Gas Prices
- Huh...a generic family road trip cold open set at a gas station? This could be interesting.
- God, I can't even remember the last time a cold open began with random unwarranted applause for no reason? Can you?
- I got a kick out of Ashleys' "we're gonna have to leave one of you behind" line.
- Well, at least this is a nice departure from the typical Trump/Hegseth cold opens we've been getting lately...AW FUCK, we're back to THESE again. Boy, the writers must've been gassed out on political stuff this week.
- Well, I got a kick out of JAJs' Troy McClure reference and his jabs at Harry and 1Ds' musical catalog, but wow...I'm surprised they cheered at that and booed more at the Timothee Chalamet/ballet jab.
- I wasn't even into the meta background cast gags in this one.
- ...and just when even I was starting to get sick of Josts' Hegseth they find an admittedly fun way to Trojan horse him in to this one. I don't know what it says about this cold open that one of my favorite lines was "as I live and struggle to breathe" though. Nothing good, right?
- This wasn't some of Josts' best work (even he seemed a bit gassed out on doing these as he wasn't exactly disappearing into character here) but I did chuckle at the "DUI checkpoint/close your eyes and gun it" joke. C-
Monologue
- ...and there's Harrys' trademark sleepy ass energy that plagued his last episode.
- I mean, I liked that sudden "you don't know everything about me, dad!" line.
- Hey, he admitted to talking slowly and being just straight up boring. At least he's self aware to some degree.
- Boy, that "Italian GPT/Mario" joke couldn't be saved no matter who delivered it the way Harry did.
- Hmm...not quite sure what he was going for with that Prince Andrew joke but his delivery didn't help that one either.
- I liked Chloe and (especially) Sarah's walk ons but Bens' bought this to a screeching halt for me.
- At least the crowd was hyped. That must've been Lorne and the shows' main concern for this week.
- God, I sure hope the rest of this episode is much less of a slog. D-
New Jersey V. Donovan
- Marcello Hernandez IS Sebastian Maniscalco IN "Sebastian Maniscalco, Defense Attorney". That's it.
- Well, I suppose this isn't the worst possible choice for first post monologue sketch. I actually didn't mind the one from Glenn Powells' episode in November. I wouldn't say this one is the better of the two necessarily but it might be the thing I like most in THIS episode so far.
- I liked Chloes' courtroom sketch of him and I liked how Marcello is throwing himself much more into this physically (not crazy about him breaking though)
- Harry Styles attempt at a Maniscalco impression was just...odd and not a great ending to this. B-
MAHAspital
- This seemed like too much of an abstract concept rather than a fully fledged sketch. I felt like I was watching a sketch literally decide as it went along that it wanted more to be a RFK/MAHA commentary than a parody of "The Pitt" (maybe that's why it went on so long).
- I don't know if it was the right choice to have Ben featured so prominently in this (he...probably wrote a great deal of this, didn't he?) but I did chuckle at his line about shooting his parents after finding out they got the Covid vaccine, pulling the plug on that old woman after finding out she was a vegan and the Tylenol gag.
- I also liked the line "From The Facebook Group 'Beach Moms Against Vaccine Tyranny" and Kams' reaction to getting that weird infrared heat mask put on him so suddenly.
- Ashley seems to be making some very specific character choices in this. Is she supposed to be doing an impression of a specific "Pitt" cast member? They put more makeup and prosthetics on her than I'm used to seeing on Ashley in any role so this must be a specific impression.
- JAJ as RFK Jr is something that I could see seeming like a good idea on paper and it mostly worked in execution...but it also proved to be something that only works with the exact right angle.
- Hell, as adept at impressions as he is even JAJ seemed like he was still figuring out the voice. He was almost there. He just needed to make it a lost raspier.
- I'll just say Iiked JAJ as RFK just fine...I don't really need to see it again (especially not with those goofy ass rubber muscles). C+
Sparkle Of The Sea
- This reminds me so much of the type of two hander live commercial sketches that we would get with Kate and Aidy around 2019 that I'm convinced that this was an old script that was submitted for Harrys' first double duty episode from that year and didn't get picked because that episode already had the lamaze class sketch with Heidi and that Lorne thought that two "indiscriminate European accent" sketches in the same show would cancel each other out.
- I did like Jeremy and Janes Devo-ish duo as well as JAJs' singer. Who was Mikeys' assistant though? Was she someone we were supposed to recognize? That definitely wasn't Ashley, Sarah or Veronika.
- I was pleasantly surprised at how they managed to have Kenan sneak Jean K Jean in here at least 15 years after his last Update appearance (even if I was pretty ambivalent about this character and I was pretty sure he already did the exact same routine on Update already)
- Usually, I like Veronika and Tommy being paired together...but I could've done without this though.
- I did like Harrys' line about how "a cruise is just like being in a hotel except you could drown." C+
Best Buy
- Has...Kenan done this exact character before? In a sketch with Devon perhaps?
- Anyone getting inverted Leon Phelps vibes from this sketch?
- I can see Kenan is trying his damndest to put this over and I don't totally hate it...but I can't get too into it...and it seems like it is going on far too long for its own liking.
- At least they only counted on Harry to carry the "ending" rather than the whole sketch.
