John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)

 Sudden Pre-Show Thoughts

- Ok, when I heard Kamala Harris was actually appearing on the show tonight, I had some... mixed feelings. For one thing, I've been feeling that we may be past the point where it would be considered appropriate let alone hip, cool or media savvy for an active presidential candidate to make an appearance on this show since...well, since the time one of THIS race's candidates actually hosted nine years ago at the start of his first campaign but that's also the least of my worries at the moment.

- I mean, as heavily skewed as the polls seem to be right now (at least not counting the ones you somehow see from Elon Musk on that damn former "bird" site he's been running into the cold, cold ground), all signs point to her gaining significantly on Trump in recent weeks. I certainly don't want for her or the show to accidentally jinx that. I mean, I think she's definitely held her own in recent "hostile" interviews and not taken any reporters bait or anything, so...she's not in any SERIOUS danger of losing at this point, riiiiiiiight?

- I immediately flashed back to John McCains' appearance on the last pre-election episode of 2008. It was pretty obvious that he was there to loosen up and have fun as even HE was aware he was likely going to lose that election. I certainly didn’t want anyone heading into a potential Kamala Harris cameo with that mindset (after all, if I were a supporter of TFG I wouldn't still be watching the show closely enough to be able to maintain this intensely detailed blog about it, would I? I mean, HE hasn't even TWEETED about it in at least five years). Speaking of...

Last Campaign Stops

- JAJs' Trump ramble seems a bit sharper, more biting and focused than normal. Getting their potential last possible jabs in before the show goes off the air, I see?

- ...and the Dem Ticket Cameo Crew comes in to lay on the schmaltz and slow the momentum a bit, I see. I liked Carveys' "riff" line and Sambergs' "Doug" lawsuit joke, but that was it. Also, it's strange to hear just the word "Twitch" alone get a round of applause, but...OK.

- I see the Kamala cameo is amounting to...literally just the Clinton/Poehler cameo of March '08 but just done 3 Coolidges 3 mirror style. I was a little disappointed at this being the conceit of Kamalas' cameola...yeah, Ok, I'm not gonna try to riff on that part but I will say that the real Kamala did make that "open doors" line land better than it had any right too.

- Still, for something that was obviously written and conceptualized at the last possible minute after the cameo appearance was arranged like, a day or two earlier, this was a nice sincere moment that I ultimately can't get too mad at in the moment (and I don't really see too much for Twitter to get mad at right now either). 

- I know there is a real sense of mutual love and respect for one another between Maya and the current vice president. I can see this as the real Kamala just wanting to unwind for a night and have fun before possibly the most tense moment of her entire life next week. 

- Depending on what happens on Tuesday night, we could turn a more critical eye to this later on, but for right now, I'm not gonna be too hard on it. C+

Monologue 

- Gee, I feel a bit worse for Mulaney having to follow that than I should've. Him starting off with a riff on "descending height asians" didn't exactly put me at ease.

- While this one didn't exactly charm me as much as Mulaneys' previous five SNL host monologues, I did genuinely laugh at his "hand bandaid/traditional catholics/118 year old grandpa jokes." His "physical therapy" bit was charming as well. C+

What's That Name? Election Edition

- Ok, the way they used this as the framework for the actual Tim Kaine cameo and Squirms' Margaret Atwood in service of stinging jabs at the emptiest, most overly performative kind of liberalism makes up for the "Longfellow filling in for Hader" thing.

- Don't get me wrong, I like seeing Lomgfellow get the game show host roles for as long as he can get them. He just may not have the timing or the stage presence that Hader bought to these sketches. This dragged in some spots, but that's not necessarily a dig at ol' Mikey Longs here. I'm still just as glad to be in the Longfellow business as anyone. 

- Jon Schneider raised an interesting point I hadn't considered in his latest SNN hot take show for this episode that the placement of this sketch right after a sincere emotional moment with the actual democratic party candidate currently running makes the jokes hit harder. B+

Midnight Matinee: Beppo Goes Home

- This was a long journey, but I really appreciated the focus on thoroughly unexpected sweetness over cheap gore and shock value. This is what the Squirm/Dua Lipa Elephant Man short from May should have aspired to be. 

- I think "Midnight Matinee" has more than earned its place in the SNL pretape pantheon with this short. I just hope if Dan Bulla keeps making "it's about the journey, not the destination" style comedy his WHOLE thing he branches out a little more in terms of how to pull off exposition. B+

Port Authority Duane Reade Milk Medley

- Ah, I should've figured another NYC centric musical medley would be what Pete Davidson cameos for.

- This was as much of an unfocused mess as most of the rest of these, but I still liked it better than "Subway Churro". 

- Kenan struggling not to break through parts of the Possum Lion King number was perhaps the best part of...that number. I wasn’t crazy about the "bum fights" joke.

- Sadly, Marcello as singing shampoo was my least favorite part of this. Pete and John calling each other by their real names were the funniest part of that one. 

- Bowen singing "Master Of The Bus" to "Master Of The House" was...well performed but not something I knew what to make of right away. Was that Pete who giggled loudly upon Bowens' entrance.

- Chloe singing "Chalamet" to "Cabaret" is something that probably should've been more hated if it weren't the best possible use of her Timothee Chalamet character (I can hardly call it an impression)

- I liked seeing Devons' Eric Adams again, but the "Prince Of Turkey" number was lost on me.

- Andy Samberg singing "Baby Bear Carcass" to "Alexander Hamilton" was the best possible way to end this. Too bad the lyrics to that closing Grease parody were swallowed up by audience applause. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

- I liked Josts' "audited" joke but wish he could've gone a little darker with it. His "Yankees fans stealing" joke was solid. Plus, he addressed that Kill Tony/Puerto Rico controversy in the classiest way the show possibly could (for better or worse). Che's "MSG rally" jokes were...serviceable but his "popsicle" joke was possibly the most soul crushing thing I've ever witnessed on a 21st century Weekend Update.

- Heidi's Reba commentary was a mess, but she had decent lines in it. That impression was way the hell off (her voice ain't that deep) but I liked the Gwen Stefani/methodist-athiest/papa Pennywise jokes.

- The Marcello/Jane pairing was stronger than it had any right to be. I mean, I probably laughed more than I should have at what amounted to "Marcello turns your eardrums to fine powder while Jane is ten times mousier than normal" but somehow they both pulled their weight to put this over for me.

- I see that Pete didn't appear on Weekend Update at all...and I didn't see Jost during the goodnights at first glance. Hmm, doesn't do much to squash those rumors of beef between the two, does it? B-

Sitcom Pioneers: Family Bonds 

- Ah, a "Switcheroo" retread? OK, let's see where this goes.

- Speaking of performers putting things over way more than they had any right to be put over, Kenans' Little Richard was quite fun here. I mean, I've seen better Little Richard impressions in sketch comedy, but Kenans' was very unique to him, and it livened up this sketch quite a bit.

