Pete Martell

Bowen looks back on playing George Santos.

The Beavis and Butthead sketch was originally cut for time several seasons back (SNN mentioned the last Jonah Hill episode and the Oscar Isaac episode).

April 20th will be RuPaul/Justin Bieber (season 45) April 27th will be Kim Kardashian/Halsey (season 47) The Youtube channel actually uploaded two genuinely vintage sketches. Not sure if that tells us anything about a possible Tom Hanks appearance before the season finishes.

Some interesting behind the scenes info in this - the idea was originally pitched with Ana de Armas and Dakota Johnson.

She seemed to be the only woman to get real focus for most of her last 4 or so years on the show (after Maya and Amy left), and a lot of the pieces she did were not in her best range (in my opinion). One of the reasons I thought she did well in this episode was because the pieces were closer to that more low-key feel she had in her first few seasons. I do think she's had her share of work done, although it wasn't as noticeable to me as some of her previous stints.

The dress rehearsal reports mentioned one that was cut. Apparently it was not good. I feel like they've hit a wall this season as the one last week I thought was genuinely poor.

A more detailed dress report: I forgot the pre-tape soon after it aired, but Kaia Gerber has a number of SNL ties - her mother (Cindy Crawford) did a cameo in 1994, she dated Pete Davidson, and she is playing Jacqueline Carlin in the upcoming SNL 1975 movie. Carlin was with Chevy Chase at the time (they later married - for a few years), and she starred in the show's very first pre-tape (the replacement dad commercial with Dan Aykroyd being replaced by Chevy Chase).

I wasn't sure what to expect with another Wiig episode, because while she's always professional, on a number of her appearances she's brought back the same characters (Secret Word, Surprise Sue), and sometimes struggles with how to fit into the casts of the time. Hearing that the episode was going to be full of cameos made me even more unsure, as I wondered if it would be like Will Forte's episode, where he felt much more comfortable with people of his era (like Kristen and Kenan) than anyone else. Fortunately, the cameos were mostly left to the overcrowded monologue (I'm glad they still got the Paula Pell appearance - I always enjoyed when she would pop up for audience questions) and a few other sketches. None of them got in the way of the sketches for me (although I would have cut Matt Damon out - he was funny in his previous appearances but tonight he just seemed like he was walking by the building, and they pulled him in). There were several sketches like Jumanji and the go-karts sketch that reminded me of the more down-to-earth, character-based material she had in her first few seasons as a cast member. The go-kart sketch could have been punched up a little, but I thought Andrew/Chloe Troast/JAJ/Kristen all had a good rapport and I liked the building confusion and pain, and that we never heard them tell the kids the news. I loved the intense shouting between Andrew and Kristen in the Jumanji sketch and how well most of the sketch built. The Will Forte cameo mostly worked, even if the end didn't. We still got the "wacky" material, like in that Heidi sketch, but as it was not as present as I was expecting. And I ended up enjoying one of the wacky sketches I thought I'd hate (the French variety show), as it had a good energy and used the cast well and had one of those "wacky" Kristen character types that I enjoy (a dip into Triangle Sally). JAJ and Dismukes, Chloe Troast, were very good for me, the frantic dancing with Chloe Fineman and Bowen. And Mikey as the mime was some of his best work in a year or two. This originally was cut from the Timothee Chalamet episode earlier this season and apparently focused more heavily on Chloe Fineman. If true, I'm glad she was willing to change this to being more of an updated version of the old Deep House Dish/Soul Train sketches, because it was a sense of fun we don't get that often now. The retirement party sketch was also an updated version of an old sketch, one that wasn't quite the same without Jason Sudeikis and Bobby Moynihan, but it still worked well enough for me. More than anything I was curious to see if Will could still play nasty old Hamilton Whiteman, and he could. I didn't realize just how well I knew those Hamilton sketches until I saw the very first second of this one and said to myself, "It's going to have Hamilton." Overall, I thought this was the best episode Kristen has hosted, and one of the best two or three episodes so far this season. I hope they use it as a possible path forward for the show in its current state rather than some of the other recent attempts at knowing where to go. I do feel bad for Michael Longfellow - I don't know what happened there or has happened all season. There will probably be more detailed dress reports up later today, but for now, here's what I took down from the Saturday Night Network podcast last night: Good Morning Buffalo - Sarah and Kristen are news anchors reporting on their bender. JAJ makes fun of them for breaking into Derek Jeter's house. Longfellow interviews a cop (Molly) about them. Kenan is an "emo Jimmy Butler" weatherman Sarah and Kristen had a threeway with. Apparently this was good? PDD - Grinke (?) whispers to Kristen what sketches she should do and dances. One by one PDD, besides John, get into the dancing. It dances on the Update desk beside Colin at the end. There were some reports that this was bad enough to where the audience was just silent. Funeral - Kristen mourns her husband and plays his favorite music. The mourners head bob and dance. She reminds the mourners it's a funeral. Longfellow is the son. Mikey, Heidi, Bowen, Ego, Marcello are mourners. Kenan is the body coming to life due to the music. JAJ part of the staff. Molly and Punkie have funerals next door. Train Ride - Kristen does a call on the speaker with her doctor, much to Kenan's dismay. Devon tells Kenan he can't leave his seat, even appearing outside the train. Sketch ends when Kenan leaves it and breaks the fourth wall. Book club - (also cut from Molly Shannon's episode) - Bowen is a nuisance to a book club, featuring Kristen, Ego, Molly, Heidi. They also reran the Red Flag fake ad from back in the day. It seems like the only time we get non-political cold opens are if they involve sports. I don't know anything about them other than all the people arguing about Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese. It didn't seem like the show had any real point beyond "we love women's college basketball," maybe because they just wanted to address the people who believe the show has a negative view of women in basketball. I would have rather seen a different topic, but at least it's not politics I guess. The performances were fine, but I think the only part I enjoyed was when Heidi wandered out too early so she could join in on the LFNY. Given that Fred and Kristen were there, I'm half-surprised they didn't revive Dooneese, but maybe they thought that wasn't right for 2024.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroworld_Festival_crowd_crush In other news, the hitman pre-tape was uploaded.

