Shane Gillis/Rosalia (10.10.2026)

USS Lincoln

• Oh,this is DEFINITELY another Jost as Hegseth opening. On the USS Lincoln.Wow. Maybe a bit dated but fitting given this weeks host.

• Even though I can tell Colin doesn't really have his heart in this anymore, I did like the visual gag of his Fireball Whiskey Bandolier and how he played off the failed christening prop. Kams' part was pretty funny. 

• Oh yeah, the livestreamed execution thing is probably one of the big reasons why they wanted to do this cold open.

• Hey, JAJ as RFK Jr! That might be the highlight of this cold open for me simply for it being the least run into the ground political impression the show has right now. I'm at least glad to get to see this instead of...y'know the other big political impression they put JAJ in most cold opens with these days.

• The Linkin Park quote from Jost at the end was OK. Not sure if this will be the weakest cold open of the season yet...but at this point it's a strong contender. I'd rank it a solid second at this point in the season but lets' see how the rest of the season goes. C+

Monologue

• All right, here we fuckin' go...He's...talking about his weight? Oh well, I liked his little jab at his own Bud Light ads at least.

• Eh, this hiking stuff is...unexpected. Pretty meh so far. Not good or bad, just...there. Now, he's talking about going to a public gym. Ok....and now he's mentioned how gyms' are full of gay guys....aaaaaaaaand now he's giving detailed descriptions of girls' "whorish" work out shorts. Greeeeeeaaatt.....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnndddnow he's name dropping Joe Rogan and Theo Von. Faaaaaantastic.

• OK, I do like this whole "gas station egg"thing. It's worth a chuckle. Now, he's moved on to how mean his sisters are...who are, of course, very similar to him...physically. Not into this as much...but I did chuckle at the sudden"bitch hips" comment.

• Now, he's talking about how his haircut is similar to Adolf Hitlers. Yeah, you ever think you should shave that mustache, bud? I mean, that can't be helping.

• ...and the monologue just mercifully ends right at the phrase "You're either gay or you're Hitler. That's where we are as a country."

• Well, at least...he wasn't self consciously reacting to his own seemingly losing the crowd...and at least this monologue wasn't very long. I mean, even the "whore" stuff doesn't seem THAT worth an uproar.

• Well, at least the for sure worst part of this episode has just ended. Let's see what else they got. D+

Cop Talk Show

• Huh...well at least this sketch seems right in Shanes' wheelhouse. Thankfully, Mikey's part is mercifully short and reigned in.

• Good use of Jeremy. I liked the rolled down window gag. Kenan as Shanes' "sponsor" was worth a chuckle. Good use of Grace and especially Kam. Ben being tased was pretty funny.

• Oh...Veronikas' coming out as a drunk, high actress. Smart of them to end this here.

• You know, this sketch is starting to remind me a lot of that "Late Night With Chris Hansen" sketch Bill Hader did in 2009.

• This feels like a sketch concept that could've been done just as easily 30 years ago (and probably would've been seen as fresher then) but hey, anything that works with Shane's general presence in this episode without being completely offputting should be counted as a victory. B-

It's My Room Now

• Ooh, hey a musical pretape that pairs up JAJ, Dismukes and Tommy. This might go somewhere good.

• OK, I do actually like the concept of a Lonestar-alike country pop wedding band song actually turning out to be about what the father of the bride imagines he would do with his daughters' old room now that she's moving out.

• Sure, this shows' gonna get some shit online from rabid Tim & Eric fans from supposedly ripping off the bit Frank Stallone did on that show...but, who cares? This was genuinely funny.

• Nice interaction with Saidah. I wasn't too crazy about Marcello being included in this as a Zumba instructor Ashley eventually leaves Shane for but I did like how they weaved it into the ending.

• I did like the ending twist this took with Shanes' dad character suddenly going into a black mold induced hallucination where Ms. Pac Man has to talk him out of suicide after he knocks down the wall between his daughter and wifes' room. B+

Green Eggs & Ham

• Well, if the estate of Dr. Suess wouldn't let "Weird Al" Yankovic just put the words to this book to the tune of U2s' "Numb" and put that on an album because it has "no educational value" I can't imagine they'd react to this that well.

