Simu Liu/Saweetie November 20, 2021

On the last episode of SNL, Jonathan Majors made his hosting debut with returning musical guest Taylor Swift. This episode didn’t have many memorable sketches but Taylor performed the ten minute version of her song All Too Well.

This episode was the Thanksgiving episode with host Simu Liu and musical guest Saweetie. I was a little familiar with Simu Liu only because of the recent movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings but I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to hosting SNL. I also wasn’t too familiar with Saweetie other than one of her songs and her collaboration meal with McDonald’s, which I did try (it was good but I’m just not much of a Big Mac person).

Here is my review of the SNL Thanksgiving episode hosted by Simu Liu with musical guest Saweetie.

Sketch Rundown:

Jeanine Pirro Cold Open:

I absolutely loved this cold open and I love Cecily’s impression. I also thought that Mikey was great as the judge from the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. I also loved Chloe and Chris’s characters and the banter between them. I thought the liberal tears mug was a funny prop. I also thought Alex was great in this and it was especially funny that he was failing at the water bottle flip. I was also glad to see James bring back his Trump impression which is still scary good. I also found it fitting that this impression would take a dig at the all female Ghostbusters reboot (which, if you know me, is one of my favorite movies of all time). I also loved the word search rundown.

Simu Liu Monologue:

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t know what to expect since I wasn’t that familiar with Simu Liu. However, I thought this was a very funny monologue. I loved his Thanksgiving jokes and the jokes about how he got the role of Shang-Chi. I also loved his story about how he used to dress as Spiderman for kids birthday parties. I also thought it was funny how he ended his monologue by saying “I’m Shang-Chi bitch!”.

Karaoke All-Stars:

I really liked this sketch and thought it was very funny. I loved Kenan and Chloe in this sketch. I loved the singing and the jokes about Radio Shack. I thought it was hilarious when James and Melissa sang as Homer and Marge Simpson. If I’m being honest, I would totally watch a sketch of all the karaoke performances. I thought this was a great sketch to start the show.

Target Thanksgiving Ad:

I loved this sketch and found it so relatable. Honestly, I could have used those AirPods with the Thanksgiving I had this year. I also loved the dog digging through the trash. I also loved the line at the end “Target: Let’s Do It All Again At Christmas”. 

New Military Weapon:

I absolutely loved this sketch! I thought the dog was so cute and how it was called Dog Head Man and that it was “a female dog’s head on a human man’s body”. I also thought it was hilarious when it was putting the gun together and when the dog was eating the sandwich. It was also hilarious when it was trying to diffuse the bomb. This sketch reminded me of a past sketch from a few seasons ago but I can’t remember who was the host. This sketch had to be not only my favorite sketch but also the best sketch of the night.

Republican or Not:

When I first saw the title of this sketch, I thought that I would be good at a game like this since I’m from Missouri. I did love the concept of the sketch. I also loved it when Kenan had the bucket of popcorn and that the sponsor of this game was the city of Orlando. I also thought it was great when Cecily did an impression of Liz Cheney.

Walking in Staten:

I thought this was a funny sketch and a great parody. I was also surprised to see that Big Wet came back after appearing in the Squid Game sketch back in the Rami Malek episode. I thought it was funny that Marc Cohn made an appearance in a parody of his song. I also thought it was cool that Method Man made an appearance. There was also an appearance from YouTuber Chris the Hobby Guy. I thought this was a great sketch and a great musical parody.

Saweetie “Tap In/Best Friend” Performance:

Like I mentioned, I’m not that familiar with Saweetie’s music. That being said, the only song of hers I know was “Best Friend”, the second song of this medley. I did think this was a great performance.

Weekend Update:

I thought this was a solid Update. I loved the character appearances this time. I know a lot of people don’t like Kyle’s Baby Yoda but I think it’s so cute but also so creepy at the same time. I thought it was funny that Baby Yoda was coming out with an album and was dating Mama Bear from The Berenstain Bears. I also loved that he brought back his feud with Baby Groot. I loved getting to see Aidy as Mother Earth. I loved her line “I’m gonna miss humans after you burn”. I really liked this character and I hope we get to see this character again.

Thanksgiving Baking Championship:

I absolutely love these types of sketches. I thought it was funny that throughout the entire sketch Pete was just continuously eating cake. I thought Simu’s character’s cakes were hilarious and thought it was funny how the cakes would scream and the one vomited all over Heidi’s character. I also loved the line “I think my cake is so bad I opened a portal to Hell”.

Simu and Bowen:

I thought this was a funny pre taped sketch. I thought it was great to see Simu and Bowen play off each other. I also thought it was funny when it was mentioned “It’s like we’re the Spiderman meme”. I also thought all of the different awards were funny as well as the different acceptance speeches that were given. 

Saweetie “Icy Chain” Performance:

I thought this was another great performance. Even though I said I’m not super familiar with Saweetie, I thought she put on two great performances.

911 Call:

I thought this sketch was kind of funny but also typical for the last sketch of the night. I thought it was funny when Kenan’s character was hiding under the table. I also loved the lines “Old people gotta stop smoking weed” and “I put a book in the oven instead of a turkey and now my kitchen’s on fire. Classic stoner move”.

Overall, I thought this was a solid episode with some very memorable sketches. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked this episode. I really hope that Simu gets to host again.

Some SNL news that broke right before the goodnights was the death of SNL cast member and writer Peter Aykroyd, the brother of original cast member Dan Aykroyd. Peter Aykroyd was 65 and died two weeks before his 66th birthday. His cause of death was listed as “septicemia from an internal infection precipitated by an untreated abdominal hernia”. This was confirmed by Dan Aykroyd through his publicist. My deepest condolences go out to the Aykroyd family and friends of Peter Aykroyd.

