Cold Opening – Trump’s Mother’s Day
President Trump (JAJ) interrupts SNL’s Mother’s Day cold open
- As soon as I saw the show doing another Mother’s Day cold open, and with just three players, I knew this cold open would take a different route.
- And here is JAJ interrupting the cold open to reprise his role as the President. I admit getting an unintended laugh from that one disgusted female audience member as soon as his impression showed up.
- I’m getting a bit tired of these cold opens, even as the show has been using the impression once in a while in more “scenes” and not just this format. I’ll still give this a chance.
- Nice Swerski Brothers mention.
- I admit getting some laughs from the talk about JD Vance, especially the Pope Francis mention.
- I’m actually a bit surprised they had Cecily Strong back as Jeanine Pirro. I know many expected her to come back, but I would’ve assumed that anniversary appearance would be her only one for the season, with her about to give birth and all. At least it is sweet seeing this SNL legend next to an SNL legend to be such as JAJ. They both were a fun duo in the few times they were paired in JAJ’s first season and a half.
- Cecily’s Jeanine remains hilarious as always. One of the few impressions that does spit takes and still make it funny. With that said, this cold open feels like several concepts combined into a single piece.
- I loved the whole rambling bit Cecily’s Jeanine gave just now. That was great and delivered impressively.
- The whole Colin as Pete Hegseth thing is very clearly a sign he is out. And also, what’s with the audience screeching as he showed up? Does that audience not know he is still a cast member? Or are they anticipating some spit takes from Cecily’s Pirro? Guess the latter.
- The whole Cecily/Colin portion is more cute than funny, and is, again, such a clear sign he is out. Seeing him having so much fun is endearing more than it is funny once again.
- This is probably my least favorite of these interruption cold opens of late, but it was still decent. Nice also to see Cecily Strong back on the show again after a good while.
Rating: ***
Monologue
host talks being a sex symbol, Mother’s Day
- I am already liking Walton as our host, right from his entrance. Like some other hosts, I can tell he is beyond thrilled to host SNL.
- This monologue has now turned into one of those many “host makes fun of himself” monologues, but Walton is making this work fine for me. I did also get a good laugh from that Cosmopolitan headline about him.
- Another turn with the Mother’s Day theme now taking center stage, but the interaction between Walton and his mom is very endearing and ends a messy-but-harmless monologue on a positive note.
Rating: ***
The Second Amendment
the drafting of the Second Amendment had unique origins
- These types of sketches, such as the classic Washington’s Dream and Making Man, are usually up my alley of humor. Seeing this as the post-monologue sketch makes me feel good about it.
- I love that JAJ went from playing Trump to a founding father in the span of a few minutes.
- Such a fun voice and role from JAJ. Rare to see him playing this type of authority figure who is at the same time a frustrated straight man. JAJ certainly does some heavy utility work, but rare to see him as a central straight man in a sketch. A very Mikey Day-type role. Hopefully a sign of how JAJ would be utilized more often these next few seasons, alongside his own “Glue”-type roles the writers often have him do outside of Trump.
- As fun too are Walton and the guys with their interjections to the Second Amendment drafting. Seeing Mikey here, being his fun self, makes me a tad emotional. It’ll be utterly surreal to see an SNL without Mikey’s distinct voice and presence. Much like Bill Hader, Dan Aykroyd, Phil Hartman and nowadays JAJ, Mikey’s voice and presence is very comforting and very classic SNL to me.
- Walton is sounding so much like Steven Tyler in this sketch. Not only both in his facial resemblance, but he got that great raspy voice Steven has.
- Michael’s whole little moment before he leaves was such a patented great little Michael Longfellow moment only he can nail.
- I just love how more and more agitated JAJ is getting as the sketch continues. Refreshing to see him again really loose in a piece, as he often plays more mature, level-headed characters reacting to looseness.
- I’m surprised this sketch ended as soon as it did. It often feels SNL sketches nowadays run a minute longer than needed. I would’ve loved this to have run a bit more, but an overall enjoyable first sketch for the night.
Rating: ***1/2
Tiny Baby Shoe
girl (JAW) sings about tiny baby shoe
- And now, for something completely different, or rather not, as we get our “Make Jane Happen” piece of the night. Surprised it took so long for her to get a musical pretape or even a starring role in something other than Weekend Update.
