Olivia Rodrigo (05.02.2026)

White House Press Conference

• Ok, I liked that "A-Span of your life disappears when you watch C-Span" joke at the beginning.

• I liked the idea of Ashley's Karoline Leavitt trying to hold a press conference while massive ballroom construction makes it nearly impossible. Too bad they abandoned that idea in favor of another Jost/Hegseth cold open.

• While I do wish we'd get a break from this impression (or at least that they'd have reframed this as a sketch about Hegseths' actual hearings before congress just for a change of pace) I actually thought this was decent. I did like the joke about Hegseth having a tattoo of "Jesus choking out Jimmy Kimmel".

• Ok, I have some...pretty mixed feelings about Aziz Ansari playing Kash Patel. 

• On the one hand, he is an actual Indian comedian playing an actual Indian government figure and Aziz is one of very few Indian performers I could see pulling off this similarly "bro-y' characterization of Kash Patel. 

• On the other hand, everything else I know about Aziz Ansaris' career since 2018...is still a little off putting to me as someone who used to be a huge fan of his as a comedian.

• I mean, Kal Penn probably would've been my first choice for an obligatory stunt cameo here, but this...hell, I'll take it. I'll admit Aziz really sold the hell out of this. C+

Monologue 

• Hmm...this monologue is taking me in a couple of different directions I wasn't expecting.

• The best joke of her was the one she opened with about Mikey, Chloe, Kenan and Sarah being the cast members she got into in her "teenage years" who all came back (which isn't saying much).

• I wasn't expecting the type of monologue where the host goes over their early acting career from a double duty pop star host...but then again, most of this young, Disney-adjacent double duty hosts DO start out as child actors before becoming singers and musicians full time so I guess we were bound to get one of these some day. I wasn't crazy about the grainy ass 480p looking close up they showed or how sloppily they Clutch Cargo'd it, though. 

• I did like how she tried to make a few jabs (no pun intended) at Jake Paul (who...was apparently an old costar of hers?) but my first reaction was "she should've went way harder on that guy". My second thought after that was "Oh, wait...am I confusing Jake Paul with...yeah, I AM confusing Jake Paul with his brother Logan Paul. Nevermind."

• It was nice of them to give us a bit of music just when we were expecting something more from this monologue. On paper, the idea of Olivia singing a parody of her own hit "drivers' license" but about getting a Real ID (in fact, I have a feeling this was pitched to her and she just went with it) but she actually elevated that as much as she could have and made it work. It felt a little bit fresher seeing this as part of her monologue rather than as its own separate pretape. B-

Edge Of Destiny

• Ok guys, you definitely don't need to frame a Pluto TV sketch with an ID bumper. That's not a thing any Pluto TV "channel" does.

• Huh...I wouldn't expect a parody of a Dynasty/Dallas/Knotts Landing type 80s prime time soap in an Olivia Rodrigo hosted episode (not just because those shows are obviously before her time which wouldn't stop her from discovering them) but I guess that wouldn't matter if their main pitch to her for this would be "you're just gonna push everyone else down the stairs"

• Still, I have to admire this sketch just for trying something new for SNL purely from a visual/directing angle as well as a stunt/physical comedy angle. I liked how they transitioned out of this sketch SNLUK/TV verite style at first. I was kinda bummed that they just cut to the next pretape after that instead of a whole new live segment but I guess I've just been a bit spoiled by SNL UK as of late. B+

Midnight Matinee: My Room

• At this point, I'm a little wary of the idea of SNL continuing with these Dan Bulla Midnight Matinee shorts in general since I think whether good or bad they always feel too long and have serious pacing problems.

• I was actually pleasantly surprised by this one. I liked the idea of Olivia being an exhibit in a human zoo for alien insects. Even though I'm pretty sure this was the exact plot of an old Twilight Zone episode, at least this borrowed more from that than it did Ariana Grandes' "Smell Of My Best Friends House".