Sorry, I was talking about the usual election material in the first few months (debates and the rest), rather than what happens after November. I think SNL is probably in its last few years anyway, no matter who wins, but I agree with you NBC would likely can the show at his request if he wins again.

I wouldn't say this was a bad episode, but it was a very forgettable episode for me, one of the most forgettable in years, aside from a few moments I thought were somewhat inspired (like the Ozempic pre-tape) and a few that represented the laziest aspects of the show (PDD's Pete Davidson homage, which was itself a Lonely Island homage; Sarah brushing off her Jost crutch to ever-diminishing returns). I wanted to like the dad talk show and cop sketches and gave them good will as much as I could, which isn't quite the same as truly enjoying them. I suppose I will just have to keep accepting how half-done the show is these days, as I don't see it changing until next season, if at all. The show likes to bring on comics who bring something different to SNL (Jerrod Carmichael, Ayo Edebiri, Ramy) yet do nothing to actually showcase their talents or convince their fans to stay around. I guess they at least let Ramy have his monologue, which he did a good job with - he had a very smooth, tricky style that was out of the norm in a satisfying way. The basketball sketch was cut from Jacob Elordi's episode. Saturday Night News report on what was cut from this episode: BARKFINITY SCIENTIST. Ramy in a lab shows off what seems to be clones of Charles Barkley doing various ads. Draft Kings, Subway, Inside the NBA, college hoops, King Charles with Gayle King (Punkie), International commercials with bloopers, one similar to the blooper from the Inside the Beltway sketch in the season 45 premiere (Aidy and the coat). Ego, Mikey Heidi are also scientists. If you need a reminder of that blooper: SPACE JOURNEY: Molly asks Ramy out on day 1 of a 752 day space journey. He rejects Molly. He dates and marries Troast. Turbulence leading to a threeway kiss. Molly changes their hair to look more like Troast. Molly finally dates JAJ, who is an alien. DR. WILLIAMS (the Punkie therapist character from the Jake G episode with a new last name). Family of Heidi, Ramy, Troast, Marcello. Ego keeps calling Punkie and dares her to jump off a building. She does. Everyone sings at the end. HITMAN: Pre-tape. Ramy keeps getting calls from Uber Eats delivery (Marcello) as he tries to kill JAJ in the next building over. Troast is JAJ's date. UPDATE: Devon and Michael are the new Jost and Che, but based off vibes than jokes, and based on tiktok.