- It has to be said, but Jane Wickline is no Chloe Troast, and her awkward, off-key singing, complete with “quirky” visuals and lyrics is falling very flat. This makes the great Get That Boy Back short from last season even better to me, and Jane is no Chloe when it comes to powerful vocals and natural, charismatic presence. This is plain sad and pathetic to witness, honestly.
- The “quirky” and “cute” premise of Jane singing about a tiny shoe makes me remember the classic Wishin’ Boots pretape from S40, as well as wonderful, catchy pieces like Pip and My Best Friend’s House from this season, and again, makes this piece come off even worse than it is. There’s nothing in this piece that hasn’t been done before, and done better, and with a performer with actual something to contribute to the show.
- I might be thinking more than whoever penned this piece with Jane, but is Walton’s character supposed to be a reference to Dooneese? Those tepid sketches come off like something Jan Hooks would’ve done next to this dreck.
- None of the visuals, vocals, moments are working for me. Not even Ashley Padilla coming off like she is having a blast is doing a thing for me, and Ashley usually steals the pretapes she appears in.
- I love Sam Rockwell and seeing him here reminds me of how much I liked his S43 episode. But, to make a cameo (for the 19th show in a row we have one) in such a piece is a waste of his talents.
- All-in-all, if this is a piece that was supposed to make me be on Jane Wickline’s side, I am afraid it failed that task. There was nothing here I felt was fresh, nothing that wasn’t done before and done better even. The endless runtime and bloated presentation, a trademark with quite a number of pretapes this season and the last few, made matters even worse, if that’s even possible. One of the saddest pieces I’ve ever seen a cast member star in.
Rating: *
Mother’s Day Brunch
waiter (host) is seductive during brunch
- I said it once earlier in the night, but Walton is coming off very Steven Tyler-esque here. I definitely could’ve seen Steven playing such a role in one of his obligatory sketch appearances back when Aerosmith were MG’s in the 90’s and ‘00s.
- This sketch, with a “weird” person, or a waiter in this sketch’s case, next to more normal characters has been done to death before, but with Walton, I feel he can make it passable.
- Nothing to say here, except that Walton has been a real game and making such a thin piece tolerable with his pure charisma. I liked especially the moment with the heart through the door’s window.
Rating: ***
Service Dogs
dogs are bored by dramatic play
- Right from the pre-sketch preparation, I’m getting very worrisome S45 vibes with the usage of “cute” dogs instead of actual writing.
- Yeah, blah. I can already tell this is going to be an extremely desperate, thin sketch. Instead of writing jokes, having a premise that is heightened throughout, we get “adorable” dogs being bored by a play. In some ways, this reminds me of that wretched sketch with Regina King in S46. Quite fitting something from this season reminded me of that season, and while this season didn’t have as many lowlights as S46 had, it is easily overall the worst year since it. Hell, this sketch is even worse. Not even the dog sketches in S45 were this bad from what I recall, and I remember hating those with the combined heat of a thousand suns.
- The Heidi/Walton portions are promising and performed very well. Bowen is also good in his role in this, but the cutaways to cast members next to dogs doing shit like eye rolling or trying to leave is so fucking lame. My God, how did this get even past the dress rehearsal?! Are SNL audiences THAT easily amused? Oof.
- This sketch is a total waste of Ashley & Emil’s talents, while nepo hire Jane Wickline is front-and-center. As if this sketch isn’t already terrible enough.
- Overall, wow. This was fucking dreadful. Also, between this and that sad short, this episode is really having some of my least favorite material in a long while.
Rating: *
Musical Performance – “Pink Elephant”
Weekend Update
The Movie Guy (MAH) on upcoming summer blockbusters
A Guy Who Just Walked Into a Spiderweb (MID) tried to talk Trump tariffs
Dianne (HEG) on New York visit
- Ugh, are we seriously bringing back this character from Marcello? Either he gets way too much freedom, or the show is just that desperate for recurring characters.
