SNL Reviews: Dua Lipa (5/4/24)

 Cold Open: Community Affairs

Parents discuss college protests.

• “You’re watching NY1, which means your wi-fi is down.” UGGGHHHH!!!!

• Do my eyes deceive me? Is that Longfellow I see with a lead role????

• Kenan’s role here is another typical fast-talking Kenan role that he can play in his sleep by now.

• I’m also disheartened to see Longfellow fumbling over his lines. Maybe he’s just a little rusty since he hasn’t had a lead role in forever.

• Yeah, this cold open is just a bunch of nothing. Already a bad sign that we’re gonna have a rough episode…

Monologue

Dua Lipa takes questions from the audience.

• I like it when we see the host’s parents.

• Really? A Q&A monologue? Something tells me this was a rough week backstage.

• Bowen is the only person in the cast who doesn’t look funny in a mustache. He just looks gayer than usual.

• Random and pointless appearance from Heidi as the South Dakota governor.

Sketch: Young Spicy

An up and coming rapper needs help with his producer tag.

• This sketch from the Ana DeArmas episode is now recurring for some reason. The only thing I can remember about that sketch is that it had Kenan shouting like an annoying stereotype.

• Eh, this isn’t the worst thing I’ve seen all season, but it’s unremarkable.

• Ego: “Ooh, Spicy, why you DMin’ high schoolers?” Okay. I will admit that this line gave me a laugh.

• I also got a chuckle from Ego asking why he’s so limp-wristed.

Film: The Anomalous Man

A young lady’s Elephant Man-esque lover is sexting behind her back.

• Gorgeous sets and costume design here.

• Perfect casting of James as an English nobleman.

• This actually starts out pretty promising, but then we actually see the titular Anomalous Man, and it turns out to be Sarah in drag yet again. I don’t care that it’s “deformed” drag, it’s still drag!

• In all fairness, the makeup on Sarah is amazing. You’d swear they actually got Rick Baker or someone to do it!

• Ugh at the twist with the Anomalous Man somehow having a modern day cellphone for “sexting” people.

• I can’t believe they would ruin it like that! Man, Sarah just keeps disappointing me lately. There’s still two episodes left for her to turn it around, but it doesn’t look good.

Sketch: Good Morning Greenville

News anchors obsess over the Kendrick/Drake feud.

• James’ intro song is pretty funny, but that only gives you the false impression that this sketch will be good.

• Heidi and Mikey’s Southern accents are giving me bad vibes, as is the fact that Heidi’s name is “Gail Gohnson”. Despite the Anderlette-esque traits, this sketch was apparently written by Colin Jost and Bryan Tucker.

• I am not a fan of the focus suddenly switching to the Kendrick Lamar/Drake feud, something that I was totally unaware of when this aired, and I still have no idea what it was about, because I don’t give a shit about rap.

• None of the mispronounced rapper names from Mikey and Heidi are making me laugh.

• I did kind of chuckle at Mikey asking the black weatherman (Devon) what his thoughts were, with the implication being that since he’s black, he must like rap.

• “Wanda Wheems”??? This really does feel like an Anderlette sketch.

• Dua’s Southern accent is surprisingly good, but it feels disheartening to see her in this crap.

• Heidi brings back awful memories of the previous episode when she starts cracking up during her “diss track” about Mikey.

• The shot of the weatherman hiding is pretty funny.

• No comment on the scene where the anchors start using stick puppets of Drake and Kendrick.

• Overall, this episode continues to die a horrible death. Devon was the only saving grace here.

Sketch: Sonny Angels

A woman’s obsession with “Sonny Angel” dolls creeps out her new boyfriend.

• Finally, Marcello with a role that’s more like how he used to be.

• Oh no, all of a sudden we have Bowen as one of the dolls. And, unsurprisingly, he’s playing this particular role as you would expect: gay as hell.