• There were various little details I loved about this including the use of more cheap CGI visuals than stop motion ones, the alien insects applauding Olivia for simply using a human bathroom, the subtle Harambe reference that they actually pulled off better than SNL UK did, the insane Mikey/Sarah remake of "A League Of Their Own", the addition of JAJ as a rejected potential mate who is then marched into a giant human garbage disposal, and of course, the detail of her falling in love with her own insect protestor. 

• Of all the sketches that made use of Olivias' singing, this might have been my favorite (with the "real ID" portion of the monologue coming in a close second. B+

Shop TV

• Ah, fuck. You know, I actually had the thought earlier today "if they actually do another fucking Shop TV with this girl, I'm gonna shit" because there were a couple of these I really didn't care for.

• Of course, I thought of this because they did one with Sabrina at the beginning of this season...and she and Olivia both "contemporaries", let's say.

• This was another one I was...well, I don't want to go as far as saying I was "pleasantly surprised by" but rather when I gave it a chance, I ended up appreciating it for how far they were willing to commit to and go with it.

• The high point of this for me may have been Mikey being handed a roll of toilet paper to wipe the peanut butter off his finger that came out when he pulled it out of the "fudge hole".

• As for the non-outrageous parts of this sketch, I did like JAJs one line and Ashleys bit at the beginning openly celebrating her daughter's emancipation not being granted. Also, Olivia did nail the "gleefully oblivious dim southern bell" vibes and her quotes from grandma each including some out of nowhere jab at ugly girls was pretty funny. C+

Birthday Party (With My Ex)

• Well, this already seems to be the sketch that plays the most into Olivias' whole "image" tonight so far.

• There doesn't seem to be much to this writing or premise wise, but leave it to SNLs' current "it girl" Ashley Padilla to save the day by heightening the hidden nuggets of absurdity to this.

• Kenan didn't add much to this, unfortunately but this sketch does show Ashley has the ability to bring out the best in her fellow performers. Ben, Tommy and Olivia played well off of her. B+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Trump Passport, AI Jan 6th Speech, Michael Biopic, Slingshot To Laguardia, Hemorrhoid Scrolling

• Che's Best Jokes: WHCD Shooter Took Selfie, Voting Rights Act, Trump Likes Space, AOC/Gay President, Coors 0.0

• I have very little to say about this Veronika/Chloe two hander word salad. What I will say is that it took me a full minute to recognize that that WAS Veronika on the left and not just...the real person that Chloe was impersonating sitting next to her. Once I recognized that was Veronika, I was like "Damn, Veronika...you really are in your 'glow up era'"

• Other than that, I'm just glad they were able to keep the naked pop culture/extremely online pandering to GenZ to just one Update segment tonight rather than just jumping right out the gate with it...like they did when Sabrina hosted. With another double duty pop star host, it shows incredible restraint on the shows' part to condense all the buzzword slop they wanted to try to impress Olivia's fans with to one segment in the middle of the show.

• Yeah, it was smart of SNL to recognize that Kam was the only person on their payroll right now who COULD talk about the Megan Thee Stallion/Klay Thompson breakup. He really speaks for all men of every race right now.

• Seriously though, Kams' thing was definitely my biggest laugh of the night (especially his flub of the word "desperation" and the cut to cue card Wally showing that he actually did have Moulin Rouge spelled out phonetically). B-

Busted

• Really? A Trapped In The Closet parody? 20 Years too late?

• Oh, it's actually an Isley Brothers parody? I see.

• Well, at least this did get funnier the more convoluted the extra characters made this.

• It's a bit surprising that this was Janes' first appearance all episode but at least she and JAJ genuinely made this better.

• I did like how they knew exactly when to stop this (after Kenans' character walked in, basically) so they just tied up all the loose ends in a neat little bow. C+

White Rasta Guy

• This felt like a couple of different sketch ideas slammed together...but in a fun way.

• I would've been fine if the whole sketch were Olivia and Veronikas' characters recounting how trashed Olivias' character got but it's nice to be reminded of why Andrew Dismukes is funny when he suddenly barks out a Jamacian dance hall rap in a highly questionable patois.

