Cold Opening – Iran War Address
President Trump (JAJ) talks Iran strike
- They must’ve rewritten this cold open to have it parodying the Iran strike instead of having it around the State of the Union speech.
- The usual laughs from the impression, especially the whole Forrest Gump portion. I admit getting a bigger laugh than expected from the time-traveling r-word line.
- They even mentioned the scrapped original open being the State of the Union. The making fun of Jeremy part, while funny, is an overdone trope of SNL with its newbies.
- While I liked Colin’s Hegseth in past cold opens, they seem to really begin to milk it. Part of it is still, I feel, an inside joke at Colin himself, but that’s maybe me.
- Oh wow, this cold open is over? This has to be one of the shortest in some time. This had to be longer in dress.
Rating: ***
Monologue
host talks career & welcomes Team USA players
- Some crazy audience members in the audience tonight. Nice energy.
- Connor Storrie’s enthusiasm and energy is quite endearing. I’m getting a good feeling from him as host.
- Is it true Storrie only been acting for six months before the show? Wow.
- This whole premise of Connor making deep, serious messages to the camera is cliched, though he is making it work fine. Not exactly comedy gold, but alright.
- So, these are the guys some fans were mad about? The Team USA winners? I am not mad exactly about this, but this is supposed to be Connor Storrie’s moment.
- And now we get the women so those mad can be happy? This whole thing is more cute than funny. Still, a distracting turn but fine enough.
- A bit of a mess of a monologue to be honest. Not awful but not yet above being harmlessly mediocre.
Rating: **1/2 (by default)
Mr. Fronzi
classroom makes fun of teacher (MAH)
- The entrance of Marcello in that getup and his usual heavy accent shtick is worrisome.
- I am a raspy-voiced guy myself, but my God, I really don’t like the voice Marcello is using here. I know he is trying to sound older, but the attempt is grating.
- Not that of a laugh-worthy premise, confusing peanut and penis. I know, as a teacher, this is the type of sophomoric humor kids love, but this is only resting on Connor and the cast convincingly playing these amused students.
- As usual with Marcello sketches, the other performers are the best thing going in this sketch. Marcello is fine, but this type of role isn’t in his wheelhouse, in my opinion.
- Connor’s impression of Marcello’s character is actually spot-on. Better than I expected.
- Kam’s confusion in the background is pretty funny. But, I am struggling to laugh at this point. This whole sketch is leaving me scratching my head.
- Typical turn with the whole wholesome message from the students to Marcello’s teacher character. Couldn’t care less for that.
Rating: **
The Gentlemen’s Code
gloveless slaps are the way to deal with insults in 1890s England
- Ashley is a natural in the 19th century period setting.
- Connor’s British accent is very good. Reminds me of the variety of spot-on accents he did in the promo earlier in the week.
- The turn with both gentlemen slapping each other is very funny. Their posh attitude while being slapped and appalled, at the same time, is hilarious.
- Funny escalation with the endless “how dare you!”-s between all the gentlemen. This gives me nice Monty Python feeling, which is obviously a great thing.
- I love how Kenan is just punching people left and right instead of a snobby gloveless slap.
- I got a huge laugh from Andrew kicking the kid across the park.
- Very funny reaction from Connor to being kicked to the wall.
- Yet another in a long line of fun, solid pretapes this season.
Rating: ****
Ice Skating
dramatic proposal of lovers (VES) & (TOB) is interrupted
- Feels rare seeing Tommy being a lead in sketch. On the other hand, nice seeing Veronika prominent already tonight.
- The background antics by Ben, Mikey and Connor are pretty funny. The latter is especially fun in his deliveries.
- Nice way to include Hudson Williams in the obligatory cameo. Instead of having him awkwardly shoehorned into the monologue.
- I am liking the dramatic acting by Veronika and Tommy, and I “get” the background antics by the cast and guests, especially Tommy’s distraction by them instead of Veronika. With that said, this premise was done better before.