• At one point, Marcello blatantly calls attention to the fact that they’re using music from Challengers. Whew, thank goodness they pointed that out, because I thought this was an advertisement for the movie!

• No comment on the bizarrely sexual churro eating scene.

 • This episode is just killing me so far!

SNL Reviews: Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton (4/13/24)

 Cold Open: Close Encounter

Mrs. Rafferty and others have been abducted yet again.

• What. The. Fuck? NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Not this shitty sketch again!!!!! Why are they doing this to me??? Last time I checked, they already gave it a proper conclusion in Season 47! 

• So, yeah, that means we get an unwelcome return from Kate McKinnon and her dumb mugging face.

• The giggles from Gosling have started already…

• Fun fact: I came into this episode’s premiere late, and the first thing I saw when I turned it on was Kate getting between Ryan’s legs. Needless to say, it was a horrifying sight.

• What else is there for me to say about this horrid crap? If this ends up being the final installment of this sketch, I will be very, very happy.

Monologue

Ryan Gosling reminisces about starring as Ken in the Barbie movie.

• Jesus Christ, a musical monologue. I was kind of expecting one, but still, this is not the way I want to start an episode.

• Huge applause when he puts on a fur coat. I don’t get it. Does he wear one in the movie?

• Emily Blunt is now here for some reason. And then the two of them sing a Barbie number. I hope they weren’t trying to surprise us with that, because I could see the “Barbieland” sign when Ryan walked onstage.

• Oh, but it gets worse. Now they start to sing about, *sigh*, Oppenheimer. Get it??? Because it’s like those retarded memes that were popular last year!!!!

Sketch: The Engagement

A newly-engaged man whispers his escape plans to a friend.

• Not sure about this turn with Ryan whispering everything he says to Andrew. What is this, an ASMR video?

• Aw shit, the Gosling Giggles are back, complete with a long applause break when it happens.

• Yeah, this sketch is not for me. If you’re into ASMR or unprofessional giggling, you might like it.

Film: Get That Boy Back

A woman gets revenge on her boyfriend.

• Ugh, Chloe Fineman’s latest annoying Southern-accented character is the first thing I see. Thankfully, the other Chloe is here, too, so we might not be in for a bad sketch just yet…

• Nice to see Chris Stapleton involved with this.

• I’ve lost count of how many times Heidi has worn that wig and glasses.

• I’m surprised, this song is actually a lot of fun so far. But I feel like the reason it works so well is because of the visuals. If you only heard the song, you wouldn’t think it was so special.

• Nice prosthetics on Troast’s Romanian disguise.

• Troast’s unexpected appearance in a green bodysuit caught me off guard.

• Overall, probably the best musical piece in a while.

Sketch: Can’t Tonight

Two guys try to convince their friend to go out with them.

• Uh-oh, time for another Marcello sketch. It’s finally gotten to the point where seeing him in a lead role fills me with dread.

• Also worrying me is the sight of Kenan in that wig and the horrid voice he’s doing.

• Sarah’s bizarre “I love countries!” statement made me laugh.

• What is even happening? So far, the only joke is that Hispanic people talk funny. 

• This whole “Paramount Ploos” routine is extremely hacky,

• You know what this sketch feels like? It feels like an unironic version of Fericito, Fred Armisen’s stand-up comedian from Venezuela. The only difference is that Fericito was supposed to be unfunny. This, on the other hand, takes all of the overdone stereotypes that Fericito embodied and just plays them all straight. All that’s missing is an annoying catchphrase.

Sketch: Beavis & Butt-Head

A serious discussion on AI is interrupted by two suspicious looking characters.

• Hooooo boyyyy….this is a sketch I’ve been dreading to watch again…

• This sketch was originally written for Season 43, but Mikey wasn’t able to get it on the air until now. Why do I bring this up? Because we are then given the sight of Gosling in a shitty Beavis costume. That’s right! This sketch is a semi-sequel to the hilarious Google Talk sketch with Mikey as “Bert Sampson”. Unlike in that one, where they gradually reveal Mikey’s character, here they just drop in Beavis for no reason.

