Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This episode turned out to be better than I expected in many ways! It was almost better than the previous week's show with Oscar Issac. I say "almost" because it was a bit more consistent except for a very slight decline in quality post Update. Zoë Kravitz was a host in a similar vein to Oscar Issac (someone I had no idea what to expect from) but she really improved the show just with her sheer presence and commitment alone. Aside from Pete (still absent filming a movie) everyone got some screentime (even if only in a pretape in Punkies' case). In particular, Redd, Dismikes Kenan, Ego, Kate and Aidy had strong nights (with Redd in particular nearly dominating the show). Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?

White House TikTok Summit - Well, this has to be the SHAKIEST premise for a cold open all season so I'll just say that JAJ, Dismukes and (shockingly) Kate (as basically an audience surrogate who actually does make a lot more sense as Jen Psaki than Chloe ever did) really carried this. I especially like JAJs' "malarkey/magenta" lone and tge twist of him suddenly being a huge fan of Dismukes characters' prank group "The Boo Boo Boys". Chris, Melissa and Kenan did their damndest to sell the parts (but unfortunately they really came ip short) they were given and Bowen really bought it all home with his ability to expertly deadpan the sheer ridiculousness of his character. What does it say about me that I'm not on tiktok and yet I've consumed JUST enough of it second hand that a few of the tiktok jokes actually felt telegraphed to me? C+

Monologue - Well, Zoë has a lot more of an upbeat energy than I was expecting. That was one helluva quick change for Kate but she was actually good here. Nice to see Ego. Part of me MIGHT have wanted to see her as Halle Berry Catwoman but she still crushed the Eartha Kitt role and I'll take any Ego I can get onscreen. I'm not too crazy about Aidy being newly typecast as mentally imbalanced people but Chris as Katt Williams actually put this over for me. B-

Maid Of Honor Speech - I love how Zoë carried over her good vibes from the monologue into the lead off sketch where she basically just delivers a series of increasingly dark, dire Braskyesque reveals a out Cecilys' character to her new groom Kyle (who actually worked better in the obvious Mikey Day role than Mikey himself ever would have but Mikey, Chris, Cecily and Martin Herlihy still played their parts well). A-

Amazon Go - This was a basic premise that was really saved by the acting of Zoë and the shows' black cast (Kenan and Chris in particular...and good to see Punkie still on the show). Seriously, this looked like it was almost going to be just a legit Amazon Go commercial until at least Kenan showed up. C+

Return Of Josh & Jason - Well, this was a sketch I didn't mind but wasn't crazy about when they did it with Carey Mulligan a year ago. Naturally, I didn't mind seeing it again since this was actually an improvement over this first one. What can I say? I must have seen a little of myself in Kate's performance? C+

Princess And The Frog - This was another basic premise that was acted well but really sold for me once Redd bought up his human backstory. Zoë, Kenan and Dismukes didn't detract too much from this either. In fact, the one thing that really stood out to me was the more innocent quality to Redds' performance and he didn't try to throw in a ton of his "swag" into his characterization. Anyone else get Reese Witherspoon/Will Ferrell Little Mermaid vibes from this? C-

PDD: A Woman Cat For Cat Woman - Hmm, is it just me or do Zoë Kravitz and Rosalía feel like surprisingly low profile guests for an episode where a PDD short actually makes it on air? Maybe they thought the premise of it was too perfect to go to waste on YouTube? Anyway, this probably did the least for me out of all the PDD shorts made for the show despite all the guys acting the hell out of it and the pointless Paul Dano cameo. C-

Old Home Movies - Well, this was the strongest live sketch of the night as well as Kenans' strongest performance. I loved the random J.B. Smoove shoutout and I liked how they threw in a reference to the year 2003 (Kenans first year) in there. Now, THAT was the perfect followup to your 1500th sketch, Kenan! B+

