Cold Open: So You Think You Won’t Snap!
Contestants try to see who can keep their cool the longest.
• An initial groan from Bowen’s host character being named “Morgan Freegirl”. Sure enough, Kent Sublette is credited as a writer for this.
• I feel sorry for Punkie. Her only contribution to this sketch is playing “Silent Wine-Pouring Lady”.
• Despite the awful name, Bowen is actually pretty good as the host. This is the kind of stuff I want to see him do more.
• I like how he gets Heidi’s character to finally snap by playing a bizarre clip of Joe Biden trying to prove how solid his mental faculties are.
• Not a big fan of the corporate shilling for the upcoming Mario film, but I do like how it causes Chloe to snap upon hearing Mario’s voice.
• I like how Kenan immediately snaps upon hearing Elon Musk’s name. What I don’t like is the overly-shouty rant he goes on after this, because that’s all Kenan does these days.
• We get our first big showcase of Devon Walker here. His performance is really great, as he slowly loses his cool from all the things Bowen is talking about. This culminates in him pressing a hot iron against his head.
• This wasn’t too bad for a cold open. Probably the strongest one we’ve had in a while.
Monologue
Our host plays the mandolin and talks about reuniting with Colin Farrell.
• I’d never heard of this guy before this episode, but then he started talking and I fell in love with his accent.
• His mandolin skills are amazing!
• It’s nice to see Colin Farrell on the show again for the first time since his hosting gig in Season 30. He and Brendan have great chemistry together.
• The little song they sing was a great way to end this monologue.
Sketch: CNN Today
A live report gets interrupted by news about the “Try Guys”.
• Oh, shit, I forgot all about this sketch. No, I’m not sure who the hell the Try Guys are, and I bet most of the audience doesn’t know either.
• Kind of funny how Brendan’s news reporter is named Colin seeing as we just had a cameo from another Colin. And I guess the joke is supposed to be how “funny” it is to see such a distinguished Irish actor talking about random people on the internet? Well, it’s not.
• I don’t know how accurate these Try Guy impressions are, but I will say that it’s good to see Mikey get another lead role.
• As much as I would like to say more about this sketch, it’s hard for me to do so when the subject is something I know next to nothing about. Whose bright idea was it to make this shit the first sketch of the night?!?
Film: New Cast Advice
The four newbies share the advice they’ve gotten since they joined the show.
• A sketch focusing entirely on the new guys? This could be interesting…
• Marcello Hernandez finally gets a speaking role. His only appearance in last week’s show was a silent role in the cold open.
• We also get our first showcase of Molly Kearney in this sketch. For those who don’t know, Molly is the show’s first non-binary cast member. Right away, I notice that they have a lot of energy. You know who Molly reminds me of? Chris Farley. Yeah, that’s pretty high praise for someone who just joined.
• Marcello tells us not to expect seeing him in a lot of sketches right away. Well, we don’t have to worry about that, because he still doesn’t appear in a lot of sketches!
• Not a big fan of the Vladimir Putin running gag in Molly’s scenes. Couldn’t they just let Molly share some advice like the other guys did? On the plus side, I enjoy that the show isn’t making a big deal out of Molly being non-binary in this sketch. They only bring it up once, and leave it at that.
• I like Michael’s story about getting congratulated by David Spade, who also happens to be from Arizona. Devon says that Kristen Wiig gave him flowers, which is really sweet too.
• You know what? I changed my mind. I’m actually kind of enjoying Molly’s scenes this time around. I like how the other guys are gradually starting to bring it up as well.
• Funny line from Michael about how he’s excited to play Kanye West in a sketch this week.
• The eventual conclusion to the Molly running gag is worth it: Lorne just tells them that he never lets anybody kill people.
• I could’ve done without that brief Kenan scene at the end, though.
• Overall, a nice way to introduce all the new cast members to the show. It was way better than that awful cold open from the last episode.
Sketch: Blonde
A scene from Netflix’s new movie about Marilyn Monroe which features her reading some fan mail.
• Judging from the text crawl at the beginning, I can tell I’m gonna hate this…
• It figures they would cast Chloe as Marilyn Monroe, even though she looks nothing like her. The voice sucks too, but that’s a given with Fineman’s impressions.
• JAJ is extremely fitting for these kinds of “retro” sketches.
• Is Brendan’s character in this sketch supposed to be a female? He’s got what appears to be fake boobs, and he’s referred to as a woman a few times, but he’s still got a beard and isn’t even trying to sound feminine. Very strange.
• Man, I wish Chloe would just shut up. That voice is getting on my last nerves.
• Some laughs from the negative fan mail, even though they get more repetitive as the sketch goes on.
