Hugh Laurie/Beck (10.28.2006)

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

Kazakhstan Ministry Of Information 

Lorne Michaels (Himself) informs the audience (while pouring himself a glass of fine scotch and being served a fancy club sandwich) that due to the effects of drastic budget cuts at NBC, he had to sell this weeks’ cold open to a foreign government. What follows is a brief presentation from Borat (Sascha Baron Cohen) accompanied by his assistant/producer Azamat (Ken Davitian) touting the highlights of his Kazakh homeland and encouraging viewers to see his new film next weekend.

• When Lorne is handed his club sandwich, his line “these are hard times, we do what we can” is nearly drowned out by sudden applause and especially so is something that sounds like “thank you, Tina” or possibly “thank you, Jimmy”. It would make a lot more sense if it just turned out some audience members saw who our next cameo was going to be a little early and wildly applauded than if Tina Fey and/or Jimmy Fallon made brief, wordless cameos where they don't even appear onscreen (unless that somehow plays into the whole “extreme budget cuts” theme, too…which I sincerely doubt). Lorne also breaks a bit at having to pronounce the name “Kazakhstan” which I found charming, considering how little we see Lorne genuinely laugh whenever he knows cameras are on him.

• I remember Saschas’ cameo playing very well at the absolute height of Borat-mania in the fall of ‘06 and as gleefully crude and crass as a lot of this is, Sascha sells the absolute hell out of this with his sheer, goofily infectious energy.

• I even got a kick out of Kev Davitian just glowering silently in the background until the moment when Sascha translates his “wizard sleeve” joke to him, and he briefly chuckles, before going back to glowering.

• If I had to pick an absolute favorite moment of this (out if what still comes close to holding up in 2025 anyway) it would be the introduction of “Johnny The Monkey” who is Kazakhstans’ biggest movie star and Borat describes as a “children's favorite” and “star of over 300 pornos”. He likes to dress like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.He doesn't mind the jacket, but is NOT having the hat at all. I liked the fact that a man with a curly mustache came on whose only job was to carry the monkeys’ leash and put his hat back on his head whenever he removed it. 

• The less said about the shows’ opening line being changed to “Live from New York, home of the jew…it's Saturday Night” the better (well, at least Sascha himself is Jewish). C+

Monologue 

Hugh Laurie, addressing the audience collectively as “sweetcheeks”, convinces the audience that he himself is much sweeter and less misanthropic in real life than he is in the title role of “House” (mostly due to the effects of Lithium), fills in the audience on his background as an English actor with Shakespearean roots and explains subtle differences between British and American humor humour that you might not notice.

• This was a very fun monologue which Hugh sold with his effortless charm. It's very evocative of the very dry, wordy, writerly nature of “A Bit Of Fry And Laurie”.

• I liked Hugh describing himself as “the yelp of a small puppy just freed from the microwave”, “the click of an empty chamber when it's your turn at Russian roulette” and “you grandmother just as you reverse the tractor off her leg”

• I especially liked the bit where a map of just the U.S. is wheeled out and Hugh is forced to explain that England would be where his right nipple…used to be.

• A personal highlight of mine is the ending when Hugh outlines all the personal details of what to expect from British comedy (sketches about bad teeth, overly elaborate puns it will take you days to understand with very little payoff, rain inside the studio, sketches served with Peas, starting an electrical fire if you plug in a hair dryer).

• Boy, if only SNL could get away with sketches about or regarding bad teeth on British actors or actresses in 2025, huh? Wouldn't that be something wild? B+

Most Haunted

While searching for the ghost of a dead boy, the crew of a ghost hunting show (Armisen, Hader, Poehler) find themselves over investigating an obvious fart from the shows’ host (Laurie)

• Ugh, well…I'm not a big fan of fart jokes so this was pretty much 100% white noise to me (well, up until the “thermal camera” part anyway). 

• I will say that this was sold well by the cast members who can do the most convincing British accents. It was professionally acted for something so juvenile. C-

TV Funhouse: Political Attack Ads

President George W. Bush (Jim Morris) announces the RNC is pulling back on “scare tactics” in campaign ads (like one that recently featured quotes and images from Bin Laden) and presents some more festive Halloween themed ads.

• This was a deep cut late period Smigeltoon I've always been a lowkey fan of.

• The Bush/Cheney wraparound of this look just cheap enough to lend some truth to the claims of massive budget cuts at NBC. In fact, they look exactly like the unfinished animation from the scrapped 2003 era TV Funhouse featuring Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Colin Powell that Robert Smigel himself just posted on his socials.

• Anyway, the real highlight of these for me were the ridiculous over the top South Park like visuals of Ted Kennedy as Dracula French kissing Bin Laden whole Obama (dressed as the count from Sesame Street) counts off gay marriages.

• I especially got a kick out of a screeching Alien chestburster of Hillary Clinton in a witch hat offering trick-or-treaters “condoms and abortion pills” in a cheap Marge Simpson like voice before French kissing her host mother as Bin Laden appears again just to wave at you.

• I loved a cowering child like Dubya's reaction to that as Cheney growls at him to finish.

• This may have seemed like more 2006 shock humor that may not fly today, but the sheer ridiculousness of it puts it over. It's a real time capsule of a time when Republican talking points were dumb as hell in a silly way and not an aggravating and toxic way.

• I notice Al Franken had a writing credit on this. Given what we know about Al Franken now (mostly as an SNL writer) and given how this seems to just be an updated version of his “1994 attack ads” Update commentary from the season 20 Dana Carvey episode, that definitely tracks. B-

National Anthem 

At the opening of Game 5 of the 2006 World Series, Sportscaster Joe Buck (Sudeikis) and Tim McCarver (Hader) introduce local contest winner Pamela Bell (Rudolph). Winner of local grocery chain Schnucks’ “Anthem Idol” contest, Ms. Bell is here to sing the National Anthem which she mangles so badly that Buck and McCarver are just left to look on in baffled silence.

• This is obviously a Maya singing showcase more than anything. Bill and Jason are there just to react. Still, it's a well remembered sketch from this era (possibly due to its inclusion in the Best of 06/07 DVD & Special and its second life on YouTube…which is kinda ironic since the sketch itself I heard is based on a viral video).

• My mom and (especially) my sister are bigger fans of this one than I am. I guess how you would feel about this depends on your level of tolerance for “Maya Rudolph makes fun of different wacky ‘diva’ singing styles of the 2000s” sketches.

• I'm still not the biggest fan of this sketch but it's grown on me ever so slightly over time. Maya can be a likable presence in sketches even if she goes over the top with it.

• I did like how easily she switched between Christina Aguilera style belting and Britney Spears like whiny mewling mush. I also got a kick out of her suddenly sneaking in the last verse of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” for no apparent reason. C+

Advance Man

The Equiry (Laurie) for the Queen of England addresses the manager of an upscale hotel (Wiig) that Her Majesty will be staying about her bizarre personal requests.

• Another dry yet patently absurd and near Python-esque piece from Hugh written in the vein of his “Bit Of Fry And Laurie”.

• I got a kick out of his adlib that the glasses he struggled to put on were “fortunately…just an affectation”

• I especially liked his outlining the queen's request for a room full of mini furniture staffed solely by two little people for the Queen to pretend she is a giant and the request that the staff only make direct eye contact with her breasts and begin each sentence with “homina homina”.

• I also liked the request that the hotel dub over all 60 cable channels they offer with British accents simply because “she flips around” and that they install hooks in the bathroom capable of sustaining the full weight of a 200lb man before admitting he will not be here when the queen arrives. B+

Hardball

Chris Matthews interview RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman (Samberg) and DNC Chairman Howard Dean (Sudeikis) about how various scandals befalling down ballot Republican candidates are negatively affecting the chances of a GOP controlled house & Senate

• Good to see they're still letting Darrell use one of his stronger impressions this late into his run. Hardball was always a solid vehicle for SNLs’ more brash and cartoonishly blunt political humor of the mid 2000s. I believe this was the second to last one they ever did so it's nice to see these go out in such a fun way.

• It's also really nice to see that the show had enough faith in Andy Samberg, the shows’ go-to “goofy young guy” that they thought he could hold his own in a more toned down political role this early in his tenure. I liked his character having to defend all the goofy photos of him with Congressman Glenn Beasley (played by longtime SNL lighting director Ken Aymong) after he was revealed to be “the TCBY strangler” and then revealing that the only candidate they could get to replace him is John Wayne Gacy Jr.

• I also got a kick out of Sudeikis as Howard Dean flawlessly switching from bluntly admitting to the Democratic partys’ incompetence to bluntly and calmly just challenging Samberg to a fist fight after saying he is “filled with rage” and wants to free all the terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to make room for Cheney, Rumsfeld et al. B+

Protest Song

Hugh Laurie sings a Bob Dylan style Protest Song about the world's problems, but awkwardly and incoherently mumbles the one big “solution” to all of them.

• Ok, this is literally an almost exact recreation of a sketch Hugh did on “A Bit Of Fry And Laurie” but it still works quite well here.

• I do love the very timeless quality of this. Even for something written some time in the mid to late ‘80s, it feels like it works just as well in any era.

• I also love the stage direction in this and how it gives us a chance to see some angles of the host on home base stage we don't often get to see.

• Fun note: this is the reason Andy Sambergs’ sketch “Wanna Come With” got cut from the show and ended up having to be performed on Late Night With Seth Meyers as part of “Second Chance Theater” nearly a full decade later.

• According to Samberg, Hugh played Andys’ boss in that sketch (Seth's role in the Second Chance Theater version) but this has to be cut because he wouldn't have enough time to get from this sketch to home base stage to do this song which is why Andy suddenly says “OK, have a great song, Hugh Laurie” in the Second Chance Theater version. B+

Beck performs “Nausea” & “Clap Hands”

• I remember watching these performances with my mother at the age of 15 and hearing her remark “Beck is one of those musicians where you never know whether he's gonna be a genius or if he's just gonna be weird”.

