certainly a decent way to start off tye beginning and the end if this season. Next week, Selena Gomez makes her hosting debut (at a point where it doesn't feel too soon or too overdue) bringing with her some all-but-confirmed camros from her new co-stsrs Steve Martin and Martin Short. That should be a fun show! See you then!

Lizzo (4.16.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was definitely the strongest show of SNLs' April 2022 block mostly due to the host. The writing and running order still contribute to a show that's a little uneven but Lizzo really bought the energy and confidence she was expected to bring and really put the entire show over for me. It wasn’t all her (she and Dismukes worked surprisingly well together) but you can visibly tell she definitely lifted morale throughout the week (even if most of the visual evidence of this came across through points in the show where the entire cast was near breaking). Plus, this is the first show in a long time where every single cast member (minus Pete who has been M.I.A for two months now) got some screen time. Some of the underused women got their showcases tonight and even Aristotle got some small supporting parts (which isn't much but still must beat how the show has been treating him the past few weeks). Anyway, let’s get to it.

A Message From The Easter Bunny...And His Friends - I knew the very idea of us getting a non-topical non-grab bag cold open that was just pure evergreen Bowen weirdness (that's lighther on the camp) but this still had its moments. Kates' Fauci impression has passed its' shelf life and Cecilys' MTG may be getting there (but I did like the brief "God Bless Russia" joke) Good to see Redd as Eric Adams again. Only he could make a dicey NYC subway shooter joke work. Still, knowing what I now know about Eric Adams as a person from the actual news (particularly his treatment of homeless encampments in New York) I feel like SNLs take on Eric Adams shoukd be way more vicious. I'm still not sure what to make of Mikeys' Elon Musk other than it being basically a reheated version of Alexs' Mark Zuckerberg. Chloes' Britney was wasted here. I'm not too crazy about Kyle's Jared Leto either but I did like his "don't review Morbius" joke. It's nice to see JAJ settle into his role as Trump but the prospect of SNL NEEDING someone settled into that role is something I don't like to think too much about. I did like the Cap'n Crunch/Count Chocula/Little Ceasers' stories and Bowens' Bunny expressing his sheer confusion at them. I'll also admit to liking his "Covid will be over by Easter" joke as well. C+

Monologue - It's nice to see Lizzo start the show off right with the exact amount of confidence we expected of her, delivering a thoughtful personal monologue (apparently Lizzo had the most confidence out of anyone abour the material she had). B-

Guess That! - Jesus, another post monologue game show? This is, like, what, the fifth one in a row? The only thing close to a laugh this gave me was Kenans' name bring "Clint Litoris" but the rest of this seemed pretty aimless until it became obvious that the entire premise was "Lizzo plays an overconfident aggrieved dumb person who argues with Kenans' host over a minor slight". I appreciate Ego getting in on this, but it felt too little too late for me until Ego told her "People's Court" story and Kenans' host suddenly having a negative total on his podium despite not playing the game. C-

TikTok, Too - I figured this was going to be what we would get when The Standby Line Girls hinted we would get the return of a pretape from Billies' episode. I didn't mind since I did like the first one and I have to say this one was an improvement as it felt more focused and concise. It had an actual ending instead of just wrapping up four loose recurring themes. Plus, a lot of the cast just had better material from the first one (in particular Melissa, Chloe, Kate, Punkie, Andrew, Chris, JAJ, Mikey/Heidi, Ego & Sarah). I especially like the ending just being a simple reveal that JAJs' weird crawling guy is actually the father of our TikTok viewer (who, for some reason, unless his mom made a huge glarimg typo in one of the texts she sent him that she never caught also happens to be 27 years old and is somehow still in high school, still studying for the LSATS and has strong GoGurt flavor preferences...possible tribute to the Twitter persona of former SNL writer Dan Licata?). I also liked how Cecily made up for her absence from the first one by covering for Pete's absence from this one. Hey, if Aidy resembles any character from Euphoria...it's GOTTA be Kat, right? Also, were both of Bowens' contributions to these TikTok sketches just specific parodies of real viral TikTokers? I think i recognized who his "crying whille eating noodles" guy from the first one was supposed to be but the audience seems to have beaten me to recognizing his Tom's Diner cover artist tonight (which is a video we definitely need the full length version of, by the way!) B+

