I definitely thought the "Farewell, Mr. Bunting" sketch would have more of a, "He's actually fired for pedophilia" punchline. The end result was so much better.

My family picked up on the same thing. I missed it!

Let's all stay up complimenting each other until 6am.

I didn't get Mike O'Brien from that at all.

Also, nothing to make you appreciate Jost like watching Dennis Miller floundering as he angrily comments on current events. Al Franken thanklessly saving him in what's supposed to be a Greatest Hits of sorts…

Only just reached Update here on the West Coast and I'm tempted to say this is the best episode of the season. Hopefully the rest of the show stays on par.

I don't even think that's what the punchline was. It started as a "We get it, no one will remember Ted Cruz" sort of thing, but evolved when you find out that one of the contestants was Heidi Cruz, and then went further down the rabbit hole when you consider the implications that the game takes place in 2018 under…

Also, it's less about accurately sensing the satire and more about realizing the accuracy of the satire. A lot of people seemed turned off by the breast reduction plot, and I can only assume it's because they don't see how closely that imitated life. It was hilarious to me because of it.

I guess. I wasn't sure if bros elsewhere are the same as so-cal bros. They are even somewhat different from Nor-cal bro's.

As I watched it, I had to wonder how well it would be received by the general audience. It was incredibly accurate satire, as you said, but I imagine you really have to be familiar with the bro culture to see the humor in it.

Good analysis. You're right. They're very specific characters. They'd work better as a background to a scene than the centerpieces of one. And Tina's Philly accent was just dreadful.

I thought that as well.

I think she's got the whole "blonde woman with boobs" thing going for her.

I fancy them both, tbh.

Hey! Paul came out to a damn near standing ovation!

I definitely didn't think it was the episode of the season. To be honest, I laughed more during the Hemsworth episode a few weeks ago that didn't fare nearly as well from this particular critic, but such is comedy.

Really? That is interesting, as I haven't heard that too often. What puts her ahead for you?

I missed the first thirty of the episode, but I suspect at least some of the robust appreciation for tonight's SNL is because of Tina and Amy (and Maya)'s reputation rather than the episode's content. This line about the "Bronx Beat" sketch suggests as much: "[T]here aren’t a lot of hard laughs, but considerable…

I'm in no way a Kenan Thompson apologist (it took me until "What's Up With That?" to even acknowledge that he can be funny), but why is he always getting ragged on for an inability to do impressions?

I think he dropped him off first to have the extra time to figure it out, lol.