Cold Opening – Cabinet Meeting
President Trump (JAJ) presents cabinet during conference
- Yet another Trump open? Look, I love this impression and all, but they’re really overusing it of late.
- A laugh from the “Cabinet of Curiosities” line.
- Jeremy as JD Vance? He actually looks pretty uncanny to him in that wig and beard. Tommy is one I’ve seen fans mentioning as a potential performer for the VP.
- Not sure why we are having a meta comment on Vance being recast, as Bowen barely even played him after the Election sketches (shudder) anyways.
- I always enjoy Marcello’s Rubio interplay with JAJ’s Trump. He is a good straight man for him.
- Jeremy’s Vance impression is pretty funny, and, he even made the “chew ass” line come off better than it is. Trump wandering around in the background is a very funny visual and a good take on his bizarre behavior of late.
- Ashley takes over the Kristi Noem impression from Tina. Ashley is funny as expected in the role.
- This whole portion seems similar to Tina’s own ad to the camera in the Amy Poehler episode earlier in the season. It still provided laughs, nonetheless.
- This cold open is interestingly sidelining the Trump impression in favor of having a parade of his cabinet members, one after the other.
- Colin’s Hegseth is very funny here, even when part of the humor to me seems to be an inside joke about Colin’s personality.
- Love the “we kill the protestors” line from Colin’s Hegseth. Good biting line against that thug.
- I never criticize James Austin Johnson, and what I am about to say isn’t a critique of his great talents and value to the show, but can we have some other cast members saying the LFNY once in a while? Sure, Colin said it with him twice now and Ashley once, but he said the line 8 out of 10(!) episodes so far into this season. Give others a chance is all I am saying.
Rating: ***1/2
Monologue
host talks about finally being a man
- A decent laugh from the clip Finn reached puberty during the filming of Stranger Things.
- While another clip joke, I admit getting a laugh from the other Stranger Things clip with that monster as the moment Finn realized what a woman looks like down there.
- A fun premise with Finn acting finally like a man, complete with background music. He is handling this quite well and is coming off likable.
- The Stranger Things cameos are going over my head. A sweet moment nonetheless seeing three clear friends together on SNL.
Rating: ***1/2
Snack Homiez 2
teen podcasters discuss looksmaxxing
- Another Snack Homiez? I actually now feel I underrated the first sketch, thanks to Carson’s commentary on it, but really?
- I liked Sabrina as host earlier in the season, but another cameo? She is a mega pop star and she still does SNL cameos more than former cast members? I guess she is really that big a fan.
- Finn is pretty funny mocking those “chads” who break their faces to “maximize” their looks.
- Despite being 28 years-old, some of the dialogue and phrases, much like the first sketch, are going over my head. With that said, I now appreciate what these sketches are going for.
- Yet another awkward pause from Jane. Can you tell me how this girl got another season on?
- The A$AP Rocky appearance makes sense in this sketch. Kinda sad he is coming off better and far more charismatic than several cast members in this.
- This sketch is going a bit long for me, much like the first sketch, but I found this decent overall. Not as good as the first installment that I now have far more appreciation for.
Rating: ***
Heated Wizardry
homoerotic take on Harry (host) & Ron’s (BEM) relationship
- Perfect casting of Finn as Harry Potter.
- A predictable turn with the homoerotic take on Harry Potter due to that Heated Rivalry show. I actually have seen some fans pitching such a parody, which proves how terminally online the cast/writers are. Also, really? We are still doing those creatively bankrupt “[insert name/subject], but they are gay!” premises SNL ran to the ground in the mid ‘00s?
- JAJ & Ashley are funny as Snape & McGonagall.
- Meh at this short and its lame, homoerotic humor. Reminds me of that awful Fast & Furious parody done by the show. I am also sick and tired seeing Ben Marshall pandering, one episode after the other. This guy is rapidly becoming the bane of the show for me, after such a solid start. Puzzles me why such a clear, charismatic talent sells himself away like that.
- This short is a series of hacky “hot” moments and “gags” without anything to sustain such a premise (bad as it is), which just serves to pander to the fanbase of Stranger Things and those homoerotic shows. Even as a queer person myself, this is a perfect case of doing queer humor just wrong.
