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. 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 last 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)

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 guy 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 the delivery of 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 these 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, 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!

Fake Ad: Penne alla Vodka

The treat that unites us in times of tragedy and sadness.

• Molly’s only appearance in this episode. Could it be any more obvious that they’re not coming back next season?

• I’ll be honest, I don’t get the joke here, but compared to all of the shit that we’ve seen in this episode so far, it’s brilliant.

Musical Performance: “Illusion”

• What’s with the random Troye Sivan appearance? I take it Sarah was responsible for getting him on?

Weekend Update (featuring Kristi Noem’s dog, JoJo Siwa, and Jerry Seinfeld)

• Another fucking “seen here” joke.

• God, these Updates have gotten way too loose. Che and Jost can’t go a minute without cracking up at themselves.

• A genuinely strong joke from Che about Japan’s xenophobia.

• Oh shit, it’s another Marcello commentary. This time, he’s wearing a “silly” dog costume. I liked this commentary better the first time…(David Spade voice) when it was Daniel Radcliffe doing it! (Spade voice off) Yeah, I know I already did the Spade joke last time, but I couldn’t resist!

• Does Marcello have the record for the fastest decline from a cast member? I know Sarah’s pretty close, but it really shocks me how quickly it happened to him. The first half of this season, I was actively cheering whenever he got a lead role, but now I dread whenever he does.

• Are you serious?!?? Now we have a Chloe commentary??? This episode really has it out for me!

• This time, she’s dug out her old JoJo Siwa “impression” thanks to her recent change in appearance. As soon as she comes out (lol), she starts going spastic for the camera like the fame hungry hack she is.

• I honestly don’t know what to say about this one. Having never heard a single piece of Siwa’s music, this holds no interest to me. Surely the next commentary won’t be any worse…

• Holy shit, Jerry Seinfeld???!!?? Boy, does he look tired as fuck. I would be too if I had to sit through two fucking awful commentaries.

• Please don’t mention Ryan Gosling! I’ve had enough of his shitty antics lately!

• When I’m not even laughing at a Jerry Seinfeld commentary (sorry, Jerry!), you know things are fucked up. This is one of the worst Updates I’ve had to sit through in a long time.

Sketch: OBGYN

Two new parents visit an OBGYN for the first time.

• The set-up of this sketch had me worried that it would be another one of those baby monitor sketches with Sarah and Bowen.

• “Fat Daddy”? Oh boy, what am I in for this time?

• This is a typical modern Kenan role: overly loud, hammy, and annoying.

• Not helping matters is Mikey’s typical reacting routine.

• Punkie makes her sole appearance of the night as a silent extra. This is honestly getting depressing. 

• Speaking of depressing, this fucking episode. 

Musical Performance: “Happy For You”

Film: Teeny Tiny Awareness Pins

The perfect way for celebrities to show their support for important issues.

• As someone who’s tired of celebrities feeling like they have to speak up about things they have no involvement in, this is a pretty good concept.

• I like the shots of various people trying to get a closer look at the pins.

• Random appearance from Chloe as some celebrity I’ve never heard of.

• Some funny examples from the “Vague Collection” of pins.

• Wow, an actual strong bit of satire? I thought modern SNL was allergic to satire!

Sketch: Jingle Pitch

Soul Booth guys pitch sexy songs for a flooring company.

• We’re bringing back the Jingle Pitch guys again? The original sketch was one of my favorites from last year, but I’m wary of how well a sequel is going to go.

• I’ve been enjoying all of Dua’s attempts at American accents tonight. This one, where she’s trying to do like a Brooklyn accent or something, is probably the best/worst.

• Rightful applause when Andrew and James enter.

• I like how James’ keyboard starts making music before he even touches it.

• A big laugh from how their first jingle is just them shouting each individual number of the company’s phone number.

• Bowen’s character is kind of annoying, but thankfully he’s not the main focus. Also, why does he keep looking away from Dua when he says his lines?

• Once again, the last jingle is really catchy.

• I didn’t think it was possible, but somehow, this was just as good as the original! 

Final thoughts: Thank God it’s over!!! That was one of the most painful episodes I’ve had to sit through in a long time! While Dua Lipa did her best all night, it couldn’t save the horrible material she was forced to take part in. 

Best sketches: Jingle Pitch

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Good Morning Greenville, Sonny Angels, Weekend Update, OBGYN

Next review: NOOOOOO!!!!! It’s fucking Maya Rudolph!!!

