SNL Nagging Pre Show/Pre Season 51 Thoughts

• Well, Season 51. Here we go.

• First off, I have to say I don't feel confident about the decisions made as to which cast members…didn't make the cut for this season. 

• I think with the loss of Emil, Devon and Mr. Longfellow they're getting rid of the featured players who had the most untapped potential and the best chances of doing something actually interesting on the show and clinging on to certain “vets” who may not have been on the longest or anything but seem the most burnt and tapped out creatively (even if only one of them seems the most honest about it). Emil, Devon and Longfellow are definitely going to be missed more than the show realizes right now.

• Heidi and Ego, I get them wanting to leave on their own. Heidi has been a solid dependable anchor of the female cast who's had a respectable eight season run. It felt like the right time for her to leave on her own and she seems primed for a solid, respectable acting career at this point.

• Egos’ always had such a great presence on the show that I would’ve liked to have seen another year of her in the cast, but she's in the same boat as Heidi in that she's put in enough great work that this would seem like an ideal time for her to leave as well. 

• Seems like she might have decided last minute to leave in solidarity with Heidi for some reason and the fact that Heidi is the only departing cast member to have NOT posted some sort of official Instagram announcement at this point makes it seem like something went on behind the scenes that she didn't quite find to be on the level. Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll find out about it in due time.

• I'm not crazy about the fact that this leaves Chloe Fineman as the most senior female cast member in the show, though. Sarah being a close second isn't much consolation (and she honestly seems to be in the same boat as Emil, Devon and Longfellow except for the fact that she's still on the show) but she's still in the same boat as Ego in that I've always liked the idea of them both being in the cast even if they may not be getting used to their full potential (which is honestly the real problem with Sarah in that the show may be pounding a square Peg into a round hole with her since they obviously can't let her go full on “Squirm” on the show) but I do see an opportunity for Ashley Padilla to make major inroads in stabilizing (and potentially leading) the female cast.

• Most of the new featured players seem like decent enough fits for the show. I can see why Ben Marshall is the only PDD member they saw fit to legitimately add to the cast. I haven't gotten to have seen much of Jeremy Culhane, Tommy Brennan or Veronica Slowikowsas’ pre-SNL work but I've read enough of what their prior credits are to see why they would've been hired.

• Kam Patterson is the new hire that…concerns me the most. I don't even mind that he runs in the same circles as Gillis and Che as much as I'm concerned about the fact that he was plucked straight from “Kill Tony”. Having actually seen pieces of his standup, I don't quite see him fitting in with the show that well or bringing the show such great press for that matter (even though I realize that any attempts to “cancel” him the way they “cancelled” Gillis would be pointless). At best, I see him as another “one and done” type cast member.

• I am intrigued that they hired several new writers (so, I guess they did find SOME new women of color they liked enough to hire, huh?) so that alone gives me a tiny shred of hope that season 51 could be the start of the same transition between eras that season 31 was (that reminds me, I know my friend Jon Schneider is doing a season 31 rewatch podcast for their Patreon but if you want a podcast some full length season 31 reviews that aren't currently behind a pay wall then have I got the podcast for you!)

• Now, on to tonight's episode. I thought Bad Bunny was a rather unambitious choice for host at first but I'm OK with it. His season 49 episode wasn't the best of that season by any stretch, but when that season first premiered I remember being intrigued by the experimental feel of sketches like “Age Of Discovery”, “Telanovela” and the PDD Shrek short. I especially liked how they helped offset the “we're just gonna do some sketches about how hot this host is and just skate by on his charisma” vibe that the monologue and nun sketch gave off.

• I even liked how they bought in Pedro Pascal for a sequel to the “Protective Mom” sketch from his season 48 episode. That was possibly my favorite sketch from that one. I mean, I'm not as crazy about Pedro Pascal as the show seems to be but I hope to see another one of those sketches tonight. Hell, it might be a good breakout role for Veronika!

• I'm not going into this episode expecting much as I've learned not to expect much from modern SNL season premieres in general. They always tend to have that “dull as dishwater/just shaking off the old cobwebs/gotta get settled back into that old weekly grind” feel to them mixed with that irritating compulsion to catch the viewer up on EVERY single thing that happened this summer, but this one has a chance to be different.

• Specifically, a lot of what happened in pop culture over THIS summer revolved around late night comedy shows being taken off the air or chastised by government officials on social media for even the mildest criticisms of the current administration. As this is a subject that we all know affects THIS show dearly, I'm hoping that the cold open and Weekend Update can address it in a worthwhile manner (but I have a feeling this week's cold open with probably just focus on JAJs’ Trump rambling on to no one in particular about the current government shutdown. In fact, we might get a worse version of the season 47 premieres’ cold open).

• While I'll be going into this episode fully expecting it to be mediocre, I may be more generous to it than a lot of you as I'm using it as a distraction from everything else going on in my life right now (let's just say I'm writing this from my dad's hospital room and leave it at that) and I'm not even sure when my full length review of this episode will be finished enough for me to publish it by Sunday night at this point, but I just wanted to share this with you guys.

Scarlett Johansson/Arcade Fire (05.17.2025)

Trump/MBS Meeting

• Well, one more Trump cold open to end the season.

• Apparently “he found…love” with Mohammad Bin Salman. Not crazy about the “season 42 Beck as Putin sketch” vibes I am getting right out of the gate.

• I do like that JAJ has worked Trumps’ real life jerky back-and-forth power move handshake into his repertoire. It brings back fond memories of seeing Athony Atamanuik do that same thing on Comedy Centrals’ “The President Show” in 2017…oh, wait. Never mind. Forget I brought that up. Parallel thinking, I guess.

• I like that they're finally using Emil after a while…but I'm not crazy about the way they're using Emil in this sketch.

• I mean, I liked “oil/money/end of list”, “the late great Fred Flintstone” and the “they Dubai a lot of weapons” and “Utah” jokes but…the rest of this was just white noise.

• Thankfully, the fourth wall break was interesting. I especially liked the “season 50 Worst one yet” jab. (Hey, at least they're being semi-honest here, amirite?)

• God help me I even got into him ranking the attractiveness of the female audience members sitting around him as they…at least pretended to be? I mean, I appreciated it more on rewatch after learning from Jon Schneider that SNL actually does arrange audience seating by placing all the younger, more “camera friendly” people on the floor and everyone else up in the bleachers.

• Yeah, while I do like JAJ himself as a performer and a comedian…I'm really about as ambivalent about seeing his Trump as I am about seeing the real one l…anywhere, so no big loss there. 

• Also, I'm starting to agree with whoever first put forth the take that Trump doesn't deserve an impression that makes him appear likable or relatable like JAJs. He does actually deserve an impression more like Baldwins’ that makes you as sick of seeing both the impressions as much as you are of the real person. JAJ just does Trumps’ actual voice better and he seems like a nice, friendly family man in real life which he can't help himself from letting through in his impression. Baldwin captures Trumps’ other real life behaviors better and probably got even more sick of doing the impression as we got of seeing him do it. C+

Monologue 

• Hey, a sincere “Piano Man” monologue where the cast gently pokes fun at themselves. This is…pleasant.

• Honestly, this feels like it SHOULD have been the cold open (and probably would've been around this time three seasons ago).

• I…thought we all agreed that Bowen pretty much stopped playing “likable” characters about two seasons before he was given the role of J.D. Vance?

• I did like the jabs at Sarah's pants. She's one of the last people I would expect to be leaving unless she sees herself as, like, the Janeane Garafalo of season 50 or something which part of me suspects may be the case with both her and Bowen (and if she really is I would have some…pretty mixed feelings about that but I would wish her all the best).

