S48.E02: Brendan Gleeson / Willow

[formerlyfreedom]

Brendan Gleeson hosts on October 8 with musical guest Willow

Airing Saturday, October 8, 2022.

[Pete Martell]

This is a lot of fun. The first filmic promo they've done since Daniel Craig in season 45.

[Pete Martell]

[vb68]

That was a rather awkward monologue until Colin Farrell showed up.  He saved it, and Brendan looked so happy and relieved. 

Edited October 9, 2022 by vb68

[formerlyfreedom]

Cold open was good, monologue was heartfelt but had some issues, until Colin Farrell showed up.

But as someone who had never heard of the Try Guys until a week ago, that skit killed me dead.

[vb68]

I loved the new castmember video. It was great to get to see all of them, and it was a terrific showcase for Molly.

[Mediocre Gatsby]

I liked the new cast members video, although the Molly part reminded me of the aliens kidnapping sketches where only Kate had a bad experience. 

[vb68]

"You watched Gossip girl and enrolled in high school?"

So far the Please Don't Destroy video is the highlight for me.

I'm actually wondering why Colin didn't host. He's bringing the energy. 

Edited October 9, 2022 by vb68

[txhorns79]

8 minutes ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

although the Molly part reminded me of the aliens kidnapping sketches where only Kate had a bad experience. 

I had the same thought, and perhaps that was why it felt off. 

And seriously SNL writers, an entire sketch in 2022 that is basically nothing but people calling Marilyn Monroe a whore over and over.  Why was that supposed to be funny? 

[Lethallyfab]

Part of me suspects that Colin will return to host closer to awards season to help his chances there.

I thought that sketch did a sly job of getting Molly’s pronouns out there without it being A Thing.

And I thought that Blonde sketch was actually a pretty accurate representation of how the movie treated Marilyn.  I don’t know if that was the intention or not, but nothing in it was more offensive to me than spending 3 hours portraying Marilyn as nothing more than a constant abuse victim.

Edited October 9, 2022 by Lethallyfab
Blonde

[Pete Martell]

3 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

And seriously SNL writers, an entire sketch in 2022 that is basically nothing but people calling Marilyn Monroe a whore over and over.  Why was that supposed to be funny? 

I assume it was based on the backlash Blonde has received, with people accusing the movie of just torturing Marilyn all the way through. They probably should have emphasized that more, although Brendan and Heidi did make me laugh a number of times.

17 minutes ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

I liked the new cast members video, although the Molly part reminded me of the aliens kidnapping sketches where only Kate had a bad experience. 

Molly reminded me a lot of Chris Farley. 

[JeanJean]

The photographer sketch was so silly and totally cracked me up.

[vb68]

11 minutes ago, Lethallyfab said:

Part of me suspects that Colin will return to host closer to awards season to help his chances there.

I honestly think that's one of the main reasons Brendan is hosting.

Good for Marcello. He KILLED his Update spot. 

[Galileo908]

Cold Open: So You Think You Won't Snap: Ooh, game show opening. If you don't snap over the news, you win. A way to speedrun all the bullcrap news lately. Yep, gotta love the instant snap over the mere mention of Elon Musk. I bet there's a few people in the writers room raging over how they had no say in him hosting.

Monologue: I'm pretty sure Brendan Gleeson doesn't know why he's here, either. We're in for quite an evening when even a Colin Farrell cameo doesn't even liven it up.

CNN: Everything I learned about the Try Guys I learned against my will. Getting Brendan Gleeson to talk about it, and Ego's reactions is mostly me talking about it. 

What's It Like Being New At SNL: This was great. Molly's bits were the best. Michael Longfellow saying "This week I'm playing Kanye West" to complete audience silence was a great capper to it.

Blonde: Brendan Gleeson in drag but not really changing any much in the performance was certainly something. Such a weird sketch, just reading hate mail to Marilyn Monroe seemed inherently funny.

Headshots: Brendan Gleeson finally got to be silly for the camera. Couple that with Andrew Dismukes and this was the funniest sketch so far. And then Colin Farrell shows up and made it even better. "That's the funniest thing I've seen in my life. And I've seen Seinfeld."

Please Don't Destroy: Seniors: This was great. Brendan Gleeson was a literal senior. "I was drinking whiskey with a big square ice cube."

