SNL UK: James Norton/The Streets (10.17.2026)

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SNL UK: Danny Dyer/Sasha Keable (10.10.2026)

Royal Family Reunion

• Hmm, another royals cold open. This time without Larrys' King Charles or Emmas Camilla. Instead we get Jacks' Harry and Ayoades' Meghan. These impressions have improved.

• We also get Freddies' William and Annabels Kate. These impressions are OK. Not doing much for me but they've been given serviceable material. I did chuckle a bit at the "prince ginger pubes" crack, though.

• Oh, THERE'S George and Emma. And THERE'S George as a creepy, Palpatine like Prince Andrew.

• Yeah, Larry and Especially George are really saving this sketch for me.

• Good thing they cut it short just as Larry flubbed his last line in a big way (maybe THAT'S why this one isn't on YouTube yet? They've made these kind of edits before). B-

Monologue

• Ooh, another Jamie Demetriou type cold open with a bit of two man physical shtick (instead of Chevy like pratfalls he's doing some rough and tumble action movie like fight stunts which for some reason cause the announcer to say his name about three times as if he didn't walk out unexpectedly). 

• Next, Danny's making this whole Monologue a "WILL HE SAY IT?" Thing but with the C-word he allegedly isn't allowed to say since he used a similar T-word in reference to a former Prime Minister on live television? Already this is amazing. 

• Another way this episode is much like Jamie Demetrious' monologue is that Danny gets a sudden visit from the costar of the current TV show our host is on. She didn't add much but it was nice to see that level of semi continuity between episodes.

• Yeah, once he started talking about all the different accents he could do, this started to go a bit downhill. Not that it's was bad, it just meandered a bit too much. Interesting to learn he's distantly descended from some royalty.

• Nice of him to end with a very sincere thoughtful uplifting statement on being a good, true to yourself person in the age of social media before transitioning that into...another c-word mislead?

• Yeah, this monologue got off to a strong start but ended in a rather strangely unhinged way. It almost lost its own thread to the point where it felt like a few different monologue concepts rolled into one since they couldn't fully settle or decide on just one.

• Still, it was entertaining if not a little confusing. It's just the type of monologue you'd have to really be keyed into to be able to understand (and in that regard, it doesn't really help that the YouTube clip of it has been heavily censored). C+

The Tube

• Huh, this is the THIRD type of the specific sketch they've given us in less than a full calendar year?

• I liked the showcase for Freddie and I liked the gag of Jack choking to death on a Boba pearl while driving. You know those things are chewable, right?

• I liked the basic gag being the dramatizing of how stupidly simple operating a tube is but the gag of him repeatedly pressing the "backwards" and "open door" buttons instead of the "forward" button would get a bit old if this wasn't dressed up like an action thriller trailer. 

• This isn't my favorite Freddie showcase of this season but it's still nice to see SNL UK fully knowing how to use its newest cast members right out of the gate.

• The gag of Freddie taking until Annabel delivers her baby the following month to simply press the right button after heavily  sweating it out Airplane!-style was a funny little detail but sadly once you take away all the bells and whistles from this one you start to see how derivative it truly is. C+

Victorian Pickpockets

• I like Danny, Celeste and Emmas' performances. Jack, Annabel and Larry are doing the most they can with it. Unfortunately, I don't think this is really going anywhere.

• The premise of a modern CPS worker investigating the the Artful Dodger/Oliver Twist gang for child abuse and neglect just feels like it's too...basic to be that funny (especially with the whole "lol implied pedophillia" aspect to some of the jokes.

• I actually thought that Emma might have been this weeks' musical guest, Sasha Keable, when she entered the scene. Speaking of Sasha Keable, I quite liked her performances and the whole "Adele meets Tori Kelly" vibe to her sound. I thought I'd just add that here since I don't have much else to say about this sketch. C-

Marriage Blessing

• Ooh hey, something similar to this happened to me in my life (not at this level of intensity though)

• The interplay and role play between Danny and Freddie makes this for me. Emma and Celeste were great in this, too.

• I liked the twist of this being another in a series of low level diamond heists. B-

Chill As Hell Gay Guy In His Twenties 

• Huh, very odd Pythonesque choice to transition to this actual pretape set in an Oceans' Eleven style heist out of a live sketch with a surprise heist ending, but I liked it.

• Part of me was hoping that the conceit of this sketch would just be an ongoing list of increasingly useless and/or unnecessary heist crew members...but having Jack just play a...whatever the exact opposite of a heightened version of himself is was OK.

• I liked how positive everyone turned out to be towards Jack's character at the end as it was revealed he's pretty much just part of the heist crew for pure moral support. Annabels' cameo was OK if not a tiny bit convoluted. 

• Even the "it was a dream" ending was just odd enough to work for me...but the additional ending of Jacks' agent calling him to offer him a role where his character dies of either AIDS or an assault depending on the viewers choice was a teeny bit too jarring. B-

Paint Colors Meeting

• This feels like a variation of that "What A Life" sketch from Nicolas' episode crossed with that ice cream tasting sketch Benedict Cumberbatch did on SNL US in 2022.

• I do like the twist of Danny just straight up drinking paint just to get some insane out of body vision quest experience to base the name off of. I do like the "blink and you'll miss it" visual gag of Danny bring hooked up to an IV drip while sitting in an office chair.

• Having Danny's character just straight up explode from drinking too much paint and then have his coworkers decide to name the resulting shade "R.I.P. Gary" in his honor was about as good of an ending as this sketch could've hoped for. B+

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: MP Drinks Beer, Worlds' Tallest Tory, Greens In Crisis, Christa Pike (good on ol' Pads for making those as classy as he could)

• Anias' Best Jokes: Keir Starmers' Old Seat, Prostate Cancer Research

• Paddy and Ania calling on an "average person" to weigh in on the Gaza situation was a fun little format break.

• Somewhere, Brian Doyle Murray stirs as Ania Magliano delivers this absurdly long list of items that Prince Andrew stained with his own semen.

• Not sure what to make of Emmas' delivery robot commentary but at least it was concise and underplayed. Felt like something from Seth Meyer's solo era of Weekend Update on SNL US.

• I like how Paddy and Ania are playing thos whole "hosts dating" joke (speaking of something previously done during the BDM era of SNL US Update).

• That spider joke from Paddy should've been cut. It was too long and awkward to work for me.

• I liked this George commentary. I immediately got a kick out of him removing the cheapest bald cap wig ever upon coming out. Feels like an improvement on something either Kate McKinnon, Chris Redd or Pete Davidson would've done on SNL US Update during their own Covid era.

• Having a guest commentator call out a small omission on the Update map is something I don't think I've seen on any SNL Update feature before.

• I do appreciate this having an extra meta layer of George just using this Update feature to bemoan his lack of airtime on the week of his birthday. If anyone in this cast has earned their right to do such a thing on this show by this point, it's definitely him.

• That was a fun Update even if it was very mildly uneven, too. B-

 

British Armageddon

• It's a bit strange to see a sketch that just opens with a (probably A.I. generated, sadly...knowing this show) shot of an asteroid heading toward Earth get an extended round if (possibly canned if Hammed is just straight up delivering his lines over it) applause (maybe not that strange in 2026, but still...)

• This sketch feels a little too SNL US but I like how it's being played by Danny and Hammed. I'm getting slight "Alas Smith & Jones" vibes from it. 

• I don't love or hate this one. It's a semi- unique and quirky premise that's just kinda...there and being elevated as much as it can be by its performers. C+

Boy Band Reunion (Older And Wiser)

• This was another very simple premise but it was pretty perfectly cast and performed. The way this was written really made this pop, too since the song had plenty of great lines.

