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!

Colman Domingo/Anitta (04.11.2026)

Oval Office Calls

• Huh, this is just a regular oval office scene with Ashley as Karoline Leavitt. At least this is a little different.

• I liked how JAJ/Trump broke the fourth wall with that Ashley comment and then did a double misdirect back away from one of those tableau cold opens.

• A series of phone calls? Uh oh, this is starting to feel like the type of cold open we'd get in 2017/18 at the height of the "Baldwin as Trump" era.

• Uh oh, the last time the show did a sketch involving Kenan as Tiger Woods they got a lot of flak for it in the press...but at least this one can't possible be misconstrued as making light of domestic violence and is just a brief comment on Tigers' DUI arrest, so it's perfectly OK. 

• At least they didn't spend a whole lot of time on this part. I actually did like the "DUI/Dewey" joke from JAJ.

• Chloes' Melania cameo was OK (as much as I'm sure a large swath of the audience may not want to see or hear from her anymore at this point). I did like that Reagan joke, too.

• Ok, they're spending way too much time on Jost as Hegseth, but...y'know, it's the Iran of it all. I think they've officially run out of anything resembling a fresh angle on this character so it may be time to retire it. C+

Monologue

• I figured with Colmans' vast, VAST acting resume we'd get something poking fun at the sheer variety of things he's been in. 

• There doesn't seem to be a lot of material here for him TO carry but he is carrying this on sheer charisma alone.

• Thank God the band, the lighting/camera crews and Jeremy kicked in to add some variety to this before I started to tune out.

• I feel like I should have a lot more confidence that the show isn't going to completely do Colman dirty at this point, but...I dunno something feels a little bit off right now. C+

Bank Robbery

• Ok, this fits the vibe of Colman I was hoping they'd tap into more. I'm glad it's less "dirty names" and Matt Shatt and more like the Burger King sketch with Emily Blunt from 2016.

• Chloe, Mikey, Ashley, Marcello, Jane and JAJ were pretty good here. I'll admit the line "be on the lookout for a mess" and "mama raised a dumbass" got me. C+

Black Barbershop

• Ok, is every sketch tonight going to be built around Colman just "reading" people?

• Anyone else get the vibe from this that Tommy could pull off a decent John Mulaney impression? (yeah right, like we need more of those in comedy)

• Kudos to Kam for scoring the strongest moment in this sketch. My biggest laugh in this came from the sudden cut to him just saying "cheat" and following that up with "what you gay or something?"

• I liked Janes' cameo. Kenan and Colman were great in it, too. 

• One thing this episode (and this sketch in particular) did a fine job of is using Colman in sketches that they would need a more diverse cast to actually pull off without him as a host. Still,I think this felt a little long and could've used some cuts (if you'll pardon the expression. C+

Artemis II Video Log

• Well, at least this sketch taps into Colmans' dramatic chops in a decent way.

• When your biggest laughs in a sketch involve Marcello Hernandez either pushing Mikey away over some Pringles (don't make me say which certain animated series "did it"), saying "Canada slaps" or just getting his dick stuck in some kind of tube, something may be seriously wrong. Sadly, Sarah seemed to add nothing. C-

The Knowledge Hour

• What if I told you...this might be my favorite sketch of the night by default? What if I told you...that yes, I too know that isn't saying much?

• Yes, this was just the exact dose of whimsical absurdity the show needed at this point?

• I liked how Colman played off what seemed to be a genuine gaffe between him, Kam and Jeremy (literally) and hoe everyone suddenly exited  the scene before Dismukes entered?

• I wasn't crazy about the ending with Dismukes though. It felt a little forced. Plus, I feel like some of the stuff about Colmans' character wanting to impress some random chick he hasn't seen since college 40 years ago could've been cut. B-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Iranian Peace Talks, J.D. Vance, Sam Altman, New Jersey

• Che's Best Jokes: Netanyahu, RFK Podcast, King Charles, Cornhole Champ, Hemorrhoid Cure

• I liked both of the commentaries this week. Kam and Marcellos' "back of the school bus kids" might seem like something designed to enrage some, but I really needed the boost of juvenile stupidity right now.

• Still, I think Colins' "deez nuts" beat at the end could've been cut so this didn't go too long and ended on one beat that wasn't completely telegraphed.

• I'm glad Janes' commentary was packed with enough abstract absurdity to misdirect us from the most obvious punchline. B-

Grandpas' Funeral

• So, the entire premise of this sketch seems to be "what if a group of pimps showed up at your grandpas funeral and also you find out for the first time they all turned him out at one point"?

• Well, when Kenan showed up I was a little worried that this wasn't going to go anywhere. Ashley, Jeremy and Marcello were fine in this but they didn't exactly do a whole lot to assuage those worries for me.

• I will say I did like Sarah and Veronikas' walk ons. In fact, I'd say I liked their performances here more than most of what I've seen each of them in this season.

• Jane's walk on was decent and I'm glad they found a way to work Mikeys' "crazy background Waffle House guy" into a live sketch.

• I even liked the sight twist of JAJ and Jost as white pimps as tacked on as they seemed (especially the latter...did he and Che cowrite this?). The ending didn't quite work for me though. C+

Boarding School

• I'd like to think this was a very underwritten "Farewell, Mr Bunting" prequel and not just "what if numbers were random gibberish" or "synesthesia: the sketch".

• I appreciate the committed performances in this (especially Dismukes, Kam and Colman) but this felt like too long a walk with too many glaring pacing problems for me. Plus, I felt Dismukes kinda botched his window fall. C+

Beastomorphs

• I feel like this was something that got cut from dress until I saw Colman in it.

• This felt like a typical Sarah idea that somehow got away from her.

• Again, I do appreciate the committed performances from everybody but the idea alone didn't quite hit for me. It was just a little too juvenile in every way imaginable and I just couldn't get into it. 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. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
6. Jack Black/Jack White (04.04.2026)
7. Ryan Gosling/Gorillaz (03.07.2026)
8. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
9. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
10. Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
11. Colman Domingo/Anitta (04.11.2026)
12. Harry Styles (03.14.2026)
13. Connor Storrie/Mumford & Sons (02.28.2026)
14. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
15. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
16. Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
17. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, that episode was just as disappointing as I was expecting. There were enough fun moments there that I would just call it "uneven" rather than just plain "bad", though.

• Obviously, they biggest problem with this episode was that Colman as a host was much better than the material he was being given so I hope everyone was more self conscious of that than they were letting on.

• When the best parts of the show were what was cut for time and put up online later, something is seriously wrong (of course I'm referring to Bens' Jack Harlow thing and the full length goodnights where Colmam gave a lovely and heartfelt speech that most of this episode sadly didn't deserve).

• On the plus side, Jane and Kam had decent nights, so...there's that.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, SNL US makes its return in two weeks with Olivia Rodrigo making her double duty hosting debut. Given how the episodes hosted by other current pop stars like Dua Lipa, Charli XCX and, one of Olivias' contemporaries I hear, Sabrina Carpenter turned out...this is one I'm going to be a bit wary of. 

• My biggest fear is that the show will go all in on Gen Z pandering pop culture chasing that those previous episodes gave us and just try to force another viral moment but beyond that Olivia is another pop star who seems in control of her own image and isn't as blatantly risque as others of her ilk so I'll keep an open mind.

• I'll have a review of that one posted in a few weeks. The week before that is when I should have my full review of the Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood episode from season 33 published around that since Deej and I will be covering it on the We Heart Hader podcast around that time.

• The very next blog post you should see published from me is probably going to be my review if SNL UKs' newest episode featuring Jack Whitehall and Jorja Smith. Even though I am giving myself an actual deadline to write the Fey/Underwood review (this coming Wednesday when as far as I know we'll be recording that one), I'd like to get that one out as soon as possible while the most recent episodes of both SNLs are still relevant and fresh in people's minds because I was really slacking on a couple of them. See you guys again real soon!

