SNL Season 51 Episode 6 Review - Glenn Powell/Olivia Dean

 INTRO: Yes, still a few weeks late, I'll catch up to the new episodes soon enough. I remember this episode being quite strong (perhaps controversially?), but I suppose we'll see as we go through.

COLD OPEN:  White House Press Briefing

- I have to wonder how many of the Gen Z audience drawn in by the likes of Domingo know what C-SPAN even is.

- Ashley's doing a great job leading this cold open as Karoline Leavitt, though that feels kind of obvious.

- This just feels same-old-same-old, as well as Ashley's selling the material.

- And of course James' takes over the cold open.

- Nothing against the guy of course, and he does a great job leading cold opens, but I just cannot find "silly stand-up" Trump funny. I know some do (and these cold opens are regularly the most viewed segments of every episode), but I just don't get excited for these.

- Nothing special here, really.

RATING: 6/10

(Honestly, I would've preferred if this whole cold open was just Ashley's Karoline Leavitt. She was doing a great job leading it, and provided a nice change of pace from Trump every episode.)

MONOLOGUE: Glenn Powell

- Glenn Powell is, quite predictably, immediately coming off charming and likeable.

- A charming showcase of an old video Glenn was in. I love when hosts show off stuff from their childhood.

- I love the little section here with the UPS guy. Strangely, I remember a lot of people being weirdly hostile towards this segment.

- Nothing to write home about in this, but still solid and charming.

RATING: 6/10

SKETCH: AI Photos

- Ashley is doing a good job playing an old woman. 

- Marcello with short hair always terrifies me.

- A funny take on AI and how horrifying it can get. Seems kind of ironic now that SNL's used AI in 4 different segments, but I digress.

- Some solid pantomime from Veronika and Glenn.

- Mikey, on the other hand, makes me feel safe when he has short air.

- Some solid escalation, and I do admit to getting a cheap laugh from Mikey taking off his pants.

- I can't tell if I'm laughing at Ashley's misery or just really uncomfortable with it.

- Solid stuff, and I would probably see it as a better critique of AI if SNL hadn't implemented it so front-and-center in recent episodes. 

RATING: 6.5/10

PRE-TAPE: I Miss My Ex's Dad

- Glad to see Tommy leading a sketch, and he's perfectly cast in this country music parody.

- Ben, on the other hand...

- The reveal of the comedic conceit is fun, and gets me especially because I've seen this exact scenario play out in my life.

- A hilarious look to Glen's character.

- This song is equal parts silly and sweet, which I think the best SNL songs tend to be. (Save for most things Lonely Island.)

- Good dialogue break in the song, and a great opportunity for Glenn to show off his acting chops.

- I won't say much about there not being a cast member to play the daughter of Kenan's character.

RATING: 7.5/10

SKETCH: Sebastian Maniscalco

- I have no clue who the titular comedian is, but I remember Marcello's performance being solid enough to make up for it.

- Funnily enough, there's been a Bachelor Party and a Bachelorette Party sketch within two episodes of each other.

- Marcello's entrance alone is hilarious, and a precursor to the fun physical comedy we'll get from him in this sketch.

- The Twister joke is a great way to jump to the physical comedy, and Marcello is killing it.

- An impressive jump from Marcello! I don't know, that just kind of gets me.

- I could've done without this unnecessary, unfunny Jennifer Coolidge from Chloe. A boring way to end the sketch.

- Overall, THIS is what I assume Marcello will be really going into, now that his "loud = funny" routine has started to wear thin for a lot of people. And I'm ALL for it. 

RATING: 7.5/10

SKETCH: Norwegian Movie

- As the Jane Wickline's Update account on Twitter so elegantly put, "everytime they make Jane blonde, I get scared."

- Wow, that came and went. No notes from me, just such a boring sketch. I couldn't tell you a single thing that happened. Best I can say is, Jeremy absolutely gave my favorite performance of this sketch, which isn't saying much unfortunately.

RATING: 2/10

PRE-TAPE: MacGruber: Epstein Files

- Funny story, this is the only episode of the entire season I didn't watch live. I was fine with it, until I learned that I had in fact missed the return of my favorite recurring character, played by my favorite cast member of all time. Needless to say, MacGruber being back is VERY exciting and something I don't think anyone expected. I thank Glen Powell for asking to make this a reality.

- God, that theme song is just pure joy and adrenaline. Nothing better than having it paired with cheers from the audience.