• Ok, so it's basically just Shane as a maybe not that much older Mikeys' loser adult failson trying to stop him from being scammed...again...and getting into a low level fight. As much as this toes the line into "a little too real" territory, this works pretty well for me.

• Hey...THERE'S the big thing this sketch will be remembered for! I should've guessed this would've happened with Shane at some point. Honestly, it was the one thing for him (and Mikey) to self consciously ad-lib about.

• I was watching live on my own local NBC affiliate. Shane's accidental f-bomb was muted. It was 9:45pm. I've heard the f-bomb went out unmuted on Peacock. I knew I should've watched there instead bit I'm sure the uncensored clip will he easy to find.

• I didn't mind Sarah appearing as Thing 1 being the bar trash girlfriend of Shane's character...but I'd wish they'd have done more to make her part feel less pointless. Did one of them blow a cue or something? It seemed like Shane just straight up forgot he was supposed to kiss Sarah and then either she forgot a line or he skipped ahead a line and she couldn't deliver one or something. What the hell happened there?  

• I did get a brief chuckle out of Marcello scrambling into the scene in a toy car as The Cat In The Hat with a blatant drinking problem but the ending with Sam-I-Am turning out to be a scammer was a bit predictable. Otherwise, this was a solid sketch that probably could've been done a little bit better by pretty much any other male host. B-

New Type Of Shoe

• A History Channel sketch in the middle of a Shane Gillis hosted episode. I don't know about this one...

• Ok, we got the second throwaway Hitler mention of the night out of the way.

• So, this is just about the invention of sneakers...and Shane is the guy who came up with that name...because he is the first to notice how they make it easier for a man to cheat on his wife?

• Eh, pretty weak concept. Not that it's being executed badly. Just a little dry. I did like the ending though. Kept this from going on too long. C-

Upfront Heating And Cooling

• Ok, Shane is basically describing all the ways his HVAC employees are creepy dirtbags. Again, right in Shanes' wheelhouse (not derrogatory).

• This feels like an improvement on the formula that gave us "CouplaBeers" two seasons ago.

• It's a shame that Saidah is still only being used sparsely in pretapes at this point...but then again, I wasn't expecting to see much of Saidah at all in this episode...and this was the best use of her all night. Same goes for Veronika in this, honestly.

• This was one of those rapid fire gag a minute pretapes with almost too many individual moments to break down but I'll say the moments that hit for me were the window lockers, Ben's cut off testimonial and Shane berating Mikey just after telling us how his relationship with "Hailey" deteriorated. The shot of him blasting trashy nu-metal in his car really sold that for me. B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Nobel Prize, USS John Wilkes Booth

• Ches' Best Jokes: Shock Gloves

• Hey, a JAJ solo impression feature! I'm not to crazy about this impression, but I like the material he's been given. It's more about the performance than the impression for me.

• Hey, a two hander between Ashley and Grace! I'd love to see where this goes.

• Guess we're just running the ball to Ashley on this one? All right. She's handling this well enough that I don't mind that they're not escalating this with Graces' character. Nice to see her get some airtime, though. Even nicer that Update ended on this at roughly a quarter of the length of last weeks.

• Decent Update. Only one joke from Che was truly dire (you know the one) and the rest were just kinda...there. It was the commentaries that made this one for me. C+

Saying Goodbye

• Hey, another live Grace appearance!

• So, Shane is just trying to engage Sarah in something very trivial. This is low key enough that it should work no matter what.

• I do like that Ben is playing Jelly Roll instead of the show booking the real one as a cameo at this point. I got a kick out of Marcello as "cool Jesus" hinting at the possible death of Shanes' character along with Grace as his mother who suddenly dies mid sketch. I even liked how they worked in Rosalias' cameo here.Not a bad sketch. Just maybe a little too telegraphed. C+

Chess Tournament 

• Huh...so, this is what they were putting Jeremy in makeup for during that commercial bumper. He, Mikey and Tommy are working well off each other.

• Hey, another Grace sketch! I should've expected her and Shane to play some kind of white trash couple (but it was Veronika we were all expecting Shane to work with a lot tonight and somehow it only really happened once).

