SNL Reviews: Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande (3/9/24)

 Cold Open: State of the Union 

CNN covers Biden’s address and Republican senator Katie Britt’s response to it.

• It still feels so wrong seeing Mikey as Biden. Now that I know in hindsight that even this casting choice won’t last, I hate it even more.

• By this point, it has become obvious that Punkie will not be coming back next season. Witness her pointless silent appearance in this cold open!

• Biden hoping that Kamala didn’t skip “Leg Day” is the type of shit I hate in these presidential pieces where they try to have the President come off as “hip” by referencing modern slang, even though he would never do that in real life.

• Heidi’s brief appearance as Marjorie Taylor-Greene was unnecessary, unfunny, and just plain stupid.

• I see we’re back to casting random celebrities as politicians that the writers don’t like. This time, it’s Scarlett Johansson as some senator named Katie Britt. Why is this necessary? Who is this for?

• Couldn’t they have cast somebody who’s actually on the show to play this woman? Chloe Troast really needs some airtime, why not let her do that? Then again, the last time she did a political impression was that in that horrid Elise Stefanik sketch, so maybe they didn’t want her to face all of that backlash again?

Monologue

Brolin reads poems he wrote about various people.

• Just to show you how long it’s been since Josh Brolin was on the show, the musical guest of that episode was Gotye. Anybody else remember that one hit has-been? I liked Josh referring to him as “someone that I used to know”.

• I also liked how he says that Thanos has a “scrotum chin”.

• Not a big fan of the turn this has taken with him reading various poems about Timothee Chalamet and Kenan.

• This was pretty tolerable for a Season 49 monologue, but it would have been even better if they did more with the whole passage of time thing.

Sketch: Bank Robbery

“Wacky” shenanigans happen at the bank as it’s being robbed.

• The look of Heidi’s character already has me afraid of what’s in store…

• JAJ is perfectly cast as one of the robbers. And it’s good to see Devon with such a big role at the beginning as well!

• *sigh* I am not caring for this new “wacky” character of Heidi’s at all. No different from a “wacky” Kristen Wiig character. Speaking of which, I am dreading having to review her episode that’s coming up soon.

• This sketch should have just been about James and Devon trying and failing to rob this bank. They could have them break in at night and accidentally set off all the alarms or something, and then make things worse by bumbling around. For God’s sakes, anything sounds better than yet another retarded Heidi mugfest!!!

• Oh, and just when you thought this couldn’t get any worse, Josh and Heidi strip themselves at the end. I did NOT need to see that, thank you very much!

Film: Airplane Song

NOTE: This sketch seems to have been removed from YouTube for some reason. I find this odd, because I don’t recall it having any copyrighted music in it. It’s a shame, too, because I remember this being a nice Chloe Troast showcase.

Sketch: People Pleaser Support Group

A support group for people who are obsessed with pleasing others.

• Mikey’s delivery of “I love it, but it’s stupid.” is pretty great.

• An interesting concept for a sketch, and one that I can really relate to, because I also have a strong urge to please other people.

• Surprisingly funny performance from Bowen.

• I like Josh’s character’s story about breaking up with his girlfriend, and then getting engaged with her right after that.

• Molly’s character is totally wasted.

• We get an obligatory appearance from Ariana Grande in this sketch. Her interplay with Bowen is nice.

• I love the awkward prayer they recite at the end.

Sketch: Wine and Cheese Night

A man has a fit when he gets dumped by a cat.

• That is one weird cat puppet.

• I honestly can’t remember the last time Michael Longfellow had a big role. He has a semi-important role here, but barely speaks.

• I had forgotten how great Josh was in this sketch. On the surface, his overreaction to the cat leaving is very stupid, but what makes it work is his performance. He even manages to make a fart joke hilarious.

Film: Shrimp Tower

At a fabulous party, a man shows off his own unique way of displaying shrimp.

• Perfect casting of JAJ as a smarmy British man.

• Yet another example of Mikey’s horrible British accent.

• Speaking of accents, the one that Josh is doing is hilarious.

• Molly in drag AGAIN.

• I love the various closeup shots of Josh cringing as Sarah keeps getting close to his shrimp tower.

• The part with Josh shoving Sarah out the window caught me off guard, in a good way.

• The best part is Josh knocking Sarah out of a tree.

• Kenan is just so out of place in this sketch. He’s not in most of it, but near the end, he materializes out of nowhere just to make a bad joke.

• Even when you know that the tower is going to get destroyed in some way, it’s still satisfying when it happens.

• Great ending, where Josh jumps out of the window.

Sketch: Shonda

A lady feuds with her paraplegic husband on a talk show.

• I feel like we haven’t seen a lot of Ego lately. I’m not sure this is the best use of her talents, though.

• Making me even more worried is Heidi’s over the top Southern accent.

• Okay, what is the deal with Sarah mugging for the camera in the background while Ego is talking? She does this for the whole sketch and it’s actually kind of distracting.

• Finally, Punkie gets a speaking role! Aaaaaand…it’s just a single line. I should have known.

• As Josh shows up as a paraplegic man, I immediately get flashbacks to an awful, AWFUL sketch from Season 39 which featured Aidy Bryant as a woman who broke both of her arms. That sketch also featured annoying Southern accents, and was written by, who else? James Anderson and Kent Sublette! Thankfully, this sketch turns out to not be as bad as that one, but it still isn’t anything special.

Musical Performance: “We Can’t Be Friends”

Weekend Update (featuring…nobody!)

• Did you guys know that Lindsey Graham is gay?!?? That’s the joke!!!! Also, they call him a “house elf”. Wow, you really got him there, guys.

• I’m amazed that the joke about stuttering over the word “Snickers” was allowed.

• Oh, wow, comparing Mitch McConnell to a turtle. Never seen that before!

• Another “seen here” joke, this time about Marjorie Taylor-Greene. It wasn’t funny in the slightest.

• I liked the joke about 30 Rock’s bedbug infestation.

• Another dangerous airplane joke? Who is the writer on staff that has a bizarre airplane fetish???

• Another laugh from the Rupert Murdoch joke.

• There were some surprisingly good jokes here, and the lack of a guest commentary for the first time since Season 47 was a breath of fresh air. Overall, this is one of the better Updates of this season by default. And considering some of the wretched Updates I still have to cover this season, that’s not saying much.

Sketch: Moulin Rouge

A look back at the 2001 version of Moulin Rouge.

• “You’re watching PBS.” This is going to suck.

• Mikey is playing a guy named “Ken Burnt”. You know, like Ken Burns!!! Aren’t we hilarious????

• You know, this sketch would have been a great idea…back in 2001. Why parody such an old movie? It’d be even more ridiculous if they were parodying the original version from the 50’s.

• This sketch taught me something new…apparently, Ewan McGregor is actually Chinese. That’s right!!! It’s time for yet another sketch where Bowen shows us what a silly gay stereotype he is!!! BARF!!!!

• Nicole Kidman’s character is played by Ariana, making another sketch appearance tonight. Unsurprisingly, she is doing a much better job than Bowen.

• Why is he singing “You Belong with Me?”? That song came out in 2009! I’m guessing they did this on purpose because “LOL TAYLOR SWIFT!!!”.

• 20 minutes later, and I haven’t laughed once. This is clearly just an excuse for Bowen to crack himself up, which he actually does at one point!

• Finally, it’s over!!!! Words cannot express how sick and tired I am of Bowen Yang getting free rein to do whatever the fuck he wants. And he wrote this, so there’s nobody else to blame but him!

Sketch: Sandwich King

A subs guy faces an existential crisis.

• As soon as Josh entered with a pedo mustache, I knew I was in for a treat.

• Another use of Ariana in a sketch, although it’s just her voice this time.

• The various closeups of Josh’s distraught face are hilarious, especially when it starts cutting to footage of his childhood.

• That one shot of Josh essentially deepthroating a sub is really funny!

• Josh, after being called out on his use of a Listerine bottle for a pickle jar: “God forbid I recycle!”

• Great ending where Sarah seemingly dies after eating a moldy sub.

Musical Performance: “Imperfect for You”

Sketch: Lisa from Temecula

Lisa causes havoc once again at a sports bar.

• Not this shit again.

• It’s sad to see Chloe Troast and Punkie get big roles here. This is the material you finally use them for?

• So far, this is exactly the same as the first two times, though I do detect a bit more of a response from the audience this time, compared to the one they did with Ana DeArmas.

• As if this couldn’t get any worse, now they have Kenan doing his overused shtick.

• Even worse, the other cast members are beginning to break. Please end this right now!!!

Final thoughts: This episode was all over the place. While there was a lot of really strong material, we also had a bunch of absolutely wretched shit, most of which courtesy of Jimmy Fowlie. It’s a shame, because Josh Brolin was an absolutely fantastic host. He gave his all to everything, even making potentially shitty sketches better with his presence.

Best sketches: People Pleaser Support Group, Shrimp Tower, Sandwich King

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Bank Robbery, Moulin Rouge, Lisa from Temecula

Next review: Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott

SNL Reviews: Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgreaves (3/2/24)

 Cold Open: CNN Inside Politics

Democrats try to hype up Biden.

• The top comment on the YouTube upload is “Probably the worst Gavin Newsom impression ever attempted”. It’s such a shame to see Longfellow stuck in these pathetic clout-chasing cold opens.

• While it is kind of refreshing to see them attempt to satirize Biden for a change, it’s still extremely boring. And in the end, it doesn’t matter, because he eventually dropped out of the race.

Monologue

Sydney Sweeney talks about her personal life and dispels Internet rumors.

• Nice jab at her role in Madame Web.

• More corporate synergy when she talks about rumors of her working at Universal Studios. 

• Pointless appearance from Glen Powell at the end.

Sketch: Detective Interns

Two “wacky” interns solve crimes within seconds.

• Already a huge groan from me upon the reveal of Chloe and Sydney’s characters.

• Has Sydney been taking lessons from Heidi? This character sounds exactly like a typical “vocal fry” role that Heidi would play.

• This premise is getting very old, very fast.

• I wonder whose photos they used to represent “Tony Benson” and his mother. Probably someone in the writer’s room.

• Ego’s line about liking “a little fruit in (her) salad” regarding Andy Cohen made me chuckle.