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 given the movie he was just in, but still, this is not the way I want to start an episode.

• Huge applause when he puts on the fur coat he wore 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.

• This sketch 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 build up to the reveal of 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. But even that is just recycled from Jessica Chastain’s great line from the original: “People called me a nerd before I got, like, 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. From what I’ve heard, the breaking was even worse in dress rehearsal.

• 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 “Ay carumba!” tweet from 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. Kenan also had a desk commentary as an angel version of OJ that was thankfully cut after dress rehearsal.

• 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. He would make a great anchor for Update.

• “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’ve 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 this 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. Maybe I need to have seen the movie to understand it?

• 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: 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 admitted that 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 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 (a reference to stage manager Gina Rositano?) 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 season, 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: Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters (10/28/23)

 Cold Open: Biden Halloween

President Biden delivers a special Halloween message, and is visited by the Spirit of Halloween.

• What the hell?!?? What’s Mikey doing as Biden?

• Yep, that’s right. Once again, we have a brand new Biden impersonator. JAJ’s wasn’t perfect, but at least it was a step up from Fire Marshal Biden and Alex Moffat. I’ve heard a theory that they recast him because they need James to play Trump in the upcoming 2024 election sketches. Hopefully Trump will be kicked out by then so that doesn’t have to happen.

• After that initial shock wears off, we get some tired jokes about how old Biden is.

• I can see what Mikey’s trying to go for with the voice, but it just sounds awkward and whispery.

• Ugh at “Boo Back Boo-er”.

• Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker are wasted with brief appearances as Mike Johnson and his black son. Don’t worry, they tell us who they are and explain all the jokes so we don’t have to do any thinking.

• Then, out of nowhere, Christopher Walken makes his triumphant return!!! Fuck yeah!!!!!

• While it’s obvious that he’s gotten up in years, he’s still extremely funny. I love his explanation that he came out of the toilet.

• It’s hard for me to choose a favorite Walken line, so I’ll just put this one here: “After all, you can’t spell Halloween without ‘hello’!”

• The first half of this where it was just Biden was horrible, but it got way better when Walken showed up.

Monologue

Nate talks about watching his dad perform at country fairs and his mom going to the wrong house to pick up his sister.

•  I still have no idea who this guy is even after seeing his episode for the first time.

• There’s some nice relatable material here about watching his magician father perform at the fair, and all of the crazy things he saw there.

• I don’t really have a lot to say here, but I like how quiet this guy is compared to other stand-ups. He’s not shouting in your face like Sam Kinison or making crass vagina jokes like Amy Schumer, he’s just normal.

Sketch: Chef Showdown

Two chefs face off to see who can cook the best soul food.

• Finally a TV show sketch where the people have normal names!

• An initial laugh from the sloppily made food on Plate 2.

• Nice twist where it turns out that the white chef (played by Nate) wasn’t the one who cooked the disgusting plate, and the judges frantically trying to figure how he did so good.

• Even Kenan is doing pretty decent here. 

• Random appearance from Padma Lakshmi, whoever that is.

• I’m surprised at how much I liked this sketch this time around. 

Film: A Stab At Love

Hallmark presents a brand new horror film.

• As I said in my review of that awful Hallmark game show sketch in Season 45, I find parodies of Hallmark movies to be kind of pointless, as they are already parodies of themselves.

• I don’t quite get the joke with the actors’ names being “almost human”, such as “Bren Cloebog”. Don’t most Hallmark movies have at least one big name in them so people will watch?

• I like how the announcer is JAJ instead of Steve Higgins as usual.

• Punkie at least has a great reaction to seeing Nate propose to Chloe with a dead person’s hand.

• Overall, I still didn’t really care for this, but I found a few positives this time around.

Sketch: Washington’s Dream

George Washington tells his troops about his dream for the country.

• Why is Bowen one of the soldiers? Pretty sure Washington didn’t have any Asians in his outfit back then. Why couldn’t this be Dismukes or Longfellow? Oh wait, that would mean giving them actual screentime.

• Nate is pretty good as George Washington.

• Despite my complaints about Bowen being in this sketch, he’s actually not doing too bad. He’s thankfully reined in his gay shtick here.

• The running bit with Kenan’s character getting ignored when he asks about slavery was a little too predictable.