• Well, I've always liked his music just fine. I liked his subtle Alfred E Neuman/Cat In The Hat cosplay and I liked the visuals of a marionette puppet recreation of his live performance right next to it and I liked that about 99% of “Clap Hands” seemed to be played on the spoons, so…I'd say this leans more toward “genius”.

Weekend Update w/Poehler & Meyers

Senate hopeful Tim Calhoun (Forte) once again outlines his platform

A Gay Couple From New Jersey (Armisen and Hader) comment on their state's new ruling on same sex civil unions

• I liked Seth's Hillary/Obama “great, great, great” joke. That genuinely did age well. 

• I wasn't that crazy about most of Amy's jokes but her participation in Seths’ “sleep sex study” joke worked for me.

• Hey, Tim Calhoun is back! He's always great! I liked his Kim Jong IL, 24 strikes and “voracious reader” jokes.

• Fortes’ “dwarf planet/Mexico planet” joke is the type of joke that only HE and no one else could get away with.

• This is the debut appearance of Bill and Freds’ oft recurring “gay couple from ____________” characters. This was much shorter than I remembered (subsequent appearances felt a lot more dragged out) and Armisen seems to have dominated it with Hader left with little else to shout but “Ohhhhhhhhhh!” but at least Hader anchors this by being about ten times as believable in the role of a Sopranos type mobbed up Jersey tracksuit a-hole than Armisen. Hell, he even sells the gay aspect of it better as well. C+

Trust Your Physician 

Dallas Rivers (Thompson) and his wife (Laurie) are very combative and dismissive of his attending physician (Forte) and nurse (Rudolph) who are simply trying to treat his broken leg.

• Well, I'm not quite sure what to make of this sketch but I have to admire Kenan and Hugh's commitment to such a steady stream of loud, chaotic nonsense that has certainly aged…quite questionable.

• I do appreciate Hugh's character being…well, let's just say “in drag” is hardly acknowledged or made too big of a deal.

• Forte and Rudolph play well off them. It's a good thing that this sketch is stacked with performers with likable enough personalities to put just about anything over effortlessly. Only Kenan Thompson and Hugh Laurie can make sudden shouts of “TUSKEGEE!!! TUSKEGEE!!!” seem funny in a way that doesn't just elicit the “uncomfortable” type of laugh. I even liked his “don't buy those cookies rant.”

• Hell, I even liked Hugh's sudden turn to camera to deliver his sincere “trust your physician” rant at the end. It didn't feel too nonsensical and actually tied this thing all together. 

• Still, this is the type of sketch that makes the viewer wonder just how much of this was cut from dress rehearsal. C+

Late Night Movie: The Curse Of Frankenstein 

Frankenstein (Hader) somehow turns the tables on a group of angry, torch wielding villagers (Laurie, Wiig, Poehler, Armisen) tricking them into going after Dracula (Sudeikis) instead of him but then shames them for judging his appearance too harshly when Dracula sends them back to him.

• This was a real hidden gem of a sketch from this time period and a great early showcase for Bill Hader during the period when he really needed the airtime. He anchored this strongly for a second year featured player and I liked his and Jason's “regular everyday guy” portrayals of Frankenstein and Dracula respectively.

• I got a kick out of seeing his hands only being painted green up to but not past his wrists when he pointed out where Draculas’ house was and exposed his bare, unpainted forearms.

• I especially liked Bills’ “you're all a bunch of dicks and fascists/seriously dude, get that fire away from me” rant near the end before his right arm fell off completely (wonder how they rigged that up for him while the sketch was in progress?)

• Hell, in a just world this would've taken the place of “Most Haunted” in all those SNL Halloween Special airings. Maybe it was in those until it got cut at some point (just like Ed Grimleys’ Thanksgiving got cut from the Thanksgiving specials around 2015). I remember having seen this a few times but I'm not quite sure this would've been in the Best of 06/07.

• One small detail I got a kick out of was Steve Higgins as the announcer saying “do they still do these Late Night Movie things anymore?” and “I swear, nobody's done one of these in, like, 20 years”. Well, I guess it was FOX, CBS and various syndicators giving Joan Rivers, Pat Sajak, Arsenio Hall, Dennis Miller, Chevy Chase and Whoopi Goldberg their own Late Night shows that didn't work before David Letterman moved from NBC to CBS that killed the era of various local access stations and CBS affiliates being forced to just throw on any old cheap black and white movie they could get the rights to if they truly had nothing else to compete with Carson, Letterman, Nightline and SNL at that hour. At some point, they must have figured out that they'd have to just dump all those old movies somewhere on cable, after that? Anyway, I liked this sketch. Enough of that semi unrelated rant. B+

Job Interview 

Rebecca (Poehler) finds herself put off during a job interview with Linder and Bowles (Armisen & Laurie) by their constant impressed high pitched squeals of “OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!” at all of her qualifications. She gets the job, but it backfires on her when she tries to get in on this.

• This was a nice piece of early Armisen absurdity before he got too self indulgent with these types of sketches. This was also very reminiscent of the types of nonsensical songs Armisen would sing with Forte on Update as “Patrick And Gunther Kelly” two seasons earlier.

• It was very fun and not too overlong or grating. Poehler played well off of them and this might have been Laurie's loosest performance of the night. C+

Overall Thoughts 

• This was definitely a fun episode to revisit for the podcast. I liked it just as much now as I did when I was fifteen.

• About 99% of this episode still holds up well but the few small parts that don't work for aren't too much of a distraction from the best of this episode.

• Of course, Hugh Laurie was an outstanding host who put his previous sketch comedy experience to good use.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, as of this writing I can't quite tell you what my next blog post is gonna be because the current SNL season is over for the summer and we haven't quite planned out what else we're going to cover on the We Heart Hader podcast that far out yet, but you could possibly expect a review of the Shia LaBeouf/Avril Lavigne episode soon and possibly something on the “song memories” sketches. Whatever it is, I will find a way to keep you guys updated. See you then!

Scarlett Johansson/Arcade Fire (05.17.2025)

Trump/MBS Meeting

• Well, one more Trump cold open to end the season.

• Apparently “he found…love” with Mohammad Bin Salman. Not crazy about the “season 42 Beck as Putin sketch” vibes I am getting right out of the gate.

• I do like that JAJ has worked Trumps’ real life jerky back-and-forth power move handshake into his repertoire. It brings back fond memories of seeing Athony Atamanuik do that same thing on Comedy Centrals’ “The President Show” in 2017…oh, wait. Never mind. Forget I brought that up. Parallel thinking, I guess.

• I like that they're finally using Emil after a while…but I'm not crazy about the way they're using Emil in this sketch.

• I mean, I liked “oil/money/end of list”, “the late great Fred Flintstone” and the “they Dubai a lot of weapons” and “Utah” jokes but…the rest of this was just white noise.

• Thankfully, the fourth wall break was interesting. I especially liked the “season 50 Worst one yet” jab. (Hey, at least they're being semi-honest here, amirite?)

• God help me I even got into him ranking the attractiveness of the female audience members sitting around him as they…at least pretended to be? I mean, I appreciated it more on rewatch after learning from Jon Schneider that SNL actually does arrange audience seating by placing all the younger, more “camera friendly” people on the floor and everyone else up in the bleachers.

• Yeah, while I do like JAJ himself as a performer and a comedian…I'm really about as ambivalent about seeing his Trump as I am about seeing the real one l…anywhere, so no big loss there. 

• Also, I'm starting to agree with whoever first put forth the take that Trump doesn't deserve an impression that makes him appear likable or relatable like JAJs. He does actually deserve an impression more like Baldwins’ that makes you as sick of seeing both the impressions as much as you are of the real person. JAJ just does Trumps’ actual voice better and he seems like a nice, friendly family man in real life which he can't help himself from letting through in his impression. Baldwin captures Trumps’ other real life behaviors better and probably got even more sick of doing the impression as we got of seeing him do it. C+

Monologue 

• Hey, a sincere “Piano Man” monologue where the cast gently pokes fun at themselves. This is…pleasant.

• Honestly, this feels like it SHOULD have been the cold open (and probably would've been around this time three seasons ago).

• I…thought we all agreed that Bowen pretty much stopped playing “likable” characters about two seasons before he was given the role of J.D. Vance?

• I did like the jabs at Sarah's pants. She's one of the last people I would expect to be leaving unless she sees herself as, like, the Janeane Garafalo of season 50 or something which part of me suspects may be the case with both her and Bowen (and if she really is I would have some…pretty mixed feelings about that but I would wish her all the best).

• Kenan as an audience member was fun. I also liked Longfellow, Jane, Emil and Ashley poking fun at their own lack of screen time. Heck, I even liked how they worked Devon, JAJ, Andrew, Longfellow and Marcello in here 

• Huh…I'm a bit surprised we didn't see…oh, nevermind. B-

Channel 4 NYC News

• Hey, a wildly off key Pink Pony Club parody from Emil. Now, THIS is how I like seeing them use Emil on the show.

• Hey, Ashley has a big upfront role!

• Ok, so…apparently this is a reworked and slightly inverted version of the coffee shop sketch from Timothee Chalamets’ episode…except Scarlett is taking Ashley's role which is made the main focus along with the dark, upsetting nature of the various puns.

• Well, I have to say that leaning into the darker aspects of this sketch (especially on Scarlett, Devin and Heidi's parts) really elevated this for me. B-

PDD: First Class Flight….to Newark?!?!?

• Hey, these guys are back! I was wondering where they've been.

• So, it's a rap that keeps getting interrupted by ScarJo and the boys’ anxiety over realizing they're flying to Newark? Well, at least this is the rare topical short from Please Don't Destroy.

• Mikey as the pilot was…something that turned into a very Mikey-type role.

• I did also like the “who will make the article?/prayer hands/LOST pilot/Avengers money” jokes.