- Yeah, knowing we are most likely losing most of his seniors in the cast soon, it would mean this guy would be getting even more airtime to do this tired, stereotypical “Hispanic voices” shtick of his. I remember Melissa being attacked near the end of her run for some of her Hispanic-centric pieces (as very few as they were), yet where are those people when this guy has his main shtick, himself screaming at us with a Hispanic accent? The push and chances this performer, whom I do not really hate gets, is so undeserved and unearned. Many others in this cast and prior ones deserve/d WAY more chances than this guy is getting.
- We are calling Thunderbolts a hit? And getting a very tired, overdone Scarlett dig? Am I supposed to laugh and clap like a seal at this part? Man, fuck this indulgent shit.
- Like that piece of shit sketch prior to Update, the audience is eating this up. Either the audience this episode is composed of kids or I am on an island for finding this shit the epitome of hackiness.
- I swear they did that Bin Laden joke before. That or these Updates just feel so interchangeable to me of late.
- A very Groundlings-y performance piece from Mikey and nice to see him doing another desk piece. Unlike some in this cast, his are ones that are often fun and show no signs of indulgence and insecurity.
- Mikey is having me practically on the floor with this piece so far! He is absolutely hilarious, and his committed physical work is priceless. With this and Lord Gaga, he definitely had some of the best desk pieces of this whole season.
- And we are out. A very fun, short-and-sweet desk piece from Mikey. The difference between this one and what I just suffered through is night and day.
- This Heidi desk piece was cut from last week’s show. At least nice to see it getting on air this week, even when everything about it screamed latter years Kristen Wiig.
- A committed, layered character work from Heidi as always. Probably one of the last times we get a display of such from her, but this piece is thin on writing thus far. I am noticing a theme in a lot of this episode’s writing by now.
- I admit getting a laugh from Heidi near the end, but while not exactly an awful piece, it is a shame this season of Heidi’s hasn’t been as strong near its end as it was for a good while.
Rating: ***
The Deathly Diner
diner is horror-themed
- I think this is the biggest role Ashley had in a live sketch in some time. Icebreaker was the last I feel, so I’m glad to see her playing a role Heidi or Ego would’ve played a season ago.
- I said it in a prior review, but does this season hold a record when it comes to sketches taking place in diners/restaurants? It certainly feels like it. Anybody got a stat on that? Mike Murray, where ya at?
- This sketch reminds me of that fun diner sketch with Lady Gaga couple of months ago. I know some fans loved that one a lot more than I did, but this one does come off like a knockoff in a way.
- Fun duo work from Bowen and Ego. Rare to see these two paired together, despite how apparently close they are backstage. And this sketch is now taking a different, less ambitious route, than the prior sketch, and it is fine so far, despite some underwriting.
- I’m really enjoying the straight man work from Ashley especially. Much like JAJ, she truly makes the most of what she is given and delivers every line and moment with such precision.
- Aww. An actual sweet ending to an otherwise messy, yet fine enough sketch.
Rating: ***
Musical Performance – “Year of the Snake”
Boss’s Bathroom
employee (AND) is scared of boss’s (host) toilet
- Fuck yes! A Dan Bulla/Midnight Matinee piece! Hopefully, this one will save an otherwise flat night for me.
- Considering none of the prior three Dan Bulla shorts dipped below a rating of ****1/2 from me, I have high hopes for this one.
- Nice to see Andrew starring in one of these, considering the past two shorts had JAJ more in a central “Glue” role. Andrew fits so well the unique Dan Bulla style these shorts have.
- Seeing Sarah in this role makes it all very obvious Chloe has been shut out once again this season. This is a role she could’ve played and did in the past. Amazing how far she has fallen in utility compared to where she was just a season ago.
- Even the potential low-brow humor is handled really well. I love how eerie the toilet sounds. It adds nice horror element to this short.
- A good turn with Andrew imagining the first half of the short all in his head, as he gathers himself in the bathroom.
- I love the whole bizarre last third with cavemen Walton & Sarah. That Sarah line “water strong!” is a great little Squirm moment we sadly barely gotten from her this season.
Rating: ****
Side Note:
- I love how all the four Dan Bulla shorts so far end with various characters of his popping up in the title card:
Cut For Time: Amazing Anna
employee (host) uses odd catchphrases to sell Amazing Anna toy
- John: Thank you to Blood Meridian for being gracious enough to let me guest review this cut sketch, which appeared very late in the week as a Peacock exclusive before going on Youtube. Better late than never.
- Saturday Night Network mentioned that this sketch was originally cut from the Travis Kelce episode.
- We immediately get a tariff-related line from Heidi that was decidedly not in that version, reminding us of our wonderful current times.
- I like Heidi’s Annie Hall-esque attire.
- Oh look, it’s Chloe! She’s not shut out after all, she’s just very leisurely.
- They’ve done a good job of not just making Walton look like himself here even though it’s a fairly simple case of wig and glasses. There are vague outlines of Mikey Day, but I would best describe the look as if Peter Scolari played Clark Kent.
- I think Bowen is doing Vanessa Bayer’s Laura Parsons voice, which is the type of meta moment I can appreciate.
- So far this has a low-energy feel, befitting a dress piece along these lines.
- The laughs are mostly generated from Walton’s accent work (a vaguely Southern Cher Horowitz or a Parker Posey homage) as Amazing Anna. He wrings some chuckles out of the repeated mentions of, “I’m Anna,” “I’m sick,” and “My assistant died.” I wouldn’t be shocked if this ends up as a meme or dance remix somewhere.
- This aspect never really goes anywhere beyond some limpid reactions from the Bowen and Chloe characters about all the high drama of Anna.
- The end note with a gay boy being a fan of Amazing Anna isn’t awful, but is just kind of there, not helped by the distraction of Sarah (as his mother) doing her best to stare at the camera, rather than her son. She barely has any lines in the sketch so I can’t even say she is trying to read the cards. A great example of why some fans talk about how unnatural many of the performances on the show in recent decades are.
- Compare this to the Sara Lee and Beanie Babies sketches from season 45 and 46 (the latter being the Daniel Kaluuya cut sketch, not the Andrew Dismukes and Lizzo sketch), and both have sharper lines and more life to them, even if Beanie Babies peters out by the end.
- I’m glad to get any cut sketch, no matter the quality, but this isn’t one I would have chosen to upload if I was at the show. Still, it’s out, and I’m grateful to be able to review it on this wonderful blog.
Rating: **
Goodnights
- Seeing JAJ in crutches worried me a bit, as it made me think he hurt himself badly, but seeing him play with them as we fade out makes me think they were for a sketch. I sure hope so.
Segments Ranked from Best to Worst
Boss’s Bathroom
The Second Amendment
Trump’s Mother’s Day
The Deathly Diner
Monologue
Mother’s Day Brunch
Weekend Update
CFT: Amazing Anna
Tiny Baby Shoe / Service Dogs (tie)
Final Thoughts:
- Yet another very flat episode. This one will easily be ranked near the bottom of this season’s episodes in the average rating. A shame, as it didn’t have as many bad pieces as some other shows had. Barely anything stood out for me and the night had a really dead feeling, which has happened quite often this season. Several overlong segments, including the second Arcade Fire performance, added further to the hollow feeling. Not helping the night that it contained two of the worst pieces of the whole season. One of which (Tiny Baby Shoe) has to be, hands down, one of the saddest attempts to push a performer in recent SNL history. Walton Goggins, with that all said, certainly was the highlight of the whole episode. Elevated some pieces, gave committed performances and seemed a lot more energetic than the night was. He can come back and host anytime he wants in my view.
- I noticed some really iffy cast use, as per usual this season. JAJ probably had the most airtime not counting Update anchors, alongside Mikey Day. The rest of the cast I felt barely showed up in anything. Hell, Chloe Fineman was shut out for the third time this season, as well was poor Devon Walker. There’s truly nothing for Chloe Fineman to do on the show by this point. I’ll be genuinely stunned if she is even asked back next season. One of the saddest seasons a veteran cast member has ever had in recent years.
My Favorite Moments of the episode, Represented with Screencaps:
Up Next:
- The season comes to an end with host Scarlett Johansson and musical guest Bad Bunny.
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
As always, another great review from you Blood!
One word to sum up this episode: tired. As we come to the end of this tepid season, we’re once again seeing a lot of the same characteristics that plagued the first half (especially the December run): weak writing, odd cast usage, the pushing of certain “star” cast members, and an overall flat and hollow feel.
It was fun to see Cecily’s Jeanine Pirro back (especially given she just gave birth a month ago) and she hasn’t lost a step at all. That said, despite her, JAJ, and Colin’s fun performances, one can’t help but feel a bit of fatigue setting in with these “Trump interrupts” cold opens. I absolutely 1000% prefer these over the dreaded Trumpwin cold opens or cameo orgies of the past, but could we maybe use a bit more variety here? I get that it’s hard to parody Trump and his ilk, but more creative settings and premises would help. Still, this was fine for what it was.
I 100% agree with how sad, pathetic, and desperate that Jane short was. Not only was her flat off-key singing annoying (seriously, is her lack of talent supposed to be what’s funny here? If so, get a random person off the street) but the premise was lame, forced, and just plain not funny. This reminded me a bit of the Big Dumb Line short or the worst of the Digital Shorts in how it felt like it was desperate to go viral. But those shorts might as well be masterpieces compared to this. It legit makes me angry that so many chances have been taken on this wooden flat performer merely because of who her parents are while other, much more talented performers get peanuts for airtime. If it weren’t for the nepotism, this girl wouldn’t have been able to set one foot inside of Studio 8H.
Likewise, that Marcello desk piece sums up everything I absolutely despise about him as a performer at his worst. Your review perfectly illustrates just how (once again) annoying, desperate, and sad this was. Hearing the audience lose their shit over this made me lose a few braincells. I never thought we’d have a cast member who is essentially the new Horatio Sanz but here we are.
While I’ve seen better Dan Bulla shorts, this one once again was creative, unique, well acted, and gave the night a shot in the arm. Maybe more bizarre/creepy as opposed to funny, but I’m really happy to see instances like this where the show is swinging for the fences. Hearing the audience not knowing what to make of this piece (especially after they ate up that shitty Dog sketch and the Marcello piece) felt cathartic in a way.
Much of the rest of the night was fine but unremarkable. Continuing a pattern with this season, most of these sketches were ultimately forgettable and came and went without leaving much of an impression. It’s a shame because Walton was a fun and committed host and you could tell he was stoked to be there and having a blast. Once again continuing a theme with this season, he deserved better writing. Oh well. One more episode to go.
OK, Similar to Last Week, I’ll post how I would’ve made the bad sketches IMO better:
Mother’s Day Cold Open: Make it a FOX News sketch where Laura Loomer (Fineman), MTG (Gardner), and JD Vance (Bowen) are complaining how the New Pope is “Woke” and not Christian
Monologue: I got Nothing
Mother’s Day Brunch: Replace Squirm with Ego, Replace Mikey with Devon, and Replace Andrew with Longfellow?
Update: Instead of Marcello, Bring back Heidi’s Bailey, Also change Day’s Bit to where he’s a farmer saying how Tarriff’s are great despite him having to sell blood/clothes/land/his wife. And have Ego as a British Correspondent how the UK is gonna mess trump on the Trade Deal.
Horror Restaurant: Go darker with the hosts implying the parents and kids are gonna be killed? Maybe have a few more hosts/waiters?
Bosses Bathroom: Get rid of the cavemen part and have it be where Squirm (ugh) and Goggins are Cultists for the Toilet seat?
I seriously believe that this will be the last season for Michael Che, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Devon Walker, and Jane Wickline.
I’ve been lots of Colin outside of Update and given the fact his wife is hosting the finale, it’s just signs he’s gearing up for this last show. Che already claimed if Jost leaves, he’ll leave with him and I think he said back in February for a college comedy show that this might be his final season.
With Mikey and Heidi, I feel we’re seeing lots of them as they are also gearing for their final show. We’re getting lots of them leading sketches which leads me to believe they are getting ready for their last show as cast members.
After Devon and Chloe have been basically shunned out this whole episode, it lead to believe Chloe will not return next season but move on to focus on movies or tv. I think the show is gonna cut Devon as he barely makes any screentime in the past couple of episodes.
Despite the Tiny Baby Shoes pre-tape, Jane isn’t a strong sketch performer. I’m actually tired of watching her be so one note and not add anything new. All of her songs are basically the same thing and show tries so hard to push her but it just comes off as flat and one noted. If anything, Ashley and Emil have dominated this season and have proved they can lead in sketches. Ashley’s JoAnne character was the funniest thing I’ve seen from a new cast member since Sarah Sherman on her first season. I’m sorry but I really believe that Jane isn’t coming back next season and if she does, she better have improve over the summer because there is no way I’m seeing 7 seasons of the same flat, effortless delivery coming from Jane.
Wonderful recap, as always. I am glad you are willing to say that Jane – who is very likeable as a person and of course does not deserve hate – just isn’t cutting it. I’ve seen some fans say this episode was a test for her to return. For me it was the opposite – I think they know they are bringing Jane back and were using the pre-tape to try to justify why. I think this was one of the worst pre-tapes in years and felt like an AI version of Kyle Mooney and Victoria Wood (with some Doonneese thrown in). I thought Jane was OK in the dog sketch (your review of that was another gem – it was so weird I couldn’t fully dislike it but the whole thing definitely had a desperate feel), but is that enough reason to bring her back? Having Emil, who doesn’t feel likely to return, show up solely to sit in the background. Moments like that and him being called “dead man walking” in the promo is the part of the callousness of the show that sours my viewing experience.
I don’t have a great deal of experience with Walton, so I feared he might be one of those Jason Patric type hosts who just has bad vibes or seems to take everything too seriously. That wasn’t the case. He was strange in the right ways. He had a great deal of charisma, and was trying very hard, which helped singlehandedly carry that Matthew McConaughey castoff waiter sketch. He reminded me of Bruce Dern in having a bemused disturbing quality. I just wish the show had tried harder to actually use him. Maybe if he hosts again, they will, similar to Cumberbatch’s second stint.
I know there is some criticism out there of focusing too much on cast departures, but in episodes like this, where everything felt half-written (and didn’t have an ending), it’s difficult to not focus on one of the reasons they may be going through the motions. You could find potential goodbyes for Jost, Heidi, Mikey, Bowen and Ego in the episode. Of all of them Mikey’s I’d say was the best – pure energy, and the brief jolt of life Update needs (especially compared to that Marcello mugfest – and you are so right in all you said about it), giving the sense of something he had tried to get on for years. I tuned out of Heidi’s Wiig tribute, but I do respect her, and I appreciate her doing what she enjoys. Jost reuniting with Cecily could have felt extremely self-indulgent, but similar to last week, Jost’s pure joy went a long way to cut through the smugness. Bowen and Ego – not the greatest sketch, but I was mostly fine with it, in part because I could see how hard they had worked to try to get in sync. Their being in a sketch together to that level is enough of a rarity that I do wonder if one of them is going.
Chloe being shut out may be another sign. Funny you mention that Chloe often would have been in the Bulla pretape, as she was – they just cut her out. They surgically removed Chloe from everything but the opening credits, which is, as you said, somewhat shocking treatment of a cast member who has been on for six seasons now.
I go back and forth with the Bulla pre-tapes. They always look great – this one had gorgeous visuals – and some are genuinely very strong, but I wish there wasn’t this on-off switch where I enjoy one and then the next leaves me cold. At least Andrew got a good part and looked great (as did everyone in the short). If Andrew stays – big if – then his pairing up with Mikey in two sketches feels like another passing of the torch.
JAJ did a great job with all he was given. I should probably be sick of the Trumpus interruptus cold opens by now, but JAJ handles them with such a verve, such a skill, such sincerity. He also has a way of sneaking in some very cutting, despairing lines. If these have replaced the often terrible cable news cold opens, I’m not complaining. And the fakeout of the Mother’s Day cold open was a clever choice, even though I felt stupid at not realizing – the lady who played Kenan’s mother had been on the show several times, including as Che’s mother in one of the best PPD (remember them?) shorts.
I’m trying to keep my expectations low for the finale, as you have to with SNL finales. This season has had some strong moments, but I’m sorry they never really got it together. The show needs so many changes backstage, but I forever ponder if they will just make changes for the worst. Still, at this point they have to try. The current product can’t sustain itself.
John, why do you feel Andrew returning is a “big if”?
