Cold Opening – Hegseth Iran Presser
Pete Hegseth (COJ) & Kristi Noem (ASP) talk to press
- While I like Colin’s Pete Hegseth, I am growing tired of how overused it is by this point. It feels, like fellow SNL reviewer John stated: fan bait.
- Jeremy has introduced Colin in all these cold opens so far.
- I will admit, that was a very funny entrance from Colin. His best in these.
- Standard lines from Colin’s Hegseth, although his constant sing-songy lines keep cracking me up.
- Colin has really improved a lot in these. He was always good, but he feels like a veteran sketch performer in this.
- They are giving Andrew the good ol’ Mikey “what is happening?” moment.
- They are now repeating the interaction bit with a female reporter with Sarah this time. Her natural likability made it work.
- Surprised they are just now bringing out Ashley as Kristi Noem. I actually thought she would be the focus of this cold open.
- Ashley is very solid as Noem as usual. A bit of a shame this could be her final appearance.
- This feels like the first time in ages we had someone other than JAJ delivering the LFNY. Hey, he is my favorite current cast member, but it is good to see some variety in these.
Rating: ***
Monologue
host is flustered over Harry Styles being the focus of his monologue
- I guess this is the “crazy” cameo I heard about before the episode aired. Considering I liked Harry on SNL in the past, guess I am not mad.
- Ryan’s voice sounds really hoarse. To be honest, I am not exactly a follower of Ryan’s, so this might be his voice out of character.
- When Ryan was flustered at the start about Harry, I thought this would be a sequel to the Will Ferrell/Ryan Reynolds monologue from season 45, but it is taking a different route.
- A good laugh from the camera cutting to Harry listening to Ryan’s Earth monologue.
- I really like Ryan being annoyed at Harry more and more taking his monologue away from him. I got a solid laugh from Ryan being thrown out of the monologue during the split screen part.
- A pretty funny part with Sarah & Harry.
- A nice way to include a lot of the cast in the monologue.
- Very catchy song at the end of the monologue. Guess I gotta check more of Harry’s discography.
- A very endearing moment with Ben hugging JAJ briefly before singing the ending chorus. Charming to see the bond between the cast.
- I overall found this monologue to be a lot better than the mess of a monologue Ryan had last time. This took some fun turns and Ryan was great.
Rating: ***1/2
Wedding Tradition
eccentric guest (host) constantly demands kisses
- The start in a wedding sketch terrified me this would be a Domingo sketch. Hopefully, we don’t get a jumpscare later on…
- A funny moment with Ashley. Even if it feels like a part she did before.
- Ryan looks hilarious in that costume. I am also cracking up at his bewilderment of what is happening.
- Ryan is already fighting the giggles with his first clinking of the glass.
- Ryan is now creepily clinking the glass demanding more and more kisses is making me laugh a lot in spite of myself. Sarah & Mikey’s straight man reactions to him are solid.
- Very funny awkward kissing part with both of Mikey & Sarah.
- Jesus at that snort sound Ryan made. His “poozie” line afterwards is having me in stitches!
- Ryan in general is hilarious in this, as are his brief breaks as the camera cuts away from him.
- “I’m doing the siblings now.” That had me on the floor.
- Even Giggling Gosling during his final speech is very funny.
Rating: ****
Otezla
alien nature of medical product part of its appeal
- A solid commercial spokesman performance by Ashley as expected.
- Sarah is really good in this commercial. Her lines are my favorites in this in general.
- Ryan is fitting into this commercial as if he was a cast member.
- The oddball qualities about Otezla and the alien nature of it is very well-done. I am loving how more and more mysterious it is.
- Loving the ancient history of Otezla, especially being there since ancient times. The photoshopped historical depictions are killing me. The heavy Jack Handey vibes in this are appreciated by an SNL fanatic such as yours truly.
- The audience isn’t giving this clever commercial the response it deserves. I am enjoying the solid late ‘80s/early 90s’ vibes of this commercial.
- Great visual of Otezla interacting with Skyrizi. Some nice cosmic horror vibes there.
- Solid unsettling delivery from Ryan at the end.
- One of the best commercials in a good while.
Rating: *****
The Treasure of Darlour
failure to grasp riddles complicates things
- Great narration from JAJ to start the sketch.
- Great makeup work, some nice sets and costumes to open the sketch.
- Good to see Veronika instead of say, Chloe or Sarah, in this role.
- Is that Ben or Tommy?
