Alexander Skarsgard/Cardi B (01.31.2026)

ICE Meeting

• What the absolute fuck?

• A diffie opening text crawl followed by an even DIFFIER political impression.

• I don't know how far down the list of "People Who Should Play Tom Homan On This Show" fucking Pete Davidson was, but I'm pretty disappointed that the guy who would've been my first choice if they absolutely HAD to stunt cast this (John Goodman, of course...I mean, he's gotta have a good handle on the voice) was obviously unavailable.

• Hell, I'd have a slightly easier time buying Pete in this role if he used the same voice and facial prosthetics that he was using to play Andrew Cuomo a few years ago.

• I'll say Kenan, Dismukes, Ben, Mikey, JAJ and Jeremy as the ICE agents Pete is addressing are picking up the slack from Pete and just BARELY making this work for me...and it is at least mice to get a break from another JAJ/Trump centered cold open...and this is probably preferable to a sudden cameo from Cardi as Nicki as a few people online were suggesting.

• Is this reminding anyone else of the Airport Security sketch from the season 32 premiere back in '06?

• It seems like there's not a lot here just because of the slow pacing of this (well, not JUST because of that), but there are some actually funny and decent lines here to pick out that were delivered well.

• Another reason there doesn't seem like much to go on here is that the main take seems to be reiterating what incompetent unqualified doofuses ICE agents are (a point that has been beaten to death by both "real" and "fake" news shows alike).

• Beyond that, having Pete Davidson of all people just barely gloss over what a corrupt evil bastard Tom Homan is and then have Pete Davidson of all people portray him as a mild mannered school marm is WAY the wrong thing for the show to be doing. In fact, this is almost MORE toothless and tone deaf than what they did LAST week.

• You know, this was one of many, many different moments in my life in the past 48 hours where I had to just sit in silence and ask myself...what the fuck am I even doing with my life right now? 

• Granted, I find myself doing this a lot for a plethora of deeply personal reasons that are entirely unrelated to this particular SNL cold open that i refuse to divulge on this goddamn fucking blog right now (it's supposed to be a distraction from that, obviously)...but I'm starting to wonder how many people involved in putting this show on the air have the capacity to even ask themselves this and that makes me sad...well, not as sad as some of that personal stuff I refuse to talk about here...but still. C-

Monologue

• Wow, an actual mention of the 1000th episode. I like how Alexander underplayed that.

• Hey, this dude's legitimately paying tribute to the band...AND letting them speak! All right!

• Hey, Lenny's got jokes!

• Alexanders' saxophone bit was fun and a great capper to this.

• That monologue may just be one big clock punch for those of us who listen to (and even some times record and release their own) podcasts about SNL but...already this is LIGHTYEARS better than three of the last five episodes of the show put together (which already makes this episode better than but just as uneven as last week's show). A-

Mom's Confession

• Already this reminds me of the "bad thing" sketch from Kristen Wiigs' last episode but with Ashley trying to do a better version of it.

• ...and it turns out that Sarah, Tommy, Dismukes and Jane are her kids who are exasperated that she didn't turn on Trump sooner or more drastically. 

• I liked Alexanders' line about how Ashley "gets a different internet" because her laptop is old and Jane's line about Ashley asking her if she "just liked hats" when she came out to her.

• I'll give the show this, the smartest thing they did all year so far was make this particular sketch an Ashley showcase and make it the first post monologue sketch. B+

Winter Olypmics Profile 

• Hey, another weird ass Jane thing but as a flashy pretape and she's killing it with this already! All right! Alexander is pretty great as her coach, too.

• The only thing negative I could say about this is that it does remind me a bit of that Patti Harrison Shark Tank sketch from ITYSL which will probably make the discourse around this sketch/episode a bit annoying...but other than that I'm glad we got to see this on air. B+

Stench Of A Family

• Already I can tell this is going to be a sequel to that Chloe movie shoot sketch from Glenn Powells' episode. 

• Smart move. That sketch did kill the first time and it does fit Alexander like a glove. Even Jane is scoring in this.

• This one seems to be going in a darker direction but making it work. It didn't have much of an out either but at least the Stellan cameo lent it some credibility...but not an actual ending or a non-rushed out, it seems. B-

Immigrant Dad Talk Show III

• This was a pleasant surprise. I genuinely wasn't expecting this to return any time soon, but I suppose Alexander playing up the repressed Nordic stoicism his homeland is known for works here just as well.

• This felt a bit more rushed but that's probably because they didn't need to establish as much with this being the third one and the focus shifting from sons amd daughters to wives.

• I don't think we needed to see the exact same beat with Mikey amd Dismukes as the father and son who kiss but the Stellan cameo that moment spawned worked even better.

• ...and if Cardi was going to cameo in a sketch, I guess this would be the one for her to be in. B-

Viking Raid

• Hmm, this seems to be the "obligatory host sketch" of the night.

• Huh, this turned into more of a "host plays against type" as it became more focused on Alexander overcoming his own insecurity. 

• I liked how they played that against a backdrop of modern manufactured SNL pretape gore set during the crusades. That made for some interesting juxtaposition and this was well acted by all the cast members involved.

• I did like the various gags that involved vikings just casually holding severed limbs. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Che's best jokes: Kristi Noem, Jost/ICE Mask, Jamaican bobsled team, Luigi Mangione, Obese Americans

• Josts' best jokes: Dry January, Walz/Epstein, Kash Patel/Mr. Bean, Waffle House, McDonalds Decaf Coffee, UPS

• Well, this Update seemed like it might slowly grind this episode to a halt at first...but Che and Jost actually had some decent jokes later on.

• I dunno, editing Melania footage into Rush Hour still seems a little beneath SNL to me.

• Interesting coincidence that we're seeing Sarah's "out in the cold" weather report the same week That Week covered the episode with "Dratch On The Ones" on Update. 

• It's MUCH less interesting that she immediately turned it into another perverted Jost roast but I liked her dress (and how she interacted with the audience during that reveal). The Jack McBrayer cameo was nice.