• It should be noted that Beavis’ shirt says “Death Rock” instead of AC/DC, just like on the toys. 

• In the original Season 43 version, Beavis was played by Alex Moffat. I definitely would have preferred his take.

• Heidi breaks a bit when she sees Gosling in that costume, but holds it together for the most part…

• The only laugh I’ve gotten so far is Heidi saying that she’s never seen the cartoon because she was busy being pretty.

• It should go without saying that I do not care for Kenan pointing everything out as it happens.

• Now there’s a Butt-Head lookalike too, and the whole routine repeats itself.

• Heidi takes one look at Butt-Head, and completely loses it. When I saw this live, I couldn’t believe what was happening. This isn’t the fun kind of breaking like in the original Debbie Downer sketch, this is just plain unprofessional.

• Even after Heidi is finally able to say her line, she just won’t stop chuckling. Was it really that funny, Heidi?

• The tweet asking if Cornholio needs TP for his bunghole is just a ripoff of the original Bart Simpson version.

• Ugh, now Gosling is laughing again.

• The ending with the King of The Hill lookalikes (complete with Molly as Bill because isn’t typecasting great?) was just awful.

• Overall, what a giant mess. They took one of my favorite sketches from the past decade and shit all over it. And the worst part is that this sketch actually became a hit! The shill media just went crazy for it, unaware that it was an inferior rewrite of a much better sketch from six years ago!

Musical Performance: “White Horse”

Weekend Update (featuring Michael Longfellow and Caitlin Clark)

• Since OJ Simpson died the week before this episode, we get some pretty good OJ jokes here.

• Jesus fucking Christ, enough with the “seen here” jokes!!!!

• For the first time in forever, we get a Michael Longfellow commentary. He was on every other week last year, so why are they afraid to use him now? Oh right, I forgot, they need more time for “wacky” costumes and Bowen acting like a stereotype!

• Something about Longfellow’s dry delivery is making his lines funnier than they actually are.

• “Hey, girls, it’s Longfellow. Don’t get excited, it’s just a name.”

• While this wasn’t terrible, it was kind of bland compared to the last one he did with the cigarette.

• Color me shocked! Michael Che just told a sexist joke about a WNBA player!!! I have never seen that before! 

• Oh, fuck, it turns out that the reason for that joke is because they were setting up a “surprise” cameo from Caitlin Clark.

• While it is satisfying to see this douchebag get put in his place, I kind of feel like it’s way too late for this to be happening. Maybe in his third or fourth season it would’v been cute, but not in his TENTH.

• Overall, another lousy Update. This season just gets worse and worse.

Sketch: Doctor

A doctor weirds out an entire family by munching on Cookie Crumbles.

• Why has James barely been in this episode?!? He made a three second cameo as Hank Hill earlier, but this is his only lead role! And, of course, it’s just a “reacting” role.

• UGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!! Bowen enters as that weird character he played in the airplane sketch from the Nate Bargatze episode. For some reason, he’s now been given his own sketch.

• And now Gosling enters as another crazy character? I am not liking this sketch so far…

• Oh shit, now the giggles are back! This time, it’s Bowen who’s being an unprofessional asshole.

• Now this sketch has degenerated into Ryan and Bowen feeding each other just so they can crack up about it. Please end this fucking shit!!!!

• Overall, one of the worst sketches of the entire season, and it encapsulates everything I hate about Bowen Yang and Ryan Gosling. But mostly Bowen.

Musical Performance: “Mountains Of My Mind”

Sketch: Erin Brockovich

A deleted scene from Erin Brockovich is shown.

• Ah, yes, the current and relevant movie Erin Brockovich. This sketch sure would have been a great idea…twenty years ago!!! What is it with this season and parodying out of date movies???

• Now Gosling is laughing for no apparent reason. Can someone tell him that this isn’t high school anymore?