• What’s the deal with Mikey leaving the room after being told that you can take screenshots with Snapchat?

• At least the ending with Kenan’s OnlyFans picture was pretty funny.

Please Don’t Destroy: Gone Too Soon

The guys share their grief over a friend’s passing.

• Despite it just being a sketch, I like how genuinely upset they sound.

• Some laughs from the convoluted situation that resulted in their friend’s death. 

• Yet another example of corporate synergy with the random Kung Fu Panda reference.

• Big laugh from the reveal that the guy’s name was “Buttcheek P. Rosenthal”.

• Sydney: “So I guess the ‘P’ stood for ‘penis’”? Martin: “No, it stood for ‘pagina’!!”

• That’s apparently JAJ doing Buttcheek’s voice in the video of the accident. 

• The fact that we don’t actually get to see the video makes it even funnier. 

• I love the various comments from famous people, especially the one from Malala.

• Once again, a nearly perfect sketch is ruined by the overdone cliche ending where this turns out to be an advertisement for Chef Boyardee. UGGGHHHH!!!!! WHY DO THEY HAVE TO KEEP DOING THAT???

Sketch: Air Bud

The school’s new star basketball player is Air Bud.

• Really? We’re doing a “cute animal” sketch?

• Sydney: “You’re so hairy. I love that! Are you Italian?” I find that really funny because Italians are extremely hairy. Just ask my dad!

• Sorry, but I don’t buy Ego as a high school student.

• As far as cute animal sketches go, this one is relatively harmless, but it seems kind of wrong to me that the main joke of this sketch is someone hitting on a dog. Doesn’t that kind of promote bestiality? Or am I just looking too far into it?

Sketch: Big Bench

A court show is derailed by the large amount of judges.

• The amount of cast members in this sketch is impressive.

• Sydney’s character’s name is “Ashley Jerns” and has a Southern accent??? *checks writer’s guide* Yup, this is a Kent Sublette sketch.

• Another pointless instance of Marcello being tossed into a sketch to make the ladies happy. You can hear a gal in the audience scream after he says his line.

• Surprised they didn’t go the easy route and cast Bowen as the gay judge. But, hey, I’m not complaining about getting to see Andrew in a sketch.

• Thankfully, Andrew isn’t queering up the role like Bowen definitely would have done.

• I groaned so loudly when Chloe entered as another Southern-accented character. 

• How many times are we supposed to laugh at Kenan playing a sexual predator?

• What’s with the dog focus tonight? Apparently the Air Bud sketch wasn’t enough, because one of the judges is a sheepdog. PLEASE LAUGH AT THE CUTE ANIMALS, GUYS!!!! 

• Ego: “Okay, I think we ordering lunch now.” Gee, thanks for explaining the joke, Ego!

• What a huge mess this sketch was. 

Sketch: Bowen’s Straight

Asian Terry Sweeney reveals that his homosexuality was all just an act.

• A Bowen Yang showcase? You know how I feel about these…

• Interesting concept.

• Random Gina Gershon cameo. I would imagine it probably hurt him inside to have to pretend to kiss a girl.

• Big laugh from Bowen punching Marcello in the crotch.

• Bowen acting like a creep while he’s talking to Sydney is some of his greatest work in years. I wish we could see this side of him more often instead of acting like a stereotype.

• Pointless appearance from Marcello at the end, with predictable applause from the female audience.

• I’m surprised how much I liked this. It’s probably Bowen’s best sketch since, I don’t know, that one he did with Simu Liu in Season 47?

Sketch: Makeup Artists

Makeup artists have no sympathy for their customer’s feelings.

• The look of Sydney and Sarah’s characters is already making me worried. Sure enough, Jimmy Fowlie and Ceara O’Sullivan are credited as writers.

• Half of the dialogue from these two is just them saying “Shoot.” 

• Surprisingly, Heidi is doing pretty well in this sketch. She’s actually making me feel sorry for her character’s situation.

• Aaaaand…the makeup ladies just keep saying the same thing over and over again.

• Ego: “I’m being respectful, but I’m feeling like I wanna kill you.” You said it!

• I think this YouTube comment sums this sketch up better than I ever could: “Shoooot. Shoooot. They forgot to write a punchline. Shoooot.”

Musical Performance: “Deeper Well”

Weekend Update (featuring Woman Who Is Aging Gracefully and Charlotte the Stingray)

• Michael Che and Colin Jost, seen here doing a joke format that was never ever funny, really need to find new material. This one starts off with numerous Godawful Mitch McConnell “seen here” jokes that get more and more hacky as they progress.

• Colin mistakenly says “NBA” instead of “ABC” while introducing the first commentary. I figured I would bring that up because it was far more amusing than the actual commentary itself. 

• So who is the first guest? Ugh…yet another annoying and WACKEEEE character played by Heidi and written by Jimmy “James Anderson, Jr.” Fowlie. Every second of this is pure cringe. Heidi is great and all, but I wish she would stop doing characters like this.

• The “Nick Cann Un” joke admittedly made me laugh.

• That joke about the owl’s death was just wrong. Why do these guys love making cruel jokes about animals dying?

• We follow that with another joke about animals dying with the “Puppy Grave, IN” joke, which is then turned into yet another slam at McConnell.

• As soon as I heard that the next guest was “Charlotte the Stingray”, I knew it would be Ego. Sure enough, there she is. I’m getting sick and tired of these stupid costume commentaries where they dress somebody up in a “silly” outfit (usually Bowen or Ego) and have them talk about their sex life or whatever. That’s basically all we’ve had in the past few months on Update.

Sketch: Hooters Waitresses

A new waitress at Hooters overshadows all the others.

• Yeah, that’s right. They’re actually resorting to putting the female cast in Hooters outfits to keep us from changing the channel.

• I groaned so loud when Bowen entered in a Hooters outfit, with thunderous applause from the audience.

• No comment on the scene where Sweeney pours beer down Andrew’s throat. This shit feels straight out of an All That episode.

• Is Mikey’s character supposed to be a reference to something? The way he says his lines about not wanting to be served by Chloe’s character are delivered in a very specific way, as if he’s imitating someone else.

• JAJ is perfectly cast as the Hooters owl. His dialogue, on the other hand? (“You are my Harry Potter, and this is your Hogwarts!”) All I have to say to that is READ ANOTHER BOOK.

Musical Performance: “Too Good to be True”

Film: Airbnb

Two gals promote their interior design company for Airbnbs.

• Been a while since Chloe Troast has had a showcase.

• A laugh from the creepy photo of the family “that actually lives here”.

• A lot of the humor here is kind of lost on me, as I’ve never been to an Airbnb before. Are any of these odd decor choices specific to an actual Airbnb?

• Chloe and Sydney waving at the camera in the toilet made me laugh.

• Nice example of “politically ambiguous” artwork: a sign that simply says “Lives Matter”,

• Pointless reference to that stupid Wonka Experience in Glasgow that everyone on Twitter was talking about at the time. Thank goodness they only did a reference to it here instead of making a whole sketch about it.

Sketch: Loud Table

A couple trying to have a nice date are constantly interrupted by noisy people at other tables.

• I already like where this is going as soon as I see Andrew with a lead role.

• Funny turn where it looks like Andrew is about to yell at the noisy assholes, but instead starts giving a sappy dramatic speech about how much he envies their friendship.

• I know this probably wasn’t intentional, but I’m actually finding this sketch kind of heartwarming. Who knew Andrew had it in him?

• Another random Glen Powell cameo, this time as Sydney’s character’s new boyfriend.

• The pathetic expression on Andrew’s face when Sydney leaves him is hilarious.

• Funny ending where Andrew is all by himself in the restaurant after he’s about to give another sappy speech.

Final thoughts: After last week’s surprisingly strong show, we’re back to basics here. Nothing too offensively awful here (except maybe the Heidi commentary), but unremarkable as a whole. Sydney Sweeney came in and did what she was asked, but didn’t really stand out a lot. You know things are bad when a Bowen Yang showcase was one of the highlights.

Best sketches: Gone Too Soon, Bowen’s Straight, Loud Table

Worst sketches: Makeup Artists, Heidi’s commentary, the sight of Bowen Yang in a Hooters outfit

Next review: Josh Brolin/Ariana Grande. I recall there being some absolutely horrid material in this one.

SNL Reviews: Shane Gillis/21 Savage (2/24/24)

 Cold Open: Trump Victory Party

Some of Trump’s cronies discuss him during a meal.

• This is a decidedly different cold open. Is it a parody of something?

• Trump himself thankfully doesn’t appear in this, but the only joke is that his associates say that they still support him even though he demeans them on a constant basis. Get it? Because Donald Trump is an asshole! Nobody’s ever made THAT joke before!

• Not helping matters is the dead audience. They lighten up every now and then, but for the most part, it’s like they’re in a Japanese movie theater.

Monologue

Shane Gillis does stand-up about sports, his family, and owning a coffee shop.

• Seeing Gillis finally appear on the home stage after what this show did to him in the past is so satisfying.

• Speaking of which, I’m glad he chose not to base his entire routine on that. He mentions it very briefly before telling the audience not to look it up, which I feel is the best way for him to go about it.

• He looks very nervous here, and part of me wonders if he’s afraid that he’s going to say something bad and get himself in trouble again.

• Always nice when the host gives a shout out to their parents in the audience.

• I was wondering if he was deliberately holding back his stronger material, but then he outright said he can’t do his usual routine on TV.

• This Down’s syndrome routine is the type of ballsy material I was hoping to see. He wisely sidesteps any potential offense by turning the joke back on himself.

• Funny joke comparing his sister’s diverse household to an Uber car.

• I’m amazed that they allowed him to say “retarded”.

• Overall, a great stand-up monologue, despite how nervous he clearly is.

Sketch: Church on Vacation

“Wacky” shenanigans happen at a Jamaican church.

• An immediate red flag when Ego enters as a man. That’s the second time in the last few episodes!

• Jamaican stereotypes galore here, but I like Ego’s energy.

• Do they even have Catholic Churches in Jamaica?

• I don’t really have much more to say about this sketch, so here’s a funny comment from the YouTube upload about Gillis: “Fired him for doing accents but then hired him to do accents. Love it 😅😅😅”

Fake Ad: Rock Bottom Kings

The new app where you can bet on how a guy will ruin his life.