• I got a laugh from Heidi saying that she can’t reveal who the gay people in Hollywood are before suddenly blurting out Rock Hudson’s name.
• Great ending with the drawing of Monroe behind bars.
• The sketch wasn’t the worst thing ever, but Fineman’s horrible voice definitely ruins it a little.
Sketch: Headshots
A guy is overshadowed by his grandfather while trying to get his portrait taken.
• Nice to see Michael get a lead role here.
• As good as Gleeson is in this sketch, the real star is Andrew Dismukes as the rude photographer. I just love his voice.
• Andrew as the photographer: “You can move your HUGE ASS!!!”
• This sketch truly becomes a masterpiece when Farrell enters the room and the photographer makes him and Gleeson pose together.
• I love the Back to the Future reference at the end with “Marvin Tiger Beat Magazine”.
• Nice line from Longfellow to end this sketch: “Hey, is it my turn now?”
Please Don’t Destroy: Tommy
The guys’ friend Tommy (Gleeson) has a shocking secret…
• Our first Please Don’t Destroy film of the season.
• It’s nice to see them in a different setting outside of the office for a change.
• Some nice low-key interactions at the start before the main joke is revealed: Gleeson’s character (who is obviously older than the rest of his friends) is actually 67.
• A good laugh from Brendan’s pixelated private parts in the locker room scene. The gleeful look on his face sells it.
• Then we get a nice heartwarming moment where Brendan convinces the others that he’s still their friend despite lying about his age. We then end on a great note as they all go for a joyride through a tunnel as they stand on the back of a truck spreading their arms out.
Musical Performance: “Curious/Furious”
Weekend Update (featuring Black Ariel and Marcello Hernandez)
• Some sick jokes about Dr. Oz killing dogs. I understand that he was accused of doing bad things to them, but you don’t have to make it worse!
• A laugh from that awkward Biden clip.
• Another Ego commentary, this time as the live-action Ariel from The Little Mermaid. She actually has quite a remarkable resemblance to the real actress.
• I usually like Ego’s commentaries, but this was somewhat below par for her. It doesn’t help that this was all just one long setup to a “crabs” joke.
• I kinda liked the joke about the burning port-a-potty.
• For the second week in a row, one of the new cast members has a commentary to introduce themselves to the audience. This week, Marcello Hernandez has the honors. He’s here to give his thoughts about the MLB playoffs.
• Thank goodness we didn’t get a Kenan appearance when he started talking about David Ortiz.
• Marcello is already proving how talented he is with all of his impressions of Dominican baseball players.
• Great point about how baseball announcers like to use Spanish accents when introducing Hispanic players.
• This wasn’t quite as funny as Longfellow’s commentary, but it was still a great introduction to Hernandez.
Sketch: Blood Oath
Two tribe leaders make a blood oath.
• This was cut from the previous episode.
• “You’re watching History Channel.” This sketch is going to suck.
• Why do all of these History Channel sketches have to mention a Hitler-related show in them? It hasn’t been “The Hitler Channel” in years. Now it’s the “Piece of Shit Channel”.
• Some nice costume designs in this sketch.
• Unfortunately, this suddenly turns into a “fake blood” sketch. It’s been a while since we had one of these. The last one I can think of is that gift wrapping sketch with James Franco.
• I must admit, with the exception of the classic Julia Child sketch, I’ve never been a big fan of these kinds of routines. This one is no different. Not only does it not make any sense how Gleeson cut his finger on that knife when he barely touched it, but it also has Kenan doing that annoying hammy voice he’s used in every sketch for the last few seasons. Overall, not a fan of this one.
Musical Performance: “Ur a Stranger”
Sketch: Eyes
A woman gets upset after her coworkers fail to notice a drastic change in her appearance.
• A second sketch for Michael Longfellow!
• Nice initial reveal of Sarah’s googly eyes. I still have no idea how they pulled this effect off.
• This is a…bizarre idea for a sketch, to say the least, but, man, Sarah is making it work.
• My biggest laugh came from Kenan entering the room, seeing Sarah’s eyes, and immediately leaving to go to church.
• I love Gleeson’s delivery of the line where he tells Sarah that the water cooler isn’t a person.
• Overall, Sarah somehow took a really dumb idea, and made it work. The best sketch in this entire episode, hands down.
Final thoughts: Call me surprised, this episode was better than I remembered. There were some duds here and there, but it was more consistent than last week. Brendan Gleeson brought some class to every sketch, and I’d love to see him host again.
Best sketches: Monologue, New Cast Ideas, Headshots, Marcello’s commentary, Eyes
Worst sketches: CNN Today, Blood Oath
Next review: Megan Thee Stallion
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