Steve Martin/Prince (02.04.2006)

The following blog entry is a companion piece to the newest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast which you can listen to here.

The Sabotage Of Baldwin

Steve Martin makes a mad rush to 30 Rock from a sexy dinner date with Kelly Ripa (Herself) when she reveals to him that Alec Baldwin (Himself) is hosting SNL tonight, tying his hosting record. Steve sneaks in and strangles Alec, wraps his unconscious body in a rug and dumps him out a window onto the skating rink.

• Already this episode has a unique and special feel to it. This cold opening is pretaped (like a much more refined Digital Short) and sets up a meta backstage runner. Plus, the return of Steve Martin as a host after a 12 year absence (minus a few small cameos here and there) makes this feel like a big “event.”

• The gag with Steve taking a Viagra was a bit cheap, but like I said…setting up a runner.

• The gag with Steve hailing a limo instead of a regular taxi was fun.

• Even as a gag, it seems a little weird to have Alec back “hosting” so soon after he actually did host in real life just barely three months earlier (or at least a cameo this soon from Alec WOULD'VE seemed strange prior to 2016) but hey besides the “runner” of it all at least it adds to the “meta/backstage” nature of this cold open since Steve set that record back in the days when Lorne was cool with having him, Buck, Elliott, Eric Idle & Michael Palin host multiple times in the same season.

• Fun fact: longtime SNL writer James Anderson plays “Jimmy” the wardrobe guy who gets Alec ready for the show. Even as divisive of a figure as James is in the online SNL fan community I liked the “inside baseball” feel this adds to this cold open. I also love how Steve snuck in with a fake beard to match his own.

• I loved Steve just casually and nonchalantly just “sneaking” past a cleaning lady and then casually walking through a hallway, holding a body rolled up in a rug while chatting with Andy Samberg.

• I especially love Steve not even letting Lorne finish his line “We can't find Alec! Somebody call Tom Hanks!” before suddenly punching him (which us where we get our very first glimpse of Bill Hader in this episode, by the way). Very rapid fire Tim-and-Eric-esque timing on that one. B+

Monologue 

Steve shares vague, half-muddled memories and super tightly cropped photos of his time with the original SNL cast. He then praises the women of the current cast and welcomes Maya Rudolph back from her four month maternity leave. Suddenly, the Viagra he took before leaving his dinner with Kelly decides to kick in.

• Ah, I see we're starting the live portion of the show now.

• Immediately I liked Steve's line “it's gonna be HARD TO KEEP FROM CRYIN’!”

• My favorite gag in this might be his attempt to tell an old anecdote while constantly correcting himself on the exact date and concluding the story took place in December 1980 because he remembers John Belushi asking about holiday plans.

• The bit with Steve showing old show photos from the ‘70s but super cropped/pulled into closeup so you can only see Steve's face was fun too as a quick gag to move this along.

• Wow, it's uh…real nice to see Maya back again after such a long absence from the show this season. She and Steve's obligatory mention of Prince made for possibly the ideal conclusion to the “Viagra countdown clock” from, oh roughly 15-20 minutes ago. 

• Luckily, Steve Martin is one of the few male comedians out there with enough charm and likeability to wash out the “horny/dirty old man” vibes this gives off. B+

A Teddy Bear Holding A Heart

This Valentine's Day, get your wife the gift that says “No, I certainly DIDN’T forget that today was, in fact, Valentine's Day and Yes, I was DEFINITELY planning to give you this extravagant gift of a small stuffed animal well in advance!”

• While it may now feel like this is the type of sketch SNL does some version of every single Valentine’s Day, this was actually the first if at least three of this type of “sarcastically fancy ad for the cheapest gift imaginable”.

• Forte and Poehler as the couple sold this well as did Wiig and then writer Liz Cackowski as the spectators.

• Paula Pell was great as the announcer for this.

• Some cute quick filler material, not much else to see here. C+

Oprah

Oprah Winfrey (Rudolph) invites author Stone Freeman (Martin) on her show to come clean in a very serious interview and admit that his devastating new memoir “Skating At The Bottom Of The Ocean” is 100% true…as he gradually admits that the book is 100% full of lies.

