Cold Opening – Jeffrey Epstein’s Ghost
Trump’s (JAJ) friend Jeffrey Epstein (WIF) visits
- The “new era” vibes continue with a redone version of that S43 cold open with Trumpwin (shudder). You just cannot make this shit up.
- If the show is so nostalgic for the late ‘10s era, “my” era actually, then why even bother hiring a new cast and crop of writers? It is so clear how “precious” graying Colin Jost and Mikey Day are to Lorne. Why not emulate that’s era’s more structured writing and standout cast? I had my issues with the that era (though mainly cold opens and a few cast members near its end), but it is late ‘80s SNL next to these past two seasons. Bland nostalgia is nothing at the end.
- Feels odd seeing Epstein in the cold open. Here somehow as sort of a Christmas Spirit. Is this yet another confused tonal take from SNL?
- As expected, Will’s Epstein impression is solid. And, as much as I love him and that cold open, Will put more effort into the impression than Adam Driver did.
- Despite the solid performances and rapport between JAJ & Will, this is just feeling the same dull way the late ‘10s opens made me feel. I’m so zoning out much of this. Derivative and hesitant.
- The audience is really dead in this, for the millionth cold open this season. They seem to only respond to the ones with JAJ up there riffing for 5 minutes.
- An interesting(?) turn with Ashley’s Kristi Noem on QVC. Sadly, despite her always on-point delivery, this just came and went.
- Ugh at the Hegseth/Patel part so far. Aziz Ansari really got absolutely NOTHING going on in his career, huh? Genuinely sad to watch.
- Colin’s pretty rough and stumbly in his to the camera sponsorship. And did he need him to smirk yet again at himself?
- Did we need a lengthy musical ending with Will and JAJ? Ending it also with both of them almost kissing?
Rating: *1/2
Monologue
Chad Smith [real] crashes WIF’s monologue
- A very fun and solid turn with Chad Smith entering the homebase stage and pretending to be Will.
- Chad is a riot pretending to be Will. He is giving a better, more lively comedic performance than several current cast members, who, last I checked, were supposed to be paid sketch comedy professionals.
- Loving Will entering the homebase stage and confronting Chad. This is very funny so far.
- Solid back-and-forth between Will and Chad. While both commented on the uncanny facial resemblance between them, this is still a fun and unique monologue. The only other time I could think of a monologue having a doppelgänger instead of the host is the Kevin Nealon/Kevin Kline monologue from the Season 18 finale.
- Fun cutaway to Paul McCartney in the audience, making yet another obligatory monologue appearance. And boy, that initial audience reaction damn almost destroyed my eardrums. Beatlemania alive and well, I see.
- As fun as Will & Paul are in their interaction, especially Will going on and on, listing the many iconic songs Paul wrote, this is going on a bit longer than needed, even when that’s the point.
- An overall reliable and fun monologue.
Rating: ***1/2
Post-Op
doctor (WIF) delivers bad news to patient (MID)
- Will as a mess of a doctor should be a riot, but considering this season’s dire leadoff sketches, I am cautious.
- The reveal of Mikey’s penis being removed is worth a good laugh, helped by Will’s always-masterful delivery.
- This sketch needed other than Mikey Day in the patient’s role. I know a lot of the time the writers cast him as such, being a senior cast member and all, but he has no energy in this part.
- The proceeding lines after Will’s reveal aren’t that funny, and I surely didn’t need Mikey to yell. Sick and tired of his yelping all season.
- We now get a quick character break from Mikey, for the second week in a row. This man so obviously not giving a shit (although, tbf, not on the level of Chloe & Kenan) and still being so dominant, 10 seasons in, is depressing. So much for change, SNL.
- All-in-all, this was decently performed, for the most part, by all involved. The problem is, this didn’t at all need to be the leadoff and its length hurt it more than it helped it. 5 minutes for such a premise when a gag or a shorter sketch would’ve sufficed? Why?
Rating: **
Bobbin’s Sacrifice
Bobbin’s (WIF) treason backfires
- I’m a massive Tolkien fan. So, this combo of both the Professor’s world and Dan Bulla already makes me onboard.
- I really like that Gandalf voice Andrew is using.
- JAJ’s look as the Gimili-esque character is awesome.
- Ben and Jeremy look great in that Middle-earth getup.
