Sabrina Carpenter, America’s premiere pint-sized coitus enthusiast, courted not a man but controversy at the beginning of the summer with the cover of her new album, Man’s Best Friend. The cover depicted Carpenter on her knees in a sexually submissive position while a nondescript male suitor caresses her hair.
The actual content of Man’s Best Friend is often similarly racy, but in contrast to the cover, it is Carpenter who dominates her men in the narratives of the album’s 12 songs. Staying in her lane of sex-centric pop confections, Carpenter manages to stay fresh despite the familiar subject matters, mostly thanks to her voice and production growing more confident and diverse.
Take, for example, the lush harmonies on “We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night” or the dreamy, layered vocals and majestic strings on “Nobody’s Son,” both of which rank among the album’s best tracks: these racy yet surprisingly mature relationship analogies showcase the next evolution in Carpenter’s artistry. She is still sex crazed and playful, but she’s also becoming more concerned with more nuanced aspects of male-female relationships and it is to her benefit, as the lyrics on these songs as well as tracks like “My Man on Willpower” and “Never Getting Laid” rank among her wittiest.
While it doesn’t quite have the immediate appeal of 2023’s Short’n Sweet, Man’s Best Friend is a more than worthy follow-up, and one that entices anticipation for Carpenter’s next project.
Last night, I saw Billy Idol and Joan Jett at Madison Square Garden.
It was my first time being back at the Garden since I finished my tenure as an usher last month, and it felt like coming home. It was great seeing so many old friends and being back in my favorite venue in the world.
Now on to the show itself. Joan Jett opened the show, arriving on stage just after 7:30. Decked out in her trademark leather and black bangs, powered through a vigorous hour long set that mixed covers, new material, and classics such as “I Love Rock and Roll” and “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” The band sounded punchy and tight, and Jett’s voice has retained its trademark grit and snarl. While she spent most of her set stationary, she still emanated a ton of youthful energy, slashing at her guitar and belting out every song with gusto.
Idol came on at 9:00 on the dot, and didn’t let up for the entire hour and a half. The 69 year old worked every wing of the stage like he was 20, making sure everyone in the crowd got a glimpse of the well preserved punk icon, who still sports his trademark blonde spikes and dark leather vests. Running, skipping, jumping, vamping, and most importantly singing with ageless alacrity, Idol was a true showman who delivered the songs fans wanted to hear with the same conviction and quality as when he first recorded them. “Cradle of Love” got the crowd rocking early, and a gorgeous “Eyes Without a Face” enveloped the Garden with its smoky intimacy.
He also performed four songs from his new album, which fit in amazingly well alongside evergreen classics like “White Wedding” and his signature cover of “Mony Mony” (the second Tommy James and the Shondells cover of the evening, after Jett’s take on “Crimson and Clover”). His longtime sidekick, guitarist Steve Stevens, got ample time to show off his axe chops, running the gauntlet from the flamenco inspired intro to “Eyes Without a Face” to a lengthy solo spot that incorporated covers of Zeppelin and Van Halen.
Overall, it was a fun and engaging evening of brutish, nasty rock and roll from two icons of the 1980s’ punk / new wave scene, both of whom have somehow managed to make a deal with time to still be putting on such great, energetic shows at their advanced ages. If you have a chance to see it, dance with yourself on over to the nearest box office and fall in love with rock and roll all over again.
“This could be the last time, may be the last time, I don’t know.”
The Rolling Stones did not play that song at either of the MetLife stadium shows this week, but it’s the one that’s been playing in my head since the beginning of every Stones tour since 2012.
I admit I was initially discouraged by what I heard at the beginning of the tour; after 60 years of defying the odds, The Rolling Stones finally sounded like what they were: very old men playing rock and roll. Mick sounded and moved with a laborious quality he never displayed before. Ronnie’s solos were choppy and lacking his usual melodic flare. And Keith just seemed tired and sullen.
Of course, I had these same observations prior to seeing them in 2019 at the same venue, and that was an utterly explosive show that fully restored my faith in the band. If they did it then, why not now?
I can not only say that my faith is restored, but at a fever pitch. The Rolling Stones, now averaging 80-81 years old, put on a thrilling display of defiance and vitality, once again spitting in the face of critics and making me feel utterly foolish for ever having doubted them.
At the start of the tour, Keith utterly massacred the “Start Me Up” riff. Tonight, it exploded out of the gate and was played with absolute precision. Mick shimmied across the vast stage with ease, and his voice was rich and clear.
The entire show maintained this level, and the addition of new songs alongside relative rarities like “Get Off Of My Cloud” and “Bitch” gave the show a freshness it had been lacking for a long time. It is a testament to the quality of the new material that songs like “Angry” and “Whole Wide World” went over about as well as “Paint It Black” and “Jumping Jack Flash.”
And of course, there was the big surprise of the evening: a typically intense, powerhouse “Midnight Rambler,” thought to be shelved this time around to make room for new songs. With “Miss You” taking a much needed night off, “Rambler” had ample time to work its dark magic, enveloping the stadium with its sadistic energy. It was like the band was whipping us into submission, challenging us to match their brutal energy. Maybe it was the element of surprise, but this “Rambler” felt truly momentous and on par with the very best versions of the song.
Keith, who seemed to be fading at the beginning of the tour, is now back in the groove and firmly recommitted to driving the music again, churning out rich, elegant riffs and rhythms in effortless fashion all night long. Not every note was perfect, but the best ones showcased that his unique feel, timing, and sound can still be as good as ever. His solo set was amazing; the debut of “Tell Me Straight” was absolutely flawless, with Keith taking the soul he typically puts into “Slipping Away” and turning it up a few more notches.
Ronnie, too, played some absolutely great guitar riffs and solos, particularly on “Tumbling Dice” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” He was almost as active as Mick, hamming it up with the crowd while somehow maintaining total focus on his musicianship. After two bouts of cancer, this was nothing short of amazing.
Mick was in primo form: running, jumping, vamping, and singing with his signature ageless alacrity that continues to inspire and captivate. The ultimate frontman.
The rest of the band brought the necessary support to keep the engine running with a full tank for the entire two hours, particularly Steve Jordan; yes we all miss Charlie, but I have my doubts that at 82 the Wembley Whammer would be able to drive the band to the often frantic pace Jordan pushed the band towards at times. Jordan managed to emulate Charlie’s sense of swing and swerve while adding new touches and styles that made some of the more tired material sound truly vital again.
And then there’s Chanel Haynes, who had the unenviable task of taking on signature spotlight moments originated by Merry Clayton and Lady Gaga. Haynes approached these parts with utter fearlessness, bringing a stupefying combo of technical brilliance, soulful showmanship, and scintillating sex appeal to both “Gimme Shelter” and “Sweet Sounds Of Heaven.” She is an utter tour de force, not only surpassing the noble efforts of Sasha Allen but rivaling Lisa Fischer on her best nights; she is that good, that powerful.
The Rolling Stones played a perfect show; I have no qualms saying that at all. It was invigorating, inspiring, surprising and just a totally faultless evening of timeless rock and roll.
If I had to compare this band to anything, it would be the Coney Island Cyclone, a roller coaster in Brooklyn, New York that is well over 100 years old. They’re both old and a bit rickety, and they take a minute to get going; however, once they get over that first hill, the thrills keep coming and put younger models to shame.
