Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)

 Okay, here's my review. As expected, this was unquestionably the best show of the season up to this point. Jason Sudeikis was still in top sketch form after an eight year absence from the show (aside for some small cameos here and there). His energy and performance skill really carried the show. Luckily, they maintained the high energy of last week's show with Rami Malek but produced an episode that was more consistent and less uneven. Naturally, Jason is a cast member I've wanted to see host since he was on during the era I was in high school and college so his cast was the first cast I really felt personally connected to. Still, I don't feel like the show now is too far removed from the end of that era even eight years later in terms of some of the writing and some of the cast overlap. Personally, there weren't a ton of old recurring characters of Jason's I would've rather seen over new original material where Jason just blends in with the current cast and let's them shine. Fortunately, we got a lot more of the latter and the bought back two of Jason's old characters that I really wanted to see done a certain way. They struck a perfect balance between late 00s/early 10s recurring bit nostalgia and new original stuff they could just plug Jason into with the current cast. Speaking of, everyone except Sarah (and the still absent Kate) managed to get a fair amount of airtime tonight. Bowen, Punkie and Aristotle could've made their presence visible a bit more. Kyle came roaring back taking up airtime that could've gone to Sarah or any of the others I just mentioned. Oh well. At least it's still good to see him find new places on the show he can still fit into without Beck there.  Anyway, let's just get right to it.

Ghost Of Bidens' Past - It's not always a great sign when the collective SNL online Fandom is so easily able to predict what the show will do but this time I was quite impressed! On top of the show being fair and giving equal attention to it's newer cast members when an returning alumni is hosting (props on them sticking to just using the Biden impersonators who were actually in the cast, by the way) they actually capped it off at four minutes and sharpened up they're political writing a bit. I'm glad to see the show is smart enough to realize that they have to actually address the differences between VP era Sudeikis Biden and Commander In Cheif era Moffat/Johnson era Biden in order to utilize Sudeikis' Biden at all in a way that works. Nice to see they could work in Chloe as Press Secretary Jen Psaki as well. I was wondering when/if SNL would find a way to parody her considering how much fun they had with two of the last three White House press secretaries. B+

Monologue - As expected, Jason's natural charisma and comedic timing carried this. Good to see Jason effortlessly combine his usual snark with some sincere self reflection. I would say that while I've been watching SNL my whole life several things that happened during Jason's time on the show changed my life since his era was when I started writing these reviews for two different message boards that are no longer around. His last season was when I started writing these reviews for this blog (I figured I might as well puy these on a blog since two projects in my journalism classes I had in college in the time required me create blogs for them) and eventually I started following and interacting with other SNL fans on Twitter which led to me listening to SNL related podcast which led to me being the featured guest on the upcoming SNL Network (neé Stats) podcast this Thursday so, yeah...you could say that monologue really got to me once it sank in. Also, I noticed Jason's sideburns were naturally graying a little bit so is it just me or does it seem like he's always going to look like he's wearing his old Mitt Romney wig? A+

The Science Room III - Given how far apart these sketches have been spaced, I didn't quite think of it as a recurring thing but then I immediately realized how PERFECT Jason would be as the host so kudos to SNL for really thinking outside the box and plugging an old cast member into a new formula that seems tailor made for him. This one seemed a little long compared to the previous ones with Sam Rockwell and Adam Driver, but that's okay since Jason is one of the most likable cast members in the shows' history and he's pretty much the master of the slow burn. This one was really enhanced be bringing out Kyle and Melissa as Mikey and/or Cecilys' parents for Jason to berate. I also liked the Planet Hollywood/Arizona/matter/gravity jokes. B+

Mellen - Wow, well...first off, I've already seen some people say this was too long and I can definitely see that but it actually behooves a sketch like this to be nearly four minutes long when you try to cram in as much sheer material as this did. I mean, I probably would've made some cuts to this too but I'm really not sure which cuts I would've made since a lot of madness like Chloe beating up Gritty in a woman's bathroom, Chris' Kyrie Irving getting a sneak-up Covid shot, Pete's brutal takedown of Jake Paul (in his only appearance in tonight's show strangely enough) and the return of Alex's Connor McGregor actually meeting the challenge of a random audience member all really worked for me. I especially like JAJs' Louis C.K. (wow, I guess he really is "cursed to play cancelled men, huh?) I'm impressed they came up with a specific enough sketch premise that he could get away with using that impression. Plus, Jason really sells the premise. At first, I wasn't quite sure that him selling such a masculine bro-out daytime talk show for men would work with him playing it with Ellen's light, airy energy but that's something only he can pull off and it really helped sell the stark contrast between "why daytime talk shows work BECAUSE they're aimed solely at adult women" and "why things solely marketed to men wouldn't work for any type of talk show". Plus, with Ellen having been "cancelled" for her general mistreatment of guests and staff alike last summer this might as well be what she does on her show for real now anyway. B-

Annie - I was expecting something in the vein of the Home Alone sketch from Kristen Wiigs' episode last season, but once Jasons' character was introduced as someone adding a much darker element to the sketch instead of an impression of a character actually from the original film commenting on an odd plot hole it became clear that wasn't what this was. Even though it's a little sad to see Melissa couldn't quite carve out "meta parodies of 80s/90s family films featuring late '00s/early '10s returning alumni" as a new little niche of hers yet, this sketch still worked for me due to the escalating  implied horror of it. B-

Parent Teacher Conference - It didn't take too long for me to figure out where this was going but once it got to the premise it started to feel like each role was perfectly cast (Jason captivating a woman with his charisma, Ego being hot for teacher, Kyle being the awkward cucked guy on the side line) because the performances were really bringing up the real unambitious premise. This was expertly written to play specificallyto Ego and Jason's hidden strengths (and Kyle's not so hidden strength). Thankfully, they also knew when to end this, too. C+

Jakes' Non-Stick Underwear For Men - Is it just me or did this feel more like a Family Guy bit than anything that really belonged on SNL? Anyway, despite Jason not being in this this was saved by a combination of performances and this being a pretape. Chris and Ego really made this for me. Some assists from Alex and Kyle really helped and kudos to the show for gradually finding more and more ways to substantially use JAJ in non impression roles. C+

Update remains strong. Che and Jost were obviously having a lot of fun this week (especially Che). I was bummed that the story about Will Forte handing out soup to the stand by line turned out to be a hoax but at least Jason was able to bring back the other Forte-less Update character he did that I liked. Even though it took a little while to get going and find its' bite, I loved seeing The Devil return. The Brady/Limbaugh/Prince Andrew/Epstein/QAnon/ScarJo jabs really provided this with the focus it needed to work and made it feel less scattershot (although considering that the previous times The Devil appeared on Update he was ranting about the Catholic Church & Penn State child abuse scandals, the Prince Andrew/Epstein jokes felt a little like an unnecessary retcon). B+

What Up With That XII - Well, this was something I had some mixed feelings about seeing return. For one thing, it was probably the worst offender of 2009-2012 era of SNLs' cookie cutter/copy and paste/Mad Lib style of recurring sketch writing that was one of my biggest pet peeves of that era. Plus, it was an odd use of Jason since he wasn't really the main focus of these but I guess he must've been really quite fond of doing the running man in a red Adidas tracksuit and chain so he'll take any chance he can get. On the other hand, it was interesting getting to see who the random non-speaking celebrity guest cameos were. Oscar Issac and Emily Ratajowski (sp?) were all right here and I liked how they basically just got Nicholas Braun to cameo just so they could reference his Succession role to dance around the fact that Bill Hader was unavailable for a cameo that week. Honestly, having Hader there just to reprise his Lindsey Buckingham role would've been an even bigger waste to me so even though it feels odd to me for SNL to get one Sucession cast member on the show right before a different Succession cast member hosts, I liked what they did in his absence. This sketch made good use of Mikey, Chris, Punkie, Melissa, Ego, Cecily and Bowen (weird that he wouldn't get any airtime until this late in the show though). C+

Declaration of Independence - This seemed like a paper thin premise, but it was definitely saved by the performances. Kudos to Andrew Dismukes for finally getting his big break out moment as a sketch lead considering that before tonight his previous big break moment was his "Brink!" commentary on Update back in May and that seemed a bit unfocused. I'm glad to see Aristotle get some more airtime but the ending with him and Aidy felt a bit too tacked on for me (and it felt like they were setting up an appearance from Andy Samberg as Nic Cage for a sec so that was a little disappointing). C-

An Incoherent Proposal - This whole sketch was pretty much just "Kenan offers Jason varying amounts of money he doesn't have to have sex with Heidi". It may have been the weakest sketch of the night, but there's no denying the performances...made it watchable. C-

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
3. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
4. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was a fun way to keep this season right on track! In two weeks time, Kieran Culkin will make his hosting debut. I've seen very little of "Succession" so I'll be going into this blind. I do remember him cameoing in sketches with his brother Macaulay hosting 30 years ago. They both did well (especially considering neither were allowed to use cue cards and had to simply memorize all their lines simply because their dad demanded it for some insane reason) so I'll be hoping for another Rami Malek-level of pleasant surprise. See you then (and don't forget to check me out on this Thursdays' upcoming SNL Network Patron Feedback podcast with Jon Schneider which will be livestreaming at 10pm EST on October 28th).

Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.16.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Despite being a little uneven, this turned out to be the strongest show of the season so far. Still, that's less "by default" and more due to the strong performances put on by Rami and the cast. Malek did thankfully contribute to this episode's high energy more than I expected him to and managed to blend in with the cast just well enough that you didn't forget he was making his hosting debut tonight. Speaking of, they continued to find a way to work absolutely everyone into the show (aside from the still out-of-the-country Kate). Let's get right into it, shall we?

NFL Press Conference - Well, I do like that they are continuing to make some more "out-of-left-field" choices when it comes to cold opens lately. I also like that they gave even Redd, Dusmukes and a heavily prostheticized JAJ a chance to shine. Alex and Pete definitely had the best material here and Kenan especially elevated what he was given. Casting Jost as Roger Goddell was a clever move. Heidi and Kyle's part I could’ve done without. B+

Monologue - Anyone else get strong Peter Saarsgaard mixed with James Franco and John Malkovich vibes here? Given how Pete's impression of Rami on this show seemed focused on his low key sinister intensity, I guess this is the monologue I should've expected instead of Pete coming on stage so they can point out how much they look alike. Kudos to Rami for making the most out of what he was given here too. B+

Bug Assembly - Hmm...I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Bowen and Anna Drezen co-wrote this (or that this is the sketch that Sudi and Fran supposedly came back to write)? Honestly, I don't know what else I could’ve possibly taken away from this. Bowen anchored this just fine and Rami played well off him but I was a little disappointed seeing him run away with this after Dismukes and Sarah seemed to have such prominent parts upfront. Honestly, the funniest part of this for me was seeing everyone just play off the moment one of Bowens Daddy Long "legs" just fell of completely. I guess this is just another one of those modern SNL pieces that's best appreciated through the lens of "camp" and this will always be partially lost on me.. C+

Squid Game - Well, they certainly Trojan Horse'd this one on us, huh? This turned out quite funny for me. I'm sure certain SNL podcasters out there whose Discord server I just happily posted a link to this review on who would have a problem with this piece. This certain podcaster (who shall remain anonymous) would probably see this piece as SNL simply acknowledging a piece of hot current pop culture without really having anything to say about it but...as someone who has simply heard about Squid Game and not actually gotten around to seeing it yet...I found this quite funny. I especially liked the ending where Pete won and blew all his winnings betting on the NY Jets (I especially liked them having the Broncos being the team that beat them 28-3) but the funniest part to me was probably something they didn't intend. It was revealed on the latest SNL Hot Takes podcast that aired immediately after this episode did (by the way, if that certain other podcaster I mentioned earlier is reading this...you crushed it on that one, bro...and also watch out for me on the upcoming SNL Patron Feedback episode on the 28th) that the unnamed fat bearded guy with long hair who had a line in the song about breaking his cookie and thus being eliminated was NOT one of the new writers as I had suspected but was actually a real life country trap artist (hey, at least Pete found a new genre to move on to now) who goes by the name "Big Wet". That was truly the funniest thing to come out of this pretape for me. C+

Prince Auditions - I definitely have to say this seemed like a paper thin premise at first but everyone (especially a gleeful Kenan) kicking down the fourth wall really sold this for me. I really could’ve done without the Daniel Craig cameo though (not just because it felt like putting a hat on a hat and it made the sketch too long but because he obviously threw the timing of this sketch completely off. C+

Celebrity School - First impression parade of the season, huh? Man, it feels like an eternity since we've done one of these, so let's just run down the list real quick. Top prize definitely goes to James Austin Johnson for nailing that Adam Driver impression. It really helps that Driver is the first celeb JAJ played that he already naturally looks like without much makeup beyond fake facial hair. Melissa comes in a close second with her Wiig. She really showed us what got her hired five years ago. Meanwhile, her airtime bring so sporadic over those five years still sadly remains a mystery. Mikey does a solid John Oliver (almost over does it, really) but I'm still left wondering why Kyle couldn't at least attempt a John Oliver. Chloes' Jennifer Coolidge came out sounding more like Abby Eliotts' Anna Faris to me (or maybe that's a side effect of having seen quite a few Jennifer Coolidge impressions recently since it seems like every chick wants do their own Jennifer Collins impression out there on their social media since Ariaja Grande did hers on Fallon a few years ago) but she still managed to make it work for this sketch. Bowens' George Takei was exactly what I expected it to be and Redds' Lil Wayne was pretty much exactly what it was four years ago when we first saw it. Pete still does Ramis' voice well but Rami overshot Pete's voice (and Pete's overall energy) badly enough it actually made me see less of a resemblance between him and Pete. I mean, it was already obvious to me that Rami and Pete looking like each other wouldn't be enough to write a whole sketch around but this really should've bought it home for everyone. C-

Update was pretty strong. Jost opened with a couple of strong jokes about the climate bill, bats carrying things and Che's emails to him while Che continues to take all possible opportunities to push the envelope. Bowen and Che's commentaries worked for me just for the sheer conceptual absurdity of them Kenan and Mikey seemed like quite an odd pairing for an Update commentary but thankfully only they could make that material work. B+

Sleepy Town USA - Well, everyone really sold this (especially Bowen for some reason) but I was especially impressed with Aidys' performance. She's been criticized a bit for staying on needlessly but she really showed she can turn in a strong performance when paired with the right performer (namely just about anyone besides Kate or Cecily). If she is actually leaving this year (which given some of the rumors I've heard seems more and more likely) than hopefully she can keep this momentum going enough and do try enough different things to have as strong a season as Pete did last year. B+

Angelo - Kudos to Aristotle on finally getting his debut sketch three episodes into the season. Unfortunately, he underplayed it too much for my tastes. I'm still trying to get a handle on Aristotle Athari and what he brings to the show and this sketch didn't exactly give me any clues aside from possibly being the cast member who certainly nails "this sketch is based very closely on a real thing I once saw in my life" type material. At this point, the only other way I can really process this sketch is as sort of a self aware meta commentary on the show itself since most SNL fans I interact with say that they tune out most modern sketches that involve Cecily and singing to the point that they sound like total gibberish. This bring Aristotles' first sketch makes me think that was not what they had in mind when they wrote it, but still. D+

Now, time for me to start ranking this season more or less for real. Best to worst, here we go...

1. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.16.2021)
2. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
3. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was almost the exact show I was expecting. Next week, Jason Sudeikis makes his long awaited return to host. Personally, I'm just happy to see him on the show again. I really don't care about him parading out any old recurring bits of his (although I wouldn't mind if he bought Forte along for some Jon Bovi or some ESPN Classic) I just want to see how he interacts with this cast (and hopefully give us a more consistent show than this one). See you then!

Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Okay, here's my review. I went into this episode with low expectations (not the lowest but still) and aside from Update exceeding then this show started off exactly as stable as I could hoped for but gradually slid downward after the absolute peak that was Update. Kim Kardashian-West was pretty much the exact mix of "stiff, non actress" and "emotionlessly showing an acceptance of the general idea of poking fun at herself" as I was expecting but the way the show had to write around her didn't exactly help. Everyone (except the still absent Kate) got some screen time (although the new featured players made far less of an impact from last week). Anyway, let's get right into it, shall we?