• Anyway, this was the moment that really sold me on Grace Reiter as a cast member. Yeah, you could definitely see why she'd get compared to Aidy here but at the same time you also get to see her really disappear into the type of role that either Aidy, Cecily or Kate would have thrown their way about ten to fifteen years ago while also still bringing her own unique personal touches to it.

• A trashy disruptive couple being unnecessarily loud does remind me of one of the early Spartan Cheerleader sketches from Ferrells' first season (I want to say the first one but I'm not totally sure) but hey...if it actually works in this episode, who cares how derivative it is?

• Hey, Janes' still in the cast! I genuinely wasn't expecting to see her at all tonight. B-

Ranking Season 52 From Best To Worst

1. Shane Gillis/Rosalia (10.10.2026)
2. Dakota Johnson/Turnstile (10.03.2026)
3. Jalen Brunson/KATSEYE (09.26.2026)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, it certainly doesn't say great things about how this season is going so far that this turned out to be its strongest episode so far. Yeah, that's obviously gonna change (probably in the next couple of weeks) but this speaks volumes about weak host bookings and even weaker writing and cast usage.

• Speaking on just this episode though, it delivered pretty much what I expected it to as far as the monologue being extremely dire and the some of the sketches being surprisingly decent.

• Man, as long as I live, I may never know how Shane Gillis can be such a weak live performer (in both sketches and stand up) who somehow has this ability bring some of the better sketch premises and writing out of this SNL cast and crew. I know, he's produced some of his own sketches prior to getting to host SNL...but I've seen enough of them to know that his sketch sensibilities and those of his "Gilly & Keeves" collaborators are in a completely different ecosystem from those of SNLs and yet somehow this show's able to reign him in enough to just barely put him over.

• Anyway, Shane was...just competent in his sketch work. Some of his roles worked, otter sketches left me wondering how much better literally any other male host could perform in his role. Most of his best performances were in pretaped sketches that his presence was just a little more consequential to.

• One thing that surprised me was how strong of a night Grace had and how little he seemed to work with Veronika. JAJ, Dismukes, Jeremy and Tommy had quietly decent nights. We saw Kam and Kenan as much as I assumed we would. 

• Marcello, Ben and Jane seem to have been scaled back a bit. Thank God Mikey was more reigned in than he's been. Sorry, Saidah. This just wasn't gonna be your night to begin with but your very new and there's still a whole season ahead of you.

Closing Thoughts

• After two weeks, SNL US returns on Halloween night with appropriately scheduled "Obsession" star Inde Navarrette as host (hell, I may actually watch that movie before then). God, it will be so refreshing to have a new SNL US episode with a first time host I can actually have some POSITIVE expectations for!

• Thankfully, there well be two new SNL UK episodes airing in that time before the crew across the pond goes on at least a nine or ten week hiatus of their own. I hope you'll enjoy reading my reviews of those as well. Oh, and I've also reviewed the latest SNL UK episode with Danny Dyer and Sasha Keable which you can read here.

• I've also got an upcoming review of the SNL US season 33 finale with Steve Carrell and Usher in the can coming out before the end of the month (probably next week). You'll be able to read that one on this blog at the same time Deej releases the episode of We Heart Hader we recorded covering that episode (again, probably in the next week) with special guests Darin Patterson and John Trumbull of the SNL Nerds podcast. We had a great time recording with them and I can't wait for you all to hear it. 

• Speaking of which, we actually just released a new episode of We Heart Hader with returning guests Ajax from the Cover Wars podcast and Andrew Hunter Scholey from the podcast North Of Normal. We covered the "Test Pattern: Final Transmission" episode of Documentary Now Season Two. Hope you have as much fun listening to this one as the four of us did recording it. See you again real soon!

Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)

White House Cold Open

• Well, no use delaying the inevitable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monologue 

• (*sigh*) Here we fuckin’ go again…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Winery Tour 

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

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

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

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

CouplaBeers & aLilBump

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

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

Mid-Day News

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

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

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

Dads’ House

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

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

• Jesus, these alimony jokes are coming off mean.