While I entered the stadium with “The Last Time” in mind, this line from the more obscure “Torn and Frayed” played in my head” as I exited into the night:
COLD OPENING: CNN Town Hall South Carolina Cold Open – SNL
PREMISE: Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) holds a town hall on CNN moderated by Gayle King (Punkie Johnson) and Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson).
Feels rare to see Punkie do an impression.
I’m as ready for Kenan to leave as anyone, but he can still mine laughs from his Barkley impression. He had some funny lines here, such as his suggestion that his show with Gayle King be called ‘Gay-Bar’ and the bit promoting FanDuel.
This cold opening isn’t too bad so far. The ‘town hall’ setting isn’t letting JAJ’s Trump go the tired route of rambling and pop culture references, and I’m getting some laughs from his exchanges with the various panelists in the audience.
Ok, we did get a rant, but the midnights breakdown was actually pretty funny.
Nice to see Devon’s Tim Scott yet again. He’s still killing it in the role, although I wish he had a little more airtime.
Nikki Haley’s cameo stopped this cold opening DEAD in its track. It was a terrible idea in the first place, and the writing went in every predictable direction it could.
Ok, I KIND OF liked the idea of Ayo appearing to call out Haley on her answer to the Civil War question a few months ago, but all it did was try to humanize her (Haley) in a way she doesn’t need to be. Jesus, SNL, do better.
RATING: ** ½ (Halley brought it down half a star)
MONOLOGUE: Ayo Edibiri
PREMISE: Ayo Edibiri discusses her whirlwind year of success and shares some rejected sketch ideas.
Nice to see Ayo get such huge applause upon her entry.
Aw, her tearing up a bit is so sweet.
Her line about being the first black woman to admit she was from Boston was very funny.
As expected, Ayo is coming off as charming and has several amusing anecdotes and lines about her upbringing.
Ayo’s rejected sketch ideas aren’t that funny on paper, but her delivery and charisma are making it work for me.
Overall, a fun, breezy monologue with good energy. I’d like to think is a good omen for the rest of the show, but we shall see.
RATING: *** ½
GAME SHOW: Why’d You Say It?
PREMISE: Contestants are confronted over their confounding Instagram comments.
Hmm, this premise has some potential.
Mikey ducking out immediately after hearing the concept of the game reminded me of Jason Sudeikis doing the same thing in the classic Who’s On Top? sketch with Bill Hader and Alec Baldwin.
Ayo’s increasingly distressed, long-winded responses to her writing ‘Die’ on a video of Drew Barrymore are cracking me up.
Andrew’s part about his AOC comment is hilarious.
Very good sketch overall.
RATING: ****
MUSIC VIDEO: Dune Popcorn Bucket
PREMISE: A group of teenagers sing about losing their virginity to the Dune popcorn bucket.
I guess this is a fun, timely concept, but this whole thing washed over me and didn’t make me laugh once. Not much else to say about this.
RATING: * ½
SKETCH: Drugs on Campus
PREMISE: A student (Andrew Dismukes) microdoses on shrooms, shocking his friends (Ayo Edibir, Mikey Day).
Mikey and Ayo’s over-the-top performances carried this sketch, which was built on a thin premise and didn’t contain much laughs in the writing.
Andrew is solid in his role as the straight man. That’s about all I can say about this sketch.
Marcelo’s brief part made me laugh.
RATING: **
SKETCH: Bad Couples
PREMISE: A reporter (Bowen Yang) interviews random couples about how they met.
Nice to see Molly and Michael at the top a sketch.
Is it just me or is Michael’s suit huge on him?
I enjoyed this sketch quite a bit. All the interviews with the couple were funny, my favorites being Chloe and Mikey as the incestuous couple and Punkie and the older guy as the couple who met in a cult.
Bowen gave a very good performance here. I’ve been critical as hell of him all season but he dialed it way back there and gave a good ‘straight man’ role.
Interesting seeing Martin Herlihy in a sketch.
The ending with him and Marcelo was nice, and the twist involving Molly was a good capper.
RATING: *** ½
WEEKEND UPDATE WITH COLIN JOST AND MICHAEL CHE
FEATURING: CJ Rossitano (Sarah Sherman)
Best Jokes: Biden / Border, Chicago / Ceasefire, Ted Cruz, Black History Month, Suits Reboot, Pizza Hut, World Beauty Pageant
For the fourth week in a row, Colin and Che actually seem newly enthused and have a smattering of strong jokes and quips.
Sarah’s bit as Colin’s long lost son didn’t really do that much for me, but I did like the part about Colin’s penis. It was a little different from the normal ‘Sarah trashes Colin’ routine, which is a nice change of pace.
RATING: *** ½
SKETCH: Trivia Quest
PREMISE: A game show host (Ego Nwodim) forms a bond with a contestant (Ayo Edibiri).
I’m probably forgetting something, but it feels like months since Ego got a true showcase. This is only her second appearance tonight, which is disappointing because I really think her and Ayo would make a good team. Is anyone else thinking they may be phasing out Ego? I hope not, as she’s my favorite of the veterans in the cast and still consistently delivers in utility roles and hasn’t resorted to hammy, indulgent pieces a la Bowen and occasionally Kenan.
Oh no, is this another ‘let’s bash Mikey’ sketch?
Ayo and Ego were a lot of fun and had great chemistry in this sketch. Their interactions were funny, as were the increasingly angered reactions from Sarah and Mikey.
Not too great a sketch, but pretty fun.
RATING: ***
FILMED PIECE: Stuck in the Elevator
PREMISE: A group of people get stuck in an elevator and gradually form a new society.
Oh man, this was awful. It had a poor joke with Ayo and Bowen constantly trying to convince Andrew, Sarah and Kenan to hook up, and the ‘Elevator Town’ twist was flat-out stupid.
RATING: *
SKETCH: School Hypnotist
PREMISE: A hypnotist (Andrew Dismukes) visits a school classroom.
A Dismukes showcase? This should be fun.
This could’ve been a fun, oddball sketch with a great Dismukes-y premise, but this was a horrible one-note sketch built entirely around Ayo’s character being bisexual.
Ayo, to her credit, performed the HELL out of this, but nothing could save this. I actually felt embarrassed for her. Also, is it i just me or does she bare a passing resemblance to the Pat character in this sketch?
The whole twist that Ayo’s character was doing this all just to show off her singing voice was horrible. Just a bad, bad sketch.
RATING: *
SKETCH: PEOPLE’S COURT
PREMISE: A hairdresser (Ego Nwodim) is sued by a former customer (Ayo Edibir)
Nice to see Ego and Ayo in another sketch.
Great reveal of Ayo’s missing scalp.
This was a great little oddball 10-to-1 piece, with lots of funny lined and snappy back-and-forth’s from Ego and Ayo. Kenan and Devon also got laughs as the judge and the bailiff.
Ego’s “brain out, ass up” line was great.
Another scene stealing appearance from Punkie.
Weak ending, but Kean’s delivery made me laugh.
This is the first SNL sketch with an entirely African American cast.
RATING: ****
EPISODE MVP: Ayo Edibiri provided the expected fresh, funny energy she was expected to bring and elevated an uneven but not terrible episode. She committed to every sketch and had great chemistry with several cast members.