C-SPAN Facebook Hearings - Well, I never thought I'd be saying this about a C-SPAN congressional hearing cold open that devolved into a sideshow of random meme and ended with Pete portraying MySpace Tom but this was actually a pleasant surprise! Cecily, Chris and Kyle had some great lines and Aidy as Ted Cruz...was there...but at least tonight's host or her relatives or anyone else she's ever met wasn't on screen just yet. The real highlight for me at least was seeing James Austin Johnson (hopefully, not temporarily) replacing Kate as Lindsay Graham. He even managed to elevate the same old stale "lolgay" writing they would've given to Kate if she were there. Good thing they kept their obligatory Squid Game references here this week. Also, was Alex playing Mark Zuckerberg or was he playing present day Rifftrax era Michael J. Nelson? Incidentally, I am dressed just like Joel Hodgson in the MST3K Seasons 1-5 opening title right now (red jumpsuit, yellow Gizmonic hardhat and all because...why the hell not? It's almost Halloween. Let's have some fun!) Pete as MySpace Tom felt heavily telegraphed but he was decent here. The audience response suggested he might be all over this episode since the demo they were going for with this host was obviously "people who keep up with tabloid celebrities." C-

Monologue - (*sigh*) Here we go. Anyone else getting major Paris Hilton vibes from this so far? I'm glad that that "gold digger" reference turned out to just be a jab at her moms' boy toy rather than her bringing Kanye out on stage. I wasn't crazy about her kissing his ass as much as she did either at first but that long walk to that "divorce/personality" joke was worth it. Speaking of jokes that made this monologue worth sitting through, those OJ/Caitlyn jokes actually made me chuckle and I also liked the "I'm running for...just kidding". Otherwise...eh. Just more self promotion (but not totally as "shameless" as I expected). C+

Aladdin - Wow, THIS is something we really should've seen coming. Didn't Kim actually go out dresses as Jasmin for real on Halloween one year? At least this seemed like a fresh take on the basic premise of Aladdin...until Cecily and Kenan came floating in. Pete's still a solid, reliable presence on the show and God bless him for trying but not even he could quite put this over for me. Bowen seemed quite miscast here. C-

Women In The Club - Well, Punkie got a real chance to shine in this and Kim slept through a great deal of it. Ego offering Aristotle $500 for his sneakers was funny. I love seeing Ego and Cecily still on the show in general and while this seemed well within their wheelhouse, I appreciated seeing them share their spotlight with Punkie here. C+

The Dream Guy - Wow, that's a lot of genuinely unexpected male cameos! God bless Chris Rock for being a good team player but why the hell did Amy Schumer have to kill whatever miniscule momentum that Rock and Mooney were building up here in the middle of a D.O.A. nothing of a sketch? Also, God bless Kyle Mooney for bring Kyle Mooney and John Cena for showing his special talent for bring able to draw chuckles without any lines but it was far to late to salvage whatever this was. D-

The Switch - Given the fact that Aidy vocally protested Elon Musks' booking in May, I have to say I was a little disappointed that she would willingly appear in a pretape with Kim but then again, Aidy herself had also been trying to break into the world if fashion so I guess I should've expected something like this. It almost seemed like this was going to go somewhere worthwhile until Kim's mom and her worst sister showed up (although I'm glad Kim chose to kept the obligatory cameos from her own family out of the live sketches up to this point) but instead this just had to hit all of it's predictable beats as it limped to the finish line. C-

Lotto Drawing - Well, I'm glad this DIDN'T turn out to be a third Mikey Day/Matt Shatt sketch. It May have felt like a leftover script from season 39 that they had Sarah Squirm help punch up the ending on but I'd still take that over the one big thing literally everyone in my online SNL fan circle couldn't stop themselves from predicting. Honestly, the ending mixed with the performers all really pulling this off well (yes, even you Kim) made this the strongest sketch of the night by default. B-

Update was pretty much exactly what I needed at this point of the show. Even if Jost & Che had a few jokes that didn't quite work, their sheer chemistry was refreshing tonight. Kudos to Alex Moffat for absolutely demolishing it with the long awaited return of his acid-riddled movie critic Terry Fink (even if they did have to work in a shameless plug for a movie she just did a voice for). Kudos to Heidi for managing to play her third Weekend Update character who ISN'T supposed to be some kind of social media influencer (I guess she figured she couldn't compete with the host, huh?) but while I loved her energy, I couldn't quite get into this one. I had heard Heidi had a cut for time Update piece last week and without having known that I would've guessed that this (and not the cold open) was the thing that was written at 11pm last night after everybody else left since it was written entirely around an old Icona Pop/Charli XCX collab. B-

Peoples' Kourt - Well, I guess my first question would by why couldn't Kendall have been the one sister of Kim's to cameo in person here instead of Khloe? I'm glad this gave Melissa and Halsey some sketch time on air but I would trade the real Khloe for the real Kendall any day. Other than that, I'm real glad that we got Chris Redd as Kanye instead of Kanye as Kanye. That alone saved this sketch from being a GenZ Hospital/Musk Wario level trainwreck (which honestly would've been about 90% Kris and Khloes' fault). Kudos to Kim for having a Met Gala outfit that SNL can recreate in order to justify having Heidi Gardner play her. Also, did Mikey cowrite this sketch just so he could get Kim to sit in his lap? I guess the only reason it made more sense for Chloe (Fineman) to play Megan Fox instead of say, Cecily, was to accurately portray the height disparity between her and Pete/MGK (ditto Melissa/Kylie)? Furthermore, wouldn't a show like this be on Peacock instead of Hulu?? Didn't this family make a deal with Peacock to have all their shows on there now? Finally, I'll just note the brutal irony of Kim as Kourtney saying "eww, this is so cringe" as well as Steve Higgins saying this had "structure" and how frighteningly close to people's predictions this came and just leave it at that. D+

Please Don't Destroy: Desk Hard Selzer - I'm very glad SNL let these guys film something that has the exact same rapid fire vibe as their Twitter videos that I genuinely liked. I just wish I could’ve gotten into this more (I guess designer seltzer craze jokes just don't land with me) but I'm excited to see more from these guys on the show in the future. Also, it helps to rewatch this when it is NOT immediately preceeded by something like "People's Kourt" to appreciate the low key absurdity of it. It's also nice to see SNL do something they also haven't done in decades and give airtime to guys who are just writers and thus aren't credited in the opening montage like normal cast members. My God, if there were anytime for SNL to do SOMETHING to break from their rigid format...THIS would be the time to do it. C+

SKIMS For Thick Dogs - Well, at least this also gave Melissa, Sarah and Heidi some airtime (with actual spoken lines). Otherwise, this was completely lost on me despite Kenans' best efforts. D-

Now, it's time for me to officially start ranking season 47 from best to worst and yeah...this one's definitely a no-brainer so far.

1. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
2. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was that. Next week, Rami Malek makes his hosting debut. From what little I've seen of him, he doesn't seem that different in person than Pete's unsettling low key portrayal of him but let's hope he can really surprise us (because now more than ever would that be the thing this show needs). See you then!

Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)

Okay, here's my review. I have to say this may have been the strongest season premiere since Seth MacFarlane/Frank Ocean in 2012. I compare it to that one because both episodes showed noticable amounts of promise that each of the shows' three new featured hires for that year were helping bring the show into a new era even though some of the writing and cast seniority issues of the previous era were still lingering. I know, it's hard to take me seriously when I say this while two of season 38s' "new featured hires" are somehow STILL with the show, but just go with me on this, OK? As we all know, season premieres aren't always the strongest of any seasons early run of episodes but this season premiere certainly showed enough promise to make a lot of viewers want to stick around and see how the rest of the season shakes out. Owen Wilson proved to be a fine host who was used well and managed to blend in well with the cast (which is probably due in part to how much if the post episode discussion centered around how much of a mark each NEW cast member made on the show vs why certain other cast members bothered to stay on). Even in just one or two bit parts, every member of the cast (except Kate who is filming an outside project in Australia) got some screentime tonight. Anyway, let's unpack this, shall we?

Biden Unites Democrats - Well, I gotta say the show seems to have quite a great deal of confidence in James Austin Johnson just come out on stage as a sitting president in the cold open of his very first episode! He and Pete's Cuomo gave me my only genuine laughs in this. I do like that he actually seems to have a focused take on Biden but the fact that Moffat was playing Chuck Schumer (whose line about alarmist democratic party emails I quite liked) in the same sketch after he was reportedly telling people he was still playing Biden this season and Jason Sudeikis hosting in three weeks does make me wonder if the show views "JAJ as Biden" as a permanent thing or not. Also, I find it a bit odd that the show seems to have developed more of a focused take on Kyrsten Sinema than they have on Biden at this point but hey, they were just gradually laying off politics in general as they wound down last season outside of a few notable figures on the right. It seems as they are just now figuring out what they have to say about the left so I say we give SNL some time to figure out what they're actual post-Trump era is going to be even though it's an era that we're firmly ten months into. Ego as Ilhan Omar works for me but might get an unexpected reaction. I liked seeing Melissa get to use her AOC again. I guess her placement in this right at the top almost makes up for them NOT using her impression of tonight's host on the show? Either way, I'm pleasantly surprised that that this political open had enough strong things going for it to almost make you forget that they cast Aidy Bryant as Joe Manchin. It's good to see SNL is still making progress on not having to lean on politics as hard as they did during the last presidency. Even when they just relegate politics to Update and cold opens now, it feels like the big talk about them is more "who is playing the president now" and less "what was their obligatory take on the weeks' events and why was it irresponsibly tone deaf and completely wrong?" or "how is SNL irritating insuffrably smug DSA far-leftists on Twitter who think they're so above the show but just can't seem to help themselves from putting it down each week?" B+