• Kenan as an audience member was fun. I also liked Longfellow, Jane, Emil and Ashley poking fun at their own lack of screen time. Heck, I even liked how they worked Devon, JAJ, Andrew, Longfellow and Marcello in here 

• Huh…I'm a bit surprised we didn't see…oh, nevermind. B-

Channel 4 NYC News

• Hey, a wildly off key Pink Pony Club parody from Emil. Now, THIS is how I like seeing them use Emil on the show.

• Hey, Ashley has a big upfront role!

• Ok, so…apparently this is a reworked and slightly inverted version of the coffee shop sketch from Timothee Chalamets’ episode…except Scarlett is taking Ashley's role which is made the main focus along with the dark, upsetting nature of the various puns.

• Well, I have to say that leaning into the darker aspects of this sketch (especially on Scarlett, Devin and Heidi's parts) really elevated this for me. B-

PDD: First Class Flight….to Newark?!?!?

• Hey, these guys are back! I was wondering where they've been.

• So, it's a rap that keeps getting interrupted by ScarJo and the boys’ anxiety over realizing they're flying to Newark? Well, at least this is the rare topical short from Please Don't Destroy.

• Mikey as the pilot was…something that turned into a very Mikey-type role.

• I did also like the “who will make the article?/prayer hands/LOST pilot/Avengers money” jokes.

• I appreciate their slight subversion of the audience's collective expectations of when Bad Bunny was gonna show up in this…and how long it would be taking him to start singing. He does work surprisingly well as a dumbfounded, out of his depth, first day air traffic controller and this had a charming ending with the plane landing semi-safely…as Ben Marshall reveals he has urinated on himself. C+

Couples At The Bar

• Four people fighting over the same specific thing? What is this, a season 28 sketch?

• I guess this was the requisite “hey, Bad Bunnys’ in the building this week so naturally that means we HAVE to do a sketch where he and Marcello talk to each other almost exclusively in Spanish for 99% of the total runtime” sketch?

• Still, I do like how multilayered this sketch was where the men are just as much the butt of the joke for how they view the women in their relationships as the women are for how badly they misunderstand (or how they merely very selectively understand as the case may be) Hispanic language and culture.

• I also liked how JAJ and Dismukes characters accidentally display a better, more educated understanding of Marcello/Ego and Benito/Scarjos’ relationships from a complete outsider's perspective than they do. Even though their parts could've been cut without really affecting the sketch either way, I liked that they were there to add that extra wrinkle to it.

• I especially liked Marcellos’ intense, bug eyed stare down of Bad Bunnys’ character as he tells Scarlett what a great couple he and Ego make. C+

Bowens’ Still Straight

• So, they're just gonna do “Bowens’ Straight” again? Goddammit.

• Yeah, I just wasn't crazy about this the first time he did it with Sydney Sweeney over a year ago (no pun intended) but I guess…some people still liked it and that episode much more than I did?

• I wasn't too crazy about this one either (and that's not coming from a place of sheer jealousy over the mere implication that Bowen got to hook up with both Ego and Heidi in the same sketch) so I'll just stick to mentioning which elements of this I actually DID like.

• I do like how they're establishing some continuity from the last one with Gina Gershon making another cameo and not totally ignoring the elephant in the room anymore at this point in the episode any more re: Colin's relationship status with this week's host.

• I did like Bowens’ lines to Scarlett about how he just found out who she was this morning and “thanks for inventing A.I., by the way”. I don't like how this pretty much had the exact same ending as last time, though. 

• Was it ever established who wrote both of these? I'm guessing Bowen himself may have had a large hand in it but I'm just curious how it was determined which specific women Bowen would be “straight” for. Heidi and Ego must've come from him having bonded with them as a platonic friend and coworker over the years but Sydney and Emily must've just come from a specific preference of his or just him having the basic idea of “lol str8 guys just like big boobs, big lips and blonde hair”. Scarlett must've come from a place of all three of these things together. C-

Elevator

• Hey, Mike Myers is back! He's not playing Elon. He's playing himself…and Scarlett isn't. In fact, she is barely in the scene at all. This should be interesting.

• …and hey, look. Kenan is playing…Ye (neé Kanye West)? Ok, not too crazy about Kenan's impression, but…he can make it work well enough. I have faith in him. Still, I would’ve at least liked to see Devons’ attempt at a Kanye instead of just a walk on between him and Ego where she has lines and he doesn't.

• I genuinely wonder who had the idea of “let's imagine what it would be like if Mike Myers had a chance encounter with the stunningly bigoted and fully broken brained Kanye West of 2025 because there's no way that wouldn't be a million times more awkward and uncomfortable for him, right”?

• I definitely think that news of Kanye having released a new single that could be described as “slightly incestuous” at best would be the only thing to make someone come up with this because I haven't heard of this having been cut from any previous dress rehearsals but if this was ultimately scrapped from the 50th I can see why. I mean, that one aired in primetime on a Sunday night so I would see why they would want lighter fare than this to the point where they would've chosen Debbie Downer and In Memoriam over this.

• I mean, upon rewatch, I can see what Kenan is going for with Yes’ speech patterns but he doesn't quite have that nasal Chicagoan semi-angry whine down they way Pharoah and Redd did so it's coming out more Steve Harvey than Ye.

• I did like Mike's sudden line “my kids are safe” and Kenan's line revealing his next song is called “Squeezin’ On My Grandpas’ Booty” which gave me a legitimate laugh, but what was with that weird voice modulated line of Kenan's at the very end? Were the writers confusing Nitrous Oxide with helium or does Nitrous actually lower your voice?

• Also, why are all his front teeth gone…oooooh riiight, he blamed/tried to sue a dentist for getting him hooked on Nitrous. Was that what that was supposed to be a reference to?

• So, basically this is a slightly inferior remake of a sketch that Mike Myers had previously done with (unfortunately) the real Kanye West almost 20 years on the season 31 premiere? Hey, me and Deej actually covered that previous sketch in the first ever episode of our own podcast which you can listen to here. C+ 

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Out of Colins’ “regular” jokes, I liked “McJournalist”, “Qatar-a-lago”, “favors” and “Dick's/Foot Locker”.

• Out of Michaels’ “regular” jokes his “uphold the constitution” seemed surprisingly out of character but I liked “South Africa/Mandella Effect”

• Boy, that RFK Jr./parasites joke was a real throwback to Seth & Amy's era of Update, huh?

• Hey! Miss Eggys’ back! All right!

• I'd say the highlights from this one were “piss a biscoff”, “compote” “Miss Eggy stay strapped” and “hollandaise/benedict”

• Hey! Another joke swap to close out the season!

• For what Colin was given, I got a bigger kick out of the “Lorne, retire bitch/topping off priests/ bonobos halftime show” stuff than the “black CBS soap opera” and “Nick Kerr lover” jokes.

• Yep, I can definitely tell Che's part of this once Scarlett came out was crafted by her, Colin and her (presumably female) friends to humiliate him. I got a slightly bigger kick out of the “unattended drink”,“farm” “thousands of jokes/dozens of laughs” and “selling crack” stuff though.

• Yeah, this one was just as fun as the Christmas one. I know it might feel like a slight let down, but how else could they have possibly even TRIED to follow that roast beef joke anyway?

• I will say that the joke swaps we got this season were both much better than the ones we got last season but I've noticed both sets of joke swaps have followed the same pattern of “stronger one for the Christmas show, weaker and more uneven one for the season finale.

• I wouldn't say this was the best we could hope for for this season's final Update since, y'know…we were all at least hoping for some solid confirmation of who would be LEAVING the show tonight and the closest thing we even got to that was…Colin begrudgingly smearing on lipstick.

• Ok, I've also heard some people theorize that Colin may stay on to take Lornes’ position rather than leave the show at some point. I highly doubt Lorne is planning on retiring this soon anymore (if at all) but if that truly turns out to be the case with Colin some time down the road, then I have a theory of my own there.

