Cold Opening – The 1st Annual Trumps
President Trump (JAJ) holds self-indulgent awards ceremony
- This concept reminds me of that horrible Ukraine cold open from the season 47 Oscar Isaac episode. This will hopefully only go but up.
- Nice to see the show making it known Jeremy is the new Vance. Hopefully he’ll do more with the impression than Bowen, who clearly only did it for Lorne.
- Not laughing at the photoshopped Trump photos, even the Epstein one. Photo-based humor isn’t for me.
- While very Trump-y, I admit cracking up at the award categories.
- While definitely in his wheelhouse, Marcello isn’t adding that much energy to the proceeding as Milei, despite his usual committed work.
- Sarah is hilarious as Aunt Gladys. By the way, this has to be one of my first genuine laughs from Sarah this season, showing the rough year she’s been having, with endless bland straight roles suffocating her chaotic comedic voice that made her stand out so much in her early seasons.
- More and more, I’m loving Ashley’s impression of Kristi Noem. Spot-on and biting.
- Besides a few highlights, not that many laughs to be had so far. Some awkward technical errors too.
- Mike Myers is back as Elon Musk. I really enjoyed this impression earlier in the year, but not sure I need him routinely back again.
- Mike’s Elon is actually fitting well in this ridiculous awards ceremony concept.
- Surprised Mike’s part was this short, and basically a setup for the final part with Veronika and Tommy.
- While there were some funny moments in this here and there, this was more for me on the forgettable side. I know I am more positive on these cold opens than some fans, but they are really beginning to crater for me, with how overused the presidential impression has become. The dull awards show presentation didn’t help matters much, too.
Rating: **1/2
Monologue
host talks career & kids
- Teyana’s excitement over hosting SNL is quite endearing.
- Some alright jokes given to Teyana and she is making them work decently.
- That clip of Teyana at 16 years-old is crazy.
- A predictable turn with Teyana’s kids on their phones as she wraps up an emotional speech.
Rating: ***
Gate Agents
airport agents (host) & (KET) entertain during flight delay
- I’m beyond sick and tired watching Kenan Thompson and his tired shtick this season. He really is truly terrible often this year. Laughing at himself in every sketch and not giving a shit. Yet, somehow Lorne cannot let go of him.
- Kenan & Teyana are making a decent duo in this, even when it feels awkward and sad watching a black female host in a season with no black women in cast.
- This concept of more and more dangerous details being revealed regarding the airplane is not bad, but the mix with the two agents trying to entertain is messy. The cutaways to the cast feel especially tired in this.
- JAJ to save the sketch! As always, his pilot voice is freakin’ incredible. Uncanny. Even the brief musical number with him was a lot of fun. He is stealing this whole sketch and giving it a much-needed boost.
- A big laugh from Teyana’s “honey come to bed!”
Rating: **1/2 (JAJ gave this a boost)
One Battle After Another Action Figures
inappropriate action figures for the kids
- One Battle After Another is one of my favorite movies in recent years, and this premise already makes me onboard, even when I’m reminded of the classic commercial around Philadelphia.
- Teyana is just as fantastic in this reprising her character as she was in the movie. The dramatic way she is performing in a children’s toys commercial is having me in stitches.
- The kids are priceless in this. Love how they are so spot-on as the typical overexcited commercial kids, and them saying all these inappropriate lines makes it even funnier.
- I knew it was coming, but the kid saying the famous black girls line fucking killed me. Like, I’m dying of laughter by now.
- JAJ’s always-strong voiceover is even better than usual in this. He is so good playing the excited commercial spokesman.
- The portions with Teyana are very good and adding to this commercial very well.
- I overall found this to be absolutely fantastic. No notes from me. Add this to the list of classic SNL commercials pile.
Rating: *****
NFL on ESPN
Joe Buck (JAJ) & Troy Aikman (AND) constantly plug culinary lesbian drama
- Needless to say, a JAJMukes pairing is always a winner in my eyes. This season sadly has been scarce with them so far.
- A huge night for JAJ so far.
- This premise, while fun, reminds me of that great Crazy House sketch from JAJ’s very first episode (one of the best debuts ever on SNL). Interesting two pieces tonight reminded me of a past piece. Hell, this is clearly a sequel to the degree of JAJ reprising his dead-on Joe Buck. Knowing he helped write the first one, it is sweet seeing it again, paired with his best scene partner on the show.
- JAJ’s Joe Buck isn’t as spot-on as it was the first time around. He is still nailing that sportscaster cadence and delivery, however.
- The juxtaposition of the professional sports commentary and the repeated advertising of the steamy lesbian drama Quefs (great name there) is very funny, especially how it is being played straight. JAJ is outstanding in this, with great rapport with Andrew. He simply leaves me in awe so often with precise, adept deliveries of even the most trivial of lines. An all-timer quality right there.
- While not sure about her delivery, Teyana is adding a likable air to her part, especially getting a good laugh from her whole interview with Tommy.
- Boy, Jane looks massive next to Veronika. Good use of their height difference.
- The addition of Gavin Newsom to the Quefs teaser is hilarious!
- While I still like the first one with Owen Wilson a little more, I found this to be fun, featured great work from JAJMukes, and lots of funny, standout lines.
Rating: ****
Confidence Class
motivator (ASP) struggles to lead confidence class
- Nice to see an Ashley piece, considering her airtime decrease these past few episodes.