- The only real complaint I have about this is that the Bowen/Mulaney scenes dragged a bit and hurt the pacing. I thought this was a fine "Switcheroo" sequel even if it didn't quite measure up to the densely packed writing of the original. B+

Harvey Epstein For City Council

- This comes across as a direct cross between Jon Hamms "Pat Finger/Deldeaux" and Will Ferrels' local candidate who had his genitals burned off in a fire from season 24. I liked those sketches, and I liked this too.

- Mulaney really sold the hell out of this (and I say this not having seen any footage of the actual Harvey Episode Mulaney is impersonating here) with some assists from Heidi, Sarah, Andrew & (thankfully) Ashley. They didn't have to do too much heavy lifting here as the writing behind this was strong enough to support it. B+

Ranking The Season (Best To Worst)

1. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
2. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
3. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
4. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)
5. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

Ranking Each John Mulaney Episode (Best To Worst)

1. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett (03.02.2019)
2. John Mulaney/Jack White (03.14.2018)
3. John Mulaney/LCD Soundsystem (02.26.2022)
4. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
5. John Mulaney/David Byrne (02.29.2020)
6. John Mulaney/The Strokes (10.31.2020)

Overall Thoughts 

- For better or for worse, this IS the first time that SNL season 50 felt like the exact type of "event" it deserved to be in 2024. The show was still a bit uneven writing wise but the energy in the studio was the highest it's been all season at this point (even as much as that's due to Mulaney being hyped up as host and certain other cameos).

- John Mulaney did a fine job hosting as expected (as seriously "hands off" as he felt this time), but this episode is better viewed through the lens of season 50 and the history of elections playing out on the show than among the all time pantheon of John Mulaney hosted episodes. It's definitely going to be better remembered as a big "of the moment" episode for its time (like his 2020 episodes were but in a much less dire way) since it lacks some of the more unique comedic experiences that made Mulaneys' early episodes (and his second to last one) stand out as well as they did. 

- The few attempts to call back to the recurring sketches he first helmed as a host mostly fell flat and came up empty. Still, the few highs were decently high this week (again, mostly energy more than writing) and the lows were merely "mid".

- Cast airtime feels slightly imbalanced but this week, but that's mostly due to Mulaney and outside cameos dominating the show paired with Ashley and (now sadly) Emils complete underuse in live sketches (at lesst Ashley delivered one of the better standalone lines in the back half of the show). 

Closing Thoughts

- Well, that was the energy and enthusiasm boost this show needed to help push season 50 over. SNL may have just earned it's keep.

- Next week, Bill Burr hosts for his second time, and I know I'm not alone in stating that I'm so relieved that they didn't make a worse choice here.

- I may have to reevaluate Burrs season 46 episode. I remember liking what Burr bought to the show, but I also remember still having ranked it at the bottom of my rankings list from that season while othersI know ranked it at the top. Keep in mind, this was still the second episode ever from that season so that just may be me not being used to the far less electric, much more muted vibes that a limited, masked socially distanced Covid era audience bought to the show. 

- Maybe THAT audience just didn't know how to react to him in sketches. Oh, well. Maybe a full audience will elevate him and help him push through some potentially awkward and REALLY dead energy to come (God forbid it comes to that). See you then!

Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

 FOX News Roundup

- Baldwin over Longfellow as Brett Baier? Come on! Already not getting this episode off to a great start.

- I figured they would do something on Kamala Harris' Fox News interview and Trumps' very strange rallies turned impromptu dance parties. That story dominated the news this week.

- Now, we're back to "viral meme queen" Kamala. Great.

- Well, at least the JAJ/Trump (hey, at least HE'S still playing Trump), Ego/Faulkner & Carvey/Biden segments are a nice, much needed pallet cleanser inbetween the disappointingly hollow Baldwin/Rudolph segments.

- At least the "abortion" call & response is kinda funny & this Univision part is a nice use of Marcello. This cold open came pretty close to balancing itself out. D+

Monologue 

- This monologue was pretty fun in sort of a "dancing around the obvious" way. Keaton even sold that "puppets & cocaine" joke in a way no one else could.

- Strange that he's promoting "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" which has been out for a full month at this point instead of that new movie he has coming out THIS month (whose title escapes me at the moment and I obviously don't care to Google it but I know it involves Mila Kunis playing his estranged daughter) but hey, Halloween and nostalgia are a...non-potent combination.

- I see Mikeys' filling the Taran/Bobby void this decade. Makes sense. I mean, if he didn't write that season 40 monologue he still wrote with Taran & Bobby a lot. Too bad they sucked all the music out of the season 40 monologue when they decided to just do it again.

- I did like the meta jokes with Samberg & Sherman, though. If only they could've worked in some kind of explanation for Gaffigans' absence. I mean, was that Al Smith dinner NOT held in New York?

- All in all, a nice low key monologue...even if it seems like one Jim Breuer and Tracy Morgan would've done in season 23. C+

Shop TV

- I'm already mentally preparing myself for a string of obvious strained visual double entendres.

- Who the hell was that in the minion costume? Part of me hopes it was Emil but it looks and sounds a bit more like Marcello (EDIT: I have since found out it was a camera operator named Paul).

- Ah, the cookie looks like a boob. I get it. I was expecting an anus for some reason but I guess that's harder to get past the censors (which must be where 97% of this week's creative efforts went into just for this sketch alone). They must've realized they shouldn't be pushing their luck.

- Good to see Rosebud Baker is still earning a paycheck. I liked Michael Longfellows' phone in question, the pixelated frosting gag and the sudden TV-MA bug. 

- Kudos to them for not dragging this out quite as much as I thought they would. C-

PDD: Skydiving

- Good to see the Destroy boys back and as characters and as far away from the office as they can get.

- Nice use of Emil and Keaton in a low-key...morbid depression/suicidal ideation themed short? 

- This may hit a little too "close to home" for some but, me personally? I like it! Oddly appropriate for late October. The ending was fun. B-

Forbidden Romance

- Guess Who's Suddenly Covering Trains' "Hey Soul Sister"? (Spoiler Alert: It's Andrew Dismukes)

- Ego might have just set a record for "earliest break in a sketch".

- I liked the incongruous oddness of this. It felt like something Melissa Villaseñor would've done five years ago...and that's never a bad thing. B-

Good Grief! Even More TikTok Scrolling!

- Huh, haven't seen one of these in a while. I guess Billie Eilish being in the building this week was meant to signify we were overdue for a third one.

- I usually liked these back in season 47. Kenan, Devon and Marcello were great. I liked Kenans' junk food reviewer, Devons' "trapped" black man and Marcellos fireworks guy/Trump Podcaster. Michaels' "black wife effect" guy was OK, but still felt like it was canceled out by Devons' character. Not sure how I felt about the whole metaness of Emil using the clip of last weeks' "Espresso/Domingo/Marcello" song clip in his.

- One thing I didn't care that much for was Chloe just straight up recreating Bethany Frenkel, Call Her Daddy and the Costco guys (boy, those were some haunting visuals but seriously, what the hell is that whole Costco familys' deal anyway?) while barely adding anything in terms of jokes to either one but I guess since Pete's gone for good now SOMEONE'S gotta do it!