This has been my take on the SNL Thanksgiving episode hosted by Simu Liu with musical guest Saweetie. I’ll be back with a new post with host and musical guest Billie Eilish. Be sure to connect with me and follow me on Twitter at @SNLBlogger for up to date SNL news and live tweeting every new episode. See you during the next episode!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Jonathan Majors/Taylor Swift November 13, 2021

On the last episode, Kieran Culkin hosted with musical guest Ed Sheeran. This was a great episode with great sketches, great writing, great musical performances, and some memorable cameos.

This week, Jonathan Majors made his SNL debut and Taylor Swift made her fifth appearance as musical guest, her sixth appearance overall. Taylor’s most recent appearance as musical guest was season 45 with host Phoebe Waller-Bridge. I didn’t know what to expect from Jonathan Majors since I had never really heard of him before. I was interested to see how he would do as a host.

Here is my review of the episode hosted by Jonathan Majors with musical guest Taylor Swift.

Sketch Rundown:

Ted Cruz Sesame Street Cold Open:

I absolutely loved this cold open. I loved Bowen, Andrew, and Melissa as the kids as well as Aidy as Ted Cruz and Cecily as Marjorie Taylor Greene. I also loved when they got to the sponsor, “Today’s episode is brought to you by the letter ‘Q’. Not the letter, the man. He will tell us when JFK, Jr., who is alive, will reveal himself and help President Trump reclaim his rightful throne”. I also loved Kyle as Big Bird, Pete as Joe Rogan, all the different letters, Alex and Mikey as Bert and Ernie, and Chris as Oscar. I also loved Aristotle as the “Recount Count” and that he was moving to Arizona. I also loved when they said the word of the day was freedom and Chloe came out as Britney Spears. Britney’s finally free!!!! I thought this was a great and very topical cold open.

Jonathan Majors Monologue:

As I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t very familiar with Jonathan Majors so I didn’t know what to expect with his monologue. I really enjoyed the Idris Elba jokes as well as the jokes of celebrities that have worked at Red Lobster have done very well for themselves. I also thought it was funny when he joked that you could work at both Red Lobster and Olive Garden because they have the same parent company. Other than that, I thought it was a pretty decent monologue.

March of the Suitors:

This was kind of a weird sketch to start off the show. I thought Kenan and Jonathan were great in this sketch. I also loved Ego and Punkie in this sketch. I also thought Chloe was absolutely great in this sketch. I feel like there aren’t a lot of sketches, especially this season, where she is one of the main people in the sketch and not a background character. Although I thought this was a weird sketch for the start of the show, I did think it was a decent sketch.

Please Don’t Destroy-Three Sad Virgins:

I was honestly surprised to see this at the beginning of the show. I did love the twist when the video turned out to be Pete roasting Martin, John, and Ben. I loved the lines “That was my real doctor” and “Ben, why are you dressed as Wendy from Wendy’s?”. I also loved that Taylor got to appear in a sketch (she needs to host again, in my opinion). I thought this was a funny sketch.

Audacity in Advertising Awards:

I thought this sketch was just okay but it did have some funny moments. I did like the concept of an award show for commercials. I also liked the line “you’re using what to sell what?”. I also thought it was funny that the newest intern was accepting an award on behalf of the winning company. I also loved the Company In Memoriam. I also loved when they introduced “Limu Emu and his human friend” and when Limu Emu said Aflac. I also thought it was funny when one of the categories was “Most Egregious Ad of the Year”. I also thought the ending of the sketch was funny when they promoted an upcoming performance of the jingle for 1-877-Kars-4-Kids.

Strange Kids Tales:

I thought this was another funny sketch. I thought Kenan and Jonathan had great chemistry in this sketch. I also thought the kids were great, especially the girl at the end who they called “Coraline”. I also loved the line when this girl came on “What’s going on with this little Wednesday Addams?”. I also loved the line “imaginary friends are ghosts”. I also loved Pete appearing as the man in the red jacket that some of the kids had referenced.

Man Park:

I absolutely loved this sketch. I loved how they described it as “it’s like a dog park but for guys in relationships so they can make friends and have an outlet besides their girlfriends and wives”. I also thought the IPA fountain was funny. I also thought that Heidi’s character at the end of the sketch was funny. This, hands down, had to be the best sketch of the night.

Taylor Swift “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” Performance:

I had been anticipating that Taylor would perform this song since she teased on one of her recent talk show appearances. I loved the entire performance. I loved that they played the accompanying short film behind her as she performed. I also loved how the performance started off with falling leaves and then it changed to falling snow. I also figured that she would only perform this song since it’s a little over ten minutes long. I thought this performance was absolutely epic. Now if Taylor could just get that scarf back.

Weekend Update:

I thought it was a clever and brilliant idea to start off with the Taylor joke at the beginning of Update. I also loved the joke about the “Q Anon Shaman” and the math equation explaining the sentencing request. I also loved the joke about Josh Hawley. I thought Sarah was absolutely incredible. I loved all of her jokes and the roasts of Colin. I also loved Aristotle as Laughintosh 3000. I thought he had the robot mannerisms down as well as the robot voice. I also thought the jokes about Staten Island and the impressions of different apps were so funny. I thought this was a great Weekend Update and great appearances from some of the newer cast members.

Broadway Benefit:

I thought this was another funny sketch. I love any time I get to see Bowen and Cecily together as a musical duo. I loved the performance and I thought it was funny when Jonathan’s character climbed through the window.

Pet Store:

I thought this was a funny sketch. I loved the puppies throughout the sketch. I loved the different bones that were shown. I also thought the song was funny and how each customer got a personalized song after their purchase. I also loved the accountant character.

Pastor Announcement:

I thought this sketch was a little weird but also typical for the last sketch of the night. I thought Kenan was great in this sketch, with a funny line “friend zoned by my pastor”. I also thought it was funny that the church was called “First Damn Baptist Church”. There were some funny moments but again I felt this sketch was a little weird.

Overall, I thought this episode was just okay. It wasn’t my favorite episode but it wasn’t the worst episode I’ve ever seen. In my opinion, I think it’s okay that this episode didn’t completely blow my mind because it wouldn’t make for a realistic season. That being said, there were some funny sketches and other great moments from this episode, including one of my favorite musical performances ever.