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

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

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

PDD: The Sound

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wedding Interruption

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

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

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

Doctor's Visit

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

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

• This is another one I don't want to spoil aside from just saying I did like lines like “beef to teeth” and “me j” and “diy”. Again, YouTube at your own risk if you missed this one. C-

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

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

Overall Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Closing Thoughts 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)

Okay, here's my review. This episode was quite far from the all time sheer bottoming out some were expecting, but it wasn't quite the vindication for Shane Gillis others were somehow expecting either. He is not this shows' prodigal son by any means, but he did OK when the sketches played into his whole "vibe" as much as they felt they could get away with. Shane Gillis blended in with the cast well but at the same time, he didn't exactly make a strong case that the show seriously lost anything by firing him. I mean, let’s face it...this isn't 2013 anymore and he's not exactly Kerry Washington. As for all the "what ifs?" that may or may not have been answered, he just strikes me as another guy who would've been your typical one-and-done/one season wonder cast member and this whole episode just felt like everything he would've got on air in season 45 (including cut for time stuff) condensed into one single episode. Let's face it, he probably wouldn't have made it to season 46 because as we've seen when he bought on Jim Carrey, Lorne would've been more than willing to get another big outside "name" to play Trump to Carreys' Biden (even if it just meant replacing Baldwin with Hammond). Honestly, I may have been a little too on edge to really get into this one (from dreading the possible "discourse" this episode COULD have inspired) but somehow this turned out to be the most stable, even keeled SNL episode of 2024 so far (again, not a difficult feat AT ALL but I'll take any sign I can get that the show is stabilizing itself right now). As you'll see, this episode came very close to escaping my bottom five of the whole season (it's near the top of my bottom five though, don't worry). Every member of the cast (even Molly) got on the air but what was more important were the moments of catharsis on stage during the night (especially when Shane and Bowen actually hugged) that showed he did not actively alienate anyone he worked with last night or make their week noticably worse in general. Let’s just break it down, because there's a lot more to get to.

Reluctant Trump Victory Party - Well, a quiet & thoughtful Downey-lite cold open was the absolute last thing I was expecting from the season at this point let alone this particular episode, but hey... even if it felt a little better than this episode deserved, I'll take it. It felt straight outta season 24 anyway. Actually, it felt more like an inverse of those "How's He Doin?" sketches they sjow did during Obamas' second term. Anyway, as I hinted at last week, I kinda like the idea of a Trump themed cold open (even a decently written one by the shows standards in this era) subtly annoying certain viewers who tuned in just for this host. Then again, this did feel like a watered down version of a South Park episode from 2017, so...maybe this could've been palatable even for them, too? After tonight, I don't want to pigeonhole anyone. It was certainly well casted. Marcello as Rubio was a good use of him and I liked seeing JAJs Lindsay Graham and Devons' Tim Scott again (JAJs' choking HAD to be real, right? It just seemed too out of nowhere not to be). Mikey as Senator Rich was a fine anchor to this as well. B-

Monologue - (*gulp*) Well, here we go. First off, I did like that he got the "firing" reference out of the way quickly and moved on. He ripped off that bandaid and then moved onto material directly about his own family with barely any segue. While I'm still not his biggest fan, it's nice to get some glimpse into Shane Gillis as a person rather than just what he's like as a comedian. Say what you will, but it's become obvious that he has a great support system with his friends and family so it naturally makes one curious about how he endears himself to people off-stage outside of his stand-up act. Secondly, I will admit Mr. Gillis had some self effacing charm on display early on. This is especially evident in his seeming hesitance to lean into any "edgelord lite" topics. He always seemed to back away to question why he was here in this moment (I mean, hey, he's not alone there) when he sensed most of the audience was simply afraid to laugh at something knowing full well they could be heard doing so on live television. When he uttered the phrases "remember when you were gay?" and "down syndrome" followed by the "r-slur", I thought we were gonna have a blowout on the highway, but...I have to give him credit for turning into those skids and not losing the audience entirety despite what some might see as his best efforts (can't say I was on his side entirely through this but hey, if you happen to be a Gillis stan reading this after just stumbling onto this blog for the first time...you do you, bud). Yeah, I probably shouldn't have been shocked that down syndrome stuff turned out to be a disquietingly central theme of this monologue. Surprisingly, this didn’t quite turn out to be the lightning rod that divides Twitter between those who take offense at his making light of the Down Syndrome community and those who view this as him speaking from personal experience and immediately rush to his defense. Plus, I do get that he was trying to come off as a champion of that community with the part about his niece and her three adopted black brothers but especially by the time he got to the coffee shop bit, I started to feel like his insecurity about this material muddies whatever was supposed to be heart warming about it. I just felt like he needed to get out of his own way a bit and he would've gotten all of this over with the crowd more easily. He reminded me of Louis C.K. (in not necessarily the best of ways). Kudos to him for reining this in at standard monologue length and not letting potentially the diciest part of the show run on for 16 minutes unlike certain other guys he knows (granted his monologue was literally just half of that length and still could've been two minutes shorter, but still). C+

