SNL UK: Jamie Demetriou/Royal Blood (09.19.2026)

Ed, Charles And D.I.A.N.A.

• Ok, King Charles meeting with A.I. executives. This could be interesting.

• I liked how they included Celeste in this. Is Freddie just playing Elon Musk?

• Wow, very strange way to work Jack Sheps' Princess Di and the "A.I. could very possibly kill all humans" story into the same sketch (even with the context of Charles Spencers' recent memoir) but after seeing it take on a dark anti-A.I. apocalypse bent I started to get into it.

• Larry is turning out his strongest and most engaged performance as King Charles so far.

• Annabel as Ed Sheerhan was a nice touch and a nice counter balance to the grimdark A.I. apocalypse of this sketch. It comes across more like Kate McKinnons and Noel Wells' impressions of Justin Beiber from about a decade ago (or even Kate McKinnons impression of Ed Sheerhan from that time) but its' still a nice use of her musical background and singing voice.

• It's pretty funny how the writers' attempt at a pastiche/style parody of mid-2010s Ed Sheerhans' music just ended up sounding like that "10,000 Hours" song by Dan & Shay with Justin Beiber. Just speaks to how cookie cutter most male pop stars of that time were.

• A bit odd that both of this seasons SNL UK cold opens have followed the same structure of "other British people in the news this week suddenly intrude on King Charles" but it just goes to show you that even when SNL UK attempts one of these "let's just jumble every big news story of this week into a sketch" type cold opens they have a better handle on how to make those work effectively and actually NOT seem jumbled together. It's something SNL US needs to learn thing or two about.

• Quite a bleak, nihilistic ending with Larrys' King Charles suddenly declaring that "nothing matters" but it's the same kind of take on mocking world leaders I have come to expect from SNL UK by this point (and unfortunately the same approach to making the entire show I've come to expect from SNL US). B+

Monologue

• Quite an odd entrance. Not a bad one, though. I liked him tripping over the stairs, followed by his cousin suddenly tripping over him followed by the first words out of his mouth being a blunt "I was in Fleabag".

• I also liked his line "It's so fun and creative and comedy to be here."

• I wanted to like the premise of a host struggling to remember what he was in but until the song came on, I wasn't into the execution. It reminded me of John Goodmans' monologue from season 25 of SNL US only slightly more charming and less exploitative.

• Hey, Ncuti Gatwa has returned to remind Jamie which one of them was in Sex Education! Funny how he makes this cameo just as I get to appear on a podcast discussing the episode he hosted.

• Between this and Jeff Goldblums' monologue from last week, this might be my favorite musical monologue of SNL UK series two so far. 

• However, if you ONLY are able to view this episode on Peacock here in the states you might like to know that in the live Sky TV airing Jamie broke out giggling after the first line of his song and joking said something like "can we start over? No? Ok." Apparently, Peacock saw fit to cut that moment for some reason.

• Hey, it's...Al Roberts, Jamies' costar from "Steth Lets Flats". It's a shame I haven't seen that show but based on this interaction between the two of them it sure looks neat. This adds quite a bit of charm to the ending to this monologue. I especially liked the gag of him cold reading an upcoming acting credit of his.

• After chewing on this one a bit, I actually liked this more on rewatch and appreciate what a strong subversion of typical SNL host tropes this turned out to be. B-

The E-Bike Song

• I appreciate that we're really getting to see this different, more gleefully dangerous and reckless side of Jack Shep that we didn't get to see in series one (even if its just in service of one tongue in cheek joke about how e-bikes and lime scooters are dangerous as hell and expensive)

• I liked the inclusion of a rapping Freddie & Celeste, Jamie as a cop and Annabels' face on the green bike bucket (smart of them to get someone who can actually sing on this one). I even got a kick out of the older gentlemen playing Jacks' loved one in the middle.

• That musical mix of modern day PinkPantheress/Charli XCX-lite style dance pop and early millennial Albie Wobble Selekta style of British rap that permeated this short dovetails nicely enough with this. (Yeah, that's right. I just dropped a Kyle Gordon reference for lack of a better comparison. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?)

• Still, even though this got a bit catchier and funnier on rewatch, between this and Wednesday nights new South Park episode...I'd say the latter was my preferred bit of e-bike based humor from the week. C+

The Rower

• Wait...so, this ISN'T an Odyssey parody?

• Weird time for Jamie to be doing a Bronson Pinchot impression.

• Yeah, this is definitely another sketch archetype I know I've seen on SNL US numerous times. One of the lesser known deep cuts from the classic Peyton Manning episode of SNL US immediately jumped to mind when I saw that (and so did the Riverdale sketch from Halseys' 2019 SNL US episode now that I'm thinking about it). Even if I hadn't seen either of those sketches, I'm sure I would've found the execution of this too awkward and lame to get into it.

• I liked how well Celeste played the role of the exasperated director, but other than that Jamie was playing this like either he didn't know what this sketch was supposed to be or was gently trying to take it in his own direction. D+

The Shape

• Ok, this looks pretty funny. It may actually make this sketch better for me that I have no fucking clue if it's parodying a real game show or not.

• This is decently absurd right out the gate. I'm getting some slight Mitchell & Webb "Numberwang/Remain Indoors" vibes.

• I actually like everyone's performances here. Jamie and Emma do a great job leading this. The various audience asides from Jack, Ayoade and Freddie were OK. A-

Why Did You Dump Me?

• I can sense that this is going for a similar level of absurdity as "The Shape". I like it as a vehicle for Emma, but I didn't like it as much as "The Shape".

• I liked that this did eventually switch gears into self awareness but I didn't care for how abruptly they made that shift or how long they lingered on Jamie explaining to Emma exactly how weird and crazy she is.

• I can tell this is a bit too weird to be that closely based on a real thing (except maybe Billy On The Street but like...an extrapolation of it?) so the closest thing from SNL US I can compare this to is...The Denise Show with Adam Sandler. Not bad. B-

Entertainment Exchange 

• I like that we're getting a lot of Celeste and Freddie this week (and way more Hammed than last week). I was even fine with the way Emma played the straight woman. 

• I'm not crazy about this sketch, though. It feels pretty empty and I've know for sure I've seen this premise on SNL before (specifically with the Spectrum cable sketches in recent years and the "Gym Call" sketch with Timothee Chalamet from 2023 that doesn't appear to legitimately be on YouTube for some reason).

• Heck, this even reminds me of the famous "change for a dollar" sketch from Mr. Show but much weaker.

• I did like Emmas' closing line just being her straight up wishing she never had kids. I would have placed this elsewhere in the rundown so it didn't end up being one of he sketches that leads into the host introducing the musical guest. D+

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Kraft/Epstein, Piddington/Paddington, Pond Sex

• Anias' Best Jokes: Sheerhan/Macklemore, Robert Kraft, Roast Prices Rise

• Yeah, the whole Sheerhan/Macklemore/Kraft run of jokes were the strongest part of Update for me. Maybe the Paloma Faith joke would've hit harder if I knew who she was?

• That non-joke of briefly mentioning the lib dem party without a punchline and then quickly moving on to the Spencer memoir jokes was such a Chevy Chase/Jance Curtin level bit of humor from Ania.

• Again, I haven't seen "Stath Lets Flats" but what I could parse out from what I did see was charming enough. Jamie and Al have good enough chemistry to have made this level of silly bumbling fun to watch. Maybe I should check out Stath Lets Flats if it's streamable somewhere? B-

Woman Of Darkness

• Hmm, let's see where this goes...

• Seems like Jack found a version of his character from last week's Bi King Kong sketch that actually works

• Ok, this is a decent Sarah Sherman-ish performance from Emma I could jive with.

• ...and Jamie's character thinks she's hit and wants to hit on her. Fantastic.

• ...and he wants Jack's character to wingman him after his first failed come-on. Now, he wants to bail because she wants kids.

• ...and there's a button that turns this into a safe sex PSA. Yes, that's something we always want to see at the end of an SNL sketch.

• Ok, so...this went nowhere interesting. Not even the performances could save this lame premise.

• The fact that I can't really remember another time I've seen this exact premise speaks volumes. The closest thing I've seen to this on SNL US was The Twilight Zone sketch with Pamela Anderson but even that had a better ending. D-

The X-Factor Final 12 Performance

• Ok, how the FUCK is this the first we've seen of Al Nash or George Fucking Fouracres all night?

