Olivia Rodrigo (05.02.2026)

White House Press Conference

• Ok, I liked that "A-Span of your life disappears when you watch C-Span" joke at the beginning.

• I liked the idea of Ashley's Karoline Leavitt trying to hold a press conference while massive ballroom construction makes it nearly impossible. Too bad they abandoned that idea in favor of another Jost/Hegseth cold open.

• While I do wish we'd get a break from this impression (or at least that they'd have reframed this as a sketch about Hegseths' actual hearings before congress just for a change of pace) I actually thought this was decent. I did like the joke about Hegseth having a tattoo of "Jesus choking out Jimmy Kimmel".

• Ok, I have some...pretty mixed feelings about Aziz Ansari playing Kash Patel. 

• On the one hand, he is an actual Indian comedian playing an actual Indian government figure and Aziz is one of very few Indian performers I could see pulling off this similarly "bro-y' characterization of Kash Patel. 

• On the other hand, everything else I know about Aziz Ansaris' career since 2018...is still a little off putting to me as someone who used to be a huge fan of his as a comedian.

• I mean, Kal Penn probably would've been my first choice for an obligatory stunt cameo here, but this...hell, I'll take it. I'll admit Aziz really sold the hell out of this. C+

Monologue 

• Hmm...this monologue is taking me in a couple of different directions I wasn't expecting.

• The best joke of her was the one she opened with about Mikey, Chloe, Kenan and Sarah being the cast members she got into in her "teenage years" who all came back (which isn't saying much).

• I wasn't expecting the type of monologue where the host goes over their early acting career from a double duty pop star host...but then again, most of this young, Disney-adjacent double duty hosts DO start out as child actors before becoming singers and musicians full time so I guess we were bound to get one of these some day. I wasn't crazy about the grainy ass 480p looking close up they showed or how sloppily they Clutch Cargo'd it, though. 

• I did like how she tried to make a few jabs (no pun intended) at Jake Paul (who...was apparently an old costar of hers?) but my first reaction was "she should've went way harder on that guy". My second thought after that was "Oh, wait...am I confusing Jake Paul with...yeah, I AM confusing Jake Paul with his brother Logan Paul. Nevermind."

• It was nice of them to give us a bit of music just when we were expecting something more from this monologue. On paper, the idea of Olivia singing a parody of her own hit "drivers' license" but about getting a Real ID (in fact, I have a feeling this was pitched to her and she just went with it) but she actually elevated that as much as she could have and made it work. It felt a little bit fresher seeing this as part of her monologue rather than as its own separate pretape. B-

Edge Of Destiny

• Ok guys, you definitely don't need to frame a Pluto TV sketch with an ID bumper. That's not a thing any Pluto TV "channel" does.

• Huh...I wouldn't expect a parody of a Dynasty/Dallas/Knotts Landing type 80s prime time soap in an Olivia Rodrigo hosted episode (not just because those shows are obviously before her time which wouldn't stop her from discovering them) but I guess that wouldn't matter if their main pitch to her for this would be "you're just gonna push everyone else down the stairs"

• Still, I have to admire this sketch just for trying something new for SNL purely from a visual/directing angle as well as a stunt/physical comedy angle. I liked how they transitioned out of this sketch SNLUK/TV verite style at first. I was kinda bummed that they just cut to the next pretape after that instead of a whole new live segment but I guess I've just been a bit spoiled by SNL UK as of late. B+

Midnight Matinee: My Room

• At this point, I'm a little wary of the idea of SNL continuing with these Dan Bulla Midnight Matinee shorts in general since I think whether good or bad they always feel too long and have serious pacing problems.

• I was actually pleasantly surprised by this one. I liked the idea of Olivia being an exhibit in a human zoo for alien insects. Even though I'm pretty sure this was the exact plot of an old Twilight Zone episode, at least this borrowed more from that than it did Ariana Grandes' "Smell Of My Best Friends House".

• There were various little details I loved about this including the use of more cheap CGI visuals than stop motion ones, the alien insects applauding Olivia for simply using a human bathroom, the subtle Harambe reference that they actually pulled off better than SNL UK did, the insane Mikey/Sarah remake of "A League Of Their Own", the addition of JAJ as a rejected potential mate who is then marched into a giant human garbage disposal, and of course, the detail of her falling in love with her own insect protestor. 