Black Eyed Peas 2008 Studio Sessions - Ok, thankfully I was able to let my aversion toward the inevitable creeping slide into full on late 00s nostalgia get in thecway of me enjoying this. Although Cecilys' Fergie is a little dodgy (especially when you compare it to Mileys' from season 36) this was pretty much perfectly cast. The premise was a bit thin (seemed better suited for a lame standup bit from someone like, say...I dunno, Dave Attell or a Family Guy cutaway than a full on sketch) but the performances (especially Chris and Bowen) really put it over for me. It didn't go on too long but it still felt like it could've used some cuts (like the "Let's Get It Started" reference because I know that song HAD to have been recorded way earlier than April 16, 2008). Overall, this wasn't too bad for a dated feelong sketch that needed real tightening up. C+

Six Flags Grandpa - As much as I'm not crazy about the prospect of MORE pointless mid-to-late 00s nostalgia as over explained by Mikey and/or Aidy with small dick joke liberally sprinkled throughout, I have to say I do like the prospect of Sarah getting her own vehicle out of this. I do like how Ego and Aristotle got in on it. I do like how Kyle and Kate basically ceded the spotlight to them, too and the semi-emotional ending here worked for me too. C+

PDD: Horny Zookeeper (ft. Lizzo & Andrew Dismukes) - This might have just replaced "Three Sad Virgins (ft. Pete Davidson and Taylor Swift)" as my favorite PDD SNL short of all time so far. I don't know what it is about the weeks where the show has big name female double duty pop stars return to the show as either hosts or musicial guests (and yes, I'm counting the one that got cut from Billies' episode in this because thst worked for me) that has made them produce all their straight up bangers so far but hey, more power too them. Also, I'm intrigued to hear more abour Dismukes history of literally getting away with murder. B+

Update seemed to have a running theme of "jokes I would've really hated if anyone other than Colin Jost or Michael Che were telling/saving face from them." That Sonic/Tails/Knuckles joke seems like it was beamed forward in time from season 45. Che clearly had the better Elon Musk Twitter joke but Jost made up for his short comings tonight with that dumbbell joke. Other than that, nothing else stood out to me. Thankfully, Melissa rolled in at the end to debut her new non-impression character "guy who is trying standup for the first time and immediately regrets it as all his jokes are just harsh slams against his nephew." I love getting to see the occasional glimpses into this side of Melissa that wants to give us more creative conceptual character work. I love that this also seemed more personal for Melissa as it seemed based in her own personal background and family culture. I also liked that the entire bit seemed to just be the longest setup to another slam on Jost ever done on Weekend Update. I know a lot of people probably would have preferred Aristotle got a character on here but Melissa has still gotta be second from the bottom on this season's list of "cast members who got the most airtime" so, hey I'll take it! B-

Debauched Orgy Prep - I appreciate that they went for a full cast ensemble piece (minus Melissa, Jost, Che, JAJ, Heidi, Chloe and the still absent Pete) at a point in the season of heavy cast imbalance (yes, even Aristotle scored here) but this might have been the weakest sketch of the night for me. Kate, Kyle, Sarah, Lizzo and Dismukes tried to give us something to save it (and so did Aidy with the unintentional comedy of the camera accidentally cutting away from her at a seemingly pivotal reveal-that-was-already-kinda-botched moment for her character) but other than that there wasn't anything for me to latch onto here. Honestly, Cecily and Bowen as the anchors of this sketch gave me bad flashbacks to that Cleopatra sketch from the lackluster Awkwafina episode from season 44. C-

Beverly Gas Joins The Devry Symphony Orchestra - I suppose it was inevitable that we would get a sketch that revolves around Lizzos' famed flute playing ability. I suppose I can see how it might have presented a challenge to not also make Lizzos' famed twerking abilities a part of it too. Still, I wasn't crazy about this either but the ending was admirable. Aidy and Kenan tried their hardest but I still couldn't fully get into this one. Also, this sketch HAS to have set a new record for "most castmembers near breaking in a single sketch", right? Glad to see everyone having fun here, though. C-

