Pete Martell

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/02/snl-lisa-from-temecula-sketch-oral-history

A list of SNL alum who will be appearing in upcoming films and shows (Kyle Mooney, Molly Shannon, Jason Sudeikis, Tina Fey, Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Pete Davidson). https://collider.com/former-snl-cast-2023-movies-tv-shows/#will-forte---39-strays-39 Alex Moffat is in 80 for Brady, and the upcoming Apple TV show Bad Monkey. He recently did an appearance with Rachel Dratch. Jane Curtin will be at UAlbany in April. https://nysmusic.com/2023/02/23/snl-alum-jane-curtin-comes-to-ualbany-in-april/

He was the warmup act for a number of years in the '70s, I think, so I feel like this would classify as worth mentioning. If not, my apologies. Either way, I'll miss John Munch and the man who played him.

Sarah Silverman just finished up a week on the Daily Show. Punkie Johnson was on Joe Rogan recently. Los Espookys was canceled recently late last year, but Julio Torres has a few other projects in the works. https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/downtown-comedy-stars-spoof-award-show-speeches-in-you-like-me-020823 https://www.indiewire.com/2022/12/julio-torres-hbo-new-show-little-films-1234792901/ Denny Dillon is in the show "Servant" and the upcoming movie, Paint. Tina Fey is going on tour with Amy Poehler. She and Tim Meadows are filming Mean Girls: The Musical. Here she is on Seth's show (there are two clips): Fred Armisen was also on a few times recently (just posting one clip): Paula Pell:

I don't follow sports very closely but Kelce hosting not long after winning the Super Bowl is a big deal for the show. (Heidi must also be happy as she's a huge fan). Jenna Ortega is also big at the moment due to Wednesday. I had no idea who Kelsea Ballerini was, and anything I know about 1975 is the lead singer getting in hot water...

New interview/podcast with Denny Dillon, season 6 cast member.

Someone who was at dress said they didn't laugh, so you're probably right.

The late, great Eugene Lee. https://deadline.com/2023/02/eugene-lee-dead-obituary-saturday-night-live-snl-broadway-scenic-designer-1235253284/

We're getting two more weeks of Sanz as the Vintage is Jennifer Aniston/Black Eyed Peas from season 29. The week after that is Christopher Walken/Foo Fighters from season 28. The February 25th episode is Dakota Johnson/Alabama Shakes, from season 40. I think this may be the first time NBC is ever repeating that episode.

I don't mind breaking in some cases - even some of the earliest episodes of SNL had moments of breaking (in one, Lorne was under a desk tying Belushi's shoes together to get a reaction from him). There's a fine line between getting caught up in the moment and self-indulgence, but the main thing for me is if I'm watching other people laugh while I'm not laughing. And unfortunately that was the case here.

Dress rehearsal: Credits for the sketches: Promos (if these don't work there are links on Twitter): As for my thoughts on the episode: Pedro was an absolute delight. Such a charmer. He touched me in the monologue but he made me laugh too, as the show went along. I was worried the show would not know what to do with him, because it could have been easy to just put him into hot guy roles or boring guy who watches Wacky Characters, but even if that happened several times, he did have a few chances. The coma sketch would have been a mess without him, because he just went for it, hilariously. He did so again in the sketch where he played Marcello's mother, although he was helped by some good character-based writing (like saving the bag) and solid supporting work from Chloe and Marcello. I had mixed feelings about the school sketch because any time a cast of people who are in their thirties (or close) start trying to talk like an even older writer's idea of a teenager, I cringe. Fortunately, Pedro's presence came through again and the whole element of the fancams (which are everywhere on Twitter, including for SNL hosts and cast members, and Pedro himself) was creative. I have to admit I didn't even recognize Sarah Paulson at first, due to her current look. She and Pedro are longtime friends, it seems. I know she's a Twitter favorite, and well-respected, but I wasn't expecting the studio audience to get so loud over her. She didn't seem to expect it either. I have to assume they decided to throw any money they could into the Mario pre-tape. They saved money by having two sketches set in the same restaurant stage (they should have tried to put them in the same universe) and by not having as many pre-tapes this week. I thought the pre-tape was...fine, and I hope it gets a good response, but I've just seen this enough already from the show (and it's by the same writers too) that I struggle to care. They did this with Sesame Street/Joker and with Family Matters. I liked this more than the latter, but the first (Grouch) was just a world away. My main complaint is how tired I am of those fake reviews. Been there, done that also set in for the cold open. Bowen has done this type of character over and over, and I just don't care much about another reprisal. I think Bowen may fall into the category of cast members I know are talented but whose choices in what they do on the show work less and less for me. I thought he was better in the game show sketch, which had a good central idea about too much media/nothing being common now, and improved as it went along. The restaurant sketches are the types I want to enjoy but the writing was not there for me whatsoever, and they just ended up with lots of shouting and laughing to try to hide the writing. I enjoyed Update this week - the segment with Michael Longfellow would wear on me if it was a more common occurrence, but after all the weeks this season of Bowen, Kenan, Heidi, or Chloe being cute and quirky at the desk, seeing something that was just weird and casually ugly was an interesting change of pace. I thought Devon and James Austin Johnson were great together and helped hide that the whole thing went on a little too long. JAJ seems to be visibly elated that the show trusts him to do more now than just wheeze out old Trump bits. I know I am. The wings pre-tape was something I had to watch another time or two to get over the deja vu feeling but I found myself enjoying it more - one of Heidi's best performances this season, and I thought the escalating craziness built well instead of just being thrown at us. I'd like to see more of the newer people and writing that makes more sense. I know I probably won't be getting the latter, but I'll keep hoping for the former.

Andrew Dismukes on Seth.

A February miracle - a cut sketch uploaded from this episode. They could have cut it down, but still fun. I probably would have put this in over the video game or bachelorette party sketches.

I like Sarah. I can see why people might not, but I enjoy her energy along with how she can be more subdued (especially in pre-tapes). I also don't mind the "weird" sketches because she's only done them a few times this season (some like Bowen, Heidi, Chloe, do their thing much more frequently). Last season she bothered me at first because of all the shouting in the live sketches, but she's mostly toned that down. I do hope we get to see her do more quiet material relying less on gunk or weirdness.

I think in some cases it's also about how nervous you are being on the show. There was one moment which could have easily been along the lines of the hot, cool guy line - when he was playing Creed on Update - where he struggled with reading the cards, and sort of messed up the flow. It reminded me of just what a learning curve hosts who don't have an improv background have in the more recent years of the show where hosts are put into many more live sketches than they used to be.

I enjoyed it, but I've heard a few people say it is especially easy to get if you are from Texas (as Andrew is), so it may be more of a local appeal. Speaking of which, Raising Cane's replied (JAJ retweeted it): They haven't (Sam Jay returned to guest write but her sketches didn't get on), but it seems many of the writers who usually write a good chunk of the show (Please Don't Destroy, Alison Gates, Kent Sublette, Michael Che, Colin Jost) weren't in anything that got on this week, which may mean the newer writers (aside from PDD of course) getting more of their voices on.

It's difficult for me to compare the two episodes because Aubrey not only has an improv background, she even brought a former SNL writer (Neil Casey) on last week to co-write several of her sketches. There seemed to be more trust in her as a host. As soon as they did the "hot guy" monologue with Michael, I immediately wondered whether they had much trust in him. He did have his moments, but others like when he was on Update, he seemed to struggle with the cards. His best sketch performance live was the one that disappointed me because as is sometimes the case with SNL, there was no clear ending written (the alpha male sketch). Otherwise, as @Trini said, I felt his pre-taped material was very strong. The State Farm pre-tape was one of the best they've had this season. The Southwest pre-tape was originally in last week's dress rehearsal. Aubrey wasn't in it, so it seems they just added Michael. The Southwest jokes feel out of date, but I still liked this due to the performers. The writing was up and down, but the cast made most of it work for me. I could have done without another week with wacky Bowen and Heidi character sketches...even if this was probably one of the better wacky Bowen character sketches in a while. I was glad to see James Austin Johnson get to just do characters instead of being dragged out again for Trump. He seemed to be having the time of his life in the car lot sketch with Andrew (a surprisingly strong team). That was another Michael didn't fit for me, although I changed my mind after a rewatch. Andrew being in so much of the episode was a pleasant surprise after the last few months. His pre-tape at the end of the show felt like Kyle and Lonely Island together, along with three or four other comedians. I wonder if we'll get more of those the way we did with Kyle. At first when they had Mikey as Merrick Garland, I thought it was a Kate cameo. Probably the best cold open this season, whatever that's worth. Sarah getting such a prominent sketch, early in the episode, was interesting, just because of seeing how far she was trying to push a grossout element into the format.

Jenny Slate's new Marcel film received an Oscar nomination, as did she as she's a producer on it. Colin Quinn on Seth's show (two videos): Ana Gasteyer (also two videos): Julia Louis-Dreyfus' new film, You Hurt My Feelings, recently premiered at Sundance.

A few recent James Austin Johnson podcast interviews. http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1392-james-austin-johnson https://expandingdan.substack.com/p/james-austin-johnson-interview-steely-dan Sarah Sherman Vulture interview. https://www.vulture.com/article/sarah-sherman-snl-profile.html Sarah on Today: Bowen Yang on Seth's show (there are two videos). Kenan on Seth (also two videos):

Tonight's "vintage" is Natasha Lyonne from last season.

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/sharon-stone-saturday-night-live-sam-smith-snl-1235502149/

Apparently Jon was also in the studio audience for Aubrey's episode, from what the Saturday Night Network podcast said.