• I would expect nothing less from the same cast member who gave us that 1950s "Hey Soul Sister" sketch from last seasons Michael Keaton episode that just got reran in prime time recently. B-

SafeGuard Security System

• Ok, maybe this was an overwrought concept but at least it gelled well with this host and at least they had the decency to bury it in the bottom of the show if they were going to get on their "hawk tuah/subway takes/chicken shop date" shit years too late for an audience that may not even watch this online late let alone stay up until 1:00 AM to watch it live.

• Di...did they get the actual Cory Booker to make a cameo in this? If so, why? If not, that better not have been some fucked up A.I. bullshit they pulled for this.

• I did like Ashleys' testimonial and I especially liked how they managed to work Jeremy and Kam into a portion of this sketch where Kam just plays himself the way Leslie Jones used to. C+

Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst

1. Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
2. Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
3. Alexander Skarsgard/Cardi B (01.31.2026)
4. Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
5. Olivia Rodrigo (05.02.2026)
6. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
7. Jack Black/Jack White (04.04.2026)
8. Ryan Gosling/Gorillaz (03.07.2026)
9. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
10. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
11. Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
12. Colman Domingo/Anitta (04.11.2026)
13. Harry Styles (03.14.2026)
14. Connor Storrie/Mumford & Sons (02.28.2026)
15. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
16. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
17. Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
18. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Believe it or not, I was pleasantly surprised by this episode. Olivia was a fine host that the show knew how to use without using her to pandering to a GenZ audience with their idea of what appeals to them (outside of one particular sketch or two which they didn't exactly lead off with so they defied some of my expectations for the better there.

• I guess I was a bit higher on this episode than most because I felt I had to go into it with tempered expectations since really the last three or four double duty pop star hosted episodes were big time, dumbed down panderfests, so in a way I was expecting them to fumble this one. 

• Plus, the fact that it came after that Colman Domingo episode (which they somehow fumbled even worse) and on the same night as a rather strange episode of SNL UK I couldn't find myself getting into really helped my perception of this one. Why it just barely made my top five I can only explain by pointing out that all of the episodes the came after this one I found to be way more uneven.

• As far as cast usage goes, Veronika, Kam & Dismukes made some gains this week. I liked how well they were used as well as how they used Ashley, JAJ and (to some degree) Mikey. Tommy seems to have been put on the back burner along with Jeremy (which I'm kinda bummed about for him). Speaking of, this sadly wasn't as heavy a Jane Wickline episode as some were hoping but fortunately, the same could be said for Marcello here as well. 

• We got to see a bit more of Kenan, but he's still underused to the point where there's a strong possibility we may not see him in the fall. Chloe was featured a fair amount and everyone else was just...there.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, that was...decent. Next week, Matt Damon hosts for a third time. Sure, he might be a boring pick, but...there's never been anything wrong with him as a host. He's always seemed like an enthusiastic and game comedic performer. 

• He's established himself as a friend/fan of the show but he's just had the slight misfortune of always ending up hosting during rough periods in the show's run. He's hosted during some pretty mediocre seasons but none of those episodes have ever been a real bottoming out point in any of them, so...I'll pretty much be going into that one with the same expectations as I did this one.

• Anyway, you can probably expect to read my review of that one a week from now. In the meantime, you'll probably be able to read my review of the latest SNL UK with Amiee Lou Wood and MEEK since this weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to time their releases simultaneously. This should give me more time to work on my review of the Elliot Page/Wilco episode from season 33 which Deej & I will be reviewing in an upcoming episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast. Thank God I got an extra week and a half to get that one finished because...it's a bit of a slog.

• See you again real soon!

SNL UK: Aimee Lou Wood/Meek (05.02.2026)

Chuck & Camillas' Hijacked Flight Home

• I should've guessed that they'd do this sketch this week. I figured that they'd cast Larry & Emma as Charles & Camilla respectively. Those roles call for brits who are good at facial mugging and stuffy royal aristocratic accents which Emma (and to a lesser extent Larry) have shown that they can pull off in spades.