• Speaking of now recurring sketches that debuted in November, it was smart of them to being back Ashley and Andrews "two people who just hooked up". I know Ashley does most of the heavy lifting in these (and she did great as usual) but Dismukes had a lot of the lines I liked (especially "game of inches" and "tush push"). C+

Agnes

• So, Alexander is in very basic low frils drag...and shouting at the girls in a Farleyesque manner when they are incredulous about what she does and doesn't know about things...and Ashley is the mom

• This may be the dumbest thing ever on paper but I kinda like the absurd direction this is going in with the repeated Sarah dummy toss.

• Even Jane had the line that made this sketch for me: "Stop asking her if she knows things". C+

Tarzan & Jane

• I like the use of miniatures here.

• Anyone else get slight CBS era Kids In The Hall vibes from Alexander here? This does seem like something a Don Ohlemeyer type would casually suggest.

• I do like how this is fundamentally reconstructing the basic relationship between Tarzan and Jane in a way that makes it feel so evergreen that it COULD have actually been done as early as 1993.

• Kenans' leopard bit was cute but I could've done without it.

• I do like the fourth wall break that suggests "Jane" is a long islander faking her English accent. Did she cowrite this with Martin and Ben? Some of the other slight Sarah self depreciation (the "boobs" line mostly) makes me think so.

• Overall, another decent sketch in a standout episode but probably one of the things that "blew me away" the least. B-

Funny Boyfriend

• Hmm, a sketch built around "Cards Against Humanity"? This sounds like something that had been cut from many dress rehearsals...since about 2011.

• I didn't care too much for the reveal but I'll say that I liked how Andrew, Ashley, JAJ were great at dramatically calling out what they just found out Alexander said on his cards earlier that day.

• Also, Alexander did great with his dramatic origin story. I didn't even mind how telegraphed the ending was since I had just enough fun with this sketch to enjoy it. B-

Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst

1. Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
2. Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
3. Alexander Skarsgard/Cardi B (01.31.2026)
4. Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
5. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
6. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
7. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
8. Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
9. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
10. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
11. Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
12. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Well, if nothing else, this episode shows just how well this season of SNL can dig itself out of a hole. This is at least the third time this season alone that this show had managed to pull off a shockingly strong episode just after a demoralizingly bad and empty one just in time for a notable chronological milestone in the show's history. 

• We've seen this at the very start of this season with Amy Poehlers' episode following by Bad Bunnys' on the actual to the date 50th anniversary of SNL and if you want to count Bowen leaving as such a milestone we saw it with Ariana Grande/Cher following Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen. 

• Now, we just saw them pull this off in time to give us a surprisingly fun 1000th episode that honestly may not have seemed quite as good had it not been preceded by that dreadful one two punch of Finn Wolfhard/Teyana Taylor.

• Yes, Alexander was a much more game host than Teyana who bought the right energy and showed quite a bit more range, but the writing is still a bit uneven and their political commemtary does still fail to "meet the moment" in a way that makes one wonder why the hell they are even still doing this show anymore (hell, SNL can't even tell "the moment" from either it's own collective asshole OR a hole in the ground let alone find it with a map in a flashlight) but still, there were a lot of refreshing little elements to this that made me glad to see such a feel good episode close out its January run.

• One thing that I think is the leading cause of the show's instability problems right now is the shift in cast dynamics in Bowens' absence but it is still great to see the show remember how best to use Jane, Ashley, JAJ, Marcello, Dismukes, Sarah and even Chloe lately.

• It's a shame we didn't see as much of Kam, Kenan or Jeremy and that they're still figuring out what to do with Ben, Tommy, Mikey and Veronika at this time.

Closing Thoughts

• At the end of thext month when the Milan Winter Olympics are over, Connor Storrie makes his SNL hosting debut. At this point, I'm glad that Ben Marshall has already gotten "Heated Wizardy" out of his system but given that the current show's staff still let that on the aid as their first big pop cultural parody pretape of 2026, I'm extremely wary of how such an episode COULD go.

• Well, I hope you've enjoyed my reviews of both SNLs' 1000th AND 638th live episodes (the latter of which is the subject of of the latest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast as well as my previous blog post). Later this month, we'll be reviewing more of Documentary Now (the "Dronez" episode specifically) and I'll be a guest on the "Cover Wars" podcast (more on that later, closer to when my episode comes out).

• See you soon!

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!

Walton Goggins/Arcade Fire (05.10.2025)

A Mother's Day Message From SNL

• Huh…with as big a news week as this was you'd think they wouldn't do this as a cold op…HEEEEEYYYYY WAIT A MINUTE IT'S THAT GUY WHO PLAYS TRUMP AGAIN…WHAAAAAAAA?!?!?

• Well, at least he shoos away Kenan, Marcello, Bowen and their moms to shake things up.

• He is legitimately speaking for a large portion of the audience when he questions why the show isn't doing a “Chicago Pope/Daaaa Prayers” thing right now.

• I do like his blunt slams on J.D. Vance and…HEY, CECILYS’ BACK…AND SHE'S PLAYING JENEANE PIRRO AGAIN!!! YAAAAAYYY!!!

• I always liked Cecily in this role and was wondering why they wouldn't save this for next weeks’ Update until Colin came out as Pete Hegseth. Very clever way to revive the ol’ red wine spit take gag here.

• Ah, what the hell. Another format breaking JAJ/Trump cold open that actually worked for me. This is about the second best thing they could've done to a Chicago Pope cold open…well, distant second, but still. B-

Monologue 

• Huh…this wasn't what I was expecting either, but OK.

• A male host opens his monologue with a string of humblebrags about his status as a “sex symbol” right after yet another JAJ as Trump cold open? Are we sure this is a new one and they're not just rerunning the Bad Bunny episode from last season again?

• I liked the “I've had this same hairline since I was seven” joke at least.

• I do like how he transitioned into a sincere mother's day monologue with his actual mother in the audience. 

• Suddenly, I feel like I'm watching Gary Busey's monologue from season four…or Blake Sheltons’ monologue from season 40. C+

Second Amendment 

• A sketch set during the American revolution that DOESN'T have Nate Bargatze in it? Well, NOW I've seen everything!

• Already, I'm laughing at Waltons’ slick monosyllabic utterances about “guns”. 