• Longfellow still exists!!!!

• The writer’s guide I keep bringing up doesn’t say who wrote this, but some of my fellow reviewers have theorized that Shane himself came up with it. I have no familiarity with his podcasts, but this does feel very different from the numerous shitty shorts we’ve had this season.

• Some laughs from the various horrible outcomes you can bet on with this app.

• Shane: “Because gambling is serious…seriously awesome!!!”

Sketch: HR Meeting

The HR office holds a meeting about workplace relationships. 

• I’m not the first one to have pointed this out, but it’s really funny and ironic that Shane is in a sketch with the two cast members he was supposed to have joined the show with (Chloe and Bowen).

• Kenan is wearing his usual sex offender outfit here.

• I love Shane casually bringing up that his co-worker (played by Longfellow) is gay, and referring to it as a “condition”.

• Just as I was about to say that this was a nice little underrated gem, they had to ruin it with a completely unnecessary bit with Marcello showing off his “booty khakis” to thunderous applause from the gals in the audience. We’ve reached the point of the season where Marcello starts to be put in more sketches where the only purpose is to capitalize on his popularity with the female viewers. Another awful example of this is coming up later in the show…

Fake Ad: White Men Can Trump

A man turns his miserable life around once he finds a magical pair of Donald Trump sneakers!

• I wonder who the narrator is. It doesn’t sound like anyone in the cast.

• A unique concept of sneakers that make you act like Trump.

• Shane’s Trump impression is better than you’d expect. It’s not as dead-on as JAJ’s but it gets the job done.

• I love how whenever he says something in the Trump voice, people automatically believe him. This even extends to the numbers on his scale, which go down from 254 to 170 just because he says so. 

• Speaking of JAJ, I even liked the scene where his impression appears.

• The twist at the end with Mikey’s “Air Bidens” was a nice way to wrap things up.

• Overall, a surprisingly fresh take on Trump material. It’s just a shame that this is the only time I’ll be saying that for the rest of the season.

Sketch: The Floor

A contestant fails to recognize famous black people.

• “You’re watching FOX!” Uh-oh, this sketch is gonna suck…

• Longfellow doesn’t look or sound a thing like Rob Lowe, but it’s great to see him get so much airtime tonight.

• It’s kind of funny seeing Shane standing next to someone of Asian ethnicity. 

• Ugh, this premise of Shane failing to identify black people is so stupid. Is the joke supposed to be that he’s racist or something?

• The twist with Cleveland Brown being the one picture he correctly guesses is also extremely stupid. Oh, but they point out how dumb it is, so that makes it okay, right? No, it doesn’t!

• Then they do the same joke except it’s Ego failing to recognize famous paintings.

Musical Performance: “Redrum”

Weekend Update (featuring Frozen Embryo and Truman Capote)

• Apparently those shoes in that fake trailer are real??? I’m sure they don’t turn you into Trump in real life, but that sketch has been ruined for me a bit now that I know it wasn’t something they came up with.

• Hey, did you know that Joe Biden is old???? That’s the joke!

• Remember what I said earlier about how Marcello is starting to go downhill? Well, we have arrived at that very moment, because he’s doing a commentary as a “frozen embryo from Alabama”. I am not kidding.

• This seems very much like a role that Bowen would play, and he probably would if it weren’t for the next commentary. But I’ll get to that in a bit…

• Anyway, there is not a single laugh to be had here. This was a total shock to me when it aired live, because I’ve loved Marcello up to this point. But between this, the shitty popcorn bucket song from last time, and the “booty khakis”, dark times are ahead…

• Yet another joke about the dangers of airplanes.

• I did laugh at Colin’s joke about the end of Black History Month, and the one about a guy getting hit by a subway.

• Okay, the punchline to that WNBA joke was just gross.

• UGGGGHHHHHH, yet another Bowen commentary. This time, he’s playing Truman Capote. Not only does he sound nothing like Capote, but he’s also doing that thing I hate where he delivers all of his lines as slowly as possible.  

• It’s a shame that the impression is so bad, because I kind of like the concept of exposing what a freak this guy was. This is really how they’re going to end Update? Come on!

Sketch: Forrest Gump

The Greenbow High School reunion goes awry when Forrest Gump shows up.

• That is the worst Forrest Gump impression I have ever seen. As much as I like Mikey, he is clearly not an impressionist. He has the look down, though.

• Not much to say about this one, honestly. If you thought this was bad, just wait until the Ryan Gosling episode…

Sketch: Fugliana

The average-looking sex doll for average-looking men.

• The pose Sarah is doing is really funny.

• Love the use of the “chika-chikaaaa” from the song “Oh Yeah” by Yello whenever they say Fugliana’s name.

• JAJ: “My old sex doll looked like a woman you’d have to wine-and-dine!”

• Mikey definitely looks like the type of person who would own a sex doll.

• I love Sarah taking out a magnifying glass when Shane says he’s going to show off his penis.

• More funny facial expressions when Sarah is lipsynching to the doll’s prerecorded phrases.

• After several surprisingly bad showings, this is more of what I was expecting from Sarah.

Musical Performance: “Should’ve Wore A Bonnet”

Sketch: They’re Listening

People are worried that their technological devices are listening to them.

• I’m sure we’ve all had that feeling of unease about whether or not our smartphones can read our minds, so I find this premise very relatable.

• I love this business about Shane ordering a Green Bay Packers buttplug.

• This is most likely another concept that Shane himself brought to the show.

Cut for Time: LiMu Emu and Doug

A Liberty Mutual commercial goes dark.

• The puppet for LiMu Emu is really funny looking.

• Nice abrupt twist with the emu randomly shooting a guy.

• Shane’s performance is really good. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was yet another sketch idea that he came up with.

• The ending was a little sudden. I wanted this to go on longer.

Final thoughts: After three abysmal episodes, we finally have another good one! The reason for this one’s success can be chalked up to our host. Shane Gillis totally won me over with his great performances and unique sketch ideas. Will this rise in quality last? Probably not, but I guess we’ll have to see!

Best sketches: Monologue, White Men Can Trump, Fugliana, LiMu Emu and Doug (Cut)

Worst sketches: The Floor, both Update commentaries

Next review: Sydney Sweeney/Kacey Musgreaves 

SNL Reviews: Ayo Edebiri/Jennifer Lopez (2/3/24)

 Cold Open: CNN Town Hall

Trump’s latest speech is interrupted by Nikki Haley.

• Ugh, it’s Trump again. I can only imagine how many more times we’re going to be seeing him this season.

• Rare appearance of the host in the cold open. 

• Now we come to the most infamous part of this cold open. For some inexplicable reason, Nikki Haley makes an appearance. Yes, the REAL Nikki Haley! I was under the impression that they’d never let a Republican on this show again!

• Kind of like the way they’ve portrayed Liz Cheney in the past, Haley is depicted as a brave freedom fighter who’s going to stand up to Trump. I assume their rationale for getting her to appear on the show was, “Hey, she’s a Republican that hates Trump, so she must be cool, right?!?” 

• Needless to say, this pathetic attempt at stunt-casting was met with criticism from both sides of the aisle. Democrats were offended by the show giving Haley a platform, some Republicans were offended by Haley’s anti-Trump statements, and I’m offended, because this cold open is a piece of shit! (Give yourself a pat on the back if you know what that’s a reference to)

Monologue

Ayo shares some ideas she wanted to pitch.

• I haven’t laughed so far. Modern standup comedy is extremely bland and inoffensive to me.

• Ayo’s brief mention of the Black Jeopardy sketches made me realize that we haven’t seen it in quite a long time. I’m pretty sure the last one was in the Eddie Murphy episode.

• The aforementioned Black Jeopardy reference leads to a lame and pathetic joke about how she tried to pitch a sketch called White Jeopardy, but failed.

• I did like the suppressed anger in her voice when she orders the crew to burn her rejected ideas.

Sketch: Why’d You Post It?

Contestants are quizzed about why they posted certain things on Instagram.

• Of all the sketches to rehash…why did they choose “Why’d You Like It?” from two seasons ago?

• Even the exaggerated way that Kenan says the title of the show is the same as last time.

• The lack of Chris Redd in this one is a definite strike against it, because he was the only thing I liked about the first installment.

• Kenan at least has some funny lines here.

• Andrew’s series of horny comments about AOC are pretty funny, especially the one about how he accidentally wrote the post because he was sitting on his phone.

• I love Chloe’s disturbing song about how alcohol made her commit arson.

• Nice ending where Ayo comments, “What disease he have?”, on a picture of the host and his son.

•  Call me crazy, but I think that was better than the first one.

Film: Dune Popcorn Bucket

People sing about losing their virginity…to a bucket.

• Is it a requirement for each episode to have a musical number now?

• A lot of other fans have noticed how the show seems to be pushing Marcello as the second coming of Pete Davidson, and this horrible sketch right here is a prime example of that.

• First off, let’s talk about that bucket. Around the time of this episode’s premiere, there were a lot of memes about some promotional popcorn bucket for the new Dune movie, and its unfortunate resemblance to a certain part of the female body. I was totally unfamiliar with any of this because I have better things to do with my life (like review shitty SNL sketches), so when I saw the premise of this song, my reaction was “Huh?”

• Yeah, this is definitely not for me. Aside from all the juvenile sex jokes, there’s also Dune references that are going over my head.

• The various shots of people dancing with the bucket are so dumb, and not the good kind of dumb.

• I was rather surprised to find out that this song was written by Dan Bulla and Steven Castillo, the same guys that gave us Tiny Horse, and, more recently, that hilarious sketch with the bowling pins. They can do so much better than this lame Pete Davidson pastiche.

Sketch: Drugs on Campus

Zack does shrooms for the first time, much to the consternation of his fellow students.

• Mikey looks so out of place here with all of the younger cast members. He also looks waaaay too old to be playing a college kid.

• What is even going on in this sketch? Is the focus supposed to be on Andrew’s character, or is it supposed to be focused on Mikey and Ayo’s characters?

• As if to prove my point from earlier, here comes Marcello in another role that doesn’t really suit him.

• Well, that just came and went.