• Obviously, this sketch is a reference to the then current controversy surrounding author James Frey exposed as a fraud after his memoir “A Million Little Pieces” was revealed to be full of largely fabricated details about his life...and the Oprah invited him back on her show to berate him in an interview.

• I guess the writers and Maya thought this would be the best possible excuse to use her Oprah impression that she's so fond of since they knew she would be back at work this week.

• I did like the fake audience reactions within the sketch getting to the point where Wiigs’ voice was the lone audience member shouting “oh my God” to which Maya replies “exactly, lady.” 

• Maya uttering the line “steaming pile of shizz” caught me off guard. I did like her line to Steve “you doopity duped me” and that James Frey had just “dicked her over…as Maya Angelou would say”.

• Anyway, this seemed to be a little dry on the surface but it was full of fun dialogue with Steve having to constantly contradict every word out of his mouth.

• I especially like Steve pulling the old “hey, look over there” trick on Maya and then just tearing our a full page of the book she just read from. I also liked Steve briefly trying to trick Maya into leaving, acting as if he was the host and she was the guest.

• I can see how some might not find this sketch funny due to it being tied to a now long forgotten real life news story that happened the week it aired nearly 20 years ago, but if you look past the surface there's a lot more cartoonishness in the execution that can still put it over at least for me personally. B-

Don't Buy Stuff You Can't Afford

A groundbreaking, revolutionary new debt relief/money management program is centered around not buying things unless you actually have enough money saved to pay for them.

• This was a simple, straight forward sketch with Parnell as a pitchman and Poehler and Martin as the couple in need of debt relief (but simply can't grasp the concept of NOT making purchases solely on credit that they can't pay off).

• None of these characters have names or even much else in the way of identities, so they might as well just be playing themselves. It's rare to see something like that from any long established sketch show with a well known cast.

• This was another sketch that fit Steve Martin like a glove. He's one of the best of all time at selling “smart humor based slightly in stupidity” so it's only natural to place him with the two members of this SNL cast who are also the best at this exact thing.

• Boy, if this was live, Steve must have had to make one hell of a quick change to make it in on time here (even if said “change” was just him taking off a wig and beard and putting on a jacket).

• Bill Hader’s voice can be heard at the end as the announcer. His pitches for things like “a monthly subscription to ‘Stop Buying Stuff magazine” were neat.

• Perhaps what worked best about this particular sketch is that it had such a timeless, ageless feel to it, so it's kind of funny that the shoe sandwiched it between two other sketches that are certainly neither timeless nor ageless. B+

Hamas Party

Steve has some second thoughts about his latest “corporate” stand up gig in Palestine as he learns that he is about to go on stage at the Election Victory Party for Hamas, broadcast live on Al Jazeera…until he is told he can get paid extra and shamelessly promote “Pink Panther.”

• Right out of the gate, we get Steve talking lovingly on a cell phone to a woman he identifies as “Britney Spears”...in 2006. Continuing the “Steve Martin lusts after younger women” theme tonight, I see?

• We get our first live Bill Hader appearance of the night…playing one of three Palestinians/Hamas members along with Fred Armisen and Seth Meyers (gee, I wonder if he and/or Colin Jost wrote this one?)

• Well, we may be getting two white guys and a predominantly Hispanic man playing three middle easterners but this doesn't score quite as bad as you'd think on the “oopsie-doo” scale since it's quite forgettable really. The guys’ attempts at “accents” are doing most of the heavy lifting here.

• Speaking of continuing themes, we get another instance of “foreigners being hopelessly behind on American pop culture” comedy trope as the Hamas members confess to Steve that the only movies of his anyone in Palestine has seen are “The Jerk” “The Muppet Movie” and “The Man With Two Brains” (and of course Bills’ line that “the previews for ‘My Blue Heaven’ look hilarious”).

• Speaking of Bill, I noticed he kept touching his mustache in this sketch and I'm wondering if this was due to his anxiety or if his mustache was hastily applied and about to fall off?

• I did like Bills’ “EXCUUUUUUSE MEEEEEE!” line at the end.

• Perhaps the thing that ages the worst about this sketch (given what we've learned via modern social media about the actual Israel/Palestine conflict in recent years) is the idea that someone in the entertainment business appearing to publicly take a staunch pro-Palestine stance would be shameful or antisemitic on its own (even if it may still be treated as bad PR by the producers of the new “Scream” sequels of whoever) but it's probably for the best that we not get too heavily in to this topic right now and just move on. 