• This sketch seems to be really popular for some reason, but I’m afraid I don’t quite get it. I don’t hate it or anything, it’s just not something I personally care for.

Film: Lake Beach

A country music trio sings about their favorite warm weather activity.

• Ah, now here’s a sketch that I actually do remember liking!

• This idea apparently came from James’ stand-up act.

• A spot on parody of “bro country” music. So many great details here! And that song is so damn catchy!

• Great to see Andrew get a big role here. I love the cheesy grin he gives the camera as he takes a piss in the woods.

• Dave Grohl is amazing as that dirtbag uncle nobody likes.

• Funny twist at the end where Grohl’s character turns out to be a pastor.

Sketch: Trick-Or-Treat with Fran Drescher

The star of TV’s The Nanny shows some SAG-approved Halloween costumes.

• Sarah doesn’t really sound a whole lot like Fran Drescher, or nail the laugh, but she’s not really an impressionist, so I’ll let it slide. Besides, she does capture the most important aspect of Fran Drescher: the fact that she’s extremely annoying.

• A nice detail with the text that introduces Fran being the same font as The Nanny’s intro sequence.

• I like the look on the little girl’s face after Fran calls her an “adorable scab”.

• I’m not quite sure what this sketch is supposed to be making fun of. Was there really a demand from the SAG that people stop wearing copyrighted character costumes?

• I did get a laugh from the kid dressed as Hoda Kotb, complete with wine. 

• Another laugh from Fran saying that Nate is dressed as a pervert from To Catch a Predator.

• That kid trying to attempt an Italian accent was pretty charming.

• The little girl dressed as The Nanny does a way better laugh than Sarah.

• Overall, this was a very confusing attempt at satire, and I don’t know what Sarah was trying to do, but I still got enough laughs.

Musical Performance: “Rescued”

• Walken introduces this one.

Weekend Update (featuring J.J. Gordon)

• They’re still making jokes about Eric Trump being a retard.

• The online version removes “Down With The Sickness” from a clip of two mice fighting.

• I noticed someone in the audience going “Whoo!” when Colin tells his joke about Mike Pence dropping out of the presidential race. 

• Sarah appears in drag yet again as Colin’s “agent” J.J. Gordon, a piece that was cut from last week’s show. I sense some more Colin roasting…

• I really hate to say it, but I think Sarah roasting Colin is finally starting to get old for me. Between the Drescher thing earlier and now this, Sarah hasn’t been doing so good lately.

• Can Michael Che go an entire Update without stumbling or laughing at his jokes?

• I laughed at the Hitler kiss-cam joke.

• Horrid “joke” about Colin running over the world’s oldest dog.

• At least we end on a great joke about New Jersey residents being filthy.

• A surprisingly short Update.

Sketch: Airplane

People on an airplane get into an argument.

• Even while she’s supposed to be going into labor, Chloe Fineman can’t stop making her annoying mugging faces.

• This is another sketch that I find pretty boring, despite a lot of other fans liking it. I do like that it features a lot of the underused cast members, though.

• I did laugh at Mikey the pilot insulting Nate for assuming that nobody’s flying the plane.

• Pretty great cameo from Grohl at the end.

Musical Performance: “The Glass”

Please Don’t Destroy: Dawg Food

The guys try a new meal prep service.

• Are these guys going to appear in every single episode now?

• The face on the bag of dog food looks pretty familiar, but I can’t place him.

• So, yeah…we get a sketch where the only joke is that they’re eating dog food. This doesn’t really feel like something Please Don’t Destroy would do. The thing that attracted me to these guys was the fact that they didn’t really do grossout humor, but look what they’re doing now! 

• I did laugh at the ending where John randomly dies.

• As much as I hate to say this, I think this is the first Please Don’t Destroy sketch that I would have to call terrible.

Note: A dedication to Matthew Perry appears before the goodnights.

Final thoughts: This was an okay episode. The pre-Update half had some great stuff in it, but I think it kind of fell off starting with that Fran Drescher routine. Nate Bargatze was a surprisingly good host for somebody that hasn’t been on before. I’d love to see him come back.

Best sketches: Christopher Walken’s cameo, Monologue, Chef Showdown, Lake Beach

Worst sketches: Sarah’s commentary, Dawg Food

Next review: Timothee Chalamet/boygenius

SNL Reviews: Bad Bunny (10/21/23)

 Cold Open

Jim Jordan loses the House Vote again and consults with his advisors.