• My theory is that Lorne is going to eventually talk Colin into stepping down from the Update desk if he wants to move into the executive producer position. He'll only do it by telling Colin the story of how he was originally planning to host Update himself in the very early stages of development for “NBCs’ Saturday Night” but decided to give that gig to Chevy because he realized he can't be the person who ultimately decides what sketches get cut and what gets taken from the rest of the casts’ airtime while also having secured his own guaranteed spot for himself on the show that he (for all intents and purposes) created each week.

• Of course, Lorne will put this forth to Colin in such a vague way that it may takes Colin days to figure out what Lorne was trying to tell him, but only time will tell if this truly turns out to be the case. B-

Penelopes’ Secret

• So, Kenan and Scarlett are intimacy coordinators, Mikey is a try hard male feminist type without the predatory vibes, Sarah is the assistant director just there to be the butt of a single “they/them” joke, Ashley and Jane are about to shoot a lesbian love scene and everyone is just trying to gently guide Kenan in the vague direction of “finally figuring out what ‘scissoring’ is for the first time in his life?

• Thank God this ended at the EXACT moment it wore out its welcome and thank God Kenan still has a likable enough personality to put this over.

• I did get a kick out of Kenan sweetly smiling as he tried to picture two women scissoring and then running through the wall (although the timing of Kenan's exit after “what's the wifi?” seemed visually botched a bit). C+

TV Takes

• Ok, so they're literally just doing a slightly more dumbed down version of the same “cast interview” sketch from the season 46 finale except with Marcello in Pete's role, Bowen and Scarlett in Aidy and Anya Taylor-Joy's roles and…Sarah and Jane being placed into Punkie and Bowens’ old roles?

• I did like some of Sarah, Jane, Ego and Heidi's roles in this (although I didn't like the return of the “hey, let's make Sarah the butt of a few ‘lol she's least attractive girl in this sketch’ when in reality nothing could be further from the truth” trope).

• Ok, so maybe this version of this sketch wasn't THAT bad. Upon rewatch the highs may have been a bit higher this time. In fact, it was probably smart of them to borrow a sketch from a much stronger season finale than this one. 

• Hell, it’s not even the fact that they're still so frequently bringing back old sketch premises from several seasons ago that bothers me so much here.

• I guess the fact that they borrowed a sketch from a previous season finale where absolutely none of the cast members people were expecting/secretly hoping would leave…actually left…is perhaps the most troubling thing to me here. C+

Victorian Ladies At Lunch

• A strange Victorian sketch featuring Scarlett Johansson? Could we finally be about to meet the mysterious Mr. Willoughby?

• So, I guess the whole point of this was to try and create a “THIS IS LIVE TELEVISION!!!” forced breaking type moment by making the women of the cast eat real blood pudding, jellied eels, candied clams and pickled cows’ feet on camera? Hey, they could've done worse.

• At first, this felt more like it belonged on Jimmy Fallons’ Tonight Show than SNL but then I noticed how the snappy live pacing of it and the over the top writing and dialogue delivery saved it.

• Kudos to them for executing this as a live sketch rather than a pretape. That was a very unusual and uncharacteristically daring move on the show's part. 

• I liked a lot of Dismukes' dialogue (probably because his was easiest to understand due to his mouth being the least full). It seemed like this sketch was structured dialogue wise to just have the women set him up to describe the ridiculously offensive way these endangered animal dishes were prepared.

• Perhaps the thing I got the biggest kick out of was seeing Chloes’ very real reactions to what she was eating. Yeah, she was clearly struggling the most here. She was even too disgusted to break like a normal person here.

• Meanwhile, the gross out queen herself Sarah Squirm seemed the absolute least phased by this out of anyone. Heidi and Scarjo are tied for a close second here since Heidi's one if the shows’ more fearless performers in the cast right now (which means something different today, I'm sure) and Scarletts’ just a friend of the show who's always willing to support her fellow women and who must've been in a prankish mood this week between this and the joke swap. 

• My guess is that some combination of Sarah, Heidi, Dismukes and possibly Scarlett were involved with the writing on this one and I have another (slightly less educated) theory that this sketch was designed by the other women solely as one big humiliation ritual for Chloe for missing so much airtime for doomed vanity projects lately. I mean, she must've been absent at least on Monday and Tuesday of this week because I believe this and the monologue were the only things she was even in this week.

• Damn, that is the longest title card I have ever seen on this show. They must've taken great care timing-wise not to overload the show because they knew they absolutely HAD to get this in along with the joke swap on Update. There wasn't even a band shot anywhere near this episode.

• Yeah, the Pepto Bismol button at the end was a bit of a bummer and something I too really wish the show would cease doing already but I had enough fun watching the rest of this sketch that I'm honestly not gonna let it bug me that much. B-

Goodnights

• So, we see Scarlett being handed flowers by Colin who kisses her on the mouth so that Emil can react with the most committed disgust out of a small group in the left hand corner of the stage that includes him and everyone else besides Sarah who joined the cast after season 46? I wonder how that was set up? I'm sure they were always planning to have the Victorian lunch sketch at the end of the rundown.

• We do see Sarah over in the opposite corner tightly hugging Bowen (who appears the most emotional out of everyone on stage at this moment) with Ego a distant third behind him and Sarah. Miss Eggy doesn't appear on the verge of tears or anything. She just appears most ready to hug everyone.

• Based on this alone, I'd say the safest bet to make would be the announcement of Bowens’ departure some time by August or September. I'd say Sarah and Ego are the next most likely candidates in that order. I don't base that on what I'm now seeing could be their “meta moments” in the monologue and TV Takes respectively (because reading into that may be a bit much). I just get the sense that Bowen and Sarah may have developed such a strong emotional bond that they may not want to do the show without one another and this may leave together. Plus, Ego getting to reprise Miss Eggy so soon reminds me of when Vanessa Bayer did the same thing with her Dawn Lazarus character back in season 42, so…these might just be gut feelings on my part.

Ranking All Of ScarJos’ Episodes From Best To Worst

1. Scarlett Johansson/Death Cab For Cutie (01.14.2006)
2. Scarlet Johansson/Niall Horan (12.14.2019)
3. Scarlett Johansson/Bjork (04.21.2007)
4. Scarlett Johansson/Lorde (03.11.2017)
5. Scarlett Johansson/Bad Bunny (05.17.2025)
6. Scarlett Johansson/Wiz Khalifa (05.02.2015)
7. Scarlett Johansson/Arcade Fire (11.14.2010)

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Jack Black/Elton John & Brandi Carlile (04.05.2025)
3. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
4. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
5. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
6. Quinta Brunson/Benson Boone (05.03.2025)
7. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
8. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
9. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
10. Scarlett Johansson/Bad Bunny (05.17.2025)
11. Jon Hamm/Lizzo (04.12.2025)
12. Walton Goggins/Arcade Fire (05.11.2025)
13. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
14. Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
15. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
16. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
17. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
18. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
19. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
20. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
21. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, that was season 50…and that was another typical “let's run out the clock” finale to end it. 

• Just think, this is the exact same episode that a few years ago some people were led to believe would be the last SNL episode ever. Makes you think, huh?

• Overall, I feel this episode represents this season as a whole (outside of the anniversary special itself) in that we might have proven ourselves to be fools for buying into any amount of hype and expecting anything bigger or better from the show than just…what it actually is now. Oh, well. Just standard operating procedure, I guess.

• At least after last week, it was nice to have another established host who has the proven ability to elevate material and boost morale around the show…even if there was still this gassed out feeling.

