Saturday Night Live
Jacob Elordi & Renee Rapp
January 20, 2024
I have seen a number of people online today saying that they had never heard of Jacob Elordi until last night, and if you’re in that same camp, I’m here to tell you it’s OK. You’re just old. Elordi’s breakout role was in Netflix’s 2018 teen movie, Kissing Booth, before joining HBO’s teenage fever dream, Euphoria. He’s having a moment right now after starring as Elvis in Priscilla, and as the object of unfettered lust, Felix Catton, in the devious and demented Saltburn. He’s very tall, he’s very handsome, and Saturday Night Live wants you to know they see it, too.
Like when Jennifer Lopez hosted in 2019, the majority of the sketches’ premises were “HE’S SO HOT! ISN’T HE HOT? MY GOD, HAVE YOU SEEN HOW HOT THIS MAN IS?”; A premise that wears pretty thin by the third or fourth time. That said, despite Elordi’s lack of comedy chops, and despite the repetitive nature of the sketches, in the end, I wasn’t mad at this episode. There was enough padding from the rest of the cast to keep it afloat, and when Elordi quit clenching his jaw for a second and relaxed into trying to be funny instead of just handsome, he had a moment or two. Or maybe it was terrible and I was just blinded by his hotness, who’s to say.
We are officially back in election season, like it or not, so brace yourself for a lot more Trump cold opens. And honestly, it could be worse, we could be suffering through more Alec Baldwin impersonations. James Austin Johnson’s Trump appears outside one of the courtrooms he’s been in this week, who even knows which one, to take shots at Ron Desantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Joe Biden, and his own legal woes. It’s not not funny.
Grade: B+
Jacob Elordi uses his monologue to apologize if you watched Saltburn with your mom (it’s really not advised), before asking for questions from the “audience” and honestly, the funniest thing that happens is when Sarah Sherman gets pissed that the audience doesn’t applaud her fast enough. Elordi is stiff and a awkward, clearly shaking off some nerves.
Grade: C+
In this Bachelorette parody, a woman must “crown” her “short king.” But before she makes her decision between three men who are genuinely into her, they introduce one “final twist”: a very tall man played by Elordi. You can probably see where this one is going because it’s very predictable.
I feel like I should recuse myself from judging this sketch as I happen to be married to a man who is the same height as Jacob Elordi. Yes, he’s that tall. And as someone who comes from short people, I understand and am sympathetic to the plight of short kings (I have an uncle who is 5’1″); but as someone who married a giant, I kinda identify a little too hard with the woman in this sketch.
Grade: B
That Katt Williams interview that came out last week ruffled a few feathers. Here are eight more hours of it.
Grade: A-
Here, Entertainment Tonight employs a pair of lip readers to decipher what celebrities are saying, and they just make up a bunch of nonsense. Let me be clear, it is very dumb, but I was nevertheless amused? It’s also one of the few sketches where Elordi isn’t being objectified and honestly, he seems much more comfortable and leans into the bit more.
Grade: B
Here, a couple go bowling, but the animations of the bowling pins making silly puns are dark. Really dark. Divorce, drug use, beatings. It’s funny enough, but Elordi seems to really struggle through it as the straight man.
Grade: A-
Following the whole “door blowing off mid-air” thing, Alaska Airlines runs an ad trying to reassure you that there’s an upside: you didn’t die and you got a cool story. Maybe I’m just in a good mood, but I really enjoyed this one, and thought most of the jokes landed. PUN INTENDED.
Grade: A
“Weekend Update” had its share of Trump and Biden jokes, but they also went dark with some slavery and pedophile jokes that elicited groans from the studio audience.
Grade: B+
Tim Scott visits the “Weekend Update” desk to discuss his decision to endorse Trump in his Presidential campaign (and his hope to be named his Vice President), and learns a valuable lesson about what happened to Trump’s last VP.
Grade: B
Remember that guy who lept over the judge’s desk to attack her when he disagreed with the sentence she handed down? Yeah, he’s just as surprised by that whole turn of events as anyone.
Grade: A-
A women’s AA meeting is interrupted by Jacob Elordi’s character, whom the women welcome in because he’s handsome. When he also reveals that he’s great at the sex when inebriated, they start encouraging him to fall off the wagon. Because he’s handsome. Hey, have y’all noticed that Jacob Elordi is handsome?
Grade: B-
Our host really stretches in this sketch as a handsome actor who has never had to struggle for success who gives some tips to an acting class. Rachel McAdams, who was on-hand to introduce Renee Rapp’s second performance (Regina Georges unite!), pops in as an actress who bears an uncomfortabloe resemblance to Rachel McAdams. Of the “Jacob Elordi is Hot” sketches, this one is the best.
Grade: A-
I have to say, Garrett from Hinge, a character Bowen Yang introduced in the Travis Kelce episode last year, was not one that I thought would become a recurring character but here we are. Here, Garrett from Hinge appears at the wedding of one of his exes, whom he fantasizes about killing? I hate this character.
Grade: D
I don’t usually include musical performances here, but Reneé Rapp and Megan Thee Stallion, you guys:
UPDATE: SNL just added this cut for time Please Don’t Destroy video:
Saturday Night Live airs at 10:30/11:30 p.m. Saturdays on NBC and streams on Peacock.