BOTTOM LINE: An improvement over the last two episodes, both of which were quite bad, although this was by no means a great episode; we got two genuinely great sketches, but also a lot of forgettable or flat-out bad sketches, and I can’t blame anyone for being disappointed that this episode wasn’t better than it was given the host. Also, the Nikki Haley cameo goes right up there with Trump and Musk hosting as an all-time “what the fuck were they thinking?” moment.
PREMISE: NFL announcers go into crisis mode at the thought of no football.
Nice seeing JAJ and Dismukes right up front.
The Boeing revel after JAJ’s “shake, rattle and roll” quip was pretty funny.
The main premise of football season sending men into an existential crisis had promise, and there were some scattered funny lines throughout, but overall this was a very low-energy, underwhelming cold open.
The “When I See You Again” ending was lame and came across the writers having no idea how to finish this sketch.
The LFNY segue was awkward as hell.
RATING: **
MONOLOGUE: Dakota Johnson
PREMISE: Host Dakota Johnson explains ‘out of context’ quotes before getting hijacked by Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon.
Johnson seems a lot looser and more comfortable than she did the last time she hosted in 2015.
Her talking about being at the 40th anniversary and pointing out she was seated in front of Trump and behind Taylor Swift is an interesting curio, at least.
The “most powerful person in the world” fakeout was funny.
And of course, Justin Timberlake has to come and suck the air out of the monologue by making it all about him. I was so glad whan Dakota mocked him by pointing out that it’s been 10 years since he last hosted.
Aaaaand there’s Jimmy Fallon in full Bary Gibb regalia. It’s gonna be a long night, folks.
RATING: * ½
SKETCH: WAITERS
PREMISE: Nervous waiters (Sarah Sherman, Johnson) constantly mess up the orders during a family dinner.
Nice to see JAJ and especially Molly and Devon again so soon, plus Troast. Good selection of newer cast members for this sketch.
It’s also nice to see Sarah stretching her range beyond her signature style and taking on more nuanced roles. She was very good in this.
This featured very strong performances from everyone, but the premise went nowhere. None of the misinterpreted and increasingly nonsensical lines made me laugh, and the whole sketch just had a really dead energy to it.
RATING: * ½
FILM: Home Videos
PREMISE: Family secrets are revealed in a shocking home video.
Lots of airtime for newer cast members tonight. Especially good seeing JAJ appear again as well as Dismukes, Sarah and Marcelo.
Funny reveal with the Maury Povich parody.
I’ve been critical of Mikey’s performances this season, but his douche-y performance here made me laugh. It’s also good to see Sarah in more utility and supporting roles where she can stretch her range.
This wasn’t anything great, but it made me laugh enough to give it a passing grade. I especially got a kick out of Marcelo attacking Mikey with the chair.
The ending with Marcelo gave me a good laugh, as did Dismukes’ reaction.
RATING: ***
SKETCH: THE BARRY GIBB TALK SHOW
PREMISE: The same goddamned thing as the previous ones.
Oh boy, here we go…
Once again, we get no mention that Robin Gibb is in fact dead, and has been for some time.
Jimmy, to his credit, does his usual excellent job at getting into character for this sketch. He’s consistently excellent in these sketches and rarely if ever breaks.
Even though it’s not THAT late into the show, it does feel a bit odd that this is Bowen’s first appearance.
As much as I came into this groaning, I have to say the 10-year layoff is affording a bit of goodwill towards these sketches.
Jimmy’s unhinged ranting at Kenan was great and for some reason him and Justin singing the Goldfish jingle Bee Gees-style mad me laugh. It got even crazier with the Saltburn reference and the “Staying Alive” / “Licking the Drain” parody.
Jimmy’s Barry voice is slipping in and out occasionally.
The zipline bit with Bowen’s Andrew Yang was anothe bit that made me laugh at how deranged and random it was.
The riffing on Australia while introducing Dakota’s impression went on a bit too long.
Nice bit getting the audience involved in the “rib cage as a lobster trap” bit.
Overall, I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder, as I actually really enjoyed several parts of this installment. I wouldn’t mind waiting another 10 years for it, though.
RATING: *** ½
FILM: PLEASE DON’T DESTROY – ROAST
PREMISE: Martin, John and Ben meet Dakota Johnson, which turns into the two parties roasting each other.
Ah, PDD, please make me laugh.
Some very good slams from Dakota towards the PDD Boys; I especially loved when she called them the Lonelier Island and also referenced the Three Sad Virgins video with Taylor Swift.
The Bigger Splash slam was hilarious.
A very good, quick and funny PDD piece. The first above-average SNL piece in weeks.
RATING: ****
SKETCH: Big Dumb Cups
PREMISE: Airheaded spokeswomen (Johnson, Chloe Feinman, Heidi Gardner) shill their new product.
A timely sequel to Big Dumb Hats.
Much like Bowen, it feels a bit weird to see Chloe Feinman just appearing now.
Dakota’s “…are you physically or at least spiritually blonde” was so bizarre it made me laugh.
I also laughed at Heidi’s Trader Joe’s line.
There’s some funny lines here and there, but the sketch as a whole went on a bit too long and didn’t do anything too different with the format.
RATING: ** ½
WEEKEND UPDATE WITH COLIN JOST & MICHAEL CHE
FEATURING: A guy named Ethan (Bowen Yang), tarot reader Jan Janby (Heidi Gardner)
Best Jokes: DeSantis Endorsement, Trump Comeptency Test, Debanking, Godzilla Nomination, Spirit / Jet Blue Merger, Disney Maternity Wards
Pretty fun energy to Update so far.
Bowen’s piece wasn’t quite as interminable as his last few, but it still had a lot of the self-indulgent hallmarks that make Bowen a very hard cast member to root for currently.
Heidi’s tarot card reader was a fun bit, and it was good to see Che get the sort of roasting Colin usually gets. Nothing here made me laugh out loud, but it was harmless fun. I did enjoy the “OnlyFans” bit.
RATING: ***
SKETCH: Book Club
PREMISE: A book club meeting goes in an unexpected direction.
Both Ego and Punkie make their first appearances all night.
They couldn’t find a role for Chloe Troast?
This was terrible, terrible sketch with a dumb twist. Dakota did try and sell the material as best she could, but this went absolutely nowhere and the Shark Tank cameos at the end added nothing to a sketch that was already devoid of content. Not much else to say here.
RATING: *
SKETCH: Lost Bag
PREMISE: A woman (Johnson) goes through the contents of a lost bag with an unhelpful attendant (Devon Walker).
Devon’s voice and mannerisms are cracking me up. I’m truly impressed by how much more presence and confidence he has this season.
This premise definitely had potential, but ultimately I felt it didn’t really go far enough in how bizarre the contents of Dakota’s bag could’ve been.
Michael Longfellow is once again wasted, but he manages to mine some laughs in his supporting role.
RATING: **
EPISODE MVP: Tough call in such a weak episode. I’d say maaaaybe Dismukes or Sarah Sherman. It was nice to see some of the cast members I’ve had issues with lately (Bowen, Mikey, Chloe Feinman) more subdued tonight, but it didn’t really help the show at all.
BOTTOM LINE: The second weak episode of SNL in a row. While not quite the interminable trainwreck the Elordi episode was, this was as forgettable and bland as SNL gets. Johnson was not a bad host, but she didn’t really work to elevate the material, either.