• After the nice reprieve we got last time, we’re back to more tone-deaf political “satire”.

• I have no idea what Jim Jordan sounds like, but I’m sure Mikey isn’t even close.

• UGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!! It’s Bowen as George Santos yet again!!! And he’s carrying a baby…for some reason.

• Why does Bowen always have to talk so damn slow? Does he think that he’ll get more laughs that way? Well, guess what, it’s annoying as fuck!

• No idea what to think about Lauren Boebert almost getting groped at a movie theater. Never thought I’d have to type that sentence, but that’s life.

• *groan* Trump is back for the 2,366th time. 

• His scene is just as unfunny as every other appearance by this impression, except for the fun twist where he cuts off Mikey from saying the intro line. 

Monologue

Bad Bunny speaks in English and Spanish and gets Pedro Pascal to translate for him.

• Not a big fan of the Sabado Gigante “mixup” at the beginning.

• Why does the audience have to cheer every single time he speaks? He’s not that sexy, ladies.

• I did like the “[SPEAKS IN NON-ENGLISH]” subtitle.

• Random appearance from Pedro Pascal.

• I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about Bad Bunny here that seems kind of…phony. Like he’s trying to put on a fake “nice guy” image.

Sketch: Rap Battle

Two rappers battle at a club.

• What is with Punkie wearing her hood up all the time lately? I’m not complaining, it’s just something weird I noticed.

• I love Mikey’s rapper name: “Walter White Boy”

• So they’re not going to let Bad Bunny rap? Why does Mikey get all of it to himself?

• Ugh, these incest jokes are hideous.

• What a horrible sketch. It reminds me of that awful sketch with the rappers dancing to game show themes from the Awkwafina episode.

Film: La Era del Descrubimento (The Age of Discovery)

Explorers show the king and prince some riches from their latest voyage.

• UGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! Fred fucking Armisen is back for his 8,936,422nd cameo.

• I like how this is entirely in Spanish.

• That turkey’s facial expression matches how I feel when I watch Weekend Update.

• We get our obligatory ball joke when the king claims that the turkey has testicles on his chin.

• Marcello as the prince says “Ay dios mio!” at one point. Couldn’t they let Fred say that for old times’ sake?

• Now we get a poop joke? Did a five-year old write this part?

• I definitely didn’t need to see him put poop in his mouth.

• This sketch is kind of hard for me to rate. On one hand, I like how ambitious it is for being entirely in Spanish. On the other hand, all of the juvenile humor brings it down a bit.

Sketch: Telenovela

An actress playing a maid keeps screwing things up.

• Uh-oh, now we have a Jimmy Fowlie sketch.

• Another sketch where most of the dialogue is in Spanish? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I wish this sketch and the previous one were spaced out a bit more.

• I’m glad Marcello gets to shine in this episode! He and Bad Bunny make a great duo!

• Thankfully, Punkie is here to save the day with her amusing broken Spanish.

• Despite not being the focus of this sketch, Bowen is still queering it up.

• Is it just me, or are they on the same set as The Californians? Not exactly a sketch I want to be reminded of.

• Yep, this is definitely a Jimmy Fowlie sketch. The same joke repeated over and over again! Punkie is trying her best, though.

• This is more of a nitpick, but why does a Spanish soap opera have an English speaking director?

• The twist where Punkie’s character is revealed to be named “Latina Jefferson” is genuinely amusing.

• Punkie: “Did he just call me a negro?!?” LOL!!!!

• Mick Jagger makes a random cameo. Why? I don’t know, but he’s got a fake mustache, so that makes it okay with me.

• For a Jimmy Fowlie sketch, this surprisingly wasn’t too awful. 

Please Don’t Destroy: Bad Bunny Is Shrek

The guys help Bad Bunny with his idea for a script.

• An initial laugh from Bad Bunny walking in dressed like Shrek.

• Bad Bunny: “Is Donkey coming?”

• I love the awkward silence after Ben suggests that Bad Bunny play Puss in Boots.

• John’s Michael Jackson impression is great! If only he was on the show when the trial was going on, then we wouldn’t have been stuck with Amy Poehler’s awkward attempt at playing him.

• The scene where they all read Bad Bunny’s script together is the most amazing thing I have ever seen, complete with terrible CGI animations of the characters.

• Oh, by the way, you wanna know who owns Shrek? NBCUniversal! Some good old fashioned corporate synergy!!!