Harry Styles (03.14.2026)

Gas Prices

• Huh...a generic family road trip cold open set at a gas station? This could be interesting.

• God, I can't even remember the last time a cold open began with random unwarranted applause for no reason? Can you?

• I got a kick out of Ashleys' "we're gonna have to leave one of you behind" line.

• Well, at least this is a nice departure from the typical Trump/Hegseth cold opens we've been getting lately...AW FUCK, we're back to THESE again. Boy, the writers must've been gassed out on political stuff this week.

• Well, I got a kick out of JAJs' Troy McClure reference and his jabs at Harry and 1Ds' musical catalog, but wow...I'm surprised they cheered at that and booed more at the Timothee Chalamet/ballet jab.

• I wasn't even into the meta background cast gags in this one.

• ...and just when even I was starting to get sick of Josts' Hegseth they find an admittedly fun way to Trojan horse him in to this one. I don't know what it says about this cold open that one of my favorite lines was "as I live and struggle to breathe" though. Nothing good, right?

• This wasn't some of Josts' best work (even he seemed a bit gassed out on doing these as he wasn't exactly disappearing into character here) but I did chuckle at the "DUI checkpoint/close your eyes and gun it" joke. C-

Monologue

• ...and there's Harrys' trademark sleepy ass energy that plagued his last episode.

• I mean, I liked that sudden "you don't know everything about me, dad!" line.

• Hey, he admitted to talking slowly and being just straight up boring. At least he's self aware to some degree.

• Boy, that "Italian GPT/Mario" joke couldn't be saved no matter who delivered it the way Harry did.

• Hmm...not quite sure what he was going for with that Prince Andrew joke but his delivery didn't help that one either.

• I liked Chloe and (especially) Sarah's walk ons but Bens' bought this to a screeching halt for me.

• At least the crowd was hyped. That must've been Lorne and the shows' main concern for this week.

• God, I sure hope the rest of this episode is much less of a slog. D-

New Jersey V. Donovan

• Marcello Hernandez IS Sebastian Maniscalco IN "Sebastian Maniscalco, Defense Attorney". That's it.

• Well, I suppose this isn't the worst possible choice for first post monologue sketch. I actually didn't mind the one from Glenn Powells' episode in November. I wouldn't say this one is the better of the two necessarily but it might be the thing I like most in THIS episode so far.

• I liked Chloes' courtroom sketch of him and I liked how Marcello is throwing himself much more into this physically (not crazy about him breaking though)

• Harry Styles attempt at a Maniscalco impression was just...odd and not a great ending to this. B-

MAHAspital

• This seemed like too much of an abstract concept rather than a fully fledged sketch. I felt like I was watching a sketch literally decide as it went along that it wanted more to be a RFK/MAHA commentary than a parody of "The Pitt" (maybe that's why it went on so long).

• I don't know if it was the right choice to have Ben featured so prominently in this (he...probably wrote a great deal of this, didn't he?) but I did chuckle at his line about shooting his parents after finding out they got the Covid vaccine, pulling the plug on that old woman after finding out she was a vegan and the Tylenol gag.

• I also liked the line "From The Facebook Group 'Beach Moms Against Vaccine Tyranny" and Kams' reaction to getting that weird infrared heat mask put on him so suddenly.

• Ashley seems to be making some very specific character choices in this. Is she supposed to be doing an impression of a specific "Pitt" cast member? They put more makeup and prosthetics on her than I'm used to seeing on Ashley in any role so this must be a specific impression.

• JAJ as RFK Jr is something that I could see seeming like a good idea on paper and it mostly worked in execution...but it also proved to be something that only works with the exact right angle. 

• Hell, as adept at impressions as he is even JAJ seemed like he was still figuring out the voice. He was almost there. He just needed to make it a lost raspier.

• I'll just say Iiked JAJ as RFK just fine...I don't really need to see it again (especially not with those goofy ass rubber muscles). C+

Sparkle Of The Sea

• This reminds me so much of the type of two hander live commercial sketches that we would get with Kate and Aidy around 2019 that I'm convinced that this was an old script that was submitted for Harrys' first double duty episode from that year and didn't get picked because that episode already had the lamaze class sketch with Heidi and that Lorne thought that two "indiscriminate European accent" sketches in the same show would cancel each other out.

• I did like Jeremy and Janes Devo-ish duo as well as JAJs' singer. Who was Mikeys' assistant though? Was she someone we were supposed to recognize? That definitely wasn't Ashley, Sarah or Veronika.

• I was pleasantly surprised at how they managed to have Kenan sneak Jean K Jean in here at least 15 years after his last Update appearance (even if I was pretty ambivalent about this character and I was pretty sure he already did the exact same routine on Update already)

• Usually, I like Veronika and Tommy being paired together...but I could've done without this though.

• I did like Harrys' line about how "a cruise is just like being in a hotel except you could drown." C+

Best Buy

• Has...Kenan done this exact character before? In a sketch with Devon perhaps?

• Anyone getting inverted Leon Phelps vibes from this sketch?

• I can see Kenan is trying his damndest to put this over and I don't totally hate it...but I can't get too into it...and it seems like it is going on far too long for its own liking.

• At least they only counted on Harry to carry the "ending" rather than the whole sketch.

• I mean, I liked Kenans' line about his wife dying in a two foot deep fountain, but...the rest of this sketch was pure white noise. I mean, it was pleasant, goofy, unobjectionable white noise, but still. C-

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: RFK shoulder surgery, Michael B Jordan, 

• Che's Best Jokes: Assembly of experts, Make Iran Great Again, Trump Elementary, MTG

• I dunno...something about the rest of this episode and they Jost and Che are adlibbing and audience riffing in a way that works that isn't "it's the 90s" level obnoxious makes their portions of this Update hit harder than they should. Still, this was one of those Updates that was ALL about the commentaries.

• Already, I like Jeremys' take nonsensical take on Tucker Carlson (it seems like he worked some Ben Shapiro in there to the point where I wonder if he did so intentionally)

• Not crazy about heavily costumed commentaries in any form (and if Marcellos' involved, all bets are off) but I liked the weird abstract specificity of Mikey as "the arial tramway emoji" so...this MIGHT work for me.

• Ok, somehow Mikey listing more obscure, unused emojis in full on "Wild N' Out" mode is giving me my biggest laugh of the night. This is so weird I get Marcello breaking here because it seems genuine on a very Mulaney/Stefon level. I even liked the ending more than I thought I would. B-

White Castle

• Well, I have liked Jane and Veronikas' previous two collaborations (and a few of the things they've done separately from each other this season as well) so I guess I just had to give this a chance.

• Even though this was yet another sketch in service of this episodes' whole theme of "let's just gush over how hot our host is this week", I liked how increasingly strange Jane and Veronika made this even for how formulaic this was and how "safe" the ending felt.

• I liked how Ashley anchored this too but honestly, I could've done without Kenans' motorcycle guy though. B+

She's A Dancer

• Even though THIS was the obligatory vehicle for our double duty host to sing outside of their designated musical guest spots, I did like the sudden tonal shift from "generic late 2000s club banger" to "Celtic Woman/Riverdance". 

• I even liked the harp scene with Jane and JAJ. I wasn't crazy about how this kind of just fell apart with the ending. C+

Harry For Him

• Even though this was another (literal) Harry vanity piece with more hints of "queerbaiting" that involved Ben Marshall, I liked how this was built and crafted in a way that each line from the next cast member was genuinely funnier than the last and made this more absurd.

• I also liked how this gave some much needed live airtime to Dismukes, Kam and Sarah. It felt a little long though. Kenan had the most lines in this, so maybe some of his and Harrys' lines could've been cut to tighten this up? B+

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. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
6. Ryan Gosling/Gorillaz (03.07.2026)
7. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
8. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
9. Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
10. Harry Styles (03.14.2026)
11. Connor Storrie/Mumford & Sons (02.28.2026)
12. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
13. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
14. Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
15. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, this was just as much like Harrys' 2019 episode as I was dreading it would be since he displayed the exact same energy that appeals to no one outside his own established fan base. I wouldn't say this was better or worse, though. I'd say it was pretty much the same. There were moments I liked, moments I didn't care for, Harry was there and he was responsible for most of the latter moments.

