Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)

Wrong Group Chat?

• Hey, this looks like a different type of cold op…ooooooohhhh, I can see exactly where this is going.

• Nice way to use the host in the cold open right out the gate.

• Dismukes as Hehgseth? Ok, that's ONE way to…possibly annoy him and/or Trump?

• Hey, they actually knew how to write decently for Bowens’ JD Vance here. All right.

• Marcello as Rubio didn't add anything to this (neither did Mikey as Atlantic Jeffrey but hey, it was one of the many beats they absolutely had to hit in this).

• At least this was short (I mean, for a modern SNL cold open) and gave us a Matt Gaetz joke without giving us Sarah's portrayal. 

• I've seen some people compare this to the Clinton/Lewinsky/Hussein three-way phone call cold open from 1998 but I personally see more similarities to the cold open from Emma Stone's 2016 episode (where we kept switching back and forth between Baldwins’ Trump and Kate's Kellyanne in an important briefing and the people Trump was obsessively retweeting) and maybe the 1993 John Malkovich sketch where his character from “In The Line Of Fire” keeps dialing all the wrong numbers until het gets to a confused Clint Eastwood (played by Norms’ voiceover set against real footage of the film, of course). C+

Monologue 

• Mikey is bringing the exact right amount of energy to this monologue. She's not low energy enough to leave me worried but she's not overdoing it either.

• The “horse girl” chunk probably could've been cut but I liked her “obligatory montage of the host's film roles” (especially the OUATIH clips).

• The pole dancing part was fun just for the fact that they incorporated some “on the fly” editing tricks into a live monologue for once. C+

Strop Acting Academy II

• I heard a rumor there might be a “reprise of a Marcello led sketch from the Charli XCX episode” tonight. I might've preferred another “Banger Boys” to this but…we could've gotten something way worse.

• Again, I'm still not totally against Marcello here but this character isn't suited to him that well.

• I did chuckle at his playing off each of the girls commercial copy and I liked some of the gags involving he and Ms. Madison listing their “acting credits” (even if she came nowhere near close to matching his energy) but not much else in this landed with me. C-

Big Dumb Line (A Weekend In New York)

• Huh, so everyone in New York just spends their weekends waiting in impossibly long lines for various trendy bullshit they heard about on social media.

• Hey, there's Joe Jonas all of a sudden. Ok.

• Yeah, no. This plays into the worst instincts of everyone involved.

• Gee, Sarah really DOES resemble Melissa Villaseñor. I genuinely got confused for a second there.

• This reminded me a lot of Chloes’ “C**ts’ Really Crossed The Pond” music video she posted on her Instagram over the summer. I guess it took her about eight or nine months to figure out how to rewrite it into something appropriate to air on NBC? (Note: that bit if self censorship two sentences ago is just my attempt to avoid having this blog post put under any kind of content/trigger warning like a few recent previous one of mine have).

• Hey, that reminds me. Why was everyone talk-singing in bad British accents in this? Was this a pitch that Charli XCX rejected on Monday? 

• Also, I couldn't help but notice that the official title of this sketch on YouTube happens to be “Big Dumb Line”. I do have to wonder if the same writing team behind such classics as “Big Dumb Hats” and “Little Red Glasses” had a hand in creating this? I know that may be a dumb question given that this is a music video and the others were just straight to camera live sketches but the focus and themes are just similar enough that indi have to wonder out loud a bit here. D-

Jury Selection 

• Oh, I see. The PDD boys really ARE back because they took their school board/tenant meeting sketches from season 47 and turned them into jury selection. 

• I mean, I figured that's what this would be as soon as I saw Ego addressing a group of people straight to camera.

• Finally, something comes along to breathe some life into this big “meh” of an episode.

• I liked Sarah and Ashley's characters. I also liked how they finally found a way to sneak JAJs’ Jay-Z impression on the show again and I liked Jane's callback.to that at the end.

• I liked Bowens’ exit. Was that Carl Tart as the bailiff?

• I liked Devon basically playing “Temu Louis Farrahkan”.

• I was pretty cold on Chloe randomly showing up as herself but I like the idea that this could be a meta moment poking fun at her own sheer desperation (especially since Ms. Madison got what was probably gonna be her role in the cold open up until the last minute).

• I liked Heidi's performance (and Mikeys’) and Kenan and Emils’ callback following it (even as cheap as casting Emil as Luigi felt).

• I liked Longfellows blooper and I chuckled more than I probably should have at Marcello doing the worst Benson Boone impression ever. B-

Varsity Valley Spring Break 

• …and I see whoever wrote those “dramatic heartfelt scenes with a bunch of wild ass crazy shit” happening in the background” pretapes from seasons 48/49 bought those back too.

• Oh well, at least we get to see Chloe and Marcello in more restrained roles than what they're normally given.

• Overall, despite Mr. Day, Ms. Madison and Ms. Nwodim giving this everything they had, I would say this one wasn't as strong as the one from Jenna Ortegas’ episode but still better than "The Right Track" from Nate Bargatzes’ first episode last season. Still, this had the right amount of focus to make it work for me.

• Dismukes suddenly brandishing an alligator may have been the highpoint of this for me. JAJ, Kenan and Heidi did great support work in straight roles here.

• Even Sarah puking was played as tastefully as possible while being cartoonish and absurd. B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• I didn't care for much of Josts’ opening Signal rant except for maybe the Jared reference for how out of left field it came compared to the second Matt Gaetz reference I was half expecting (which is definitely the same reason I liked Che's “oilman/Diddy” punchline and Josts’ “deepfake revenge porn” joke).

• I will admit I liked how Jost delivered the “sucked on/suck off/Forrest Gump” punchlines (even as heavily telegraphed as the latter seemed.

• I thought Che's “Tesla protest/full pardon” joke and Josts’ “J.D. Vance in Greenland” joke were both solid.

• Hey, Che got through an entire Update without ONCE uttering the phrase “it's the 90s”! Way to go, bud!

• Huh, we haven't seen Devon Walker as himself on Update (the first time he did this two and a half years ago…it didn't go so great).

• I saw some people speculating that the show might do a parody of the “morning routine” trend on TikTok. I haven't actually seen this myself but I suppose this would've been the best way they could've done this.

• Still, Devon usually scores on Update (and he did here) and it's nice that he figured out how to actually use his own “self” persona effectively on Update. I think my favorite part was him calling out Che (especially the “Buffalo Wild Wings” mini rant).

• The return of Josts’ “Hear Me Out” segment was a lot of fun. I especially liked how Jost leaned into his fake anger at Paddington there.

• Ooh, hey! An Ashley Padilla commentary on Update. This is something we literally haven't seen all season.

• Ashley turned in one hell of a performance as Joann of Joann Fabrics fame. She really put her all into it.

• Even though a lot of this can be boiled down to more “lol suburban middle aged white women, amirite?” humor and some of the material was a bit shaky, I liked this quite a bit. I especially liked her detailing what she does at the store each day and pulling out a bejeweled flask.

• Most of all, I liked how they used this as an opportunity to give Ashley some airtime to perform some material that they otherwise would've given to Heidi who probably would've made it worse. 

• Wow, this may have been the best Update overall that I've seen in several months. It's certainly a high point of this episode (which isn't saying a lot for this episode, but whatever). B-

Pops’ Regrets

• Another Dismukes led sketch. He plays an older mafia figure who gets shot in a drive-by, complete with squids and blood packs. This could be interesting.

• Now, he's mumbling about half thought out standup routines he never got to try out as he bleeds to death. Also, Ms. Madison is his wife and she turns in her strongest performances all night. JAJ & Marcello are his sons. Good support work from them. Mr. Day is his assassin.

• This felt like an inverted version of the coffee shop sketch from Timothee Chalamets’ episode from two months ago.

• Hmm, I liked the idea of this but the execution left a little to be desired. Something felt missing here. Not as much of it hit for me as I had hoped. C+

Barry The Midwife

• Huh…I see they also decided to bring back what was possibly the only truly weak sketch from Quinta Brunsons’ episode two years ago (well, one of the only two, now that I think about it).

• Impressive how this managed to travel back and forth through time but ultimately go nowhere.

• I did like the jammed-in Conan reference and some of the jabs at Hilary Duff though. Yeah, this was writerly and detail heavy but not in the way I normally like.

• However, it's pretty obvious that having this in the lineup caused some production delays and timing issues so either way you look at it, this sketch just wasn't worth it. C-

PDD: Mikey Madison Is Squidward 

• Ok, now Please Don't Destroy is bringing back the basic premise of their “What if Bad Bunny was suddenly Shrek?” pretape from last season but changing it to “What if Mikey Madison was suddenly Squidward and also Ben Marshall was bald Spongebob, John Higgins was Patrick Star and Martin Herlihy was Mr. Krabs?” Come on.

• Well, I liked this one a little better than the previous Bad Bunny/Shrek one mostly for the very streamlined “cut right to the chase” nature of it where we just immediately saw the fully developed HBO show.

• I couldn't fully get into this. I mean, I kinda liked the idea of a love action makeup heavy Spongebob reboot done as a Girls style dramadey but maybe I was just sick of all the blatant retread sketches in a row tonight in the back half

• …or maybe I just had a problem with how parts of this just seemed to be an excuse to just repeat actual lines and memes from the shows’ early run (looking at you John…and to a lesser extent, you too Big Mart-Mart).

• Yeah, no need to include that brief shot of Bad Bunny as Shrek as a flashback/memory within the sketch. We all know what you were going for there, guys. C-

So, Like, What Are We?

• Oh, COME. ON. Now, they're just bringing back an old Abby Elliott/Bill Hader sketch from Eli Mannings’ 2012 episode and mixing it in with the template of the shows’ recent “social media based game show sketches.” Why?

• Anyway, I did like the focused nature of this with Longfellow being the sole contestant and the stakes of this being raised to “losing 100k from your bank account”.