• I love how his whole outfit appears to be a Leno-like jean jacket.

• JAJ really gets to shine here as do Mikey, Dismukes and Longfellow in support roles. 

• Anyone else think Dismukes’ voice sounded oddly like Bobby Moynihan at one point? 

• My one complaint about this sketch was that it felt like it got out before it made any point it might have had or gone anywhere.

• This felt like it had to be WAY edited down from dress rehearsal for some reason. B-

Tiny Baby Shoe (In The Middle Of The Zoo)

• Hmm…hard to get a bead on this but it's cute enough to work for me.

• Walton worked in an absurd small footed man and I liked the twist of Walton thinking he will date Jane and Jane immediately shutting him down.

• Sam Rockwells’ cameo worked for me as well in the exact same type of role as Walton…but he makes balloon animals.

• Maybe pretapes would be a better venue for Jane's musical talents if she makes it to season 51? B-

Mother's Day Brunch

• Ok, now we get a whole ass sketch playing off Waltons’ “sex symbol” status. Fine.

• I liked Heidi and Sarah in this. I did like how Walton played off Mikey and Andrew.

• I actually liked how Mikey delivered his line “LOVE to peek at some menus” as well as how Walton just thunked down Mikey and Andrew's menus on the table.

• I get the sense that Walton isn't quite used to performing in front of a live audience yet because he was noticeably tripping over his own lines all night and this sketch had the most instances of that.

• This sketch suddenly got WAY raunchier in a way I wasn't crazy about but I did like how it ended right when it felt like it was overstaying its welcome. C-

Handful of Hope

• Hmm…service dogs being trained to sit through a Tennessee Williams like play seems like an original enough twist on modern era SNLs theater sketches.

• Seems like they're drawing on Waltons southern heritage a lot in this episode. I guess some of the writers are big “Righteous Gemstones” fans?

• I liked how they used Longfellow and Jane as the trainers in this sketch.

• I wonder how they pulled off the eye roll effect on the one dog. Speaking of which, I did like the gag of the “not asleep” fake eye glasses being put on Jane's dog.

• I liked the speech buttons gag with Longfellows dog. That reminds me, did Dismukes write this? That part feels like a direct callback to his commentary from Billie Eilishs’ episode from season 47. 

• I also got a kick out of the “didn't go to Juilliard” back and forth between Walton and Bowen. B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• I liked Josts’ Pope material (as well as Che's “juvenile” crack). I also liked Che's Trump/Eric Adams, Elon/Ye and penis size study jokes, Josts “yacht carrying influencers sinks/aircraft carrier/Dick Splinter, ND/GTA” jokes. This was that rare Update that was worth watching for the jokes just as much as it was for the commentaries.

• I was OK enough with Marcellos’ “movie guy” the first time that I didn't mind it being bought back once more. I did get a kick out of his whole Jurassic World rant and the “Gary Fields/Garfield” rant (as wholly unoriginal as the whole “why does he hate Mondays?” joke was) and “Gatorade Zero” jokes.

• Speaking of which, if nothing else bringing back Marcellos’ “Movie Guy” was worth it for no other reason than hearing Che's callback to Marcello's new catch phrase “am I right, guys?” during that K-Pop singer joke. I laughed just as hard at that one as Colin did.

• I liked Mikeys’ “guy who just walked into a spider web” as just an excuse for him to be extremely physical. What I liked even more was the rapid fire black out nature of it. This felt like a piece Mikey may have auditioned with or just wanted to get on the air before he left.

• I liked Heidi's new one off Update character much more than I thought I would (especially the “porn/sunglasses” joke). B+

Deathly Diner

• Hey, Ego and Ashley aren't completely shut out of the live show! Good for them!

• They, along with Bowen, performed their parts well. I liked that this sketch wasn't quite as repetitive or as one note as I was expecting it to be and I liked that Bowen was used in a more restrained role here.

• I also liked their interaction with Heidi and Kenans elderly characters. C-

Midnight Matinee: Squatty Potty

• Ok, I think this one sets some kind of record for being the shortest Dan Bulla short ever produced (certainly felt that way compared to all his others).

• Thank God this was as short as it was because it was the second piece of the night that went absolutely nowhere.

• I did like the ending with Dismukes suddenly running screaming and jumping out of a window.

• Speaking of the ending, until the entire caveman sequence, none of this felt unique to Dan Bullas’ style. It was like anyone on SNLs’ current staff could've written or produced this up until the talking slug came out. D+

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. Jon Hamm/Lizzo (04.12.2025)
8. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
9. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
10. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
11. Walton Goggins/Arcade Fire (05.11.2025)
12. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
13. Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
14. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
15. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
16. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
17. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
18. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
19. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
20. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts 

• This episode was wildly uneven until after Update when it was just kinda…blah. It had a strong enough start despite sputtering a bit, but completely ran out of gas in the last third. Still, there was some fun to be had in the first half if you were willing to look for it.

• Walton Goggins seemed like a game host who was just a bit too full of himself for me to fully get into. I guess all the hype surrounding “The White Lotus” is making him start buying into his own to take himself too seriously, huh?

• I mean, it was foolish of me to expect a Mother's day episode to be anything above “middle of the road” since the second episode in a May run is usually a total wash but this host got a ton of comedy buzz from stuff like “Vice Principals” and “The Righteous Gemstones” which themselves got rave reviews from comedy needs, so…I guess I also should've expected that “White Lotus” hype to kind of ruin this guy for me.

• Chloe got shut out. Devon and Emil almost did. Apparently, I blinked and missed them. Oddly, Kenan felt like he was barely in the show. Other than that, everybody else got a fair amount of airtime.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, next week is SNLs’ 50th Season finale with host Scarlett Johansson and musical guest Bad Bunny.

• Part of me is expecting another real “running out the clock” type episode, another part of me is expecting an episode full of big tributes to those players who may (or may not) be leaving (guess we'll find out soon, huh?)

• Another part of me is expecting a possible fourth Domingo sketch. I mean, we've established Bad Bunny as a canonical part of the “Domingo-verse” and ScarJo seems like she's always gonna be down to sing purposely off key for laughs. If they are planning a big blowout for next week, all signs point to this as a distinct possibility, so…watch out.