Sketch: Bad Couples

A news reporter interviews random couples in New York about how they met.

• Do my eyes deceive me? Both Molly and Michael with actual screen time?!? 

• Ugh, please stop trying to make Bowen Yang a leading man. It always ends up the same: he derails the sketch with his campy shenanigans.

• Oh, and his name here is “Danny Love”. The writer’s guide I use doesn’t say who wrote this, but I don’t even need it to know that this was likely the work of Sublette or Fowlie.

• This seems to be yet another variation of the red carpet format this show loves doing lately.

• Who’s the guy with Heidi? SNL Archives doesn’t say, so he probably isn’t a crew member. Is it someone from Heidi’s family, perhaps?

• Nice dark joke with Mikey confirming that the girl with him is both his sister and his girlfriend.

• Believe it or not, Bowen isn’t doing as bad as I feared, especially considering how terrible his last showcase sketch was.

• Another unidentified extra is seen with Punkie. Is that her dad?

• Extremely random appearance from Martin Herlihy of Please Don’t Destroy as Ego’s partner. He rightfully receives a huge round of applause from the audience. As someone in the comments said, it seems like it should be illegal for the PDD guys to appear in live sketches.

• Kenan’s character (who seems to be a pimp) saying “Pass” when asked how he met his girlfriend was pretty funny.

• Another very Pete-esque role for Marcello. It’s shocking how fast he has declined in the last few episodes.

• That was honestly better than I remembered. Probably the best of this type of sketch since, I don’t know, the one with the Halloween costumes?

Musical Performance: “Can’t Get Enough”

Weekend Update (featuring CJ Rossitano)

• Yawn, more bland Trump jokes, including one that tries to implicate him as being involved with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Fun fact: none of the girls on the island have ever claimed that they saw Trump partake in any of the “activities”.

• I liked the joke about Joe Biden’s only black supporter being Obama’s white half.

• It’s kind of an easy joke, but I still laughed at the joke about police shooting a Jackie Robinson statue.

• I’ve been going on all season about how bad Sarah has gotten, and we’ve now arrived at her absolute low point. In this commentary, she plays a fan named CJ Rossitano who has gotten tickets to the show. Even when I saw this episode live, I knew exactly where this commentary was headed once she started talking to Colin.

• The running “gag” where they keep showing closeups of Sarah mugging the camera while “Cat’s in the Cradle” plays is so bizarre. Like, I don’t even know what the point of it is.

• Is that James singing the song? What a huge waste of his talents. Ever since he was in the cold open, he’s been mostly underutilized in this episode.

• I’ve run out of things to say about this commentary. Were there no other ones during dress that they could have used?

Sketch: Trivia Quest

A game show host purposely gives away all the answers to a contestant.

• Two game show sketches in one night?

• Oh, wow, I forgot all about this truly awful gaffe. Ego gets the names of Sarah and Ayo’s characters mixed up when interviewing them, and she has to ad-lib to get her way out of it. What the fuck is happening to Ego?!? This is her first lead role in a while and this is what she has to show for it?!?

• Mikey’s mention of Ithaca College gave me a nice feeling inside, as I have a cousin who went there.

• Hoo boy, I am not liking Ego’s character at all.

• She flubs another line near the end, but I can’t even tell what she was trying to say. Some kind of insult, maybe?

Film: The Elevator

Stuck elevator passengers seize the opportunity to create a new society.  

• This is such a blandly-shot film. Not only is it not funny in the slightest, but it has that same ugly orange-blue color scheme that most movies have these days.

• “Why are you guys so obsessed with hooking up?” I’m with you, Kenan. That gag is so stupid. 

• I have little else to say about this horrible sketch, so here’s a hilarious comment from Jesse Nathan’s review, which I hope he forgives me for borrowing: “Y’know, I know I shouldn’t take this seriously, but honestly, I can’t help but tell everyone here ‘get out of the elevator, you morons! I mean, come on, the firefighters are right there!’”.

Sketch: Hypnotist

A boy is accidentally hypnotized into revealing that he is bisexual.

• The heavy amount of Andrew in this episode pleases me.

• Was it intentional to make Ayo look like Julia Sweeney as Pat?

• Another similarity this character has to Pat is that they both have extremely annoying voices. To quote Jesse Nathan once again, “Will someone tell this kid to SHUT UP already?”

• I have no idea what to say about this bisexual routine. Like that awful Grimace sketch from last year, I guess the “joke” is just supposed to be that he’s bisexual, because that’s apparently funny.

• Kenan’s janitor character is completely unnecessary. It’s a role he’s played way too many times by now.

• Predictable ending where Ayo reveals she was making this all up.

Musical Performance: “This Is Me…Now”

Sketch: The People’s Court

A lady sues her former hairdresser for exposing her brain.

• According to Blood’s review of this episode, this sketch is based on some viral video I’ve never seen. I know I’ve said this a million times in the past, but SNL really needs to stop doing sketches based on viral videos that people will forget about in two months.

• Nice ghastly visual of Ayo’s exposed brain. Aside from that, there’s not much to laugh at here.

• Kenan’s mispronunciation of “Marge Simpsone” is all I needed to know that this is a Jimmy Fowlie sketch.

• No comment on Ego blowing on the back of Punkie’s exposed brain.

Final thoughts: Yet another rough episode. These last few episodes since Christmas break have been absolutely terrible. I also didn’t really care for Ayo Edebiri as a host. There was something about her that kind of came off as, I don’t know, tryhard? Maybe that’s just how she is in her standup act.

Best sketches: Why’d You Post It, Bad Couples

Worst sketches: Nikki Haley’s appearance, Dune Popcorn Bucket, CJ Rossitano commentary, Trivia Quest, Hypnotist

Next review: Shane Gillis/21 Savage

SNL Reviews: Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake (1/27/24)

 Cold Open: NFL on CBS

Panelists lament the end of football season.

• Not too familiar with Jim Nantz’s voice due to my apathy towards football, but I’m sure JAJ is spot on. And, hey, nice to see Dismukes up front in a big role!

• Nantz’s brief sponsor plug for Boeing made me think of the ESPN Classic sketches with Sudeikis and Forte. Boy, I wish I could be watching one of those right now.

• Again, due to my apathy towards football, I’m not really finding this hilarious. Maybe my brother would get more enjoyment out of it? I dunno.

• I think they were trying to go for a meta-joke when Kenan says that there’s no live programs on TV that are worth watching, but his delivery is so bad that it ruins whatever humor was supposed to be there. I do agree with him, though, because SNL is definitely not worth watching anymore.

• All the simping for that Barbie movie is getting old.

• UGGGHHHHH, Molly as a man yet again!!!!! 

• I have no comment on the attempt at a “heartwarming” moment. This cold open is nothing but garbage.

Monologue

Dakota talks about her new movie Madame Web and being taken out of context by reporters. Oh, and Jimmy Fallon shows up for no reason.

• I am not exactly excited to see Dakota again, given how much of a train wreck her last appearance was.

• The joke about Trump and Taylor Swift was so hacky and unnecessary.

• HUGE applause when Timberlake makes his obligatory appearance.

• As usual, JT is coming off as a huge egotistical douche, saying things that he knows will get cheap applause.

• An even larger round of applause when Jimmy Fallon shows up in his Barry Gibb outfit. Ohohoho, just you wait….

Sketch: Waiters

Two WACKY waiters annoy everybody.

• As soon as Sarah showed up as a waiter, I knew I was in for a rough sketch. It seems that most SNL sketches with wacky waiters turn out to be horrible.

• This “chicken fongers” routine is hacky as fuck. It’s sad to see that Sarah is aping shitty Anderlette sketches now.

• The writer’s guide I use doesn’t say who was behind this sketch, but I’m willing to bet it was Sarah in collaboration with Jimmy Fowlie or Kent Sublette.

• Kenan’s loud, shouty role, combined with his “funny” word substitutions just add to my hunch that this is a Sublette piece.

• Horrible and predictable ending. What the fuck is happening to Sarah this season?!? We get another really bad example of her decline in the next episode.

Film: Home Videos

A son discovers a horrible secret about his parents’ relationship…

• This seems like it’s going to be a nice heartwarming slice-of-life sketch at first, but then Andrew finds an episode of a Maury knock-off that his parents appeared on. It seems a little too late to be doing a Maury parody, but I’ll keep an open mind here…

• Mikey is perfectly cast as the father.

• I’m ignoring all of the obvious Anderlette cliches here (the Southern accents and the focus on a talk show) and focusing on the sketch itself. It’s surprisingly not bad so far…

• Marcello’s character is great, as is the fact that his name is “Spooky”.

• Amazing stunt work when Spooky throws a Mikey stunt double against the wall. Even better is that this turns out to be the reason why Mikey’s character needs to use a cane.

• Even though I saw the twist coming at the end where Spooky shows up as the grandmother’s nurse and tells Andrew that he switched the test results, I still laughed.

Sketch: The Barry Gibb Talk Show

An old sketch is brought out of the mothballs for no reason.

• NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Why would you tease us, SNL?!!??!! They said in the monologue that they wouldn’t be doing this crap, so what is this on my screen right now???

• You know, I thought we were safe from ever seeing this again, given that the real Barry Gibb showed up the last time they did it, and the fact that Robin Gibb has been dead for about 12 years. But, no, of course not. As I said with the unnecessary return of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Jake Gyllenhaal episode, not even death can stop SNL from digging up tired old routines.

• Random return of Bowen’s Andrew Yang impression, something he hasn’t done since his first season.

• Seeing Jimmy and Justin perform this again is just so sad. Their moves are not as fluid as they once were, and it looks like what would happen if your grandpa tried to disco dance.

• I’m glad my mom was happy to see this sketch again (because she likes it for some reason), but I sure wasn’t. It had better stay dead this time…

Please Don’t Destroy: Roast

Dakota treats the guys like shit.

• I like how the audience response to these films has gotten to the point that they immediately applaud when the title card pops up.

• Interesting concept of Dakota roasting the guys.

• Nice nod to SNL’s past when she calls them “The Lonelier Island”.

• John: “Can you introduce me to Sydney Sweeney?” Give it a few episodes…

• I like the callback to the “Three Sad Virgins” film. Even though I wasn’t a fan of that one, it’s nice to see how far they’ve come since then.