• So...is this just 2011 era X-Factor nostalgia and the only thing even close to approaching a joke is the height of Jamie's hair as he realizes his wig is too large on air and the camera rig rips it off?

• This reminded me a lot of the opening of the 2003 SNL US Super Bowl Halftime show where pretty much the entire 2002-03 cast portrayed different American Idol auditioned as well as the SNL US Digital Short from 2012 where Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig just had really huge afros (and just a hint of WIll Ferrells' "Mark Jensen Family Christmas" from every SNL US Christmas special you've seen in the past 20 years).

• I liked Celeste, Paddy and Anias' appearances in this. Celestes' whole look was pretty funny. I dug the throwback to Paddys' running BTS gags. I heard Ania was apparently supposed to be playing a member of Little Mix. If so, she actually does make a pretty damn convincing Jesy Nelson and/or Jade Thirlwall.

• Actually, upon rewatch this was pretty funny and charming if you view it more as just a fun end of show musical number with the cast...y'know, like the exact thing it's meant to be parodying. I can't believe it took me a whole day to realize that this was just another example of SNL UK just parodying a specific piece of viral media from several years ago (even certain hosts from series one have done this in their monologues). Fun way to end the episode. B-

Ranking SNL UK Series Two From Best To Worst

1. Jamie Demetriou/Royal Blood (09.19.2026)
2. 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. Jamie Demetriou/Royal Blood (09.19.2026)
4. Ncuti Gatwa/Holly Humberstone (05.16.2026)
5. Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)
6. Jeff Goldblum/CMAT (09.12.2026)
7. Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)
8. Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
9. Aimee Lou Wood/MEEK (05.02.2026)
10. Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)

Overall Thoughts

• I will admit, I struggled with this episode a bit because I may have went into it with the wrong mindset. Before I actually saw any of it, I had heard from a trusted source in a certain Discord server I tend to frequent (who lives in England and saw the live airing in real time) that this episode wasn't particularly good.

• Still, I had to reserve my actual judgement for after I actually SAW the episode and the first two times I watched it in full (through my own personal means and connections I won't explain further here) I got a strange vibe and noticed how each sketch felt a bit derivative of something else (in various ways, some more than others).

• After watching this episode twice with two completely different groups of online fans (including the whole crew I recorded those podcasts with where I talked about Ncuti and Riz Ahmeds' episodes) I was able to parse out what actually worked and what didn't (much moreso with the second group, sorry ladies).

• I also grew to like Jamie more as a host. He was clearly a better fit for SNL UK than Jeff Goldblum was (since he IS an actual British actor, after all). Jamie truly blended in seamlessly with this cast while still bringing his own unique off beat vibe to the proceedings.

• Yes, it did feel like an uneven episode but that was because they took more chances than last week which naturally resulted in a few things here and there that didn't work here and there but what worked grlt really solid and hit harder than any of last week's high points.

• I do like that they took some swings at some more absurd dadaist level humor (most of which landed).

• As for cast usage, my biggest problem with this episode was the lack of George and Al, of course. However, I do like how they used Jack & Emma this episode. They were two cast members I was on the fence about (to borrow a phrase from Ed Sheerhan) but I'm now fully sold on by how they pur certain sketches over.

• I liked how they worked in the rest of the cast as well (especially Celeste, Freddie, Annabel and Hammed). Everyone else dud some solid support work. Heck, I even liked Royal Bloods' performances just fine. They were pretty good for a band who's sound could best be described as "heavily, heavily watered down Motorhead".

Closing Thoughts

• Next week, serial Chicken Shop Dater Amelia Dimoldenberg will be hosting this show. I know that she has rather tenuous connections to both versions of SNL but this sets something of a dangerous precedent for booking content creators and influencers with no real acting experience as hosts. I think the best we can hope for is that Amelia will just gel and vibe well with the rest of that cast as I'm sure they'll be able to carry her.

• I'm sure I'll also have my review of the upcoming season premiere of SNL US airing the same night, hours later posted here even sooner with host Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks. It's funny how this happens as I'm about to wrap up my coverage of an old SNL season that also had a premiere hosted by an NBA MVP (funny how things sometimes come full circle like that sometimes) but I've heard that Jalen doesn't quite have as much charisma off the court as Lebron or Michael Jordan or even Charles Barkley did. 

• I think the best we can hope for THAT SNL episode is that any number of the seven (!) featured players on SNLs' current cast get to do something that really makes them stand out from the bunch. See you again real soon!

SNL UK: Jeff Goldblum/CMAT (09.12.2026)

Harry & Megan's Return Home

• Hmm...I was so preoccupied with how they would handle Andy Burnham sketches I completely forgot that a sketch about Meghan, Harry and the royals right now would probably make much more of an impact right now.

• I still like these Charles & Camilla impressions. Emma seems to have reigned hers in and toned hers down a bit while Larry has incorporated some C. Montgomery Burns into his King Charles?

• I guess Jack as Harry and Ayoade was an inevitable sight. I can't say I was that impressed by Jack's Harry (I don't think the real Harry is that gruff so I'm not sure what he was going for). I did like Ayoades' American accent, though. The PDA between the two of them felt like it went on a couple of beats too long, though.

• I did like Larry-as-Charles' line about being grateful that Harrys" father isn't still around to see what a waste he's become for the reaction it got. I'm guessing that must be a reference to some affair of Diana's (possibly Dodi Fayed?) and not just a joke about King Charles' possibly becoming senile in his old age and it being kept from the British public?

• Wait, that's...George Fouracres as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham? I thought Paddy was the one who was being groomed to take on that role? Did he not want it or was it taken from him at the last minute? Was this just done by the writers in service of their own (possibly one off) meta joke about there being "no difference" between Burnham and Starmer?

• Ah, I shouldn't complain or nitpick too much. George Fouracres may be my favorite member of this cast. He pretty much saved this sketch and I'm glad to see he still gets to keep his position as SNL UKs' PM impersonator.

• Seriously though, I was wondering what they're take on Burnham as a person and a politician would be...since he's only been in office a couple of months now and may not have done much of note. I'm a bit surprised that the shows' take isn't just that they hate Burnham because the English people have always hated all their prime ministers except for Winston Churchill. 

• Rather, their take seems to be that Burnham tries too hard to be seen as a "relatable" British guy from your average northern everything when there's enough evidence out there to refute that claim...and that Harry and Meghan Markle may be the only ones dumb enough to buy that crap. 

• I mean, even George himself must find Andy Burnham pretty damn relatable since it sounds like he's mostly just using his own voice and accent to play him.

• I actually got a chuckle out of the "Makerfield? Maybe I'll make a field!" joke. This cold open got off to a bit of a shaky start but had a strong finish. B+

Montage

• I like this new intro. They sure injected a whole lot more color and life into it.

• I've seen someone say this reminds them of the SNL season 32 intro. I'd say the SNL UK Series One intro is more reminiscent of seasons 32-34 SNL US. To me, the SNL Series Two intro is more reminiscent of the SNL seasons 35-37 intro.

• It also reminds me a lot of the season 14/15 and season 21 SNL US intros in that there's brief shots of the cast interacting with each other in certain shots (which I guess the SNL US season 32-34 intro might have as well, so there's that).

Monologue

• Is it just me or does Jeff Goldblum now sound a lot like a cross between Alan Alda and Elon Golds' impression of him from the Dana Carvey show at this point?

• Wasn't expecting a smooth jazzy musical number from Jeff, but it's charming enough. I'm OK with it, forced cockney Britishisms and all.

• Hell, I'm even getting slight Walken vibes from it. Even in general, this whole thing feels like a 1995-2002 era SNL US musical monologue with a modern intro. Is this supposed to be a parody of "My Way" or "Mac Tonight" because it sounds like a cross between both.

• Even the seemingly obligatory Jurassic Park callback was fun. Nice way to work in CMAT (who sounds like they couldn't get Ella Langley or Chappell Roan so they went with her non union British equivalent). B-

Gregor J. Dupont: Professional Baby

• This is already making my night. I'm ecstatic that we're getting another absurdist pretape with an original George Fouracres character.

• So, this character hs basically a cross between Peter Serafinowicz's "Brian Butterfield" and Jon Lovitzs' "Master Thespian"? It's still very fun. I'm not complaining.

• The highlights of this for me were the haunting, ghostly playtime/sleepy time noises, the line running and union rule that he doesn't have to play a baby after 6pm and the sea chanting.

