Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

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• Hey, a Hegseth cold open. That’s…slightly different from what I was expecting

• Hey, Jeremey Cuhlane as Hegse…nope, just a random general character introducing Hegseth. Still, it’s good that they got enough faith in this new guy to have him lead off the new season.

• It’s nice to see Jost put some juice into his shouting frat bro Hegseth character. Every other word out of his mouth had me laughing. Jost has always been at his funniest to me during his brief flashes of aggression on Update so it’s nice to see the writer finally base, well…half of an entire sketch around that.

• I’m glad that JAJ as Trump briefly glossed over the late night TV situation but I was more than a little disappointed that he didn’t say…more and just left it there. This is another one of those times where I wish they would’ve been angrier in the moment. I did appreciate the Saudi/Riyadh and “old and confused/keep an eye on Marcello” jabs as well as the visual detail of JAJ/Trumps’ tie hanging over his waist high pants.

• Mikey as Brendan Carr was…cute but didn’t do much for me and ultimately should’ve been cut. B-

Montage

• I guess it’s not that weird for them to keep the heavily stylized season 50 intro when you realize that they could just as easily edit around the fact that the new hires are all just at the end. 

• Too bad they couldn’t just shoot a new transition to Sarah’s appearance that doesn’t feel like such a hard smash cut since she’s now driving a bus that we don’t see at all because Heidi and Ego were on it.

Monologue 

• Marcellos’ and Juan Jamon cameos were OK. I liked the self deprecating jab at his own "choreography" and the FOX News montage. Otherwise, not much about this monologue stood out to me. C-

Jeopardy

• Huh, a regular non-Black/non-Celebrity Jeopardy sketch. This feels…new.

• As much as I like seeing Andrew Dismukes on the show, I feel like he has just a smidge too much charisma and personality to play Ken Jennings of all people.

• Nice to see Veronika get her first role (even if it was essentially nothing)

• Ok, this sketch only has two jokes: Kenans’ character being named “Luck-ass” instead of “Lucas” and Bad Bunny just…not knowing that he has to answer in the form of a question. Great. 

• …and it’s STILL just a regular ass, aimless, go nowhere game show sketch right after the fucking monologue. Man, old habits die HARD on this show, huh?

• God bless Dismukes for trying to make this work, but damn…this just isn’t working for me.

• Wow. Ok. Bad Bunny just accidentally answered “Who Is The Who?” out of sheer confusion and frustration…and that’s the big payoff…and then they just left it there and walked away.

• Well, that was a LONG ass walk to a rather unique punchline…but I can’t totally say that was worth it. D+

ChatGPTio

• Well, that Jeopardy sketch just set the bar so low that it would be impossible NOT to clear. At least this started off with the requisite energy that something that SHOULD be up top in the first third of the show.

• Whoa, who did that voice over during the opening scene where Veronika was lying on the couch? It sounded so much to me like a former cast member that I’m thinking it had to be either Heidi or Cecily. Yeah, my money would be on Cecily there.

• I know some of you may be sick of Marcello just popping up out of nowhere and growling at you, but at this point I’ll certainly take it. Hell, it may be the closest thing we’ll be getting to another “Immigrant Dad Talk Show” sketch that is worth watching.

• I liked Marcello and Benitos’ energy in this but it went on quite a bit too long and initially me too much of the “GPYaass” sketch from the all time bummer Steve Carrell episode from 2018, but thankfully had a bit more going for it.

• It’s nice to see Ben Marshall and Tommy Brennan make their cast member debuts in this sketch, but it’s kinda sad that this PRETAPE was the most screentime they had in this episode (especially when you consider the irony of this being the case for Ben Marshall of all people).

• This went on a few beats too long but I liked the visual of Marcello drawing a cheap company bread logo with a blue sharpie over a “past due” Xfinity bill. I also liked the Halls’ cough drop bit and Marcello calling Mikey in the middle of the night. I feel it should’ve ended there and cut the bits with the guys hitting on Chloe. C+

Sperm Donors

• This seems like a unique premise so far. I wonder where they’ll go with it?

• Oh, it’s a sketch where Bad Bunny and Kenan play skeezy, flashy buttinskis.

• This is the type of thing I wanted to like a lot more but feel like it WAY wasn’t fleshed out enough. They should’ve gone a lot further with the sleazy inappropriateness of Benito and Kenans’ characters.