• While a lot of my fellow reviewers like this sketch, I’m not really feeling it so far.

• Okay, I will admit that Kenan’s character is really funny with his random sound effects. I’m shocked that Kenan is my favorite part of a sketch for once!

“GO TO YOUTUBE, X, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK TO SEE PAPYRUS 2 LATER TONIGHT”

What? WHAT THE FUCK?!!??? I have never seen SNL do something like this before!!! What a fucking lazy and awful decision! But, hey, let’s do what it says and finish this review!

Cut for Time: Papyrus 2

After spending years trying to avoid it, Steven is finally confronted with his nemesis once again…

• A sequel to a very popular sketch from Ryan’s last episode. I must confess that I have never seen the original, but I’ll go into this with an open mind because I’ve heard so many good things about it.

• I like how they’re giving a recap of the original sketch for those who haven’t seen it, which is really handy for me! Now I’m all caught up!

• Great to see Kyle Mooney again!

• Nice special effects when Ryan starts to hallucinate seeing the Papyrus font everywhere.

• I like how his character’s name is “Steven Wingdings”.

• Kyle’s dramatic speech is actually kind of heartwarming. 

• I’m glad I was still able to enjoy this even without seeing the original. But what does it tell you that the best sketch of the night was cut at the last second???

Final thoughts: Jesus, what a mess. I feel like I’ve gone back in time to Season 30 or something. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it still made me feel dead inside. Words can not describe how unprofessional and unfunny a lot of this episode was, with most of the blame going to Ryan “Giggles” Gosling. I hope they never have him back as a host.

Best sketches: Get That Boy Back, Chris Stapleton’s performances, Papyrus 2 (Cut)

Worst sketches: Close Encounter, Can’t Tonight, Beavis & Butt-Head, Weekend Update, Doctors

Next review: Dua Lipa

SNL Reviews: Kristen Wiig/RAYE (4/6/24)

 Cold Open: March Madness Post-Game

The NBA on TBS crew discusses March Madness.

• Yippee, a sketch about something I have no interest in. At least it’s not a political sketch for once.

• JAJ debuts an impression of Ernie Johnson, and, knowing him, it’s probably spot on.

• I liked the part where Kenny Smith (played by Devon) starts singing “Benny and the Jets”, and Johnson informing him that they’ll have to have to pay royalties to Elton John now.

• Pretty funny line from Kenan as Charles Barkley talking about how many companies Caitlin Clark is doing ads for, and saying that he’s only doing ads for three of those companies. 

• Heidi’s actually doing a somewhat different Southern accent than usual for her role. I don’t know if this is because she’s imitating someone else or not, but I appreciate the switch up.

• The line about “resting QAnon face” was pure cringe.

• This was surprisingly tolerable for a cold open. If only the rest of this episode would grant me the same mercy…

Monologue

Kristen joins the Five-Timers Club.

• Rare speaking role by Lenny Pickett!

• It only takes a minute for this to become crowded with cameos, as Paul Rudd suddenly appears in the audience.

• “Awesome celebrity cameos”? Way to pat yourselves on the back, guys.

• Our second Paula Pell cameo of the season. She looks even more like a lesbian than usual.

• Matt Damon??!!?? He’s not even a Five-Timer!!! Oh wait, they have him do this lame joke about how his first time hosting was so good (I beg to differ) that it “counted for three”.

• UGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Fred fucking Armisen yet again!!! On a lighter note, though, we get the return of Will Forte for the first time since his awful hosting stint a couple seasons ago! Oh, and Martin Short and Jon Hamm are there too, for some reason.

• Please don’t remind us of your awful Brett Kavanaugh impression, Matt. 

• One last pointless cameo from Ryan Gosling, which reminds me that I have to review his horrible episode after this one.

• Does anybody really get excited for these Five-Timer sketches anymore? Nothing can beat the original, and that was 35 years ago!