Steve's Investment - Good to end the night on pure unrestrained Dismukes madness. The ending was a little bleak for me, but the sketch itself still worked. B-

Now, for my updated rankings of the season so far...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Lizzo (4.16.2022)
8. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
9. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)
10. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
11. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
12. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
13. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
14. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
15. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
16. Ariana DeBose/Roddy RichBleachers (1.15.2022)
17. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
18. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that episode certainly carried the cast and crew into May. Speaking of which, next month SNL returns for its final block of shows this season with Benedict Cumberbatch as host. I remember his 2016 episode being pretty bad but that wasn't his fault so I definitely think he deserves a second chance to host during a week without any approaching dark clouds about to loom over America's collective heads and during a point when the cast and crew have had two weeks off instead of one and they've just produced the standard three shows in a row rather than four, so...y'know less burn out. See you then (oh, amd before I forget...make sure you catch me as a guest on the next SNL Network Patron Feedback show on Tuesday 04/19! Yes, that's the right date. I know those moved from Thursday to Wednesday but Jon has said he will be out of town on Wednesday).

Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was an episode that was shockingly far more uneven than last week. However, this is mostly due to the fact that the show was frontloaded with it's weaker material leaving it's truly great sketches at the bottom of the show. To me, this show started out with the strange feeling that something somewhere was a bit "off" but that may just be due to my own personal reservations about Mr. Gyllenhaal. Putting those aside just for a moment, I'll admit he was just as fine a host as he was 15 years ago. He seemed to be used more in this episode than his previous one but he still blended into the background a little too easily when he wasn't meant to be the main focus of a sketch. In fact, I heard that Jake was one of Jimmy Kimmels' guests (in L.A. of course) on Monday this week where even Kimmel questioned why he wasn't in New York as we speak. Since the last host I know of to have missed the Monday pitch meeting was Justin Beiber, I had a feeling Jake might have been just as difficult backstage, but thankfully there seemed to be no evidence of that onscreen. He still seems to have gotten along with everyone. Plus, Camilla Cabello turned in some fine musical performances. On the plus side, a lot of the newer, underused female cast members (and Alex Moffat) made major comebacks in terms of airtime this week! Still, Aristotle continues to be shut out and Pete continues to be skipping the show entirely. Other than that, the cast balance seems to makeup for the imbalance caused by this episodes runnning order. Let's just get right into it, shall we?

Kentanji In The Oval Office - Well, I liked where this WAS headed until Kate showed up but thankfully the queen of Gins-burns wasn't the sole focus of this. Kenan got it back on track. Punkie and Chris got the roles of a lifetime. Thankfully, this was more concise, focused and thoughtful than most of the political cold opens we've gotten this season. B-

Monologue - Well, I did like the mini-deep dive into his 2007 episode but I'm still not crazy about his singing (which doesn’t seem to have changed all that much in 15 years) but it's still preferable than another "personal" monologue where he goes on about method acting (which...honestly would've still been preferable to a monologue where he addresses the "All Too Well" drama at all). Oh, well. At least this was concise for a singing monologue that (thankfully) features Cecily, Ego and Chloe as backup singers. D+

Why'd You Like It? - Hmm, this felt like it could've been cut from literally any dress rehearsal since season 40 (which incidentally featured a sketch with Kevin Hart called "Why'd You Post That?" which was cut from Chris Rocks' episode earlier that season that this seemed to be a watered down version of). Still, Chris and Ego pretty much owned this with some assists from Kenan and Chloe (and helped offset the creepy "too on the nose" nature of Jake's presence in this) for me. C-

Dream Home Cousins - Hmm, I was hoping this would be more in line with the "House Hunters" and "Chopped" sketches Leslie Jones did with Melissa Villaseñor and Liev Schreiber in season 44. Unfortunately, this seemed to solely focus on Kate's unpleasant character (who had some decent line, I'll admit). Nice to see JAJ in another non-impression role but his intentionally weak character didn't do much for me. Overall, this sketch didn’t land. D+