- Will is already looking perfect in the Middle-earth setting. However, not sure this musical turn is going to work for me, but I’m giving this a fair chance.
- A very funny turn with Bobbin switching sides casually to the orcs. I love Will’s upbeat singing as he shows us all the treasonous acts he will commit with the orcs.
- I always love JAJ’s singing in sketches and he is doing a great job sounding like a Middle-earth dwarf, as expected.
- Bobbin still being alive and killing off JAJ’s character is funny.
- Oh, a very gory visual with Will’s character’s head being chopped off while still singing.
- A pretty solid Dan Bulla film. Truth be told, I did not find this as melancholic and powerfully sad as his prior shorts, but I liked it enough. Impressively, the first film by him to get a rating lower than a four stars by me.
Rating: ***1/2
Cast List 2
Mr. Keonig (WIF) continues to torment his students
- Yet another sad remainder how this “new era” is just a naked ripoff of the late ‘10s, as we now get a sequel to a very famous cut sketch from Will’s prior episode.
- Will is still as excellent as he was last time. I loved his The Color Purple line a lot.
- The cutaway to Will looking at the students from the poster is nowhere near as funny as the priceless visual from the classic original.
- Also, 46 years-old Mikey Day as one of “the kids”? Seriously? He co-writes these sketches, so he doesn’t have the slightest hint of self-awareness how sad this comes off? Midlife crisis indeed. A fitting ending to both his season and the season in general.
- OK, tbf, Mikey is portrayed as one of Will’s favorites, as a callback to the classic first sketch. It still doesn’t make this less sad to me, but I like the worldbuilding.
- Very funny “group boner” line from Veronika, who is obviously beyond perfect for such a sketch.
- Was the “duo” moment with Marcello & Kam needed? I also barely understood a thing from both.
- Jeremy’s over the top meltdown was freakin’ hilarious. He is so perfect for these type of theatre kids’ sketches.
- Why the fuck did the audience (hesitantly) randomly applaud Kenan? Did they think he was making a cameo? Seeing the horrible season he’s had…. no wonder.
- Kenan’s moment isn’t as funny as the first time, where he broke the whole cast without much effort. Shows how much he lost “it”.
- Molly Shannon! Awesome to see the SNL legend next to her best co-star from her era, and her life and commitment brings such energy every time.
- Not to be that guy, but Molly looks incredible here. Even better than usual. Guess that massive crush of mine still is justified…
- A very funny part with Tommy and Molly. Tommy’s high notes were definitely one of my biggest laughs from the show in a good while.
- Great visual of both Molly and Will laughing through the Wicked masks.
- While parts of this were too similar to the classic original, I overall found this fairly solid and fun enough. Even its length worked for me and I did not at all feel its well over 7(!) minutes of runtime.
Rating: ***1/2
Musical Performance – “Days We Left Behind”
Weekend Update
Mr. On Blast (JEC) leaves no one safe
COJ & MIC trade jokes
- A long series of dull and formulaic jokes to start the season’s final edition of the desk. Besides the VP joke, nothing here worked for me. It doesn’t also help we are getting “hilarious” reactions from both Colin and Michael after practically every joke, increasing the length of Update (as always) and having it go off the rails.
- I will say I also liked that “Dumocrats” joke from Michael. Surprisingly, two decent jokes from him this week.
- Sigh, we get the usual laughs and awkward reactions from both of them after having an actual winner joke or two…
- Ugh at that Jamaica joke….
- Awesome to get Jeremy back on the desk so soon. Mr. On Blast was one of my favorite desk pieces of the season, so it is great seeing it recurring.
- Jeremy continues to have me in stitches as this character, and his wild physicality (now complete with fun props) is amazing to watch. His energy and life are adding so much to this dead season.
- The only gripe I have with this desk piece got nothing to do with Jeremy, as this fantastic performer has such a captivating energy and charisma. It got everything to do with Colin and his increasingly central role in all of these desk pieces. Do we NEED him to comment on every single thing Jeremy has to do and say? Why is so much of the show now centering around a graying man over 20 seasons into his time on the show? “New era” my ass.
- Sigh. Returning to the desk piece….
- I love the whole interaction Jeremy has with the version of him on the graphic. Very fun.
- A silly and very fun desk piece to end what has been a fairly rough year for Update and its correspondents.
- Yay! Joke Swap! Says a 40 years-old guy stuck still in season 40. New era, right? RIGHT?!