• …but hey, at least we got the added wrinkle to this sketch of “Steve Martin makes fun of himself for completely selling out.” C-

Digital Short: Two Inches 

Two old, dear friends (Martin & Forte) catch up and have a friendly chat at a near kissing distance. Things get a bit tense but they quickly apologize to each other.

• This was a rare Samberg/TLI-less Digital Short but it expertly blended real heartwarming pathos with Steves’ charm and oddball Forte humor.

• I still get a kick out if these early Digital shorts where they were clearly experimenting with the format and how they would use them in the show. B+

Quick Zoom Theater 

In a hospital scene sponsored by the Cannon Ultra Zoom camera, each line read is punctuated with a dramatic music sting and an unnecessary quick zoom.

• Even though this came off like blatant product placement (almost as much as the actual product placement for Polaroid the original cast had to do at one point) there was fun to be had.

• Parnell was a fun, dramatic host and everyone (Armisen, Rudolph, Martin, Thompson) played well off each other, heightening the most banal doctor's appointment.

• I liked Kenans’ botched closeup and I liked Steve trying to force a closeup on his own after uttering his final line to Armisen (“she's carrying your BABY!!!”) B-

Prince: “Fury” & “Beautiful, Loved & Blessed”

• What else is there to be said about this man that hasn't already been said?

• Even though he can be a bit pretentious at times and he was quite a bit rude and dismissive to “Weird Al” Yankovic for years, there's no denying his flair or his sheer musical talent.

• These songs may have been deep cuts but they certainly highlighted his excellent guitar skills supremely well.

• His second song prominently features guest vocals from a woman named “Támar”. I wonder whatever became of her?

• He dropped a Mary Katherine Gallagher “Superstar” reference at the end of his second song.

Weekend Update w/Fey & Poehler 

• Amys’ “ban on human/animal cloning/Bad news for the mangaroo” joke stood out to me for it's sheer strangeness. Her “Brownback Mountain” joke was OK but…meh.

• The Tina/Amy double handed “Samuel Alito/abortion ban” joke may still be hauntingly prescient today.

• The “African History Museum/congressional Black Eyed Peas” jokes may have been the hackiest things in this episode.

• Tinas’ joke about a 17 year old high school girl setting a new record “playing against the Knicks” stood out as a nice antidote to the types of cheap, misogynistic WNBA jokes we got frequently from Michael Che last year.

• A rare shockingly short Tina & Amy Update with no guest commentaries. After the last Update of theirs, I just reviewed…this (while not absolutely perfect) is a substantial improvement. C+

Super Bowl National Anthem 

Aaron Neville (Sanz), Aretha Franklin (Thompson) and Dr. John (Sudeikis) are too distracted by their own hunger and dry, cocoa butter starved skin to make it through their own rehearsal for The National Anthem at the Super Bowl.

• After seeing Kenans’ Aretha Franklin, I think I may have spoken too soon on what the hackiest thing in this episode was. Thank God Kenam swore off female/drag roles when he did.

• I get why they would want to use Horatios’ Aaron Neville in this sketch (that year's Super Bowl WAS in New Orleans after all) but I still don't get why this impression even exists in the first place (when even they themselves admitted in the 50th anniversary “In Memoriam” that it shouldn't have.

• Frankly, the only thing this sketch had going for it was Jason as Dr. John. If I'm not mistaken, this happens to be Jasons’ first live appearance in this episode. Amy and Seth were OK in their straight roles. C-

Backstage

Steve wants to renegotiate his contract with Lorne mid-show after instant high ratings and glowing reviews have come in. He wants to get paid $5500 to host instead of his usual rate of $5000 for hosting. When Lorne refuses, Steve refuses to go on and finish the show. Lorne forces his hand by pointing out that Jimmy Fallon (Himself) and a potentially brain damaged Alec Baldwin are on standby.

• A nice conclusion to this episodes’ “runner”. A little dry with the salary talk but Steve gets to really poke fun at his “sellout” image here (and I liked Lornes’ revelation that he earns 12 million per show).

• Nice of Jimmy to make a quick cameo here. At this point, Jimmy is more removed from hosting “Late Night” than he is from leaving SNL.