• I appreciate their slight subversion of the audience's collective expectations of when Bad Bunny was gonna show up in this…and how long it would be taking him to start singing. He does work surprisingly well as a dumbfounded, out of his depth, first day air traffic controller and this had a charming ending with the plane landing semi-safely…as Ben Marshall reveals he has urinated on himself. C+

Couples At The Bar

• Four people fighting over the same specific thing? What is this, a season 28 sketch?

• I guess this was the requisite “hey, Bad Bunnys’ in the building this week so naturally that means we HAVE to do a sketch where he and Marcello talk to each other almost exclusively in Spanish for 99% of the total runtime” sketch?

• Still, I do like how multilayered this sketch was where the men are just as much the butt of the joke for how they view the women in their relationships as the women are for how badly they misunderstand (or how they merely very selectively understand as the case may be) Hispanic language and culture.

• I also liked how JAJ and Dismukes characters accidentally display a better, more educated understanding of Marcello/Ego and Benito/Scarjos’ relationships from a complete outsider's perspective than they do. Even though their parts could've been cut without really affecting the sketch either way, I liked that they were there to add that extra wrinkle to it.

• I especially liked Marcellos’ intense, bug eyed stare down of Bad Bunnys’ character as he tells Scarlett what a great couple he and Ego make. C+

Bowens’ Still Straight

• So, they're just gonna do “Bowens’ Straight” again? Goddammit.

• Yeah, I just wasn't crazy about this the first time he did it with Sydney Sweeney over a year ago (no pun intended) but I guess…some people still liked it and that episode much more than I did?

• I wasn't too crazy about this one either (and that's not coming from a place of sheer jealousy over the mere implication that Bowen got to hook up with both Ego and Heidi in the same sketch) so I'll just stick to mentioning which elements of this I actually DID like.

• I do like how they're establishing some continuity from the last one with Gina Gershon making another cameo and not totally ignoring the elephant in the room anymore at this point in the episode any more re: Colin's relationship status with this week's host.

• I did like Bowens’ lines to Scarlett about how he just found out who she was this morning and “thanks for inventing A.I., by the way”. I don't like how this pretty much had the exact same ending as last time, though. 

• Was it ever established who wrote both of these? I'm guessing Bowen himself may have had a large hand in it but I'm just curious how it was determined which specific women Bowen would be “straight” for. Heidi and Ego must've come from him having bonded with them as a platonic friend and coworker over the years but Sydney and Emily must've just come from a specific preference of his or just him having the basic idea of “lol str8 guys just like big boobs, big lips and blonde hair”. Scarlett must've come from a place of all three of these things together. C-

Elevator

• Hey, Mike Myers is back! He's not playing Elon. He's playing himself…and Scarlett isn't. In fact, she is barely in the scene at all. This should be interesting.

• …and hey, look. Kenan is playing…Ye (neé Kanye West)? Ok, not too crazy about Kenan's impression, but…he can make it work well enough. I have faith in him. Still, I would’ve at least liked to see Devons’ attempt at a Kanye instead of just a walk on between him and Ego where she has lines and he doesn't.

• I genuinely wonder who had the idea of “let's imagine what it would be like if Mike Myers had a chance encounter with the stunningly bigoted and fully broken brained Kanye West of 2025 because there's no way that wouldn't be a million times more awkward and uncomfortable for him, right”?

• I definitely think that news of Kanye having released a new single that could be described as “slightly incestuous” at best would be the only thing to make someone come up with this because I haven't heard of this having been cut from any previous dress rehearsals but if this was ultimately scrapped from the 50th I can see why. I mean, that one aired in primetime on a Sunday night so I would see why they would want lighter fare than this to the point where they would've chosen Debbie Downer and In Memoriam over this.

• I mean, upon rewatch, I can see what Kenan is going for with Yes’ speech patterns but he doesn't quite have that nasal Chicagoan semi-angry whine down they way Pharoah and Redd did so it's coming out more Steve Harvey than Ye.

• I did like Mike's sudden line “my kids are safe” and Kenan's line revealing his next song is called “Squeezin’ On My Grandpas’ Booty” which gave me a legitimate laugh, but what was with that weird voice modulated line of Kenan's at the very end? Were the writers confusing Nitrous Oxide with helium or does Nitrous actually lower your voice?

• Also, why are all his front teeth gone…oooooh riiight, he blamed/tried to sue a dentist for getting him hooked on Nitrous. Was that what that was supposed to be a reference to?

• So, basically this is a slightly inferior remake of a sketch that Mike Myers had previously done with (unfortunately) the real Kanye West almost 20 years on the season 31 premiere? Hey, me and Deej actually covered that previous sketch in the first ever episode of our own podcast which you can listen to here. C+ 

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Out of Colins’ “regular” jokes, I liked “McJournalist”, “Qatar-a-lago”, “favors” and “Dick's/Foot Locker”.

• Out of Michaels’ “regular” jokes his “uphold the constitution” seemed surprisingly out of character but I liked “South Africa/Mandella Effect”

• Boy, that RFK Jr./parasites joke was a real throwback to Seth & Amy's era of Update, huh?

• Hey! Miss Eggys’ back! All right!

• I'd say the highlights from this one were “piss a biscoff”, “compote” “Miss Eggy stay strapped” and “hollandaise/benedict”

• Hey! Another joke swap to close out the season!

• For what Colin was given, I got a bigger kick out of the “Lorne, retire bitch/topping off priests/ bonobos halftime show” stuff than the “black CBS soap opera” and “Nick Kerr lover” jokes.

• Yep, I can definitely tell Che's part of this once Scarlett came out was crafted by her, Colin and her (presumably female) friends to humiliate him. I got a slightly bigger kick out of the “unattended drink”,“farm” “thousands of jokes/dozens of laughs” and “selling crack” stuff though.

• Yeah, this one was just as fun as the Christmas one. I know it might feel like a slight let down, but how else could they have possibly even TRIED to follow that roast beef joke anyway?

• I will say that the joke swaps we got this season were both much better than the ones we got last season but I've noticed both sets of joke swaps have followed the same pattern of “stronger one for the Christmas show, weaker and more uneven one for the season finale.

• I wouldn't say this was the best we could hope for for this season's final Update since, y'know…we were all at least hoping for some solid confirmation of who would be LEAVING the show tonight and the closest thing we even got to that was…Colin begrudgingly smearing on lipstick.

• Ok, I've also heard some people theorize that Colin may stay on to take Lornes’ position rather than leave the show at some point. I highly doubt Lorne is planning on retiring this soon anymore (if at all) but if that truly turns out to be the case with Colin some time down the road, then I have a theory of my own there.

• My theory is that Lorne is going to eventually talk Colin into stepping down from the Update desk if he wants to move into the executive producer position. He'll only do it by telling Colin the story of how he was originally planning to host Update himself in the very early stages of development for “NBCs’ Saturday Night” but decided to give that gig to Chevy because he realized he can't be the person who ultimately decides what sketches get cut and what gets taken from the rest of the casts’ airtime while also having secured his own guaranteed spot for himself on the show that he (for all intents and purposes) created each week.

• Of course, Lorne will put this forth to Colin in such a vague way that it may takes Colin days to figure out what Lorne was trying to tell him, but only time will tell if this truly turns out to be the case. B-

Penelopes’ Secret

• So, Kenan and Scarlett are intimacy coordinators, Mikey is a try hard male feminist type without the predatory vibes, Sarah is the assistant director just there to be the butt of a single “they/them” joke, Ashley and Jane are about to shoot a lesbian love scene and everyone is just trying to gently guide Kenan in the vague direction of “finally figuring out what ‘scissoring’ is for the first time in his life?

• Thank God this ended at the EXACT moment it wore out its welcome and thank God Kenan still has a likable enough personality to put this over.

• I did get a kick out of Kenan sweetly smiling as he tried to picture two women scissoring and then running through the wall (although the timing of Kenan's exit after “what's the wifi?” seemed visually botched a bit). C+

TV Takes

• Ok, so they're literally just doing a slightly more dumbed down version of the same “cast interview” sketch from the season 46 finale except with Marcello in Pete's role, Bowen and Scarlett in Aidy and Anya Taylor-Joy's roles and…Sarah and Jane being placed into Punkie and Bowens’ old roles?

• I did like some of Sarah, Jane, Ego and Heidi's roles in this (although I didn't like the return of the “hey, let's make Sarah the butt of a few ‘lol she's least attractive girl in this sketch’ when in reality nothing could be further from the truth” trope).

• Ok, so maybe this version of this sketch wasn't THAT bad. Upon rewatch the highs may have been a bit higher this time. In fact, it was probably smart of them to borrow a sketch from a much stronger season finale than this one. 

• Hell, it’s not even the fact that they're still so frequently bringing back old sketch premises from several seasons ago that bothers me so much here.

• I guess the fact that they borrowed a sketch from a previous season finale where absolutely none of the cast members people were expecting/secretly hoping would leave…actually left…is perhaps the most troubling thing to me here. C+

Victorian Ladies At Lunch

• A strange Victorian sketch featuring Scarlett Johansson? Could we finally be about to meet the mysterious Mr. Willoughby?

• So, I guess the whole point of this was to try and create a “THIS IS LIVE TELEVISION!!!” forced breaking type moment by making the women of the cast eat real blood pudding, jellied eels, candied clams and pickled cows’ feet on camera? Hey, they could've done worse.

• At first, this felt more like it belonged on Jimmy Fallons’ Tonight Show than SNL but then I noticed how the snappy live pacing of it and the over the top writing and dialogue delivery saved it.

• Kudos to them for executing this as a live sketch rather than a pretape. That was a very unusual and uncharacteristically daring move on the show's part. 

• I liked a lot of Dismukes' dialogue (probably because his was easiest to understand due to his mouth being the least full). It seemed like this sketch was structured dialogue wise to just have the women set him up to describe the ridiculously offensive way these endangered animal dishes were prepared.

• Perhaps the thing I got the biggest kick out of was seeing Chloes’ very real reactions to what she was eating. Yeah, she was clearly struggling the most here. She was even too disgusted to break like a normal person here.