- The usual “OMFG, they said that?!” from both Colin and Michael. Actually, as stale and dull as these two have been, some of these jokes aren’t too bad on themselves. But, the problem is, it is genuinely hard to sit through both of them laughing their asses off at every single joke, complete with “clever” ad-libs and endless braying to the cameras. Also, more and more, these jokes aren’t exactly “outrageous” as I hear and see a lot of this hateful crap everywhere, both online and in real life. I am not asking the show to “step up”, but this is further evidence of how stuck in a bubble it is and how stale, old and terrified it is. So much for the season of change we were promised.
- I guess the barber being brought in is supposed to “heighten” the jokes here. He is a likable guy, but again, more braying and more screaming over nothing. This would have been a riot a few seasons ago, but how long am I supposed to laugh at two graying, wealthy, privileged standups who know this show will never fire them, no matter how hard they half-ass everything? Just how long? It is like they just know (much like Mikey and Kenan), they won’t really cut it elsewhere without trying and still staying because a certain showrunner is terrified and still stuck in the mid ‘10s. Why even bother hiring new cast members and then treat them like crap and fire them? Why not just have this whole show what it has become: Social Security for middle-aged comics?
- All-in-all: oof. I was about to give this edition of the desk a forgettable two stars rating, but I hated practically everything else going on here besides Jeremy, and what it symbolizes about the show and this season in particular. Get used to this rating folks, as I feel we have now truly entered a Dark Age for the desk, unless some major changes are made over the summer.
Rating: *1/2
What It Feels Like Talking to a Mechanic
mechanics (WIF), (MAH), (Paul McCartney) spout gibberish
- Uh-oh, a Marcello “showcase”. And I was impressed the episode was going fairly smoothly.
- After those fucking horrible “showcases” last week with Marcello, I am understandably worried what type of a sketch awaits me.
- Also, is it an obligation to have a sketch with this guy on a weekly basis? He is not popping. Not a star and never will be. Just give it up, Lorne.
- Also, Lorne, there are other cast members to have in sketches besides Ashley & Mikey. I love Ashley, so this isn’t a criticism towards her but more the show’s flop casting of women. Also, hey, Lorne, there is this great guy in your cast. I think his name is James. You should probably pair him more with Ashley. Instead of having Mikey who looks more like her dad (in their SECOND pairing tonight alone).
- I didn’t care for that random Spanish gibberish part from Marcello. This is a bit he did way too many times in the past and weren’t even funny then. I can also tell it was meant to get some laughs or even applause, but the audience, for the billionth time with him this season, is just dead.
- I can see this premise being a decent throwback-y piece, but the execution is just dull. I would have also liked a different straight men than Mikey & Ashley, especially the former with his lethargic reactions. Like his “duo” member Marcello, he did this type of role WAY too many times in the past by now.
- Ugh at Mikey making feminine orgasmic sounds after Marcello & Will. Just unfunny. By this point, I’m suffering an warranted assault on my ear drums. To think this performer has been selfishly touring press bragging about never leaving the show. And then, you would watch his performances on the actual show….
- I am a bit of a messy driver, barely checking my car’s oil and such, so I could see some slice of life in this sketch, but this sort of sketch works only as a fun, quick throwaway gag instead of a 5 minutes sketch with stale jokes and sluggish pacing.
- I love Paul McCartney, and he is doing a decent job in his obligatory sketch appearance, but the material given to him is the same old same old dull, unfunny lines given to others.
- Blah at the “pay in ass” line from Will towards Ashley.
- Man, this sketch feels endless. This had no need to be well over 5 minutes long. A minute cut, at least, would have helped this a little. Does the writing supervisors not care at all about the structure and length? Is everyone asleep behind the scenes?
- OK, so the ending with Mikey being forced to bend over and “paying in ass” to Paul, Will and Marcello in the back of the workshop…. was I supposed to LAUGH there?!
Rating: *
Musical Performance – “Band on the Run”
The Nudemans
family of half-nudes make (AND) uncomfortable
- Was that oddly passive-aggressive line from Veronika towards Andrew necessary? Solid delivery as always from her, but what was that about?
- A big laugh from the initial shock visual of Will in that getup.
- I was worried seeing Sarah’s broken legs earlier tonight that Ashley sneaked into her dressing room post-dress and made sure she isn’t in more sketches than her for the finale.