• I also chuckled at the “daddy hungry for butt?” text. Otherwise, this came at a point where I had already had more than my fill of retread sketches for me to be that patient with it. 

• Also, I have heard via SNN that this sketch originally featured Kenan, Chloe and others as various judges and contestants. While part of me is curious how much differently this would've made the sketch play out, the rest of me knows that whittling it down to just Madison and Longfellow was for the best. C+

An SNL Animated Short: Planning New York

• Ok, at least they're ending the show on the most original concept they could muster this week.

• I've heard about this getting cut from multiple episodes this season so I'm glad to finally see it.

• The rapid fire back and forth between Bowen and Longfellow was OK but most of this felt too specific to Manhattans’ infrastructure to appeal that much to me.

• I'm not that crazy about this janky, jittery style of animation with it's Spongebob style detailed close ups either. Basically, this was just a slightly inferior followup to the “God” short from Timothee Chalamets’ show two months ago. C+

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
3. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
4. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
5. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
6. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
7. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
8. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
9. Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
10. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
11. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
12. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
13. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
14. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
15. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
16. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts

• Obviously, this was far from the best of the season…yet it was far from the worst.

• There was nothing aggressively terrible about this episode. Everything about it just felt flat and underwhelming. It was the most “middle of the road” episode produced this season (possibly of all time).

• The biggest problem this episode had was it relied way to heavily on recurring sketches and premises from up to three seasons ago (or thirteen seasons ago in one specific case).

• Mikey Madison wasn't a terrible host either. It's just that the show surprisingly didn't know how to use her effectively. There was only one sketch where I felt she truly went “above and beyond” but other than that…she did fine with what she was given. She just didn't blow anybody away or anything.

• Cast airtime seemed evenly distributed tonight. No one seemed shut out of the show entirely (Jane came pretty close though) but Devon and Ashley obviously had a big week (maybe not as big as Marcello, Sarah, Bowen or Mikey Day but they made string gains and that's what counts).

Closing Thoughts

• Well, that was certainly another episode of SNL.

• Next week, Jack Black returns to host SNL for his fourth time after a near 20 year hosting absence from the show (not counting the time Tenacious D was an actual musical guest back in ‘06).

• Putting aside any feelings about how Jack may have basically dissolved Tenacious D himself last summer out of apparent fear of potential boycotts of “The Minecraft Movie” or whatever family friendly DreamWorks fare nets him the biggest paycheck these days, this is a pretty intriguing “get” for modern SNL. I'm always interested to see someone come back to the show after at least a decade long absence just to see how they would fit into the mold of the modern show.

• After this episode, SNL absolutely NEEDS a host who can inject the show with some goddamn ENERGY! Plus, it's not like Jack Black was big on recurring characters and sketches during the times he hosted in the early aughts so it'll be interesting to see what they try to do with him this time.

• After that, you may see another retro review on this blog that I have pretty much already written for the Steve Martin/Prince episode from February 2006. As you may have heard if you've been listening, that particular episode will be the subject of the next episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast set to be released on Thursday, April 10th.

• See you guys then!

Matt Dillon/Arctic Monkeys (03.11.2006)

This blog entry is yet another companion piece to the latest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast which you can listen to here.

Spring Break Cold Open

Four young college girls (Dratch, Poehler, Rudolph, Wiig) excitedly detail their alcohol and drug soaked Spring Break plans at the airport within earshot of one of their parents who drove them all here. (Parnell & Paula Pell).

• Boy, this one aged…weird. I'm guessing Tina wrote this because it does reek of her “putting down other women” style of comedy. This feels like a left over season 30 sketch.

• I regret to inform you all that, once again, we are getting unconfirmed reports that Tina Fey may or may not have been like the other girls during this, the week of March 11, 2006.

• I liked Wiigs’ line about meeting up with a guy in Amsterdam she met on MySpace because she “thought it would be fun to try group sex & hash in the same week” just fine.

• Dratchs’ lines about going to Chechnya “because the drinking age there is NINE” and “bringing her own roofies” to which Poehler reminds with a random shout of “girl power!” stands out as a big “yikes”.

• Wiig has a line about bringing a Luna bar because she “swore she would eat something this year” and “rum showers on the beach” aren't great either (neither are Poehlers’ lines about Girls Gone Wild and finding a $10 bill in her butt followed by her stating she is a women's studies/feminist literature for that matter)

• Mayas’ lines about riding around in random cars in Cancun and her friend being missing after encountering an “all you can suck beer hose” is…unsettling. I didn't totally hate her line about having her bikini cut off for the “hot boobs contest” due to an extreme sunburn.

• I mean, the reveal of Parnell being Rudolphs’ dad was funny but it may not have been worth it.

• At least it was nice to get a non-political cold open for once buy I have to wonder if this was the original cold open in dress and if not what could've bombed hard enough for then to go with this instead.

• I guess a group LFNY would be fun for this era since they wouldn't be as necessarily overdone as they would be in the last five or six years, but now…it doesn't look so great. C-

Monologue 

Matt Dillon reads the acceptance speech he prepared for that years’ Oscar's had he won Best Actor for “Crash”

• Hoo boy, speaking of things that didn't exactly age well, this monologue is basically just “Oops! All Hacky 2000s Racist Stereotypes.” (Asians being visually interchangeable, Hispanics working Harder than everyone else, Middle Easterners bring “surprisingly” clean and nice, guys working in wardrobe, Jewish guys producing everything…yep, this monologues’ got ‘em all).

• I get that “Crash” was being criticized at the time for it's hack takes on race relations and basically just being a poor mans’ “Do The Right Thing” set in LA but…I would still like to think they could've done better (even if I get the sense that Dillon himself also wanted to pile on making fun of this movie).

• Even the lines about him not having seen Terrence Howard's “pimp movie” (Hustle & Flow?) and Ludacris “stretching as an actor” weren't great.

• The lines about his “big Irish family” were perhaps the most disappointing of all. D+

prisonmate.net

Dr. L. M. Fontaine (Mitchell) wants to find you the inmate of your dreams.

• This was just a brief eHarmomy spoof. MADtv would do quite a few of these in a couple of years.

• The testimonials from Dratch, Wiig and Poehler were just OK. I'm not sure Finesse would've been the right pitchman for this (hell, even Kenan would be too obvious a choice) but at least Finesse made the most out of his part.

• This probably would have benefitted from Hader and Forte playing two random prisoners but I did get a kick out of seeing writer Bryan Tucker in Hannibal Lecter like restraints.

• Pretty short ad. Not much to this. Just some quick filler. C-

SportsCenter

Dan Patrick (Meyers) and Stuart “Booyah!” Scott (Mitchell) interview Barry Bonds (Thompson) his personal trainer Greg Anderson (Dillon) and Giants mascot Lou The Seal (Samberg V/O) about the ongoing steroid scandal in baseball.

• I've seen enough of the real Dan Patrick that I would’ve picked Sudeikis to play him but Seth and Finesse both did a fine job anchoring this (no pun intended). Plus, Seth's enough of a sports fan that I would’ve guessed he wrote this.

• Kenan pretty much steals this as a version of Barry Bonds that now has giant, unwieldy fake rubber hands that barely function.

• Dillon was solid in his support role that really played up the slight “meat head/bro” vibes he gave off all night.

• Samberg as a goofy voiced Seal mascot was funny as was Hader in his brief appearance injecting his butt with steroids. B+

Digital Short: Doppelganger

Meyers, Forte & Samberg pick out each others’ “dopplegangers” on the street (Meyers in a top hat, Forte with a mustache & Sanz) on their lunch break.

• There wasn't much to this premise besides Seth & Will thinking Horatio as a slovenly homeless guy with gloves was a dead ringer for Andy (even over Andy himself with a green bandana around his neck).

• Still, this worked more for me once they heightened it to the point where Will shot Andy because he couldn't tell him apart from a gloveless Horatio and THEN realizing they shot the wrong guy.

• I do like revisiting these lower key small observational sketch-like non musical Digital Shorts from Andy's first two seasons, though. B-

2 A-Holes At A Travel Agency

A-holes (Sudeikis & Wiig) frustrate a travel agent (Dillon) with their inability to focus on choosing a vacation destination from all of their presented options.

• Typical 2 A-Holes silliness. This was silly enough without being too frustrating.

• Dillon held his own here but he wasn't the greatest foil to the A-Holes. It seemed like he was playing it too lowkey and composed compared to other hosts in previous A-holes sketches.

• The absolute height of this was when they started telling Dillons’ character they wanted to go to Hogwarts and then Wiig pointed to a framed picture of a plane and said she wanted to go there. B+

How To Order Sushi Like A CEO

A CEO Business Type (Dillon) advertises his book detailing how to impress clients and beleaguered waitstaff (Rudolph) at a sushi restaurant by convincing them (and hopefully even yourself someday) that you're a sushi expert and connoisseur.

• For some reason, this is a character I could see Jon Hamm pretty much nailing if they did this in his era of hosting. Maybe I'm saying this because their voices sound similar or Matt Dillon in a “corporate executive” type role gives me slight Don Draper vibes, but…just an observation.

• Maya doing a slightly questionable Asian accent seems…off to me, but I can let that slide as Dillons’ character is more the butt of the joke here than she is. Plus, her wild facial expressions upon exiting the scene were funny.

• Dillons line about loving nothing more than business sushi lunches “except mid morning fellatio” got a laugh. 

• His exaggerated distaste for actually eating sushi (to the point where he actually spits a sea urchin across the room) was played just well enough to dovetail well with the basic premise of this sketch and not be too over the top to ruin this sketch. C+

J.J. Casuals

Mellow pop folk songsmith Jack Johnson (Samberg) wants to sell you his special brand of “shoes that look like feet” for occasions where going barefoot is out of the question.

• Andy had an OK handle on Jack Johnsons’ voice and look but something about the impression still seemed a little…off.