Sketch: Jumanji

A woman hates board games because she’s afraid of being “Jumanjied”.

• The constant repetition of “Jumanji” is really getting on my nerves.

• Aaaaaaaand…this is still going on twenty minutes later.

• The only thing that makes sitting through this repetitive sketch worth it is the appearance of Will Forte as a creepy train conductor. Why couldn’t the whole sketch have this character in it???

• I did like Kristen’s character leaving everyone to die at the end.

• I know this sketch seems to be really popular, and to its credit, it is well performed. But I’ve never been a fan of sketches where they keep repeating a word or phrase over and over again. (See also: “Aw man, I’m all out of cash!”)

Fake Ad: Pilates

Two women try a Pilates class for the first time, not knowing the horrors that await them...

• Holy shit, Molly still exists!

• I love the announcer’s voice. Very dramatic and different from the usual Steve Higgins voiceovers.

• Great concept of treating an exercise program like a horror movie.

• Kristen is really, really good here. This is the kind of stuff I want to see her do, instead of her constant annoying “wacky” characters.

• Creepy visual of Ego stretching her leg to an inhuman angle.

• Figures that Bowen would be cast as the gay man with no underwear.

• My favorite creepy part is Molly calling in to inform them that they can’t come in today, only for the lady on the phone to somehow show up in Molly’s house.

• Punkie randomly shows up only to die immediately after. A perfect summary of how useless she’s been lately.

• I did not think I was going to like this as much as I did, but something about it just worked for me.

Sketch: Secretaries

Two wacky secretaries flirt with a lawyer.

• Why are we bringing this shitty sketch from the premiere back? Heidi has been doing pretty well so far this season, but this character had nothing to do with that.

• Nice to see Jon Hamm in this sketch. I mean, it makes sense, right?

• Heidi’s voice as this character is still very annoying.

• Now we have Kristen playing a second secretary??? This can’t be good…

• No comment on the scene where Heidi licks Hamm’s necktie.

• This is pretty much the same as the first installment of this sketch, except there’s two annoying secretaries this time instead of one.

• It looks like Kristen messed up her pratfall into the desk, as it doesn’t break apart right away, so she has to move around a bit to make it break.

• As if this couldn’t get any worse, Bowen starts cracking up at the lame jokes. Have I made it clear that I absolutely hate this man?

• I think that may have been worse than the last time they did this.

Sketch: Retirement Party

Jerry’s party is invaded by oddball characters.

• The return of these recurring “toast” sketches from Season 34.

• Surprisingly, this is the first we’ve seen of Mikey all night. Why in the world wasn’t this his last season?

• I love the headshot of Kenan in the background.

• Bowen’s character wasn’t necessary.

• “Gits n’ Shiggles” is a pretty good name for an improv group.

• Fred: “I wish we could talk about how much fun we’ve had over the years, but HR is here, a.k.a. ‘The Sex Police’”.

• Nice return appearance from Kristen’s oxygen tank lady.

• I even laughed at Marcello’s crude fart routine.

• YES!!! Will is back as Hamilton the creepy anti-Obama guy!!!! His new beard makes him look even more disturbing!

• By the time he got to the end of his speech and mentioned “Joseph Hussein Biden”, I was in tears.

• Definitely the highlight of this episode.

Musical Performance: “Escapism”

Weekend Update (featuring The Earthquake and The Eclipse, and Aunt Linda)

• Colin: “Well, yesterday, everyone in New York pretended they felt an earthquake.”

• Did you know that Michael Che hates women’s basketball??? What an unexpected and cutting edge joke!!!

• Ugh, time for another awful costume commentary, this time with Marcello playing an earthquake, and Kenan playing the solar eclipse. I liked this commentary better the first time…(assumes David Spade voice) when it was called “El Niño”! (Spade mode off)

• I swear, Che has laughed at every single one of his jokes tonight. Can we please get rid of him?