- I am positive this is a reworked piece of Ashley’s. I am sure she had a cut desk piece last season with a similar concept or am I remembering wrong? Thanks in advance to anyone in the comments who can answer me.
- As always, Ashley is great displaying quiet pathos in her role. Her taken-aback reactions, ways to steer the meeting into the right direction, are very well-handled.
- Love how the students keep making guesses on she didn’t get the job.
- I love the ridiculous “resume” of Ashley, especially her bizarre selfie in what seems to be a bathroom.
- Fantastic part with Ashley speeding the hell out of her slides. Excellent defeated state from her by that point. Some genuine great acting.
- The characters actually applauding Ashley at the end was endearing.
Rating: ****
Musical Performance – “Au Pays du Cocaine”
Weekend Update
MAH explains Gen-Z terms to COJ
Mr. On Blast (JEC) speaks his mind
- I love the opening bit about Trump’s bizarre God talk.
- Love that Board of Peace/L&O/Diddy joke.
- Very solid commentary from both Che & Jost on Trump’s Greenland occupation attempts.
- Another Marcello commentary? I sure hope it is better than his prior one.
- A fun and promising concept of Marcello explaining Gen-Z terms. As a Gen-Z myself (only older than Marcello by a few months, actually), I am still ancient when it comes to slang.
- Very funny turn with background music as Colin says the slang term. Reminds me of a bit you’d see Dennis Miller do in the late ‘80s (probably my favorite era of the desk, tied with Norm’s).
- Very fun delivery from Marcello as he explains the terms, especially how uses his hand gestures. Great use of his energy.
- Very fun piece, overall. You see, Marcello is fun, likable and charming when just being himself.
- Awesome to see Jeremy’s debut behind the desk! He’s been having a good string of shows of late, and this just feels like another step for him forward.
- As usual, Jeremy is coming off fun and likable. Making this piece even funnier for me is that it feels like a Dropout bit Jeremy would’ve done in past appearances.
- I am loving the synth in this and that great dance & poses Jeremy does. My type of weird humor I always enjoy and made me a fan of this fantastic performer long before SNL.
- The glitching part is having me practically on the floor. Excellent timing from Jeremy there.
- Very funny participation from Colin, for the second commentary tonight.
Rating: ****1/2 (the commentaries gave this already-strong edition a 1/2 more)
Grandpa at the Wedding
grandpa (host) grooves to Earth, Wind and Fire
- A laugh already from the moment we see Teyana’s old man character. I also like that voice she is using.
- Figures they’d do a sketch utilizing Teyana’s dancing skills. This is a fun, creative way to do it instead of those awful MTV-style sketches we had in the mid ‘00s.
- Very fun and impressive dance moves from Teyana. You can tell she is having a blast navigating the set.
- While there’s nothing much to this sketch besides the priceless of Teyana in old drag having a blast in her grandkid’s wedding, this is an endearing, likable sketch. I might dare say has some slice of life feeling to it if I look closer.
- Very funny cutaway to JAJ. By the way, this is yet another massive night for him, third in a row. Where he headlined the cold open and was utilized throughout the night, got some of biggest laughs of the episode and showed off his range. Does the show finally realize what a treasure they have with this performer? I certainly hope so.
- Fun stuff overall.
Rating: ***1/2
Backstab Island
contestant (host) came in to make friends
- These Survival-type shows are always ripe for parody.
- Hate to be that guy, but Teyana’s looking amazing in that getup.
- A big night for Ashley. The biggest in a good while.
- A bit of an iffy premise and execution, with the usual odd one out. In this case Teyana’s character being there to make friends instead of backstabbing them. She is fun, but there aren’t that many laughs to be had here.
- The guava juice part is funny and spot-on spoof of these shows.
- The audience tonight is so dead they barely even reacted to Ashley’s great delivery of her pushing line. Are those Geese fans in audience?
Rating: **1/2
Musical Performance – “Trinidad”
Beyond the Headlines
race tensions overshadow PBS program
- As soon as I saw the newsroom setting, I knew what type of a sketch we would be getting.
- I got a big laugh from Teyana & Kenan’s first delivered “Mhmmmm!”
- I get what this sketch is going for, and I am enjoying all the performances, but can we dig a little deeper? Instead of repeating the same aforementioned vocalization? I am not asking for SNL to “step up” like some of those lunatics online calling it genocidal and fascist, but have more edge.
- I did get another laugh from the cutaway to Kam.
Rating: **1/2 (maybe too generous or too low, depending on who you ask, but I’m very torn regarding this sketch)
Blowing It
MAH proposes methods for breaking up
- These Martin Herlihy shorts are always a treat for me. Refreshing, creative humor that is right up my alley.
- I brought up Nathan Fielder last time I covered a Martin short but now I’m even getting Trevor Moore vibes from him in this, and being reminded of both comics in an SNL piece is obviously a great thing.
- The Martin/Sarah opening scene was both well-acted and priceless. Great, increased awkward tension from all involved. Jeremy as the dad is especially great.
- I love this concept of methods on how to break up. Both very relatable and a goldmine for comedy.
- Love the cutting back-and-forth between Sarah/Martin and the awkward parents with Jeremy/Ashley.
- Hilarious overlong breakup method involving The Sorting Hat from Harry Potter.