• Meanwhile, the gross out queen herself Sarah Squirm seemed the absolute least phased by this out of anyone. Heidi and Scarjo are tied for a close second here since Heidi's one if the shows’ more fearless performers in the cast right now (which means something different today, I'm sure) and Scarletts’ just a friend of the show who's always willing to support her fellow women and who must've been in a prankish mood this week between this and the joke swap. 

• My guess is that some combination of Sarah, Heidi, Dismukes and possibly Scarlett were involved with the writing on this one and I have another (slightly less educated) theory that this sketch was designed by the other women solely as one big humiliation ritual for Chloe for missing so much airtime for doomed vanity projects lately. I mean, she must've been absent at least on Monday and Tuesday of this week because I believe this and the monologue were the only things she was even in this week.

• Damn, that is the longest title card I have ever seen on this show. They must've taken great care timing-wise not to overload the show because they knew they absolutely HAD to get this in along with the joke swap on Update. There wasn't even a band shot anywhere near this episode.

• Yeah, the Pepto Bismol button at the end was a bit of a bummer and something I too really wish the show would cease doing already but I had enough fun watching the rest of this sketch that I'm honestly not gonna let it bug me that much. B-

Goodnights

• So, we see Scarlett being handed flowers by Colin who kisses her on the mouth so that Emil can react with the most committed disgust out of a small group in the left hand corner of the stage that includes him and everyone else besides Sarah who joined the cast after season 46? I wonder how that was set up? I'm sure they were always planning to have the Victorian lunch sketch at the end of the rundown.

• We do see Sarah over in the opposite corner tightly hugging Bowen (who appears the most emotional out of everyone on stage at this moment) with Ego a distant third behind him and Sarah. Miss Eggy doesn't appear on the verge of tears or anything. She just appears most ready to hug everyone.

• Based on this alone, I'd say the safest bet to make would be the announcement of Bowens’ departure some time by August or September. I'd say Sarah and Ego are the next most likely candidates in that order. I don't base that on what I'm now seeing could be their “meta moments” in the monologue and TV Takes respectively (because reading into that may be a bit much). I just get the sense that Bowen and Sarah may have developed such a strong emotional bond that they may not want to do the show without one another and this may leave together. Plus, Ego getting to reprise Miss Eggy so soon reminds me of when Vanessa Bayer did the same thing with her Dawn Lazarus character back in season 42, so…these might just be gut feelings on my part.

Ranking All Of ScarJos’ Episodes From Best To Worst

1. Scarlett Johansson/Death Cab For Cutie (01.14.2006)
2. Scarlet Johansson/Niall Horan (12.14.2019)
3. Scarlett Johansson/Bjork (04.21.2007)
4. Scarlett Johansson/Lorde (03.11.2017)
5. Scarlett Johansson/Bad Bunny (05.17.2025)
6. Scarlett Johansson/Wiz Khalifa (05.02.2015)
7. Scarlett Johansson/Arcade Fire (11.14.2010)

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Jack Black/Elton John & Brandi Carlile (04.05.2025)
3. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
4. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
5. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
6. Quinta Brunson/Benson Boone (05.03.2025)
7. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
8. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
9. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
10. Scarlett Johansson/Bad Bunny (05.17.2025)
11. Jon Hamm/Lizzo (04.12.2025)
12. Walton Goggins/Arcade Fire (05.11.2025)
13. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
14. Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
15. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
16. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
17. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
18. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
19. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
20. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
21. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, that was season 50…and that was another typical “let's run out the clock” finale to end it. 

• Just think, this is the exact same episode that a few years ago some people were led to believe would be the last SNL episode ever. Makes you think, huh?

• Overall, I feel this episode represents this season as a whole (outside of the anniversary special itself) in that we might have proven ourselves to be fools for buying into any amount of hype and expecting anything bigger or better from the show than just…what it actually is now. Oh, well. Just standard operating procedure, I guess.

• At least after last week, it was nice to have another established host who has the proven ability to elevate material and boost morale around the show…even if there was still this gassed out feeling.

• I'm not gonna let myself get bothered by the fact that they're still digging out as many old, reused sketch premises from years ago as they've been these past two weeks. I'm not saying that because there was a fair enough level of buzz and hype surrounding it to distract even me from that but also because a few moments felt original enough to stand out and balance out this episode a bit.

• Still, there was fun to be had if you can see the forest for the trees tonight…and although Mikey seems to have had a light night, it looks like everyone in the cast got some airtime and no one was shut out of the finale (no matter how many times they may tell you it's happened to them previously on the show).

• Honestly, the thing that bums me out the most is that we're finding ourselves back in the same place we were four years earlier when season 46 ended and we were left with no clue as to who (if anyone) would be leaving the show.

• Of course, Covid isn't dictating those decisions as much anymore and back then we did find out that new people would be joining an already overstuffed cast after a couple of people did leave slightly unexpectedly, and the people we were expecting to have left dipped in and out quite a bit and ended up leaving at the end of season 47 instead (and in the middle of season 48 in one person's case who we just saw last week).

• This led to a promising new season that quickly lost steam leading us right back to where we are now and where we have been for the past two damn years at this point and I don't know if I can go through that whole cycle with this show again.

• Still, I guess we have the whole summer ahead of us to wait and speculate until we find out who's definitely leaving and who may be joining the show and if there's hope for things to take off in any more new directions creatively at this point.

• Maybe a complete season 21 style reboot is too much to hope let alone ask for at this point…but I agree with whoever been putting forth the take recently that this would be the biggest thing the show could do to keep them genuinely interested at this point (and you know who you are…even though I kinda doubt you're reading this right now).

Closing Thoughts 

• Well, that sure was season 50, wasn't it?

• Fear not though, because for a change of pace…this blog will actually continue on semi-regularly throughout the summer…by taking things back to season 32…for now.

• I can confirm that the next post on this blog is going to be posted this coming Thursday, May 22nd and it will be another full length SNL retro review of the Hugh Laurie/Beck episode from season 32 as Deej and I will be covering it on the next episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast.

• After that, we'll do a couple more episodes with season 32 specific topics that I will not reveal here yet. I'll wait until Deej and I nail down a few more things before doing so.

• See you in a few days and have a great summer!

Walton Goggins/Arcade Fire (05.10.2025)

A Mother's Day Message From SNL

• Huh…with as big a news week as this was you'd think they wouldn't do this as a cold op…HEEEEEYYYYY WAIT A MINUTE IT'S THAT GUY WHO PLAYS TRUMP AGAIN…WHAAAAAAAA?!?!?

• Well, at least he shoos away Kenan, Marcello, Bowen and their moms to shake things up.

• He is legitimately speaking for a large portion of the audience when he questions why the show isn't doing a “Chicago Pope/Daaaa Prayers” thing right now.

• I do like his blunt slams on J.D. Vance and…HEY, CECILYS’ BACK…AND SHE'S PLAYING JENEANE PIRRO AGAIN!!! YAAAAAYYY!!!

• I always liked Cecily in this role and was wondering why they wouldn't save this for next weeks’ Update until Colin came out as Pete Hegseth. Very clever way to revive the ol’ red wine spit take gag here.

• Ah, what the hell. Another format breaking JAJ/Trump cold open that actually worked for me. This is about the second best thing they could've done to a Chicago Pope cold open…well, distant second, but still. B-

Monologue 

• Huh…this wasn't what I was expecting either, but OK.

• A male host opens his monologue with a string of humblebrags about his status as a “sex symbol” right after yet another JAJ as Trump cold open? Are we sure this is a new one and they're not just rerunning the Bad Bunny episode from last season again?

• I liked the “I've had this same hairline since I was seven” joke at least.

• I do like how he transitioned into a sincere mother's day monologue with his actual mother in the audience. 

• Suddenly, I feel like I'm watching Gary Busey's monologue from season four…or Blake Sheltons’ monologue from season 40. C+

Second Amendment 

• A sketch set during the American revolution that DOESN'T have Nate Bargatze in it? Well, NOW I've seen everything!

• Already, I'm laughing at Waltons’ slick monosyllabic utterances about “guns”. 

• I love how his whole outfit appears to be a Leno-like jean jacket.

• JAJ really gets to shine here as do Mikey, Dismukes and Longfellow in support roles. 

• Anyone else think Dismukes’ voice sounded oddly like Bobby Moynihan at one point? 

• My one complaint about this sketch was that it felt like it got out before it made any point it might have had or gone anywhere.

• This felt like it had to be WAY edited down from dress rehearsal for some reason. B-

Tiny Baby Shoe (In The Middle Of The Zoo)

• Hmm…hard to get a bead on this but it's cute enough to work for me.

• Walton worked in an absurd small footed man and I liked the twist of Walton thinking he will date Jane and Jane immediately shutting him down.

• Sam Rockwells’ cameo worked for me as well in the exact same type of role as Walton…but he makes balloon animals.

• Maybe pretapes would be a better venue for Jane's musical talents if she makes it to season 51? B-

Mother's Day Brunch

• Ok, now we get a whole ass sketch playing off Waltons’ “sex symbol” status. Fine.

• I liked Heidi and Sarah in this. I did like how Walton played off Mikey and Andrew.

• I actually liked how Mikey delivered his line “LOVE to peek at some menus” as well as how Walton just thunked down Mikey and Andrew's menus on the table.

• I get the sense that Walton isn't quite used to performing in front of a live audience yet because he was noticeably tripping over his own lines all night and this sketch had the most instances of that.

• This sketch suddenly got WAY raunchier in a way I wasn't crazy about but I did like how it ended right when it felt like it was overstaying its welcome. C-

Handful of Hope

• Hmm…service dogs being trained to sit through a Tennessee Williams like play seems like an original enough twist on modern era SNLs theater sketches.

• Seems like they're drawing on Waltons southern heritage a lot in this episode. I guess some of the writers are big “Righteous Gemstones” fans?

• I liked how they used Longfellow and Jane as the trainers in this sketch.