This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Jonathan Majors with musical guest Taylor Swift. I’ll be back with a new post about the upcoming episode with host Simu Liu and musical guest Saweetie. Be sure to connect with me and follow me on Twitter at @SNLBlogger for up to date SNL news and live tweeting every new episode. See you during the next episode!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Kieran Culkin/Ed Sheeran November 6, 2021

On the last episode, a member of the SNL family came home to host for the very first time. Jason Sudeikis hosted what has to be one of the best episodes of the season so far. There was brilliant writing, great sketches, and some familiar favorites like What’s Up with That and The Devil on Weekend Update. Brandi Carlile was the musical guest and delivered two incredible performances.

This week, Kieran Culkin came to host for the first time along with returning musical guest Ed Sheeran. Although this was Kieran’s first time hosting, this wasn’t his first appearance on the show. He appeared in three sketches when his brother, Macaulay Culkin, hosted in 1991 back in season 17. Ed Sheeran has appeared on the show before with his last appearance being in season 42 with host Alec Baldwin.

Here is my review of the episode hosted by Kieran Culkin with musical guest Ed Sheeran

Sketch Rundown:

Aaron Rodgers Trump Cold Open:

I absolutely loved this cold open. I loved seeing Cecily’s Jeanine Pirro again, especially after last season’s memorable Weekend Update appearance of this impression in the season finale. I loved how she was messing up the title of her show. I also loved Pete as Aaron Rodgers. I loved a lot of his lines, especially “It’s my body and my COVID”. I also loved Heidi as a “concerned parent” and Alex as Glenn Youngkin. I also loved the explanations as to why certain books should be banned from schools. Another memorable moment from this cold open was the debut of James Austin Johnson as Trump, taking over from previous impersonator Alec Baldwin. This impression was so spot-on it was scary. You could close your eyes and it sounded like the real Trump. I loved how he kept calling Jeanine Pirro “Judge Judy” as well as the rundowns. This cold open was so great and also super topical.

Kieran Culkin Monologue:

I honestly did not know what to expect from Kieran Culkin with the monologue. I found the monologue to be very funny and I loved the references to when he appeared in the episode where his brother, Macaulay Culkin, hosted back in season 17. I also loved the different clips they showed from that episode.

Cancelling Cable:

I thought this sketch was very funny and also relatable. I mean, I’ve never had to cancel my cable but I’ve definitely been on phone calls like that for things like trying to negotiate a medical bill. I loved all of the different representatives as well as the security questions. I also loved Kenan as the landline installer. I thought it was also funny that Kieran’s character was transferred to a Domino’s as well as Sarah and Melissa’s characters showing up at the same time. I also loved Bowen’s character as well as all of the different representatives asking if Kieran’s character wanted to add a landline. I thought this sketch was funny and a great way to open the show.

Car Heist:

At first I didn’t know what to think of this sketch. I loved the turn the sketch took when it was revealed that Chris’s character couldn’t drive a stick shift. I loved Kenan’s character and how he was laughing at Chris’s character. I also thought it was funny that Chris’s character said he wasn’t “Fred Flinstein”. I thought this sketch was hilarious.

Dionne Warwick Talk Show:

I absolutely love this sketch and I’m so happy they brought it back. I loved Chloe’s impression of Miley Cyrus as well as Andrew’s character trying to give a booster shot to Ego’s Dionne Warwick. I also thought Kieran was great as Jason Mraz and how she called him “Mr. Az”. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Ed Sheeran in this sketch or any sketch really. I thought he was great in his brief cameo. I also loved how Ego’s Dionne Warwick said that Machine Gun Kelly was too scary for her and then brings out Pete as Post Malone, which she thought was even scarier. I was also surprised to see the actual Dionne Warwick come out after that. I loved how the two of them sang together and hugged as the sketch ended. I loved this sketch and thought it was funny.

Men’s Room:

I thought this sketch was kind of funny but also a little weird. I did think the breakaways with the different character’s, especially with Alex’s character basically confessing to murder. I also was not expecting to see Tracy Morgan in this sketch, or in any sketch for this episode. Nevertheless, it was a fun surprise for this sketch.

The Jockey:

I thought this was a funny sketch, especially since I do watch some horse racing. I thought it was funny that Kieran’s character was riding the horse like a skateboard. I also liked how it was done kind of in a music video style with the backing band dressed as jockeys. I also thought Kieran’s character getting thrown off the horse and then trampled by the other horses was funny as well as the video game title “Toby Bird’s Pro Jockey”.

Ed Sheeran “Shivers” Performance:

The day after it was announced that Ed Sheeran would be the musical guest, he announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19. There was a lot of concern that SNL would have to find another musical guest (or even possibly do a live virtual performance) but Ed was still able to perform in the studio. I love this song and I thought it was a great performance.

Weekend Update:

I thought this was another good Weekend Update. I expected there to be a lot of jokes referencing the Virginia Governor’s election. I specifically loved the joke about how the Parents Bill of Rights was just a sign you could find at Home Goods. I loved Kenan’s impression of Ice Cube. I loved how he said he was “going through a gangster lumberjack phase”. I also loved Cecily as Goober the Clown. I don’t know about anyone else but her costume gave me major “Big Comfy Couch” vibes (this is for my fellow nineties kids). I also thought it was funny how the water squirted at Colin messed up his microphone. I also loved how the horn wasn’t working as well as her talking after breathing in helium. I absolutely loved this bit from Cecily. It was a funny way to talk about something very serious and also very personal (also, go read Cecily’s book if you haven’t already).

Weatherman:

I thought this was a funny sketch and kind of the typical sketch we would see after Weekend Update. I loved the Fall Rap and the graphics of the dancing leaves and the turkeys on the radar. I also loved the weather alert interrupting the rap as well as Bowen’s voice over. I also loved when Kenan and Cecily’s characters cut to Punkie’s character with the interaction “Where are the Boy Scouts? The sea”. Again, I thought this was a funny sketch.