Jamacian Vacation Church - Already I'm getting "dilluted Gilly & Keeves vibes" from this. They obviously knew he had an affinity for questionable accents he shouldn't be attempting and leaning into that right out the gate was a gamble that paid off. Aside from that, the other main comedic premise to this seems to be the sheer incongruity of "Christian Reggaeton" as a musical genre? Thankfully, this ended at a good spot. Weirdly, it felt like a ten-to-one that got cleaved in half when the show ran long...but placed in the lead off spot? Well, since it prominently features nearly the entire black cast of the show as well as their one non-binary cast member I can see the logic in placing up top in this episode. Again, not crazy about Ego in drag roles but I dug the way she, Kenan and Devon performed their parts. C+

Rock Bottom Kings - A fake ad that punches down on the predatory angle of sports betting apps (you know, your DraftKings and your FantasyDuels and your SportsBooks of the world) from a real third person outside perspective feels unusually pointed for this season of SNL. I did like how evergreen this felt in that Shane's part could've been played by literally any host even if it also felt like Shane maybe could've been the only host to pitch this idea to the show (notice I said "host" so, thst doesn't exclude Che from possibly pitching this either). B-

Workplace Relationships - Ok, now I started to feel like we were getting into real questionable territory here. Thankfully, this meandered a bit too much to really go anywhere really unsavory. I'd still take this over the HR meeting we saw with Cecily and Oscar Issac. I did like Kenans' "that's where I know you from" line. Marcello in "booty khakis" was something I was not expecting to see but not everything in this show is gonna be for me (but if it is and you happen to be a Marcello groupie...hey, you do you, bud). C+

White Men Can Trump - This is actually the first piece of the night I genuinely enjoyed. I mean, I may not have laughed but I admired the execution of it (which once again proves my theory that Baldwin was still in tense negotiations with Lorne right before season 45 and Gillis was hired in haste as merely their "plan B" until the whole thing blew up in their faces). Even though Shane's Trump felt like a real mid-2015 take on Trump (as just a media figure in general pulling a ridiculous publicity stunt rather than as a serious presidential contender let alone an actual former president whose first and only term thus far ended with an attempted insurrection) I was into this. It was smart of them to let Shanes' Trump face off against JAJs Trump in a well written and paced pretape. The slo-mo handshake reminded me quite a bit of Anthony Atamanuiks' Trump from Comedy Centrals' "The President Show." Boy, I can't wait to see what James Adomian will have to say about this on Threads! Could've done without Mikeys' bit at the end though even if it was just there for "balance". B+

The Floor - Hey, a sketch set where my expectations for this episode (and really the whole show during this season) have been all year! What a coincidence! (Hiyooooo!) Seriously, this felt like the middle third of one sketch stitched into another sketch entirely. It wasn’t executed the best for my tastes (and it seemed to me like just a TikTok clip of a speedrun of another game show sketch that Jimmy, Horatio and Bernie Mac did 21 years ago) but Ego was really the saving grace of it. I especially liked her "J.K. Simmons/Cynthia Nixon/American Gothic/Mr. Penis" jokes. Mikey would've been my first choice to play Rob Lowe over Longfellow but I can see Longfellow is a better fit vocally for this role whereas Mikey would only be a good fit facially. Also, kudos to Bowen for showing he was willing to let bygones be bygones in to consecutive sketches (even if his whole part in the second one could've been cut entirely). C+