- An OK ending with Tommy joining the guys. Veronika was great in this sketch especially. She’s been so solid and reliable already as a cast member.
Rating: ***
Tutoring the Cool Kid
bullied (BEM) becomes friends with school’s cool kid (host)
- They seem to actually attempt to use Connor in this sketch. So far, he’s been just thrown into sketches, especially how his monologue went.
- Connor looks so much like Patrick Swayze with this look.
- Guess I spoke too soon, as this seems to be around Ben’s character while Connor reacts to him.
- I do admit getting a laugh from the cutaway to Connor’s stone-face reaction to the lame song of Ben’s. That audience member’s “oh my god!” cracked me up.
- I always love seeing JAJ & Ashley paired together. They’re great as the typical cheesy parents.
- The turn with JAJ & Ashley singing, while predictable, made me laugh. Both of them, and Ben, are fun and likable playing dorky and cringe naturally.
- A cute sketch overall. I know it is intentionally lame and cringey, but I found it sweet. Connor himself was especially adorable at the end attempting that dance & song.
Rating: ***1/2
Musical Performance -”Rubber Band Man”
Weekend Update
maid of honor (VES) switches between current affairs and best friend’s wedding
Punch’s (MAH) mom (SAS) justifies dumping kid
- As expected, starting out with the Iran strike news.
- Wild how Khamenei was killed just hours before the live show. Mere hours into the strikes.
- I still remember watching those mind-melting Trump “vlog” videos for shits and giggles back in 2015…
- I liked the “two full diapers” punchline from Colin. The usual dumb jokes I laugh at often.
- Two r-word references tonight? It made sense in the cold open, but here?
- Oof at “kids grow up so fast” punchline. Is it bad I laughed?
- Great seeing Veronika finally getting an Update piece! She’s having a good night.
- Veronika is funny and spot-on imitating the usual way some girls speak at proms/weddings, especially the funny detail of her still holding the wine glass.
- That was a pretty fun piece. Different than I expected a Veronika Update debut to be, but enjoyable.
- I got a big laugh from the whole Stephen Hawking rant by Colin, especially the “age is just a number” punchline.
- Some brutal jokes in this edition of the desk in general.
- Ugh. As expected, they’re doing this overrated monkey story. Instead of having someone play that baby monkey, they are going an even worse route by having Sarah, the resident mascot, showing up as a “slutty” version of his mom.
- Makes sense this audience who’s been dead most of this Update is laughing their asses off at this trash. Since when is this Jerry Springer/Maury parody the “in” in comedy?
- Yeah, this is just unwatchable. I have been nicer towards Sarah of late, but this is just textbook example of why she should go.
- And now we are getting loud “aww!”-s from the audience at Marcello as Punch? Just end this, NOW.
Rating: ***1/2 (that whole desk piece brought this down for me, which is a shame)
Leg Lengthening
Guy (MAH) denies obvious leg lengthening operation
- A big night for Veronika so far.
- A laugh from the odd visual of Marcello’s very tall legs. Now, I can tell the reveal with Connor’s character.
- The back-and-forth between Marcello and the others is fine. Marcello is committed as usual, but I can this would’ve been better with another performer in his role. Nothing against him.
- They are totally wasting Connor in this episode in general. He is solid as usual in this sketch, however.
- This feels like a premise Ashley Padilla would’ve done. And, not to be harsh, Marcello is no Ashley to say the least. He wouldn’t even sell this half as good as she would’ve.
- Not sure I cared for the ending with Mikey, though he came off likable as usual.
Rating: **1/2
Office Dance
office dance keep being mentioned as motivator
- Feels odd seeing so little of Ashley tonight so far, but probably because how spread the airtime tonight is.
- I didn’t notice it till now, but Connor has a great voice. His recurring talk about wanting a dance, complete with background music, is funnier due to his deep voice.
- A big laugh from Sarah’s suggestion of having a women’s bathroom.
- Andrew is his usual likable and funny self in his whole portion in this. Appreciate the Severance mention.