• I'm not gonna let myself get bothered by the fact that they're still digging out as many old, reused sketch premises from years ago as they've been these past two weeks. I'm not saying that because there was a fair enough level of buzz and hype surrounding it to distract even me from that but also because a few moments felt original enough to stand out and balance out this episode a bit.

• Still, there was fun to be had if you can see the forest for the trees tonight…and although Mikey seems to have had a light night, it looks like everyone in the cast got some airtime and no one was shut out of the finale (no matter how many times they may tell you it's happened to them previously on the show).

• Honestly, the thing that bums me out the most is that we're finding ourselves back in the same place we were four years earlier when season 46 ended and we were left with no clue as to who (if anyone) would be leaving the show.

• Of course, Covid isn't dictating those decisions as much anymore and back then we did find out that new people would be joining an already overstuffed cast after a couple of people did leave slightly unexpectedly, and the people we were expecting to have left dipped in and out quite a bit and ended up leaving at the end of season 47 instead (and in the middle of season 48 in one person's case who we just saw last week).

• This led to a promising new season that quickly lost steam leading us right back to where we are now and where we have been for the past two damn years at this point and I don't know if I can go through that whole cycle with this show again.

• Still, I guess we have the whole summer ahead of us to wait and speculate until we find out who's definitely leaving and who may be joining the show and if there's hope for things to take off in any more new directions creatively at this point.

• Maybe a complete season 21 style reboot is too much to hope let alone ask for at this point…but I agree with whoever been putting forth the take recently that this would be the biggest thing the show could do to keep them genuinely interested at this point (and you know who you are…even though I kinda doubt you're reading this right now).

Closing Thoughts 

• Well, that sure was season 50, wasn't it?

• Fear not though, because for a change of pace…this blog will actually continue on semi-regularly throughout the summer…by taking things back to season 32…for now.

• I can confirm that the next post on this blog is going to be posted this coming Thursday, May 22nd and it will be another full length SNL retro review of the Hugh Laurie/Beck episode from season 32 as Deej and I will be covering it on the next episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast.

• After that, we'll do a couple more episodes with season 32 specific topics that I will not reveal here yet. I'll wait until Deej and I nail down a few more things before doing so.

• See you in a few days and have a great summer!

Jon Hamm/Lizzo (04.12.2025)

Cleansing Of The Temple

• Okay, as soon as I heard Steve Higgins intoning the word “Easter” over an very clearly biblical/Christian themed text crawl, I knew fucking EXACTLY where this was headed.

• Seriously, this is like, what the fourth of these types of cold opens they've done since they hired JAJ to join the cast? Hell, it's the second one they did this very season.

• (*sigh*) Well, I guess I liked the following jokes from JAJ as Trump “messiah made of the economy”, “look at your 401k and say ‘Jesus Christ'”, “price of eggs/just can't crack it/end joke”,“the most homophobic people you see see dressing as gay as possible”, “I don't go to church on Easter either”, “pray/prey/predator” and “lump shaped”.

• I kinda liked the extra wrinkle/challenge of the freeze frame being Mikey tipping a table over.

• Really, the only thing saving this (or even making it watchable) are the meta jokes directed at Emil, Mikey, Sarah, Kenan and Ego here.

• I'm choosing to think Kenan's early exit ISN'T a Morgan Wallen reference and that they've gotten all of that nonsense out of their system.

• All in all, one of the more tolerable “JAJ/Trumps talks directly to camera over historical freeze frame” cold opens if you give it a fraction of a chance. C+

Monologue 

• Well, I certainly like that Jon is playing himself as the same “gleeful idiot” character he played so well on 30 Rock. I find that fun.

• You know, I remember a lot of people saying Jon Hamm could be the next Alec Baldwin even as early as October 2008 when he FIRST hosted (y'know, back when that would've for sure have been meant as a compliment).

• I actually see one more Baldwin parallel here in that by the time Hamm had first hosted, Baldwins’ subsequent monologues all devolved into him gratuitously waxing nostalgic about personal highlights from each of his previous hosting stints, so I like the idea of Jon Hamm doing an equally charmingly pathetic/narcissistic monologue about all 14 of his cameos in the past…14 years. God, that's like…almost one cameo a year for each year he HASN'T hosted, right?

• While I wasn't too crazy about how telegraphed that “aimless monologue” joke felt, I do like that the cameo turned out to be Kieran Culkin. He was a solid host who made a few unexpected cameos, too. Let's hope they don't make us wait another 14 years to see HIM host again, right? 

• The only strange thing about this monologue was how it ended on Jon clearly waving Kieran over to come back on stage only for the camera to cut away before he could be seen again. B-

Check-To-Check Business Channel 

• My visceral reaction to the title alone was “ooooooooffffff” but the sketch itself made me go “oh, this is supposed to be relatable in the fun way (*phew*).

• I liked Egos’ “Top Ramen” joke as well as Kenan's cheap brand name alternatives (“Uncle Bubble”, “Sgt. Munch”) and Dismukes’ Funko Pop report. B-

PDD: Missing Girl Pizza Party

• I feel like placing a Please Don't Destroy Short this early in the lineup may feel like Lorne & the shows’ way of making something up to the boys. Anyone else?

• Anyway, I do like how this was another short that took the boys out of the office and how framing this as a gritty crime procedural set up Jon Hamm to immediately play wildly against type more.

• I liked how Hamm immediately started playing a fragile manchild instead of the no-nonsense police chief you might expect him to play in this setting.

• I also loved how this wasted no time in devolving into chaos, getting everyone sucked into the pizza discussion. It's nice to see PDDs’ rapid fire pacing be put to effective use once again. 

• Other highlights were John Higgins firing a gun into the air, Ashley as the missing girl's mom and Jane as the delivery girl. B-

Guess The Correct Answer

• A game show sketch after the SECOND commercial break? Well, NOW I've seen everything!

• I didn't like how rapidly Jon Hamm just laid out the whole joke of that sketch, but I did like how that allowed this to have a very quick not quite “blackout” but still very “get in/get out” style pacing and nature to it (even if Ashley and Emil could only be used as set dressing here).

• Longfellow is still a decent game show host (even if part of me would've liked to have seen JAH get another chance to play one). I did like the ridiculous character name of “Marky Mark Brandon Marcus”.

• This sketch felt like a sort of inverted prequel to Hamms' role in "I Didn't Ask For This" from October 2010. C+

The White Potus

• Geez, even the live studio audience seems to be having an extremely mixed reaction to this.

• I wonder how many people just noped out or had a rage stroke from the combo of that title immediately followed by Chloe doing an inexplicable Parker Posey impression in the same room as JAJs’ Trump with slightly more makeup? I did like the quick visual of him swallowing a McNugget whole from a bottle like a pill.

• Speaking of Chloe, her playing “Melania Trump” as Parker Posey in The White Lotus feels like they're DEFINITELY making something up to her that she must've taken way too personally and made a big deal about.

• I do like the zoned out vibe JAJ gave to his Trump for this and while I'm grateful he is still Baldwins’ official replacement in the role, I will admit Baldwins’ take on Trump still would've fit this particular sketch like a glove (again, not that I would’ve particularly liked to see that).

• Apparently, the guy playing commerce secretary Howard Lutnick was just actor Jon Gries, shown here in a clip just straight up taken from a White Lotus episode he was in. Okay. I didn't know you could incorporate cameos THAT way.

• Also, THAT’S the guy who.played Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite? Wow.

• Hey, we got an Alex Moffat cameo! Since he left a few years back it's just this and I THINK being in the background of the Mulaney New York musical from the 50th for him?

• Oh, hai Scarlett. Bye, Scarlett.

• If RFK Jr HAS to become a recurring character/impression on this show, I'll take Jon Hamm in the role over Alec Baldwin any day.