• Still, the laughs from this sketch seemed to come from the grotesque visuals of people wearing hollowed out fake rubber feet instead of shoes. 

• This sounds like what little reaction it got from the crowd leaned more toward slightly disgusted groans than genuine laughter. 

• I did like the visual of a wedding between a black couple where the groom is wearing white J.J. Casuals.

• Hader playing a snooty maitre d to Forte and Dratchs’ couple was a good addition to this. C-

Joplin: Alive! Podcast 

Brendan Kern (Sudeikis) and Lane Singleton (Hader) host Joplin, Missouris’ only video podcast live from the local Bennigans off of I-69. They interview their server Janet Gentner (Wiig) who also happens to be “the girl who broke Brendan's heart” and their newly french accented pal Julian (Samberg) whos’ known for throwing the best parties in Joplin and attracting all the pretty girls…including Janet.

• Podcasts, huh? What a novel concept. 

• Wonder who was supposed to be holding the video camera?

• Anyway, this was a great showcase for just all of this season's featured players (all seemingly playing themselves to some small degree) only and functioned as a great preview of the next era before these four pretty much take over the show.

• This was surprisingly ahead of the curve as far as tech/web/new media trends go; doing a sketch about podcasts as soon as they were being discovered (hell, this was just as iPods were starting to catch on)

• Bill seems to be playing a slight cross between his characters in “Popstar” and “Hot Rod” with just a hint of Shepard Smith, John Mark Karr, Sheldon Cooper and Anthony Peter Colemans’ “Clark/biscuits and waffles” voice. It's really the exact type of character I could really see James Austin Johnson nailing today.

• Andy slipping in and out of his goofy French accent was fun. There's so much snappy dialogue in this sketch that it's hard to pick out any one line that stands out but if I had to, I'd pick the line about Janet's boyfriend partially losing his hearing in Iraq being “the best thing that ever happened to him” does stand out to me for the crowd reaction it got.

• Normally, I wouldn't be crazy about the idea of Wiigs’ character immediately going for Sambergs’ character over Sudeikis’ character in spite of the fact that she already has a boyfriend but this sketch has so much more going for it that I didn't really mind.

• I do wonder how the town of Joplin, Missouri is significant in Bill Hader’s life since it appears both in this sketch and in Barry years later. Was Bill secretly hoping that this sketch would take off and be one of his first recurring hits (maybe his “Wayne's World” or “Jarretts’ Room”)? Did he sneak “Joplin” into Barry as a way of making it up to himself that “Joplin: Alive!” didn't quite take off on SNL?

• Boy, I bet Bill would have never guessed that podcasts in general would take off so much that there would be one solely dedicated to him nearly two decades from this moment, huh? 

• Anyway, this was a great underrated deep cut that i always loved. A-

Arctic Monkeys

• Didn't really recognize “I'll Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor” or “A Certain Romance” but I liked the latter song much better.

• These guys sounded so much like a poor mans’ version if The Strokes it's like they got on the “lo-fi garage rock” train about five years too late and didn't notice how trends in 2000s indie rock were starting to move on.

• The lead singer has a British accent. Maybe they were bigger in the UK?

• Speaking of, I happened to catch the lead singer suddenly say “that man was yawning” out of nowhere. I'm assuming that wasn't an actual lyric?

• I did get a kick out of the bassist just stopping himself short if smashing the amp Who-style at the end of the second song.

Weekend Update w/Fey & Poehler 

DP World Spokesman Fahard Nassir (Sans) explains his companys’ decision to back out of managing six of busiest ports in the U.S.

Will Forte sings a song detailing how to better understand the Iraqi conflict by telling Sunnis, Shias and Kurds apart

• Oh boy, I see Tina's not done slut shaming no one in particular with that “South Dakota abortion ban joke” (and possibly that “Wal-Mart birth control joke). I would’ve liked that “exit strategy” joke more if she hadn't made that “cutesy” face afterwards. Wasn't that Amy's thing? 

• Speaking of Amy, not a lot of her jokes worked for me (except for maybe that Yanni joke?) but that Dubai joke was snide enough I was shocked Seth didn't tell it.

• Tinas’ “skating with the nieces of terrorists” joke stood out to me simply because it was almost to strange to even BE a joke. Her “sex offender/cool it with the high fives” joke probably should've been cut

• Horatio as an Arab sheik dropping Loni Anderson/J.J. Walker/GnR/Huggy Bear references is just instant white noise to me but I did get a kick out of his line “I have 15 billion dollars. To me, Donald Trump is like a homeless person.” The fact that this is too hyper topical for its own good is the least of it's problems.

• I loved Fortes’ rapid fire song having no other lyrics or context clues beyond “this is a shia/this is a sunni/this is a kurd” as it started devolving from photos of middle eastern political figures to random American politicos and celebrities to just random objects including the number 17 and ending on Forte identifying himself as a “kurd” and Kenan as a “sunni”. Typical abstract Forte nonsense echoing his and Armisens’ double act as Patrick & Gunther Kelly. C-

Vincent Price’s 1961 St. Patrick's Day Special

Vincent Price (Hader) struggles to keep his St. Patrick's Day Special under control as Don Knotts (Hammond) demands he lighten up and have fun amidst bagpipers drowning him out, Katherine Hepburn (Wiig) stealing major focus and Rod Serling (Dillon) putting him down to his face.

• I believe this episode marks the point where Bill officially lands his first rescue character. Good for him.

• I got a kick out of his explanation of a fake druid origin of St. Patrick's Day (“the feast of flaggle-flaggle-duschen”).

• Darrell, as expected, does a great job as Don “Barney Fife” Knotts. This was especially fun because it was rare to see Darrell used effectively in a non political role buried later in the show as he mostly seemed relegated to playing either Dick Cheney or Chris Matthews in cold opens by this point (or Bill Clinton, Sean Connery or Apprentice era Trump whenever they could find an excuse to sneak one of those roles in there)

• The gag with him being drowned out twice by bagpipers was played very well.

• Wiig is a great addition to this sketch as Katherine Hepburn. It's nice to see her this early in her run in impression roles that don't essentially force her to ham it up or overact.

• Dillon does a solid Rod Serling and his passive aggressive insults to Vincent Price were played expertly by both him and Bill. 

• Great sketch all around. Possible highlight of this episode as it really gives you a nice sneak peek at what the next era of SNL will bring. A-

Relaxation Tape

Frank (Dillon) is fired from a recording session for a relaxation tape for being too brusque and rough for a relaxation tape until he relentlessly guilt trips his coworkers (Armisen, Hader, Wiig) into hiring him back.

• I find it kind of funny that Bill Hader is playing the main straight role of producer (and Fred Armisen is in a lesser straight role as one if the new age hippie narrators on the tape) while Matt Dillon plays the Jersey/Sopranos tracksuit guy role that Hader and Armisen would make meals out of starting next season.

• Anyway, this had a basic yet decent enough premise that it didn't really go anywhere with. It was well acted on everyone's part. Dillon even played his character well but it seemed like he couldn't lean into it enough because it was like the writing wasn't strong enough to support what they were going for.

• I did like the brief glimpse of Amy as the confused tape listener though. C-

Appalachian Emergency Room

Various hillbillies (Hammond, Poehler, Rudolph, Thompson, Dillon, Parnell) detail their strange medical problems to the receptionist (Meyers)

• I liked Poehlers’ character admitting that her and Hammonds’ “druggie son only has a car port because someone stole his house”

• Maya and Kenans’ characters were funny (as was Parnells’ of course).

• Dillon did a serviceable “redneck accent” and his bit about “chatting up” Seth's character while his wife steals a car outfront because they can refill her saline breast implant anywhere was OK but, why was he dressed like Ace Ventura of all people?

• Did Parnell accidentally knock out a light fixture when he did his headstone there? C+

Dicicco Bros Unicornery

Fast talking high pressure salesmen Davy (Dillon) and Little Mikey (Hader) want to sell you these little magical horses

• This was definitely the funniest sketch of the night. A near perfect ten-to-one!

• commercial lists their address as being in Passaic, NJ and yet their accents are clearly more Chicagoan/Midwestern than anything and their wardrobe seems to scream “1980s Californians/very poor mans’ Miami Vice” for some reason.

• I love how Hader & Dillon just spent the entire sketch alternating between putting down the Unicorns (“look at this idiot!” “what about this dum dum?”) and touting their magical abilities (my God, the LORE of this sketch!)

• Single funniest line in this whole sketch: “Look at this bag o'donuts! It's like they took a unicorn and teeny sized it! Who would do that?” There were a lot of amazing line deliveries in this but THAT one takes the cake! One that comes a close second is “My daughter's got THREE of these stupid things! Can't get enough if ‘em! But it keeps her happy so I don't give a CRAP!” A-

Overall Thoughts 

• This was a real mixed bag of an episode that got off to a rough start but it had a solid back half thanks to the new featured players who would go on to become the shows’ core group.

• Matt Dillon was a serviceable yet forgettable host. He was fine, but didn't really elevate anything he was in so it's no mystery why he hasn't been back on the show in the past couple of decades.

Closing Thoughts 

• Well, as of this posting, we now know that SNL's next new live episode of season 50 will air two nights from tonight on March 29th with host Mikey Madison (Hey! Oscar winner! This year's best actress winner from this year's best picture! This is an excitingly big get for SNL right now!) and musical guest Morgan Wallen (fucking why? Oh well, as long as he's not also in any fucking sketches I can live with it).

• So, yeah, my next blog entry will be posted on March 30th and it will be a review of SNLs’ Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen episode.

• As for more classic We Heart Hader reviews like these, well…we've got a few specific episodes and sketches from seasons 31 and 32 in mind. 

• Me and Deej have been tossing a few ideas around for the podcast but we don't want to give too much away just yet so we'll just have to wait until we nail down a couple of topics and recording dates down before I give you any updates on future plans. See you then!

Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)

White House Truce

• I had a feeling they might do another Trump cold open involving Mike Myers as Elon Musk again. 

• I hadn't heard about the meeting with the blowup between Musk & Rubio (guess he's finally starting to grow something resembling a spine?) 

• At first thought they might do something on Trumps’ Joint Address to congress but even with Kenan as Al Green and Longfellow silently reprising his role as Speaker Mike Johnston that might not be enough to sustain a whole sketch. Makes sense that they would rather just throw in a couple of callbacks to it instead.

• Still, I figured they might want to reprise Mikes’ Elon impression simply because it got under the real Elons’ skin more than Carveys’ did.

• Somehow, Marcello seems ill suited to play Marco Rubio, but it should at least appease his biggest critics to see him in a quieter straight man role off of Update.

• I did like JAJs line “we tried that in 2016 and it didn't work” line.

• Huh, so we're going from the “Curb” theme playing in Rubios’ head to JAJ/Trumps’ inner monologue. Not a huge fan of that.

• …and HERE'S the Mike Myers cameo this was building to!

• Seems like Mike either fine tuned his facial expressions for this role or the makeup department stepped up their game.

• Still, I don't mind seeing Mike Myers in this role (he certainly has a better take on Elon than his buddy Carvey did anyway). 

• I did like the “buffering” gag as well as Marcello asking Mike “what's this?” when he did his Elon dance again. 

• JAJ as Trump coaching Elon & Rubio on insulting each other was cheap and “been there, done that” but it is “on brand” for both Trump as a character, I'll give them that.

• I probably liked Myers “inner monologue” the most out of the three, forced Dr. Evil reference and all…because Mike's basic handle on this character seems to be “lane Dr. Evil but played AS a senile Austin Powers”. 

• Honestly, I still don't mind the idea of occasional Mike Myers cameos. I like seeing Mike pop up on the show sometimes. I just hope that if he is going to cameo on a regular basis like Carvey did that they at least attempt to fold him into the show in some other non-Elon/non cold open roles. C+

Monologue 

• Well, as I suspected, a more mature Gaga showed us she was more than comfortable poking fun at herself. I still feel like I haven't seen her act enough to really judge her acting abilities, but she must be better at acting and light comedy than she is at picking movie roles (heyooooo!)

• The lines about her performance with R. Kelly felt a little too tacked on. I thought acknowledging his unfortunate musical cameo in her first hosting stint during the “In Memoriam” at the 50th was enough.

• The Joker 2 stuff was fine. I did like the “Razzies/EGORT” lines.

• Her listing the other current pop girlies “ages” was fun (Chappel Roan is 58, Charli XCX is 75, Tate McRae is her biological grandmother)

• I like even the mildest SNL meta references but I would’ve cut Bowens' appearance since it didn't do anything for me…especially since he did a great job of actually introducing Gagas’ first performance anyway.

• The stuff about her engagement was cute but fell a little flat compared to the rest of the monologue. C+

A Long Goodbye

• Hmm, this is a slightly more Marcello heavy show than I was expecting.

• I really wasn't sure what the hell this was going for but the sight gag of Gaga riding a luggage caddy down a highway was enough to keep me interested.

• I did like the further escalation of this gag by having JAJ, Dismukes and (surprisingly the funniest part of this whole sketch) Jane Wickline as a Sons Of Anarchy-style biker gang riding on similar luggage caddies with Marcello chasing them on his own luggage. I might have cut the dog out of this sketch, though. That part felt too awkwardly shoehorned in for me.

• I also liked how this made good use of the backstage quick change hallways but perhaps most of all, I managed to blend sheer goofiness with sweetness. B+

Midnight Matinee: Pip

• Huh. Seems like a mouse named Pip is about to enter a weightlifting competition. Lady Gaga sings him an inspirational song, which might have genuinely been the best part of this.

• It's good they're spacing out these Dan Bulla pretapes because they are really all starting to feel the same thematically.

• Well, I can at least appreciate the cute sentimentality these go for…until the first in a series of “twists” is revealed.

• I do like how this didn't feel the need to stretch itself out and on as long as “Beppo” did.

• I did appreciate the ending, as telegraphed as it felt. B-

Wonderful Tonight

• Ah, HERE'S the exact type of sketch I was expecting to see as much of as possible. A Bowen and Gaga two-hander.

• It's the exact type of refined, odd-detail heavy sketch I would expect from Bowen but Gagas’ performance is really making this work for me and actually making me laugh.

• “Italians aren't white?” Geez, Gaga was a REAL good sport to go along with that

• “I recently…came…into some money?” Well, I could see where that was going…but I'm still a little surprised NBC could air that at any point before midnight.

• Even though the ending seemed a little rushed and clumsy for my liking, I enjoyed that. C+

Funeral Planners

• Hmm…they really seem stuck on this “roaring 20s” theme for a funeral.

• Roaring 20s? More like BORING 20s, am I right, folks?

• Kenans’ brief appearance was funny. Still, strangely late into the show for him.

• That was a helluva quick change for Heidi & Gaga there. Wonder how they pulled that off?

• Overall, while this felt like a retread of a long worn out SNL sketch trope that I had almost memory holed until now, I didn't hate it. C+

L’Oréal Easy Run Mascara

• This seems like a very specific premise. I mean, I know I may not be the “target audience” for this but I still feel like I “get it” enough. 

• It feels like an improvement over whatever last seasons “Diet Coke from Olay” pretape was supposed to be.

• Not a whole lot of individual lines stood out to me in this, but this was well performed and I did like how it made good use of the entire female cast (especially Jane and Ashley). C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• I liked Josts’ meta jab at Mike Myers right off the bat and Che's “Bin Laden” joke. 

• I also liked that Linda McMahon joke just for the odd visual element to it.

• Che's “40lbs of fentanyl/two buttfuls” joke was just goofy enough to make me chuckle.

• That Zelenskyy joke was WAY too awkwardly constructed for its own good.

• I like the IDEA of Update going in harder on Elon, but those punchlines didn't hit for me. I thought the Don Jr joke was OK (despite the audience reaction to just the set up). None of their other jokes really hit for me at all (except maybe “labia puffs/Honey Smacks”).

• Kenan seems like he's going for just a goofy voice and slightly silly dialogue with this Kendrick Perkins impression. The only context I have for this impression is that it's the guy Kenan was playing in those “cut for time” First Takes sketches from a few years ago. I did like the sight gag of him removing his beard to wipe his sweat.

• Mikey as “Lord Gaga”? Was this just a throwaway idea Mikey had for Taran Kilam or something from Gagas’ LAST hosting gig? Hell, we know for SURE it was used in a 2009 promo with Fred Armisen.

• Seemed like this wasn't going anywhere at first. Seems like the idea at first was to poke fun at the casual misogyny of the age of ACTUAL “lords and ladies” until Mikey revealed this to be another incredibly labored and stinging Jost roast.

• Overall, this was the rare Update that carried itself mostly on the strength of its own jokes than its commentaries. B-

Friendly's

• So far, the premise is Bowen is lying to a restaurant wait staff about Heidi's birthday to get a free song and dessert…and is SWORN to a veracity they see right through.

• Seems like this might go somewhere interesting with the whole angle of this being a Temple of Doom-esque satanic ritual.

• While this didn't quite escalate enough for my liking, the sheer strangeness of it was enough to keep me interested.

• I did like Sarah's brief voice modulated, bloody mouthed speaking part during the “ceremony”. 

• I'm especially curious to know who did write this because it seems like a long-gestating idea that Bowen or someone was saving for a specific host and thought Gaga would be ideal for (or maybe Mikey and Streeter wrote this? It explains enough of its own details that it makes me think this could be them). B-

Killah

• Yeah, I know I don't normally comment on the musical guest performances but I did like how she started this one by sprawling around the hallway before getting to the stage.

• Oh and also, did she actually say “talking that shit” on air? Oh well, it is about 12:45am where they are anyway. No big whoop, I guess?

Little Red Glasses

• Hey, speaking of sketch premises that would be ideal for a Lady Gaga hosted episode…

• I guess some combination of Allison Gates, Anna Drezen, Sudi Green and/or Fran Gillespie were guest writing this week?

• Even though Gaga, Squirm and Ego were carrying this, I liked Ashley and Heidis’ cameos a bit more.

• Speaking of Squirm, I did like Sarah's line “I was ahead of the curve on gay marriage…and that's where it stuck”

• Chloes’ impression is going right over my head but, ah, THERE'S the Chuck Schumer/Mom from Bobs’ Burgers’ references I was expecting (too bad Alex Moffat was apparently unavailable to cameo this week). C+

No More Slay

• Ok, good thing Bowen and Gaga were there to pretty much sing my immediate reaction to this sketch just as I was starting to wonder why they felt this was worth sneaking in under the wire.

• I did like the “Ollipop can” and “Diva Down” jokes. I especially liked Dismukes line “I named my son mother” as well as the final verse of the song. B+

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
3. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
4. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
5. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
6. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
7. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
8. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
9. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
10. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
11. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
12. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
13. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
14. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
15. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts 

• Well, it was not a difficult feat, but SNL did clear the very low bar set by last weeks’ episode with Shane Gillis.

• This shouldn't be a surprise. As I said in last weeks’ blog, Lady Gaga did prove to be an effective SNL host when she was used in exactly the right spots back in November of 2013.

• More than a decade later, Gaga has shown she can be trusted to helm the entire show and be a more prominent host as she had gotten much more acting experience under her belt in the ensuing years.

• Plus, the show currently employs more die hard fans of hers who know how to play to her strengths as an actress (comedic or otherwise).

• Naturally, this led to a more fun and inviting atmosphere around the show this week which carried over into this episode very well.