The Cabaret Singers Four - Hmm, this seemed to be another "camp" sketch written solely for Cecily and Bowen to "vamp" in the vein of the one they did with Jonathan Majors (but with Jake and Kate sharing his role) but at least this had enough scattershot silliness to just barely work for me. C+

Flower Sprinkles - Hmm, Jake and Sarah in a sketch together was something I was hoping to see. Kenan, Cecily and Chris were solid here, too. Bowen performed well in spite of how badly he was greenscreened. Unfortunately, this seemed WAY to unfocused for its' own good and needed some serious edits to at least not feel like four rewritten versions of one sketch all jammed together. D+

Chucky - Now, THIS was a much better use of Sarah (and Chloe, Ego and DEFINITELY Melissa!) I love the insane amount if thought and visual work that went into this and the twist of Chuckys' reveal followed by the further twist of Aidy/Janet being openly badmouthed in the meeting and everyone simply being OK with that. B+

Update was more fun to watch for Che and Josts' chemistry than the jokes. However, I did like Josts' Tom Cotton/MTG Rabid Fox bite/Dosney hugs/injury attorney jokes and the meta turn in his "Will Smith should host next years Oscars as punishment" jokes. I also liked Che's Trump Capitol Steps/Obama/Miami/Tom Brady Gator/Lucky Charms jokes. I don't think we really needed to see Aidy and Bowens' trend forecasters again but I did like the "no more jogging to Kelly Clarkson" tirade and the "sounds" forecast (as well as Che being "out" as telegraphed as that was). As much as I don't like to think about who might have gotten cut, it was nice to see a short Update with only one commentary again. C+

Lights Camera Achoo - This was a very specific premise based sketch that was well acted by all involved (even if Mikey Day just had to Mikey Day the hell out of it and Cecily made a questionable choice). Plus, there was a neat little live TV verité moment with the fluid flinging stagehand crouching next to Kenan behind the bar and it was nice to see Alex and Andrew pop up. Still, it didn’t really go anywhere and the ending was kinda weak but it has to be my third favorite segment of the night. B-

Couple's Therapy - Well, Punkie is the lead in this sketch and it's the type of insane thing that ONLY Punkie could do. Plus, Melissa and Ego are her scene partners. Even Jake was put to good use here. So, automatically this is my second favorite sketch of the whole show. B+

Truck Drivin' Songs - Ooh, looks like somebody on the SNL writing staff must've been watching both John Oliver on HBO and old YouTube clips of Mason Ramsey on Sunday night and just ran with the first thing that popped into their head on Monday. This was an all right five-to-one sketch. Not all of the songs landed with me but everyone was great in it (especially Melissa and Andrew). I wasn't crazy about Aidys' performance here but I did like the idea of her doing an impromptu Wayne Porter vs Kim Plunkett/Jennifer Aniston for Privolin style fake ad for no one. C+

Now, for my updated rankings of the season so far...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
8. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (4.9.2022)
9. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
10. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
11. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
12. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
13. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
14. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
15. Ariana DeBose/Roddy RichBleachers (1.15.2022)
16. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
17. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was that. It was the kind of show that made you really question what your owj expectations as a viewer were setting you up for. Next week, Lizzo returns to the show as not just mudical guest, but host as well! She may not have had much acting experience, but like most double duty pop star hosts the shoe tends to book she seems to have a big enough personality to do well with sketch comedy. See you then!

Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was just a very uneven episode that had its moments. Sadly, it's not one of those episodes that is likely to leave a long lasting impression on you or even stay with you for a long time. Having nearly an entire third of the show devoted to discourse on a certain subject that had been beaten to death by mid week didn’t help much either. Jerrod Carmichael may be a fine standup comic but he's practically invisible as a host and as a sketch performer. Speaking of "practically invisible" it was another episode where a number of cast members were shut out entirety. We didn’t see any Punkie, Melissa, Aidy or Aristotle. Pete was only in one pretape and Kate disappeared after the cold open and first post monologue sketch. Ego had one voice only part and then showed up on camera in only one post Update sketch. That kind of cast imbalance tends to throw the show off in some noticable ways. Anyway, let's break this thing down, shall we?

