Cold Open: Air Force One
President Trump hosts a press conference on Air Force One.
• Is this storybook intro made with AI?
• The visual of Trump hiding behind the curtain is pretty funny.
• Hey, did you guys know that Donald Trump hates women? That’s the joke!
• The video with Santa getting shot down was more sad than funny.
• I’m getting really sick of these cold opens which are just Trump rambling for 20 minutes. But then, what else is new?
Monologue
Josh discusses why he doesn’t want a live-action version of Ratatouille.
• As I usually say whenever we have a British host, I love this guy’s accent.
• Nice bit where he compares himself to the main character of Flushed Away. Man, that movie is so underrated.
• Speaking of movies about rats, now he’s talking about Ratatouille for some reason.
• Not a fan of how this monologue shifted focus to Ratatouille, but at least this was pretty short.
Sketch: Let’s Find Love
An old lady is a contestant on a romantic game show.
• “Garth Vader”????? Ugh, please STOP IT!!!!!
• I like the contestants’ cheesy one-liners when they introduce themselves. For example, “I’m a swim instructor, and I’m looking to cannonball right into your heart.” This is followed by nervous laughter from Josh.
• A big groan from the reveal of Ashley’s character. This is gonna be a loooooong sketch…
• Josh’s American accent is surprisingly convincing.
• Boy, Ashley’s rambling is starting to reach Trump levels of rambling.
• This is the kind of material I was afraid that Ashley would mostly rely on when she first joined the cast a year ago. The fact that she hasn’t done any of that until now just shows you how great she’s been.
• “That’s a great idear”? Uh-oh, Josh’s accent is slipping!
• Overall, a rare miss for Ashley.
Fake Ad: Uber Eats Wrapped
Embarrassing details are revealed by Uber Eats.
• Andrew: “Steely Dan? Yeah, that tracks…”
• I love the look on Ben’s face when he realizes what this sketch is about.
• This sketch kinda hits home for me, as I have the same poor eating habits as these guys do.
• JAJ has a good scene where he pokes his wife like the Pillsbury Doughboy.
• Despite not knowing a lot about Spotify Wrapped or Uber Eats, I thought this was really funny. This season has been on a roll with its pretapes.
Sketch: Teaching Hospital
Dr. Please examines another patient.
• *Bowen enters as that awful doctor character from the Ryan Gosling episode* Fuck no. I am not going to touch this one.
Sketch: Bachelorette Party Strippers
Strippers are too sensitive.
• I really like the set of this sketch.
• Ben: “Before we get started, mind if I finish my book? It was written by this…brilliant woman of color.”
• Stop explaining everything that happens!!!! We can see!!!!
• I like the idea of this sketch (making fun of those dweebs who pretend to be progressive so other people will like them and/or go out with them), but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
• The dialogue is atrocious, by the way. I like some of Ben and Josh’s lines, but everyone else’s sound like they were taken from a rejected Diablo Cody script.
• Mikey suddenly shows up just so we can have a scene where two guys kiss each other. Gays sure are funny, am I right?
Musical Performance: “Sleepwalking”
Weekend Update (featuring Marcello Hernandez and Jane Wickline)
• As usual, the Trump clips are funnier than the “jokes” about them, including some that are clearly taken out of context in order to portray him as a pedophile.
• Some of these “funny” pictures are clearly AI-generated. For a show that advocates against AI all the time, they don’t seem to have a problem using it themselves!
• No comment on the Kristi Noem Exorcist video.
• More K-Pop Demon Hunters shilling.
• Marcello finally has a commentary as himself for the first time in a while.
• This commentary has been replaced with the dress rehearsal version for the online upload I’m watching. I have no idea why.
• So far this isn’t so bad. I like it when Marcello is just himself and not doing his racial stereotype characters.
• Whoops, I spoke too soon! Now he’s pretending to be Hispanic versions of Santa Claus and Spider-Man.
• This phone call routine is going on way too long.
• Also not helping is Colin reacting to and explaining everything. Colin, can you please shut up for once?
• This commentary started out decent, but quickly fell apart once Marcello realized, “Uh-oh, my TikTok fangirls are getting bored. Time for my cartoony accents!”
