People love Ana de Armas. I was excited to see if she had any comedy chops because Ghosted is dropping on Apple TV+. Ultimately, this was a decent, if sort of middling, episode of SNL.
De Armas is beautiful, but I think the topic of her comedy chops is still very much an open question. While the staff didn’t hide her away as a straight man, and trusted her with some punchlines of her own, she was really carried along by the cast members she was paired with. Her monologue was bright and earnest, but not funny, which will hurt her numbers. Most of the hosts who had impressive episode scores really padded their stats in the monologue.
Chloe Fineman had a solid day, and turned a haphazard dog sketch into some fun. Likewise a quick cameo in the nail salon sketch was great. Ego Nwodim was featured prominently in this episode and she delivered. Please Don’t Destroy might be officially in a slump. That’s not to say that they’re bad, it’s just that for about the last month their videos have had less teeth and pop than they used to. It’s been a bit of a slide since Travis Kelce. The highlight of the episode, however, was Weekend Update and the dynamic between Sarah Sherman and Colin Jost. Michael Che also kept dropping bombs, and Molly Kearney’s messaging around protecting trans kids was beautiful. No viral-type sketches this week, and despite a rare, clever cold open, there were lots of sketches that were DOA.
Let’s look at the numbers:
Previous Episodes:
- Miles Teller
- Brendan Gleeson
- Megan Thee Stallion
- Jack Harlow
- Amy Schumer
- Dave Chappelle
- Keke Palmer
- Steve Martin & Martin Short
- Austin Butler
- Aubrey Plaza
- Michael B. Jordan
- Pedro Pascal
- Woody Harrelson
- Travis Kelce
- Jenna Ortega
- Quinta Brunson
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 know 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. And we get charts.
Everyone likes charts.
First Warm Day of the Year Red Carpet Cold Open
S – Bowen Yang: “The smell of halal food and horse manure is in the air.”
S – Mikey Day: “I’m wearing the tightest spandex shirt of all time.”
s – Heidi Gardner: “Perverts.”
s – Michael Longfellow: “Nice to be out of the subway.”
s – Devon Walker: “Yeah we are very high right now.”
S – Punkie Johnson: “You do you.”
S – Bowen Yang: “It’s a lady trying to tell someone where she is.”
S – Ego Nwodim: “Well I don’t see you, bitch.”
s – Bowen Yang: “What an absolute pain in the ass.”
S – Kenan Thompson: “Good to be back for another year.”
Ana de Armas Monologue
s – Host: “Could I be any better at English?”
Matt Schatt Game Show
Concept: A beautiful woman married to an unattractive man
Execution: Terrible. A complete miss.
s – Kenan Thompson: “Aw, we’re havin’ fun.”
s – Mikey Day: “Just onna those thangs.”
American Girl Doll Movie Trailer
Concept: The hard luck of the American Girl Dolls
Execution: Good
S – Ego Nwodim: “No one said hi to me!”
L – Ego Nwodim: “I don’t know my birthday because I’m a runaway slave.”
S – Sarah Sherman: “Look what I can do!”
S – Heidi Gardner: “That’s okay!”
s – Ego Nwodim: “I don’t trust none of y’all.”
Album Recording Session
Concept: Girls lay down unwanted hooks for Spicy
Execution: Very good
S – Ego Nwodim: “Oooh Spicy, you stupid.”
s – Kenan Thompson: “One more then we all gettin gyros.”
s – Kenan Thompson: “Tzatziki sauce on the side.”
S – Host: “Spicy don’t wash his pillows, he’s gross.”
S – Ego Nwodim: “I’m uncomfortable here.”
l – Ego Nwodim: “Damn, Spicy gettin errybody pregnant.”
s – Host: “Damn Spicy, my water broke.”
l – Host: “in your 2001 Corolla.”
S – Host: “Spicy needs to be on a watch list.”
S – Devon Walker: “Cut that and delete that.”
Spanish Class
Concept: A Spanish teacher isn’t very good at Spanish
Execution: Decent, but flamed out fast
S – Mikey Day: “Uh oh!”
l – Mikey Day: trying to follow fast Spanish
Please Don’t Destroy – Hangxiety
Concept: The guys relive their drunken escapades and wince
Execution: Okay
S – Ben Marshall – PDD: “Kiss attack!”
s – John Higgins – PDD: getting hit in the face with a phone
s – Host: “You smell like you have a dead tooth.”
S – John Higgins – PDD: doing cocaine
S – Heidi Gardner: groaning and throwing beer
S – Chloe Fineman: shooting a gun like a maniac
Weekend Update
S – Colin Jost: “and now it’s ruined.”
S – Michael Che: “It’ll be called the sexual harassment hall of fame.”
S – Michael Che: “A title that was formerly known as Ms. Staten Island.”
S – Colin Jost: “New York Jets zero.”
S – Colin Jost: “Next to your whore wife.”
l – Michael Che: “The news.”
S – Sarah Sherman: “Softer than I imagined.”
S – Sarah Sherman: “Everything in my life was simply handed to me.”
S – Colin Jost: “I’m not saying that.”
l – Sarah Sherman: “You’ve never done an honest day’s work in your life.”
l – Sarah Sherman: “Still fuming about the bilingual monologue.”
S – Colin Jost: “Who is Antonio?”
l – Sarah Sherman: “Your driver, Colin!”
S – Colin Jost: “Sunday morning?”
S – Sarah Sherman: breaking
l – Michael Che: “nursing home levels.”
l – Michael Che: “After the post office lost their ashes.”
S – Colin Jost: “Australia: where the police let you finish.”
S – Molly Kearney: “My groin area is beefed.”
Lisa from Temecula: Wedding
Concept: A revisit from Ego Nwodim’s character who thinks everyone is trying to sleep with her
Execution: Fine-ish. Certainly better if you like this recurring sketch. Ego is always great, just sometimes it’s not ha-ha funny.
s – Bowen Yang: breaking
S – Ego Nwodim: “Carmen San Diego over here.”
Dog Acting School Commercial
Concept: An acting school for dogs
Execution: Fun as hell, and the fuck ups and genuine reactions made it better
l – Chloe Fineman: “I’m Donna Colonoscopini.”
l – Chloe Fineman: Getting rejected re: Lady and the Tramp
S – Punkie Johnson: “During the handjob scene.”
S – Chloe Fineman: face when she walks the French dog off
Nail Salon
Concept: A weirdo has long-ass fingernails
Execution: Good. Weird and stupid as hell, but good.
s – Bowen Yang: “I’m not like other men.”
s – Host: “hand stuff”
S – Chloe Fineman: “I know what you are.”