- The whole moment with JAJ was pretty funny. Some nice absurdist humor in this.
- JAJ now gets another funny to the camera moment.
- The turn with Connor & Ashley confessing to each other is really sweet.
- Cute use of Mumford & Sons. And man, I often am surprised to realize they are a British band. Great accent especially on Marcus himself.
- A very sweet piece overall.
Rating: ***1/2
Musical Performance -”Here”
Injured Stripper
despite accident, stripper (host) is committed to his work
- Nice seeing tons of Veronika tonight.
- On the other hand, Jane just now making her first appearance of the night. Chloe is shutout for the first time this season.
- Connor as a stripper? Surprised just now they are doing a sketch directed at his stans.
- Ashley is great in her lines to the other girls in the sketch and her reactions, especially loved her brief “whoo!” towards Connor. This terrific performer has that ability of making even the most mundane of lines and moments come off funny and memorable, all without seeming desperate or taking from the sketch’s comedy. Another all-timer quality in Ashley Padilla.
- Fun physicality from Connor slowly crawling through the room. Ashley’s (she’s so damn good, man) reactions while playing along with him are priceless.
- Jane’s “his body is mid” line is pretty funny. Of late, she’s been really nailing those quick lines of hers.
- Hilarious turn with Connor briefly passing out with his legs around Sarah. His physicality and commitment in this sketch is leaving me in awe. I totally could’ve seen this as a classic Groundlings piece (and it was, before he hit it big with Heated Rivalry).
- You know, for a sketch that is clear pandering, this was actually very funny for me. Maybe because this had jokes, some fun work from the cast (Ashley especially), and Connor being committed. Instead of a standard “hot host” piece.
Rating: ****
Cut For Time: Car Song
(JAW) & (VES) inability to open the car door inspires hardcore song
- Surprised to see this cut, as the show only had one pretape and that Veronika seems to be a fairly popular, well-liked rookie so far (and rightfully so). She had a huge night in the live episode, so I am not going to rant that they aren’t using this brilliant talent enough.
- Considering I loved Cousin Planet, and that Jane has been quietly killing it lately, I am excited to watch this.
- Veronika is distractingly gorgeous at the start of this. Nice lightening and the aspect ratio fits so well.
- Love the turn with not knowing how to get out of the car, between both Jane and Veronika. Side note: awesome Russian accent from JAJ (and he looked great, too). Is there anything this guy cannot do?
- The hardcore music turn is hilarious! I love how this, much like the also-great Mom’s Camera Roll and Cousin Planet, takes relatable premises and turns them up to 11, while still maintaining laughs.
- Very funny part with Jane learning Chinese in the backseat.
- The raid and confrontation at Connor’s HQ is yet another very funny turn. I am baffled how this solid and fun piece didn’t air, much like Mom’s Camera Roll.
- Funny backstory to Connor’s villain character.
Rating: ****
Cut For Time: Tourette’s PSA
disgraced celebs claim syndrome is why they are that way
- Oh, I almost forgot that whole BAFTA’s mess with the Tourette’s Syndrome activist.
- A decent take on the controversy with several disgraced celebrities claiming to have Tourette’s to justify their actions and words.
- Connor is perfectly creepy as Armie Hammer, even when I like JAJ’s underrated take more.
- Kenan’s Cosby is always very funny and spot-on. With that said, this sketch’s premise is funnier with some celebrities than others.
- A very funny reveal of Ashley as J.K. Rowling. The audience’s wild reaction to her in this is very funny.
- JAJ’s Louis C.K. is always so spot-on it’s uncanny. His makeup and look in this are better than the first time he showed up.
- Che being in this sketch makes me think he had a hand in writing this. It feels very in his wheelhouse.
- Random Kam as Kanye. His appearance was brief but quite funny.
- That “N.W.O.R.D.” ending…. not sure what to make of that gag.