• I liked Bad Bunnys’ “put it in the front/back” line but really I spent most of this sketch thinking about how much better literally any other male host would have been in his role.

• I kinda liked the ending with Marcello showing up as Benito's illegitimate son, as telegraphed as all hell as it was.

• I didn’t like the Sopranos reference at first but I liked the HBO callback to it at the end just for the sheer weirdness of it. Did anyone else think for a second that was just a hard cut to another unrelated pretape for a second? It certainly didn’t feel like an ending. Hiyoooo! D+

K-Pop Demon Hunters

• Ok, so a group of friends are just naming random movies and things from current pop culture…and Bad Bunny’s character seems to be stuck on…K-Pop Demon Hunters…to the point of obsession…like they’re the Mango to his Garth Brooks or something.

• I guess this is this season premieres’ requisite “blatant pop culture/viral click chasing” sketch? Well, at least the entire show wasn’t that thus far.

• Somehow Bowen coming in as a “demon” wasn’t a low point of this since it managed to break up the monotony and brought some energy to this sketch a bit.

• I did get a kick out of Sarah admitting to being on the Epstein list and suddenly spitting up blood in “demon” facepaint. Chloes’ Sydney Sweeney reference felt a little too unfocused to me.

• Huh, I guess these K-Pop Demon Girls were actually live in the studio. Is this group just…mutual friends of both Bowen and Bad Bunny who wanted to get them on the show? Did Bowen co-write this sketch with that specific purpose in mind?

• Well, at least this had an actual ending. The first sketch to have something approaching one so far tonight. This had to be the laziest “button” on the end of a sketch ever but somehow it’s the one I am the least mad at. 

• Wait...according to Jon Schneider, that was the biggest song of the YEAR at this point? God damn. Song of the summer? I mean, it sounded VAGUELY familiar, but…I apparently missed it? Either I'm getting old or I had a pretty shitty summer (eh, it’s probably both). C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Boy, Josts’ opening line about the government “shut down” hit close to home.

• Hmm, there weren’t many jokes I DIDN’T like from this Update (and except for that Photoshop of Che’s cleavage, the Trump/Coolidge thing and the A.I. Weinstein joke, most of them were after the first commentary…I guess that’s why they looked so nervous at first). Still, I guess I AM more bummed about Ego leaving or these two guys staying for their twelfth season now.

• Speaking of commentaries, I’m glad Kam didn’t get shut out of his first show entirely. I didn’t hate his commentary or anything…but it was a little unfocused and rambling for me. He has a slight Colin Quinn quality to him…in that it becomes immediately obvious that Weekend Update isn’t the best fit for his looser style of standup.

• Hmm…you know, when Kam said “roll the clip” I immediately thought of, like, three or five times off the top of my head the show said the N-word in the first eight seasons alone (three of them were from white guys and two of them were from Eddie Murphy) but…did Che really “say” it in 2016 or did he just…chicken out and half mumble it? I know Sasheer said it loud and clear that year but…when she did it she stumbled over her own Update commentary so badly it took away the impact of it.

• Bowen as Dobby The House Elf from Harry Potter. As reminiscent as this is of things I’ve seen Chris Kattan and Rachel Dratch do on Update in 2003, this might be the most “late period Bowen” thing ever at this point. 

• I guess the little “wardrobe malfunction” he had shows’ why it’s best from an FCC fines stand point why this WASN’T a Sarah piece like I was expecting.

• Ok, I have to say something. It’s become blatantly obvious that Bowen has fully filled the Kate void in the show now where they get a lifetime pass to deliver a sincere heartfelt message about current LGBTQ issues that comes across a bit too “preachy” to everyone else because they’re pretty much viewed as the star of the show now. 

• Cecily did this a few times with reproductive rights and various women' s issues near the end of her run on the show, but I feel she pulled it off better and made it come across as more genuine.

• Hey, I read all the Harry Potter books and watched all the movies until they felt like a chore (so around the fifth book and…somewhere between the fourth and seventh movies just because my dad stayed more into that series than I did and took me to see all the movies in theaters with him. Does that make ME “millenial cringe”? I was just bonding with my dad. C+

Invention Of The Spanish Language

• Wow, another sketch in the vein of both “Age Of Discovery” and "Washington' s Dream”, huh? Interesting. This WAS something I was wanting to see them attempt again even if I ultimately feel it didn’t live up to those examples.