PREMISE: Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) speaks to the media about his second defamation case.
The usual tired Trump sketch, complete with ramblings, pop culture, and other overused tropes that have come to define these JAJ sketches.
I chuckled at the Darling Nikki / Purple Rain and Twin Peaks references, and groaned loudly at the Mean Girls reference.
RATING: *
MONOLOGUE: Jacob Elordi takes questions from the audience.
Right off the bat, Elordi comes off very ill at ease. It doesn’t help that he has not been given any funny dialogue whatsoever and is just literally talking about Saltburn.
The return of the Q&A monologue, always a sign that SNL is just spinning its wheels.
Not a single moment of this entire Q&A-ologue made me laugh. I didn’t even crack a smile. Sarah’s part was especially awkward and frankly cringeworhy and self-serving.
What even was Kenan’s part?
This whole thing felt very underrehearsed and underwritten, as if they literally did parachute in a half-baked Q&A monologue to save Elordi from the task of doing one where he’d be front and center.
RATING: *
SKETCH: Crown Your Short King
PREMISE: A dating show for short men goes in an unintended direction when a very tall bachelor (Elordi) shows up.
Short King? Did Marcelo write this?
Not loving this premise, nor the oddly wooden performances from Mikey Day and Chloe Feinman.
None of the insults directed at Marcelo are landing with me. Marcelo, to his credit, at least seems to be trying to carry this sketch somewhere.
Really hating Mikey’s performance as the host.
Jacob as the Pittsburgh douchebag Chloe Fineman’s contestant winds up choosing was a totally predictable direction, and once again nothing about it made me laugh.
Chloe and Jacob making out barely got a reaction.
Terrible sketch.
RATING: *
FILMED PIECE: Cub Shay Shay: Extended Cut
PREMISE: Shannon Sharpe (Devon Walker)’s interview with Katt Williams (Ego Nwodim) gets the extended treatment.
Ooh, a Devon and Ego pairing, and this particular premise built around the absolutely batshit Katt Williams interview is a good vehicle for them.
Ego is great as Katt Williams. Her voice and mannerisms were on point and made up for the fact that her lines weren’t really all that funny.
Devon also gives a very strong performance as Shannon Sharpe.
Despite the great performances, the actual content didn’t really do much for me. I wanted to like it way more than I did, but the writing was not there.
Ego and Heidi are very good as the usual wooden Entertainment Tonights.
A sketch led by Bowen and Jacob, the latter of whom still seems visibly uncomfortable. Wooh boy.
Just as I feared, this was painful to sit through. I sat there stonefaced the entire time, waiting for this sketch to crawl to its merciful end.
Renee Rapp is a terrible live performer, and she further dragged the sketch down.
This was truly a terrible sketch. From the premise to the dialogue to the lead performances, it felt slapped together and undercooked. Throw in a gratuitous cameo and you’ve got the worst of modern SNL firing on all cylinders.
RATING: *
SKETCH: Bowling Alley
PREMISE: A couple on their first date (Gardner, Elordi) become distracted by increasingly bizarre bowling alley animations.
A fun premise.
The Split sequence was hilarious.
Mikey’s performance as the angry dad in his Gutter sequence was awful. He just doesn’t have the ability to make that kind of hotheaded performance come alive. If it were Will Ferrell or Will Forte or Jason Sudeikis in the role, it would have killed. Mikey just doesn’t have the presence or whatever those guys had to pull it off.
That said, Heidi’s line about shooting heroine between her toes in response to the video was an unexpected piece of dark humor that worked.
Predictable punchline to the ‘Strike’ video, but it made me laugh.
The punchline to Bowen and Devon’s lengthy scene wasn’t worth the wait.
This could’ve been something great, but the execution left something to be desired. The sequences could have had some funnier lines, and there were some loose performances that further hurt it. Boy, this is episode a rough one so far.
RATING: **
COMMERCIAL: Alaska Airlines
PREMISE: Alaska Airlines embraces the controversy caused by missing plain door.
Not much to say about this one. Not a terrible premise, and I got a few light chuckles, particularly from JAJ’s brief bit as Sully. Overall though, this was a bit too underwritten and blandly executed. They could have done more with thos.
The premise of this is somewhat similar to the USAir sketch from the Roseanne episode in season 20; that sketch was much funnier, and it made me wonder if this would have translated better as a live piece.
RATING: **
WEEKEND UPDATE WITH COLIN JOST & MICHAEL CHE
FEATURING: Sen. Tim Scott (Devon Walker), Deobra Redden (Punkie Johnson)
Year 2024, Iowa Cacus, Tim Scott Endorsement, Trump / Sub-Zero Temperatures, Hand Herpes, Pope Francis, Tesla, Pregnant Women Vaping
Colin led with some pretty sharp, funny insights about the inevitable Trump-Biden rematch; the best parts were his “Is it?” joke at the beginning and him calling the match-up elder abuse and comparing it to Bum Fights.
Che describing Tim Scott as looking like “someone drew Ving Rhames with their eyes closed” was hilarious.
Good to see Devon back as Tim Scott. This is a great, fun impression and Devon had several great lines here, especially the descriptions of his voice in the beginning.
Okay, the ‘racist dog whistle’ bit REALLY got me. A nice unexpected subversion of the usual ‘Colin is a racist’ routine.
Punkie’s commentary as the defendant who leaped at the judge in that viral video wasn’t anything great, but as usual Punkie had a fun, spunky energy that made it a lot better than it would have been with a less charismatic performer.
Pretty fun, strong Update tonight.
RATING: *** ½
SKETCH: Women’s AA Meeting:
PREMISE: A man (Jacob Elordi) disrupts an all-female AA meeting.
Ego looks very good with that hair.
* sigh * another painfully obvious ‘Elordi thirst trap’ sketch.
We flat out get the punchline spelled out to us with Elordi’s “being sober forces me to act out sexually with women.”
This was horrid. Just a painfully predictable sketch with no real premise, no funny lines or absolutely anything that had a whiff of effort. Also, the premise of using recovering from alcoholism as a setup for a terrible joke about sex addiction feels insulting in 2024.
Dayum, Punkie.
RATING: *
SKETCH: Acting Class
PREMISE: A famous actor (Elordi) gives non-advice to acting students.
Mikey is getting a lot of aggressive roles tonight, and he’s not convincing in any of them.
Feels like Andrew has been almost completely invisible.
Nice to see Rachel McAdams in a sketch. I wonder why she never hosted.
I complain a lot about Bowen, but he’s actually at least trying to get into an actual character and his style is very good for this type of snooty character.
Yet another sketch essentially gushing over Elordi’s looks. There was no content here.
Bowen’s “I’ll answer that: no” kind of made me chuckle.
Elordi not being familiar with rejection or auditioning was a groan-worthy recurring joke.
RATING: *
SKETCH: Garret from Hinge
PREMISE: Garret from Hinge disrupts a wedding.
I…ugh…no. Fuck this.
RATING: *
EPISODE MVP: Devon Walker scored every time he was onscreen tonight. His Tim Scott commentary was the only truly excellent moment of the entire show (Update as a whole was the only quality piece in this episode).