• Sure, Harry had a lot of very vocal fans in the audience to support him (like most attractive male hosts do)....but they didn't exactly help put the episode over for those of us that aren't that big into Harry to begin with. They just made this episode feel much more like an exercise in vanity and highlighted how much of a limited appeal he still has.

• Still, the moments I did like hit harder for me as they were basically life rafts adrift in a sea of crushing dullness and the show felt a bit more stable and less uneven.

• Cast usage was all over the place, though. We didn't see much of Sarah, Kam, Tommy or Dismukes, but Chloe, Kenan, JAJ, Jeremy, Mikey, Ben, Jane and Veronika each scored in individual roles. No one cast member really "dominated" the night (except MAYBE you could make a case for Ben?)

Closing Thoughts

• Well, I'm glad this season of SNL is finally past it's three episode late winter run of "over hyped pretty boy" episodes that tried to get by on sheer fangirl energy and cuteness alone.

• Next week, NBCs' original SNL takes a two week vacation here in the states but on the other side of the pond where our most recent host hails from, Englands' Sky TV debuts their own adaptation "Saturday Night Live UK". Since this will be available for next day streaming on Peacock here in the states, I'm thinking I'll definitely write SOMETHING about it on this blog. 

• I don't know if it will be a full sketch by sketch breakdown like I usually do or a series of stray observations and comparisons but the temptation to analyze how this show compares to its' counterpart and put it in writing will be too strong to resist for sure.

• After that, you can expect a review of the Brian Williams/Feist episode from season 33 on this blog as a companion piece to an upcoming episode of the We Heart Hader podcast.

• Speaking of which, Deej and I just released a new episode just the other day reviewing the Kunuk Uncovered episode of Documentary Now! It may be our shortest episode to date, but I still encourage you to give it a listen. 

• After that, SNLUS comes back in early April with host Jack White and musical guest Jack Black. While I'm all for this combo just for the "what's in a name?" factor alone and I'm open to the idea of Jack Black becoming an official five timer...something about this feels a little "too soon" for me.

• Still, I remember genuinely liking Jacks' episode from last season quite a bit based on how starkly it stood out from the pack at that time. Of course, most of that was due to Jacks' sheer energy making it stand out by season 50 standards but it's clear he boosted morale and inspired some creative shift. 

• He elevated his episode just enough to make it feel and his infectious energy may be just what season 51 needs right now to prove its' still wanting to do something different and less complacent in its own status quo.

• Anyway, hope you guys all enjoy this output from me when you get a chance to see it!

Ryan Gosling/Gorillaz (03.07.2026)

Hegseth Iran Press Conference

• Possibly the safest possible choice for a cold open, but hey...I'll take it.

• The "Hegstand/Papa Roach/Trump Resort/we can do Jamaican again/Quagmires' hilarious" lines were my favorite so far.

• I like Jost randomly calling Tommy a "Hanson brother" and his "White Hamilton" response to Sarah.

• I figured they would throw in a reference to Kristie Noems firing. I did like the "reassigned under the bus" line. Nice to see Ashley in this role before she hangs the wig and lip prosthetic in the rafters. 

• Even nicer for them to end this here and give JAJs' Trump a break. C+

Monologue

• Oh, Jesus Christ. Is this just gonna be a more insufferable version of Will Ferrells' monologue from November 2019 but with Ryan Reynolds swapped out for Harry Styles? Fuck, this show is shameless.

• Oh, I see Ryan is singing again....or about to sing...while rambling on and on about his penchant for making space movies. This MIGHT go somewhere interesting.

• Ah, fuck. We REALLY can't keep the camera off Harry, can we?

• ...and Sarah has only showed up to do her "Punchs' mom" character in Harrys' lap just as his "Sign Of The Times" song is cued up for Ryan to reluctantly talk sing to.

• Nice use of heavily prostheticized backup dancers, at least.

• Yeah, I'd take a bullet right now too, Ryan.

• Obligatory "I'm Just Ken" reference.

• ...and of course the rest of the cast (which I just now remembered Chloe Fineman is a part of is only on stage to better gawk at at Harry. Called it.

• Yeah, I don't know what else I could say about this monologue except that it didn't even manage to clear the low bar I had for this episode. Oh well. Let's see if the rest of this episode delivers anything different. D-

Wedding Tradition

• This looks like a wedding set. Oh, fuck. This better not be what I think it is.

• Oh, good. Mikey and Sarah are the bride and groom. (*phew*) We're safe for now.

• Ashley got in a good line.

• Uh oh. Dismukes and Chloe are at another table as a couple.

• Oh, good. Ryan's playing some flashy ass weirdo who's obsessed with the idea of "clinking his glass to get the bride and groom to kiss" to the point of doing this at inappropriate times during their speech.

• Well, I'm glad they didn't decide to just say "fuck it" and give us another Domingo right now...but I'm not crazy about where this is going instead. Ryans' low energy delivery isn't helping.

• Hey, I just realized how far Ryan made it through this episode without break...AH FUCK!

• Well, I at least liked Sarahs' "wouldn't kill you" line as well as what Jeremy and Jane bought to this sketch.

• Didn't Kate McKinnon play an old woman who constantly demanded random people kiss for her own amusement? This reminds me a lot of that. I'm sure this is not the exact Kate McKinnon sketch people were expecting Ryan Gosling to bring back. I'm sure a lot of people are disappointed right now, but not me.

• ...and just when you think this sketch is dragging on for far too long, it has the good sense to end.

• Eh,  I didn't hate it. C-

Otezla vs. Skyrizi

• Hmm, so..this is just "what if Otezla and Skyrizi" were just more intense versions of Happy Fun Ball?"

• While there were way too many individual lines in this to list that I liked, I did like the deranged break neck speed paced absurdity of this sketch. B+

Cyclops

• This looks like it might be unique and interesting.

• Nope, it's not. In fact, the only interesting thing about this sketch is it's the first time I've seen Ashley and Veronika break ever.

• Other than that, this feels like the type of sketch that would've been written for Fred Armisen 15-20 years ago. Hell, it feels like a modern Mikey sketch since he also seems to have an affinity for playing hopeless dumbasses.

• Now, THIS truly did go on way too long...but i got a kick out of the ending. D+

Monty McTreats and The Pastry Bakery

• Ugh, this isn't gonna be another Sarah Squirm gore fest pretape, is it? I don't see her YET.

• Nope, just a Willy Wonka knock off but focused on the post mating suicide rituals of the male dough creatures Goslings' character kidnapped to work in his factory.

• Another pretape where I liked the dark and strange detail heavy nature of it more than anything. 

• This seemed like an improvement on whatever formula Dan Bulla was going for with his pretapes. I liked how it cut straight to the point without taking a detour around the expected darkness by way of a forced, saccharine happy ending.

• It doesn't surprise me that he had nothing to do with this and that this was apparently based on an old Mikey Groundlings sketch from over a decade ago. B+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Kristi Noem, Womens' History Month

• Che's Best Jokes: Mind Reader, Dead Deer

• This Update has a lot of energy which is nice to see nowadays but...I feel like what the crowd who was here to see Ryan gave them is better than the jokes themselves (which Jost seemed to acknowledge)

• Hmm...a Kenan/JAJ faith themed musical combo. An interesting pairing. They should compliment each other well.

• I mean, this seems to be just playfully meandering nonsense that can't seem to pick a lane but the pomp these guys added to it made it at least entertaining.

• ...and it ends there. Not terrible. At least they knew they should end Update on a (relatively) high note this week. C+

Passing Notes

• Two high school teacher sketches in two weeks back to back? Ok, at least this one already looks like it might be better than the one we got last week.

