Cold Opening – Oval Office Conference
President Trump (JAJ) wonders about the future
- Figures they’d be doing a cold open around this incident.
- Andrew as RFK Jr? Andrew is one of my favorite current cast members, but seriously? Marcello as Dr. Oz is even more baffling. A lot of this cast, both good and bad, makes me feel at times I’m watching a talent show instead of a sketch comedy show.
- A predictable gag with JAJ going on a monologue as soon as the guy keels over (played by poor Jeremy), but it is a good way to use his usual monologue opens.
- Some savage self-deprecating lines from JAJ about how Trump infamously just didn’t care about someone almost dying next to him. You have to wonder why some fans think this impression is flattering. Are you even paying attention, people? Guess they want JAJ’s Trump lynched or something instead of having a solid take and satirizing him and his administration.
- Great analogy about the President creating an image about how things are going each week during his presidency so far.
- The usual Trump lines, but this is a good take on the President with tight pacing and solid lines. I especially am enjoying the SNAP/grocery prices portion and the obligatory Mamdani mention.
Rating: ***
Monologue
host does a stand-up about beauty, sex trafficking, short boyfriend
- I always greatly enjoy reviewing standup sets on SNL. These past few seasons has had quite a number of standup monologues that were a lot of fun for me to dive into. I’ve been a Nikki fan for a long while, so it feels exciting seeing her perform a set on the show, and having a female standup is refreshing. Makes me hope we get more soon.
- Already a solid laugh from Nikki calling New York “Epstein’s original island”.
- I got a big laugh from Nikki softly dissing the six year-old girl for not having a good side for a camera pose.
- I loved the causal “and they go inside him” part about Nikki’s boyfriend and her nails.
- The sex trafficking portion, I can see some being bothered by, but I still laughed during it, especially how Nikki’s friends have her as a protection because she has “resting Ghislaine face”.
- I’m usually not into relationship-based humor, but Nikki’s talk about her short boyfriend has some laughs, especially having the gun on the top shelf so he cannot reach it and giving him a juice box to calm down.
- A pretty good standup set as expected.
Rating: ***1/2
Karaoke Night
incestuous vibes between siblings (host) & (TOB) irk date (SAS)
- Nice. Another restaurant sketch.
- I’m not at all buying Andrew in this role. Nor almost any other time they stick a mustache and a gray wig on his head. Where is JAJ at? The man is effortless in these roles.
- I guess they finally found a role for Sarah…. as the straight person making faces reacting to the “weirdness” around her. Revolutionary utilization.
- A dull and poorly-structured sketch. Sarah is just not suited for straight roles and isn’t helped by the beyond overdone “shocking” incest turn SNL has done endlessly, alongside the cucking element.
- Of course, the sketch is repeating the same exact jokes over and over as we do not have eyes and ears and can’t comprehend what we see and hear on our own. Gee, thanks SNL.
- A total-write off of a sketch. Not even Andrew getting on stage could’ve saved this.
Rating: *1/2
Hudsacillin
for cancelling the Jennifer Hudson spirit tunnel appearance
- A solid laugh from the product reveal and a good way to have Nikki playing herself in a pretaped showcase.
- Good delivery from Nikki throughout this short, especially when being juxtaposed with her doing silly dance moves to the mirror.
- Odd way to use some cast members being in that Jennifer Hudson tunnel. I can even barely see some of them. I did recognize Jane, Ben and Ashley.
- A laugh from the twist with product making you sick so that you cancel the show. This reminds me of that fantastic COVID pretape from a few seasons ago.
- I’m really liking that voiceover delivery. Is that Chloe? It sounds like her in parts and others not. If so, that’s a solid way to use her voiceover skills.
- This ends up being Marcello’s second and final appearance of the whole night, and it is just a tiny moment at the end of this short. That, with his nothing role in the cold open, alongside how barely he showed up in both last episode and the Amy Poehler show, just shows you how more and more he is losing his relevancy and stock to the show, while far more versatile performers like Ben slowly take over his roles on the show.
Rating: ***
Beauty and Mr. Beast
Mr. Beast (BEM) stars in a retelling of the fairytale
- A random premise that I’m not sure will work. However, I’m not going to dismiss it from the get-go.
- Great Mr. Beast impression from Ben. He is perfect casting as Mr. Beast and it is about time that trash gets ripped apart by SNL.
- I am enjoying that voice Bowen is using as the chandelier. Fun French accent.
- As always, solid voiceover from JAJ and I’m enjoying Ben’s fun performance. With that said, the structuring of this sketch is letting it down. This is average, and while Ben is keeping up a great rookie season, something just doesn’t feel right about this.
- Not sure I needed the musical interjections from Kenan and Bowen, especially that they aren’t comedic or entertaining.
- Overall, not bad and Ben was great, but this underwhelmed me personally.
Rating: **1/2
American Girl Doll XL
life-sized doll attracts creeps
- A solid, oddball premise for an SNL commercial. It is probably intentional, but the visual of the life-sized dolls has a good creepy feel to it.
- Great WTF cutaway to Nikki after Andrew’s creepy comment about his doll. She is a solid straight man in this pretape.
- The contrast between the innocent testimonials by the women and the disturbing ones by the guys is solid and well-done. Helping it as well is the slick pace and writing.
- Kam’s part was priceless. The guys in general in this are very fun, even Mikey’s portion made me laugh out loud.