• Cast airtime didn't change much. Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim are still hurting for screentime and Kenan took a slight hit but Ashley and Jane have made great gains. We saw a bit more of Marcello than we were expecting but everyone elses’ airtime seems to have stabilized.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, at this point, we have no idea who SNLs’ next live host will be, but I have heard that the next new episode will air on March 29th.

• I am cautiously optimistic about the next few episodes because lately it's been the late March/early April run where we've been getting some of the stronger episodes and better hosts of the season (Quinta Brunson, Kristen Wiig). 

• Hell, if nothing else we get at least one, unique off the beaten path choice of host around this time like Jerrod Carmichael or Molly Shannon (I say this because it wasn't clear what she was promoting in April of 2023 besides, maybe…the most recent season of The Other Two?)

• However, I do know what my next entry for this blog is going to be. I will write a review of the Matt Dillon/Arctic Monkeys episode from season 31. Of course, I'm doing so because this will be the next full length episode Deej and I cover on the "We Heart Hader" podcast. We hope to record that one in a couple of weeks.

• The next episode of the podcast that we HAVE just recorded should be out this Thursday. It's a deep dive into all of Bills’ guest appearances in the first two seasons of The Mindy Project.

• In addition to all the rest of our channels, you can now also listen to We Heart Hader on iHeartRadio as well as on our own new YouTube channel.

• Additionally, you can follow us on TikTok. That's right, folks. Deej actually created a new TikTok account just for the podcast so I actually made myself get on TikTok just so I could have another place to plug it to death. That's how much I care about reaching as wide an audience as possible with this thing.

• Anyway, see you soon!

Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)

White House Cold Open

• Well, no use delaying the inevitable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monologue 

• (*sigh*) Here we fuckin’ go again…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Winery Tour 

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

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

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

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

CouplaBeers & aLilBump

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

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

Mid-Day News

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

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

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

Dads’ House

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

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

• Jesus, these alimony jokes are coming off mean.

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

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

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

PDD: The Sound

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wedding Interruption

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

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

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

Doctor's Visit

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

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

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

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

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

Overall Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Closing Thoughts 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ranking All The Vincent Price Sketches From Worst To Best

This blog entry is a companion piece to the latest episode of the "We Heart Hader" podcast out now. Give us a listen, won't you?

6. Halloween Special 1960 - Jon Hamm/Rihanna (10.30.2010) 

• This is definitely the weakest of all the Vincent Price sketches. You can tell it's running on fumes creatively. The skeleton puppet was a fun opening though (probably the best thing about this one).

• This is officially nothing but repeated impressions at this point because besides Armisen's Liberace, we get Wiigs’ Judy Garland (same solid impression, more drug jokes that seem lazier and lead to an out of nowhere “putting a man on the moon” joke) and Hamms’ JFK (which we only saw a brief glimpse of last time he hosted in the Obama Variety Special sketch but we could've seen his unused Dean Martin impression instead).

• JFK + Liberace = Double the sex jokes (almost nothing but, at least Hader adds some self awareness to them as Armisen delivers one liners at a Merv The Perv like pace).

• It's official. Fred Armisens’ Liberace has officially become “Flanderized”.

• This was the last Vincent Price sketch that made it to air, which at least means they knew the exact right time to end these.

5. Christmas Special 1954 - James Franco/Muse (12.19.2009)

• The smoke machine gag is pretty weak. Haders’ still the strongest part of these but something officially feels “off” with these starting here.

• While we are officially repeating previously used impressions here, that's not the main problem. Wiigs’ Katherine Hepburn is more fine tuned here. The gag with her bringing a freshly cut tree to the studio and killing a live racoon she found in it (but not before it bit her and infected her with rabies) might have been my favorite part of this. 

• James Franco as James Dean is definitely one of those things that sounds better on paper. He's too raspy for…really anyone to be able to tell how good the impression is (which seems to just be posing and pouting for him because the voice and general vibe from him just appears to be “fey, repressed vaguely southern guy”)

• The implied fellatio at the end is the official “tipping point” I mentioned earlier and officially marks the point when cheap gay jokes just overtook these all together (and given that James Franco is involved makes these age just badly enough to be included in the SNL50 “In Memoriam” montage).

4. St. Patrick's Day Special 1961 - Matt Dillon/Arctic Monkeys (03.11.2006)

• Vincent still tries to “spookify” St. Patrick's Day, tracing it back to ancient druid rituals. Bill still anchors this flawlessly in his first season alone.

• Darrell Hammond's flabbergasted Don Knotts/Barney Fife is surprisingly strong right out of the gate. It was rare in this era for him to be used to this great of an effect in a non political role.

• Kristen Wiigs’ Kathryn Hepburn isn't as strong as her Judy Garland but she sells it on sheer energy alone.

• The “bagpipers drown out Vincent” gag could've been executed better.

• Matt Dillon does a solid Rod Serling. His and Vincents’ passive aggressive comments toward each other were a great note to end this on.

3. Thanksgiving Special 1958 - Eva Longoria/Korn (11.19.2005)

• This is the first and longest Vincent Price sketch of then all clocking in at 07:24 and somehow feels the most low-key. It's about two minutes longer than the others. It's understandable why these would be tightened up a bit in the future.

• This is a very strong, very funny debut for this series of sketches. It's extremely well performed by all involved. 

• Vincent Price seems to have the easiest time getting the show under control in this one. I got a kick out of his attempts to “horrify” and “Halloweenize” Thanksgiving (feasting on a decapitated fowl, his stumbling over the line “naked, blood soaked manbeasts feasted on the entrails of…peasant children” may have been him just getting over Lornes' “why now?” moment, stating it came from either a bizarre pagan ritual or the pilgrims making it up, giving up and admitting he doesn't know much about Thanksgiving because he only went to a small school with three other guys and then dramatically stating “NEVERTHELESS!”)

• Sanz does a surprisingly strong Alfred Hitchcock. Hammond doesn't get much as Clark Gable but he's pretty solid. Wiig especially shines as Judy Garland (even though this sketch seems to mine most of it's laughs from Garlands’ drug problem).

• Still, one of my favorite gags in this is the “most doctors recommend Chesterfields” from Amy Poehler (not that far off from a real ‘50s cigarette commercial, by the way) followed by Hader’s exclamation of “who the hell makes 12 second cigarette commercials?”

• Personally, I would have cut Armisen and Longorias’ parts. I can see why getting to perform in these roles in these sketches would be a big deal to them but their Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (or as Vincent calls him “America's favorite illegal immigrant”) impressions weren't quite there yet. 

2. Valentines Day Special 1966 - Alec Baldwin/Jonas Brothers (02.14.2009)

• Yeah, an episode with The Jonas Brothers as musical guest during the height of their Disney teeny bopper period was definitely the ideal episode to air this sketch in. Even though they're not in this sketch, these old Hollywood film references are definitely gonna land with the JoBro fans who are definitely still gonna be up by the time this airs. Anyway, moving on…

• The revolving bookcase gag is OK, but doesn't play as well as the scissor lift. Hader is still the “glue” of these, but we've officially lost his attempts to “horrify” each holiday with this iteration.

• Alecs’ Richard Burton is OK but Wiigs’ Carol Channing is quite stellar. They're both impressions I can't quite judge the accuracy of because I can only compare them with other impressions I have seen (Bill Murray and John Candy have previously done Richard Burton for example and Ryan Stiles has done Carol Channing on “Whose Line”) but every impression here feels very lived in. Alecs’ role suits him well and Wiig disappears into her role in a way I don't think I've seen her do anywhere before or since. Even Casey Wilson plays a woman who gets little chance to prove herself with no lines (and she looked damn good doing it too).

• Someone on an old message board (possibly S-N-L.com?) pointed out how these may have become the new Celebrity Jeopardy of its era with Haders’ Price serving the Ferrell/Trebek role and Armisens’ Liberace as the Hammond/Connery role. You can definitely see that here.

• The misplaced hand gag played extremely well (especially near the end) and this iteration may have hit just the right amount of raunch before they reach their tipping point.

1. Halloween Special 1959 - Jon Hamm/Coldplay (10.25.2008)

• This is probably the most famous of these sketches due to it's frequent inclusion in modern Halloween Special compilations (and airing during a strong period for the show I'm general). The gag with the malfunctioning scissor lift played very well and was funny.

• Fun fact: Jon Hamm was originally going to play Dean Martin in dress rehearsal but was able to adeptly switch into James Mason in moments notice. Nonetheless, Hamm is a great addition to these and has some of the best lines (“two old fashioneds”, “regina/vagina”).

• Fred Armisens’ Liberace makes his debut here and would become a mainstay in these sketches at this point. I've seen better Liberace impressions than Armisens (Dave Thomas’ from SCTV for one, Bruce Mahlers' from Fridays for another) but something about this role really suits him. 

• Armisen and Hamm sort of usher in the transition of Hader’s Vincent Price character into “flustered straight man who has completely lost control of his own show to these three drunken, oversized lowkey degenerates.”

• I can't really gauge the accuracy of a Gloria Swanson impression but we start to see some “late era Wiig hamminess” creep in here even though she's fairly restrained with few lines in this one.

• Since John Mulaney has joined the writing staff this season, this is officially the first Vincent Price sketch he has written on (wonder who wrote the first two though?) It makes sense that Mulaney would bring these back just as a way to get Hader on the show more since the first two were so solid. Plus, this one feels tightened up quite a bit and it has a lot more energy than the first two. Maybe Mulaney had a better sense of how to make these play live?

Closing Updates

• The next episode of “We Heart Hader” should be out two weeks from now. It will be all about Bills’ guest appearances as Tom McDougal on the first two seasons of “The Mindy Project”. 

• As of this writing, my next blog post is going to be a full length review if the Shane Gillis/Tate McRae episode of SNL airing March 1st. My review of it should be posted on this blog by late in the evening on Sunday, March 2nd.

• Ok, I didn't think Shane's last episode was the worst one ever, but is still a pretty poor and disappointing choice for the first episode back after the outstanding 50th anniversary special.