- I did like Bowens' character who just suddenly sings to a semi-captive JAJ/Trump, Maya/Kamala and Billie (as unambitious as that whole bit was). Dies anyone know for sure if that's based on a real TikToker? Heidi's character was very "Heidi" but she actually managed to sneak in some real biting humor into this one. Speaking of, they did a decent job of sneaking Carveys' Biden into this too.

- I did like Ashley, Emil and Jane's contributions to this. Kudos to Ashley for finally getting some lines in something. I guess one of those people quite literally building their following off TikTok before coming on the show was another indication we were due for another one of these, huh? B+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

- I liked Che's Trump Univision/therapy/deep fryer jokes along with his KKKandle and Josts' IVF/civil war jokes but that's about it.

- Emil Wakim had a strong Update debut. His segment was a little long but I liked the way he seamlessly segued through many different aspects of his own background he covered with boundless confidence. His "Colin wrote that joke for me" comment when one of his lines nearly bombed was great. That had to have been the biggest reaction I have seen anyone get out of Colin.

- Nice to see Sarah back at the desk as just "Sarah". It's especially nice to see chose to lovingly roast herself by way of Victoria's Secret instead of roasting Jost. I liked how she limited her few "Jost roast" lines to just ones that allowed her set him up to look like some weird ass perv. B-

Think About It

- Strange how this is Bowens' first live appearance all night, but hey...I'm not complaining. He had some of the best lines in this anyway.

- I'm usually not a huge fan of Ego playing men but her performance really suited this sketch well and I'll admit I chuckled a bit at the "Kamala Cabello" lines

- I liked the strange semi-original concept behind this in spite of it's "we have Cash Cab at home" vibe and how this didn't seem to quite be landing with the audience.

- Sarah being the one who automatically gets each question right felt a little too telegraphed for me but at least they didn't belabor it.

- Michael Keaton felt a little too awkwardly shoehorned into this and I feel like they didn't quite enough with this. In fact, the real rushed ending seems to suggest a lot of this got cut between dress and air. Still, it was one of the better live sketches of the night, flaws and all. C+

Halloween Rises

- I don't know about you guys, but I've gotten my fill of TikTok dancing...during the TikTok sketch. Anyone else?

- This sketch didn't really land for me at all and I don't think Michael Keaton made playing "stereotypical gay coreographer" work, but at least we got to see a more physical side of Mikey we don't always see.

- Another rushed non ending that felt heavily edited between dress and air, I see. Very good. D+

Tableside

- This feels like a cut for time sketch from season 40 or 45 but kudos to Ashley for FINALLY getting some substantial dialogue in a sketch (even if she wasn't the main focus). Other than that, I have absolutely nothing to say about this sketch because it went absolutely nowhere. D-

Ranking The Season (Best To Worst)

1. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
2. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
3. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)
4. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

Overall Thoughts 

- This would sadly be the second worst show of the season for me. I'd place it on the same shelf as Ariana Grandes' episode from last week as both episodes were quite uneven and rocky but the highs weren't quite as high with this one (and sadly the lows felt a bit lower).

- Writing wise, I felt like they leaned a bit too much on season 47 throwbacks, which is something I have some real mixed feelings about. I don't really feel enough time has passed since season 47 that we could really judge anything from that year to be a "classic". 

- Keaton was fine as a host but this episode didn't quite feel like the "big event" that his last one was from season 40. He felt underused compared to his previous two episodes bur not as much as his season 8 episode obviously. He felt like he appeared in every other sketch rather than just two in the whole show, but I'd be lying if I said this episode didn't feel like he had a slightly similar presence to season 8 tonight.

- Yeah, I usually rank buig name 3 or 4 time hosts individual episodes when they come back like this but I neither had the time nor the motivation to watch them all in order to do that this week. Out of respect and deference to the good folks over at That Week In SNL I decided to wait until they streamed the Michael Keaton season 8 episode on Twitch to watch it again (which might be either tonight or next week...so if you're reading this from a link I dropped in said Twitch chat instead of fully watching that episode yourself...respect).

- Cast airtime still feels balanced enough. Bowen and Jane took a bit of a back seat obviously but Sarah and Emil really got a chance to step up (plus Mikey and Dismukes to a lesser extent) and everyone else felt visible. We're now two for three on "New featured players who've gotten the chance to introduce themselves on Weekend Update this season." Don't worry, Ashley. You're closer than you've ever been at this point.

Closing Thoughts

- Well, there is still hope for SNL can continue in the right direction for season 50. In two weeks, John Mulaney returns for his sixth time hosting. Mulaney can still be a bit of a wild card but hopefully, he can inspire some more creativity in the writer's room much like Nate Bargatze did two weeks ago (since, y'know...they're both standups and creative joke writers and all). Yeah, I'm sure they'll have no trouble shoehorning Samberg back into the show. Mulaney will have that covered. See you then!

Saturday Night (2024): Mini Review

Well, I just recently got to see Jason Reitman & Gil Kenans' "Saturday Night" at my local theater the weekend it was released, and I enjoyed it very much. 

I'll warn you ahead of time when any potential spoilers are coming up, but I will start by saying it was very well acted. Everyone really nailed who they were portraying (much more so than either trailer let on). 

The thing I appreciated the most about the film from a structural standpoint was that it struck the exact right balance between fan service moments and Hollywood biopic embellishments as far as padding out the overall narrative went.

Obviously, this is not going to be a 100% factual recreation of the backstage antics on night of SNLs' series premiere. If you're a fan of this shows' real history. The few small creative liberties this film takes don't ask you to suspend your disbelief too much. 

It does have a typical "scrappy underdogs win happy Hollywood ending" that seems like a bit of a stretch but you will be having too much fun to care by that point (especially since you'll likely already KNOW the exact ending of this picture before you even go in).

(Warning: potential spoilers ahead)

While the films' main focus is Gabriel Labelle's Lorne Michaels' trying to keep his show (and himself) from completely unraveling, there seem to be some small side quests that are hastily resolved by the end by everyone coming together to do their parts on getting this show on the air. The strange thing is that these are all the mens' side quests that the women are very peripheral to. Rachel Sennots' Rosie Schuster has a strongly visible support role but it was almost like Kim Matulas' Jane Curtin, Emily Fairns' Laraine Newman and Ella's Hunts' Gilda Radner were only there to show more camaraderie than the guys and individually guide the men along the way on their own mini hero's journeys.

Dylan O'Briens' Dan Aykroyd must learn the error of his womanizing ways by rehearsing his part in the girls' construction worker sketch. Cory Michael Smiths' Chevy Chase must learn not to be such a cocky, smart-ass prick by walking in on J.K. Simmons' Milton Berle flashed his "anaconda" to his then fiance (Kaia Gerbers' Jacqueline Carlin) and then put him down as the nobody he really was in that moment. Lamorne Morris' Garrett Morris wanders around asking everyone what his purpose on this show is until he is convinced he should show off his natural singing talent.