• Of all the sketches that made use of Olivias' singing, this might have been my favorite (with the "real ID" portion of the monologue coming in a close second. B+

Shop TV

• Ah, fuck. You know, I actually had the thought earlier today "if they actually do another fucking Shop TV with this girl, I'm gonna shit" because there were a couple of these I really didn't care for.

• Of course, I thought of this because they did one with Sabrina at the beginning of this season...and she and Olivia both "contemporaries", let's say.

• This was another one I was...well, I don't want to go as far as saying I was "pleasantly surprised by" but rather when I gave it a chance, I ended up appreciating it for how far they were willing to commit to and go with it.

• The high point of this for me may have been Mikey being handed a roll of toilet paper to wipe the peanut butter off his finger that came out when he pulled it out of the "fudge hole".

• As for the non-outrageous parts of this sketch, I did like JAJs one line and Ashleys bit at the beginning openly celebrating her daughter's emancipation not being granted. Also, Olivia did nail the "gleefully oblivious dim southern bell" vibes and her quotes from grandma each including some out of nowhere jab at ugly girls was pretty funny. C+

Birthday Party (With My Ex)

• Well, this already seems to be the sketch that plays the most into Olivias' whole "image" tonight so far.

• There doesn't seem to be much to this writing or premise wise, but leave it to SNLs' current "it girl" Ashley Padilla to save the day by heightening the hidden nuggets of absurdity to this.

• Kenan didn't add much to this, unfortunately but this sketch does show Ashley has the ability to bring out the best in her fellow performers. Ben, Tommy and Olivia played well off of her. B+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Trump Passport, AI Jan 6th Speech, Michael Biopic, Slingshot To Laguardia, Hemorrhoid Scrolling

• Che's Best Jokes: WHCD Shooter Took Selfie, Voting Rights Act, Trump Likes Space, AOC/Gay President, Coors 0.0

• I have very little to say about this Veronika/Chloe two hander word salad. What I will say is that it took me a full minute to recognize that that WAS Veronika on the left and not just...the real person that Chloe was impersonating sitting next to her. Once I recognized that was Veronika, I was like "Damn, Veronika...you really are in your 'glow up era'"

• Other than that, I'm just glad they were able to keep the naked pop culture/extremely online pandering to GenZ to just one Update segment tonight rather than just jumping right out the gate with it...like they did when Sabrina hosted. With another double duty pop star host, it shows incredible restraint on the shows' part to condense all the buzzword slop they wanted to try to impress Olivia's fans with to one segment in the middle of the show.

• Yeah, it was smart of SNL to recognize that Kam was the only person on their payroll right now who COULD talk about the Megan Thee Stallion/Klay Thompson breakup. He really speaks for all men of every race right now.

• Seriously though, Kams' thing was definitely my biggest laugh of the night (especially his flub of the word "desperation" and the cut to cue card Wally showing that he actually did have Moulin Rouge spelled out phonetically). B-

Busted

• Really? A Trapped In The Closet parody? 20 Years too late?

• Oh, it's actually an Isley Brothers parody? I see.

• Well, at least this did get funnier the more convoluted the extra characters made this.

• It's a bit surprising that this was Janes' first appearance all episode but at least she and JAJ genuinely made this better.

• I did like how they knew exactly when to stop this (after Kenans' character walked in, basically) so they just tied up all the loose ends in a neat little bow. C+

White Rasta Guy

• This felt like a couple of different sketch ideas slammed together...but in a fun way.

• I would've been fine if the whole sketch were Olivia and Veronikas' characters recounting how trashed Olivias' character got but it's nice to be reminded of why Andrew Dismukes is funny when he suddenly barks out a Jamacian dance hall rap in a highly questionable patois.

• I would expect nothing less from the same cast member who gave us that 1950s "Hey Soul Sister" sketch from last seasons Michael Keaton episode that just got reran in prime time recently. B-

SafeGuard Security System

• Ok, maybe this was an overwrought concept but at least it gelled well with this host and at least they had the decency to bury it in the bottom of the show if they were going to get on their "hawk tuah/subway takes/chicken shop date" shit years too late for an audience that may not even watch this online late let alone stay up until 1:00 AM to watch it live.