• This sketch seemed like it had a lot of writerly details that would’ve grown on me upon a second viewing, like the ocean being a boy and the bible being a girl and Marcellos’ closing line “whoever doesn’t die of disease in the night, I will see you tomorrow.” but it felt a bit light and skimpy on those hidden details. 

• I definitely wanted to like this but it was another “just OK” sketch premise that went on for a beat too long and could’ve had a couple of things cut.

• Mikey as the “Delegate from Barthelona” who suddenly gets beheaded stood out to me but it’ s not the greatest sign in the world for this sketch that Marcello suddenly holding Mikey’s fake severed head was the main stand out moment.

• Benicio Del Toro was a cameo I wasn’t expecting but…hey, I’ll take it. He didn’t exactly blow me away or anything but I liked his lines just fine, like the “what if the letter R went on for a really long time?”. C+

Principals’ Office

• Well, the big positives to this sketch are that a) they buried the requisite “host is hot” sketch near the end of the show and b) Ashley Padilla really got a chance to shine as a performer/sketch lead.

• Also, the drawings and (to a lesser extent) the visual of Marcello in that shaggy scene kid wig were pretty funny.

• The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was Andrew Dismukes in the cuck role (I was going to say “cuck adjacent” until he said his last line). B+

El Chavo de Marcello

• So, I guess we’re getting this instead of a third Sabado Gigante sketch from Marcello? I’m fine with that. I have some vague familiarity with “El Chavo del Ocho” and “Chespirito” so I DO get what this was supposed to be.

• Did anyone else get flashbacks to that awful wheelchair sketch from Scarlett Johanssons’ 2010 episode when they saw Kenan fall on the ground as “Mr. Stomach”?

• I liked what this was going for and I liked the visual commitment to making this look like an actual early 70s comedy show, but even on rewatch parts of this seemed difficult to parse and the live audience seemed as extremely confused as I was

• I feel like I would’ve liked this more if it were more of an indirect parody of “El Chavo de Ocho” rather than just a word for word English translation of one of those episodes that the show must have had to get clearance from the estate of Roberto Gomez Bolanos to do.

• If that truly was the case, I feel a lot of this got LOST in translation to the point where this felt like a redux of Cleese and Palin recreating the parrot sketch in January 1997 or Horatio Sanz and Colin Quinn doing that “latin comedy explosion” thing on Update in October 1999 that the audience may have been even more confused by (judging by how seemingly the only genuine non-laugh track audience reaction seemed to be applause from Jon Hamms’ inexplicable cameo). C-

Overall Thoughts 

• Well, this episode started out showing a lot of potential for a modern SNL season premiere but suddenly faced one of the biggest nosedives in quality I’ve ever seen with this show.

• I think the biggest problem I had with this episode was the constant leaning on tired modern SNL tropes throughout instead of trying to recapture the more unique experimental feel of Bad Bunny' s previous episode, but its’ a season premiere with substantial cast and writers’ room turnover so…what are you gonna do?

• I don’t really have a problem with cast usage in this episode (don’t worry Tommy, you’ll get your chance some day). I expected Marcello, Chloe, Kam and Sarah to be used as much as they were and I expected the show to continue to forget that Jane Wickline existed. I was expecting Ben to be used a little more but I think the show felt that its regular viewers were familiar enough with him already. Surprised to see Bowen used as  little as he was though. 

Closing Thoughts 

• Well, that certainly was a season premiere. Next week, on the actual chronological 50th anniversary of NBC’s Saturday Night Live, beloved former cast member Amy Poehler returns to host for the fourth time.

• Amy was someone who left and didn’t give us much of a chance to let us miss her with all the cameos she made right after leaving (much like her castmates Tina and Amy) but she’d gone on to great success and took a break from the show since then.

• In fact, I’d say she was the Sarah Squirm of her time in that they both started out doing crazy, outrageous underground comedy before getting hired by the show and used in such a way that was FAR removed from their pre-SNL personae and sensibilities that eventually some of her long time fans were disappointed (more with the show than with them personally).