Matt Woods' John Belushi is, again, well performed but is perhaps the most muddied characterization of all. The filmmakers seemed to only capture one element of Belushis' personality and that is that he hates the show, hates television and resents having to even be there (and of course having to work with Chevy doesn't help things their either). This might be due to the films' commitment to depicting a young, idealistic, overly principled pre-fame Belushi, but it still feels a bit too boxed in. Belushi is depicted as walking off the show entirely and as Lorne and others are seen frantically looking for him, he is found on the famous 30 Rockefeller Plaza ice skating rink with a loose goosey free spirited Gilda cheering him on to do a triple axel. 

Lorne finds him as he falls flat on his back doing this and gives him an inspirational speech invoking the famous 30 Rock Prometheus statue in an effort to convince Belushi to start following his dreams (which are presumably dramatic leading man film roles) by signing his contract so he can legally go on the air to do the show.

That was one of the few minor problems I had with this movie from a narrative standpoint, but as I said previously, none of that was enough to take me out of the movie or keep me from enjoying it overall.

You'll have a real fun time if you go in expecting just a fun, dizzying ride of a film loosely pulling from several different accounts of the same real showbiz story. Just put the comedy nerd part of your brain in sleep mode for two hours, and it'll be great!

Anyway, That Week In SNL and The Saturday Night Network are two SNL themed podcasts who have promised their own separate reviews of this film soon. If you read and liked any of my writing on this, I would advise you to check those two podcast reviews when they're released because I know their takes are going to be much more in depth and well informed than mine. Still, I hope you enjoyed reading this special bonus format breaking blog entry from me.

Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)

 Family Feud Election Showdown

- Huh, I certainly wasn't expecting them to dig this template out of mothballs. They were always the strongest use of Kenans' Steve Harvey impression. That "Diddy parties" joke made me laugh. I always liked...some of these, but I'm not sure the current cast/visiting cameos can really pull these off. 

- This wouldn't have been my first choice, but it's not completely inappropriate. I wouldn't have made it the cold open, though...but OK.

- All this season's big cameos still work in this format, I guess. It's not the most ambitious thing they've done, but I haven't been expecting much from this season's election material going in.

- I guess it was real slim pickings this week for the cold open. They didn't have much else to choose from besides "wow, Kamala Harris sure did a lot of interviews this week, didn't she?" and yeah, I can see how hard it would be to stretch that alone into a cold open, so they just had Maya acknowledge that quickly and...move on?

- When Carveys' Biden gets more laughs out of me than Gaffigans' Walz, something may be wrong.

- JAJ as Trump has gotten a bit more...visually jarring. Hope he's not wearing out his voice too much doing this. I liked the brief "where's Melania?" fakeout here but other than that, the writing for the republican side if this was just...a whole lotta nothing. At least this ended much quicker than I was expecting and at least this was more watchable than the Game Of Thrones vs Avengers Family Feud Cold Open they did a few years back (but not that much better than the Trump vs Hillary Family Feud from a few years before that). C-

Monologue 

- So, she's basically singing Justin Timberlakes' 2011 monologue to the tune of Jean Smarts' monologue from...last month?

- Oh, I see. It's now a medley including "Baby One More Time" and "Don't Speak". The Miley impression was...fine.

- It's like they suddenly remembered Arianas' Tidal sketch from 2016 was a viral semi-hit and thought on Thursday "oh wait, we forgot to write another one of these for her...ah, screw it, we'll just make that her monologue this time."

- Bowen in drag. Should've expected that.

- Meh. Not a great start so far, but the hardest part may be out if the way. Let's see what else they got. D+

Singing Bridesmaids

- Ok, now she IS singing...again. Now, it's a purposely bad, off key parody of "Espresso".

- The lyrics are just as jumbled as the original but at least I can sense that the point of this song seems to be to humiliate Andrew Dismukes' groom character. He might be the strongest part if this sketch, so...good for him. I liked his "rhyme scheme" line.

- I'm starting to think this may just be just his "island castaway" sketch with Jason Momoa from last year...just set to pop music and set arcade wedding.

- Now, Marcello shows up as the guy they were singing about. Not crazy that the ending was so rushed here, but at least it did end. I was starting to think it never would. D+

SNL Midnight Matinee: My Best Friend's House

- Hmm...new title card? Possible new branding for pretapes?

- Nice use of Pee Wees' Playhouse style puppetry in this. 

- This was obviously more "cute" than "funny" until the insane sudden reveal if Mikeys ' dad being a serial killer.

- Sarah appears as a severed head in a fridge. Honestly, a bit surprised she didn't have a much bigger part in this. Still, this one of the more successful outings of the "sudden explosive, near vomit inducing gore" pretapes she's been involved with in the past couple of years.

- A Dan Bulla Short? Good for him getting to branch out into directing from *just* writing. Since his ending vanity card indicates he also wrote/directed/produced "Tiny Horse", "Shrimp Tower", "Meatballs" and "Pongo", it looks like they might have been grooming him to take the Smigel/PDD/TLI mantle since...season 49 or 46 at the earliest? B-

Charades

- Jane and (especially) Emil are featured prominently in this. Let's see where this goes. (Spoiler alert: no where for Jane and Emil sadly).

- Bowen seems to be playing a more low key grounded role here and his chemistry with Ariana actually works for me here. I like the idea of them sniping at each other. 

- Arianas' Judy Garland-esque 40s actress voice is a strong choice (is that her "big theater kid energy" coming out or...has it really been that long since she acted?) but it works well with the antagonistic energy of this.

- Dummy fight!

- This might have been my favorite live sketch of the episode. Well done. B-

Celine for UFC

- This may not be the first time Ariana has done her Celine Dion impression on SNL, but the sheer strangeness of this was enough to pique my interest. I didn't laugh a whole lot at it but, still...not bad. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

- Josts' "subway series/livestreamed car crash jokes" and Che's "R. Kelly" jokes were the only things from them that rose above the level of "white noise" for me. Che almost had something there with his his "78% of black voters" rant but...he didn't quite put that over for me.

- Hey, another wonderfully deranged, manic one-off Ego Update character! This was the exact type of performance I've always liked seeing from her! I especially liked the "drone/STD/USB" joke. Makes me feel a bit guilty about those new earbuds I ordered from Amazon on Wednesday, but...oh well.

- JAJ/Squirm is a pairing we have yet to have seen. Their Gallagher bros commentary may have been goofy and juvenile but...it certainly felt unique to their voices so it was easy for them to make this fun. C-

Sounds Of The Italian Renaissance 

- More JAJMukes nonsense leading into some Samberg/Rudolph nonsense mixed into a white sauce and drizzled over some pizza pasta to reveal that...Ariana is playing a castrati?

- This may seem quite juvenile but once we got to "opium induced coma" this had a "slightly writerly feel" to it. The thousand yard stare from Ariana added a likable oddness to this. It's at least nice to see Maya and Andy being used in the odd non political sketch deep in the show (like Maya was early on in season 46) as long as they're hanging around. Maybe they could get Gaffigan and Carvey in on this? Wouldn't hurt, imo.