• Oh, NOW I see why they felt the need to provide a disclaimer that these "notes" were changed at dress.

• This may be another cheap improv exercise put on air but at least this was a fun one that the cast had the time of their life with

• Glad to see Ashley get her "this is the absolute hardest I have ever broken on air" moment out of the way early in her tenure. I wonder what the discussion with standards & practices must have been like in order to get that "gynecologists' office" note cleared for air?

• It's nice to see that they decided to fully lean into the distinct possibility that there was going to be a historic amount of on air breaking this week and carve out a safe space to indulge themselves.

• I loved the idea of this sketch just being "let's have everyone pull a big Mulaney/Stefon/low stakes Che & Jost joke swap on each other" (and somehow our host kept it together the best out of anyone involved in this sketch).

• I may have liked Mikeys' reaction to his note that he pulled from Kam the best. B+

Goo Goo Man

• Huh...this could go somewhere interesting. Did Sarah cowrite this? She did well in this even if Ashley, Jeremy, Mikey and Kenan had some of the better supporting moments.

• Ryan performed this well although I would've liked to see the arrogance and self righteousness of his role played up a bit better.

• I did like that they tried a live sketch that just gave us a stream of meaningless goofy ass nonsense even if the pacing was a little languid. B-

Martin Herlihys' "Lies"

• I usually like Martins' solo short films and even though I can see how some would call this "one note" this was no exception.

• The pre-Jost stuff I liked the most were the "proud muggle tattoo" and the "stuntman" sight gags (which even livened up the semi-cliched ending confrontation between Jost and Herlihy)

• Colin Jost is a much maligned (with love) figure at SNL no doubt but the Herlihy Boy managed to put a new absurdist twist on that old trope (even if he did kind of drag it out without taking it anywhere).

• Man, who would've ever thought we'd get TWO Seth Meyers cameos on SNL in one season while he was still hosting Late Night? In this economy?

• The only thing I didn't care for in this was the repeated "lol Kevin Spacey amirite?" joke with the signed photo in Josts' dressing room. B-

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. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
6. Ryan Gosling/Gorillaz (03.07.2026)
7. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
8. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
9. Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
10. Connor Storrie/Mumford & Sons (02.28.2026)
11. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
12. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
13. Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
14. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Ranking Ryan Goslings' Episodes From Best To Worst

1. Ryan Gosling/Gorillaz (03/07/2026)
2. Ryan Gosling/Leon Bridges (12.05.2015)
3. Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (04.13.2024)
4. Ryan Gosling/Jay-Z (09.30.2017)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, this show certainly got off to as dire of a start as I was expecting but it somehow dug itself out of that hole much more easily than I was expecting it to.

• I do like how this episode got most of its shameless pandering and "too pointlessly stupid for its own good" moments out of the way early in three concentrated, easy to swallow doses and moved on to more strange experimental stuff later on.

• Hell, Ryan kept his breaking to an absolute minimum outside of the designated spots for it and even Lorne himself showed some incredible restraint by cutting a Beavis and Butthead sequel from dress rehearsal fer chrissake!

• Yes, this show cleared the incredibly low bar I had for it by simply having more going for it than one of the two Gorillaz performances (which were both great by the way) being "Clint Eastwood"

• While this episode may not have been quite good enough to break my personal top five for season 51, it was better than last week simply by virtue of being more stable and the best of Goslings' episode by default for how starkly different it was from his others (and yes, I personally gave bonus points for Gorillaz on this one).

• Cast usage remains stable. Mikey, Veronika and Ashley had expectedly big nights. Sarah had an unexpectedly big night. Meanwhile, Dismukes, (surprisingly) JAJ, Ben, Kam, Kenan and Jeremy (surprisingly) remained scaled back. Chloe seems to be easing back into the show after remembering she still works here and Tommy (for better or for worse) continues to make inroads.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, that turned out to mostly be a pleasant surprise.

• Next week, Harry Styles pulls double duty for a second time in nearly seven years. I somehow wasn't too crazy about his first episode and while I don't quite see him pulling off the same upset and defying previously set expectations the way Gosling just did, the show is substantially different enough now from what it was back in 2019 so I will go into this with an open mind.

• After that one, I will probably write a review of Season 33s Brian Williams/Feist episode and post it here on this blog as that will be the subject of the next episode of We Heart Hader that Deej and I record as we're doing that whole season. This will be a special episode because both the Saturday Night Network and That Week In SNL were two of my inspirations to get into podcasting in general and thus part of the reason why I cohost We Heart Hader to begin with so it will be nice to have an SNL episode that Jon, Andy, Timmy, Deej and I will have all mutually covered on our respective podcasts.

• Of course, before that the next episode of We Heart Hader you will actually be able to listen to the "Kunuk Uncovered" episode of Documentary Now which will likely be out just mere hours before the Harry Styles episode of SNL even airs on NBC if all goes well (because that will certainly be an interesting one for Deej to edit!)

• See you all again very soon!

Alexander Skarsgard/Cardi B (01.31.2026)

ICE Meeting

• What the absolute fuck?

• A diffie opening text crawl followed by an even DIFFIER political impression.

• I don't know how far down the list of "People Who Should Play Tom Homan On This Show" fucking Pete Davidson was, but I'm pretty disappointed that the guy who would've been my first choice if they absolutely HAD to stunt cast this (John Goodman, of course...I mean, he's gotta have a good handle on the voice) was obviously unavailable.

• Hell, I'd have a slightly easier time buying Pete in this role if he used the same voice and facial prosthetics that he was using to play Andrew Cuomo a few years ago.

• I'll say Kenan, Dismukes, Ben, Mikey, JAJ and Jeremy as the ICE agents Pete is addressing are picking up the slack from Pete and just BARELY making this work for me...and it is at least mice to get a break from another JAJ/Trump centered cold open...and this is probably preferable to a sudden cameo from Cardi as Nicki as a few people online were suggesting.

• Is this reminding anyone else of the Airport Security sketch from the season 32 premiere back in '06?

• It seems like there's not a lot here just because of the slow pacing of this (well, not JUST because of that), but there are some actually funny and decent lines here to pick out that were delivered well.

• Another reason there doesn't seem like much to go on here is that the main take seems to be reiterating what incompetent unqualified doofuses ICE agents are (a point that has been beaten to death by both "real" and "fake" news shows alike).

• Beyond that, having Pete Davidson of all people just barely gloss over what a corrupt evil bastard Tom Homan is and then have Pete Davidson of all people portray him as a mild mannered school marm is WAY the wrong thing for the show to be doing. In fact, this is almost MORE toothless and tone deaf than what they did LAST week.

• You know, this was one of many, many different moments in my life in the past 48 hours where I had to just sit in silence and ask myself...what the fuck am I even doing with my life right now? 

• Granted, I find myself doing this a lot for a plethora of deeply personal reasons that are entirely unrelated to this particular SNL cold open that i refuse to divulge on this goddamn fucking blog right now (it's supposed to be a distraction from that, obviously)...but I'm starting to wonder how many people involved in putting this show on the air have the capacity to even ask themselves this and that makes me sad...well, not as sad as some of that personal stuff I refuse to talk about here...but still. C-

Monologue

• Wow, an actual mention of the 1000th episode. I like how Alexander underplayed that.

• Hey, this dude's legitimately paying tribute to the band...AND letting them speak! All right!

• Hey, Lenny's got jokes!

• Alexanders' saxophone bit was fun and a great capper to this.

• That monologue may just be one big clock punch for those of us who listen to (and even some times record and release their own) podcasts about SNL but...already this is LIGHTYEARS better than three of the last five episodes of the show put together (which already makes this episode better than but just as uneven as last week's show). A-

Mom's Confession

• Already this reminds me of the "bad thing" sketch from Kristen Wiigs' last episode but with Ashley trying to do a better version of it.

• ...and it turns out that Sarah, Tommy, Dismukes and Jane are her kids who are exasperated that she didn't turn on Trump sooner or more drastically. 