Update was pretty much carried on the backs of the commentaries this week. Not much stood out to me joke wise aside from Che's Iraq/Russian Car/subway urination jokes (wait...a Jussie Smollett joke? Oh, so THAT'S why they chose to air the Sandra Oh/Tame Impala episode in vintage) and Josts' DeSantis/Cracker Barrell/extinct rat jabs. Great to see Terry Fink pull off the hat trick! This commentary may not have been as strong as the first one he did this season but it still provided my biggest laughs of this episode. Good to see Kyles Not!Dan Bilzerian commentary make it to air last week. It may not be too far off from his Baby Yoda but it's certainly an underplayed improvement on the Baby Yoda premise. A-

Word Crunch - Andrew Dismukes as a game show host AND Aristotle Athari on screen? Well, NOW I've seen everything! Seriously though, Andrew, Sarah, Zoës' epic string of vulgarity and the final puzzle were really the only parts of this sketch that made me think this sketch wasn't worth being kicked down the "memory hole". C+

Don't Stop Belevin - It's a credit to Bowen Yangs' addition to the cast and Zoë Kravitzs' booking as host that they can sell this manic word salad this strongly as Ego, Chris and Heidi Mikey Day the hell out of him. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was instantly reminded of Chris Kattans' Update commentary on Chers' "Believe" from season 24. 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. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)

6. Zoë Kravitz/Rosalía (3.12.2022)

7. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)

8. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)

9. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)

10. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)

11. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)

12. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)

13. Ariana DeBose/Roddy Rich Bleachers (1.15.2022)

14. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)

15. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021

Well, that show turned out to be one of the more pleasant surprises of the season. My inside sources tell me SNLs next live show is on April 2nd. However, as of this writing, I have no clue who either the host or musical guest will be as neither were announced on air. Hell, I wouldn't have even known what date their next live show was on if it hadn't been for this inside source. Whoever the host is, I hope it's someone who continues the trend established by Zoe Kravitz and Oscar Issac (a first time actor host that you don't know exactly what to expect from but turns out to be game for anything). See you then! Happy Daylight Savings!

Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)

Okay, here's my review. This was another strong episode that showed promise for the remainder of this season being on a good trajectory. It was just as strong as last week's show but still, even without the hype from certain established "friends of the show" as guests it stood well on its own. Oscar Issac was as excellent of a host as everyone expected him to be and yet somehow, he still left the audience wanting more. He played his comedic parts all very well and even came across like he was blending in quite well with the vast. Still, it also felt like there were a few other things they could've done with him as host that they didn't getting that would show SNL using him as a host to his full potential. Still, I'd like to see him return as host some time just to see what else he is capable of. Aside from Pete (still off filming a movie), Punkie (still inexplicably missng) and Aristotle (in the background of the cold open with no lines) everyone got some airtime tonight. Let's get right into it? Shall we?

FOX News Ukrainian Invasion Extravaganza - Well, at least they're breaking standard format with these FOX News Cold Opens and finding different uses for stagnating impressions (Kate's Ingraham, Moffats' Tucker, JAJ & Mikeys' Father & Son Trump). Also, if they absolutely HAD to do an overly long cold open regarding the Russia/Ukraine conflict I can't say that funnelling it through FOX News/GOP responses to it is INappropriate. I'd like to say Bowen Segal ran away with this (he's no Will Sasso but he still provided my only genuine laughs in this) one but he wasn't on long enough and exited way too early. Good to see Aristotle is still on the show (even with no lines). I have to hand it to JAJ for being one of the few comedic performers for being able to take such a tired-ass premise like "Trump sings 'My Funny Valentine' and dedicated the song to Putin" (something that at once felt straight out of Anthony Atamanuiks' "President Show" on Comedy Central and feels like even he especially would fired the writer who pitched that for being too much of a hack) and make it at least watchable. C-

Monologue - Good to see a return to the sincere, personal monologue format for a charismatic first time host. Thankfully, his increasingly bizarre home movie (I wonder if young Oscar Issac and young Adam Goldberg ever met?) was the bulk of this because his riffing on what Hollywood considers "ethnically ambiguous" didn't do much for me. It's funny that they're doing this since I seem to remember people in the That Week In SNL Twitch Chat and Discord asking why SNL doesn't show home movies anymore. Well, careful what you wish for! Also, I couldn't help but notice that Oscar said he was originally asked to host in 2015. Did they originally want him to host the January 2016 Adam Driver episode? B+