• Who were the ones playing Larry & Ayoades' partners in their uniformly negative testimonials? Were they writers or extras? 

• I also liked the added absurdity of Jeff playing George's father who is also a working actor and does a similar gig to his son as a professional ending.

• I also thought that Emma videotaping George's play as if he actually were her son was the best possible ending this could've had. A+

Invisible Friends

• Strange that they're essentially doing two sketches in a row with male cast members playing children, but OK. I'm not mad, but it's certainly a choice. Jeff playing this role as basically himself was a nice touch that didn't steal focus from the rest of this sketch.

• I do like that this escalates beyond just Als' initial "WTF is this grown ass man doing in my child's bedroom reaction" into Celeste knowing Jeffs' character, Hammed as an "invisibility maintenance man" repairing the entire "invisibility network" that went down and Als' character having his own "invisible friend" who's basically just Annabel in a blatant sexpot role that probably would've gone to Emma is this were last season (which shows just how much range Annabel has since she handles this just as well).

• I even got a kick out of the Twilight Zone-esque twist of Al's entire family being "invisible". Decent first appearance from Freddie. B+

Cyrano De Goldblum

• Nice that they're essentially giving Freddie his first showcase sketch in his first episode (but boy does that line about him being "five sad wanks away from a trip to the gun store hit hard in 2026...especially coming from a British show).

• I do like the twist that Annabels' character is some how responding positively at first and then reasonably concerned with her responses to Freddie's statement before catching on to what's happening. That's a nice counter to the very predictable premise of Freddie repeating Jeffs' exact words and directions in the most literal verbal way possible, even interpreting directions of physical actions as lines to repeat.

• I also liked the gag of Freddie basically narrating Jeffs' mugging and police encounter followed by Annabels' character recognizing Jeff from "Cats And Dogs" of all things.

• Speaking of Jeff...did he just flub a line or miss a cue? Did Freddie or Annabel miss a cue? What the hell happened there exactly that botched that ending? B+

The Piano

• Is this a parody of an actual British reality show? I think it must be if it has so many impressions of specific British celebrities (and I'm guessing Ayoade is playing a real British musician as well?)

• Speaking of impressions, I liked getting to see Celestes' Claudia Winkleman again and Jack Sheps' Mika wasn't as much of a demerit against this sketch as I was thinking it would be. He and Ayoade bought a nice sinister, blithely cynical energy to this that helped sell it.

• If this is a real show, I'm guessing either tightly controlled public reactions may be part of the gimmick behind it (like with all reality shows) but the gag may be "what if this got the worst reactions possible that all just centered on peoples' real airport hassles?"

• Ah, I shouldn't overanalyze this sketch. I don't need all this background info to get what it's going for.

• Is Annabel just playing the same generic drunk bridesmaid she played in the Paddington pretape from Tina Feys' episode? 

• Somehow I knew this would include some out of nowhere vomiting. Nice breakdancing from Freddie angrily reacting to all the flights being canceled flight from Larry.

• This feels like it was modeled after a specific late 2010s/early 2020s type of SNL US pretape (the one with Nate Bargatze as a golfer comes to mind for some reason...I'm sure there's several others that parodied various types of US reality competition shows that I'm forgetting).

• Most importantly, this felt like SNL UK  attempting their own version of "Farewell, Mr. Bunting" or any of the several gratuitous gore heavy Sarah Sherman pretapes SNL US has given us in recent years (except the SNL UK writers know how to reign it in properly and contain the comedic value of it as tightly as possible). 

• My only question would be how that bomb detonation would kill Jeffs' character but only leave Celeste covered in dust but otherwise unharmed? B-

Yoga Class

• Nice to see them give Celeste Dring a character showcase of her own. I'm getting slight "David S. Pumpkins by way of Kate McKinnon/Kristen Wiig character choices and Chloe Finemans' accent work" vibes from this but I don't even mind. Freddie was a nice addition.

• Boy, I sure wanted to like this sketch more but it seemed to be entirely based around Celeste doing the worst Swedish accent you've ever heard. Besides that, it didn't escalate or go anywhere and that nothing else was...paht oof eeet. Still, I wouldn't go as far as to say that James Longman or whoever else us charge of picking which sketches go in the live rundown "dahn't dew eet" to this one.

• I did like her urging her yoga Class to help her move a family of three into a new house and the ending reveal that the whole things was a ploy to get Jeff to fix his own neck crick by turning his head. C-

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: England Till I Die, Protest Leader, Trump Punchline Taken By Legal Team, Sanctions, Monty Gone (such a Norm MacDonald ass joke), State Funeral

• Anias' Best Jokes: Migrant Protests, Trumps New Hair?, Nigel Farage, Eaton College, German AfD win

• Boy, these migrants protest jokes are more of the type of jokes that I only kind of understand if I process them as "these are the type of jokes Jost & Che might tell about Jan 6 protestors".

• Paddys' mustache looks to be a bit...wispier than it was a few months ago. So, it looks like he shaved over the summer for nothing...and may have been so bummed about losing out on a certain role that he hasn't shaved since?

• You know, as recently as July I was starting to see Paddy Young as basically England's answer to Colin Jost (both SNL Weekend Update anchors who each have to sit through the same female castmate playfully roast them at the desk) but I'm starting to see more parallels between Paddy and...David Spade circa October 1992.

• I bring that up here because I bought it up on a certain podcast that was recorded on the Friday before this episode aired live which...at this point, I think might get edited out, so...we'll see.

• So, Emmas' French maid is basically an exact cross between her "woman who can't be ignored" and Nora Dunns' "Babette the French sex kitten" from 40 years ago? Also, did this character start with Emma figuring out how to do an impression of Ayoade and get turned into something else?

• Ah, I'm not mad at this character. I mean, the premise of "French maid who's bad at cleaning but good at sex appeal" is a bit hack but she added some charm to it. B-

Bi King Kong

• PLEASE tell me that's at least Larry in that gorilla suit. This seems like a cross between two specific sketches from Jack Whitehalls episode but done in a fashion that belabors it's own point at first glance because there's only so much work they can do with inconsistently sized props and setpieces in one live sketch.

• Even if the giant nose ring felt like a big cheap laugh, this had a few small things going for it. For instance, having Jeff Goldblum essentially play himself dovetailed nicely with this conceptually and broadcasting this in 4:3 aspect ratio was a nice touch.

• Nice transatlantic accents from Al & George especially. Their performances really helped put this over. Jack seemed to be struggling a bit with his, but the moment where Al accidentally knocked his hat off might have accidentally been the funniest part of this. D+

Yet Another 45 Seconds With Fouracres

• Boy, am I glad to see this back!

• Nice that he's branching out from songs but still finding ways to incorporate fenale guest cameos in this. I guess he felt another song might have been redundant since this already featured tonight's musical guest anyway.

• I didn't even mind that it was basically another Star Wars parody since it ended in a sprawling light saber battle that was fun to watch with a sudden ending that rendered it unnecessary the whole time. B-

Now, this would normally be the point where I rank this episode among the others of its respective season so far, but I can never really do that for a series premiere obviously, so since SNL UKs' previous series was eight episodes I'd like to rank the entire run of this show as a whole...

Ranking Each SNL UK Episode From Best To Worst

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

Overall Thoughts

• This was an episode that started out pretty strong, lost minimal steam at the end but remained consistently entertaining through.

• SNLs' season premieres usually have this "shaking off the rust and cobwebs" feeling to them as they get themselves back into the weekly grind, but even SNL UKs version of that shows a lot more effort and creativity.

• Jeff Goldblum was...basically Jeff Goldblum but still, he proved himself to be a host that the cast and writers easily worked with as they quickly figured out how to cleverly worked into the show rather than having to work around.

• Aside from another noticable lack of Hammed and a reigned in Jack, cast usage was pretty strong for everyone. Celeste and Annabel might have had the best nights they've had in the entire run of the show and they actually gave some substantial airtime to Freddie Meredith...their newest cast member. I sure wish SNL US could do this as well.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, that was fun. Next week, Jamie Demetriou hosts SNL UK. He's another one of those actors I can't say I've seen in anything but I'm sure he'll blend right in with the cast and this will be a strong show.

• I'll have a review of that posted on this blog by this time next week. Around that same time, I will have recorded the next episode of We Heart Hader reviewing the Shia Labouef/My Morning Jacket season 33 episode of SNL US which I will have a review of on my blog roughly the week after that when that podcast episode is released. See you again soon!

Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley (04.12.2008)

The following blog post is a companion piece to the newest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast. Give us a listen, won't you?

Petraeus Report On Iraq

At a hearing of The Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. David Petraeus (Forte) is grilled by Senators Mark Levin (Samberg), John McCain (Hammond), Hillary Clinton (Poehler), Robert Byrd (Hader) and Barack Obama (Armisen). 

• On the surface, this may appear to be your standard, boiler plate, dry as a bone, late period Jim Downey penned political cold open that almost seems to be designed to be forgotten as soon as it finishes airing, but if you deconstruct this sketch and pick it apart you'll find there are some easily accessible laughs here.

• I did get a kick out of Downeys' voice over describing upcoming C-Span programming as "think tank nerds excitedly discuss some topic no one else cares about" followed by "questions from even herder audience members".

• Andy Samberg did surprisingly well as a senator chairing a hearing. It probably helps that he was only given as few lines as possible.

• The opening part with Forte telling Hammond the only thing the sunnis and shiites can work together on is sharing bribes and embezzlements and they've dissolved their softball league due to frequent sectarian killings was pretty much typical forgettably yet very cutting Downey humor but it was the exact length it needed to be.

• Amy gets some laughs as Hillary claiming to have been opposed to the Iraq war since years before it began (when in reality, as Forte spells out, she voted FOR the war in 2003 and backpedaled on supporting it when she first ran for president). This seems to be the main thing this sketch was built around so thankfully it was the second most accessible part of this sketch.

• The scheduled/planned interruption from Casey & Kristen as the "Code Pink" protestors was cute, but might've been something to trim if this needed cuts.

• Bill appears here and portrays Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a man who was known for being the longest serving member of both congress AND the senate and having started his political career in the Ku Klux Klan. Thankfully, this sketch plays up the other thing he was known for; trying to pass legislation full of wasteful pork barrel spending simply to boost his states' economy.

• Of course, Bill handled the impression well, playing him as a drawling, decrepit old self serving carpetbagger. The bits where he says he's been serving in this committee for nearly 120 years and he's never seen such a foreign policy calamity as his proposal for the Iraqi museum of antiquities being moved to West Virginia were funny (with the proper historical context at least).

• I wasn't too crazy about him doing the same "walk in front of the camera" that Fred and Kristen made their trademark in the next few years, but hey...there's gotta be a first time for everything.

• Freds' Obama is getting goofier and goonier at this point (he's still figuring it out) but he had very few lines. He's just there because the generals (including Jason in a role that could've gone to another extra) are voting for him "he's gonna be the next president...no offense (to Hillary & McCain).

• He's also there to ask Gen. Petraeus to explain why he didn't like Hillary or McCains' books as much as he liked Obamas. This part was funny enough with claims if Hillarys' book simply being too long, dull, poorly written and full of easy to disprove claims and McCains' containing too many grammatical issues.

• I got a kick out of Fortes' Petraeus saying Hillays' book contained her claims of being the first astronaut and being the inspiration for the song "My Sharona as well as McCains' book containing entire passages that simply made no sense.

• Anyway, this was a bit funnier and more entertaining than expected for the type of cold open it was. C+

Monologue

Since he has now produced both "Punk'd" AND "Beauty & The Geek", Ashton goes back stage in an effort to show the audience what he thinks a producer does...much to the chagrin of the rest of the cast (Armisen, Forte, Poehler, Samberg, Thompson) and his then wife (Demi Moore)

• Jesus, who does Ashton think he is with that scarf? A Jonas brother? I know that look on guys seemed to be in fashion around this time but that seems like pushing it

• Well, at least this was the most creative monologue they wrote for Ashton Kutcher at this point. Sure, that may not be saying much but when you consider that his first monologue centered around him being pantsless with Maya Rudolph and Chris Parnell stepping on stage solely to gawk at his bulge in tighty whities...and his second one just involved bringing Demi Moore on stage in excessive old age prosthetics...it's nice to see them try something more "off the beaten path" with him.

• Even though I've seen "The Simpsons", "Futurama" and even "Ren & Stimpy" make this exact same joke, I appreciate the basic underlying premise of this monologue being "the title of 'executive producer' is merely a do-nothing meaningless vanity title meant to stroke the egos of rich dickheads and make them feel important and this is ESPECIALLY true for 'executive producers' whom you see as onscreen performers on this or any other show."

• I got a kick out of Amy and Fred tearing up their script in disgust after he gives them pointless notes

• One thing I thought should've been cut from this monologue was Demi Moores' cameo where she just asks Ashton to reassure her that he won't actually wear this pair of tiny red booty shorts that she found on the show. Still, I did chuckle at his brief comment of "produced the hell out of that".

• I liked the "locked control room" gag and the bit where Ashton smashes the non-breakaway vase that Forte has and Forte asks him to tell Lorne he likes The Falconer but what was with Ashtons' response of "you got it, rodder?" Was he supposed to say "Rodger" and he botched it or something?

• The ending where Kenan tells Ashton that Lorne may be hiding from him to avoid having to hear his dumb and inane "producing" ideas was fine but Andy walking up to him and asking him for weed (which he says he won't have until the "light" goes off) was an even better capper to that.

• Apparently, that bit was a reference to a real life incident from this time when Kenan was pulled over by a cop and was almost arrested for possession of weed in his car and got out of it by saying it wasn't his or he was holding it for a friend or something. Not too exploitative for a meta gag. Surprisingly strong note to end this monologue on. B-

Cougar Den

Middle aged socialites Diedre Nicks (Poehler), Jacqueline Seka (Wiig) and Toni Ward (Wilson) host a talk show about dating younger men, putting up with snide remarks from their exasperated producer Kenneth (Thompson). They welcome guest Kiki Deamore (Cameron Diaz) to plug her new book on this subject. She brings on her current boyfriend Jaden (Kutcher).

• Well, this sketch certainly wastes no time establishing itself...because it already assumes that you, the viewer, are currently culture savvy enough to understand that in this context the term "cougar" refers to affluent middle aged women who exclusively date men in their early 20s.

• If you don't understand this already, it's not going to have these characters just straight up explain this to you but rather leave you to infer this from their strings of expository dialogue (like Kristen's line about giving her beau a "blow joy" because "it certainly isn't a job"). I guess they just wanted to see how subtly they could sneak the word "blow job" on the air?

• I did appreciate the husky Kathleen Turner-esque voices Amy, Casey & Kristen put on for their characters as well as Kenan's turn as the exasperated yet snide producer. I liked the ladies' stiff, herky-jerky, back-and-forth hip swinging dances to open and close the show as well as their brief "Boniva" and "kegel" breaks.

• As strange as it is to see a sudden out-of-nowhere Cameron Diaz cameo on SNL in 2008, she really helped elevate some of the material in this sketch in spite of the strong choice she made with that accent. 

• I'm guessing the main reason she's here is because she may have been in a movie with Ashton around this time that he might have been hosting to plug? Weirdly, they would do two more of these next season...and Cameron would also show up for both of those in spite of her having nothing to plug then. I wonder if she was tentatively scheduled to host this season in either January or early February of 2008 at some point before the strike?

• Ashton didn't add a whole lot for me here, but I guess he fit the part well. I got a kick out of his total incompetence at making the same "purring" sounds as Cameron and the "ex-husbands" line was a nice self depreciating jab, I guess. C+

Waiting With Oliver

Ashton is told by the bouncer (Thompson) of an exclusive night club that he can't get in until the crowd thins out so he is forced to wait out front with goofy try hard Oliver (Armisen) while several others (Hader, Samberg, Sudeikis, Poehler) and even Lyle Kane (Forte) get in ahead of him.

• This was an underrated sketch I remembered really liking from this episode for its sheer silliness. Glad to see it mostly holds up.

• Already we see Fred as a character given to Ashton to play off of...and he appears to pretty much be a Temu version of Fez from "That '70s Show". His self high fives were a fun visual gag, I guess?

• Fred didn't do too much to bring this down or anything. He's just playing a very basic "gregarious, overconfident, un-self aware loser" type, but if his character were indeed cut...this sketch would lose nothing.

• Bill enters this sketch as what I can only describe as an even geekier, dweebier version of his character from his Above Average Productions web series "The Line" (which, if you haven't seen, check them out here and listen to Deej and I talk about them here). His asking about the clubs' video game selection, being disappointed by Kenans' and then being let in anyway was a fine start...but not the funniest part of this sketch.