• Call it a hunch, but I think someone on the writing staff really really hates airplanes. As if we couldn’t tell from the one million airplane jokes we’ve had in the last few months.

• I had a feeling that we’d be getting an appearance from one of Kristen’s Update characters in this episode, but I wasn’t expecting it to be Aunt Linda, her first appearance since 2010. For those who don’t remember, she was that old lady who made rambling critiques on movies.

• She just called Colin “Seth”! What a hilarious and original joke!!!

• Colin, can you please stop explaining all of Aunt Linda’s jokes? Not that they were funny to begin with, but you don’t need to make them worse!

• Ooh, now they’re mixing it up. She just called Colin “Tina and Amy”! How original!

• I laughed at Aunt Linda saying that she thought The Bear was going to be about a hairy gay man raising kids.

• While Aunt Linda is definitely one of Kristen’s least annoying characters, I still didn’t want to see her come back. 

• I can’t tell you what the last commentary I actually enjoyed was. This has been an awful year for Update, and it only gets worse…

Sketch: Go-Karts

Parents try to delay a bad secret.

•  I love the look of James’ character.

• This is a really hard sketch to put into words, but it’s an excellent example of cringe comedy. It fills you with a sense of dread, but it’s also really funny.

• I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m really liking Kristen Wiig in tonight’s episode. More on this later when I wrap things up, but she hasn’t been annoying!

• James: “How would you all feel if I started drinking again?”

• Even the obvious twist at the end where we don’t get to hear the “bad thing” was well worth it.

Musical Performance: “Escapism”

Sketch: La Maison Du Bang!

PBS takes a look back at a pioneering French variety show.

• This sketch has been in the works since the Timothee Chalamet episode.

• I’m sick of when SNL has the hosts of their TV sketches say stuff like “I do this now” when introducing themselves.

• Making me worried is the fact that Chloe Fineman and Bowen are the two leads of this sketch.

• To Bowen’s credit, his French is really, really good.

• I’m loving all the Troast in this episode! Her scene here is really funny: she takes a drag off her cigarette, and her beautiful singing voice inexplicably gets rougher.

• I’m surprised at how much I’m enjoying this sketch on my rewatch.

• Good use of Kenan’s sex offender routine.

• Mikey’s scene as the creepy mime is my favorite part, especially the music that plays.

• Even though this sketch is definitely not something I would normally like, the energy was so infectious that I just can’t hate it.

Final thoughts: Am I going crazy or what? For a Kristen Wiig-hosted episode, this wasn’t that bad! In fact, I think it might be one of the strongest of the entire season! As shocking as it is for me to admit this, the reason for that is Kristen herself! To quote Jeff Montgomery, “Whaaaaat?”

Best sketches: The ending of Jumanji, Pilates, Retirement Party, Go-Karts, La Maison Du Bang

Worst sketches: Secretaries, Weekend Update

Next review: Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton. Now here’s an episode I was dreading to see again…

SNL Reviews: Ramy Youssef/Travis Scott (3/30/24)

 I don’t think I ever saw this episode, so I’m going to keep an open mind here…

Cold Open: Easter

Trump advertises his new God Bless the USA Bible.

• The Biblical intro to this sketch is somewhat impressive.

• Unfortunately, this then turns into another one of those instances where Trump interrupts the sketch to promote himself. I hope this doesn’t become a trend for every Easter episode now.

• Ha ha, Trump just quoted an Eminem song! It’s funny because he would never do that!!!

• Basically the same as every JAJ Trump appearance, so what do I even need to say that I haven’t said before?

Monologue

Ramy does standup about religion, Arabs, and Palestine.

• When was the last time we had a Muslim host? Kumail Nanjiani back in Season 43?

• Some of his stories about growing up as a Muslim are really heartwarming. I like the part where he hesitates to specifically name Muhammad.

• While not too bad, this was way too long.

Sketch: Couple Goals

Couples compete to see who knows their partner the best.

