The previous episode had three pre-tapes, so maybe Lorne saw this as a balance, but there was another pre-tape filmed and uploaded to Youtube. I read that the beanie baby cut sketch was meant to be the last of the night, so I’m not sure where that would have left the other pre-tape. I think the longer Update threw…

assuming Gaetz had a PR person write that bizarre statement of his, how much do you think he had to fight that PR person to include “come on, does Matt Gaetz look like he needs to pay for sex?”

I don’t get it. At least two of those cut for times were better than a bunch of the sketches they actually used. They could’ve at least decided to save the frat boy sketch for Mother’s Day and put The Hero back in.

I think Melissa is a talented performer but this maybe isn’t her forum. That isn’t a knock on her — people from Jenny Slate to Sarah Silverman to Casey Wilson have had the same issue. But after five seasons, they should either figure out what to do with her or let her go.

for some reason I really liked the monologue. DK brought a ton of enthusiasm to it and the jokes weren’t bad. Normally I feel sorry for whoever the host is having to do the monologue, but I thought he killed it. Too bad the rest of the show wasn’t up to that standard but a B+ seems about right.

I think he did a pretty decent Cuomo. He seemed to walk through this impression (maybe he saw how weak the writing was and didn’t bother).

Chris Redd was supposedly meant to be hired in season 42 - he was initially announced, then it didn’t happen. I don’t know if it’s true but I’ve heard speculation that Melissa was cast in his place. That would help explain why they have never quite known what to do with her. Melissa does have some friends on the show…

Hey, everyone else is almost as racist as we are. Kaluuya should apologize. How unfair to Boston. I bet it gets old being reminded you have a racist problem. Truly the real victims.

Part of me wonders if the people behind the scenes still resent having had to hire her when they didn’t need her skill set or have room for her at that time. It’s also possible that, for whatever reason, she just doesn’t have a lot of close friends on the overall SNL team. I wouldn’t care this much if the reviewer…

Near as I can tell, the point is “Bringing meat onstage makes Kate and Aidy corpse.”

Came in late on this one, about 1/3 of the way through the game show.

I thought they were vamping for time a little waiting to bring the meat out. But then they act like they have produced live ferrets on stage. I do laugh at the woke crimes the animals commit.

SNL is just one weird type of entertainment. Maybe Melissa wasn’t meant to succeed as part of a weekly live ensemble sketch show. She might really thrive in a sitcom, or Vegas stage show, or behind the camera. But if she was destined to star in this format, she could’ve made it happen by now. She doesn’t embarrass…

I don’t love Kate but I get it. Aidy i don’t get at all. Cecily has pulled back this season of her own accord and I can only hope that she eventually gets the sitcom she deserves.

The thing I learned from this recap is that the brand of wine is real, may have been product placement and apparently it advertises heavily on one of the streaming services to which I don’t subscribe or to a different demographic than me.

Every time they do the meat sketch, they constantly act like it smells and they are just about sick from it.  Are they really just leaving meat around all day because it shouldn’t smell. Most of the time it seems like perfectly fine meat. I don’t know. I’ve never understood the point of this sketch where they all act…

Every time I see Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant come out and just start laughing at whatever they’re saying almost from the get go, I compare that to Mikey Day and Alex Moffat nailing every Trump Brothers sketch I can remember. Day is an excellent straight man that serves whatever skit he’s in really well. (The Eddie…

I don’t quite understand this insistence that Melissa is an underappreciated talent. She was hired in a rush to silence critics, and she never jelled with the cast. Her one-note weirdo thing doesn’t really work. Then again, this reviewer has an axe to grind with Mikey, who might be the best purely utilitarian player…

That monologue was one of the most enjoyable and memorable ones in recent years for the sheer charisma that he brought to it. I wish the cast and writers had been able to rise up to meet his energy, could have been a great show.

Those cut-for-time sketches for a bit weird as I thought their average quality was actually higher than what made the show. Subjective tastes and all that, but usually you get a sense why soemthing was cut, but not really with these.