Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)

Wrong Group Chat?

• Hey, this looks like a different type of cold op…ooooooohhhh, I can see exactly where this is going.

• Nice way to use the host in the cold open right out the gate.

• Dismukes as Hehgseth? Ok, that's ONE way to…possibly annoy him and/or Trump?

• Hey, they actually knew how to write decently for Bowens’ JD Vance here. All right.

• Marcello as Rubio didn't add anything to this (neither did Mikey as Atlantic Jeffrey but hey, it was one of the many beats they absolutely had to hit in this).

• At least this was short (I mean, for a modern SNL cold open) and gave us a Matt Gaetz joke without giving us Sarah's portrayal. 

• I've seen some people compare this to the Clinton/Lewinsky/Hussein three-way phone call cold open from 1998 but I personally see more similarities to the cold open from Emma Stone's 2016 episode (where we kept switching back and forth between Baldwins’ Trump and Kate's Kellyanne in an important briefing and the people Trump was obsessively retweeting) and maybe the 1993 John Malkovich sketch where his character from “In The Line Of Fire” keeps dialing all the wrong numbers until het gets to a confused Clint Eastwood (played by Norms’ voiceover set against real footage of the film, of course). C+

Monologue 

• Mikey is bringing the exact right amount of energy to this monologue. She's not low energy enough to leave me worried but she's not overdoing it either.

• The “horse girl” chunk probably could've been cut but I liked her “obligatory montage of the host's film roles” (especially the OUATIH clips).

• The pole dancing part was fun just for the fact that they incorporated some “on the fly” editing tricks into a live monologue for once. C+

Strop Acting Academy II

• I heard a rumor there might be a “reprise of a Marcello led sketch from the Charli XCX episode” tonight. I might've preferred another “Banger Boys” to this but…we could've gotten something way worse.

• Again, I'm still not totally against Marcello here but this character isn't suited to him that well.

• I did chuckle at his playing off each of the girls commercial copy and I liked some of the gags involving he and Ms. Madison listing their “acting credits” (even if she came nowhere near close to matching his energy) but not much else in this landed with me. C-

Big Dumb Line (A Weekend In New York)

• Huh, so everyone in New York just spends their weekends waiting in impossibly long lines for various trendy bullshit they heard about on social media.

• Hey, there's Joe Jonas all of a sudden. Ok.

• Yeah, no. This plays into the worst instincts of everyone involved.

• Gee, Sarah really DOES resemble Melissa Villaseñor. I genuinely got confused for a second there.

• This reminded me a lot of Chloes’ “C**ts’ Really Crossed The Pond” music video she posted on her Instagram over the summer. I guess it took her about eight or nine months to figure out how to rewrite it into something appropriate to air on NBC? (Note: that bit if self censorship two sentences ago is just my attempt to avoid having this blog post put under any kind of content/trigger warning like a few recent previous one of mine have).

• Hey, that reminds me. Why was everyone talk-singing in bad British accents in this? Was this a pitch that Charli XCX rejected on Monday? 

• Also, I couldn't help but notice that the official title of this sketch on YouTube happens to be “Big Dumb Line”. I do have to wonder if the same writing team behind such classics as “Big Dumb Hats” and “Little Red Glasses” had a hand in creating this? I know that may be a dumb question given that this is a music video and the others were just straight to camera live sketches but the focus and themes are just similar enough that indi have to wonder out loud a bit here. D-

Jury Selection 

• Oh, I see. The PDD boys really ARE back because they took their school board/tenant meeting sketches from season 47 and turned them into jury selection. 

• I mean, I figured that's what this would be as soon as I saw Ego addressing a group of people straight to camera.

• Finally, something comes along to breathe some life into this big “meh” of an episode.

• I liked Sarah and Ashley's characters. I also liked how they finally found a way to sneak JAJs’ Jay-Z impression on the show again and I liked Jane's callback.to that at the end.

• I liked Bowens’ exit. Was that Carl Tart as the bailiff?

• I liked Devon basically playing “Temu Louis Farrahkan”.

• I was pretty cold on Chloe randomly showing up as herself but I like the idea that this could be a meta moment poking fun at her own sheer desperation (especially since Ms. Madison got what was probably gonna be her role in the cold open up until the last minute).

• I liked Heidi's performance (and Mikeys’) and Kenan and Emils’ callback following it (even as cheap as casting Emil as Luigi felt).

• I liked Longfellows blooper and I chuckled more than I probably should have at Marcello doing the worst Benson Boone impression ever. B-

Varsity Valley Spring Break 

• …and I see whoever wrote those “dramatic heartfelt scenes with a bunch of wild ass crazy shit” happening in the background” pretapes from seasons 48/49 bought those back too.

• Oh well, at least we get to see Chloe and Marcello in more restrained roles than what they're normally given.

• Overall, despite Mr. Day, Ms. Madison and Ms. Nwodim giving this everything they had, I would say this one wasn't as strong as the one from Jenna Ortegas’ episode but still better than "The Right Track" from Nate Bargatzes’ first episode last season. Still, this had the right amount of focus to make it work for me.

• Dismukes suddenly brandishing an alligator may have been the highpoint of this for me. JAJ, Kenan and Heidi did great support work in straight roles here.

• Even Sarah puking was played as tastefully as possible while being cartoonish and absurd. B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• I didn't care for much of Josts’ opening Signal rant except for maybe the Jared reference for how out of left field it came compared to the second Matt Gaetz reference I was half expecting (which is definitely the same reason I liked Che's “oilman/Diddy” punchline and Josts’ “deepfake revenge porn” joke).

• I will admit I liked how Jost delivered the “sucked on/suck off/Forrest Gump” punchlines (even as heavily telegraphed as the latter seemed.

• I thought Che's “Tesla protest/full pardon” joke and Josts’ “J.D. Vance in Greenland” joke were both solid.

• Hey, Che got through an entire Update without ONCE uttering the phrase “it's the 90s”! Way to go, bud!

• Huh, we haven't seen Devon Walker as himself on Update (the first time he did this two and a half years ago…it didn't go so great).

• I saw some people speculating that the show might do a parody of the “morning routine” trend on TikTok. I haven't actually seen this myself but I suppose this would've been the best way they could've done this.

• Still, Devon usually scores on Update (and he did here) and it's nice that he figured out how to actually use his own “self” persona effectively on Update. I think my favorite part was him calling out Che (especially the “Buffalo Wild Wings” mini rant).

• The return of Josts’ “Hear Me Out” segment was a lot of fun. I especially liked how Jost leaned into his fake anger at Paddington there.

• Ooh, hey! An Ashley Padilla commentary on Update. This is something we literally haven't seen all season.

• Ashley turned in one hell of a performance as Joann of Joann Fabrics fame. She really put her all into it.

• Even though a lot of this can be boiled down to more “lol suburban middle aged white women, amirite?” humor and some of the material was a bit shaky, I liked this quite a bit. I especially liked her detailing what she does at the store each day and pulling out a bejeweled flask.

• Most of all, I liked how they used this as an opportunity to give Ashley some airtime to perform some material that they otherwise would've given to Heidi who probably would've made it worse. 

• Wow, this may have been the best Update overall that I've seen in several months. It's certainly a high point of this episode (which isn't saying a lot for this episode, but whatever). B-

Pops’ Regrets

• Another Dismukes led sketch. He plays an older mafia figure who gets shot in a drive-by, complete with squids and blood packs. This could be interesting.