• I liked Alexanders' line about how Ashley "gets a different internet" because her laptop is old and Jane's line about Ashley asking her if she "just liked hats" when she came out to her.

• I'll give the show this, the smartest thing they did all year so far was make this particular sketch an Ashley showcase and make it the first post monologue sketch. B+

Winter Olypmics Profile 

• Hey, another weird ass Jane thing but as a flashy pretape and she's killing it with this already! All right! Alexander is pretty great as her coach, too.

• The only thing negative I could say about this is that it does remind me a bit of that Patti Harrison Shark Tank sketch from ITYSL which will probably make the discourse around this sketch/episode a bit annoying...but other than that I'm glad we got to see this on air. B+

Stench Of A Family

• Already I can tell this is going to be a sequel to that Chloe movie shoot sketch from Glenn Powells' episode. 

• Smart move. That sketch did kill the first time and it does fit Alexander like a glove. Even Jane is scoring in this.

• This one seems to be going in a darker direction but making it work. It didn't have much of an out either but at least the Stellan cameo lent it some credibility...but not an actual ending or a non-rushed out, it seems. B-

Immigrant Dad Talk Show III

• This was a pleasant surprise. I genuinely wasn't expecting this to return any time soon, but I suppose Alexander playing up the repressed Nordic stoicism his homeland is known for works here just as well.

• This felt a bit more rushed but that's probably because they didn't need to establish as much with this being the third one and the focus shifting from sons amd daughters to wives.

• I don't think we needed to see the exact same beat with Mikey amd Dismukes as the father and son who kiss but the Stellan cameo that moment spawned worked even better.

• ...and if Cardi was going to cameo in a sketch, I guess this would be the one for her to be in. B-

Viking Raid

• Hmm, this seems to be the "obligatory host sketch" of the night.

• Huh, this turned into more of a "host plays against type" as it became more focused on Alexander overcoming his own insecurity. 

• I liked how they played that against a backdrop of modern manufactured SNL pretape gore set during the crusades. That made for some interesting juxtaposition and this was well acted by all the cast members involved.

• I did like the various gags that involved vikings just casually holding severed limbs. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Che's best jokes: Kristi Noem, Jost/ICE Mask, Jamaican bobsled team, Luigi Mangione, Obese Americans

• Josts' best jokes: Dry January, Walz/Epstein, Kash Patel/Mr. Bean, Waffle House, McDonalds Decaf Coffee, UPS

• Well, this Update seemed like it might slowly grind this episode to a halt at first...but Che and Jost actually had some decent jokes later on.

• I dunno, editing Melania footage into Rush Hour still seems a little beneath SNL to me.

• Interesting coincidence that we're seeing Sarah's "out in the cold" weather report the same week That Week covered the episode with "Dratch On The Ones" on Update. 

• It's MUCH less interesting that she immediately turned it into another perverted Jost roast but I liked her dress (and how she interacted with the audience during that reveal). The Jack McBrayer cameo was nice.

• Speaking of now recurring sketches that debuted in November, it was smart of them to being back Ashley and Andrews "two people who just hooked up". I know Ashley does most of the heavy lifting in these (and she did great as usual) but Dismukes had a lot of the lines I liked (especially "game of inches" and "tush push"). C+

Agnes

• So, Alexander is in very basic low frils drag...and shouting at the girls in a Farleyesque manner when they are incredulous about what she does and doesn't know about things...and Ashley is the mom

• This may be the dumbest thing ever on paper but I kinda like the absurd direction this is going in with the repeated Sarah dummy toss.

• Even Jane had the line that made this sketch for me: "Stop asking her if she knows things". C+

Tarzan & Jane

• I like the use of miniatures here.

• Anyone else get slight CBS era Kids In The Hall vibes from Alexander here? This does seem like something a Don Ohlemeyer type would casually suggest.

• I do like how this is fundamentally reconstructing the basic relationship between Tarzan and Jane in a way that makes it feel so evergreen that it COULD have actually been done as early as 1993.

• Kenans' leopard bit was cute but I could've done without it.

• I do like the fourth wall break that suggests "Jane" is a long islander faking her English accent. Did she cowrite this with Martin and Ben? Some of the other slight Sarah self depreciation (the "boobs" line mostly) makes me think so.

• Overall, another decent sketch in a standout episode but probably one of the things that "blew me away" the least. B-

Funny Boyfriend

• Hmm, a sketch built around "Cards Against Humanity"? This sounds like something that had been cut from many dress rehearsals...since about 2011.

• I didn't care too much for the reveal but I'll say that I liked how Andrew, Ashley, JAJ were great at dramatically calling out what they just found out Alexander said on his cards earlier that day.

• Also, Alexander did great with his dramatic origin story. I didn't even mind how telegraphed the ending was since I had just enough fun with this sketch to enjoy it. B-

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. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
6. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
7. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
8. Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
9. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
10. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
11. Teyana Taylor/Geese (01.24.2026)
12. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Well, if nothing else, this episode shows just how well this season of SNL can dig itself out of a hole. This is at least the third time this season alone that this show had managed to pull off a shockingly strong episode just after a demoralizingly bad and empty one just in time for a notable chronological milestone in the show's history. 

• We've seen this at the very start of this season with Amy Poehlers' episode following by Bad Bunnys' on the actual to the date 50th anniversary of SNL and if you want to count Bowen leaving as such a milestone we saw it with Ariana Grande/Cher following Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen. 

• Now, we just saw them pull this off in time to give us a surprisingly fun 1000th episode that honestly may not have seemed quite as good had it not been preceded by that dreadful one two punch of Finn Wolfhard/Teyana Taylor.

• Yes, Alexander was a much more game host than Teyana who bought the right energy and showed quite a bit more range, but the writing is still a bit uneven and their political commemtary does still fail to "meet the moment" in a way that makes one wonder why the hell they are even still doing this show anymore (hell, SNL can't even tell "the moment" from either it's own collective asshole OR a hole in the ground let alone find it with a map in a flashlight) but still, there were a lot of refreshing little elements to this that made me glad to see such a feel good episode close out its January run.

• One thing that I think is the leading cause of the show's instability problems right now is the shift in cast dynamics in Bowens' absence but it is still great to see the show remember how best to use Jane, Ashley, JAJ, Marcello, Dismukes, Sarah and even Chloe lately.

• It's a shame we didn't see as much of Kam, Kenan or Jeremy and that they're still figuring out what to do with Ben, Tommy, Mikey and Veronika at this time.

Closing Thoughts

• At the end of thext month when the Milan Winter Olympics are over, Connor Storrie makes his SNL hosting debut. At this point, I'm glad that Ben Marshall has already gotten "Heated Wizardy" out of his system but given that the current show's staff still let that on the aid as their first big pop cultural parody pretape of 2026, I'm extremely wary of how such an episode COULD go.

• Well, I hope you've enjoyed my reviews of both SNLs' 1000th AND 638th live episodes (the latter of which is the subject of of the latest episode of the We Heart Hader Podcast as well as my previous blog post). Later this month, we'll be reviewing more of Documentary Now (the "Dronez" episode specifically) and I'll be a guest on the "Cover Wars" podcast (more on that later, closer to when my episode comes out).

• See you soon!

Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)

Trump Cabinet Meeting

• Of course...

• Yeah, just get us all caught up on January real quick...

• There's Marcellos' Rubio...

• The "don't read this note out loud thing" was unexpectedly lame.

• Hey, THERE’S Jeremy as J.D. Vance! Calling attention to the new guy, I see.

• I at least like how Jeremy's Vance is much more grounded and less gimmicky than the idea of casting Bowen in that role was.

• Hey, THERE’S the window thing!

• Padilla as Noem. I already like this more than Tina and Heidi's portrayals.

• Hey, THERE’S Josts' Hegseth here to save this! Already loving the big creatine jar and kettlebell.

