John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This may have been far from Mulaneys' best episode (or the best episode of this season) but it was the only episode he hosted that can hold a candle to either of his first two. Some of the recurring premises of the night weren't from his previous episodes (and the ones that were somehow felt like they had LESS business being there) but a lot of the original material was fairly solid (even if a lot of the material may have been buoyed by expected cameos). Unfortunately, while the newer players got plenty of airtime (except for Aristotle who seemed to have been shut out of everything but the goodnights) they all got supporting roles rather than one of the big showcases Mulaney was known for helping previous first year cast members get. Still, I was just glad to see SNL finally take some baby steps away from the established formula of a Mulaney hosted episode. In a couple of instances, I was glad to have accurately been able to predict certain things that SNL would do for the betterment of this week's show. Let me explain as the first one is coming right up.

Ukrainian Chorus Dumka Of New York - Well, I'm glad to see SNL give us the exact type of cold open this week warranted instead of trying to mine a comedic take out of a burgeoning war. I'll just leave it at that without rating this and move on.

Monologue - I liked the January 6th reference and the stories about his intervention, his son's pacifiers and his finding out his "drug dealer" was just a painter. Other than that, I'll just say I'm glad this monologue wasn't TOO much of an introspective "deep dive". B-

Monkey Judge - Now, THIS is the exact type of sketch I was hoping to see again in a Mulaney hosted episode! This felt the most like something else that Mulaney tried to write 12 years ago and didn't get on (although I have hust found out that is not the case and that the PDD dudes wrote this makes it even better!) It really leaned into how absurd and abstract it was and I also liked how they gave Melissa a lead role (and JAJ a supporting role) right at the top of the show. I also liked how Cecily and Mulaney fully committed to deadpanning the sheer absurdity of it. It's funny how they do this sketch just mere hours after I posted a joke in the That Week In SNL Discord server about how if they were actually going to do another TCM Classics they should finally do a Planet Of The Apes one and get Dana Gould to cameo as Dr. Zaius! (Hanging With Dr Z is a really great webseries on YouTube by the way. Check it out if you haven't). B+

Blue River - I'm not sure we needed such a blatant retread of a sketch Cecily already did with Seth Rogen way back in her own second season and I'm not sure pretaping it with John, Heidi or Chloe really added to it. Still, if this was done as sort of a late birthday/early going away present for Cecily (similar to the reason I suspect LCD Soundsystem was booked tonight for Colin) then I'll take it. C-

Restaurant - Well, it almost seemed like I spoke too soon about unnecessary sketch retreads (remember the Aziz Ansari sketch from the season 43 Will Ferrell episode? Think hard, you might have repressed those memories) but at least this somewhat improved on that formula by raising the stakes, broaching one subject with multiple different takes and providing more cartoonish reactions like Kenans' tie curl, Kate's elevator head and Mulaneys' tooth pull. C+

PDD: Dope Variant - It wasn't ideal of the show to do two back to back Covid related sketches but at least this one just provided some silly, absurdist escapist fun with one always welcome fun and benign cameos (I don't see Roker getting canceled anytime soon) and gave Sarah a noticable role. I did chuckle at Martin Herlihy testing positive for anal worms and Pokémon suddenly being real. B+

Back (Yet Again) To The Five Timers Club - Well, THIS was obviously the high point of the show! It's good to get at least a brief glimpse of what COULD’VE been in Rudds' episode two months ago as well as some meta self reflection on the silliness if the whole five timer legacy. First of all, I liked how they transitioned OUT of the PDD short into this (and I'm sure PDD felt proud of themselves for finding a way around the obligatory applause break cameos that would have normally gotten them "cut for time".) Second of all, I liked how after bringing out Bergen, Martin and Fey (who's certainly one to talk about wriyung things that aged terribly on this show) they actually gave us two genuinely UNexpected cameos in Eliott Gould (who I suppose I only failed to expect because it took me until Mulaney mentioned it to remember he was on Mulaneys' self titled 2014-15 failed FOX sitcom) and of course...the one, the only...CONAN FUCKING O'BRIEN after not even having touched NBC with a 50 foot pole in 12 years (and even this came being nearly ruined by a camera miscue!) Apparently, all it took to get him back was this specific group of people! Not only did he show up tonight, he actually bought his good old fun and loose talk show energy with that line flub and "drinky-drinky" motion! It's like the show decided to make ALL our collective dreams come true by making every single person's wildest guesses as to who tonight's planned cameos were going to be (after that info was strongly hinted at, of course, by a source several people have already thanked me NOT to mention for their own personal reasons in the past month). Kudos! A-

Update was shockingly short and surprisingly sweet this week. As expected, Che had the lion's share of better Russia material (I mean, as lightly as it seemed they broached the subject anway) although I did like Colin's Chernobyl/Weinstien joke (as well as his Prince Andrew/Medina Spirit/Sister Sister jokes). Che's Luke Cage/lead paint joke came out of nowhere but his delivery really sold it for me. I was just thinking about which cast members I'd like to see do commentaries this week until I realized I'd much rather see no commentaries than run the risk of seeing Pete address the Kanye situation (I sure hope that fears for his own safety regarding THAT aren't the reason he skipped tonight's show). B-

Subway Churro - Okay, this HAS to be the weakest of Mulaneys obligatory Broadway medelies so far. This had the most "running on fumes feeling to it out if anything else that aired in the whole show. The songs felt barely threaded together by anything at all. I'm glad they included Melissa here but I'm sure she has some very mixed feelings about it. Doing a parody of "If I Were A Rich Man" called "If I Were A Mole Man" (at least Kenan and Mulaney acted the hell out of their parts and if you squint you could probably make out JAJ and Sarah as rabbinical backup dancers there) and Kyle's Evan Hansen along with Aidys' Jesus Christ Superstar numbers were a bit too much of a stretch for me. I did like Alex's number more for his apparent invention of cardboard pixelation than the song itself. Still, at least this made good use of Redd, Kate, Punkie and Dismukes though. Cecily seemed to be who this entire sketch was written for and her presence really got me through this so I'll let her slide. I suppose it's neat that they managed to squeezed in LCD Soundsystem as the Guardian Angels into this even though they did nothing for me. C-

Nickelodeon: Behind The Slime - Okay, this was just more chaotic fun. Redd pretty much expertly carried this along with Alex and the cast members playing kids were very fun. Chris in particular played off his mustache difficulties well. Cecily and Melissa had fun banter but Mulaney, Sarah, Kyle, Mikey and Chloe (even if it seems like there was a genuine unplanned mishap there) were the best at reacting to slime. Could've done without Aidys' part though. B+

Robinson Family Reunion (Cupid Shuffle) - Nice to see the return of a low key sketch from Mulaneys' second episode that I genuinely liked the first time. Even if this one seemed sorely lacking compared to the first, it was fun seeing this format in a Mulaney episode again (as well as getting to see Punkie continue to make up for lost time). The Soul Train Line gag was a little predictable but Mulaneys' performance sold it. B-

Now, for my updated rankings of each of Mulaneys' episodes do far...