• Although I was hoping to get a bit of a break from Keir Starmer cold opens (I mean, it's not an impression I see myself getting sick of that easily or anything, but I like seeing them try something different every once in a while) I do like this new wrinkle to Georges' Keir Starmer character in that he's suddenly daring and courageous but only in the name of keeping himself in power because he's so damned ineffectual that redirecting the royals' plane is what he has to resort to.

• I did like the other sudden bursts of brief Austin Powers-like violence but I feel like I might have enjoyed this more had I any idea who Celeste was supposed to be playing or what she might be planning. I did get a kick out of the dumb lisp she was speaking with, though. All I've been able to gather from some light Googling is that Angela Rayner is a member of the British Parliament (I found out more about her from one of Anias' jokes on Update, but more on that later.

• I did appreciate this sketch being written so that no one was supposed to know who Jack was playing (just a regular Brit who was "indoctrinated online by the radical center left"). I did like the visual of him tearing away his outfit to reveal an identical outfit. His character being "poisoned" by Camillas edibles wasn't much of a great ending, though. B-

Monologue 

• This feels the most like we'd get from any SNL US host out of all the SNL UK monologues we've gotten so far.

• I didn't get the Kim Cattral scatting reference but I did like the Sex Education/White Lotus joke. 

• My favorite part was when she just started speaking random gibberish. Very Eric Idle Rutland/Pythonesque.

• I also liked the conceit of the rest of this monologue being her trying to prove to the audience that she is, in fact, an unrelatable weirdo in an effort to break free of her bubble, relatable image...but she kind of lost me with the whole astrology/past lives rant.

• Most of all, I'm just glad she didn't bring up her feud with the American show from last year and left that to the mid week YouTube promo. C+

Dangerous Women

• So, the basic premise of this faux 80s synth vaporwave video is that the "dangerous" woman who is the subject of the song just turns out to be a dumb, accident prone klutz with little to no self awareness or safety awareness?

• This is one of those things that feels like it should've been done by some kind of sketch show years ago but somehow hasn't despite it being the simplest of ideas and yet at the same time also feels like something that only a show with a uniquely British sensibility would produce.

• Does anyone else see a slight resemblance between Aimee Lou Wood and Cecily Strong here? Maybe I only say this because this seems like something that SNL US would've done during her time there.

• Other than that, I feel like this was a solid premise that was lacking a little something in musical execution (although Celeste and Hammed turned in strong performances here. If Hammed can actually sing that well, it's a shame it took this long for him to get to show off his chops). C+

Doctor Who

• Anyone else wondering why they wouldn't...wait a couple of weeks to do this sketch? You know...when they have the ACTUAL current doctor hosting? We're they just afraid to pitch this to Ncuti or was this something Hammed wrote specifically for himself?

• Anyway, I liked the conceit of this sketch being that the doctor and his current companion are forced to interact with a visually nauseating mcguffin of a prop. I just wish they had the ability to go a bit further with it.

• There wasn't much else here. I suspect even if you were around real Doctor Who Superfan who was dialed in to this there wouldn't be much for you here either. Wasn't crazy about the ending either, but I'm at least glad that Dr. Who producer Russell T. Davies was pleased with it. C+

Marios' Got Marital Problems

• Interesting...accent choices here. George doing the classic Fr. Sarducci-esque Italian accented Mario we all knew and loved was an obvious correct choice (even if some of his lines weren't 100% distinguishable).

• Aimee playing her Princess Peach as an Amy Poehler/Rachel Dratch-esque Americanized Jersey Italian stereotype added a new wrinkle that...honestly dovetails well with this sketch. 

• I guess it works because Princess Peach was never portrayed with one specific idiosyncratic accent that Mario fans wouldn't accept her without?