• I wonder how they pulled off the eye roll effect on the one dog. Speaking of which, I did like the gag of the “not asleep” fake eye glasses being put on Jane's dog.

• I liked the speech buttons gag with Longfellows dog. That reminds me, did Dismukes write this? That part feels like a direct callback to his commentary from Billie Eilishs’ episode from season 47. 

• I also got a kick out of the “didn't go to Juilliard” back and forth between Walton and Bowen. B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• I liked Josts’ Pope material (as well as Che's “juvenile” crack). I also liked Che's Trump/Eric Adams, Elon/Ye and penis size study jokes, Josts “yacht carrying influencers sinks/aircraft carrier/Dick Splinter, ND/GTA” jokes. This was that rare Update that was worth watching for the jokes just as much as it was for the commentaries.

• I was OK enough with Marcellos’ “movie guy” the first time that I didn't mind it being bought back once more. I did get a kick out of his whole Jurassic World rant and the “Gary Fields/Garfield” rant (as wholly unoriginal as the whole “why does he hate Mondays?” joke was) and “Gatorade Zero” jokes.

• Speaking of which, if nothing else bringing back Marcellos’ “Movie Guy” was worth it for no other reason than hearing Che's callback to Marcello's new catch phrase “am I right, guys?” during that K-Pop singer joke. I laughed just as hard at that one as Colin did.

• I liked Mikeys’ “guy who just walked into a spider web” as just an excuse for him to be extremely physical. What I liked even more was the rapid fire black out nature of it. This felt like a piece Mikey may have auditioned with or just wanted to get on the air before he left.

• I liked Heidi's new one off Update character much more than I thought I would (especially the “porn/sunglasses” joke). B+

Deathly Diner

• Hey, Ego and Ashley aren't completely shut out of the live show! Good for them!

• They, along with Bowen, performed their parts well. I liked that this sketch wasn't quite as repetitive or as one note as I was expecting it to be and I liked that Bowen was used in a more restrained role here.

• I also liked their interaction with Heidi and Kenans elderly characters. C-

Midnight Matinee: Squatty Potty

• Ok, I think this one sets some kind of record for being the shortest Dan Bulla short ever produced (certainly felt that way compared to all his others).

• Thank God this was as short as it was because it was the second piece of the night that went absolutely nowhere.

• I did like the ending with Dismukes suddenly running screaming and jumping out of a window.

• Speaking of the ending, until the entire caveman sequence, none of this felt unique to Dan Bullas’ style. It was like anyone on SNLs’ current staff could've written or produced this up until the talking slug came out. D+

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Jack Black/Elton John & Brandi Carlile (04.05.2025)
3. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
4. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
5. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
6. Quinta Brunson/Benson Boone (05.03.2025)
7. Jon Hamm/Lizzo (04.12.2025)
8. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
9. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
10. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
11. Walton Goggins/Arcade Fire (05.11.2025)
12. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
13. Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
14. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
15. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
16. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
17. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
18. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
19. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
20. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts 

• This episode was wildly uneven until after Update when it was just kinda…blah. It had a strong enough start despite sputtering a bit, but completely ran out of gas in the last third. Still, there was some fun to be had in the first half if you were willing to look for it.

• Walton Goggins seemed like a game host who was just a bit too full of himself for me to fully get into. I guess all the hype surrounding “The White Lotus” is making him start buying into his own to take himself too seriously, huh?

• I mean, it was foolish of me to expect a Mother's day episode to be anything above “middle of the road” since the second episode in a May run is usually a total wash but this host got a ton of comedy buzz from stuff like “Vice Principals” and “The Righteous Gemstones” which themselves got rave reviews from comedy needs, so…I guess I also should've expected that “White Lotus” hype to kind of ruin this guy for me.

• Chloe got shut out. Devon and Emil almost did. Apparently, I blinked and missed them. Oddly, Kenan felt like he was barely in the show. Other than that, everybody else got a fair amount of airtime.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, next week is SNLs’ 50th Season finale with host Scarlett Johansson and musical guest Bad Bunny.

• Part of me is expecting another real “running out the clock” type episode, another part of me is expecting an episode full of big tributes to those players who may (or may not) be leaving (guess we'll find out soon, huh?)

• Another part of me is expecting a possible fourth Domingo sketch. I mean, we've established Bad Bunny as a canonical part of the “Domingo-verse” and ScarJo seems like she's always gonna be down to sing purposely off key for laughs. If they are planning a big blowout for next week, all signs point to this as a distinct possibility, so…watch out.

• Anyway, my next blog post will be a full review of this season's finale and the week after that I will be posting a full length review of the Hugh Laurie/Beck episode from October 28, 2006 because it will be the subject of the next episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast coming out on Thursday, May 22nd. That's right, we're officially creeping into season 32 now!

• See you then!

Top Five Bill Hader SNL Sketches & Moments From Season 31

The following blog post is a companion piece to the latest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast with special guest, Jon Schneider of the Saturday Night Network.

Give us a listen, won't you?

5. Laser Cats (Lindsay Lohan/Pearl Jam - 04.15.2006) 

• Normally, I run pretty hot and cold on these sketches and tend to tune in and out of them a bit (I didn't think the fourth one had that much business being in a Steve Martin hosted episode, for example) but this being the first one makes things a bit different. 

• Yeah, there isn't much to these beyond the joke of Bill and Andy presenting a purposely cheap and bad looking short to a quietly irritated Lorne but I have to say Bill and Andy's commitment to the “acting” of their ridiculous sci-fi roles in such drastically budget-less short makes them fun and there's usually other small moments in these that are worth seeing, like the hallway fights between Will Fortes’ “Robot Tron” and Fred Armisens’ “bad guy”. These are the type of things they would improve on in later installments.

• Possibly my favorite moment in this inaugural short of the series would be Lindsay Lohan in the commissary suddenly being “replaced” with Rachel Dratch as the “princess” after not wanting to go along with any of this nonsense.

• There's no denying that this was one of the tone setting moments of the new SNL era viewers were about to fully enter back in 2006.

4. Weekend Update: Friendly New Guy Impression Off (Steve Carell/Kanye West)

• Hey, speaking of tone setting moments for a new era…it's Bill and Andy's first appearance as “themselves” on the show.

• It's not often that the show just gives new featured players their own guest spots on Weekend Update in their very first episode to carve out their respective niches in front of a live audience in real time, but amazingly we get to see Bill firmly establish himself as the shows’ next “go to” impressionist and Andy as the new big, silly goofball that the kids will love.

• Even doing impressions of long deceased silver screen stars from at least half a century ago (and repeatedly referencing a six year old beer commercial), both Bill and Andy exude an effortless command over the audience that let's viewers know the show will be in good hands once the old guard of the early aughts either moves on or gets completely swept away.

3. Joplin: Alive! Podcast (Matt Dillon/Arctic Monkeys - 03.11.2006)

• Speaking of moments that let viewers know the show is being left in good hands, here is another one.

• This sketch may be an obscure one off that never recurred, but it's carried solely by the featured players of SNL Season 31 and it showed they could easily carry sketches driven by detailed writing as well as they could big broad character pieces.

• Plus, it also came at a pivotal time in culture when new web media was coming into its own and showed that more traditional media like SNL could respond to those trends in real time (even if, at that time, they seemed to think podcasts were pretty much the same thing as live radio shows, but that's OK. It takes time for these things to be fully embraced and accepted by the public)

2. Vincent Prices’ 1961 St. Patrick's Day Special (Matt Dillon/Arctic Monkeys - 03.11.2006)

• Speaking of long deceased silver scree…oh no wait, that segues’ not gonna work now. Never mind.

• Anyway, this was a much funnier and more tightly written follow up to a similar sketch that aired previously in the Eva Longoria/Korn episode from 11.19.2005 so this officially marks the point where Bill has established his first recurring character on the show.

• In one fell swoop, Bill Hader has suddenly made the late Vincent Price both funny AND relevant to modern day SNL audiences (ditto for Kristen Wiig as Kate Hepburn).

• Bill also gets some great assists here from Darrell Hammond as Don Knotts and Matt Dillon as Rod Serling but this is a sketch that cements beyond a shadow of a doubt that Hader could easily carry any sketch.

1. Decicco Bros Unicornery (Matt Dillon/Arctic Monkeys - 03.11.2006)

• Speaking of obscure one off deep cut sketches from SNL season 31, this one tops my personal list.

• I've seen this one a few times now for the podcast, but it has never failed to make me laugh due to its sheer outlandish absurdity.

• Bill Hader and Matt Dillon as two very non-distinctly “Jersey” guys with slightly Midwestern vibes aggressively upsetting the magical powers of various “unicorns”. What else can I say? 

• It was an absolute joy to rediscover this forgotten gem of a sketch for this podcast.

Honorable Mention: American Taser (Jason Lee/Foo Fighters - 11.12.2025)

• No, Bills’ character may not be the central focus of this sketch, but he delivers such a standout performance in such a uniquely written sketch that I felt the need to mention it (even though it was a last minute cut from my personal list).

• Pretty much this seasons’ whole cast (minus Tina, Horatio and Kristen) and the star of “My Name Is Earl” electrocute each other one by one in this long form commercial for Americas’ leading stun gun manufacturer.

• Bills’ character tases Kenan just before saying the line “Was that man a criminal? Weeellll, he sure looked like one!”. After he gives his plug, he is tased by Finesse Mitchell who delivers a sincere statement on racial profiling in America, who is then tased by Andy Samberg promoting the Star Trek model taser in an extremely nerdy voice (which I also thought was pretty funny).

• Bills’ sheer charisma mixed with his wacky Charles Bronson-esque Chicago cop accent not only put this one over but save a slightly questionable joke by today's standards and actually make it laugh out loud funny. 

• Yes, Seth Meyers and Will Forte may have lines that would be considered…well, let's say “chauvinist” by today's standards especially but they also have likable enough personalities on and off the show to make those work, too.