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett (3.2.2019)
2. John Mulaney/Jack White (3.14.2018)
3. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
4. John Mulaney/David Byrne (2.29.2020)
5. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.2020)

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

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
7. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
8. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
9. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
10. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
11. Ariana DeBose/Bleachers (1.15.2022)
12. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
13. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that show set out to prove that if you set your expectations at the floor it's almost impossible for them to NOT be exceeded! Next week, Oscar Issac makes his hosting debut. I've seen enough of him to know he would work well as a host. Good to see Charli XCX  get to make up for lost time as well. See you then!

Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)

Okay, here's my review. While this show seemed quite uneven, it was still the strongest show overall of 2022 so far. Willem Dafoe gave it his all and certainly deserves to be a return host. Still, with the way they used him as host he couldn't quite have the strong impact on the show as we'd hope. He felt more underused than misused but he made sure to give it his all in every role. Speaking of, it looks as if every member of the cast got some screentime tonight. Everyone who was virtually absent from the first two shows if the year (minus Cecily who is still on Broadway) got to make up for lost time. Anyway, it was a pretty straight forward show, so let's get right to it.

Russian Disinformation Breifing - Did they just not have any real take on the whole Russia/Ukraine situation but still feel the need to base this week's cold open on it so they just said "fuck it" and decided to just throw a bunch of dated memes at the wall to see what sticks? Well, they let Ego, Alex and JAJs Biden anchor it with some small assists from Kenan (even if this cold open started its' downhill slide once he uttered the word "cheugy"). Good to see Chloe get some non-impression character role for once but I wasn't all that crazy about her character here. I thought seeing Sarah and Aristotle thrown in as random TikTokers was a nice touch. This is not the right episode for this type of cold open. This type of cold open made sense for the Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey episode but not for this one as neither Willem Dafoe nor Katy Perry (at this point) really scream "shameless ratings grab/how do you do fellow kids" to me. Still, this was a slight step up from the previous week's cold open. C+

Monologue - It was fun to see Willem Dafoe poke fun at his own manic, overly expressive acting style but Mikey and Aidy kinda killed the momentum. Wisconsin accent based humor has never worked that much for me on SNL. C-

Tennants Association Meeting - Well, this retread of the PDD penned school board meeting was a better way to get this show off on the right foot. Nice to see Chloe actually being used in another non-impression/non-wacky voice role and that Alex is still being used to co-anchor these. Punkie may have had her most meta moment on the show at this point. Good to see she has beat Covid and can return to the show. Good to see they remembered that Melissa and Aristotle are both still on the show as well and that Pete showed up for the live show this week. Sarah, Ego, Kyle, Dismukes, JAJ and Willem were highlights. Good to see Mikey has a singing voice that matches Bowens'. Heidi and Kenan were also there. At this point, I think Aidys' Jan Krang has worn out her welcome. I even liked the execution of Kate's gag (despite the huge Mary Gross as Dr Ruth vibes I got from it). B+

Now I'm Up - Nice to get another R&B Jam from Chris and Kenan. Good to see they let Willem and Heidi get in on it too. Chris' yearbook photo was a highlight for me. Sure, this seemed more like it was going for "relatable" than "truly funny" but the performances really elevated it. This may not have been the best week for a sketch to have the mere suggestion that one should pay for Spotify let alone use if for free, though. B+

Badminster Dog Show - I got strong 1989 Glenn Close Mad Dog Show vibes from this. It's not a great inversion of the last couple of years of live Dog filled sketches on SNL where the animals are far more reasonably well behaved than their (in some cases instantly defied) character descriptions. Still, Chris casually strolled away with this and Willem performed the hell out of this part. Good to see Punkie, Andrew, Melissa and Chloe still not being underused tonight. C-

Nugenix - This seemed a little one note and juvenile for me at first but then it went picked up once Kyle said "boner stuff" Melissa walked in causing loud, robotic elections from all the non-Mikey men. B-

Update felt a little uneven. Che had the lion's share of better material. I liked Josts' Full House/McDonald's/Hard Baja Blast jokes (his delivery was what sold that McDonald's joke for me). I didn't care much for Aidy and Bowens' trend forecasters. I liked the "men's trends" and Che's ending all right. As telegraphed as his part felt, Che really had fun with it. Peyton Manning giving us overexcited Madden-like color commentary on season 2 seemed like a paper thin premise but he did his goddamndest to sell me on this. C-

Beauty And The Beast - OK, I think I spoke a little too soon two weeks ago when I referred to Sound Of Music as an overparodied movie on SNL. Thankfully, this was short because it seemed like way too much buildup to far too little payoff on top of being a real waste of Willem Dafoe. At least this sketch made good use of Punkie. D+

PDD: Meet Connor - As great as it is to see these guys NOT get something cut this week, the premise of Martin Herlihy suddenly being friends with a random ten year old didn't seem like it had much potential but this really got going once John Higgins got into it. The slo-mo heimlich felt a little telegraphed but the fact that it was scored to a cover of that Nickelback song from the first Spiderman movie made it much funnier. B+

Good Day Columbus - I wondered why this retread of "Invest Twins" and "Danny Bangs Animals" was put so late in the show until Bowen misread the title of Willems' book. As much as I didn't think we needed to see a third one of these, I appreciate that they committed to the gag to the point where the executed the "breathing technique" in there. C-

Office Song - This gave me flashbacks to police station "stomp" digital short from season 37. Usually, that's not a great sign but this turned out to be the closest thing to the "SNL just lets Willem Dafoe just go insane" vibes people were hoping for the whole night. I wish they'd cut a bit more to the point early on because a lot of this sketch felt like it was bring overexplained. B+

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

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
6. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
7. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
8. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
9. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
10. Ariana DeBose/Bleachers (1.15.2022)
11. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
12. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, SNL finally managed to somewhat find its' footing in the new year. A month from now, SNL will return from its Winter Olympic induced hiatus with John Mulaney joining the five timers club. Ugh. I was hoping Mulaney and SNL would be taking a mutual break from each other this season but I understand he does have a standup tour to prepare for in a few months. Plus, he seems to be quite the devoted father lately so at least he appears to have his personal life somewhat in order. Let's just hope he gives us something different from the standard paint-by-numbers Mulaney format his episodes have fallen into. See you soon!

Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)

Okay, here's my review. As with a lot of returning cast members coming back to host (especially ones from this particular era) Will Fortes' sheer presence was the best thing about this episode. Still, he comes off as such an anomaly among returning alumni hosts as I've never seen an alumni host who blends in so well with the cast he is supporting while simultaneously seeming stuck our of time from his own era. Nonetheless, it was certainly very gratifying to see him finally get his long deserved shot at hosting more than a full decade after having left the show. This episode was more consistent than last week. I'd definitely say Forte saved a lot of stuff but he may not have been enough on his own to completely cover up some of the issues the show had with writing and current cast usage. Cecily appears to still be on her off-Broadway engagement. This explains her absence from the show bur it doesn't quite do the same for Melissa, Andrew or Punkie. Anyway, this show was alos very oddly spaced and timed. Since I reviewed all of this episodes obligatory runner in once piece, it certainly felt like there were far fewer sketches than there actually were. Thus, this was a very straight forward episode to review, so let's get right to it.

Ingraham Angle - Well, this certainly wasn't the ideal cold open for this episode (especially after one of the bright spots of last weeks' episode being how they showed they were making progress on the cold opens being something besides just a checklist of everything that happened in the news that week with a random Fox News pundit show being used as the framing device). I appreciate Pete seemongly giving it his all as Novak Djokovic but I'm so unfamiliar with why he's in the news it was pretty much white noise to me. Although I don't know if it quite makes up for Cecilys' Broadway induced absence preventing her from being able to play Judge Pirro again on the show right now, Egos' snarky take on Candace Owen's was the only thing that stood out to me (as much as I know how much it's going to make some of Twitter insuffrable for the next day or two). I couldn't even get that excited to see JAJ as Trump again, but I did like his Tiger King 2 joke how he worked a random Hillary Duff/HIMYM reference into his Wordle. Also, thanks for attempting to explain to me what Wordle is without really explaining what Wordle is to me at all. I also liked "missionary" being at the end of Kates list of thing liberals are trying to take away and "Covid Negs" bring another Handey-esque sponsor. Really, the irony of this cold open is that a Tim Calhoun cameo would actually fit well here and be the only thing that could save it but it would also prove those right who said there's too many real life GOP politicians that are basically just real life versions of Calhoun to be funny anymore. C-

Monologue - Even just as a setup to a forced Wiig cameo, (guess my gut was right, huh? still, I liked the callback to him being in her 2016 monologue) I love the whole tone of Fortes' monologue being "bitter? who's bitter?" in regards to him being as underappreciated as he was on the show and thus the absolute LAST if his castmates to finally come back to host because I hadn't remembered until now how well he pulled that type of humor off. I appreciated the MacGruber season 2 false alarm but honestly Season 2 of MacGruber on Peacock is something I would have some mixed feelings abour right now. I mean, I've only been able to see the first episode so far but I liked it considerably less than I liked the movie but maybe I should reserve judgement until I've managed to see the entire series. My one complaint would be that I feel the Willem Dafoe cameo would've had the intended effect if Dafoe hadn't ALREADY been announced as next week's host, but the way that joke was written worked and pairing it with that audience poll helped. B-

MacGruber - As predictable as it seems that MacGruber would become an anti-vax/anti-mask Qanoner who naturally gets infected with a version of Covid thst has somehow mutated with his existing STIs along with horse worms, I have to say it at least fits the character given what little I've seen of MacGruber this week (again, in my rewatch of the movie and having only been able to see the first episode of the Peacock series so far). Plus, they did three whole shorts based on the 2008 financial crisis (without that seeming as much like a checklist of buzzwords as this one) so this wouldn't be the first time they've at least semi successfully tried to shoehorn in topical humor into Macgrubers' template. Hell, it didn't even disprove my theory of this possibly having been taped well in advance of this week. While I did like that they were able to air the third one despite running short on time, part of me didn't feel like the third one wasn't necessary for anything besides showing MacGruber get more fully into Qanon just to show that wasn't supposed to just be a throwaway reference tacked onto the end of the third one just before the explosion. That didn't really go anywhere. I did like the random callback to Fortes' barbecue hospital sketch with Amy Adams as Ellen Pompeo from 2008 though. Overall, I'd say as telegraphed and flat as this felt Fortes' performance (with some support for Wiig and Phillippe) really saved it. B-

Kid Klash - The only real complaint I have about this sketch was that I wish it didn't take as long as it did for the basic conceit to be revealed to be "Forte berates this child played by Aidy in an inappropriately chipper manner". Thankfully, this sketch revealed that specific thing to be another performance I didn't remember he had or that I wanted to see until they showed it to us. B-

Cinema Classics - Well, the premise of a "Gaslight" parody alone in 2022 seemed quite shaky (y'know, what with the term being appropriately used to describe what certain powerful men in America had been doing at first a few years ago until it started getting overused to the point of being misused and all) but at least its' only purpose was for Forte to be absurd. Besides that, this was a strange sketch for Forte to be used in given how he was famously a non-impressionist on the show. Still, when I first saw that PBS logo, my heart jumped because I thought we were getting another Lawrence Welk sketch (well, with Wiig in the building it was a distinct possibility but thankfully this wasn't that). I did chuckle at the "nine inches" joke at the end, though. C-

Hotel Room Threesome - Thankfully, this was really the first time all night Forte got to play a classic sleazy Forte-esque character. I waa honestly surprised to find that John Solomon and/or Akiva Schaffer did NOT guest write this with Forte this week in addition to the MacGruber shorts since this is really the first non-MacGruber sketch of the night to feel like it was straight out of his era (mostly due to Fortes' performance himself). Not even every dreaded Mikey sketch trope bring rolled into one (what with him overexplaining the exact way he's being cucked in a misguided attempt to save his apparent marriage to Heidi's character and all) could take away from the pure undiluted Forte-ness of this sketch to me. B+