- Random Jason Momoa cameo. And ugh at his “Harry, you’re a homo” line. Not even he could make it funny.
- There are no laughs here or something worth praising, outside of how amusing the cast are as the Harry Potter characters. Said cheap gags were done endlessly before and weren’t even that funny then also. A lot of this feels like a high school teen’s horny fanfiction.
- Overall, nope.
Rating: *
Boy Band
boy band star (JAJ) wants indiehead son (host) to follow suit
- Nice seeing a JAJ-led piece for the second week in a row! Great and spot-on look on him as well.
- Finn is doing a really good job in this. A far better use of him than the lame-ass short before this.
- Needless to say, I LOVE that we are getting yet another JAJ/Ashley pairing. These two are the finest current cast members and need to be paired together much more.
- JAJ is doing such a great job handling such a piece, especially knowing what a big music nerd he is. He is so fun parodying boy band stars.
- Man, everything about JAJ in this sketch, from his look, to his vocalizations, to his dancing…. so goddamn good.
- Funny involvement from Andrew, Jeremy and Marcello as the former members of the boy band.
- A hilarious, oh-so-wrong 9/11 line from JAJ. Loved the audience reaction to it.
- Ashley is so good as the mom. She truly manages to make even her smallest moments fun and funny. Between the OTT gasps every few moments and the shy attitude when complimented.
- A sweet and cute turn at the end.
- Not only did I love this, and that it continued the season’s trend by deservedly giving JAJ the leading man treatment, but much like Mechanical Bull and Pilot Announcement earlier in the season, this will probably stand out as one of my favorite things James Austin Johnson would ever do on SNL.
Rating: ****1/2
Stranger Things Spinoffs
spinoffs of the Netflix blockbuster focus on trivial things
- A short similar to the Game of Thrones spinoffs one from the S44 Kit Harington episode.
- Very solid voiceover as always from JAJ.
- Very funny scene with Andrew. I know Joe Keery and he is very fun parodying him.
- A fun scene with Chloe and Kam. Great ‘90s look on her.
- Figures out Finn would be playing his character in this.
- The two Stranger Things guys are absolutely great here. Also, Sex and the City is one of my favorite shows, and this is a spot-on take on the show’s style.
- Jeremy’s parodying Noah Schnapp’s acting in the coming out scene is absolutely hilarious!
- Very funny, low-key scene with Mikey.
- Not caring for the Kenan ending as Eleven.
- I overall found this a lot of fun, despite not being familiar with the show besides the basics.
Rating: ***1/2
Musical Performance -”PUNKY ROCKY”
Weekend Update
Michael Irvin (KAP) on College Football Championships
Tamara (JAW) doesn’t want to delve deeper into her resolution
- Solid monologue on Trump’s foreign policy from Colin, especially love how he frames it as getting back with him after a breakup.
- Good ICE joke from Colin. No clue why the audience didn’t react to it better.
- The whole Nobel Prize rant from Michael is funny enough that the Diddy joke worked.
- Another Heated Rivalry mention tonight.
- Some savage jokes so far into this edition of the desk. Better than the usual tired “Colin is a sex pest” jokes.
- Kam on Update for the second episode in a row.
- Funny whispery delivery from Kam and I am enjoying his ramblings and back-and-forth with Michael.
- Not familiar with Michael Irvin, but Kam’s take and delivery is funny. See? I don’t need to be familiar with what’s referenced if the writing is there.
- The absurd visual of Kam’s Michael Irving running all the way back to Miami is pretty funny. An overall pretty fun piece from Kam, for the second week in a row.
- Boy, the audience seems to be filled with stans, as they went wild over the mere graphic of Harry Styles.
- Lots of good jokes here and there, even when I really don’t feel the need to mention any.
- I see Jane Wickline is attempting an actual character behind the desk.
- Jane is coming off very likable as usual. This weird premise seems to be in her wheelhouse.
- While Jane isn’t exactly a dynamic performer, I’m really liking how she is handling this desk piece with her uncomfortable reactions to Michael’s questions.
- Fun outburst from Jane towards Michael. I am glad this isn’t going over-the-top. Even the constant admissions from Jane that she doesn’t know are funny.