There's a very strong chance Trump will win reelection, and I think you can see that in how SNL tends to talk about him (or Biden). Given how consistently bad the show has been at politics for decades now, I don't think they would know how to say anything about him anyway. We'd probably get more of the days of Baldwin saying "Gina" instead of "China." I am at the point where I have to tune out any of the political material. I dread to think of how it's going to be next season, as the show is woefully unprepared or unqualified. Even James Austin Johnson seems like he's over the whole thing.

Bobby Moynihan returns to SNN:

Saturday Night Network interviews the one and only Christine Ebersole (81-82), who has one of the more interesting journeys as an SNL cast member (and certainly afterward).

Sydney talks a bit about her episode and reveals that the pitcher was not as full in the Hooters sketch before the live version. https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottking/2024/03/07/sydney-sweeney-talks-bai-water-collaboration-snl-and-immaculate/ I don't know if any dress rehearsal reports are around, but I took this down from the comments made on the Saturday Night Network hot take episode last Saturday night. Cut sketches: NANNY: Sydney is interviewing for a nanny job and her troubled past is revealed. SPACESHIP: Sydney is trying to seduce Michael Longfellow, an alien who can't speak without killing humans. His interpreters ruin the moment. TIKTOK: Punkie is a woman on tiktok hosting a show called Who Da Hell Is My Husband. Sydney and the gang react. This is a takeoff on a viral tiktok with Risa Tisa put out a 50 part series about her marriage that's gone viral. A few of the people who went to the dress rehearsal said none of these were very good. I think the spaceship sketch may have been done in another dress rehearsal before this one but I am not sure.

That's definitely one of the main reasons they keep doing these political cold opens, but I do wonder when it's worth the tradeoff of some of the fans who don't want to see them every week.

I felt like Kacey was trying more to show attractiveness than Sydney, I suppose it's not a bad way to get attention on a night where some may have been tuning in for a beauty aspect. I think the show has been trying to move in a more conservative direction for a while now, in host choices and tone. I didn't notice as much with the cold open because so many other people, like Jon Stewart, have already said what the cold open said, and more, but unfortunately it also shows, again, how redundant and tired the show's cold opens often are. If only they would ever move away from politics.

I blame the writing supervision. Many of the current headwriters have been there for a long time - one for almost twenty years (Kent Sublette). There's just been a real breakdown for me in the last few years. Some I could blame on certain writers, as the parts of the show that gorge on stilted camp and annoy me the most tend to be from a certain group (O'Connor, Fowlie, Yim, Nordwind - the first three apparently wrote that bride sketch which I thought was the weakest part of the episode), but it can't just be a few people, it has to be an issue at the top. Partly based on seemingly just being burnt out and coasting until the 50th anniversary. A lot of the newer performers are more from standup than improv. I think Chloe Troast maybe one of the few who isn't. Another issue is the show doesn't seem to know the strengths of a number of performers or how to use them. For instance, Michael Longfellow got some praise from fans last season for his Update appearances. This season he's only been on there once yet he's in cold opens playing politicians, which he doesn't even try to do (and I don't blame him there - no real point in faking it if you can't do it). Why? When I got back into SNL around 2019 one of the first things I noticed was fans complaining about cue card reading and how obvious it was. I blamed the director at the time, but he retired a few years ago and the direction has gotten bad again this season after briefly improving, so again I just wonder how much is down to a lack of care in modern SNL. None of this is new but I do think it all crashed very noticeably when they got back from break. The last few episodes have been better for me but the underlying problems aren't going to go away. I don't think she can, although fans may know better. This is one of those ideas that SNL would have done as a little one minute gag or even a title card many years ago, back when all sketches didn't have to be 4-5 minutes. I think that could have been fun.

