Season 49 overview

Well, that was certainly a bizarre season, huh? It started out pretty consistent, but after the Christmas break, it went downhill. We saw the rise of Andrew Dismukes, and the fall of Marcello Hernandez and Sarah Sherman. We saw an actual good Kristen Wiig episode, and a godawful Ryan Gosling episode. But the main problem with Season 49 is that it just felt unadventurous. A lot of sketches were lame rehashes of older ones, especially in the latter half of the season. There was also the problem with Weekend Update, but I’ll cover that when I get to the cast rundown.

Speaking of which, time for the cast rundown! I’ll also be adding a new section where I rank their best performance of the season!

Repertory Players

Mikey Day: As someone who used to be Mikey’s biggest fan, I think I might be over him. With all the talented newbies in the cast, it’s so bizarre to see him still relying on his tired reacting and explaining routine. I hope Season 50 ends up being his last, because I think he’s already done everything he can do. (Best moment: Masters of the Pen)

Andrew Dismukes: Talk about a major improvement!!! Andrew gets my pick for MVP! His airtime exploded this year, presumably thanks to JAJ, who he did a lot of great things with. He might actually be my favorite person in the cast now. (Best moment: Dad Has a Cookie)

Chloe Fineman: What else is there for me to say about her? She’s still annoying, and I really really want her to go. That being said, I can’t really remember anything she was super bad in this year. (Best moment: NONE!)

Heidi Gardner: I’m happy to say that Heidi had a much better season than she did last time. Yeah, sure, I know her Update appearances are still pretty bad, and she does do some annoying sketch work, but I feel like she was trying harder this season. Sadly, I’ve heard rumors that Season 50 might be her last. (Best moment: Paperless Post (Cut))

James Austin Johnson: A lot of my fellow reviewers have been calling him “The Glue” as of late, and I 100% agree! This man is so essential to SNL’s future. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that someone at SNL doesn’t like him, because there are still some episodes where he’s barely present. His Trump impression is also pretty annoying, but literally everything else he does is great! Can’t wait to see what he does in Season 50! (Best moment: This is really hard, but I think I’d have to say Lake Beach)

Punkie Johnson: Ho-hum. After such a promising start to the season, they just forgot she existed after the break. She was lucky to even appear in most episodes. I feel really bad for her, but I wish her luck in her future endeavors. (Best moment: AI)

Ego Nwodim: Ego also had a nice recovery from last year. With the exception of the unnecessary return of Lisa from Temecula and her Update commentaries, this is more of what I expected from her. (Best moment: La Maison Du Bang)

Sarah Sherman: Now here’s someone who really disappointed me. Sarah’s first two seasons were great! So what happened here? It’s like someone flipped a switch in her brain that made her act more annoying. She seems to be the new Kate McKinnon, as her drag roles have become much more frequent. That’s not even getting into her terrible Update commentaries that all followed the exact same formula of roasting Colin. However, the old Sarah wasn’t completely gone. I liked the film she did about the tennis player getting decapitated, and I want to see more of that next year. (Best moment: Pongo!)

Kenan Thompson: Kenan did not have much of an improvement in Season 49, sadly. His shouting routine is still outdated and overused, and I noticed a theme late in the season with him constantly doing a stereotypical Jamaican accent. I’m happy to say that it looks like Season 50 might be his last, so there may be hope for him yet. (Best moment: Lanzetti’s Lawn Care)

Bowen Yang: Unsurprisingly, Bowen was just as annoying as he was in Season 48. There were so many sketches that he ruined just by showing up. I’m sick of him constantly eating up airtime by mugging for the camera and talking slowly and acting like a diva!!! Please get rid of him after this season!!!!!! (Best moment: NONE!!!)

Repertory Players

Marcello Hernandez: Another cast member who I’ve grown to dislike. The first half of the season was great for him, but, like a lot of other things, he took a huge decline in the second half. We started to get a lot of aimless, muggy performances from him, almost as if he’s craving attention. He also started doing a lot of really bad Update commentaries in which he wore a goofy costume, none of which were funny. (Best moment: Age of Discovery)

Molly Kearney: Molly Kearney? Who’s that? SNL made such a big deal about hiring a non-binary cast member, only to do nothing with them in their first season except cast them as fat men. This season was even worse for Molly. Most of the time, they were lucky enough to even appear in an episode. Their only Update commentary was cut before airtime. And, of course, tons and tons of fat men! I was not surprised at all that they got fired after this. (Best moment: NONE!!!)