- Once again, this sketch had not even a trace of an ending. They just took the longest way possible to there "how do we even follow THAT?" point of the sketch and just slammed on the brakes there, as if they had to make some abrupt sudden cuts out of nowhere. That was the only thing this had really going against it. C+

3 Jennifer Coolidge(s) 3 For Maybelline 

- I didn't mind either Chloes' or Arianas' Coolidge impressions. I certainly wasn't expecting them to have both of them do their impressions together Fallon/Jagger style. I mean, it's not great that this is mostly making me wonder why the actual Jennifer Coolidge hasn't hosted yet, but it's not taking anything away from this episode at this point.

- Carvey as Coolidge was a nice (if not jarring) addition to this. (Careful what I wish for, huh?) Thankfully, he kept this from getting too monotonous (even if all his impressions sound like they're running together now). 

- I wonder if this was originally a pitch Chloe was saving for the real Jennifer Coolidge if the last writer's strike didn't happen and she got to host the season 48 finale? C+

Hotel Detective

- Wow, helluva quick change for Ariana there. They really slammed into this one. (*someone whispers in Caseys' ear*) What's that? Oh, there WAS no quick change? Oh, this sketch is actually a pretape of a live sketch that was originally cut from dress rehearsal suddenly tossed in because the soundboard froze for a like a full minute before Stevie performed "Edge Of Seventeen" and thus the entire shows' timing was thrown out if whack so a planned Reese De'What sketch about The Blob had to be cut? OK, then. 

- They haven't put any live looking non commercial pretapes into the show since at least 2002 so this felt like an interesting throwback in multiple ways.

- One good thing to come out of this episode was the opportunity for JAJ to do another old timey, fast talking 40s G-man voice. Nice of them to let Dismukes get in on this action. Ariana already did one of these but at least this sketch actually called for it. Plus, this also had a writerly feel to it, so...while I can see why this would've gotten cut (redundancy) it's nice to actually see it because it actually grows on you after multiple viewings. I have a feeling this would've gotten thrown up on YouTube either way.

- Ariana does Judy Garland and Dismukes does...either Charles Bronson or Rod Steiger? Either way, Andrew's enunciation was certainly...a strong choice.

- Wow, sudden Rod Serlongfellow! OK, that may have been the best ending to anything this entire episode could've asked for. I mean, I've seen better Rod Serling impressions on SNL but it was a breath of fresh air in this episode. B+

Ranking The Season (Best To Worst)

1. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
2. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
3. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

Overall Thoughts

- This was far from the worst show of the season so far, but not quite the best. It was wildly uneven. 

- It got off to a rough start but it took a lot more chances than either of this season's previous episodes. For the most part, they paid off and the episode grew on me.

- Ariana Grande turned out to be a strong host who worked well with any cast. She really elevated the material and the cast and writers really knew how to play to her strengths. 

- Bowen didn't quite have the big night I was expecting him to have in an Ariana Grande episode. Fortunately, JAJ and Dismukes had surprisingly strong nights. Chloe, Kenan and Longfellow did well, too.

- Jane and Emil continue to barely earn a paycheck while Ashley Padillas' conspicuous absence continues. I heard she had her own Update piece cut, so...progress? Keep at it, Ashley. You'll get some lines on screen at some point.

Closing Thoughts 

- Well, this season continues to show unexpected signs of promise. Next week, Michael Keaton hosts for his fourth time with Billie Eilish as musical guest. SNL has pulled off successfully good episodes with both of these people at the helm before, so I've been looking forward to this episode the most out of any others that have been announced so far. Hope they don't let me down! See you next week!

(Oh, and soon I will be publishing a blog I wrote reviewing the new film Saturday Night. Keep an eye out for that!)

Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)

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Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)

 Dueling Rallies, Y'all!

- Well, Andrew Dismukes as David Muir is a nice touch to start off with. At least they're only just referencing the debate instead of recreating it from two weeks ago. 

- Nice to see Maya Rudolph but five years later I'm still left wishing the show could actually focus up its take on Kamala Harris and back off the "rebooting the funt" stuff because this vague mishmash of pop culture world salad isn't setting a great tone so far. What the hell even was that "va-Georgia" line anyway? 

- Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz is...OK. They're both well aged mideastern white dads with glasses, so...whatever makes sense. Geez, I hate to think of Lorne ordering stunt cameos the way J.D. Vance orders donuts. Still, this reeks a bit too much of desperate stunt casting (seeing as he actually was gently suggested by some folks online somewhere. I mean, how far down WAS Gaffigan on Lornes' list of "white haired dudes with glasses" after Steve Martin said "nah brah I'm good?") to me, but good for Jim for finally getting a shot on SNL. Kudos to them for working in a Menards' reference in a national TV program (even if that was literally just an actual quote from the real Walz). I'm sure somewhere Mary Jo Pehl is smiling. Anyway, Gaffigan seems to actually have a hook for Walz, so that's nice. He made me feel slightly better about the inevitable Vance/Walz VP Debate we'll be seeing as next weeks' cold open (as long as a fly doesn't land in Vances' beard in the real debate or something). I giggled a bit more than I should have at "my nuts froze to the park bench," and that accidental cut back to Maya dancing in the live show. 

- Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff is...a sensible choice. It's fun, and at least it's nice to see someone like Samberg make a genuine surprise cameo on the show years after we assumed he was done with it. I liked the goofy sauce Andy was putting on his line delivery. I guess Marty Short was busy, but it's still at least appropriate for an alumni sprinkled cold open, seeing as this is the 50th season premiere. 

- I never thought I'd actually this but I'm actually relieved to see James Austin Johnson back as Trump considering they...y'know, rumors started swirling a couple of days ago that could've dog...er, DONE worse. 

- Bowen Yang as JD Vance was...pretty much exactly what I was expecting from him when i heard the rumor his Vance impression was cut from the cold open of last seasons' finale (but I see both that and this one managed to cram in a surprise reference to Sabrina Carpenters' "Espresso". Ok). I don't have the huge problem with it that some of you guys seem to have. I mean, I can see why they would want to cast Bowen as a guy who wears that much inexplicably makeup and just expects us all to accept it unquestioningly. It's just not exactly the casting choice I would’ve made if I were Lorne.

- Dana Carveys' Joe Biden seemed...OK, if not terribly relevant at this point. Not sure we need to see "doddering old Joe" at this point again, but...hey, an unexpected alum cameo (even one who seems increasingly old and slightly doddering himself) isn't ALWAYS a bad thing necessarily.

- Carvey has shown he can do a strong Biden in the past but his impression seems to have becone less whispery and devolved into a cross between "Church Lady" "Garth" and "Massive Headwound Harry" with the cadence of "G.H.W. Bush." I guess that's just the natural result of changing his Biden to play to a live audience vs. playing to podcast listeners and cohosts in an enclosed studio. I hope it's more of that than it is just focusing more on the perceived senility than the voice.

- I just wished they shortened this and focused less on cramming every reference to "things that happened politically in the summer of 2024" that they could come up with. JAJs' Trump speech in particular felt the most like they were just running down a checklist of this whole thing. 