If you count when Andrew joined as a writer, he’s been with the show for 8 seasons, which is around the time many cast leave. Staying that long also makes you more likely to get more money, presumably, and NBC/Comcast are having money problems. Andrew has shifted more and more to just playing the types of roles Mikey often played, which he does fine in, but can be taken over by others, like Michael or JAJ. I could see him staying one more season, but a part of me does think he’s going. I guess we’ll know soon enough.
I must admit, I wasn’t really looking forward to this episode. Despite being a fan of Walton Goggins all the way back to his run on The Shield (still one of the GREAT SHOWS), I’ve not been enjoying the recent public persona Goggins has started taking on. He leapfrogged straight from the “Ubiquitous, but under-heralded character actor” role to “Living embodiment of sentient idiosyncrasy” persona without leaving room for that cushy middle. Think about it, we got three full Christopher Walken episodes of SNL before anyone was really in on the joke. Jeff Goldblum hosted twice before he became a full time human sex spider. Goggins didn’t give the mainstream any time to enjoy him before he devolved into the unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt “this guy fucks…perhaps too much” guy. The episodes monologue almost went some distance toward playing with/undercutting that, but then mom came on and all was lost.
A quick pitstop at the cold open before I get to the rest of the show: It’s a formula. It works. It’s a formula that works. Hate the formula but admire how the JAJ Trump-terruptions keep chugging along. Cecily’s cameo was good fun and I truly admire and appreciate how solidified Jost is in his persona. He’s actually found a way to become an endearing presence on the show, which is stunning.
OK, the rest of the show was…messy. A few almost/kinda/sorta/maybes (Deathly Diner, Second Amendment) that I felt fine about but wanted more from. The waiter sketch actually put Goggins’ weird new vibe to good use. The sketch wasn’t much, but it sailed by with his strong lead performance. The dog piece was far more harmless to me that what is being posited. Granted, we had a far more successful “dog” sketch earlier in the year, but I thought there was some generally agreeable business amid the mediocrity.
The two pre-tape bits were both interesting but tonally chaotic and unfocused. They COULD have been great (especially the Bulla piece), but they veered so far away from…anything that would make it connect. I think the discrepancy in star rating might be based on pre-conceived feelings. This isn’t a defense of Tiny Feet (I would have given it two stars, maybe), but more of a dig at another Bulla piece that doesn’t land its setup. The truth is, Bulla does a great job extracting expectation from the audience, but I don’t think he has landed on a turn that fully resonated with me (Pip comes closest). I want to like his stuff because the energy and the vibe is different, but even looking at the terrific setup with this one, it just completely goes off the rails before anything satisfying can be accomplished. It’s like it was in such a rush to get to the fireworks factory that it let the comedy at home.
Tiny Feet was just more generally a mess and while I was generally tickled by the chaos of it, even I have to admit that Jane really can’t carry this stuff yet. And frankly, the joke was never good enough to begin with.
The highlight of the episode to me was good ‘ol reliable Mikey, showing up on Update to deliver some straight-forward, primal comedy nonsense. Mikey’s rap sheet is long and aggravating, but God bless him for getting across a little comic idea in such a quick and dirty fashion. In an episode with sketches that were so undercooked or overbaked, it was refreshing to have something that cut straight to the comedy pleasure center.
Hey Blood.
Yeah I didn’t care for this episode, and it’s the first episode I didn’t care for in a WHILE. While nothing in this episode was particularly awful in my opinion, there was WAY more mediocre material than I would’ve liked, and absolutely NOTHING in this episode stood out to me as strong.
The cold open was another fun Trump cold open, and I genuinely didn’t expect Trump to come out this time. Also it’s nice to see Cecily make her first cameo since leaving the show, and the section with her and Colin was very fun to see return.
The Second Amendment was a fun lead-off piece, with Walton and JAJ giving fun performances as their characters. I particularly enjoyed JAJ’s character as an increasingly frustrated straight man.
Boss’s Bathroom was a fun little pretape, but it’s probably my least favorite Dan Bulla short so far. The thing that made me enjoy his previous 2 shirts so much was the mini-movie feel that they had, and this one didn’t really have that. But I can’t complain too much, as I still really enjoyed it.