• “Bob Dabilda” again? Of all the JAJ characters I wanted to see come back…he was not one of them. 

• I like the sponsor plug for Swiffer.

• So far, we’re getting the same formula as the previous installment. 

• I do like Ramy’s question asking whether or not the police will be able to read his text messages after destroying his phone.

• I like Mikey’s delivery of “I didn’t know we’d have to show our answers to everyone!”

• Hilarious bit from Ego about Ramy preventing her from jumping off of a waterfall until there were other people watching.

• While this was pretty much the same as before, I’d have to give this one an edge over the first one, mainly because it doesn’t end with Kenan bugging his eyes out like an offensive stereotype.

Please Don’t Destroy: We Just Got High

The guys sing a song about getting high.

• It takes about thirty seconds for this to suddenly turn into a rap song by Travis Scott. 

• For once, I’m not laughing at a Please Don’t Destroy short. Is that even possible? What’s been happening to these guys lately?

• If you think weed is the funniest thing ever, you may like this song. But not me! Probably the weakest PDD short since that one with Taylor Swift, which was also a musical sketch. I would say that they need to stay away from musical sketches, but one of my favorites from last year was the one where they were in the car with Jenna Ortega, and that one had a song in it.

Sketch: Immigrant Dad Talk Show

A talk show where immigrant fathers discuss their children.

• How many times has Marcello used this particular voice by now? It’s getting old. I generally still like him at this point, but he is slowly getting on my nerves…

• On the other hand, Ramy’s accent is amazing and spot on. I’m certain he’s imitating somebody in his family who probably talks like that.

• Kenan’s role is so unnecessary. Again, how many times has he played a character like this?

• I like Ramy’s character just casually using a hookah while Marcello is blabbering on.

• Okay, I did get a laugh from Marcello’s “thesis” pun, even if it was a little reminiscent of that sketch he did with Bad Bunny and Pedro Pascal earlier this year.

• Here’s Mikey playing his 1,000th awkward dad character.

• Mikey: “(to Marcello) Hola! And…(to Ramy) your thing!”

• Andrew’s parkour skills are really impressive. Unfortunately, his scene is then ruined by him and Mikey kissing, which is treated as something “shocking”. I cannot believe that in 2024, SNL still expects us to laugh at men kissing each other.

• Overall, I liked what this was going for, but too many things here annoyed me. Maybe it would have worked better if Marcello’s role was played by James?

Sketch: Team Captain

A basketball team’s captain tries giving a motivational speech, but it doesn’t seem to be working.

• Kenan’s delivery in this sketch is so annoying. I just wish he would leave already.

• Speaking of people who should probably leave, Mikey is WAY too old to be playing a high-schooler. I remember a problem in a similar sketch from Season 20 that had Kevin Nealon playing a high-schooler despite being one of the oldest people in the cast.

• Meanwhile, Ramy is giving this sketch his all, and somehow manages to keep himself from laughing at the lines about his coach wearing a leather thong and role playing as a cat.

• I like Marcello’s excuse as to why he posted a video of the coach using a litterbox: “I thought it was AI!”

• Some great facial expressions from Devon.

• Another sketch where Punkie shows up just to deliver a single line. In fact, that’s the only time she’s in this episode!

• Somehow, they even managed to make a newspaper headline ending hilarious!

Fake Ad: Ozempic for Ramadan

A brand new way for Muslims to use Ozempic!

• This is certainly an interesting concept.

• I got a big laugh from Ramy injecting himself with the product.

• Ego looks so weird in a hijab.

• I like how one of the side-effects of using this is going to Hell.

• Who is the old Muslim guy dancing with Andrew?

• Apparently, that’s Chloe Troast singing the jingle. I honestly had no idea, as I thought they had just used the actual one from the real commercials!!! That is really impressive!

• For a sketch about Ramadan, I’m amazed that they didn’t do any stereotypical Muslim jokes. Did Ramy himself have a hand in writing this?