- I'm not crazy about returning to season 45 length cold opens after they spent the last two seasons steadily moving away from that but hey...election year. Anniversary year, too. They're expecting a lot of eyes on the show. Lotta those eyes are gonna be older and wearier and be in the sockets of older viewers who may not have tuned in in decades and now only pop in for the political takes without caring how broad or character/hook based the sketches are or that they don't make many salient points. Give the people what they want to see, riiiiiiiiight? 

- At least this didn't feel quite as DENSELY PACKED with either cameos or toothless slapdash also ran candidate characterizations as season 45 but when I said I wanted to see what else they could do for election cold open besides just recreating the debates that were too early forcthe show to cover, I was hoping for...not this. C-

Montage

- This may have been the highlight of the entire show...which is actually quite sad when you think about it. I like the return to a season 24/25 style theme (possibly intentionally matching the theme from a previous big anniversary season?) with visuals that seemingly mix the season 48/49 opening with the ones from seasons 3, 10/11 and 29-31 while keeping things 98% confined just to studio 8H (NBC budget cuts, amirite?) Why this leaves the season 44-49 theme stuck in my head, I don't know.

Monologue 

- Normally, I like the host's monologue to keep the energy level up and a season premiere shouldn't feel this borderline sleepy (let alone the 50th), but I can let it slide this time. Jean Smart was charming and I liked the low-key Candace Bergen/Dyan Cannon season one vibes I got from this. This felt like a mashup of three different types of quiet, solo monologues you don't really get on SNL anymore. 

- Overall, I found Jean to be a fine host but I felt she should've had a bigger presence throughout the show. She almost felt underused to the point of a Dick Ebersol host (and part of me wishes her first musical guest intro was not the only time we got to see her "Hacks" costar Hannah Einbinder on the show). Still, I understand Jean was feeling ill the night of the show so I could see them having had to cut down her parts a bit. B+

The $100,000 Pyramid 

- Oh, look at that. A game show sketch post monologue. How novel. At least we get Devons Walkers' Michael Strahan right out the gate as the one stringing this together. 

- I'd be less annoyed at SNLs' obligatory Hawk Tuah reference if it were Sarah playing Haley Welch instead of Chloe. C'mon, Sarah actually resembles Hawk Tuah Hailey more than Chloe and has proven she can do a convincing southern accent. 

- Kenans' Mark Robinson was...pretty much what I expected. Can't complain much there. Marcello as Bad Bunny works but it shouldn't really be the main focal point of a sketch. 

- I somehow missed the "Chimp Crazy" documentary so I had no idea who the hell that monkey wife lady Jean was playing was but it was nice to see a semi realistic monkey puppet on SNL. Somewhere, Tim Kazurinsky must be seething. 

- Kudos to Emil Wakim for making his onscreen debut. Thank God this was shorter than it felt like it was about to be. 

- After this I enjoyed the small, merciful break the show gave us from "catching up on all the most obvious low hanging fruit pop culture references from the beginning of summer up until last week" the show gave us. D+

Spirit Halloween 

- This was fine for one of those "evergreen" sketches that probably should've been done 12 years ago. I guess they just thought "boy, Spirit Halloweens are to autumn what Starbucks was to...everywhere in America in 1998?" and decided to drag and dropped some new spooky stuff into last seasons "Penne Ala Vodka" script template. 

- Nice use of all three new featured players here, even if this seemed to sadly be Jane Wicklines' only appearance all night. Good for her though for getting a role in a live sketch that was cut for time and put up on YouTube (and really ended up being funnier than most of what made it to air). C+

Scholastic Textbook Meeting 

- Speaking of old sketch templates being recycled, "inappropriately horny textbook that one or two cast members get slightly too into" feels like it's been done before. I did like what Jean Smart added to this though. Just when I thought she was being underused as a host, she makes this sketch...watchable.

- Kudos to Ashley Padilla for getting some live airtime. I liked the goofily unserious ending with Jean and Kenan but if I suddenly start to think "hmm, Mikey does remind me a bit of one of my real life coworkers" something may be missing. C+

Weekend Update w/Colin Jost & Michael Che

- Update is...still at the same level it has been for the past eight years, which...isn't great. Not much stood out joke wise. Ches' still just baiting the crowd like it's all he has. That's great. 

- Colin did a decent job of working in jokes about secret service emails the Trump rally hours earlier...that made me very, very sad that this is the depths that American political discourse has sunk to in 2024.

- Ches' Eric Adams jokes were fun but I feel like that Cuomo joke only got on because it was only deemed airable after Che had been sitting on it for three years. 

- As for that Hitler joke...well, who didn't see that punchline coming from two towns over? 

- Those Kamala/migrant, Chinese "software" and Meryl Streep at the U.N. jokes felt like they could've been written by A.I. (or whoever actually "wrote" that pilot for that "New Norm" show that had been circulating on Twitter...yeah, I refuse to call it X. Suck it, Elon). Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah....

- Thankfully, Devon Walker as Eric Adams was the true highlight. He didn't exactly make me forget about Chris Redd but it's nice to see Devon pop up every once in a while that actually suits him (even if it's a political one). 

- Bowens' baby hippo seems to tick off every box on the "tired ass Bowen Update Vanity" piece checklist, so...yep, this show is officially back on it's bullshit just in time for its 50th season. I have to say though, the premise of "what if the internets' current favorite wet baby hippo was suddenly...Chappel Roan?" would've been more tolerable if they hadn't spelled out that they were doing that exact thing by the end. Maybe this was the shows way of showing Ms. Roan that they're on her side while Desparately begging her not to cancel her planned appearance on their show this November? 

- Boy, it's really not great when the funniest part of a Weekend Update commentary is a hose operator purposely trying to squirt Colin Jost after he shouted at someone offscreen louder than I've ever heard him vocalize anything in his public life. I know how he feels because this entire episode sure made me feel like I just got hosed. C-

History Of The Sitcom 

- Ah, a dramatic "Virginia Woolfe/Far From Heaven" like take on I Love Lucy had some promise. This may have been Jean's strongest sketch performance of the night.

- This was a nice use of Marcello (even if he played Desi Arnaz more as "himself" than Desi or Ricky) and JAJ (even if Chloe felt a little miscast as Ethel Mertz).

- Bowen didn't add a whole lot as host but I did like his 1992 communism. Still, I'd be lying if I said something didn't feel missing from this. B-

The Talk Talk Show w/Charli XCX

 - Well, breaks' over. Ok, I would be far FAR less disappointed by the idea of a Charli XCX Talk Show if anyone else but BOWEN were in the lead role. Seriously, why couldn't he have switched roles with Chole? This would've worked better as a Chloe vanity piece than a Bowen one. 

- Sarah as Troye Sivan was the highlight of this and might have gotten my first genuine laugh from the show so far with her first "naur"...which isn't saying much. 

- I had no idea who the hell Jean was playing here but...she did an accent? 