- OK, it looks like Mikey with the closeup shot.
- I love Greek mythology and I always like seeing SNL sketches set in ancient times, but so far, besides the solid straight man work from Ashley and Veronika, this feels more on the dumb side, despite some good chuckles.
- A surprising break from Ashley. Ryan is now laughing, as expected, during this whole part.
- The Cyclops’ constant demanding to open the door and not caring for the riddle is funny…. albeit quite one-note.
- This is one of those sketches where the breaking is actually making it funnier. Without it, this would be a lot more tepid than it is.
- Ashley’s fighting her giggles while constantly asking the guys to stop getting close is the type of a moment she can make funny. A very infectious energy in this piece in general. I can tell the guys (Ryan especially) are trying hard to break her.
- All in all, while I usually dislike breaking… this is a rare case where it improved a sketch for me.
Rating: ***1/2 (the last * for the fun breaks)
Monty McTreats & The Pastry Bakery
Monty’s (host) wonderous attraction has dark secrets
- Veronika & Mikey are dominating the episode so far.
- Fun character voice and performance from Ryan in this short.
- Loving that voice Veronika is singing with in this.
- This is really cute so far, and unlike many pretapes in the past, I really like the color grading here. Catchy song and performances by Mikey/Ryan/Veronika
- The reveal of one of the magical workers having hanged himself is very funny.
- This is a role that Kenan played a billion times before.
- Ryan’s solid frustrations and the reveals about the assistants are keeping me cracking up and the back-and-forth between him and the customers is good.
- JAJ is a solid straight man in his reactions.
- Classic Seiday(?), but much like the prior episode’s Gentlemen’s Code, I found this quite enjoyable overall. Its handling of the typical SNL gore was more subtle than often and the performances were good.
Rating: ***1/2
Musical Performance – “Clint Eastwood“
- Love that Ryan introduced Gorillaz in his Cyclops makeup.
Weekend Update
Pastor Update (KET) & Teddy (JAJ) bring positivity
- Don’t bring up Jessie from Toy Story into a Kristi Noem rant….
- Some pretty good jokes to start the latest edition of the desk.
- People offended at an Ayatollah death joke? Colin’s “ad-lib” did feel rehearsed, so it might be a bit.
- A guilty laugh from the ponies/Epstein joke.
- The following Walton Goggins/RFK Jr. joke was just as funny.
- Here is that obligatory Chalamet joke I know many fans expected tonight.
- Some killer jokes in this edition of Update in general. Practically every joke is hitting for me, even the dumb ones.
- Nice to see a Kenan/JAJ teamup behind the Update desk. This got cut from last week’s episode.
- Loving those guitar riffs from JAJ. His musical talent never ceases to amaze me.
- The melon speech from Kenan is priceless.
- A role Kenan can play in his sleep, but he is so fun in this. Classic Kenan Thompson charm, and JAJ, as expected, is charismatic and fun as his sidekick.
- The Kenan/Che interaction about “gooning” is pretty funny. Even Kenan’s brief breaks (a theme in tonight’s episode) are charming.
- This commentary is funnier than I expected. I mean, it sounded fun on paper, but the writing and performances by both Kenan & JAJ are priceless. Some great energy in this.
- Love the band going crazy in the background and JAJ doing some more riffs. Makes me fee like I am in a church right now. A fun way to end this particularly strong edition of the desk.
Rating: ****1/2
Passing Notes
notes changed between dress & air to cause ASP & host to break
- Marcello just making his first appearance of the night. I actually forgot about him till he popped up in this. Considering how much he annoyed me last episode, I ain’t complaining.
- Mikey as a student? In his 10th season? Are we serious?
- Interesting on-screen disclaimer about the notes content being changed after dress.
- Yeah, they are trying to break Ashley throughout this episode. I sure hope her cracking up won’t be a thing occurring every week.
- They actually chided Mikey playing a student by this point in this tenure.
- The whole part with Ashley reading about her & Ryan’s character secret relationship is hilarious.
- Yep, I can tell they really changed the notes to break both Ryan & Ashley. The notes themselves are funny, even when we already had a fun breaking sketch earlier tonight.
- The more and more this sketch goes on, the more I am being both tickled and charmed by the breaking and various notes Ashley and Ryan are reading. I am not sure, so far, if this is up there for me in classic SNL breaking sketches, but it is definitely fun, endearing. A very fun, out-of-the-ordinary format break and the infectious joy in the air is helping it.