• I was impressed by how well Andy actually visually pulled off the classic "two obvious children in a trenchcoat passing themselves off as one adult" gag in a live action setting. All that was missing was a fake mustache on Andy.

• Jason as the guy from the old folks home bringing in six old guys (and one crazy one) was a funny moment. Hey, the third old guy we saw was the guy from that "Grandkids In The Movies" digital short from Tina's episode! Somehow, we still can't find that actors' name, though.

• The bit where Ashton calls Kenan "dude" and he reveals his real name is "Dode" didn't bother me as much as it probably should have because it does feel like something modern SNL would do (and probably has done numerous times).

• Amy's bit as the drunk lady who gets kicked out for fighting and then let back in to "apologize" felt pretty basic, too but she owned it in the way that only she could've. I especially liked her shouting "eat shoe, bitch!" before throwing her shoe right at the door before even opening it to reenter the building.

• Hey, derr! Lyle Kane makes his third (and sadly final) appearance. Great capper to this sketch!

• Of course, the ending where Kenan snarkily reveals he's really not letting Ashton in because there were no black characters on "That '70s Show" was brilliant (especially with Kenan's line "hmm...I guess the black man wasn't invented until '82). 

• Hell, that ending could probably still work today if Kenan's character simply brought up the fact that Ashton went to all those Diddy parties or hinted at anything unscrupulous that went on backstage or behind the scenes at "That '70s Show" but Ashton probably wouldn't agree to that now. B+

Digital Short: Daiquiri Girl

An onscreen text crawl runs over a cheap, blurry effect riddled video of singer Clementine (Samberg) at a Casio singing about a girl (Lindsay Shookus) made of daiquiris (or something like that, I dunno) explaining that this was the best they could do after this weeks' musical guest Gnarls Barkley pulled out of this weeks previously planned video at the last second.

• Yeah, there's not much else to say about this one except that the text crawl actually does all the work to salvage this and make it watchable 

• ...and yes, Gnarls Barkley apparently said on Friday at midnight that they wouldn't be able to do whatever short was originally planned. The Lonely Island has already confirmed this on their podcast with Seth and in this 15 year old interview.

• Kudos to them for making...well, maybe not "the best" but certainly...the bare minimum out of a shitty situation. C-

Activia Commercial Shoot

Because she is now an older woman, Jamie Lee Curtis (Wiig) owns up to a concerned director (Kutcher) and Activia brand rep (Poehler) about having pooped her pants on set just now...from all the yogurt.

• Oh yeah, Bill is briefly seen twice in this as the clapper.

• Well, this sketch may be one big poop joke...but at least it was executed with some subtlety and taste.

• Kristens' performance as Jamie Lee Curtis really helped save this. She did have a knack for impressions in her first couple of years on this show. This feels a little more "Kristen" than "Jamie Lee" in terms of characterization, but it's a strong characterization nonetheless.

• Hmm...two live sketches in this episode making fun of overconfident older women...in an episode hosted by Ashton Kutcher...when he was still married to Demi Moore. A bit of an odd coincidence, huh? C+

Gnarls Barkley Performs "Run (I'm A Natural Disaster)" and "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"

• I liked the first songs' mix of 70s blaxploitation speed funk with some light metal. The '50s greaser fashion visuals mixed surprisingly well with it.

• The second song was alright, just not one of their better ones.

• It's kinda hard to talk about Gnarls Barkley now (especially Cee-Lo who we haven't seen or heard from in years...probably due to a pretty dire tweet of his from a while back...the less said about that the better).

Weekend Update w/Seth & Amy

Prominent travel writer Judy Grimes (Wiig) nervously stammers and "just kiddings" her way through a report that offers very few actual travel tips

Nicolas Fehn (Armisen) stammers his way through his report offering even less content 

• Seth's Best Jokes: American Airlines, Border cameras, Charlton Heston, Beer stolen, Carla Bruni, Pope merchandise

• Amy's Best Jokes: List of Horribles, Obama 24 point lead, Man Targeted By Aliens, Historic Surgery

• We get the debut of one of Wiigs' lesser known characters from the early part of her tenure. This was all right. She'd do better versions of this down the road.

• I've never had a problem with Judy Grimes (aka the nervous "just kidding" lady). Even though she may seem like a distant cousin to Penelope, you gotta respect her running through all that rapid fire dialogue at top speed.

• Oh, boy. Nicolas Fehn. Well, I did get a kick out of his two actual headline reactions of "YOU CAN'T...write that" and "NO" but other than that...same ol' song and dance.

• Decent Update aside from that. Jokes were fairly strong. The less said about Amys' "polish firefighters" joke the better. I only bought it up because I liked Seth's reaction to it (which appropriately matched the whole "my god, why the hell are we doing this in 2008?" vibe). B-

Song Memories III

At a bar, four buddies (Forte, Hader, Kutcher, Sudeikis) reminisce about sex with coma patients, stalking Connie Chung and Estrogen treatments for prostate scares to the song "Amie" by Pure Prairie League (before dancing to The Village Peoples' "YMCA" for some reason).

• As you may recall, Deej and I previously did an entire episode of the podcast about these "song memories" sketches (which I pitched as I've always had a certain fondness for them).

• I believe I said on the podcast that this was one of the weaker ones (it was certainly the weakest of the three they did up to this point) but at least this one broke off from the pattern established by the previous two.

• Jason talked about being a doctor in a sexual relationship with a coma patient instead of injuring his penis in an inappropriate public setting. Not the weakest part of this, but still.

• Bill talked about "meeting" Connie Chung in her shower instead of revealing a horrifying story about his dad. I especially liked his ending lines of "you can keep the panties, just get out of my shower before I call the cops" and how the panties "fit (his) face perfectly".

• Sadly, Ashtons' character revealing herself to be a girl named Amy may be the weak link here (I don't think that would play well today) but Fortes' was probably the high point here. Like I said on the SNN Patron Feedback show last month, only he has the tact, talent and skill as a comedian to pull off playing implied pedophiles in sketches without making the audience turn on him completely.

• Weak ending with the guys just dancing to "Y.M.C.A." in Village People hats without even stripping or pulling out guns or threatening anybody. C-

Death By Chocolate (Parts 1-3)

A giant cartoonish chocolate bar (Kutcher) stabs a hobo looking through a dumpster. 

Later, he sneaks into the ICU of a hospital. He shoots a doctor (Sudeikis) and then pulls the plug on a bedridden elderly patient.

Even later, Andy Samberg, in a lumberjack costume, asks Casey Wilson, in a Snow White costume, where his chainsaw is. Casey directs Andy to his quick change room where the Chocolate Bar (Kutcher) brandishes said chainsaw.

• Well, this was a cute mini-runner and an interesting departure from the Digital Shorts and anything else SNL was doing with their pretapes in this era. 

• Seriously, this is so different from anything SNL was doing at this time (or in any era really) that I at first wondered if this was an idea that Kutcher repeatedly pitched himself that got semi-begrudgingly added to the show? If that were the case, that would certainly explain where this episodes' monologue came from.

• After doing some research on Stooges' blog, I have discovered that these shorts were actually directed by filmmaker Jason Reitman, who incidentally would go on to write, produce and direct 2024s' "Saturday Night". His connection to SNL at this time was having befriended writer Simon Rich (who I'm guessing may have also written these?)

• Sudeikis getting shot and the Chocolate bar placing the gun in the comatose patients' hand were neat gags and I liked the brief meta twist with the Samberg/Wilson one.

• Since these were each so short, that's pretty much all I can say about them. C+

The Mellow Show

Super laid back contemporary pop folk songsmith Jack Johnson (Samberg) hosts a talk show and welcomes his fellow contemporaries Dave Matthews (Hader) and John Mayer (Kutcher) to discuss their "mellow" lifestyles.

• Well, I'll hand it to Andy. He does a pretty solid Jack Johnson impression. Still, that alone isn't enough to keep this sketch afloat.

• I wanted to like this more for Sambergs' goofy characterization, but there just wasn't enough here to pad out this sketch. One thing I could've really done without was his constant mentioning of various dead pets he forgot to feed. I did get a kick out of him mentioning his iguana always wore a tiny Gore-tex vest.