• Anyway, my next blog post will be a full review of this season's finale and the week after that I will be posting a full length review of the Hugh Laurie/Beck episode from October 28, 2006 because it will be the subject of the next episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast coming out on Thursday, May 22nd. That's right, we're officially creeping into season 32 now!

• See you then!

Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)

Wrong Group Chat?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monologue 

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

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

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

Strop Acting Academy II

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

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

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

Big Dumb Line (A Weekend In New York)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jury Selection 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Varsity Valley Spring Break 

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

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

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

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

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

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pops’ Regrets

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

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

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

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

Barry The Midwife

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

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

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

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

PDD: Mikey Madison Is Squidward 

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

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

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

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

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

So, Like, What Are We?

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

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

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

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

An SNL Animated Short: Planning New York

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

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

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

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

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

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

Overall Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

Closing Thoughts

• Well, that was certainly another episode of SNL.

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

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

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

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

• See you guys then!

SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)

Simon & Carpenter (Homeward Bound)

• Wow. Strange but intriguing combo right off the bat. Appreciate the deep cut, though. 
• I do like the “wasn't born yet/neither were her parents” jab which Paul seemingly took in stride.
• I gotta say Sabrina's doing a good job of holding her own against Paul vocally here.
• Seems a little somber to open rather than close with, but no complaints here.

Montage

• While this was visually dazzling, I found it a bit strange that Darrell Hammond only announced the musical guests but I also realized that if they announced all the cast members and guests on the show that might take five whole minutes. Plus, I do like the small sense of surprise this lends to the show.

Monologue 

• Overall, I liked Steve's monologue (especially the end…heh, great job, Steve! Loved the whole thing!) but (*looks around and whispers once he is absolutely sure Steve Martin is out of earshot*) I honestly liked his 40th monologue a bit better. That one felt a bit more fresh and original (probably since we hadn't seen Steve host with or without Marty as recently in the lead up to SNL40 as we had leading up to this one).

• I guess neither Steve nor Tom Hanks were entirely wrong about the monologue being “the weakest part of the show”.

• Those “diversity hire” and “Gulf of Steve Martin” jokes came off odd to me but the rest of Steve's stand up.

• I especially liked the sudden Letterman cutaway and the “writers’ tribute”

• I heard Steve (and possibly Mulaney & Marty?) were workshopping material for this monologue at the Comedy Cellar a few days ago (and you can kinda tell since quite a bit of it seems personal and not about SNL in particular).

• Yeah, I think maybe more than just two hosts may have committed murder, John (but that's a discussion for another time).

• Marty's cameo was fine. He gave it just the right energy that the “ICE! Get him!” gag came off just right and didn't feel too inappropriate.

• I mean, full disclosure, I may mot have laughed as much at the Martin Short/ICE gag because something like that actually happened to my sister at her job…but I'm also dealing with recent unemployment and a much more recent death in the family right now. I'm not gonna let either of those things affect my enjoyment of this special. I'm using it to distract myself from those things anyway. Moving on…

Lawrence Welk

• Wow, is it just me or is Armisen really showing his age more than ever in his Lawrence Welk role?

• Well, I've always been pretty ambivalent towards Dooneese…but I have always liked Ferrells’ Goulet. I also liked Kenans’ contortionist and the idea of Gasteyer and Johansson as backup Singers.

• Most of all, I…can put up with them shoving Kim Kardashian into the background of this sketch where she can't steal too much focus until Wiig does a drum solo on her skirt covered ass which…guys, c'mon.

• I did like the surprise gag of Dooneeses’ sudden third hand making an appearance.

• It makes sense that they would work this into a new 21st century anniversary special that airs in prime time (especially the first third) but I probably would've liked this a bit better if it didn't so closely resemble the second iteration of Lawrence Welk/Dooneese they actually did during Ferrells’ second hosting stints (and the one with Jon Hamm they did during Wiigs final episode really).

• They also did this as the cold open to the Betty White/Jay-Z episode from May 2010. I mention that as a positive because with this in a prominent spot at the top of the rundown and all the former cast cameos, this really does feel like a much bigger version of the “event” that episode was…which is good.

Black Jeopardy 

• Ok, now HERE'S something I could always get on board with! I liked them including Tracy as “Darius” and Eddie as Tracy.

• Eddie's impression of Tracy was fun. The voice he used was a bit high but he's got Tracy's delivery down perfect. If anything, Eddie just sounds like a much younger version of Tracy (or he may have been channeling Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock/TGS more than Tracy Morgan of SNL fame).

• I really liked them using Black Jeopardy as a way to address the shows’ troubles with diversity that apparently lead into it's troubles attracting (let alone keeping) a black audience at times.

• I did like the “wrong” guesses of In Living Color, Showtime At The Apollo and Soul Train (as telegraphed as they seemed).

• I do appreciate how they tried to work in Chris Rock and Tom Hanks’ character “Doug” to make it seem reminiscent of the Jeopardy sketch from the LAST big anniversary special (as sloppily executed as those seemed but, hey they never have enough time to rehearse the live sketches in these so I can forgive that) but was the audience just…AFRAID to laugh at the “handshake” gag they rehashed from the original Black Jeopardy…that had Tom Hanks in it?

• Even if it came out feeling like the second Black Jeopardy sketch in history that Eddie Murphy participated in that was slightly…botched. This was the first genuine highlight of the special for me.

Stone & Shannon

• Ok, I guess this was one of three definite “crowd pleasing” moments they just HAD to do but I appreciate the meta acknowledgement of this being too “on the nose”.

• I guess a similar meta acknowledgement of how Sally O'Malley should chronologically be 75 now would've been too much to ask or just ruined the whole bit. I don't want to nit pick. It's supposed to be a fun night.

Physical Humor Montage

• Ok, if we do absolutely HAVE to have some clip packages in this I do appreciate what a unique and clever theme this feels like.

• I do like how they expanded on this theme so it could include everything from Chevy, Farley and Mollys’ falls and general body slams to genuine heartfelt dancing to modern pretaped blood and gore (even sneaking Aykroyd's Julia Child in there).