FOX And Friends - It's good to see this is still a palatable and flexible cold open template all these years later. I liked the jabs at the new right wing social media app burning up everyone's phones (ranking all of SNLs' Brian Kilmeade impersonators, I'd have to go Bobby Moynihan > Mikey Day > Beck Bennett...I know Beck was the most accurate with the voice but other than that his impression was pretty forgettable). I also liked the sight gag of Cecily Pirro shotgunning wine and SNL showing enough restraint to channel their (hopefully non-Update) commentary on "the slap" through JAJs' Trump badly describing the plot to "Hitch". I also like how they turned his Trump into a blatant self-incriminator. It shows they're trying out different things with JAJ as Trump than just having him blast through rundowns and wordles. Kenan as Clarence Thomas didn’t do much for me but Kate's Ginni and her whole "biblical vengance/release the Kraken" speech. Also, Alexs' Steve Doocy has improved but Heidi just seemed to be playing herself. Overall, a pleasant down-the-road-less-traveled surprise of a cold open. B-

Monologue - Well, I certainly respect Mr. Carmichaels' approach to tiptoeing around the topic everyone wants to address so vaguely one could argue that he didn't even address it at all (and knowing what Lorne has been like for years, I totally buy that he would tell Jerrod to "heal the nation" by talking about it). He should be glad to know he is FAR from the least famous SNL host of all time. That honor goes to Miskell Spillman. Hell, Jerrod Carmichael doesn’t even crack the bottom ten on the "all time least famous SNL hosts list". B-

Is My Brain Okay? - Well, Sarah, Chris and Bowen made this for me but I couldn't get past that nagging feeling in the back of my head that Twitter is going to pick this sketch apart for unfairly making fun of those with long haul Covid symptoms without knowing or really caring who at the show has them. I've already seen some people saying that this felt like a sketch from last season but if thst were the case, Kate would jusy be playing herself and waiting for the very end of the sketch to reveal it. C+

Short Ass Movie - This had its' moments and the premise didn’t feel too banal or derivative to make it on air. Say what you will about Gunna, but he was surprisingly decent here (but then again even an overrated professional rapper would probably bring a little more to a rap video than Pete and Chris would). I wasn't sure how to feel about the Simon Rex cameo (mostly due to me barely knowing who Simon Rex even is) but I loved how the entire reason for his cameo seemed to be to take advantage of his facial resemblance to the late Jim Varney. I also appreciated Pete mumbling his weak defense of "King Of Staten Islands'" length. Basically, my main takeaway from this piece was to start reccomending MST3K to people more since every episode of thst show is basically a 90 minute movie. Hell, even the ACTUAL MST3K movie is a mere 75 minutes (which is one of the reasons so many people say it is a good starting point for getting into tye show itself). B-

Rhylee Rainbowlocks - It was a bit of a long walk at first but I liked how such elaborate writerly details went into such a subtle reveal of something so casually raunchy. My only criticisms were that Cecily and Mikeys' characters seemed too similar to the "Right Side Of The Bed" hosts she played with Taran and it seemed like Jerrods' character could've been played by any host but other than that I had no real problems with this sketch. B+

Oscars - Well, I'm not crazy about the fact that they decided to devote a whole sketch to this but I will say it was well acted and written. Chris Redds' Will Smith works well enough for a sketch where the main focus is him trying to carry on a casual conversation with now-former fans of his who are unfortunately meeting him for the first time in *that* moment and Will being blissfully unaware that they've instantly lost all respect for him they once had. Kyle and Jerrod acted their parts well and it was a decent length for what it was. Some might say Jay Pharroh did a better Will Smith impressions but only Chris Redd could've sold Smiths' apparent obliviousness in the moment. C+