Michael Longfellow: What the fuck happened here? He got a lot of attention last year, including a bunch of awesome Update appearances, but this year, it was like they forgot he existed. He’s one of the most likable people in the current cast, and I hate that the writers don’t seem to understand his talents. Hopefully, Season 50 will be a lot better for him. (Best moment: Cigarette commentary)

Chloe Troast: She was a welcome new addition to the cast, with her likable personality and beautiful singing voice. Unfortunately, this will be the only time I ever get to talk about her, as she was unceremoniously fired over the summer. Part of me believes that the poor reaction to her awful Elise Stefanik sketch made SNL hesitant to use her, because her airtime took a nosedive after that. Hell, in her final sketch we couldn’t even see her!!! Overall, the most pointless firing in SNL history since Luke Null. (Best moment: Make Your Own Kind Of Music)

Devon Walker: Once again, he generally only got focus when there was a black host. But I still see potential for him. When Kenan potentially leaves the show after Season 50, they’re probably going to rely on him a lot more! (Best moment: His impression of Tim Scott)

Michael Che and Colin Jost: *sigh* I’ve run out of things to say about these two. They’ve been on for way too long. Update as a whole was Godawful this year. Whether it’s the constant giggling from our two anchors, or the many, many, MANY unfunny costume commentaries in the last few episodes, this part of the show needs a serious overhaul.

Now it’s time to rank the episodes.

Best episodes: Bad Bunny, Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo, Shane Gillis/21 Savage, Kristen Wiig/RAYE, Jake Gyllenhaal/Sabrina Carpenter

Worst episodes: Kate McKinnon/Billie Eilish, Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake, Ayo Edebiri/Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton, Dua Lipa

Now, time for my favorite part…ranking the sketches!!!

Best sketches: The Original Princes of Comedy (from Davidson), Roadhouse Bar (from Davidson), Age of Discovery (from Bad Bunny), Bad Bunny is Shrek (from Bad Bunny), Protective Mom (from Bad Bunny), Christopher Walken’s appearance (from Bargatze), Lake Beach (from Bargatze), Masters of the Pen (from Momoa), Remember Lizards commentary (from Momoa), Cast Away (from Momoa), AI (from Stone), Cigarette commentary (from Stone), Make Your Own Kind of Music (from Stone), Old Friends (from Driver), Beep Beep (from Driver), Airplane Baby (from Driver), Pongo! (from McKinnon), Boogie Woogie Santa (from McKinnon), Paperless Post (Cut), Bowling Pins (from Elordi), Roast (from Johnson), Monologue (from Gillis), White Men Can Trump (from Gillis), Fugliana (from Gillis), Gone Too Soon (from Sweeney), Loud Table (from Sweeney), Shrimp Tower (from Brolin), Sandwich King (from Brolin), Team Captain (from Youssef), Pilates (from Wiig), Retirement Party (from Wiig), Go-Karts (from Wiig), La Maison Du Bang! (from Wiig), Papyrus 2 (Cut), Jingle Pitch (from Dua Lipa), Mother’s Day (from Rudolph), Can You Pick Me Up? (from Rudolph), T.T. And Mario (Cut), Dad Has a Cookie (from Gyllenhaal), NYPD Press Conference (from Gyllenhaal)

Worst sketches: I’m Just Pete (from Davidson), Wired Autocomplete Interview (from Davidson), Spaceship (from Davidson), Cold Open (from Bad Bunny), Dawg Food (from Bargatze), Cold Open (from Chalamet), Sleep Study (from Chalamet), George Santos commentary (from Momoa), The Situation Room (from Stone), Fully Naked in New York (from Stone), What’s in the Kiln? (from Stone), Antisemitism Hearings (from Driver), ShopTV (from Driver), Monologue (from McKinnon), Tampon Farm (from McKinnon), ABBA Christmas (from McKinnon), Cinema Classics (from McKinnon), Lip Readers (from Elordi), Garrett from Hinge (from Elordi), Waiters (from Johnson), The Barry Gibb Talk Show (from Johnson), Ethan commentary (from Johnson), CNN Town Hall (from Edebiri), Dune Popcorn Bucket (from Edebiri), CJ Rossitano commentary (from Edebiri), The Elevator (from Edebiri), Hypnotist (from Edebiri), Frozen Embryo commentary (from Gillis), Big Bench (from Sweeney), Makeup Artists (from Sweeney), Bank Robbery (from Brolin), Moulin Rouge (from Brolin), Lisa from Temecula (from Brolin), We Just Got High (from Youssef), Weekend Update (from Youssef), Earthquake/Eclipse commentary (from Wiig), Close Encounter (from Gosling), Can’t Tonight (from Gosling), Beavis & Butt-Head (from Gosling), Doctors (from Gosling), Good Morning Greenville (from Dua Lipa), Sonny Angels (from Dua Lipa), Weekend Update (from Dua Lipa), OBGYN (from Dua Lipa), British Cavemen (from Rudolph), Brain Worm commentary (from Rudolph), Coffee Commercial (from Rudolph), Bike Trail (from Gyllenhaal), Weekend Update (from Gyllenhaal)