- JAJ absolutely steals this whole pretape with the ending, especially taking over the whole pretape. Excellent sinister Phil Hartman vibes there. Nice to see the show giving him the usual segment stealing roles he always nails.
Rating: ****
Mechanical Bull
two girls (host) & (SAS) travel through time and space atop a mechanical bull
- Poor Jane sounds so sick tonight. Her voice is absolutely shot. Also, has Jane been basically kicked out of half the sketches she shows up in?
- A laugh from the cutaway to Kenan playing the most Kenan role there is.
- I got an unintended laugh from Andrew clearly looking at the wrong camera, though it didn’t hurt the sketch or anything.
- Oh, I’m loving the absurdist escalation. This season in general has been having a lot of silly, absurd sketches that are really well-written.
- Fantastic, oddball utilization of JAJ. He is absolutely perfect singing in the back half of this sketch. He is also, surprising no one, doing an uncanny vocal imitation of country singers, especially Johnny Cash’s vocal style.
- So many hilarious, oddball, fun visuals during the JAJ half of this sketch. This sketch, which was fun already, is really starting to get there for me. The absurdist escalation is fantastically handled and is a blast to watch.
- I got a huge guilty laugh from the Venezuelan missile strike gag.
- Such a catchy, fun song and pacing. Sarah and Nikki are also a fun duo. Feels nice seeing Sarah (who apparently is playing herself here) getting an actual funny role for a change.
- All-in-all, fun, elaborate absurdist sketches like this is what I love from SNL. I just hope this, Experienced Lawyers and even that excellent Lady Gaga sketch (A Long Goodbye) are not just flukes.
Rating: ****1/2
Musical Performance – “12 to 12”
Weekend Update
PED talks his & COJ’s ferry problems
- The RFK Jr. slams are surprisingly making me laugh, even when the man himself is beyond parody, especially how he bolted the hell out when that guy passed out.
- That ISIS/theyISIS joke was pretty funny, I’d admit that.
- Ugh at the Maury gag. This season’s desk gags have been baffling and unfunny.
- Why is Che laughing after every single joke he delivers? The jokes themselves aren’t that great anyways, but he ruins even the ones that have potential.
- Alright, Che got me, as I got a good laugh from his Gen-Z joke.
- Pete Davidson cameo. I guess I am supposed to jump up and down over this? Nothing against Pete himself and this mercifully cuts away a potential mascot piece or two, but the odd way the show is now going “nostalgic” over the late ‘10s era is odd. Between this, the Cecily cameo late last season and the 50th special.
- Lots of self-indulgence here over that damn ferry, though Pete is coming off likable and it is endearing seeing his rapport with Colin.
- The ”Classic Pete” joke made me laugh. This is more likable than funny to me, though it is nice to see Pete being happy and talking about fatherhood.
- This is one of the shortest Updates in some time. Good. Hope they trim these much more so we can get more sketches.
Rating: *** (the first Update I gave a passing rating to all season)
Sorority Meeting
guy (MID) sneaks into sorority meeting
- Good casual reveal of Mikey in a clear disguise as a woman.
- Nikki is doing a solid job as the sorority group’s leader.
- Great physicality from Mikey, especially loving the creepy way he is eating that donut. He is cracking me the hell up and making a thin premise funny.
- The vaping gag not working is hilarious, though my version of this episode I make screencaps of as usual fixes the aired episode’s mishaps.
- Yikes, Jane’s voice sounds even hoarser than earlier tonight. Poor girl.
- An actual good twist ending.
Rating: ***1/2
Brad and His Dad – An SNL Animated Short
divorced dad (Streeter Seidell) fails to bond with son (MID)
- Great seeing more of these animated shorts. Variety always makes SNL a better show.
- Great character voice from Streeter and a fun way to have a Seiday piece featuring both of them in such a way. I also love Mikey’s kid voice; he sounds so unrecognizable.
- Such a striking animation style, especially the white background. Every one of these animated shorts had such a distinctive style to them.
- A big laugh from the awkward way Brad gets down from the tunnel.
- Great structure to this piece getting the day-by-day “bonding” between Brad and his dad.
- This is such a unique and different piece, especially for SNL of recent decades. I’m also enjoying the slice-of-life/semi-dramatic presentation. It feels so out of the ordinary for modern SNL.
- Great ending. My favorite of these animated shorts so far. More of these, SNL!
Rating: ****1/2
Pilot Announcement
pilot (JAJ) reads texts & requests dating advice during trip
- Nikki looks great as a stewardess. She is also doing a spot-on voice as expected.
- Great to seeing a lot of JAJ tonight. Notice how most of his roles so far tonight were important “Glue”-type roles or fun oddball characters.
- A fantastic pilot voice and cadence from JAJ. Absolutely flawless.
- Solid laughs from JAJ reading his texts as the rest of the plane listens to it in awkward tension. I say it all the time, but JAJ sounds SO much like Phil Hartman to me. I totally could see Phil doing this type of a role in his own tenure.
- This sketch reminds me a lot of the Mikey Day/Harry Styles sketch from season 45. I do not recall that sketch much nowadays, but I remember absolutely loving it when it originally aired. This one so far is good, helped by a confident and strong lead performance by JAJ.
- Not sure if Kam is the right performer next to JAJ, but he is bringing fun energy, and it is sweet seeing a newbie next to a well-loved veteran such as JAJ.
