- Hmm...Trump and Vance in the oval office? Could this be what I'm thinking it is?
- I did like Jeremy's response of "not enough for me" to JAJs' question of "is the pope catholic?"
- Oh shit...Ferrells' playing Epstein instead of Dubya? This could be interesting...
- Huh...the Ferrell/Epstein part is kinda resembling a Sudeikis as the devil commentary but I liked Ferrels' "heaven is really hot" line and JAJs' UFC/Worldstar joke. I also got a kick out of that brief Terrence Maddox "wink" he did.
- At least this was a clever way to work in tweaked versions of Ashley's Kristi Noem, Josts' Hegseth and Azizs' Patel (hopefully one last time)
- Man, they're really packing in the "edge lord lite" jokes in this, huh? Maybe an attempt to keep the type of male viewer who tuned in just to see Ferrell because he considers that era one of the last times the show was truly funny enticed?
- OK, the "Just The Two Of Us" musical number at the end was a fun way to end this. That's some classic late '90s Ferrell energy. We're lucky Ferrell & JAJ have a strong enough rapport to make this work. B+
Monologue
- That's...not Will Ferrell...but let's see where this goes.
- OK, that's Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Why the hell wasn't that my first guess as to who this was?
- Is it just me or does Will and Chad look LESS like each other with age? Or is it just this thing I have with SNL sketches where they try to hang a big ol' lampshade on a slight resemblance to a castmember and a host (or a former castmember who just happens to be hosting and a totally different celebrity guest in this case) where I somehow see way LESS of the resemblance? Oh well, I guess it still works if they look enough alike from a distance...well, no...even then I was questioning it.
- Well, this could still be the most fun Ferrell hosting monologue of all time.
- Eh, don't like how hung up Will is on this but I guess some questions from the audience cameos could be fun.
- Oh, it's Paul thinking Will is still Chad. Eh, whatever.
- I don't think naming as many Paul McCartney songs as one can remember works as a "doing something funny so many times it becomes unfunny and then loops back around to being funny" thing if there's constant applause breaks, but I got a kick out of Will listing songs Paul had nothing to do with was kinda funny. Part of me wishes they could've done more of those. C+
Hospital
- Ferrell in scrubs and a doctor's coat? Could this be the return of...Dr. Beaman?
- Accidental penis removal? I had a feeling that's where this was going.
- OK, I admit the "remove and clean this" line was a funny mixup as was the line about Mikeys' (of course it was his) penis being cremated.
- This isn't really escalating as much as I'd like it to, but I am getting a kick out of Will just straight up asking Ashley to not be a bitch to him.
- So...I guess this is pretty much just a variation of Dr. Beamen if he were just polite and conscientiously incompetent instead of just an aggressively deranged and paranoid maniac who constantly tries to deflect and distract from his own grossincompetence?
- At least this knew exactly where it should end. C-
Midnight Matinee: Bobbins' Sacrifice
- OK, the possibility of Ferrell playing the fake hobbit in a Dan Bulla Lord Of The Rings knockoff...could be interesting.
- I did like the last Midnight Matinee. Unfortunately, this is more in line with the ones I didn't care for...but just not as interminably long or meandering.
- I did like this one at least having the twist of Ferrells' character "switching sides" and "dying" twice. That wasn't exactly the thing I would've come to expect from Dan Bulla. C+
Cast List 2: Cast Harder
- Hmm...I can't quite say this is the first time I've seen a sequel/continuation of a previously cut for time sketch (does anyone else remember when Andy Samberg played Rahm Emmanuel? No one? Just me? Ok).
- Still, this is an interesting and shrewd choice considering that the first "Cast List" was a semi-viral hit and turned out to be better than most of what aired in Ferrells 2019 episode it was cut from.
- I do like how they built this out from the first one so there were a lot more visually and character based gags while still hitting all the same beats. Plus, something about this works better when most of the student roles are filled by cast members who weren't hired prior to two seasons ago. Hell, I like how they eventually found a competent and grounded way to work Kam & Marcello into this.
- I did like the gags with the see through Wicked poster and Sarah in the wheelchair as well as Wills' back and forth with Jeremy and Ben. I also liked the line about having previously done The Color Purple with an all white cast.
- Man, it feels extremely odd that this was Kenan's only appearance all night when you consider all the speculation of this being his final episode as a cast member and how he has stated that Will Ferrell was one of his favorite hosts to work with.
- Hey, a Molly Shannon cameo was nice! That scratches my "reasonable expectation for some brief bit of late 90s nostalgia" itch! She played well off Tommy, too. I guess...Tracy Morgan was unavailable this week?
- Did anyone else think that Mollys' line about "getting hands with boys" line was reminiscent of her Weekend Update commentary as Louise Ingstrom from her first season? Does anyone else even remember that commentary? It was from season 20.
- Anyway, this was fun for an unexpected sequel (and really the closest thing we may get to an old Ferrell recurrer). B-
Weekend Update w/Jost & Che
- Josts' Best Jokes: RFK/Sperm Counts Trump Letter To Vance, Trump Interstate
- Che's Best Jokes: Trump Greeted By Schoolchildren, Shooters' Not Guilty Plea, NBC Peacock, Greatest President of Alz' Heim
- Hey! Jeremy gets to bring back Mr. On Blast too! Nice to get a brief flash of gleeful stupidity from one of the newbies.
