SNL in Review readers, citizens of Conehead nation — systems activated and engage! We’re back in lovely Studio 8H for a stretch of three episodes. Tonight will be hosted by Mikey Madison, who recently won an Academy Award for her work in Anora, which was crowned Best Picture. Viewers may also recognize her from the FX dramedy Better Things, one of the latest Scream entries, or her turn as one of the Manson girls in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Tonight’s musical guest is Morgan Wallen — a somewhat controversial choice who first appeared back in 2020. SNL50 shenanigans aside, the show has enjoyed a relatively decent creative break with only two regular season episodes since the end of January. Let’s see what our hopefully recharged creative masters have in store; I suspect the recent Trump White House snafu including Signalgate will inform a fair amount of the comedy.
Mikey Madison joins Ego Nwodim and Sarah Sherman as high school girls gossiping in a Signal group chat. Suddenly, Jennabell and her friends are joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (Andrew Dismukes). He continues their chatty cadence, sharing and speaking in emojis as he shares national secrets. He invites Vice President JD Vance (Bowen Yang), who continues the inappropriate conversation via Greenland. He notes his work there is mysterious but important.
“Rubio in the house!” hollers Marcello Hernández (to applause!) This was a cute if obvious concept, given the national security uproar this week. Fun to see the host appear in the cold open. And Dismukes is good in this role.
Madison notes that she has a relaxed vibe in real life. Yet, in the movies, she’s been set on fire twice and experienced several violent ends.
She talks about her background as a “horse girl,” which is a nerd but with long hair, showing a cute pic from Halloween growing up. There’s also a nice moment where she asks the audience to guess who in a lineup is her twin brother: “If you guessed the one who looks like Ron Weasley on testosterone, you win.” There’s a goofy cutaway to whether she’s actually the person in Anora doing her pole stunts and… that’s it. Pretty low concept.
A commercial acting teacher (Hernández) gives some unconventional acting tips to students in his class. This is a sequel to a sketch from November. The show continues trying to make Hernández happen. He’s loud. “It’s a shoe ad, not a you ad!” he screams at two students practicing their Nike script lines.
Viral greek yogurt! Pizza! Armed with Euro accents and a funky beat, people go through the realities of standing in line for popular food. Does it live up to the hype? Joe Jonas cameos.
A no-nonsense judge (Nwodim) cautions prospective jurors that work will not be an excuse for getting out of serving. She meets a number of kooky participants! The cast gets to play weirdos — Emil Wakim returns as Luigi Mangione. Hernández screams again while wearing a shiny blue jumpsuit similar to one Benson Boone donned for the Grammys. SNL‘s Chloe Fineman demonstrates her pedestrian Parker Posey in White Lotus impression. Is this really the best way that the popular Max series is being approached? Lame.
It’s college spring break and a couple (Fineman and Hernández) has a meaningful heart-to-heart about marriage and growing up — that’s in the foreground. In the background? Oh boy, wacky antics, including vomiting and other goofy altercations!
Two years ago, Jenna Ortega tried to have a serious conversation outside of a chaotic Waffle House — this is the same premise. Meh.
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In January, this was released as the fourth single from Wallen’s fourth studio album of the same title. It’s dark, catchy.
Colin Jost goes full Signalgate, while Michael Che makes a brutal Only Fans joke! The dystopia continues — complete with Diddy and Veep references.
Rise and grind! Speaking of dystopia, Devon Walker comes out to describe his intense TikTok-influenced 3 a.m. wake-up regime. There’s a nice callback to Jay Pharoah here, and a Colin Jost cameo. (Side note: Does Lorne Michaels not do true onscreen cameos anymore?) The TikTok spoofs here are spot on, pretty funny.
A brief “Hear Me Out” segment is next, where Jost tackles Paddington: “Hear me out, Paddington’s a toxic bitch. He’s an illegal immigrant freeloading off a nice, gullible white family.”
JoAnn Fabrics is filing for bankruptcy. JoAnn (Ashley Padilla) is there to comment on the chain’s various bona fides. It’s a sanctuary to women who wear pants to the beach! Jost mentions Michael’s, which triggers JoAnn. “Know what ruined us? Feminism,” she says, sniffing glue. Meh.
I recently spoke with Rich Hall before a show at the Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va. He was on SNL when Update was actually known as “Saturday Night News” and was being anchored by Christopher Guest. Hall specialized in the offbeat commentator characters during his time — quirky stuff like Robert Latta. “It seemed to me the secret to Weekend Update was that you had the most room for f—ing up and cracking up Chris Guest,” he says. In other words, you had the least chance of getting your material cut, as opposed to sketch writing. (Hall credits Dennis Miller for revolutionizing the Update segment.)
Andrew Dismukes is a Godfather-type gangster, full of regrets. He’s out with his two goon sons (James Austin Johnson and Marcello Hernández) , when he gets lit up in a sea of bullets. Laying there dying, he laments he will not see his grandkids grow up. Another regret? He never got to try stand-up comedy. Classic Dismukes, he starts trying out hackneyed material about bus signs and birds. He has a catchphrase: “Make that make sense!” Meh, another dud.
Way too much Hernández tonight.
The recently released single “Just in Case” is a heartfelt song about clinging to the hope of rekindling a past relationship that didn’t work out. Reluctant to move on with someone new, Wallen has no interest in taking things to the next level with anyone else, longing to return to an old flame.