Kelsey and Matts’ Vow Renewal

• Oh God, here it comes. Let's just get the most inevitable moment out of the way. 

• I do like Shannon and Short flubbing their way through this intro.

• I heard a rumor that Steve Carell was originally supposed to be in this but had to drop out at the last minute. Is there any truth to this? Is that why Marty's in this?

• Hey, there's Sabrina of course. I think maybe they wanted to make sure they put her only two segments on as early as they could since they figured she might have young fans who need to get to bed early in case they're school ISN'T closed for Presidents’ Day. (I know she's not exactly a teeny bopper or anything but I do know she got her start on the Disney Channel, so a lot of youngins must've followed her from there).

• Ok, back to this sketch. Don't put it off any longer.

• I guess they're spoofing a song from Wicked I don't quite recogni…oh, it's “Defying Gravity”. Cute.

• Yeah, this by far my least favorite “You Belong With Me” parody ever. (I mean, it's T. Swift so I don't think we really need to ask ourselves “why now in 2025?” here). I think you can all easily guess what my actual favorite “You Belong With Me” parody is but just in case…

• Yeah, Sabrina. What the hell IS this song? I mean, really.

• The inclusion of Bennet, Mooney, Samberg & Yang might have been my favorite part of this. Sadly, it crumbled after this with the introduction of Pedro Pascal as Domingos’ bro “Renaldo” (who may or may be Bi, apparently) and Bad Bunny as “hot brother, Santiago.”

• Couldn't they have just said Matt cheated on Kelsey with Sabrinas’ character and left it at that?

• This last third of this seemed like a jumbled mess with all the additional “lore” to the Domingo saga they tried to tack on but at least it somehow didn't feel like it ran on too long or anything.

Deep Thoughts

• Oh hey! I really dig this quick little palette cleansing throwback to the era that introduced me to the show!

Poehler & Fey's Q&A

• Overall, I liked this much more than the Seinfeld hosted Q&A from tye 40th (much more clear, concise and coherent, free of any moments that will age horrendously years from now) and it managed to beat the high bar set by the Hanks hosted Q&A from the 25th.

• Mostly I liked this for how they tried to pack some sheer strangeness into this (especially with Paytons’ odd commercial rant which was the perfect note to end this on).

• Hey, Conans’ in the audience! 

• Tina & Amys’ “beauty secrets” were very funny and I liked the back & forth between Quinta & Tim (although I am enough of an SNL nerd myself to point out that Sade was actually on in November 21, 1992 and December 14, 1985 but NOT March of 1993)

• I'm…not really sure Blake & Ryan should legally even be there (I mean, I'm sure they need a break from everything) but I did like how they didn't even address the lawsuit drama (maybe outside the “what have you heard?” part)

• I liked Nate Bargatze teeing up a random tribute to a specific wardrobe crew member named Donna.

• The Lovitz bit was funny and I liked the back and forth between JLD, Driver and her dog. Good to see JLD finally make an appearance at one of these anniversary shows!

• Gee, I sure hope Cher has the answer to MY question: why the hell is Kevin Costner here?

• I especially like the Keith Richards/Zach Galifianakis bit but now I have another question: how come Mick Jagger has never been at one of these anniversary shows?

• I could've done without the Hamm/Bad Bunny bit (and Momoas’ bit if I'm being honest).

• I liked the Seth/Sharpton/Romano bit for the self awareness (they pretty much said what I was thinking)

• I also liked Fred Armisens’ bit referencing an obscure cut sketch from his era. Only a true SNL nerd would appreciate the humor in Fred Armisen calling a 2005 episode “pretty bad…front to back”.

• I appreciate how they didn't make the Kevin Spacey/Kanye jokes feel too gratuitous either.

Digital Short: Anxiety

• While there may have been a small part of me that may have preferred a Please Don't Destroy or TV Funhouse over this, I will always have a certain fondness for The Lonely Island and their digital shorts so this was a welcome sight.

• I thought the Duran Duran/Flock Of Seagulls-esque heavy 80s synth pop beat dovetailed well with the theme of this (although I feel like they could've backed off the IBS stuff a little bit) and I appreciated the Molly & Ana cameo. Bowen and Andy work very well together (even if this mostly seems to be Bowen gently airing out some personal issues with the show itself). 

• Somehow, I doubt that Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal were among the cast members who suffered the most anxiety while on the show.

• Of all the vintage anxiety A.I. deep fakes in this, the melting Mr. Bill was my personal favorite.

• I also appreciate how well they worked in Sarah, Parnell, JAJ, Kenan, Taran, Beck and Forte along with various crew members.

• Speaking of Forte, did the first two verses of this remind anyone else of his “Women's Herstory (Did You See What I Did There?)” Weekend Update song from March 2010? Come to think of it, this whole song sounded like they just mixed that with "Space Olympics" and an inverted version of “Here I Go (feat. Charli XCX) but I don't really have a problem with that.

Nothing Compares 2 U

• This might have been a stronger performance than their number at the homecoming concert on Friday night.

• This song fits Miley Cyrus’ and Brittany Howard's vocal and musical styles so well it almost makes you forget how “out of left field” the choice of song feels.

Weekend Update w/Jost, Che & Meyers

• Ok, well…I guess they didn't have too many other choices if they DIDN'T want to just repeat what they did at SNL40 but Jost & Che had decent jokes and seemed to know what wouldn't be appropriate for this event.

• I especially liked Che's “Norm/O.J” joke and Josts’ “Chevy/Kenan” and “Quademic” jokes.

• Mostly, I liked how this was more focused on showcasing the best (well, most of the best) characters from 2010s era Weekend Update and their original performers rather than having the big name celebrity guests reenact their favorite characters from the 20th century. I liked seeing Drunk Uncle, (I especially cracked up at the line “cam you yassify my chickpea pasta?”) Cecilys’ now pregnant party girl and especially Fred and Vanessas’ “Lornes’ Friends From Growing Up”. 

• Wait, didn't Colin himself write most of these? What a coincidence (if true).

