SNL UK: Nicola Coughlan/Foo Fighters (04.25.2026)

Who Wants To Remain A Millionaire?

• Huh, is "Millionaire" really this relevant in Britain in 2026? I do remember it at its Y2K era peak here in the states when Regis Philbin hosted it and SNL parodied it with Darrell Hammond in the host's role.

• Even MADtv parodied OG "Millionaire" during that time with sketches like this one which this sketch reminds me of more than anything (even this one from SNL US)

• Al Nashs' Jeremy Clarkson impression is a nice touch here. I had no idea this was Mr. Clarksons' current gig or what that "real farmer" comment was alluding to.

• See, I've only ever known Jeremy Clarkson from his old show "Top Gear" that would sometimes be run on BBC America...so, I've only ever known him to be a fake car guy in addition to being a real ass hole (hey, there's another word you can say on SNL US that you can't say on SNL UK!)

• This was a nice twist on the usual Fouracres/Starmer cold opens they usually do every other episode. I liked that these get increasingly harsher and more pointedly angry toward him and his sheer spineless incompetence each time.

• I also liked how they balanced out the barely concealed anger in this cold open with the sheer silly stupidity of Sir Keir using all of his lifelines on one question and still failing to answer the simplest of questions (especially one concerning whether or not one should ever hire a career politician who was not only friends with Epstein post conviction but also sold him sensitive government secrets).

• I liked the evil, creepy touch Larry's Peter Mandleson impression gave to this as well. It's one of those impressions I can't really gague the accuracy of, but it seemed pretty minimalist and character focused so it just gets the job done. B+

Monologue 

• Aside from the "SNL UK & Ireland/shouting at a female comedian on TV" joke and the other joke about paying homage to the original 70s SNL US by doing staggering amounts of cocaine, I wasn't crazy about the jokes Nicola was given for this monologue. Still, she did all she could to elevate this material.

• Nicolas' brief turn to camera for that brief Jack & Emma gossip reminded me a bit of SNL US monologues I've seen from Anna Faris, Kerry Washington and Margot Robbie.

• Sadly, Jimmy Fallons' cameo added very little of value here and we really could've done without him. 

• I mean, it is nice to see a sprawling backstage monologue on SNL every once in a while and kudos to SNL UK for just having done their first one and showing us around their own London studio a bit more Jimmy has shown he's adept at making these work better than most...but at the same time I feel like Nicola could've handled this one all on her own.

• I guess whenever SNL UK shows us their backstage in the future the extras in Napoleon/beefeater/ABBA costumes will be their equivalent of our backstage llamas, Lincolns and Vegas style showgirls as the go to, clock punch, background gags?

• I did enjoy Nicolas interactions with Paddy, Ania & George (even if it was like the fourth or fifth gratuitous callback to Nicolas' cameos in the first episode).

• Anyway, for all of it's minor flaws, this monologue didn't a fine job of keeping up the energy at the top of the show and making the viewers feel confident that the host would be a strong sketch performer. B-

Yo! Nicola Raps!

• Wow, the fake "Hot Streak" poster in the background. I guess that's six callbacks to the first episode at this point?

• Anyway, yeah...I definitely saw the same parallels between both of Natalie's Raps that everyone else did (including Celeste, George and the writers since they actually called it out mid-sketch).

• Still, I saw more parallels between this Please Don't Destroys' "Three Sad Virgins" (particularly the parts that were just about Dune, the pauses mid-video to explain what isn't working and subsequent attempts to misunderstand and overcorrect).

• I can't say this hold up on rewatch but it was fun at first to see Nicola throw herself into a hard-core gangsta rap about some children's book fairy tale gibberish...but I've seen this trope get pulverized into tge cold, cold ground by way too many different people over the course of the last 25 years in SNL UK and this felt like an even more watered down version of that.

• Plus, Jimmy didn't really need to be here as his part could've been played by any of the male castmembers. C+

What A Life! (Paula From Accounts Has)

• You know, before I actually got to watch any of this episode, I saw some strong buzz online surrounding Nicolas' general performance as host. Some even went so far as to say she should be SNL UKs' first ever five timer. From this sketch alone, I can definitely see why one would say that about her immediately.

• I mean, right out the gate Nicolas' first actual sketch sees her playing much the same gruff, dumpy, slightly socially inappropriate character that previous SNL US Five Timers like Melissa McCarthy and Emma Stone have crushed before (hell, even SNL US two timer Kristen Stewart had a good handle on how to play this type of character in her first try).

• Anyway, I liked seeing Nicola really committed to this character and how she threw herself into it, just straight up barking out all of the deranged and bizarre details of her truly insane life. B+ 

Big Horrid Clump

• Wow, barely two minutes in and Annabel has already entered to slam Emmas face into a table Roadhouse style and call her a bitch. We're off to the races, folks.

• Anyway, I wasn't too crazy about the reveal of what this was going to be premise wise but it picked up some steam  with everyone listing the horrid items in their own clumps (especially Nicola and Ayoade) and really kicked into high gear with the reveal that each clump will gain sentience and come to life, moving on its own the second you even think about the distinct possibility that you may actually need an item from the mass once a now gauzed up Emma bought up the possibility.

• I liked how this took the part of my brain that immediately calls up a previous SNL sketch to compare a current one to from "Closet Organizer? Nah" to "Oh, Big Dumb Hat/Cup" to "Hey, Almost Pizza!"