• I mean, I get that with the Oscar's taking place on Sunday, March 2nd not a lot of A-list actors or Hollywood talent are going to be available that week, but surely there must be better comedians or even other former SNL alumni available? Hmm?

• Oh well. See you a week from Sunday! Take care, everybody!

SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)

Simon & Carpenter (Homeward Bound)

• Wow. Strange but intriguing combo right off the bat. Appreciate the deep cut, though. 
• I do like the “wasn't born yet/neither were her parents” jab which Paul seemingly took in stride.
• I gotta say Sabrina's doing a good job of holding her own against Paul vocally here.
• Seems a little somber to open rather than close with, but no complaints here.

Montage

• While this was visually dazzling, I found it a bit strange that Darrell Hammond only announced the musical guests but I also realized that if they announced all the cast members and guests on the show that might take five whole minutes. Plus, I do like the small sense of surprise this lends to the show.

Monologue 

• Overall, I liked Steve's monologue (especially the end…heh, great job, Steve! Loved the whole thing!) but (*looks around and whispers once he is absolutely sure Steve Martin is out of earshot*) I honestly liked his 40th monologue a bit better. That one felt a bit more fresh and original (probably since we hadn't seen Steve host with or without Marty as recently in the lead up to SNL40 as we had leading up to this one).

• I guess neither Steve nor Tom Hanks were entirely wrong about the monologue being “the weakest part of the show”.

• Those “diversity hire” and “Gulf of Steve Martin” jokes came off odd to me but the rest of Steve's stand up.

• I especially liked the sudden Letterman cutaway and the “writers’ tribute”

• I heard Steve (and possibly Mulaney & Marty?) were workshopping material for this monologue at the Comedy Cellar a few days ago (and you can kinda tell since quite a bit of it seems personal and not about SNL in particular).

• Yeah, I think maybe more than just two hosts may have committed murder, John (but that's a discussion for another time).

• Marty's cameo was fine. He gave it just the right energy that the “ICE! Get him!” gag came off just right and didn't feel too inappropriate.

• I mean, full disclosure, I may mot have laughed as much at the Martin Short/ICE gag because something like that actually happened to my sister at her job…but I'm also dealing with recent unemployment and a much more recent death in the family right now. I'm not gonna let either of those things affect my enjoyment of this special. I'm using it to distract myself from those things anyway. Moving on…

Lawrence Welk

• Wow, is it just me or is Armisen really showing his age more than ever in his Lawrence Welk role?

• Well, I've always been pretty ambivalent towards Dooneese…but I have always liked Ferrells’ Goulet. I also liked Kenans’ contortionist and the idea of Gasteyer and Johansson as backup Singers.

• Most of all, I…can put up with them shoving Kim Kardashian into the background of this sketch where she can't steal too much focus until Wiig does a drum solo on her skirt covered ass which…guys, c'mon.

• I did like the surprise gag of Dooneeses’ sudden third hand making an appearance.

• It makes sense that they would work this into a new 21st century anniversary special that airs in prime time (especially the first third) but I probably would've liked this a bit better if it didn't so closely resemble the second iteration of Lawrence Welk/Dooneese they actually did during Ferrells’ second hosting stints (and the one with Jon Hamm they did during Wiigs final episode really).

• They also did this as the cold open to the Betty White/Jay-Z episode from May 2010. I mention that as a positive because with this in a prominent spot at the top of the rundown and all the former cast cameos, this really does feel like a much bigger version of the “event” that episode was…which is good.

Black Jeopardy 

• Ok, now HERE'S something I could always get on board with! I liked them including Tracy as “Darius” and Eddie as Tracy.

• Eddie's impression of Tracy was fun. The voice he used was a bit high but he's got Tracy's delivery down perfect. If anything, Eddie just sounds like a much younger version of Tracy (or he may have been channeling Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock/TGS more than Tracy Morgan of SNL fame).

• I really liked them using Black Jeopardy as a way to address the shows’ troubles with diversity that apparently lead into it's troubles attracting (let alone keeping) a black audience at times.

• I did like the “wrong” guesses of In Living Color, Showtime At The Apollo and Soul Train (as telegraphed as they seemed).

• I do appreciate how they tried to work in Chris Rock and Tom Hanks’ character “Doug” to make it seem reminiscent of the Jeopardy sketch from the LAST big anniversary special (as sloppily executed as those seemed but, hey they never have enough time to rehearse the live sketches in these so I can forgive that) but was the audience just…AFRAID to laugh at the “handshake” gag they rehashed from the original Black Jeopardy…that had Tom Hanks in it?

• Even if it came out feeling like the second Black Jeopardy sketch in history that Eddie Murphy participated in that was slightly…botched. This was the first genuine highlight of the special for me.

Stone & Shannon

• Ok, I guess this was one of three definite “crowd pleasing” moments they just HAD to do but I appreciate the meta acknowledgement of this being too “on the nose”.

• I guess a similar meta acknowledgement of how Sally O'Malley should chronologically be 75 now would've been too much to ask or just ruined the whole bit. I don't want to nit pick. It's supposed to be a fun night.

Physical Humor Montage

• Ok, if we do absolutely HAVE to have some clip packages in this I do appreciate what a unique and clever theme this feels like.

• I do like how they expanded on this theme so it could include everything from Chevy, Farley and Mollys’ falls and general body slams to genuine heartfelt dancing to modern pretaped blood and gore (even sneaking Aykroyd's Julia Child in there).

Kelsey and Matts’ Vow Renewal

• Oh God, here it comes. Let's just get the most inevitable moment out of the way. 

• I do like Shannon and Short flubbing their way through this intro.

• I heard a rumor that Steve Carell was originally supposed to be in this but had to drop out at the last minute. Is there any truth to this? Is that why Marty's in this?

• Hey, there's Sabrina of course. I think maybe they wanted to make sure they put her only two segments on as early as they could since they figured she might have young fans who need to get to bed early in case they're school ISN'T closed for Presidents’ Day. (I know she's not exactly a teeny bopper or anything but I do know she got her start on the Disney Channel, so a lot of youngins must've followed her from there).

• Ok, back to this sketch. Don't put it off any longer.

• I guess they're spoofing a song from Wicked I don't quite recogni…oh, it's “Defying Gravity”. Cute.

• Yeah, this by far my least favorite “You Belong With Me” parody ever. (I mean, it's T. Swift so I don't think we really need to ask ourselves “why now in 2025?” here). I think you can all easily guess what my actual favorite “You Belong With Me” parody is but just in case…

• Yeah, Sabrina. What the hell IS this song? I mean, really.

• The inclusion of Bennet, Mooney, Samberg & Yang might have been my favorite part of this. Sadly, it crumbled after this with the introduction of Pedro Pascal as Domingos’ bro “Renaldo” (who may or may be Bi, apparently) and Bad Bunny as “hot brother, Santiago.”

• Couldn't they have just said Matt cheated on Kelsey with Sabrinas’ character and left it at that?

• This last third of this seemed like a jumbled mess with all the additional “lore” to the Domingo saga they tried to tack on but at least it somehow didn't feel like it ran on too long or anything.

Deep Thoughts

• Oh hey! I really dig this quick little palette cleansing throwback to the era that introduced me to the show!

Poehler & Fey's Q&A

• Overall, I liked this much more than the Seinfeld hosted Q&A from tye 40th (much more clear, concise and coherent, free of any moments that will age horrendously years from now) and it managed to beat the high bar set by the Hanks hosted Q&A from the 25th.

• Mostly I liked this for how they tried to pack some sheer strangeness into this (especially with Paytons’ odd commercial rant which was the perfect note to end this on).

• Hey, Conans’ in the audience! 

• Tina & Amys’ “beauty secrets” were very funny and I liked the back & forth between Quinta & Tim (although I am enough of an SNL nerd myself to point out that Sade was actually on in November 21, 1992 and December 14, 1985 but NOT March of 1993)

• I'm…not really sure Blake & Ryan should legally even be there (I mean, I'm sure they need a break from everything) but I did like how they didn't even address the lawsuit drama (maybe outside the “what have you heard?” part)

• I liked Nate Bargatze teeing up a random tribute to a specific wardrobe crew member named Donna.

• The Lovitz bit was funny and I liked the back and forth between JLD, Driver and her dog. Good to see JLD finally make an appearance at one of these anniversary shows!

• Gee, I sure hope Cher has the answer to MY question: why the hell is Kevin Costner here?

• I especially like the Keith Richards/Zach Galifianakis bit but now I have another question: how come Mick Jagger has never been at one of these anniversary shows?

• I could've done without the Hamm/Bad Bunny bit (and Momoas’ bit if I'm being honest).

• I liked the Seth/Sharpton/Romano bit for the self awareness (they pretty much said what I was thinking)

• I also liked Fred Armisens’ bit referencing an obscure cut sketch from his era. Only a true SNL nerd would appreciate the humor in Fred Armisen calling a 2005 episode “pretty bad…front to back”.

• I appreciate how they didn't make the Kevin Spacey/Kanye jokes feel too gratuitous either.

Digital Short: Anxiety

• While there may have been a small part of me that may have preferred a Please Don't Destroy or TV Funhouse over this, I will always have a certain fondness for The Lonely Island and their digital shorts so this was a welcome sight.

• I thought the Duran Duran/Flock Of Seagulls-esque heavy 80s synth pop beat dovetailed well with the theme of this (although I feel like they could've backed off the IBS stuff a little bit) and I appreciated the Molly & Ana cameo. Bowen and Andy work very well together (even if this mostly seems to be Bowen gently airing out some personal issues with the show itself). 

• Somehow, I doubt that Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal were among the cast members who suffered the most anxiety while on the show.

• Of all the vintage anxiety A.I. deep fakes in this, the melting Mr. Bill was my personal favorite.