Ed Sheeran “Overpass Graffiti” Performance:

I thought this was another great performance from Ed Sheeran. I’m not going to lie, I thought he would’ve played his song “Bad Habits” but I ended up really liking this song. I’m glad he was able to perform on the show and I hope we see him again.

Please Don’t Destroy-Calling Angie:

I thought this sketch was okay. I did love the heartfelt moments that led into funnier moments, especially during the phone call. I also thought Sarah coming in as Angie was hilarious.

Overall, I thought this was a great episode. I loved how during the goodnights that Chris and Kenan lifted up Kieran how he and Macaulay were lifted up when the latter hosted SNL back in season 17. I hope Kieran comes back to host and I still can’t believe this was his first time hosting.

This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Kieran Culkin with musical guest Ed Sheeran. I’ll be back next week with another post about the upcoming episode hosted by Jonathan Majors with musical guest Taylor Swift. Be sure to connect with me and follow me on Twitter at @SNLBlogger for up to date SNL news and live tweeting every new episode. See you during the next episode!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Jason Sudeikis/Brandi Carlile October 23, 2021

On the last episode, Rami Malek hosted for the first time and Young Thug was the musical guest. It was a great show with great writing and some very memorable sketches. Young Thug also provided some good musical performances along with some guest performers. For the Halloween episode, former writer and cast member Jason Sudeikis hosts for the first time after appearing in several cameos over the years since he departed the show in 2013 at the end of season 38. Brandi Carlile served as the musical guest with some great performances. I was so excited to see the lineup for this episode and I had very high hopes that this would be a good episode.

Here is my review of the episode hosted by Jason Sudeikis with musical guest Brandi Carlile.

Sketch Rundown:

Ghost of Biden Past Cold Open:

I had a feeling that there would be some kind of political cold open. I thought Chloe was great as Jen Psaki. I also loved that Jason got to do his Joe Biden impression again. It was cool seeing James and Jason getting to do the same impression alongside each other along with a brief appearance by Alex’s Biden impression. It also would’ve been cool to see Jim Carrey pop in for a brief cameo. I also loved the lines “Hillary got awesome” and “Senator Sinema? That sounds like a Star Wars character”. I thought this was a great cold open.

Jason Sudeikis Monologue:

I loved this monologue so much. I loved how it was funny but also sentimental. I thought it was also funny when Jason said that ten years was an actor’s dozen. I also loved when Jason said that his show Ted Lasso was “built on two things Americans hate: soccer and kindness”. I thought this was a great monologue.

Science Room:

I thought it was cool that they brought this sketch back. I loved that Jason’s character introduced himself as Mr. Teacher. I thought Cecily and Mikey were great in this sketch, as always. I also loved when trying to name the planets the names that came up were Planet Hollywood and Phoenix. I also loved the line “What is matter? Um, nothing, I’m good”. I also loved when the parents were brought out and the name of Cecily’s character was said wrong. Overall, I thought this was a very funny sketch and a great way to start the show.

Mellen:

I thought this sketch was really funny. I loved the awkward male dancing and the sneak up surprises. I also loved when they said Ellen’s lawyers called the show a cease and desist. I thought it was weird to see Gritty in a sketch and I would honestly have the same reaction as Chloe’s character. I also love how the tagline was “Mellen: He’s the male Ellen. And that’s as far as we thought it through”.

Annie:

I thought this sketch was cute and funny but also got a little dark. I loved when Miss May wondered what Ricky’s job was and when Ricky called Annie the wrong name. I also loved the lines “And we don’t know what Ricky does” and “Don’t look in the freezer”.

Parent-Teacher Conference:

I thought this was a funny sketch but it was a little weird at times. I thought Jason and Ego had great chemistry and Kyle’s character was also funny. I loved the lines “Are you available? In what sense?” and “one, two, two and a half, two and five-sevenths. Oh, I’m so bad at fractions”.

Men’s Underwear Commercial:

This was kind of a weird sketch but it was also pretty funny. I loved Chris and Ego in this sketch as well as the disposal of the underwear in multiple plastic bags.

Brandi Carlile “Broken Horses” Performance:

I was familiar with Brandi Carlile a little bit mostly because I’m a fan of Country music. I was blown away with her performance of “Broken Horses”. It was full of elements of Rock blended with Country and the harmonies were incredible. I thought this was an amazing performance.

Weekend Update:

I thought this was another solid Weekend Update. I did wish that there were more characters but it’s possible they were running long. I thought the jokes from Colin and Michael were solid but nothing really stood out to me. I loved that Jason came on as The Devil, especially since it’s my favorite Update character of his. I thought it was funny how The Devil claimed responsibility for things like Instagram for Kids and Bitcoin, as well as Tom Brady and keeps his soul in a Tom Brady portrait. I also thought it was funny how he said Florida was not that different from Hell. I also thought it was funny how he said he was not responsible for things like QAnon. I also thought it was hilarious that he mentioned a deal with Colin to marry Scarlett Johansson. I loved the line “I don’t know who screws her more, you or Disney”. Overall, I thought this was a great Weekend Update.

What Up With That:

I was so happy to see they brought this sketch back! I loved that Fred came back but Bill was definitely missed. However, I thought it was hilarious that Nicholas Braun was mistaken for Lindsey Buckingham. I also loved getting to see Melissa and Punkie as the backup singers. I also thought Chris was funny as well as Ego, Bowen, and Cecily as the HeeBee BeeGees. Kyle’s character was also funny and I loved the other celebrity cameos of Oscar Isaac and Emily Ratajkowski. I also loved the line about getting Linus out of the pumpkin patch because he missed Halloween again. This had to be my favorite sketch of the night.

Declaration Pitch:

I thought this was kind of a weird sketch to have in the show. I loved Andrew’s character and how he wanted a “sick ass treasure map” on the back of the Declaration of Independence. I also loved Kyle’s character as well as Aidy and Aristotle as people from the future.