• This cold open gave me pretty much what I was expecting with a couple of pleasant surprises tossed in so I can't be mad at it. B-

Monologue

• Well, the use of clips, backing music and cameos from Finns' now former costars gave this monologue about 100x more energy that I was expecting.

• Even though I saw the alcohol spit take coming from two towns over and the timing of Gatens' "former child star" joke is a bit...diffie, this was an enjoyable monologue. B-

Snack Homiez II

• Aw, fuck...I had a feeling they'd make this recurring given this host. 

• I genuinely was NOT expecting them to actually bring back Sabrina for this (I figured Finn would just be her replacement not the guest they bring on) but hey, January show. They may need all the help they can get.

• Yeah, I was pretty rough on this sketch back in October when it debuted, but I'll admit...it became a guilty pleasure of mine.

• Finn as a guest who's an expert on "facial structure" is an interesting idea they should have explored a bit more but really, this didn't work.

• Going into this with an open mind, it seems to be less a meaningless collection of GenZ buzzwords than the first one. I'll admit, the Mrs. Indcredible/Pirates' Booty jokes got me.

• OK, I guess A$AP Rocky (who's musical performances were high points of this episode if I'm being honest) being a guest in this makes the most sense out if anything here. Having him just shamelessly plug his own brand of "rap snacks" kinda bummed me out. C+

Heated Wizardry

• OK, part of me was wondering how a network show like SNL even COULD parody a show as ribald and steamy as "Heated Rivalry" (heard of it, haven't seen it, don't plan to, it's just not for me) but...replacing hockey with Quidditch? In 2026?

• To quote the actual star of the Harry Potter franchise in his 2012 monologue on this very show "how lazy can you get?"

• I will say that the fake J.K. Rowling "I'm not a part of this" review got me and some of the less obvious casting choices in this worked well for me (JAJ/Snape, Ashley/McGonagall, Tommy/Malfoy, Chloe/Hermione...and as for Dobby, I guess Jeremy has a real knack for picking up Bowens' old roles).

• Boy, this went on WAY too long, am I right? Personally, I could've done without Kenan as Mad Eye Moody or Jason Momoa as Hagrid.

• Seriously, what the hell was Jason Momoa of all people doing in this...and how the hell is he not gonna get canceled for...THAT line?

• Honestly, this felt more it was littered with the exact type of shameless GenZ pandering I was expecting from the "Snack Homiez" sequel. 

• Oh, well. I'm sure Ben Marshall has plenty of female fans going crazy over this one, so as it'll be nice to see them happy. D+

Indie/Boy Bands

• I could immediately tell where this was going from the beginning but once JAJ entered the scene in a goofy 98°/NSYNC inspired get up playing it completely straight inbetween dance numbers, I immediately got on board.

• Still, I feel like this sketch had some serious pacing and energy problems that pretty much everyone can share the blame for here. 

• Everyone gave it there all and yet still it's like Finns timing was off in a specific enough way to lead to a minor chain reaction that led every other moment play for a beat too long, letting a tiny bit of energy fly out of the scene each time.

• This had a very pleasant ending, but maybe I was a fool to expect more palpable tension and heightened drama out of this. C+

Stranger Spinoffs

• "Strangerous Minds" was delightful and I got a kick out of how Jeremy dragged out Wills' coming out scene

• "The Wheeler Report" just feels like whatever potential to be had there was squandered.

• So...Finn, Gaten and Caleb are just doing...Sex And The City For Dudes?

• "Mike In Manhattan" was a little too long for my liking, but I liked the subsequent scene with them basically just trolling the "conformitygate" conspiracy nuts.

• Mikey as "Mike's Dad" was OK but something I could've done without. JAJ did great voiceover narration here.

• Other than that, I feel this was another pretape that went on too long. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: Greenland/Puerto Rico, Trump/Retribution, RFK/War On Protein,Zaldana/Scarjo, Staten Island/Public Bathroom

• Che Best Jokes: ICE/invasion, RFK/Trump/slight breeze, Nose picking leads to Alzheimers

• I liked the sassiness Jost injected into his Trump/relationship and Exxon "playing too cute" jokes (but not as much as I liked Che calling him out on it with that "algorithm" comment).

• Kam Patterson as Michael Irvin may be the only thing I legitimately laughed at all night...and sadly, a lot of this episode's material (especially the pretapes) made his recent KillTony comments about the show...so eerily prescient it's like the show set out to troll him directly (ditto JAJ re:his recent Vulture interview, now that i think about it)...and then gave him this Update piece as a prize for winning their little test of endurance.

• Boy, this Update really fell off a cliff joke wise at this point, didn't it?

• OK, who DIDN’T see the punchline to that Autistic Barbie joke coming a mile away?

• While it's nice to see Jane get to play a character that isn't herself, this felt like too much of an abstract inside joke for me to fully get on board with since I have NOT seen whatever TikTok clip this was based on. C+

Space Emporer

• OK, this was pretty much the roman emperor sketch from Ashton Kutchers' notorious season 35 episode where he kept feeding Will Forte grapes...but also, Dune?

• I do like the "I'm going to go past making my cast mates break and just see how badly I am going to derail this sketch" vibe that Mikey is giving off. Hell, that's literally the only redeeming quality this had. 

• Hell, even the intro to this acknowledges they needed to update how they frame their TV parody sketches in the streaming age. They haven't quite realized how they should do away with the "you're watching (blank) on (blank)" intros but hey...baby steps. C+

Guy's Girl

• While I am pleased to see Veronika get her own showcase sketch where she plays off Ben and Jeremy in a semi-dramatic moment, I was disappointed to see this gradually turn into a cross the Kyle Mooney "killed the bit" pretape from season 46 and the "random" Sam Crap museum sketch from ScarJos' season 40 episode. 

• Also, is it just me or does this seem to be another sketch where whatever ending it may have had was heavily trimmed down for time between dress and air?

• Anyway, Veronika Slowikowska seems like a promising talent who I believe has the potential to be one of the new leads of the female cast along with Ashley. I just hope they don't misuse her. C-

Free Solo

• Normally, I'd say it's very odd for this to be Kenan's only live appearance all night...but given Chris Redds' recent revelation and given Kenans' rather muted appearance on Kelly Clarksons' show recently...and given how he apparently didn't do this week's warmup between dress and air, I think I can guess what his mental state might be.

• Other than that, he and Finn were actually pretty funny in this. I don't have much else to say about this except that it definitely felt like the type of sketch we might have gotten in 2015. 

• Hey Finn, taking an Uber to a bus stop might just make sure you don't MISS a bus. Did you ever think if THAT, buddy? B-

Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst

1. Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
2. Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
3. Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
4. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
5. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
6. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
7. Finn Wolfhard/A$AP Rocky (01.17.2026)
8. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
9. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
10. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts 

• Well, it's the first show of the new year...which means it's a January show so all bets were off to begin with.

• The whole show felt awkward what with Finn pretty much a disappearing non-enitity as host. 

• Outside of one or two things, I didn't have much of a problem with the writing or performances but the show still felt wildly uneven...and a bit divisive.

• Maybe this is the result of having a young host and the show feeling the need to play to his...rabid young fan base in such a tryhard way (and it mostly backfiring on them if the reaction on Twitter is to be believed).

• Still, this was far from the worst of the season. One thing I do like in this episode is that the show seems to genuinely be trying to give airtime to previously underused cast members.

• I have to admit, I am actually seeing one thing I said I was hoping for on my last SNN appearance in that they are giving JAJ a lot more airtime to play more non-Trump role and unique characters so, it's nice to see they actually DID continue that trend and I hope to see more of it.

• They're even giving Kam, Veronika and Jane more chances to showcase their own original character pieces and find their voice on the show...which I also find encouraging.

• While I wasn't too crazy about most of this episode, one thing I did like seeing was the noticeable seismic shift in how SNL is using the rest of its cast now that Bowen is out of the picture.

• Of course, we didn't see too much of Tommy, Kenan, Sarah or Andrew and Marcello felt scaled back a bit, but it's good to see their time being given to newer, less established cast members to develop their presence.