• Still, they both carved out their own little acting and comedy niches outside of the show and Amys’ run was from an era that is now so far removed from the show that I am genuinely curious to see how they would interact with the modern cast and writers.

• Also, she is and always was a likable presence on SNL and pretty much everything else she’s done. I may not be expecting this episode to correct the course of the season or anything but I am looking forward to it. See you then!

• Oh, and by the way, Deej and I are planning to review the SNL season 32 finale with Zach Braff and Maroon 5 on the next episode of We Heart Hader so be on the lookout for that episode of the podcast and for that write up on this very blog as well this coming Friday.

SNL Nagging Pre Show/Pre Season 51 Thoughts

• Well, Season 51. Here we go.

• First off, I have to say I don't feel confident about the decisions made as to which cast members…didn't make the cut for this season. 

• I think with the loss of Emil, Devon and Mr. Longfellow they're getting rid of the featured players who had the most untapped potential and the best chances of doing something actually interesting on the show and clinging on to certain “vets” who may not have been on the longest or anything but seem the most burnt and tapped out creatively (even if only one of them seems the most honest about it). Emil, Devon and Longfellow are definitely going to be missed more than the show realizes right now.

• Heidi and Ego, I get them wanting to leave on their own. Heidi has been a solid dependable anchor of the female cast who's had a respectable eight season run. It felt like the right time for her to leave on her own and she seems primed for a solid, respectable acting career at this point.

• Egos’ always had such a great presence on the show that I would’ve liked to have seen another year of her in the cast, but she's in the same boat as Heidi in that she's put in enough great work that this would seem like an ideal time for her to leave as well. 

• Seems like she might have decided last minute to leave in solidarity with Heidi for some reason and the fact that Heidi is the only departing cast member to have NOT posted some sort of official Instagram announcement at this point makes it seem like something went on behind the scenes that she didn't quite find to be on the level. Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll find out about it in due time.

• I'm not crazy about the fact that this leaves Chloe Fineman as the most senior female cast member in the show, though. Sarah being a close second isn't much consolation (and she honestly seems to be in the same boat as Emil, Devon and Longfellow except for the fact that she's still on the show) but she's still in the same boat as Ego in that I've always liked the idea of them both being in the cast even if they may not be getting used to their full potential (which is honestly the real problem with Sarah in that the show may be pounding a square Peg into a round hole with her since they obviously can't let her go full on “Squirm” on the show) but I do see an opportunity for Ashley Padilla to make major inroads in stabilizing (and potentially leading) the female cast.

• Most of the new featured players seem like decent enough fits for the show. I can see why Ben Marshall is the only PDD member they saw fit to legitimately add to the cast. I haven't gotten to have seen much of Jeremy Culhane, Tommy Brennan or Veronica Slowikowsas’ pre-SNL work but I've read enough of what their prior credits are to see why they would've been hired.

• Kam Patterson is the new hire that…concerns me the most. I don't even mind that he runs in the same circles as Gillis and Che as much as I'm concerned about the fact that he was plucked straight from “Kill Tony”. Having actually seen pieces of his standup, I don't quite see him fitting in with the show that well or bringing the show such great press for that matter (even though I realize that any attempts to “cancel” him the way they “cancelled” Gillis would be pointless). At best, I see him as another “one and done” type cast member.

• I am intrigued that they hired several new writers (so, I guess they did find SOME new women of color they liked enough to hire, huh?) so that alone gives me a tiny shred of hope that season 51 could be the start of the same transition between eras that season 31 was (that reminds me, I know my friend Jon Schneider is doing a season 31 rewatch podcast for their Patreon but if you want a podcast some full length season 31 reviews that aren't currently behind a pay wall then have I got the podcast for you!)

• Now, on to tonight's episode. I thought Bad Bunny was a rather unambitious choice for host at first but I'm OK with it. His season 49 episode wasn't the best of that season by any stretch, but when that season first premiered I remember being intrigued by the experimental feel of sketches like “Age Of Discovery”, “Telanovela” and the PDD Shrek short. I especially liked how they helped offset the “we're just gonna do some sketches about how hot this host is and just skate by on his charisma” vibe that the monologue and nun sketch gave off.

• I even liked how they bought in Pedro Pascal for a sequel to the “Protective Mom” sketch from his season 48 episode. That was possibly my favorite sketch from that one. I mean, I'm not as crazy about Pedro Pascal as the show seems to be but I hope to see another one of those sketches tonight. Hell, it might be a good breakout role for Veronika!