• By the way, am I the only person who could easily get this sketches' title sung to the tune of Chappel Roans' "Pink Pony Club" stuck in their head? Oh, what's that, reader? You've never even heard that song nor do you know who even sings it? Well, whoop de fuckin' doo, bud. Good for you. C+

QVC: The Jewelry Store

• Huh, is it me or is it a bit of an odd coincidence that SNL UK does a QVC sketch when their biggest sponsor appears to be eBay live? Hell, I'm starting to think that eBay live paid for this particular QVC product placement (just as much as I'm starting to hope none of this show's writers happened to have watched Scary Movie 2 on their week off).

• Anyway, there might not have been much to this at first besides the fact that Emma's character was a hand model/jewelry saleswoman who suddenly grew an Arsenio Hall length right index finger...but what really makes this work is the "show don't tell" mystery & lack of lore to it (especially if you want to distract from how Mikey Day-ish some of the dialogue is).

• For example, Emma's character has absolutely zero explanation for her hand situation besides "it grew" for the right one...and the left one she has no idea what the fucks' going on there because she is just now finding out about it for the first time herself.

• Hell, they even leave the audience guessing as to whether her left hand is a necrotic zombie hand that is just starting to rot off her wrist or if it's...like, a deer or a dog type or LOTR ent type hand? Is Emma about to be arrested by The Dog Police?

• I liked how this ended with Emma literally just passing out but then coming back to strangle Nicola. It's always best to leave your audience wanting a bit more than to try to punch above your weight. B+

Weekend Update w/Paddy & Ania

• Paddys' Best Jokes: Robbins Fired, Condom Shortage, Russell Brand, Jackson Film

• Anias' Best Jokes: Mandelson & Starmer, Tribute To Queen Elizabeth 2, Piers Morgan Interview, Woman Of The Week, Leaving UK, Meghan Retreat

• Anyone else getting heavy Norm MacDonald vibes from a lot of the jokes tonight? Specifically, the Queen Elizabeth/King Charles/Russell Brand/Piers Morgan stuff (not JUST the Michael Jackson biopic/Phone ban stuff or Anias' "Woman Of The Week" and Meghan Markle joke...y'know, the obvious Norm comparisons).

• OK, Anias' Japanese Earthquake joke definitely felt like something Michael Che would tell.

• I think maybe Paddy should back off doing that patented "sheepishly shirking and shying away from the camera" move he does for a bit. He did it after nearly every joke tonight and it really only worked after the BTS runner (which he didn't do tonight). It's not something I want to see myself getting sick of or anything. I hope that's not his ONLY move.

• I wasn't too crazy about Emma's commentary (and not just because she wasn't just doing a Glenn Close impression when Paddy introduced her as "the woman who won't be ignored"). Her character reminded me of the type of aimless, pointless one shot characters Kristen Wiig and Heidi Gardner would do on Update in their heyday (with some of Kate McKinnons' movements worked in for good measure).

• I liked that they finally have Larry his own Update commentary. Part of me was a bit bummed it was at such a blackout length but part of me felt that we didn't need to spend a ton of time on it.

• I didn't think we really needed to see Jimmy here either. Hell, calling ANY SNL US alumni as "Weekend Update legend" is a bit of a stretch in my mind. I will admit I did get a kick out of the Lily Allen jokes and Epstein pronunciations.

• So, now that we know that Paddy does a decent Trump impression...would we be correct to assume that was him who growled "hello?" over the phone in the first ever cold open from Tina's episode?

• All in all, not the best Update for guests or commentaries but this was perhaps Paddy & Anias' strongest showing all season. B-

Landing A Plane

• OK, I know for sure I've seen this exact setup on SNL US numerous times in recent years (and I'm sure Dave Grohl was in one of them)...but it's such a vague, general area of things to write sketches about it could be anything.

• This appears to be poking fun at male ego and bravado which, at this point, I'm positive SNL UK is better equipped to handle.

• George did a great job leading this sketch and yet somehow Hammed had most of the best lines but I did like how Larry was the jumping off point for the mini top gun themed rant 

• Emma played her role well and the whole thing was well acted...but everything about its conclusion (yes, even including Emmas' final speech) felt incredibly telegraphed.

• I feel like we could've lost the Dave Grohl cameo and not have it effect the sketch at all (especially since he had to jog over to the musical guest stage for his second performance...they seem to have had some trouble timing all of those "running off to the next sketch/song performance" moments all night.). B-

Late Girl

• Huh...a live sketch framed as the conclusion to a modern "Cabin In The Woods" type slasher film. This should be interesting.

• OK, now Nicola has entered the scene as the bitchy, self centered, oblivious self victimizing one.

• Yeah, this feels like something I could have seen SNL US pull off but it mostly feels like something that would've better been done in a video from one of those Instagram/TikTok fashion/nostalgia influences. Still, Nicola is elevating this as well she can.

• Jack and Annabel were a bit much here (I've come to realize I like them much better when they're seperated on screen then when they are paired together) but I did like how they eventually dropped their whole "we just survived a bloody massacre that took all our friends" conceit just to be sparky to Nicola.

• I think what actually worked the most for me was Al and Larry suddenly popping up in the end as the crazed killers just to chastise Nicola for being late. C+

Another 45 Seconds With Fouracres 

• Well, I AM glad that this is becoming a recurring segment...but I didn't quite like this as much as the first one...but it might be growing on my after some repeat views

• Still, I'm even more glad that George got much more than this 45 seconds of screen time in the show...and that he appears to be doing well in general. B-

Ranking SNL UKs First Series From Best To Worst

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

Overall Thoughts 

• This one showed a great deal of improvement from the previous episode. As a host, Nicola really yelled with the cast and writers and they really keyed in on her strengths as a comedic performer.

• They also really sharpened up their own writing for the most part in that most if the show's resemblance to its stateside counterpart came from it's choice of musical guest and alumni cameo.