- The brief smile Andrew gives Sarah (who is given actually funny lines) was adorable. It is always sweet the bond these performers have with each other, even when the show’s writing lets them down at times. I am also positive they both assumed the camera cut back to JAJ by then.
- The lengthy, specific type of a gay guy JAJ wants to get advice from was so well-delivered and funny.
- Despite being sketch comedy 101, this was a pretty fun, well-performed sketch from all involved, especially that it didn’t go the tiring explaining route. Great work from JAJ especially. He had a fantastic night in general tonight.
Rating: ****
Musical Performance – “back to friends”
Pinwheel
(host)’s childhood friends (MID) & (JEC) obsess over the pinwheel gifts
- This is another sketch this season that shows how out-of-place Mikey has been. He stands out in this group of cast members, and not in a good way.
- Nice seeing Jeremy in a comedic role. Being familiar with him pre-SNL, I am baffled by his underuse so far into this rookie season of his.
- Jeremy & Mikey make a nice pair, and to be fair to Mikey, he is solid in this and throughout the night.
- I love this sketch so far, especially Jeremy and Mikey’s overexcitement getting the pinwheel, especially the increasing annoyance from others around them.
- I freakin’ howled at the moment Bowen loses his shit at Mikey and Jeremy for interrupting him all the time as he gives a wholesome speech to Nikki.
- A priceless and fun part with Mikey and Jeremy freaking out with the pinwheels as Nikki emotionally reads the childhood letter. Jeremy especially had me in stitches.
- A simple, straightforward yet very well-done sketch. I loved this. Jeremy especially was fantastic in his very first big comedic showcase.
Rating: ****1/2
Goodnights
Segments Ranked from Best to Worst
Pinwheel
Brad and His Dad – An SNL Animated Short
Mechanical Bull
American Girl Doll XL
Pilot Announcement
Monologue
Sorority Meeting
Oval Office Conference
Hudsacillin
Weekend Update
Beauty and Mr. Beast
Karaoke Night
Final Thoughts:
- A very solid episode. As expected when a standup hosts, there were some creative, solid sketch concepts all night, and outside of very few hiccups, the night flew by smoothly and helped by a wide variety of pieces with most ranging from solid to fantastic. The season’s focus on silly, absurd sketch concepts was also welcomed, especially Mechanical Bull and Pinwheel which will easily stand out as some of my favorite sketches of the whole season. The refreshing, strong pretapes much like the last episode also helped.
- Nikki Glaser wasn’t as front-and-center as I would’ve expected her to be, yet she was a fun, solid host that was utilized very well. She fit into the show ideally and was helped by both solid writing and wide cast use, with JAJ especially having a very strong showing all throughout the night. Ben also had some strong moments as did his fellow newbies, in a refreshing continuation of integrating them into the fabric of the show. Hell, Mikey had one of his strongest episodes in multiple seasons tonight! Hopefully the show is finding its footing of late.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
Up Next:
- Glen Powell / Olivia Dean.
My full set of Screencaps from this episode is here
Okay, I’m just gonna make this quick before I read the review in its entirety.
First off, I’ve never really been a fan of Nikki Glaser, but I was hoping that the monologue would maybe change my mind. Sorry to say, it didn’t. I found myself pretty bored a few minutes in.
As for the karaoke sketch, I was at first excited to see Tommy get a lead role. Unfortunately, what we got ended up being not very funny. That said, I laughed at Andrew’s singing.
When the JHud sketch started, I thought it felt exactly like the Xanax for Gay Summer Weddings sketch. Also, it is such an oddly specific thing to base an entire sketch around.
I didn’t really like the Beauty and MrBeast sketch much, but I will say that Ben is a dead ringer for MrBeast. Plus, it gave us sumo wrestlers (sorry if that sounded weird).
The American Girl pretape was my favorite sketch of the night. What can I say, I’m kind of a sucker for sketches that get progressively more and more disturbing as they go on, and I cackled when James came on.
I’ve seen a lot of people on Twitter praise Pete Davidson’s return. I have no idea why. I thought this was pretty boring, though I might have to rewatch it some time later.
I thought the girls’ meeting sketch was a little too similar to the nuns sketch with Bad Bunny.
The airplane sketch was pretty funny, though that was mainly due to James as usual. Also, it felt like Nikki was pretty much wasted in that sketch.
The pinwheel sketch was whatever to me, but I liked seeing Jeremy finally get a comedic role. I might have to rewatch it, though.
So on the whole, this was another episode of SNL. Not quite sure what to expect with Powell and Dean next week.
As always, fantastic review from you Blood! And thanks again for all your hard work and dedication in getting these reviews to us!
I really enjoyed this episode despite the rather iffy start with that dull and tired incest sketch. I’ll ask again: what is it with this season and having dogshit leadoff sketches? It really puts a sour taste in one’s mouth and makes the episodes come off worse than they really are in the moment.
Anyways, I found this episode to be very solid and creative on the whole. I’m liking how this season seems to be leaning more into absurdist vibes and that Mechanical Bull sketch was a great example. Tons of funny sung lines from JAJ (LOVE how he had such a big night) and even little details like Sarah playing herself were a real hoot to me.
The animated short was also great as well. These have always been some of the best parts of the last two seasons and this one didn’t disappoint. As burned out as I am by Mikey and (to a lesser extent) Seiday in general, sketches like this show how much value they still have. Whenever they do end up departing the show, it’ll be quite a loss.