BOTTOM LINE: Simply put, a very bad episode of Saturday Night Live. Tonight’s episode was entirely devoid of any actual content, just “OMG HOST HOT” fluff pieces that poorly hid the fact that Elordi just isn’t good at sketch comedy. That Update provided an oasis of humor in the midst of all this blandness is a miracle.
PREMISE: Awards are given for the worst in Christmas related activities and traditions.
Heidi and Bowen in an awards sketch? Let’s see how this turns out.
A big groan at the ozempic joke.
The award categories are pretty funny; I got a good laugh at JAJ as the grandad with the Frasier board game.
Devon’s panicked “Please play us off” when his white girlfriend (Sarah) kept talking was perfectly delivered.
Chloe Troast once again absolutely crushes it with another fantastic comic use of her impressive singing ability. Her incorrect lyrics to Do You Hear What I Hear? were funny.
Great description of Mario Lopez as “the Leonardo DiCaprio…of hotel tv.”
Marcelo as Mario Lopez saying the award for Worst Plug was given posthumously was hilarious.
Huge applause for Kenan as the grandpa who had trouble in the bathroom, and I liked his “I’m horrified to accept this award.”
Bowen and Heidi are doing a good job as your typical corny award show hosts.
A pretty good cold opening and a refreshing turnaround from last week’s disastrous opening. It was also really nice to get an opening that utilized the entire cast.
RATING: ***
MONOLOGUE: Kate McKinnon talks about how she’s constructed a human personality through her sketch work, sings I’ll Be Home for Christmas, reminisces with Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig.
Man, this a hot crowd.
Aw, Kate! You can see how meaningful it is for Kate to be back at SNL and on that stage again. For all my faults with Kate’s last few seasons, I still love Kate and cherish her best years as much as any performer of her caliber.
I like how Kate talks about how we rarely see her out of character: it felt both funny and very real and vulnerable. Kate is coming off as super charming and likable throughout this.
“Ever since I left this job I’ve been trying to assemble a human personality. So far? I have a hat.” Great line.
The montage of Kate as freakish characters next to hot celebrities was a great bit.
I was worried when they brought out the piano, but Kate’s alternate lyrics to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” were very funny.
Yet another fantastic bit with Kate showing her original NBC ID photo.
The cameos from Maya and Kristen were utterly pointless and dragged down a great, fun monologue. None of their jokes about their Wikipedia pages landed with me, and their presence felt obsequious as it often does for both Maya and Kristen.
RATING: ****
Sketch: North Pole Special Report
PREMISE: A bizarre Scottish woman (Kate McKinnon) frantically informs a reporter (Mikey Day) of a whale attack on local elves.
Oh, come on, SNL! Really? A sketch starring Eddie Murphy from four years ago rewritten for Kate to do a goofy accent? Do better.
That said, Kate’s delivery and some of her lines are making me chuckle, even if this is nowhere near as funny as Eddie’s.
Kate vomiting elves as candy was funny and a nice subversion of the expected grossout.
Weak ending.
RATING: ** ½
COMMERCIAL / FILM: PONGO
PREMISE: Anatomtically correct pet Pongo haunts mother (Sarah Sherman) to the point of insanity.
I always like seeing Dismukes and Sarah in a sketch. That said, the premise to this sketch didn’t sell me at first.
The visual of the anatamoically correct, featureless Pongo is amusing.
The ‘horror movie’ twist with Sarah was good and gave this sketch a bit of a boost. Squirm gave a great performance and the constant stalking of her by Pongo was really funny.
Kate doing her usual solid work as a demented character.
Good ending.
RATING: ***
SKETCH: ABBA Christmas Album
PREMISE: ABBA (Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Bowen Yang, Maya Rudolph) promote their 1978 Christmas album.
JAJ describing ABBA as the “Fleetwood Mac of cold weather” was hilarious and accurate.
WHY IN THE EVERLOVING MOTHERFUCKING HELL ARE MAYA AND KRISTEN FRONT AND CENTER IN SKETCHES TONIGHT? They have virtually zero connection to Kate’s tenure on SNL.
A sketch with four performers oscillate wildly between fantastic and unbearable? Oh boy.
Yea, this is doing nothing for me. The song parodies just aren’t funny.
Okay, the Fa La La La parody of Mamma Mia has me in hysterics.
JAJ has some good lines as the announcer.
Overall, a dumb and tepid sketch, but not without highlights.
RATING: **
SKETCH: Embarrassed Mother
PREMISE: Mother (Kate McKinnon) reveals her insecurity when giving Christmas gifts.
Oh, god. This was un-fucking-bearable. Everything about this screamed ‘leftover Wiig’ piece. Kate’s gestures and cadences were eerily Wiig-like. I laughed at nothing here.
Not even JAJ as the douchey dad could save this, but it’s nice to see so much of him tonight.
RATING: *
MUSIC VIDEO: Tampon Farm
PREMISE: Folk singer (Kate McKinnon) sings of a farm where women gather to make tampons.
MORE KRISTEN & MAYA??????
A nice showcase of Kate’s underrated singing voice.
Great reveal of the Tampon Farm punchline through the soaring, catchy chorus.
The description of how the tampon is cultivated was hilarious.
PAULA PELL!
Funny visual of Billie Eilish shaking tampons from a tree.
Good little bit at the end with Marcelo.
RATING: *** ½
WEEKEND UPDATE WITH COLIN JOST & MICHAEL CHE
FEATURING: Rich Auntie with No Kids (Ego Nwodim), activist Hattie Davis (Daphne Skeeter).
Best Jokes: Rudy Giuliani, Obamacare, Nikki Haley / Chris Sununu, Teenage Boys Not Having Sex, Vincent Van Gough AI, Albert Einswine, Bald Eagle Killing
The Chris Sununu joke was so lame it made me laugh.
Jost and Che seem noticeably peppier and sharper tonight. I wonder if it’s in anticipation of a later segment.
Ego’s Rich Auntie commentary was a lot of fun. As usual, Ego did a great job with the characterization and her delivery was excellent, drawing big laughs out of even some of the weaker jokes here. She had a lot of funny lines, but the best was probably Django Unchained one. Pitch-perfect performances like this show why Ego deserves to be one of the major cornerstones of this era.
The Christmas Joke Swap…wow. An absolutely hilarious, instant classic segment that kept topping itself with each joke. It was an absolutely brilliant twist to bring out the African American activist (played by Daphne Skeeter), which just added to the awkward hilarity of the bit.
The “Am I right?” bit was absolutely priceless.
HOLY SHIT the Coretta Scott King joke.
Overall, the best Update in quite some time. I’m probaby overrating it a bit, but the Joke Swap was such an all-timer moment that it gives it a deserved boost.
RATING: ****
SKETCH: Yankee Swap
PREMISE: A yankee swap between coworkers goes in surprising directions.
This is Kenan’s first appearance since the cold opening.
A promising premise.
Kenan’s joyful reactions to the Boogie Woogie Santa are great, as is him swapping the sickle cell cure for it.
Another very funny, scene-stealing Punkie Johnson performance to add to the great season she’s been having.
Kenan’s “I’m a little burrito” was a great ending.
RATING: *** ½
SKETCH: Cinema Classics
PREMISE: A look at the holiday classic Meet Me in St. Louis.
The return of Reese De’What.
Chloe Troast does a great Judy Garland.
Not much to the premise of this, just Kate screaming and bugging her eyes for five minutes.
The whole “F You” bit fell flat.