• A great slam from Dakota about the Please Don’t Destroy movie that nobody saw. I can’t even remember what it was called.

• John: “I’m gonna change the cue cards so you say the n-word during your monologue.”

• Probably the best PDD film since, I don’t know, the Shrek one?

Sketch: Big Dumb Cups

Since hats are no longer in, the gals decide to advertise cups instead.

• Ugh, we’re really doing a Big Dumb Hats sequel? I thought the Garrett from Hinge reprisal was unnecessary, but this takes the cake!

• Some of the “jokes” here are straight out of a Nickelodeon show, specifically the running gag where Dakota’s cup gets bigger each time we see it.

Musical Performance: “Sanctified”

Weekend Update (featuring Ethan and Jan Janby)

• I kind of liked Michael interjecting “He didn’t even do it!” during Colin’s joke about OJ Simpson,

• I’ve lost count of how many jokes they’ve made this season about airplanes crashing. 

• UGGGGHHHHHH!!!! Yet another commentary from Bowen as a flamboyant gay stereotype!!!

• The running gag where this character constantly name drops himself isn’t as funny as they think it is.

• Bowen continues to get on my nerves with each passing episode. I wish the show would get the hint and stop shoving him in every sketch!

• Nice ballsy joke from Che about how he wishes certain people would be returned to Ghana.

• Oh, come on, SNL!!!! Now we get a “wacky” Heidi commentary!!! Did they really need two Jimmy Fowlie-written commentaries in this episode?

• One of the worst Updates of the season.

Sketch: Book Club

Some lady announces a multi-million dollar idea.

• Where has Ego been in this episode? Or Punkie, for that matter? It sucks that both of SNL’s black females are reduced to appearing in one sketch. 

• Dakota’s voice and appearance remind me of Kristen Wiig. Yeah…not exactly the person I want to be reminded of….

• People still care about Shark Tank? 

• This has devolved into the usual react-and-explain routine that we’re all so tired of at this point. I’m surprised Mikey didn’t write this.

• Just in case you didn’t get the hint earlier, they have some Shark Tank people show up at the end!!! For no reason!!!! Dontcha just love pointless cameos?

Musical Performance: “Selfish”

Sketch: Lost Bag

A lady comes to retrieve her lost bag, but has to prove that she owns it.

• Jesus Christ, SEVEN different writers?!? I can tell that this sketch is going to be an unfocused mess…

• Another very Kristen Wiig-esque role for Dakota.

• Devon’s lispy-voiced character seems out of place in this era. This seems more like something Fred Armisen would do back in 2009. Thankfully, Devon’s likability is making this particular character come off as less annoying than it would have back then, even if I’m still not laughing.

• Are we sure this isn’t a Kent Sublette sketch? The gay stereotype and “funny” word substitutions are right out of his playbook.

• And now Kenan comes out as another gay stereotype to further add to my hunch that Sublette had something to do with this.

• The ending with Sarah’s character was just awful. Believe it or not, we still haven’t seen the worst of her decline yet…

Cut for Time: Horny Little Dork

Various women discuss their husbands’…odd habits.

• The slow buildup to the introduction of Mikey’s character is well done, making it all the more hilarious when his “transformation” happens.

• This premise is so dumb…but I kinda like it. In fact, I think I like it more than most of the stuff that actually made it into the episode!

• James is almost unrecognizable in his role.

Final thoughts: Yeesh, that was a very rough episode. I don’t know what’s happened to this season all of a sudden, but these past two episodes have been absolutely horrible. On the plus side, Dakota was utilized much better in this episode than in her previous one, getting to play more than just bland straight roles.

Best sketches: Roast, Horny Little Dork

Worst sketches: Waiters, The Barry Gibb Talk Show, Ethan’s commentary, Jan Janby’s commentary, Lost Bag

Next review: Ayo Edebiri/Jennifer Lopez

SNL Reviews: Jacob Elordi/Reneé Rapp (1/20/24)

 Cold Open: Trump Courthouse

Trump speaks to the media after appearing in court for the E. Jean Carroll trial.

• Yawn, yet another boring cold open where Trump rambles about stupid shit for the millionth time.

Note: The opening credits of the live airing mentioned a Please Don’t Destroy film would be appearing in this episode, but no such film is seen. More on that later…

Monologue

Jacob Elordi takes some questions from the audience.

• I don’t know what to say about that censored movie clip he shows.

• Wow, this is the first time in what seems like forever that we’re getting questions from the audience. 

• The black guy who asks the first question is writer Alex English.

• The Stitch fan in me loves Jacob responding to English’s question about who his favorite Elvis is with “Lilo and Stitch Elvis”.

• Writer Rosebud Baker is the woman who says she just wants to look at Jacob, the first of many moments tonight where the joke is just “isn’t Jacob Elordi hot?”.

• Sarah gets a big round of applause when she shows up to tell Jacob that his movie was gross. Unfortunately, there’s a very distracting shadow during this scene of what appears to be some sort of microphone or fan.

• No comment on Kenan’s cliched old man character, a role he can play in his sleep by now.

• Bowen also makes a brief appearance (complete with an earring in his right ear because aren’t stereotypes great?) to tell the host that he was also born in Australia, then proceeds to do the worst Australian accent I’ve ever heard.

• While I’m glad we got a nice long break from this type of monologue, this one reminded me of why they’re so hacky and overused.

Sketch: Crown Your Short Kings

SNL tries to pander to Reddit.

• I have no idea what a “short king” is. The only people I hear use the phrase are Redditors, Tumblrinas, and Marcello in that one commentary from last season.

• The setting reminds me of those “Can I steal him for a sec?” sketches that were once an annual feature of January episodes from 2015-2020.

• Already a huge red flag with Molly dressed as a man yet again. Not even the fact that they’re wearing a mustache is enough to salvage this.

• Am I crazy, or is there a scar on Chloe’s arm? Please tell me that’s not what I’m seeing here.

• I did get an unintentional laugh from Jacob entering the sketch, as we get to see how much he towers over everyone else.

• Overall, this was extremely boring, and based on a concept I have little interest in. The audience apparently agrees with me, as they’re dead silent for most of this.

Film: Club Shay Shay - Extended Cut

Some scenes we missed from the latest Katt Williams interview.

• Why is Ego in drag a recurring thing now? This just shows you what a bad idea it was to get rid of Chris Redd, because now we only have two black guys in the cast. We’ll see another example of this problem later…

• As expected, Ego’s Katt Williams impression is nowhere near as good as Jay Pharoah’s.

• Boy, Jay Pharoah’s impressions are really getting a workout here, because Devon is in this as Shannon Sharpe. His impression fares a lot better than Ego’s, mainly for the fact that he is actually a man.

• This is apparently a parody of a real Katt Williams interview that I’ve never seen. Once again, SNL parodies something without taking into consideration that not everyone in the audience will be familiar with it. Due to that lack of knowledge, I’m finding this rather baffling and dull.

• Okay, I did get a laugh from Williams saying that Obama’s slogan used to be “Prolly, prolly.”

• I would imagine that the real interview is a lot funnier than whatever the Hell this is supposed to be.

Sketch: Lip Readers

In which SNL lamely tries to copy Bad Lip Reading.

• This bizarre focus on celebrity gossip we’ve gotten so far reminds me of a Season 29 or 30 episode. Not exactly the seasons you’d want to be emulating…

• I did get a slight chuckle from Heidi’s line about mixing up Sterling K. Brown and Michael B. Jordan.

• The arrival of Bowen and Jacob’s characters is making me worried about what type of sketch this is going to be.

• So far, I haven’t laughed a single time at this lip reading routine. Just another piece of garbage from the minds of Jimmy Fowlie and Ceara O’Sullivan.

• The random appearance from Reneé Rapp is doing nothing to save this.

Sketch: Bowling Pins

Animations at a bowling alley become increasingly serious and violent.

• Ah, here’s a sketch I’ve been waiting to see again!

• We’re all familiar with those creepy animations that play at the bowling alley, right? What would happen if they suddenly got…creepier???

• The sudden dark turn these animations are taking is great.

• I love the twist where the “strike” animation is about a filthy WGA scab getting clubbed for not protesting.

• Even the “stuck ball” bit made me laugh.

• Jacob: “Just say ‘spare tire’, you stupid pins!”

• The “Have Sex” ending is a perfect way to cap this off.

Fake Ad: Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines embraces the cool aspect of in-flight mechanical failures.

• Another topical sketch, but I remember this one actually being good.

• I love the random cutaways to people getting sucked out of the airplane.

• Great brief appearance by JAJ as Capt. Sullenberger.

• I could have done without the scene of the guy getting his shirt ripped off by the wind.

• The in-flight photo of Bowen screaming with his hands in the air is hilarious.

• Wow, our second strong sketch in a row? This episode is starting to pick up steam!

Musical Performance: “Snow Angel”

Weekend Update (featuring Tim Scott and Deobra Redden)

• Not caring for any of the Trump or Biden jokes.

• More “jokes” implying that all Trump supporters are evil racists.

• I did get a laugh from Colin comparing a photoshopped picture of Hillary that Trump made to Mark Cuban in a wig.

• I definitely didn’t care for the pedophile priest joke.

• Devon’s Tim Scott impression returns. Hopefully this will be a better showcase of his talents than that awful cold open he was in a while back.

• That voice he does is hilarious. He compares it to what it would sound like if Bill Clinton was black. 

• Devon: “I sound like if Forrest Gump was doing an impression of Ja Rule!”

• I love the part with the “racist dogwhistle” where Colin is somehow able to hear it, continuing the running joke where he is implied to be a secret white supremacist.

• That was pretty good for a political commentary, helped by the fact that they kept it short and sweet.

• Ugh, now they’re putting Punkie in drag too? I know Devon can’t play this particular role because we just saw him as Tim Scott, and Kenan can’t do it because he’s too big for the part. This is just another example of why we should have more than two black guys in the cast.

• The commentary itself is just dull. All of the other late night shows had been making jokes about this guy for weeks, and SNL had nothing new to add to the table.

Sketch: AA Meeting

A women’s AA meeting is interrupted by a man.