• I'm not going into this episode expecting much as I've learned not to expect much from modern SNL season premieres in general. They always tend to have that “dull as dishwater/just shaking off the old cobwebs/gotta get settled back into that old weekly grind” feel to them mixed with that irritating compulsion to catch the viewer up on EVERY single thing that happened this summer, but this one has a chance to be different.

• Specifically, a lot of what happened in pop culture over THIS summer revolved around late night comedy shows being taken off the air or chastised by government officials on social media for even the mildest criticisms of the current administration. As this is a subject that we all know affects THIS show dearly, I'm hoping that the cold open and Weekend Update can address it in a worthwhile manner (but I have a feeling this week's cold open with probably just focus on JAJs’ Trump rambling on to no one in particular about the current government shutdown. In fact, we might get a worse version of the season 47 premieres’ cold open).

• While I'll be going into this episode fully expecting it to be mediocre, I may be more generous to it than a lot of you as I'm using it as a distraction from everything else going on in my life right now (let's just say I'm writing this from my dad's hospital room and leave it at that) and I'm not even sure when my full length review of this episode will be finished enough for me to publish it by Sunday night at this point, but I just wanted to share this with you guys.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus/Snow Patrol (03.17.2007)

The following blog post is a companion piece to the newest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast…and, in a way, the soft launch of my cohost Deej Barens’ new podcast Saturday Night Ladies. Give BOTH of our/her podcasts  a listen, won't you?

SNL Special Report: Road To The White House

Chris Rock weighs in on the presidential primary race.

• Apparently, this was supposed to be a Weekend Update commentary at dress rehearsal. I genuinely wonder what the original cold open to this episode was going to be that made them decide that THIS worked better?

• Hmm, according to SNL Transcripts, the original cold open must have been a Sudeikis as Bush piece where he talked about March Madness. I can see why Lorne must have thought a sudden former alumni cameo might have grabbed the audience's attention more. Too bad not a lot of Rocks’ material stood out that well.

• Anyway, if you’re familiar with Chris Rocks’ standup from…well, really ANY time period this hits just about all the specific beats you would expect (and if you’re familiar with Chris Rocks’ takes on current events and culture in general, you could probably guess which presidential candidate Rock was endorsing at this time).

• I guess you can’t say that the basic premise of “white women have suffered like this but black men have suffered like this” doesn’t hold up today since Bill Burr tackled this topic in his first SNL host monologue just five years ago. He must have been taking notes during this. Too bad Burrs’ take on the topic came at a time when it wouldn’t have been largely scrutinized on social media and just swept under the rug like Rocks’ was.

• One line that got me was Rock saying he thought “Farrakhan had died” when he saw Anna Nicole Smith had all black male pallbearers at her funeral.

• Boy, does the line about Giuliani being “great in a crisis” not hold up today. Hell, he arguably helped create the crisis America is in right now. The line about how Giuliani is like a pitbull who “might eat your kids” probably holds up way better than anyone could have imagined.

• Speaking of things that don’t hold up today, that last line…hoo boy. The fact that it’s an unoriginal burn on George W. Bush that Carlos Mencia would blatantly plagiarize a year later aside, that’s not something any TV show could get away with today. C+

Monologue

Coming off her recent Emmy win for “New Adventures of Old Christine”, Julia Louis-Dreyfus warns the audience to not judge recent candid footage of her too harshly because the media loves to take down beloved celebrities like her.

• Jokes about trashy female celebrities behaving badly may have seemed pretty played out by this point, but I’ll be damned if Julia doesn’t have the innate charm and likability to make this play well. 

• Even drunkenly vomiting into a wine glass while making “Green card” jokes aimed at America Ferrera, she’s endlessly funny in a “very primitive, unrefined shades of Selina Meyer” type way. Hell, she’s the only funny woman I’d ever want to see exit a limo with a Britney Spears-like crotch shot that reveals a bush so massive it spreads half way across her inner thighs. She even managed to add some class to THAT!

• One of my favorite lines in this from Julia: “They can even make a nice woman like that lovely Ann Coulter look like a monster!” 