- I mean, I liked Kenans' line about his wife dying in a two foot deep fountain, but...the rest of this sketch was pure white noise. I mean, it was pleasant, goofy, unobjectionable white noise, but still. C-
Weekend Update w/Jost & Che
- Josts' Best Jokes: RFK shoulder surgery, Michael B Jordan,
- Che's Best Jokes: Assembly of experts, Make Iran Great Again, Trump Elementary, MTG
- I dunno...something about the rest of this episode and they Jost and Che are adlibbing and audience riffing in a way that works that isn't "it's the 90s" level obnoxious makes their portions of this Update hit harder than they should. Still, this was one of those Updates that was ALL about the commentaries.
- Already, I like Jeremys' take nonsensical take on Tucker Carlson (it seems like he worked some Ben Shapiro in there to the point where I wonder if he did so intentionally)
- Not crazy about heavily costumed commentaries in any form (and if Marcellos' involved, all bets are off) but I liked the weird abstract specificity of Mikey as "the arial tramway emoji" so...this MIGHT work for me.
- Ok, somehow Mikey listing more obscure, unused emojis in full on "Wild N' Out" mode is giving me my biggest laugh of the night. This is so weird I get Marcello breaking here because it seems genuine on a very Mulaney/Stefon level. I even liked the ending more than I thought I would. B-
White Castle
- Well, I have liked Jane and Veronikas' previous two collaborations (and a few of the things they've done separately from each other this season as well) so I guess I just had to give this a chance.
- Even though this was yet another sketch in service of this episodes' whole theme of "let's just gush over how hot our host is this week", I liked how increasingly strange Jane and Veronika made this even for how formulaic this was and how "safe" the ending felt.
- I liked how Ashley anchored this too but honestly, I could've done without Kenans' motorcycle guy though. B+
She's A Dancer
- Even though THIS was the obligatory vehicle for our double duty host to sing outside of their designated musical guest spots, I did like the sudden tonal shift from "generic late 2000s club banger" to "Celtic Woman/Riverdance".
- I even liked the harp scene with Jane and JAJ. I wasn't crazy about how this kind of just fell apart with the ending. C+
Harry For Him
- Even though this was another (literal) Harry vanity piece with more hints of "queerbaiting" that involved Ben Marshall, I liked how this was built and crafted in a way that each line from the next cast member was genuinely funnier than the last and made this more absurd.
- I also liked how this gave some much needed live airtime to Dismukes, Kam and Sarah. It felt a little long though. Kenan had the most lines in this, so maybe some of his and Harrys' lines could've been cut to tighten this up? B+
Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst
- Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
- Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
- Alexander Skarsgard/Cardi B (01.31.2026)
- Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
- Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
- Ryan Gosling/Gorillaz (03.07.2026)
- Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
- Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
- Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
- Harry Styles (03.14.2026)
- Connor Storrie/Mumford & Sons (02.28.2026)
- Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
- Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025)
- Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
- Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)
Overall Thoughts
- Well, this was just as much like Harrys' 2019 episode as I was dreading it would be since he displayed the exact same energy that appeals to no one outside his own established fan base. I wouldn't say this was better or worse, though. I'd say it was pretty much the same. There were moments I liked, moments I didn't care for, Harry was there and he was responsible for most of the latter moments.
- Sure, Harry had a lot of very vocal fans in the audience to support him (like most attractive male hosts do)....but they didn't exactly help put the episode over for those of us that aren't that big into Harry to begin with. They just made this episode feel much more like an exercise in vanity and highlighted how much of a limited appeal he still has.
- Still, the moments I did like hit harder for me as they were basically life rafts adrift in a sea of crushing dullness and the show felt a bit more stable and less uneven.
- Cast usage was all over the place, though. We didn't see much of Sarah, Kam, Tommy or Dismukes, but Chloe, Kenan, JAJ, Jeremy, Mikey, Ben, Jane and Veronika each scored in individual roles. No one cast member really "dominated" the night (except MAYBE you could make a case for Ben?)
Closing Thoughts
- Well, I'm glad this season of SNL is finally past it's three episode late winter run of "over hyped pretty boy" episodes that tried to get by on sheer fangirl energy and cuteness alone.
- Next week, NBCs' original SNL takes a two week vacation here in the states but on the other side of the pond where our most recent host hails from, Englands' Sky TV debuts their own adaptation "Saturday Night Live UK". Since this will be available for next day streaming on Peacock here in the states, I'm thinking I'll definitely write SOMETHING about it on this blog.
- I don't know if it will be a full sketch by sketch breakdown like I usually do or a series of stray observations and comparisons but the temptation to analyze how this show compares to its' counterpart and put it in writing will be too strong to resist for sure.
- After that, you can expect a review of the Brian Williams/Feist episode from season 33 on this blog as a companion piece to an upcoming episode of the We Heart Hader podcast.
- Speaking of which, Deej and I just released a new episode just the other day reviewing the Kunuk Uncovered episode of Documentary Now! It may be our shortest episode to date, but I still encourage you to give it a listen.
- After that, SNLUS comes back in early April with host Jack White and musical guest Jack Black. While I'm all for this combo just for the "what's in a name?" factor alone and I'm open to the idea of Jack Black becoming an official five timer...something about this feels a little "too soon" for me.
- Still, I remember genuinely liking Jacks' episode from last season quite a bit based on how starkly it stood out from the pack at that time. Of course, most of that was due to Jacks' sheer energy making it stand out by season 50 standards but it's clear he boosted morale and inspired some creative shift.
- He elevated his episode just enough to make it feel and his infectious energy may be just what season 51 needs right now to prove its' still wanting to do something different and less complacent in its own status quo.
- Anyway, hope you guys all enjoy this output from me when you get a chance to see it!