- Sarah is fantastic in this! One of her best performances in what sadly feels like a long while. These types of performances were the reason I, and quite a number of fans, were so high on Sarah early on. I blame the show mainly for toning her identity down for that decline.
- Love the whole hungry for nachos part. Sarah’s face during it was hilarious.
- All-in-all, one of the best shorts of the whole season and an even better piece than Martin’s first short.
Rating: *****
Cut For Time: Walk Club
parents passive-agressively chat while walking
- Carson: Hey folks, Blood has once again thrown me a bone by allowing me to write a bunch more words about SNL. I like watching these cut sketches to analyze whether a better episode was available to SNL. Last week, it was pretty clear that Tommy Brennan’s commentary would have given some real juice to the Finn Wolfhard episode. Let’s see if any of these sketches would have better served the live show.
- There’s a funny thing when the typically young-ish SNL cast play older characters, as I assume these women are doing here. It always feels like they’re playing versions of their own parents or at least some variation of the “wine mom” persona. But I don’t really know these archetypes in real life, so it kind of comes off like their conflating 40-50 year-old women with 60-70 year-old women. It always kind of pulls me out, though I understand the approach as an easy shorthand for the performers.
- Ashley: “Thirty! It’s a 30 pound so…it’s more!” Already Ashley has developed a quintessential line read. It feels pretty exclusive to her.
- The escalation of this is solid, but not particularly riveting. There’s a predictability that kind of requires strong characterizations to make it any more than filler. Everyone here is doing fine (save for our host who is just putting on a few too many layers of “too much” into her performance), but I wouldn’t really call it much of a character piece either.
- Ashley: “Ooh, I love Hurt Locker!” I love those little lines that get completely glossed over by the audience.
- There’s a few hats being worn by this sketch – from the escalation, to the underlining contempt between women, to all the character explorations. I usually like a sketch that is operating with so many levels (like Carson-only favorite, The Talking), but everything here just feels like a shade shy of “merely OK.”
- Jane comes in and pulls off a laugh line (mild as it may have been). Our girl is growing right before our eyes.
- The weighted butt plug gag with Ben is a choice, but I do like the joke that he has to stop because he’s getting close to a school zone.
- The piece ends on the beat about everyone’s mutual contempt. It was probably the most poorly developed and realized part of the sketch, so it kind of lands with a thud.
- Ultimately, this would have been another fine, if unspectacular, sketch if it had made the show. I could see it displacing something like the Survivor sketch, but both sketches had underlying issues with energy. I call it a wash.
Rating: **½
Cut For Time: The Incident
Bobby (SAS) walked on (JAJ) & (host) having sex
- Carson: JAJ: “In the words of Hozier, you took me to church.” JAJ just has a way of fully inhabiting the douche-chilling corniness of a certain kind of white dude.
- Fun reveal of Sarah, back in her body horror comfort zone, with the insane bugged out eyes. Obviously this is reminiscent of that other eyeballs sketch with Brenden Gleeson, which could make a claim for top spot in Sarah’s “almost, but not quite ever truly great” SNL career.
- I really like the heads circling around Sarah’s head as key phrases trigger her character’s trauma. It reminds me a lot of the underrated Phil Hartman sketch, One Man’s Demons, from 1988.
- JAJ: “The girl can get on top? To quote Mario, ‘Here we goooo!’” So stupid, so silly.
- Taylor is once again just a little bit extra in her line readings. It’s not awful, but it occasionally distracts.
- The phrase “weird banana” being a trigger is funny, no doubt, but it’s also quite obviously forced.
- Do I like Sarah’s characterization here? I really can’t tell. It’s a little funny in the way that Sarah can be a bit of an anti-performer, but it’s also fully stilted.
- Ben looks truly horrifying with those eyes. I am happy that someone is joining Sarah in the body horror fun though. He seems to be mimicking Sarah’s characterization.
- That poor dog!
- Bit of a callback to One Battle After Another with Taylor and JAJ’s version of doggystyle. I wonder if they have a gun on them.
- The trigger phrases are the best part of the whole sketch. I really like this game.
- The stupid “her piece/herpes/hairpiece” gag is just dumb enough to completely tickle me.
- Unlike the Walk Club, the escalation of this sketch is a little less predictable. Neil Degrasse Tyson being another witness is a beat I couldn’t have predicted.
- OK, I’ve done enough praising. Kenan’s Uranus/B-holes joke fucking tanked. Full value for it too.
- Stupid ending, but whatever. Get over it, Carson.
- As a quasi-retread, this one probably has more juice than the Mid-Day News retread and the NFL on ESPN one. In a year that has largely relegated Sarah to roles that really don’t require her specific voice, it’s nice to see her do something more organic to her whole persona. I also like that there was a lot of good work from JAJ here too. Some elements of the sketch were not quite up to snuff, but this was for more interesting than a few things that aired.
Rating: ***1/2
Cut For Time: Mom’s Camera Roll
(TOB), (BEM), (VES) sing about mom’s (host) camera roll
- Carson: The Good News: it’s a sketch centered around four newcomers – Ben, Tommy, Veronika and the very bad, no good, naughty boy Kam. The Bad News: It’s a music video.