• Now, he's mumbling about half thought out standup routines he never got to try out as he bleeds to death. Also, Ms. Madison is his wife and she turns in her strongest performances all night. JAJ & Marcello are his sons. Good support work from them. Mr. Day is his assassin.

• This felt like an inverted version of the coffee shop sketch from Timothee Chalamets’ episode from two months ago.

• Hmm, I liked the idea of this but the execution left a little to be desired. Something felt missing here. Not as much of it hit for me as I had hoped. C+

Barry The Midwife

• Huh…I see they also decided to bring back what was possibly the only truly weak sketch from Quinta Brunsons’ episode two years ago (well, one of the only two, now that I think about it).

• Impressive how this managed to travel back and forth through time but ultimately go nowhere.

• I did like the jammed-in Conan reference and some of the jabs at Hilary Duff though. Yeah, this was writerly and detail heavy but not in the way I normally like.

• However, it's pretty obvious that having this in the lineup caused some production delays and timing issues so either way you look at it, this sketch just wasn't worth it. C-

PDD: Mikey Madison Is Squidward 

• Ok, now Please Don't Destroy is bringing back the basic premise of their “What if Bad Bunny was suddenly Shrek?” pretape from last season but changing it to “What if Mikey Madison was suddenly Squidward and also Ben Marshall was bald Spongebob, John Higgins was Patrick Star and Martin Herlihy was Mr. Krabs?” Come on.

• Well, I liked this one a little better than the previous Bad Bunny/Shrek one mostly for the very streamlined “cut right to the chase” nature of it where we just immediately saw the fully developed HBO show.

• I couldn't fully get into this. I mean, I kinda liked the idea of a love action makeup heavy Spongebob reboot done as a Girls style dramadey but maybe I was just sick of all the blatant retread sketches in a row tonight in the back half

• …or maybe I just had a problem with how parts of this just seemed to be an excuse to just repeat actual lines and memes from the shows’ early run (looking at you John…and to a lesser extent, you too Big Mart-Mart).

• Yeah, no need to include that brief shot of Bad Bunny as Shrek as a flashback/memory within the sketch. We all know what you were going for there, guys. C-

So, Like, What Are We?

• Oh, COME. ON. Now, they're just bringing back an old Abby Elliott/Bill Hader sketch from Eli Mannings’ 2012 episode and mixing it in with the template of the shows’ recent “social media based game show sketches.” Why?

• Anyway, I did like the focused nature of this with Longfellow being the sole contestant and the stakes of this being raised to “losing 100k from your bank account”.

• I also chuckled at the “daddy hungry for butt?” text. Otherwise, this came at a point where I had already had more than my fill of retread sketches for me to be that patient with it. 

• Also, I have heard via SNN that this sketch originally featured Kenan, Chloe and others as various judges and contestants. While part of me is curious how much differently this would've made the sketch play out, the rest of me knows that whittling it down to just Madison and Longfellow was for the best. C+

An SNL Animated Short: Planning New York

• Ok, at least they're ending the show on the most original concept they could muster this week.

• I've heard about this getting cut from multiple episodes this season so I'm glad to finally see it.

• The rapid fire back and forth between Bowen and Longfellow was OK but most of this felt too specific to Manhattans’ infrastructure to appeal that much to me.

• I'm not that crazy about this janky, jittery style of animation with it's Spongebob style detailed close ups either. Basically, this was just a slightly inferior followup to the “God” short from Timothee Chalamets’ show two months ago. C+

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
3. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
4. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
5. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
6. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
7. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
8. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
9. Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
10. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
11. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
12. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
13. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
14. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
15. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
16. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts

• Obviously, this was far from the best of the season…yet it was far from the worst.

• There was nothing aggressively terrible about this episode. Everything about it just felt flat and underwhelming. It was the most “middle of the road” episode produced this season (possibly of all time).

• The biggest problem this episode had was it relied way to heavily on recurring sketches and premises from up to three seasons ago (or thirteen seasons ago in one specific case).

• Mikey Madison wasn't a terrible host either. It's just that the show surprisingly didn't know how to use her effectively. There was only one sketch where I felt she truly went “above and beyond” but other than that…she did fine with what she was given. She just didn't blow anybody away or anything.

• Cast airtime seemed evenly distributed tonight. No one seemed shut out of the show entirely (Jane came pretty close though) but Devon and Ashley obviously had a big week (maybe not as big as Marcello, Sarah, Bowen or Mikey Day but they made string gains and that's what counts).

Closing Thoughts

• Well, that was certainly another episode of SNL.

• Next week, Jack Black returns to host SNL for his fourth time after a near 20 year hosting absence from the show (not counting the time Tenacious D was an actual musical guest back in ‘06).

• Putting aside any feelings about how Jack may have basically dissolved Tenacious D himself last summer out of apparent fear of potential boycotts of “The Minecraft Movie” or whatever family friendly DreamWorks fare nets him the biggest paycheck these days, this is a pretty intriguing “get” for modern SNL. I'm always interested to see someone come back to the show after at least a decade long absence just to see how they would fit into the mold of the modern show.

• After this episode, SNL absolutely NEEDS a host who can inject the show with some goddamn ENERGY! Plus, it's not like Jack Black was big on recurring characters and sketches during the times he hosted in the early aughts so it'll be interesting to see what they try to do with him this time.

• After that, you may see another retro review on this blog that I have pretty much already written for the Steve Martin/Prince episode from February 2006. As you may have heard if you've been listening, that particular episode will be the subject of the next episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast set to be released on Thursday, April 10th.

• See you guys then!

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!

Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)

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Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

 Dueling Rallies, Y'all!

- Well, Andrew Dismukes as David Muir is a nice touch to start off with. At least they're only just referencing the debate instead of recreating it from two weeks ago. 

- Nice to see Maya Rudolph but five years later I'm still left wishing the show could actually focus up its take on Kamala Harris and back off the "rebooting the funt" stuff because this vague mishmash of pop culture world salad isn't setting a great tone so far. What the hell even was that "va-Georgia" line anyway? 

- Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz is...OK. They're both well aged mideastern white dads with glasses, so...whatever makes sense. Geez, I hate to think of Lorne ordering stunt cameos the way J.D. Vance orders donuts. Still, this reeks a bit too much of desperate stunt casting (seeing as he actually was gently suggested by some folks online somewhere. I mean, how far down WAS Gaffigan on Lornes' list of "white haired dudes with glasses" after Steve Martin said "nah brah I'm good?") to me, but good for Jim for finally getting a shot on SNL. Kudos to them for working in a Menards' reference in a national TV program (even if that was literally just an actual quote from the real Walz). I'm sure somewhere Mary Jo Pehl is smiling. Anyway, Gaffigan seems to actually have a hook for Walz, so that's nice. He made me feel slightly better about the inevitable Vance/Walz VP Debate we'll be seeing as next weeks' cold open (as long as a fly doesn't land in Vances' beard in the real debate or something). I giggled a bit more than I should have at "my nuts froze to the park bench," and that accidental cut back to Maya dancing in the live show. 

- Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff is...a sensible choice. It's fun, and at least it's nice to see someone like Samberg make a genuine surprise cameo on the show years after we assumed he was done with it. I liked the goofy sauce Andy was putting on his line delivery. I guess Marty Short was busy, but it's still at least appropriate for an alumni sprinkled cold open, seeing as this is the 50th season premiere. 

- I never thought I'd actually this but I'm actually relieved to see James Austin Johnson back as Trump considering they...y'know, rumors started swirling a couple of days ago that could've dog...er, DONE worse. 