Monologue - Owen handled his monologue as strongly as I expected. Glad to see they just let him be himself here he was self depreciating in a charming way. Smart move to kick off a season where the show is supposed to be getting back to "normal". The ending almost felt like they let Melissa write a few of his lines. B-

The Talking - The fact that they made this a Mr. Show/CBB like "Not!The View" type sketch made me think that this could've been at least cowritten by any of the new writers (especially since one or two of the writers who I believe cowrote the two direct parodies of The View have left the show). As for the sketch itself, I'd say it's a lot sillier and more fun than the more direct View parodies the show did in season 44 (or even season 34 for that matter) even if I couldn't quite tell where they were going with it or why it was necessary. C+

Star Trek: Ego Quest - I have to say I liked the casting of Owen Wilson as Jeff Bezos and Mikey Day as Elon Musk. Owen really bought the right goofball energy to this and Mikey really nailed certain vocal tics of Elons (as wrong as it feels to have anyone on the show poke fun at him AFTER he hosted). Alex was all right as Richard Branson, Kenan had some funny lines and Heidi as that old astronaut Wally Funk is something that concerned me a bit. I'm noticing a trend that started with her performance in the Michael Jordan pretape from Keegan Michael-Keys' episode being continued here. I'm not crazy about the idea of Heidi being used to fill the Kate-in-drag void that didn't exactly do wonders for Kate's reputation among fans (but maybe as long as Heidi keeps her drag roles strictly apolitical it would be easier to take?). Other than that, this piece as a whole felt a bit too long and aimless for me. C+

Cars 4 Session - I was honestly hoping for something more reminiscent of a certain voice over sketch from Octavia Spencer's episode from 4 & 1/2 years ago and less reminiscent of a similar sketch from J.J. Watts' episode 1 & 1/2 years ago (and I'm sure I'm not alone). Still, this had enough of a random dark streak to keep it watchable and throwing in James as Larry The Cable Guy for Owen to play off of was a smart choice. C+

District 7 School Board Meeting - Well, I should've guessed that some of the writers would've seen this summers' Covid/CRT/Ivermectin related protests as a comedic gold mine. Overall, I was very pleased to see (mostly from the inclusion of Aidys' Jan Krang and Kenans' Scary Gary Loomis) that whoever wrote those two town hall meeting sketches from season 41 figured out a way to improve on that formula (it makes sense that the guys from Please Don't Destroy would be involved in writing this since it is as rapid-fire paced and character driven as some of their videos that I've seen). Good for them to realize Cecily works better as an audience participant in these and that Alex and Ego were the perfect performers to play the straight men running the meeting. Still, I was a little disappointed seeing Sarah Squirm just get quickly hustled of screen in her first ever appearance as a cast member but at least I'm grateful she got that instead of being given the Luke Null cold shoulder treatment. Speaking of, while I do appreciate them trying to cram each cast member in this and tighten the pacing this up as much as they could, it still could've used a few cuts here and there. Kudos to Kyle for making his one appearance of the night and proving he didn't leave with Beck Bennett. Pete as Dog The Bounty Hunter was terribly miscast. Since this was such a rapid fire scattershot showcase for everyone, I'll say that the cast members they performers they made the best use if here were Punkie, Chris, Mikey, Owen, Bowen, Andrew and James. B-

Update was worth watching more for the guest commentaries than the jokes. The only ones that really stood out to me was Josts' white paint and Che's Chicago egg jokes. Josts' opening spiel about infrastructure seemed like he wrote is specifically to give Seth Simons a nosebleed. Che's Obama joke stood out to me less for the pointedness of it or the reaction it got than the fact that it reminded me that Jost & Che may now be the only Weekend Update anchors in SNL history whose tenured at the desk saw them cover THREE presidential administrations rather than the standard two. Great to see two fresh takes on old media tropes from Ego & Pete (even how weird it felt given how he ended his last commentary on the season finale). I especially liked Ego burning Che for his Instagram presence. Kudos to them for throwing in a still from her Discover Card/Jordan Peeles' US ad parody from her first season. I also appreciate Jost & Che give Norm as much of a tribute as Wiig & Hader gave to Jan Hooks when the latter first came back to host 7 years ago. B-

Funeral Song - This was pretty low key in terms of recent "funeral song" sketches (I'm somehow not all that surprised that Che wrote this and Anderson didn't) but I liked that there was more of an escalation to this besides just the songs and had an actual ending. Unfortunately, it kinda desecrated into an undeserved emotional ending. Also, the glaring miscue at the top of this and in the cold open really drives home the fact that the old director is still there showing the ropes to the new director. C+

Crazy House on NFL On FOX - This was something else worth sticking with for the escalation of it. Unfortunately, they didn't escalate this far enough, in my opinion. I mean, JAJs' voice talents really let this some authenticity. I kinda liked the idea of a white middle aged sportscaster bring forced to stiffly read copy riddled with lines that sound like they were edited out of the first draft of "Gen Z Hospital" but I expected more out of something with a random puppet next to Sarah Squirm (once I recognized that was her). Heidi was pretty good here but I probably would've cast Cecily as Erin Andrews myself. I'm sure I'm not the only person who was reminded of "Mark" from Will Ferrells' 2009 episode but I honestly can't decide which of those two sketches was a watered down version of the other one. I'm thinking this was the watered down version of that. C-

Mail-In Stool Testing - This was just about the perfect thing to end this show on. I'm very glad to see they let Sarah Squirm do something a little Sarah Squirm-ish in her first episode with some assists from Dismukes & Redd. I mean, yeah, it seems a bit watered down compared to her pre-SNL work but hey, when SNL hires someone like Sarah Squirm they gotta pace themselves with her a little bit. B-

Well, that was a pleasant surprise in many ways. Next week, Kim Kardashian West makes her hosting debut and while I really don't think this is the right thing for either this host or this show to be engaging in right now, this show has had much worse hosts that I have said this about in the past. You all know who I'm talking about. Two guys (one of which was just impersonated on the show) who may match Kim's wealth and fame but don't quite balance being a "business figure" and an "entertainment figure" as well as she has managed to. Plus, from what I've heard Kim may just be a more pleasant person to work with behind the scenes and seems more enthusiastic to be a part of the show and she's a fairly less consequential person for them to have on at this point. That and the fact that SNL may have just dulled my sense of outrage toward their more outrageously irresponsible choices of host by now are the reasons I am going in with the most cautious of optimism at this point. See you then!

Anya Taylor-Joy/Lil Nas X (5.22.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Anya Taylor-Joy turned out to be another host that was far more capable for the show than they let on, but that's a little more excusable this time because this show turned out to not be about the host at all. With this being the finale to such a historic season and roughly half the cast being rumored to leave (everyone has their own little theories they've been speculating on) it was only natural that the host would get overshadowed a bit. Anya Taylor-Joy did show us she was capable of a lot more than what the show gave her, so I'd like to see her get another shot at hosting in the middle of a much more stable season some time in the future. Since there was a lot going on tonight and a bit of buzz surrounding this episode, I'd like to keep this intro short and just get right to it.