• I liked how this was a very direct and to the point monologue that got in, got its laughs and got out. B-

Oprah 

Oprah Winfrey (Maya Rudolph) interviews author of “The Secret” Rhonda Byrne (Amy Poehler) on how her book can help regular people control the universe with their positive thoughts and energy. Recently divorced housewife Pamela Headley (Louis-Dreyfus) and Darfurian refugee Olessi Oneweja (Kenan Thompson) discuss how the positive thinking taught in “The Secret” has NOT changed their lives and are criticized for letting their own negative energy bring them down.

• Geez, two seemingly laser focused pop culture themed sketches in a row? Was Tina Fey a guest writer this week?

• Anyway, I’ve never read “The Secret” and my only context for it were the few parodies of it I have encountered around this time. Still, I would say the overall message to this sketch is that you still need fame, wealth and social clout to make “The Secret” work for you (otherwise you appear as a mentally unstable loser with a tenuous grasp on reality in the eyes of others) still resonates today.

• I liked the small detail of Julia's character having unexplained adult braces. Even though Amy was mostly the straight woman in this sketch, her deranged facial expressions paired with her labored Australian accent were something I got a kick out of. Julia played her derangement well too but it’s a shame that Amy Poehler didn't get quite as many chances to play crazy eyed not-all-there Australian women as Kate McKinnon did.

• Mayas’ Oprah didn’t add too much here besides some necessary historical context and Kenan’s part was fine (if not a bit too telegraphed for my liking). Otherwise, this was a pretty decent sketch. C+

Monex

Ros Gentle (Kristen Wiig) wants you to invest in, lovingly caress and decorate your home in gold.

• Geez, yet another parody of a very specific advertisement from this time! (at least I think it is as I noticed Wiigs’ character was listed as an “impression” on SNL Archives).

• Anyway, this was very well acted on Wiigs’ part. She underplayed her main to the exact right hilt. It seemed like Kristen knew when to really rein it in here but it probably helps that this is a pretape and another focused impression of a specific pitchwoman from this time (again, hey! Two in a row).

• Some of my favorite moments in this were Wiig's line about the value of gold having “gone up a little bit”, the Goldie Hawn photo in her living room and her drinking Florida Gold brand Orange Juice. B+

Restless Penis Syndrome

Karen Danbury (Dreyfus) is highly suspicious of her husband's (Jason Sudeikis) claim that his staying out late is a result of his uncontrollable RPS diagnosis until his physician Dr. Highsmith (Thompson) suddenly shows up to help plead his case along with two commercial pitchmen (Hader and Samberg V/O). Karen suddenly changes her tune when she finds out that she is featured in a sudden PSA.

• Hmm, given what we know about Jasons’ dating history during his time on the show…I wonder how much of this sketch was drawn from real life?

• Anyway, this was another well crafted sketch that started with a hint of semi-dramatic, slice of life acting turning into a committed sophomoric gag and ending with a fourth wall dissolution. It almost felt like something out of a different era of the show. It even reminds me a bit of the “National Uvula Association” sketch from season one!

• Bills’ first appearance of the night. A-

La Revista Della Televisione

Italian talk show host Vinny Vedecci (Bill Hader) welcomes Julia who awkwardly stumbles through her outlandish interview as she doesn’t speak or know any Italian causing a spat between Vinny and his crew (Fred Armisen, Will Forte). Vinny's daughter Fabiola (Rudolph) makes an appearance.

• Bill actually debuted this character in the previous seasons’ Catherine Zeta Jones episode as an Italian hotel manager. Here, this character makes its debut in what would more or less become its regular form.

• This was a great “official” debut for this character and Julia was the perfect first guest for him. His Kramer and Jerry impressions were great here as was his dubbing over Julias’ part in “Old Christine”. Maya reciting the days of the week in slightly broken English was charming. 

• This sketch seemed more focused on establishing its own format and setting rather than setting up the sleaziness of its main character (which would come later in future installments). It seemed more focused on recreating the baffling absurdity of foreign talk shows to viewers from outside their culture and it really serves this sketch as well as the vibe of this season/episode strongly.

• Anyway, what else is there left to say about this sketch that I haven’t already mentioned in a previous blog and podcast? A-

Snow Patrol Performs “You’re All I Have” and “Chasing Cars”

• “You’re All I Have” lies somewhere between “indistinguishable from all the other bland mid aughts power pop out there” and “what if Mumford and Sons did indie rock instead of butt folk?” That is the best way I can describe this song.