WU: Man, I bet they wished they could've made even more Dr. Oz killing dogs jokes. Or Ron DeSantis being terrible. Or Biden being somewhat lucid. Black Ariel's bit was pretty great, though. Marcello Hernandez's chance to shine about talking about baseball was pretty fun, too.

Ancient Empires: Finally, a sketch about people in shows always cutting the inside of their hands. It's painful and of course bloody. But man, did it keep going with all the blood. Really squicked me out.

Denver: Sarah replaced her eyes with big googly eyes. She totally wrote this one. THIS was totally a 10 to 1 if I ever saw one. Also incredible if she couldn't see any of the cue cards with the eyes being covered the whole time.

All in all...it was okay. 

[peacheslatour]

I loved Willow. What a breath of fresh air! 

[Irlandesa]

52 minutes ago, Lethallyfab said:

I thought that sketch did a sly job of getting Molly’s pronouns out there without it being A Thing.

I loved that whole skit but "If she gets captured over there, she's on her own.  It's actually they but I didn't think it was time for the pronoun conversation" was the part that made me laugh the loudest. 

51 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

I assume it was based on the backlash Blonde has received, with people accusing the movie of just torturing Marilyn all the way through. They probably should have emphasized that more, although Brendan and Heidi did make me laugh a number of times.

Yeah.  I don't know if it was as elegant as it could have been with just insults being thrown but I think maybe that's what they were going for.

Baseball guy had a lot of energy.  He reminded me of Tony Danza for some reason.

[vb68]

25 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Blonde: Brendan Gleeson in drag but not really changing any much in the performance was certainly something.

It sorta had the vibe of John Goodman playing Linda Tripp except that John was actually dressed as the character and never had a beard.  It was an odd choice.

25 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

All in all...it was okay. 

Agreed. It was a very meh episode. Brendan Gleeson certainly did fine playing his parts. And he was very cheery and appreciative in the goodbyes. I hope he did have fun. I still think Colin Farrell would had been the better choice as host with Brendan in a couple of sketches.  I really do like that all the new guys are getting used well so far. That's a good thing.   

Edited October 9, 2022 by vb68

[ruby24]

God I really don't like all the Biden ageist jokes. It's too mean. They can't think of any other jokes to make about him. That's his only trait? Too weeks in a row of this.

[Ms Blue Jay]

4 hours ago, vb68 said:

I loved the new castmember video. It was great to get to see all of them, and it was a terrific showcase for Molly.

Agree 100%.  It was also really helpful to differentiate and give an identity to all four.

4 hours ago, vb68 said:

I'm actually wondering why Colin didn't host. He's bringing the energy. 

Oh I know. He's always such a charismatic talk show guest.

I think I'm obsessed with Michael Longfellow already. He's so damn cute.

Brendan Gleeson did the best with what he was given. He was fantastic in the Try Guys sketch and the sketch was already kinda perfect but then it was amped by Mikey breaking.

I had absolutely zero hopes for this episode, so I didn't really dislike it. It was good for what it was with some highlights and a great episode for the new cast. Excited to see more from Molly now. I loved when they switched languages.

I briefly wondered if Sarah Sherman was doing a commentary on plastic surgery, but it's likely just Sarah being Sarah?

Edited October 9, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Jody]

9 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Cold Open: So You Think You Won't Snap: Ooh, game show opening. If you don't snap over the news, you win. A way to speedrun all the bullcrap news lately. Yep, gotta love the instant snap over the mere mention of Elon Musk. I bet there's a few people in the writers room raging over how they had no say in him hosting.

Monologue: I'm pretty sure Brendan Gleeson doesn't know why he's here, either. We're in for quite an evening when even a Colin Farrell cameo doesn't even liven it up.

CNN: Everything I learned about the Try Guys I learned against my will. Getting Brendan Gleeson to talk about it, and Ego's reactions is mostly me talking about it. 

What's It Like Being New At SNL: This was great. Molly's bits were the best. Michael Longfellow saying "This week I'm playing Kanye West" to complete audience silence was a great capper to it.

Blonde: Brendan Gleeson in drag but not really changing any much in the performance was certainly something. Such a weird sketch, just reading hate mail to Marilyn Monroe seemed inherently funny.