• Hell, Aimees' pretty much doing the exact same voice for Princess Peach that Chris Pratt used to play Mario in those newer Mario movies. Could that alone be at least the partial inspiration for this?

• Anyway, no need to overthink this sketch any further. This sketch worked well as an exploration of what struggles a real Italian working class plumber and his girl friend/spouse would go through in a more real world setting...except, you know funneled through the lens of Mario & Princess Peach.

• This is such an obvious "parallel thinking" type of idea that I'm surprised no one else has done this exact thing before (by which I mean all the other Mario parodies I've ever seen take place in the world if the video game & cartoons rather than "the real world".

• This was very funny but due to its rapid fire pacing and the performers essentially breathlessly shouting their lines over the audience and each other to be heard (maybe it's a sound mixing issue?) so I'll just say I also liked Jacks' ending walk on as Toad and whoever ran in an out in the Yoshi costume gave me a bit of a laugh). B-

Famouz 5

• Yeah, I'm not familiar with the "Famous Five" and have no cultural context for them whatsoever. 

• I do have PLENTY of cultural context for just the concepts of endless IP reboots and rehashes coming out of Hollywood and just how generally irritating it is when any new piece of media is when it's creators just blindly attempt to reach out to the generation after mine with just a casserole of now formerly hip new slang abd buzzwords.

• So yeah, I do get what this was going for...but even if I didn't feel something was missing this would still be an idea I've seen mined to death over and over again so I still wouldn't be into it. The fakes reviews were the only part of this that hit for me...which is very sad. D+

Lost Luggage

• So...this is just another "Jack plays a girls' gay woke best friend" sketch with Aimee in the role that probably would've gone to Annabel on the week there was a male host...but Aimee is trying to blatantly sneak a bomb that actually turns out to be a George Foreman Grill past security?

• Honestly, one could rewatch this sketch to examine how it explores the dynamics of this type of platonic male/female relationship (especially since Jack's character seems to regret coming out to Aimee at the wrong moment) because there seems to be more than one layer to this. Still, the ending reveal is the only thing that came close to working for me. C-

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Melania Meets Charles, Clog Dancing, Heroin In Southport

• Anias' Best Jokes: Royal Visit, WHCD Gunman, Nigel Farage

• Oh boy, I don't know about this "professional lip reader" premise. As much as I like getting to see Hammed make his Update debut, the last time I saw an SNL sketch centered around reading famous people's lips was in the infamous Jacob Elordi/Renee Rapp episode from two and a half years ago.

• OK, Hammed is clearly making this work much better than the Elordi sketch and he had the audience on his side...but then again he had a low bar to clear. I did chuckle at the Camilla/Melania and Camilla/Charles portion of this bit.

• Great to see Larry get his first Update commentary as himself. I really like his range and accent work. As an American, I did appreciate his bit on how our northern blue state liberals talk vs how southern red state conservatives talk. I also liked his bits on green party voters and how he deftly avoided falling into the "how do they vote in China?" trap Paddy set up for him.

• I didn't quite get Anias Angela Rayner joke but at least I was able to gather that Ms. Rayner us another English career politician who's blatantly angling to take Keir Starmers' job as Prime Minister.

• I did get a kick out of Paddy shouting at his underground pit of tortured writers as well as how he turned that into a recurring callback to the point that he invited Ania to climb in with him at the end.

• Ayoade played such an Ego Nwodim in season 46 of SNL US coded character here that I kind of wished Paddy hadn't introduced her by her actual name as that kind of took something away from it at first.

• Upon rewatch, I discovered that this works because it's actually just Ayoade genuinely speaking her mind doing a standup like bit from her own personal experience rather than just doing the type of specific niche character piece that Ego would've done. Overall, I'd say it was a very fun bit. B+

Posh Gits

• The title of this sketch alone has me intrigued. I hope it doesn't bear TOO much resemblance to a certain Kroll Show sketch beyond its title.

• Apparently, this is based on an actual British reality show called "Made In Chelsea". Haven't seen that one, but I will say what this reminds me of the most is MADtvs' parody of MTVs' Laguna Beach from 20 years ago.

