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
- SNL50: The Anniversary Special (02.16.2025)
- Jack Black/Elton John & Brandi Carlile (04.05.2025)
- Nate Bargatze/Coldplay (10.05.2024)
- Bill Burr/Mk.Gee (11.09.2024)
- John Mulaney/Chapell Roan (11.02.2024)
- Quinta Brunson/Benson Boone (05.03.2025)
- Jon Hamm/Lizzo (04.12.2025)
- Chris Rock/Gracie Abrams (12.14.2024)
- Paul Mescal/Shaboozey (12.07.2024)
- Lady Gaga (03.08.2025)
- Walton Goggins/Arcade Fire (05.11.2025)
- Timothee Chalamet (01.25.2025)
- Mikey Madison/Morgan Wallen (03.29.2025)
- Dave Chappelle/GloRilla (01.18.2025)
- Martin Short/Hozier (12.21.2024)
- Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
- Charli XCX (11.16.2024)
- Shane Gillis/Tate McRae (03.01.2025)
- Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
- 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!
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