• Di...did they get the actual Cory Booker to make a cameo in this? If so, why? If not, that better not have been some fucked up A.I. bullshit they pulled for this.

• I did like Ashleys' testimonial and I especially liked how they managed to work Jeremy and Kam into a portion of this sketch where Kam just plays himself the way Leslie Jones used to. C+

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. Olivia Rodrigo (05.02.2026)
6. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
7. Jack Black/Jack White (04.04.2026)
8. Ryan Gosling/Gorillaz (03.07.2026)
9. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
10. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
11. Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
12. Colman Domingo/Anitta (04.11.2026)
13. Harry Styles (03.14.2026)
14. Connor Storrie/Mumford & Sons (02.28.2026)
15. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
16. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
17. Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
18. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Believe it or not, I was pleasantly surprised by this episode. Olivia was a fine host that the show knew how to use without using her to pandering to a GenZ audience with their idea of what appeals to them (outside of one particular sketch or two which they didn't exactly lead off with so they defied some of my expectations for the better there.

• I guess I was a bit higher on this episode than most because I felt I had to go into it with tempered expectations since really the last three or four double duty pop star hosted episodes were big time, dumbed down panderfests, so in a way I was expecting them to fumble this one. 

• Plus, the fact that it came after that Colman Domingo episode (which they somehow fumbled even worse) and on the same night as a rather strange episode of SNL UK I couldn't find myself getting into really helped my perception of this one. Why it just barely made my top five I can only explain by pointing out that all of the episodes the came after this one I found to be way more uneven.

• As far as cast usage goes, Veronika, Kam & Dismukes made some gains this week. I liked how well they were used as well as how they used Ashley, JAJ and (to some degree) Mikey. Tommy seems to have been put on the back burner along with Jeremy (which I'm kinda bummed about for him). Speaking of, this sadly wasn't as heavy a Jane Wickline episode as some were hoping but fortunately, the same could be said for Marcello here as well. 

• We got to see a bit more of Kenan, but he's still underused to the point where there's a strong possibility we may not see him in the fall. Chloe was featured a fair amount and everyone else was just...there.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, that was...decent. Next week, Matt Damon hosts for a third time. Sure, he might be a boring pick, but...there's never been anything wrong with him as a host. He's always seemed like an enthusiastic and game comedic performer. 

• He's established himself as a friend/fan of the show but he's just had the slight misfortune of always ending up hosting during rough periods in the show's run. He's hosted during some pretty mediocre seasons but none of those episodes have ever been a real bottoming out point in any of them, so...I'll pretty much be going into that one with the same expectations as I did this one.

• Anyway, you can probably expect to read my review of that one a week from now. In the meantime, you'll probably be able to read my review of the latest SNL UK with Amiee Lou Wood and MEEK since this weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to time their releases simultaneously. This should give me more time to work on my review of the Elliot Page/Wilco episode from season 33 which Deej & I will be reviewing in an upcoming episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast. Thank God I got an extra week and a half to get that one finished because...it's a bit of a slog.

• See you again real soon!

Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)

Okay, here's my review. It was great to see SNL back on stable ground this week after taking so many broad swings and misses lsst week. This show definitely felt more grounded and only slightly uneven compared to last week. While both of these last two weeks had solid dependable hosts, this week had a host who knew his own strengths better and how to play into them. As expected, Adam Driver elevated everything he was in and thankfully knew when to not play it too big. No one felt more shut out than anyone else in terms of cast airtime (but maybe Michael Longfellow took a minor hit this week and Punkie took a major one). Airtine felt pretty evenly distributed among the cast. I would definitely say this is Adam Driver's second best SNL episode ever just behind his one from season 45. Wanna know why? Well, let's break it down, shall we?