Update got off to a strong start with two shockingly meta jokes from each anchor followed by solid CRT/infertility/Prince Andrew/Batman & Robin/hamster/guitar/dino skull/world's oldest person jokes. Still, they were slightly uneven (Che's goldfish/Jon Voight jokes seemed a little too forced for me and Josts Kyle Rittenhouse joke was a rare instance of the setup being funnier than the punchline and weirdly his U2 joke was delivered with an inflection that made him sound almost exactly like That Week In SNLs' own Andrew "Don't Call Me Andy" Dick). It was nice to see Bowens' Chinese trade daddy again but this installment felt too unfocused (wouldn't be the only time I would have to use this phrase to describe one of tonight's Update commentaries) in the specific sense that it seemed like they were more focused on making Chen Biao an unlikable villain the audience isn't supposed to side with (which is honestly a strange change of pace for this character) and cramming in a bunch of current social media references. While I liked getting to see Sarah Sherman on Update again, I do wish they would let her do more than just set up Jost to be humiliated with some small assists from Che. I did appreciate the queer-baiting/implied homophobia/body hair shaming angle she took this time. While I'm not sure we needed to see Alexs' boat guy tonight (even as an excuse to bring out Pete to reference their actual buying a boat together) I do appreciate the conceit of having one cast member in character bring out one cast member as themself as its' not something you see often on Update or SNL in general. Speaking of Pete, while he did have the best lines in this (including that other meta moment) waa he a actually drinking from a brown bagged Foster's can the whole time he was onscreen ir was that a prop? Oh well, even if Lorne was somehow OK with him visibly getting very hammered live in air, it was nice to see him looking like he was enjoying himself. Another Forte appearance might have been welcome here but, oh well. B-

Clancy T. Bachleratt and Jackie Snad Sing Songs About Spaceshops, Toddlers, Model T Cars And Jars Of Beer...Again - I was probably the only active SNL fan on social media who was NOT expecting Forte to bring this back but I guess with Wiig actually being in the building tonight it was a no-brainer, huh? Anyway, I suppose Kenan being the pitchman in this one was what helped me get more into this one than I've been during Fortes' era in the cast. I usually like sketches where Forte screams insane nonsense but for some reason, THIS is one I could barely get into or appreciate until tonight. Honestly, the funniest thing about this sketch to me was how they had Forte introduce the second Måneskin performance while still in that wig and baldcap paired with one of Fortes' regular sweaters. B-

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

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
6. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
7. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
8. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
9. Ariana DeBose/Bleachers (1.15.2022)
10. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
11. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, this fit all but one or two of my personal expectations and nothing more. Next week, Willem Dafoe makes his hosting debut before the show goes on a month long break for the 2022 Winter Olympics. This is an intriguing choice. Dafoe is another actor seemingly long overdue to host the show. It's about time the show had another bizarro character actor host after we got Rami Malek. That might be the thing to give this second half of season 47 the shot in the arm it needs (since, again, Malek did the same thing for the part of the season he hosted in). See you then!

Ariana DeBose/Bleachers (1.15.2022)

Okay, here's my review. While this was far from the best episode of the season, it was perhaps the second or third most comforting one of the season behind Sudeikis and Malek. Ariana DeBose as host reminded me a little bit of Kevin Nealons' "protest" from the Andrew Dice Clay episode. She wasn't the most underused host ever but given what she bought to the table (on terms of performing experience and enthusiastic love for the show) she really stood out when she was used well. She was really the exact host SNL needed to ring in a new calendar year. She fit in quite well with the show (even though that isn't exactly a hard thing for SNL to make happen given Arianas' Broadway background and how many big theater kids work at the show now) but still it's comforting to see her contribute to SNLs' first live show produced after a massive Omicron outbreak in New York ended up canceling an entire live show they had planned for their last week of the previous year. Cecily is currently doing an off-Broadway show and Aidy, Aristotle and Punkie weren't in the building for reasons neither of them have yet fully explained but other than that, everyone got some screen time. In particular, Chris Redd, Kate McKinnon and Mikey Day seem to have dominated the show with the occasional assists from Heidi, Alex, Kenan, Sarah, JAJ, Bowen and Andrew. Anyway, there isn't a ton to break down this week since the whole show was pretty straightforward so let's just get right to it, shall we?

Into The Biden-verse - Well, I'm glad they're making good progress on these cold opens by having JAJ anchor them once again with minimal help from the stronger supporting cast (Heidi, Bowen, Ego & Dismukes). Also, at least they're letting JAJ have fun with a premise that (based on his past Twitter videos) he probably co-wrote (if he didn't just write this himself) making them focused on one overall topic instead of just cramming everything that happened in the last week in there. Fortunately, this cold open was based on one thing that happened last month. Hell, I wasn't even sure I wanted to like Pete's cameo but they pulled it off. I did chuckle a bit at the unknown Spiderman costumed extra popping into frame at the end. C+

Monologue - Well, I am glad they still tried somewhat to keep these monologues personal (even if this seemed way more personal to Kate than to Ariana but hey, I'd rather see something that's this exact level of personal from Kate at this point that see her play another male politician again even if I felt they could've done much more than just Ariana just straight up introducing Kate so song straight showtunes from West Side Story with her which felt a little lazy). I'm not too crazy about them going back to musical monologues after just an epic non-stop run of straight solo "monologue" monologues, but given this hosts' extensive Broadway experience (and from what I've heard, the show making itself cut two live sketches for Covid protocol reasons and thus having to stretch a bit further to fill tine) this makes perfect sense. B-

NBA on TNT - Well, I'll say the made the absolute most out of a rather unambitious premise. It's always great to see Kenans' Charles Barkley again. He and Bowens' Yao Ming provided my biggest laughs in this. Hell, between Pete in the cold open and Bowen in this they're reay getting some good use out if that unnecessary voice modulator, huh? Heidi and Mikeys' natural chemistry added a lot to this and Ariana, Alex and Chris handled their supporting roles well. B+

Urkel - I figured the trailer for the new gritty reboot of the Fresh Prince would be something the show could parody this week. I could pretty much immediately tell that this was going to be a Family Matters parody (and possibly not the most well informed one, by the way but I've barely watched that show myself so who am I to judge?) from the get go (the fact that this is at least the third tine I've seen Chris Redd play this exact character). I wanted to like this more but it seemed too totally inconsistent. Chris and Ego really sold the self-serious drama of it WAY better than Kenan did (who didn't even bother to update his take on Officer Carl Winslow the way Chris and Ego did the same for their takes on Urkel and Laura). Still, Kenan was one of the few things this had going for it. I dunno, I guess the writing left a little something to be desired (even the fake negative reviews). C-