- Bowen Yang as JD Vance was...pretty much exactly what I was expecting from him when i heard the rumor his Vance impression was cut from the cold open of last seasons' finale (but I see both that and this one managed to cram in a surprise reference to Sabrina Carpenters' "Espresso". Ok). I don't have the huge problem with it that some of you guys seem to have. I mean, I can see why they would want to cast Bowen as a guy who wears that much inexplicably makeup and just expects us all to accept it unquestioningly. It's just not exactly the casting choice I would’ve made if I were Lorne.

- Dana Carveys' Joe Biden seemed...OK, if not terribly relevant at this point. Not sure we need to see "doddering old Joe" at this point again, but...hey, an unexpected alum cameo (even one who seems increasingly old and slightly doddering himself) isn't ALWAYS a bad thing necessarily.

- Carvey has shown he can do a strong Biden in the past but his impression seems to have becone less whispery and devolved into a cross between "Church Lady" "Garth" and "Massive Headwound Harry" with the cadence of "G.H.W. Bush." I guess that's just the natural result of changing his Biden to play to a live audience vs. playing to podcast listeners and cohosts in an enclosed studio. I hope it's more of that than it is just focusing more on the perceived senility than the voice.

- I just wished they shortened this and focused less on cramming every reference to "things that happened politically in the summer of 2024" that they could come up with. JAJs' Trump speech in particular felt the most like they were just running down a checklist of this whole thing. 

- I'm not crazy about returning to season 45 length cold opens after they spent the last two seasons steadily moving away from that but hey...election year. Anniversary year, too. They're expecting a lot of eyes on the show. Lotta those eyes are gonna be older and wearier and be in the sockets of older viewers who may not have tuned in in decades and now only pop in for the political takes without caring how broad or character/hook based the sketches are or that they don't make many salient points. Give the people what they want to see, riiiiiiiiight? 

- At least this didn't feel quite as DENSELY PACKED with either cameos or toothless slapdash also ran candidate characterizations as season 45 but when I said I wanted to see what else they could do for election cold open besides just recreating the debates that were too early forcthe show to cover, I was hoping for...not this. C-

Montage

- This may have been the highlight of the entire show...which is actually quite sad when you think about it. I like the return to a season 24/25 style theme (possibly intentionally matching the theme from a previous big anniversary season?) with visuals that seemingly mix the season 48/49 opening with the ones from seasons 3, 10/11 and 29-31 while keeping things 98% confined just to studio 8H (NBC budget cuts, amirite?) Why this leaves the season 44-49 theme stuck in my head, I don't know.

Monologue 

- Normally, I like the host's monologue to keep the energy level up and a season premiere shouldn't feel this borderline sleepy (let alone the 50th), but I can let it slide this time. Jean Smart was charming and I liked the low-key Candace Bergen/Dyan Cannon season one vibes I got from this. This felt like a mashup of three different types of quiet, solo monologues you don't really get on SNL anymore. 

- Overall, I found Jean to be a fine host but I felt she should've had a bigger presence throughout the show. She almost felt underused to the point of a Dick Ebersol host (and part of me wishes her first musical guest intro was not the only time we got to see her "Hacks" costar Hannah Einbinder on the show). Still, I understand Jean was feeling ill the night of the show so I could see them having had to cut down her parts a bit. B+

The $100,000 Pyramid 

- Oh, look at that. A game show sketch post monologue. How novel. At least we get Devons Walkers' Michael Strahan right out the gate as the one stringing this together. 

- I'd be less annoyed at SNLs' obligatory Hawk Tuah reference if it were Sarah playing Haley Welch instead of Chloe. C'mon, Sarah actually resembles Hawk Tuah Hailey more than Chloe and has proven she can do a convincing southern accent. 

- Kenans' Mark Robinson was...pretty much what I expected. Can't complain much there. Marcello as Bad Bunny works but it shouldn't really be the main focal point of a sketch. 

- I somehow missed the "Chimp Crazy" documentary so I had no idea who the hell that monkey wife lady Jean was playing was but it was nice to see a semi realistic monkey puppet on SNL. Somewhere, Tim Kazurinsky must be seething. 

- Kudos to Emil Wakim for making his onscreen debut. Thank God this was shorter than it felt like it was about to be. 

- After this I enjoyed the small, merciful break the show gave us from "catching up on all the most obvious low hanging fruit pop culture references from the beginning of summer up until last week" the show gave us. D+

Spirit Halloween 

- This was fine for one of those "evergreen" sketches that probably should've been done 12 years ago. I guess they just thought "boy, Spirit Halloweens are to autumn what Starbucks was to...everywhere in America in 1998?" and decided to drag and dropped some new spooky stuff into last seasons "Penne Ala Vodka" script template. 

- Nice use of all three new featured players here, even if this seemed to sadly be Jane Wicklines' only appearance all night. Good for her though for getting a role in a live sketch that was cut for time and put up on YouTube (and really ended up being funnier than most of what made it to air). C+

Scholastic Textbook Meeting 

- Speaking of old sketch templates being recycled, "inappropriately horny textbook that one or two cast members get slightly too into" feels like it's been done before. I did like what Jean Smart added to this though. Just when I thought she was being underused as a host, she makes this sketch...watchable.

- Kudos to Ashley Padilla for getting some live airtime. I liked the goofily unserious ending with Jean and Kenan but if I suddenly start to think "hmm, Mikey does remind me a bit of one of my real life coworkers" something may be missing. C+

Weekend Update w/Colin Jost & Michael Che

- Update is...still at the same level it has been for the past eight years, which...isn't great. Not much stood out joke wise. Ches' still just baiting the crowd like it's all he has. That's great. 

- Colin did a decent job of working in jokes about secret service emails the Trump rally hours earlier...that made me very, very sad that this is the depths that American political discourse has sunk to in 2024.

- Ches' Eric Adams jokes were fun but I feel like that Cuomo joke only got on because it was only deemed airable after Che had been sitting on it for three years. 

- As for that Hitler joke...well, who didn't see that punchline coming from two towns over? 

- Those Kamala/migrant, Chinese "software" and Meryl Streep at the U.N. jokes felt like they could've been written by A.I. (or whoever actually "wrote" that pilot for that "New Norm" show that had been circulating on Twitter...yeah, I refuse to call it X. Suck it, Elon). Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah....

- Thankfully, Devon Walker as Eric Adams was the true highlight. He didn't exactly make me forget about Chris Redd but it's nice to see Devon pop up every once in a while that actually suits him (even if it's a political one). 

- Bowens' baby hippo seems to tick off every box on the "tired ass Bowen Update Vanity" piece checklist, so...yep, this show is officially back on it's bullshit just in time for its 50th season. I have to say though, the premise of "what if the internets' current favorite wet baby hippo was suddenly...Chappel Roan?" would've been more tolerable if they hadn't spelled out that they were doing that exact thing by the end. Maybe this was the shows way of showing Ms. Roan that they're on her side while Desparately begging her not to cancel her planned appearance on their show this November? 

- Boy, it's really not great when the funniest part of a Weekend Update commentary is a hose operator purposely trying to squirt Colin Jost after he shouted at someone offscreen louder than I've ever heard him vocalize anything in his public life. I know how he feels because this entire episode sure made me feel like I just got hosed. C-

History Of The Sitcom 

- Ah, a dramatic "Virginia Woolfe/Far From Heaven" like take on I Love Lucy had some promise. This may have been Jean's strongest sketch performance of the night.