Rating: ***1/2
Goodnights
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
The Gentlemen’s Code / Injured Stripper (tie)
CFT: Car Song
Tutoring the Cool Kid
Office Dance
Weekend Update
CFT: Tourette’s PSA
Ice Skating
Iran War Address
Leg Lengthening
Monologue
Mr. Fronzi
Final Thoughts:
- Yet another in a long line of good season 51 episodes. While this episode wasn’t as good as the last few were (not having as many standout pieces is why), it was pretty good still. And, looking back, there were enough highlights and barely anything subpar for me. However, I would have far preferred the two CFT pieces instead of the Marcello showcases.
- Connor Storrie, like many hosts of late, wasn’t utilized to his maximum potential, but was, as expected from that great promo a few days back, so game and committed. Even making roles that I felt wasted his talents likable and good. He displayed nice versatility and energy with all the fun accents and physicality he did (especially the final sketch of the night). Hell, even his goodnights speech was endearing and made him even more charming. I hope he can host again a few years from now.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
Okay, so I hated the first half of this episode. I thought a lot of the sketch concepts were stupid, focusing on humor I don’t like, and occasionally pandering. The audience screaming at the sight of the hockey players and Hudson (who I guess is Connor’s co-star) were proof of that alone.
But with that being said, I didn’t mind the second half. That half, I actually liked the concepts presented, and I got more laughs than earlier. Still, I hesitate to call this one good, because there wasn’t anything in that half that stood out to me.
This was another in a long line of decently good episodes who seem to not know what to do with the host. I’m not sure what it is about this season, but it seems like the writers forgot that they have hosts half the time, and it results in them awkwardly shoehorning them into parts that are relatively minor while reacting to whomever the star of the sketch is. In some ways, this feels like a throwback to the earlier days of the show, where the focus was on the cast and not the host. I have mixed feelings on it myself, as I feel like we only get glimpses of the host’s potential sometimes.
Case in point: that stripper sketch was easily Connor’s best performance of the night. I’m not surprised that he wrote and performed it before. His physical comedy and commitment were hilarious and, despite this sketch having “host is hot” elements to it, it came together quite well.
The slap pretape was also a hilarious bit of juvenile silliness. I’m always a sucker for these Monty Python style “upper class snobs engage in something ridiculously stupid” sketches and this one was another winner for me.
Tons of Veronika tonight which I loved to see. I’ve definitely felt, next to Ashley, she’s the female cast member with the most promise. So I’m cool with Ashley taking a bit of a back seat to give Veronika more of a chance and thankfully she did not disappoint! That Bridesmaid piece was terrific. She nailed the whole characterization and I really liked her incorporating serious world events into her speech (even though parts of it did feel slightly reminiscent of Cecily’s Girl at a Party character).
And now for the bad: that leadoff sketch. Holy fucking hell. I’ve, at times, wondered if I’ve been too hard on Marcello and my dislike of him has been too OTT. And then he comes out and does this. Not only was he playing yet ANOTHER heavily accented character (seriously, this is like S20 Chris Farley yelling but even worse). Not only was he playing yet ANOTHER loud character. But his voice in this sketch was particularly grating and annoying. Pretty much everything I despise about Marcello as a performer (at his worst) was on full display here. I have NO idea why they decided to make this the leadoff sketch but it was honestly one of the worst sketches of the season for me. Up there with Domingo from Sabrina’s episode. I sincerely cannot wait for Marcello to leave the show as he has become a complete bane to its existence, sucking up precious airtime with his tired, hammy, indulgent, and borderline racist schtick.
The Sarah Update piece likewise displayed all of her worst tendencies, as well as this era’s penchant for pop culture pandering. Pieces like this just wind up having the opposite intended effect: instead of making the show appear “cool”, it makes it feel more ancient than ever. Hearing the braindead stans in the audience eating this up just reinforced how shallow it was. Side note: this has to be one of the most moronic audiences I’ve ever seen on SNL. They even cheered for Connor’s appearance in that CFT Car Song sketch as if they’d seemingly forgotten that he was, you know, the host.