- Yeah, this sketch is just a different variation of The Rudemans from early in the season. While I can see why some fans might enjoy these types of sketches, they just aren’t for me.
- Now, we get another Marcello entrance to “pop” a sketch while the audience is silent. They seemed to have lost those stans this season. Marcello had so many of these “moments” that were met with dead silence, compared to Kate or Bowen in past seasons.
- At least they didn’t have Mikey instead of Marcello in this getup (still can’t get over how awful he was in The Rudemans). That would have been quite the horrifying sight, in a season finale nonetheless.
- The audience isn’t really at all into this sketch, despite the “outrageous” visuals and “energy”. This is plain awkward and sad to see. I guess a fitting ending to this season having such a sketch dying a miserable death to a fully packed studio.
Rating: *1/2
Cut For Time: Hormuz Jeff
Jeff (host) is perfect for traveling through the Strait of Hormuz
- This was clearly meant to air, as we had the usual awkward cutaway to the band and then commercial.
- Will is perfect as the usual laid-out surfer bro and he is making this decent enough premise work for me.
- A decent visual of the Hormuz boat. Will’s annoyed reactions and good mood swings are handled well.
- Of course, we get yet another appearance from Mikey. He looks funny here, but once again, it is a role he did endlessly before. He is a perfect case why most cast members should not stay beyond 8 seasons, outside of a few rare examples.
- This commercial is dying for me. It is running a bit longer than it needs to, though Will is pretty funny still.
Rating: ***
Cut For Time: Juicy Toobins
security guard (WIF) is rough during meet-and-greet with kids
- Two CFT’s uploaded so soon? Guess they realized the poor reception episode received or maybe they’re trying to cash in due to Will hosting. They uploaded practically all of dress last time he hosted.
- Will is pretty funny as a no-nonsense security guard. This is a role perfect for his energetic style of performance.
- Jeremy is so good at playing these cheesy roles. Jane also looks adorable in that costume.
- This sketch is pretty thin, on paper, and seems to rest entirely on Will’s manic style of performance.
- At least it is a fun novelty seeing Will being mean with kids, as it gives me flashbacks to the classic Landlord short he did decades ago post-SNL. Him being clearly amused by the kids is endearing.
- All-in-all, I didn’t have too much to say about this, but this was fine for what it was. A lot of this I feel we’ve seen before so many times, but the laughs were decent. This, needless to say, should have aired instead of whatever the hell post-Update was all about.
Rating: ***
Goodnights / Musical Performance – “Coming Up”
Segments Ranked From Best to Worst
Cast List 2
Monologue
Bobbin’s Sacrifice
CFT: Hormuz Jeff
CFT: Juicy Toobins
Post-Op
Jeffrey Epstein’s Ghost
The Nudemans
Weekend Update
What It Feels Like Talking to a Mechanic
Final Thoughts:
- A very rough season finale. I know many fans would’ve expected that, as SNL finales aren’t usually too good and Will Ferrell-hosted episodes have a shaky history. But, man, this one did not even feel like a finale, let alone one hosted by one of the absolute best to ever do it. We barely saw much of the cast, and, as I sadly expected, there were some overlong segments that left us with a scant number of sketches for the night. Most of what aired, with that said, was on the underwhelming side, despite a good first half, with a few highlights (none I felt earned a rating above ***1/2), the lowlights vastly outnumbered them, with some of which being particularly brutal to sit through. That whole back half, starting with Update, practically killed whatever momentum this episode gained from the early highlights. We also barely saw much of the cast, besides Ashley and Mikey. The latter especially seemed shoehorned into every sketch possible.
- Will Ferrell was certainly a solid host as he always is. The problem is, this episode was so scant and a mess of a structure that he felt like an afterthought to the writers. I could have seen all of his roles tonight (besides the monologue and Cast List 2) played by half a dozen hosts this season. I will say, at least, his roles in the uploaded dress sketches felt like a good balance to that.
- I’m going to save my full thoughts on this season in general for my wrap-up post, so let me say this was a sad way for this season to end on, as it had a high amount of strong pieces. Stay tuned for that in a few days!
My Favorite Moments of the Episode, Represented with Screencaps:
My full set of screencaps from this episode is here
Thank you for pointing out all the flaws in this very underwhelming finale.
Yeah, this is not a new era. So unfortunate. The Update team, Kenan, and ESPECIALLY Chloe and Mikey should not be on this show anymore. It’s really fucking sad.
I do love JAJ, Ashley, and Dismukes and I want them to be the true anchors of the cast. I know Ashley is used a lot but the rest of the female cast don’t have the chops that she has.
Seriously, I know watching this show is emotionally draining, so thank you for your service.
Okay, I got a few things to say about this episode, though they’re more observation-wise than opinion-wise.
When Chad Smith first entered the stage, I thought, “oh man, Will has not aged well”. But then I took a closer look and realized that he is indeed Chad Smith. Honestly, the whole Will Ferrell/Chad Smith look-alike joke is an old one that dates back to…god, I don’t even know when. I mean, I saw it on Fallon’s show, and even I made a joke about it.
The Dan Bulla short was honestly kinda lame, probably his weakest to air on the show.
The Cast List sketch was fine, but honestly, I’d prefer it a lot more if there wasn’t a classic first installment. Also, I feel like Molly Shannon’s part went on a little longer than it should’ve, considered that Kate McKinnon’s part in the first sketch was only for a few seconds. And furthermore, it bugs me how someone on Twitter wanted her or Maya Rudolph over people like Tracy Morgan or Chris Parnell. Because the last time I checked, Molly Shannon and Maya Rudolph are NOT BETTER THAN PARNELL!
Also, I’m not sure if it was wise for Paul to play two songs that he already performed on SNL in the past. I don’t know, I feel like there should be a rule about that where musical guests can only perform songs that they HAVEN’T performed. Just a thought, though.
I think performing new songs is preferable.
Agreed on all counts, especially your last point Paul having done “Band on the Run” and “Coming Up” on the show before (albeit the latter in the form of a pre-taped music video). I was really disappointed by that, partly because the second single from his forthcoming album (“Home to Us”) is a duet with Ringo, so I thought that would have been the perfect excuse for the two surviving Beatles to finally grace the SNL stage together (Ringo hosted once before back in ’84, but he’s never been a musical guest or performed with one), which would have capped off the season in truly epic fashion and also been as ideal a way to promote and stir up more interest in – and press ink about – the upcoming album than simply playing “The Days We Left Behind” would. If we couldn’t have had been treated to that, though, it would have at least made up for it somewhat if he’d picked other songs from his back catalog – whether Beatles or Wings/solo tunes – that he’s never done on the show before. It always seems so very weird for any musical guest to do a song they’ve already performed on the show before, considering just how few songs anyone – even the most legendary of acts – gets to play on that show during their careers. It just always strikes me as a wasted opportunity.
They had a doppelganger in the 2002 Britney Spears episode.
Forgot about that, thanks.
And @Howard, thank you a lot for your kind words.
To be honest, I thought there was a pretty good finale! Sure not the best, but still solid enough. I guess the only thing I kind of disliked were the Midnight Mantinee (which arguably should’ve got a slightly low rating than the leadoff sketch, which should’ve been rated higher), and The Nudemans. The rest was pretty good. My favorite moments were the Doctor sketch, Cast List 2, Jeremy‘s Mr. On Blast segment, Hormuz Jeff, and Juicy Toobins. Overall, for someone who is watching this show for the last time as a high schooler before he graduates next week, this was a pretty good way to close things out. And thank you Blood for all the insightful reviews you’ve given about this season. Despite the fact we tend to have different views on sketches, I still enjoyed reading your reviews and hearing your honest criticisms. Thank you for making my high school experience better and I hope you have a great Weekend ❤️
Thanks for the wonderful work this season Blood.
Not much to say really. The Bulla short was just not my thing and kinda boring
Ferrell was energetic and fun but the material just wasn’t the best
Jeremy was great on Update at least
Honestly, this finale was about as weak of an episode as the season premiere. They used Will to the lowest advantage, it felt as though there weren’t that many sketches, and there were no clear indications on which cast member was clearly leaving.
I’m sorry but there needs to be an overhaul of writers over the summer because they’ve been hit or miss this season. There also needs to be newer cast members, especially a black female cast member, because I have a horrible feeling that Tommy might not be coming back next season.
I don’t know but this finale was definitely off for me. Not even joke swap could’ve heightened it. Definitely 5/10.
I pretty much agree this was decent enough of a finale. Nothing really bottomed out in my opinion, but had a few pretty spectacular sketches. Let’s get into it!
I actually liked the Post Op sketch, mainly just because the bafflement of Mikey‘s character, even if I understand why people get upset with it still makes me laugh just because of his delivery of all the lines he repeats, I also felt this was probably the best use of Will in the episode as this is a concept I’m sure he would’ve probably did do during his time as a cast member. I also found it very cool how all three performers in this were from the Groundlings. Also, Will unexpectedly calling Ashley a bitch gave me a good laugh.
The Cast List sketch I think while obviously the first one is better. I think the second one is also good in its own right. I felt this had a new twist and like the first one it gave everyone an opportunity to shine in which I felt everyone did great in and it overall had a lot of great moments with my favorite probably being the shot at Sarah’s character. I also felt Molly in this with her part with Tommy was an excellent piece to this as well and it truly worked for me.
I for the most part see eye-to-eye with you on the mechanics sketch, but I will say that Mikey’s moan did crack me up.
I don’t usually chime in too much on the cut sketches, but both pieces I really enjoyed and felt both should been in the episode as I felt both of them had better craziness to Will Ferrell and them than anything that actually aired, which, of course is what Will is best known for and what he succeeds in.
So overall, I definitely get your points on everything you said, but thinking about it I think I might like this episode a bit more than you and others too, but of course that’s not a bad thing at all. As always awesome review from you can’t wait to see your reviews for next season until then, see ya in September/October Blood!!!!
There were definitely some good moments over the course of the season, but this episode was a pretty good synopsis of many of the problems. Too much Mikey, too much Marcello doing weird voices and mistaking them for humor, Jost and Che have been there too long, Kenan needing to have gone years ago (how much did he make per second of screen time last night I wonder, given he was on screen in sketches for about 20 seconds). But the show’s not going to get a real shakeup I feel with Lorne still there. As a Syracuse guy this all reminds me of the final days of Jim Boeheim; we weren’t awful, but he hung around way too long and there was no real succession plan. We had to unceremoniously dump him and it’s been a rough couple years since, which probably would have been easier had we made the transition earlier.
The cast list sketch did show this group can work well together with an ensemble under the right circumstances. They played off each other pretty well
To me this episode was a tale of two halves. The first half was mostly solid if not exactly exceptional. Aside from the AWFUL Hegseth portion, I found the rest of the cold open decent enough if unremarkable, even though, I agree, it was way too much of a throwback to the cold opens of the late 2010s era.
The Penis Doctor sketch felt like the best usage of Will all night, at least in the live show. His delivery was great and he hadn’t lost a step. I agree, however, that Mikey was very miscast. Watching this guy’s decline the past couple of years has been sad to watch, and it seems like he can’t even do the basic “restating the joke” straight man stuff like he used to, even if it wasn’t all that great to begin with.
The Cast List retread fell into the same boat as the Mid Day News retread from last year. It gave off the vibe of “this is fine enough…but why bother?” Will was still great and Molly’s part was hilarious, but not every great sketch needs to be recurring. The original will never be topped, so again I ask: why bother? I suppose I should give them props that it was more solid than it had any right to be.
And then the episode took a turn at the exact midpoint. Right around joke swap. This segment has jumped the shark, as have Che and Jost in general. This, along with Mikey’s tired flop sweat shit, is exhibit A as to why 8 seasons is usually enough for most cast members.
The Mechanic sketch felt like every bad writing choice the show has made in this era crammed into one. When it started, I thought “okay, cool, this is a slice-of-life premise with potential”. But then it went the Chicken Fongers route of mispronunciations being one of the big gags. Transmission = trans person? What is funny about that? Who wrote this crap? The weird sexual noises felt so hacky and desperate and words cannot convey how sick and tired I am of Marcello playing thick accented characters. You’d think Lorne would hear the lack of response to these pieces but I guess his hearing aid is turned off during the show. The Paul cameo was cute at least, but he deserved to be in a MUCH better sketch than this. That “pay in ass” ending felt like something straight out of S20. Just a completely tasteless and borderline offensive turn out of the blue that was thoroughly unnecessary and desperate.
The Nudemans is the type of sketch that lives or dies based on the audience response. Done well, and you get a Bird Family or Massive Headwound Harry. Done poorly, and you get…well…this. Once the initial reveal of Will’s outfit was out of the way, this sketch died a slow, agonizing death. Watching Marcello come out in that “wacky” getup and rub his crotch on Andrew to almost total silence should be another sign that this dude needs to be kicked to the curb. If we’re gonna have a star outside of the vets, does it HAVE to be this dude? Come on.
Anyways, that sketch, and really this whole season, shows how inside and out of touch this show has become. Smug self-satisfied vets smirking their way through tired schtick to a dead audience is just sad to watch. Any normal person would look at this and realize a change is desperately needed. But of course, as long as we have Lorne’s geriatric ass in charge, that won’t change. He’s scared to death of rocking the boat even though the low moments of tonight show that change is desperately needed more than ever. Much like our country, term limits and an upper age limit both in front of and behind the camera would do wonders for this show.
But I digress. At least we get a break from these guys and we can always hope for the best, as foolishly optimistic as that almost certainly is. Goodbye S51!
I thought your first observation was pretty dead-on; the show is very similar to the weaker aspects of the 2010s seasons:
-the formula, overlong cold opens resting on “hilarious” cameos
-a lot of sketches that use recurring characters or more accurately “recurring premises”
-many cast members who have been on the show too long
That said, the 2010s cast was stronger and more likable.
This started out pretty good–the monologue was fun, the opening sketch wasn’t a classic but gave me some laughs (was too long, weak performance by Mikey, and didn’t know they should have stopped on “Happy birthday”), and as sort of derivative or obvious as they were, both the short and the cast list reprise were funny.
After the first song, the only thing I really liked was Mr. Blast.
Both the mechanic and Nudeman sketches were poor uses of Will (he’s always a solid dry performer, but ANYONE could have played the guy in the mechanic sketch). They also generally featured pretty overly familiar cast members doing overly familiar things (Day as a straight man, Ashley as a straight woman, Marcello babbling, Sarah doing something goofy). Both also went on too long for a one-note sketch.
I also don’t want to be THAT guy, but the mechanic sketch, at least Marcello’s portion, felt vaguely racist. I have NEVER been to a repair shop where a mechanic came out and talked in Spanish (they’re almost always just guys listing tech stuff). I’m somewhat more lenient of Marcello’s “funny foreigner” stuff than you, but this was both unfunny and gave me an uncomfortable feeling, like the ONLY joke was “ha ha, he’s speaking Spanish.”
The attacks on Mikey’s appearance are getting to be a bit much. Constantly calling him “graying”, saying he’s too old to play a kid (in a sketch where he isn’t playing a student) and bringing him up in a sketch he isn’t in just to say you wouldn’t want to see him in a revealing outfit. I feel like you can argue that his performance style is getting repetitive without continually body-shaming him for no reason
Mikey is in a far better shape than me, to be fair to him.
You can say I am being harsh and you are obviously entitled to your own opinion, as everyone else is, but he is playing roles that are simply not anymore in his wheelhouse. I have said the same of Andrew, one of my absolute favorites in this cast, when he played a few roles he did not fit in (like some dad/grandpa roles). And he was stated as a graduate in Cast List 2. Meaning, he is supposed to be in his mid 20s at the oldest, if we consider the first sketch is 6 years ago.
Playing a role 20 years older than him warrants critique, with all due respect to your opinion. Thanks for your comment.
They’ve been way overdoing it with the school set sketches lately. I think 5 of the last 8 episodes of the season had a school set sketch. It’s an odd choice when only 3 cast members are younger than 30, but I guess it’s easy to write, reuse sets and gets more cast members in sketches.
Imagine all the comedic places you could go with the concept of Trump being visited by Epstein’s ghost. Here we get “They’re homos!!! They’re gay for each other!!!” because the writers are mentally stuck in 2002.
Thanks as always for your hard work on this review and all your reviews. I don’t really know how you’ve gotten through this season. In the back half it has taken me days, sometimes weeks, to watch the episodes. The attempts at pushing very select “stars,” especially Jost, Marcello and Mikey, has given the show an extremely narrow agenda, one which week after week of dead crowds suggest has alienated the stan contingent SNL is simultaneously trying to pander to with the return of the late ’10s cold opens. The increase in racist or homophobic material is seemingly yet another attempt at bringing in the conservative male audience who will never, ever go back to SNL, and are presumably too busy doubling over at Tony Hinchcliffe turning into a beet on Netflix.