American Girl Doll XL was terrific and one thing I loved about it was how the escalation was relatively subtle. There wasn’t really any “explaining the joke” or spelling out the premise BS to weigh it down and the sudden turn with JAJ taking over the commercial was handled well. It feels increasingly rare to see SNL trust its audience’s intelligence, so this sketch was a breath of fresh air.
It says a lot that I found Pete Davidson’s jokes on Update to be infinitely better, more refreshing and even edgier than Che and Jost’s. I may have to go back and rewatch to be more fair to them, but I am just so burned out on these two at this point that it’s hard for me to be objective. Their schtick is beyond tired and played out, and they need to leave.
I was pleasantly surprised at how strong of a night this was for the vets. Mikey actually made me laugh and had value and Kenan, while mostly playing Kenan-y roles, still provided plenty of laughs. Also happy to see Marcello barely get used (sincerely hope this is an indicator, as you said, of his stock finally falling).
Nikki was a pretty good host, even though her usage was so-so and she flubbed quite a few lines throughout the night. Happy that we got our 2nd solid episode in a row. While this season still has all of the problems of the previous season and even some new ones (chiefly the female side of the cast being so precarious), I’m happy that it’s getting off to a better start. Hope the momentum continues for Glen’s episode!
Glad to see someone else not calling this the worst or best thing the show’s done in the past 3 years. For me, this was a show with awful lows (the incest sketch in particular) and very new, hopefully here-to-stay highs (Mechanical Bull, Brad and his Dad), sprinkled with some overall solid stuff in between, especially that American Girl Doll sketch.
Jeremy even got his first lead role! Proud of him!
And as a big fan of Jane, I feel a bit silly for not realizing her voice was absolutely shot, and i wonder if it was up to her or someone higher up for her to do the show. (To be fair, not much speaking today for her.) I did find her delivery in the sorority sketch very fun, so that was a plus.
Overall, not the Amazing episode i was hoping we’d have post-Miles Teller, but better than the first three episodes of the season for me.
This to me was a decent episode definitely better than last week in my opinion, but only marginally better. Nikki I felt was a pretty fun host and knowing that she’s been wanting to host the show for the longest time now made me appreciate it even more.
I think I now officially have nothing to say about these Trump openings. James still perform these well but I definitely feel there’s no more meat on the bones to these and James’s impression I feel so NOT sounding like Trump and also we’ve done these so many times that I feel even if you try say something new about this, whether it’s good or bad it really won’t be anything to really remember if that makes sense. One thing I’ll say that’s somewhat positive is that this was short.
Nikki’s monologue unsurprisingly has been getting a decent amount of hate from MANY but what do *I* think? This was an alright opening I really enjoyed Nikki’s delivery as this was sorta my first real introduction to her as before this I’ve only seen her on stuff here and there but never enough to have a full opinion or thought on her comedy and while I did like the brother joke she made towards the end none of the jokes for me were all that memorable which brings this down for my liking.
Kind of surprised you didn’t mention Tommy’s name once despite this being a starring sketch for him. While I get pretty much everything you’re saying, I feel for the most part of the exact opposite. I feel usually in terms of incest jokes or sketches on SNL they make them as crude as possible, which can make one roll their eyes, but I feel this made it more tolerable at least due to in my opinion, the strong chemistry between Nikki and Tommy here and I did love a lot of Sarah’s reactions to them, even if that itself is a very SNL trope they’ve done for at this point decades. One real negative thing I will say was I didn’t need Kenan to make any jokes in this and also we have both in this as well as the mechanical bull sketch he was just there to be classic Kenan and his moments being “goofy”.
I completely agree with your thoughts on the JHud pre-tape one thing I will say is it definitely seems Marcello’s screen time is going low, especially with him not appearing as much in the Carpenter episode in which I feel most were definitely thinking it would be the two of them the entire episode and it truly makes me wonder what’s happening with someone who I thought was on point whether you like him or not to be the next star of the show.
I’m not thrilled at the recurring gag it seems they’re doing with Jane for her to just say something. It doesn’t go her way and for her to just duck out of there it’s weird and very unnecessary to do. This sketch I liked (probably not as high but still high on it) and it also reminded me as well as the pilot sketch, even if I’m probably not as high on that one as you are, of how great James is OUTSIDE (even if like I says earlier he still performs him decently) of just playing Donald Trump because I feel not many of us are talking about him when he isn’t playing our president which I always feel disappointing because he’s such a great utility guy and I would love to see how they were using him during his first season again rather than always playing our president.
A very Andrew dominated night, which I’m never upset at and like what you were saying about him smiling and Sarah I just love the bond he has with a lot of of the cast members, especially right now with Ashley and his continuous friendship with James I honestly feel after he leaves, in like a decade we will be calling him the underdog of his era kinda like how I personally call Tim Kazurinsky the underdog of the Ebersol years.
So overall thinking about my thoughts on certain things I am now probably a TAD bit higher on the episode, but I feel a full rewatch of it can determine my true 100% thoughts on the show as like I said the beginning I felt it was just fine and definitely still a win as to me an episode that is just decent I still think is a good or passable episode of the show. Nikki Glaser at least as I felt she was a great host and would love to see her again. As always hell of a review from you Blood and can’t wait to see you again for Glen Powell, and whatever he’ll bring to the show!