• Given that Celeste is quite prominently featured in this and it's basically the type of musical number her group/show "Lazy Susan" would do all the time...I'm assuming she had a major hand in writing this? Maybe she saw how the X-Factor sketch blew up online and was inspired to create something similar?

• I'm guessing this is a riff on the group "Take That"? I'm not familiar with the UK boy band scene of the early 2000s but I have heard OF "Take That" so I'm guessing this mostly them and an amalgam of some others? Ah, it doesn't totally matter. I've seen enough US boy bands have years later middle aged reunion tours. This is a universal concept.

• I liked Larry's inclusion as the incredibky cheesy host introducing them and Jacks' inclusion as the member who passed away in a boat "accident". 

• I do agree that Al probably had the best voice of the group. Their argument break down just before the final chorus was pretty funny. B+

Ranking SNL UK Series Two From Best To Worst

1. Amelia Dimoldenberg/Rachel Chinouriri (09.26.2026)
2. Danny Dyer/Sasha Keable (10.10.2026)
3. Jamie Demetriou/Royal Blood (09.19.2026)
4. Jeff Goldblum/CMAT (09.12.2026)

Ranking All Of SNL UK From Best To Worst

1. Jamie Dornan/Wolf Alice (03.28.2026)
2. Hannah Waddingham/Myles Smith (05.09.2026)
3. Amelia Dimoldenberg/Rachel Chinouriri (09.26.2026)
4. Danny Dyer/Sasha Keable (10.10.2026)
5. Jamie Demetriou/Royal Blood (09.19.2026)
6. Ncuti Gatwa/Holly Humberstone (05.16.2026)
7. Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)
8. Jeff Goldblum/CMAT (09.12.2026)
9. Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)
10. Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
11. Aimee Lou Wood/MEEK (05.02.2026)
12. Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, this episode felt just a little underwhelming compared to the past couple of shows (no real strong highs or dire lows) this season but it was still a solid, consistently decent show with a host that showed he was game for just about anything right out of the gate.

• This episode had a pretty low bar to clear with Shane Gillis hosting the US show several hours later...and it obviously cleared it and that's all I really asked of it.

• Celeste, Freddie, Emma and Jack had good nights. Al, Annabel and Hammed had decent nights. Not their absolute best nights, but they still got on a bit. George didn't have a great night, but I think they realized that and made up for it as much as they could (especially with George being presented with a cake at the goodnights).

Closing Thoughts

• Next week, SNL UK returns with James Norton and The Streets. He's certainly not the James or "Jim" Norton I know...which is actually good. It'll be fun to go blind into another SNL UK with a host I know nothing about. Hope you enjoy reading my review of that one in a weeks' time when it comes out (in the absence of a new SNL US that week, of course).

• I've also written a review of this weeks' SNL US with Shane Gillis and Rosalia which you can read here if you care to. You might find that I've been a bit more generous to that episode than some. That's probably because I saw this SNL UK episode you just read my review of first.

• I'll also be coming out with a review of the SNL US season 33 finale with Steve Carrell and Usher in the coming weeks. Deej and I will also be reviewing that one on the next We Heart Hader Podcast which we just recorded with special guests John Trumbull and Darin Patterson of the SNL Nerds podcast. 

• Speaking of which, we actually just released a new episode of We Heart Hader with returning guests Ajax from the Cover Wars podcast and Andrew Hunter Scholey from the podcast North Of Normal. We covered the "Test Pattern: Final Transmission" episode of Documentary Now Season Two. Hope you have as much fun listening to this one as the four of us did recording it. See you again real soon!

Shane Gillis/Rosalia (10.10.2026)

USS Lincoln

• Oh,this is DEFINITELY another Jost as Hegseth opening. On the USS Lincoln.Wow. Maybe a bit dated but fitting given this weeks host.

• Even though I can tell Colin doesn't really have his heart in this anymore, I did like the visual gag of his Fireball Whiskey Bandolier and how he played off the failed christening prop. Kams' part was pretty funny. 

• Oh yeah, the livestreamed execution thing is probably one of the big reasons why they wanted to do this cold open.

• Hey, JAJ as RFK Jr! That might be the highlight of this cold open for me simply for it being the least run into the ground political impression the show has right now. I'm at least glad to get to see this instead of...y'know the other big political impression they put JAJ in most cold opens with these days.

• The Linkin Park quote from Jost at the end was OK. Not sure if this will be the weakest cold open of the season yet...but at this point it's a strong contender. I'd rank it a solid second at this point in the season but lets' see how the rest of the season goes. C+

Monologue

• All right, here we fuckin' go...He's...talking about his weight? Oh well, I liked his little jab at his own Bud Light ads at least.

• Eh, this hiking stuff is...unexpected. Pretty meh so far. Not good or bad, just...there. Now, he's talking about going to a public gym. Ok....and now he's mentioned how gyms' are full of gay guys....aaaaaaaaand now he's giving detailed descriptions of girls' "whorish" work out shorts. Greeeeeeaaatt.....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnndddnow he's name dropping Joe Rogan and Theo Von. Faaaaaantastic.

• OK, I do like this whole "gas station egg"thing. It's worth a chuckle. Now, he's moved on to how mean his sisters are...who are, of course, very similar to him...physically. Not into this as much...but I did chuckle at the sudden"bitch hips" comment.

• Now, he's talking about how his haircut is similar to Adolf Hitlers. Yeah, you ever think you should shave that mustache, bud? I mean, that can't be helping.

• ...and the monologue just mercifully ends right at the phrase "You're either gay or you're Hitler. That's where we are as a country."

• Well, at least...he wasn't self consciously reacting to his own seemingly losing the crowd...and at least this monologue wasn't very long. I mean, even the "whore" stuff doesn't seem THAT worth an uproar.

• Well, at least the for sure worst part of this episode has just ended. Let's see what else they got. D+

Cop Talk Show

• Huh...well at least this sketch seems right in Shanes' wheelhouse. Thankfully, Mikey's part is mercifully short and reigned in.

• Good use of Jeremy. I liked the rolled down window gag. Kenan as Shanes' "sponsor" was worth a chuckle. Good use of Grace and especially Kam. Ben being tased was pretty funny.

• Oh...Veronikas' coming out as a drunk, high actress. Smart of them to end this here.

• You know, this sketch is starting to remind me a lot of that "Late Night With Chris Hansen" sketch Bill Hader did in 2009.

• This feels like a sketch concept that could've been done just as easily 30 years ago (and probably would've been seen as fresher then) but hey, anything that works with Shane's general presence in this episode without being completely offputting should be counted as a victory. B-

It's My Room Now

• Ooh, hey a musical pretape that pairs up JAJ, Dismukes and Tommy. This might go somewhere good.

• OK, I do actually like the concept of a Lonestar-alike country pop wedding band song actually turning out to be about what the father of the bride imagines he would do with his daughters' old room now that she's moving out.

• Sure, this shows' gonna get some shit online from rabid Tim & Eric fans from supposedly ripping off the bit Frank Stallone did on that show...but, who cares? This was genuinely funny.

• Nice interaction with Saidah. I wasn't too crazy about Marcello being included in this as a Zumba instructor Ashley eventually leaves Shane for but I did like how they weaved it into the ending.