Closing Thoughts

• …and that's my list of top five Bill Hader sketches and moments from his very first season of SNL which, once again, is the topic of the newest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast. 

• Of course, my regular co host Deej Barens and our gracious guest Jon Schneider each made up their own lists which you will have to listen to the podcast to get from them.

• Also, I have more in depth thoughts on some of these sketches that I have already gotten into in previous episodes of the We Heart Hader Podcast. If you would like to hear them, please listen to this episode as well as this one (oh yeah, and our very first one as well).

• My next blog entry will be a review of the upcoming Walton Goggins/Arcade Fire episode of SNL which I will publish by the evening of Sunday, May 11th. 

• I will say I'm glad SNL is booking hosts with proven comedic talent showcases on other network TV shows in the lead up to the 50th Season finale, so…I'm heading into the end of this season with the same feeling I had going in: extremely cautious optimism.

• See you then!

Qunita Brunson/Benson Boone (05.03.2025)

Trumps’ First 100 Days/Executive Orders

• Uh, Ok. I guess we're running out the clock on these standard JAJ/Trump cold opens.

• The way JAJ shouted the word “POPE” and the “Elmo deportation/Harry Potter” jokes got me (although maybe they should've went a bit harder on JK herself than Harry Potter fans in general, but hey…who am I to judge?)

• Mikey Day as Stephen Miller is a nice touch and at least Marcello as Rubio accurately mirrors my own reaction to seeing him in this role.

• On the surface, JAJ as Trump just listing off a bunch of real and fake executive orders doesn't make for much of an entertaining cold open (hell, anything involving politics doesn't, really) but at least this broke from the typical format of these “JAJ as Trump speaks directly to camera” cold opens and was also fairly short and directly to the point. C-

Monologue 

• Sorry Randy Newman, but Quinta Brunson, Sabrina Carpenter and…Dwayne Wade? Ok, have just officially given short people many reasons to live!

• Anyway, while I would’ve much preferred another sincere monologue from Quinta over this 2010-ass song and danceologue, I have to say Quinta and some genuinely surprising cameos (seriously I'm surprised Sabrina could squeeze this into her schedule on such short notice, isn't she still on a big tour right now?) livened this up enough for me to stay interested.

• I did like Quintas’ joke about how they tried to cast her as one of the children on “Abbott Elementary” and that was her one show that she wrote and created. B-

Will & Todds’ Radical Experience 

• I liked the idea behind this once it was established (after that everything felt heavily telegraphed) but it felt like a very unambitious premise saved by the performances of Kenan and Quinta. 

• Yeah, Dismukes and Marcello didn't quite do the most convincing Bill and Ted impressions ever, but hey…they weren't playing Bill and Ted, they were playing Will and Todd. That's different. These may be technically “original” characters for all we know (and even if they weren't, they weren't dissimilar enough to completely obscure what they were legally “parodying” here, so…yeah, I got what they were going for and I'll let it slide).

• I did like how this ended on basically a cheap reveal of everyone leaving the phone booth they literally just disappeared into and basically just blew a special effect immediately. B+

OnlySeniors

• Speaking of very static premises only Kenan and Quinta could save…

• I liked the execution of this, but my only problem is that it felt like the exact type of thing we've seen before. It's pretty much just the same OnlyFans type sketch from Halseys’ 2019 episode but executed in a pretape much like Rectix from Adam Sandlers’ 2019 episode.

• Ego and Devon were great in this and Mikey and Heidis cameos really helped keep this going (no pun intended). C+

Leadership Summit

• Hmm…this reminds me of the sexual harassment sketches from Oscar Issacs’ episode in season 47 or Shane Gillis’ first episode in season 49…but it's not about sexual harassment, it's about two different ways to misunderstand the phrase “compliment sandwich”, so…it works a little bit better from me.

• They really gave all of the best lines to Quinta in this. I liked her back and forth with Sarah and the “BurSweeto/baby back ribs” stuff was…okay.

• Hey, two different references to The Simpsons theme song in the same season within a month of each other! Am I the only person who's OK with that?

• Ok, I’m not crazy about the idea of Bowens’ long hair white trench coat cookie crumbles guy becoming a recurring character 

• This sketch seemed a little too unfocused in spots, but not to its own detriment or anything, so…I didn't hate it. B-

Ferry Altercation

• Oh, I see they're bringing this back for a third time (second this season alone). Well, it was worthy of the buzz it got the first time, so…I get it.

• …and I guess that wasn't a glaring technical error, it actually does look like that if you were to drive to the Staten Island Ferry?

• I did like Mikeys’ Coke lines/single ladies bits and Chloes’ “nuts/kiss my ass” bits.

• I don't hate that they appear to be trying to top the sexual raunchiness each time. 

• I'm glad they didn't go for the obvious joke of having Dwayne Wade appear as Quintas’ “big, cool boo” and rather went with Kenan as her father who served in “eye-rack”.

• Colin as himself referencing that money pit ferry of his (and Pete's) was a fun way to end this.

• I can't fully say this beats the one from Quintas’ first episode yet but it for sure beats the one from Martin Shorts’ episode this season. B+

Forever 31

• Well, I like seeing that the show still has enough faith in Jane to trust her with the “cute young 20 something chick” but this felt a little too much like something we've seen before, too.

• More specifically, it felt like they were trying to do another “big dumb hat/tiny red glasses” sketch but executing it as a pretape in the style of “Chonk”, “Fashion Coward” or that Temu parody from last season's finale.

• I guess my main takeaway from this sketch is that it's another piece satirizing female fashion and beauty trends so I'm not the target audience for it at all. C+

Two Bitches Vs. A Gorilla

• Hey, speaking of female led sketches that I immediately recognize are not written for me…

• Yeah, I feel like this is gonna get a ton of shit on line since it's another SNL sketch that solely exists for the show to reference an online meme in order to cling to whatever shreds of relevance to a young audience it still has…but I can tell Ego and Quinta had a lot of fun with it. JAJ did fine with his part, too (even if you could kind of see him waiting for his cue for a sec on camera).

• Plus, it feels like it was constructed in a very different manner from pretty much any other SNL sketch in recent memory (aside from The Continental), so…there's that.

• Come to think of it, there is a chance that Quinta being in this will be the main thing that keeps it from getting SNL “dragged” online (do the kids still say “dragged” anymore?) 

• Yeah, I think that it's quite a few weeks too early to be able to tell whether or not SNL or John Mulaney had the better comedic non social media take on this meme yet (I'm leaning toward Mulaney but we'll have to wait until the 28th to see if he actually does this or if there's another twist on this bit to be revealed later). B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• I gotta say I really loved how Jost leaned into and then later called back to that “oh hell no/two dolls” commentary.

• I also liked Che's Pam Bondi/Tattoos/University of Alabama/Yeah on Nitrous Oxide jokes as well as Josts’ Bin Laden joke.

• This Update actually felt really fun because Jost & Che weren't really mocking the audience that much as they were each other and they had enough energy to really suggest that this is their third to last show.

• It's nice to see Longfellow as himself at the desk again. I liked how he gently moved away from his laid back, snarky persona and went for sheer outlandish silliness to put this one over.

• It's especially nice to see Sarah and Bowen at the desk as actual human characters, but this almost felt too unfocused for its own good, too. 

• The best way I can describe the voices they're using is “they're both doing Bowens’ Fran Liebowitz if she were learning how to do a Pittsburgh dirtbag accent in real time.”

• Yeah, Applebee's sure as hell is a trash ass restaurant but there may have been too much meta fourth wall breaking with those “Asian glaze” jokes and Benson Boone appearing as himself as an Applebee's waiter.

• This commentary was a nice break from Sarah and Bowens’ usual Update nonsense and it almost had everything going for it, but something felt…off. 

• Yeah, I'll say this about Benson Boone. He can do all the backflips he wants on stage, but it's not enough to distract listeners from the fact that they're trying to place this exact melody they've heard…somewhere before recently, they're just not sure from which other male pop act yet. (Who the hell was it his second song reminded me of? The Jonas Brothers? The 1975? Harry Styles? No…). B-

Narcotics Anonymous 

• Hmm…a sketch where Kenan infiltrates a cocaine support group in an obvious attempt to…score more Coke?

• I guess Quintas' gotta find a way to work in one sketch about cocaine into each of her episodes, huh?

• Well, this is a genuinely creative premise that I can't say I've seen before on SNL. Good On ‘em. Kenan, Mikey and Quinta in particular really sold the hell out of this.

• When you look at this and then look back at the sketches in Ariana Grande and Bill Burrs’ Episodes, season 50 actually managed to break the curse of Elordi and maintain a solid track record when it comes to “support group” sketches. B+

The Greats

• I guess Quintas’ always gotta find a way to play a man in each ten-to-one sketch in her episodes. Is that in her contract or something?

• Well, I suppose I like the idea of her playing an increasingly brain damaged Ali-style trash talker of the boxing world more than I liked her playing the horniest boss in the world alongside Sarah.

• I did like JAJ as the announcer and how this went for a more subtle style of performance based live humor rather than Sarah Sherman pretape style blood and gore.

• Anyway, while Quinta, Devon, Kenan, Andrew, Longfellow and…Jane? were great in this, is wasn't my favorite segment of the night that played upon Quintas’ height.

• More than anything, this reminds me of a Kids In The Hall sketch where Bruce McCullough kept challenging a guy to a fight, getting knocked on his ass and ignoring everyone else's desperate pleas (even from Scott Thompsons’ Queen Elizabeth) to stay down.

• What I really want to know is, when's Jerry “Jackrabbit” Tulane gonna fight James “The Gentlemen Masher” Corcoran? B-

Ranking The 50th Season Best To Worst

1. SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
2. Jack Black/Elton John & Brandi Carlile (04.05.2025)
3. Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
4. Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
5. John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
6. Quinta Brunson/Benson Boone (05.03.2025)
7. Jon Hamm/Lizzo (04.12.2025)
8. Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
9. Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
10. Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
11. Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
12. Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
13. Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
14. Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
15. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
16. Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
17. Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
18. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
19. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)

Overall Thoughts 

• This was one of the better episodes of season 50, but it doesn't quite have Quintas’ season 48 episode beat.