• I loved seeing Bill Murray subtly tease Colin Jost with his own Top Ten Update anchor ratings (even though it seems like he or someone mixed up his old Oscar picks with the old top ten bit from Wayne's World for some reason?)

• I especially liked Murray's “ignorant slut” callback as well as his “girl on girl” and “could OJ have really done it?” lines.

• Boy, I guess ol’ Billy here decided to treat anyone who hosted Update during the non-Lorne years who wasn't a blood relative of his like the best supporting actors and actresses at the Oscar's, huh? (Sorry Charlie, Gail, Mary, Christine, Brad, Christopher, Joe, Tim, “Fernando” and most of the hosts from late season 9 and early season 10).

50th Close Encounter (*someone whispers in Casey's ear*) oh, what's that? They actually did fewer than 50 of these? Hmm, that sounds about right

• I figured they might be doing another one of these. Well, it's definitely a decent way of working Kate and Aidy into this special

• Hamm, Pascal and (especially) Harrelson are nice additions to this.

• This is another series of sketches I've always been pretty “eh” on. They never quite hit right for me because of all the manufactured breaking but I don't hate it.

• These do hit all the same beats comedically and the addition of Ana Gasteyer? Nope? Nora Dunn? Hmm, not quite? Meryl Streep? Yes! Wow! Meryl Streep as Colleens’ mother is putting this above all the others already.

The Stagehand

• Wow, I never thought a “Chad” Short could make me this emotional. This was a great way to work in Laraine as herself into the show. I also liked how this was different from other Chad pretapes in that it wasn't centered on Laraine either falling for him or hitting on him in some way.

• While we're on the subject of the surviving original female cast,I do wish they could've somehow worked Jane Curtin into the actual show though, but hey…I understand that Jane may have only wanted to be in the audience given what she's said publicly about her experience on the show and the fact that she seemingly only likes to appear on camera in every OTHER anniversary show since she wasn't featured in the 25th (and if not…well, I also understand why some cuts definitely had to be made)

50 Years (Sandlers’ Song)

• Jack Nicholson makes his obligatory “huh, why hasn't this guy ever hosted?” appearance.

• Speaking of goofball cast members that the youngins’ like bringing unexpected emotion out of me, I loved how Sandlers’ song here had the exact right mix of nostalgia, reverence, accessible inside jokes about the show and sheer silliness.

• I especially liked the digs at Speilberg, NY mag critics, anti semitic musical guests, nepo interns, Downey and Jost. I wonder how much of this is from Sandlers’ own personal experience with the show anyway?

• Who the hell is this “Speedy” guy anyway? I'm genuinely curious.

• This also seemed to serve the same function that the actual “In Memoriam” reel that Bill Murray introduced in the 40th Anniversary since referenced much loved cast AND crew members who are no longer with us. I guess this provides some balance for those who may think this special was too focused on modern recurring sketches and lacked real sentiment or proper tributes to the shows’ history and to those we lost.

• Funny that he should mention Forte and show a clip from the “Spelling Bee” sketch as I'm wearing my “Business” t-shirt with the image from that sketch on it as I type this.

History of New York (Hotdogs & Heroin)

• This was another heavily recurring sketch I was expecting them to bring back for tonight and honestly I wasn't totally against this.

• Even though we literally got another big Mulaney musical four and a half months ago the last time John hosted a regular episode, this felt appropriate for a big 50th anniversary celebrity gala special that they'd go all out for. 

• Also, it still feels even more appropriate to give Mulaney a spotlight to acknowledge his contributions to the shows’ comedic sensibilities (and just modern comedy tastes in general stand up or otherwise) given how big of a name he's become in the world of comedy in general.

• Maya Rudolph, Adam Driver, Paul Schaffer and G.E. Smith did a stellar job with the first number.

• Nathan Lane was a pleasant surprise but “Cocaine And Some Vodka” to the tune of “Hakuna Matata” didn't quite work for me (thankfully that was really the only one)

• The Forte/Sudeikis/Wiig Les Miserables Times Square number was fun if not incomprehensible. Jenna Ortega and Kevin Costner really made it for me.

• Perhaps what I liked most about this one was how it made full use of the studio space and sprawled around from set to set, into the audience and back to home base.

• This was honestly a really fun way to dig Kates’ Rudy Giuliani out of mothballs. Lin Manuel Miranda was a fun addition to this and they really slammed ol’ Rudy here.

• I'm already sick of seeing Sarah play male political roles after seeing Kate & Aidy do that exact thing so much for nearly four years, but I did like Mulaney calling her out on the weakness of her Bloomberg impression. I always liked Armisen's portrayal better anyway.

• Oh, so THAT’S what they put out that casting call for a 7 foot tall guy for. A non-impression of Bill Deblasio. Ok. It was also nice to see Devon Walker as Eric Adams again.

• The Scarjo/Rudd/JAJ “Suddenly eBikes” number was fun too. I got a small kick out of Spade sitting out the finale. Nice enough way to work him in there. 

• I liked the small callbacks to Diner Lobster previous Mulaney Musicals in the “One Day More” finale. Nick Jonas? OK.

• Most of all I liked how they snuck in Taran, Ana and most of the male cast members from that mid-to-late 2010s era when these were more or less a regular fixture on SNL as Mulaney kept hosting (Alex, Beck, Kyle, Cecily, Mikey et al).

Baldwins’ Best Commercials 

• Ok, maybe literally any other person in this building could've read Alecs’ lines here (I did like that “Alex” joke) but he is part of the shows’ history for a reason and he did just fine with his material here (although “Third Year Veneers” landed better for me than “After Update” sleeping pills did).

• I did like his inclusion of Sarah here and I liked how this commercial montage was a mix of old crowd pleasers and quick deep cuts.

• This may seem like an obvious choice for a clip package, but I liked how they did something different here considering that at the 40th, some of these commercials were just folded in to the general pretape/short film package we saw. I always thought it made a bit more sense to give the fake commercials their own segment anyway.

50th Bronx Beat (*someone else whispers in Casey's ear*) What? Oh, don't tell me…

• This is another “take it or leave it” sketch for me. I appreciated the Conan “shoutout” and I'm glad they did more than just playfully flirt with Miles’ Teller (why him of all people, though?)