• Uh-oh, another Jimmy Fowlie/Ceara O’Sullivan sketch…

• It’s nice to see a sketch with the entire female cast.

• I have no idea where this is going, but I don’t think I like it. I guess that brief upswing in quality earlier was just a fluke.

• Yet another sketch where the joke is just everyone fawning over Jacob.

Musical Performance: “Not My Fault”

• Random appearance from Megan Thee Stallion.

Sketch: Acting Class

A star actor can’t relate to other less-successful actors.

• Why is there so much Bowen in this episode? He’s not as diverse as SNL thinks he is.

• Mean Girls star Rachel McAdams is here for some reason, and the joke is that her character looks just like Rachel McAdams.

• Uggghhhh, another sketch where they do nothing but fawn over Jacob’s character?

• The only other thing I have to say here is that Jacob has been doing a great job hiding his natural accent in every sketch.

Sketch: Garrett From Hinge

Garrett struggles to restrain himself while interrupting a wedding.

• FUUUUUUCK!!!! Not this horrible character from the Travis Kelce episode again! Apparently he was cut from the Bad Bunny episode earlier this season, so his return has been in the works for a while now.

• So far, this is going exactly the same as the first one, except it’s even less funny.

• No comment on the organist wearing the same outfit as him.

• I have nothing to say about the part where they all start doing Family Guy impressions, except for the fact that James’ Cleveland impression is spot on.

• HORRIBLE ending where Garrett randomly disappears and ends up in a painting.

• Somehow that was even worse than the first time they did this! I can’t believe they accomplished that!

Cut for Time: Please Don’t Destroy: Pimp My Ride

The guys help a janitor at 30 Rock snazz up his ride.

• It’s been a while since we’ve seen these guys. They should have cut the retarded Garrett from Hinge reprisal and put this in instead.

• Mikey inexplicably acting like an asshole towards a janitor is hilarious.

• I love that accent Jacob is doing for the janitor’s voice.

• Sudden Pimp My Ride twist…

• I’ve never watched Pimp My Ride, but I’m aware of the basics, so I’m still finding this okay.

• It wouldn’t be complete without a cameo from Xzibit himself, looking strangely haggard.

• Even though I predicted it would happen, I still laughed at the car exploding at the end when they try to use it.

• Xzibit: “I am in no way associated with any of these [censored]!”

• This was okay for what it was, but it felt a little too bland for PDD standards.

Final thoughts: Hoo, boy. This is one of the weakest episodes of the season so far. While Jacob Elordi was a serviceable host, the writing for most of his sketches amounted to nothing but “wow, isn’t Jacob Elordi hot?” We also got the return of a fucking awful character at the end of the show, and a lot of wretched Jimmy Fowlie material. On the plus side, the Bowling Pins sketch was one of the best of the entire season.

Best sketches: Bowling Pins, Alaska Airlines, Tim Scott commentary

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Crown Your Short Kings, AA Meeting, Garrett From Hinge

Next review: Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake

SNL Reviews: Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish (12/16/23)

 Cold Open: Christmas Awards

The 95th Annual Christmas Awards are presented for exceptional holiday foibles.

• Ugh, another award show sketch. If you know SNL, then you know this is gonna suck…

• On the plus side, it’s nice to see a cold open that isn’t political for a change.

• I got a slight chuckle from Bowen’s Ozempic joke.

• Chloe seems to be doing her Jennifer Coolidge voice for the old lady.

• The other Chloe gets to sing yet again. I sure hope they’re not going to typecast her in these roles.

• This sketch is just washing right over me.

Monologue

Kate McKinnon gets help from Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph to sing a song.

• If you know my older reviews, then you know that I am not particularly excited to see Kate again.

• Just hearing her voice again is filling me with dread, especially because I know what’s coming in this monologue…

• HUGE applause when she says she was in that Barbie movie, which I didn’t even know.

• If you remember my feelings on Kate, then you definitely know how I feel about seeing Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph show up for no reason. Three of my least favorite cast members, and all of them singing! Is there a worse Hell than that? I don’t think so!

Sketch: North Pole News

A killer whale attacks the North Pole, and North Pole News is there to cover the aftermath.

• A random return of this sketch from the Eddie Murphy episode…which was FOUR SEASONS AGO! What made them decide to bring it back here???

• Does anyone know where the stereotype of elves having “whimsical” names comes from? I’d really like to know, because I don’t understand it at all. At least we get some hi-larious names here like “Kirby Gigglemuffins” and “Poofy Sillybottom”. Barf!

• Kate only just showed up and I’m already tired of her character. She’s played this type of role way too many times in the past.

• I don’t see what the point of bringing this back was if they’re going to do it without Eddie Murphy. He was the reason that one worked so well.

• The social media posts from other holiday icons failed to raise as much as a chuckle from me.

• No comment on Kate throwing up Skittles.

Fake Ad: Pongo!

The world’s perfect pet is a bizarre animal of indeterminate species.

• Here’s a film I remember loving when it aired.

• Impressive stop-motion work on “Pongo”.

• Chloe: “Does he do tricks?” Narrator: “I dunno, you tell me!”

• Some laughs from the useless things that Pongo does.

• Yet another old lady role from Kate.

• I did laugh at Kate creepily staring through the window with Pongo.

• Call me insane, but I think Kate is actually doing pretty well here. She’s not doing her usual mugging routine, and it reminds me of her stronger performances from her first few seasons.

• Sarah’s breakdown during the climax is one of the best moments of her entire tenure. 

• A really sweet ending where it looks like Sarah is about to leave forever, but Pongo cheers her up by placing her paw on her hand.

• Overall, a really good fake ad. One of the best in quite a while, I think.

Sketch: ABBA Christmas

A long lost ABBA Christmas album is advertised.

• Well, after the highest of highs, we get the lowest of lows, with our latest piece of shit from the mind of Kent Sublette.

• Kristen and Maya again?!? Why is Maya playing one of the male members of ABBA? Couldn’t they get one of the guys to do it? Oh wait, that would probably mean giving someone like Andrew Dismukes a big role, and we can’t have that, so let’s have Maya singing for the 1,846th time!

• Bowen is here as well. I didn’t know ABBA had any Chinese members.

• None of the song parodies are making me laugh.

• This “Frostitita” routine is some hacky-ass shit.

• Hey, did you guys ever want to hear Bowen speak in a horrid Swedish accent? Yeah, me neither, but that’s what we’re stuck with.

• Now we’re getting Maya trying to crack Kristen up for no apparent reason. Save that shit for behind the scenes!

• Listening to them take a dump all over “Waterloo” is particularly painful.

• I can’t believe something like this would make it on the air. This was just an excuse for everyone to crack each other up.

Sketch: Gifts From Mom

“Wacky” stuff happens at a family gathering.

• Seeing JAJ get so much airtime in this episode pleases me.

• This is kind of boring so far.

• Kate: “They’re disgusting, I’m an idiot, and a bitch.” Well, I can’t argue with any of that! 

• Overall, this was quite a snooze, but compared to a lot of stuff we’ve seen so far, it was almost brilliant.

Film: Tampon Farm

Some country gals sing about working on a tampon farm.

• Are you kidding me?!?? Now we have Maya and Kristen making their THIRD appearance in this episode!!! 

• A big groan from the reveal of what type of farm they’re on. 

• Random cameos from Greta Gerwig and Paula Pell. Why? I dunno.

• All of this is washing right over me. Maybe I need to be a girl to understand this.

• I get the feeling they were trying to recreate the magic of the “Lake Beach” song from a few episodes ago. That one was really good, and this is just a pathetic follow up.

Musical Performance: “What Was I Made For?”

Weekend Update (featuring Rich Auntie With No Kids and Dr. Hattie Davis)

• A switch up on the usual “seen here” joke, but it still wasn’t funny.

• Now they’re resorted to jokes about Giuliani pooping his pants.

• I chuckled at Michael’s joke about Chris Sununu.

• Yawn, another commentary with Ego doing her usual deadbeat mom routine.

• I laughed at the joke comparing New Jersey residents to pigs.

• Now we get one of the strangest moments in Che and Jost’s entire tenure. Their Joke Swap routine is back, but with a twist. This time, they have an alleged civil rights activist named “Dr. Hattie Davis” there to watch them. Who is Hattie Davis? Well, she doesn’t exist! That’s right, Jost and Che decided to play a trick on the audience and introduced some random old lady as being a civil rights activist. And it worked! I genuinely thought she was a real person when this aired!

• A huge laugh from Colin’s joke about wanting to send Obama back to Africa.

• Che: “In fact, Beyoncé looked so white, that I was finally attracted to her!”

• Nice slam from Colin towards his wife Scarlett Johansson.

• Overall, yet another solid joke swap from these guys, and the fact that they had some random old lady there listening to all of this made it even better.

Sketch: Boogie Woogie Santa

A man rejects the cure for sickle cell anemia in favor of a Boogie Woogie Santa toy.

• Andrew, Molly, Punkie, and Michael all get lead roles here? Am I in an alternate universe???

• The Boogie Woogie Santa is voiced by JAJ, yet another example of how important he is to the current cast.

• This type of performance is what I like to see from Kate, with no bug-eyed mugging or annoying voices to be found.

• Funny twist where Kenan’s character swaps the cure for sickle cell anemia for the Santa toy.

• Even Kenan isn’t as annoying here. See what happens when you make him cut back on his shouting?

• You can briefly see the cue cards in one shot of Molly and Andrew. This was surprisingly left in the YouTube upload.

• I love Andrew’s line about not needing the cure for sickle cell anemia because his whole family is white.

• The visual of a “tortilla blanket” is pretty funny.

• Even when you know what’s coming, Punkie’s tear jerking speech about needing the cure for her mother and then immediately grabbing the doll was great.

• Kenan: “Hey, look at me. I’m a little burrito! Hola, I’m so cozy!”

• A nice bizarre little sketch. I wish I knew who wrote this. I’m guessing it was Andrew because he’s in it and it seems like something he’d write, but I’m not sure.

Musical Performance: “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

Sketch: Cinema Classics

• NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m not even going to bother with the description here, because I have no interest in watching another one of these godawful Cinema Classics sketches.

Sketch: Whiskers R’ We

The latest cats up for adoption during the holiday season.

