Tonight in Studio 8H, the show that’s launched the careers of many of the greatest comedians of the last five decades celebrated a milestone.
Saturday Night Live aired its 1,000th episode tonight, with host Alexander Skarsgård welcoming Cardi B as the musical performer. It was the third appearance for Cardi B on SNL.
SNL did very little to celebrate #1,000. But the charming and funny Skarsgård did a superb job in what we rate as the second-best episode of Season 51.
Cold Open
Former cast member Pete Davidson appeared as Tom Homan, the U.S. “border czar,” meeting with agents in Minneapolis for a “reset” of their mission. In the course of explaining how ICE should be more cautious while rounding up illegal aliens, Homan is confronted with agents who are clearly untrained, ignorant, and bent toward use of force.
The cold open seems to be an effort to confront the criticism aimed at SNL last week when it soft-coated the death of an American citizen during peaceful protests in Minneapolis.
Monologue: Alexander Skarsgård
Skarsgård made a quick mention of the 1,000th episode milestone, then went into a bit where he interviews members of the band. It didn’t go very smoothly (a line got missed and the coordination of the “fake” sax with the real off-screen sax was way off), but it was a workable monologue.
Sketch #1: Changing My Mind About Trump
Ashley Padilla is Mom, with Jane Wickline, Andrew Dismukes, Sarah Sherman, and Tommy Brennan as the teenage kids in a family bracing for shocking news:
Padilla informs her family she’s changed her mind and thinks Trump “may be bad for the country.”
Padilla shines brilliantly her. It’s a perfect stage for her unmatched ability with comic acting and the outrageous.
Best non-Ashley line of the sketch:
“She gets a different internet than you,” says Skarsgård as the father.
A slight ding for this excellent opening sketch due to Sarah Sherman’s smirky, character-breaking line delivery. It’s basically expected now that Sarah will draw attention to herself whenever she has a line. She’s Jimmy Fallon with curls and loud shirts.
Olympics Preview
Wickline, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernandez, Sherman, Mikey Day, and Skarsgård in a pretape for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Jane is at the center of this sketch: she plays Gertie, a reluctant and nervous luge athlete, who is convinced it doesn’t take any skill to perform her sport, and tries to come up with excuses not to go to Milan.
Jane looks cool and confident in this sketch. She’s perfect for this weird little character. It’s the funniest I’ve ever seen Wickline in her 30+ episodes in the cast. Who would have thought Jane would grow into a stronger force on SNL in Season 51 than Marcello Hernandez?
Norwegian Cinema Returns
Skarsgård and Fineman as the lead actors in a Scandinavian movie. Day returns as the director for this sketch, which we’ve seen twice before.
Jane returns as the clapperboard girl, and kills it again. Within the first 20 minutes of this episode, Jane has done probably three of the four funniest things she’s ever done in her two years on the show.
In the third scene of the sketch Stellan Skarsgård appears as his own real-life son’s father.
Skarsgård is a natural comic player, as he shows in this sketch again following a subdued but funny part in the opening sketch.
Immigrant Dad Talk Show #2
Hernandez back for another run at this sketch as a Latino father. Skarsgård is his European immigrant neighbor. Mikey Day plays another father in the neighborhood, Kevin, who thinks he’s helping by wearing a t-shirt that reads “Melt That ICE.”
Dismukes appears as Day’s overly affectionate son, who likes to kiss his father on the lips. A moment later, Stellan Skarsgård makes another appearance. But that wasn’t the most notable cameo: that came when Cardi B exploded into the sketch as Marcello’s domineering wife.
The Clique
Most of the cast appear in a pretape of medieval group of warriors. Skarsgård is a member of the marauding group who is feeling left out. The band discuss their feelings and navigate vulnerability and group dynamics while slaughtering Christian monks.
Special kudos to James Austin Johnson and Jeremy Culhane for their parts in this solid pretape, which seems very much like something you may have seen in Seasons 2-3 with the original cast, in the days of “Medieval Barber” etc.
Musical Performace: Cardi B
You are always guaranteed a professional, energetic performance from Cardi B. She looks very colorful here in a great number.
Weekend Update
Sarah Sherman appeared as a weather correspondent outside of Rockefeller Center. Basically an excuse for the writing staff to run out a bunch of jokes about nipples and vaginas. We get a quick appearance by former 30 Rock cast member Jack McBrayer.
Padilla and Dismukes appear as Two People Who Just Hooked Up, previewing the Super Bowl. Once again we get very heavy sexual tension between them. These are the only two cast members who could pull this segment off, and it works well again.
We got another joke where Michael Che compares Colin Jost to a Nazi, or something like that. Which has never been funny, and still isn’t.
Update ran for 14 minutes.
Agnes the New Girl
Skarsgård is a tall, gangly, awkward new girl named Agnes desperately hoping to make friends after her family moved into the neighborhood. Padilla appears as her mother.
Wickline, Viktoria Slowikowska, Sherman, and Fineman are neighborhood girls who are amazed that Agnes doesn’t know any pop culture references. Eventually, Agnes loses her temper, and aims her frustration at Sherman’s character, who is thrown through the window several times.
Cardi B #2
Another great number from Cardi B, who shows off every curve in a revealing, skin-tight outfit.
Tarzan Needs Some Space
Skarsgard as Tarzan, and Sherman as Jane. In this well-written sketch, Tarzan breaks up with Jane, citing several red flags.
Would rather have seen Fineman or Padilla as Jane. Once again (shocker) Sarah breaks character.
We see Kenan Thompson for the first time tonight in this sketch, in a quick walk-on role.
Ski Lodge
Sarah is a woman who has invited her new boyfriend, played by Skarsgard, to a friend’s ski weekend. The friends think he’s funny, but they learn he’s been using Cards Against Humanity cards to feed himself jokes all weekend.
This is a fairly forgettable sketch premise, but Skarsgard’s total commitment here is fantastic. There have been entire episodes in Season 51 where the host hasn’t given as much in any part of the show as Skarsgard does in this 10-to-1 sketch.
Episode Grade: B
There wasn’t a dud sketch in the entire lineup. That’s a first for Season 51. There also wasn’t an A-sketch in the bunch, but there were a lot of B’s. Plus the musical guest delivered, as Cardi Ba always does.
Connor Storie has been announced as host of the next live episode in February.