• Looks like the fixed the mic/audio issues for the YouTube edit

• Speaking of “take it or leave it” estrogen heavy talk show sketches, I genuinely appreciated seeing Mike Meyers as Linda Richman again. 

• While I wasn't always the biggest Coffee Talk fan, I am always intrigued to see characters from long gone eras of SNL interacting with one's from this century.

• Honestly, it's nice to see Mike Meyers dig another old Chara out of mothballs that WASN'T Wayne Campbell or Dr. Evil.

• Most of all, it's gratifying to see the show acknowledge the similarities between these two sketches and make me feel like I wasn't the only person who wanted to walk up to Maya & Amy in the middle of one of these and say (with love of course) “Hey ladies, Mike Meyers just called. He wants Coffee Talk back”.

• I did like Mayas’ “stem cells/snail sperm” line and Amys’ line about “only drinking six days a week”

• Yes, it's both the 50th anniversary of SNL and the 34th (?) anniversary of Mike Meyers repeating these same jokes in every Coffee Talk sketch he's ever done.

• (*Casey sees a third person approaching him and tries to cut them off*) Ok yeah, I know this isn't literally the 50th Coffee Talk either. I wasn’t even gonna make that joke again. Thank you. Moving On…

Lil Wayne & The Roots

• Well, at least this was the only time we saw Dave Chappelle on this special considering he just hosted the second to last regular episode that aired before this special (and a lot of people certainly weren't happy about it then).

• Yeah, possibly the weakest musical performance of the actual special (the concert on Friday night was AMAZING but who cares?) but hey, I'm a sucker for that song “Lolipop” (heh, see what I did there?)

• Speaking of the Homecoming concert, anyone else legitimately get chills during that Lonely Island medley? (particularly the “Dear Sister” shoutout?) Anyone else hoping they'll eventually put up the ENTIRE Culps medley on Peacocks’ YouTube channel? I mean, that was my second favorite moment of that whole show and I'd like to watch it as a standalone clip in more than just bits and pieces online.

In Memoriam (for sketches & characters that did NOT age well)

• I do love the misdirect here but even more than that I love that they just leaned straight into the fact that as a show that has been around 50 years they will have a LOT of material that will not hold up now so, yeah…they might as well put it all out there since they know people are gonna complain about all of these (or have already done so at some point…or made some idiotic comment along the lines of either “lol this was the actual funniest part of the show” or “lol remember when SNL was actually funneeeeyyy?” or that this is somehow disrespectful to do this in place of an actual SNL40 style In Memoriam reel. Grow up.)

• So yeah, while I did like this initially, it does lose a bit of it's luster the more I chew on it and see other useless online reaction to it.

• Is it just me or did they PURPOSELY leave out that clip of Jimmy Fallon as Chris Rock out if the pixelated "questionable makeup" montage? (And yes i've watched it closely enough a few times to notice it wasn't actually in there). However, I do see that they included Horatio Sanz as Aaron Neville in there, so…I feel a bit vindicated there from when I mentioned it on the premiere episode of my podcast. (See that, Deej?)

• Their definition of “body shaming” is a bit more questionable than the clips they labeled as such.

• Speaking of “questionable definitions” did they conveniently forget their own retconning of Canteen Boys' age by the time they reran that Baldwin episode when they labeled it as “child molestation”? Ah, who cares? I'm not gonna defend the sketch since it's pretty tasteless either way (it could still be labeled as “gay panic” either way) 

• Plus, people can still at least use it as a cudgel against Baldwin himself (hell, the show itself even did that when they still prominently featured him more than the actual cast).

• Perhaps most shocking of all would be their decision to exclude Trump and Musk from their list of “questionable hosts”. I mean, why SHOULDN'T they be up there with Simpson, Blake, Diddy and Fogle? As Jost said during Update, they know this may be their LAST season anyway.

• One thing I'm surprised by is the treatment of the “Word Association” sketch. I remember just before SNL40 (y'know, the LAST big anniver…ah, you know what I'm talking about by now) they aired the sketch completely uncensored (with a content warning beforehand, but still) and treated it with the utmost reverence as if it were as groundbreaking as “All In The Family” was at the time. I'm not even going to argue with their decision now to air a censored/beeped version of the sketch. I'm just gonna say that I think it's quite baffling.

Debbie Downer 

• Ok, I'm glad Rachel Dratch is finally getting her flowers (and getting featured as much as her female cast mates, really) and I appreciate seeing Fallon actually keyed into a modern day SNL sketch performance. I even liked a lot of Dratchs’ jokes. Other than that, this came off pretty damn awkward.

• Did anyone else think that we were getting a five timers club/platinum lounge sketch at first until they realized that Drew Barrymore was the only actual five timer onscreen and that Jimmy Fallon and Ayo Edeberi have only hosted four times between them?

• Speaking of sketches that feature Fallon and Dratch together, is anyone else a little bit disappointed that we got this instead of an Update on what Sully & Denise have been up to these past eight years? I realize it might be a bit of a stretch to fit them into the theme of this special but we kinda already got a cameo from Debbie in the 40th…but not a full sketch like this, so…Yeah, all right. Now that I think about it this is actually fine.

• Robert Deniro was actually OK here. He didn't really help this feel less stilted or anything (Barrymores’ intense energy with him was…odd) but I liked his speech about wanting a break from the state of the world with this special (hell, as I've stated much earlier that is the exact same reason I was watching this). I also liked his sternness with Dratch and his gently strangling her.

• The “I can't have children/I told you that, Jimmy” line was cute and not too over the top but, eh.

Scared Straight

• Here's another late 2000s/early 2010s sketch that I may have semi soured on due to it's repetition, forced breaking and over reliance on “scatalogical” humor but looking back I remember liking these a lot in spite of all of those things. I guess I've been too mentally conditioned by the “samey-ness” of seasons 34-37.

• I do like how they used Marcello and Longfellow as the “young punks” in this but Mikey Day seems a little old for his part. Maybe Emil or Dismukes could've been used here instead?