• This sketch was clearly trying to have some fun with how dumb it was. I will say that Hammed, Jack and Larry pretty much made this for me.

• Hey, look! Paddy and Ania make their live sketch debuts! I mean, they're basically extras, but still. B-

How British Pork Got The Lot

• OK, I know I spoke against either SNL cast just recreating old, obscure viral clips in a previous review and that's part of what this was but I did like this sketch.

• As much as this reminds me of the old Polaner All Fruit/Aspic Beef Jelly bit from Family Guy, I did like that this had the extra layer of "we're going to deconstruct this obscure 1984 British Pork Commercial just to show you how it could look more normal and friendly instead of terrifying".

• Also, as slightly questionable as it seemed at first to see Hammed with pieces of bone sticking out of either side of his nose, I did get a kick out of the insane visuals of the "pork council" scenes.

• Who was that in the bald cap sitting next to Emma? Was that Jack or an extra? I wouldn't put it past them to put Jack in this sketch with no lines since they pretty much just did that to Emma.

• I don't blame George for breaking at all having to deal with Al's director character bringing down the insanity of this premise and also the mistimed camera filter glitch possibly throwing him off. Plus, I have seen George's Instagram post about how he had been obsessed with this ad for years and I assume that he, Al and Hanned may have cowritten this together...so, good for them that they could bond over this and have a sketch labor of love come out of it. B+

Ranking SNL UKs First Series From Best To Worst

1. Jamie Dornan/Wolf Alice (03.28.2026)
2. Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)
3. Tina Fey/Wet Leg (03.21.2026)
4. Riz Ahmed/Kasabian (04.05.2026)
5. Aimee Lou Wood/Meek (05.02.2026)
6. Jack Whitehall/Jorja Smith (04.11.2026)

Overall Thoughts 

• This was one of the more uneven episodes of SNL UK. I don't quite know what to make of it. On the one hand, the writing and performances were quite strong from all involved. On the other hand, this episode was front loaded with sketches that I wanted to like but couldn't quite get into because they just lacked a certain appeal.

• One thing this episode does have going for it is that the writing made it feel more and more like a uniquely British/European comedy show with it's own identity. SNL UK is continuing to step out of the shadow of SNL US. I mostly say that because there was very little about these sketches that made want to point out a specific SNL US sketch from the past that they reminded me of.

• Really, the only way this episode resembled an SNL US episode is that most of the weaker sketches were up front and most of the more odd niche sketches that I found myself actually liking were buried near the end. Weekend Update was a strong highlight of thus episode though as was MEEK who turned in some strong performances even if her type of music isn't exactly my cup of tea lyrically.

Closing Thoughts 

• Next week, SNL UK will have Ted Lassos' Hannah Waddingham as host. I know she was also in Sex Education with Aimee Lou Wood. I'm not terribly familiar with the rest of her work (which I can also say about much of the previous SNL UK hosts), but she seems to be in good company having worked with this episodes host as well as an alumni of SNL US, so she'll be able to get some good advice on how to succeed on this show even for just a week.

• Speaking of SNL US, my review if their latest Olivia Rodrigo double duty episode is up for all to read. I was fortunate enough to be able to time them so that they could both be published simultaneously. Who knows if I'll be able to pull that off again next week or the week after?

• What I do know is that the next blog I will be working on is a review of the Elliot Page/Wilco episode from SNL US season 33 which I hope to have finished writing by next Wednesday when Deej & I are supposed to be recording a whole new episode of the We Heart Hader podcast on that one. That blog and podcast should be published in two weeks when that podcast episode is released but, boy am I glad to have an extra week to work on that one because it's gonna be a tough one to get through. Hell, that one's probably gonna be one of our shorter podcasts for reasons that will seem obvious by the time it comes out.

• You'll probably be able to read my reviews of next week's SNL US and UK episodes before you get to read or listen to that one, but anyway that's what I'll be working on. See you soon!