- A very funny “Lunch #2” gag with Ashley. Her reaction to it as soon as she opened the drawer makes it even clearer how they changed much of this to crack her and Ryan up.
- I overall found this absolutely delightful. And, to use that word once more in this review, charming. I am not sure what this sketch’s reception will eventually be, but this how you do an “everything goes wrong” sketch and make it very funny and memorable. A new favorite of mine.
Rating: *****
Musical Performance – “The Mountain”
The Goo Goo Man
mysterious man provided guest (host) with oddball services
- Mikey has been in basically every segment. At this point, where is Andrew? Nothing but bland roles tonight for him, which is sadly on par for him this season.
- A laugh from the “Goo Goo Man” mention, especially Ryan making it clear he only came once actually to Sarah’s bewilderment.
- The various nickname to the services Ryan got from the Goo Goo Man keeps cracking me up.
- Much like Mikey, Ashley is all over this show. However, that isn’t surprising at all.
- Funny brief appearance from Jeremy.
- Not sure I cared for the final part of this sketch, but overall, I didn’t mind it. A thin premise but Ryan made it work.
Rating: ***
Lies
Martin Herlihy shows the limits of lies & little truths we go through
- Awesome seeing another Martin Herlihy film, considering how terrific his past few have been.
- Huge laughs from Martin’s various “lie!”-s. The JAJ part about having a crooked penis was hilarious. His soft delivery made it even funnier.
- Solid random turn with Martin transforming into Colin.
- Martin as Jost is hilarious! Great creepy makeup on him, especially that crazy jawline visual. This is just yet another example of very refreshing and out of the ordinary these shorts are.
- Very funny reveal of Colin and Jane being in a secret affair
- This is a very fun way to utilize most of the cast in different roles.
- I loved the tense Jane/Colin/Martin quiz portion of this. Even the obligatory Scarlett mention was hilarious as it led to Colin being shot to death.
- All-in-all, another winner from Martin Herlihy.
Rating: ****1/2
Goodnights
- A cute shoutout to Sarah by Ryan, especially bringing her to the front of the stage. A sweet visual to cut off these goodnights in the live show.
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
Passing Notes
Otezla
Weekend Update
Lies
Wedding Tradition
Monologue
Monty McTreats & The Pastry Bakery
The Treasure of Darfour
Hegseth Iran Presser
The Goo Goo Man
Final Thoughts:
- All-in-all: a very strong, flawless episode tonight. While I really enjoyed a few prior episodes, this one takes the cake so far into the season and I had an absolute blast watching and reviewing it. Nothing flopped for me, the quality ranged from good to excellent and the energy levels and fun vibes were very infectious and joyful. Some absolutely killer pieces here that even the obligatory breaking enhanced the episode (helped by actual good writing this time around), unlike how it crippled Ryan’s prior episode for me. The very fun & unique Passing Notes sketch being a highlight of that.
- Ryan Gosling gave a stronger hosting performance than last time that even his Giggling Gosling moments felt endearing as he tried to kept them in instead of just breaking. He was well-utilized, gave me some big laughs and worked very well with this era’s cast, even more than last time. Also, the music from Gorillaz was very fun, especially loved the second performance.
- Cast use was good in general tonight, besides how very underused the newer guys (and Andrew) were. Marcello also suffered a huge drop in airtime this week (no complaints there). This was, in my eyes, Ashley & Veronika’s night. The former is so clearly by this stage the lead woman of the show in the vein of a Kristen Wiig or a Kate McKinnon. JAJ, Kenan, Mikey and Sarah all did good work as well. The first of the four having fairly solid airtime completely Trump-free is a delight.
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
I actually didn’t care for the corpsing, it’s unprofessional. I guess they just ran with it.
I’m with you there, it feels forced in the kind of what that always brings me back to the days of Fallon and Sanz sketches. I guess that thing in the classroom sketch was a fun one time experiment I hope it’s not gonna become something that’ll become a regular thing now because they know it’ll always go viral.
I wonder how SNL became popular before Youtube. Oh right, actually being funny.
I’ll be honest: I was probably underwhelmed by this episode. I don’t think I was laughing very much at it, and I’m also not quite sure why they felt the need to put a disclaimer in that notes sketch (besides the obvious), nor why the monologue was focused so much on Harry Styles or it being so long. But there is one thing that a lot of people seem to agree on: Gorillaz was awesome.
Oh, but I did love that Martin pretape at the end. That was great.