- This was a nice use of Marcello (even if he played Desi Arnaz more as "himself" than Desi or Ricky) and JAJ (even if Chloe felt a little miscast as Ethel Mertz).

- Bowen didn't add a whole lot as host but I did like his 1992 communism. Still, I'd be lying if I said something didn't feel missing from this. B-

The Talk Talk Show w/Charli XCX

 - Well, breaks' over. Ok, I would be far FAR less disappointed by the idea of a Charli XCX Talk Show if anyone else but BOWEN were in the lead role. Seriously, why couldn't he have switched roles with Chole? This would've worked better as a Chloe vanity piece than a Bowen one. 

- Sarah as Troye Sivan was the highlight of this and might have gotten my first genuine laugh from the show so far with her first "naur"...which isn't saying much. 

- I had no idea who the hell Jean was playing here but...she did an accent? 

- I did like the idea of Ego as Jasmine Crockett but at that point it became clear that this sketch was not for me. That bit probably should've been cut and pasted into Update in place of Bowens' hippo commentary where it MIGHT have worked better. 

- I understand Bowen, Charli, Sarah and Troye are all good friends with each other so I can buy the idea of this sketch existing as a mere inside joke that all four of them are in on (even if a large swath of the audience wasn't...and hell, that's really the only way I can even COMPREHEND this sketch existing) but all else I can say is that this sketch is "nat"...and the thought of Bowen and Sarah being at the point that Kate/Aidy, Farley/Sandler and Fallon/Sanz were in their runs where they almost exclusively did nothing but self indulgent ill advised vanity two handers together is quite depressing.

- Then again, I can't really call Bowen "self indulgent" with how exceedingly long I am making this review (not QUITE as long as my Gosling review from April, I don't think...but at this point it just FEELS pretty damn close) so I'll just close out wity this; Did I enjoy this sketch? NAUR! D-

Real Housewives Of Santa Fe 

- Yeah, I wanted to like the awkward physical comedy that Dismukes (and Jean in a way) bought to this but this sketch was too busy shouting over itself to figure our what it wanted to be. Hey, at least Sarah and Ashley got some airtime.

- I did like Chloes "for profit prisons" line and Jeans' line to Heidi "that's because he thought you were a horse, bitch!"

- Speaking of Heidi, I was surprised at how this felt like her first major sketch appearance of the night. Could this be her last season? Is she secretly planning an "Irish goodbye" like Cecily? Could she end up having a final season like Chris Kattan where she is barely used?

- I guess this sketch didn't land with me because...I am not a business woman. Hell, I'm not even a woman (obviously) and "Reviews by Casey" is not a business as you're clearly not reading this behind a paywall. Don't worry, guys. I haven't seriously considered changing THAT part. C-

Overall Thoughts

- I honestly haven't felt this let down by a season premiere since season 43. I knew I should've tampered my expectations a bit more for this episode considering it's a season premiere and we're entering a big election season and all but considering the fact that this was the premiere of season 50...that was much more easier said than done. 

- Yes, there was the inevitable "shaking off the rust and the cobwebs" feeling to this one as well as the less acceptable but still inevitable feeling of "we have to play catch up and sneak in a reference to everything from politics and pop culture we missed out of over the summer" but that plagued this episode even worse than usual. The highlights were there but they were small and few and far in-between.

- You would think that since the show had more things on it's big summer hit checklist this year than just "Tayvis Kelswift" and "Barbenheimer" they'd have an advantage but no...this just made the show feel to unfocused and overcrowded with scattered references for seemingly no one.

- Speaking of scattered and unfocused, cast airtime was heavily unbalanced tonight. It saddens me to see what should be an ensemble show return to its "star system" and just have Bowen Yang dominate the show with slight assists from Kenan Thompson, Chloe Fineman and Marcello Hernandez leaving crumbs for everyone else. Still, Andrew Dismukes, James Austin Johnson and Devon Walker made the most of what they got. 

- The three newest hires were practically invisible, but hey, I guess that's to be expected. It's rare that a featured player makes their first big splash in their very first episode on the show. Give them time.

Closing Thoughts

- Well, for better or for worse, we have officially entered season 50 of Saturday Night Live. Still, the premiere of any television shows' 50th season should not feel like this much of a stark non-event. 

- Next week, Nate Bargatze hosts for his second time. This is one I am cautiously optimistic for because Nate hosted perhaps last season's most successful episode. He has also proven that he is the type of stand up host the show could who would foster a writing environment where more unique sketch ideas could be thrown out there. See you next week!

Dua Lipa (05.04.2024)

Okay, here's my review. This was an episode that showed slow but steady signs of promise early on but as soon as Update stared, it just as slowly and steadily began to roll down a hill. Thankfully, there was less "desperate naked pandering" in the air than their was last month with Ryan Gosling but it would appear that all the residual "good vibes" from both his and Wiigs episodes have long since evaporated. Dua Lipa proved herself to be a capable and charming host. She sure knew how to use her stage and screen presence when the show wasn't afraid to use her. This episode felt different, just not different in terms of this season. They seemed to have been trying something different with the writing but there were still some things there that kind of annoyed me near the end. I think we can agree that this was far from the worst of the season so far but some might call me generous for even calling it "middle of the road" for this season. The cast wasn't too imbalanced tonight. There was far less Bowen than I expected but far more Kenan, Mikey & Ego. Strangely, Chloe Fineman appeared exactly as much as I thought she would while Chloe Troast seemed to be shut out nearly entirely (I'm sure that was one of the things that annoyed me). Michelle Longfellow, Sarah Sherman, Devon Walker, Marcello Hernandez, JAJ and Andrew Dismukes all had quietly strong nights. They almost flew under the radar there like Punkie and Heidi actually did. Anyway, let's just get right to it, shall we?

NYC Community Affairs - Hmm...normally a cold open with no recurring impressions built around a fictional local news program is a promising sign. The fact that it was also based around the current college protests makes me extremely nervous. Kenan as the cautiously proud "your kids can protest but mine better have her butt in those African American studies classes (zoom or otherwise) I paid for instead of at the protests" dad is a safe enough take. I just hope that for the shows' sake that certain pockets of Twitter/X can at least see the forest for the trees on this one. Maybe this isn't the take the show (or it's audience) necessarily NEEDS right now but it's a take they deserve (and a take I personally can put up with for now at least, mercifully abrupt sketch ending and all). C-

Monologue - Thankfully, Dua Lipa seems able to exude some quiet confidence early on. I wasn’t crazy that she had to pull in Dismukes, Yang and Gardner to make up for what (also thankfully) little energy she had to make the show pop right out the gate. Still, I'm glad Dua was able to shut down a jammed in political joke from Heidi as quickly as I was hoping she would. Yep, she sure got in, got her laughs and got out of there without letting anything linger to long (or giving us anything that personal for that matter). C+

Young Spicy Sessions - I actually remember liking this when they did it during last years' Ana De Armas episode so this was a smart choice for a recurring sketch. I wasn’t crazy about the implied domestic abuse or subtle homophobia but everything that came after that made up for it. I guess if they were gonna comment on the Drake/Kendrick beef this would be the best way to subtly go about it. Overall, not the worst way to open the show but not the best version of this particular sketch I've seen. C+