Brandi Carlile “Right on Time” Performance:

This was another amazing performance from Brandi Carlile. I loved how she started on piano and then moved so seamlessly to guitar. Her voice is so incredible in this song. I love how she can go from singing a power song like “Broken Horses” to a ballad with “Right on Time”. I hope Brandi Carlile comes back as the musical guest and I definitely want to check out more of her music. 

Casino Proposal:

This sketch was, in my opinion, pretty weird but kind of typical for an end of the night sketch. I loved getting to see Jason and Heidi in a sketch together (the two Kansas City natives). I thought Kenan’s character was funny and I loved the negotiations between his character and Jason and Heidi’s characters. I also loved the “three million doll hairs”, the invisible briefcase, and the “one zillion dollars”.

Overall, I thought this was an incredible episode. In all honesty, I think this is the best episode of the season so far. It was the perfect blend of a great host choice, great writing, and also a great musical guest. Also with this episode, Colin Jost passes Seth Meyers as the longest running Weekend Update anchor.

This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Jason Sudeikis with musical guest Brandi Carlile. I’ll be back next week with another post about the upcoming episode with host Kieran Culkin and musical guest Ed Sheeran. Be sure to connect with me and follow me on Twitter at @SNLBlogger for up to date SNL news and live tweeting every new episode. See you during the next episode!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Rami Malek/Young Thug October 16, 2021

The SNL season continues to get underway. Last week, first time host Kim Kardashian West and returning musical guest Halsey appeared on the show. As mentioned in my previous post, the episode wasn’t great but it also wasn’t terrible, which surprised me. There were some good sketches along with great musical performances from Halsey.

This week, Rami Malek came to Studio 8H to host for the first time along with musical guest Young Thug. I didn’t really know much about Rami other than he was in the TV show Mr. Robot and the movie Bohemian Rhapsody. I also didn’t really know much about Young Thug. This meant that I didn’t have a lot of expectations for this episode, other than I hoped that it was better than last week’s episode.

Here is my review of the episode hosted by Rami Malek with musical guest Young Thug.

Sketch Rundown:

Football Press Conference Cold Open:

With everything in the news about the NFL and the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders resigning, I knew there would be some kind of sketch about the NFL. I loved Cecily’s character “Prefers to Remain Anonymous” and how she does PR for the NFL. I also loved when she said “if anyone wants to switch jobs, let me know”. I also loved how she introduced Roger Goodell by saying that it wasn’t the NFL Draft but it was still okay to boo him. I was also surprised to see Colin Jost in a sketch. I also loved the constant resignations and new coaches. I also loved how the Chairman of Women’s Relations for the NFL was a cheerleader for the Washington Football Team. I loved how Heidi introduced the character by saying “I, just like my team, don’t have a name”. The new mascot was a little weird but kind of funny. I also loved Chris as Colin Kaepernick and Kenan as the new coach LeVar Burton. I also loved the NFL “Reading Rainbow” song. I thought this was a very funny and topical cold open.

Rami Malek Monologue:

Like I mentioned before, I really only knew Rami from some of his more dramatic roles. I also had no idea what to expect from the monologue. I will say I was pleasantly surprised with this monologue and it was funnier than I thought it would be. I loved how he said “I’ve always been more drawn to villains”. I also loved the joke about how his twin brother was going to swap places with him in a sketch.

Bug Assembly:

I loved how this sketch started off as being described as “Burning Man for the weird kids”. Bowen as a Daddy Long Legs was incredible. I loved his lines of “Call me Daddy” and “I’m a father and my legs go on for weeks”. I also loved how Bowen’s character’s parents were described as “his dad’s an exec for Bravo and his other dad’s a Republican”. One of the legs on Bowen’s costume falling off during one of the dances was also funny. I thought this sketch was funny and a great way to start off the show. 

Squid Game:

I was surprised with the turn that this sketch took when it went from a country song to “Squid Game”. I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t know much about “Squid Game” but I thought this sketch was funny. This sketch also featured a cameo by Country singer Big Wet and it turns out that this sketch is a parody of his song “Turn Up on the Weekend” with Branchez. I thought there were so many great lines like “they got symbols on their faces like the ones on PlayStations,” “piggy bank in the sky,” “I’m confused by the currency,” “and you go bye bye now,” “I took all my money and I bet it on the Jets,” and “I’m terrible with money”. I also loved the Red Light, Green Light scene. I thought this was a great sketch and I still have the song stuck in my head.

Prince Auditions:

I thought this was another very funny sketch. I also loved Chris as Jordan Peele. Rami and Kenan were also great in this sketch. I thought the “Prince off” was hilarious. I loved the twist that “it starts off as a Prince biopic but then it turns into being a horror movie about racism”. The Daniel Craig cameo was a surprise but also a little expected. I also loved Kenan’s line “Get off me Double O Ugly”. 

Celeb School Game Show:

This sketch easily had to be one of my favorite sketches of the night. I loved that Kenan’s character was named “Burt Simpson” and emphasized the “Burt”. The impressions were incredible and I thought it was funny how Rami and Pete played each other. I loved Mikey as John Oliver doing a rant about Ikea as well as the “over the shoulder graphics”. I also loved Melissa’s Kristen Wiig throwing a paper airplane at Kenan’s character. I also loved that Chris’s Lil Wayne was confusing this game show for all of the other game shows. I also loved Bowen’s George Takei, especially when asking why William Shatner went to space instead of him. I absolutely loved this sketch and it utilized a lot of the cast members known for doing great impressions.

Young Thug “Tick Tock” Performance:

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t know much about Young Thug and I don’t know his music very well. I thought this was an okay performance but for some reason it also felt like a shorter performance. I don’t know if that was planned or if that’s how long the song is.

Weekend Update:

I thought this was a solid Weekend Update. I thought Bowen was awesome as a Proud Gay Oompa Loompa. I thought this was such an awesome character. Chris was also great at reporting the “very important unimportant news”. I also loved how they showed a clip from his last appearance and then said “I’m not a scientist. I went to Community College”. I also liked Linus Minus and Roy but the Zendaya jokes were a little cringey. Again, I thought it was a solid Weekend Update.