I went into this episode with a lot of trepidation, as I expected it to be an even worse version of Ryan’s S49 episode: an episode solely fixated on him breaking with a healthy dose of memberberries (I was really afraid they would do retreads of Papyrus, Close Encounter, and/or Beavis and Butthead).
To my surprise and delight, it was all original sketches tonight. Even the Seiday blood spatter sketch felt different as they kept it more subtle and let the horrified reactions of the families linger, instead of for a quick sight gag like they’ve done in their gore sketches before.
I absolutely loved both Lies and Otezla, and I can see both of those becoming favorites of mine. They’re exactly what I love to see out of SNL: creative, unique, and fun pieces with a lot of unexpected twists and turns. The crowd’s tepid reaction to the latter especially felt right, especially given how (once again) braindead they seemed to be, being full of stans and all.
I’m very torn on the Passing Notes sketch. On the one hand, I think it was a nice way to acknowledge that Ryan was gonna break no matter what, so they might as well have some fun with it. And seeing him and especially the usually professional Ashley crack up was priceless. However, the cynic in me feels that this was a bit too “gimmicky” and something that the show could easily rely on as a crutch in the future if Ryan comes back to host. It felt a bit like something out of Whose Line Is It Anyway, and while I love that show, I’d prefer it and SNL to occupy separate spheres. Then again, they did similar stuff to this for Bill’s Stefon on Update and that always worked. Idk, I’ll have to think on this one, but perhaps I’m just being too cynical and should just embrace the joy and silliness.
Continuing the surprise of tonight, Kenan’s Update piece was one of the best things he’s done in a LONG time. While a very Kenan-y piece (and even featuring him breaking a fair bit), this reminded me of the fun and naturally hilarious performer he reliably was and can still be. Some of my hardest laughs of the night came from the melons and gooning parts.
Ryan thankfully kept his giggling at bay, at least as best as can be expected. And hell, sometimes it gave some huge laughs (that loud snort during the Wedding Tradition sketch was hilarious). If there is one small complaint I have from tonight’s episode, it’s that we didn’t really get a piece like Santa Baby, Papyrus, or even Terrazano’s that got to show off Ryan’s strong dramatic acting chops. But considering how many things could have gone wrong and easy the temptation surely must have been to just do a greatest hits type show, I’ll gladly take it if this is the biggest problem we have.
This season has really been a nice breath of fresh air and a nice palatte cleanser from S50. While I could do with a few stronger episodes, I’ve been really enjoying how things have been going. Here’s hoping Harry’s show is another winner!
This was a pretty fun! I really enjoyed Ryan Gosling’s performance in this. Even when he broke like a manic! To be honest, I came into this review worrying you were going to be a bit harsh on this episode due to all the constant character breaks, but I’m glad you were able to see the fun side of them like I did! I think my personal favorite part is the Passing Note sketch. Ashley and Ryan’s breaking were so dang hilarious! I also enjoyed that note joke about Mikey being too old playing a high schooler. I also enjoyed the Lies sketch. I swear, that Martin Herlihy guy is one of the BEST things to come out of this new era! The only sketch I probably didn’t like a lot was the Goo Goo Man one. It had a good premise, but the ending was somewhat anti-climactic. At least show us who he is before you end it! Overall, this was nevertheless a fun show and once again, thanks Blood for you honest review! 😊
“Well well well, how the turntables…”
This episode was pretty mixed for me overall. Not bad, but the only thing to write home about for me was the strong Martin Herhily pre-tape (continuing his hot streak this season).
The Passing Notes sketch was pretty fun, but not anything great.
The Cyclops sketch was so dumb but the fun breaking made me laugh. Also “Can u open the door…” is probably gonna be stuck on my head for the rest of the week.
I also thought the cold open was a slight step up, which is saying a lot since I already enjoy them. Colin was killing me throughout the whole thing.
Weekend Update was really helped by a very fun Kenan commentary. I would love to see this character come back.
But there was some stuff I didn’t care for.
The Monty McTreat pre-tape was my least favorite piece of the night. It just feels too much like stuff we’ve already seen from the show before.
I didn’t really get was the Otezla pre-tape was going for, but I didn’t hate it. Might have to give it a rewatch.
The monologue felt like a waste of Ryan’s talents. Also they basically did this same monologue with Will Ferrell the last time he hosted.
Goo Goo Man was another piece that I didn’t understand what it was going for. I was just confused as Sarah was.