Paw Patrol Attack Ad - I loved how committed everyone was to this and I love how you didn't need to have seen any real life Paw Patrol to appreciate since they were pretty much explaining the exact reason why the parents if the kids who watch this show would be unable to hold back their disbelief. I'm guessing Mikey cowrote this? He's prominently featured in it and I know he's one of the few SNL performers who has kids so he's one of the few people on this show I can imagine who regularly watches Paw Patrol. It was a little long and could've used some tightening but I guess they needed thar length to unpack a lot. B+

Inventing Chloe - Weird to see two pieces in a row based on TV shows I've seen so little of that I would need large chunks of the basic premise explained to me but it's good to see Chloe get another showcase (even if the impression may not have landed with me and even if she kinda repurposed Aidys' thing of "being inspired to be more confident by a random celebrity having a moment right now" as well as her own "Ooli" voice). I liked the brief clock punches with JAJ/Biden and Che at the Update desk but this could've used a trim as it started to kinda drag after that. Kate provided a sweet ending and did a strong enough variation on the Anna Delvy voice that I was left me wondering how much better this piece could have been if it were titled "Inventing Kate". Kudos to writing assistant Jacob Kaplan for managing to hold his own next to established cast members. C+

Harassment Seminar - This felt a little aimless and shapeless to me but the commitment from the cast really saved it. I suspect PDD wrote this as it followed their format of "incredulous reactions to increasing inappropriateness". C+

Little Meatball Men - Good to see SNL finally let Sarah Sherman break out and give us just a little bit of Squirm. This is a lot lighter and sillier and borderline nonsensical than a lot of her previous pre-SNL work so I doubt she'll be allowed to bring out the heavy blood and gore effects for a while but hey, baby steps. Oscar and Charli were terrific sports for being in this. B+

Update got off to a bit of a slow start (the opening run on US Ukranian support just kinda washed over me) but they really picked up joke-wise once they got to the Kamala/DeSantis/NYC Covid Restrictions jokes. Good to see Kate's commentary was more pointed, layered and just generally very different than other pieces where Kate essentially plays herself such as "What Still Works" and Dr. Wayne Weknowdis. Good to see Ego with another intriguing original character commentary (even if it just seems like she put her weary Disneyland mom and her woman who's been missing for 10 years in a blender). Good to see she really started acting the hell out of this once she revealed Che was her baby's daddy (because I kinda saw that twist coming). B-

The Sexual Woman - This started out just overstating itself way too much but it really started working once Aidy decided to really lean into the subtle meta clock punches of it. C+

In Over Your Head - This may have just been "How'd You Do That" if it aired on HGTV but it's still just so great to see what you think will just be a quiet low key sketch turn out to be so perfectly written, paced and acted. Oscar was pretty much expertly committed here and each escalation was better than the last. No notes. A+

Free Fiction Workshop - Ok, I strongly suspect one kf my Twitter mutuals actually wrote this (and if you're reafing this, I think you know exactly who you are..."Bill"...if that is in fact your REAL name) but this actually turned our to be the low key silly fun it promised to be but Oscar Issac turned out to be the absolute perfect host to keep this afloat. Aidy, Chris and JAJ played off him expertly. Good to see Melissa and Heidi having fun with this (and good to see them come into the show just before they got completely shut out). Weird choice of musical guest for this episode for this sketch to be in though. 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. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (2.26.2022)
6. Oscar Issac/Charli XCX (3.5.2022)
7. Paul Rudd/Charli XCX (12.18.2021)
8. Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift (11.13.2021)
9. Rami Malek/Young Thug (10.17.2021)
10. Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry (1.29.2022)
11. Will Forte/Måneskin (1.22.2022)
12. Ariana DeBose/Roddy RichBleachers (1.15.2022)
13. Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves (10.2.2021)
14. Kim Kardashian-West/Halsey (10.9.2021)

Well, that was fun but a little less than what I was expecting. Next week, Zoe Kravitz makes her hosting debut. Hmm, she's a first time host who's not exactly known for comedic performances so...unlike with Oscar Issac I'm once again flying blond and going into an episode with no expectations whatsoever. See you then!

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!