Headshots: Brendan Gleeson finally got to be silly for the camera. Couple that with Andrew Dismukes and this was the funniest sketch so far. And then Colin Farrell shows up and made it even better. "That's the funniest thing I've seen in my life. And I've seen Seinfeld."

Please Don't Destroy: Seniors: This was great. Brendan Gleeson was a literal senior. "I was drinking whiskey with a big square ice cube."

WU: Man, I bet they wished they could've made even more Dr. Oz killing dogs jokes. Or Ron DeSantis being terrible. Or Biden being somewhat lucid. Black Ariel's bit was pretty great, though. Marcello Hernandez's chance to shine about talking about baseball was pretty fun, too.

Ancient Empires: Finally, a sketch about people in shows always cutting the inside of their hands. It's painful and of course bloody. But man, did it keep going with all the blood. Really squicked me out.

Denver: Sarah replaced her eyes with big googly eyes. She totally wrote this one. THIS was totally a 10 to 1 if I ever saw one. Also incredible if she couldn't see any of the cue cards with the eyes being covered the whole time.

All in all...it was okay. 

        I Liked Miles Teller Better ! I Liked Miles Monologue Better And Miles Was Better In The Sketches ! ! I Did NOT Like Willow ! All She Did Was Scream ! When He Cut His Hand, IT Made Me Think OF Dan Aykroid Being Julia Childs ! Oh ,I Cut The Little Dickens Out Of My Finger ! I Did not Care About Sarah With The Odd Eye Balls ! I Could Not Even Recognize Mikey IF What I Thought Was Mikey ! I Guess That Was The Try Guys !  

9 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I loved Willow. What a breath of fresh air!

         I Did Not Like The Don't Destroy Kids AT First ! I DID Like A Few OF Them Though ! I Liked LIZZO, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, I Think Maybe Natalie Lyonne AND Brandon Gleeson ! ! ! ! ! 

9 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I loved Willow. What a breath of fresh air! 

      I DID NOT Like Willow ! All She Did Was Scream ! ! 

[SHD]

They’re really highlighting the new cast members in a great way this season. 

[MrWhyt]

ehhhhhhhhh. BG was ok, but seemed simultaneously ready to play and uncomfortable. Filmed pieces, the photographer and googly eyed sarah sherman were the best parts

[cdnalor]

During the MM sketch, I was waiting for some payoff to having Brendan playing a woman.  I thought he'd turn out to be a fan who grabbed any disguise he could to meet Marilyn.  As it is, it seems as if they couldn't figure out another way to get Brendan in the sketch so they just said "whatever."

In the barbarian sketch, did Kenan say the blood was in his mouth when he hadn't been splashed yet?  I couldn't help thinking how they were ruining those costumes with those stains.  I liked how they were sending up that absurd slicing-the-palm trope we see too often.  Like Kenan said, there's ligaments in there!  Just prick a finger!

Have they done a game show sketch in every episode so far?  I'm noticing it more ever since I read some reviews complaining how there are too many of those.  I don't mind them but, yeah, it seems they do a lot of them.

[Fostersmom]

I had no idea who the host was, but I really liked this one. Brendan Gleeson was fun and having fun, which is always a good combo, even if the writing is not the strongest. The MM sketch was weak, but I really didn't dislike any of them. The Try Guys sketch was dead on. I actually used to watch the Try Guys stuff all the time, but honestly had forgotten about them until I started seeing commercials for something they were doing on Food Network. I did see their announcement on You Tube the other night, and yeah, they were just as dramatic about it as SNL was playing it. Were they screwed over by one guy? Yeah, kinda, but damn, he stepped out on his wife, he didn't kill a litter of kittens. I really liked Ego's Little Mermaid and the new guy's baseball bit during update. I work with a Dominican guy who used to play baseball. When the new guy was was doing his Dominican player press conference bit, it was 100% my coworker.... only when he talks about HVAC work. LOL! Usually the blood oath sketch would gross me out, but I was too busy watching them all try to avoid the blood and I swear Mikey pushed Chloe forward to use her has shield at one point, so I was amused. 

[Peace 47]

I found the show very below average.  I did like the Try Guys sketch, but it seemed like the sketch was taking a point of view that it was overblown to fire the guy “just” for having an affair when the reality of the situation is that Ned Fulmer was having an affair with a subordinate while he was supposedly the acting HR director for their company, while his cheated upon spouse was also working for the company, which all seems to be a pretty fireable offense.  So it’s like, I don’t get the fascination with the story, but I also don’t think the guy suffered any unfair consequences, either.

From what I’ve heard, Blonde is some kind of torture porn based on a work of fiction, not fact, that gave Marilyn Monroe no real credit for her professional achievements, and that sketch was such a lame, toothless way to take on any of it.

11 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

Molly reminded me a lot of Chris Farley. 

That and maybe some Melissa McCarthy in the mix, too, with some of their exaggerated vocal stylings.

[Silver-hyren]

Highlight of the show for me was Brandon Gleeson deadpanning that his favorite Irish costar who is 46 years old and has a name beginning with a C was Cillian Murphy. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, cdnalor said:

During the MM sketch, I was waiting for some payoff to having Brendan playing a woman.  I thought he'd turn out to be a fan who grabbed any disguise he could to meet Marilyn.  As it is, it seems as if they couldn't figure out another way to get Brendan in the sketch so they just said "whatever."

As far as I can tell his character could just have been male, unless he and Heidi were supposed to represent specific characters from the movie. Since they didn't make the beard a point of ridicule I didn't mind the absurdity.

The sketch itself didn't do anything for me. Choe's impersonation was not particularly like Marilyn or like Ana de Armas as Marilyn and was therefore dull. The word substitution of flower for whore showed promise but I would probably have layered more and more changes until they had to struggle replace all of the words. 

9 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

It was good for what it was with some highlights and a great episode for the new cast. Excited to see more from Molly now. I loved when they switched languages.

I laughed at Marcello talking about Lorne's advice not to try to get in any sketches. I had been afraid it might be difficult for me to tell the difference between Marcello and Michael but so far they seem sufficiently different. And I hope Molly will appear in a real sketch soon. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

What is "white yoga"? Or is there some significance to being a yoga instructor who's White?

Wasn't Willow Smith just on a few episodes back in the spring? They must really like her at SNL.

Okay, this time I had no idea who the host was. Ditto comments upthread, I'm thinking Colin Farrell should've hosted instead but maybe he couldn't make the time commitment or he's waiting until closer to awards season.

I don't get the whole Try Guys thing either. It seems like a poorly conceived PR stunt to me. The fellas trying not to break during the skit was good though. Even Bowen was getting a little twitchy and he's the one who usually stays solidly in character.

"Pumpkin-scented trash bags." Gotta save that one for future use.

These new cast members getting their WU segments are killing it. Marcello Hernandez was as funny as Michael Longfellow was last week.

Watching someone spurting fake blood is almost as awful to me as someone spewing fake vomit. Ugh.

Quote

Michael Longfellow saying "This week I'm playing Kanye West" to complete audience silence was a great capper to it.

The joke went by me so I spent the entire episode waiting for that moment so I could destroy my TV and set my hair on fire. Darn. 🙄

Quote

Such a weird sketch, just reading hate mail to Marilyn Monroe seemed inherently funny.

It confused me because I thought the big controversy with the movie was that Marilyn wasn't Hispanic/Latina and didn't have a slight Spanish accent. Guess SNL decided to go a different way.

Quote

During the MM sketch, I was waiting for some payoff to having Brendan playing a woman.  I thought he'd turn out to be a fan who grabbed any disguise he could to meet Marilyn.  As it is, it seems as if they couldn't figure out another way to get Brendan in the sketch so they just said "whatever."

I wonder if they chose not to acknowledge it as a way of saying Anna de Armas' accent as Marilyn needn't be commented upon either. Essentially, "it is what it is."

[ljenkins782]

1 hour ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

It confused me because I thought the big controversy with the movie was that Marilyn wasn't Hispanic/Latina and didn't have a slight Spanish accent. Guess SNL decided to go a different way.

I wonder if they chose not to acknowledge it as a way of saying Anna de Armas' accent as Marilyn needn't be commented upon either. Essentially, "it is what it is."

No, the overarching controversy over this movie has nothing to do with Ana de Arma’s heritage or accent, the major outcry has been the way they focused solely on the tragedies in Marilyn’s life and made her seem like a constant victim. And that it goes way over the top in the sexual violence in a way that ventures into fetish territory. The sketch didn’t do a great job capturing the problems with the film, but the “it’s all bad and all negative toward Marilyn” is definitely part of it.

3 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

And maybe some Melissa McCarthy

I thought it was nearly a note-for-note impersonation of Melissa McCarthy, honestly. It was a funny bit, but the resemblance to Melissa McCarthy was distracting to me.

I hadn’t heard of Brendan Gleeson before this, but I enjoyed the episode. I think the photo session one was my favorite and the Try Guys one was really good too.  I liked Miles Teller’s episode too, so the season is off to a good start for me.

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

I did like the Try Guys sketch, but it seemed like the sketch was taking a point of view that it was overblown to fire the guy “just” for having an affair when the reality of the situation is that Ned Fulmer was having an affair with a subordinate while he was supposedly the acting HR director for their company, while his cheated upon spouse was also working for the company, which all seems to be a pretty fireable offense.  So it’s like, I don’t get the fascination with the story, but I also don’t think the guy suffered any unfair consequences, either.

Yeah.  That's the part I didn't like.  Make fun of the fact that the news is covering it?  Sure.  Make fun of the emotion in the video? Point out that he's gone and so the story should be over? Okay.  But I didn't like how they deliberately misstated what happened.  It wasn't just a kiss and it was a subordinate.

The fact is.  It cost them a lot of money.  He could have cost them much more.  And it risks the company because the four guys are the brand so their anger makes more sense to me than other people's anger.  

Choosing to do that left the same distaste in my mouth that the Amber Heard/Johnny Depp skit did last season. 

1 hour ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Wasn't Willow Smith just on a few episodes back in the spring? They must really like her at SNL.

She was Camila Cabello's guest artist.

[possibilities]

I liked this one! And I like all the new cast members. I had no idea who the host was, but he did a good job and I thought he was charming and funny. I actually liked the entire episode, though I do agree that misrepresenting the Try Guy story details was wrong, and that the actually very problematic elements of the Blonde film were not really made clear in the sketch. 

I don't know if there's something wrong with the sound or if my hearing is failing, but I couldn't understand a single word of Willow's singing. This happens to me with a lot of singers, so it's probably me. But then other times I can hear the lyrics just fine, so I don't know.

There was a movie recently about an adult who went back to high school and passed as a teen. Apparently this did actually happen. He lied about his age and life details, but like the guy in the SNL sketch, I still find it astounding that people somehow couldn't tell.

Edited October 9, 2022 by possibilities

[madpsych78]

Chloe's impersonation of Marilyn Monroe felt too much like her impersonation of Britney Spears. 

Someone last week mentioned that Devon Walker looked like Pete Davidson, and I really noticed that resemblance this week. 

I didn't really get the Try Guys sketch, but Ego was very much on point in that sketch as well as playing Black Ariel. 

[peeayebee]

16 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I loved Willow. What a breath of fresh air! 

I FF'd thru her performances. I just wasn't interested. Why do you say she was breath of fresh air? A genuine question.

15 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I loved that whole skit but "If she gets captured over there, she's on her own.  It's actually they but I didn't think it was time for the pronoun conversation" was the part that made me laugh the loudest. 

I really liked that, too. And while I generally liked her whole bit, there was something about it I wish had been done better. Not sure I can put my finger on it.

The Cold Open: I expected to like this more when it was first introduced. The best part was when the host said, ""This week Elon Musk---" and Kenan responded with "ARGH!" and pushed all the glass onto the floor.

I enjoyed Gleeson's mandolin playing interspersed with gentle jokes. 

I have no idea who the Try Guys are or what all that stuff was about. Ego asking questions and getting explanations was helpful, in a sense, but somehow just made me more irritated at the whole story.

The Netflix Blonde sketch was meh. I've heard negative reviews of it, but didn't remember what was negative about it. In any case, the sketch just didn't amount to much. I will say that I kinda appreciated that there was no big deal about Gleeson having a beard but playing a woman. 

The photographer sketch was another meh one. It was sorta cute in places, but there wasn't much there there. I did think Colin Farrell was good and therefore promising as a future SNL host.

I liked the Please Don't Destroy video. Again, nothing special, but it was fine.

I thought WU was very good. I'm not thrilled with the "Biden is old" jokes, but I'm trying to look at them unbiased. But there were some great jokes, like about Herschel Walker raising so much money after the abortion story came out. "Dollars is the only thing Walker IS willing to raise." I also got a big laugh out of the skywriting picture of Queen Elizabeth. And I liked Michael saying about the coffee-with-cops day, Something tells me cops like their coffee black with a couple of shots in it."

I really enjoyed Marcello's WU segment. Well done.

I'm not always a fan of spewing blood being a comedic punchline, but I like it with the History Channel sketch. I mean, there wasn't anything to sketch other than blood spewing, but it worked for me.

Can't say I really liked the final sketch with the google eye transplant. The only comment I have is that Gleeson reminded me of Brian Cox in  Succession.

All in all, it was a so-so ep. I thought Gleeson was fine.

[Dejana]

I thought the Try Giys sketch was lampooning how a manager/employee affair of niche YouTubers became this story that dominated social media for days and got covered by The New York Times/NPR/etc. From the fan reactions and the video of the remaining guys processing their trauma about it all, the uninitiated briefly wondered if the exiled Try Guy murdered someone or committed some other terrible crime.

But no, apparently a boss and subordinate were consensually involved. That was it? A messy workplace situation that happens every day, a fireable offense to be sure, and it sucks for their romantic partners. The extent of fan outrage/anger, the response of the "surviving" coworkers and how viral the story went, that part was baffling to everyone else wondering who the hell the Try Guys even were. Lots of YouTube channels have imploded over internal strife and I don't remember the drama straying so far beyond its own little D-list bubble before now.

This is the video being parodied:

The SNL sketch was in a weird place where viewers who know the story might disagree with their approach to the comedy, while people who hadn't heard of the story figure these "Try Guys" have to be made up and they don't get the joke.

Edited October 9, 2022 by Dejana

[buttersister]

Was there also a large turnover among the writers? Because the suckage is serious.

The new guy in WU has chops. Jost congratulated him. Twice. Warmly. 

[Caseysgirl]

 After watching how seriously and “ heartfelt” this video of the “ Try Guys” were, I now understand why SNL couldn’t have NOT addressed it.And now it seems funny.

[Ms Blue Jay]

It's not true consent if the person is your boss. The consent is compromised.

[Pete Martell]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

The photographer sketch was another meh one. It was sorta cute in places, but there wasn't much there there. I did think Colin Farrell was good and therefore promising as a future SNL host.

Colin hosted back in 2004. They had trouble booking this week, supposedly, which makes me wonder if they wanted Colin to host again, and he either didn't want to or didn't have time, but agreed to pop in a few times. I'm glad he did as Brendan seemed nervous at first and you  could tell how delighted he was by Colin's presence.

[peeayebee]

3 hours ago, madpsych78 said:

Someone last week mentioned that Devon Walker looked like Pete Davidson, and I really noticed that resemblance this week. 

Yes, I really noticed that this time as well. It was uncanny.

[Pete Martell]

The blood oath sketch in this episode was cut from last week's episode. 

I didn't love the tone of the Try Guys sketch, downplaying the severity of what Ned Fulmer did, and if the rumors are true of  Ned  having a friend on the writing staff (I think it's meant to be Will Stephen), I like it even less, but the virulent overreaction from some people out there, going on about how it's invading the Try Guys privacy or how dare SNL mock such serious matters. This all reminds me of how many younger viewers have only seen a very sanitized  SNL..,not to mention how silly it is to expect requests for privacy after that video and the podcast episode afterward. 

As  for the rest of the episode, I enjoyed it, other than the Chloe material, as she does little to nothing for me (give Punkie, who looks upset in the goodnights, a chance instead). I prefer better sketches, but an episodes with no real lows and a steady pace isn't bad either. It felt more like a new era than the premiere did to me. Brendan was an incredibly  likeable and warm host who was clearly game for anything and enjoying himself. I wish the show would have older hosts more often.

[Milburn Stone]

Interesting to know that the only sketch I liked ("Eyes") was a PDD sketch. And that they had nothing to do with all the sketches I hated.