The Anomalous Man - It's nice to see the show let Sarah gradually get more and more "squirmy". Sure, there was no gore but they're finally letting Sarah be Sarah as diluted as this still feels by her standards. I'm not complaining about this by any means at all. This was brilliantly executed. I also liked how slowly the main "gag" of this was revealed. It may have felt a little anticlimactic (the use of 2010s era cellphones in 1890s Lomdon felt a bit cheap, they could've executed that differently...I mean, what is this, Holmes & Watson?) but it was certainly well scripted and well acted on Dua, Sarah and Ms. Finemans' parts. JAJ turned in a compelling performance early on, too. A-

Good Morning Greenville - Oh, I guess we're not discussing the Drake/Kendrick beef that "subtly" after all. Still, this was a quietly strong sketch in the same vein as Chappelles' "potato hole" sketch from last season. This is a nice companion piece to that one. I like the way Devon played off the clueless twangy silliness of Mikey, Heidi & Dua (who actually might have turned in her best performance here). Devons extended "naaaaaahhhh" was my first genuine laugh of the show so far and I liked the "technical difficulties/Black or not black" line. It's nice to see something that's clearly based on a real pop culture thing that does more than just explain said thing to you without any real "take" or joke. B+

Sunny Angels - Ok, I see we've moved on to very clumsily referencing/parodying "Challengers" with a whole mess of details that don't serve the sketch well in any way. I see Bowen recycled the script for that Bratz sketch with Selena Gomez (or maybe Dismukes let him borrow and touch up his script from that Beanie Babies sketch he did with Lizzo?) and...turned it into something...slightly different this time. Fantastic. Dua and Marcello gave it their all but I don't think anyone could've saved this one. C-

Penne Ala Vodka - Thankfully, this taped which helped its pacing greatly and was almost blackout short. I say this because if it went on any longer it might have turned away from "Christmas Church" and "Graduation Commencement" into "Big Dumb Hat" or "Big Dumb Cups" which I did not need to see again. C+

Update was all over the place. Che may have been right about this episode being real rough for him. I did like his Stallone memoir joke as well as Colins "Trump/can't pay you" and MTG/Mike Johnson jokes. I also liked how he bought real.joke swap energy to that "Trump/anti-white racism" joke. Marcello really sold the Kristi Noems' other dog commentary in only the way he could have. Too bad it felt like something originally written for Dismukes. I appreciate how much Chloe F threw herself into her Kyle Mooney as Jojo Siwa impression (that I'm just now remembering she got an early version of it on the air during one of the Covid era SNL At Home specials that unceremoniously ended her first season) but the actual content if this was largely lost on me (as I imagine it was for a lot of you old enough to watch SNL like it's actually still relevant anymore). I was at first intrigued to see Jerry Seinfeld himself actually admit to having done "too much press" but the fact that that was literally all he "admitted" to was borderline infuriating. Oh well, I guess I'm the idiot for expecting Seinfeld to even WANT to be self reflective at all. C+

OBGYN/Fat Daddy - I admire that SNL tried to sneak in a rather ambitious, low key scatalogical almost Forte-esque premise on us (see Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend circa 2008) but this didn't quite land with me. I dunno, I just feel something was missing in the execution though. Weirdly, this felt like something JAJ/Dismukes could improved had they been in it. This almost seemed tailor made for them and yet they were nowhere to be seen here. I did appreciate seeing Punkie break immediately upon entering the scene. I wanted to appreciate the spinning newspaper ending just for the "SNL In Hot Water For Finger Lickin' Bad Sketch" subheadline. I mean, I WANTED to but SNL has a bad history with acknowledging it's own weaknesses and not doing a damn thing to strengthen them. Also, did anyone else notice that this was the second sketch tonight where Ego played a pregnant woman? She hasn't been...hiding something from everyone up until this point, has she? C-

Teeny Tiny Statement Pin - I actually did chuckle at the "vague statement pins" and the sight gag of Marcello wearing special goggles to read Bowens' pin super close up. Otherwise, this was a real nothing filler sketch to me. It almost felt like they threw this together just to use that Met Gala set they had or to show off that they had access to one of those 360 red carpet cameras. I dunno, maybe I was just so damn burnt out on this episode by this point that I missed the poignancy that others saw in this but I really don't have much else to say about it at all. C-

Family Flooring Jingle - So, it's a reprise of these JAJ/Dismukes jingle singers from last season's Jenna Ortega episode. Okay, nice to see they're still the best part of this sketch but unfortunately Bowen still seems like he is actively fighting against them to sabotage this for some reason. Also, if Dua Lipa is gonna keep trying American accents she should stick to Southern ones and stay away from Eastern ones. The fact that they made this a bit tighter than the first sketch and ended is with Dua singing (just to put her back in her comfort zone a little) benefitted this sketch. C+

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

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)

2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.09.2023)

3. Kristen Wiig/Raye (04.06.2024)

4. Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)

5. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)

6. Dua Lipa (05.04.2024)

7. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)

8. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)

9. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.02.2023)

10. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)

11. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)

12. Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (03.30.2024)

13. Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)

14. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)

15. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)

16. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (01.27.2024)

17. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)

18. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)

Well, that certainly was the most recent episode of SNL of there ever was one. Next week, Maya Rudolph hosts for her third time. Her last episode was one I don't think anyone was crazy about either but she has proven herself as somewhat of a stabilizing presence on the show recently and she's certainly not the host I am least excited about of the three closing out the season this month. See you then!

Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)

Okay, here's my review. After last week, I was glad to see the show at least return to being benign and undivisive in its mediocrity. Unfortunately, this episode felt like it stressed the "mediocrity" part a little too heavily. Yeah, Sydney Sweeney was a fine host who effortlessly carried this episode with the material she was given with her sweet, bubbly personality. Unfortunately, said material felt really bland and uninspired. At times, it even seemed like the show played into its own worst instincts, almost on purpose. The material I did enjoy out of this rundown, I couldn't much bring myself to laugh at. In fact, I'm quite surprised to see certain parts of this episode rated so highly but, hey...to each their own.

To be honest, this episode especially gave me pause and me wonder if I am actually just writing these reviews more out if sheer compulsion and force of habit than an actual love of the game. I'm not saying this episode made me want to retire from writing these reviews but I admit that I am starting to understand how Stooge felt when he stopped reviewing the show live a full decade ago. Don't worry, I know I still have some dedicated fans who will continue to read these as long as I keep writing them. I know full well how much my regular readers rely on me to put the show in perspective against all the immediate kneejerk live reactions we see each week (even when I disagree with popular opinion which you'll probably find a lot of in this review). Last week especially, I could tell that perspective was badly needed in times of heavy uncertainty so with you guys driving me, I think I'll be OK. Anyway, let’s get on with it.