Musical Performance: “MY EYES”

• What an appropriate name, because my eyes hurt just from looking at this awful performance!

Weekend Update (featuring Piper Dunster and Flaco the Owl’s widow)

• Trump selling Bibles? So that’s what the cold open was about?

• Again with the airplane fetish?!? This time it’s in a joke that otherwise has nothing to do with aviation!

• I did kind of chuckle at Che saying that Biden is just like that collapsed bridge in Maryland, because he’s “no longer connected to black communities”.

• ANOTHER airplane joke?!!?? What the fuck is going on???

• Our first commentary is from a TikTok influencer named Piper Dunster, played by (who else?) Chloe Fineman. I can tell I’m gonna hate this.

• Yep, I was right. This is fucking awful! 

• Just in case you needed more proof that SNL is behind the times, one of the TikTok videos has a joke about George Santos in it. You know, the guy who’s looooong out of office by now!

• Another joke from Che about how women’s basketball sucks. Yawn.

• That joke about a tree taking part in the January 6th riots was so stupid.

• Remember that story from a couple episodes ago about the owl’s death? Because SNL loves to pathetically chase trends, here’s a commentary featuring, ugh, the owl’s wife, played by Sarah. Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen…

• Oh, wow. What a surprise! Sarah starts roasting Colin again!!! You know, I really hate to say this, because I’ve enjoyed her for the most part, but I’m starting to hate Sarah Sherman with a fiery passion. These cookie-cutter commentaries she’s been in lately have not done her any favors.

• Of course, the blame isn’t entirely on Sarah. There seems to be a huge problem going on behind the scenes at Update. For the rest of this season, all remaining commentaries are all pretty much the same: A “wacky” character played by Heidi, someone dressed up in a retarded costume (usually Bowen, Marcello, or Kenan), or Sarah roasting Colin. That’s not even getting into how burned out and stale the anchors are at this point. 

Sketch: Murder Detective

A detective annoys everyone with his constant one-liners.

• I was immediately won over when Andrew turned to face the camera and delivered a cheesy Caruso-esque pun.

• Andrew’s constant repetition of the same joke has me in stitches.

• This doesn’t really have anything to do with the sketch, but I got a laugh from the fact that the victim’s last name is “Turkle”.

• Funny twist where everyone loves Ramy’s joke despite it being the same type of thing that Andrew did.

Musical Performance: “FE!N”

Sketch: Tiny Desk Concert

An annoying man interrupts a performance at NPR.

• Awesome! JAJ and Troast get to sing in the same sketch!!!

• Ramy perfectly captures the smarmy nature of this type of person.

• Even better than JAJ’s mere presence in this sketch is that fact that his name is “Goose”, which he then demonstrates by making a quacking noise.

• UGGGGGHHHHH!!!! Just when this is getting really good, here comes Bowen “Asian Terry Sweeney” Yang to ruin everything!!!! Surprisingly, this is his only appearance in the whole episode, and I didn’t even notice his absence.

• Okay, so this sketch is now about Bowen’s character being a wacky gay stereotype. Why would they change the premise like that?!??

• Well, that sketch turned out to be a huge disappointment. The first half was pretty interesting, but then Bowen entered and ruined everything. Fuck Bowen Yang and his dumb fucking face and his annoying fucking voice.

Note: There was a Cut for Time sketch here, but it looked like shit, so I didn’t even bother reviewing it.

Final thoughts: A bit of a mixed bag. While I liked Ramy as a host and he did some great things, he unfortunately couldn’t save a lot of the horrid material in this episode. And I don’t think this is a coincidence, but a lot of the really horrid material in this episode happened to star the same few cast members that I’m extremely tired of.

Best sketches: Team Captain, Ozempic for Ramadan, Murder Detective

Worst sketches: Cold Open, We Just Got High, Weekend Update, Tiny Desk Concert

Next review: *sigh* Kristen Wiig returns…