• Bills' Dave Matthews impression was a pleasant addition to this. I do like how lived in his characterization was, imagining what a typical day in Dave's life would be like if he were actually like his stage persona in real life rather than solely imitating his singing voice whilst quoting his lyrics. I also got a kick out of Kenan appearing as weird fiddle player Boyd Tinsley.

• Of course, the ending would've paid off better if the John Mayer impression were placed in more capable hands than Ashton Kutchers'. He handled the weird guitar faces OK but other than that he barely looked, let alone sounded like John at all.

• Nice call back to the JJ Casuals fake ad at the end though. Otherwise, this was a pretty uneven sketch. C-

The Rusty Pony

Dusty Velvet (Wilson) returns to stripping with a little help from club emcee Donnie Lamorris (Kutcher) after a freak tilt-a-whirl accident leaves her paralyzed from the neck down. This leaves patrons (Forte, Samberg, Sudeikis, Thompson) very disturbed.

• I got a kick out of this opening with Jason lying to his wife over a cell phone call that he and his business trip buddies were at T.G.I. Fridays.

• It was nice of them to give Casey her potential break out moment here. This was a piece she brought to the show from her pre-SNL/UCB days. You can see that version of this sketch here.

• This apparently secured her spot in the cast when she auditioned with it and I can see why. Sadly, it makes it that much more of a shame she didn't last longer on the show itself since she's an impressive physical commedian and thus she pretty much owned this right out of the gate.

• I especially liked how Casey was just left to flail and flop her arms about as Ashton jiggled her around by the waist then rubbed her hands across her breasts as she simply said "this is sensual and erotic" in a robot like tone and then leaned her over to spank her ass with her own hand several times.

• Stooge said in his One SNL A Day review of this sketch that he thought the cutaways to the guys reacting in horror should've been cut or trimmed but they didn't detract from the sketch for me.

• Speaking of the guys, I got a kick out of Andys' screams of horror as Ashton dragged Casey over to lick his face and Kenan's shouts of protests as Ashton bounced her on his lap to give him a "lap dance" followed by her asking him to raise her hand up in a fist. B+

Ranking Season 33 From Best To Worst

1. Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)
2. Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco (04.05.2008)
3. Seth Rogen/Spoon (10.06.2007)
4. Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood (02.23.2008)
5. Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend (03.08.2008)
6. Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley (04.12.2008)
7. Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey (03.15.2008)
8. Brian Williams/Feist (11.03.2007)
9. Elliot Page/Wilco (03.01.2008)
10. Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)

Overall Thoughts

• This episode had a tough predecessor to follow but it did a fine job nonetheless. Ashton didn't add too much to this episode (although it does seem to be the best of his hosting stints so far but the show was able to work around that.

• For better or worse, this episode certainly wasn't afraid to take some minor risks and try some new things whether they paid off or not.

• As far as how the cast was used, the women on the show all had stand out nights. Out of the men, Kenan, Will and Andy stood out. Bill had a decent night.

Closing Thoughts

• The next SNL Season 33 episode I will be reviewing for my blog will be Shia Labouef/My Morning Jacket. Yeah, this is another episode in a row hosted by a hot shot young actor who has shown himself to be a highly problematic figure...but I remember thinking this one was really funny at the time it aired and I'm curious to see how well it still holds up. 

• That will be on the blog and podcast next month. Before you even see that, you'll likely see a review of the upcoming SNL UK Series Two premiere (because their release schedule dovetails nicely with my blogging schedule except for the two double headers). See you then!

Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco (04.05.2008)

The following blog post is a companion piece to the newest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast. Give us a listen, won't you?

Hillary For President

Bill (Hammond) and Hillary (Poehler) Clinton discuss the fall out of the recent release of their joint tax returns showing that they made $109,000,000 in the past five years and tease the nonexistent possibility of Hillary dropping out of the presidential race.

• Huh, I guess at this point in the season we're done experimenting with new and different types of cold opens and are going straight back to dry, direct to camera, Downey-style political speeches, then?

• This had a weird condescending tone to it, mostly making fun of the press and Obamas' campaign for having to feign shock that the Clintons would somehow become rich from their respective book sales and speaking engagements (I'm sure there were some insider trading and shady stock tips on Hillarys' part). 

• The only thing close to a joke were the repeated refrains of Bills' speaking engagements being his "favorite thing to do" but that got old quick. 

• This was mostly aimless word salad that washed over me and left me wanting to go back to a simpler, happier time when U.S. presidents at least waited until they were long OUT of office to shamelessly profit from said title...but that's a story for another time. C-

Monologue

Rather than performing one of his patented song and dance numbers, Christopher Walken decides he would much rather take questions from audience members (Jim Downey, Paula Pell, Bryan Tucker, John Lutz) reading Walkens' own pre-written questions off index cards.

• Right off the bat, I liked Walkens' joke about this being his 100th time hosting because he personally counts any and all reruns.

• Additionally, I really liked the idea of Christopher Walken putting his own strange, unique, idiosyncratic twist on what has to be the single most tired, played out SNL actor host monologue trope of the past 35 years.

• I liked Jim Downeys' brief moment of mild confusion/asking for brief clarification during his part. Did anyone else notice the strange detail of Christopher blatantly pulling a pair of glasses out of his pants pocket that we don't see him put on at all during the monologue?

• Is it just me or did Paula Pell look and sound almost unrecognizable during her part? Anyway, I got a kick out of Walken telling her how stupid he thought her asking him about his favorite color was before answering with "burnt umber".

• I also liked Walken refusing to answer Bryan Tuckers' question about what he does off camera before dressing him down with (among other statements) the phrase "I got a question. You should be a shamed of yourself."

• Of course, the entire "gigantic invisible bird" rant in response to Lutzs' question (before he asks him to turn his card over to thank him) was the real centerpiece of this monologue and was a true highlight of this for me.

• Well, we may not have gotten another Fred Astaire style song and dance number from Christopher this time around (which is a shame because he is one of the rare hosts with the talent and training to pull those off and make them feel genuine) but at least we got some brief flashes of patent Walken style surreal absurdity in its place to kick off the show. A+

Annuale

Repeat from the Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood episode. If you would like to read or listen to my thoughts on this one, you can do so here or here.

• I will say though that it's a bit strange of them to rerun a fake ad/pretape from a previous episode...that happens to prominently feature said previous episodes' host.

• I have seen them do something similar with certain previous hosts of this era (Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Matthew Fox) but with pretapes that got cut and DIDN'T air in their respective episodes.

• Oh well, I guess there is a first time for everything.

Grease Rehearsal

North Side High Schools' drama teacher (Walken) runs through a rehearsal of "Grease Lightning" with his male students (Hader, Samberg, Sudeikis, Thompson) to address the principals' concern over inappropriate lyrics. He shoots down the boys suggestions for replacement lyrics that actually make sense in favor of his own nonsensical ones.

• I immediately liked one of Walkens' first lines being "I am a drama teacher, I am not David Blaine". 

• I also got a kick out of Amys' brief bits of facial acting during the various cutaways to her as "Ms. Hash", gradually incorporating a bit more disgust and frustration into her "dazed, doddering old biddy" facade.

• What made this sketch for me was the way Walken hit the exact same beats in the exact same way four times during this sketch (responding to each questionable lyric with "That is DIRTY! Do you know what that means?" then asking a different student to whisper said meaning to him with each one requiring more whispers and then making said student whisper the correct confirmed meaning to the others) and made that the funniest part of this sketch.

• Bills' first live appearance is in this sketch. He suggests "chicks will scream" in place of "chicks will cream" which Walken rejects in favor of his own "chicks will fleem." Later on, Bill is asked to confirm his understanding of the phrase "she's a real pussy wagon" to Walken taking about four tries to do so. Walken comments "even Ms Hash knows what this means" to which Amy is shown smiling and nodding politely in response before Walken suggests "have you ever seen a dragon?" as this line's replacement.

• I liked all the other nonsensical replacement lines from Walken ("flocks, flocks, flocks" to "get off my rocks" and glossing over anything else questionable with "hubba hubba hubba").

• I did get a kick out of Walkens line about how if he let these high schoolers sing these lyrics then the school board would put him in a box and push him down a hill.

• I did like the guys exaggerated reactions to Walkens explanation of the true "filthy" meaning of the phrase "Grease Lightning" before telling them to replace it with "Gene Rayburn" (and based on the crude hip thrusting gestures Walken made during this part I'm guessing this was the definition of "Grease Lightning" he was going with").

• Overall, what I liked most about this sketch is how it felt like it was written specifically to tap into the surreal, absurdist presence Christopher Walken was always known for bringing to the show (but not in a way that taps into his penchant for playing violent or creepy villainous roles because there's plenty of time to get into that later on) and how the sheer languid pacing of it made it feel like a sketch that Walken could've done in one of his early 90s hosting stints. The show was smart to make this the lead off live sketch of the night. A-

Eric's Goodbye

At Nathan's (Sudeikis) going away party on his last day at the office, Eric (Walken) gives what appears to their coworkers (Hader, Wiig, Wilson) to be a long and sincerely heartfelt goodbye speech to him complete with handmade gifts despite the fact that they've barely met or interacted. What quickly turns out to be Erics' creepy and intense declaration of unrequited love/possible confession to stalking scares Nathan away. 

• This may be a sketch that they theoretically could do with any male host of a certain age but only Christopher Walken could innately sell this enough to pull it off.

• Similarly, Jason was the best choice to play straight man as he's the best in this cast at selling the subtle panic that builds into exasperation and bewilderment as he quietly wonders how he's the only "normal" person in this scenario.

• I do like how they buried the lede a bit at first with the bathroom towels story before they giving free reign to Walken to let his freak flag fly.

• Bill and Casey have brief appearances as coworkers who pull Jason aside to say a quick thanks and goodbye before letting Jason get back to his "heart to heart" with Christopher despite his protests. They both played these parts well.

• This really picked up steam with the mixtape/radio bit and I got a kick out of Walkens' use of the phrase "Gosh dammit, we're like the same guy, you and I."

• Other highlights from Walken were his presenting Jason with a perfect portrait in his likeness "from memory...because a nude would be tacky for a going away party" and would lead to another sexual harassment charge, the comments about Jasons' suits hiding his "firm athletic body" as he bro hugs him and of course...the sobbing and singing followed by the brief tongue in the ear. 

• I also got a kick out of how Walkens' coworkers (Wiig especially) taking HIS side led to this having one of the strangest and most gleefully dark ending possible play out like the third act of a late 90s "Best Friends Wedding" type romcom with Wiig urging Walken to "go to him" because "he's in love" even after he stated his wish to hunt Jason down in the parking lot, choke him to death and "make love to his corpse for the rest of his life". B+

Digital Short: Laser Cats 3D

Bill Hader and Andy Samberg interrupt Lorne Michaels dinner outing with Sen. Chris Dodd (Himself) to show him a third installment of "Laser Cats" where Nitro & Admiral Spaceship must face off against Mayor Top Hat (Thompson) after he has criminalized Laser Cats as part of his plan to rule the universe.

• Usually, these Laser Cats segments kinda washed over me, but something about this one stood out.

• I liked the gimmick of Bill and Andy meeting Lorne in a fancy restaurant where he is dining with a sitting senator rather than in his office. 

• I also got a kick out of Bill & Andy having somehow managed to sneak a TV and VCR/VHS on a rolling cart into said restaurant unabated.

• Part of me questioned why this needed to be part of a Christopher Walken episode but I'll admit Walken playing their previously unseen boss/captain along with this featuring more dramatic orchestral string music and less of the typical synth fair were nice touches.

• I did like how they played the scene where Bill and Andy's characters were seemingly forced to "destroy" their Laser Cats with a gun and a hammer before suddenly noticing Kenan's message to earth playing as a QuickTime .MOV file on an iMac.

• I did get a kick out of Kenan saying he had "all the Laser Cats in the world" while standing next to a barb wire cage with only four cats in it.

• The biggest visual laugh for me was how the hatch opening scene played with the cheap green screen if the milky way behind a hallway door followed by the even cheaper stop motion paper Oxygen meter depleting followed by a cheap Ken doll dressed as Bills' character floating by on a string.

• The brief 3D gimmick scene was etymologically inevitable enough for them to feel they had to do it, I guess. Really,  it was only good for the cut back to Lorne, Andy, Bill and Sen. Dodd each wearing 3D glasses in the restaurant.

• I liked the callback to Andys' robotic Laser eye surgery and the "showdown" between Andy's cat and Kenan's "Laser dog" (a tiny pug) was a cute way to segue into the ending (well, it was better than the predictable ending with Sen. Dodd anyway). B-

Surprise Sue

Sue (Wiig) is the only member of the family (Forte, Hader, Poehler) who has extreme trouble keeping her cool as Roger (Walken) asks for help planning a surprise party for his granddaughter.

• Here it is, folks. The debut of one of Kristen's most well known over the top characters...and the point in her run that I personally consider to be her "jumping the shark" moment.

• I've softened on Wiig quite a bit since she returned to host in recent years and like her as a cast member just fine in her first few seasons...but this was just the first character of hers I actually formed a thoroughly negative opinion of at the time.

• Looking back, I suppose I can appreciate the way she threw herself into this physically (especially the bits that involve her breaking through glass near the end).

• I did like her suddenly shrieking "YES" when Walken asked if they should get balloons.

• Bill does have some decent moments in this where he reveals Sues' "notes" she was writing were just squiggles and him opening a bag if chips for her because her hands suddenly became paralyzed.

• Amy played well off Kristen too but other than all of that, this is still kind of a slog and this character probably should have made her debut in a different episode. C-

Panic At The Disco Performs "Nine In The Afternoon" & "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies"

• Hey, here's a band I remember passively tolerating in high school. I think my sister was a bigger fan of these guys than I was.

• Well, this would be their first and ONLY time on SNL so it was smart of the show to just let them perform their two biggest hits ever.

• I find it funny how they were backed by a marching band and string section just for that faux-Sgt. Peppers type sound they were going for at this time and they weren't really done any favors by SNLs' notoriously bad live sound mixing.

• Still, at least their first song sounded much better than their second because the mixing was even worse and the down tuning REALLY didn't help at all.

Weekend Update w/Seth & Amy

Pregnant man Thomas Beattie (Samberg) invites Seth & Amy to his baby shower

• Seth's Best Jokes: Hillary Compares Herself To Rocky Balboa, Clinton/Richardson

• Amy's Best Jokes: Olympic Torch, Madonna Criticizes NYC, Early Jewelry Discovered

• Boy, this Thomas Beattie commentary from Andy is...awkward. He had a couple of decent lines, but I'm really not sure how well it ages in 2026 (not just for people not remembering who Thomas Beattie was). I really don't have anything to say about this, so I'll just move on.

• This Update was all over the place with both "great" and "meh" jokes and a commentary that nearly bombed. Not a "good" or "bad" Update necessarily. Just a very uneven one. C+

Walken Family Reunion

At a bar gathering, Christopher catches up with similar sounding (and uniformly hairstyled) relatives Stanley Walken (Hader), John Walken (Sudeikis) and his two kids Maxine (Poehler) and Scott Walken (Samberg), recently out of the closet Nathan Walken (Armisen), his Uncle Richard (Hammond) and Aunt Martha (Wiig) and their adopted African son Uleke (Thompson)

• This would be the first of a trilogy of host centric sketches that would be pretty evenly spread out over the next decade.

• It's a shame Casey Wilson couldn't have been in this just to make it a full cast sketch. It's a shame Forte was only allowed to play a waiter, too but hey...he'd be the first to tell you he is no impressionist by trade.

• Here it is, folks. Bill Haders' biggest moment in this episode where he finally delivers on the Walken impression he promised us he had in his back pocket from his first episode as we get some scattered laughs and recognition applause as the audience settles in and gradually realizes what they're about to see.

• Good on the show for leading off with the most accurate Walken impression they're about to see all night. Unsurprisingly, Bill does nail a younger Walkens' cadence, accent AND voice, hitting many of the same beats as many of the other just as accurate Walken impersonations I've seen.

• Jason comes in a close second with his Walken impression. I do get a kick out if everyone Walken relative in this sketch mostly wearing Hawaiian shirts and having Christophers' blown out, longish hairstyle from this time but just in various colors and various shades of grey.

• From this point forward, the rest of the cast isn't so much doing direct or accurate Walken impression as they are just copying Walkens' unique accent and very idiosyncratic cadence and delivery...but doing so in their own voices and a bit less gruffly.

• Amy's whole pro-doll/anti spooky ghost tangent was the second real highlight of this. It was at this point that audience seemed fully on board with this sketch and could see it was going somewhere good. 

• Andy as the sullen, angst riddled teenage boy was something to be expected, but he and Christopher played off each other quite strongly. I got a kick out of Christophers' line about how adolescence makes a Walken feel like "the only normal person in a school full of nut jobs." Even Christophers' delivery of that borderline nonsensical "bar room/elephant fart" joke was the only thing really saving that one 

• Fred's part is really the only demerit against this sketch. Sure, it had a heartwarming message of acceptance to it on the surface...but in a way that made it seem like it was supposed to be funny for the wrong reason. Plus, Fred seemed like he was already playing a few too many stereotypically gay characters around this time anyway and couldn't even pull off the Walken impression as well as the others, sounding more like a significantly more nasally congested version of himself.

• Kristen and Darrells' parts were a fun note to end this on. I did get a kick out of them both saying they just watched "The Deer Hunter" and found it to be "hilarious" Kristen's Walken was pretty much what you'd expect but Darrells was fun. It's not the most deadly accurate Walken I've seen but I liked how he just mixed his generic "crazy old man from Brooklyn" voice mixed with Walkens' delivery.

• I hate to sound like a broken record, but Kenan's Walken was also about what you would expect from him. Still, he only had one line and it was decent enough that i would've still kept this over Fred's walk-on.

• I think what makes this stand out from the other two "family reunion" sketches is that here SNL is dealing with a much smaller cast this time and they're focused more on impersonating the man as himself rather than any characters from the hosts' actual film career...so, no need to shove most of the entire cast plus a few surprise cameos out there in a costume no ones' wore yet.

• Yes, this entire sketch subscribes to the Bill Hader philosophy of "why just quote one of your subjects movies when you can place them in an everyday situation?" which is probably the main reason it works so well. B+

Indoor Gardening Tips From A Man Who Is Afraid Of Plants

An extremely paranoid and skittish gardener (Walken) repeatedly advises viewers to put large googly eyes on all their plants so they can look their plants in the "eye" and know where they stand with them.

• This was just pure, unabashed, undiluted absurdity from Walken and I loved every second of it. Somehow, it turned out to be a completely different thing than what it was setting you up to expect. 

• This wasn't one of your typical quick in-and-out Family Guy-esque brief blackout gags (like you would expect something introduced with Don Pardo reading a very wordy title card to be) but rather something so uniquely insane it felt like another sketch stuck out of time. 

• This felt like another sketch that could have just as easily been done in any of Walkens' 90s pre-Cowbell episodes (specifically his 92/93 one since that season also gave us "An Insane Idiot And His Descending Size Collection Of Deer Heads" with Harvey Keitel).

• Sure, it may have been a one joke sketch but it was a one note sketch that worked because it was placed in the trusted hands of the only performer on the face of the earth who could possibly make sense of it let alone make it work in execution.

• Two stand out moments in this to me were him sprinkling tiny googly eyes in some patches of grass he grew (he couldn't figure out how else to do it) and his misquoting Winston Churchill ("eyes are the windows...to your FACE"). B+

Top Chef

Contestant Dave (Walken) wanders around complaining to fellow competitors (Poehler, Samberg, Thompson) and host Padma Lakshmi (Wiig) about how he can't cook under these conditions and doesn't know what he's doing thus squandering his allotted time and eliminating himself from the competition.

• Well, this was a bit of a letdown from the last couple of sketches Walken was in.

• While not the most egregious example in this episode of "sketches that should've been done in a totally different episode", it does feel more like a sketch that could've been done with any host.

• Actually, the more I think about it the more I realize how this sketch exists in a bleak purgatory like space where Walken plays his role with exact right flavor (if you'll excuse that turn of phrase here) of "old and in the way" desperation that this calls for but gets washed off the screen in the sheer chaos of Kenan, Andy and Amys' frantic prop work (partly by design but partly by minor but noticeable volume deficiencies).

• It's like Walkens' character exists in this dispiriting liminal space where the part was specifically designed for him but not in such a way that he could enhance it let alone make it memorable.

• However, I did like his response to Kristen's direction of "pack your knives and go" being to shout "KNIVES?!? WHAT?!? WHO KNEW FROM KNIVES?!?"

• Speaking of Kristen, casting her as Padma Lakshmi...didn't work. Still, she wasn't distrsctingly bad in the role. I did get a kick out of her "fauxhawks" joke and her listing strange ingredients such as "beets, cous-cous, frozen yogurt, medicine, a paper bag and stale peeps" as what they were supposed to use to make a deep dish pizza. 

• Oh, look. It's Fred in another pointless sketch role that should've been cut entirely.

• All in all, a pretty weak sketch with even attempted jokes let alone laughs being few & far inbetween. D+

Larry King Live

Larry King (Armisen) grills former US President Jimmy Carter (Hammond) on why he continues to write book after book after book after book that no one will ever read.

• Speaking of existing only in empty liminal spaces...

• Ugh, I think I spoke too soon about Fred roles that should've been cut from this episode.

• You might know how I feel about Fred's Larry King impression by this point if you've been reading my blog closely (it's...not one of his or the show's best) but at least his presence here is balanced out by Darrells quietly goofy and gooberish Jimmy Carter which is...pleasant if not terribly funny.

• Boy, this sketch really belabors the one banal yet snide observation it has to make, doesn't it? At least it doesn't drag on too long in doing so.

• Another sketch with noticably sparse yet well placed laughs.

• Really, how this ever made it to air let alone past dress at any point is beyond me. D+

Ranking Season 33 From Best To Worst

1. Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)
2. Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco (04.05.2008)
3. Seth Rogen/Spoon (10.06.2007)
4. Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood (02.23.2008)
5. Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend (03.08.2008)
6. Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey (03.15.2008)
7. Brian Williams/Feist (11.03.2007)
8. Elliot Page/Wilco (03.01.2008)
9. Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)

Overall Thoughts

• Without question, this is one of the stronger episodes of season 33. However, it is quite the uneven one.

• The highs in this one were at an all time high seeing as we got a much beloved regular host from a completely different era coming back. The lows weren't quite as low, but anything that seems like standard middle of the road fare for this season/era pales a bit more in comparison. In fact, this episode does remind me quite a bit of Melissa McCarthys' recent episode from this past season in that way.

• A lot of the stronger Walken centric stuff stood out because it showed that even when he works with a completely different cast and writing staff, the show in all of it's forms always seems to intuitively know how to play to Walkens' unique acting presence, always finding new, different and creative ways to key into his talents.

• The low points of this episode were pretty much just topical "of the moment" sketches that they do every week. If Walken was in any of them, they obviously didn't utilize him well enough and they just ended up being the type of sketch that could've been dragged and dropped into any other episode this season without anyone noticing.

• The fact that I personally ranked this episode as second best of the season over all despite how "all over the place" it truly is just speaks to what an unusually truncated short season this one ended up being due to the writers' strike.

• As far as cast usage, it felt like everyone got an equal amount of airtime. Obviously, Walken was the MVP of this episode and the rest of the cast did a fine job supporting him.

• Out of strictly cast members only, Amy seems to be the stand out performer of the night (with Kristen a distant second fir better or worse). Bill had a strong night by the standards how how he was being used at this time. Everyone else pretty much seemed to be evenly on par with each other.

Closing Thoughts

• The next entry you'll see on this blog will be a review of the next episode of SNL Season 33 which is...*checks notes* oh boy, umm...Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley. Well, if memory serves that one will somehow hold up better than his other three hosting stints for the most past.

• Before that though, you'll be getting another episode of the We Heart Hader podcast. This one will be another Documentary Now season 2 review. Specifically, the "Parker Gails' Location Is Everything" episode which is a parody of "Spalding Grays' Swimming To Cambodia". Now, Spalding Gray is famously a monologist known for his one man shows so this episode of Doc Now is gonna be all Bill, baby (and probably structured differently in a way neither Deej nor myself have quite figured out yet...but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it).

• Plus, this should be the episode where our listeners will find out who this super secret surprise guest I've been hyping up these past few weeks will be. Again, I don't want to reveal anything for sure until we've at least recorded the full episode with this person in case scheduling falls through or anything, but I can tell you this...it's someone who you wouldn't expect.

• Anyway, after that it will likely be September when SNL UK returns for its second series which we don't know anything about yet...but I know that you should expect some reviews of those episodes here on the ol' blog when they start airing.

• In the meantime, have a great rest of your summer, everyone!