The monologue was a sweet, and funny way to start the show. Walton came off likable, and HE’S FROM GEORGIA GO DAWGS.
This was the first update edition since back in the Shane Gillis episode that I didn’t feel stood out as above average, which was very disappointing, as Update had really been stepping it up the past few months. Don’t even get me started on The Movie Guy. While I would say that Marcello not laughing at every other line he said is a positive, it just highlighted the bad writing even MORE. I also didn’t care for Heidi’s commentary as a Facebook Mom, and this is coming from someone with a Facebook Mom. Heidi’s performance felt way too “tick-y” (idk if that’s the right word).
The Service Dog sketch was dumb, but great performances from Walton, and Heidi (with a couple funny lines from Longfellow) keep it from being completely bad. Still wasn’t good to me though.
Tiny Baby’s Shoe was another dumb sketch, but a great performance from Walton helped it a bit, it was still pretty rough, though.
The Deathly Diner was just flat-out weird. It had a VERY off vibe to it, and it was very one-note. Bowen and Ego were fine here, but the main joke didn’t feel like it was fully there.
Overall, disappointing. But it could’ve been A LOT worse if not for Walton. He was a solid host, who elevated basically every sketch with a fun performance, and helped the lowlights and made them better than they could’ve been, under a less charismatic host.
I’m hoping ScarJo can bring a good season finale.
They posted a cut for time sketch called “Amazing Anna”, unfortunately its a “Peacock Only” exclusive, so a lot of people won’t get to see it. I hope this isn’t gonna become the way they post all the cut for times from now on.
Spoke too soon, they finally put it up on YouTube-
Thanks for posting it here. Will be added to the review hopefully before the finale.
The Amazing Anna Skit was cut from the Travis Kelce Dress Rehearsal in 2023
The way you and a couple of the other commenters talk about Jane Wickline is fucking unhinged, man. It’s like she disgusts you guys and her mere existence is beneath you. Having looked through so many of these reviews in the last few weeks, it’s so blatant how you’re willing to give certain cast members all the chances in the world, whereas others show up and it’s guaranteed you’re going to crap all over it. Andrew, James Austin, Michael, Ashley… all of them get raves or at least a positive shoutout for every sketch they’re in. Chloe, Bowen, Jane, Cecily when she was still around… just get hate heaped upon them in these reviews.
Honestly it feels like you don’t enjoy the show or doing the reviews, so I don’t know why you keep doing them. I understand if it’s a thing you once loved, but clearly it pains you nowadays. And frankly, calling every other thing “likable” isn’t the brilliant critique you think it is. I legitimately saw you call rapport between performers “likable” in one review. HOW DOES THAT WORK?
I don’t know, man. Maybe sit a couple of seasons out. For you to get this upset about a sketch or performer to the point where it genuinely seems like you have disdain for them… it can’t be mentally healthy.
What deeply concerns me is someone posting multiple comments on this site with such a language that’s obviously meant to upset me & others, while not having 1) the courage to have an actual e-mail, and 2) use a name and settle on it.
Jon, Mackenzie or whatever your name is. (Oh, and don’t you even deny it; that’s BULLSHIT on your part and we both know it – I can see your IP Address and there are other methods I can tell it’s you. After all, I’m a teacher.)
I’m leaving your comment up as it is, after all, it is your opinion on that matter, but if you comment again, have the balls to not use these ragebait methods and have an actual identity before making such baseless claims trying to bait me into anger.
Guess sooner or later it had to happen after 3 years to finally get these types of comments.
Thanks for commenting!
Blood, I completely agree with you. Don’t listen to those people. You have the right to your opinion, just like anyone else.
Your assessment on the cast is usually accurate. You’re one of the few people who can call out the bullshit of this particular era. It’s really strange that every time someone has the balls to say so on Reddit, you get downvoted and people are just really fucking mean.
I commend you for putting your thoughts out there. Don’t give up!
Howard, thank you very much for your kind words. I mean that.
And do not worry, I ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. I love SNL, I love writing these reviews, I could see this site going for a full decade into the future. And, what makes it all even better, is having one of the best groups of readers and regular commenters around.
I couldn’t have asked for better supporters, so thanks a lot again.