• This got in, got its punches in and got out pretty quickly. B-

Prince Show

Prince (Armisen) and (Beyonce) interview Drew Barrymore (Wiig) and Princes’ personal chef (Martin)

• Speaking of impressions the show now admits are problematic…

• This is the second to last Prince Show ever to air. I remember watching this one with my mom. She kept comparing this to John Belushi & Joe Cockers’ duet of “Feeling Alright” from 1976 (not too far removed from Steve's first hosting stint either) but Prince never showed up on screen (to the disappointment and confoundment of many, I'm sure).

• I have heard that Fred and Maya did get to watch Prince rehearse in an effort to ask him if he wanted to be in this sketch. They missed their chance because after his performance he took a sharp left and walked right past them.

• I see Fred is wearing a different wig to more exactly match Princes’ real hair which we saw on stage just now.

• Anyway, this sketch had its moments. It obviously felt like it was missing something, but it was largely saved by Steve doing a slightly less ridiculous French accent than he did in “Pink Panther.”

• Wiig did a serviceable Drew Barrymore. Again, I like revisiting these early moments I'm Kristen's tenure where we got to see her genuine talent for impressions.

• The rest of this was typical Prince Show shtick I've been pretty ambivalent towards since it aired but Maya as Beyoncé looked real…nice this time. C+

State Of The Galaxy 2145

The Brian Williams 3000 (Meyers) reports on the State Of The Galaxy address given by Earth President George Q. Bush (Forte) with commentary from Hologram Chris Matthews (Hammond) and Hillary Clin-tron (Poehler, Dratch)

• Seeing Seth play Brian Williams feels odd since I've seen Forte play a dead on Brian Williams that he admittedly stumbled ass backwards into while trying out a totally different unrelated impression. The real Brian Williams of this era was never quite as boisterous as Seth portrayed him.

• Good use of Hammonds Chris Matthews here, too.

• While this sketch was well-performed, visually dazzling and I for sure liked the Space Mutiny-esque elements to it, the rest of the dialogue was almost white noise to me. It was a little too closely tied to the politics of the second term of the Bush 43 administration to truly be funny.

• “The Expedia.com US Capitol Building” feels like something Mike Judge edited out of the second draft of the Idiocracy screenplay.

• The gag that they are “very close” to capturing Bin Laden in 2145 got a bigger reaction in 2006 than it could've after May of 2011 for obvious reasons

• Bill can be seen here as a very elderly, wizard-like vice president who gets up and runs away in a panic when Fortes’ Bush states that “every American over 50 will be launched into the deep recesses of space” to solve the social security crisis.

• Horatio is seen as a speaker of the house who mistakenly applauds when Fortes’ Bush announces that Jupiter has pledged to destroy Earth within the year.

• What was the gag with both Poehler and Dratch playing a two-headed version of Hillary Clinton at the end? We're they also supposed to be robots or just some kind of two headed clone? Or were they just a two headed robot? I didn't quite get that one. B-

Digital Short: The Tangent

Joel (Armisen) is discovered on the street by two movie studio executives in the middle of a long, rambling endless rant about a restaurant. Joel is signed to a movie deal and cast in a space epic alongside Scarlett Johansson (Herself). After promoting the movie with interviews on MTVs’ TRL and Late Night With Conan O'Brien (Himself) the movie bombs at the box office and he is shunned. He is chewed up and spit out by the movie business before he can even bring himself to stop talking.

• TWO Digital Shorts? In one episode? In THIS economy? Neither of which have Andy Samberg in them? Just one of the many oddities of season 31 as SNL transitioned into a new era, I guess.

• Anyway, this was a fun inventive sketch that was stylistically very different from anything else on the show at the time.

• It seems like this may have been one of Armisen's ideas as it featured his usual collaborators and played to his better comedic instincts. It just came across like this was unique to him and his sensibilities as a writer. 

• Either this character is just the polar opposite of Nicolas Fehn or I'm detecting slight hints of Documentary Now! here.

• It's obvious this was made for a different episode but got cut at dress and used again here to fill time. Scarlett Johansson was in this and she hosted a few weeks prior to this episode. 