Like you, I noticed that Punkie looked pissed off in the goodnights. The "Blonde" sketch would have been better with her as Marilyn. At least it would have been something other than predictable.

[DEL901]

10 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

It's not true consent if the person is your boss. The consent is compromised.

Agree.  And add to that a big part of Ned’s image was as the devoted family man, his affair had the potential to damaged the Try Guys brand aka earning potential.  

[Ottis]

This whole show was strangely disconnected. Odd and unsure monologue, whatever the "Try Guys" are, Marilyn being a reaction to a movie few have seen, headshots that was basically an actual photo shoot. Even the new cast member video was tedious ... Molly had the best part, but her delivery wasn't manic enough given the assignment. Also, Colin Farrell is turning into Carla's boyfriend, Nick, from Cheers. "Please don't destroy" had an amusing hook, but didn't go anywhere.

Maybe it's because I thought the host was supposed to be Brendan Fraser, until Gleeson walked out. Some sharp jokes on WU, though.

[chediavolo]

Though I have watched this show since it’s inception I think I’m getting too old for it. I don’t find very much of it funny at all. i’ll probably keep watching though and fast forwarding. It’s one thing to be in your teens and watch  obviously ridiculous fairly comedic shall I say idiotic comedy sketches and then to watch them as an adult. There have been some terrific Saturday night live episodes, or even a couple/few skits inside an episode,  but lately , not so much. 

[LennieBriscoe]

Brendan seemed super-nervous to me. Apparently he needed his Support Colin.

I admit to liking the "High School Seniors" skit because I'm an alumna of Penn State! 

Edited October 10, 2022 by LennieBriscoe

[Blakeston]

I didn't find the Marilyn sketch particularly funny, but I completely understand why it was made. The movie Blonde is filled with people calling Marilyn a whore, either literally or figuratively. She even receives an over-the-top slut-shaming letter signed by her father.

Anyway...Brendan Gleeson is a revered actor amongst people familiar with his screen work (and he's very likely to be nominated for an Oscar next year for his new film with Colin Farrell). He has stage experience, too - so I was surprised that he was so awkward and stumbly in his monologue. He was very good at playing characters, though. I guess doing a live comedy monologue as yourself is different from other types of acting.

I think my favorite part of the episode was the 17-year-olds' realization that his age was the explanation for him being comfortable naked around them. That's definitely one of the biggest differences between Boomers and Gen Z!

[Jody]

On 10/9/2022 at 5:51 PM, madpsych78 said:

Chloe's impersonation of Marilyn Monroe felt too much like her impersonation of Britney Spears. 

Someone last week mentioned that Devon Walker looked like Pete Davidson, and I really noticed that resemblance this week. 

I didn't really get the Try Guys sketch, but Ego was very much on point in that sketch as well as playing Black Ariel. 

       NO, I Don't Think Chloe's Britney And Marilyn Monroe Are The Same ! Their Voices Could Be Similar, But, Britney Got Her Personality And Movements And Marilyn Is More Sexy ! ! I Thought Devon Walker Was Black ! !

15 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Interesting to know that the only sketch I liked ("Eyes") was a PDD sketch. And that they had nothing to do with all the sketches I hated.

Like you, I noticed that Punkie looked pissed off in the goodnights. The "Blonde" sketch would have been better with her as Marilyn. At least it would have been something other than predictable.

       Marilyn Monroe IS A Real Person So Punkie Can NOT Be Marilyn Monroe ! ! Marilyn Monroe IS WHITE ! They Should Have Done Some Thing Else Besides Having Fan Mail OR Reading E-MAILs Saying That Marilyn Is A Whore ! 

[Ottis]

3 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

I admit to liking the "High School Seniors" skit because I'm an alumna of Penn State!

Maybe I missed something, please clarify? Because there was a shower scene?

[Ceindreadh]

23 hours ago, madpsych78 said:

I didn't really get the Try Guys sketch, but Ego was very much on point in that sketch as well as playing Black Ariel. 

Don't you mean 'Ariel'?  😁

[cathaireverywhere]

That final sketch has cemented me firmly in the "Sarah Sherman is not for me" camp.  She reminds of Kristin Wiig if she only ever played hyper, dialed to 11 characters.  So much mugging to the camera!