- I did like the idea of Ego as Jasmine Crockett but at that point it became clear that this sketch was not for me. That bit probably should've been cut and pasted into Update in place of Bowens' hippo commentary where it MIGHT have worked better. 

- I understand Bowen, Charli, Sarah and Troye are all good friends with each other so I can buy the idea of this sketch existing as a mere inside joke that all four of them are in on (even if a large swath of the audience wasn't...and hell, that's really the only way I can even COMPREHEND this sketch existing) but all else I can say is that this sketch is "nat"...and the thought of Bowen and Sarah being at the point that Kate/Aidy, Farley/Sandler and Fallon/Sanz were in their runs where they almost exclusively did nothing but self indulgent ill advised vanity two handers together is quite depressing.

- Then again, I can't really call Bowen "self indulgent" with how exceedingly long I am making this review (not QUITE as long as my Gosling review from April, I don't think...but at this point it just FEELS pretty damn close) so I'll just close out wity this; Did I enjoy this sketch? NAUR! D-

Real Housewives Of Santa Fe 

- Yeah, I wanted to like the awkward physical comedy that Dismukes (and Jean in a way) bought to this but this sketch was too busy shouting over itself to figure our what it wanted to be. Hey, at least Sarah and Ashley got some airtime.

- I did like Chloes "for profit prisons" line and Jeans' line to Heidi "that's because he thought you were a horse, bitch!"

- Speaking of Heidi, I was surprised at how this felt like her first major sketch appearance of the night. Could this be her last season? Is she secretly planning an "Irish goodbye" like Cecily? Could she end up having a final season like Chris Kattan where she is barely used?

- I guess this sketch didn't land with me because...I am not a business woman. Hell, I'm not even a woman (obviously) and "Reviews by Casey" is not a business as you're clearly not reading this behind a paywall. Don't worry, guys. I haven't seriously considered changing THAT part. C-

Overall Thoughts

- I honestly haven't felt this let down by a season premiere since season 43. I knew I should've tampered my expectations a bit more for this episode considering it's a season premiere and we're entering a big election season and all but considering the fact that this was the premiere of season 50...that was much more easier said than done. 

- Yes, there was the inevitable "shaking off the rust and the cobwebs" feeling to this one as well as the less acceptable but still inevitable feeling of "we have to play catch up and sneak in a reference to everything from politics and pop culture we missed out of over the summer" but that plagued this episode even worse than usual. The highlights were there but they were small and few and far in-between.

- You would think that since the show had more things on it's big summer hit checklist this year than just "Tayvis Kelswift" and "Barbenheimer" they'd have an advantage but no...this just made the show feel to unfocused and overcrowded with scattered references for seemingly no one.

- Speaking of scattered and unfocused, cast airtime was heavily unbalanced tonight. It saddens me to see what should be an ensemble show return to its "star system" and just have Bowen Yang dominate the show with slight assists from Kenan Thompson, Chloe Fineman and Marcello Hernandez leaving crumbs for everyone else. Still, Andrew Dismukes, James Austin Johnson and Devon Walker made the most of what they got. 

- The three newest hires were practically invisible, but hey, I guess that's to be expected. It's rare that a featured player makes their first big splash in their very first episode on the show. Give them time.

Closing Thoughts

- Well, for better or for worse, we have officially entered season 50 of Saturday Night Live. Still, the premiere of any television shows' 50th season should not feel like this much of a stark non-event. 

- Next week, Nate Bargatze hosts for his second time. This is one I am cautiously optimistic for because Nate hosted perhaps last season's most successful episode. He has also proven that he is the type of stand up host the show could who would foster a writing environment where more unique sketch ideas could be thrown out there. See you next week!

Jake Gyllenhaal/Sabrina Carpenter (05.18.2024)

Okay, here's my review. Jake Gyllenhaal helped stabilize an uneven and otherwise unremarkable episode. Truly, this was the finale that season 49 of Saturday Night Live deserved. It's a good thing the writing showed faint signs of improvement because we all know that season fucking 50 is going to deserve better. Yes, my expectations for this episode were already at the floor but putting my own personal feelings regarding this current season of SNL and Mr. Gyllenhaal himself aside, I will admit this. I did like that Jake struck a better balance between "intensely committing to every sketch from the strange to the banal" and "blending in well with the cast". Jake didn't stand out TOO much but unfortunately no one else in the cast seemed to either. Thankfully, no one was shut out entirely (although Punkie almost came close). Anyway, let's break it down, shall we?

Courthouse Trump - Well, at least it will be nice to get a break from these...for four months. Not the best follow up to a very sweet mother's day cold open but then again SNL has always had some trouble timing these Trump cold opens. The "don't wanna go back to the White House" and "Trump Torah" spiel got a chuckle out of me (real November 2016 throwback) and Sarah's brief walk on/off, the Jake Paul/Tyson, short bus/list felt like biffed jokes that could've worked concievably? It still baffles me how the "juror 6" and "Trump Espresso" lined got the reactions they did, though.  Thankfully, Devon and Longfellow were there to help break up the monotony of this. Could've done without Heidi walking on just to recreate the most famous National Lampoon cover ever. C+

Monologue - Well, the Conor McGregor and Ed Koch jokes got chuckles out of me and I liked the Paul Rudd throwback vibes I got from this. I know Jake Gyllenhaal likes to sing at the top of this show but I wasn’t crazy about the idea of Jake Gyllenhaal up on stage alone singing a parody of Boyz II Mens' "End Of The Road". Thank God the shows' actual black cast backed him up on this one. Lord knows this show hasn't had great luck with white dudes singing Boyz II Men covers out of nowhere. Just ask Bob Sag...oh wait, nevermind. Anyway, while I appreciated the meta fan service behind this, I hope their hyper awareness of their own anniversary translates into Lorne an company actually sitting down to seriously take stock of where the show is, where it should be and making some serious substantial changes to the show ahead of season 50. B-

Meeting The Folks/Cookie - I guess this was the requisite "Jake Gyllenhaals' intense commitment to acting is played for goofy laughs" sketch of the night. Thank God Dismukes natural, unforced intensity was there to balance this out. Thankfully, this had an actual ending and was written in a restrained way that didn’t make it feel too long. C+

Scooby-Doo - I appreciated the visual elements of this and this was a nice way to sneak in Sabrina Carpenter. (SIDE NOTE: I do like how they made her second performance a technical "medley" and tacked on the last two lines of "nonsene" in there JUST so we could get one of her famous "nonsense" outtros dedicated to SNL.) Still, it's a sad, state of affairs when a Sarah Sherman sketch that involves decapitation and dismemberment gets a real "meh, been there, done that" reaction from me. I felt like George Harrison seeing the Be Sharp's song "Baby On Board" on Moe's rooftop. I mean, the gag (pun NOT intended) of CGI Scooby eating JAJs face (possibly followed by some vomiting?) was probably the level of gross out gag this should've aspired to instead of just faithfully hitting the exact same beats that Sarah and Mikey did in "Battle Of The Sexes" and "Christmas Carol" (and Pete in "Farewell Mr Bunting"). Granted, what I just suggested sounds like it would still hit the same beats as "Massive Headwound Harry", "Rookie Cop" and "Kuatos" but still, it might feel fresher than things we just saw within the past year and a half. Still, I'll settle for Scooby shooting Fred/Jake after he shoots all the "witnesses". That at least KINDA makes up for them cutting that quietly solid (and thematically similar) Limu Emu pretape from Shane Gillis' episode (which would've drastically improved that whole episode overall). At least the gratuitous violence and shootings we ended up getting this time escalated well but it truly escapes me how I stopped myself from groaning LOUDLY at that Apple Face ID tag at the end. C+

OK, I told myself I wasn't gonna bring THIS up, but...fuck it. I remember seeing the exact same face-tearing-off gag in an old MAD magazine comic strip from.mid 2005 called "Scooby Don't". No, I don't really care to dig that issue out or post it here or anything. I just decided to mention it because if you're reading this, I inherently trust you to not contribute to any "Oops! SNL did a plagarism again" discourse on social media. There, thanks for indulging me as I got that off my chest.