C-SPAN Campus Antisemitism Testimomy - Wow...ok. This is...certainly an out of left field choice for a political cold open. It definitely took me a few rewatches to fully parse what was going on with this one. Full disclosure: my only real exposure to this actual news story were headlines I saw earlier that day about the real life UPenn lady having to resign due to how badly this hearing went for her and even I feel they may have painted with broad brushstrokes here. Nice to see Chloe Troast and Molly Kearney in such prominent roles right up top. Molly teeing up Ego to deliver that "Dr. Gay/fire island" joke doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence thst they'll handle this subject matter as delicately as they should, but somehow Heidi's whole performance is putting me at ease. Troast is certainly making some strong choices with her accent, but I can't say they're NOT working for me. (Did whoever say Cecily was going to make a cameo in this cold open simply confuse these two women again?) Kudos to her for getting to take the lead on another group LFNY (again, I thought we were past these?) Kenans' whole character seems like he was pulled straight out of an unused cold open from 2011 but at least he got to deliver the only genuine laugh lines in this. Hope Twitter treads lightly with this one...aaaaaand I'm already starting to see that they didn’t. Still, I'd like to thank my friend Monette Moradi for actually raising the level of discourse surrouding this cold open (at least in the social media circle I'm the most immersed in) by pointing out ways this COULD have worked if they focused it up writing-wise instead of just taking the "both sides are dumb & crazy" route because, well...let's just say I know her perspective is going to be the one that matters the most here. C+

Monologue - I'm really relieved to see that this solo piano monologue matches the offbeat goofiness of his season 45 episode and is more reminiscent of that than any of his other previous episodes so far. Also, it's nice to see Adam Driver had this hidden talent for actually playing piano this whole time. Yep, you're gonna have a pretty damn hard time convincing me Zach Galifianakis DIDN'T come in this week to guest write this monologue (but I am willing to bet that if whoever helped write Harry Styles' and Timothee Chalamets' monologues in seasons 45 and 46 respectively is still on staff that they helped with this, too). The Kattan mention didn’t totally work for me, but hey, I'll take it. His "couples' pranks TikTok" and "gingerbread house" jokes got the biggest laughs out of me. Thank God this turned out to be more than just a mish mash of random one-liners. Does anyone else get big Tom Hanks vibes from this? B+

Adults Only Ski Trip - On paper, this seemed too idiotic to work but in execution, Adam Driver and Bowen Yang as two gay men who barely know how sex let alone conception or pregnancy works played out10 times better than it had any right to once it simply turned into a list of absurd details such as ham & cocaine, geriatric pregnancies, three out of seven holes, phones & Andy Milonakis (were Dan Licata and Stephen Castillo guest writers this week, too?). See, this is the more down to earth, grounded stupidity I'd like to see more of from Bowen rather than the listless, gimmicky vanity pieces he's been giving us lately that haven't landed. My only real complaint about this was that it was a bit too long, and maybe everything after Ego's entrance could've been cut. C+

Old Friends - This seemed to be going for the same thing that the Christmas Dinner pretape from Billie Eillishs' episode two years ago was going for. I honestly prefer this even though I thought everything after Devon "Big Filthy" Walkers' appearance should’ve been cut. The "big ones/big titties" bit in particular felt telegraphed as hell, and the facebook ad tag at the end (while expertly cut and well timed) felt unnecessary. C-

Beep Beep - This may have been my favorite live sketch of the night. It had a very Key & Peele setup followed by typical modern SNL overexposition, but it was still such a Dismukes sketch, and he and Driver just owned it. The ending with Kenan worked perfectly for me, and it didn't overstay its welcome. A-

Shop TV Christmas - Hmm...I think Rosebud Baker (or just Michael Che, let's face it) simply just went for broke at 4am on Tuesday and just set out to write the single most derivative, most telegraphed, most pointlessly censor baiting, LEAST creative SNL sketch in the entire shows' history. That's the only way I can process this making air. Oh well, at least Adam gave me a couple of laughs in his obligatory "meek, milquetoast, playing against type" role of the night as did the brief phone calls. Also, did whoever say Cecily was gonna cameo tonight get confused here too and think they were doing "Right Side Of The Bed" again? Did this person also confuse Mikey with Taran? I could legit see that happening? D+