- I remember when the Lonely Island first hit, there was something truly thrilling about their songs. First, they were legitimate bangers. Second, they were frequently legitimately funny. Yes, there were several moments when the Lonely Island would make a song that was neither a banger nor particularly funny, but when they hit, they hit huge. The post-Lonely Island era was less fruitful. Beloved as many of the videos were, the mid-2010s lady cast videos felt more like a desperate attempt at virality than anything truly inspired. Many people loved Back Home Ballers, but I just saw the machinations of trying to make something that would hit (the PDD Conundrum). Let’s just skip over the Pete Davidson era entirely.
- Ben and Tommy’s previous music video was funny enough, but had a bit of an air of “Hopefully this will kill online.” It didn’t, but I still am ok with it making it to air.
- I do like that this video already places Kam at the centre. He has faced a lot of criticism, most of which has felt at best disingenuous (and at worst, outright racist). I have found him to be a charismatic and enjoyable presence onscreen, even if he still has to fully come into his own as a performer.
- More mom material, but Taylor’s struggles with her phone is a nicely relatable start.
- I’m not sure about what kind of aesthetic Ben and Tommy are going for, but I’m already digging the song. Tommy legitimately has a good voice. That’s a vital utility for everyone not named Chloe Troast.
- Like My Ex’s Dad, the material here is reaching for relatability and largely connecting.
- Veronika jumps in on the chorus, but I’ll be honest, it took me a hot minute to realize it was her. I thought it was any number of actual pop stars I know nothing about. Anyway, she looks and sounds great.
- Love the joke about Taylor’s passwords being different variations of “IdrisElba69.”
- Enjoying Taylor’s inclusion with her little rap about Kam’s camera roll. “Bitches and some bitches and some bitches and some bitches…”
- So yeah, I tend to come into these kinds of pre-tapes with some cynicism, but this one disarmed me. Granted, I’m a soft touch because I’m looking for some wins for the new crew, but this was a legitimate bop and the laughs overwhelmed my fears.
Rating: ****
Goodnights
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
One Battle After Another Action Figures / Blowing It (tie)
Weekend Update
Confidence Class
CFT: Mom’s Camera Roll
NFL on ESPN
CFT: The Incident
Grandpa at the Wedding
Monologue
CFT: Walk Club
Beyond the Headlines
The 1st Annual Trumps
Gate Agents
Backstab Island
Final Thoughts:
- After a number of episodes ranging from good-to-solid, the season finally does it for me: a strong, standout episode. Despite a few hiccups and some average material, there were tons of great sketches tonight, two five stars ratings and lots of other solid pieces. The show flew by really well, even with a muted audience (as usual of late), and the cast use continues to be a surprise. Also, needless to say, I found the musical performances by Geese to be awesome, especially the second one.
- Teyana Taylor certainly displayed energy as host, maybe a bit much at times, but she was quite likable and clearly was having a blast on the show. She only really two main showcases with Gate Agents and Grandpa at the Wedding, and I felt she did very well in both sketches. I’m still, however, surprised at this season’s seeming lack of trust in hosts, as we barely had any dominate an episode since way back in November with Glen Powell. We shall see as Alexander Skarsgård hosts next.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
I’m not gonna lie: I found this episode to be pretty unnoteworthy. Yes, I loved those two five-star sketches, and I actually kinda liked the cold open, but a lot of the episode was just kinda there for me. Also, I found the leadoff sketch to be pretty friggin’ terrible, and Ashley’s sketch felt kinda thin. Almost like a leftover Kristen Wiig piece.
I too found this to be a strong and consistently good episode.
Getting the flaws out of the way: the cold open was rather messy and unfocused. I’m not expecting nor wanting SNL to lean into “resist” mode the way many online do (those people should actually get off their ass and protest if they feel so strongly about it rather than just relying on a silly sketch comedy show to “save” them), but 1) even I’m tiring of these cold opens as they’re becoming far too repetitive and 2) the premise to this was rather muddled and all over the place. SNL has never had the best track record with award show sketches anyway and this one had the typical hollow feel of many of them.
The leadoff sketch, aside from JAJ’s presence, felt rather flat and dull. I too am sick of Kenan. The guy has been increasingly out of place on the show these last few years and it’s reached the point for me where I’m just wondering “why are you still here?”. Exhibit A as to why no one should stay on the show this long.
Beyond the Headlines felt like it was trying to be Mid Day News, but it never got there. The escalation was virtually nonexistent and the endless repetitions of “mmmmhmmm” got rather tired.
Those issues aside, everything else tonight worked for me. The Toy Commercial sketch definitely reminded me of the Philadelphia Action Figures sketch too, but hey, if you’re gonna take inspiration, why not take it from classics? The kid actors in this sketch were phenomenal and JAJ’s narration was the cherry on top.
I firmly believe SNL made a mistake in promoting Ben to the cast over Martin. Martin’s pieces have been infinitely more creative, fun, and yes, well acted, compared to any of Ben’s. This is exactly the kind of stuff I love to see from SNL. Taking a silly and ridiculous concept and just having fun with it. It kind of has that late 80s feel in that the premise is simple and it delivers on that premise flawlessly. Sometimes less is more.
Ashley’s piece was strong, albeit somewhat marred by awkward timing here and there (a recurring theme throughout tonight btw. Really sloppy direction and camera work). She, like JAJ, is simply too good for this show. Her little subtleties and characterizations in this sketch were so good that it actually made me feel sorry for her character. Not even her slight breaking towards the end ruined it for me.