- This has to be the first desk piece from Jane I really liked. She can actually be funny when playing into her wheelhouse.
- Great edition of the desk, overall. By far this season’s best, in my eyes.
Rating: ****
Dark Orbit
servant (MID) keeps serving master (host) delights during negotiations
- Great sets and costume design. Mikey’s look in particular is cracking me up.
- Very fun performance from Finn. Nailing exactly how these sci-fi villains act.
- Cute brief breaking from Finn which thankfully didn’t derail the sketch.
- Looking at Finn in this getup reminds me of Bill Hader. I know he played a younger version of him in It, which is why I totally could see Bill in his role in this.
- Chloe’s loud laughing is grating to me. Like if she didn’t rehearse this sketch through the week.
- This is a DUMB sketch, and I know I should hate it, but goddamn, I’m cracking up. Finn’s performance and likability, alongside Mikey’s hamminess, is making me laugh in spite of myself.
- Finn is doing a good job alternating between menacing sci-fi villain and being delighted over all the delights he is being fed by Mikey.
- Sketch is going on for too long, though I am still laughing.
- A fun ending to a piece I know will be a guilty pleasure of mine.
Rating: a very guilty ****
Guy’s Girl
girlfriend (VES) poorly tries to fit in
- Nice seeing Veronika getting another lead role. I’m liking this sketch’s realistic feeling.
- Is this a reworked take on that piece Veronika did for a few weeks? That Suel Forrester-type character? She is pretty funny so far in this sketch.
- This is the exact type of oddball role Veronika does all the time pre-SNL, and while this is a type of character that can get grating, this is making me laugh so far. With that said, this is a bit best done once, in my view.
- Love how Finn’s character is so into this, as predictable as it is. He was utilized as much as I expected tonight, but he is doing really well
- Aww at the turn with Veronika hearing Ben calling her disgusting. The audience’s collective “aww!” was cute.
- Pretty good sketch overall.
Rating: ***1/2
Musical Performance – “DON’T BE DUMB/HELICOPTER”
Skyscraper Live
Reggie (KET) is not ready for his climb
- Ugh at the random Kenan break. He’s been cracking at himself for no fucking reason all throughout this season. Insufferable.
- This sketch reminds me of the ones Kenan used to do during the late ‘10s era, such as that cult one and the royal family one. This, on the other hand, is not working for me. I don’t even recall liking that cult short, either.
- Almost no Sarah tonight. No complaints from me, considering how unwatchable she’s often been of late.
- The testimonials aren’t bad and Mikey is fine in an otherwise non-comedic role, but meh.
- Awful ending.
- A typical baffling 10-to-1 piece. A bummer way to end an overall fun show with.
Rating: **
Goodnights
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
Boy Band
Weekend Update
Dark Orbit
Guy’s Girl
Monologue
Stranger Things Spinoffs
Cabinet Meeting
Snack Homiez 2
Skyscraper Live
Heated Wizardry
Final Thoughts:
- All-in-all, a pretty solid and consistent episode. In fact, one of the most consistent of this season so far. There was a good, long string after that wretched Harry Potter parody till the 10-to-1 with pieces ranging from solid-to-great that I really enjoyed. Also, the performances by A$AP Rocky were fun, especially the second one.
- Finn Wolfhard was a charming and likable presence and thankfully the episode didn’t pander as much to his fanbase as I worried. He was utilized about as much as a usual SNL host, but he did a great job in even his smallest roles and had a very fun sketch in Dark Orbit.
- Very good cast use tonight, especially spreading the wealth by giving multiple cast members starring roles, even when some were weaker than others. JAJ, Mikey, and, surprisingly, Jane probably had the biggest nights. Jeremy, Veronika and Kam had some fun roles, with Veronika finally getting another live sketch on the air. Even the Mikey sketch was very fun, as mentioned before. Kenan still needs to go, though.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
The episode was a bit meh for me. Finn was a fun host, but most of the material didn’t “click” with me like usual. I think the main highlights of this thing were Dark Orbit, the Stranger Things Promo, and Guy’s Girl. JAJ’s sketch was fun, but it wasn’t a big highlight for me. And I get what you’re saying about Heated Wizardy. While I thought it was a bit fun in terms of the show it was referencing, I agree it was a bit hacky. I guess once the show’s resident gay guy leaves, so does any double checking for quality. As for Ben, I think part of the problem could also go to him being slapped with the wrong sketches. I bet if they actually try to write stuff that fits his PDD style, we can probably avoid having another Pete Davidson, but red head.