Inside Politics - Even with Ego, Longfellow (who maybe should've had Dismukes take over his role?) Marcello, Mikey, and Devon putting in work and Heidi rushing us through it, none of this cold open really landed for me. They pretty much all just dragged out in sketch form something Jon Stewart glossed over pretty well about three weeks ago. It is nice that we are gradually getting away from Trump/GOP themed cold opens for a bit. Other than that, all I can say about it is, "next time, young blood". D+

Monologue - Again, Sydney Sweeney certainly had the confidence and lack of first time host jitters to carry this monologue with ease...which is sadly the only notable thing about it. I guess this showed she'll be a more competent host than one of her first costars was two months ago. I just wish this monologue didn’t give off the same vibe of "I'm just using this show to plug a movie that I'm confident isn't a HUGE bomb and this monologue is more to address some rumors about me than it is for me to show I have any shred of awareness of let alone connection to this show." C-

Police Interns - Hmm, I wonder how many other table reads this got cut from besides Aubrey Plazas? Anyway, good to see Sydney and Chloe F really stretch as actresses and play so starkly against type in the lead off sketch. Seriously though, it's not a good sign when they just say "fuck it" and just decide to devote the exact same amount of effort and energy they would normally put into writing a Thursday promo into an actual frigging sketch within the show. Hell, the word "writing" seems incredibly generous when applied to this sketch when it's obvious that Chloe Fineman just slammed together a list of all the social media apps she could think of and all the dialogue was pieced together backwards from there. At least I can say I got a chuckle from JAJs "fellow kids" moment. I hated how telegraphed Mikeys' Snapchat and Kenans OnlyFans jokes felt. C-

PDD In Mourning - Well, it wasn’t quite the best I've seen from Please Don't Destroy but at least it was nice to see something that quietly goes for over the top absurdity after such an empty buzzword laden sketch. The montage of comments and tweets over the audio from the YouTube clip made this for me. I also appreciated that they didn't just reference Flaco the Owl dying this early in the show as you would expect the first pretape of the night in this season to. B+

More Like "Air Dud", amirite? - Geez, we all thought they were gonna rehash old sketches they did with Dolly Parton and Raquel Welch...not Louise Lasser, Chris Hemsworth or Sam Rockwell! Anyway, kudos to Sydney for playing into the silly goofiness well and Marcello, Dismukes and Mikey Longs at her table playing their disbelief off her expertly. C-

Big Bench - I did like the real slapdash, feverishly thrown together nature of this. However, I feel like they could've done more than just cut back & forth between the same six or seven characters continuously with the second live dog of the episode thrown in for good measure. Hell, Bowen had a character in the montage of this that seemed to be cut entirely (like Chloe F should've, honestly). At least JAJ & Sweeney were actually the funniest part of this. Still, I'm genuinely torn between whether JAJs' naturally occurring over goofy southern accent was funnier or Sydneys' wild swing-and-a-miss attempt at one. C-

Bowens' Straight - I did like seeing Bowen play so starkly against type (and I mean that non-sarcastically this time given the how much all of Bowens pieces all seem the same). I also liked seeing what appeared to be a piece Bowen wrote to satirize heterosexuality in the same vein as "Straight Male Friend" with Travis Kelce. Unfortunately, this seemed like it couldn't succeed at either of those things so much that I had mo idea what it was genuinely aiming for at all other than just flash & glitz. Maybe this was largely intended as a "Euphoria" parody that subvers the "camp" of that show? Speaking of, is it just me or does the idea of Bowen only playing gay for easy laughs sound a little...reductive? Marcellos walk on at the end and Mikeys cameos were funny enough. The Gina Gershon cameo was a nice unexpected twist. C-

Shoooooooooooot - I wanted to like this more but it felt way too dry fir a Sarah Sherman sketch. Plus, I also feel Sarah deserves a little more out of a sketch where she is the comedic focal point than just the newly emerging trope of "one or two people fail to read the room properly as others (probably including Heidi Gardner) recieve a continuous string of bad news". Also, I was a little too distracted trying to figure out which previous female host Sydney reminded me of in that wig besides Billie Eilish. Yep, that's what this episode has done to me. At least it is still nice to be reminded that Chloe Troast is still in the cast. It's also nice to see Sydney attempt another accent (even if there's no chance in hell you'll be able to tell what it is). C+

Update felt like it was in a real nosedive for the first time this season. I did like the first four jokes after Heidi's A.I. generated gibberish (yeah, I know it's incredibly hack to compare things to A.I. content now but that genuinely felt like the most A.I. created shit I have seen on this show with how it felt like all of Heidi's one shot Update characters blended together...and sonehow a lesser known Simpsons meme got in there). Ego's commentary was a nice concentrated blast of WTF but it's not a good sign when something that would seem so mild in any other episode feels like it's slapping you upside the head out of nowhere. C-

Hooters Tips - Woooooow, you know something? I think I was a little too hard on Heidi's Update piece. Despite Mikey, Longfellow, JAJ and Dismukes trying to have a little fun with their gleeful misogyny, this was the type of sketch where literally any screenshot needs to be the photo you see when you look up the word "hack" in the dictionary. D-

Interior Design For Airbnb - This was certainly a better use of Chloe Troast. Still, it came across like a much tighter version of the hotel sketch with Billie and Kate. That ended up working against it because it lacked that other sketches live breaking energy and it was written in a way that tells me I just barely fell outside of the target audience for it. I see the obligatory jammed in Willy Wonka Experience reference of the night got the reaction they hoped for. You know that's always something that bodes well for sketch comedy. C+

Date Night - This pointed examination of both male and female bonding was the best written sketch of the night. Too bad the ending was rushed, and it was weighed down by being the ten-to-one of such a soul draingingly dull episode. Also, it looks like JAJ jumped his cue. B-

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

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)
3. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
4. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
5. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
6. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)
7. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
8. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
9. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)
10. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)
11. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (1.27.2024)
12. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
13. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)

Well, that was the episode that just was. Next week, Josh Brolin returns for his third time hosting. He's usually a solid reliable host (even if something always feels a little off about each of his episodes) so, I'm definitely looking forward to that one. See you then!

Ayo Edebiri/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)

Okay, here's my review. We knew that Ayo Edeberi could deliver the comedy chops, but she also went above and beyond by elevating everything she was in just with her sheer stage presence alone. She delivered some much needed stability to the show, but the writing (particularly certain overused tropes) made it a little uneven. Still, though, this will definitely go down as a top five episode for this season (and I say that because calling it the best show of 2024 isn't saying much). Cast airtime was balanced in such a way that no one was shut out entirely but Ego and Bowen in particular had strong nights (lord knows Ego needed this right now). Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?

CNN Trump Town Hall - I guess given the impression potential involved they couldn't resist, huh? Well, Kenans' Barkley is always welcome even if he seems like he's dejectedly going through the motions. Fortunately, JAJ seems to have sharpened up his Trump (he seems to have a slightly better handle on Trumps energy than his voice now) and his response to Longfellows' question seems like the writers have strated to sharpen up their takes on 2024 era Trump. The Midnights tracklist breakdown honesty should've been cut. I don't know what reaction they were HOPING to get from online Swifties but it for sure isn't gonna be the right one. A Nikki Haley cameo being the main centerpiece of this sketch? What is this? October 2015? Ayos' one line was good and so was Devon as Tim Scott. C-

Monologue - Thank God Ayo pretty much crushed it here. She delivered the exact type of monologue the show desperately NEEDED right now. I don't remember the last time I've seen a host that close to tears of joy in their monologue. Ayo reading failed pitches from her packet was cute even if it didn't really go anywhere. B+

Why'd You Say It? - An Instagram themed game show sketch to lead off the show? What is this? April 2022? Seriously though, this was definitely better executed than...the last time I saw this. Ayo, Kenan and Dismukes were especially strong here. While I did appreciate Ayos' sincere message, I honestly wish she hadn't tried to tie it back to her J.Lo podcast "controversy". Did that even need to be addressed at all? Seriously, tell me, AITA for thinking that could've been safely ignored?C+

Dune Popcorn Bucket - Ok, I have to give them some credit for not making this as hacky and obvious as it seemed built up to be...but sadly this seems to be another case of SNL piling on another viral meme as it rapidly approaches its sell by date. Hey, at least it didn't feel as PAST its sell by date as the Ancient Rome rap or most of Pete's episode did, so...there's that. C-