• I did like the ending twist this took with Shanes' dad character suddenly going into a black mold induced hallucination where Ms. Pac Man has to talk him out of suicide after he knocks down the wall between his daughter and wifes' room. B+

Green Eggs & Ham

• Well, if the estate of Dr. Suess wouldn't let "Weird Al" Yankovic just put the words to this book to the tune of U2s' "Numb" and put that on an album because it has "no educational value" I can't imagine they'd react to this that well.

• Ok, so it's basically just Shane as a maybe not that much older Mikeys' loser adult failson trying to stop him from being scammed...again...and getting into a low level fight. As much as this toes the line into "a little too real" territory, this works pretty well for me.

• Hey...THERE'S the big thing this sketch will be remembered for! I should've guessed this would've happened with Shane at some point. Honestly, it was the one thing for him (and Mikey) to self consciously ad-lib about.

• I was watching live on my own local NBC affiliate. Shane's accidental f-bomb was muted. It was 9:45pm. I've heard the f-bomb went out unmuted on Peacock. I knew I should've watched there instead bit I'm sure the uncensored clip will he easy to find.

• I didn't mind Sarah appearing as Thing 1 being the bar trash girlfriend of Shane's character...but I'd wish they'd have done more to make her part feel less pointless. Did one of them blow a cue or something? It seemed like Shane just straight up forgot he was supposed to kiss Sarah and then either she forgot a line or he skipped ahead a line and she couldn't deliver one or something. What the hell happened there?  

• I did get a brief chuckle out of Marcello scrambling into the scene in a toy car as The Cat In The Hat with a blatant drinking problem but the ending with Sam-I-Am turning out to be a scammer was a bit predictable. Otherwise, this was a solid sketch that probably could've been done a little bit better by pretty much any other male host. B-

New Type Of Shoe

• A History Channel sketch in the middle of a Shane Gillis hosted episode. I don't know about this one...

• Ok, we got the second throwaway Hitler mention of the night out of the way.

• So, this is just about the invention of sneakers...and Shane is the guy who came up with that name...because he is the first to notice how they make it easier for a man to cheat on his wife?

• Eh, pretty weak concept. Not that it's being executed badly. Just a little dry. I did like the ending though. Kept this from going on too long. C-

Upfront Heating And Cooling

• Ok, Shane is basically describing all the ways his HVAC employees are creepy dirtbags. Again, right in Shanes' wheelhouse (not derrogatory).

• This feels like an improvement on the formula that gave us "CouplaBeers" two seasons ago.

• It's a shame that Saidah is still only being used sparsely in pretapes at this point...but then again, I wasn't expecting to see much of Saidah at all in this episode...and this was the best use of her all night. Same goes for Veronika in this, honestly.

• This was one of those rapid fire gag a minute pretapes with almost too many individual moments to break down but I'll say the moments that hit for me were the window lockers, Ben's cut off testimonial and Shane berating Mikey just after telling us how his relationship with "Hailey" deteriorated. The shot of him blasting trashy nu-metal in his car really sold that for me. B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Nobel Prize, USS John Wilkes Booth

• Ches' Best Jokes: Shock Gloves

• Hey, a JAJ solo impression feature! I'm not to crazy about this impression, but I like the material he's been given. It's more about the performance than the impression for me.

• Hey, a two hander between Ashley and Grace! I'd love to see where this goes.

• Guess we're just running the ball to Ashley on this one? All right. She's handling this well enough that I don't mind that they're not escalating this with Graces' character. Nice to see her get some airtime, though. Even nicer that Update ended on this at roughly a quarter of the length of last weeks.

• Decent Update. Only one joke from Che was truly dire (you know the one) and the rest were just kinda...there. It was the commentaries that made this one for me. C+

Saying Goodbye

• Hey, another live Grace appearance!

• So, Shane is just trying to engage Sarah in something very trivial. This is low key enough that it should work no matter what.

• I do like that Ben is playing Jelly Roll instead of the show booking the real one as a cameo at this point. I got a kick out of Marcello as "cool Jesus" hinting at the possible death of Shanes' character along with Grace as his mother who suddenly dies mid sketch. I even liked how they worked in Rosalias' cameo here.Not a bad sketch. Just maybe a little too telegraphed. C+

Chess Tournament 

• Huh...so, this is what they were putting Jeremy in makeup for during that commercial bumper. He, Mikey and Tommy are working well off each other.

• Hey, another Grace sketch! I should've expected her and Shane to play some kind of white trash couple (but it was Veronika we were all expecting Shane to work with a lot tonight and somehow it only really happened once).

• Anyway, this was the moment that really sold me on Grace Reiter as a cast member. Yeah, you could definitely see why she'd get compared to Aidy here but at the same time you also get to see her really disappear into the type of role that either Aidy, Cecily or Kate would have thrown their way about ten to fifteen years ago while also still bringing her own unique personal touches to it.

• A trashy disruptive couple being unnecessarily loud does remind me of one of the early Spartan Cheerleader sketches from Ferrells' first season (I want to say the first one but I'm not totally sure) but hey...if it actually works in this episode, who cares how derivative it is?

• Hey, Janes' still in the cast! I genuinely wasn't expecting to see her at all tonight. B-

Ranking Season 52 From Best To Worst

1. Shane Gillis/Rosalia (10.10.2026)
2. Dakota Johnson/Turnstile (10.03.2026)
3. Jalen Brunson/KATSEYE (09.26.2026)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, it certainly doesn't say great things about how this season is going so far that this turned out to be its strongest episode so far. Yeah, that's obviously gonna change (probably in the next couple of weeks) but this speaks volumes about weak host bookings and even weaker writing and cast usage.

• Speaking on just this episode though, it delivered pretty much what I expected it to as far as the monologue being extremely dire and the some of the sketches being surprisingly decent.

• Man, as long as I live, I may never know how Shane Gillis can be such a weak live performer (in both sketches and stand up) who somehow has this ability bring some of the better sketch premises and writing out of this SNL cast and crew. I know, he's produced some of his own sketches prior to getting to host SNL...but I've seen enough of them to know that his sketch sensibilities and those of his "Gilly & Keeves" collaborators are in a completely different ecosystem from those of SNLs and yet somehow this show's able to reign him in enough to just barely put him over.

• Anyway, Shane was...just competent in his sketch work. Some of his roles worked, otter sketches left me wondering how much better literally any other male host could perform in his role. Most of his best performances were in pretaped sketches that his presence was just a little more consequential to.

• One thing that surprised me was how strong of a night Grace had and how little he seemed to work with Veronika. JAJ, Dismukes, Jeremy and Tommy had quietly decent nights. We saw Kam and Kenan as much as I assumed we would. 

• Marcello, Ben and Jane seem to have been scaled back a bit. Thank God Mikey was more reigned in than he's been. Sorry, Saidah. This just wasn't gonna be your night to begin with but your very new and there's still a whole season ahead of you.

Closing Thoughts

• After two weeks, SNL US returns on Halloween night with appropriately scheduled "Obsession" star Inde Navarrette as host (hell, I may actually watch that movie before then). God, it will be so refreshing to have a new SNL US episode with a first time host I can actually have some POSITIVE expectations for!

• Thankfully, there well be two new SNL UK episodes airing in that time before the crew across the pond goes on at least a nine or ten week hiatus of their own. I hope you'll enjoy reading my reviews of those as well. Oh, and I've also reviewed the latest SNL UK episode with Danny Dyer and Sasha Keable which you can read here.