• This was kept afloat quite a bit by cameos from the likes of Conan and Brian Williams (weird sketch placement, huh?). I'm glad this did eventually air because it was quite fun. B+

Surfers

Ted (Martin) stubbornly refuses to accept that his surf group is kicking him out of the circle for being old, unhappy, just genuinely ruining the surf sessions and being the “un-gnarliest bro-ham in the tube”.

• This is definitely the weakest sketch of the night. I remember thinking this even at 15 when I first saw this episode.

• Bill Hader appears in this along with Samberg (who makes his first live appearance here and also wrote this sketch), Wiig, Sudeikis, Meyers, Forte and Armisen.

• The main thing this sketch had going for it was that it pretty much ran one joke into the ground. It's a shame this got a worse and worse reaction through the week because Steve, Andy, Jorma & Akiva fought so hard to make it work and yet it still pretty much bombed on air so badly it's a failure that still sticks with Steve to this day (at least according to the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast). Oh well, I'm sure the signs were there all along. D+

Naturally Crafting

Midge Hartsinger (Dratch) welcomes guest Jack Patrick (Martin) onto her craft show to make heart shaped organic Valentine's Day wreaths. He repeatedly turns down her invitations to stay the night or “crash” here at Craft Holler since he can drive in even the worst of snowstorms with his four wheel drive and abundance of supplies…until his passions get the better of him seeing her in winter gear and notices they have been snowed in.

• This sketch may be honestly better than I remembered. It's not up to much premise wise but only Steve Martin and Rachel Dratch can perfectly sell the budding tension of this perfectly.

• One highlight of this for me was when Steve mistakenly flubbed a line and “crash holler” when he was supposed to say “craft holler” and overcorrected himself the next time he had to say it. B-

Overall Thoughts

• This was honestly a stranger episode than I remembered, but not a disappointing one in the slightest.

• The episode was pretty much dominated by Steve and Mayas’ returns (still, nobody except Finesse was completely shut out)

• Still, at the same time, there was enough reliance on pre-tapes (and enough impressions done by people who shouldn't have really been playing the roles they were playing) that it felt like I was watching a season 10 episode.

• Maybe the abundance of pretapes was to cover for Steve Martin not being as able to participate in much of the show due to age or just nerves from not having performed live in several years?

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.

Steve Martin & Martin Short/Brandi Carlile (12.10.2022)

Okay, here's my review. I'd say this show lived up to about 90% of the pre built hype and managed to meet several of my expectations (from having seen countless past episodes hosted by both these two gentlemen). I'd honestly go as far as to rate it the second best of the season so far. Chappelles' was still the strongest in terms of sketch consistency and this episode didn't quite meet that. It was still a little uneven. It was about the same quality sketch wise as Keke Palmer except the highs were higher and the lows weren't the absolute lowest because Steve and Marty are always such welcome presences on the show due to their natural ability (or sometimes in Steve's case just his willingness) to elevate weaker material with their sheer chemistry and commitment. Aside from Michael Longfellow (who still managed to get in this weeks' promo which is still a big get for him), no one seemed completely shut out of the show tonight but it seems they leaned on Cecily, Kenan and Bowen even more. This is probably due to them still being veterans and in Bowens' case one if the new breakout stars (and thus the most likely to be recognized by old time viewers who haven't tuned in for several years) and being the most adept at fitting in with Steve and (especially) Martys flare for broader campier syle of humor. Sarah continues to carve out a name for herself (as does Molly does for themself to a lesser extent). Marcello appears to have only been used in one pretape but he really nailed it nonetheless. Anyway, let’s break it down, shall we?

Blocking It All Out For Christmas - Wow, so we're set on cold opens starting with completely unmotivated applause breaks, huh? Well, this cold open hit a little too close to home for me (not just because my local NBC affiliate somehow had their sound out of sync forcing me to hastily switch over to Peacock but for slightly more personal reasons I'd rather not get into here) but it started to pick up once Ego (and a sadly underutilized) Sarah showed up and Kenan, Cecily and Bowen started naming specific people. At that point, I could still get on board even if it was a little much to have to follow along with but at least it seemed easier to digest on rewatch. Nice to see Devon got on even if his part seemed like it could've been cut entirely. I will give them credit for going for something with a similar vibe to "Santa's My Boyfriend" or as close as they can get in 2022 and at least trying a non-political cold open (even if this was arguably still topical and a bit darker near the end) and for the slight format break with the LFNY. I get a kick out of Mikey having to deliver that line dressed as Santa. I believe that was the first time they "split" the LFNY between multiple cast members since they did it with Hartman and Lovitz in the Cheers cold open from the Ted Danson/Luther Vandross episode in 1989. C+

Monologue - Thankfully, this got the show off on the right note right from the quick cut drum montages of previous cameos and hosting appearances and Martys' "a (w)hole performer" jab at Steve. Even if I would’ve liked to have seen another sprawling musical number from Short, him and Marty playfully roasting each other (even in pre-eulogy form) is the most delightful alternative possible. Steves' "Tesla autopilot engage" line and Santa Clause 3 jabs along with Marty's run with the Dick In A Box/PornHub/wife & kids jokes was truly the high point. The only things I coukd slightly criticize it for would be for having two "Steve Martin abuses public urinals" jokes in the same monologue. The soccer and Meghan/Harry jokes didn't quite work for me but the random martial arts nutshot clip was just randomly silly enough to work. I'd say the obligatory Selena cameo was well utilized if brief. I expected a bit more from her (no surprise there) but her expected applause break kept the energy up going into commercial. A-

The Science Room IV - Holy shit, 
I was JUST thinking this morning abour how (at least Short) would fit in PERFECTLY for the format of this sketch with his energy (and in another episode with musical guest Brandi Carlile no less!). Nice predictive abilities, me! Anyway, we get more nice format breaking with twice the hosts. Sadly, this didn't quite rise to the heights that Driver and Sudeikis bought it too previously but given Steve and Marty's ages that's okay. I still loved what they both bought to the table. I thought the "Oh Chemis-tree" song was cute and Mikeys' "what happened to my brother" line was funny. C+

PDD: John's Other Ex - Well, as funny as the whole "pond scum" rant was, it was troubling to me at first that this is now the second PDD short where John's former girlfriend (played by Sarah, of course) is bad mouthed in the guys' office (and FAR from the only comedy sketch ever where someone just can't stop embarrassing themselves with a string of painfully awkwardly mistimed statements). Still, at least this was a decent inversion of the first one and it really picked up once Steve, Marty and Che showed up and then Ben switched sides. I'm also left wondering who "Sarah's real dad" actually was. He seems like someone the show thinks we should know just based on the fact that he is a vaguely threatening bald man in a suit who looks like he belongs in an episode of either "Shark Tank" or "Bar Rescue". C+

The Holiday Train - I was disappointed in seeing both Steve and Marty's considerable musical performance talents being essentially wasted in a Cecily/Kenan campfest that didn’t really go anywhere. It reminded me too much of that equally disappointing racoon sketch from Amy Adams' 2014 episode. Of course, I would find out online AFTER seeing this that it was indeed a rather lazy parody of the "Snow" number from "White Christmas". Having actually seen the YouTube clip of it thanks to one of my Twitter mutuals (and they know who they arrrrrre, my dahhlings) certainly didn’t help me appreciate it any better either. Hell, I actually prefer the original White Christmas selection as it's the shorter one. D+

Meeting Santa - Wow, it's almost like these last two sketches being placed back to back established an unfortunate theme of "weak, thin premises the show relied on Steve and Marty to carry" but this sketch succeeded where "Holiday Train" failed because Steve and Marty were more the central focus of it without having to share too much of the spotlight with other cast members. Seriously though, this sketch felt like something we would've seen in the Don Rickles/Billy Idol episode in an alternate universe where he and Flip Wilson switched spots and it had aired just a month earlier with Don as the elf and Joe Piscopo as Santa. At times this sketch felt like it was purposely designed to fall apart on air because on paper there wasn't much more to it than "old guys complain that kids want long lists of highly specific gifts that they don't know anything about anymore" but it was flubs like the accidental "legs" reveal with Marty that made this for me (and yes, for once I can see why people got Gilda Radner/Emily Litella vibes from Sarah Sherman). C+