- Chloe replacing Kristen. Okay.

- Will Forte feels so natural as MacGruber again. God I miss him.

- The Epstein Files is a fantastic concept to center a MacGruber segment on.

- Fantastic bit with MacGruber shredding the files to "hide it as teeny, tiny pieces of paper."

- And the classic explosion. Never have we been so back.

RATING: 8.5/10

SKETCH: Bob Army

- Almost immediately, I could tell this sketch was going to be divisive as hell.

- I won't waste time going through this sketch beat-by-beat. The humor isn't for me, but I know this sketch really worked for other people, and I'm glad it did. I think conversation about this show would be a lot healthier if people could fathom the idea of differing opinions. Anyways, the sketch gets a point bump out of solidarity for those who love this stuff.

RATING: 4/10

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: Olvia Dean, "Man I Need"

- N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE:

- Having recently read Colin Jost's memoir, it's hard not to picture him actively trying not to shit himself during WU.

- These Epstein jokes aren't doing much for me. I saw funnier punches scrolling through Twitter.

- I did just get a laugh from Che's bed sheet joke.

- A good laugh from that honestly dumb edit of Trump, but hey, sometimes dumb stuff like that works.

- Every time Colin tells a bad joke, I think of him saying he only wants to tell jokes he fully believes in.

- Neither a neutral nor positive note, I would like Colin Jost to stop saying 6-7.

- A laugh from Che's penny jokes. A lot of dumb jokes are really working for me, and that's just the kind of person I am.

- That Ghislaine Maxwell joke was killed by an early graphic, unfortunately.

- Really shocked to see an Update with no guests. It made this Update really blur together, but it's a neat novelty I suppose. 

RATING: 5/10

SKETCH: Taken: Airport

- Any time Andrew is made up to look like an older guy, I can't help but laugh.

- This is another "husband gets cucked" sketch, but I am still getting laughs from Andrew's performance. 

- Blegh at that fart noise.

- Good lunge from Andrew, and I feel kind of bad for not laughing much at it.

- Not as good as I remembered it being unfortunately, but still decent.

RATING: 5/10

PRE-TAPE: MacGruber: Epstein Files

- That may be the smoothest timer any bomb has had in one of these sketches?

- Good frustration from Will. I cannot praise this man enough.

- Really good bit with MacGruber adding his assistant's names to the list.

- Holy hell at MacGruber slamming the bomb against the wall to try and make it explode.

- An even better explosion ending than the last.

RATING: 9/10

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: Olivia Dean, "Let Alone The One You Love"

- N/A

SKETCH: Haircut

- I love Ashley's shy walk into frame as she preps herself.

- Also, holy hell at that haircut of course.

- Really good "near-breakdown" performance from Ashley here. 

- This sketch feels so safely "old-school SNL." A single person freaking out, a joke that continues escalating, it's great stuff, and it's what the best of the show tends to be built around.

- Love Mikey's outburst at seeing Ashley's haircut.

- Again, just a fantastic performance from Ashley. She's such a great actress, I can see her comfortably landing movie roles with these chops. First the AI Photos sketch, now this one; it's no mistake that Ashley is the breakout star this season.

- FANTASTIC reveal of "the skin square." I love the skin square.

- This would go on for ages if I listed every single bit I loved. This is such a good sketch.

- A new classic, and another fantastic showcase for Padilla in a sea of fantastic showcases.

RATING: 10/10

PRE-TAPE: MacGruber: Epstein Files

- "Monastery Control Room"

- I always love Will's ability to make you sympathize with absolutely awful characters, like MacGruber.

- Just more great stuff, I could sing this man's praises for days.

- A classic MacGruber turn. I'm so mad I didn't see this live.

- And an even better ending explosion than the previous, with MacGruber's "Deez nuts" getting cut off. God did I miss MacGruber and Will Forte.

RATING: 10/10

OVERALL THOUGHTS: A strong episode, though not as strong as I remember. Still, there's a lot of great stuff here, with only three segments I'd say I solidly disliked. Another promising episode as this season slowly finds its footing more and more, and thankfully I remember the upcoming episode (Melissa McCarthy!) being another step-up. 

As one of ten Jane Wickline fans, this was also (I believe) the least she's shown up in any episode of the season! Unfortunate for me, probably not for anyone else. 

Either way, my review for the three week old episode will be out soon! I'll see you then.