• I also appreciate how well they worked in Sarah, Parnell, JAJ, Kenan, Taran, Beck and Forte along with various crew members.

• Speaking of Forte, did the first two verses of this remind anyone else of his “Women's Herstory (Did You See What I Did There?)” Weekend Update song from March 2010? Come to think of it, this whole song sounded like they just mixed that with "Space Olympics" and an inverted version of “Here I Go (feat. Charli XCX) but I don't really have a problem with that.

Nothing Compares 2 U

• This might have been a stronger performance than their number at the homecoming concert on Friday night.

• This song fits Miley Cyrus’ and Brittany Howard's vocal and musical styles so well it almost makes you forget how “out of left field” the choice of song feels.

Weekend Update w/Jost, Che & Meyers

• Ok, well…I guess they didn't have too many other choices if they DIDN'T want to just repeat what they did at SNL40 but Jost & Che had decent jokes and seemed to know what wouldn't be appropriate for this event.

• I especially liked Che's “Norm/O.J” joke and Josts’ “Chevy/Kenan” and “Quademic” jokes.

• Mostly, I liked how this was more focused on showcasing the best (well, most of the best) characters from 2010s era Weekend Update and their original performers rather than having the big name celebrity guests reenact their favorite characters from the 20th century. I liked seeing Drunk Uncle, (I especially cracked up at the line “cam you yassify my chickpea pasta?”) Cecilys’ now pregnant party girl and especially Fred and Vanessas’ “Lornes’ Friends From Growing Up”. 

• Wait, didn't Colin himself write most of these? What a coincidence (if true).

• I loved seeing Bill Murray subtly tease Colin Jost with his own Top Ten Update anchor ratings (even though it seems like he or someone mixed up his old Oscar picks with the old top ten bit from Wayne's World for some reason?)

• I especially liked Murray's “ignorant slut” callback as well as his “girl on girl” and “could OJ have really done it?” lines.

• Boy, I guess ol’ Billy here decided to treat anyone who hosted Update during the non-Lorne years who wasn't a blood relative of his like the best supporting actors and actresses at the Oscar's, huh? (Sorry Charlie, Gail, Mary, Christine, Brad, Christopher, Joe, Tim, “Fernando” and most of the hosts from late season 9 and early season 10).

50th Close Encounter (*someone whispers in Casey's ear*) oh, what's that? They actually did fewer than 50 of these? Hmm, that sounds about right

• I figured they might be doing another one of these. Well, it's definitely a decent way of working Kate and Aidy into this special

• Hamm, Pascal and (especially) Harrelson are nice additions to this.

• This is another series of sketches I've always been pretty “eh” on. They never quite hit right for me because of all the manufactured breaking but I don't hate it.

• These do hit all the same beats comedically and the addition of Ana Gasteyer? Nope? Nora Dunn? Hmm, not quite? Meryl Streep? Yes! Wow! Meryl Streep as Colleens’ mother is putting this above all the others already.

The Stagehand

• Wow, I never thought a “Chad” Short could make me this emotional. This was a great way to work in Laraine as herself into the show. I also liked how this was different from other Chad pretapes in that it wasn't centered on Laraine either falling for him or hitting on him in some way.

• While we're on the subject of the surviving original female cast,I do wish they could've somehow worked Jane Curtin into the actual show though, but hey…I understand that Jane may have only wanted to be in the audience given what she's said publicly about her experience on the show and the fact that she seemingly only likes to appear on camera in every OTHER anniversary show since she wasn't featured in the 25th (and if not…well, I also understand why some cuts definitely had to be made)

50 Years (Sandlers’ Song)

• Jack Nicholson makes his obligatory “huh, why hasn't this guy ever hosted?” appearance.

• Speaking of goofball cast members that the youngins’ like bringing unexpected emotion out of me, I loved how Sandlers’ song here had the exact right mix of nostalgia, reverence, accessible inside jokes about the show and sheer silliness.

• I especially liked the digs at Speilberg, NY mag critics, anti semitic musical guests, nepo interns, Downey and Jost. I wonder how much of this is from Sandlers’ own personal experience with the show anyway?

• Who the hell is this “Speedy” guy anyway? I'm genuinely curious.

• This also seemed to serve the same function that the actual “In Memoriam” reel that Bill Murray introduced in the 40th Anniversary since referenced much loved cast AND crew members who are no longer with us. I guess this provides some balance for those who may think this special was too focused on modern recurring sketches and lacked real sentiment or proper tributes to the shows’ history and to those we lost.

• Funny that he should mention Forte and show a clip from the “Spelling Bee” sketch as I'm wearing my “Business” t-shirt with the image from that sketch on it as I type this.

History of New York (Hotdogs & Heroin)

• This was another heavily recurring sketch I was expecting them to bring back for tonight and honestly I wasn't totally against this.

• Even though we literally got another big Mulaney musical four and a half months ago the last time John hosted a regular episode, this felt appropriate for a big 50th anniversary celebrity gala special that they'd go all out for. 

• Also, it still feels even more appropriate to give Mulaney a spotlight to acknowledge his contributions to the shows’ comedic sensibilities (and just modern comedy tastes in general stand up or otherwise) given how big of a name he's become in the world of comedy in general.

• Maya Rudolph, Adam Driver, Paul Schaffer and G.E. Smith did a stellar job with the first number.

• Nathan Lane was a pleasant surprise but “Cocaine And Some Vodka” to the tune of “Hakuna Matata” didn't quite work for me (thankfully that was really the only one)

• The Forte/Sudeikis/Wiig Les Miserables Times Square number was fun if not incomprehensible. Jenna Ortega and Kevin Costner really made it for me.

• Perhaps what I liked most about this one was how it made full use of the studio space and sprawled around from set to set, into the audience and back to home base.

• This was honestly a really fun way to dig Kates’ Rudy Giuliani out of mothballs. Lin Manuel Miranda was a fun addition to this and they really slammed ol’ Rudy here.

• I'm already sick of seeing Sarah play male political roles after seeing Kate & Aidy do that exact thing so much for nearly four years, but I did like Mulaney calling her out on the weakness of her Bloomberg impression. I always liked Armisen's portrayal better anyway.

• Oh, so THAT’S what they put out that casting call for a 7 foot tall guy for. A non-impression of Bill Deblasio. Ok. It was also nice to see Devon Walker as Eric Adams again.

• The Scarjo/Rudd/JAJ “Suddenly eBikes” number was fun too. I got a small kick out of Spade sitting out the finale. Nice enough way to work him in there. 

• I liked the small callbacks to Diner Lobster previous Mulaney Musicals in the “One Day More” finale. Nick Jonas? OK.

• Most of all I liked how they snuck in Taran, Ana and most of the male cast members from that mid-to-late 2010s era when these were more or less a regular fixture on SNL as Mulaney kept hosting (Alex, Beck, Kyle, Cecily, Mikey et al).

Baldwins’ Best Commercials 

• Ok, maybe literally any other person in this building could've read Alecs’ lines here (I did like that “Alex” joke) but he is part of the shows’ history for a reason and he did just fine with his material here (although “Third Year Veneers” landed better for me than “After Update” sleeping pills did).

• I did like his inclusion of Sarah here and I liked how this commercial montage was a mix of old crowd pleasers and quick deep cuts.

• This may seem like an obvious choice for a clip package, but I liked how they did something different here considering that at the 40th, some of these commercials were just folded in to the general pretape/short film package we saw. I always thought it made a bit more sense to give the fake commercials their own segment anyway.

50th Bronx Beat (*someone else whispers in Casey's ear*) What? Oh, don't tell me…

• This is another “take it or leave it” sketch for me. I appreciated the Conan “shoutout” and I'm glad they did more than just playfully flirt with Miles’ Teller (why him of all people, though?)

• Looks like the fixed the mic/audio issues for the YouTube edit

• Speaking of “take it or leave it” estrogen heavy talk show sketches, I genuinely appreciated seeing Mike Meyers as Linda Richman again. 

• While I wasn't always the biggest Coffee Talk fan, I am always intrigued to see characters from long gone eras of SNL interacting with one's from this century.

• Honestly, it's nice to see Mike Meyers dig another old Chara out of mothballs that WASN'T Wayne Campbell or Dr. Evil.

• Most of all, it's gratifying to see the show acknowledge the similarities between these two sketches and make me feel like I wasn't the only person who wanted to walk up to Maya & Amy in the middle of one of these and say (with love of course) “Hey ladies, Mike Meyers just called. He wants Coffee Talk back”.

• I did like Mayas’ “stem cells/snail sperm” line and Amys’ line about “only drinking six days a week”

• Yes, it's both the 50th anniversary of SNL and the 34th (?) anniversary of Mike Meyers repeating these same jokes in every Coffee Talk sketch he's ever done.

• (*Casey sees a third person approaching him and tries to cut them off*) Ok yeah, I know this isn't literally the 50th Coffee Talk either. I wasn’t even gonna make that joke again. Thank you. Moving On…

Lil Wayne & The Roots

• Well, at least this was the only time we saw Dave Chappelle on this special considering he just hosted the second to last regular episode that aired before this special (and a lot of people certainly weren't happy about it then).

• Yeah, possibly the weakest musical performance of the actual special (the concert on Friday night was AMAZING but who cares?) but hey, I'm a sucker for that song “Lolipop” (heh, see what I did there?)

• Speaking of the Homecoming concert, anyone else legitimately get chills during that Lonely Island medley? (particularly the “Dear Sister” shoutout?) Anyone else hoping they'll eventually put up the ENTIRE Culps medley on Peacocks’ YouTube channel? I mean, that was my second favorite moment of that whole show and I'd like to watch it as a standalone clip in more than just bits and pieces online.