The cast usage tonight was very solid and even Marcello and Sarah, two people who have been struggling badly recently, had strong nights. Jeremy had another breakout moment, JAJ and Ashley got utilized heavily. Honestly, this might be my ideal cast showcase in general (although I do wish Veronika had gotten more to do). I know we’ll inevitably get star pushes and underuse/shutouts going forward with our favorites and least favorites. That’s just the nature of SNL. But were I in charge, this would be my template going forward.
Teyana was a terrific host. I agree that she actually wasn’t given all that much to do (a weird theme this season), but she made it count wherever she could and was very likable and fun.
While it took long enough, I’m glad we finally had a (mostly) strong episode. Only hope the momentum continues!
When I saw it live, Ashley’s mic was quiet for part of the Backstab Island and the camera was really weird on the PBS Part. Also Teyana’s mic was really low as well.
I wasn’t a fan of Blast; But I did like Confidence Class (I wonder if Ashley actually can do a Dolly Parton impression?) and Backstab Island
The fact I liked 2.5 sketches is a massive improvement for ME over last weeks episode.
On first viewing I didn’t think much of the show. Way too much Kenan and Mikey. The classroom and NFL sketches didn’t quite hit for me but they were far from bad. The reality show and news sketches seemed like retreads from previous funny stuff. Airport sketch felt didn’t feel original either and Kenan and Mikey were kind of annoying
the toy commercial was pretty damn good and loved Herlihy’s short film at the end
again a show where the host did very little
This was quite the interesting one. I had the crazy idea of watching all three major films. Teyana did recently (Straw, OBAA, and The Rip) and I’m glad I did as it gave me a much better idea of who she is, which definitely made this in my mind very average episode better.
Easily one of the better uses of Trump with the award show. Though there’s nothing here I found particularly hilarious, but I thought the material was much stronger in this unique format unlike the usual format they always go to. I did get a kick early on of the screen showing three different camera angles of Trump in the exact same spot and Veronika and Tommy’s bit towards the end with good as well.
I definitely been lower on James than many people have HOWEVER him and both the airport sketch and the dancing grandpa sketch I did get a good kick out of him as I usually do always like when he’s silly in tiny doses, which I believe I said one time is probably my favorite version of James. Even if I am not the biggest fan of him personally, I do definitely agree the show should be using more of him as he never has done anything I’ve hated and there’s been a good number of stuff he’s done so far that I have really genuinely loved.
I do agree with your rating for the survivor sketch, even if I do definitely appreciate it as a big fan of reality shows like survivor and the traitors as well as many others (and definitely agree with Teyana looking incredible in that outfit as well)
And… that’s it, again not a whole lot I have to say about this episode. I feel while I definitely didn’t hate it, both last week to me was better than this episode and I feel I probably won’t remember this one after the season is over despite Teyana doing great with all the material she was given.
Next week it’s time for the big 1000 with… Alexander (yay?).
I might have to give this episode a rewatch, since it was very average in my eyes.
Blowing It was my favorite piece. Martin’s insulting of Sarah’s dad’s country accent was HILARIOUS.
I was a bit mixed on this week’s Update edition. There were a LOT of jokes that seemed designed to get the audience to groan, and I was more just shocked at the jokes, more than I found them funny. Jeremy’s commentary was great though. Marcello’s commentary was fine, but it feels like it’s coming maybe 2 years too late.
Confidence Class was really good, and another Ashley performance to write home about.
The Wedding sketch was the only Teyana performance that I full on thought was strong, as she carried this sketch with ease.
The Action figure pretape was decent, but it feels like it was relying too hard on the “haha children saying dirty stuff!” cliche.
My biggest issues with this episode was the weird gaffes and moments that felt under rehearsed (why were there so many pauses in Confidence Class?), and Teyana Taylor’s overall hosting performance.
I can appreciate energy, I really love Keke Palmer’s hosting performance in her episode. But that energy really does turn into overacting, and doing too many body movements, and it becomes kind of annoying by the end of the night. It felt like Teyana was trying too hard with a lot of the characterizations in general throughout almost the entire episode (the Wedding sketch notwithstanding). Even in the sketches where she’s meant to be in a more muted role, she was trying too hard.
I don’t think she was bad, but she’s honestly the first host in a long time I didn’t really care for. I think since Mikey Madison.
While I appreciate this episode and the previous being a step up from the weak December episodes, it still feels like it’s been a LOOOOONG time since we got an episode I would consider above average.
I’m not familiar with Alexander Skarsgaard, but I’m hoping we can get a episode worth writing home about before February.
Thanks as always for wading through these mires, Blood Meridian, and all the time you spend on the review and screen captures.
From Saturday Night Network.
Cut from Update:
Mikey as a man with a knot in his back, reprising his bit from last season. More screaming and this time Mikey laid on the desk as Che and Jost tried to help him out. A pre-recorded piece with Colin reading news back to the Stone Age.
Cut sketches:
CUL-DE-SAC RUN: Ashley, Ben, Sarah, Chloe, Jane, Teyana, Veronika. The women, Teyana and Ben run in the neighborhood with increasingly absurd weights on them. Chloe in an iron man suit, Jane lifting lots of weights, Ben had an enormous butt plug.
MY MOM’S CAMERA ROLL: A music video with Ben, Tommy, Teyana, Veronika singing about Teyana, who was playing Kam’s mom, and her camera roll.