- I liked the silly "P.U." puns just fine but what I like even more is how they added various odd details about his life (like how he is apparently 100 and has grandkids who work on the show in the graphics department).
- Well, it is always nice to see a traditional Che-Jost joke swap this time of year. I have to say...this may not have been one of those years where they topped themselves in terms of sheer outrageousness but it was nice to see one where Jost got Che better than he got him right up until Jost got threatened with a surprise head shaving. B-
What It Feels Like Talking To A Mechanic
- It's nice to get a brief dose of absolute nonsense on the show now and then. Unfortunately, this was more the kind of banal and slightly dull nonsense and not the whimsical silly and goofy kind of nonsense that's actually funny and livens up a sketch. I have a feeling that even if you actually have talked to a mechanic recently you may not have found this to be that funny.
- At least this sketch had one notable thing about it in that they basically had Paul McCartney come on to basically do Dana Carveys' impression of him.
- See, you would think something this silly might have a better ending than Will Ferrell, Marcello Hernandez and, again, Paul Fucking McCartney of all people demanding that Mikey Day pay them in ass...but no. Oh well, at least Marcello, Mikey and Ashley can now say they've been in a sketch with Sir Paul. C-
The Nudemans
- Huh...so, were they just trying to do something in the vein of the patriotic thong sketch from...25 years ago here?
- I did appreciate getting to see Sarah's "Enter Here" tramp stamp though...as well as everyones' sheer enrergetic commitment to such a premise as this (especially Andrew and Marcello).
- One other good thing about this sketch is that you can say this wasn't the reason for whatever was cut getting cut as much as the combination of the joke swap running long (nice bald cap, Colin) and Lorne wanting to give Paul a third song. C+
Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst
- Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
- Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
- Alexander Skarsgard/Cardi B (01.31.2026)
- Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
- Olivia Rodrigo (05.02.2026)
- Matt Damon/Noah Kahan (05.09.2026)
- Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
- Jack Black/Jack White (04.04.2026)
- Will Ferrell/Paul McCartney (05.16.2026)
- Ryan Gosling/Gorillaz (03.07.2026)
- Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
- Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
- Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
- Colman Domingo/Anitta (04.11.2026)
- Harry Styles (03.14.2026)
- Connor Storrie/Mumford & Sons (02.28.2026)
- Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
- Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025)
- Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
- Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)
Ranking All Of Will Ferrell Hosted Episodes From Best To Worst
- Will Ferrell/Green Day (5.16.2009)
- Will Ferrell/Queens Of The Stone Age (5.14.2005)
- Will Ferrell/Paul McCartney (05.16.2026)
- Will Ferrell/King Princess (11.23.2019)
- Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton (1.27.2018)
- Will Ferrell/Usher (5.12.2012)
Overall Thoughts
- Well, we just got another typical forgettable season finale. Not one that was frustratingly or bad or anything...just a bit bland and mediocre (we're talking about a season finale here, not a season premiere).
- Still, every word in that previous bullet point of mine feels like it should've been an unacceptable way to describe a Will Ferrell Hosted episode with Paul McCartney as musical guests
- ...but as I have said in the past on this blog, I have had to teach myself to lower my expectations for any future Will Ferrell hosted episodes...and I have had other bigger issues with episodes he's hosted in the recent past that I didn't quite have with his one.
- As far as season finales go, I may have some of the same issues with this one that I did with a few recent ones, but to a different degree.
- I don't mind that we have arrived at the end of another season with zero indication of who may be leaving and who may be staying because those could come later in August or even at Christmas time.
- I do think from what we've seen from this years' newest hires that the show could be in better hands at some point no matter who leaves. Still, I think some of the older guard (or anyone who's been at the show since before season 47, really) may NEED to leave for the show to make enough room for any necessary substantial change that would improve the show or at least make it interesting enough to watch again to happen.
- From what I've seen, I think Jeremy, Kam, Ashley, Veronika and Jane could become the new faces of the show starting in season 52 the way that Hader, Samberg, Wiig and Sudeikis did starting in season 32. Then again, they lost a lot of long time veterans that year, too and there were massive budget cuts at NBC that year, too so they had no other choice but to restructure the show.
- Hell, there might be massive budget cuts at NBC this year, too. It could still happen. As we've seen with certain big castmembers in recent years, people do still WANT to move on from the show. We could hope and pray for some major changes to come to the show but Lorne and NBC may be too afraid of such change from the same old show people with the same old faces people except to see hurting their bottom line somehow.
- Oh well. At least we have another season of SNL UK to look forward to...which is obviously a substantially different show from SNL US and might be the closest thing we'll get to a completely overhauled SNL in this day & age.
Closing Thoughts
- Well, my blogging output will obviously drastically decrease over the summer but keep your eyes peeled for my review of the SNL UK season finale which as of this writing and publishing I have not gotten to see any of yet...but since I clearly just rushed this through and tossed this one off like it was nothing, you can expect a review of that one sooner rather than later since I'll have more time to work on it.
- After that, you can expect more reviews of SNL season 33 on this blog to coincide with the episodes Deej & I are reviewing on the We Heart Hader podcast (but not before a brief blog entry from me before the next episode comes out explaining a slight change we're making in our lineup there). See you soon and have a great summer!
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