In Memoriam (for sketches & characters that did NOT age well)

• I do love the misdirect here but even more than that I love that they just leaned straight into the fact that as a show that has been around 50 years they will have a LOT of material that will not hold up now so, yeah…they might as well put it all out there since they know people are gonna complain about all of these (or have already done so at some point…or made some idiotic comment along the lines of either “lol this was the actual funniest part of the show” or “lol remember when SNL was actually funneeeeyyy?” or that this is somehow disrespectful to do this in place of an actual SNL40 style In Memoriam reel. Grow up.)

• So yeah, while I did like this initially, it does lose a bit of it's luster the more I chew on it and see other useless online reaction to it.

• Is it just me or did they PURPOSELY leave out that clip of Jimmy Fallon as Chris Rock out if the pixelated "questionable makeup" montage? (And yes i've watched it closely enough a few times to notice it wasn't actually in there). However, I do see that they included Horatio Sanz as Aaron Neville in there, so…I feel a bit vindicated there from when I mentioned it on the premiere episode of my podcast. (See that, Deej?)

• Their definition of “body shaming” is a bit more questionable than the clips they labeled as such.

• Speaking of “questionable definitions” did they conveniently forget their own retconning of Canteen Boys' age by the time they reran that Baldwin episode when they labeled it as “child molestation”? Ah, who cares? I'm not gonna defend the sketch since it's pretty tasteless either way (it could still be labeled as “gay panic” either way) 

• Plus, people can still at least use it as a cudgel against Baldwin himself (hell, the show itself even did that when they still prominently featured him more than the actual cast).

• Perhaps most shocking of all would be their decision to exclude Trump and Musk from their list of “questionable hosts”. I mean, why SHOULDN'T they be up there with Simpson, Blake, Diddy and Fogle? As Jost said during Update, they know this may be their LAST season anyway.

• One thing I'm surprised by is the treatment of the “Word Association” sketch. I remember just before SNL40 (y'know, the LAST big anniver…ah, you know what I'm talking about by now) they aired the sketch completely uncensored (with a content warning beforehand, but still) and treated it with the utmost reverence as if it were as groundbreaking as “All In The Family” was at the time. I'm not even going to argue with their decision now to air a censored/beeped version of the sketch. I'm just gonna say that I think it's quite baffling.

Debbie Downer 

• Ok, I'm glad Rachel Dratch is finally getting her flowers (and getting featured as much as her female cast mates, really) and I appreciate seeing Fallon actually keyed into a modern day SNL sketch performance. I even liked a lot of Dratchs’ jokes. Other than that, this came off pretty damn awkward.

• Did anyone else think that we were getting a five timers club/platinum lounge sketch at first until they realized that Drew Barrymore was the only actual five timer onscreen and that Jimmy Fallon and Ayo Edeberi have only hosted four times between them?

• Speaking of sketches that feature Fallon and Dratch together, is anyone else a little bit disappointed that we got this instead of an Update on what Sully & Denise have been up to these past eight years? I realize it might be a bit of a stretch to fit them into the theme of this special but we kinda already got a cameo from Debbie in the 40th…but not a full sketch like this, so…Yeah, all right. Now that I think about it this is actually fine.

• Robert Deniro was actually OK here. He didn't really help this feel less stilted or anything (Barrymores’ intense energy with him was…odd) but I liked his speech about wanting a break from the state of the world with this special (hell, as I've stated much earlier that is the exact same reason I was watching this). I also liked his sternness with Dratch and his gently strangling her.

• The “I can't have children/I told you that, Jimmy” line was cute and not too over the top but, eh.

Scared Straight

• Here's another late 2000s/early 2010s sketch that I may have semi soured on due to it's repetition, forced breaking and over reliance on “scatalogical” humor but looking back I remember liking these a lot in spite of all of those things. I guess I've been too mentally conditioned by the “samey-ness” of seasons 34-37.

• I do like how they used Marcello and Longfellow as the “young punks” in this but Mikey Day seems a little old for his part. Maybe Emil or Dismukes could've been used here instead?

• I did like how they referenced Harry Potter as the first movie…because, what the hell? This feels like as right a time as any to urinate all over J.K. Rowlings’ legacy…y'know, given what she's like now.

• Most of all, I liked how they worked Eddie Murphy (couldn't he have played Tyrone “C-I-L-L My Land Lawd” Green?) and Will Ferrell (someone must've been watching himself some Reno 911 recently) into this. 

• Even though the “scatology” can get a little gratuitous in these at times, I appreciated the added meta twists of Murphy and Ferrells characters referencing real life movies they starred in.

• I also liked the added twist of Ferrell's character initially putting a positive twist on things trying to show the kids the upside of prison life before getting aggressive. I especially like him rushing through the first half of his own “Elf” reference and getting straight to the point on that one.

• Everyone's timing and delivery seemed a teeny bit off due to breaking and probable lack of rehearsal time but, hey…that honestly just made it more fun.

• Did I just hear Eddie try to slip through an MF bomb on air? Boy, I was sure THAT would've gotten people talking…but somehow it didn't.

Garrett Morris Presents “Don't Look Back In Anger”

• Nice to see Garrett again introducing one of the more poignant Schillers’ Reel films of the original era. 

• It functions well as a Gilda/Belushi tribute (in that it reminds me of the type of tributes they gave just to those two specifically in the 15th and 25th anniversary specials)

Paul McCartney Medley 

• Even though Sir Pauls’ voice…ain't what it used to be, he's still got it and this was a very strong performance nonetheless.

• I guess I was wrong about which singer/songwriter named Paul should've closed this special (especially since Macca is literally performing a song with the words “and in THE END” in it). Nice additional Farley nod, by the way.

Goodnights

• I got a big kick out of seeing Gary Kroger (right next to Lorne) Terry Sweeney, Ellen Cleghorn, Finesse Mitchell and (eventually) Chevy Chase featured so prominently right up front on stage.

• I also thought Laraine holding up a photo of Gilda was very sweet.

Now, I've determined that there was enough new live content in this special for it to qualify as two actual episodes of this season and thus it should be ranked with the rest of season as such, so…

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

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

Ranking All Of The Previous SNL Anniversary Specials From Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Show (02.16.2025)
2. SNL 40th Anniversary Special (02.15.2015)
3. 25th Anniversary Special (09.26.1999)
4. 15th Anniversary Special (09.24.1989)

Ranking All Of This Seasons Official SNL50 Branded Retrospective Material From Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Homecoming Concert (02.14.2025)
2. Ladies And Gentlemen…50 Years Of SNL Music (01.27.2025)
3. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
4. SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night - Season 11: The Weird Year (01.16.2025)
5. SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night - Five Minutes (01.16.2025)
6. SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night - Written By: A Week Inside The SNL Writers’ Room (01.16.2025)
7. SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night - More Cowbell (01.16.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Even though it got off to a slightly rocky start and had a strangely rushed and jumbled together feel from the get go, I absolutely loved this special. It was the very best I could've hoped it would be for the culmination of SNLs’ big 50th anniversary special airing in the year 2025.

• I mean, hey…when you're covering five whole decades of television history you kinda HAVE to rush through or gloss over some things from the distant past, so…why NOT just focus as much attention and effort as possible on legitimizing sketches and performers from the last 20 years to honor the last 50? I'm sure others my age and younger appreciate that because in a way, our eyeballs and YouTube clicks and what not seemed to be the main thing pushing it past 31.

• I especially liked how it was “sketch heavy” enough that it genuinely felt like two regular episodes of SNL smashed together rather than just a collection of famous celebrities just introducing a series of clip packages in tuxes and evening gowns.

• I also liked how it captured the exact same vibe that the homecoming concert did (in that it properly honored the shows’ history without feeling too self indulgent or up it's own…y'know)

• It's also fitting and appropriate that the 50th anniversary honor what SNL gradually became after the 40th (or mostly just from years 41-47) where most of the current cast are basically treated as glorified extras who are only there to support the big, flashy celebrity cameos and two to three “standouts” of the current cast that Lorne Michaels THINKS all of America is waiting with baited breath to see on our screens! I say this with love of course since they have briefly backed off of this for a bit one or two seasons ago where the cameos were mostly fun and unexpected and not JUST there to fill big political roles but most of season 50 (including tonight) felt like we were headed back in that direction anyway.

• I'm especially glad they granted me the only wish I had for this special; that it would be much less focused on showcasing old clips and more on creating new live moments that were unique to a special anniversary show. (huh, maybe the SNL social media team DOES pay some attention to the SNN Patron Feedback shows after all)

• Speaking of…

Special Thanks

• I'd like to congratulate our dear friends Jon Schneider and James Stevens of the Saturday Night Network on securing their gig doing red carpet interviews for this event! Good job, guys! It's truly rewarding to all of us who follow you to see all the hard work you guys are doing paying off!

• I'd also like to thank Jon specifically for creating SNN and not only giving me a space to start getting into podcasting myself but also for connecting me with someone who also wanted to start their own SNL related podcast and put out an open call live on air for a new co host.

• Of course, I'd also like to thank Deej Barens for creating the We Heart Hader Podcast, inviting me into her podcasting space and allowing me to be her cohost. It feels incredibly gratifying to be able to help create and launch something that I consider to be a spin off to the SNN Patron Feedback Shows (at least in spirit).

Closing Thoughts

• Well, for the most part, that lived up to all the hype for me. 

• You may have also noticed that I eschewed my usual letter grades for each segment and avoided using any harsh profanity. I also went a bit lighter than usual on plugging my podcast. I chose to do those things out of reverence and respect for the occasion and the shows’ massive history.

• My next blog post is going to be a ranking of all of Bill Hader’s Vincent Price sketches from best to worst. That should be out next Thursday to coincide with the release of the next episode of the “We Heart Hader” podcast.

• After that, I am most likely just going to write up full length reviews of whatever the next planned episode of SNL is that will be airing March 1st so, I hope to have that ready to be published by the evening of March 2nd (as is my standard procedure!)

• Have a good lower half of February and stay warm and safe out there, everyone.