Actually, if we go by SNN’s stats, JAJ had two thirds of his airtime in his rookie season just being in cold opens, compared to IIRC about 45% of it in those in seasons 48-49. However, he certainly made his non-CO airtime count with stuff like Crazy House, Lur and Dream Home Cousins, alongside good utility roles here and there. It was really with seasons 48-49, which were fantastic overall for him, that he was given many more chances outside of the cold opens. S50, while strong as a whole, was a milder step down in that aspect. I blame the cameos for that.
He had an overall great tenure that’s been consistently strong from the get-go. I’d actually place his tenure overall around this time as the best from his peers and most of his prior cast mates this past decade or so. Maybe Kate trumps his tenure with her first four seasons, with Cecily and Aidy peaking in their 4th/5th seasons onwards. (For Cecily it was S41-45 and Aidy S42-47). Not to jinx it so far this season, he is having a much stronger and more consistent start than last season where he barely did anything besides the Grande and Mulaney episodes. Hopefully he is just getting started.
I actually forgot to mention Tommy, but he did a good job. I can see why some might enjoy this sketch, but it was just so clunky and poorly done overall. The performances were definitely more than adequate. No problem there from me.
Always appreciate your thoughtful commentary and support.
Bowen’s meltdown in the pinwheel sketch was hilarious. Maybe it’s because his time is clearly coming to an end but he seems way more committed to his performances this season. Last season, he probably would have broken or mugged during this scene but he was so locked in. He was one of my faves from Season 45 to 48, so it would be nice to see him end on a strong note.
Also I feel similarly about Mikey Day. I agree with you that Mikey looks like the odd man out and has probably been on too long. That said, I appreciate he’s taking a step back but really focusing and locked in when it is his time to shine. He made me howl with his pratfall in the news sketch last week and besides JAJ was my MVP for this episode. He was funny with Jeremy in the pinwheel sketch and his voice work was excellent in Brad and His Dad. I think Mikey can still end his tenure (if this is his last season) on a strong note too.
I enjoyed Karaoke, American Girl, and Mechanical Bull.
I don’t hate JAJ but I hate Trump Monologues. Also Nikki and Squirm clearly had chemistry as they were paired alot. Like Chloe and Sydney Sweeney.
I also think Nikki should’ve had Squirm’s role in that Airplane sketch. Was that sketch cut from a previous episode? Cause I could see any former Male host playing JAJ’s role.
One final burn; Wickline, if JAJ can sing and rhyme, SO CAN YOU.
Overall, given how shaky this season has started, I’m surprised at how much it’s solidified. I don’t know if it’s the new writers shaking things up or not, but this was another solid episode. But for my play-by-play:
-Cold open: wasn’t really satisfied with this one. It was mercifully short and without any cameos, which I can respect in terms of cold opens given their usual quality but this one just felt like they had nothing to talk about this week. It kinda just feels like they’re saying to James to just improv for a couple minutes about what happened the previous week, and it’s super unengaging. I’m sure by next episode I couldn’t even tell you a single thing about this part. Also did Marcello have any lines in this one? Extremely weird how he’s almost had featured player level status in these last two episodes. I don’t know if he’s burnt out or if he’ll come back into prominence soon but it’s just so odd to me.
-Monologue: I can vibe with this one, even if I didn’t think this was the greatest set of stand-up in the world. I at least like that this is the first monologue this season that didn’t feel like it was doing the bare minimum (which, besides musical numbers, stand-up seems like the only other category that seems substantial these days).
-Karaoke Night: I do like that we’re getting Tommy in a prominent role near the top of the show, but this was just another of this season’s very weak lead-offs. I do agree that they’re not having nearly enough fun with Sarah these days, as she’s forced to take the brunt of the glue roles alongside Ashley and Chloe (maybe if we hired more women we wouldn’t have this problem) and the whole incest punchline didn’t really hit for me. Plus, with this taking place in yet another restaurant, this just feels like another unmemorable sketch to just put on the pile.
-Spirit Tunnel: Mostly just confused by this one. Literally never heard of this concept before and it seems like too niche of a thing to make this kind of sketch before. Maybe if this were just a fake commercial about a drug that makes you sick to get out of any kind of situation (and the spirit tunnel was just one example), I’d like this more, but ultimately this didn’t do much for me.
-Beauty and Mr. Beast: You know those stupid observations or jokes you sometimes write in your notes app? That’s what the idea for this sketch feels like. I do applaud Ben for the performance here, I feel if it were by anyone else this would be way worse but he manages to give a solid YouTuber voice inflection. I do think that they could’ve exaggerated these mannerisms more though to give a bit of cutting satire. Mr. Beast is someone with so much dirt and shady actions to his name that is rife for parody but ultimately I can feel them pulling their punches here which is a shame. Better than it had the right to be but ultimately still mediocre in my opinion.
-American Girl XL: I remember someone commenting that this is like the fourth or fifth American Girl sketch we got in the last ten years (including stuff like the news report sketch from season 43, the cafe sketch from season 48 and the movie trailer from the same yet) and I find it a bit odd myself. Is there just someone on the staff with a fixation on them? It’d be like if there were about five distinct sketches based on Hot Wheels. That being said, this was a pretty good sketch overall. I do like how they seem more tactful with the joke reveal, with it being such a slow burn, and the numerous pop ins were very fun to see. This didn’t go anywhere super exciting but I found this solid and enjoyable.
-Mechanical Bull: felt comparable to the Long Goodbye sketch from last season, in that it seemed somewhat stream-of-consciousness but that’s a good thing in my eyes. This was just plain fun, and it’s nice to see James be relatively front and center in a sketch for a change. I feel the show often forgets how talented he is and it’s super fun to see such an expanded role as this country singer. Tons of fun details like the fish, Jeremy as Galileo, and Sarah supposedly being herself in this sketch (probably the most they’ve done with her all season which makes me sad). Great sketch overall!
-Sombr: surprisingly didn’t hate this all that much. I remember hearing this guy was a huge nepo baby so I was expecting something way worse. The first song did feel lip synced to me and I wouldn’t say I’ll remember these songs in a week’s time but not terrible.
-Update: Strange how short this was compared to the previous updates this season. I will say, Update for me just hasn’t been hitting compared to last season. I don’t know if Jost/Che are just out of it or if it’s in the jokes, but either way, not been super impressed with the stuff this season (especially that Maury joke fell flat). About Pete’s appearance, I legitimately don’t know how to feel. On one hand, I do like some of the material in here (it reminds me of that bit he had in Chance the Rapper’s s43 episode about Staten Island) but on the other hand, as much as you can joke about the Riyadh shit you can’t wash that blood off your hands man. Just a big shrug from me.
-Sorority Meeting: I actually liked this one, ideas like this are up my alley, and I find the mask Mikey wears really funny in how legitimately unsettling it is. The details were strong here, especially that bit with the Hillary Clinton photo got a laugh out of me. Though did anyone get any footage of the live version where the vape effect just failed to work? I didn’t quite see Chloe’s break live so I’d love to watch it again.
-Brad and His Dad: nice to see they’re doing another animated short (even if the branding from last season is gone?), even if the material wasn’t the strongest out there. Reminded me of the Dad’s House sketch from last season, but I do like how weirdly homey this one felt. There was a bit more atmosphere in things like the art style and they held on the jokes more, which is not something you typically see in sketches. I kinda wish the writing was stronger on these animated bits, but I’d definitely love to see more (especially because the PDD shorts are gone from the show now).
-Pilot Announcement: another fun role for James to be put in, and he got the pilot’s voice really down for this one. Reminded of Chris Parnell in that old JetBlue sketch from season 31, which is a good thing. The bits with Andrew/Sarah as well as Bowen/Kenan were well done (is this the second time this episode the latter two were used together like this?) and I like the gag with Kam. I do think they could probably use him more, especially to test out any potential range in him, but he’s surprisingly solid in these roles. Gives off a bit of Chris Rock/Tracy Morgan energy. Overall, decent and solid time.
-Pinwheel: Love how we’re finally getting a showcase for Jeremy here, since he’s the last to really get a moment like this. I wonder if Mikey had anything to do with this, considering he’s helped lesser-shown cast members like Melissa and Punkie in the past. Either way, their palpable yet bizarre excitement was very amusing, as well as the mounting frustration by Nikki and Bowen’s characters. Hopefully this would be comparable to how the I Got One sketch last season played out for Ashley, excited to see more from Jeremy.
Good episode, especially past the first thirty minutes or so. Can’t complain with the more out there sketches even if we didn’t get a bonafide classic like the Brilliant Lawyer or Social Experiment sketches. Excited to see where the season goes from here!
P.S. if that one guy on the LFNY subreddit James_2584 is reading this, I’m sorry I left you hanging because I don’t have a Reddit account anymore. Are you able to talk on another platform because I enjoyed live reacting to the Sabrina episode in Reddit DMs lol
I just wanted to give my appreciation as always for how hard you work on these reviews – you got the review and the screen captures up so quickly. You make pretty much any point I’d want to make. I too hope this is a positive path forward for the show, as three of the five episodes have been decent and the Carpenter episode at least had several unique sketch concepts. This episode had a slew of unique concepts, some not entirely working, but all still compelling. The weakest was, as you said, the incest sketch, which was the closest to the problems the current show struggles with (repeating a “shocking” premise into the ground), although it was nice for Tommy to get something on, and working with Nikki as he used to be her opening act. I still don’t know if I see anything that will keep him on for another season, but it’s still early.
I don’t know very much about Nikki, and I can’t say the monologue did anything to gauge my interest (although the outrage over that and the opening sketch remind me of how oddly sheltered many of the show’s current fans seem to be – clearly she wasn’t approving of anything she was joking about, nor was the sketch approving of incest), but I appreciated how much she seemed to put the cast in a happy mood and how much she put into her parts even when they were small. She was stumbly in places but saved her best for the final sketch, also one of the best sketches of this season.
I was very impressed with the tight focus and restraint of the sketch – many times they would have had all the characters as wacky or focused on the wrong beats. Here, they had such a great balance of whimsy and sorrow with Nikki’s character leaving her friends behind, all mixed with the genuinely very funny performances from Jeremy and Mikey. This was a nice throwback to something of the ’80s. Mikey was fine, and likely a big reason this got on the air, but the very underused Jeremy stole this – I’ve heard about how great he is but he went beyond my expectations here. A fantastic mix of nonsense and commitment – very endearing but not afraid to be annoying as hell. I hope this is the push he needs.