• I've also got an upcoming review of the SNL US season 33 finale with Steve Carrell and Usher in the can coming out before the end of the month (probably next week). You'll be able to read that one on this blog at the same time Deej releases the episode of We Heart Hader we recorded covering that episode (again, probably in the next week) with special guests Darin Patterson and John Trumbull of the SNL Nerds podcast. We had a great time recording with them and I can't wait for you all to hear it. 

• Speaking of which, we actually just released a new episode of We Heart Hader with returning guests Ajax from the Cover Wars podcast and Andrew Hunter Scholey from the podcast North Of Normal. We covered the "Test Pattern: Final Transmission" episode of Documentary Now Season Two. Hope you have as much fun listening to this one as the four of us did recording it. See you again real soon!

Dakota Johnson/Turnstile (10.03.2026)

RNC Midterm Ads

• Huh, so I guess they're NOT doing a spoof of the big congressional hearing everybody else was riffing all week. Meh, that news story was enough of a joke to begin with. What else could they say about it? Besides, this episode ended up having enough stunt cameos already.

• Instead they're doing an RNC midterm PSA thing? Hmm...this could work. I mean, it couldn't be worse than the sketch that's just like this we got back in season 28 with Darrell Hammond as Guiliani, right? (which...if you're on a certain Discord server or Twitch stream, I frequent, you should prepare yourself to see very soon).

• I like the idea of them using Marcellos' Marco Rubio to deliver this secret "OMG Trump TRICKED us" message entirely in Spanish. That might have been the shows' best use of his Marco Rubio yet. Hell, it might have just been their best use of Marcello in general in a while.

• Ditto for this Mitch McConnell impression Mikey is doing. I'm surprised they didn't just do this in last week's episode since it would've easily crushed anything he did then. I especially liked the meta LFNY moment there.

• I also liked the way they used Jeremy's JD Vance, too...but just when you think this is gonna be a trimmed and concise cold open they were just gonna move right on from, we get Josts' Hegseth again.

• I think they may be overusing this impression but I actually did like some of Josts' lines about testosterone, praying soldiers as well as the slam poetry.

• ...and here comes JAJ as Trump, something they had plenty of alternatives to for this cold open but they chose to go with anyway.

• I didn't mind JAJs appearance here, but it did kinda kill whatever momentum was left in this cold open at the same time. B-

Monologue

• Wow...somehow Dakota was even more icy, distant and unenthused than I expected her to be. Boy, she's really all over the place here.

• ...and now she's talking about publicly dating and subsequently breaking up with musicians. Wheeeeeeeeee. Fun.

• I think it goes without saying how much Leon Pendarvis' brief cameo in this holding a rose was the best part of it.

• Speaking of musicians and dating...there's only one person in the world who would garner that level of out of nowhere screaming applause in the middle of this tense, muted ass monologue.

• Yeah, this probably would've been a bigger get a few years back, but somehow now...not so much. With how here newest songs have been received, this kind of feels like Taylor and the show being mutually in the wrong place at the wrong time. Surprisingly, this cameo didn't do much for me. D+

Press Your Luck

• Game show sketch. Post monologue. Yaaaaaaay.

• ...and Dakota is bringing the exact same monologue energy to...her Elizabeth Banks impression? I mean, I don't exactly hate it...but her part could've been played just as easily by nearly any other female host and still not have affected this sketch at all.

• I don't exactly hate Kenan or Marcellos opening lines either. Hell, I even liked Marcellos' later call back to his.

• Ok. Thank Christ for Ashley Padilla.

• God, this works WAY better than you would expect something to that's basically two and a half steps above that God awful Jeopardy sketch with Bad Bunny from last season's premiere.

• I mean, this obviously has way more competent writing and performing than that one ever could've hoped for, but still... B-

Mean Scary Girlfriend

• Hey, I just saw Saidah, Jane and Grace in another pretape. Boy, am I glad I didn't blink just then.

• Ok, finally something that actually harnesses Dakotas icy and overwhelmingly aloof energy in an appropriate role and setting. I especially liked her TPUSA/lazy eye jokes.

• This makes great use of Grace's whole deal as well as Ben and Tommys' just...general haplessness, too.

• Weirdly, Marcello is probably the last male member of the cast who SHOULD be in this sketch when you have so many other guys who can pull off put upon losers with no confidence and very little going for them better than him. Hell, I would've easily put Jeremy in Marcellos role. B-

Eric From Legal

• So, Ashley and Sarah are sitting around a hospital cafeteria table...and Dakota has now joined them...and she's doing a Fran Drescher-esque NYC accent?

• Thankfully, Jeremys' character revealing sad, pathetic "gossip" about himself in the third person turned out to be the main focus of this.

• Ok, does this sketch really NEED a sassy, inexplicably queer-coded Kenan character in a ridiculously loud outfit? They've been going to that well with him A LOT in recent years and this sketch may be the most egregious example of it needlessly taking away from an otherwise solid sketch. C-

Guns For Women

• Well, a vagina shaped prop finally made it to air. Granted, it still had to be pixelated but somewhere, Michael O'Donoghue is still looking up and smiling.

• Another fine pretape that made good use of Dakotas insane energy, but...something about this just felt too "all over the place" on first viewing.

• Throughout this whole thing, I got a vibe that the writers couldn't decide if they wanted to make a series of thinly veiled clitoris jokes or a series of thinky veiled "pink tax" jokes about the ridiculous of products aimed at and sold to women or to just be absurd with phrased like "vagun" and "glunt" but Ashley and Veronika did a great job providing some much needed counterbalance to all of that while acting as very vocal voices of sane  reason throughout. B-

Throne Of The Dragonborne

• I like that they at least had the relevant cultural awareness to frame this as you, the viewer clicking open your HBO MAX app to watch this (just like they framed last week's High School Musical sketch as you, the viewer logging into Disney Plus on your computer/web browser to see it).

• I don't know if this sketch is worth the money they spent on that giant smoking dragon head. I'm getting mild season 20 Wizard Of Oz/Mad About You Aliens vibes.

• Ben was alright here...I guess. This wasn't his worst performance ever. Maybe they are figuring out better, more restrained ways to use Ben...but I wouldn't say he's on his way to becoming the next male lead of the show or anything.

• Was the "brother-style" stuff just a reference to...the incest not being such an "open secret" on the OG Game Of Thrones or House Of The Dragon and the gag here being that...is is?

• Ok, I did like the Tim Allen/Home Improvement grunt (heh, I almost typed "glunt" there) being thrown into the mix of fire dragon roars at the mere hints of Ben undressing.

• Speaking of unnecessary flamboyant Kenan characters appearing mid sketch...

• While I wasn't crazy about Kenan's eunuch character, I did think he was better deployed here than his character in the gossip sketch was (especially since he showed up as the sketch was getting to the point where you feel it's getting too long and are thus relieved to see a quick sudden ending) and I did get a kick out of his "you tell me" reveal of him not having a penis.

• I do wonder why the choice was made to give Kenan's character a not so subtly Lorne Michaels/Dr. Evil/Maya Angelou coded voice here? It wasn't a bad choice mind you, just an interesting one. D+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Hegseth/Mike Meyers, CNN Press Pool Removal, Only Hispanic Could Survive Fall

• Ches' Best Jokes: White House Ballroom, Uphill Climb 

• I've never been more thankful for something to turn out to be another Jost roast (that seems awfully similar to an old Conan O'Brien/Max Weinberg bit) than when Che of all people uttered the phrase "Cornell University". 

• I mean, if HE of all people were going to even mention it, this was the best possible outcome.

• Speaking of, the sudden cutaways to a giggling Che were probably the best part of Mikey & Marcellos' long as hell,  pointless, white noise ass Link/GTA commentary.

• Ok, I guess I liked the "dress/tunic" stuff from Mikey. Just wish he wasn't completely given free reign to just try to provoke Marcello and Che to break because it seems like that's what all this was. God, I hope they don't just keep carving out spots for Mikey to keep doing this EVERY week.

• Hmm...Kam Patterson on a rumored Glee reboot? Let's see where this goes.

• Ok, I do have to chuckle at Kam doing jazz hands while shouting "HAMILTONNNNN!!!"

• I like the turn of this turning out to be a semi meta piece for Kam and Che to bond over their shared inability to be their authentic selves on a show heavily dominated by white writers being the ones giving them the majority of their material.

• What I actually like more was Che telling Kam how the staff and audience want to see Kam talk about his own life and be his "true self" only to set up the twist of Kam revealing his life stories and "true self" to be pretty much unairable on live network TV.

• The only drawback to this is how it can feel a little muddled to anyone who's not intimately familiar with Che & Kams non-SNL stand up routines to the point where if it weren't for Che's "strait of hormuz" line and the jab about hom having worked at the show for nearly 35 years I'd suspect he'd written most of this.

• Speaking of Che, I like the idea of Sarahs' new over the top character showing up to roast Che's dating life rather than Josts' whole deal (even invoking the name of J.K. Rowling to do so...her and Mrs. Potato Head were really the only names of potential matches for Che I liked).

• I think I'd like it a bit more if she hadn't come in at a point when Update in general was already just way too damn long and self indulgent.

• ...and at least it was nice to see Jost & Che had much more fun giggling amongst themselves at certain crowd reactions than we did watching all 19 damn minutes of this Update. C-

Colorado Vicky

• Ooh, a live sketch that puts Jane and Veronika together...inbetween Sarah, but still...let's hope this goes somewhere good.

• Hey, Saidah finally shows up in a live thing! Grace is there, too!

• Well, I'm not crazy that they just used Grace and Saidahs' background as TikTokers as just a jumping off point for...a sketch where Dakota plays a TikToker? 

• After giving this a chance, I do like how intensely dark and disturbing she and JAJ (who, in case you couldn't tell by the way I've been writing this review so far, really captures my current mental state pretty well) ended up making this.

• The only thing I didn't like about this sketch was how the back and forth between JAJs' grim interjections and Dakotas deranged TikToks just kinda spun it's wheels and needlessly stalled on the way to revealing that they're now a couple...but this ended up being my favorite live sketch of the night by far, so I don't really give a shit.

• Hell, this might have been my favorite ever SNL sketch that references my home state repeatedly in an indirectly disparraging manner! (Sorry, Mikey). B+

Amazing Tales Of Truth

• I like that this made use of Veronikas' great singing chops in a near blackout length sketch (by today's standards). What I didn't like was later hearing online that this was part of a multi part runner that they must've initially cut from dress and then suddenly decided to air just this one part of simply because the show was running long and it was the only thing left they had time for.

• I wanted to like the idea of Andrew hosting a bad anthology show that somehow isn't able to focus on the extraordinary real occurrences it WANTS to show you, but...I didn't quite know what to make of it. Something just felt...off. C+

Ranking Season 52 From Best To Worst

1. Dakota Johnson/Turnstile (10.03.2026)
2. Jalen Brunson/KATSEYE (09.26.2026)

Overall Thoughts

• Yup, this episode is right up there with the last one. Still, this one did have one thing going for it that last week's didn't; a returning host with just enough previous experience doing this show that the staff has figured out the ideal ways to work her and her entire public persona into sketches.

• No, not all of the material in tonight's show was well suited for Dakota but what was suited for her does show you, the viewer, how and why she has a good enough relationship with the show to have hosted three times and cameoed twice in just over a decade.

• It's just too bad she also happens to be one of those hosts who can't seem to make their enthusiasm for doing the show translate on screen or in sketches at all...and even if she could, it's not like the current writing staff would be able to do her or any other cast member for that matter any favors.

• Yeah, what didn't function as a showcase for certain cast members who only joined the show after Dakotas' last time hosting (or just Dakota herself in a couple of very specific niche cases) still had the same listless, DOA energy as most of the previous week's season premiere.

• Of course, that last bullet point was mostly to say that Veronika, Jeremy & Ashley (well, most of the women really) really scored tonight (Grace took a small hit, Saidah made an even smaller gain as did Tommy). Andrew, Marcello, Kam, JAJ and Ben (who they still seem to he figuring out how to use the most effectively) did solid support work. 

• Kenan seemed to only have been used in the most obnoxious Kenan trope this show's had in recent years and Mikey has just enough seniority to just be given Carte Blanche to be as ear-splittingly self indulgent as possible in his own substantial chunk in the middle of the show. Neither of those things should be happening.

Closing Thoughts

• Next week, another two time host, Shane Gillis returns to host. Ugh. Thank Christ there's also gonna be a new SNL UK and MST3K coming out that same weekend.

• Seriously though, while I'm not a fan of Shane's standup and find his comedy in general to be a little crass and "bro-y" for my personal taste (and his fanbase certainly doesn't do him any favors there), he has shown that he has better sketch instincts and sketch experience than both Dakota Johnson and Jalen Brunson (which...isn't saying much and could also be said about just about anyone, but still...)

• I think the best we can hope for with this episode is just an average show with a real iffy monologue. I don't know how they would produce something that much better than the past two shows, but somehow...they could pull it off in a few spots. See you soon!

Jalen Brunson/KATSEYE (09.26.2026)

Trump, Mamdani & Harp

• Seems appropriate that we'd get Ramy as Mamdani this week (it is a New York show after all)

• This is a slight improvement over the "JAJ/Trump at U.N" cold open I was expecting. The only lines I really liked from him in this one were "I don't go to church on Christmas, nor Easter" and "not with that last name". Everything else was pretty much white noise to me.

• Instantly we get a reference to this weeks' musical guest, huh? And it's a reference to  their biggest hit that they didn't even perform tonight?

• ...and then we get a reference to the host and his team like two minutes later? Again, NYC show, NYC audience.

• I see JAJ beat me to the obvious retort to that "this could be us but you playin" reference.

• I should've expected Ashley as Natalie Harp. Unsurprisingly, she might be the best part of this.

• One thing I did like about this cold open that permeated the rest of this episode is the restraint it showed. Usually, SNL season premieres are dominated by the shows seeming compulsion to catch itself up on everything big that happened over the summer (mostly in pop culture and/or sports) but aside from a couple of throwaway references to the Knicks championship and the movie "Obsession" the writers of this cold open didn't try to force in reference anything that happened earlier that this month. 

• Maybe it's just because this summer was just such a long painful slog with nothing much else worth remembering from it besides food borne illnesses and the like but it's nice that someone at the show realized that isn't what the audience really wants to see. C+

Montage

• Huh, I thought I heard they were shooting a new intro for this season? Guess they were just filming new shots of Jane and Ashley due to their promotion?

• If they were doing that, why not film a new shot for Sarah? She's in between both of them and of all the things, that haven't made visual narrative sense in this intro since season 50 ended, Sarah driving a bus sure sticks out like a sore thumb.

Monologue

• Ok, I immediately like Jalen and the shows' ability to poke fun at themselves in tandem.

• I liked the song fake out too. I liked Kenans' Stephen A. Smith impression (maybe not quite as much as I've liked certain other Stephen A. Smith impressions I've seen on this show)

• There wasn't much else I liked that much about this monologue, sadly. I mean, Jalen interacted well with his teammates but that was to be expected.

• The entire second half of this monologue felt like one big inside joke that anyone who doesn't follow the Knicks isn't in on, but it was smart of the show to make Jalen feel like he's somewhat in his element this early on. C+

Office MVP

• Since when the hell has Pizza Hut had sandwiches? They got melts and they've had p'zones. Those aren't even close. Yeah, small nitpick but still...

• Anyway, yeah...I can definitely tell where this sketch was going by the time Ben finished delivering his first line. 

• This is just the basketball version of that carnival sketch with Tom Brady from season 30 isn't it? 

• This feels more like an inside joke that you don't need to be a basketball fan to get (for better or worse). Oh well, I'm sure bith sketches needed some level of timing and expert control even on the athletes' parts to even pull off missing on purpose properly.

• Huh, so...Jalen pulling out that whole basket of wrappers followed by Mikey slapping his face was a enough to keep me from tuning out completely.

• Still, the twist of Jalens' character revealing himself to be...himself felt too telegraphed (as did most of the rest of this sketch).

• Speaking of, did that last part remind anyone else of that Simpsons softball episode where Mike Scioscia was suddenly more excited to be working a regular job at the nuclear plant? Did one of the writers happen to see that episode recently?

• I liked the lighting and smoke machine at the end and after hearing that there was a second set of cue cards being kept handy in case Jalen missed his final shot I think I can understand and forgive the lack of a live ending. C-

Dream Academy Season 2

• So, they're spoofing whatever reality competition tonights' musical guest got their big break on...just because they're here? All right. Fair enough. Casting Jalen as the coreographer seems like a waste but at least he wasn't the main focus.

• Saidah makes her debut...in a low-impact straight role. Too bad this ended up being her only appearance of the entire night.

• Hey, this is a two hander between Jane and Grace her debut! All right! Ashley, Sarah and Veronika are doing solid work in this, too. Veronikas' really getting a chance to show off her pipes.

• I did like the reveal that Jane and Grace were only in the show because they witnessed Ashley's character involved in a hit and run.

• I wasn't expecting the girls from Katseye to actually be in sketches at all, but I actually liked how game they were to sing a fake pop song with the ridiculous lyrics Jane and Graces' characters came up with. Doesn't quite make up for their blatant lip syncing during their actual performances, but still...

• Nice of them to give this episode a little boost. Just when we needed a flashy little pick me up to distract us from the host's lack of charisma we get an ensemble piece from SNLs strong female cast with a taste of some new talent. B+

Group Therapy

• This sketch is basically a support group for "men who's girlfriends were bought on stage during the Chris Brown and Usher tour"? What the hell year does this sketch take place in? 2012?

• Oh, Jalen just made a reference to TikTok, so...apparently this sketch takes place this decade?!?

• Surprisingly, Jalen may be the best part of this sketch for me. Too bad they didn't either just put him at the end of the sketch or just end the sketch with him because I didn't really care for Ben or Marcellos' parts.

• Hell, this sketch didn't even HAVE and ending! Just an abrupt cut off and slam right into the next one. At least it didn't go on too long. C-

High School Musical: The Next Generation

• Wow, speaking of "what the hell year does this sketch take place in?"

• I remember the original High School Musical craze well enough that got a kick out of the wig they put on Jalen.

• Aside from that one line from Kam, this does feel like a more tasteful and less "punching down" version of the same "High School Musical" parody this show actually did the last time an NBA MVP hosted a season premiere 19 years ago (which you can read my thoughts on here and listen to here)

• I have to say Jeremy and Jalen played off each other in a way that made this funny to watch (despite it feeling three or four times the length of the previous sketch). Jeremy made the absolute most of this that he could (as did Tommy in what turned out to be his first and apparently only sketch appearance of the night).

• I have to say, in this SNL era I can appreciate a pretape based around physical humor that just stays at the level of "semi-violent humiliation ritual" abd doesn't escalate all the way to "gratuitous gore fest". Having Sarah not be anywhere near this probably helped.

• Veronikas' part felt a bit predictable but I liked how it was executed. Jalen is surprisingly convincing lip syncer. C+

Airport Massage Chairs

• Well, I'm not crazy about Mikey's role in this sketch...but I liked how Ashley, Jalen and Kenan played off him. Kenan might have actually been my favorite part of this (not saying much but still)

• Oh, that's right. Andrew Dismukes is still in the cast. I got a kick out of his reveal that they were flying on "Ay Chihuahua Airlines".

• Smart of the show to put Jalen in a sketch like this that doesn't ask a lot of him other than not breaking despite Mikey's best efforts (even when it probably should've...or just done this sketch with another host even if no one who could match Mikey's commitment could've made this less irritating).

• To the best of my knowledge (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), this is the third Mikey Day sketch that takes place in Denver and the second SNL sketch overall to take place in Denvers' airport. I only mention this as someone from the area who...found those bits of trivia more personally interesting than the sketch itself. C-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Hegseths' Slur (for the delivery more than the punchline),

• Ches' Best Jokes: Trump TV, Mitch McConnell, Choosin' Texas

• Hey, another Jane piece! She's killing it with her delivery on this one.

• That Jewish Barbie joke felt like one that would've been better delivered by Paddy Young over on SNL UK. In an Jost/Che US Update that's already operating at a deficit just by airing the same night as a straight up bonkers as hell Paddy/Ania UK one from earlier in the same night, it feels particulary egregious (not offensive, mind you...just in the wrong place in the right time).

• Damn, that Gen Z sex joke from Che sure felt like it would've been right at home in Tinas' era of Update (derogatory). Strange that we'd get one of those from both Weekend Updates tonight.

• Hey, nice to see Jeremy's Tucker Carlson again! Someone else needed to inject some genuine fun into this Update. I especially liked the Spider-Man/Tom & Zendaya run of jokes. This was probably the weakest of all of Jeremys' Tucker Carlson segments so far but it certainly stands out in thus episode.C+

Parent Teacher Conference

• Hmm...not sure where this sketch is going. Seems like it might be an aimless mess.

• Jalen seems to be the only one...not understanding the assignment here. Everyone else seems to be have been rightly trusted to give this sketch exactly as much as they need to give it.

• Ok, JAJ and Dismukes got a chuckle out of me at the end. Ben was a decent straight man. 

• This sketch was all right. I just couldn't get that into it. C-

Shark Tank

• Huh, I saw the preview of this from dress rehearsal shown during the game and at this point I was wondering if it was cut.

• Yeah, while I like the slight Beck and Kyle vibes that Ben and Jeremy bought to their performance...it was a rather thin premise that couldn't not be too repetitive to entertain.

• As soon as I saw how Sarah was dressed, I could see where the rest of this was going.

• I guess I was foolish & naive to expect this sketch to have different contestants to be coming through with different products to pitch.

• Jalen is no impressionist but not even a stronger Damon John impression from Kenan could've saved this.

• Speaking of, I liked some of JAJs' dialogue as Mr. Wonderful (mostly his dressing down of Ben and Jeremy where he revealed himself to be a vampire born in 1601) more than I liked his actual impression (which sounded a bit more like a younger 80s era Trump to me).

• Yeah, Sarah, JAJ and Jeremy gave it their best but there was just nothing here. D+

Old Friend

• Yeah, this felt like the exact type of character I've seen play countless times in the past decade. 

• Thank God Grace and Kam showed up when they did because it was going absolutely nowhere fast. 

• Man, Jalen seemed just as burned out as I was by the end of this episode. D+

Overall Thoughts

• Given that this was a modern SNL season premiere hosted by a New York athlete who I've heard (and now seen) isn't exactly "Mr. Personality" off the court, my expectations for this episode were pretty much at the floor. This episode didn't exactly exceed them but I have to say it had a couple of small things going for it that actually made it one of the better season premieres in recent SNL history by a very thin margin.

• For one thing, there wasn't as much blatant pop culture chasing as there had been in previous season premieres. Also, we got to see a few brief moments of spark from certain featured players that kept this episode from feeling as throughly, uniformly dull and uninspired as the last few season premieres. Those factors combined to make this episode mildly uneven at best (mostly from a writing perspective).

• I was hoping with Chloe Fineman out of the way we'd see a shift in cast dynamics but it mostly seems that outside of figuring out what to do with Saidah (and Sarah at this point honestly) they've got the female side of the cast figured out. 

• Unfortunately, it feels like we may need at least need Mikey, Tommy, Andrew and Kenan to move on for now to balance out the male side of the cast since they dominated the show and were unfortunately given some pretty weak and tiresome material to do so with. We all know Tommy and Andrew didn't "dominate" hardly anything but...maybe they should move on for his own sake at this point?

• Also, this episode seemed to focus heavily on Ben, Jeremy, Veronika, Grace and Kam as far as featured players went...which I'm fine with but I'd like to see a bit more of Grace in the coming weeks. Maybe I shouldn't have expected her to get a big showcase in her first episode, but she has the whole season ahead of her. Ben is someone I can put up with in smaller roles but he's not exactly the future of the show.

• JAJ and Marcello did fine in small supporting roles (outside of the cold open, of course). I'm fine with Marcello continuing in this small scaled back role.

Closing Thoughts

• Next week's episode will be hosted by returning three time host, Dakota Johnson. Having seen Dakotas' first two episodes, I'm still struggling to understand why that previous sentence can be true.

• Looking over her first two it seems the problem may have been a combination of her being both a boring host and the cast and crew not knowing how to write for her (which may not have been as big a problem in her more recent episode from 2024 since at least that one produced a couple more memorable moments with her).

• Maybe that won't be a problem this time. I have seen Saidahs' "nepo baby mom" character in a few of her TikTok videos, so I hope she's already pitched something to Dakota in that vein and is able to get herself some more substantial screen time this week. Hell, I hope this means we see more of Ashley and the newer/featured women in this episode anyway. They're the ones that provided most of the few brief bright spots in this one anyway.

• I hope you've enjoyed reading this review as well as my review of SNL UKs' newest episode as well. I'll be coming out with a review of the SNL US season 33 finale in a few weeks with Steve Carrell and Usher (time truly is an annoyingly flat circle). That one will also be the subject of an upcoming podcast with two very special guests that Deej and I had a hell of a time booking on the show schedule-wise. You guys will find out who they are in due time. See you soon!

SNL UK: Amelia Dimoldenberg/Rachel Chinouriri (09.26.2026)

Oasis (ft. Andy Burnham): Don't Get Scammed In Anger

• I got a good chuckle out of the word "NORTH" bring blared out like that right at the top of the episode as well as how goofily decorated in a mod/posh fashion his office seemed to be.

• I was wondering how often they'd use George's Andy Burnham impression. Doesn't seem like he's done enough lately to warrant a cold open in the past couole of weeks but the writers found an angle somewhere between UK/Russia relations and his speech at the U.N. general assembly this week.

• Nice to see Celestes' Angela Rayner character again. I guess the real Rayner is still in government as a member of Burnhams' cabinet?

• Freddie & Jack as the Gallagher bros from Oasis? Pretty solid impressions from both (better than their Russian accents anyway). I guess this sorta makes up for the poor response that James Austin Johnson and Sarah Shermans' Oasis/Gallagher impressions got from actual Brits a while back.

• Ooooooooooh, I see. Burnhams' being scammed by two Russian spies/Oasis catfishers...who are also the actual Gallagher brothers because Oasis was been a 30+ year Russian Psyop this whole time. Funny concept. 

• I got a kick out of Celeste taking replacing one of the framed photos on the wall with a t.A.t.U poster as well as Jacks' line about the song "Wonderwall" being originally titled "Wonderful Wall" about the Berlin wall.

• I guess they're now forming a "take" on Burnham around how much of a gullible, naive idiot they perceive him to be? Well, at least they're not portraying him as a spineless worm who can't stand up to Russia.

• I wasn't crazy about George's speech at the end. Fun cold open even if it's not my favorite of series two so far. B-

Monologue

• Ok, so...it's just about the show she's ending.

• Reminds me of Bill Haders' 2018 host monologue (the part about him thinking "Barry" was a conflict of interest specifically)

• The jabs at SNL UK and various Britich KFC equivalents having less fame and history than their American counterparts and Ed Sheerhan being an Elmo-like puppet were pretty sharp. She's doing fine for a non-actress/influencer host so far.

• This feels a lot like a typical "introduce yourself to the audience as if this is the first they've ever heard of you" SNL US host monologue, but I don't really mind. 

• This is pretty much the best I could've hoped for her monologue if it wasn't going to contain any guest out-of-nowhere guest cameos. It feels like it ran out of steam bit at the end though with the whole "be yourself" speech.

• Speaking of, upon a rewatch of this monologue, I noticed she said she had an "upcoming romcom" so I gues she is actively making the transition from "YouTuber/influencer" to "red carpet interviewer/presenter" to "actress who pretty much plays herself in her earliest roles" (which I guess makes Awkwafinas 2018 SNL US hosting stint the only true precedent for a YouTuber host pre-Amelia). So, I guess her doing this show is just part her getting her comedic acting sea legs before starting on that romcom of hers. C+

Harry Kane For Babybel Waxy Cheese

• I'm guessing this pretape is an elaborate spoof of a slightly less elaborate actual commercial for an actual waxy cheese Harry Kane endorses? 

• Seems like it's hitting all the tropes of typical big flashy athlete endorsement commercials of the past 30 years or so. 

• Nice way to work in Amelia and Freddie (who must have been parodying some specific announcer the way he was made up).

• Already, I like how they've more than made up for the severe lack of George and Al in last weeks' show by this point. George as the FIFA president was worth a chuckle.

• Nice way to work in Paddy outside of Update as "the guy who breaks up fatbergs".

• No idea who Emma was playing but i liked the Jennifer Saunders vibes she gave off and the sheer oddity of her just straight up biting George like a vampire to get the waxy cheese back.

• The show must have some pretty mixed feelings about Harry Kane. Als' portrayal of him isn't exactly the most flattering but it is a bit nicer than the rather scathing Samaritans joke Ania told about him in a previous Update this season.

• Then again, the show has also just depicted the FIFA president as basically just living in a sewer (which I totally get) along with this Fiona Bruce person who they...also have apparently depicted as a vampire? So yeah, the show must REALLY hate them.

• Not all of this hit for me, but I liked the absurdity of it. C+

Night At Madame Tussauds

• Ok, I chuckled at Amelia's "Marylin Monroe/Dua Lipa" and I liked Jacks Chris Martin impression.

• Speaking of, I was wondering who that black extra next to that one writer portraying Marilyn was supposed to be. I thought he might've been Lenny Henry until I noticed he was wearing a trench coat while also holding a sonic screwdriver so...he obviously must've been Ncuti Gatwa.

• So, I guess this is a cross between "Night At The Museum" and "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers"?