I do blame Mikey for quite a bit of this season’s failures, as he is not only a very comfortable performer but a very high-placed writer, but much as I want him, Kenan, Chloe, Jost, Che and Marcello gone, I am aware that the problem is much higher. Before Mikey the same was being said about Pete, or Kate, and before that, Kristen or Fred. The rot is at the heart of the show – whatever tiny heart is even left – and that won’t change until someone at NBC gives a damn. Until then, we get more yelping to silent audiences who are trained not to expect better, because that’s just how SNL is, and as Lorne reminded us, if you want better, don’t even bother with the show you’ve been watching most of your life – just go watch the UK version!
Thanks to Saturday Night Network for the cut sketch info.
Martin’s short from last week was cut in dress.
Also cut in dress:
KARAOKE: Kenan and Will don’t want to do the women parts of a karaoke song. Veronika, Sarah, Jeremy, Mikey as the emcee.
DENNIS’ BIRTHDAY: Dennis (Ashley) celebrates his birthday at home with his wife (Chloe), spoiled son (Will), boss (Tommy). Veronika too. Will would rather go to Brandon’s house, kicks the cake, makes a scene in front of the boss.
Will introduced Paul’s second song in costume from that sketch.
SNL is in a weird spot right now, as you get the sense they’re trying to appeal “all things to all men,” which obviously is nice in an ideal sense but just doesn’t work nowadays. Thus, you get things where there’s constant, constant anti-Trump jokes but all in the vein of “HAR HAR, HE’S KINDA FAT AND MAYBE HE’S GAY!” I don’t fully agree with John, but I do agree there’s an uptick in the homophobic material and if not racist, more broad racial humor lately…yet at the same time a pandering attempt to appeal to Gen Z, terminally online folks by whole sketches riffing on some influencer. It’s hard to know who really goes for this–is there some anti-Trump, vaguely social conservative who loves Gen Z influencers? I’m sure there are! But that seems a precarious way to appeal to a TV audience.
I don’t think it’s really any coincidence that the stuff that has gotten the biggest reaction this year has been just silly shit. Think of Dismukes in the Oliva Rodrigo episode doing the Rasta stuff or Mr. Blast in this episode. However, I would also say that a fair share of the tired, played out stuff DOES get big reactions, like the Joke Swap this episode. So you still have SNL fans who basically just stan the tropes of the show.
I’ve rarely seen anything sadder this season than the cold opens SMASHING Jost-as-Hegseth and now Ansari-as-Patel. Jost was perfectly fine playing the role as a one-time joke. Ansari’s impression is terrible, but sure, he can play Kash Patel once. *Multiple times* in a season? In Ansari’s case, THREE TIMES IN A ROW? Like I don’t care if you have the funniest impression since sliced bread, why are you opening the show so much? This feels a lot like Lorne and Jost decided they didn’t have enough impressionists AND didn’t care to think of anything else.
From all the comments here, I can see that SNL is STILL whiter than chalk. Apparently, another campaign for more people of color (cast AND writers) is in order, am I right?
*social media or online in general, that is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IggicAlOTo
The SNL youtube page also posted this. Not sure if this was meant as for the show (doesnt seem to be a “cut for time” piece) or just meant as a web extra. A sequel to Chloe Fineman’s “understudy” pre-tape from a few seasons ago, with her imitating the other female cast members as their understudies, probably funnier than anything she’s done on the actual show all season. Her impressions are still good, but the show doesn’t seem to have much use for them anymore, as they don’t really do all that many impression-centric sketches much these days outside of political cold openings.
I might be looking too much into it, but I wonder if this video could be a sign she’s leaving? She does mention the whole “I’ve been on the show for 7 seasons” at the start, but I dunno, if she was leaving I would think she would’ve been in the show a bit more.
The current crop of female cast members aren’t as interesting to do impressions of as her previous video, but there’s some decent stuff there.
The Veronika one was excellent (makes sense, this feels like it would be in Chloe’s wheelhouse). She intentionally doesn’t do a Jane impression. The Sarah impression I wasn’t feeling, although some of that is because *actual* Sarah in the sketch is not talking in the same way. In contrast, the Ashley impression felt too over the top and required Ashley to basically lead her through the impression (I had no idea whom she was impersonating at first, lol). I got more laughs out of JAJ’s brief incisive impressions of the male cast members.