SNL Season 51 Episode 5 Review - NIkki Glaser/sombr

  

INTRO: Our first stand-up of the season! After the strong Miles Teller episode, I was very excited for this episode, hoping it'd continue the climb this cast is making as they find their stride. We'll get to if those expectations were met or not down below. Anyways, apologies for getting this review out very late, especially since I was very late to my Miles Teller review. My bad!

COLD OPEN: Oval Office Press Conference

- It's kind of fun how Dismukes and Marcello both look so... off in this open. They should not be playing the people they are, there's just so much nothing to go off of. I think a current struggle of the current SNL era is that everyone, genuinely, just looks really young. It makes their political sketches seem more like a high school's sketch project.

- Poor Jeremy, being stuck as the fainting guy after a season of little to no airtime. Thankfully, I know he gets to lead a sketch later tonight.

- And here's the expected stand-up monologue from JAJ's Trump. It's fine. It's tired and I'm bored of them, but JAJ's delivery is strong enough for me not to completely check out of it. Okay stuff.

RATING: 5/10

MONOLOGUE: Nikki Glaser

- I am not familiar with Nikki prior to this episode, so I had no clue what to expect from this monologue.

- A lot of, I hesitate to say "edgy", humor from Nikki, and I'm liking this. It's reminding me a lot of Louis C.K's monologue from Season 40. 

- This part specifically, with her nephew wanting to take a shower with her, is definitely reminding me of that monologue, but it's its own weird, twisted, kind of off-putting humor.

- Overall, a good monologue! I know a lot of people were pressed at her for joking about some fairly taboo subjects, but I thought it was fine. It did go on for a good long while though.

RATING: 6/10

SKETCH: Karaoke Night

- I heard people predicting Tommy and Nikki would be paired up tonight, and we're immediately seeing that here.

- And there's the comedic conceit of the sketch. I remember audibly groaning, "Oh, fuck off," when the siblings started singing these romantic, sexually-charged songs.

- Sarah being stuck as the trademarked "Reacting Character" feels almost like an insult. 

- It just goes on and on. This type of sketch humor, where an insane thing happens and only one person sees what's wrong with it, more than often washes over me. I just don't find it funny, especially because it's understated how hard it is to be a good straight man. (I miss Jason Sudeikis so bad.)

- Jesus Christ thankfully it's over. What a god-awful sketch.

RATING: 2/10

(Just don't do this sketch! That's my pitch to fix it. It's just so... I hesitate to say cliche, but it feels so expected. "Siblings sing raunchy song" feels like an idea from 4chan.)

PRE-TAPE: Hudsacillin

- This feels like an idea that should've been done months ago. Not to mention it's a bit too niche.

- I'm liking this commercial, despite how eh I felt about the premise. There's some funny stuff here.

- Good reveal of the medicine just making you so sick you have to cancel the show. A good punch to have in an overall okay commercial.

RATING: 5/10

SKETCH: Beauty and Mr. Beast

- Funnily enough, I remember a joke about Ben and Mr. Beast looking fairly similar going around the day before this episode aired.

- Andrew as an old man is making me laugh, perhaps uninentionally.

- A pretty ugh reveal at the conceit of the sketch, but Ben immediately bought back my favor with his delivery. A perfect imitation of the cadence Mr. Beast sues, without any of Jimmy's usual overly-shouty delivery that probably would've made this sketch just annoying.

- Those are definitely French accents Kenan and Bowen are attempting.

- A good laugh from the reviews of the movie.

- Ultimately, I feel like this sketch did all it really could with this concept, and for what it's worth, it's the best I would expect a very obvious "title came first" sketch to be. 

RATING: 6/10

PRE-TAPE: American Girl Doll XL

- It's giving me a good laugh at how defined these jawlines are.

- I love Dismukes' delivery of his first weird line.

- I'm getting really good laughs at the guy's weird lines about their American Girl dolls. (Seems obvious to say, but you know.)

- Love the sudden take-over from JAJ, just stealing the commercial from Nikki. 

- "Because it's fun, and we're in love." Stand-out line delivery in a commercial filled with amazing line deliveries. 

- Overall, a very strong commercial. Absolutely loved that. 

RATING: 8/10

SKETCH: Mechanical Bull

- Love Jane's outfit here, and it's very obvious her voice was completely shot this episode. (Weirdly, I didn't notice this during my first viewing of this episode.)

- I like Kenan's weirdo character here, even if a bit unnecessary. 

- This sketch takes a sudden, absurd twist and I absolutely LOVE it. I love when SNL does weird stuff like this, and it's a treat when we get it outside of the 10-to-1. 

- Always good to see James to get to do something fun on the show. 

- Not much to add, except to say this is just a LOAD of fun. Reminds me of the comedy music I regularly listen to on YouTube. Whether you want that on your late night sketch show is up to you, but I love this (and it's why I love a certain song in an upcoming episode.)

RATING: 7.5/10

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: sombr, "12 to 12"

- N/A

WEEKEND UPDATE: 

- This Update has been fairly middling so far, as expected for one this season. Still, I always find Update enjoyable even when they are middling. (My brain might just enjoy the sort of rapid-fire "one joke and then another" format it has.)

- Random Pete Davidson cameo. I'm definitely more excited for this than many others.

- Some good stuff from Pete here, but definitely not blowing me away.

- I know people took issue with Pete's joke here about his dad, but at the end of the day, I'm not gonna police this random guy on what he says about his own father.

- Fun, but definitely nothing memorable.

RATING: 5/10

SKETCH: Sorority Meeting

- The premise of this sketch makes me a bit worried for its execution. 

- The performances of everyone, paired with the antics of Mikey's skin mask, are really helping this originally worrying premise.

- I remember that vaping gag not working properly in the live version of this sketch, and thus resulted in a bit of breaking from Mikey.

- A good laugh from Jane's sudden outburst.

- Pretty good ending.

RATING: 7/10

ANIMATED SHORT: Brad and His Dad

- I love the very chill, slice-of-life energy this short has. 

- Absolutely love the very natural dialogue this has, and I can't even begin to recognize Mikey's voice here.

- Not much to say here, but I just really love this! Lots of good vibes and good laughs from this short.

- I know we've gotten at least one sequel sketch as I write this, but I would love to see Brad and His Dad to become a constantly recurring segment. 

RATING: 9/10

SKETCH: Pilot Announcement

- James has a perfect pilot voice.

- I love James' over sharing with the plane.

- Kam's energy is fun, and he's playing off of James well. Unfortunately, as far as I can remember, this is pretty much the last noteworthy thing he's done as of the Josh O'Connor episode. The writing may be on the wall for Kam, as far as his SNL career goes.

- I like the passengers gossiping about James' oversharing, it's got a fun energy to it.

- James' slow unraveling over these texts is really good and really makes me wish the show utilized him to the level they push Ashley. (Ignoring the slog that is the Trump cold opens, of course.)

- Weak end, but what's new.

RATING: 7/10

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: sombr, "Back To Friends"

- N/A

SKETCH: Pinwheel

- I love the look of this sketch alone. Sarah's costume in particular is just evoking a weird nostalgia I didn't know I'd feel for these Winnie-The-Pooh aesthetics.

- It's certainly a choice to cast Mikey and Jeremy together as what are presumably meant to be tethered creatures of some kind, but I'm guessing they paired them for what's coming next in the sketch.

- Speaking of Jeremy, it's nice to see him front-and-center in a sketch. As a fan of his since ~2023, I've been looking forward to him actually doing something on the show.

- Mikey and Jeremy (Jeremy, mostly) are walking that fine line between hilarious and annoying with these characters, and it is absolutely working for me. I also love the slow frustration you can see building in Nikki throughout.

- Bowen's outburst was good, though I remember liking it a lot more when I watched live.

- Holy hell, that long stumbling sentence from Jeremy was delivered with perfection. Easily one of the biggest laughs I've had all season, Jeremy is doing great with this material.

- Overall, a fantastic sketch, and a wonderful showcase for Jeremy. An absolutely stellar cast member with a stellar sketch.

RATING: 9.5/10

OVERALL THOUGHTS:  I liked this way more than I remembered liking it live. Besides a few hiccups, we got some fairly good sketches this time around, and we got a really good showcase for who will hopefully end up being a more prominent player in the coming episodes. 

While I definitely didn't like this as much as many others did (definitely not the strongest of the season), it was still a pretty good episode, and another sign the show is slowly finding its footing. I'll say it over and over until it happens, the show just needs to trim its fat and focus on what's working. Without oversaturating aforementioned "what's working", of course. 

A solid episode. No complaints here! And I know the show continues this fairly-hot streak in the next episode.