What We Learned From This Year - Wow...OK, there's a lot to break down here, but let me just start by saying...I think I have a good idea of who's leaving (or at least who is still seriously consider leaving and may make or publicly announce that decision in August) right off the bat just based on facial expressions alone. Say what you will about the actual quality of this season, one cannot deny that the historical moment it took place in and the circumstances that forced them to adjust their production process accordingly absolutely warranted this cold open. For me, this really kicked into high gear with the positive test result jokes from Cecily & Pete (whose green screen was obvious) followed by the Adele nose swab story from Chris and Beck & Kenans' stories. I'm sure Cecily (even ironically) naming Wario Musk as a "highlight" and even mentioning Morgan Wallen by name will get some online reaction but, what the hell? The whole theme of this monologue was already about leaving tragedies in the past and learning from them! I also liked Cecily pointing out the previously unseen audience medical reader. This was also one of the best possible uses of Andrew, Lauren, Punkie and Akira all season (as well as making sure tge entire rest of the cast gets on). Chris Rock really hit this out of the park for me. He really did highlight how it felt like way more than just ONE season of television had just passed us by, right? Overall, they struck the exact right balance between sentimentality and levity here to give us the perfect topical yet apolitical cold open to close the book on a momentus challenge of a season. A-

Monologue - Nice of Anya to acknowledged this being the first (and now only) show to full audience (who, come to think of it, did seem to do most if not all of the heavy lifting required to make this really feel like a finale) this season and then acknowledge her own...unique ethnicity. Even though "Queens' Gambit" seems to be a full year old at this point, it was smart of SNL to base most of Anya Taylor-Joys' monologue around it seeing as that's probably the thing she'd be most recognized from. Still, while Anya seems just as likable as she's been made out to be and I appreciate her ending the monologue in Spanish (possibly an SNL first?) I do wish there could've been a bit more energy here. B-

Hollywood Squares 1998 - Yeah, this is definitely my SECOND favorite Tom Bergeron era Hollywood Squares parody I've seen SNL do (but this does give Dustys' Love, Jingleheimer Junction and The 17th Annual Adult Film Awards and countless others some serious competition for the title of "favorite heavily edited TV broadcast sketch" in my book!) I feel like the comedic concept of "TV and movies from the past now bring incredibly problematic and thus necessitating heavy glaring edits" has already been heavily explored over the past few years. Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, Matt Lauer and Jared Fogle have certainly (and deservedly so) been the butt of many of those jokes in that time. Thankfully, this sketch got those references out of their system quickly and spent most of its runtime hilariously piling on the overlooked target of pre-inexplicable YouTube/Comedy Central fame Jeff Dunham (who Mikey might have been my last choice to play but hey, Beck was already cast as Tom Bergeron) and giving us Aidy, Chris and Beck as anchors with Anya Taylor-Joy as my first conscious celebrity crush, Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton to tie up all the loose ends. I was a little conflicted about how this sketch was presented at first but thankfully it's the type of thing that (ironically) holds up better on rewatch! Additionally, it appears the squares we didn't get to see were Dismukes as Kevin Spacey, Lauren as Roseanne and a cardboard cutout of Apu from The Simpsons. Gee, I'd hate to think Lauren and Andrew had their lines cut there but I'd like to think that the Apu thing could've been done by just simply having another male cast member (possibly Dismukes? get another writer or extra to play a vague outline of Kevin Spacey?) to just play Hank Azaria being asked to do one of his Simpsons voices just before another edit sets in but now that I think about it, they kinda already covered that with Jeff Dunham (even if chronologically it would make more sense to do that joke with Azaria INSTEAD of Dunham). B+

Picture With Dad - I liked that this went the extremely dark route it did because it would’ve seemed extremely cliche otherwise. The level of commitment to this exhibited by Beck, Heidi, Aidy and Andrew were what made this for me as repetitive as Beck made parts of it. B+

Human Man Design - This also felt like a comedic concept that has been done do death before but I think the bigger problem here was how unfocused this felt both times I watched this. I couldn't tell if the humor was based on fake names for extremities, first drafts of things that thankfully aren't real (like one giant toe) differences between male/female body functionality. It seemed like the latter but they should've tightened the script up a bit to make that clearer. Also, I was left a bit confused by the inclusion of Kyle as Jesus. Normally, I'm a fan of Kyle's but this seemed so pointless it was almost like they realized that this was something they absolutely had to edit but it somehow didn't occur to them to edit Kyle out of the sketch entirely. Finally, it was nice to see Melissa get a very Melissa role in this sketch rather than being edited out entirely after her recent Instagram drama. As far as my take on that, I'll just say that while it would be a bummer to see her go without the show even having come close to utilizing her to her full potential I would support her seeking better opportunities for herself elsewhere if it came to that. C-

It's Pride Again - Well, I appreciate Bowen and Kate getting big pretapes that allow them to celebrate their sexual identities but like most pieces if that nature, I recognize it as something where the jokes were lost on me because I am far from the target audience here. Thankfully, I decided to give this a rewatch in order to process the hidden secondary theme to this piece of "quarantine driving us to miss interpersonal drama and other minor irritants we had no business missing in the first place but we only miss anyway because they were outside and not at home with us." Shout out to Bill Kenney of SNL Stats for pointing this out. Thanks,, Bill!! I believe this marks the first time for me that joining the live chat of a post episode SNL Stats stream has actually made one of reviews better rather than gotten in the way of me finishing them. Good way for them to sneak in the obligatory Lil Nas X rap pretape cameo, though. I also liked the "theory/podcast" bickering between Bowen, Kate and Anya. It's rare you see something that real and leftist Twitter on SNL. B+

Celtic Woman - At least I could immediately recognize this as having a clear focus and being able to introduce me to something I was unfamiliar with but not necessarily excluded from. Yeah, I've seen the phrase "Celtic Woman" in emails from the Paramount Theater in Denver listing their upcoming events but never actually considered going so, it's nice to be filled in on what I've been intentionally missing. The brief cameos from Chris, Beck, Kyle and Chloe made me laugh. Good use of Lauren, Punkie, Heidi and Alex as well. I also liked "Sweet Home Alabama" as a random set list inclusion. Also, did anyone else get the vibe that Cecily was playing the same character she played in the Irish Dating Game sketch from Bill Haders' Season 43 episode (or that this also could've been a pitch that Saiorse Ronam rejected when she hosted that season)? B-

Update was one hell of a way to cap off this season. Thank God the "gift exchange" has become a bi-yearly Jost/Che tradition since those were the strongest ones tonight outside of Josts' Biden Truck/Boom Airline and Che's Andrew Guilianni ones. I appreciate Jost really having gone H.A.M. on Che (do the kids still say that? "going H.A.M"?) with that police brutality joke and I'm sure Dennis Perrin will have some extremely mixed feelings on Josts' Woody Allen joke. Yeah, I can see that "Man Of Steal" getting some light unfounded accusations of plagiarism tossed SNLs' way. Please don't ask me why I think this, though. Pete and Cecily gave us some strong commentaries to have gone out on (and yeah, they very unsuited hinted to us that they were in fact going out). The only things that surprised me were that Cecilys' as-of-this-very-writing-unofficial final Update piece was that it was Judge Pirro instead of Cathy-Anne or "Party" Girl and that she found a way to top vomiting Jost and soaking him via Zoom but a big musical number was a very Cecily way to exit the show. She did promise an "Irish Goodbye" for this season and since we already saw her play Irish in the previous sketch it's nice to see her make the "goodbye" part just as obvious. Overall, I liked how much of a throwback this Update was to the Eddie Murphy/Lizzo one from last season. B+

Enid & Astrids' Brawr Barn - Well, I spent most of this sketch just being thankful that Anya Taylor-Joy had what would’ve obviously been Kate's part given the fact that Aidy was standing right next to her. Now, I'm starting to wonder if there was a specific reason for that? Maybe Kate just couldn't emotionally handle being on camera in this sketch with Aidy of she knew it would be their last and thus Anya was a last minute replacement? I know neither of them ha e dropped hints that they were leaving yet but maybe they each know something we don't? Beck and Heidi brief walk ons along with the "load bearing brawr" were the highlights for me. Other than that, I kept imagining a viewer tuning into the show just in time to catch this sketch, mistaking Anya Taylor-Joy for Emma Stone and becoming very confused. In fact, I'm starting to think a lot of the sketches in tonight's show were just dress rehearsal cuts from Emma Stones previous episodes. C+

NYU Panel - At first, I was trying to determine if Che wrote this since he may have had to plug his own HBO Max show recently and this piece seemed largely critical of white women. Then, the names "Sudi G" and "Fran G" were both mentioned and suddenly this got a lot looser and sillier and then I noticed how coherent this always was and I was like "yeah, nah this ain't Che". I did like Bowens' slow burn and how the direness of the questions aimed at him, Ego, Punkie and Heidi contrasted against the light puff piece trivia lobbed at Pete. B-

Vin Deisel for AMC - Nice of SNL to close out this season with some escalating silly baritone nonsense from Beck with some assists from Chris, Melissa, Kenan and Anya Taylor-Joy. Plus, (again, as Bill Kenney said) that secondary theme from the Pride pretape was there but with much lower stakes. B+

Now, for my updated rankings for this season…
1. Timothee Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (12.12.2020)
2. Regé-Jean Page/Bad Bunny (2.20.2021)
3. Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)
4. Anya Taylor-Joy/Lil Nas X (5.22.2021)
5. Keegan Michael-Key/Olivia Rodrigo (5.15.2021)
6. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)
7. Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa (12.19.2020)
8. Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11.7.2020)
9. Regina King/Nathaniel Rateliff (2.13.2021)
10. Daniel Kaluuya/St. Vincent (4.3.2021)
11. Maya Rudolph/Jack Harlow (3.27.2021)
12. Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers (2.6.2021)
13. Elon Musk/Miley Cyrus (5.8.2021)
14. Carey Mulligan/Kid Cudi (4.10.2021)
15. Nick Jonas (2.27.2021)
16. John Krasinski/Machine Gun Kelly (1.30.2021)
17. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)
18. Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)
19. Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen (12.5.20)
20. Bill Burr/Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, good or bad, we may never see another season of SNL that resembles this one. So, as SNL and the world at large prepare to go back to a rough approximation of "normal" let's hope for a livlier, safer season. Here's to also hoping for a more manageable cast size this fall that gives the less senior cast members more time to shine. Whoever doesn't return, we thank them for the great moments they gave us and wish them the best with their careers. Have a great and fulfilling summer, everyone!