Musical Performance: “Un Preview”

• Ummm, why is Lady Gaga introducing this song? She doesn’t appear anywhere else in the episode, so I have no idea what she’s doing here.

Weekend Update (featuring Jada Pinkett Smith)

• Wow, some Biden jokes that don’t revolve around his age!

• This probably goes without saying, but I am extremely sick of the “seen here” jokes.

• Ego appears as Jada Pinkett Smith, as this was right after her revelation that she and Will had been divorced for a few years all along.

• I don’t really have a lot to say about this commentary (once you’ve seen one Ego commentary, you’ve seen them all), so let me share this quote on the YouTube upload that I think sums it up: “There wasn’t a single joke this entire sketch. It was just…a sad series of facts.” And you know what? He’s right!

• I chuckled at the disgusting ice cream flavors/pregnancy joke.

• I also really liked the punchline to the story about a man’s glasses getting shot off.

• This is the second Update in a row that was surprisingly tolerable. It helps that it was extremely short.

Sketch: Protective Mom

Luís gets embarrassed by his mother again, this time with help from his aunt.

• I did not need to see Bad Bunny in drag.

• So, yeah, this is a sequel to the sketch from Pedro Pascal’s episode where he dressed like an old lady. 

• Speaking of Pedro, there he is, so now we’ve got TWO guys in drag!

• Chloe Troast replaces Chloe Fineman as Marcello’s girlfriend in this one. I guess he broke up with the girl from the previous sketch?

• Pedro randomly throwing “Trader Joe’s” into one Spanish sentence was pretty funny.

• I like how the girlfriend character has more to do in this one instead of just standing off to the side.

• Pedro, talking about a septum piercing: “I have a piercing, too, ‘cept I’m putting it in my ear where it belongs!”

• Call me crazy, but I think this was funnier than the last time they did this!

Film: The Right Track

Wacky shenanigans occur on the subway.

• JAJ has had a pretty quiet episode so far.

• Now this suddenly turns into a variation of the Waffle House routine from last season, except now it’s on a subway.

• It was cathartic seeing Kenan getting beat up for being so annoying. 

• Some amusement from everyone trying to kill a rat. 

• The very ending where Kenan creepily says hello to JAJ was a great way to wrap it up.

• This was good, but I prefer the Waffle House version. Even though I’m still not going to eat at a house made of waffles. BEEEEEEF JELLLY!!!

Musical Performance: “Monaco”

Sketch: Convent Meeting

A group of nuns gathers to discuss an infiltrator among them.

• I got an unintentional laugh from the choral music that introduces this sketch, as it is the same music that Adult Swim used to use for their “Adult Swim Is Your Friend” bumper from 2004-2010.

• Bad Bunny in drag again? Didn’t we just have that?

• Like I said last season, nun jokes kind of bum me out, especially when nuns are portrayed as sex-obsessed creeps.

• And now Jagger’s back? I knew there was going to be a twist where there was another man in drag at the convent, but it was worth it to see Jagger dressed as a nun.

• No comment on the awful ending where this turns out to be a trailer for “Sister Act 3”, or the “second coming” pun.

Sketch: Enrique’s Daughter

The CEO of Burt’s Bees tells his employees that the company has been acquired.

• Yay! More product placement!

• I kind of laughed at Mikey shutting down the discussion of him possibly getting laid off.

• This sketch is really slow, but it’s not that bad. Something about Bad Bunny’s performance is clicking with me for some reason.

• Even Kenan isn’t doing too badly in this sketch. This is one of the best nights he’s had in a while.

• One person who is annoying me here is Bowen. Even when he isn’t the focus, he still feels the need to overact and be gay.

• I like Mikey’s revelation that the company makes its chapstick by grinding up bees.

• I’m surprised at how much I liked this, especially the ending where Bad Bunny interrupts everybody else standing up for him by revealing that his son is having a baby.

Final thoughts: This was much better than the last episode. The writers seem to have gotten back into the groove after the strike. Bad Bunny kind of annoyed me at first, but he got better as we went along. Even Kenan managed not to annoy me, which is amazing at this point of his tenure.

Best sketches: The Age of Discovery, Bad Bunny Is Shrek, Protective Mom, Enrique’s Daughter

Worst sketches: Cold Open, Rap Battle, Convent Meeting

Next review: Nate Bargatze/Foo Fighters

SNL Reviews: Pete Davidson/Ice Spice (10/14/23)

 Now we come to Season 49! I can’t believe I’ve been reviewing this show for seven seasons now!

Cold Open

Pete takes a moment to talk about the tragedies going on in Israel.

• Color me surprised, this is the best cold open we’ve had since…I don’t know, the last time we did something like this. As someone who doesn’t really care for Pete Davidson, I think he actually came off pretty good here. 

• There’s really not too much I can say about this one, but I’m glad that none of my three predictions on what the cold open would be about came true. In case you’re curious, they were (1) some kind of tongue-in-cheek look at the writer’s strike, (2) Donald Trump, or (3) Donald Trump somehow being responsible for the writer’s strike.

Note: The intro is the same as last season, but we have a new cast member! Chloe Troast has joined…and I’ve never heard of her. Also, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman have been promoted.

Monologue

Pete talks about Game of Thrones, Staten Island, and the first time he did stand-up.

• Pete was supposed to host last season before the strike happened. I think Jennifer Coolidge was also supposed to appear, and if that’s the case, thank goodness her episode got cancelled, because I wouldn’t have been able to take a sketch where she interacts with Chloe Fineman’s impression of her.

• I was expecting a serious monologue from Pete after what happened in the cold open, but instead I was greeted with incest jokes. Incest is soooo funny, right guys?!??

• He didn’t waste any time in getting back to his overused Staten Island jokes. Oh, and we get a pedophile priest joke too! 

Sketch: NFL on FOX

The FOX crew is distracted by news of Taylor Swift.

• Ugh, I see Kenan is still on the show. 

• Devon’s goofy smile as Michael Strahan made me chuckle.

• Molly is still being typecast as fat men, unfortunately.

• Are you kidding me? The first sketch of the season, and it’s about Taylor Swift and her stupid relationship with Travis Kelce, which is a story that we were all sick of hearing about in the week leading up to this episode.

• Adding further fuel to my hatred of this sketch is the fact that I don’t give two shits about football.

• Pete’s character added absolutely nothing to this.

• Oh, and just in case we didn’t get it, they have Kelce himself show up at the end!!!! 

Film: I’m Just Pete

Pete sings about being himself.

• Ugh, we now get the return of those awful Pete Davidson raps that I haven’t missed.

• Even worse, this is a parody of that stupid overrated Barbie movie that everyone went crazy about during the summer. SNL, behind the times yet again!!!

• The thing I hate the most about this awful song is the way it treats his mental issues as just a big ol’ goof. Haha, isn’t bipolar disorder funny? Laugh, you sheeple!!!

Sketch: Wired Autocomplete Interview

The stars of a new show answer the most popular questions about themselves.

• How many times has Ego said “bitch” at this point? Frankly, it’s getting old.

• Unfortunately, the main joke of this sketch is Pete being humiliated for pooping his pants. That’s it.

• I saw the “twist” where the other characters’ questions bring it up coming from a mile away.

• No comment on the black box recording of Pete’s accident.

Sketch: Secretary 

A lawyer takes on a new client with the help of his secretary.

• Bowen looks even gayer with a mustache on.

• Ugh, looks like we have our latest WACKY Heidi character! It should come as no surprise that Jimmy Fowlie and his new partner in crime Ceara O’Sullivan are responsible for this shit.

• JAJ is wasted with about fifteen seconds of screentime in this sketch.

• I do have to give major props to Heidi for making her pratfall through the desk look real.

Please Don’t Destroy: The Original Princes of Comedy

The guys look back on their past as child standup comedians.

• Our first Please Don’t Destroy sketch of the season. Hopefully it’s better than the disappointing one they ended Season 48 with.

• I like the footage of teenage Pete doing standup.

• We suddenly get a twist where we see what the three guys were like when they were kids.

• This setting immediately makes me think of the classic Kings of Catchphrase Comedy sketches (“BEEEEEEF JELLY!”).

• The stock footage of a rowdy black audience laughing is hilarious, as is the whole concept of young children performing Def Jam style comedy.

• All of the child actors match their grown-up counterparts to a tee, especially the one who plays Ben “Smoke Dog” Marshall.

• Random John Mulaney cameo for the first time since Season 47. I like how the black audience starts to leave as soon as he’s about to do an Ice-T impression.