I thought this was one of the more consistent episodes of the season, with widespread cast use and several creative sketches. The dinner sketch with Andrew and Sydney was one of my favorite sketches of the season and a nice throwback to some of the more nuanced sketches of past years. Sydney was the opposite of Elordi in that while her range was limited, they tried harder to write for her and she rewarded them by carrying off a great deal of material that some couldn't have, like that whole dog sketch. The pretapes were for the second week in a row consistently solid to good and not padded out or chasing after empty pop culture references. Only Heidi's Update appearance and the "shoot" sketch were bad for me - Hooters ran the risk but Andrew and JAJ made me laugh more than once. Andrew, JAJ, Ego (and Chloe Troast in the AirBnB sketch and Bowen in the straight pre-tape) were all spark plugs through the night. The dead crowds in the first half of the episode hurt a number of sketches that were clearly banking on a bigger response, especially the police sketch (nothing could save that "shoot" sketch but the DOA audience was so clear). They even brought in a few dogs to get the audience going and it didn't quite work. The days of hooting and hollering for most of the cast are gone, which isn't a bad thing, but the writing has to adjust. The last two episodes have been steps in that direction, but there's a long way to go. The courtroom sketch was my biggest disappointment of the episode because I didn't think it was that bad, it just fell prey to so many issues with the current material - didn't go far enough, lackluster pacing, lackluster audience, and the cast felt hesitant. I would have made this into a pre-tape and made it go on along the lines of the rap pre-tape The Rock did that had the whole cast, and David S Pumpkins. I got so tired of seeing articles preemptively complaining about how this episode was going to be sexist and objectifying (and dredging up random other episodes to be upset by) that if they had had her in a bikini all night I wouldn't have cared, but for the most part they seemed restrained.

Sorry, I didn't mean to act like they were as it was just my speculation. The whole episode felt very cold, unusually so for me with SNL, and then in the goodnights I remembered (although I haven't seen them in a year or two) Forte mostly just being with Kenan and Kristen Wiig, rather than most of the cast.

They later added that the Marcello Update piece was written by Jimmy Fowlie, Ceara O'Sullivan and Colin Jost. Speaking of which, SNL finally uploaded that to Youtube, but, interestingly, shared the dress rehearsal version. Cut sketches: (this sketch was originally cut from the Nate Bargatze episode, where Bowen was included as Heidi's baby via green screen)

It seemed like the only criteria for the cold open was coming up with material when they knew they couldn't have JAJ Trump (they could have, of course, but he was coming up later so they were right not to use him twice). Many years ago they would have done a cold open with Gillis backstage, similar to when Ben Stiller returned as host (I'm not comparing their SNL careers) the first time and got into a fight with Lorne. They seem to avoid backstage pieces now. The show has cut off so many past avenues, for one reason or another. When I ask why the show HAS to have political cold opens so many weeks, the response is often that politics are what get the show attention and the show has always talked about politics. My response to that would be - do people really think cold opens like the one last night will bring people to the show, or keep them? I agree with you about the opportunity Gillis had. When his hosting was announced, I was surprised he agreed, because so much of his audience hates SNL and the establishment they see SNL as being part of. You could feel that push in his monologue, because I got the impression rather than being genuine with the crowd, he was laying on his reaction to how they responded to his material so that he can now go on his podcast, or his standup dates, his next Netflix special, what have you, talking about how the libs couldn't handle him. It's unfortunate, because I did think he was trying for the rest of the night and I felt like he contributed some interesting ideas of his own rather than just, say, standing around while Chloe and Heidi make wacky faces. Yet the monologue will be what most people remember. It says something about my view of the work of many in the current cast that I didn't see a huge difference in performance between Gillis and them, at least until the last sketch where he had a noticeable screwup. I think if he came back (which doesn't seem likely) he would probably be more natural in sketches. He did seem strong in the pre-tapes. It felt like the Trump pre-tape was mostly an excuse to have the two Trump impressions meet. I did like the concept of the shoes not helping a person's life improve but just making them into Trump. I agree with you about the sketches at least having ideas, which hasn't been the cast for a while now in the last few seasons. That may be why I have been higher on the episode than I might have expected.