Mattress Store:

This was a pretty weird but also funny sketch. I thought Bowen, Aidy, and Rami were great in this sketch. I thought the overexaggerated scenarios, or plays as they would call them, were so outrageous but also very funny. I thought it was funny that there were fake guns already under the pillows with Aidy’s character saying to “get the killing gun”. I also loved the closing tagline “a bed for wife, a bed for life”.

Young Thug “Love You More” Performance:

This was another okay performance. I was surprised to see all of the guest performers. These included Nate Reuss, Gunna, and Jeff Bhasker. It is also worth mentioning that Travis Barker played the drums on both songs.

Angelo:

This was another weird but also funny sketch. I thought Aristotle was great in this sketch and this has the possibility of becoming a recurring sketch. I was also surprised to see Daniel Craig in another sketch. I loved how Aristotle’s character Angelo, and later Rami’s character Todd, would always say, “Say for me?”. I also loved how at the end of the sketch Aristotle and Rami started singing “I Wanna Know What Love Is” at the end of the sketch. I thought it was a funny way to end the show.

Overall, I thought this was a great episode. In my opinion, I thought this was so much better than last week. There was a lot of great writing and sketches and it looked like Rami and the cast got along really well. It still baffles me that this was only Rami’s first time hosting. I definitely think that he should host again.

This has been my take on the SNL episode hosted by Rami Malek with musical guest Young Thug. I’ll be back next week with another post about the upcoming episode hosted by Jason Sudeikis with musical guest Brandi Carlile. Be sure to connect with me and follow me on Twitter at @SNLBlogger for up to date SNL news and live tweeting every new episode. See you soon during the next episode!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Kim Kardashian West/Halsey October 9, 2021

Season 47 is getting underway! Last week, the season kicked off with Owen Wilson hosting and  Kacey Musgraves as the musical guest. It was a solid first episode with plenty of great sketches and great musical performances. This week, reality TV star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian West was tapped to host with returning musical guest  Halsey. When I saw that Kim was picked to host, I was honestly not too thrilled. I thought maybe she was hosting to promote the upcoming Kardashian show coming to Hulu or her business but I’m honestly still clueless.

Here is my review of the episode hosted by Kim Kardashian West with musical guest Halsey.

Sketch Rundown:

Facebook Hearings Cold Open:

I wasn’t surprised that the cold open was going to be about these hearings. I thought the sketch was very funny with great impressions. I thought it was cool seeing James Austin Johnson play Lindsey Graham while Kate is still filming one of her multiple upcoming projects. I loved the different names for the Facebook pages about Aidy’s Ted Cruz impression, such as “Ted Cruz Sucks” and “Ted Cruz is the Real Zodiac Killer”. I especially loved Chris’ impression of Cory Booker and when referencing the real Cory Booker’s romance with actress Rosario Dawson as “Does that make sense?”. Another favorite line of mine from this was “When you open an Incognito window on Google, does that prevent God from seeing what you’re googling?”. I also thought the memes were funny as well as Aidy’s Cruz’ pronunciation of the word meme. I also loved that they included references to Squid Game as well as the impressions of Mark Zuckerberg and Tom from MySpace. I thought it was a great and very topical cold open.

Kim Kardashian West Monologue:

I was quite surprised with the monologue. I appreciate that the writers wrote some really savage jokes, especially the ones about Kanye. However, I did find the jokes about O.J. Simpson to be very cringey and I’m surprised but also not really surprised that there was an O.J. joke. Even though I was surprised with the monologue, I did think it was just okay.

Jasmine and Aladdin:

If I’m being honest, I thought this was a weird sketch to start the show with. My favorite part would have to be Bowen as The Genie but Kenan and Cecily were also funny. I loved the line that Jasmine and her sisters all have “J” names.

Ladies Night Song:

Strangely enough, even though I’m twenty-six, I found this sketch somewhat relatable. The parts about wearing heels felt very relatable because they hurt so bad. I also loved the part about checking traffic. At the end when they were leaving the club at 9:01 PM, I felt that because I’ve gotten to the point where there are some parties and events that I want to leave early because I’m so tired.

The Dream Guy:

I honestly was surprised that there would be a “Bachelor” type sketch. I was also surprised with the amount of cameos in the sketch. The one I was particularly shocked to see was Tyler Cameron who has actually been on “The Bachelorette”. Other cameos included Chace Crawford, Jesse Williams, Chris Rock, John Cena, Blake Griffin, and Amy Schumer. Kyle’s character was also funny. I also thought it was funny that Alex was playing a host similar to Chris Harrison. I also thought it was funny they gave out tokens instead of roses. I loved one of the last lines “say your goodbyes and walk into the pit”. I’m honestly even surprised that I even liked this sketch.

The Switch:

I loved seeing another Aidy based sketch. I definitely got some “Freaky Friday” vibes from this sketch. I also wasn’t surprised to see cameos from Kris Jenner and Khloé Kardashian. I also liked how Streeter Seidell (a writer on the show) played Aidy’s husband, although I thought they would have had her real-life husband Conner O’Malley in the sketch. I also thought the joke about the milkshakes was funny. I also thought the ending of the sketch was pretty funny. This was probably one of the sketches I liked the most.

Lotto Drawing:

I thought this sketch started off funny but then just became redundant. I did love Kenan, Aidy, Chris, and Cecily in this sketch. I also loved Chris’ line as the sports anchor “They won’t tell me the scores!”. I did think it was strange that Kim and Cecily’s characters were in front of the other’s lottery set. For example, Kim’s character was in front of the double play when she was supposed to be in front of the powerplay and Cecily’s character was in front of the powerplay when she was supposed to be in front of the doubleplay. I don’t know if anyone else noticed that. I didn’t until I watched the sketch back to write my review. I also loved Ego’s Diana Ross impression and that she had a winning ticket.