• I thought Sarah's huge buck teeth were supposed to be an “RFK Jr. wants to ban fluoridated water” joke until I watched the SNN Hot Take show where Jon explained that Sarah was supposed to be playing Aimee Lou Woods’ character from the show and then I thought “Oooooooh right, I guess that explains the cockney accent too, huh?” 

• Yeah, please don't ask me how or why I know who Aimee Lou Wood is either.

• Hey, Ashley Padilla got her first political impression as AG Pam Bondi. Congratulations, Ashley. I can tell you're DEFINITELY gonna make it on modern SNL. Good to see Heidi bring back her classic beloved Kristi Noem impression again (*eye roll emoji*).

• I did like how they used Marcellos’ Rubio impression here, though.

• Hey, there's Beck Bennet again…as shirtless Putin. Great. Even if it's his most well remembered “political" impression…and even though it's still more subtly tinged with exactly as much cheap homophobia as it was back in 2017…it's nice to see Beck again.

• Hey, a sudden Lizzo cameo. She had one decent line there.

• Like, I'm not gonna say this whole pretape was WORTH airing just for the Moffat/Bennet cameos…but they were clearly the highlights. I did just watch both clips of Alex as Terry Fink on Update the other night and that plus his putting a watch in a blender reminded me of how great Alex was on the show, so…Yeah.

• I was surprised to find that this was only five minutes long when I tried rewatching it on YouTube. Even though it felt like a mini-epic with its use of many different characters and sets, turning this into a pretape obviously allowed them to tighten this up substantially but the heavy & specific political focus of it made this feel like I was watching a cold open/debate sketch from season 45 (or maybe the fact that I ended up writing an unprecedented 16 different bullet points worth of my own commentary on this sketch is making it feel like a 13 minute long sketch in my mind?)

• God, that moment with JAJ/Trump pointing a gun at Andrew dressed as fucking Uncle Sam talking about placing a tariff on China is like the most hamfisted political joke I've ever seen on SNL. Seriously, that felt like something one would only see in a fucking New Yorker cartoon. That and the sudden (merciful) ending with Kenan as Tiger Woods are things I was thankful were only dream sequences.

• My other main takeaway from this was that not having watched any of The White Lotus I can still somehow tell that this sketch was densely packed with specific references to the show meant to make people who DO watch it laugh. At least from that, I can tell this was a labor of love so…Yeah, that part of it was far from my biggest problem with this pretape.

• I wonder if Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider came back this week to write this 2017-ass sketch? I mean, it's obviously written by people who are VERY pop culture savvy and juuuust savvy ENOUGH about politics to semi-tenuously connect the hottest prestige HBO show to the current Trump administration, so…yeah, this just SCREAMS them to the point I'd be surprised to find they DIDN'T write this. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• This was a week where Che had the lions’ share of better jokes. That's all I really care to say about the Jost/Che portions of Update.

• Bowen as Chen Biao? Man, this episode really DOES feel like a throwback to 2019 in all the worst ways!

• Boy, he must've REALLY grown to hate this character over time since he's giving it even less effort than he gave any of his performances as J.D. Vance (maybe that's what that “Peasant Elegy” joke was a subtle reference to?)

• Jesus, was Egos’ “Miss Eggy” commentary from last week THAT big a viral hit or has it understandably become an inner office inside joke at SNL?

• Thankfully, Emil showed up to give us perhaps the sharpest and funniest moment of the entire episode.

• …which was almost immediately followed by Sarah giving us something that, I think, was cut from last week's show? If so, I can see why because this was definitely her most juiceless and aimless performance to date. 

• At least Sarah tried to open with some attempt at classic Squirm gross out humor and end with a different angle of the Update set we haven't seen.

• I did like Colin, seeming to actively fight his own giggly discomfort at reading the lines on his cue cards and fully accepting being the butt of the joke during this commentary (by the moment he winks at the camera after delivering that “any chair can be a toilet” joke you can see what I'm talking about).

• Yeah, they definitely should've switched the order of Emil and Sarah's commentaries at least. C-

Randy & Trevor's Baby

• Did…this sketch use the same opening establishing shot as Bronx Beat?

• Anyway, I feel like this sketch is at least spiritually a sequel to the sketch Bowen did with Adam Driver last season where they just talked about TRYING for a baby. 

• The only twist here is that Jon Hamm is Bowens’ partner now and they actually DO have a baby but they defiantly deflect whenever anyone asks where it came from.

• With all the loud questioning of logistics, it's like this sketch was starring Bowen Yang, Jon Hamm and FOUR Mikey Days.

• Oh, and apparently Lizzo is their baby. Ok, sure. Whatever.

• I did like the AAPI joke…and at least this sketch was loud enough to keep me from tuning out completely. C-

Herpastopper

• Yeah, we may have seen medication ads deconstructed on SNL and other comedy shows before so, this doesn't feel TOO fresh.

• Still, I liked the slightly more creative meta angle of “the person in slo-mo always has herpes, especially if they're rock climbing.”

• Ego and Heidi did fine here.

• I did like Mikeys’ meta reaction to Hamms’ line about how the person having the most fun dancing in slo-mo in a whole group always has herpes as well as Jons’ reaction to him suddenly finding himself rock climbing. 

• I also liked the breakdowns of other types of medication ads (wives wearing oversized jerseys for erectile dysfunction, children's drawings for clinical depression, dancing in an office as an indicator of either diabetes or diarrhea).

• Well, I certainly liked those parts all more than the racial breakdown of these types of ads anyway. Oh hai, Devon & Jane. C+

New Employees

• Hey, I'm a new employee at my job right now. I mean, I didn't have to go that deep into my personal life during my orientation (I mean, I wasn't gonna talk about this blog or my podcast right off the bat to people I just met so I had to think of clever ways to deflect).

• Besides, workplaces don't spend this long on “getting to know you” stuff (not any place I've worked anyway) since they want to get you actually working on your own as quickly as possible. Maybe this sketch would work a little better as, like, a college freshman orientation with a younger host, like say, Mikey Madison?

• Anyway, I liked how Hamm kept revealing more ridiculous details about his parents’ death and how they made decent use of Ashley and Andrew here…but that's about it. C+

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Jack Black/Elton John & Brandi Carlile (04.05.2025)
3. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
4. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
5. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
6. Jon Hamm/Lizzo (04.12.2025)
7. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
8. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
9. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
10. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
11. Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
12. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
13. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
14. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
15. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
16. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
17. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
18. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Closing Thoughts

• Well, Jon Hamm certainly hasn't lost his touch. He's still a strong comedic performer who's game for pretty much anything and it seems like the show will pretty much always know how to use him.

• This episode was a little uneven, but Jon elevated pretty much all he was in as much as he could. Obviously, they wouldn't have been able to reach the same electric highs of last week's Jack Black episode but it was another case where the shows current staff put on the best show that they possibly could with a well liked now four time host from a different era that has at least one all time classic stand out episode from back in the day under his belt.

• It's nice to see Jon Hamm perform again on this show all these years later, but neither he nor Jack are able to completely cover up the shows’ various foibles on their own.

• The main difference between this show and last week's, in my mind, is a weaker bottom half that left me a bit more frustrated the more I sat with this episode and chewed on it.

• There's a cast imbalance again at this point. Marcello, Devon and Jane only appeared in pretapes tonight while Dismukes, Ashley and Emil are making decent gains and almost jockeying back and forth for who has the biggest breakout moment. Meanwhile, JAJ and Longfellow keep only being used in one specific role. 

• The show seemingly keeps pushing Bowen, Heidi, Ego, Mikey and Sarah in ways that increasingly disappoint and yet somehow…no one seems to be absolutely dominating the show right now…not even any recent hosts, oddly enough.

Overall Thoughts 

• After a two week spring break, Quinta Brunson returns to host for her second time. This is actually a pleasant surprise as two years ago, Quinta hosted one of the truly promising standout episodes of season 48 before the show lost steam and the dual strikes seemed to derail the shows’ momentum entirely. 

• There were a lot of fresh, unique concepts brought to the show the last time Quinta hosted, so let's hope she can bring some of that creative spark back next month.

• In the meantime, the next post you'll see on this blog will be a full length review of the Julia Loius-Dreyfus/Paul Simon episode from season 31 of SNL which Deej and I will be covering on the next episode of our We Heart Hader Podcast. The blog and the podcast should both be released on Thursday, April 24th. 

• After that, Deej & I might just be welcoming our first ever guest on the We Heart Hader Podcast! Spoiler alert: if you know either one of us, it'll probably be the exact person you're thinking it's gonna be…but you'll have to wait and listen to find out for sure. See you then!

Jack Black/Elton John & Brandi Carlile (04.05.2025)

Trumps’ Tariff Speech

• Speaking of numbers, I guess we're back to paint-by-numbers JAJ Trump Cold Opens again, huh?

• Well, at least they're making, uh, improvements to his makeup here.

• The “Make America Great Depression Again” stuff was OK, I guess.

• Hey, Dismukes is a commerce secretary. Neat.

• The forced Borat reference was completely unnecessary and the Cheesecake Factory McDonald Island jokes were…eh.

• I did like the gag of Trump explaining the “formula” though. Kind of reminded me of the equation in the background of the White And Nerdy video.

• The “reciprocal/bedroom” joke was good for a “wait, what? Oh nevermind” type near shock laugh.

• C'mon guys, that brief “God's country” callback wasn't worth a frigging applause break. Even JAJ himself looked slightly annoyed at having to deliver that nonsense. I liked the 30 Rock/Tina reference just fine.

• At least Mike Meyers’ Elon likened this up a little. The “self vandalizing Tesla” animation may have been the true highlight of this. I also liked the “tariffs sound dumb” ending. 

• Part of me has to wonder if JAJs line “it's time to never see you again” could possibly mean that Mike Myers has too busy of a schedule to play Elon again at any point in the season and this is his last cameo of season 50? C+

Monologue 

• After everything I saw last week, it's so nice to see Jack Black call band guitarist Maddie Rice by her first name and then kick off the show with a big Tenacious D style musical number that sprawls around the studio…even if all he's doing so far is just listing all the big paycheck family friendly films he's done since he last hosted.

• Heidi and Marcello were great sports. You can tell Heidi was clearly having a blast.

• Huh, quite odd to see them not call ANY attention to Bill Burr and Kieran Culkin being in the audience (straight from tonight's performance of “Glengarry Glen Ross” I see). B-

Love Match

• Hmm…this is the hardest sketch to get a bead on I've seen on this show in YEARS.

• I chuckled a bit at Marcellos’ “the true answer is butt” line.

• The premise seems to be “what if a regular, sincere guy dressed like Indiana Jones whole vehemently denying knowing anything about Indiana Jones at all?”

• I have to say this feels like a premise we've seen numerous times but Black & Dismukes are acting the hell out of this.

• This does seem like a very Andrew Dismukes-centric idea too as it is reminiscent of his “Joker Wedding” and “Jumanji” sketches from the past few years.

• I chuckled a bit more at his line about Marcellos’ character looking 12 years old and JAJs’ character looking just like Jane Lynch.

• Most of all, I liked the very tight writing and pacing of this. Even once we saw Bowen revealed to be a guy dressed as Capt. Jack Sparrow (possible Lonely Island shout out there?) this never felt like it overstayed its welcome. B-

Flamin’ Hot Preparation H

• Ok, I liked how hard this leaned into its own gleeful stupidity and I liked how it gave us two back to back Jack Black/Andrew Dismukes pairings. (Yes, that was Andrew as the voice of the cheapest CGI Chester Cheetah you've ever seen).

• It was nice to see Jack Black INTENTIONALLY sweating his ass off for once (pun unintended but fuck it, I went with it anyway). C+

One Uppers

• Another “hip group of young, trendy people at a restaurant” sketch AND another “people constantly try to out do one another” sketch rolled into one. How…innovative?

• Ok, so maybe the framework of this isn't very new but I do admire the show risking a minor derailment and nearly throwing its own timing out if whack just for the sake of putting something on that very nearly defies accurate description. 

• Seriously, the best way I could describe this was just “Eagle Screech Whip Pans”.

• I did like the needle drop of Disturbeds’ “Down With The Sickness” during one of Ego's closeups.

• Even just a stupid fart noise punctuating Sarah & Dismukes announcing that they were “poly” just before Heidi summons the cheapest eagle puppet you may have ever seen made me chuckle when couched in with this chaos. B-

The First Play

• Another unique and creative premise on display here that genuinely feels the least like anything they've done before.

• I immediately liked the idea of people witnessing the historic moment of the first ever acting performance treating it as a dialogue or normal conversation because they may be unfamiliar with the basic concepts of “acting” or “pretending” even just “lies”.

• I loved the gag of Longfellow pulling a red streamer out of Bowens’ chest plate to simulate his stabbing death.

• I feel like the promise of later nudity in the play was a kind of cheap ending but this sketch (and this host in particular) had enough gravitas to put that over. A-

Goth Kid On Vacation

• I liked the bait-and-switch/mislead of this better than the main joke once it got revealed but hey, nice use of Longfellow here.

• I liked Jack Black singing “Black Parade” (THEMES!!!) possibly most of all here. C-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Come on, guys. Just let this Morgan Wallen thing die already!

• I liked Che's “Trump will not stand for plundering/Chinese tariffs/D.E.I. school funding/Matt Gaetz” jokes just for how much bite he gave them. Josts’ “#WhyVinDieselTrippin” and Kid Rock jokes were Ok.

• I'm actually pleasantly surprised to see Marcello and Jane's severely mismatched couple return. I actually liked these characters during their debut in Mulaney's episode from November and I still think this is the best use of Marcellos “loud shouting man” persona.

• Among Marcellos’ stand out jokes were Romeo & Juliet, going “stupid on a woodwind”, Doctor Who and doing dishes/cooking.

• The gag of Jane deadpanning risqué, suggestive/aggressive lines still works.

• The Russell Brand/Chris Brown flashback from Jost worked for me the way they intended, though. I ALMOST liked that code breaker joke.

• I liked Josts’ Subway Nachos/Goofy stuffed animal joke but the HBCU joke that preceded it may have been the point when the joke portion of this Update started to lose its sharp focus (hey, at least Che got through another whole Update without another “hey, it's the ‘90s”). The Hooters joke could've derailed it completely but the next commentary stopped this whole Update from falling off a cliff.

• I was DEFINITELY on board with Ego “Ms Eggy” Nwodim as a Queen Of Def Jam Comedy from the get go (even if her “voice” seemed to be a mix of Lisa From Temecula, Esther from Sanford & Son, her “TSIDDAHN!!!” teacher and her “Rich Auntie With No Kids” among possible others.  

• Her reaction to certain unexpected audience reactions really made this for me (and made me genuinely wonder if there could be any “fallout” from this or if this portion could be included in any possible 10pm “vintage” rerun slot). B-

Making Love

• Right off the bat, this seems like an exact cross between a similar high wire sketch from 2019 with Cecily Strong and Chance The Wrapper and both of Melissa Villaseñors’ “dirty talk” sketches with Aziz Ansari and Donald Glover.

• The “champagne” joke worked for me. Not sure we needed Bowen as the “third” but Brandi Carlile as the “fourth” fully justified his appearance.

• I could see this not quite working as well with any lesser hosts (or musical guests for that matter) but Jack Black and Brandy Carlile really had the gravitas to hit this out of the park. 

• I also liked how they pulled out to reveal the stagehands operating the cables on the side of the stage. B-

Bass Lake Jam Session

• Hmm, what if a cover performance of Tom Pettys’ “Free Fallin'” had so many bass players it literally caused structural damage to the pier it was being played on?

• Well, this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jack Black is the only performer on Earth that can make this specific sketch premise work. I love how he provided the detail heavy nature that needed to work.

• Is that Dismukes on drums?

• Thankfully, this didn't turn out to be a sketch that Heidi would ruin with her newest impossibly dumb one off character being the main focus. I mean, I wasn't exactly worried this sketch would tank when I saw her show up. Well, let's just say I was more…distracted…than worried and leave it at that (‘cuz I couldn't quite tell if those were 100% her real ones either…but anyway, moving on).

• I got a kick out of Marcello bringing up spoons and then saying they were just for crack.

• I got a kick out of Bowen bringing up his base in a keyboard shaped carrying case.

• Hey, any sudden appearance of The Simpsons theme song is A-OK in my book!

• The gag with Ego's dog being a bass player too was just goofy enough to work for me.

• Oh hai, Devon & Ashley.

• This reminded me a bit of an MTV Spring Break sketch with Cameron Diaz where Amy Poehler is taking song requests and is increasingly frustrated that everyone keeps requesting “That Don't Impress Me Much” by Shania Twain…even Tracy Morgan. Anyone else? No? Care to watch the sketch on TikTok? No? How about this other sketch from season 27 that the Preparation H thing reminded me of?

• Anyway, a surprisingly strong sketch for the back half of the show. 

• …and yeah, while I'm posting links to random season 27 sketches i found on TikTok I might as well share this one with you since it was the one that this sketch apparently reminded everyone else of. B+

WWII Times Square Kiss

• Hmm, I feel like I may have heard a joke with this exact same premise somewhere recently, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this one. 

• All the performers in this did a fine job of selling those old timey ‘40s voices. Kenan and Mikey were…there, too.

• I did like the added detail of Jack's character just being an anti-Asian propaganda cartoonist whose work is considered too shockingly racist even for war time in the 1940s. C-

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Jack Black/Elton John & Brandi Carlile (04.05.2025)
3. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
4. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
5. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
6. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
7. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
8. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
9. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
10. Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
11. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
12. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
13. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
14. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
15. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
16. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
17. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts 

• Ok, this may or may not be a hot take but I say this episode may be perhaps the strongest contender for best episode of the entire season (if you don't count the 50th anniversary special from February as an “episode” like I do).

• I know that last week set a ridiculously low bar for this episode to clear but the show played so well to Jack Blacks’ dynamic energy and strengths as a host that you would think he may have been heavily involved with the writing and pitching.

• It also helped that after a week packed with old recurring sketch templates this episode gave us a lot of fresh, unique ideas that felt very original for this era of SNL (or at least put some new twists on some old concepts we may have seen before).

• While Ashley and Devon took some minor hits in airtime this week, it still felt like a week where no cast member was shut out entirely. In particular, James, Andrew, Heidi and Ego made great strides this week.

Closing Thoughts 

• Next week, another four timer Jon Hamm makes his return to hosting after a 15 year absence of his own (minus the odd cameo every now and then).

• Whether in cameos or as a host, Jon Hamm was always a performer the show knew how to use effectively and two of his three host outings are certified classics, so let's hope that SNL can keep this weeks good, strong vibes going and hopefully ride that energy all the way to the end of the season next month.

• After I review that episode, the next post you're likely to see on this blog will be a review of the Julia Loius-Dreyfus/Paul Simon episode from season 31. Of course, this is going to be the next full length SNL episode that me and Deej will review for the We Heart Hader Podcast.

• Oh, that reminds me. You'll also be seeing a review of the Steve Martin/Prince episode on both the blog and the podcast this coming Thursday, April 10th.

• Have a good one, guys!

Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)

White House Cold Open

• Well, no use delaying the inevitable.

• Hey, maybe Emil would've made a better Zelenskyy than Mikey but…Ok, sure. It's not like he'll have any lines in this anyway.

• Marcello as Rubio. Hey, that's an…interesting wrinkle. He made the most our if the two lines he actually had.

• Somehow, I'm actually enjoying Bowens’ louder, slightly more queened up Vance. Maybe it's because we haven't seen this impression in about five months and they finally found a decent use for it, but whatever.

• I got a forced chuckle of of JAJs lines about Pokémon cards and the Homer Simpson hedge meme. I also liked his "Epstein files released/names A through S only/ No Ts" joke but sadly that's about it. He seemed to just be there for others to steal focus from anyway.

• Mike Meyers is Elon now? Well, if anyone can do more interesting things with this character it's Mike Meyers.

• Well, to tell you the truth…Mike Meyers seems to be playing Elon Musk as an exact cross between every member of the Rolling Stones and all his Austin Powers characters (perhaps a more senile version of Austin himself?) with maybe a little dash of Ozzy Osbourne thrown in there but…still, it was nice if them to give us some surprise here.

• I do have to admit the real Musk was ultimately right about Carveys’ impression of him sounding like Carvey more than anything…so part of me is morbidly curious to see how he might react (if at all) to Mike's impression of him.

• At this point, I'm personally open to the idea of Mike Myers making regular cameos through the rest of this season much like Dana Carvey did as long as they don't just have him keep playing Elon each week and let him play different unique roles. 

• I say this because when I saw Mike on screen I flashed on David Spades’ recent cameo as Hunter Biden from a few months ago and how they could both be grouped together with guys like Adam Sandler and even Eddie Murphy as “former cast members from a distant past era who made cameos infrequently enough in recent years that it's intriguing to see how they play into the current show”.

• I got some chuckles out of Dismukes as “bigballs”. His “DOGE/DOUCHE” lines were OK.

• Overall, I at least appreciate them adding a couple new characters to the basic cold open we were all expecting. C+

Monologue 

• (*sigh*) Here we fuckin’ go again…

• Hmm…let's see where he's actually going with this Trump stuff. Absolutely nowhere? OK.

• Now, he's on to his Biden stuff. Ok. This does feel like stuff I've seen him do before so…whatever.

• He's doing a really good job of “both sides-ing” this monologue, I'll give him that but once again his own insecure, self deprecating side comments are bringing him down.

• The stuff about interracial dating may have been the most “nothing” part of this monologue.

• I never would've guessed Shane Gillis has ever watched any historical documentary ever…but sadly the “Cosby/roofies” comment (*ugh*) and the Shelby Foote stuff are suddenly making this make sense.

• I wish I could say ending the Civil War stuff with a callback to the interracial dating stuff worked for me…but it did not.

• Jesus Christ, I mean, some things I have heard about Shane make him seem like he could be a semi-decent guy behind the scenes but I can NOT get into his standup AT. ALL. D-

Winery Tour 

• Hey, Ashley and Dismukes are getting prominent roles upfront. Cool.

• Women ALWAYS be takin photos on their iPhones, am I right, fellas?

• Heidi actually got a couple of chuckles out of me, actually. I liked her “I look like Michael Cera” joke and her “be a man” lines to Shane were…OK.

• I wish I could say I could actually get into the new wrinkle to this being Heidi emasculating Shane and belittling/mocking her parents so suddenly…but nothing could really make this work for me. D+

CouplaBeers & aLilBump

• This is a real basic-ass premise but it's actually the one thing Shane is making work for me. It's just like a lesser version of Rock Bottom Kings from his last episode.

• I didn't quite like the reveal of beer and cocaine being a medical treatment after this seemed like it was lazily drifting in the general direction of an actual comment on the state of men's mental health…but I did like the ending reveal of a pantsless Shane stumbling in on his own intervention. C-

Mid-Day News

• Uuuugggghhh…why the hell did they have to dig up this solid sketch from the season Shane actually got fired from only to suck the life out of it and add a low-key “punching down” feel to it by putting Shane, Heidi and Devon (to a much lesser extent) in Alex Moffat, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Chris Redds’ roles respectively?

• I mean, yeah, I can see why this sketch would fit Shane like a glove, but come on.

• I mean, I chuckled at the Shaboozey jokes but that's about it. D+

Dads’ House

• Allright, another sketch that seems right up Shane's alley, I guess.

• I like Dismukes and Sarahs’ performances in this sketch.

• Jesus, these alimony jokes are coming off mean.

• I do like the audience reacting to Shane's preparing the Vienna Sausages and Syrup dish and then “shooting the juice”.

• Wow. They even made the sudden appearance of a Heidi voiced puppet more disappointing than I expected.

• I did like Ashley & JAJs’ appearances. They each played off Shane well. They provided the best possible note to end this sketch on. C-

PDD: The Sound

• I'm intrigued by the idea of PDD + Ego doing a knockoff version of “The Voice” where they play actual characters instead of themselves (maybe Ben & John could've switched roles though?)

• I'm not crazy about the addition of Shane as a slightly more cleaned up Chris Chan type (yeah, sorry guys, I just…I couldn't be bothered to think of a better description of this character).

• Did anyone else think this quickly became reminiscent of that “Pop The Balloon” short we saw in Chappelles’ episode from January?

• I liked Ego somehow revealing her chair had a stick shift she could drive out on. 

• I will say though that Tate McRaes’ cameo felt…apt. Offputting, but still appropriate. 

• Hey, speaking of Tate…I caught the set design from her performances and I didn't know she was such a big Whitest Kids U'Know fan. Good for her! C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Ok, I thought Josts Elon/Emilia Perez jokes were funny and Ches’ DeSantis crack was…fine. I giggled at his Cuomo and Silk Sonic jokes, though. Nothing else from them did much for me.

• Nice to see Che just honestly and openly begging to get fired for once.

• Marcello as “The Movie Guy”? Have we…seen this exact thing before?

• Ok, Marcellos’ adding just enough dopey, goofy silliness to put it over for me.

• I liked that brief beat where Marcello seemed to start breaking when his “Spongebob/plot is unlimited” joke bombed so bad you could hear it get an actual hiss. Too bad the kept breaking in a way that seemed to suggest he was thinking “shit, I gotta do something to save this.” I mean, compared to most of the rest of this episode…this needed the LEAST saving.

• Side note: When was the last time a a movie theater employee actually dressed like a hotel doorman from the 1950s? What the hell was the look he was going for?

• Yeah, I know Marcello is becoming the new “divisive” cast member but he hasn't quite pushed me personally to the point of wanting to hate him or just being annoyed by him yet (Domingo be damned).

• Come on people, I'm grasping at straws here. I wanted to cling to SOMETHING in this episode that I could genuinely enjoy just for it not giving me the ick right away!)

• …..aaaaaaaaand of COURSE we get a one-two punch of a “women's basketball/it's the 90s” joke from Che. SNLs’ 50th season is BACK, baby! Woo!

• I may usually be more welcoming of a new Jane Wickline piano number, but compared to her previous two, this seemed to have the least going for it.

• I'm sure I'm not the only one who wanted to see Jane do more than set “the trolley problem” to music.

• Ok, I know Jane Wickline is enough of a divisive figure among certain posters on r/LiveFromNewYork so I don't want to just pile more hate on her unnecessarily. It's not entirely her fault that she came in midway through an already frustrating an disappointing episode but what she came in WITH wasn't exactly her best. C-

Wedding Interruption

• Ok…this seemed like it would peak WAY too early. Good thing there were WAY more coupons.

• I liked this a bit more than I thought I would. I guess my favorite part of this would be seeing Sarah on the verge of breaking. It's nice to see SOMEONE appear to genuinely have fun during this episode.

• There's not much more I want to say about this sketch without potentially spoiling it, so…I'll just say seek this one out on YouTube at your own risk. B-

Doctor's Visit

• Hey, a sketch where Emil has a lead part. All right.

• …and it immediately gets real dumb. Whatever. At least Shane and Emil are as committed to it as they need to be. 

• This is another one I don't want to spoil aside from just saying I did like lines like “beef to teeth” and “me j” and “diy”. Again, YouTube at your own risk if you missed this one. 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. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
8. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
9. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
10. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
11. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
12. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
13. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
14. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, I shouldn't have expected them to clear the low bar set by Gillis’ episode from season 49. I mean, I expected even LESS from this one and it somehow failed to deliver.

• It seemed like both Shane and the writers deliberately spent the entire week thinking of new ways to play into the worst aspects of Shane's whole image.

• I think the bigger problem with this episode was with how derivative nearly every sketch seemed.

• Boy, Shane really wasn't kidding when he said he was “really more of a MADtv guy”, was he? I say that because whatever DIDN'T feel like something SNL had done before (The Sound, Doctor's Visit) felt quite a bit like something MADtv had done (Winery Tour, CouplaBeers, Dad's House)

• I noticed that Longfellow and Fineman seemed to be entirely absent from this show. I understand Chloe had Covid (I wish her well) but Longfellow really seems to have drawn the short straw this week.

• Everyone else made it on (even the three featured players) but I find it a bit odd that Bowen and Shane weren't in anything together after they seemed to hug it out and have a cathartic moment at the end of his previous episode. Oh well, I'm just gonna assume it was a coincidence and move on.

• If you've made it THIS far, you may be wondering why I didn't rank this episode DEAD last in my rankings after I just spent so much time trashing it. Well, that's because the few episodes I ranked below this one aired earlier in the season. I went in (perhaps foolishly) hoping for a LOT more from Smart & Keaton episodes since they COULD have set a much better tone for the season. Sadly, they were both consistently dull and bogged down by some weak election related material. 

• This episode aired at a point in the season where the tone had already been set for the current show, but AFTER they had already pulled out all possible stops for their BIG anniversary celebration, so that combined with my general view of the host made this feel like the hardest crash back down to reality possible.

• Man, the way these last two seasons have been playing out have been REALLY making me reconsider my general episode rankings from time to time.

Closing Thoughts 

• Next week, Lady Gaga returns to the actual show (coming off a couple of stellar performances at the SNL50 homecoming concert) for her second double duty outing.

• Last time she did this was in November 2013 (back when she was barely taken seriously and seen as divisive of a figure as Jane Wickline, if my memory serves me well).

• I remember my take on Lady Gagas’ first episode being that she wasn't much of an actress but the show knew how to pick the exact right spots to use her effectively. 

• Well, Gaga has had a lot more acting experience under her belt since then and season 50 of SNL seems to be going through a lot less “restructuring” than it did in season 39 (although there may be the same amount of distraction from the current shows’ shortcomings involving former alumni…and there's a good chance the show will be facing a lot MORE “restructuring” if it can push itself past season 50 and into season 51).

• Next weeks’ show will be hosted by an entertainer who's been around long enough to be accepted and recognized for their talents as an actress and musician. This is, of course, all the more reason to be cautiously optimistic about next week's episode (a lot moreso than this one anyway).

• Yes, I also see why a comedian would make a better host for SNL than a pop star (especially now) but Lady Gaga is a more appropriate host for the audience SNL (and most mainstream linear television programs) actually have now. Shane Gillis was another one if Lornes’ attempts to pander to an audience he may have lost 30 years ago (and may never actually attract again barring an extremely specific set of circumstances that wouldn't be worth the trouble).

• After I review that show for this blog next week, I have a feeling I may post another blog entry tied into a future episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast, but I will update you on that further once Deej and I plan out what our next few episodes will be. See you 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!