The bloody ending was unexpected at least.
RATING: * ½
SKETCH: Whiskers R We
PREMISE: Barbara DeDrew and her new intern (Billie Eilish) celebrate the annual holiday cattacular.
The return of a Kate favorite and a good vehicle for Kate and Billie to display the excellent chemistry they had in Billie’s 2021 episode.
Several funny lines at the beginning of the sketch, particularly “a cat is a dog who’s a bitch.”
Bille’s character’s name being Pawdrey Hepburn seemed to trip her up and make both her and Kate laugh.
Very funny lines about the named Mrs. Claws sleeping with Santa Claus.
Billie’s vocal imitation of Kate’s character keeps slipping in and out.
The cat’s names are all making me laugh (Cindy Clawford, Cat Sajak, etc.) as are the descriptions of their behavior.
Predictable twist with Billie being Kate’s daughter, but it was executed well.
RATING: *** ½
EPISODE MVP: Kate McKinnon. Despite some of her more polarizing traits popping up, Kate for the most part performed admirably as host and lifted up some lesser material. It was great to have her back and her return lent the show a fun energy.
BOTTOM LINE: A weird episode. Little was great, but I can honestly say they at least really tried with almost everything. Several promising premises tonight, even if very little made me laugh out loud. We at least got an absolute all-timer moment with the Joke Swap, which was as ballsy and off the beaten path as SNL gets these days.
PREMISE: Three college presidents (Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Chloe Feinman) are grilled by Elise Stefanik (Chloe Troast).
A touchy subject matter that I’m not sure this era of SNL can handle properly.
I’m liking that Molly and Chloe Troast are leading this sketch.
Heidi, Chloe F., and Ego are good as the stuffy college presidents who can’t denounce antisemitism properly.
Chloe Troast is selling the hell out of her role as Elise Stefanik.
This sketch was strongly performed, but the writing was abysmal. It didn’t seem to have anything to say in terms of satire, and the jokes didn’t land despite everyone’s best efforts. They bungled this really bad.
RATING: * ½
MONOLOGUE
PREMISE: Adam Driver reads his Christmas list.
It’s so great to have Adam Driver back on SNL. Right off the bat, you can tell he loves being there and is willing to commit to anything.
Great line about how Santa hasn’t liked SNL “since Kattan left.”
The portion with Adam at the piano reading his very weird Christmas list to the camera was very funny, especially “Wokeness Killed Han Solo.”
Another funny line with Adam asking Santa kill couples making TikTok prank videos.
The aborted staring contest with the camera was great.
RATING: *** ½
SKETCH: SKI LODGE
PREMISE: A gay couple (Bowen Yang, Adam Driver) commit to the biologically impossible task of having a baby the natural way.
This sketch absolutely washed over me once I realized the premise. This wasted Driver, and I can’t help but feel deflated when Bowen is the lead in anything these days. To his credit, Adam did try to sell this, and Bowen was more understated than he usually is these days.
RATING: * ½
FILM: OLD FRIENDS
PREMISE: Two old friends (Mikey Day, Driver) reconnect over the holidays.
I expected this to have a dark twist, but I still really enjoyed this. Adam was the perfect choice for this type of creepy character and I liked Mikey’s increasingly exasperated reactions.
Funniest parts were Adam’s love of his life being his gun, the text about Mikey’s mom having big ones, and Devon as Big Filthy.
Lame Facebook twist at the end.
RATING: *** ½
SKETCH: Dinner Party
PREMISE: Two middle aged dads (Andrew Dismukes, Adam Driver) face off on who excuses who to put their plate down.
Driver and Dismukes are a great pair and they look hilarious with those mustaches.
This was the exact type of weird, random sketch I was hoping they’d do with Driver, and this did not disappoint. Adam sold the absolute hell out of his premise, using his trademark intensity for dark comedic purposes.
Andrew was also fantastic in this, especially his sinister ‘nah nah nah.’
The ‘little car’ conversation was hilarious.
Adam asking Andrew “so you wanna die tonight” was another great part.
Great ending with Kenan.
RATING: *****
SKETCH: ShopTV Christmas
PREMISE: Two hosts (Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day) are aghast by penis shape chocolate made by local candyman (Adam Driver).
This is bringing back bad memories of that Southern talk show host with Cecily and Taran.
JAJ’s patriotic nativity made me laugh.
Adam is great as the awkward chocolatier, and his performance is selling what is a very thin and juvenile premise.
Ego calling and asking if the chocolate vibrates was funny.
I’m not hating this as much as I should. Adam is somehow making this kind of work and is garnering some laughs from his total commitment.
RATING: ** ½
WEEKEND UPDATE WITH COLIN JOST AND MICHAEL CHE – featuring Marcelo Hernandez and Chloe Feinman
Best Jokes: Biden Sentence, Adams Approval Rating, Shohei Ohtani, Derek Chauvin, Nick Cannon, Buffalo Bills
*sigh* After last week, I’m really ready for Jost and Che to leave, and the first few jokes are doing nothing to assuage this feeling.
Oh, enough ‘Colin is a conservative racist’ jokes.
Ok, the Eric Adams fakeout made me laugh.
I really wanted to like Marcelo’s commentary, since he is very charismatic and knows how to work a crowd, but this fell flat with me for the most part and even Marcelo admitted this wasn’t his best material.
Props for a somewhat ballsy Derek Chauvin joke. Actually, this isn’t too bad an Update on the Jost / Che front.
What the hell was Chloe’s commentary? Is Save the Last Dance somehow relevant again? Was there any comedic through line to this? This just seemed like another ego-driven Chloe piece designed to be all about her rater than entertain the audience.
Um, nice to see Julia Stiles, I guess.
RATING: ** ½
SKETCH: Airplane Baby
PREMISE: Mature baby (Adam Driver) weirds out fellow passengers.
A bizarre premise, but this seems weird enough for Driver to make something out of.
As expected, Driver is really committed to this character, and he manages to draw laughs out of some lines that really aren’t that funny.
Sarah Sherman is perfect in her role as Adam’s mother.
Adam’s crying is hilarious.
The parts with Heidi and Kenan as the weirded out passengers are falling flat.
Adam freaking out over Pookie Bear is great.
Overall, I’m really not sure what to make of this sketch at all. Writing-wise, this was bad, but Driver was so into this that he elevated it to decent territory.
RATING: ** ½
COMMERCIAL: ELDER PSA
PREMISE: The elderly warn against doing pranks against them.
SNL is really drawing quite a bit of material from TikTok and similar avenues lately.
Adam is great as the crusty war veteran.
JAJ is also quite funny in his performance.
Punkie makes her only appearance all night in this pretape, which is disappointing considering she’s been having a great season thus far. Even with her airtime reduced, she still made me laugh in her brief segment.
Kenan put no effort into his performance, but him calling his grandson a “little black bastard” was a funny ending.
RATING: ***
EPISODE MVP: Adam Driver obviously stood out tonight as he always. He used his trademark intensity to mine some nice laughs and elevated a lot of the weaker material, which unfortunately made up a good chunk of the show. We did get one classic piece (Beep Beep) and a few other sketches provided some amusement, but this episode overall was a far cry from the classic he hosted in 2020.
Other notable performers who stood out tonight were Chloe Troast, Heidi (who had a much better night than usual), and Andrew Dismukes.