The cartoon was also terrific, once again allowing moments to breathe, sadder moments, which the show needs more of. It reminded me of some of the moving father-based shorts Streeter wrote at College Humor.
JAJ, as you expressed so brilliantly, was the true star of the night, all without any showboating or smugness. He still had the Trump (with some unusually vicious lines – I guess the apathy many have for these cold opens allows for more freedom now) but had hit after hit after hit through the rest of the night. He, Ben and Andrew sold the latest American Girl Doll homage for me, but JAJ was the one who truly had the content in the palm of his hand. Rarely has anyone on SNL been so naturally confident. And the Jack Handey-esque work he gave in the bull sketch was some of his very best. Again he helps to sneak through some fairly risky content (the part about the government targeting them like they’re a Venezuelan boat) as he’s just so endearing, the happiest shark’s smile you’ll ever see.
The mask sketch was another that I am not sure how I feel about but do appreciate them taking the risk. And a rare strong ending. I did spend most of this sketch thinking it was Tommy. Oops.
A little of Pete can go a long way, but he had some very funny, wild lines at the desk, and showed just why the show has struggled to fill his “type.” Like Marcello, who has barely shown up…I know that won’t last much longer though. If we do get more of him again soon I hope he may take the path of Bowen, who, in the time he is on the show and not promoting Wicked, has often been willing to take support parts and not try to ham it up.
Something about Glen Powell puts me off and SNL struggles with the ‘hot host’ on many occasions, so I’m trying to keep my expectations low for this week, but I’m glad to at least have these two weeks banked to give me a little hope.
Random thoughts
Marcelo was all over the premiere but has really vanished for much of this season, seems like of all the male cast it’s Dismukes who really has an increase in airtime this season.
So the dad in the cartoon was modeled after Shane Gillis, right? At least in appearance. The YouTube comments all seem to think the same. I almost agree with some that think this whole cartoon seemed like a potential backdoor pilot for a cartoon series Mikey and Streeter could’ve been working on. Feels like something you’d see on adult swim.
The sorority sketch reminded me a lot of a Rob Schneider sketch from the 90s that had a very similar premise, but the creepy mask visual was enough to make this one different enough. And I actually thought Jane’s raspy voice this week made her “I’m about to choke a bitch!” threat sound way funnier than it would’ve with her normal voice honestly lol
Last sketch with the pinwheels kept making me think of this old Fred Armisen (and I think John Malkovich?) as two calculator obsessed brothers, had a similar nonsensical so stupid it’s funny premise.
I realized who new cast member Jeremy (first week he really got to do anything major) reminds me of this week and it’s a Mad TV cast member probably nobody but me remembers from the mid 2000s named Frank Caeti, a guy with a bit of a similar look and build (short and stocky) with a similar high energy and knack for physical comedy who I remember thinking shouldve had a longer run. This was a character of his that always stuck with me-
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J__T2dvaWww
This was a pretty solid episode–aside from the godawful incest sketch leading things off, which helps to buzzkill the entire episode, things ranged from a nice try to excellent. The mechanical bull, the pinwheel, and the frat guy in disguise sketches tickled me the most, but there were a number of interesting and funny things.
Stray observations:
-The show desperately needs a “glue” type female performer. This is less noticeable when you have a female host, as Nikki Glaser simply played those roles herself, but (as of now), only Ashley really can fill that void. Sherman is notoriously iffy at straight roles, Chloe isn’t strong enough, Veronica hasn’t developed yet, and Jane is a very niche performer. Someone in the vein of Heidi or Aidy would be really nice to have.
-The amping down of Marcello is probably for the better, as he too is a niche performer, but he is a funny guy who can provide some energy. You can’t just cast him in any part, like Dr. Oz (?), but he shouldn’t be frozen out of a whole episode.
-I agree on the observations about Bowen. Like Marcello, I think there’s a time and place for his hammy energy, but he is also very capable of good supporting work, and he did that in this episode. He was very funny in his silent work in the pilot sketch, and did a nice job as a straight man in Pinwheel.
-Kenan has really been annoying me this season, as in his later years he seems to wildly oscillate from being helpful glue guy to lazy, laugh-leeching guy. He really annoyed me in the incest sketch and mechanical bull sketch, doing his hammy, tired shtick he’s been doing for decades (in his defense, I thought he was going to be more of a focal point in the bull sketch, and he wasn’t). However, he did excellent work in that subtle Bowen pairing in the pilot sketch. If he’s going to be used a decent amount this season, I want to see more like that or at least being used in some glue type roles.
Kenan was annoying in both those sketches and it felt like he was in his own sketch. He also reverted to his habit from a few years ago of breaking for no real reason. It was charming to see JAJ breaking with him, but it just reminded me of how much Kenan Kenan-ing seems to exist in its own show grafted onto the rest of the canvas. That bull character reminded me of something he did 10-15 years ago. I know that a lot of fans love this type of performance but I don’t really see how much longer he can be sustained.
I would say just have him on Update more often, but that would likely take the spot of someone I enjoy at the desk or a new hire, rather than one of the “stars.”
Great review Blood. Some excellent analysis and you caught many of the same things that immediately sprang to mind.
I caught my episode on a Global thing that dropped the Karaoke and Hudson adds due to licensing. I caught both on the socials. The Karaoke thing was Eager and Jones, but without the charm (though I enjoyed the support work from Andrew and Ashley) and the Hudson thing was fun filler.