• The OnlyFans joke was pretty good, as was the fake Madea poster with Che on it.
• I don’t get the joke about the “human swastika” being the result of a skydiving accident.
• *sigh* Another boring Jane Wickline song, this time about Stranger Things? I’ll pass…
Sketch: The Wizard of Oz
The Cowardly Lion asks the Wizard for a larger penis. I’m not joking.
• Yippee, more Wicked shilling!!!
• Sarah couldn’t pull off Judy Garland even if she tried. Why not someone like Veronika?
• JAJ would have made a great Wizard, but he’s barely in this episode, so we get Bowen instead. I had no idea the Wizard was Asian.
• Ha, the dog playing Toto is trying to get away!
• What’s with the Tin Man’s weird “yokel” accent? Jack Haley had more of a Boston twang.
• A huge groan from the reveal that the Lion wants “a big ol’ thang”.
• Many others have pointed out that SNL seems to struggle with parodying The Wizard of Oz, most infamously a sketch in Season 20 where the Munchkins want nothing to do with Dorothy.
• The image macro with Toto at the end was just pure cringe.
Cartoon: Brad and His Dad
Brad accompanies his father to buy a Christmas tree.
• Good to see this back again.
• Like before, there’s some nice relatable humor here.
• I like how the one kid Brad seems to be on friendly terms with is an asthmatic girl who’s just as awkward as him.
• This sketch somehow made me laugh at a “6-7” joke, which is unbelievable.
• Heartwarming ending with Brad being able to see his Dad for Christmas after all, which is then made funny when we see that Dad has a hooker in bed with him.
• I think that was even better than the first one. It’s a shame there haven’t been any more as of my writing this.
Sketch: Study Group
A boy genius acts like a diva in college.
• I hated this from the moment Bowen started talking. His departure cannot come soon enough.
• Ashley is wasted with an unfunny running gag where Bowen screams at her.
• Oh, SNL and your endless ball jokes…
• I kinda chuckled at Ben reacting to Bowen’s disturbing story with “That’s awesome, man.”
• Predictable turn with Josh yelling at his own mom.
• Overall, no, just…no.
Musical Performance: “Madeline”
Sketch: Characters on Characters
Christmas characters chat about their roles.
• What the fuck is this???
• Some impressive makeup here, but it feels a bit too inside baseball to me.
• JAJ’s narration is probably the best thing about this, especially when he randomly spazzes out while introducing the scene with Scrooge and The Grinch.
• I kind of laughed at the Drummer Boy clarifying that his name is now “Drum Daddy”.
• Okay, the scene at the very end with Ashley as the grandma who got run over by a reindeer was genuinely funny. A much better use of her talents than that awful game show thing we saw earlier.
Sketch: Lily Allen Brunch
Patrons sing their true feelings to the camera.
• Take a shot!
• Jane immediately stumbles over her first line. What a great cast member.
• Now they’re kissing Lily Allen’s ass??? Save that for after the show, guys!
• Wait…this is a musical sketch???? I’m done with this one.
Cut for Time: Mochi
A heroic sled dog helps his research team during a nasty blizzard.
• Finally, another Dan Bulla Midnight Matinee sketch! Where’s he been?
• I like the set design and costumes here.
• As with Bulla’s other masterpieces like “Beppo” and “Pip”, the use of a puppet for the titular character gives this a warm, nostalgic feeling.
• Funny bit with everyone breaking their femurs for no apparent reason.
• I love the design of the giant monster they meet on their journey (whose baby also has a broken femur).
• I won’t lie, I almost teared up when it looked like Mochi wasn’t gonna make it.
• Why in the world was this cut from the episode? It was miles better than everything else!
Final thoughts: Hoo boy, that was a rough one. While Josh O’Connor was a great host, it feels like the show didn’t know how to use him, so they just gave him random crap they had lying around and went from there. What does it tell you that the best sketch of the episode didn’t even make the final cut?
MVP: James Austin Johnson
Best sketches: Brad and His Dad, Mochi (Cut)
Worst sketches: Cold Open, Teaching Hospital, Wizard of Oz, Study Group, Lily Allen Brunch
Next review: Ariana Grande/Cher. We also finally get to say farewell to Bowen Yang.
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