MAGICIAN: Kam, Ashley, Mikey, Sarah, Andrew, Kenan, Ben (at the end). Kam makes Ashley disappear.
GOOGLY EYES: The return of the sketch from the Brendan Gleeson episode. Teyana, Sarah, Ben, James, Kenan, and a dog. Good audience reaction.
Sounds like those were all rightfully cut, judging by the premise.
Yeah I’m glad they cut Googly Eyes. Sarah’s creativity has really taken a nosedive as of late and that would have just been a sad retread of her glory days. At least the stuff that made it to air used her well (imho at least).
Based on Cousin Planet, I’d be interested in My Mom’s Camera Roll
Hey Blood, there’s two new sketches today. I bet you’ll have a BUNCH of thoughts on them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HELBshHsHkI&pp=wgIGCgQQAhgB
Hey, thanks Jesse for sending these. I did just come across them online. Appreciate your enthusiasm.
Great review Blood. I think a lot of your thoughts align with mine, but I still sort of feel that this episode sort of falls into that that “pretty good” category most of the season has fallen into. There’s been no show-stopper episode, but each episode delivers a handful of pieces that I really like. We keep talking about this cast feeling like the late-80s (mostly because JAJ and Ashley feel like they would have fit in then), but I’m more inclined to it feeling like the late 90s – in real time, each episode had great material and poor material. But I actually have more fun with these kinds of seasons.
What I liked:
Confidence Class – I caught the edited version, so missed all the tech gaffes, but I think even with the pre-tapes more directly hitting their respective targets, this will hold up as my favorite of the night. I am just utterly compelled by the work that Ashley does. She reminds me of early seasons Kristen Wiig minus the aggravating character sketches. Ashley’s sketches seem to always start in a very familiar place, but something about her performances pull the show into a completely new tone and pace. This one was also interesting because the standard “reaction” cast (Teyana, Marcello, Kenan, Mikey) seemed to kind of adopt their own tone and pace. I really liked and really loved the part where Ashley speed ran through the rest of her presentation (“It’s OK to be catfished”).
OBAA Toys – Basically a retread of an early-90s forgotten gem (I’m not going to necessarily say “classic”). It’s actually refreshing to see something that feels like a read ad parody, even if SNL’s current ad parodies seem to run about a minute longer than the old ones. Not sure this works if you haven’t seen the movie. But I did and I enjoyed this a whole lot.
Blowing It – James made the point above, but it really should have been Martin all along, shouldn’t it? I like Ben, but what makes SNL interesting is people with a distinctive comedic voice. By separating the PDD guys, we really start to see what defines each of them as individuals. My biggest gripe with the collective was the fact that their comedy looked and felt great, but still mostly occupied the mushy middle of SNL. Seeing PDD deconstructed has kind of exposed the fact that Ben is the soft serve gruel while Martin represents the spice that made them seem more interesting than they were. I’ll happily take Martin solo as it increases the odds that something interesting will show up on my screen. Hot take, but I’d take this over any of the PDD shorts.
Update – Credit to Marcello, the piece landed despite it feeling like a post-faco primer for Snack Homiez. We can point to Marcello’s struggles this season, but we also have to hat tip to the pieces that work. When he’s shoehorned into the show, it’s the pits, but his own pieces can still deliver. Even better, of course, was Jeremy, who was an absolute scream in such a silly little trifle. I’m trying to remember what the other big desk pieces were this season. I’ve liked Kam’s work (I guess I’m a Kill Tony loving conservative), but this one was on another level.
What I tolerated:
Grandpa At The Wedding – Nothing to speak of, really. But it’s always fun when they let the host really go for it. Teyana was all kinds of “too much” during this episode, but she seemed to relish this piece.
Beyond The Headlines – We’ve had to certified Midday News sketches (both great) and now two Temu Midday News sketches (both forgettable, not enough). This was about as close as we got to a legitimate commentary on the world right now and it was occasionally OK, but lacking punch and momentum.
NFL on ESPN – Waiting five years to bring back a decent sketch is one way to do it. There’s a lot of fun in these sketches, but JAJ and Andrew have worked with far stronger material this season.
What I did not tolerate:
Cold open – With few exceptions, this comment section doesn’t fret the Trump material the way other boards and subs do and I tend to run a hair more positive than others. That said, this is one of those times I felt like the show kind of fumbled an opportunity. I hated the the Resistance content of 2016-22, but this really did feel tone deaf. Like, the framing of this thing was perfectly fine, but probably in ANY OTHER week. Like, I don’t want the Minneapolis Children’s Choir or anything, but maybe directly targeting people like that Bovino twat is the way to go. IDK, I always wonder how the show would have handled something like this in any time from 1986-2002 and I picture something far toothier.
Airport – Thank God for JAJ.
Survivor – I liked the concept and felt there was SOMETHING here (the audience disagreed), but sometimes the energy is just off.
Anyways, four good segments and a couple sturdy fillers is a pretty good episode.
Perhaps I’m too SNL Discord-pilled, but I did not like this episode. There were some good portions and some fine performances, but on the whole, I found the material weak, the host both not used well nor particularly impressive at sketch comedy, and some portions very very tone-deaf.
The opening sloshed over me–I have no real antipathy towards these Trump sketches, and this one actually had more bite than some examples, but we’ve basically exhausted all the permutations involving these Trump beats. Time to try something different or at least make these shorter.