BOTTOM LINE: A disappointing episode, but not terrible either. Just exceedingly average and not really much thought given to most of the writing, instead banking on Driver’s appeal to sell these sketches. Not the worst episode of the season, but maybe the biggest let-down given how good Driver’s previous episodes were.
COLD OPENING: The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
PREMISE: George Santos (Bowen Yang) holds his final press conference,
I’m not liking Sarah Sherman as Wolf Blitzer. It feels very in line with the casting of Kate McKinnon as every male Trump sycophant under the sun, even if Sarah has yet to cross that line into ‘smug and hammy’ that tainted Kate’s performance. This sort of casting just feels very cheap and played out.
MASSIVE applause for Bowen’s George Santos. I’m just as tired as Bowen’s Santos as I am everything else he’s done this season, but he actually had some funny back-and-forth’s with the rest of the cast during the Q&A segment.
The Candle in the Wind parody was absolutely awful. It killed any momentum, not to mention it felt very self-indulgent, which is a feeling many of Bowen’s pieces have been giving off lately. I didn’t laugh at a single line, and it was clear Bowen was doing this more to amuse himself than the audience. Bowen has become such an extremely unlikeable performer for me.
RATING: * ½
MONOLOGUE: Emma Stone Joins the Five-Timers Club
Funny bit with Lorne being revealed as Emma’s husband that she might while working on the show.
This is a wild crowd tonight; the applause for Tina Fey went on forever. She seemed very surprised by the welcome, too.
Tina didn’t really have any funny lines during her part.
Candace Bergen adds some life to this with a few funny lines, such as the one about a peephole in the ladies’ wing of the 5 Timers Club so can Martin Short can watch.
This is dying a pretty fast death. Maybe the 5 Timers Club shtick should be retired; there hasn’t really been a particularly funny introduction sequence since Timberlake’s in 2013.
RATING: **
SKETCH: Question Quest
PREMISE: A game show contestant (Emma Stone) wins the host’s (Michael Longfellow) pet tortoise, much to her confusion.
A lead role for Michael Longfellow? Is the sky falling?
In all seriousness, great to see Michael FINALLY get a real lead role and he did a great job here. He had the same touch Bill Hader had whenever he played a game show host, where there seemed to be something sinister and dastardly lurking beneath the surface.
The premise of Longfellow giving away his pet tortoise to Emma as a game show prize was funny, and this got better as it went along. This was a great use of the weird, off-kilter energy I desperately want to see more of from Longfellow.
Punkie was hilarious in her supporting role as an overly confident but very dumb contestant. Her confusing ‘tortoise’ with ‘tortilla’ was especially amusing.
RATING: ****
MUSIC VIDEO: Fully Naked in New York
PREMISE: New Yorkers find freedom in public nudity.
What a concept.
ANOTHER Bowen musical piece? Not looking forward to this one.
Some nice cinematography to this piece, and the song is a bit catchy, but nothing here is making me laugh except Sarah trying to catch rats.
They’re really getting mileage out of Chloe Troast singing.
RATING: * ½
SKETCH: Tree Lighting Performance
PREMISE: Treece Henderson (Kenan Thompson) and his band (Bowen Yang, Emma Stone) perform at a tree lighting at a hotel.
Oh dear God, is this Kenan as Treece Henderson?
Yep, this is one of those Treece Henderson sketches.
This honestly wasn’t so bad. I got some laughs from a couple of Kenan’s goofy lines, Emma’s lewd trumpet player character, and even Bowen with that raspy voice made me chuckle a few times.
Kenan’s “What are you, a human dumbass?” was hilarious.
As usual with these sketches, they go on too long and throw in one too many jokes that just don’t work. Kenan is forced to ham it up in an effort to keep the energy going and the whole sketch feels sloppy and underwritten as a result.
RATING: **
PLEASE DON’T DESTROY: AI
PREMISE: AI technology recreates missing Emma Stone footage using Punkie Johnson.
This was a great rebound after last week’s very average PDD.
Punkie continues to have a stealthy MVP season. She was hilarious as the AI version of Emma Stone, and her constant horniness towards Martin was great.
This got even funnier with Marcelo as Ben and everyone else acting like Ben speaking Spanish was totally normal.
Priceless delivery of ‘let’s do it’ from Martin, a great capper to this very funny PDD video.
RATING: ****
SKETCH: What’s in the Kiln?
PREMISE: Hosts (Chloe Feinman, Heidi Gardner) and a guest (Emma Stone) discuss pottery.
Some good character work and chemistry between Heidi and Chloe here, but the writing was nothing. I couldn’t find a single comedic moment or hook throughout this entire sketch. It was literally just talking.
I guess the joke was how bad the pottery looked? If so, it didn’t make me laugh.
RATING: *
WEEKEND UPDATE WITH MICHAEL CHE & COLIN JOST
Best Jokes: WNBA
A pretty dreadful Update for Jost and Che. Barely any one of the jokes made me so much as chuckle, and the ones that I forgot about within seconds. It is so beyond time for Jost and Che to hand over the Update desk to fresher hands.
Longfellow’s Old Fashioned Cigarette commentary gave him more much needed airtime tonight. He had several funny lines here and got to showcase his usual brand of dark, patience testing comedy. I especially liked his aside to the camera telling kids ‘cigarettes make you skinny and popular.”
RATING: **
SKETCH: Make Your Own Kind of Music
PREMISE: Mama Cass (Chloe Troast) and her producer (Emma Stone) discuss the potential uses for her hit song “Make Your Own Kind of Music.”
Chloe does a very good impression of Mama Cass, and I’m glad her singing is becoming a weekly occurence.
This sketch was absolutely pointless, despite Emma’s uber-comitted performance. It encapsulated the sort of TikTok-inspired writing that often taints sketches of this nature, and on top of that the central joke (incongrously happy songs soundtracking violent or depressing movie trailers) just wasn’t that funny.
Emma at least totally committed to her character, which was at least somewhat amusing.
RATING: * 1/2
SKETCH: Posters
PREMISE: Posters (Stone, Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day) try to help student (Marcelo Hernandez) with physics.
The return of these? Okay, then.
Marcelo is an overall much better performer, but I kind of missed Pete in these. Pete just does the whole ‘vapid doofus’ routine a bit more convincingly.
The jokes about Mikey’s David Beckham not looking as attractive as he usually does got played out real quick, and is a joke that has been used with Mikey one too many times.
How many times throughout his tenure has Kenan used the word ‘dookie’?
I absolutely hate the voice Emma uses for this character. I get that it’s an accurate take on this type of obnoxious TikTok-based model, but it still grates on me and further hinders any enjoyment I can get out of this sketch.
Yea, this was weak. Once again, nothing here made me laugh and it just became a chore too sit through after awhile.
RATING: *
COMMERCIAL: Diet Coke by Olay
PREMISE: Olay uses a skin care ingredient women have been proven to love.
It feels rare these days for the last sketch of the night to be a pre-tape.
Also when was the last time the host wasn’t in the last sketch?
This was a pretty funny fake ad, particularly the voiceover by JAJ, which had several great lines such as ” ingredients scientifically proven to be…Diet Coke” and “just soda stuff.”
The cultish turn at the end was pretty amusing.
