It won’t come as a shock to anyone that I really enjoyed Brendan Gleeson hosting SNL. Even the small things he does are downright wonderful. Coming off a very strong hosting stint by Miles Teller, Gleeson managed to carry even more comedy water than the young feller did. That said, the writing took a bit of a hit this episode and many sketches were saved by the fact that Gleeson is a living legend. Big featured debuts from Molly Kearney and Marcello Hernandez also helped the overall episode.
A word on Laughstatting:
Everyone has a different sense of humor, so the things that I laugh at will most likely not be the exact same things you laugh at. The goal of this exercise is not to convince anyone, but to say “here’s what worked for me” and hopefully, if our tastes are similar enough, maybe it worked for you too and the overall stats for the season will have some value.
It also strangely works if you have polar opposite taste to me, because you’ll now the episodes that were a hit for me might not land with you. I try to be very generous with my rankings in the hopes that eventually a more clear picture of the cast and season will shape itself and contribute to some additional insight. I’m sure I’m not the first person to do it, and I realize it might have the vibe of the poetry ratings that Robin Williams tore out of the book at the beginning of Dead Poet’s Society, but hopefully in trying to quantify the data a little bit, the benefits outweigh the obvious comparison.
Also, out of it come charts, and people LOVE charts.
So You Think You Won’t Snap Cold Open
Concept: Familiar
Execution: Middling
s – Bowen Yang:: “Stabbing is back”
s – Bowen Yang: “Morgan Freegirl”
s – Bowen Yang: “white yoga teacher”
s – Bowen Yang: “need a sip of that wine?”
s – Bowen Yang: “pickleball curious”
S – Bowen Yang: “you can hit her”
s – Kenan Thompson: entrance as Dale
S – Kenan Thompson: “god bless america”
L – Kenan Thompson: “Daaaahhh”
s – Bowen Yang: “cuties”
S – Bowen Yang: “the orange M&M has anxiety”
s – Devon Walker: “can I get a new topic?”
s – Bowen Yang: “we’ll show an 80 year old man an episode of Euphoria”
Monologue
s – Brendan Gleeson: “I’m that fella you’ve seen in that thing”
s – Brendan Glesson: “I think it’s great”
S – Brendan Gleeson starts playing mandolin
S – Brendan Glesson: “I’m not going anywhere near the shade”
s – Brendan Glesson: “especially the kids with glasses”
s – Brendan Gleeson: “weird and wonderful”
s – Brendan Gleeson: “the story’s not too far from the truth”
S – Colin Farrell: “I was on my way from the mustache shop”
l – Brendan Gleeson: “Paddington Bear.”
S – Brendan Gleeson: & Colin Farrell hugging
Try Guys
Concept: Well trodden
Execution: Excellent
S – Brendan Gleeson: “I’m getting breaking news that the Try Guys…”
s – Brendan Gleeson: “clapping back”
l – Brendan Gleeson: “the wife guy try guy”
l – Brendan Gleeson: “he disrespected the brand”
L – Brendan Gleeson: “first off Eugene, Zach, Keith: it’s an honor”
l – Brendan Gleeson: “power dynamics, Laura. He’s a try guy and she’s a food baby.”
l – Bowen Yang: “we hope he’s somewhere on his back with a bullet in his brain”
S – Mikey Day: breaking
L – Brendan Gleeson: “No.”
L – Brendan Gleeson: “You idiot.”
S – Andrew Dismukes: “Cut back to us!”
S – Ego Nwodim: “No!”
s – Ego Nwodim: “No, it’s not.”
l – Mikey Day: breaking again
l – Andrew Dismukes: “No, stay with us!”
S – Brendan Gleeson: “Thank you fore your bravery, Try Guys.”
S – Ego Nwodim: “I’m gonna go see what ketamine is all about.”
New Cast Advice
Concept: Solid as a rock
Execution: Excellent
S – Molly Kearney: “He gives me this gun.”
L – Molly Kearney: “I’m like US?”
s – Molly Kearney: “awwww do I tell my agents about this?”
L – Molly Kearney: “I’m thinkin packed with WHAT?”
s – Molly Kearney: “Is Kelly Ripa gonna pay for my funeral?”
S – Devon Walker: “If we ever see Molly again.”
S – Molly Kearney: “If she gets captured over there she’s on her own”
s – Molly Kearney: “it didn’t seem like the right moment for the pronoun talk”
s – Michael Longfellow: “Don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself.”
l – Molly Kearney: “Is this the Panama Canal?”
s – Marcello Hernandez: “or an ID so you can get inside the building.”
S – Kenan Thompson: “Now I got a taste for it.”
Blonde
Concept: Feather light
Execution: Above Average
S – Brendan Gleeson reveal
l – Heidi Gardner: “Marilyn, you are a whore.”
s – Heidi Gardner: “Not a fan.”
S – Heidi Gardner: “You dumb baboon.”
l – Brendan Gleeson: “Yeah.”
L – Brendan Gleeson: “Marilyn, you are a whore.”
s – Heidi Gardner flower stuff
s – Heidi Gardner: “Not a fan.”
Headshots
Concept: Moderately backbone-free riffing
Execution: Physically great, otherwise just okay
s – Brendan Gleeson: “Oh I don’t know”
S – Andrew Dismukes: “You can move your huge ass.”
s – Brendan Gleeson smiling
l – Brendan Gleeson silly one
s – Andrew Dismukes: “That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
S – Andrew Dismukes: “Sounds like you’re jealous that your boyfriend is the real star.”
s – Andrew Dismukes: “How about you write a book about the time I saw your grandpa for the first time.”
l – Michael Longfellow: “That’s a lie.”
s – Andrew Dismukes: “Silence!”
Please Don’t Destroy – Tommy
Concept: Nostalgic and sharp witted
Execution: Note perfect
S – Brendan Gleeson reveal
L – Brendan Gleeson: “I’m 67.”
S – Ben Marshall: “Your name is Tommy ‘Pork Chop’ Puggiano.”
l – Brendan Gleeson: “bye bye”
l – Brendan Gleeson: “Those were blood thinners.”
L – Brendan Gleeson: “That’s just the way old fellahs are!”
S – Brendan Gleeson: “I have 13 kids.”
s – Brendan Gleeson: “Staying with your mother every night.”
s – Brendan Gleeson: “Giving her massages.”
S – John Higgins: “Hmmm?”
S – Brendan Gleeson: “Sleeping in her bed.”
S – Brendan Gleeson fist pump on: “epic senior year”
S – Brendan Gleeson: “not when we finally run this school.”
l – Brendan Gleeson: “I feel infinite.”
Weekend Update
s – Colin Jost: “Seen here showing how many minutes he’s lived in Pennsylvania”
S – Michael Che: “dollars are the only thing Walker is willing to raise.”
S – Colin Jost: “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Ron Desantis”
S – Michael Che: “Black guys!”
s – Michael Che: “Cops like their coffee black with a couple of shots in it.”
s – Ego Nwodim: “I don’t call you white Colin to your face.”
s – Ego Nwodim: “we had money money”
S – Ego Nwodim: “I’m dumb too Colin…yeah sad”
s – Ego Nwodim: “Like stupid stupid.”
s – Ego Nwodim: “Did the BP oil spill.”
s – Marcelo Hernandez: “So obviously they’re divorced.”
S – Marcelo Hernandez: “Or a guy they call Papi and no one knows why.”
s – Colin Jost: “I’d rather not say.”
s – Marcelo Hernandez: “to a different dimension.”
l – Marcelo Hernandez white guy getting an accent
s – Marcelo Hernandez: “even the white guys in the crowd are”
s – Marcelo Hernandez: “he pulls a chain outta nowhere.”
s – Marcelo Hernandez: “he tells the pitcher to relax.”
S – Marcelo Hernandez: “do you feel that, Colin?”
l – Marcelo Hernandez: “everyone in the crowd is pregnant by the time he’s done batting.”
s – Marcelo Hernandez: “we had a game plan and we executed it.”
L – Marcelo Hernandez: “Don’t do that Colin, I don’t like that.”
L – Marcelo Hernandez: “Man, I love Miami, man.”
Blood Oath
Concept: Python-esque blood gag
Execution: Shoulder Shrug
s – Brendan Gleeson: “sharp knife”
L – Brendan Gleeson: “really cut myself good there.”
s – Brendan Gleeson: “it’s not a cut it’s a gash.”
S – Brendan Gleeson: “my horseman shall strike along this ridge.”
s – Kenan Thompson: “Ligament.”
s – Mikey Day: “No, it hasn’t.”
s – Kenan Thompson: “It’s the blood loss man.”
Eyes
Concept: Deranged but had potential
Execution: Polarizing – love it or hate it
S – Sarah Sherman: “oh my god, good for you!”
S – Kenan Thompson: “and I’m goin’ straight to church.”
s – Sarah Sherman: “like Denver, City of Angels.”
Stats