As a host, Teyana Taylor brought some energy, but for the most part, seemed to be given pretty nothing roles or straight woman parts. The main problem here is that she wasn’t good in these parts, way over-acting or trying to be big when that wasn’t necessary (examples include the Survivor parody, the classroom sketch, and a pretty terrible performance in the football sketch).
The Good
Mr. Blast: This is just pure silly, stupid fun that was a nice burst of energy. The final synth blast thing just killed me.
The Pretty Good
Confidence Class: Once this got going, I liked the sketch. Ashley did a great performance, and the gags at the end were very funny (I laughed a lot at JOLENE! JOLENE!). However, the pacing seemed off, and the straight performers seemed more interested in siphoning laughs than in actually supporting the sketch.
Blowing It: I got some laughs here, and everyone, especially Martin and Sarah, were funny, but there was just something missing.
The Okay
OBAA Action Figures: Well made and good performances, but this is a fairly “lazy” (in a good way) premise. Nothing was really done to make this stand out to me.
Marcello on Update: This wasn’t that creative, but Marcello was charming and likable, and I liked seeing someone other than Sarah roast Colin.
Grandpa at the Wedding: There was no real point to this, but Taylor did her best performance of the night, and nothing was bad.
The Bad
Airport sketch: Same Kenan crap we’ve seen for decades. Taylor actually did one of her best performances, though, but there’s no way this should have led things off.
Qefs: As a devout partisan of the Crazy House sketch, I wanted to like this one, and there were decent jokes, but the sheer laziness of the premise drags it down. Also, the performances and execution were worse than last time–Taylor was way overacting, JAJ’s impression wasn’t as polished, and Dismukes, while okay, was no match for Owen Wilson’s delightful glee.
Backstab Island: I know these shows are still around, but this seemed a very lazy, very out of date parody, mocking cliches that were musty even in like 2005.
Beyond the Headlines: I thought this sketch was actually borderline offensive. Besides having a very lazy, underdeveloped premise, there was a certain smugness that felt off-putting come from such a middle of the road show like SNL. Furthermore, by having the Black panelists have the same reaction to a valid concern (racial history) AND something more “trivial” (pants at church), you ran the risk of making everyone look foolish, which was rather tone-deaf on a day where a protester was killed.
I saw the cut sketch about the walking wives, and thought that was actually pretty funny. There was too much vocal fry and nothing earth-shattering happened, but the sketch had more of a good, silly premise that appropriately built up and was slice of life-y. I also thought the female cast was used well, especially Veronika and Ashley. Ben was also amusing. While this wasn’t exactly a great sketch, it should easily have replaed some of the dreck that did appear.
Thanks @Carson for your reviews on the cut pieces.
Now that everything is in, some of my own (very belated) thoughts:
When I heard about Teyana’s booking, I wasn’t entirely surprised, as she’s getting tons of buzz, but I was surprised due to her not fitting with where SNL is going. After watching the episode, I think she probably never would have fit an SNL past around 1983. She has a very broad and eccentric persona which seemed very difficult to write for, when they tried.
It didn’t help that a number of their attempts at writing for her involved the ghosts of SNL’s black female cast, first off repurposing a Maya and Jerry Minor sketch for Teyana and Kenan (the first and not last time of the night where JAJ’s charm and crisp line readings were thrown in as an attempted salvage job), then an Ego sketch with Mid-Day News. I did not care for either of these, but the latter rankled due to just how aimless it was and how regressive the Kenan and Teyana performances felt. Having two reports going “mmm-hmm” over the type of church white people go to felt like something In Living Color would have mocked 35 years ago. How did we get here in 2026? And where are we going?
By far my favorite use of Teyana was the dancing Grandpa sketch. It wasn’t the best sketch in of itself, but we don’t get enough sketches in recent times that try to tap so directly into the talents of the host. Teyana’s a fantastic dancer (I know one part was a double, but she was still fantastic), so devoting time to showing that off was a great idea.
Martin was wonderful in the Blowing It pre-tape. It’s not easy to play that level of invective and make it funny instead of just making us feel sorry for the other characters. His OTT screeching in an imitation Southern accent, like his head was about to explode (also well-played by Jeremy – so angry but trying to stay together for his daughter). His sorting hat imitation when Sarah (who was also very good) gave me my biggest laugh this season.
I went back to rewatch the One Battle After Another pre-tape for the third or fourth time. I think my judgment was affected by having never seen the film, as I didn’t get much out of it. If they were going to joke about boring white parents reacting to their kids loving such a wild film, I wish they’d tried a different approach, like the parents becoming radicalized and abandoning their children, or the kids taking over the house and the parents being run out. I also found Teyana’s use somewhat odd as she was just on the sidelines and at times, I could barely hear her.
Both JAJ and Ashley were used as crutches in this episode, to varying degrees of success.
While Ashley gave a strong and accomplished performance in the confidence sketch, I did not think the sketch itself was especially good. I thought they chose the wrong cast members to play students, and I thought they overegged the degradation aspects, especially the strange choice to show us Ashley’s Michelle Obama speech and then cut to Teyana reciting the whole speech. I liked that they tried to add an upbeat (sort of) ending, but this still seemed like a redressed sketch from the early/mid ’90s in the underlying meanness. I think Mikey hurt this too because he was so slick, due to his many years in the cast, and it cut through some of the sincerity Ashley was trying to put across.