Closing Thoughts

• Next week, Teyana Taylor makes her hosting debut. She seems like she would be a good host, but not having seen as much of her acting I don't have any expectations going into this episode so it will be interesting going into another new SNL with that mindset.

• One thing I could see happening after next week is Teyana does such a great job on the show and gets such rave reviews in the press that the discourse surrounding the show becomes "see, THIS is why SNL needs another black female cast member now that Egos' gone"...because I have seen this exact scenario play out already more than a decade ago when Kerry Washington hosted.

• Oh well, either way I'm sure that episode will be miles better than this one and you'll be able to read my review of that episode on this blog around this time a week from now.

• One other review I am working on right now is a review of the Seth Rogen/Spoon episode from season 33. As you may have heard me mention before, Deej and I are reviewing both that whole season of SNL (since it's so short, we figured...why the hell not?) as well as the entire* first two seasons of Documentary Now for our podcast We Heart Hader.

• In fact, we just released our first Documentary Now review the other day. Feel free to listen to it!

• I gotta go finish my Seth Rogen/Spoon review before Tuesday night because I THINK that's when Deej and I are going to record that one. 

• Obviously, I'm working under a slightly less strict self imposed deadline than I am on this one but I think the demands of another new job have been draining my energy and focus for that one a bit...which may be affecting both that review and this one, but anyway you should hopefully see that review posted on this blog by the end of the month (hopefully right before my review of SNL Season 51s' upcoming Aleksander Skarsgard/Cardi B episode is posted).

• See you soon!

*Yeah, something tells me we might be skipping over "A Town, A Gangster, A Festival"

Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)

Presidential Address

• I was a bit surprised that they would return to the standard "and now, an address from the President..." framing for a cold open centered around JAJs' Trump...until I remembered that the REAL President Trump actually did give an address like this so, again...they really had no excuse not to.

• Nothing really stood out to me here aside from the redacted Epstein files material and the random Indigo Girls reference (even if the "screen of heavily redacted files" gag is literally something I saw on Twitter earlier today) and the "second favorite r-word" joke. 

• Still, this is far from the worst cold open I could've envisioned for this episode (as part of me was envisioning a cold open similar to one we got in mid October...but our host tonight said that character was dead and buried and she stuck by her word). C-

Monologue 

• Well, I liked the "Domingo/sequel" joke even though it doesn't quite play as well after they actually made three sequels to Arianas' original Domingo sketch without her involvement.

• I liked the Mariah parody. I mean, it's FAR from the worst "All I Want For Christmas" parody I've seen this show do, but...this would've hit harder had I not come across this YouTube clip from Sabrina Carpenters' Netflix Christmas special from last year where she sings a song with the EXACT same premise with Kyle Mooney of all people as the mystery relative.

• I don't want to accuse the show of plagiarism or anything. I'll just say that I thought this monologue was the better execution of this concept simply for not being as heavily autotuned and utilizing the current SNL cast much better.

• One line I particularly liked was "I panicked and ordered a Yeti mug/the Christmas equivalent of a shrug". B+

Elf On The Shelf Support Group

• Hmm...decent premise for a sketch in a Christmas show.

• The further this goes along, the more I can deal with the high pitch voice modulator percmeating this sketch.

• I liked Jeremy, Ariana, Mikey and Kenan's performances the best along with the confetti explosions being triggered by "bad thoughts". Hell, they even found a way to work Kam into this sketch. B+

Home Alone

• Well, I was disappointed to see we were moving away from a showcase of Ashley Padillas' Catherine O'Hara impression to another anachronistic Christmas gore fest pretape. 

• Still, I was mostly OK with this since they mostly backed off if these for what felt like at least a year (probably more since the Grinch/Whoville themed one that got put up online was cut for time from Martin Shorts' episode).

• I did like the visual of Colin Jost as Buzz just getting absolutely shredded by a fan just before the reveal of this entire thing taking place in the mind palace of a sleep deprived Ashley (which, honestly, made up for this being another one of...those in my mind). B-

Coreographers

• At first it felt odd, that Marcello would be the male lead in this type of sketch in Bowens last episode until it became obvious from Bowens performance that this was very much an ensemble sketch.

• This sketch felt incredibly disjointed and unfocused (almost like it was five sketch premises jammed into one) but again, given the ensemble nature and the already odd structure to this sketch, those things actually worked in its favor.

• Everyone really got a moment to shine here (even JAJ and Chloe but especially Jeremy). Marcello and Ariana played strongly off each other and I liked his line about making diabetes "look like something you want". Plus, it was the perfect length for what it was. B-

Peacocks' Random Duet Spectacular 

• So, I guess they decided they should do an updated 2025 version of the "Christmas song" impression parades they did for each of Fallons' hosting stints from the early 2010s?

• I was a little wary of this given how modern SNL fans have pretty much conditioned themselves to be sick of impression parades and how...just, modern pop culture in general is way too soft on its celebrities (and especially pop music stars) in general (some times for perfectly valid reasons) for this to be worth anyone's time (maybe this was because I had just seen some tweets reminiscing about how In Living Color used to brutally roast their musical parody subjects 35 years ago) but there were some fun moments here.

• Ariana did a fine Katy Perry even if her inexplicable space trip seems like ancient news now (can't have her host SNL and NOT do some singing women impressions, can we?) and pairing her with JAJs' Bob Dylan was wonderfully odd enough for me.

• Not quite sure what to make of Sarahs' Kate Bush but Bowens' Yoko was funny.

• I liked how they used Dismukes' Springsteen (it seemed like they were just repurposing his and JAJs impressions from that red carpet sketch from last season at first) but Marcellos' Bad Bunny seemed too...needlessly jammed in for me.

• Kenans' Stevie Wonder was fine. I liked the visual of Benson Boone just flying into frame, crashing into things but part of me was hoping he'd just be played by a blue sequined dummy being brutally thrown around, but i guess they had to hire a professional stunt person.

• Boy oh boy, I'm sure SOMEONE I know who I hope is reading this was tickled pink that they let JAJ play Cameron Winter from Geese!

• Surprisingly, Chloe's Bjork actually worked for me and I got a kick out of seeing Veronika as Post Malone.

• I was glad to see they found an impression for Kam that works for him as well as a way for Jane to just play herself in this sketch.

• Ending this on a duet between JAJs Andrea Bocelli and Arianas' Celine was very sweet...but almost too sincere of a note to end this on. C+

Black Santas' Burglary Trial

• OK, so...this isn't so much a goofy Kenam focused "Miracle on 34th St." parody as much as it is setting the audience up for a Cher cameo, isn't it?

• Stopping the "Believe" parody for this back and forth between Kenan and Mikeys' prosecutor is...kind of killing the momentum of this sketch.

• What killed the momentum of this sketch more in my mind was the dull thud of an ending where Arianas' judge sides with Kenans' character as they all march out into the audience to Kenan's "Believe" parody...with no Cher cameo at all? 

• Was this just an intro to her first song that sounded so much like "Believe" that it just as easily could have come out in 1998/99 as it did in 2025? 

• Was this a situation like the one Maya and Fred faced when they did Prince Show sketches when Prince and Beyoncé were actually on the show between 04 and 06 and they each made damn sure they never got to ask them in person?

• Maybe she was asked about this sketch and turned down a cameo here in favor of...a different sketch we'll get to later?

• Oh, well. Some cast members have all the luck in the world, I guess.

• Anyway, this sketch may have been a little uneven, but it was just fine on rewatch...so, I'll just leave it there for now. C+

Weekend Update w/Jost & Che

• Josts' Best Jokes: RFK Jr, Trump/Santa

• Che's Best Jokes: Bill Clinton, "Zero Illegal Aliens", New Statues, MTG Engaged

• Nice to see Kam making up for lost time in this episode with a "character" piece that works for him and plays up on his supposed "bad boy" image without having to let him go full on Kill Tony.