Update was quite an improvement from last week (which, I know, isn't saying much, but still...). The jokes overall were fine. None of them stood out that much (well, that RFK Jr/Epstein and "conservative women = flat asses ones" did) but both Jost & (especially) Che made up for how out of it they seemed last week. Marcellos' standup seemed a little unfocused for me in the middle there, but overall, that worked for me, too. His "barbershop/salon" and "delayed plane/breakup" bits made me laugh the most. Chloe Finemans' commentary was at least a nice format break for modern Update (as much as it reminded me of Jon Rudnitskys' Dirty Dancing commentary from season 41 and one of Melissa Villaseñors standup bits about how NSYNCs' dance moves are so violently herky-jerky and all in the shoulders they'd be better suited for a bar fight than a date) and it was at least a little different from what she usually gives us in her calculated vanity pieces. I had heard rumors of a "surprise cameo" during a potential second update commentary, and while I could definitely tell who it was gonna be once Chloe mentioned "Save The Last Dance." Still, I do have to say that Julia Stiles was one of the absolute last people I would expect to cameo on SNL in 2023, so...yep, you got me there, bud! Nice use of Devon, though. B-

Babys' First Flight - Okay, I guess Marc Weiner was a guest writer too this week? Or maybe whoever wrote those Adam Grossman Benihana sketches for Jonah Hill came back this week? Either way, this was something that only Adam Driver could’ve put over for me because it absolutely went nowhere on the page. Thankfully, Adam didn't go too over the top. Honestly, the only way thing that should've been cut was the "baby plane" ad tag at the end. C+

Septugenarian TikTok Prank Victims - This was definitely my favorite pretape of the night just for the sheer spontaneous silliness of it played against the sincere, pleading PSA tone. Kenan, Adam, JAJ and Marcello sold the hell out of this for me. Even Heidi turned in a strong performance here. B+

Tiny Ass Baggage - An Ego/Marcello pairing was something I didn't know I needed in my life until I saw it. Adams' purposely stiff lone readings were the icing on the cake for me. Olivia's cameo worked well for me too (although I can't help but think she's gonna get some shit on the TikToks and the YouFaceTwitters for using that accent that I'm sure Ego could get away with better). I already have seen that I may be alone on this but this was definitely my second favorite live sketch of the night. I probably would’ve liked this much less if it were in any other episode with any other host but this was already preceeded by such stronger material that I choose to associate it with in my memory. B+

Now, just for fun (and because I know you may not feel like scrolling all the way back up to my intro after having read all that), I'd like to updare my ranking of each of Driver's episodes from best to worst...

1. Adam Driver/Halsey (1.25.2020)

2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)

3. Adam Driver/Chris Stapleton (1.16.2016)

3. Adam Driver/Kanye West (9.29.2018)

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

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)

2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.9.2023)

3. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)

4. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.2.2023)

5. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)

6. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)

7. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)

Well, that was a breeze. Next week, Kate McKinnon returns to the show, a mere year and a half after leaving, to make her hosting debut. You know, much like Pete hosting this seasons premiere (after the first of this year's two Hollywood strikes prevented him from hosting in the homestretch of the previous season) I would probably be looking forward to this more if Kate had given us more time away from the show to miss her before she came back. With Kate hot off the heels of here mere supporting role as "Weird Barbie" in...well, "Barbie", it just feels either too soon or not at the right moment in her career to just...host. She should host to promote something she is the lead star in but I can see this booking as SNL wanting to provide a solid ending to a difficult calendar year for everyone. The Christmas shows (when done right) tend to be comfort food for the audience and a big Christmas party for the cast and crew so I get them wanting to book a familiar face as host who can be counted on to carry the show into the holidays if not the new year. Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not denying that Kate's a truly talented and committed performer. It's just that the best examples of her being the shows most valuable asset are from her first four seasons on the show. After that, they just kept pounding the square peg that is Kate McKinnon into the round hole that was SNLs desperate and feeble attempts to keep up with the exhausting and demoralizing political scene of the time. Hopefully, she can do what fellow alums Pete, Marty, Adam and Seth did in recent years and just deliver a strong show carried by solid original performances and or character work (by which I don't mean recurring characters obviously since with Kate most of those were two handers between her and either Cecily or Aidy who as far as we know aren't guaranteed to make cameos) making us remember why we originally liked her as a cast member (hey say what you will about Pete's episode being weak, he was by far the least weak part of it). I know Kate had some chemistry with Billie when she first hosted two years ago. I'd be fine seeing them paired up in sketches again just as long as they can keep the breaking to a minimum. See you then!