• I did like how they referenced Harry Potter as the first movie…because, what the hell? This feels like as right a time as any to urinate all over J.K. Rowlings’ legacy…y'know, given what she's like now.

• Most of all, I liked how they worked Eddie Murphy (couldn't he have played Tyrone “C-I-L-L My Land Lawd” Green?) and Will Ferrell (someone must've been watching himself some Reno 911 recently) into this. 

• Even though the “scatology” can get a little gratuitous in these at times, I appreciated the added meta twists of Murphy and Ferrells characters referencing real life movies they starred in.

• I also liked the added twist of Ferrell's character initially putting a positive twist on things trying to show the kids the upside of prison life before getting aggressive. I especially like him rushing through the first half of his own “Elf” reference and getting straight to the point on that one.

• Everyone's timing and delivery seemed a teeny bit off due to breaking and probable lack of rehearsal time but, hey…that honestly just made it more fun.

• Did I just hear Eddie try to slip through an MF bomb on air? Boy, I was sure THAT would've gotten people talking…but somehow it didn't.

Garrett Morris Presents “Don't Look Back In Anger”

• Nice to see Garrett again introducing one of the more poignant Schillers’ Reel films of the original era. 

• It functions well as a Gilda/Belushi tribute (in that it reminds me of the type of tributes they gave just to those two specifically in the 15th and 25th anniversary specials)

Paul McCartney Medley 

• Even though Sir Pauls’ voice…ain't what it used to be, he's still got it and this was a very strong performance nonetheless.

• I guess I was wrong about which singer/songwriter named Paul should've closed this special (especially since Macca is literally performing a song with the words “and in THE END” in it). Nice additional Farley nod, by the way.

Goodnights

• I got a big kick out of seeing Gary Kroger (right next to Lorne) Terry Sweeney, Ellen Cleghorn, Finesse Mitchell and (eventually) Chevy Chase featured so prominently right up front on stage.

• I also thought Laraine holding up a photo of Gilda was very sweet.

Now, I've determined that there was enough new live content in this special for it to qualify as two actual episodes of this season and thus it should be ranked with the rest of season as such, so…

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. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
9. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
10. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
11. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
12. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)
13. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

Ranking All Of The Previous SNL Anniversary Specials From Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Show (02.16.2025)
2. SNL 40th Anniversary Special (02.15.2015)
3. 25th Anniversary Special (09.26.1999)
4. 15th Anniversary Special (09.24.1989)

Ranking All Of This Seasons Official SNL50 Branded Retrospective Material From Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Homecoming Concert (02.14.2025)
2. Ladies And Gentlemen…50 Years Of SNL Music (01.27.2025)
3. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
4. SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night - Season 11: The Weird Year (01.16.2025)
5. SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night - Five Minutes (01.16.2025)
6. SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night - Written By: A Week Inside The SNL Writers’ Room (01.16.2025)
7. SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night - More Cowbell (01.16.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Even though it got off to a slightly rocky start and had a strangely rushed and jumbled together feel from the get go, I absolutely loved this special. It was the very best I could've hoped it would be for the culmination of SNLs’ big 50th anniversary special airing in the year 2025.

• I mean, hey…when you're covering five whole decades of television history you kinda HAVE to rush through or gloss over some things from the distant past, so…why NOT just focus as much attention and effort as possible on legitimizing sketches and performers from the last 20 years to honor the last 50? I'm sure others my age and younger appreciate that because in a way, our eyeballs and YouTube clicks and what not seemed to be the main thing pushing it past 31.

• I especially liked how it was “sketch heavy” enough that it genuinely felt like two regular episodes of SNL smashed together rather than just a collection of famous celebrities just introducing a series of clip packages in tuxes and evening gowns.

• I also liked how it captured the exact same vibe that the homecoming concert did (in that it properly honored the shows’ history without feeling too self indulgent or up it's own…y'know)

• It's also fitting and appropriate that the 50th anniversary honor what SNL gradually became after the 40th (or mostly just from years 41-47) where most of the current cast are basically treated as glorified extras who are only there to support the big, flashy celebrity cameos and two to three “standouts” of the current cast that Lorne Michaels THINKS all of America is waiting with baited breath to see on our screens! I say this with love of course since they have briefly backed off of this for a bit one or two seasons ago where the cameos were mostly fun and unexpected and not JUST there to fill big political roles but most of season 50 (including tonight) felt like we were headed back in that direction anyway.

• I'm especially glad they granted me the only wish I had for this special; that it would be much less focused on showcasing old clips and more on creating new live moments that were unique to a special anniversary show. (huh, maybe the SNL social media team DOES pay some attention to the SNN Patron Feedback shows after all)

• Speaking of…

Special Thanks

• I'd like to congratulate our dear friends Jon Schneider and James Stevens of the Saturday Night Network on securing their gig doing red carpet interviews for this event! Good job, guys! It's truly rewarding to all of us who follow you to see all the hard work you guys are doing paying off!

• I'd also like to thank Jon specifically for creating SNN and not only giving me a space to start getting into podcasting myself but also for connecting me with someone who also wanted to start their own SNL related podcast and put out an open call live on air for a new co host.

• Of course, I'd also like to thank Deej Barens for creating the We Heart Hader Podcast, inviting me into her podcasting space and allowing me to be her cohost. It feels incredibly gratifying to be able to help create and launch something that I consider to be a spin off to the SNN Patron Feedback Shows (at least in spirit).

Closing Thoughts

• Well, for the most part, that lived up to all the hype for me. 

• You may have also noticed that I eschewed my usual letter grades for each segment and avoided using any harsh profanity. I also went a bit lighter than usual on plugging my podcast. I chose to do those things out of reverence and respect for the occasion and the shows’ massive history.

• My next blog post is going to be a ranking of all of Bill Hader’s Vincent Price sketches from best to worst. That should be out next Thursday to coincide with the release of the next episode of the “We Heart Hader” podcast.

• After that, I am most likely just going to write up full length reviews of whatever the next planned episode of SNL is that will be airing March 1st so, I hope to have that ready to be published by the evening of March 2nd (as is my standard procedure!)

• Have a good lower half of February and stay warm and safe out there, everyone.