Anyways, those issues aside, I mostly had a good time. Considering how much pandering they could have done with tonight’s host, I’m happy they mostly steered clear of it and kept going for unique and silly premises. Only wish the CFT sketches had replaced some of the weaker material, but at least we got them in some form.
Here’s hoping Ryan’s episode will be more like his S41 episode and less like his S49 episode.
Thanks as always for all your hard work on the review and the screen captures. I know it’s a great deal of work.
From Saturday Night Network:
Cut from Update – Kenan as Che’s pastor with JAJ as his bandleader. He’d be leading a sermon and JAJ would say a country one-liner.
Sketches:
WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT. Led by Ashley, with Veronika, Sarah, JAJ. Ashley was leading it but Connor was from a town taken over by apes. Ashley tries to lead the women and get them not to pay attention to Connor.
T-MOBIL AD – JAJ as Billy Bob Thornton. Previously cut from the premiere.
MOVIE Q&A – Mikey is on one stage, answering questions about a movie he made about his relationship with his grandmother. Other people ask questions. Connor was dressed up like a professor from Harry Potter. Ashley, Kam as a construction worker, Jane. Hudson Williams came out asking a question too. This had audio issues in dress.
This was an episode that watching live I felt was good but boring at the same time but on a rewatch, I enjoyed it a lot more, mainly thanks to the atmosphere of the audience brought that definitely elevated most of the material in this episode.
I’m surprisingly much higher on the monologue than you mainly just because once again the audience is reactions to various things was very endearing and as you mentioned, Connor himself was also endearing. I’m not too familiar with the hockey male players that caused such an uproar from fans, so I looked at it as just the show bringing recent hockey players that won during the Olympics on for the monologue and because I looked at it like that, I enjoyed it a lot more and all four of them came out very charming. I do agree it does seem like bringing in the woman was like a weird consolation prize to the very controversial guys coming in, but I didn’t mind them, especially since both of them seemed very happy to be there which I always appreciate for any cameo.
Mr. Fronzi in my opinion, was one of the better Marcela sketches he has recently done. Something about the voice he was doing really tickled me as well as the reactions from Connor and the rest of the cast. My favorite part as well was Kam exclaiming “I don’t even know what subject this class is”. Also, the part where Marcelo puts his rear end very close to Connor (while I can see some think is very lame or tiring) gave me a big laugh. I also really appreciate the stupid ending that made no sense that also surprisingly worked for me.
Gentlemen’s Code to me started off as a nice goofy piece, but slowly became just whatever I think once Kenan kept on making people hurt themselves (which in the context of the sketch I kind of wish something that happened to Kenan so everyone got something bad happening to them). Most of this pre-tape as a whole just left me kind of scratching my head and overall to me just really nothing of note.
All I really have to say for what happened on Update was on Veronika’s piece I thought she performed it amazing and was a great concept for a character, but the overall commentary I thought was just decent as the segues to talking about something going on in the world I didn’t find terribly funny, but it will not be mad at all if it came back because I can’t actually see myself liking it more, also just happy in general Veronika finally showed on Update.
Nothing new I have to add for the Injured Stripper sketch as pretty much everything you said I feel exactly the same, but it was also the moment I realized we both haven’t seen Jane up until that point, Kam once again also made one appearance, and Chloe was nowhere to be seen, which is interesting as she has appeared I think a good amount this season so far (though I am aware she did an event in the UK during the week so that definitely explains why she was absent in this episode).
I also pretty much agree with everything you said on the cut Car Song sketch (personally both think this was better than Cousin Planet and would’ve preferred it over Gentleman’s Code). Also I second Veronika looking BREATHTAKING in this haha. Connor was excellent in this as well with his character.
So yeah, overall a much better episode after a second watch for me. Connor seemed down for anything which I always love for any host and you could tell. He was absolutely thrilled to be there and would do it again in a heartbeat (wanna be a shot if in 52 or 53 he’s back). As always amazing review from you after this long Olympic break and I am very excited to see the return for the fourth time of Giggling Gosling! Peace and Farewell, Blood!