Update was surprisingly stable. I liked just about every joke Jost & Che delivered. In particular, the big stand outs for me were Josts' Frozen Embryo/leap day jokes & Ches' Nikki Haley/Trump Sneakers/zombie deer disease jokes. Josts Biden Air Force one joke ended with a punchline that the show has literally done twice in two different cold opens. I dunno if that Paramount+ joke Jost told worked. Wasn’t Yellowstone on Paramount+? Enough people figured out how to navigate through that to make it a hit. Marcellos' frozen embryo commentary felt like he was dragged and dropped into something that was either intended for Longfellow or Squirm that they dropped out of. It felt a little too flitting and aimless in its attempts to be meta for my tastes but Marcello made it work. Whenever an SNL cast member does a fiercely pro-life character piece on Update, you can always count on it to be one of the most focused and direct thing in the show...that's for sure. Marcello may have been the first male cast member to pull this off so...well done. Bowen as Truman Caopte felt like a vast improvement on the type of gay camp Update character pieces he has given us in recent years (even if it still could've been cut). It was the most grounded and least self indulgent thing he has done in at least three years. This is what he should've aimed for with his George Santos. Maybe they let him do this as a little treat for... y'know (*gestures vaguely at SNL in general knowing how much Bowen has hinted at the show eroding his mental health right from jump street*). B-

Greenbow High Reunion - Odd that this turned out to be a 25 years too late Forrest Gump parody not even a full 15 minutes after the show just told us it knew exactly what this weeks' biggest news story coming out of Alabama was but still...I thought it was just fine. I mean, this felt too out of date not just in terms of pop culture references but in the tone regarding how the premise was executed. The only thing that didn’t feel too out of place here was the long, drawn out pacing and dialogue from it. Those kept if feeling like it could only have been executed on SNL rather than Gilly & Keeves. This was a little bit more than just a glorified Family Guy cuaway. Still, it felt like Shane would've been the only possible host who could put this over no matter what time period it was done in so in a way, they really lucked out here. Mikey did a great job as Gump and I genuinely chuckled at the "chocolate bar" and "Lieutenant Dan" line. C+

Fugliana - Right off the bat, I thought it was gonna be hard for me to get into what I thought was gonna be another piece that was going mine all its humor from putting down Sarah (or any of the female cast members for that matter) just for their looks at first. However, as this went on I could see it was more about both the male and female performers being equally in on the joke and having fun playing off each others' self roasting. Shane and Sarah honestly displayed great chemistry here. Shane probably had his best lines of the whole show in this and Sarah damn near stole this whole sketch for me but Mikey/Punkie, Heidi/JAJ and Dismukes/Chloe came in with some strong assists. Honestly, by the end the biggest problem I had with this was just its sheer length and pacing. That live SNL staging and acting was the main thing that made this feel like it couldn't have just been a Gilly & Keeves sketch. B-

Green Bay Packers Butt Plug - This felt less "lol gay panic" and more like "a sketch Armisen & Hader could’ve done 15 years ago" or "sketch Bobby Moynihan could've done 8 years ago". Hell, I've seen Gillys' "OnlyFans Dad" sketch so it mainly felt like "sketch Shane Gillis aleady did two and a half years ago". Coming down from the sketch that proceeded this must have thrown everyone's timing off. Either way, I wasn't in to it (pun not intended because I just want to wrap this up, okay?). D+

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

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

Well, we all survived that one and came out in one piece. Next week, Sydney Sweeney makes her SNL hosting debut. This makes her the second Euphoria cast member to host the show this season alone...and the desperate, naked (pun suddenly intended) shameless pop culture pandering of 2024 SNL continues. Between this and the episode that just aired, it appears SNL has firmly decided that it now wants its audience to be the worst 12 to 13 year old boys you've ever met in your life? Oh well, I am still a guy myself so at least Sydney should be a host I'll have an easier time with than Shane (even on just a very base level). From what I know about her, she had exactly as much comedic experience as her cast mate Jacob (just one romcom each, no live sketch acting experience). While this isn't exactly an episode I am dreading, I hope she at least brings some much needed energy to the show and I hope they avoid making this episode resemble Jacobs as much as possible. Seriously, I don't think they can get away with doing a string of sketches where she is hit on by the male cast right now. Hope to see you then!