I had wondered about this before the episode, because of some of his past statements (or "jokes"), but I didn't feel those vibes myself. I thought the cast mostly pulled together and it seemed like he was especially clicking with Sarah. The goodnights were partly cut off but he and Bowen also made sure people saw they got along (possibly because I've seen Bowen get a lot of hate for years over what happened with Gillis' firing). Compared to episodes like Will Forte's, where the goodnights felt so cold they still linger in my mind, these didn't stand out to me. Most of the time, Lorne will only use SNL to apologize if something is in it for him. In this case, I'd say it's Gillis' fanbase. He is not broadly known, but he is loved by many of the more conservative male viewers who have long abandoned SNL The show likely wants or needs them back. They aren't coming back, but Lorne isn't going to give up. That type of fan was one of the reasons Gillis was hired in the first place, allegedly. You can also see this tweak in how the show is being put across this season. Gone are the "resist" pieces on Weekend Update where cast members righteously share their views on various progressive concerns. That Trump pre-tape tonight said it all for me - we get two Trumps, then Biden appears just to be feeble and keel over. They have a strong sense of where they think the winds are blowing. I do think that Gillis would have been a struggling cast member if he had stayed - probably in the position of Molly Kearney, who is barely on, and when they aren't on, frankly, I don't miss them. While I thought he was perfectly fine as a sketch performer, he wasn't a standout. What did stand out for me was his writing (his co-writer was in the credits so I assume they did some writing). I don't think there were any great sketches tonight (in overall quality Forrest Gump may have been the strongest), but many involving him at least had a different tone and an attempt at some density compared to so much of what gets on the show now. Little touches like the church sketch ending happily and with mutual acceptance, instead of just Ego being wacky. Or the ugly doll sketch ending on Sarah and Shane breaking up and her insulting him. Or the pre-tapes actually having some type of premise beyond vacuous pop culture or a musical number stretched out to eternity. For that reason, this was one of the better episodes of the season for me. It was a reminder of why I wish hosts who can contribute could have more input. The comparison to Ayo's episode, where she seemed to have no real involvement in the writing and ended up getting a Dune sex bucket pre-tape, elevator sex pre-tape, and Urkel in a classroom, was notable to me, even if I preferred watching her. I would disagree this is the worst it's ever been - I think the mid '90s and the mid '00s were worse - but I would agree it needs major changes. Honestly a part of me is more upset with the current show because it isn't even interesting enough to be bad. So much of the show is suffering from malaise - the sketches are haphazardly put together, the performances are lackluster, and the emphasis on curating "stars" results in overused or misused performers. I was bored out of my mind watching Update tonight because I've seen Bowen play that character so many times. Even when I can say it wasn't bad, I still don't know if I will remember. And Marcello was basically doing a cosplay of Michael (remember when he actually got comedy parts?), Sarah and Bowen at the desk, only a very bloodless version. The cold open also wasn't bad, necessarily, but was so warmed over, having absolutely nothing to say that hadn't already been said, and said better, by other outlets, and by SNL in past years. The choice to have long pauses, pauses with cavernous silences due to the dead audience, was absolutely brutal. The audience are showing, week after week, that the show needs changes top to bottom, but I fear they are coasting to anniversary. If Lorne is in autopilot because he wants to end it at 50, then it's a shame he doesn't want to go out of top...or even halfway to the top. I can't say I have a lot of faith in the next host, but that shouldn't be her job anyway. It's the show's job. I hope something can impress or surprise me. You'll get a lot of support from saying certain words. The act reminded me of something I could have seen at many standup shows 20 or 30 years ago, which is one of the reasons I wasn't offended or shocked. This was the low point of the night for me, less because of the word, which is still heavily used, and more because of how incredibly cynical the whole thing was. The audience was not that negative toward him. They were harsher on some standups who were more popular and known to them than he was, like Larry David. Yet he kept telling us how negative they were, because that's part of the whole routine. He can leave the show now, go on podcasts, go on the road, and talk about how the woke SNL crowd couldn't handle him. No matter how much some at the show may wish the culture wars could go away with a host like Gillis, they will always be brought to the doorstep. And it's so exhausting.

This will be Brolin's third episode...his last was in 2012. His first episode was (I'm not sure if it still is) one of the highest-rated episode in the show's history. I guess Ariana managed to wait Pete Davidson out for her return.