RATING: ***
EPISODE MVP: As good as Emma Stone is, I gotta give it to Michael Longfellow. Dude’s had a rough go at it this season with bland straight man roles and generally literal air time. Tonight, we saw the sinister, edgy side of Longfellow fans have been clamoring for all season, and he delivered in both his spotlight pieces.
BOTTOM LINE: Oof. SNL really whiffed with this one. It’s fitting that PDD and Longfellow had the night’s strongest pieces, since their style goes most directly against the tiresome crowdpleasing antics of the show’s ‘stars.’ We got a self-indulgent Bowen piece, SNL masturbating to itself with another Five Timers’ routine, and an absolute trash heap of an Update (minus Longfellow). Emma Stone’s previous episodes aren’t classics by any means, but you could always count on a couple of very strong, conceptual pieces that added style and variety to the show (Christmas Candle, Wells for Boys, The Actress). Tonight had nothing like that and largely wasted the always game actress in an episode ostensibly celebrating her.
PREMISE: Panda given by the Chinese president (Bowen Yang) steals Joe Biden’s (Mikey Day) thunder at a press conference.
Mikey continues to be a good Biden. I laughed hardest at his calling Jinping “President Roman Numeral Eleven.”
The ‘Q&A’ with the press (Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Michael Longfellow, Andrew Dismukes, Molly Kearney, Marcelo Hernandez, James Austin Johnson) was very funny. I especially liked Ego’s “I have a question…you’re old” and Mikey doing the ‘fake elevator thing’ to escape from Longfellow’s question.
Boy, the crowd is eating up Bowen as the panda. Unfortunately, this is a typical smug Bowen vamp piece that he’s been churning out like clockwork for some time. His puns are atrocious and delivered so coldly. I did not like his part at all.
Woof at that ‘panda express’ line.
RATING: ** ½
MONOLOGUE
I’m still not sure Jason Momoa isn’t an AI creation.
Some pretty fun, amusing lines from Jason, such as his one early on about his mother still recovering from giving birth to him. His enthusiasm was tremendous (much like every other aspect of him) and it’s nice to see a solo monologue from a host who’s truly excited to be there.
RATING: ***
SKETCH: Old-Timey Movie
PREMISE: Various pedestrians (Day, Momoa, Chloe Feinman, Kenan Thompson) ruin footage of L. Frank Baum (Michael Longfellow) with their mugging antics
Not liking Bowen’s performance as the Baum expert at all.
Good to see Michael Longfellow have a prominent part in a sketch.
This was hardly the greatest premise in the world, but it was fun; Jason and Mikey had good chemistry and their various vulgar gestures towards the camera were funny.
Bowen’s passive-aggressive responses to Heidi’s question really grated on me here.
RATING: ***
MUSIC VIDEO: Rome Song
PREMISE: Men (Momoa, Thompson, Day) rap about their obsession with the Roman empire.
Chloe Troast has such a nice singing voice, which we are now seeing for the second week in a row. Also, Punkie, Chloe, and Ego is an interesting trio as the wives.
I didn’t laugh once at this entire music video, aside from maybe Mikey’s “When they took a sh*t, they sat next to each other” line. This premise felt very much like the type of video Pete Davidson would do, and that’s…not a compliment.
The Astrology twist was dumb.
RATING: *
SKETCH: Nightclub Line
PREMISE: Bouncer (Jason Momoa) insults club rejects.
Marcelo looks like Dismukes with hair slicked back like that.
What is Jason’s accent?
I chuckled a few times at this, but overall I wasn’t a fan of the premise and couldn’t understand a good chunk of Jason’s dialogue.
Kenan coming out as the boss, also with a Spanish accent, was not a good way to end this sketch.
Sarah and Michael are not unattractive people.
RATING: * ½
SKETCH: Thanksgiving Week Airport Parade
PREMISE: Hosts (Bowen and Ego) interview stereotypical Thanksgiving travelers at Newark Airport.
*sigh* Bowen again.
A variation on the First Day of Spring fashion show from Ana De Armas.
Once again, I don’t have much to say about this sketch. None of it made me laugh, and having Bowen as one of the leads didn’t help.
RATING: *
PLEASE DON’T DESTROY: Ramen Order
PREMISE: John constantly derails Martin and Ben ordering food by complaining about his breakup.
Ah, PDD, please make me laugh.
The usual funny PDD shorts, although this definitely didn’t live up to their other pieces so far this year. No jokes really stood out, but this still had the same fun, goofy energy I enjoy in all their shorts.
RATING: *** ½
WEEKEND UPDATE WITH COLIN JOST & MICHAEL CHE – with George Santos (Bowen Yang), Draymond Green (Devon Walker), Remember Lizards (James Austin Johnson, Andrew Dismukes)
Best Jokes: Biden / Israel, Rupert Murdoch, Fraud
Some really tired jokes from a really tired duo.
Bowen’s George Santos commentary was exhausting. I could call every beat from a mile away, from his exaggerated cattiness with Colin to the Pitch Perfect reference. Another tired Bowen piece.
Devon’s Draymond Green commentary was pretty funny. No lines really stood out, but his performance was fun and he made me chuckle throughout the piece. Devon is becoming a very consistent, fun and reliable performer who can elevate material that’s not particularly great.
James and Andrew’s Imagine Dragons parody was dead-on and hilarious. They absolutely nailed everything I hate about Imagine Dragons, and their look was priceless, especially Andrew’s wig and his expressions while singing.
RATING: ** ½
SKETCH: Cast Away
PREMISE: Long lost fiance (Momoa) Laird awakens old feelings in Elaine (Chloe Feinman), to the chagrin of husband Dennis (Andrew Dismukes).
A Cast Away parody in 2023? Let’s see where this goes.
The expected hot host / thirst trap sketch. I can’t say I laughed much at this, but Dismukes’ straight man performance was great and his increasingly baffled reactions to Chloe’s obvious longing to be back with Jason amused me.
The push-up contest gave me a good laugh.
Chloe getting tossed around by Jason was a weak ending.
RATING: ** ½
FILMPED PIECE: Battle of the Sexes
PREMISE: Charna Lee Diamond (Sarah Sherman) tries to make strides in women’s tennis.
I’m really loving the look to this piece. The clothes, the hair, and the visual quality are absolutely on point, as are the commentators played by Heidi and Ego.
Even though I more or less guessed where this was going, the initial gag of the ball going through Sarah was absolutely hilarious, as was everyone’s reactions to it.
Now this is getting even better with Sarah getting decapitated by Jason’s next serve.
Overall, a great piece highlighting Sarah’s brand of twisted humor and also featuring excellent performances and cinematography. A really good piece all around.
RATING: ****
SKETCH: Cab Driver
Feels like Kenan has been barely in the show tonight.
This was a pretty funny sketch, mostly thanks to Jason. His dumb questions in response to Ego’s bizarre medical discoveries about him made me laugh, especially asking if ‘per night’ was a holiday for cats.
Lame ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ ending.
RATING: ***
EPISODE MVP: Honestly, no one stood out tonight. It was such an average episode that no one was able to run away with a particular sketch or moment that really made me laugh out loud. I guess I should give it to Momoa, who had great enthusiasm and was very committed to his performances.
BOTTOM LINE: As average an SNL as they come. Only one piece rose to the level of great, and everything else ranged from average to entirely forgettable.
Nasti Thoughts 