• What few elements in the writing of the sketches that reminded me of previous sketches from SNL US and other shows  actually managed to work in the shows' favor rather than against it.

• As far as cast use, there seems to be more of a focused on George, Emma and Annabel this week. Celeste seems scaled back a bit. She, Al and Ayoade seemed more relegated to support roles. Jack and Hammed seemed a bit scaled back this week.

Closing Thoughts

• The next episode of SNL UK will be airing this weekend and will be hosted by Aimee Lou Wood. From what I've seen of her, she seems like she has enough comedic experience to do well on this show. 

• She's previously had some choice words about Sarah Shermans' portrayal of her White Lotus character on SNL US. I'm glad those two have worked it out amongst themselves personally.

• While I am still a bit annoyed myself that the online promos for this SNL UK episode have indeed referenced it...they did so in a way I actually found funny and I hope that they just...leave it at that.

• Also, this same weekend SNL US will return to our airwaves to enter it's home stretch of the season with an new double duty episode with host (and musical guest) Olivia Rodrigo. You'll probably get to read my review of that one before you read my SNL UK Aimee Lou Wood review, but see you then!

Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)

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

Amy Poehlers' House

On this day in 1986, a teenage Amy Poehler vents in her diary about her horrible life when suddenly she falls into a hairspray induced delirium and hallucinates a long haired 80s Jon Bon Jovi coming down from his poster on her wall to inspire her to pursue her dreams of acting like her pursued his dream of being a rock star. He goes on to promise her that twenty (well...twenty one, really) years from now, she will be in the cast of Saturday Night Live when he hosts.

• Hmm...is is just me or does this cold open remind any one else of Seth MacFarlanes' "Ted" series on Peacock? Y'know, because of all the 80s fashion mixed with thick Boston accents?

• Anyway, most of the humor in this came from Amy's thick Boston accent paired with her dramatic 80s high school teen angst. In fact, I think her look here may have been based on an actual high school yearbook photo of hers.

• I can't really pick out one particular line that stood out the most aside from her saying she needed to get her hair higher before passing out, her dreams of shopping at "The Limited"instead of just working there and renting her own apartment to invite friends over for beers to and her mentioning that her monologue that got a lot of laughs at school was from "The Diary Of Anne Frank". 

• Amy really did the most with the material she had to make sure that this just BARELY got over. Fortunately for her, this cold opens shortcomings weren't her fault at all.

• Tonight's host, Jon Bon Jovi, makes his first appearance here and immediately exhibits near Steven Segal levels of mumbling his lines in the most flat barely audible way possible which, unfortunately,would continue throughout every segment he appears in for sure.

• I will say that this cold open does suggest that Mr. Bon Jovi was at least slightly easier to deal with backstage and less difficult than Mr. Segal was but still...he looks like he would rather be anywhere else but here through much of this episode (even in segments like this one that come across like one big exercise in stroking the hosts' ego). 

• As a huge SNL nerd, I gotta agree with a take I saw from Stooge after this episode first aired that it would've been better had Amy been surprised to find that SNL would still be on the air in 20 years rather than just Bon Jovi merely being the host instead of the musical guest and also having cut his hair. 

• After all, this would have been just after the infamous season 11 had concluded and the show was seriously on the brink of cancellation for the first of only two times in its now 50 year history. Realistically though, I can see the show in 2007 thinking it too "Inside Baseball" to include a joke where Amy says something like "I mean, have you SEEN that show lately? It sucks bad and it's wicked boring now." 

• Plus, October 12, 1986 would've been the day after season 12 premiered which did pretty much save the show but no one would've had any idea that would happen yet if they didn't watch the show last night or just read any TV critics reviews of it. This raises an interesting question of why a teenage Amy Poehler would be attending school on a Sunday? She does open this sketch by writing in her diary that she had gotten her period on the balance beam that day but even if she were on her schools'gymnastics team I doubt they would have practice on Sunday.

• Oh well, I'm sure I'm just splitting hairs and putting much more thought into this cold opening than the writers' did. I'll just faintly praise the unique nature of this rare non-political cold open and move on. C+  

Monologue

Jon Bon Jovi confirms that as host he will only be acting and not singing tonight to which audience members (Liz Cackowski, Steve Higgins) express disappointment. Jon's band mate Richie Sambora (himself) reminds him they have a new album out and expresses hurt feelings on behalf of the rest of the band which convinces him to preform.

• Yeah, there wasn't much to this monologue. It's only purpose was to set up Bon Jovi as our "unofficial" musical guest of the night (because how else can Jon Bon Jovi endear himself to the SNL audience at the top of the show and bring us into his own comfort zone with him, right?)

• I liked Liz and Higgins here essentially acting as literal audience surrogates (especially the way Higgins delivered his line "Who wants to see Jon Bon Jovi sing? I want to see him act! This will be the greatest night of my life! Let's go, honey.")

• I will say the one genuinely funny thing Jon did here was bail out his most well known band mate during his little deer in headlights moment by blatantly feeding him his big laugh line when he just straight up lost track of his own cue card. That alone probably made this about ten times funnier than if would've been had this part gone as smoothly as it was supposed to. C-

Bon Jovi Performs "Lost Highway"

• Eh, I've always liked "It's My Life" and "Livin' On A Prayer" just fine and passively tolerated "Dead Or Alive" but besides those...I've just never been a Bon Jovi fan.

• The fiddle in this song in particular really adds to the "completely indistinguishable from every other adult contemporary/country pop hit that came out in 2007" sound here.

• Pretty ironic that this song contains the lyric "farewell to mediocrity", huh?

Ohhhhhhhhh!

Host Johnny Vincente (Hader) hosts an Italian themed New Jersey based game show where the object is to see which of the three contestants (Armisen, Bon Jovi, Hammond) can produce the best outraged response to a minor shock or distressing situation for an every day Jersey resident. The game concludes with a speed round with prompts from a woman (Wiig) who is revealed to be the hosts goomar

• Ok, for the podcast this may seem like a cheat since this is one of the two sketches from this episode that Deej and I have previously discussed on the fifth episode of our podcast together...but I haven't talked about it on this blog yet, so in case you didn't listen to that episode, I'll get into that one again real quick here.

• Right off the bat, Bill is a solid anchor of this sketch in only his second game show host roll of his SNL tenure. Not only is he wearing the nicest suit he's ever worn on the show here but he's also giving the most entertaining performance in this.

• He's the second most convincing as a Jersey Italian (right behind the actual born and raised Jersey Italian who's hosting the show and keeps delivering all his lines in a too subdued fashion). Armisen's just trying a bit too hard. 

• Hammonds' just doing his James Gandolfini impression to justify his presence here because it's the only thing he actually can do with the material he is given. I did like his lines about his wife being fat and lazy and being a Tony Soprano impersonator that seems to perform exclusively at car washes and Bills' brief comment of "ay, all right" when he exited the scene in bills' shot when he apparently wasn't supposed to do that) more than I liked his constant shouting over the mere mentions of the word "homosexuality". 

• Wiig made a good pissed off mistress, though. Speaking of this sketches' treatment of women in general, I liked how none of the guys had any offended response to the idea of getting serviced by a prostitute and suddenly remembering today is their wifes' birthday.

• One small detail I liked were the low quality prizes here (gift certificate to Sal De Antonis' undershirt emporium, seats to Devils home game, slightly worse seats to a Devils' home game).

• Anyway, I'm sure I had more to say about this sketch in the podcast episode I linked to above, so...go listen to that one, why don't you? B+

A Visit With Former Vice President Al Gore

Al Gore (Hammond) takes you on a tour of his personal trophy room where he shows off various awards he won for all the different versions of "An Inconvenient Truth' that have ever existed.

• At first I thought that going right from "Ohhhhhhhh!" into this sketch must've been quite the rush of a quick change for Darrell until I remembered that there was a whole commercial break in between these first two sketches.

• Speaking of, one thing this sketch has going for it is that by this point, Darrell Hammond actually looks more like Al Gore than he did when he started doing this impression regularly on the show eight years earlier (mostly due to the way that the real Al Gore has aged in that time). That plus SNLs regular audience just being used to seeing this impression on the show by this point...helped make this sketch work, I guess?

• Apparently, the real Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize this week which is what spawned this sketch. Somehow, I doubt that this had anything to do with "An Inconvenient Truth" like the rest of these awards do as they don't give those out for movies (especially not ones that are more than a year old at this point).

• Odd that the joke about Al Gore winning "The Poppy" (for winning the popular vote in an election without actually getting to be president) would get the applause it did in 2007.

• While this did start off a little repetitive, there were a few odd awards here that I did get a kick out of like his Harvard mention getting no applause, the AVN award a porno version of "An Inconvenient Truth", a participation certificate for the National Punt, Pass and Kick competition, the small, framed measles vaccination certificate, the "free DVD player or touring a time share"framed flyer and, of course, O.J. Simpsons former Heisman Trophy.

• This reminded me a lot of a sketch from the January 1993 Harvey Keitel episode called "An Insane Idiot And His Descending Size Collection Of Deer Heads". C-

Digital Short: People Getting Punched Just Before Eating

Andy Samberg lands a series of wild near-flailing punches on various people (Forte, Sudeikis, Jorma Taccone, Bon Jovi, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins) just before they take a bite out of whatever food they have in their own hands. Suddenly, he runs from a group of zombies (Armisen, Danielle Flora) and then dances with them.

• Like most early digital shorts of this era, this was just pure silly goofy fun designed to bring a much needed boost of energy to this episode right when it needed one.

• The beepity-boopity techno soundtrack of this short somehow complimented this well (especially when Andy would follow every other punch by doing a goofy tongue wiggling, finger pointing jig).

• It was good of Jon Bon Jovi to get in on this but him suddenly jumping back up with a guitar and the caption "full recovery" was a little off-putting to me. Given Bon Jovis' reputation, I do genuinely wonder if he insisted on that?

• I do like the gag immediately following this when Andy has to bring his whole body to a screeching halt to stop himself from punching Jason until his sudden cell phone call he answers is over.

• I especially liked the return of a black eyed Forte threatening to punch Samberg back causing him to back off, then suddenly sneak up behind him and strangled him followed by Sambergs' goofy dance to a caption of "murder"

• The "zombies" ending may seem a bit "lol random" to the untrained eye but if you look closely you'll see that the reason Andy is suddenly holding a severed human arm is because that's what the last person he punched was eating. I commend The Lonely Island for sneaking this little "blink and you'll miss it" detail in there. B-

TBS Postseason 07 Promo

Dane Cook (Sudeikis) hypes up the upcoming MLB Playoff match between the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians

• This is the debut of Jasons' Dane Cook impression which he would only do one more after this episode. I'd say it's a pretty accurate one as he's got a decent handle on the voice and he's got Cooks' physicality and joke delivery style down pat.

• I remember these Dane Cook TBS World Series promos from around this time and this really does a great job of mocking how odd and inexplicable they felt back then. This truly felt like TBS equivalent of ABCs' hiring of Dennis Miller as a Monday Night Football color man back in 2000/01 or (more accurately) ESPN hiring Hollywoods' Robert Evans to do any kind of promos for them whatsoever (which is something I'm only familiar with from Patton Oswalt describing it).

• I liked his line about then Cleveland Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia: "This C.Cs' not a music factory, he's a pitching factory." as well as "there's only one logical spokesperson for baseball, Dane Cook". C+

La Revista Della Televisione con Vinny Vedecci

Italian talk show host Vinny Veddecci (Hader) struggles to conduct his interview in English as he and his spaghetti eating crew (Armisen, Forte) are in utter disbelief that a man with the last name "Bon Jovi" isn't perfectly fluent in Italian (which is why they never even bothered to arrange for a translator for this interview). Talk of The Sopranos, childrens' cigarettes and robot horses ensues ending with a unique and rousing cover of "Livin' On A Prayer".

• This is the third appearance of this character as a talk show host after debuting in the previous seasons' Julia Louis-Dreyfus/Snow Patrol episode as well as the Zach Braff/Maroon 5 finale. He's one of my favorite early Bill Hader characters as evidenced by how Deej and I based the entire third episode of our podcast on his appearances (and I wrote a whole 'nother accompanying blog post just to go with that one where I apparently ranked this sketch as my favorite of all of this characters appearances).

• Again, I realize this may seem like a bit of a cheat given how this is the second segment from this episode alone that we've talked about on a previous episode of our own podcast...but I'm trying to shake off this nagging feeling that I have unwittingly cheated myself and my audience out of a better blog entry and podcast episode by going along with a plan that involves reviewing this episode in full, so...bear with me here, please.

• Anyway, feel free to read what I already wrote in that above linked podcast post for a more in-depth analysis of this sketch. For now, I'm just going to gloss over a few highlights.

• I liked that Vinny starts off the English portion of this interview by over pronouncing hiswords as much as possible and just generally struggling more to speak in English than he was in his previous sketches (despite what a major backslide in basic language competency and literacy this represents for the character).

• Bills' Silvio/Van Zandt impression along with Freds' Paulie Walnuts worked well for me here. I especially liked the kids' cigarette commercial set to "Blaze of Glory" (especially Paula Pells' appearance as a smoking nun and Vinnys' defense of the commercial being that the smokers were not "little kids" but rather "seven...eight year olds...MEN!").

• The robot horse gag and "Livin' On A Prayer" cover were just silly enough to work for me. Hell, I even liked Jon Bon Jovi calling out Vinny and his crew for not speaking using any of the same Italian words that his grandmother used (despite it now being so obvious that both of them are so much more fluent in English than they are in actual Italian that it makes one question why either of them would need a translator for this interview and thus decimates the logic of this entire sketch). B+

Weekend Update w/Poehler and Meyers

NBC employee Rosa Santiago (Rudolph) pitches in with a few jokes in the face of an upcoming WGA strike

Publicly nude cellphone user Josh Drimmer (Samberg) walks by the Update desk from a nearby Tads' Steaks

Political comedian Nicholas Fehn (Armisen) tries to riff on todays' headlines but cannot get a word out edgewise

• Seth's Best Jokes: Blackberry vibrations, cadaver scalps, Dirty Lou

• Amy's Best Jokes: Che Guevara tribute, Rubiks' record, boy found in Amazon, robot facials

• Hmm, I don't quite know what to make of this odd anti-comedy bi Mayas' doing. I don't mind her telling purposely bad jokes but having her do so as a, um...latina custodian, seemed a bit iffy to me. 

• I did like the brief bit of improv with the loose desk, Seth's reaction to the naked driving joke and they way she delivered the Pam Anderson/Rick Solomon joke (Jesus, why did she agree to marry HIM?)

• I guess this got on the air because it was mutually understood that Maya already had a foot out the door for the last two seasons at this point and since there was a strong possibility that either this or the next show could be her last she just wanted one second to last chance to goof around with Amy. 

• Speaking of goofy, Sambergs' naked guy bit was just brief and silly enough to get by for me.

• Here it is, folks; the debut of Armisens' Nicholas Fehn character. 

• You know, this character has fully earned its bad rap but I think I can cut his first appearance some slack since I do remember liking the first one and this was before Armisen jumped the shark and hadn't burned off any Goodwill he had earned from exhibiting a brand of off-kilter anti-comedy that actually did work. Plus, this would end up being FAR from his absolute worst character in the long run.

• I had heard Fred tell Marc Maron that this character was essentially based on David Crossand was supposed to mimic his speech patterns when trying to make a point but not having his words handy to explain his point and yeah...I've seen enough footage of David Cross to be able to see exactly what he was talking about there. C-

Foo Fighters perform "The Pretender"

• Hey, it's our ACTUAL musical guest! All right!

• Unfortunately, this is the only song the Foo Fighters get tonight.

• The musical guest only gets to do one song post Update tonight? I thought I was reviewing season 33 not season 23!

• Yeah, this is a pretty solid performance much like the most of the rest of their performances. Normally, I like the Foo Fighters and this song in particular, but...something seemed a little off vocally with Dave, like he was having a little trouble staying on key or losing his voice or something.

Where's My Purse?

A doddering dowdy old spaceship captain (Wiig) is too distracted by thoughts of her missing purse (which turned out to be right next to her captains' chair where she left it) to properly fend off a boarding and attack from hostile aliens (Bon Jovi, Thompson, Samberg) who have set out to kill her first officer (Forte) or her crew (Armisen, Hader Rudolph)

• Yeah, my memory of this being the worst live sketch of the night (well, worst sketch of the show in general, really) still definitely holds up. 

• This does feel like one of those sketches that is a harbinger for things to come as far as Kristen playing annoying, self-centered characters between seasons 34-37 goes, but at least this one fells somewhat grounded.

• I mean, after all...haven't we all encountered an older woman exactly like this just talking your ear off about personal grievances in life?

• It speaks pretty poorly to Jon Bon Jovis' presence as a host here that his simply wearing the most basic, run of the mill alien/martian head prosthetic was the moment when he seemed the most "game for anything" as a host (even while STILL mumbling his lines just as flatly disinterested as ever)

• Bill does have a funny moment in this as the crew member running in to warn everybody about the boarding aliens in a panic before being zapped with a ray gun by Kenans' character and simply whining "aw, man".

• I did get a small kick out of Kristen's character finding her purse right where she was just sitting and casually taking a ray gun out of it to nonchalantly shoot Kenans' character in the face and the ending cutaway to Fred and Mayas' characters fighting off Sambergs' alien and the next cutaway to them being a shot of them slumped over their control panels dead. C- 

TBS Postseason 07 Promo II

Dane Cook (Sudeikis) hypes up the other upcoming MLB playoff match between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks

• Ah, the second part of tonight's two part runner. This one I did like much better than the first since Jason did make mention of my home team, the Colorado Rockies (who miraculously made it to the actual 2007 World Series but lost to the Boston Red Sox of all people who managed to win it three years prior...but yeah, it was fun as a Coloradan to watch that series)

• I appreciated the "Brandon Webb/Spiderman reference" (a nod to another odd reference to an actual thing Dane Cook said in these promos) the line "I'm pretty sure one of them's a hockey team" and the line about how Rockies player Todd Helton "shouldn't have a batting average, he should have a batting outstanding". B+

Notre Dame Football on NBC

This was a fake promo that's somehow neither on the Peacock edit not the non-Peacock live air copy that I am using for this review, but it's basically just stock footage of actual Notre Dame football games set to a voice over by Steve Higgins mocking how badly they play and saying that NBC is the only place you can see this highly disappointing action.

• Man, it is hard as hell even finding a rigging TRANSCRIPT of this sketch, but what I have read about sketch its basically very "Inside Baseball"but for...well, football about what a crappy team Notre Dame is.

• One of Higgins' lines that seems to stand out among those who saw this when it aired was "Touchdown...other guy!" so, at least there's that.

What To Call The Band

As he and his band mates hold a vote, Jon Bon Jovi has a hard time convincing band mates Richie Sambora (Sudeikis), Tico Torres (Armisen), Alan Jon Such (Forte) and David Bryan (Samberg) to name the band after him instead of calling themselves "Natural Disaster"

• Well, at least we KINDA get to see Jon Bon Jovi poke fun at the idea that he has a huge ego?

• It's a little strange that this is the second sketch of the whole night where our host plays his previous, long haired 80s self but the first was the cold open which probably wasn't written until Friday at the earliest and it was decided that this was a slow enough news week/month politically that they could get away with it (unless the Al Gore thing was supposed to be the cold open at one point?)

• Anyway, this did go on a bit too long and meander, but I gotta say Jason sold his frustration just right, I liked the sequence where Jon Bon Jovi said he didn't remember the names of Will and Andy's bandmates and Will line about only wanting to stay for the first 25 years.

• I gotta say though, the ending didn't quite work for me as its' not that odd now for new up and coming artists to self title their albums. C-

Iconoclasts on IFC

IFC continues its proud tradition of having a show where two random famous people say words at each others' faces in public locations by filming singer Bjork (Wiig) and former athlete Charles Barkley (Thompson) talking about God knows what a Cheesecake Factory.

• This was a fun little goofy note to end this episode on. The timing of this is interesting because it comes right after the actual "Iconoclasts" show had Lorne Michaels and Paul Simon featured together (as well as Maya Angelou and Dave Chappelle in a completely separate episode) but you could tell this was done in good spirits (not mean ones) after NBC and Lorne gave them behind the scenes access to SNLs' production schedule.

• We also get the debut appearances of two notable SNL impressions here: Kristen Wiigs' Bjork (another in a long litany of sketch impressions of this woman focusing solely on how weird and quirky she is as an artist rather than anything else about her as a singer) and Kenans Charles Barkley (an impression of his I've always liked and found very funny).

• This being the debut of Kenans' Barkley means we are seeing an early, primitive version of it before Kenan decided he needed to tighten it up which means he has slower speech patterns that are closer to the way the actual Barkley speaks. This also somehow gives his Barkley a more distinctly effeminate and flamboyant vibe that brings it closer to his "DJ Dynasty Handbag" character from "Deep House Dish" or Little Richard.

• Among the standout lines and moments for Wiig here were her making it "snow" by throwing salt up in the air and bringing along a single bicycle wheel claiming she used it to get here today. Among the stand out lines and moments for Kenan were his calling Bjork "Bork" and comparing her to Dennis Rodman "if he were a tiny white lady". B-

Goodnights

Jack Nicholson (Himself) introduces hosts' second performance

• Wow, this guy must really hate doing television because not has he only never hosted SNL in 50 years (despite making the odd cameo now and then) but I can't say I've ever seen him as a guest on that many American talk shows either.

• In fact, what did he even have in common with Jon Bon Jovi around this time? I vaguely remember hearing that they were both part owners/investors in arena football teams or something?

Bon Jovi Performs "Who Says You Can't Go Home"

• Well, it's at least nice that Jon Bon Jovi could thank "Lorne, Marci and Steve"or having him on...before closing out the show with a song that sounds exactly identical to the first one he did instead of a monologue. I guess he just named those he had to negotiate with to get to be billed as host and still do both these songs with his band?

Ranking Season 33 From Best To Worst

1. Lebron James/Kanye West (09.29.2007)
2. Seth Rogen/Spoon (10.06.2007)
3. Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters (10.13.2007)

Overall Thoughts

• Revisiting this episode, I have discovered that that is wasn't quite as "bad" as i remembered...just a rather uneven show that is sightly weighed down by a lackluster host. I'm slightly tempted to put him in the same category host as Steven Segal or Robert Blake but he's not as big a monster as them (although not much here suggests that he wasn't difficult to work with at all.

• Jon Bon Jovi may not have actively bought down the show or anything but he didn't exactly go out of his way to elevate any of the material...or really play many roles besides some variation on himself for that matter. Thankfully, this current cast doesn't have that problem as they could easily elevate a lot of this material without even trying. This episode really shows a lot of the cast having to pitch in to pick up some of the slack from the host.

• The best way I can assess Jon Bon Jovi as SNL host is to compare him to an Early 80s Dick Ebersol era host because that is truly what he reminds me of. That was the era of hosts being more "hands off" and not in every single sketch the whole night. Hell, even the aforementioned Robert Blake was only in two sketches outside of his own monologue back in '82 (which might be due to him turning down every pitch that was presented to him).

• Yes, I know that Jon Bon Jovi appeared way more than four times in his own episode but his basic onscreen presence during non-musical sketches was such that he pretty much disappeared into the background so much that even him not appearing in a mere two sketches was enough to make you even forget he WAS the host.

• Like I said, this episode was more truly "uneven" than bad, but for the reasons I just stated it it still the weakest of this season so far by default.

Closing Thoughts

• Well, I certainly hope you enjoyed reading this review and listening to the podcast that went along with it. I also certainly hope you enjoy reading my review of the upcoming Connor Storrie/Mumford & Sons episode of SNL which I will have published by this Sunday evening.

• You know, I was thinking that if I could somehow find a way to watch/stream the upcoming premiere of SNL UK that I MIGHT just review that on this blog. If you'd be at all interested in reading that, please sound off in the comments below.

• Right now, there's three things I definitely know for sure that I will be reviewing. I've just mentioned one of them. The other two things will be the Kunuk Uncovered episode of Documentary Now for our next We Heart Hader episode and the Brian Williams/Feist episode of SNL Season 33 for the episode after that (which I will also publish a review of on this blog as well).

• See you then!

Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)

Okay, here's my review. For once, SNLs' crazy wild gamble of booking an actual comedian to host their sketch comedy show paid off and got this season on the right track. Nate Bargatze was a terrific host and a fine first time sketch performer. The show knew how to play to his comic voice well. Naturally, this turned out to be the strongest episode of the season up to this point. It was WAY more stable of a show than last weeks (outside of maybe three or four questionable sketches at most but the highs were so.mich higher that the lows were barely noticeable we'll get to that later). Sarah had a surprisingly strong night, but not in the way that I had hoped given that this was a legit Halloween show in a couple of ways (one of which she was directly involved in). A couple of other people faced a steep decline in screen time (and come to think of it Kenan had a surprisingly light night) but we'll get to them later. Anyway, let’s get right to it.

Bidens' Boo Back Boo-er - Okay, we got a LOT to unpack here! My immediate first thought when this started was "Hmm, ok...nice to see them using JAJs' Biden once again instead of his Tr....MIKEY DAAAAAAAYYY? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!?!?" Well, this impression works for me. It may seem like Mikey doing a cheap impression of Carveys' Biden but at least Mikey does facially resemble Biden much more than JAJ ever did and he certainly seems to be having more fun with the material (especially the prerequisite "lol Biden is very old" jokes). From his "cancel culture" for preschoolers" Update commentary with Heidi a few years back, I could tell both Heidi and Mikey had slightly conservative bents to their styles of comedy that they could at least keep hidden from overtly political sketches and just sneak into a bit character part in the middle of the show and in ten to one sketches and stuff like that without it coming off as too off-putting to the audience. They could play seemingly right leaning characters that could be the butt of the joke without coming across like they're pushing some kind of uncomfortable agenda on you. It actually serves to make Mikeys' Biden characterization feel that much more focused and you can tell he relishes in it. I can't imagine JAJ is taking this too hard as I imagine they must be trying out a different Biden just in case the 2024 debates do turn out to be a Biden/Trump rematch and they've already decided they don't want to rely on any Carvey circa 1992 style pretapes. In fact, this cold open might be the biggest, longest mislead in recent SNL history. We didn’t get a Chevy style fall when Mikey was on the ladder and instead of a walk-on from JAJs Trump, we got walk-ons from...Longfellow and Devon as both Mike Johnstons (who provided my biggest laughs in this) and...Walken! (heyooo). Even if he didn’t get any hard laugh lines, Christopher Walken is always a welcome presence on SNL (and no need to wonder why he isn't hosting as his face says it all. Speaking of "saying it all", I can't believe it took until the first Foo Fighters song to realize the REAL reason he was in the building. Shows what kind of an SNL nerd I REALLY am, huh?). B-

Monologue - Having heard great things about Bargatze but not bring familiar with his material, he seems like a friendly fellow who just doesn't have the most captivating stage presence in the world of standup comedy. I liked his ability to do "well, I'm not THAT old but I'm mow just getting old enough that I find it difficult to relate to some things about the modern world" jokes without going full on "old man yells at cloud" and just moving on. Speaking of, he may not exactly be the "segue king" but he has this ability to transition between various topics like state fair animal stunts stealing focus from his magician father to his parents family destroying nasal spray addictions to just general challenges with reading the sheer volume of words one finds in a book just by riffing on the sheer absurdity of these things and the bewilderment they induce in him. This allows him to move through his jokes so seamlessly that his entire act runs together (for better or worse). It's definitely a monologue that will take you at least a second watch to fully appreciate. B-

Chef Showdown - I liked the writerly premise and detail heavy nature of this. On paper, it seemed like tired, thin racial humor but it was expertly cast and performed and had enough different elements to keep it from just being each character hammering home the same sense of befuddlement for four straight minutes. Nate said upfront that he is vaguely southern so I wonder if he at least pitched this himself on Monday? The Padma Lakshmi cameo didn’t do a whole lot for me, but she was a good sport at least. C+

Hallmark Horror Movie - This premise seemed like it was going to be interesting at first but it quickly became obvious that they didn't go far enough with it. It was well performed (Chloe & Nate were the ideal comedic actors to parody the bland white emptiness of Hallmark productions) but the only laughs I got were from Punkies' lines and the severed hand gag. C+

Washingtons' Weights And Measurements - This was definitely the weakest sketch of the night (and possibly the whole season at this point). I'm sorry, but this one almost lost me from the first minute. This might have worked better with a different host who is more experienced with acting to lend some faux-gravitas to the role of George Washington. This seemed like it would’ve been better performed as one of Nates' forgotten standup bits (just typing that sentence out just gave me flashbacks to Andy & Timmy deconstructing that Bob Saget track coach sketch. Sorry Andy, but I disagree on your extremely hot take that this is a "boom stamp classic" as you like to call it). Still, there were some small details that I liked. The sports stuff was okay. Also, as a Coloradan, I do unironically agree with the line about 5280 being an "easy number to remember" as the number of feet in a mile. You see, Denver is known as the "mile high city" given that it's elevation above sea level is exactly one mile. If you've ever lived here or just visited recently, you might be surprised at the number of Denver based local businesses with some variation of the number 5280 in the title. I mean, it's the name of a local magazine for cryin' out loud. Kenan, obviously, had the best lines in this at the end so in a way, I'm glad I hung on. Also, it's nice to see JAJ actually have a love role in a sketch after being conspicuously absent from the cold open. Guess he didn't have to go home sick tonight or anything. D+

Down On The Lake Beach - This might have been my favorite pretape (if not my favorite piece overall) of the night. It was more classic Dismukes/JAJ down home southern fried cartoon level absurdity that made hay out of one of the most obnoxiously overdone tropes of modern "bro-country" music. They even made excellent use of a Dave Grohl cameo (who wore a wig that made me think he was Danny McBride at first). The only thing bad I can say about it was that it happened to be Molly and Marcellos' only appearances of the night (but Marcello had such a much needed on his part strong start to the season so he deserves to take a bit of a breather this week). A-

Happy Fran-o-ween - Well, I'm glad we got a Sarah led Halloween sketch but if you told me before the show that we'd get just that alone, this would NOT have been what I'd have had in mind (but hey, it's still Sarah Sherman so I'll still I'll it). Of course, Sarah did a fine enough job intentionally doing a Fran Drescher accent. I mean, she always seems to be doing a Fran Drescher impression at varying levels even when she's not trying. She just has to dial back the "Sarah-ness" to get into character. (I mean that literally, as I keep picturing a wardrobe person or stagehand flipping a giant switch on Sarahs back from "Sarah" to "Fran" backstage). It did a decent, if not maybe a little incomplete job of actually explaining those strange Halloween costume rules surrounding the SAG-AFTRA strike (that may have been rolled back earlier in the week thus possibly renderingthis sketch utterly pointless). It felt a little too long and seemingly managed to discover a new form of clapter (probably in a misguided attempt to unmuddle this sketch for anyone who they think could criticize it as being anti-union when everyone on the show is part of a union...even the cast is part of a different SAG-AFTRA contract thatcis not being renegotiated or struck agsinst) but given the context of the sketch, that is to be expected. Sarah's constant costume related jabs to Nate and her "exhausting" lone were all right. The child actors did a fine job here (especially the kid dressed as Hoda). C-

Update was a step up for this season. The highs were higher (Josts' Mike Johnson/Cohen/Pence/Hitler kiss cam comments, Ches' Trump/Biden/Kill Me and Charles/Megan and white strip club jokes) and the lows were...just there. They were more like mediums. Glad to see that "Sarah as Josts' agent" that was cut from last week make it to air. Yeah, it was another Jost roast and yeah it was another Sarah drag role but this was at least toned down quite a bit from her pervy boss in the Quinta Brunson episode and at least this was a newer fresher framework that allowed Sarah to go harder in the paint here (even if it felt a bit long and after hearing about that Punkie ghost story commentary that got cut, this might have been a better choice). Her Thomas the Tank Engine line got a laugh out of me. B-

Lawyer On A Plane - This was decent. I liked all the additions to it. Dismukes did a solid job anchoring this. Even Chloe Troast added something to it. Boy, her actual resemblance to Cecily was out in full force in this one. Dismukes & Mikey had great lines and this was my second favorite Dave Grohl sketch cameo of the night. B-

PDD: Dawg Food - After a strong start to the season, this was a rare miss for Please Don't Destroy. It seemed to rely mainly on quick cuts and sharp pacing in favor of any escalation whatsoever. At least it was fairly short and the "R.I.P. John Higgins" ending was the highlight. D+

Now, for my updated ranking of season 49...

1. Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10.28.2023)
2. Bad Bunny (10.21.2023)
3. Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10.14.2023)

Well, this season of SNL has finally found its footing. In two weeks, Timothee Chalamet returns for his second hosting gig. Man, they really must've been counting on the SAG-AFTRA strike to be settled by that point, huh? Seriously though, I'm looking forward to seeing Chalamet again. He was a solid professional host and his episode was one of the genuine bright spots in the troubled, difficult 2020-21 season. See you then!