Formal Emporium - First off, I'm very glad to see Pete (channeling the absolute fuck out of Sandler) and Sarah Squirm in the roles that otherwise would've gone to Kate and Aidy here. I wasn't quite on board with Dismukes odd character suddenly bring the main focus until he and Ariana started revealing more gross out details about him. I suspected Sarah Squirm may have at least cowritten this (for obvious reasons) but I was actually a little surprised to find out it was mostly the PDD boys at the helm here. It didn't quite go at their usual breakneck speed but it escalated just as ridiculously as the rest of their stuff. This may have been my favorite live sketch of this whole episode. B+

Mayor Eric Adams Press Conference - Hmm, this seemed a little too NYC-centric for me. Ariana and Chris were great in this. It seemed tailor made for the two of them specifically but they seemed to flub some crucial lines in this which threw off the timing of this. Other than that, they performed the hell out of this. Even if not much else landed with me (besides the running gag of Mayor Adams saying he's been a cop for an increasingly ridiculous length of time), it's great to see Chris Redd having such a strong night and the show writing something relevant that played to his strengths even if it may have devolved into pure word salad near the end. At this was a nice modern update on the formula that previously gave us overly long direct to camera press conference sketches and cold opens anchored by Baldwins' Trump and McCarthys' Spicer. This could've used some editing but hey, this must have been the second sketch of the night they had to strech out to cover the absence of two sketches. B-

Update got off to a bit of a slow start, but picked up around the oath keeper/moron jokes. As much as I am still wondering how this could've been different if it wrre Melissa instead, Chloes' Elmo commentary was adorable even if after having seen the clip I'm still not sure why the hell the Sesame Street writers would essentially treat Elmo like they were writing him as the Larry David character in a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" parody much less why it became actual discourse for a whole week. The escalation of it was perfect. I also loved the reference to Patton Oswalts' awkward (but still well thought out, honestly) Instagram apology for merely taking a photo with Dave Chappelle at the wrongest possible time in either one of their careers, the conceit of Chloe still having a stage hand under the desk controlling her inarticulate puppet arms with sticks and the additional clock punch of SNL acknowledging how they announce future host/musical guest announcements on social media on air. C+

Not Yet Another SNL Sound Of Music Parody - I was alright with the conceit of just breaking down the lyrics of "Do Re Mi" (boy, JAJ must've just been backstage just shaking through this, huh?) and Kenan just 80s Weird Al-ing the hell out of "Edelweiss" and any excuse to give Chris, Sarah and Dismukes more screen time is fine with me. Other than that, I'm not sure why the show needed to return to this well other than Ariana and Kate having bonded over showtunes throughout the week. C+

Sapphic Lecture - Wow, this must've been the other thing Kate and Ariana bonded over, huh? Yeah, as I suspected this turned out to be lived in/well informed lesbian word salad as I suspected but hey, at lesst this was WAY more competently written than a sketch like this would've been under Tina Feys' or Seth Meyers' era as head writers. At least Mikey added a nice button onto the end of this. D+

Longhorn Steakhouse Kitchen (Lurr) - Wow, I was a little quick to call that last sketch "word salad", huh? (Lurr). Pretty ironic that a sketch set in a frigging STEAKHOUSE if all places can be described as "word salad", right (lurr)? Anyway (lurr), at least this gave us Alex, JAJ and Dismukes (who I suspect wrote this lurr because I got HEAVY "Bayou Benny" vibes off it lurr) giving us some fun character work (lurr). Still, I am left wondering why everyone in this sketch talked like they were in Louisiana when they clearly had established that this sketch was set in Texas (lurr). B-. Lurr.

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

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
6. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
7. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
8. Ariana DeBose/Bleachers (1.15.2022)
9. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
10. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, SNL certainly shook off the cobwebs and eneted the new year, didn't they? Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one excited for Will Fucking Forte to make his long awaited hosting debut next week! All it took was a global pandemic and MacGruber becoming a streaming series he could plug, but still it's long overdue. Strangely, since I was thinking about something John Mulaney said on Seth's show last year about the year he got hired and how he couldn't be a cast member (despite having now hosted four times in a span of three years) because he couldn't do what each repertory member of the 08-09 cast could do, I'd like to add one extra thing. With Forte now scheduled to host, this now makes 08-09 the first season of SNL where every cast member has hosted (aside from that year's featured players and the two remaining repertory players who are still currently actively working on the show on some way in 2021). See you then!

Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Given the afternoon's announcements about how the Covid situation in New York had ended up drastically affecting plans for tonight's show, I think they really made the right call turning this into an entirely prerecorded clip show with as little cast and crew in the studio as possible in the studio. I appreciate that there was some new material that was mostly pre taped either earlier in the week or on the home base stage hours before scheduled airtime to serve as wraparounds introducing each clip. Nice to know that they could walk a fine lone between canceling/not canceling the show and putting the audiences' fears that much of the cast and crews' health being seriously at risk to rest. Much like the first "At Home" Special from last spring (which is something I have mixed feelings about the show going back to on the new year) this is an episode I had a hard time reviewing since it was put together under such dire circumstances last minute. Still, I was intrigued by such a drastically different show than what we've been used to getting from modern SNL so if they're going to plug away as best they can, I might as well follow their lead. I'm not going to grade any sketches (as that wouldn't feel quite right) but this review rather will be a collection of my real time reactions rather than a polished critical review. Here we go.

Five Timers Cold Open - Hmm...pre taped guest cameos, a five timers club ceremony...I'm impressed by the way they were able to give us both what we were expecting/hoping for and do us one better here. It's nice to know Hanks and Rudds' presences this week weren't completely wasted. The only thing I really liked about Steve Martin's cameo was Martin Shorts' cameo within Steve's cameo. Was that filmed on the set of "Only Murders In The Building"? Still, it's good to see they could at least give us a stripped down version of what Paul's Five Timers monologue would've been (maybe give or take a few set changes and guest caneos). It was great to see right up front that a) they really were concerned with doing as little of the show "live" as they could get away with for the sake of the cast & crew's safety and b) the show was going to use this as an opportunity to wildly break from its usual format.