Quick Thoughts:
– I am beyond tired of the lame trump CO’s
– Really Lorne: 3 Sketches of Marcello/Squirm together?
– Veronika on Update was the only part I liked tonight
– The ONLY praise I have for the Legs sketch was that Marcello didn’t do a voice
– I did like JK and Ye in the Tourette’s Sketches
– There is something JAJ Can’t do: A Unique Trump Cold Open or a modern impression of him (He needs to fall asleep, He needs to slur his words, What about his neck? Shoot do the fart thing he did weeks ago)
Mild Criticism: You were TOO nice on Fronzi and The Monkey Update bit.
Justin, you are aware that JAJ himself doesn’t solely write the Trump cold opens right? If he’s too high energy or whatever, that’s just how the writers portray him for whatever reason.
But he has been involved with several of them.
I get both of you guys’ point. With that said, while I like these cold opens myself fine enough, the show should just hire political satirists to write them. I can tell they are relying a lot on JAJ’s ability to riff as Trump more than wanting to make a point.
The SNL Discord (which I got banned from midway through this episode, lol) seemed to really hate this episode, but I’d put it as around average-ish for the season, perhaps slightly above average when you step back.
Quick Takes:
1. Connor Storrie was very solid. I didn’t mind that he didn’t get showcase sketches; I generally enjoy hosts who can blend into the ensemble, especially if they can bring the humor goods when they need to (i.e., they don’t just get stuck in straight man roles because they’re not funny).
2. I don’t mind horny crowds (the Rege-Jean Page audience was great, in my opinion), but this crowd seemed rather…dumb. Never a good sign when you applaud the straight set-up lines on Update, and the hockey monologue, while kinda funny and wholesome, also felt too pandering to the audience.
3. I enjoyed the attempt at spreading out all the roles–that doesn’t mean I liked everyone’s performances, but aside perhaps from Marcello, I didn’t walk away thinking “man, that person was in way too much.” Veronika had a huge night, but was really good as she usually is.
4. This season has a curious probem in cutting really good stuff. Like not even “I like this, but it’s so weird/esoteric I see why it got cut,” as in a Kyle Mooney piece, but stuff that would have played really well and was objectively better than anything that got on.
5. This show felt like a bunch of 10 to 1 sketches slammed together, meaning most were silly and I think I would have enjoyed them more had I already been in a good mood from the rest of the show. Like the Ben Marshall-as-nerdy-kid sketch and stilt legs sketches are the kind of silly, dumb humor I enjoy at 10 to 1, but having them dropped throughout the episode made me kind of groan. The office dance sketch, while not top shelf, did feel more like the type of sketch I’d like to see more of. I appreciate the attempt at not trying so many recurring characters, but there were a lot of very threadbare premises.
Great post, Michael! Agree with all of this.
That Marcello teacher thing has gotta be the worst sketch I can remember in a long time.
Thanks for taking the time (and trouble!) to post these. I look forward to reading them, even if I don’t agree with some of your comments. How do you get access to the sketches that don’t make it to air?
Thanks!
The cut sketches are posted on YouTube (where they are blocked outside of the US – VPN would help you there). They are at times, pretapes especially, posted in full on SNL’s social media accounts.
The Jane/Veronika duo feels like a potential strong collaboration in the same way as I guess Kate/Aidy. Hopefully less self-indulgent. I like that they are bringing a kind of Lonely Island vibe to the proceedings (but very unique).
The stripper sketch reminded me of the Casey Wilson sketch from Ashton Kutcher’s S 33 episode. Storrie brought that routine with him from the Groundlings
I’m appreciating the absurd, random, “12:50” humor the show is trying this season even if some of it isn’t really connecting.
I really hope they don’t do another “Close Encounters” sketch with Gosling but I think they will feel the need.