Ryan continues this seasons sad streak of the show not letting hosts stand out. The Wedding sketch was really the only piece that I felt he was great in, everything else he was just fine but didn’t stand out.
Idk what to expect from Harry Styles, but I’m just hoping it’s an episode worth writing home about (at least for me)
Thanks as always for all of your hard work and getting these reviews in at such an early time, with screencaps no less.
Cut sketches, from Saturday Night Network:
Cut from Update:
Kam and Marcello as the kids from the back of the schoolbus.
Tommy as Jeff from work, who is constantly on a work call instead of talking to Colin. He has meta moments about how he doesn’t watch SNL either and Colin reacts to that.
Sketches:
GOOD MORNING POUGHKEEPSIE: Ryan, Ashley, JAJ, Kenan as news anchors, Marcello as a chef. Ryan lashes out at his co-anchors for mispronouncing a name. Ashley’s performance was solid.
ACTOR DEMANDS: Chloe, Ben, Kenan, and Ryan. Ryan makes demands and takes stands he retracts when Ben tells him otherwise, like no nudity.
JAJ PIECE: A big JAJ piece. Ryan and JAJ as two passengers on the Titanic complaining about their lousy vacation. Andrew as a captain. Tommy. Sarah. The set design was insane, slanted, shaking the lights above the set and throwing water and having people slide down the slant. SNN compares it to the ABBA musical performances from season 1.
BEAVIS 2: Ashley in Heidi’s role. Sarah as a strategically placed Tina Belcher lookalike who is behind Ashley when she tells Ryan to move. There’s continuity as Kenan mentions he saw something like this on another News Nation show. It’s like the Fred Armisen David Paterson thing as they are constantly blocking the camera.
give credit for originality in the Notes sketch. I just hope they don’t go back to it often, if ever. Sorta reminded me of the note passing scene from Billy Madison.
Liars was probably my favorite piece of the night
lots of Mikey and honestly the McTreats sketch just kinda made me sick of Seiday. They can still kill but I think I need a break from them.
surprised at the breaking in the Cyclops sketch by Ashley. Again fun as a one off but I hope they don’t make it regular. Veronika was trying so hard not to break!
commercial parody reminded me of early 90s as well
assume Goo Goo man was another Seiday piece
I was just thinking last nights what’s going on with Dismukes airtime this season? I used to look forward to the “crazy Andrew Dismukes sketch” every week, makes me wonder if he’s in his final season when cast members start showing signs of burn-out.
When you said in cold open section ‘even though this could be her last’ with regards to Ashley, did you mean because Ashley might be on her last legs or because Noem will now be out of the mainstream news?
I am torn between being annoyed with the giggle-fits of Ashley’s—in every damn sketch though?— (I seriously think she and Ryan shared some edibles before air) and agreeing with you that it brought some bonus fun to otherwise potentially meh sketches. I am leaning towards it was too much. Gummies.
I meant Kristi Noem there. Ashley is just getting started with her tenure.
Thought so. I wonder what Lorne says to them (Ashley in this case) when she has so many breaks in one show. Does he forgive her instantly because that is not her usual composure or does he say hey, lay off the gummies before going live.
I do not mind if SNL does an unorthodox episode every once in a while–for example, when Don Rickles hosted during the Ebersol era, there was an extremely loose, ad-lib heavy feel that made sense because of the host. I wouldn’t want that every week. Similarly, if Gosling is more of a break-heavy, easily amused host, doing sketches that lean into that makes some sense.
I had a good time watching the episode, although I did get kind of frown at times, noting that the intentional attempts at breaking did feel somewhat calculated and manipulative, as well as feeling like we had gotten to the loose stage of an episode without really beginning (the feeling you might get if you show up to a party late and everyone’s already plastered). I would take this over a straightforwardly dull and unfunny show, but I just hope this is an unorthodox one-off and not an actual trend. I did like that they opted to spring this not as a holiday show or a cameo-heavy show.
I cannot tell if the writers have lost confidence in some cast members/writers or if they just burned themselves out. Dismukes was barely on and is increasingly relegated to straight roles. Fineman, even though she was absent last week, barely got anything aside from straight roles. Wickline seems trending up, while Patterson, Brennan, and Culhane struggle to get airtime. Obviously Ashley has become something of the star of the show, but Veronika has rapidly shot up the standings (well deserved in both cases)–some of her parts would have easily gone to Sarah or Chloe in just a few episodes ago, and she did a great job.
As for the actual sketches, most of the live ones were very thread-bare and reliant on the corpsing aspect. Which I guess was the point. The Wonka-esque short went on a touch too long for me, but I thought avoided just doing the usual gore-fest hijinx. The Otezla ad generated some laughs (and featured great work from Ashley/Sarah), but just felt too familar to previous commercial parodies advertising an innocuous but vaguely threatening/ominous thing.
I did think the Update jokes were better this week, and while Kenan’s thing broke no new ground, he was at least funny enough. I do think he needs to leave though; he’s a net negative for the most part, and if he just wanted to do occasional guest appearances like Lovitz, I’m fine. But guy’s an adult who has plenty of outside ventures besides SNL–he doesn’t need to be here anymore and the show should stop indulging him.
Jost got more screen time this episode than a lot of cast members. He was very funny, but one wonders how far Jost-O-Mania will go.
It’s always a risk with Gosling. Corpse-heavy episodes can begin to feel calculated, if not cynical. Even when the giggling works for me, I often feel so dirty, having been a part of the generation that witnessed the self-satisfied snickering of Fallon and Sanz in real time. The last time Gosling hosted, I found myself vacillating between embracing the loose joy of Gosling’s breaking (Beavis and Butthead: yay!) and eye-rolling at the the show’s refusal to lock in (everything else: nay!). So there was cause for concern going into this episode.
So it’s with great relief that I say I think they show did the right thing here. Giggling Gosling is a thing. It is not going away. The best move to do is to lean into it and mitigate at the same time. I think it was readily apparent in the wonderful (and clearly underrated) monologue. The framing was somewhat familiar, but also ACTUAL framing – concept consistency, a solid throughline. It also allowed Gosling to be loose and, in the best moment of the episode (unremarked on by anyone here), Mikey popped in a planted an unexpected kiss on Gosling’s cheek, giving him a sort of permission to break. That moment sent (me) a signal of “Hey, our host is a corpse-machine. Get used to it because we’re going to have some fun with it.” It basically eroded my cynicism and gave me permission to just let go and embrace what is the clear best episode of the season so far.
But while the show basically rolled out the red carpet for Gosling to tee-hee his way through the proceedings, the use of three pre-tapes gave the episode a balance that eluded his previous hosting stint. If it’s just going to be a given that Gosling will bring a looseness to the proceedings, heavy use of pre-tapes will provide a foundation that will reduce overkill. I have varying feelings about the three pre-tapes – I’m unequivocally loving Martin’s work, the Wonka thing was well-performed but felt very Bulla-by-way-of-Seiday (dug the darkness, but wish there was more there), and Otezla was wonderfully writerly but I’m not surprised the audience went “Huh?” – but they did good work grounding the episode.
Also grounding the episode was a solid cold open (maybe the best of the Hegseths) and I top drawer Update. Unflashy material, but the kind of sturdiness we shouldn’t overlook. Even Kenan brought his A-game.
So really, we only get four Gosling Gigglefests and frankly Goo Goo Man doesn’t really qualify (he held it together well enough for the fun 10-to-oner to skate by unimpeded).
So the three pieces basically had Gosling breaking in increasing intervals. The Wedding sketch was a ton of fun, but hued closest to Gosling’s typical style of breaking. The Cyclops thing felt a lot like those classic Don Rickles fuckaround sketches, with and Mikey and Gosling really seeming to enjoy messing with Ashley and Veronika in real time. There was far less on paper to this one than the wedding sketch, but there was definitely a “so dumb it works” quality that really tickled me. Then again, I just read something about the sketch being a metaphor for, uh, sex. I think that actually kind of works.
Finally we had Passing Notes, a potentially divisive but ultimately thrilling sketch that plays fast and loose with any kind of purity the show would try to claim. Essentially we have a cross between Whose Line and Stefon. It’s dumb and it’s a risky gambit, but I think it worked all the way, fully earning its five stars. And while I probably agree that this is NOT a well the show needs to return to, I think certain format breaks ultimately serve the show well. I think you needed a host with as much good will as Gosling and a castmember with as much recognition as Ashley, but I think everyone played especially well during the whole thing.
Stray thoughts:
– Crazy to think, but that was a banger episode for Mikey…in 2026!
– I was thinking about how much Gosling’s hosting reminded me of Ben Affleck. I think Affleck could maybe anchor a sketch better, but Gosling has an affable, self-effacing looseness that really works.
– I’d redistribute the star ratings a bit (the monologue deserves more and my re-watch of the Goo Goo Man sketch was a good time), but I can’t help but agree with Blood that we finally have our clear cut great episode of the season.
Yeah, if every sketch was like the wedding sketch (which I felt okay but very very one-joke), I’d be annoyed since that’s basically “Gosling just corpses reading silly lines,” while the other sketches seemed to lean into more of the corpsing.
I also enjoyed that Ashley (and to some extent, Day) were targets of the corpsing attempts, as they are generally very professional in their performances (much like Heidi in the Beavis and Butt-Head sketch). There aren’t too many giggle-fest cast members nowadays, although Chloe’s been bad this season, but I’m more tolerant of cast members who break when they don’t do so very often.
This episode was a massive disappointment for me. Had big expectations for Gosling since we’ve had some big classics generated from his past episodes. The Styles monologue felt unneeded and went on too long. Weekend update and cold opener were great. Wedding one was the best sketch, but still went on a bit too long. Everything else felt subpar and basic, and like it was just going for low hanging fruit.
Ashley is good in some stuff, but not so much so that it justifies other cast members barely getting in airtime. So it feels like she’s being forced on us, and I don’t get it. I’m just not feeling it with this cast and writers this season. Every episode I think I just need to get used to the shift that comes with new writers and cast but it’s just working for me.
I was reading through your great review a few more times to try to balance out my own thoughts.
The best part of this episode for me by a strong margin would be the Otezla pre-tape. Happy Fun Ball here, Adult Swim there, but it also built its own little universe in the way some of the great pre-tapes of the late ’90s did, like that horrifying piece about spring water which tells us of residents of one town slaughtering everyone in the other town. This wasn’t as good, but they still managed to get the tone right. I don’t have as much praise for Ashley or Sarah of late, but they were at their best here. I liked the choice of having Jeremy continuing to be in his stupid happy dancing bubble throughout to provide a contrast to the building horror elsewhere. I hope this might be a new template for pre-tapes – I wouldn’t even mind seeing this revisited with another host.
For the live sketches, I enjoyed the wedding sketch the most. The idea wasn’t anything special, with Ryan playing one half Will Forte weirdo, one half Kate McKinnon “kiss,” weirdo, but there was something unnerving in seeing him incessantly order an increasingly fed-up Mikey and Sarah to kiss, even when Sarah was talking about her dead grandmother. They lost the thread when others got involved – bungling the part where Jeremy and Jane were coaxed into kissing was a great example of just how poor the basic sketch-writing is now.
I had very low expectations for this episode because after looking forward to Ryan’s last appearance, it ended up being one of my least favorite shows of the ’20s. I was and wasn’t disappointed with the result. This episode did not leave me with a bad feeling the way his previous episode did, but that episode also had more highs (the engagement sketch with Andrew, the Erin Brockovich sketch with Chloe Fineman, the country revenge pre-tape with Troast [even if I didn’t love that one as much as many fans did]). What did benefit the new episode was I didn’t think Ryan was breaking as much and the show seemed to want to contain his breaking instead of letting it take over the entire night.
I thought that Ryan came across as visibly exhausted, especially during the monologue, which on paper probably should have been much bigger (I imagine it was when they originally wrote it for a Timberlake cameo in 2011 [kidding]).
The other place I thought this showed up was in the Wonka pre-tape. Wonka and SNL never mix, so it’s not entirely on him, but he had none of the mania or charisma necessary for Wonka. The whole thing summed up why I want so many people who were involved with it to leave SNL – how many times a season now do we get these “shocking” gore pre-tapes? They flipped the script here by having them react to the creatures and trying to frame it as him being ignorant of the culture of creatures (who reminded me of the Adipose in Doctor Who), but the execution just didn’t work for me.
The “breaking” sketches didn’t really work for me, for different reasons. I was disappointed with the cyclops sketch because in more capable hands, the idea of three cyclops trying to find the treasure but being too stupid to even know what a key was or how to open a door could have been right up my alley. Instead, it was thrown out for the very contrived breaks. I thought Ryan was poor and there wasn’t much reason why Kenan and Mikey were in the other roles. (part of a theme through the episode) I felt sorry for Veronika because she was the one who was trying to stay sober amidst all the tee hee and giggle giggle. If she had broken too, many likely would have criticized her, as she’s still a new cast member, but by not breaking, they may think she’s a pill. She was hung out to dry.