• It is clear that Quinta is one of those beloved hosts who still brings a fresh spark and unique creative energy to the show. In fact, she blends in so seamlessly with the rest of the cast it's almost like she could've BEEN a cast member in another universe.

• Still, Quinta bought just a bit more to the show than Jon Hamm did, but still not enough to disguise the fact that the writers are leaning on old, reused sketch/parody templates and internet memes too much (which is the only thing that keeps this episode just out of the top five for me).

• As far as cast airtime, Ashley, Jane and Devon came very close to being shut out of the show entirely but narrowly avoided that fate. Everyone else got a fair amount of airtime

• Aside from that, I can't think of anyone who truly “dominated” the show aside from maybe Kenan?

Closing Thoughts 

• Next week, Walton Goggins makes his hosting debut. As I've said on my last SNN Patron Feedback Appearance and in a previous blog entry, I'm glad the show is going after (mostly) proven TV comedy stars to finish out the season instead of big names (or names from outside if the world of entertainment that are so big they have no business playing themselves on the show).

• Before that on Thursday, May 8th, I will post a blog of my top five Bill Hader sketches from season 31 of SNL as that is the topic of the next episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast (with special guest, SNNs’ own Jon Schneider!). After that, we will be doing a full length review of the Hugh Laurie/Beck episode as we enter season 32 (which will of course be released after my review of the Scarlett Johansson/Bad Bunny episode that will serve as SNLs’ 50th Season finale). See you guys then!

Julia Loius-Dreyfus/Paul Simon (05.13.2006)

This blog entry is a companion piece to the newest episode of the We Heart Hader podcast. Give it a listen, won't you? 

You can either finish reading this blog post first and then listen or you could just listen first and then come back to this. Do whatever you want. It's up to you. I certainly won't mind.

Parallel Earth

In an alternate timeline, 43rd U.S. President Al Gore (Himself) addresses the nation on such crucial issues as giant renegade glaciers, bailing out the big oil companies and keeping the nations’ trillion dollar budget surplus inside the good ol’ lockbox.

• Even though the “lockbox” callback didn't quite land and this was a pure liberal fantasy (Michael Moore AND George Clooney on the Supreme Court? Come on, guys…) and seemed like it only served the purpose of the show indulging Gore's wish fulfillment even more than The West Wing Short from the episode he hosted four years earlier, parts of this were quite funny if you can get around Gore's typical dry, stuffy delivery.

• Gore's lines about having created “an anti hurricane and tornado machine” and George W. Bush being a mere MLB commissioner being tasked with tapping phones to find out which players are steroid abusers made me laugh.

• I also liked the lines about Six Flags Tehran, Afghanistan becoming a popular spring break destination, Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming “El Presidente” of “Mexifornia” in order to solve the immigration issue which has a strong economy. Other than that, the rest of this may have been lost to the mid aughts time fog. 

• I also liked his segue into LFNY being “the scariest thing we Americans have to fear.” C+

Monologue 

Julia Loius-Dreyfus discusses how “New Adventures Of Old Christine” captures the right audience and debunks the myth of her breaking “the Seinfeld curse” after chance encounters with Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld (Themselves)

• Very nice of Julia to acknowledge her time as a cast member AND the fact that she is the first female alum to host the show!

• The rant about retitling “Old Christine” with the words “New” and “Adventures” to appeal more to men instead of using other proposed titles like “Football Christine”, “Barbecue Spaceship Christine”, “Coke Off A Whores’ Ass Christine” and “CSI: Christine” didn't quite work for me but Julia did her damndest to put this over.

• I did like how this monologue incorporated another pre-taped “Digital Short but more upscale” piece with Julia bumping into Jason Alexander in the streets of NYC.

• Jason and Julia's interaction mostly worked for me with Jasons pathetic Costanza-like unraveling at Julia having a legitimate hit sitcom after his two failed shows in a row followed by Jason being hit by a car after excitedly running out into the street once Julia tells him she could try to get him on this week's SNL. All of this played out well in a funny and entertaining way.

• The ending with Jerry having cut the wires that led to the stage light falling and missing Julia felt kind of awkwardly shoved in. It didn't totally make sense and felt like a cheap excuse to get Jerry to make a filmed cameo just so the show would be able to say they had a “Seinfeld reunion” and the press could run with that as a headline.

• Speaking of which, it's a bit telling that Michael Richards wasn't involved in this monologue…and this would've been several months before the incident at the Laugh Factory. I think the best case scenario would be that he was simply asked to participate and declined.

• I am curious to know who wrote this as it doesn't seem to be totally in SNLs’ voice in this period (unless maybe Tina, Seth or Colin Jost contributed to the “Old Christine” rant at the beginning?) and the Jason/Jerry cameos make this feel like they got someone like David Mandell or another former Seinfeld scribe to come on as a guest writer this week? B-

Tech Pack

You'll be “blown away” by this new device that allows you to store your phone, mp3 player and digital camera on your body as you run through the airport.

• Get it? Because it's a wrap around waist fanny pack with extra wiring and a game show buzzer to “control” all of your devices that looks like a suicide bomb both up close AND from a distance!

• This was a decent blackout piece that worked well enough. The only thing that may have aged this was that the advent of smartphones may have rendered this obsolete but Sudeikis sold the sheer obliviousness of this well. C+

Bum Attention

Jen (Dreyfus) is distraught that the is the only one of her three friends at lunch not to get grossly hit on by a creepy, dirty, bum (Hader) on their way to lunch. Her friends (Dratch, Poehler, Rudolph) feel bad enough to pay this man to say something to her.

• Pretty straightforward concept here. While this may have been an inauspicious start for him in this episode, Bill may have been the only male member of this cast who could properly sell the sleaze of this.

• Amy and JLD were the only ones on the female side who could make this work as well. I can't really imagine any other female host that could've made this work better.

• Sudeikis was great as the maitre d trying to kick out Hader’s character.

• James’ Taylor's “Shower The People” was the funniest possible needle drop here.

• I remember having read somewhere that this exact sketch was originally cut from the Billy Bob Thornton/Creed episode nearly five years earlier. Really would've been interesting to see how this played out then. C+

Morning Show

Cohosts (Wiig) and (Sanz) are plagued with production problems including audio problems rendering the weatherman (Armisen) inaudible, word of an old crew members sudden death on his 72nd birthday not getting around before air and a repeating peppy theme song accidentally playing over guest author (Dreyfus) relaying how her harrowing story of drug addiction inspired her new book.

• While I mostly liked the idea behind this sketch, it felt like a big case of “been there, done that” for me as I know for sure I've seen MADtv do several “local newscast goes horribly wrong” sketches around this time (hell, even SNL already did one of these with Ferrell and Gasteyer four years earlier and MADtv even based an entire sketch around that “leather chair making accidental fart sound when sat on” gag with JLD here).

• Unfortunately, this sketch didn't really escalate itself to any interesting or creative new places those previous sketches didn't.

• I suppose the “Happy Birthday, Stan!” callbacks were funny and JLD played her part well, though.

• The gag with Horatio walking back to his chair but tripping, falling and having to grab JLDs’ boobs for leverage was funny…but the fact that it was Horatio of all people makes it play…differently today. I'll explain why later. C-

MySpace Seminar

At the Learning Annex, hip 27 year old Danny (Samberg) teaches a group consisting of one dorky 40 year old suburban mom (Loius-Dreyfus) and six obvious middle aged pedophiles with flimsy covers (Hader, Forte, Meyers, Parnell, Sanz, Sudeikis) how to create and fill out their own MySpace profiles.

• MySpace references and cheap pedophile jokes? Is this the most 2006-ass SNL sketch ever? It has certainly aged weird for a sketch that may have been a well loved deep cut from this era (I'll get to that part a few bullet points from now).

• For starters, I'll say that Julia brings her own take and unique presence to the “cloying mom” role that we wouldn't get from Amy, Maya, Kristen or Rachel (some of whom have already played these roles in the past so much it's easy to picture any of them here).

• Similarly, Seth is bringing his own unique take to the “creepy, degenerate budding pedophile” role that's way further off the beaten path than what the other guys are giving us. His “Dateline” joke actually landed despite how telegraphed that might have felt. 

• Speaking of Seth, I have a feeling he may have written this sketch as well since it matches his style, he was co head writer with Tina this season (probably preparing to step up and fill that role full time once Tina left) and it reminds me a bit of the “Coach Burt” sketch from Steve Buscemis’ 2011 episode that I know he did write.

• Bill's few lines (and Jason's one) here aren't necessarily the big laugh getters in this sketch but he does a good job setting the tone here (as well as setting up some plausibility that the sketch is actually targeting MySpace and even just the internet itself for not doing a better job of safeguarding themselves against online predators instead of just being an “lol pedophiles” sketch).

• Speaking of parts of this particular sketch that have aged weird…Horatio playing one of the pedophiles in this sketch is…well, maybe a little too on the nose if you're aware of the lawsuit against him. That being said, his mini nervous breakdown while explaining his username “9thGradeSk8rBoi” username was actually funny.

• Forte seems to be playing a primitive, muted version of his classic Jeff Montgomery character here. It still works here and is still very funny particularly his fake typing and insincere “ooohh noooo I don't want thaaaat line read when Andy suggests he change his username from “NaughtyGirlHotStuff”.

• The ending with Finesse entering as a cop looking for his own class as the pedophiles rushed out and Horatio simply placing a plant in front of his face and standing in a corner worked for me. B-

Paul Simon - “How Can You Live In The Northeast” and “Outrageous” 

• Not much to say about these performances. I liked the songs even though they were semi Mellow deep cuts.

• He sure has a lot of questions to ask us though. He's like some kind of cross between Bob Dylan and Joan Osborne.

• I guess Paul just had some new album out at the time and given his connections to the earliest years of SNL I can see how they wanted to book him to make this episode feel like more of an “event”?

Weekend Update w/Fey & Poehler 

Al Gore (Himself) and Amy Poehler debate the merits of global warming

Finesse Mitchell delivers a commentary on the do's and don'ts of high school prom fashion

Tina's grandfather Wolfgang Fey (Armisen) has difficulty with the automated phone system (Dratch) used to sign up for prescription Medicare

David Blaine (Samberg) attempts to hold his breath at the Update desk for nine minutes…but only makes it to 21 seconds

• The only joke I liked during this Update was Amy's lone about new body armor for soldiers in Iraq looking “too goofy” (“Donald Rumsfeld said ‘that's good…we only ordered seven of them’).

• At least Tinas’ joke about high schoolers breaking their virginity pledges “if she's on her game” continues a minor THEME!!! for the night.

• If the bar starts at a new satellite channel for toddlers having a hit show called “CSI: Poopy Town” or New Jersey changing its slogan to “I Love NY”, something is seriously wrong.

• Good thing this Update was overstuffed with commentaries.

• Al Gore's second cameo of the night surprisingly didn't play well. It seemed like it mostly served the function of letting him plug “An Inconvenient Truth” against Amy playing up her “dumb blonde” persona. 

• I did like the part of Gore's commentary where he just showed a heavily redacted White House memo with just the words “CONJECTURE /UNSUBSTANTIATED/ LOONEY TUNES!!” and “Everything…is…great…drive…big…car…a lot.”

• Armisens’ segment playing Tinas’ grandfather trying to sign up for a Medicare prescription plan over the phone was…OK. I kinda liked the ending with him having accidentally ordered 18 tickets to Scary Movie 4 at a Magic Johnson Theater. It was funny enough but other than that it was just “lol old people and their Medicare problems”. Maybe with my new job this hits a little too close to home to be funny…but even when I saw this nearly 20 years ago it wasn't that funny either.

• Strangely, Finesses’ commentary might have been the funniest part of this Update. It was just some harmless riffing on outlandish teen prom fashion.

• I especially liked the “boots”, “pimp/magician” and “Skittles” jokes as well as his own admission that his mom took him as his date to her own prom because she couldn't find a babysitter.

• Sambergs David Blaine commentary is a close second to Finesses’ since he sold it on sheer Samberg goofiness alone with a small assist from Sudeikis.

• Seems odd to me that they put all that makeup on just his hands to achieve that “prune hands” effect when it wouldn't have taken THAT long to just soak his hands on water. C+

Charades 

In this vintage GSN rerun from 1979, host Bert Convy (Parnell) gives clues to stewardess Beth Burns (Poehler) and housewife Debbie Wagner (Dreyfus) that celebrity guest judges Rich Little (Hammond), Nipsy Russel (Thompson), Charo (Maya Rudolph) and Olympian Caitlyn Jenner (Forte) must guess based on the crude, accidentally blatantly sexual gestures Beth & Debbie must resort to making.

• This sketch was just…all over the place.

• Premise-wise, it was purely ribaldry. The only twist is that the panel of 70s celebrities are only able to guess Poehlers’ guesses correctly and make Dreyfus the butt of cheap sex jokes making Dreyfus lose and Poehler the reigning champion.

• Still, there's some fun to be had if one can see the forest for the trees.

• For instance, Kenan's chipper acting and less raunchy guesses (“checking for hernias?”) were delightful.

• Darrells’ jammed in bursts of dated-even-then impressions (“as W.C. Fields would say ‘ah yes, a housewife'”) and Parnells’ mock-polite-annoyance was possibly the funniest part of this whole sketch. 

• Seriously, Darrells’ portrayal of Rich Little as an out-of-touch dated hack does come across quite a bit funnier if you've seen the actual Rich Little “Christmas Carol” special from 1979.

• Chris' acting does remind me quite a bit of his acting opposite Jimmy Fallon as Kevin Pollack in that Celebrity Poker sketch from season 29.

• Forte as Caitlyn Jenner seemed like it was just there for set dressing and Armisens’ Carlin isn't quite as good as he seems to think it is. In fact, it's pretty much a watered down version of Rick Moranis’ George Carlin from SCTV. His constant guessing of “party at ___________s’ house” got old quick.

• Maya as Charo, while visually dazzling and understandably over the top, was probably the biggest thing weighing this sketch down. The “casting couch” type jokes were a bit off putting but hey, at least she's not slut shaming herself? C+

Unsolved Mysteries

Actress Michelle Armstrong (Dreyfus) is filming a reenactment of the abduction of Sandy Patterson (Wiig). She tells director Sean Driscoll (Parnell) that she has trouble suspending her disbelief at the outrageous story that somehow involves aliens (Forte) “led” by Dracula (Armisen) as well as E.T. (Forte V/O) a handful of gremlins and ghosts, and Col. Sanders (Hader) rescuing her. 

• Chris and Julia were both solid in straight roles while Kristen, in a rare feat, manages to play one of her paint-by-numbers over the top wacky/crazy lady roles (and this character, we're supposed to believe, is legitimately, mentally ill with Parnell simply enabling her) in a restrained enough capacity to NOT steal focus from any of the other players and place the focus onto herself. In fact, she seemed to be doing a milder version of her Target Lady voice here. I even liked how she over pronounced the hard T when she said “I was so fright-ened”.

• I got a kick out of the sounds of moaning ghosts including one's who just said “boo” and simply “ghost” (were Steve Higgins and Jason Sudeikis doing those voices?) as well as the prop E.T. arm hanging out of a closet.

• Bill really nailed his brief absurd walk on asking if his Col. Sanders is supposed to enter through the window.

• I even thought the ending where Darrel Hammond as Robert Stack came on to inform us that JLDs character was seemingly abducted by Cap'n Crunch was fun and thematically appropriate.

• The only criticism I have of this sketch is how it seemed like a cheap excuse to throw a bunch of random 80s pop culture references together (“monkeycheese” style as…a certain other popular SNL podcaster would say) and 2006 seeming like an odd time for an Unsolved Mysteries parody. I mean, I'm not even sure Robert Stack was still alive at this time let alone if Unsolved Mysteries was even on in reruns anywhere but hey…SNL got away with a lot of “random 80s pop culture reference” sketches around this era (in fact, a lot comedy did…particularly this show and internet comedy…I guess 80s nostalgia was just particularly en vogue in the mid aughts) and they mostly worked regardless of the time fog so, I think I can let this one slide. C+

Digital Short: Peyote

In a PSA for Peyote, Will Forte attempts to talk Andy Samberg out of suicide while they both appear to be in altered states.

• This was essentially a near blackout length gag and it was very funny, but at the same time rather complicated to explain without visuals, but I'll give it a try.

• The idea is that at first we see very tight shots of Forte (looking up & speaking through a megaphone) and Samberg (looking down slightly and leaning tightly against a wall with the corner of a window just above him in frame).

• About 38 seconds in we pull out to reveal both Forte & Samberg are on the sidewalk, Samberg standing with Forte on his knees and Jorma Taccone walking by and shooting them both a dirty look. The tag line for the whole thing is “Through Good Time And Bad: Peyote”

• Essentially, this digital short is basically a cross between “Lettuce” and “Close Talkers” but this was a great piece of brief drug induced absurdity to place in the ten to one spot that was a very uniquely Forte/TLI joint. B+

Overall Thoughts

• Boy, this episode was all over the place, wasn't it?

• There may have been a couple of lowkey classic deep cuts in this episode but overall it felt shockingly…forgettable given all the names involved (and especially when you compare it to both of JLDs’ subsequent host outings).

• I think the one thing bringing this episode down a little was the palpable sense of burnout lingering through the proceedings. 

• I mean, the lead off sketch was a dusted off dress cut from four seasons ago and Update especially felt like it was running on fumes. 

• They must've been pinning their hopes on Julia putting a lot of sketches over (which, hey…I get it) but this episode really had the feeling of “we're really just running put the clock on this season so we can get to figuring out how we can reconfigure the show in the face of looming cast departures and upcoming budget cuts at NBC”.

• At least they seemed to have been able to figure out a way to make Julia the main focus of the show without making it seem like cast airtime was unbalanced at all. No cast member was completely shut out of the show.

Closing Thoughts 

• Well, that was an episode more notable for its significance in the context of SNLs history more than…most of the sketches from it that aired.

• …and hey, if you haven't already done so BEFORE reading all of the preceding words for whatever reason, please find the time in your day to listen to the newest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast that I essentially wrote this specific blog entry for.

• Yes, I know about 90% of this blog is literally a transcription of said podcast as these are essentially all the notes I prepared for said recording, but still…I put a lot of effort into both and it would mean the world to me if you took the time to listen to the podcast I made with Deej in addition to reading this blog.

• Speaking of, the next entry on this blog will likely be a full length review of the upcoming Quinta Brunson/Benson Boone episode of SNL which will air on the night of May 3rd (so, naturally, that review will be posted to this blog on the evening of May 4th).

• The next episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast will be available two weeks from today and it will feature our first ever guest! That's right, Jon Schneider, the main host and creator of The Saturday Night Network himself will join us as we each count down our personal top 5 Bill Hader sketches of season 31!

• Deej and I are both eternally grateful to Jon for giving us each our first shot on his show and continuously having us both on as part of his Patron Feedback shows. Naturally, we always wanted to have him on with us as a guest at some point down the line but very recently Deej and I discussed it and decided that Jon should be our FIRST EVER guest because it just wouldn't seem right to have it any other way as we start bringing on guests in general…so yeah, we moved those plans up quite a bit.

• Now, I know I have been teasing some potential upcoming guests for our podcast myself (whom I have since reached out to privately and fortunately they both have expressed interest) but I was actually just hinting at two other people I wanted to possibly get on for a very specific season 32 centric discussion that I have no idea when we'll get to record at this point…so, I guess I should hold off on saying any more about those tentative plans until they get nailed down in the near future.

• Anyway, see you soon!