• Now, “Chasing Cars” is the song that most people remember from this group. Typical sad indie rock that fits right in with the alt rock trends of this era.

Weekend Update w/Poehler & Meyers

Judge Larry Seidlin (Armisen) cries while reading a list of names of federal attorneys fired by Alberto Gonzales for not exhibiting enough “loyalty” to George W. Bush…and then tells a story about encountering elephants and monkeys with red plastic asses in the Bronx Zoo as a young peanut seller

Amy takes a shot to celebrate St Patricks’ Day and drunk dials Seth from across the desk who quickly offers her a cup of coffee to sober up.

• Geez, jokes about federal attorneys being fired for not being “loyal” enough to a sitting Republican US President play WAY differently in 2025, huh?

• Anyway, Amy had the lion's share of good jokes this week with that “Haliburton/Dubai, Alberto Gonzales, Bush visit Colombia, fat talk/The View” run.

• Armisens’ commentary was typical Armisen shtick from this era that’s easy to tune out (overly long, self indulgent, heavy New York accent) but I did get some chuckles from his absurd Bronx Zoo story.

• The St Patricks’ Day shots bit was cute and focused enough to not feel too self indulgent on Amys’ part. It definitely had the energy of a bit where one performer is desperately trying to get the other performer to break but the audience also feels like they are in on the joke.

• Seth’s only stand out joke was the salmon/grizzly bear one. I also liked Amys’ ski mask/James Brown/Angelina Jolie/Stray Cats jokes, too. B-

Deep House Dish

DJ Dynasty Handbag (Thompson) and T’Shane (Samberg) welcome edgy girl group Legguns (Poehler, Rudolph, Wiig), singer DeDe Wells (Dreyfus) and DJ Quality (Sudeikis)

• Ooh wee. Here’s one of the more low-key divisive sketches of this era from two of the most low-key divisive writers of any new millennium era of SNL (James Anderson and Kent Sublette).

• Personally, I’m not as down on these sketches as some were at the time. If you weren’t a fan of the less matured, less “grown up” pre-season 38 Kenan, I can see why you might have a problem with these. 

• While I’ve always thought Kenans’ character was the biggest demerit of these sketches, the songs were usually just ridiculous enough to work for me here. Plus, the season 32 versions of this sketch worked better for me because Samberg was a better “dumb, goofy sidekick” to Kenan than Rachel Dratch’s character Tiara and these sketches felt more punched up and focused in general by that point.

• That being said, Legguns did a fine job of answering the musical question “what if The Ting Tings were also The Bangles and Klymaxxx?” Julia and Jasons’ songs were great. Hell, Julias’ whole character was great in this. I liked Sambergs’ character admitting to being a guest at Julias’ disastrous hot tub chilli party. Seeing Jason break out his future “What Up With That” dance moves was also very fun. Could’ve done without Kenans’ direct message to Britney “Spurrs” though, but Andys’ jokes about her freshly shaved head were a funny enough counter to that. 

• Come to think of it, I did get a kick out of Kenans’ “Ann Coulter/Isaiah Washington” joke (I’m not even going to bother researching that one let alone explaining it). C+

CBS Cares

As Mike Underballs (Hader) directs Julia in a mammogram PSA, he must settle a spat between his star and his boom mike operator Jeff (Sudeikis)

• Hey, another sketch where Jason and Julia are stand out performers…oh, and Bill of course!

• Well, we just went from “low key divisive” sketch to “low key terrific” (as Ralph Nader would inspire That Week In SNLs’ Andrew Dick and Tim Cicalli to say).

• This might be more a Sudeikis showcase but once Hader suddenly shifts out of straight man mode, this really becomes a showcase for the two of them and how differently they play “angry/frustrated” off of each other and Julia.

• Jasons’ various insults to Julia were great, especially his pointing the boom mike at her breast and crotch level.

• Bills’ best moments were the various “Jyyyeeeffffs” and the line “I don’t need the jingle on every bad take.” B+

Homebots

A married couple (Julia and Jason) try to convince their friends (Hader and Wiig) that winning the lottery hasn’t changed them despite their newfound appreciation of three way sex acts between their new house cleaning robot (Forte) and the other two robots (Armisen and Thompson) whose sole purposes are to repair the other two robots after their many malfunctions

• Ok, this is obviously a very Will Forte-ish premise considering his affinity for playing various robots throughout his SNL career (and the fact that he actually did audition for the show with an old trunk bit of his where he sings as a robotic street performer about how he performs certain oral favors just for his face paint).

• Unfortunately, this is the type of Forte weirdness I’m not typically a fan of since it feels more like testing the audiences’ patience and boundaries than being truly weirdly funny. This seems more designed to get the type of audience reaction that the Vogelcheck sketches do than anything.

• Bill, Jason, Kristen and Julia were great at playing their disgust off them, though which really added to this and I’ll admit I did get a kick out of Kenan coming in at the end just to utter the closing line “extreme robot threesome”. C- 

The Search For The Next (Pussycat) Doll

Judges Robin Antin (Dreyfus), Lil Kim (Thompson) and McKenzie Jazz (Samberg) lead the search for the most mediocre and unremarkable moderately attractive female singers and dancers (Poehler, Wiig, Rudolph) to join The Pussycat Dolls and blend into the background perfectly against the lead singer

• Wow, this really is 2007, huh?

• From the way Bill as the announcer pretty much spends 75% of this sketches’ runtime laying out exactly what SNLs’ whole take is here, this sketch felt more like a watered down version of something MADtv or Family Guy would have done around this time. SNL doing this in the same episode as the Oprah/Secret sketch just shows that they weren’t quite as removed from seasons 30 and 31 as I remembered.

• Yeah, this sketch mostly consisted of the same tired “trash culture” observations about reality competition TV and prefabricated, oversexualized pop music girl groups you could find anywhere at this time but the performances from the female cast were the only thing this had going for it. Samberg did the most he could with his one and only line here.

• Ugh, Kenan in drag as Lil Kim seems like a grim sign of things SNL may be going back to in season 51 now that Ego Nwodim is out…and Kam Patterson is somehow still in. Let’s just all hope and pray that it doesn’t come to that again. C-

Overall Thoughts

• Like most SNL episodes I have reviewed from this specific time period, there’s a couple of well-remembered and often replayed classics in this that somehow managed to not get lost in the shuffle of more than a few bits that don’t hold up. That same thing could be said about this episode, too. 

• Fortunately, this episode didn’t have a lot of blatantly noticeable “punching down” as much as just a running theme of “sorry folks, this is just where our culture and politics are at right now” contributing to what doesn’t hold up.

• Even more fortunately, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was the ideal host to carry this episode and bring the best out of this cast (especially the women). Thankfully, this episode had an infectious energy to it that was somehow missing from Julias’ first hosting stint a year earlier. It also probably helps in that regard that they were too far away from the end of the season to be completely burnt out yet.

• Not only does this episode have enough notable Bill Hader moments for Deej and I to dissect it on our own podcast, it has enough moments with SNLs female cast from two different eras collaborating together that we both thought it would the timing and synergy of it all would be the ideal cross promotion for Deejs’ new podcast Saturday Night Ladies with cohost Shari Fesko (who you may also have seen on the SNN Patron feedback shows much like Deej and myself). 

• The only better cross promotion we could think of would be if we could’ve gotten Shari to be a guest on this episode with us, but sadly, (much like all the other guests we have tried to book for We Heart Hader besides Jon Schneider who’ve expressed interest) we couldn’t get our recording schedule to sync up with their availability. Don’t worry, Shari. You’ll get your chance some day!

Closing Thoughts

• Once again, I can’t guarantee what will be coming up next on this blog or my own podcast at this time as we haven’t nailed down any more specific future plans yet. The only thing I can even come close to confirming right now is that I should have a new review of SNLs’ Season 51 premiere up sometime on October 5th, 2025. See you then!

• Oh, one more thing. Due to the new demands on Deejs’ podcasting schedule, new releases of We Heart Hader episodes will now be pushed back from Thursday to Friday. I know our previous episode dropped on a Saturday but this was due to technical difficulties and various illnesses (on both sides).

• Full disclosure: I’ve been visiting my father in the hospital for the past two weeks, so if something seemed a little off about our previous recording, that’s on me. I was still getting into the right headspace to record as we started recording so only about halfway through it was I fully “there”.