Halsey “I Am Not a Woman, I’m a God” Performance:

I thought this was a great performance by Halsey and also a great song. I also wish that Halsey could’ve hosted along with being the musical guest but they did just have a baby and may not have felt up to hosting in addition to being the musical guest, which is completely understandable. All in all, it was great to see Halsey again.

Weekend Update:

I think this was another solid Weekend Update. I loved Colin’s jokes about Facebook and that he mentioned that he attended Harvard with Mark Zuckerberg. I also loved Michael Che’s joke about the Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp outages, leaving those to only go on Twitter, TikTok, and host the show, in reference to the night’s host. I loved Alex’s character of Terry Fink, which seems to be a new character for him. I thought his reviews were funny as well as the ratings he gave the different movies as well as the off the walls review of the new Venom movie. I also loved Heidi’s new character, Kelly Party. I thought this character was so funny and how they just kept playing Icona Pop’s “I Love It”. I also love how she was like “Lorne, play my song”. I hope to see both of these characters again in the future.

The People’s Kourt:

I wasn’t surprised they would do a spoof of a possible new Kardashian show but I was surprised that Kim did an impression of her sister Kourtney (it does make sense for the title of the sketch). I also wasn’t surprised that Kris and Khloé appeared in a sketch in addition to “The Switch”. I also loved seeing Halsey appear in a sketch as Kendall Jenner alongside Melissa as Kylie Jenner. I also loved the joke that Kendall has no drama (I mean, clearly a joke). I also loved the line “I’m a Jenner, not a Kardashian”. I also loved the impressions of Mikey as Travis Barker, Pete as Machine Gun Kelly, and Chloe as Megan Fox. I also loved Heidi doing an impression of Kim while wearing a replica of Kim’s outfit from the Met Gala. Kenan’s impression of O.J. Simpson was kind of predictable and a little cringey if I’m being completely honest. My one major complaint, however, was them referring to “Wicked” as a play instead of a musical even when a graphic of a Tweet saying it was a musical. I’m a theatre kid so using “play” and “musical” interchangeably is really annoying to me. Overall, I thought this sketch was funny at times but also just okay.

Please Don’t Destroy-Hard Seltzer:

I thought it was cool to see a pre-taped sketch with only writers featured. It almost reminded me of the Good Neighbor sketches that were on in the early seasons of Beck and Kyle. I thought it was funny that it seemed like every major company was coming out with a hard seltzer, like JC Penney and Jiffy Lube who also had a summer variety pack. The belt buckle in the can of the JC Penney seltzer was funny as well as the desk in the office even having a hard seltzer. The writers in this sketch were Martin Herlihy, John Higgins, and Ben Marshall.

Halsey “Darling” Performance:

I thought this was another great and beautiful performance by Halsey. I was also surprised to see Lindsey Buckingham appear during this performance. I loved that this song was done acoustically and that it was fitting as the second performance. I can’t wait to see Halsey back at 8H.

Skims Commercial:

When I saw them doing this sketch, I wasn’t surprised they were going to joke about one of Kim’s business ventures. I thought the sketch wasn’t that great but it did have a lot of memorable moments. I also loved all of the dogs, especially the one that Heidi was holding that gave her kisses on the face. I did think it was funny how Kim introduced herself in the sketch as “a mother, millionaire, law student, and billionaire”. I also loved when Aristotle’s character came on wearing the product and said “Wait, these are for dogs?”. I loved how they mentioned that the colors were “beige, brown, and that’s it” and that it takes “ninety minutes to put on”. I also liked Kenan’s slogan at the end “turn your good girl into a bad bitch”. Again, not my favorite sketch but I did love that there were dogs. 

Overall, I thought it wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be but it also wasn’t great. I didn’t think this episode was really all that memorable. I did like that she seemed game for anything and was a good sport. That being said, I don’t think she should host again any time soon. 

This has been my take on the  SNL episode hosted by Kim Kardashian West with musical guest Halsey. I’ll be back next week with another post about the upcoming episode hosted by Rami Malek with musical guest Young Thug. Be sure to connect with me and follow me on Twitter at @SNLBlogger for up to date SNL news and live tweeting every new episode. See you soon during the next episode!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Owen Wilson/Kacey Musgraves October 2, 2021

Another season of SNL is here! After a good season last year, I’m so excited to see what this season has to offer. Last season ended with a great episode from host Anya Taylor-Joy and musical guest Lil Nas X. As mentioned in my last post, that episode was the first episode to have a full audience (one that was masked and vaccinated) since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the start of this season, Owen Wilson comes to Studio 8H to host with returning musical guest Kacey Musgraves. Here is my take on the season premiere.

Sketch Rundown:

Biden Unites Democrats Cold Open:

It wasn’t a surprise to me that the new season would start with some kind of political cold open. What I was surprised with was that they went with a new cast member portraying President Joe Biden. Last season, Alex Moffat took over from guest Jim Carrey. This season, new cast member James Austin Johnson took over the impression. I thought it was a strong impression and Johnson is very well known for his spot on impressions. I also loved the other impressions in the sketch. I loved the joke about the Child Tax Credit and how “children shouldn’t pay taxes, that’s a lot of math”. I also loved the joke where the president and the senators were trying to find common ground and all were finding common ground about roads until Senator Simena, portrayed by Cecily Strong, said she wanted no roads because of “chaos”. I also loved Pete Davidson’s portrayal of “Governorish” Andrew Cuomo and Alex Moffat portraying Senator Schumer. I also loved the book titles of “Whoops” and “Sandwiches I Have Liked and Tried”. Overall, I thought this was a great cold open with great writing and a great portrayal of the current situation. 

Owen Wilson Monologue:

I thought this was a solid monologue. I thought it was cool that his brothers were there. I honestly didn’t know he had two brothers. I also loved the joke that his dad was a part of the 3790 club: “three sons, seven high schools, nine colleges, and zero degrees”. I also thought the Daniel Day-Lewis joke was funny where his retirement inspired Wilson to do “Cars 3”.