Casey HomeGoods - This was little repetitive and formulaic for my tastes, but I appreciate the whole "misguided attempt at something heartwarming" vibe they went for here. I did like the "scissors to cut holes in condons" and "weird opinions on Israel" lines and this did work much better than it should've in the absence of a live audience.

Digital Short: Dick In A Box - Well, I have technically reviewed this recently on the Saturday Night Vibes podcast so I'll just direct you there for my thoughts on that. Anyway, I have mixed feelings on the Tina/Kenan intro to this. I liked Kenans' "Mighty Ducks Forever, bitches" line but Tina's blatant mislead kind of annoyed me. I suppose it was unrealistic of me to expect some kind of compilation of footage of Tinas' cast skating on the rink with commentary from Tina and Kenan, but...oh, well.

An Evening With Pete - I loved the idea of Pete becoming a sad cross between Jake Lamotta and Joe Piscopo 40 years from now. I also appreciated the meta-ness of Jost being represented by a malfunctioning animatronic that catches fire (only those of us who regularly posted on the voy board would recognize that as being "meta"), Chloes' "who is the audience for this?" line during his bizarre Slim Shady/Warren Beatty rap, Mikey Day being the one in the audience yelling "do Chad!" (didn't he and Streeter cowrite those?) and of course, the whole "sex symbol" story at the end. I got a kick out of the MGK urn. I guess since he "IS Weed" he could've just OD'd on himself? Rudds' character really added the heart to this (wonder if he was based on any real writer friends of Pete?) and Pete did actually get a chance to show off his decent singing voice at the end. This was definitely the strongest of the new material tonight.

Santa And His Elves - Kenans' intro to this was very sweet and this sketch was alright. Good to see Bobby Moynihan again. Other than that, I don't have a whole lot more to say about this one, so I'll just move on.

Global Warming Christmas Special - YES!!!! I haven't seen this underrated gem in years and in spite of how sadly prescient it still is I personally would like to thank Tom Hanks for convincing the skeleton crew to dig this out of the vault and airing it unabridged!

Update was also pretty much what I expected. Che had some solid jokes and even some of Tinas' early jokes landed (she lost me after the Nintendo one but Che pretty much killed all of his). I guess whoever is my group chats' theorized that Tina MIGHT be able to do a better Update with this current writing staff rather than her own must be slightly vindicated then? I did like how Kenan, Hanks and Rudd were the sole "audience" members.

Christmas Socks - This was a little slow but I liked the special mildly heartwarming Kyle Mooney brand of absurdity behind it. Also, I'm glad they were still able to throw Charli XCXs' fans some kind of bone here (even if she had to wear a bird costume).

Steve Martin's Christmas Wish - This still holds up well and again, Rudds' intro made this more charming.

Short & McCartney - Kenan introduces another charmingly meta deep cut (from nine years ago which in SNL terms isn't that long ago) that is still fun to watch today. Too bad this got cut off before it could lead to Pauls' performance because that was an interesting transition. Still, Paul and Marty managed to sell the hell out of what little material they were given to work with here.

North Pole News Report - When I heard Tom Hanks mention Eddie Murphy as one of his favorite cast members, I got a little excited at the possibility of getting to see the Gumby Christmas Special from '82 (which I also covered on Saturday Night Vibes recently) but it was nice to see Eddie's strongest performance from one of the few non fan service holiday related sketches he did in his 2018 hosting episode (again, as chillingly prescient as it seems now).

Dan Charles: Adult One Direction Fan - This was just as funny as it was in 2013 and I loved Rudds' charmingly convoluted and long winded intro (mostly, because he turned out not to be setting us up for a Vogelchecks sketch).

NOW! That's What I Call Christmas - Tina's intro was short and to the point. This was another sketch my views on haven't changed much since 2013 (and since I remember not being that into it, I'll just move on).

TV Funhouse: Christmastime For The Jews - Tina's baby Santa suit/photo was very sweet (as little as it seemed to have to do with anything) and this claymation Smigeltoon is always fun (we would've bought this up on Saturday Night Vibes if our zoom meeting hadn't been cut off due to none of us having installed the latest update that prevents meetings of more than three people from being cut off after 40 minutes). Other than that, this was notable just for the novelty of seeing the TV Funhouse "come back here with my shooooow" animation overplayed onto a modern era host bumper.

Goodnights - Rudds' speech was very sweet and I liked hearing the "piano and sax only" acoustic version of the theme.

Now, for my updated rankings of this season (it'll be the only way I really "rank" this episode since I still have to see how it compares to the rest of the season)...

1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
6. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
7. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
8. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
9. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, if the show absolutely had to go on, that was really the best way it could have. I noticed there was no announcement of who will be the first host of 2022 but that's perfectly fine at this point since it's highly doubtful there will be any new SNL episodes in 2022 going forward. I just hope the shows' entire cast and crew just stays safe and well (and that goes for anyone out there reading this as well). Happy holidays!

Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)

Okay, here's my review. As expected, Billie Eillish turned out to be a fun double duty pop star host. She seemed to carry herself with a quiet confidence (in spite of herself as she would go in to explain to us) and bought the right level of energy to a very slightly uneven show. The writers seemed to know how to use her. Kate McKinnon finally returned and somehow managed to NOT take away anyone's airtime. No, not even Melissa suffered any side effects from both Kate and Billie (someone whom she previously impersonated) being in the building. Still, for some reason Cecily, Sarah, JAJ, Alex, Chris Pete were forced to take a backseat but at least this meant Andrew, Aristotle and Punkie got plenty of moments to shine! Anyway, let's break this down, shall we? It was a pretty straight forward show.