Great review Blood!
Thanks to Carson I also have a deeper appreciation for Snack Homiez! I think because I’m a teacher and I’m around pre-teens like this, I see it as very accurate and funny. I also love the performances from everyone involved and the increased dynamic of having Jane’s Unc character the slightly more mature and awkward character.
Jane in general had a great night! She isn’t a dynamic sketch performer but when she sticks to her lane and plays these awkward characters, I think she adds an extra spice to the show. She has improved a lot and I find myself rooting for her.
The boys band sketch had my favourite premise with great performances from JAJ and Ashley. The last third of it kind of petered out for me though.
Also I’m glad you called out the hackiness of the Harry Potter/Heated Rivalry parody. It’s basically just fan fiction and despite a clever crossover, it does nothing really new or noteworthy. It seems to be a lot of people’s faves but not mine.
Veronica was fantastic in her starring role. Again I didn’t like where the sketch ended up going but her commitment to such a ridiculous and cringy character is super admirable and gives me hope for her as a cast member.
Agree on your statements on Sarah and Kenan. Sarah is just not being utilized properly and it makes me sad. Kenan is a hall of famer but this is the first season where I’m pretty sick of him and feel like he’s phoning it in. Mikey might be past his prime but he stills really commits like in that pretty gross albeit fun space food sketch.
I’ll be honest: I had a pretty “meh” feeling to this overall episode. I feel like not much rose above being pretty good. There’s a lot that I wanna say regarding the review, but I feel like I shouldn’t. I will say this: I was surprised by your high rating for Dark Orbit, as I found that sketch to be dreadful.
I admittedly came into this episode in a “well, let’s get this over with” type mindset, which is never a smart thing to do. I attribute this to the promos being unfunny and messy and Finn coming off as flat and uncharismatic in them, plus the audience being clearly filled with stans along with the cameos in the first several sketches. This led to me just feeling very down on the episode when watching it live. Upon reflection and reading your review, I think it’s safe to say I underrated it.
Snack Homiez is a sketch that just plain never works for me. I appreciate what it’s trying to do and I get that the overuse of slang is part of the joke, but I just can’t get into it. It’s just something that I’m not the target audience for.
The Harry Potter sketch is the worst combination of hacky S30 type humor and the terminally online writing that affects the show these days. People are, of course, eating this shit up, but to me, this is exactly the kind of SNL I despise: wholly stan focused and hacky and wasting good performers in thankless roles.
Thankfully, things improved for the rest of the night. That Boy Band sketch is a huge new favorite of mine from JAJ. It’s truly amazing how versatile, talented, and warm this performer is. I’m so thrilled that he’s been getting more chances outside of the cold opens (which, I agree, have become too excessive with portraying Trump even though I understand why). I think it’s safe to say he’s on his best season yet, and I hope it continues!
As someone who is familiar with Michael Irvin, Kam’s impression was hilarious. He not only did a good job with the voice but also nailed his OTT personality. The discourse around Kam, much like Shane Gillis, is rather exhausting and overshadows his contributions to the show. While his tenure is nothing to write home about mostly, this was easily the best thing he’s done on the show so far.
The biggest surprise of the night for me was Jane’s commentary. When she popped up, I internally groaned and thought “we’re STILL trying to push this lifeless performer?!” But she pleasantly surprised me, for the 2nd episode in a row. Her awkward energy was a good fit for this character and, even though I haven’t seen the TikTok this is based on, I liked the odd and subtly unhinged nature of her performance. She’s showing signs of improvement, and I’m happy for it. I still don’t think she should be promoted to repertory and I recognize that praising her for finally delivering back to back good performances a season and a half in is damning with faint praise, but I’m at least happy that she/the writers seem to be figuring out her place on the show.
I can see Veronika’s piece being EXTREMELY divisive for obvious reasons, but I enjoyed it as a showcase of her comedic personality and style. I do fear that the show is gonna attempt to lean more into these “weird” character pieces of hers as a coverup for thin writing ala Wiig, but it’s still early enough that it came off fresh. With that said, I agree, keep this a one and done.
Dark Orbit didn’t do much for me, but I can appreciate and understand that it was harmless enough and the hammy performance from Mikey and Finn’s breaking were cute. With that said, holy hell is Chloe’s breaking completely OTT and unprofessional. Girl, you’ve rehearsed this shit numerous times. Stop loud guffawing off camera and taking away from the sketch. It’s sad to see someone who used to be professional in her early seasons reduced to being the new Fallon/Sanz. I really hope we’re in the home stretch of her tenure.
Finn was a pretty solid and likable host. He was nothing amazing, but he did a solid job and honestly better than I expected. I’m happy that we had a (mostly) solid episode after the holiday break and I’m hoping this momentum continues.
Great review as always, Blood.
I ran a bit colder on this episode than you did, but I still thought it was okay, and a slight improvement over the fairly weak December string of episodes.
Despite nothing standing out to me as strong, I liked almost all of the sketches here. It also helps this episode actually had energy, unlike the December episodes.
My favorite sketch was Boy Band, with everyone involved giving fun performances. I think Heated Wizardry is a new guilty pleasure sketch. I don’t know man, on paper there is NOTHING, but it had a dumb energy that I really enjoyed. I also really enjoyed the Stranger Things pre-tape, which had a nice fast-paced vibe that I really liked.
This was actually a theme throughout the entire episode. Many sketches had a loose, and dumb energy, but everyone involved in them were having fun. That gave this episode a fun vibe, and made it feel better than it actually was.
Despite some veterans weirdly getting little to nothing (Dismukes was nowhere to be found if I recall correctly, and Sarah was in newbie roles all night), all of the featured players had their moments in this episode, which was nice to see. Ashley doing her typical carrying, Veronika had a good showcase, Kam got his 3rd Update commentary, and Ben and Jeremy had their moments throughout. Tommy was a bit invisible but he was good in the little stuff he was given.
I wanna talk about Jane for a quick second. As someone who’s been defending her for basically her entire tenure so far, it feels SO nice to finally see her slowly but surely making a name for herself on the show as of late. Ever since the Melissa McCarthy episode, it feels like Jane has been improving quite a bit in her live performances, and has gotten an increase in airtime since then as well. That airtime increase thankfully continued in this episode, with Snack Homiez and her solid Update commentary. It feels like the show is finally figuring out how to make her offbeat performance style work in certain sketches, and it’s great!
Finn was an interesting host. On one hand, he didn’t carry any of the sketches (continuing this season’s issue of lack of trust in the hosts). But on the other hand, he had lots of fun moments in many of the sketches (I really enjoyed his smarmy leader in Dark Orbit, and his performance in the Veronika showcase). He also had an awkward energy in many of his performances that I weirdly really liked. Would I want him back? If his awkward energy gets utilized a bit better, sure!
Fun show. I’m really not familiar with Teyana Taylor at all, but her Golden Globe win has also gotten her lots of popularity recently. Also, from the talk show interviews I’ve seen her in, she seems fun. Hope this week’s fun show wasn’t just a fluke.
Happy belated New Year everyone.
This episode was pretty middle of the road for me. Strange how we got Jeremy as Vance and Ashley as Noem, as a way of showing they don’t need celebs, they can just use the cast, but they we get Sabrina Carpenter and Jason Momoa? Fucking SNL…
I liked Veronika’s character at first, but it became a bit much and lacked an ending.
You’re so right about Ben. He was once the rookie with the most promise, but his pandering shit and playing the bland straight guy seems to be all he’s got.
And I fucking hated that Space sketch. It sums up exactly why I want Mikey and Chloe fired immediately.
I’m a bit surprised by this episode being the way it is with Finn hosting. Based on my limited knowledge of Finn, he seems like a pretty smart, cool, nerdy, alternative guy. In his Hot Ones episode, he mentioned how he kinda cringed at having the influencer character in his film, yet he has no problem acting in Snack Homiez? I just don’t get it.