Microdosing At UCIrvine - This was another basic premise (I got heavy Rusty from MADtv vibes...not that that's a bad thing), but Mikey and Ayo really sold the HELL out of it. Dismukes and Bowen were great support players too. See, THIS is more of the Mikey we want to see for as long as he is still going to be on the show. This felt more like the Mikey we saw last year in Quinta Brunsons' episode (yes, I did eventually come around on THAT sketch) before he eroded some of his good will. B+

NY Morning News - This was another very basic premise and it was well performed but it didn’t really go anywhere for me. In fact, it basically just felt like an updated take on the "Great Love Stories" sketch from Susan Luccis' season 16 episode. Still, it's nice to see Bowen turn in a solid performance in a sketch that doesn't seem like it was built too specifically for him. I did like seeing Ego walk on because I was hoping both her and Ayos' presences wouldn't cancel each other out and get Ego shut out of the show. Ayo had a strong individual performance and so did with JAJ, Devon, Kenan, Sarah, Marcello and Molly (who provided a much needed turn to end this on). Also, congrats to PDD on each one of them getting to individually appear in a live sketch with absolutely zero lines! C+

Update was fun just for the sheer energy. The Suits joke was the only real standout to me but I loved how Jost & Che finally seemed into it enough to play off the crowd. I especially like what Che did with those Pizza Hut and Mrs. World joke. Even Sarah kept the wild crowd energy going. I mean, I don't think I'm alone in wishing this wasn't another meta Jost bait but I did appreciate how much more committed this got from both Sarah and Colin as it went on. In fact, it would be even better if this turned out to be the last season of Jost & Che together on Update because this seems like the type of thing that would be the perfect capper on Josts' career on the show and it would be great if this is what all of Sarah's Jost humilitation on Update was building up to. B-

Trivia Quest - This was pretty much just Ego, Ayo, Mikey, Sarah and Punkie blending a few overused sketch tropes and putting them over just on their sheer charisma and built in chemistry with each other. B+

Elevator Town - Well, this pretape made me realize that "misplaced horniness" is Bowens' fourth or fifth well worn sketch/character template. Still, it must be one that people are the least sick of by now because this and the naked garbage truck short with Emma in the same season is the first I am noticing it. The mini-musical number at the end was fun, though. C+

Mr. Fantasmic - This felt like the first truly original sketch premise of the night until the hosts' character coming out as bisexual and everyone singing a pop song from 2008 became the sole focus. Still, Ayo turned in her performance of the episode. Kenan was pretty good here. I do wish Chloe Troast had a bigger part in this, though (especially since she was only in this to show off her amazing pipes to begin with). B-

Peoples' Court - This was definitely my favorite sketch of the night. It was just the right length, made excellent use of all the shows' black cast members at once AND it was absolutely insane! I loved the chaotic ten-to-one energy on display here. A-

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

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)
3. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)
4. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
5. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
6. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)
7. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
8. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
9. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (1.27.2024)
10. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
11. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)

Well, it was nice to see SNL get itself back on track for one week. Let’s see how long this lasts. Booking Shane Gillis of all people is for sure one of the most dumbfounding moves in recent SNL history from an optics standpoint alone. I've heard extremely second/third hand that Bowen may have forgiven Shane for what was said nearly five years ago when they (almost) joined the cast together. If that's true, good on Bowen for being the bigger man here because if I hadn't heard that I'd think Lorne and the show were trying to pull what I like to call a "reverse Dave Herman" on him (hey, we all know Shane as "more of a MADtv guy" now, right? Iykyk). Personally, I haven't been too impressed with what I've seen from Gillis' standup, but if I'm being honest I didn’t completely hate the few "Gilly & Keeves" sketches I saw. Also, I have heard Shane has still been maintaining good connections with quite a few people at the show. He's been operating in the sane standup circles as Che and they say he was in Pete's series "Bupkis" after all. While he may not have anywhere near Ayos' level of charisma to put sketches fully over, he may blend in almost as well with this cast (especially with Cecily out of the building from other things I have heard) so...hopefully, they actually WANT to make him look good (or at least palatable?) to their existing audience (because we all know they show was likely using Shane to capture an audience that may be further out of their reach than they realize). The absolute best I can expect or hope for from a Shane Gillis hosted SNL would be an episode much like Chappelle's most recent outing where the monologue is extremely dodgy but the sketches are fine. Actually, I'm hoping for a monologue closer to Bill Burr than Chappelle. Hell, the funniest thing to come out of this episode might just be Gillis stans tuning in just to see Shane and being sorely disappointed with the rest of the show. Yes, after some thought on this matter I'm prepared to go into the next live SNL episode with an open mind (because i just picked up on the subliminal cue to do that from the People's Court sketch). See you soon!

Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)

Okay, here's my review. This was a bad show, no doubt but it was just a little too inconsistent to be the absolute worst episode of the season compared to one show that was just consistently duller and one episode that I can now say I may have been a bit too hard on. Still, when a show is bad enough that I have seriously rearrange my rankings of the whole season (as you'll see), you know things are bad all around right now. Jacob Elordi manage to confirm me initial trepidations regarding him as a host. He seemed to get along with the cast just fine yet at the same time he seemed to have no real connection with the show until this week and seemed to see it as just a high profile sketch workshop that he could use to plug his new movie. He may be a fine character actor but he didn’t seem to be able to translate that into sketch comedy. His entire comedic range seemed to extend from "just there" to "quietly yet actively bringing down a sketch". At least this episode made decent if not ideal use of the cast (outside of Longfellow and Kenan, who both seemed to blend into the background more than usual and JAJ who barely got to do any character work this week). Anyway, let’s break it down, shall we?

Trump Defamation Trial Press Conference - Hmm, another safe pbvious choice for a cold open theme. At times, this felt a little too unfocused to take in all at once but JAJs' goofy delivery put this over for me as usual (though I guess that's usually the point with these JAJ Trump cold opens by now?) I did like the Ron DeStupid/Vivica A. Ramaswany/cognitive run-on sentence. Yeah, this seems topical enough that they must've felt like they HAD to tackle this month's Trump news in some way (while still having a bit of an unfortunate "been there, done that" vibe to it loke with the "weird stance" jokes) but hey, they're shaking off the cobwebs from another long holiday break and there have been much worse cold opens this season (hell, there have been worse cold opens involving JAJs' Trump than this one) so, hey..I'll take it. C+

Monologue - Just when this monologue starts to give me disappointing Nancy Kerrigan vibes, Rosebud Baker, Alex English and Queen Squirm come in to save this with some assists from Kenan & Bowen (and hopefully not as much of the "Applause" sign as I suspect). Thankfully, this quickly gave me flashbacks to the late 90s Ferrell & McKay era "questions from the audience" monologues when they cared enough to use writers who were then just unfamiliar enough to most of the home audience (your Pells, your Feys, your Higginses, even moving on to your Smooves & you Sudeikises once Fey became more prominent on the show...hell even Downey was in the one with Kelly Ripa, remember that?) to really SELL us on the illusion that ANY audience member could just stand up and interrupt the show willy nilly. As for Jacob himself, the Saltburn/Priscilla/Lilo & Stitch/Kissing Booth references gave off the same empty, autopilot checklist vibes that most of the top half of Pete Davidsons' episode this season gave off as well as every third cold open from seasons 43-46 gave off. The sincere statement at the end of his monologue was really the only part of HIS I liked, even if he gave next to zero indication he had even heard of the show before last month (since, y'know...he is Australian after all). B-

