INTRO: Going into this episode, I am expecting a lot more sketches pandering to the TikTok/Gen Z crowd, and/or some very oddball sketches, knowing that Sabrina is a big advocate for being silly. Anyways, as always, some sketches will have italicized text beneath where I give unprofessional and unnecessary ideas for how the sketches could've been improved.
COLD OPEN: Domingo
- A non-political cold open, but unfortunately, it's Domingo.
- Same old, same old. I'm bored.
- I at least got a small laugh from this being the "sixth strike" for the wife.
- Absolutely shouldn't have happened. Knowing that the first Domingo sketch got almost no laughs during dress, I like to imagine Lorne specifically just really gets a kick out of these sketches. Unfortunately, I do not.
RATING: 2/10
(My enjoyment would've been improved greatly if Domingo had been shot at the end. Credit to a Twitter user for that idea.)
MONOLOGUE: Sabrina Carpenter
- An okay joke about the album cover "controversy".
- We get a photo of Bowen here, who wasn't actually in the building tonight due as he was busy accepting the Vantage Award as an Academy Museum Gala honoree in Los Angeles.
- I was worried the entire monologue was going to go the direction of "host says they're not ___ but then reveals they are!" but thankfully it didn't.
- Very meh at Sabrina's interactions with the audience.
- A good Kenan walk-on, even if the last joke fell a bit flat.
RATING: 5/10
SKETCH: Boys Podcast
- A very meh premise, even being familiar with the exact podcast they're parodying
- The material is actually fairly fun, and it's weirding me out how well-replicated this dialogue is.
- Random, unnecessary appearance from JAJ's Trump.
- Trump absolutely killed this fairly fun sketch, unfortunately. Still, I won't knock the fun performances given here.
RATING: 4/10
(No Trump! Simple as that.)
PRE-TAPE: Plans
- A very fun atmosphere to this sketch.
- A good reveal of the scary text, and wonderful escalation.
- A particularly good, relatable laugh at the "the video's ELEVEN MINUTES?" line.
- Ben's giving a really good performance here.
- Yeah, this was great. Some really good, Blumhouse-esque editing here that really nailed the modern horror vibe.
RATING: 7.5/10
SKETCH: ShopTV: Pillow
- Really good bit with the Jesus Halloween basket.
- An iffy premise with the pillow Sabrina's character is presenting being a vagina.
- I think they're really making this work, with Mikey and Ashley reactions absolutely killing me throughout this sketch.
- I find it weirdly charming they're trying to prevent Sabrina's character from realizing what's wrong with the pillow.
- Funny call-in from Kenan, especially the part where he's still on the line after Mikey asked the line to be cut.
- A sketch that worked despite it's kind of shaky premise!
RATING: 6/10
SKETCH: Girlboss Seminar
- We sure are seeing the same two women paired together in sketches. I get they have Chloe as their "veteran" and Ashley as the real stand-out, but it'd be nice to give Veronika and Sarah a bit more to do.
- A good laugh from Jeremy and Brennan twirling around a ragdoll.
- Good turn with Sabrina having a concussion and continuing her presentation with non-sensical buzzwords conjoined together.
- Good laugh from Kenan's goofy delivery, and what I thought for a second was a gaffe when Sabrina's ragdoll slammed into the wall.
- A genuine gaffe when Jeremy's ragdoll stayed hanging on the window, and Kenan had to softly push it out of the way.
- Good fainting from Sabrina at the end.
RATING: 5/10
PRE-TAPE: Grind Song
- I do really like the vibes of this music video already.
- A fun reveal that the kids are just getting ready to grind at the school dance.
- Not much to say, but this is a good pre-tape with some solid performances.
- I like Kenan's small verse, as well as the cut to how the dance is actually going---very awkwardly.
- Jeremy: "I think I'm in love with you." Jane: "Oh, no thank you." Good delivery from Jane there.
RATING: 7.5/10
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: Sabrina Carpenter, "Manchild."
RATING: N/A
WEEKEND UPDATE:
- Ah, another joke calling Colin a racist.
- Movie Guy! Not the biggest fan of these repetitive jokes, but again, Marcello's infectious energy really makes me smile and laugh anyways.
- I did get a cheap laugh from the admittedly basic, "I Know What You Did Last Summer?" "Do you?"
- Tommy Brennan at the desk, and his first real showcase!
- I can tell Tommy's a bit nervous, but he's really picking up.
- Some solid jokes from Tommy.
- A good, if a bit predictable, joke about the Catholic priest pleasuring himself during their confessional.
- A good showcase from Tommy! Excited to see what he'll do in the future.
RATING: 5/10
SKETCH: Appliance Store
- Good laugh at the start.
- So, fun concept, and the singing is great, but there's nothing actually... funny happening here.
- Yeah, this all has a nice, fun atmosphere, but it's like they forget there needed to be some jokes thrown in here. Unless the only joke is them being bad washing machines/dryers.
RATING: 3/10
SKETCH: Surprise
- My actual reaction about twenty seconds into this sketch: "Oh. That's the joke."
- The absurdly long hold on Ashley's reaction was hilarious, and made the fart humor a tiny bit worth it.
- The joke about Ashley being angry everyone else has been promoted but her is funny, and is the only thing keeping this sketch alive.
- More fart humor.
- Jeremy's walk-on gave me real Bobby Moynihan vibes.
- The cut to the explosion didn't really work. It honestly might've been funnier than trying to do the fake-out subversion.
RATING: 2/10
PRE-TAPE: Social Experiment
- Martin out of nowhere! Apparently this sketch got cut from dress previously, so I'm glad to see it here.
- A very fun concept with the audience being full of Frankenstein's monsters.
- Some good back-and-forth between Jane and Martin.
- Funny turn with a previously sleeping Frankenstein's monster actually being dead.
- Good turn with Kam really vibing with the Frankenstein's monsters. It gets even funnier when it's revealed Kam has no idea who Frankenstein's monster is.
- Overall, this sketch gave me huge Nathan Fielder vibes, and I absolutely loved it. Absolutely the best sketch of the night for me. I hope we get more Martin pre-tapes.
RATING: 9/10
OVERALL THOUGHTS: A fairly 50/50 episode. Some great highs and some fairly low lows. Still, very strong pre-tapes and a couple good sketches, it's about what I'd want from a good episode of SNL. Sabrina was a really fun host, and I'd love to see her back again once the writer's room has a bit more cohesion between them all.
We had some good showcases tonight. Tommy's debut showcase really worked for me (much better than Kam's did, though even he had a good showcase in the last pre-tape) and I'm excited to see what he does. Jeremy was relegated to dancing and a small walk-on, but just those were brilliant. As I'll say over and over again, he's giving me strong Bobby Moynihan vibes as to where he'll fall into on the show. And Jane didn't really have an weak points tonight---she worked in the podcast sketch, she gave me the biggest laugh in Grind Song, and she even had some really solid back-and-forth with Martin in his pre-tape. All around, a solid night for her.
And, of course, Ashley. She is doing much more work than one would expect from a featured player, and she's absolutely killing it. We're witnessing a star in the making.
On November 1st, we have Miles Teller and Brandi Carlile! See you then.
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