• I like these Beatle impressions and the Chaplin/Hitler gag from Larry. Speaking of Beatle impressions, George has now gone from playing Ringo to playing John and Freddie is now Ringo. That leaves...Celeste as George and Paddy as Paul. I guess that makes enough visual sense.

• I like the idea of Emma as Tom Hiddleston (just anachronistic enough to work even if her performance and general presence came off more Tom Jones than Tom Hiddleston) but this part feels like it could've been tightened a bit (and I kind of saw that "cold dead eyes" gag coming)

• Nice ending twist with Al's character having been an Elvis wax figure this whole time. I liked the writing behind this even if bordered on being a little too Rick and Morty-ish even for this show...and even if it just so happens to be the second live sketch of the night that involves people being tricked by celebrities. B+

Fashion Sense and Sensibility

• The idea of Al Nash being a male lead in a Jane Austin-esque period romance piece is intriguing enough.

• The premise of George, Emma and Amelia just ragging on Als' big cargo jorts isn't much on paper but the flourish they're putting into it is putting this over.

• I liked the gag of one pocket just containing Skittles and another just containing old, useless receipts.

• Hammed as Als' father is the icing on the cake here (although the reveal of both their pants having the word "juicy" on the back didn'tdo much for me). I got slight Brian Blessed vibes from Hammeds' performance.

• The twist ending with George and Emma putting their differences with Al aside and allowing them to marry Amelias' character when Al points out that their whole family wears five toed athletic shoes was just as strong a conclusion to this premise as anything else they could've come up with. B-

Love Is Blind

• The premise of Al's character being half horse isn't much by itself but the "glue factory" and "oats" gags being played out with typical reality show melodrama works for me.

• Amelia seems to be in her element here. I like that she played it all the way up to the ending so straight  like she didn't even notice or care Al was half horse.

• For a sketch parodying a reality show, this sure had a decent level of sweetness, charm and real heart to it with Amelia and Al seeming to make a genuine human connection with each other.

• I don't think we needed the ending button of Als' character being disappointed in Amelia's rack...but I still liked the rest of this sketch enough that that alone couldn't ruin it. B+

Apartment Fire

• Aurora Borealis?!? (sorry just had to get that out of the way)

• This is another sketch with almost too simple of a premise but the performances are selling it (especially Jack and Larry as the exasperated fire fighters). For once, Jack playing his part over the top with big line readings was actually appropriate. Al and Amelia were fine in it.

• Nice to see George as the fire chief again even if I didn't much care for this speech either. His turn in this sketch really reminded me of his performance in the sketch from Nicola Coughlans' episode where he had to land the plane (which was another sketch like this that I'm a bit more lukewarm on in hindsight).

• I'm not that crazy about George's ending speech but I loved his commitment and I liked how this ended with him suddenly saving Annabels' character who was their left behind daughter. C+

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Trump Meets Burnham, Netanyahu, Paul Bros, Weinstein

• Anias' Best Jokes: Trump/Xi State Visit, Sam Altman, In Hock/Keech, Blair Workout

• Nice Chevy/Jane moment with his transition from that Netanyahu joke to that Wes Streeting joke.

• That Tommo arrest joke with the Ken dolls reminds me of a very specific and very cheap joke Tina & May did on SNL US 21 years ago.

• This East London mosquito bit feels like a VAST improvement on an SNL US Update formula that Bowen, Marcello, Kenan and Sarah have been made to follow in the last few years. Still, the general UK specific humor behind it put it over for me.

• That Labour party conference joke from Ania (the one that she broke during) had real Jost/Che joke swap energy (especially with Paddys' reaction of disgust). That had to have been a cold read, right? Like somebody threw that in between dress and air?

• Jesus, that "perv glasses" joke from Paddy has to be the absolute raunchiest and most gleefully grotesque visual joke ever pulled off on either version of Weekend Update. Sarah Sherman would be green with envy if she saw it.

• That had to be the most memorable Update SNL UK has ever produced. Holy shit, Paddy & Ania really swung for the fences tonight. A-

The One Show

• Not crazy about this being Ayoades' first appearance of the night but at least she isn't completely shut out of the show. She and George play phony pleasant morning show hosts well.

• This seems like it's going for the same level of absurdity as last weeks' "The Shape" but more chaotic. 

• I do like Freddie's commitment to the intense punishing nature of this. This is a great breakout showcase for him.

• This reminds of those sketches All That used to do with Josh Server as the physically tortured on location weatherman for Channel 6 1/2 News who would always be on the scene at the North Pole or a literal desert or some such place and Chrisy Knowings as the oblivious in studio local anchor.

• I'm surprised it took this long for a sketch where Amelia literally just plays herself but I did like how she was able to provide a warm, sympathetic ending to this with the reveal that she herself has the wide, thick feet that Freddies' character is doing the worm to raise awareness for. B-

How To How w/Hayley or Kayley

• Speaking of sketches, I'm surprised didn't air earlier in the show...

• I like how this sketch is just a blackout length jump in to an insane conversation on a "Call Me Daddy" type dumb millenial white girl type podcast just mid way through.

• This feels like a much streamlined and improved version of what that SNL US Update commentary with Chloe Fineman as Alex Cooper and Veronika Slowikoska as Alix Earle was going for. B+

Ranking SNL UK Series Two From Best To Worst

1. Amelia Dimoldenberg/Rachel Chinouriri (09.26.2026)
2. Jamie Demetriou/Royal Blood (09.19.2026)
3. Jeff Goldblum/CMAT (09.12.2026)

Ranking All Of SNL UK From Best To Worst

1. Jamie Dornan/Wolf Alice (03.28.2026)
2. Hannah Waddingham/Myles Smith (05.09.2026)
3. Amelia Dimoldenberg/Rachel Chinouriri (09.26.2026)
4. Jamie Demetriou/Royal Blood (09.19.2026)
5. Ncuti Gatwa/Holly Humberstone (05.16.2026)
6. Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)
7. Jeff Goldblum/CMAT (09.12.2026)
8. Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)
9. Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
10. Aimee Lou Wood/MEEK (05.02.2026)
11. Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)

Overall Thoughts

• This may have been the strongest episode of series two so far. It was by far the most consistently entertaining and least uneven with no real lows and one very strong high that stood out above the rest.

• I had tempered my expectations for this episode based on the host alone but Amelia really delivered. She did pretty much exactly as well as I would've expected and the show proved it was able to work with her and ingratiate her into the show rather than having to work around her.

• Plus, it helps this episodes' reputation that it aired on the same night as another dull as dishwater season premiere of Saturday Night Live US (which you can also read my review of on this very blog).

• Cast usage was pretty consistent. They seemed to have used Annabel Marlowe and Ayoade Bambogye a bit less but thankfully they evened out everyone else's airtime using George, Al and Hammed much more (and continuing to use Jack, Emma and Freddie in ways that play directly to their comedic strengths.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, we know the next episode of SNL UK airs on October 10th. As of this publishing, we now also know that the host will be Danny Dyer, a name I have only heard in an old Rubberbandits song prior to today. I had always assumed he was just a TV presenter but today I found out he is an actual character actor who's been around and working for a number of years. Hope he does well! 

• We also do know who the host and musical guest for SNL US is that same night and, well...let's just say ol' Danny Boy ain't exactly facing stiff competition.

• Still, I hope you enjoy reading my reviews of the upcoming episodes of SNL US and UK in the next month (including their most recent US season premiere which aired the same night as this episode and my review of the SNL US season 33 finale with Steve Carrell and Usher which Deej and I will be covering on the podcast in a few weeks).

• See you again real soon!