This is one of those episodes that I had to really work to enjoy. Not because of anything overly egregious in terms of content (although there were egregious things), but more because I have an incredibly hard time overcoming an obnoxious audience. And man, this audience was a bit of a nightmare. Like, I’m all for a lively crowd, but it’s always weird when you feel like you’re witnessing a precipitous intellectual drop off. And then, amid all the braying, a completely decent joke will suddenly get silence and the contrast is alarming. Anyway, these are the kinds of audience that set me in a bad headspace.
I think generally I was at odds with the audience, enjoying more writerly pieces like Tutoring and Office Dance to the more performance-dependent pieces like Mr. Fronzi (a mostly horrible sketch) and Stripper (I think I can understand the praise, but I was not in the mood save for Jane’s great interjections).
I also had an affection for Ice Skating, a nice little hybrid of that Stakeout sketch with Chris Pine and that series of sketches that followed in that Waffle House pretape’s wake. On the one hand, I thought the sketch really highlighted how live energy is always an asset for a sketch. Then again, this particular audience really stomped all over this sketch’s momentum with its hooting and hollering. In any other episode, this sketch would have connected even harder, but I’m content with this somewhat compromised version.
Here’s my weird little “Carson goes against the grain, but not, like, emphatically so” moment of the week: I enjoyed Sarah on Update. I’ve never once really considered myself a diehard fan, but I think Sarah has always fared better than most in terms of “being loose” on the show. She’s not an all-timer, but I think her ability to quasi-not-commit-to-the-bit is one of her major strengths. Yes, her doing a sort of throwback Jerry Springer lady is a little dusty and the costumes always feel like a harbinger of doom, but this one skated by pretty easily for me. Not best of…material or anything, but I found it to be more filler than anything truly horrifying.
Quick hits:
– I enjoyed the “How Dare You?” pretape more for the performances (which were all good) and the visual of Andrew punting the kid than anything that was on the page. Still, I dug it.
– Mr. Fronzi was peak Marcello (butt out, wacky accent). I mean that in only the worst way possible.
– The legs thing was conceptually more fun, but I didn’t derive much joy from it.
– “Well I just hope his penis is unscathed!” – another line of the episode for Jane.
– The audience had trouble locking into the Office Dance sketch, but the jokes-per-second on that one was rock solid.
– A big night for Veronika, which is well-earned. Chloe was off for the night, but I only clocked her absence during the stripper sketch.
– Mucho controversy for the appearance of the Hughes Bros (hugely talented, personality-less Trump pawns) and that Tourette’s CFT. My read with the Tourette’s thing is that the piece was not “punching down” (God I hate that term), but was too muddled to effectively swat away the accusations.
– The Jane/Veronika pretape was seriously relatable.
I really don’t have much to say about this episode. I liked Gentlemen’s Code (probably my favorite piece), and I really didn’t like Office Dance or Sarah’s update commentary. Everything else was fine.
This season has honestly just felt VERY unexciting. It hasn’t been bad, to be completely honest, consistency-wise I think it’s been the best season since S47 so far. But there’s just been a lack of anything worth noting throughout this whole season that is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. It also doesn’t help this season hasn’t produced a stand out episode in my eyes yet. There’s also been a weird trend of many episodes feeling lacking in energy (Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, all three December episodes).
I would say in most cases, a dead audience (which has also been another frustrating issue this season) is the reason for lack of energy, but his episode’s crowd was HOT, so I can’t really use that as an excuse here.
Maybe it’s a matter of me having to rewatch most of these episodes. Some of my original thoughts I would comment on in these reviews would change when I would rewatch the episode (Miles Teller, and Glen Powell are good examples). So I don’t know. Maybe rewatching these episodes will make me find silver linings, but for now I’m honestly pretty unexcited for the rest of the season.
I do have some hope for Ryan Gosling, as the only fan who liked his S49 episode. I’m also excited for Gorillaz. But if they have that one guy for Blur singing instead of Gorillaz, I’m boycotting SNL.
Marcello’s Mr, Fronzi was based on his high-school theology teacher, who was in the audience.