It seems that in every three-episode block, the hosts average out to bland choices (Teller, Powell), novelty episodes (Bad Bunny, Carpenter) and then a couple nods toward comedy (Poehler, Glaser). I have to admit, that the lineup of the first six episodes inspired basically zero excitement out of me. Poehler, I (incorrectly) assumed would be a nostalgia snooze and Glaser….well, I don’t know, really. Although I don’t dislike Nikki Glaser, I’m not really a fan. I think I have to chalk some of that up to an unfair sexism – there is no SNL-calibre female standup that I am particularly pumped about. And that’s shitty of me. Then again, I there’s literally zero comics on the roast circuit who really delight me. It’s technically fine. Good jokes are good jokes, but I connect to none of the people.
That said, it is refreshing to have our first comedic monologue of the season. Not just in terms of standup, but in terms of actually attempting to be funny. Glaser’s standup was good and sometimes refreshingly spicy. I heard tell that there were some online complaints. One big protracted jerk-off motion to that.
Blood, you nailed it on the write-up of the cold open. I never want to see Dismukes as RFK Jr, so I’m relieved we barely did (although we did once before, no?). I’ve heard enough people complaining about how the impression normalizes Trump or whatever; it’s become such a stale complaint especially given how devilishly mean the impression has been. When I compare this impression to the Carvey Bush years, this is the kind of sketch I would see as a north store – sharp, cruel and efficient. Get in, get out.
I too was won over by the giddy zeal of Mechanical Bull sketch. Pure late-80s heightened idiocy. Agree with Blood that more of this tone is highly welcome on the show, especially because these types of sketches do come with some risk of flatlining. But this is the most fun we’ve had with Sarah in quite some time. Also, great work from JAJ, Kenan and Dismukes.
I also loved the airplane sketch, which I think may be one of the great JAJ sketches. He is just incredibly skilled at finding the funny in the banal. I saw some people reference the sketch from the (completely forgotten by me) Harry Styles episode. I just gave it a re-watch, and while it’s fun, I so much prefer the subtlety of JAJ’s performance (he also references Joni Mitchell in a way that is very much a reflection of the real JAJ). This all said, the highlight of the sketch was the ridiculously charming mini-corpse between Sarah and Andrew. Absolutely delightful.
Pinwheel does one thing that it feels like SNL really struggles with these days – it gives three people the chance to be very funny. While I think I preferred JAJ’s body of work in this episode (possibly an all-time episode for him), I am grateful that Pinwheel let Jeremy finally leap out the screen. Kudos to Mikey for a strong episode as well. It’s also great to see Bowen really exploding.
Quick hits:
– Beauty and Mr. Beast delivered exactly as much as its premise promised, which is not a lot. Felt more like a fake pitch.
– The American Girl Doll piece was strong if not exactly new material. It was a great reaction piece for Glaser, however, and Kam may have pulled the biggest laugh of the episode.
– The Sorority piece was a pretty fun late-period Mikey sketch. Although I have other sketches at the top of the episode, this being more in the middle is more indicative of this episode’s strength.
– I enjoyed Pete’s desk piece! One hearty jerk-off motion to everyone complaining online.
– Oh, and the cartoon! What a treat that was. Sadly relatable. Boy, maybe this was a strong episode.
Only Alec Baldwin and Jon Hamm have played RFK Jr, but we get so many of these mute impressions in cold opens they can blur together.
The doll pre-tape may have been Nikki’s best work in the episode. She reminded me of Heidi, who was effortless in these parts. @Michael Cheyne was right in how much the show is missing this in the female cast. Chloe was also very good here and in the Pinwheel sketch on voiceover duty – that may be the best lane for her. Sarah is often put in these types of parts for live sketches, and they are an awkward fit. I saw some criticism that she and Andrew were overacting in the plane sketch. I get the criticism (even if they didn’t bother me, I can see it on a rewatch), but I think part of the reason is down to Sarah not really getting much of any chance to do comedic acting so she jumps into the moments she gets.
JAJ has such an intense sincerity onscreen, which means what could seem like a familiar performance at first glance has hidden depths. In this episode, he’s incredibly creepy in the XL pre-tape (I love how he delivers the part about dressing his XL doll in the smaller doll’s clothing) yet was very likeable in the pilot sketch. They could have easily just gone “what a weirdo” but having him as this plucky guy who somehow stumbles into getting what he wants in spite of being so dumb is very refreshing.
I agree with you and Blood about the Trump impression. I saw people saying that they just give him funny lines and make him look good. I saw someone say they make him look like James Bond. I don’t love the Trump appearances, but I just don’t see how they come across as making him look good. He was presented as stupid, racist, and decaying. We were never meant to see him as fun or take his side against other people which did happen in a number of Trumpwin era cold opens.
Everyone has a right to their opinion, but this one, or those who claimed the cartoon was mean-spirited, I just don’t get.
Mikey is kind of the reverse Kenan right now in that he’s kind of really played out and annoying in his straight man/glue roles, but when he actually is goofy/funny, he can still be very good. He had a very solid episode here, and his physical comedy moments are still good for the most part.
The next host revealed on December 6th, Melissa McCarthy, with musical guest Dijon.
On Fly on the Wall David Spade said he and Nikki nearly did a Hollywood Minute together on Update but it fell through during the week.