Update was...something. As expected, Che way outclassed Jost with the "slap" material (but I did like Josts comment on the academy supposedly asking Rock if they should remove Smith or not). Other than the Black Bear/Madea sex voice/Mtn Dew Breast Milk jokes and Che's subtle plug for the second season of his HBO Max sketch show, not much else stood out to me. I never thought I'd have an actual favorite out of all the dim blonde Republican women Cecily spouts pure Fox News word salad as, but her Marsha Blackburn comes close. I wanted to like Kenans' O.J. commentary just for his performance but I definitely feel like OJ even offering his take in real life it was too close to parody itself (and too many people have pointed that out already) for me to really get into it. Hey, at least by random chance I picked the right option in the SNL Standby Line "guess the update commentaries" twitter poll (well, I picked Kenan deliberately just because I had a gut feeling he could be the only one to deliver their commentary on "the slap"). B-

Funeral At Sea - I'm glad that Dismukes is getting more time and I especially liked that they gave JAJ an opportunity to act in a non-impression role in a momemt of pure chaos. Heidi and Kyle were great in supporting roles. Other than that, they should’ve aimed a little shorter if they were aiming for a short sketch. I don't think that the parts with the urn and Dismukes kidnapping that random biker were necessary. Plus, this is the second sketch of the night where I got an "interchangable host" vibe from Jerrod Carmichael. C+

French Waiter Story - I wanted to like this a lot more just for Kyle's performance but it felt too much like Nassim Pedrads' "Tibby" character from season 38 and Kyle's "cut to" musical short from last season for me to get into it. Plus, even though it had a silly enough ending for me it felt like "socially awkward character needlessly/incredulously interrupts a mundane story from someone they just met  to the point where they don't even register that the story has ended" is a trope I've seen a few too many times on SNL. Plus, I feel kinda bad that this was Ego's first appearance of the night. C-

Born This Way Onesies - Wow, I don't really know what to make of this one. I mean, the only joke I even remotely liked was "Alexander Hamilton was a TERF" just for the sheer outlandishness of it but other than that, it seemed so jumbled, confused and on the verge of just punching down I'd have a hard time believing Che didn't write this. D+

Now, for my updated rankings of the season so far...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Jerrod Carmichael/Gunna (4.2.2022)
8. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)
9 Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
10. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
11. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
12. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
13. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
14. Ariana DeBose/Roddy RichBleachers (1.15.2022)
15. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
16. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was that. Next week, Jake Gyllenhaal returns for his second time hosting with Camilla Cabello as his musical guest in what has to be both the most ill-advised AND ill-timed host/MG booking in SNL history. I mean, I hope they can either figure out a way to make Gyllenhaal feel like as much of a low-impact host as Carmichael was or just do what they did in '07 and just use him like Dick Ebersol used his hosts in the early '80s (barely...and hopefully only in sketches with JAJ/Squirm/Aristotle where he can give them a boost) because with certain other more *recent* revelations that have come out about him, I don't really want to see that much of Jake Gyllenhaal right now. Basically, Gyllenhaal might be the third worst host SNL could've booked right now after Jared Leto and Kanye (the latter of whom I only compare to because they both breifly convinced 16yo Casey back in 2007 to admit to himself "OK, these famous guys who I don't think all that much of do have a sense of humor about themselves and can be funny sketch performers, so...maybe they've earned a little bit of respect from me" but then both guys would quickly undo most of the goodwill they've earned from me and the general public at large who aren't their most devoted fans over the next 15yrs as we learn more about them and the messed up stuff they've done/would do (particularly to a certain other performer who's been in this show six months that I've semi-shamelessly yet still ever-so-subtly dropped blink-and-you-might-miss-it type hints that I am a genuine fan of...and yeah, that reminds me...I'm sure Tay-Tay and Baby C's friendship is going to be a bit strained for a while). Seriously though, some may say Gyllenhaals' not quite as bad a person as Kanye (I may not be willing to go that far myself but YMMV) but it's still a case of "I know too much about this guy to fully be into seeing them give it their all in an SNL sketch in 2022". See you then.