• I'm glad that we not only got in a joke swap but that they changed the format and length of it so that only Jost tells Che written Jokes and the episode still has time for...more appropriate things.

• As much as the "trend forecasters" never quite hot for me, it was very sweet of Aidy to actually show up for Bowens' last show. Even if part of me was hoping for Cecily or Ego, it's nice to see Aidy make her first cameo since leaving outside of SNL50.

• This does make sense due the fact that they did this exact bit on Aidys last show in 2022. I am glad they decided to hold off on making any references to this being Bowens last show.

• Really, the only thing I chuckled at during this was the visual of Che in that Marge wig holding two rainbow pride flags. B-

Love Is Blind: The Reunion

• Wow, Mikey must've really liked playing the Grinch last week, hun? We know he must like playing the Grinch more than Pete did.

• Still, I got some mild season 20 vibes from this for how visually expensive and elaborate it looked in service of something that seemed so...empty.

• This felt like it was written by someone who wanted to parody specific tropes and moments from "Love Is Blind" more than anything and there wasn't much beyond this other than "what if we just drag-and-dropped Mikey as the Grinch and he just...played him like a regular douchey dating show contestant?"

• Still, I will say it was a very nice switch to have Mikey be the "weird" outlandish one with everyone else in the sketch questioning HIM in an incredulous manner! (and no, just as i don't buy the umpteenth jammed in joke about a wigged Sarah character being the ugliest or least pretty woman in the room...I WAY don't buy Dismukes & Chloe as Nick and Vanessa Lachey. What the hell was that casting?). C-

Cher Performs "Run, Run, Rudolph"

• I did get a kick out of Ariana introducing this song as her castration character "Antonio" from her previous episode. Now, THERE’S a sketch I did want her to genuinely revisit!

• Even if the sound mixing was more noticeably bad than usual and Cher was inaudible enough that one might think she was lip syncing, I also liked that they used the regular home base stage for this performance rather than the regular musical guest stage. For a second, it briefly felt like this performance came straight out of her 1987/88 episode.

Delta Sky Club

• I should've guessed that Bowen would've gotten the same type of thinly veiled low key meta workplace themed sketch that Cecily got around this time three years ago. 

• Seriously though, I was very genuinely touched by this and moved by how honestly, deftly and expertly it summed up his SNL career (from the good to the even self-admittedly bad) and how strongly he expressed his own gratitude toward the show for the opportunities it gave him and everyone he worked with (and for).

• I haven't felt this much emotion watching an SNL cast members' "farewell" sketch since Stefon and Seth got married 12.5 years ago (wow, it's really been that long, huh?)

• Say what you will about Bowen, you have to admit that on SNL, he bought his own voice and distinct semi-absurdist sensibility to everything he did. More importantly, he never once denigrated his own people and also bucked every cultural stereotype that people tried to put on him since before he even officially started in the cast.

• Yeah, he did a lot of gay themed sketches but they weren't ever "stereotypical". Coming from him they felt very genuine and from a place of Bowen being his true self.

• Boy, I've seen departing cast members get emotional during these types of sketches for them but Bowen...seemed like he was literally unable to keep from crying mid sketch. Kudos to him for keeping it together and pushing through this.

• I wonder if the bit of Bowen spraying Kenan with a bit of egg nog was planned or not?

• Ah, THERE’S the Cher cameo we were all waiting for! I gotta say, his big send off got lined up pretty perfectly because I can hardly think of two better people to bid farewell to Bowen live on air than Cher and Ariana (as much as her performance makes me think Sarah may have originally supposed to have been a part of this but backed out suddenly).

• Farewell, Bowen Yang. We hardly knew ye...but we do know you came along at a time when SNL needed you the most. You always stood out on this show and you'll always occupy a very unique space all your own in SNLs' history.

• There's no doubt you got noticed by the powers that be during your time on the show and you're already making a big splash outside of SNL...so here's to the very bright future you have ahead of you. A-

Ranking The 51st Season From Best To Worst

1. Nikki Glaser/Sombr (11.08.2025)
2. Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean (11.15.2025)
3. Melissa McCarthy/Dijon (12.06.2025)
4. Ariana Grande/Cher (12.20.2025)
5. Amy Poehler/Role Model (10.11.2025)
6. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile (11.01.2025)
7. Josh O'Connor/Lily Allen (12.13.2025)
8. Sabrina Carpenter (10.18.2025) 
9. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat (10.04.2025)

Overall Thoughts

• Well, SNL gave me just what I wanted from them specifically for Christmas this year; a lower key episode similar to the McKinnon and Butler episodes from previous years that wasn't loaded with cameos and was more sketch and idea focused.

• I guess with Bowens' departure being confirmed the day before the show and the host and musical guest already being two of the biggest names in pop music/culture they decided they didn't want anything to steal too much focus from them, huh?

• Speaking of, I wonder why mid-season departures are ALWAYS more quiet, low key celebrations compared to the big, flashy blowouts we tend to get when established cast members are announced to be leaving the show during a proper May season finale? Is it because the holidays are already an emotional budget-stretched time that they don't want too add too much to? Is it also because they know they'll be coming back from a Christmas show in three or four weeks vs the three of four months they usually take to come back from a season finale?

• Anyway, even though this episode did actually give me what I wanted from it and had a solid host performance...I still wouldn't name ot the best of the season. It was a top five episode for this half of the season for sure, but not everything worked for me, so it was a little uneven in a way that I was totally expecting given the lineup. Still, it was another Christmas episode hosted by a big name that got by on holiday cheer and good, cozy yuletide vibes without just completely coasting on them.

• It feels a little odd to talk about cast usage for an episode where the main focus was on one single cast member but I have to point out what I did notice. Bowen felt like he was going to be used surprisingly lightly this episode until the very end but Sarah was ACTUALLY used shockingly lightly for Bowens' last episode considering how close they are. 

• Unsurprisingly, Kenan, Mikey and Chloe otherwise dominated the show. Dismukes and Ashley quietly provided support when needed. JAJ still gets chances to branch out from the White House little by little. Kam, Veronika, Jeremy and Ben really got to make up for lost time (so did Marcello to a lesser degree). Jane and Tommy seem to have taken some small hits, though.

Closing Thoughts 

• In three weeks time, the show returns in a new year with Finn Wolfhard as host, no doubt promoting the seemingly endless rollout of Stranger Things' final season which had somehow been stretched into movie theaters. 

• I was thinking about what an interesting choice this might have been seeing as...roughly 95% of the main Stranger Things cast would be the closest thing the show would be able to have to a "child actor" host these days until I read that Finn Wolfhard is 22 which must mean that none of the Stranger Things kids are really "child actors" anymore. 

• Still, I can't say I've seen enough of Finn Wolfhard in all of the things he's been in to be able to get a bead on how he would be as a host...so, in my eyes this makes him another "wild card" host (and we didn't have much luck with the last one we got a week ago...and January shows tend to be a bit of a dull wash anyway but I'll go into this episode with an open mind).

• In the meantime, I would encourage you all to listen to the newest episode of We Heart Hader that Deej & I just put out (and maybe, make sure to do so sometime before Thursday). 

• It's our first ever official Christmas episode AND our first ever movie review episode. We review the 2019 Disney+ title "Noelle" Starring Bill opposite Anna Kendrick as the children of Santa Claus who must prepare to take over their father's Christmas eve duties in the wake of his passing. It's exactly as heartwarming as it sounds.

• After that, we will finally release our long awaited review of SNLs' season 33 premiere hosted by Lebron James on January 2nd. I will post my own review of that episode right here on this blog the same date and time as the episode is released. 

• This date is important to me because it's not just my 35th birthday, but also the exact to-the-date one year anniversary of the podcasts debut. I'd like to thank Deej for allowing me a space to call my own with her in the SNL adjacent podcasting world and I'd like to thank anyone who's ever listened to We Heart Hader or read this blog. I wouldn't be doing any of this without you.

• Happy holidays and happy new year everyone!