A Christmas Carol - Wow, they pretty much gave me exactly what I asked for on the SNN Patron Feedback show! I mean, I realize that this was probably concieved and written before Wednesday and this is a bit more "Farewell, Mr. Bunting" than "Wake Up And Smile" but hey, great minds, huh? Anyway, it's great to see such a simple concept be so well executed by performers who were practically born to bring it to life. Good to see Sarah sneak in an accessible amount of her patented Squirmgore into a piece written for two SNL legends. Good to see Marcello and Molly bring their energy to this. Good to see Mikey get his comeup...yikes, yeah that sounds a little too mean. Not gonna go there but, good to see even Mikey used well. Kudos to these players for brilliantly holding their own next to Marty and Steve (whose "total psychopath" wins line of the sketch for me). A-

Update was pretty strong jokewise. Almost off of Jost & Che's material worked for me, so I can't really pick out any specific lines. I will say Jost acknowledging to the audience how not quite right his delivery of that "same sex wedding website" and "World cup stadium" jokes were made this Update for me (although I have to say that story about Chris Christie's niece sounded like it didn’t even need a punchline). The commentaries each left a little something to be desired though. It's nice to see Ego back at the desk doing another very specific one shot concept character (and one that you would've expect her to be doing until you realize that this calls for a very specific understated intensity and focused determination only she can pull off) but for some reason, I just wasn't as into this as much as I was some of her previous Update appearances. It was nice to see Mikey paired with Chloe instead of Heidi for a change (he might just have a better chemistry with Chloe than he does with Heidi) and while this was executed well, it reminded me of how much more I liked her female acting commentary from season 45 much more than this. I guess I just appreciated that one more for being more straight to camera and requiring a less labored setup (and for containing impressions Chloe had NOT yet done on the show). B-

How To Treat Your Man (in 1992) - At once, this is both the last sketch you would expect Martin Short to be given in a modern day SNL episode he happens to be in AND the type of sketch that ONLY Martin Short (and somehow ONLY with Cecily Strong in tow) can make funny. It's basically Schrodingers' Martin Short sketch even though it comes across as an Ed Grimley sketch cowritten by David Spade, Andrew Dice Clay and Kay Cannon (Ok, I admit it. I just had to consult Wikipedia to find out who wrote that "Dealbreakers" episode of 30 Rock). Yes, the other women supported his performance well but somehow Cecily actually saved this sketch (and I say this as someone who just discovered her gets a kick out of a mans' penis being described as "open" and "hollow" and compared to the worm from Dune rather than just "small"). Still, I have to ask...was there a specific reason that I missed as to why all the women in the audience were doing New York/Long Island specific accents? I don't remember a moment where they established that this was a local NYC show. Was that JUST a very specific early 90s nostaliga thing or what? B-

Father Of The Bride Part VIII - I didn’t expect THIS to be one of Steve Martin movies that people were that nostalgic for and I guess the tone and execution of this sketch sort of confirmed that. Still, I liked the idea of this sketch even if it would’ve been better done years (hell, decades let's be honest) ago as a quick throwaway gag on a show like "The Simpsons", "The Critic" or even "Family Guy" (specifically "Death Wish IX" and "Star Trek XII: So Very Tired" come to mind). The worst thing I can say about this sketch is that something about Steve's timing and was a bit off and threw things a bit off more than the slight camera miscues but other than that everbody performed well here. Chloes' Diane Keaton was put to good use here as were the cameos from Selena and Kieran (it's a little weird to me that we were able to hear their dialogue before they entered the door, but ok). It seemed like whatever ending this sketch originally had was scrapped at the last second due to the show running long but otherwise not bad. C+

Now, my latest ranking of the season so far...

1. Dave Chappelle/Black Star (11.12.2022)
2. Steve Martin & Martin Short/Brandi Carlile (12.10.2022)
3. Keke Palmer/SZA (12.03.2022)
4. Brendon Gleeson/Willow (10.08.2022)
5. Jack Harlow (10.29.2022)
6. Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar (10.01.2022)
7. Amy Schumer/Steve Lacy (11.05.2022)
8. Megan Thee Stallion (10.15.2022)

Well, that helped stabilize this season. Next week, "Elvis" star Austin Butler makes his hosting debut. From what I saw of the film, he nearly disappeared into his role and reading that he just recently consulted with his close personal friends Timothee Chalamet and Christopher Walken gives me confidence that he will deliver. See you then!