Crown Your Short King - My first impression of this sketch was that the joke must be that this is the absolute LAST sketch you would expect Jacob Elordi to appear in...until he actually DID and you realize that (even as shamelessly wedged in here and underwritten as this whole thing was) this sketch actually DID need him to help visually sell you on this entire premise while playing off some lame, tired dumb guy tropes (and maybe take some of the weight off of Mikey & Marcellos' shoulders and distract you from Molly sticking out like a sore thumb here). Even Ms. Fineman had very convincingly heartfelt dialogue here, which feels like something we haven't seen from her before. C+

Club Shay-Shay: Extended Katt Williams Interview - Ego didn’t disappoint here even if she didn't exactly disappear into the role of Katt Williams either. The idea of her as Katt Williams alone piqued my interest, but the sheer energy that an Ego/Devon pairing radiates alone was more than enough to engage me in this. Thankfully, Ego bought some CBB levels of absurdity here and lived up to my instant expectations. Still, I could've used a bit more here to keep me from wondering why this was as long as it was and whether or not this was considered "old news" by now. While I don't want to see Ego fall into the Kate/Aidy/Cecily trap of being forced to play too many male drag roles, this falls more in line of how I would like to see Ego used om the show when compared to Lisa From Temecula or that Jenna Ortega Excorcist sketch. B-

ET Interviews Lip Readers - It's odd but not surprising that they put both vaguely of the moment pop culture referencing sketches up top back to back like this because this was drastically weaker than what just aired before it. Seriously, this was a translucently paper thin premise that felt so drearily stretched thin that I swear it could've been a season 11 sketch. Yes, that's the actual vibe I got from this. I'm honestly shocked they couldn't come up with a better sketch to drag-and-drop the obligatory Renée "Mom: We Have Billie Eillish At Hone" Rapp into but hey...this felt right at home being aimed at the audience who tuned in just to see her, Jacob and Bowen! Good on the two guys for pulling their weight here but not even Jake pulling a "duh duh dumb guy" voice out of his pocket for Travis Kelce or Bowen suddenly singing a Streisand verse out of nowhere could get me. D+

Bowling Date Animations - I guess part of the reason the last two sketches at least felt so long was that could tell exactly where this was they needed the extra time to make sure half the cast could get into their bowling pin costumes in time (and half of THAT half of the cast were in the previous two sketches?) Anyway, although I knew exactly where this was going before the first ball was even rolled, I loved how labored and increasingly dramatic the punny reveals were here. The "gutter/9" ones really got me, and I liked the "foot on the line/have sex" twists, too. The "WGA" signs being in the background of the "strike" one felt a little too on the nose for me. Also, I feel kinda bad for him that this was Longfellows' first and seemingly only appearance all night. I'm glad to hear that this was one of the sketches that Stephen Castillo came back to (guest?) write. No wonder it was the only thing I genuinely laughed at all night. (Was this cut from a previous dress rehearsal? It felt oddly familiar to me? Seriously, was this a cut sketch from season 46 he resubmitted?) B+

Alaska Airlines - At first, this felt like it was going to be in the same vein as the Adidas/Kanye ad from last season (which I honestly had mixed feelings about) but this included just enough odd details to keep me from completely checking out, like the thicc safety brochure, inflatable slide and pilot on mushrooms. JAJ as Sully was a nice touch. The bolts joke reminded me of Norms "Disneyland/Extra-Terror-estrial" joke from one of his season 20 (IIRC?) Updates. B-

Update was almost entirely worth watching for the way they went as hard in the paint on Tim Scott, the Catholic Church and Nikki Haley for her "America was never a racist country" as they did. I did like Josts opening Trump Vs. Biden joke. I mean, I didn’t exactly LAUGH but I sadly identified with it (and with political election humor in 2024...hell, even going back as far as October 2016 if I'm bring real with y'all...that's as much as I can muster). I felt the same about his "50 y.o. net worth vs. 30 y.o. net worth" joke but for totally different reasons which I won't go into here. Anyway, as much as I appreciate seeing Punkie get airtime, her "flying defendant" commentary didn’t quite...land with me (pun unintended, but I'll stick with it just because it works). It's mostly that I didn't care much for the material (as much as she sold it) and partly because BOTH black women in the cast playing male drag roles felt like overkill. C+

Women Supporting Women - Well, at first I felt like I could've fully get on board with THIS being the obligatory "all the women in the cast get to drool over the conventionally attractive male host (and I do mean "all", Ms. Fineman...you already had your chance, please let your castmates have their moments)" sketch but thankfully this was saved for me by Ego, Molly, Squirm and Punkie (again, if I'm bein' real with y'all). Too bad Mikey almost ruined the whole sketch for me. C+

Acting Class - This truly felt like the least focused sketch of the night. The Day/Fineman "pimp vs ho" scene was funny enough but sadly that was the absolute peak here. Sorry, Bowen but Bobby Coultsman you are not. I'm glad that Rachel MacAdams was used in an actual sketch instead of just a musical guest introduction (even if her late entry into the scene, seemingly reading cue cards she just saw for the first time on air Stefon-style and delayed applause break once the notebook was mentioned kinda threw off the whole sketch), but sadly, this dragged to the exact point where she killed any momentum this sketch COULD’VE built up. Once Jacob showed up and stiffed his way through his lines, things didn’t exactly improve. Not even that "beat your illness/make-a-wish" joke at the end could save this sketch. It's funny that this sketch chose to name drop Selena Gomez a couple of times because this sketch reminded me of the high school modeling sketch from her episode a couple of seasons ago only this was more stretched out, dilluted and cut with bits of the Women Supporting Women sketch that preceded it...and also that Aubrey Plaza director sketch from a year ago...and, do I detect a hint of that Lin Manuel Miranda high school substitute sketch from, Jesus, seven and a half years ago? Really? C-

Garrett From Hinge II: Hinge Garretter - Oh boy, well... I know a lot of you didn’t like the first one of these, so I imagine this didn’t go over well. I'll admit the first one of these somehow became a guilty pleasure of mine, but despite being a fine use of Ms Troasts' performing talents, this was a bit of a letdown. Still, I liked the visual of an elderly church organist also wearing an open lavender button up over a Stewie shirt. I actually did chuckle a bit at Jacob and JAJs' Lois & Cleveland impressions as well as the absurdity of Garrett disappearing into a Christ portrait (even if the technical reveal was blown a bit). C+

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

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)
3. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)
4. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)
5. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)
6. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
7. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)
8. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)
9. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)

Well, that was certainly one way for SNL to ring in the new year. Next week, Dakota Johnson returns for her second time hosting with Justin Timberlake for his sixth time as musical guest. I'm glad I'm not alone in saying I don't have a lot of confidence in this one, but I see some hope. Dakota may have basically sleep walked through her season 40 episode but the cast and writers did just put all their effort into the highly successful 40th anniversary special two weeks earlier so they can all at least share the blame there. Plus, we're getting post Vanity Fair lime/Ellen interview era Dakota hosting so if nothing else I have no doubt that she can singlehandedly stop another Barry Gibb talk show from happening (or any Fallon/Timberlake sketch we didn't need to see again in 2013 let alone 2024). I know only being billed as a musical guest has not necessarily stopped Justin Timberlake (or anyone really) from appearing in sketches on this show but hopefully he can be kept in check by some combination of his own current pop cultural irrelevance and lack of goodwill and Dakota Johnsons' increasingly endearing bluntness and sheer compulsion to shut down other peoples bullshit (including her own). See you then.