Beautiful Girls And (especially?) Boys - Well, at least this was some nice eye candy for the shows' female viewers. Lord knows Longfellow, JAJ and Dismukes still have plenty of stans on Twitter/X. I liked the "biggest heart/fattest wallet" joke and the dialogue from/outfits on Ego, Chloe and Sarah. Other than that, I have literally nothing else to say about this except that it also gave me Paul Rudd vibes in that it reminded meca lot of how his fitst episode featured a gorefest pretape with a hint of vomit as a lead in for a musical sketch that just straight bored the hell out of me by comparison (except obviously the highs were higher and the lows were lower here). Yes, the overhead shot was technically impressive. We don't truly get a lot of those on SNL nowadays. Other than that, this decidedly was...not for me. C-

Rider Inbound - This felt like a sketch that not really any host could save. Maybe the tonal shifts felt too unbalanced. Maybe two Apple mentions only separated by one sketch kinda bugged me. I appreciated how this was staged differently from most live SNL sketches and I did like seeing Jake roll backwards down the hill. For God's sake, I even liked what Bowen bought to this one. Otherwise, I barely have anything to say about it. C+

Xiemu - Finally, something that felt focused and had a point. I liked the sharp takedown of unethical Chinese labor practices in online retail. I even like how the clothes and outfits fell apart on camera and how they called out our own complacent hypocrisy on this as American consumers. I feel like Che had to have written this since it's definitely in his wheelhouse and is too short to be muddled in typical Che fashion (again, no pun intended...it just came to me in the moment). B-

Update was...mostly pretty typical of this season. I liked Josts Matt Gaetz joke and Che's "black vote/Trump Boeing" jokes. Hell, I took note of his Prince Charles/Meghan Markle joke JUST for it being the longest he went without any of his usual self conscious asides to Jost & the audience (hell, possibly of the entire season rather than just this episode...yeah, and I say this while unintentionaly setting a new record for parentheticals and italics in my own review). Kenan and Marcello as two d-bag cicadas from 2007 and 2011 respectively turned out to be more tolerable than I thought it could be. Somehow, Marcello got more laughs out of me with his sheer commitment to the bit. Granted, about half of this sketches gags were mined from 2011 nostalgia (a Kreayshawn reference for one which somehow got my biggest laugh out of this segment) so...low bar to clear here but I was still desperate for any laughs at this point in Weekend Update. Thankfully, this ended right when it felt too long. I was glad they ended with another joke swap but compared to previous ones, something about this felt a little...off. The rabbi felt somehow more out of place than Daphne "Hattie Daniels" Skeeter did last Christmas. I did like how Che finally got to tell some jokes that cut deep for him with that Kendrick Lamar line but parts of me thinks the "You + Me = 69" may have been a step too far? Jost ending the whole thing with a rabbit puppet that looked like a prop from a Crank Yankers episode that Comedy Central still refuses to let anyone see culminating in one of the most awkward jokes ever...felt like too weird of a moment to go out on. I heard they switched that one with the Weinstein joke in dress which...yeah, they should've made sure the Weinstein joke could work as a closer instead of doing that. Boy, this sure ended up being the everyone's least favorite of the Jost/Che joke swaps, didn't it? What a fittingly dull this to end what is evidently not Jost & Ches' final season at this point. C-

SouthWest Airlines Customer Service - While I should be glad that the PDD boys decided rewrite the old script to their Spectrum Cable sketch from Keiran Culkins' episode, I still feel this is an inferior sequel. It felt too static and confined compared to the original. Plus, it didn't take me long to realize that my previous history of working in call center/customer service jobs kinda ruin these sketches as a whole for me, so...I shall recuse myself from reviewing this sketch due to my established bias. C+

Message From NYPD - I agree with the basic message of "Stop Punching Character Actors" and I liked some of the references and details planted in here (Stephen Roots' name got a chuckle out of me, for one) and kudos to them for getting Jon Hamm for the cameo this was all obviously building up to. My only real complaint about this was the pacing. It felt like it took a minute to figure out its own approach as it went along and it felt like it was heavily edited down on air but overall not bad. It was a nice spiritual sequel to the Law & Order acting class sketch from Jake's first episode. B-

Snake Eyes - This might have been the best sketch of the night for me. They finally put JAJs' "sweet southern guy" voice to good character use. I also did like the near blackout length of this. Most of all, I liked how Jake quickly bought into the cartoon logic of this sketch where looks can literally kill (but not without some cartoony ricochet sound effects). Plus, of all the "normal" looks they've given to Sarah this was definitely my personal favorite. B+

Now, for my final and ultimately most up to date ranking of season 49...

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)

2. Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12.09.2023)

3. Kristen Wiig/Raye (04.06.2024)

4. Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)

5. Ayo Edeberi/Jennifer Lopez (02.03.2024)

6. Jake Gyllenhaal/Sabrina Carpenter (05.18.2024)

7. Maya Rudolph/Vampire Weekend (05.11.2024)

8. Dua Lipa (05.04.2024)

9. Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12.16.2023)

10. Timothee Chalamet/Boygenius (11.11.2023)

11. Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12.02.2023)

12. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)

13. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)

14. Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (03.30.2024)

15. Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (03.09.2024)

16. Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgraves (03.02.2024)

17. Shane Gillis/21 Savage (02.24.2024)

18. Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (01.27.2024)

19. Jacob Elordi/Renée Rapp (01.20.2024)

20. Jason Momoa/Tate McRae (11.18.2023)

Now, I'm going to rank all of Jake's episodes...

1. Jake Gyllenhaal/The Shins (01.13.2007)

2. Jake Gyllenhaal/Sabrina Carpenter (05.18.2024)

3. Jake Gyllenhaal/Camilla Cabello (04.09.2022)

Well, we made it to the finish line. Let's just hope the show can do more than just limp to the barn... where the 50th anniversary...square dance is being held? Boy, that phrasing got away from me, but yeah...let's hope they can pull it together enough to make their biggest anniversary season this fall one to remember. See you in September! Have a truly great summer everyone!