The Return Of The Mighty CDC Art Players - Well, they clearly just took the cold open from the Keegan Michael-Key episode in May, sprinkled in some Christmas references and added a few new impressions just to accommodate Kate's return from Australia this week. The Cuomo Bros. segment was the high point of this. Andrew Dismukes wouldn't have been my first choice to play Chris but he did well with the material they gave him. I did like seeing Cecilys' MTG again (especially since this turned out to be her only appearance of the entire show) and she had some good material as well. As a Coloradan (who is dangerously close to bring gerrymandering into her district) I have mixed feeling about Lauren Boebert finally making it on SNL. While I appreciated Chloes' take on her (even though Heidi would've been my first pick) I feel like they could've been a bit harder on her if they tried. As expected, Aidys' Cruz has just become white noise to me at this point. C+

Monologue - I liked seeing the more articulate side of Billie. She really seemed to have a clearly focused energy here. The jokes about her wardrobe were kinda iffy but I did like hearing about how she learned to accept herself and I did also get a kick out of her detailing how her mom killed her dreams of acting in a movie. Also, she was smart to realize early on "when in doubt, burn Colin Jost out of no where". C+

Silent Night Gallery - Right off the bat the things I liked the most about this sketch were how they gave Alex and Melissa prominent roles as the anchors of this sketch (wow, I guess they really DID break the trend of shutting Melissa out of the show completely when a celebrity she does an impression of hosts, huh? Finally!) and how much more a creative twist on the "rejected/damaged ornament parade" sketches we saw with Lucy Liu and Matt Damon. Honestly, it didn't really start to pick up steam until the first Kenan/Bowen segment. The Punkie/Miley card was pretty funny and a clever way to work in that understandable-this-week-and-hyped-up-a-bit-on-Twitter-once-it-happened-at-dress-yet-still-somehow-inexplicable cameo. Good for Billie for managing to be the strongest performer in the lead off sketch in her first episode as host. B-

TikTok Scrolling - I had some reservations about this at first but I'm glad I stuck with it the whole way and gave it a chance. At first, it seemed like Driver's License/Squid Game levels if "how do you do, fellow kids" trend/song/streaming show/ thing acknowledgment solely written to pander to the GenZ audience they expected Billie to bring in. Then, I noticed the rapid fire pacing of each individual TikTok gag and decided to along with it. Near the end, I noticed how about four or five of these TikTok characters turned into their own runners and were each given their own conclusion. Yes, this is one of the rare times in SNL history where a pretaped piece had its' mere existence justified by both it's pacing AND it's payoff! Naturally, Billie and Squirmy were very in their elements here. Kenan, Chris, Punkie, Heidi and Melissa were highlights. Pete, Ego, Bowen, Kate, Mikey and Aidys' material kinda washed over me but at least Aidy had the payoff of Kyle's character bring tied (no pun intended) into her storyline. Andrews' 2008 acoustic guitar rap covers were great. Chloes' growing conspiratorial insanity really grew on me. Finneas provided my first genuine laugh in this given the pacing and how certain cast members were just giving us their same old selves. Good to see JAJ being able to work his (improving) Homer Simpson impression into two consecutive episodes. Aristotle gave us a nice subversion of a tired old internet trend. Alexs' Dad getting in on this was a nice addition. B+

Hip Hop Nativity Pageant - Surprisingly, Heidi and Billie turned in my favorite performances in this with Chris a close third and Dismukes a slightly distant fourth and all the rest just set dressing. Billie was surprisingly well suited for her character (even though her and Heidi seemed like they were performing a script cowritten by Dan Licata and Stephen Castillo for Kristen Wiig last year that got cut at the table read). Honestly, the only problem I had with this one was its' serious lack of an appropriate ending. C+

Lonely Christmas - Hmm, I guess Kate returned slightly earlier in the week than I thought. Either way, while I thought most of Kates' "twists" were a little obvious and low stakes I did like the twist of Mikeys' entire "Rutger" character bring a victim of Kate's Munchausen by Proxy. The Next door tag wasn't too great a twist but I appreciated it nonetheless. C+

Update was a little uneven at first. Colins' Jussie Smollett jokes didn't quite land with me but pretty much every joke that followed did. The Russia/Ukraine and Anime/Omicron jokes were saved by Josts' delivery of it. The Vaccine cards and Cuomo jokes felt too much like retreads of the cold open to me and the Nunes joke should've just been cut. The Ghislane/Epstien and women doctors' jokes were pretty much saved by their audience reaction (or Che & Josts' response to the formers' lack thereof in the case of the former). Other than that, the rest of their jokes were alright. Punkies' commentary was so solid I'd say she immediately earned the right to giggle through the beginning and end of her debut as herself doing her own standup act at the Update desk. Hell, I'm just glad to see anyone added to the cast mid-Covid get any airtime this week. Speaking of which, Andrew's commentary gave me some odd deja vu but I loved how he sold the sheer ennui of it (even more than the dog was willing to...seriously, did NO ONE just think to turn the dogs' cart around? I mean, at this point, you might as well let a stage hand be visible on camera and at least TRY to create another "Inside The Beltway" style blooper. It might have actually behooved Dusmukes' tenure on the show). B+

The Night I Met Santa - Obviously, Billie seemed the most in her comfort zone here as the sketch as it was centered on her singing smooth jazz. She, Ego and Kate really sold the low key absurdity of it and Kenan as Santa was a nice touch. I'm actually shocked that PDD did NOT write this as it fit so well with their style of "awkward absurdity that lands just well enough for me personally" but at a much slower pace. B-

Kyle's Holiday - This is the second deja vu moment I've had tonight. I feel like we've seen numerous variations on the "Kyle tries and fails hard to awkwardly bond/make plans with his castmates outside the show". In fact, this reminded me the most of a piece that I think git cut from either last years' Dan Levy or Regina King episodes where Kyle tries to organize a Valentine's day party with the cast. Still, I did like how they changed things up by taking the turn towards "sweet and heartwarming then suddenly extremely dark and creepy with several 'Inside Baseball/fan service references for regular SNL viewers along the way." Good to see Kyles' trajectory on the show still going upwards when he's by himself. A-

Business Garden - Right off the bat, I appreciate how Kate is paired with Billie rather than Aidy. Even if they both still inexplicably broke, it's something a little different (and something we can give Billie a break for, I mean...c'mon). Aidy was put to slightly better use as the manic front desk pamphlet lady. Once again, Phineas comes out of nowhere with the best performance of the whole sketch. That was the only thing that stood out to me here since I feel like I've seen so many Anna Drezen penned bad local Kste commercials (and commercials parodying bad hotel amenities in general) that most of it kinda washed over me. C+

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Billie Eillish (12.11.2021)
5. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
6. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
7. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
8. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was just as much fun (and a bit more restrained) than I expected. Next week, Paul Rudd returns to host the final SNL of 2021 AND join the five-timers club. Even though his last episode was pretty forgettable without a big name musical guest seemingly there JUST to overshadow him (which at this point, I'd honestly say Charli XCX has about a 50/50 chance of doing depending on what she gets to do and how the show uses her) he will be a welcome comedic presence (especially at Christmas time). See you then (oh and speaking of Christmas, be sure and check out my guest appearance on the Saturday Night Vibes podcast where Greg, Emily and myself each break down our favorite Christmas sketches. Enjoy!)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/08ZuIXtynOfVsnTfAlEiyh?si=9J8Amyd2T-KZ0AAjyV4zFA&utm_source=copy-link

Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)

Okay, here's my review. Simu Liu bought the exact right energy to the show as host and was used more appropriately than his fellow MCU alum Jonathan Majors. Simu blended in with the cast better (which was probably more due to the writers knowing how to play to his strengths as an actor more). His presence allowed for a more consistent episode than last week, but the highs this week weren't as high (thankfully the few lows that were here weren't lower either). Everyone except Punkie and Kate (still absent) managed to get some screentime tonight. Kudos to Sarah for her notable upswing in character roles this week. Anyway, let's unpack this one, shall we?