• This is surprisingly the only recurring character of Kate’s to return in this episode. Not that I’m complaining, because I really didn’t need to see Collette Reardon or her many male politicians again.

• Billie Eilish: “A cat is a dog that’s a bitch!”

• Kate is already making Eilish crack up.

• While this isn’t one of my favorite recurring sketches, I am a cat person, so hopefully I’ll get to see some cute kitties.

• Kate: “Jeffrey here is an Abyssinian, as in, Abyss-seein’ him in Hell for scratching my couch!” A really lame pun, but I still laughed.

• I liked Kate referring to the cat in the Santa hat as a “home wrecking whore”.

• The usual “lol lesbian” jokes that these sketches bombard us with aren’t as annoying this time.

• I find the cats constantly interrupting the sketch with their meows to be really charming.

• Not a fan of the “Claw and Order” puns. At least the calico they’re showing is extremely cute.

• Random twist where it turns out that Eilish’s character is actually Kate’s daughter.

• Eilish almost loses it when a guinea pig won’t stop making noise.

• Overall, I’m surprised at how much I liked this. Did it really need to be five minutes long, though?

Cut for Time: Paperless Post

Paperless Post will take care of those who refuse to respond to you.

• Heidi is really good as the spokeswoman.

• Good to see Punkie with a lead role.

• “RSVP OR WE’LL KILL YOU” is such a great thing to put on a message.

• The various disturbing messages that are gradually popping up are amazing. My favorite is the “Paperless Severed Finger”.

• I love Marcello’s reaction to the “Paperless Your Car Explodes”.

• Funny sudden appearance from a bunch of wild dogs that come and attack James.

• Heidi, in the most cheerful voice ever: “Paperless Post; we can do this the easy way, or we can destroy you.”

• Overall, a great dark masterpiece. This should have been in the live show instead of that Cinema Classics bullshit.

Final thoughts: While not as bad as I was expecting a Kate McKinnon-hosted episode to be, it wasn’t anything special. I admire the restraint she had in not dressing up as a man at all, and she did impress me in a few sketches. And the less said about Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig taking up too much airtime with their tired and unfunny antics, the better. Overall, a big step down from the awesome Christmas episode we had last year.

Best sketches: Pongo!, Joke Swap, Boogie Woogie Santa, Whiskers R We, Paperless Post (Cut)

Worst sketches: Monologue, ABBA Christmas, Tampon Farm, Cinema Classics

Next review: Jacob Elordi/Reneé Rapp

This review is dedicated to my Aunt Amy’s cat Rocky. I miss you, little buddy…

SNL Reviews: Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo (12/9/23)

 Cold Open: Antisemitism Hearings

College presidents answer questions about antisemitism on their campuses.

• A big groan from the C-SPAN intro.

• After a promising beginning (including Molly with a big role!), things go south when Elise Stefanik is brought into the sketch for no reason.

• Boy, this is just plain awful. Instead of making the sketch about the college people’s attempts to cover up antisemitism on their campuses, they instead make it about Elise Stefanik being a KUH-RAYZEE racist weirdo. The show got a lot of backlash for this, and I completely understand why.

• As if you couldn’t hate this sketch more, you wanna know something else? Apparently, in dress rehearsal, Stefanik was played by former cast member Cecily Strong! Yep, that’s right! I forget the exact reason why she dropped out of the live show, but thank goodness she did, because we don’t need her tired antics making this even worse.

• Michael Longfellow is wasted with one line of dialogue. Geez, his airtime has been pathetic lately.

• It feels so sad seeing Chloe Troast being forced to perform this garbage. While she’s definitely performing this a lot better than Cecily probably would, the actual writing is as bad as it’s always been. 

• You know, I remember a time when SNL actually had something to say about politics. Everyone remembers moments like “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy!”, “Strategery”, or Bill Clinton stuffing his face with McDonald’s food. Those were the good old days. Nowadays, we get lame, baffling material like Joe Biden turning into a fly for no reason, countless male politicians played by women in drag, Cecily and Sasheer Zamata singing “To Sir, With Love” for Obama, and this bullshit I’m watching right now. In short…no, sir, I don’t like it.

Monologue

Adam Driver shares his Christmas list.

• I liked the line about Santa not liking SNL since Chris Kattan left.

• Adam: “(shouting) HEY SANTA!!!! Oh right, we’re on TV. (quieter) Hey, Santa…”

• Not a big fan of the random dick joke.

• I didn’t think I would laugh at the “wokeness killed Han Solo” line, but I did.

• I got a big laugh at Adam asking Santa to kill people who prank each other on TikTok. Unintentional foreshadowing for a sketch we’ll be getting later???

• Adam: “Hey, do you think the gingerbread man gets scared when he realizes his house is made of his own skin?”

• Overall, this was such a good monologue. It was miles better than his last two.

Sketch: We’re Trying

A couple is trying to get pregnant, and their friends all talk about it.

• Holy shit, Longfellow and Dismukes with actual screentime!

• Sadly, their only purpose is to act as straightmen to Bowen and Adam’s WACKY antics. As if I needed yet another reason to hate Bowen.

• What an ironic title, because SNL was clearly NOT trying when they came up with this sketch.

Film: Old Friends

A man is disturbed to find out that his old friend is really a psycho.

• This starts out as a seemingly heartwarming film, but then Adam’s character asks if the bar his friend wants to meet him at is more than 1000 feet from a school and I knew I was in for a treat.

• The funny twists keep coming, as it’s revealed that Adam’s character had a Netflix documentary made about how he switched over 600 sperm samples with his own.

• Great picture of Adam posing with a rifle.

• Nice callback to the school thing from earlier when he says he can’t renew his license because the DMV is near a school.

• Amazing photo of Devon as “Big Filthy”.

• Unfortunately, they had to ruin this with one thing: that stupid cliched ending where this turns out to be a commercial for Facebook. UGGGHHHH!!!! I wish they would stop doing that!

Sketch: Beep Beep

A dinner party goes awry as Mark (Driver) asserts his dominance.

• Rather odd gaffe where it looks like Molly is about to say something, but then the camera awkwardly cuts to Adam entering the room. I have no idea why this happened. Did Molly have a line that was cut from the online version I’m watching? 

• Both Adam and Andrew have amazing mustaches in this sketch. I think I’m in heaven…

• I probably don’t need to tell you how happy I am that Andrew has finally gotten another lead role. His airtime has been awful these past few episodes.

• Bowen’s performance here is surprisingly good. I love the delivery of his line comparing Adam and Andrew’s fight to two falcons.

• The fact that everyone is taking this “beep beep” situation so seriously is what makes this so great. Props go to whoever wrote this sketch for making such a dumb concept work.

Sketch: ShopTV

Dean Delaney shows off his suspiciously-shaped chocolate.

• The return of this awful sketch from the Jerrod Carmichael episode.

• I still can’t believe that Mikey is responsible for these sketches, because the Southern accents and “funny” names really throw me off.

• Cecily’s character from the first installment has been replaced by Heidi.

• The only “joke” in this one is that Adam’s chocolate looks like a dick. That’s it.

Musical Performance: “Vampire”

Weekend Update (featuring Marcello Hernandez, Chloe Fineman, and Julia Stiles)

• A pretty solid joke about Hunter Biden is ruined by Colin connecting it to Donald Trump.

• Yet another funny use of that picture of Colin giving a thumbs up, this time as part of a joke where Che claims he was at the Capitol riots.

• I laughed at the RFK Jr. joke.

• They’re still doing “seen here” jokes about Mitch McConnell.

• Marcello’s first commentary of the season. He’s been having a pretty strong year so far.

• This material is nothing special, but Marcello is making it work with his natural Latino charm.

• The next commentary, on the other hand, I don’t even know what to make of it. Chloe Fineman shows up and announces that she is going to do a dance from some Julia Stiles movie. Oh, and just so we don’t have to do any thinking, the real Julia Stiles is there too. I would say that it’s nice to see her on the show again, but I have no idea who this commentary is even for.

Sketch: Airplane Baby

A mother travels on an airplane with her baby for the first time.

• This looks like the same airplane set from the Nate Bargatze episode.

• A huge laugh from the initial sight of Adam as a baby with a full-grown man’s voice.

• Some good laughs from him watching Peppa Pig on his mom’s iPad, even though you can clearly see that he’s actually on the home screen.

• Adam’s “crying” is hilarious.

• Sarah: “He looks just like his father.” Kenan: “He looks like a father!”

• Even the ending where he poops in his diaper was pretty funny. But, once again, we have a twist where this turns out to be an ad for something else.

• Probably the best Sarah sketch we’ve had since that one where she gets decapitated.

Musical Performance: “All-American Bitch”

Film: TikTok Pranks

Elderly victims of TikTok pranks talk about their experiences.

• A promising concept…

• The look of Adam’s character is great. It reminds me of his Abraham Parnassus character from Season 44. (PLEASE DON’T READ MY REVIEW OF THAT EPISODE, IT’S FUCKING AWFUL)

• Kenan and Punkie’s prank videos are kind of bland (I’m assuming they’re parodies of actual TikTok videos), but the one with Adam getting assaulted with basketballs at Walmart is hilarious. 

• I also liked the video where Chloe Troast pranks her grandmother by pretending to come out as gay.

• It goes without saying that JAJ is perfectly cast as an old man.

• Nice to see the return of the good ol’ pants pissing gag.

• I like how it ends with Kenan getting another sheet thrown over his head, followed by him going after that “little black bastard”.

Sketch: Tiny Ass Bags

Retail employees promote tiny bags.

• The look of Marcello’s character already has me worried about this.

• Yep, sure enough, this turns into another “two people advertise their product” sketch, a type of sketch that I absolutely cannot stand.

• Adam’s stern delivery of “If you don’t like it, kiss my rear!” gave me a laugh.

• You would be forgiven this was an Allison Gates-written sketch, but it was actually the work of Marcello and Ego, along with the Please Don’t Destroy guys.

• Some of Adam’s lines are the only laughs I’m getting here. He is way too good for this crap.

• I do like how one of the things you can carry in a Tiny Ass Bag is “the kids from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids”.

• I actually laughed at the extremely small backpack Adam is carrying.