What concerns me most with Ashley is not only that almost all of her lead roles this season have been devoted to lifting thin material, but that the roles she’s being given are running the risk of reducing her to overfamiliar turns after only a season and a half. I can’t react as much to her work in sketches like this, or Martin’s pre-tape, or the walking sketch because these are tics I’ve already seen a lot of.
JAJ fared better, as he has a certain sincerity and warmth which is impossible to replicate, but much as I was glad to see him with Andrew again, I was disappointed that they just made a retread of one of my favorite sketches of his (Crazy House). One of the reasons that sketch worked so well, beyond his wonderful performance, was the time we were in when it first aired. Making fun of wokeness, complete with the puppet and two ladies being visited by Stacey Abrams, was much more on the nose in 2021 than 2026. Instead, we just got the lesbian jokes. This wasn’t bad, and it feels silly to complain about JAJ getting a lead sketch role…just wouldn’t have been my choice of a JAJ showcase. (Teyana’s part in this is too superfluous to think much about)
Marcello was perfectly alright on Update, but there’s something which gives away the show’s confusion on where to take him in giving him the “resident young person” role at a point when he has lost almost all of the energy which would have warranted the label.
Jeremy was a delight. Bobby comparisons are inevitable, I’ve made many myself, but he has his own special buoyancy I can appreciate. As the audience still doesn’t know him very well, going out there and miming with the synth beat could have died, but he was just infectious. That sweetness meant this wasn’t just another out-of-touch-vaguely-showbiz pastiche.
Colin seemed much more involved in both commentaries (especially Marcello’s) than he often is – many times he just has the same few sputtering reactions along with his laughter. If they were doing a little more with Jost (and Che’s button-pushing jokes) to distract from the headlines or because they know they’ve hit a certain limit with the Jost Roasts, I can understand the choice, but they’re making it more and more difficult to separate Jost and Che from the desk when the day comes…if it ever comes.
I have very little good to say about the Survivor sketch, which would have been a tough sell even 25 years ago, but this did have one of the first Kam moments I appreciated (when Teyana said she was cool with anything, then they cut to Kam saying they’d slept together and the next morning she was weird as hell).
I didn’t dislike the cold open as much as I’d expected. It was still too long, and parts still had the tedious hooks SNL loves (Mike as Elon [even if this was his best work as Elon], the lol dementia joke, the gay joke, the pandering of Ben as Loki), yet there was genuine malice in the pen, much more than last week. I know the audience not laughing is often just down to lack of quality material, but portions of this that had so much silence due to the extremely ugly honesty on display (like in the closing montage) worked for me. They also pointed out genuinely stupid and insane things Trump has done that can’t be used as only a punch line (like all the money he’s given to Milei). I don’t think this ever would have generated a rave response, but the timing of the airing hurt quite a bit.
Cut pieces:
Sarah’s sketch was very entertaining almost all the way through. I can’t say I watched this and thought, “What have we been missing?” because she already did this years ago and once was fine, but the head thought bubbles and the inclusion of Ben and even the dog as equally traumatized were fun additions. What truly sold this was JAJ, giving what I’d call one of his best performances in his 5 and a half seasons as a cast member. It’s not easy to pull off this mix of wholesome and dirty, yet he made it look easy. I loved the Mario accent. I was in a good place with this one until Kenan walked in. I feel like the show is still so worried over Bowen’s exit that we get our “stars” shoehorned in whether they are needed or not, and Kenan sure was not needed here. The perfect ending would have been Sarah pulling off her priest collar. Not a laugh riot, but better than what we ended up getting. Kenan is a drag on the show at this point.
The walking sketch was an interesting collection of ideas thrown together in a very unfocused manner. My main takeaway is that the cast and Teyana didn’t gel enough, ending in people just reading through their lines and overshadowing each other. Veronika, Ben, and Sarah probably fared the best.
The musical pre-tape was charming. I definitely would have put this in the episode. I couldn’t help thinking that the versions we got of this years ago with cast members like Melissa and Chris had more of a vibrancy. At times, due to Tommy and Ben, this felt like a Pat Boone cover. I think this unintentionally exposed just how similar Ben and Tommy are as cast members and why Tommy is the one I most expect to be a one-season wonder. He seems to be a nice guy and he is trying, but he’s arguably the most generic cast member in SNL history.
Veronika was great in this. She gave that earworm of a hook, and she looked beautiful too. It’s unfortunate that the two pieces where she clicked this week were banished.
Teyana was also used very well here, as was Kam. I’ve had many criticisms of how Kam is showcased, and I stand by those, because this type of role, just reacting in more slice-of-life, natural moments, is much more suited to him. These are the moments I can see where Kam has a role beyond just trying to capture the Kill Tony fans who will never watch this show.
Anyway, I complain and complain and complain about “stars only” SNL, and pieces like this are why. This likely would have gotten a decent viewer response, especially as music videos are much less frequent now and many love “relatable” content. Yet, having no Marcello, Mikey, Kenan, etc. likely got this banished to Youtube oblivion, while a public already increasingly alienated from the show got to sit through that airport sketch which probably got on the air because it has Kenan.
Until this mentality changes, the show cannot and will not improve.
Thanks again, Blood and Carson.