Women’s Talk Show:

When I saw this sketch, I wasn’t surprised that they were going to do a sketch about what happened on “The View” (I watched the actual episode and saw it happen in real time and I’m still shocked something like this happened). I did think that they were going to do an actual parody of the show, although they don’t have cast members able to portray all of the hosts. I also thought it was funny that they had bickering co-hosts, even though that doesn’t really happen on “The View” anymore. I did think it was funny that they had a doctor give the results instead of a producer. I loved that the doctor said that revealing the results “has to be on TV for HIPAA [and] we either can’t tell anybody or have to tell everybody, no middle ground”. I also thought it was funny that when one of the hosts tried to go to a commercial that they ran out of commercials. I loved this sketch and thought it was a great start to the show. 

Billionaire Star Trek:

This was another sketch that I thought would happen because of the recent launches. I did like how they had Luke Wilson play Jeff Bezos’ brother Mark, also known as “Bezos’ brother whose name escapes me”. I also loved the Richard Branson impression as well as the spaceships racing. I also loved how they called it a “midlife crisis of cosmic proportions”. The Elon Musk impression was great and I kind of wish the impression of Musk hosted last season instead of the actual person. I also loved the line of “space is only big enough for one weird, white billionaire” and they called it “Star Trek: Ego Quest”. I loved the sketch and thought it was very funny.

Cars 4:

With Owen Wilson hosting, I wasn’t surprised they would do something “Cars” related. I thought it was cringey but also funny. I didn’t realize until later that this was partially inspired by the allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz. I also loved the Larry the Cable Guy impression, which was also a great utilization of Johnson.

School Board Meeting:

When I saw that they were doing this sketch, it reminded me a lot of the clips of school board meetings that I would see on the news. I liked how they started off with passing the motion of changing Robert E. Lee Middle School to Robert E. Lee Was Bad Middle School. The sketch had a memorable line “I am concerned and I am also crazy”. There were also mentions of a vaccine named “Mike’s Hard Vaccine” and also a child with a beard as a side effect to some kind of “treatment”. Bowen’s character was also great and Aidy’s character seemed like it was a past character. I’m not sure but the way she said her lines sounded like a past character of her’s. Pete coming on as Dog the Bounty Hunter was also really funny. Sarah’s character was random but also very funny. I also loved the singing group as well as Kenan’s character, especially when he came up behind Ego and Alex. I thought this sketch was great and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more of these sketches.

Kacey Musgraves “justified” Performance:

I love Kacey Musgraves and I was so excited to see that she was going to appear as the musical guest again. I thought this was a beautiful performance. I also can’t believe she performed wearing only cowboy boots and with her guitar in front of her. I also didn’t know that this was inspired by a scene in “Forrest Gump”. Even with precautions in place, I’m still surprised she was able to get away with performing naked.

Weekend Update:

I liked how Colin opened up Update with how last year started with no COVID-19 vaccine and a really intense presidential election and now the biggest story is infrastructure. I also loved the joke about how some Catholics are claiming religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine. The punch line was especially funny: “nothing more Catholic than letting someone else die for your sins”. I also loved Ego’s character “A Black Woman Who’s Been Missing for Ten Years”. I thought it was a great way to blend comedy with social commentary. I loved the joke about the fifteen dollar gift card to Chili’s Too as a reward. Pete’s segment about the Met Gala and his outfit to the Met Gala was great. I haven’t laughed super hard during one of his segments in a long time. I also loved his joke about Colin in the movie “Tom & Jerry” as well as Pete saying at the end of his segment, “I can’t believe I’m back!”. There was also a great tribute to former cast member and former Weekend Update anchor Norm Macdonald, with a video montage of some of Norm’s best jokes as well as Pete’s shirt that he wore during his segment. I figured they would do a proper tribute instead of just a bumper during a planned rerun.

Funeral Song:

This was another cringey but funny sketch. I should’ve known that with the recent conviction of R. Kelly. I did think it was funny that Lorne was walking off set at the beginning of the sketch and I’m pretty sure that was not planned. I also loved Kenan’s character of LeVar B. Burton as well as the slide show. I also thought it was funny for the second song that Kenan was keeping time by hitting the casket.

Kacey Musgraves “camera roll” Performance:

I thought this was another great performance. I could really feel the emotion as she was singing. I also bought Kacey’s album recently and seeing her performances during the show, it makes me really want to listen to the album as soon as possible.

NFL on Fox:

This sketch, I felt, was the typical parody of a typical broadcast of an NFL game on Fox. I thought the impressions were great, especially the ones of Joe Buck and Erin Andrews. The graphics for the show that was being promoted were great as well as the monster puppet. The lines “Did I just see Stacey Abrams with a monster puppet?” and “Wait, McKayla is the monster puppet?”. 

Mail-in Testing Service:

I thought this was a typical final sketch of the night but also a great way to utilize new cast members. I thought Andrew and Sarah were great and had great chemistry. I would love to see them appear in more sketches together. I loved Chris’ character and thought it was funny and creepy at the same time. Overall, I thought it was a solid sketch.

Also that comes with a new season is welcoming new cast members and saying goodbye to those outgoing. Prior to the start of the season, it was announced that Beck Bennett was leaving the show after eight seasons. Lauren Holt, who joined the cast at the beginning of last season, was also let go. Three new cast members were also hired prior to the start of the season. Those new cast members are Aristotle Athari, James Austin Johnson, and Sarah Sherman. Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman were also promoted to repertory players at the beginning of the season. SNL also hired ten new writers. It was also announced that Liz Patrick will become the new SNL director at some point this season after long time director Don Roy King announced he will retire at some point this season.

This has been my take on the season 47 premiere episode with host Owen Wilson and musical guest Kacey Musgraves. I’ll be back with another post about the upcoming episode with host Kim Kardashian West and musical guest Halsey. Be sure to connect with me and follow me on Twitter at @SNLBlogger for up to date SNL news and live tweeting every new episode. See you soon during the next episode!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren