Repertory Players
Aidy Bryant: In her final season, Aidy was more out of place than ever. You have younger guys like Dismukes and Sherman doing creative new stuff, while Bryant is still doing her same old shtick that grew old years ago.
Pete Davidson: It’s hard to judge Pete’s season. The first half of the year saw him with a lot of airtime, but it quickly dropped off after the Dafoe episode, as he was away filming a movie. And now, with this being his last year in the cast, I can safely say that I won’t be missing him.
Mikey Day: While he’s still my favorite member of the cast, I understand that he can be very hit and miss. His “Mikey explains” roles are still very much a thing, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be going away.
Chloe Fineman: Good lord, my least favorite cast member. Every time she gets a lead role, I immediately cringe. She was also reponsible for the worst commentary this season, maybe of all time.
Heidi Gardner: I feel so sorry for criticizing her before. Once I looked past all of her annoying roles, I realized how solid she actually is. I’m glad she decided to stay for Season 48.
Kate McKinnon: THANK GOD I’VE FINALLY REACHED THE END OF HER TENURE!!!! Those few episodes at the beginning of this season that she missed were some of the best in years, simply because she wasn’t there mugging up a storm. Once she came back, however, things started to suffer a bit. Still, I’m glad I won’t have to talk about her anymore.
Alex Moffat: Hoo boy, this season was awful for Alex. Not only did they barely use him, but he suddenly decides to leave during the summer break. It’s a shame, too, because I was finally warming up to him.
Kyle Mooney: You know how I said last year that I was glad Kyle was returning, right? Well, guess what happened? He goes on to have a pretty lousy season! It doesn’t surprise me at all that he decided to call it quits.
Ego Nwodim: My favorite female cast member just continues to get better. I’m really eager to see what she does going forward.
Chris Redd: Out of all the departing cast members, Redd is the one I’ll miss the most. Almost everything he did this season was funny, and it’s going to be hard to get used to not hearing his distinctive voice anymore.
Cecily Strong: Now that Kate and Aidy are leaving, she’s probably going to be the one who I focus most of my anger on. She got the third-largest amount of airtime this season, and not a single one of it was funny. If she doesn’t leave after the next season, then expect me to be even angrier in my next overview.
Kenan Thompson: Sorry, Kenan, but I’m just not feeling it anymore. You’ve been on for way too long, and, more importantly, I’ve seen everything you have to offer by this point. That being said, every once in a while, we still get a glimmer of hope from him, like that amazing noise he made in that Amazon commercial parody.
Melissa Villaseñor: Poor Melissa. I know it’s been a joke for years to comment on her lack of airtime, but it really became a problem this season. Somehow, despite missing several episodes, Pete Davidson had more screentime than she did. Thankfully, Melissa also left at the end of the season. Hopefully she ends up somewhere that values her talents a lot more.
Bowen Yang: His first year as a repertory player wasn’t too bad. I think he might be growing on me, as hard as that is for me to admit. As long as he stays away from any more iceberg commentaries, then he’s okay in my book!
Featured Players
Aristotle Athari: Jeez, I have never seen a cast member used as little as this guy. His one showcase character, Angelo, kept getting cut after dress, and he was left out of several episodes. It did not surprise me at all to find out that he wasn’t returning.
Andrew Dismukes: After a fairly decent first season, this guy quickly became one of my favorites this year. With Pete and Kyle out of the way for good, next season might be his time to shine!
James Austin Johnson: My favorite of the three newbies. He made an impression (no pun intended) almost immediately by taking over as Joe Biden and Donald Trump, as well as doing a lot of solid character work.
Punkie Johnson: Oh, that’s right, there’s two black girls on this show. Man, Punkie just can’t catch a break. It’s so sad that they keep underusing her, because, when she does appear in live sketches, she always does a good job. How in the world did she get a third season?
Sarah Sherman: She got on my good side for how wonderfully bizarre some of her sketches can be. I get a Tina Fey/Will Forte vibe from her, and I’m eager to see what she does in the future.
Here’s the part where I rank the episodes. This one’s a lot harder for me, considering how most of this season was consistent at best.
Best episodes: Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlisle, Kieran Culkin/Ed Sheeran, Simu Liu/Saweetie, Willem Dafoe/Katy Perry, Oscar Isaac/Charli XCX
Worst episodes: Ariana DeBose/Bleachers, Will Forte/Maneskin, Selena Gomez/Post Malone
And lastly, we have the sketches…
Best sketches: Funeral Song (from Wilson), The Switch (from Kardashian), Hard Seltzers (from Kardashian), Celeb School (from Malek), Rami Wants A Treat (Cut), The Ghost Of Biden Past (from Sudeikis), Devil commentary (from Sudeikis), What Up With That? (from Sudeikis), The Heist (from Culkin), Dionne Warwick’s cameo (from Culkin), Wake Up Rhode Island (from Culkin), Calling Angie (from Culkin), Audacity in Advertising Awards (from Majors), Man Park (from Majors), Laughintosh 3000 commentary (from Majors), Monologue (from Liu), Karaoke Recap (from Liu), Thanksgiving Baking Championship (from Liu), Touch Up (Cut), Kyle’s Holiday (from Eilish), Future Selves (Cut), NBA on TNT (from DeBose), Urkel (from DeBose), Kid Klash (from Forte), Clancy T. Bacheleratt and Jackie Snead (from Forte), ESPN’s First Take (Cut), Tenant Meeting (from Dafoe), Now I’m Up (from Dafoe), The Mirror (from Dafoe), Martin’s Friend (from Dafoe), Nice Jail (Cut), Cold Open (from Mulaney), Good Variant (from Mulaney), Five-Timer’s Club (from Mulaney), Podcast Set for White Guys (Cut), Monologue (from Isaac), Meatballs (from Isaac), Pauline commentary (from Isaac), Aidy’s Dream (from Isaac), Fiction Workshop (from Isaac), Aerotoilet (Cut), We Got Her A Cat (from Kravitz), Old Home Movies (from Kravitz), Terry Fink commentary (from Kravitz), Scattering Remains (from Carmichael), Three Normal Goths (Cut), Flowers (from Gyllenhaal), Chucky (from Gyllenhaal), Couples Counselor (from Gyllenhaal), Lizzo Has Writer’s Block (from Lizzo), Beanie Babies (from Lizzo), Blue Bunny (from Cumberbatch), Chain Gang (from Cumberbatch), ReKhline (from Cumberbatch), Chuck E. Cheese (from Cumberbatch), American Inventors (from Gomez), Stupid People (from Lyonne), The Places We’ll Go (from Lyonne), Forgot About Lorne (Cut)
Worst sketches: Mail-In Testing Service (from Wilson), Aladdin (from Kardashian), Lotto Drawing (from Kardashian), The Bug Assembly (from Malek), Squid Game (from Malek), Parent-Teacher Conference (from Sudeikis), Both Judge Jeanine cold opens, Goober commentary (from Culkin), Cruz Street (from Majors), Strange Kid Tales (from Majors), Republican or Not? (from Liu), both Baby Yoda commentaries, Fauci cold open (from Eilish), both TikTok sketches, Hip-Hop Nativity (from Eilish), Lonely Christmas (from Eilish), HomeGoods (from Rudd), Elmo commentary (from DeBose), Sappho (from DeBose), The Ingraham Angle (from Forte), MacGruber (from Forte), Cinema Classics (from Forte), Chen Biao commentary (from Forte), Nugenix (from Dafoe), every Trend Forecaster commentary, Good Morning Columbus (from Dafoe), Subway Churro (from Mulaney), Cold Open (from Isaac), Inventing Chloe (from Isaac), Maid of Honor (from Kravitz), Study Buddies (from Kravitz), The Princess and the Frog (from Kravitz), FOX and Friends (from Carmichael), ShopTV (from Carmichael), Story (from Carmichael), Cold Open (from Gyllenhaal), Dream Home Cousins (from Gyllenhaal), Lights! Camera! Achoo! (from Gyllenhaal), Orchestra (from Lizzo), Roe vs. Wade (from Cumberbatch), Landsdowne House (from Cumberbatch), Johnny Depp Trial (from Gomez), A Peek At Pico (from Gomez), Irish Play (from Gomez), 9:15 to 5:10 (from Lyonne), Grey Adult Pigtails (from Lyonne)
Stay tuned for a closer look at the other Cut for Time sketches that I didn’t already review!
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