Justice w/Judge Jeanine - Well, if they absolutely HAD to write a Kyle Rittenhouse cold open at least they knew the most appropriate framing device for it (and to clearly give Redd & (for once) Fineman) the best material here. I always like seeing Cecilys' Pirro and I especially liked her Robert Durst/"that's on you, dum dum"/build back better lines. Mikey had some OK material as the judge in the Rittenhouse case but he gave off such strong "Meyers/McKinney as Judge Ito" vibes that I could barely get past I've already pretty much memory holed his entire part. I appreciate them moving on from this subject but I didn't particularly care for Alex as Kevin McCarthy (big "how do you do, fellow kids" vibes from that incredibly dated reference to the bottle flip meme). I did appreciate seeing James Austin Johnsons' Trump return. The biggest laugh I got out of this was how he worked in references to the OG pre-HBO Max reboot of Gossip Girl (maybe one of the women writers who got to meet Blake Lively when she visited the show last week to support Taylor pitched on this?) and a Dua Lipa word search (I trust one of my Twitter followers who I hope is reading this right now can tell me if she actually does have a husband) into his freestyle ramblings. C+

Monologue - I was impressed by Simus' charisma and his ability to immediately get the audience on his side. He effortlessly carried this material and got the show off on the right foot. B+

Karaoke Recap - Kenan and Chloe (seriously though, how many different ways are we gonna have to hear her repurpose that Tiffany Trump/Miley Cyrus impression of hers?) did a nice job of moving this along but the various highlighted guests really made this for me. Each cast member contributed something funny here but the only ones I can mention individually here that stood out to me the most were Alex/Heidi and Melissa/JAJ (whose Homer Simpson impression works best if you just imagine him doing Season 1/Tracy Ullman era Homer). Sarah and Aristotles' bit seemed tailored specifically to them but I have to say I gotta feel bad for Punkie for not managing to get worked into this somehow. B+

Target - Simu was well cast and I liked Kyle, Kenan and JAJs' characters the most. Otherwise, it felt a little too much like a modern day SNL Holiday retread casserole to me. C+

Dog Head Super Soldier - I wasn't too crazy about the original dog Head man sketch from 2018 with Sam Rockwell but I did like this one a lot more (mostly for Mikey and Cecilys' improv skills). Plus, this may have been the first time we've ever seen Mikey even come close to breaking character and this whole episode in general is a first for James playing more character roles than just impressions so those added something to this for me. B-

Republican Or Not - Honestly, I wasn't too crazy about this premise but I was okay with how it was executed for the most part. I liked Kenans' coyness and I thought Simu and Ego played off Kyle and Sarah's appropriately vague clues very well but adding Cecily as Cheneys' daughter at the end just muddied it up too much for me. C+

Walking In Staten - This is actually the first time in a LONG time I can say I've seen an SNL sketch that was actually IMPROVED by the surprise celebrity cameos. I couldn't quite get on board with a heavily autotuned (at least on Pete's part) trap/hip hop parody of "Walking In Memphis" that featured Robert Loggias' creepily deepfaked joint smoking ghost or a cameo from some hobby guy on YouTube until Marc Cohn showed up for a self-effacingly meta cameo and Method Man agreed to lend some Staten Island authenticity to this. I also really liked Pete & Wets' lyrics about "wild turkeys by the hospital" and how "our zoo is shockingly small". C+

Update started strong but kinda fizzled out near the end. Good on Jost to give us a healthy dose of silliness before getting into roasting Rittenhouse, Gaetz and Bannon. I didn't think we really needed to see Kyle's Baby Yoda again but the fact that they have him dating the mom from the Berenstain Bears alone and used THAT to continue his ongoing intense feud with Baby Groot was worth bringing this back. The fact that he is also basically a thinly veiled parody of Machine Gun Kelly/Travis Barker was just icing on the cake. Aidy as Mother Earth was a lofty concept that I couldn't quite get on board with. B+

Thanksgiving Baking Championship - I didn't think we needed to see a third one of these much less a fourth but at least Kyle, Heidi and Simus' cakes kept the stakes from getting too low. I wouldn't have cared for Pete getting lazily shoved into Beck' part if we didn't get to see him basically just go "fuck it, I'm just gonna eat my entire slice of cake live on air by the time this sketch ends". C+

First Asian Men To Recieve This Series Of Oddly Specific Awards - This was a nice personal two hander for Simu and Bowen to let the audience in on together but if them placing this right after perhaps the Sarah Squirmiest of all "baking challenge" sketches ever doesn't make you realize this needed to be earlier in the show (possibly the cold open) than I don't know what will. Kudos to Andrew Dismukes on squeezing in his one on camera appearance of the night and for Sarah for getting in on this too. B+

911 Calls - Thankfully, Kenan came in to save this one as soon as I started to think this wasn't going to be silly enough for me to be able to get on board with. Kudos to Simu for attempting a different accent for the first time all night. C-

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

Now, for my updated rankings of this season...
1. Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile (10.23.2021)
2. Keiran Culkin/Ed Sheeran (11.6.2021)
3. Simu Liu/Saweetie (11.20.2021)
4. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
5. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
6. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
7. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that turned out to be one of the stronger Thanksgiving shows SNL has put on in God knows how many years! In two weeks time, Billie Eillish returns to make her double duty hosting debut. Young pop stars usually make for fun hosts who gel well with the show. Billie Eillish may bring a "weird 20 year old girl" energy to the show but at least she will bring the RIGHT kind of "weird 20 year old girl" energy to the show. See you again after Turkey Day!