Musical Performance: “In Ma Hood”

Weekend Update (featuring Christopher Columbus and Deion Sanders)

• We’re still getting a bunch of awful George Santos jokes.

• Bowen’s latest annoying commentary is as Christopher Columbus, which means we get yet another example of SNL’s recent obsession with cartoony Italian accents.

• Why isn’t Marcello playing Columbus? Oh wait, that would actually make sense, and we can’t have that, so let’s give him to the most annoying guy on the show!

• I did get a genuine laugh from the joke about Russell Brand.

• Another surprisingly good joke that Che gives Jost to read about black kids missing their fathers.

• Kenan’s playing yet another celebrity he shouldn’t be. This time it’s Deion Sanders. I did laugh at his introductory line, saying how much he liked the aforementioned black father joke.

• Most of this commentary is exactly what you’d expect from modern-day Kenan. There’s a gag that goes on for way too long where he reacts to all the college teams that are undefeated.

• A huge laugh at the clip of Sanders “rapping” from when he was a host in 1995 (one of the worst episodes ever).

• Surprisingly, this Update wasn’t as awful as I was fearing. There were barely any Trump jokes, and I laughed a worryingly high number of times.

Sketch: Spaceship

Two former co-workers reconnect while their spaceship is under attack.

• Michael Longfellow still exists!!!! And he has a pretty meaty role in this sketch as the captain!

• UGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! Here we have yet ANOTHER campy gay stereotype character courtesy of Bowen Yang! This sketch was looking promising until he showed up. Why’d he have to ruin it?!??

• The writer’s guide on Reddit that I use doesn’t say who wrote this, but I’m fairly sure this is another Jimmy Fowlie “masterpiece”, perhaps in collaboration with Bowen.

• I think it was Stooge who pointed out that handlebar mustaches are automatically funny. Well, I’d like to point out that I think all mustaches are automatically funny, especially the type that Pete’s wearing here which makes him look like a child predator.

• Geez, this is still going on…

• At least this sketch ends with Bowen getting sucked into space.

Musical Performance: “Pretty Girl”

• UGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Taylor Swift is there to introduce this song! “Hey guys, are we cool? We actually got Travis and Taylor to appear in our show!!!!” Gag me with a fucking spoon.

Sketch: Beach Day

A day at the beach doesn’t go as planned.

• Where the fuck has Sarah been this entire episode? This is only the first time she’s appeared.

• Pete has some very distracting tattoos on his legs.

• Holy crap, Andrew with a lead role!

• Andrew and Pete have great chemistry in this sketch. I wish we could have seen more of this while Pete was still on the show.

• The ending is extremely abrupt.

Sketch: Glamgina

A gynecologist tries a brand new product.

• Sorry, but I don’t buy Pete Davidson as a doctor.

• Suddenly, this turns into a commercial for vagina cream. Are the ESPN Classic guys ghostwriting for the show now?

• This has to be a sketch that Sarah wrote. Only she would come up with something like this.

• In a perfect summary of how SNL treats its newer cast members, Chloe Troast literally comes out of a closet in this sketch.

• As much as I like Sarah’s sketches, I think this needed a little more of a hook than just repeating the word “vagina” over and over again.

Sketch: Roadhouse Bar

Two men show off their extravagant new lifestyles at a bar.

• The lack of Kenan in this episode pleases me. We haven’t seen him since that Deion Sanders commentary on Update, and I think he was only in one other sketch before that.

• Andrew looks hilarious as a cowboy.

• Sweet, another sketch where Andrew and Pete interact with each other!

• I like the randomness of Andrew and Pete’s characters selling foot porn of themselves online.

• Funny twist where Pete reveals that the factory he used to work at is actually a Cheesecake Factory.

• This is a really, really weird sketch, but it actually turned out to be the best part of this entire episode!

Final thoughts: I honestly don’t know what to say about this episode. One part of me likes all the focus on newer cast members, but I also hate the copy-paste nature of a lot of the sketches. There was some absolutely atrocious material in here (looking at you, Bowen). As someone who doesn’t really like Pete Davidson, I don’t think he did too bad as a host. In fact, I might like him better as a host! The fact that we didn’t get a single mention of his love of weed is amazing!

Best sketches: Cold Open, The Original Princes of Comedy, Roadhouse Bar

Worst sketches: Wired Autocomplete Interview, Spaceship

Next review: Bad Bunny. Now that’ll be an interesting episode to talk about.