Keegan Michael-Key/Olivia Rodrigo (5.15.2021)

Okay, here's my review. After last week it was certainly very nice to get such an overcorrection on hosts in terms of stage presence, acting/entertaining experience and just general qualifications to be on this show (or any scripted comedy show in general). Plus, the fact that the show apparently felt it necessary to draw from the talent pool of not just one, but TWO of their own must enduring direct competitirs/hipper cable alternatives for the first time in nearly twenty six years (and barely even have them outright mention it or even have him plug the show he just did with one of this shows current cast members that she missed this seasons' whole first block of shows for) REALLY says something. Yes, Keegan Michael-Key was just as excellent a host as you would expect but the way the show used him didn't seem to reflect that. I guess I should've learned from the Donald Glover/Childish Gambino episode from a few years ago (which was a fine episode if you tolerance for cameos is particularly high, by the way...I guess I was just building myself up to expect something a little different than what I ended up getting given my familiarity with his pre-Star Wars/Lion King era body of work) that anyone expecting anything more than just a standard, generic by-the-numbers SNL episode with minimal non-cast cameos and no appearances of the host's previous characters from other shows (that they wouldn't have the legal rights to do anyway) because a first time host comes to the show with a substantial amount of sketch comedy/dramatic acting experience they picked up outside this show was bound to be disappointed but Keys' presence really did elevate a lot of the material as I expected and he blended right in with this cast as seamlessly as ever (again, in stark contrast to the previous weeks' host but definitely nearing a point where you almost forget he is in fact the host). Speaking of, this show also did a good job of making sure each cast member got some screentime. Anyway, let's break this down and find out what worked and what didn't, shall we?

The Mighty CDC Art Players - I appreciate how lightly absurd, fast-paced and off-the-beaten-path this was (until you remember all the similarities between this and all those high school theater showcase sketches from seasons 40-42). I definitely have to say "reacting in confusion to things sight unseen" is their best use of Kate's Fauci yet. Out of all the little playlets, the Beck/Aidy, Pete/Melissa & Bowen/Ego scenes really made this for me. The Capitol reference in the Alex/Cecily bit and performative allyship in the Lauren/Punkie bit seemed a little too forced. The Andrew/Chloe scene seemed too reminiscent of a certain rap video from this season's premiere for me but I was thankful Kyle came in to save it. Out of the two scenes with four players, the "riddle" one was better. Overall, I liked seeing a different type cold open this season (one that seemingly tried to set a tone of "focusing on this weeks positive news" for this week) but it started to seem too much like a disparate mishmash of different mask takes after a while. C+

Monologue - Getting over how surreal it is seeing Keegan Michael-Key live on the SNL home base stage for a second, it seemed like they nearly wasted him on this monologue. I appreciate the change from one tuxedo to another tuxedo but not every musical number calls for even one real tuxedo. I appreciate how they tried to set this up so that we would expect some meta SNL format jokes but the few of those they actually did didn't land with me. Cecily and Kenans' cameos did but Pete's just kinda washed over me. Plus, I was surprised Cecily didn't use this opportunity to plug "Schmigadoon" at all since that's the big reason Keegan is hosting right now. Oddly looking back, the real highlights for me were Keegan using his "host states sincere love for/deep childhood connection with the show" moment to setup that wallet stealing joke and Stephen Castillo appearing just to confuse Key with Peele. Finally, to address the elephant in the room the song sounded far too much like Steve Martin's "Not Gonna Phone It In Tonight" for me to really get into. I can totally see Key wanting to do this as a tribute if that happened to be one of his favorite SNL moments I started to get worried about what type of tone they were setting for this show since if you've actually seen that Steve Martin/James Taylor episode, you'd know that no other moment that followed it quite lived up to that moment in terms of sheer hype. Thankfully, this episode as a whole is stronger than I remember that one being but not by a whole lot unfortunately. C+

Braxton High School Prom Red Carpet - Given how questionable it feels for high schools to even be having proms this year (no matter what SNL writer Dan Licata tells me on Twitter), I can appreciate a good Fran Gillespie/Sudi Green (who I guess are subtly using their position at the show to criticize Chloe for her "crazy religion" right under her nose?) penned sketch. that's just a string of outlandish character revelations. As expected, Keegans' character was really the glue holding this thing together. He was even solid enough to remind you why he and Pete DIDN'T need to have switched roles before this aired when you remember Keegans' character was supposed to be a "super-senior". Plus, that might have been the funniest used of Melissa and Andrew they've had all season. I can't believe I'm saying this but the Ego/Chris/Beck scene kinda washed over me but the sponsors were fun.The only thing I didn't like about the Aidy/Mikey scene was the minor disappointment I felt when I realized that was Aidy and NOT Lauren being given a fair chance. C+

The (Really) Last Dance - A year after this premiered is an odd time to parody it, but hey, if you feel Keegan Michael-Key was just born to impersonate Michael Jordan on SNL one day and you write for the show and this is the only week Keegan could host, so be it. Keegan (aside from some really bad deepfaking) and Kenan really made this for me (especially when they established that this entire piece would be based on Jordan's well documented gambling problems). I also appreciated the rare chance to see Heidi being placed in a role that probably would've been given to Kate if it weren't for the sneaking suspicion I had that Heidi at least co-wrote this. I haven't seen this documentary yet so I can’t really judge the impression I just found out she was doing of a real guy. Still, her performance was quite fun and I liked her commitment to being dominated and perpetually losing. I didn't even mind how badly misused Chris Redd was here. B-

The (Rebooted?) Muppet Show - I was a little confused about the execution of this sketch, but thanks to the performances from the cast members in live action non-Muppet roles (who didn't contribute to the puppet dialogue syncing issues by recording either part or all of their dialogue across two different Muppet roles), I didn't let that stop me from enjoying it. Thankfully, Keegan and Kenans' absolutely necessary presence really pulled this sketch together and give the audience something real to focus on as they're just getting over the fact that actual puppets were involved. Nice of them to give Melissa a chance to debut her solid Lily Tomlin on the show, but that kind of thing made me question why they had to frame this is a modern Day reboot if the Muppet Show when, as I understand it, no such thing has been attempted yet and it's the old '70s ones people are watching and talking about now thanks to Disney+, disclaimers and "cancel culture" still being a thing. Maybe they just had to accept that Melissa could really only (or just simply wanted to) do a Lily Tomlin impression based on modern Day Grace and Frankie career resurgence era Tomlin and for some reason couldn't do 70s/80s Laugh-In/9 To 5 era career peak Tomlin and just had to roll with that?? Honestly, the worst thing I can say about this sketch is that it gave me a brief flashback to that overlong "Nobel Prize Awards" sketch from season 20 as soon as the unofficial Kermit puppet showed up on screen. B+

T.G(emma).I.Fridays - The SNL Stats Twitter account hinted that we would see this tonight (and if Cecily is indeed leaving next week as some have speculated, it makes sense since she named this character as one of her favorites) so with that hint out there I do appreciate how they broke this character somewhat out of her rote formula setup and Trojan Horse'd her on us a bit. I mean, I always liked this character of Cecilys'. I thought the few appearances she made were fun and her performance really put them over for me (especially in the non-Rock/non-Momoa helmed ones which kinda tanked) but this time she had much more cast support than she used to. I do appreciate that they tried to finally have an emotional, heartwarming ending to one of these but it felt a little tacked on to me. C+

Update was a little underwhelming this week, but there was some fun to be had. Jost seemed to have the lion's share of jokes this week but Che definitely got the lions' share of laughs. The guest commentaries may not have been anything to write home about either. Kate as Liz Cheney had some strong material but I definitely feel like I would've liked her piece more if she'd focused more on that than the voice. I'd say it's about time they give Andrew Dismukes his own solo Update commentary and while I liked his material and his rapport with Jost (and the fact that he probably got something cut and got less applause for mentioning his home state of Texas than he did for mentioning the title of an obscure Disney Channel Original Movie which is probably due to tonight's. musical guest having just come up from that world), I'm not sure he has the right energy to fill the Pete Davidson/Beck Bennett/Kyle Mooney shaped void on the show by himself just yet. Speaking of Beck Bennett, I wanted to like his guest commentary for his delivery but most of his material (aside from, like, every fourth line of his) seemed like white noise to me. C+

Gershwin Tribute - I'm sure there were a lot of people out there hoping for a campy musical sketch with Keegan and Cecily (since, again, their work on "Schmigadoon" may be the big reason Keegan is hosting right now) and after seeing this I sure hope all those people were thinking "...not like this". Still, Keegan and Mikey pretty much made this for me so it's nice to see Keegan show up at just the right moment for viewers that may still need to be reminded that he is, in fact, tonight's host. Plus, it was nice to see them give us a slightly inverted version of the "Cecily and male host of the week force guests to gradually remember the lyrics to an existing song everyone thought they just made up on the spot until they suddenly remember that this song exists as Cecily and male host mysteriously didappear into thin air" formula. C-

Commencement - I didn't know where this was going at first (and it seemed strategically placed and/or re-edited to fill time for whatever was cut on air) but I was more than happy to let the casts' strong commitment guide me along that journey. Plus, it definitely made the best use of Ego, Chris, Beck and Punkie all night. B+

Now, for my updated rankings for this season…
1. Timothee Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (12.12.2020)
2. Regé-Jean Page/Bad Bunny (2.20.2021)
3. Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)
4. Keegan Michael-Key/Olivia Rodrigo (5.15.2021)
5. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)
6. Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa (12.19.2020)
7. Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11.7.2020)
8. Regina King/Nathaniel Rateliff (2.13.2021)
9. Daniel Kaluuya/St. Vincent (4.3.2021)
10. Maya Rudolph/Jack Harlow (3.27.2021)
11. Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers (2.6.2021)
12. Elon Musk/Miley Cyrus (5.8.2021)
13. Carey Mulligan/Kid Cudi (4.10.2021)
14. Nick Jonas (2.27.2021)
15. John Krasinski/Machine Gun Kelly (1.30.2021)
16. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)
17. Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)
18. Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen (12.5.20)
19. Bill Burr/Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, there was certainly fun to be had and this show certainly nudged SNL back on the right course. Next week, Anya Taylor-Joy (wow, two hosts in a row with hyphenated last names! That's gotta be a first!) makes her hosting debut to close out the season. She's someone I've certainly heard OF more than I've seen act in anything so this should be interesting. Plus, for the first time in countless years the show got a non-alumni first time host for the season finale! Lil Nas X will also be a first time musical guest. I wouldn't be surprised if he were worked into sketches somehow but I'm not sure how I'd feel about seeing that just yet. Still, it will be nice to finally get some closure on a rather unique season that may not have seemed as ambitious under more "normal" circumstances and hopefully usher in some much needed changes to the show this fall. See you then!

Elon Musk/Miley Cyrus (5.8.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Given the absurdly long litany of controversies and valid criticisms against this weeks host, there's only been one specific past episode of SNL, I've had lower expectations for than this. Thankfully, Elon Musk is legally prevented from becoming President Of The United States (for now) and he seemed to actually WANT to be on the show for more than just the camera time and free publicity. Say what you will about Musk himself or the shows' decision to invite him on as host, he definitely came across as someone who was having fun checking another item off of his bucket list throughout the whole show. Musks' level of "acting" was about what you'd expect from him if you happen to have seen any of his other TV or film cameos but he seemed like he was having a great time doing it (unlike their last controversial hosting choice who would go on to become the leader of the free world). Since Musk was announced as host I was expecting him to be used as little as possible outside of the monologue with Miley Cyrus essentially serving as backup host. Then this morning I remembered how when Donald Trump (the last host to generate as much controversy as Musk did) hosted in 2015 someone actually crunched the numbers and determined that he only had 12 total minutes of screentime throughout the entire show because it was determined that was the most they COULD give him without having to give equal time to the other 2016 GOP candidates. Then, I'd heard he'd be "heavily involved" in the show and remembered Musk isn't currently running for anything at all so the "equal time" rule wouldn't apply to him. Thankfully, my fears of Musk being used the typical way most hosts with any modicum of acting or entertainment experience seemed to be mostly unfounded. Musk seemed to be a genuine fan of the show (which surprises me given how much he plays to a crowd on Twitter that looks down their collective nose at present day SNL) and let that enthusiasm show. To their credit, the writers seemed to actually cater to him (at the expense of, y'know...dragging the entire show down to his and his stans' level and everything) and make him feel welcome by putting him in roles and sketches that fit his distinct performance style like a glove so he didn't stand out too much as an awkward host. In return, he paid back the favor by showing SNL he had enough of a sense of humor about himself and his image to not just force them to turn this weeks' show into a 90 minute SpaceX/Tesla/Dogecoin infomercial. Sure, they had to reconfigure the entire structure of the show around one specific host again but at least this time the host wasn't actively working against them so hard that they created a black hole like Trump and Beiber did. It didn't hurt that he had some fans AT the show on his side either (speaking of which, they also made better use of every single member of this cast than I thought they would). Not everything they did totally worked but it made for a much more watchable show than I was expecting. Putting everything about Musk aside, this episode came off less like the cynical ploy for ratings and publicity from both sides it seemed like it was going to be on paper once you actually watch it and process what you're seeing a bit. Those tuning in for a fascinating slow-motion trainwreck or to just see Musk take on his Twitter troll persona and "own the libs" or whatever must have been sorely disappointed since we just ended up getting the wildly uneven episode modern SNL viewers are used to seeing quite frequently but with a more questionable choice of host. Don't get me wrong, this episode didn't do a whole lot to humanize Elon Musk for me or change my view of him as a person. I still know far too much about him and the things he's done to not have some issues with him or not let him totally get in the way of my enjoyment of the show. I'm just saying I was expecting as little as I possibly could and the show and it's audience just got a little lucky this week for expecting the worst and bring pleasantly surprises by the shows' bare minimum of competence. Anyway, there's still a lot to break down here, so let's not waste anymore time and get right down to it.

Mother's Day 2021 - Well, it was smart of SNL to open this particular show with a redux of the cold open from Amy Schumers' last episode (the only part of that episode that I actually remember enjoying, quite frankly) but with Miley Cyrus singing and the moms of each cast member the show hired since season 43 (who wasn't already a writer on the show in Spring 2018). I particularly liked the segments with Kate, Heidi, Ego, Melissa, Mikey, Beck and Colins' moms (although the latter is something I wish they could've taken further). Good to see Kenan finally acknowledge his penchant for reaction shots. Even better to see Aidys' decision that the chance to plug the final season of "Shrill" on hulu alongside her own mom was enough to convince her not to go low key Nora Dunn on us and sit out the show this week. Cecilys' mom was the best sentimental way they could've ended it and at least inject some warmth and heart into the show before this week's host came out. B-

Muskologue - I should've expected the monologue to be this full of statements (well, I hesitate to call most of those "jokes") meant to (almost literally) humanize Musk and make him seem relatable to SNLs' audience. I REALLY wasn't expecting Musk to go as far as admitting his Aspergers' diagnosis for the first time on television, though. I mean, that doesn't exactly make me think of him any differently but I certainly don't want to disparage Elon *just* for being on the spectrum, don’t get me wrong. Still, it certainly does explain A. LOT. about him to me, though (and yeah, given how this show works Lorne would probably *prefer* you and the cast make eye contact with the cue cards than each other). Aside from his "chill normal dude" and "smoking weed on podcasts" jokes, they were pretty cringe (and not to be "that guy", O.J. hosted in '78, not '79 and *certainly* not in '96). Bringing his real life mother on was a nice break from Elons' delivery, but didn't do HIM any favors for me. Overall, this monologue was less stiff but still more stilted than I was expecting and even the two lines of his I kind of liked I could barely bring myself to laugh at. C-

GenZ Hospital - Yeah, I had to REALLY dig deep to find ANY redeeming value in this that made it remotely watchable. The funniest thing I could find about this sketch was how it seemed like a failed pitch that they realized they could finally get on the air this week of all weeks because this host needs SOMETHING that doesn't make him stick out like a sore thumb acting-wise. It's like everyone involved in this sketch deliberately did their own impressions of Musks' line readings without him even realizing it. Still, them doing this made the sketch borderline incoherent to the point where it was just white noise to anyone under 25. Other than that, I just kept waiting for Miley to make a walk on given how strongly this sketch reminded me of "The Millenials" from her last hosting stint. Speaking of which, it just occurred to me how naive it was of me to expect a sketch that portrays stereotypical young people as whiny bitches who criticize Musk just for being the ultimate troll he views himself as since this depicted him as the hip youngster he *really* views himself as (and subtly exposed him to be the walking, living, breathing Steve Buscemi "how do you do, fellow kids" GIF he *actually* seems to be at the expense of possibly doing the same for Kate, Mikey and Heidi whether intentionally or not). C-

Every Conversation Post Quarrantine - Now, this got off to a promising start. It wasn't the most relatable "Covid winding down" thing they could've wrote to me but I mostly liked the execution of it (well, I liked the Kate/Beck and Chris/Ego parts along with Andrew's closing line anyway). It was just too bad Heidi and Elon had to kill the momentum of this but at least it was smart of them to stick Musk into something where his character was *intentionally* awkward. C+

The Ooli Show - While I was glad Chloe finally got to debut her big non-impression character in a live sketch, it made me realize that this character really only works in pretapes. It was even more incoherent than "GenZ Hospital" to the point where I barely noticed Chloe got the word "tit" on the air twice in a row. Plus, this was the second segment in a row with characters were implied to be narrowly avoiding incest which was a little off-putting and the timing wasn't great as certain things have come out about Chloes' past that have made her almost as divisive of a figure as Musk. Speaking of, this sketch made better use of him given that everyone has similar accents to him in it. Still, I feel like they could've given him even fewer lines. Honestly, this sketch was really only worth to see how the cast impersonations were utilized. I liked seeing Kate's Frances MacDormand again. That was a fun impression from her. I know people seem to see a strong resemblance between Pete and Steve Buscemi but Pete in that role made me wonder why Melissa wasn't used in that role until I saw she was playing Bjork (which was honestly a better use of her than Steve Buscemi would've been). C-

Murdur Durdur - As a fan of Kroll Shows' "Pawnsylvania" sketches and those "Pittsburgh Dad" videos on YouTube, I REALLY wanted to like this more than I did but it just seemed like nothing more than the only three Pennsylvania centric jokes they could've come up with (without Tina Fey or Christine Nangle as guests writers that week apparently) beaten deep into the cold, cold ground. This didn't have even a shred of the lived in, written and performed by authentic born and raised Pennsylvanians element that really sold "Pawnsylvania" and Pittsburgh Dad for me and just left me dreading the potential online discourse of Kroll Show/Pittsburgh Dad fans baselessly accusing the show if plagiarism just to get that "SNL hater" clout. Plus, they just had to shoehorn Musk into a sketch where he REALLY didn't belong. C-

Update was a REAL Rollercoaster this week but there was fun to be had here. Once we got past Josts' brown-nosy Musk rocket joke, he and Che really hit those Bezos Rocket/Trump blog/Florida/Evangelical vaccine/underage golf/L.A. Harvey jokes out if the park before getting a few "meh" at best jokes out of the way. I'm glad Ego finally got her weary Disneyland mom commentary from her first season on the air because it was genuinely the funniest moment of the whole show for me (even the whole unexpected Viola Davis/Tyler Perry vibe of it) and kudos to Ego for one upping Chloe by getting "pushy" on the air. I wasn't exactly looking forward to a potential Elon commentary (especially once it seemed like it was going to be a blatant on-air Dogecoin infomercial) but once he had to keep finding new ways to answer Jost & Che's pressing question of "what IS Dogecoin?" until they just got him to flat out admit "it's a hustle" I was actually glad this got on the air. A lot of people online have been saying that the only way to justify having Musk actually host would be to write some sketches that viciously skewer him right under his nose and if this isn't what that segment of Twitter was asking for, it's as close as they're gonna get. I really don't think we needed to see Baby Yoda again (especially not as a newly jacked MMA enthusiast) but I do appreciate them adding something new to this character. Maybe they're trying to bring Baby Yoda to his logical conclusion if Kyle turns out to be leaving? B-

Mario Kart Trial - This sketch was a rollercoaster, too. For one thing, I do have to admit this was Elons' strongest live performance of the night. He really made the Walugi accent work for him. He seemed so in his comfort zone here I'm willing to bet money he cowrote this with Mikey Day and/or Streeter Seidell. Hey, if this is *was* actually one of Elons' own sketch ideas he pitched to the show I'd say we really dodged a bullet by getting this on the air instead of "Irony Man" or "Woke James Bond" or "Baby Shark Tank". Still, the strongest thing about this was Elon and the rest of the casts' strong commitment to this premise (much like the similar Jurassic Park trial sketch from the Donald Glover/Childish Gambino episode which was actually stronger than this one for a few reasons). The weakest parts of this were the all Toad jury and the reading of the Wario Wiki page. The ending with the sexts followed by Pete bringing back his Gov. Cuomo alongside Kenans' Mario was the best possible note to end this on. When Pete first walked out I thought he genuinely missed a cue until I realized he was probably taking a second to keep himself from breaking so he could get his lines out. Other than that, the only other part of this that really grabbed me was Princess Peach since I was trying to figure out if she was being played by Chloe or Grimes. The nose prosthetic and the voice gave me zero hints but the hands and Grimes' promise on Instagram of her "acting debut" on Instagram (which I would NOT have seen if it weren't for a certain Twitter mutual of mine, you know who you are) were a dead giveaway that it was her. Speaking of which, did anyone else get any flashbacks to around the time it first became public that Grimes and Musk were an actual couple a few years ago when there was an actual "Italian Elon Musk" joke Twitter account that got suspended and then a new "French Elon Musk" joke Twitter account popped up? C+

Mars Needs Chad - I was worried that *this* would be the sketch meant to stroke Elons' Ego Trump 2015 style until it became obvious this was the Chad pretape we were promised. Honestly, this wasn't my favorite "Chad" outing but I did like the Miley scene as well as Chad's "death" (yeah, he's gotta be leaving in two weeks, right?) Elon was fine here. He obviously had no problem just playing himself in a pretape and he *did* acknowledge the discourse surrounding his planned Mars trips killing everybody who goes on one. C+

Pearl River Gang - As much as I like seeing three segments in a row where Musk pokes fun at himself, this was a little too clunky and heavy handed for me. If they were going to devote a full non-Update sketch to making fun of Musk to his face, they should've focused on one thing and not tried to cram pretty much every common criticism of Musk into one, unfocused sketch (especially since those were kind of weak ways for him to address his Covid denialism and submarine cave "rescue" controversy which is almost a three year old story by now). Also, the ending being a tribute song for Kyle's character didn't work for me. Just about the only thing that did work for me in this sketch was Beck's "that's not how money works" speech but that was already covered by Musk himself on Update. D+

Now, for my updated rankings for this season…

1. Timothee Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (12.12.2020)
2. Regé-Jean Page/Bad Bunny (2.20.2021)
3. Issa Rae/Justin Beiber (10.17.20)
4. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.20)
5. Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa (12.19.2020)
6. Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters (11.7.2020)
7. Regina King/Nathaniel Rateliff (2.13.2021)
8. Daniel Kaluuya/St. Vincent (4.3.2021)
9. Maya Rudolph/Jack Harlow (3.27.2021)
10. Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers (2.6.2021)
11. Elon Musk/Miley Cyrus (5.8.2021)
12. Carey Mulligan/Kid Cudi (4.10.2021)
13. Nick Jonas (2.27.2021)
14. John Krasinski/Machine Gun Kelly (1.30.2021)
15. Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion (10.3.20)
16. Adele/H.E.R. (10.24.20)
17. Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen (12.5.20)
18. Bill Burr/Jack White (10.10.20)

Well, when the bar is this low, it couldn't be hard to clear it. Next week, Keegan Michael-Key becomes the first ever MADTV alum to host SNL! Now, THIS is a qualified host who certainly deserves to be on the show given his vast experience in comedic and dramatic acting! I had figured Keegan would eventually host someday, but pre-Covid I would have thought it would’ve taken him getting a few more dramatic roles (especially a *lead* since he seemed to be getting a lot of supporting roles outside of Key & Peele and that starring in "The Big Sick" is what finally got Kumail Nanjiani his hosting gig) but I heard SNL was struggling to book hosts throughout this season (obviously) and Keegan was available after having just filmed the upcoming Apple TV+ series "Schmigadoon" with Cecily. Now, they're obviously both the leads in that (and it hasn't been released so no one has seen enough of to say just how dramatic or comedic it really is yet) and Lorne might be producing it so I think it's at least safe to say Cecily played a big factor in getting Keegan booked as a host (what is possibly her second to last episode). None of that is a knock on Keegan either. Again, I think he's a great performer and he's definitely the host this show needs right now. His presence is definitely going to make up Elon Musk hosting for me. See you then!