We march on in Season 51 with actor Josh O’Connor hosting Saturday Night Live alongside musical guest Lily Allen.
The show featured 10 sketches, and two Weekend Update guest spots. Here is a sketch-by-sketch, minute-by-minute rundown of the episode, which was the 996th episode of SNL.
Cold Open
We open episode 8 with James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump on Air Force One. First, he creepily fawns over his press secretary, played by Ashley Padilla. Several cast members pepper Trump with questions before Padilla (and JAJ sort of) deliver the “Live from New…” line as the camera focuses on Padilla’s lips..
JAJ’s portrayal of Trump ha snow become a “funny, absent-minded old uncle or grampa” bit. It really has no thread to real life, and no real hook. I get it: the show feels it has to trot JAJ/Trump out during the cold open to be relevant. But, it’s hardly funny, and not satirical, critical, or thought -provoking.
Did Lily Allen and SNL use AI?
It’s been pointed out that SNL used AI for the cold open on the Dec. 13 episode. The cold open was titled “Air Force One,” and began with an animated sequence that used artificial intelligence. Later, it seems Saturday Night Live used at least one AI-generated graphic during Weekend Update.
Some fans online are livid over the use of AI. Tell us what you think in the comments below.
Monologue
Host Josh O’Connor quickly delivered a throwaway monologue where he mostly mentioned that he resembles a character from Ratatouille.
Sketch: Let’s Find Love
Kenan Thompson as “Garth Vader,” host of “Let’s Find Love.” Yes, it seems the writers are now fully committed to goofy names for characters in sketches.
Chloe Fineman, Viktoria Slowikowska, and Ashley are contestants trying to win over O’Connor. Padilla’s character is a surprisingly vibrant and pesky 84-year old on a scooter.
This is a showcase for Padilla, who is fantastic at character-building. The writing is not as strong as her acting, but this sketch still works. Padilla gives off strong Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig vibes here.
Sketch: Uber Eats Wrap
A pre-tape that centers on the trend of apps to “wrap” up your year (like Spotify Wrap). Instead, here we get “Uber Eats Wrap,” which shows you how terribly you ate (and over-ate) in the last 12 months.
Most clever part is Uber Eats Age. Nice.
This is the only portion of the show where we see Kam Patterson, but only briefly.
Sketch: Teaching Hospital with Dr. Please
Andrew Dismukes as a patient at a teaching hospital where eccentric physician Dr. Please (Bowen Yang) guides an intern (O’Connor), as they deliver unusual news. Padilla is a nurse.
This sketch is reminiscent of the Dr. Beaman sketches featuring Will Ferrell during his stint on SNL. It’s bizarre. Except this one has two kisses between O’Connor and Yang.
Sketch: Bachelorette Weekend
Padilla as a bachelorette with her gal pals on a bachelorette weekend. O’Connor and Ben Marshall arrive as beanie-wearing male entertainers. Soon we realize they’re “sensitive male strippers.”
The pair ask for consent to enter the room, strip only to reveal a new layer of cardigans. They toy with kissing one another, and rip off their jeans to reveal … more jeans. The lap dances are long, awkward hugs, which prompt the men to cry.
“I’m sorry, I was just thinking about the supreme court,” Marshall says as he cuddles with Sherman.
When the bachelor arrives, O’Connor and Marshall pummel him, culminating in a kiss between Marshall and O’Connor.
This is probably the best sketch of the season. Not the funniest, not the best executed. But the best written and best premise.
Apparently everyone gets to make out with the host this week.
Other cast members are Jane Wickline, Sarah Sherman, Veronika, Chloe, and Mikey Day.
Musical Guest: Lily Allen
Back for her second appearance as musical guest, Lily Allen was in Studio 8H. She was there. She performed two musical numbers. We can definitely say that without a doubt.
Was she entertaining? Well, it didn’t land here. It frankly seemed like something you’d hear and see from a middle school talent show. Allen was off-key, and seemed confused over her lyrics a few times. Her stilted delivery is part of her thing, but boy is it dreadful here on a big stage.
SNL placed her in a set sort of like Sabrina Carpenter from her Season 51 episode: Allen is in a bedroom, in a negligee. But, Carpenter pulled it off better in every way.
Allen’s second number is a quasi-narrative that includes a side character (revealed as Dakota Johnson) playing the role of Allen’s character in the song. Of course they kiss at the end.
This felt like a horrible real-life music video. It might be one of the 10 worst musical performances in show history.
Allen’s two songs and the strange low-quality of her musical performance has to rank among the worst SNL musical guests in many, many years.
Music Grade: D-
Weekend Update
We got 13 minutes of Weekend Update, and it may have been the strongest of the season.
Marcello Hernandez Holiday Report
An excellent few minutes of Marcello sharing his thoughts on Christmas. This might be the best non-character appearance on WU by Hernandez in his tenure on SNL. Some great stuff here, including when Marcello shares that if Home Alone had happened in his home, the movie would have been over as soon as he complained to his mom in the opening scene.
Jane Wickline
Jane shares a song titled “The Greatest Threat to Humanity Right Now,” with her organ. While we expect her to discuss the dangers of AI or global warming, instead Wickline explains that the child actors of Stranger Things need to be stopped.
It seems Jane is gaining steam and acquiring confidence on the show. This is her strongest Update song, and there are many hilarious lines in this bit. There was a time when sending Wickline out to follow Marcello would have seemed cruel. But, Jane upstaged everyone on Update with this song and her “attack” on the Stranger Things kids. This felt like a Bill Murray piece: pop culture, mock horror, and a confident, smirking delivery that says “I can handle this spotlight.”
Sketch: Wizard of Oz Deleted Footage
Here’s our first Wizard of Oz sketch in a number of years, and welcome back. We get Sherman as Dorothy, Kenan as the Lion, O’Connor as Tin Man, Dismukes as the Scarecrow.
But Yang steals the sketch as the Wizard, who bullies the quartet, especially Scarecrow, who wants the Wizard to make him well-endowed.
Kenan is weak here, Bowne is difficult to understand (due to the voice effects), though funny at times, and the “joke” is not even worthy of a 13-year old boy.
Sketch: Brad and his Dad
Another episode of this animated series from Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell. This time Brad and his divorced Dad buy a Christmas tree, and make Christmas plans.
We like this segment, want more. This definitely has the makings of a full half-hour series. The pacing, the voices, the humor, everything is sold here.
Sketch: Simon the Boy Genius
Simon is a 12-year old “boy genius” college student (played by Yang) who lives with his mom in the dorms. We get a sketch with his friends, where he’s continually interrupted by his overbearing mother, whom he calls “Heather!”
This had the makings of a sketch that could have been closer to the top of the show. But it’s mostly one-note. Would have liked to see Simon and his Mom ramp up to the 1000% rage gradually, rather than going all-out on Padilla’s first appearance. Still, a nice sketch, stronger than most last-half sketches in Season 51.
We also see Padilla (as Mom), Fineman, Marshall, Sherman, Slowikowska, and O’Connor.
This is a much-weaker version of Adam Grossman.
Sketch: Characters on Characters
The entire ensemble and O’Connor give us several iconic holiday characters in a Variety-style serious interview setting.
Scrooge (JAJ) and the Grinch (Day) talk about acting “process,” where Grich admits he’s dying to work with “Charlie” Dickens.
Kenan is Little Drummer Boy (now “Drum Daddy”) on-screen with Tiny Tim (Hernandez).
A quick pre-tape(?) that falls short of other segments like this, such as “lost auditions of Star Wars” etc.
10-to-1 Sketch: Lily Allen Fans
O’Connor, Veronika, Jane, Chloe, Sherman, and Bowen at a restaurant. Quickly it’s established that they share an admiration for the music of Lily Allen. Each in turn performs dialogue in the sing-songy, talky, stilted, style of musical guest Allen.
After being subjected to two of Allen’s music performances, this felt like punishment before we all had to go to bed.
Episode Grade: C+
A better than average SNL episode. It was dragged down quite by Allen’s music. We also would’ve liked to have seen a few of the sketches more well-developed. It feels like the strain of a 17-person cast has the writers creating sketches that wrap up fast. Or maybe Michaels is cramming sketches into the show. We’d like a few more minutes of the best sketches.
It was a shutout for Kam Patterson (other than a brief appearance in a pre-tape), and we rarely saw Tommy Brennan and Jeremy Culhane this week.