• Adam: “You don’t need to bring anything. What are you, a bellboy?!?”

• Overall, while this was extremely stupid, I laughed a worrying number of times.

Cut for Time: Actor’s Journey

An actor’s panel is interrupted by random people from his past.

• It figures that Andrew’s only lead role of the episode was cut.

• Apart from Adam’s character, I am not getting much laughs from this so far. 

• The fact that everyone has oddly-specific outfits should clue you in that this was written by Jimmy Fowlie.

• Overall, I can definitely see why this was cut. This might be the first Cut for Time sketch I’ve looked at that I didn’t like.

Final thoughts: Wow, that was actually a pretty solid episode. I know I’ve trashed Driver’s episodes in the past, but with this episode, I can see why they keep bringing him back. 

Best sketches: Monologue, Old Friends, Beep Beep, Airplane Baby

Worst sketches: Cold Open, We’re Trying, ShopTV

Next review: OH NO. My nemesis Kate McKinnon is back!

SNL Reviews: Emma Stone/Noah Kahan (12/2/23)

 Cold Open: The Situation Room

George Santos resigns from the Senate in grandiose fashion.

• Already a big groan from seeing Sarah in drag as Wolf Blitzer. Why can’t they let James do it?!?

• *Bowen appears as George Santos for the one millionth time as I scream towards the heavens and proceed to break everything in the house*

• I refuse to say anything more about this Godawful impression, but at least this is hopefully the last time we will ever see it!!!!

Monologue

Emma is inducted into the Five-Timers Club.

• Emma Stone is the last person I would have expected to host five times.

• I was about to wonder if she really met her husband here, but then it cut to Lorne and I immediately knew it had to be a joke.

• Yawn, a Tina Fey cameo. She appears basically once a season at this point so it’s hard to get excited.

• Candice Bergen looks like a mummified corpse. I did like her joke about Martin Short peering into the Women’s Section of the Five-Timers Club.

• Nice tribute to Candice’s father Edgar Bergen when she claims she saw a creepy ventriloquist there, even if Tina somewhat ruins the joke by claiming it was John Mulaney (speaking of which, where the hell has he been?).

• Overall, not too bad, but I wonder why they only brought out two members this time. Where the hell is Steve?

Sketch: Question Quest

A game show host tries to pawn off his pet tortoise to contestants.

• No comment on the host’s name being “Joe Vibin”. Get it? Cuz it kinda sounds like Joe Biden!!! Herp-a-derp!!!

• Thank God Michael Longfellow gets a lead role as the host. Apparently he wrote this. (EDIT: This sketch is from Michael’s stand-up days)

• I laughed at the joke about Heidi’s character being the oldest woman in the Navy, before she corrects Longfellow and says that she works at Old Navy.

• I absolutely love all the airtime Punkie has been getting lately! She has a really big showcase coming up later in this episode…

• Not sure about this twist where the host tries to pawn off his pet tortoise.

• I liked Longfellow’s line about how people who study tortoises die before the tortoises do.

• Pointless appearance from Molly as “Silent Lettuce-Throwing Lady”. 

• Apparently the trivia question about Charles Darwin and Steve Irwin owning the same tortoise is true and not just something they came up with for this.

• Overall, I liked what this was going for, and Longfellow gave a great performance, but it dragged in places and probably should have been cut down by a couple minutes.

Film: Fully Naked in New York

A group of people shares what cheers them up during winter…getting naked!

• Didn’t we just have Bowen singing earlier? Not exactly something I want to see twice in one episode.

• Oh. My. God. Naked Bowen Yang is something that I never wanted to see in my life…

• I think I mentioned this last time, but the heavy use of Auto-Tune in these musical films makes everything sound so fake. It’s hard to praise the vocals when you know that they don’t really sound this good.

• Speaking of vocals, at least Chloe Troast’s voice still sounds pretty good with enhancement.

• I’m sure the writers of this thought that the visual of everybody getting naked was enough to make us laugh. Well, they’re wrong.  It gets old after about twenty seconds and then you’re just waiting for it to end.

Sketch: Tree Lighting Gig

Treece Henderson performs at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

• Really? This guy again? This is the first time we’ve seen him since the Season 47 finale. Unsurprisingly, this also means that James Anderson (a.k.a. “The Gay Stepin Fetchit”) came back to write this sketch.

• Kenan’s line about his “coccyx” is a typical James Anderson “joke”. As in, it wasn’t funny. 

• More Andersonisms include “funny” names, which we get here with “Charlie Darken” and “Sheila Foods”. Ugh.

• Since Kyle Mooney is gone, the character that he usually played in these is replaced with one played by Bowen. And we get yet another Anderson trait with his character’s bizarre specific hairstyle.

• Man, Bowen is mugging up a storm. Also, he’s clearly not playing his keyboard, as his hand movements don’t match the actual sounds.

• I did get a laugh at this line from Kenan: “What are you,  a human dumbass?!?”

• Overall, I don’t mind this character compared to some of Anderson and Sublette’s other characters, but I definitely didn’t need to see him again. Hope he stays retired for good this time.

Please Don’t Destroy: AI

A hard drive malfunction means that artificial intelligence has to be used to complete the latest Please Don’t Destroy film.

• Interesting idea for a short…

• Punkie’s great season continues, as we now get a hilarious visual of Emma Stone’s face poorly mapped over her own.

• The fact that she’s not even attempting to act like Emma is what makes this particularly great. 

• The only thing that hurts this sketch are the constant annoying disclaimers. We can see what’s happening on our own, thank you!

• Now the AI face is having a hard time keeping up with Punkie’s movements, even being upside down at one point. You can even hear the crew telling her to stand still!

• Another great moment where we see that Marcello had to fill in for Ben Marshall. Great night for the featured players so far!

• Not a big fan of John Higgins “yassifying” his looks, but I do like the random backstage scene of him hitting a guy with a glass bottle.

• I like how they don’t even bother to cover up Punkie’s face at the end when she and Martin kiss.

• Despite the annoying disclaimers, I thought this was the best Please Don’t Destroy film we’ve had since the one in the season premiere.

Sketch: What’s in the Kiln?

Two pottery show hosts praise misshapen items.

• “Judy Frizz”? Whatever these writers are getting paid, it’s not enough.

• Anyway, the fact that this sketch stars both Heidi and Chloe is enough to make me worry.

• Yep, so far, this sketch is a whole lotta nothing. 

• Heidi hasn’t been too annoying this season, but her performance here is straight out of Season 48.

• Emma’s character is doing nothing to save this.

• Overall, that was one of the most pointless sketches I’ve ever seen.

Musical Performance: “Dial Drunk”

Weekend Update (featuring An Old Fashioned Cigarette)

• What the fuck is “Shantay You Stay/Sashay Away” supposed to be about? 

• Horrible joke trying to compare Rosalynn Carter’s death to being Donald Trump’s husband.

• I liked the picture of Biden used for the ice rink joke.

• First commentary for Michael Longfellow all season. I’m surprised it’s taken him this long after he was on every other episode last year. He’s playing a giant living cigarette, who’s here to talk about Australia banning disposable vapes.

• Colin: “I don’t smoke.” Cigarette: “What, are your parents watching tonight?”

• I like when he tries to egg Colin into saying the British term for a cigarette…which I’m going to leave for you to search up for yourselves. Even better is his response when Colin refuses to say it: “Relax, no one’s gonna take it out of context and make it into a meme!”

• Nice photoshopped image of Hitler vaping.

• I think this is probably Longfellow’s best commentary yet! So many great lines and zingers here!

• I love Colin’s joke about tuba music playing while fat people walk.

• Even Che’s WNBA joke made me laugh.

• A surprisingly okay Update once they got all of the political jokes out of the way.

Sketch: Make Your Own Kind of Music

Mama Cass discusses the potential of her new single.

• Thank goodness they chose Chloe Troast to play Mama Cass, and not the other Chloe. Can you imagine how awful that would have been?

• Cass’s backup band consists of writers Gary Richardson, Ben Silva, and Will Stephen, as well as production assistant Megan Stollsteimer.

• I appreciate the restraint in not making any fat jokes

• Ugh, Emma just showed up in drag as Mama Cass’s manager. At least it’s not Sarah again.

• Manager: “This song’s gonna be everywhere, Mama! And then everybody’s gonna forget about it for a long, long time.”

• Mikey does a great job pretending to get “shot”.

• I like how the framerate drops during the scenes where Emma is demonstrating the potential uses of the song. Almost like you’re watching a movie. It isn’t perfect, though, and there’s a few glitches that seem to have been corrected in the online version.

• I came into this expecting to hate Emma’s scenes, but I’m actually liking them a lot more this time.

• Nice hypothetical situation where the song is used to score a trailer about Joan of Arc’s dead body rising from its grave.

• Of course, the reason this sketch works so well is Troast’s beautiful performance. I hope they keep giving her meaty roles like this!

Musical Performance: “Stick Season”

Sketch: Posters

Living posters dispense advice on physics to a kid.

• Not this shit again. Why do they always have to do this sketch when Emma hosts?

• Marcello replaces Pete Davidson as the kid. He’s a lot more believable in this role than Pete ever was.

• I actually laughed out loud at Mikey’s horrendous David Beckham impression. It’s like he finally realized how bad he is at British accents, so he decided to camp it up to a comedic degree.

• Nice name for Kenan’s character: “Troy ‘The Toothtaker’ McCoy”.

• Emma’s character is still annoying.

• We at least get a satisfying ending where Ego assaults Emma.

Film: Diet Coke by Olay

The drink that’s also a facial cleanser.

• Nice to see a commercial featuring the female cast. Almost like this is the mid-2000s again.

• Interesting concept…

• Hilarious shots of the ladies gleefully splashing Diet Coke on their faces.

• I love Sarah’s expression after accidentally shaking the jar.

• One of the best commercial parodies I’ve seen in a while, plus I got some nice eye candy.

Final thoughts: Not too bad, actually. There were some weaker sketches here and there (looking at you, Bowen!) but the highs were really high.

Best sketches: AI, Cigarette commentary, Make Your Own Kind Of Music, Diet Coke by Olay

Worst sketches: Cold Open, What’s In The Kiln, Posters

Next review: Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo