Pete Davidson - “SNL is like my mom. No matter what I do she never asks me to leave.”

Pelotaunt/Weed Gummy/Elbows/Witch who wants to join the cabal sketches all had me howling.

Nathaniel Rateliff’s first big hit was “SOB,” which is a hell of a song and one I like a lot more than either of the low-energy tracks he played on SNL.

I thought the Gorilla Glue sketch had some laughs - Kenan excels at playing that type of dumb, loud comedy, and Regina was a good match for him. Chris Redd was also funny. It just went on too long. Cecily’s part could have been taken out with no loss.

Yeah I’ve said this about Perkins for awhile. And in fact I’ve led the charge on saying this about various AV Club recappers of various shows since like 2008. (I honestly think I played a role in getting Nathan Rabin taken off 30 Rock). But I know what you mean. For me it’s not the political stuff AT ALL it’s just…

A.V. Club is salty about a sketch mocking cancel culture? Who could have predicted??

Dan Levy was in every sketch aside from Update and the cold open, they gave him plenty to work with.

Was Kenan Thompson in every single sketch? It felt like it.

I don’t want to be too mean about it, but it does feel like the AV Club would benefit from having fresh eyes on SNL for their reviews. SNL can vary in quality pretty wildly episode-to-episode, and even within episodes, and it’s certainly fair to point out when a sketch doesn’t work or note systemic problems like how…

Exactly.  Despite what the review says, Levy has never showed “range”.  They wrote the sketches to fit what he does well (essentially play David) and that was that.  The musical theatre bartenders sketch showed he wasn’t able or maybe willing to stretch beyond that (why would a Broadway wannabe server not be able to…

If you want to read about Ebersol’s attempts to poach the SCTV cast for SNL, Dave Thomas (not the Wendy’s guy) discusses it in his book. Ebersole actually succeeded: he got Martin Short, of course, but Catherine O’Hara also agreed to join SNL, but backed out at the last minute because she didn’t want to move to NYC…

Kyle’s sleaze in indeed weapons-grade and always makes me laugh.  With Bruce Chandling on ice - it was great to see him on full cringe display.

It was just there and kind of silly and thus refreshing. It’s good to see the show no longer feeling weighted down by political sketches and just having fun. In fact, I’ve enjoyed both episodes this year as they feel looser and more fun

I liked the cold open alot–it didn’t ‘go nowhere’, it went everywhere, it took a basic premise and went nuts with it, which has been a recipe for success lately.  

Jimi Hendrix didn’t look ridiculous when smashing his guitar–at the very least he didn’t struggle to lift it above his head

It always seems like whoever’s doing the sound mixing thinks they really nailed it at soundcheck, but no one who works on sound at SNL has ever, not once, actually watched one of the musical guests on a TV.

-I liked the opening skit and it was nice to return to a time when opening skits could be about things that aren’t political. I just saw the skit as goofing on super bowl commercials and the vague liberal, corporate platitudes behind many of them

the studio tour was terrible - Eugene Levy being the only good thing bc, you know, Eugene Levy. In a weird plastic box. That can’t not be funny. But everything else....and I think it was mostly a rehash of a bit Jimmy Fallon did some weeks ago? The lady with the 6-foot distancing noodle definitely felt familiar to me,…

I loved Schitt’s Creek, and thought Dan Levy was great in it.

Say what you will about the material he was working with, Levy definitely brought an energy that was sorely lacking from last week’s episode. This was the first time in a good while that it didn’t feel like the sketches were dwelling on a joke, trying to draw it out as long as possible to fill time. Instead, they kept…