The classroom sketch eluded me because I didn’t think notes being switched was enough reason for all the corpsing. I also didn’t think it was a creative twist, because you’re just switching notes. If they’d left them blank pages and made them improvise the notes live on air, I could appreciate the twist. Making matters worse, I thought Ashley’s actual performance in the sketch outside of the breaking was poor and I found myself wondering if that was down to the performance she had to focus on being the “breaking.” Somehow, the most effective moment in the sketch for me was Marcello trying to bite Ryan’s hand.
Goo Goo Man was another sketch which seemed to rest on how much the show saw Kenan, Ryan and Mikey as something of a team, with Ashley or Sarah thrown in. There was nothing on the page, and I wondered if they expected more breaking than Ryan gave them.
The show often loves to anoint party atmosphere episodes with stars, which intertwined with how the last blocs of recent seasons suddenly start giving tons of Mikey and Kenan after using them less frequently in the first half of the year. For what was hyped as a transition season or the umpteenth “new era,” I was perplexed at the choice to focus so heavily on very tapped out cast members alongside a fatigued host. Ashley was thrown in as, I guess, the star of the future, as the show is probably trying to figure out if she can take over the role Kate, Cecily, Bowen, etc. had as security blankets for viewers, but putting her in this role after only a season and a half just runs a big risk of burning her out. I know I’m feeling that disconnect when I see her work that I don’t usually get this early in the tenure of someone as charismatic and talented as Ashley.
Speaking of that “new era,” I’m still, somehow, amazed that after dumping three talented men and replacing them with three new men, one of whom (Jeremy) has a widely praised improv pedigree, SNL has decided the solution is to barely use any of them and instead put the Weekend Update anchor all over the cold opens AND in a pre-tape. It’s one thing for them to shut out Andrew, who has been there for years and who has always had a very shaky path on the show, but what about the people who were meant to be some kind of future for the show? Will we have yet another season where they’re shown the door, everyone just tells themselves they weren’t good enough, and three more cattle are lined up to wait if maybe, maybe, maybe this time cast members who refuse to leave finally stop refusing to leave?
Jost was perfectly fine, his performance in the cold open was assured and he wasn’t the problem in the Martin pre-tape (the problem for me was how the two halves didn’t match and the end felt like a ripoff of a much better season 31 Lonely Island short – well that and Martin’s Jost mask looked eerily like modern day Mulaney), but we’ve reached levels of Melissa McCarthy Spicer where we spend multiple weeks just being asked to go, “She’s so awesome!” and the content doesn’t matter. A McCarthy or Jost version is still better than when we were meant to applaud Kate for saying “opossum” or playing Rudy as a vampire, but it’s all so self-congratulatory in that very specific SNL way.
You often hear people talking about how bad the cast is. I usually respond that the issue is the writing and the production. I still feel that way, but when the show has visibly given up on SO MANY of their cast, there isn’t even much point in arguing, is there?
I’d totally forgotten about the Kenan/JAJ Update piece as I lost interest in Kenan’s one note at the desk about 5 seasons ago, but in the process I realize I forgot to praise JAJ. He just has such a spark of joy in his work – it doesn’t even seem like work. His performance here reminded me of one of the Muppets in the background of a band shot. He’s the only one this season I feel is truly connecting or delivering.
Quick question Blood, will you be doing reviews for the UK version of SNL when episodes premiere on Peacock?
No. While I’m definitely watching, I just do not have the time to do a review of even the premiere. Wishing them the best of luck.
Hey Blood sorry for the VERY late response. This, while still fun to interesting degrees, easily Ryan’s weakest show to me.
I personally never have any issues with breaking on the show (mainly thanks to whatever I am finding funny, so are the performers and I also think it creates a very awesome atmosphere which I am always for strongly with the show). Cyclops and Passing Notes I both liked more on a rewatch as while I still tolerated them watching live, I felt they both were missing something to really fully work for me. The two were also fun and creative ways of using breaking while I do give bonus points to and it was very charming seeing Ashley break in those sketches.
Not much else I really have to point out, Gorillaz (especially the first song) was AMAZING. Also, a very fun monologue and a STRONG and hilarious Martin pre-tape at the end. Great review from you as always, Blood!!!
Next show after Styles is the funniest thing I’ve seen SNL do while ALSO being a banger lineup: Jack Black hosts with Jack White as the musical guest.
(at least I find it funny heheheheheh)
Passing Notes was written by Seiday per Gosling on Late Night
This seems like a particular episode I’ll have to watch when rerun. It seems like it was, at least, 4 stars worth. Or am I mistaken?