Saturday Night Live
Amy Poehler & Role Model
October 11, 2025
As a woman of a certain age, it probably doesn’t surprise you to learn that I consider Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler my queens of comedy and that I essentially believe they can do no wrong. I was thrilled to learn that Poehler would return to SNL to host this, the episode airing on the actual 50th anniversary of the show. It feels like a fitting tribute to both the show’s history, and to Poehler (and Fey) and their contribution to Saturday Night Live and its longevity.
As for the episode itself … it was a mixed bag. But then aren’t they all? Tina Fey swung by for a couple of inspired bits, as did Seth Meyers and Aubrey Plaza. And Amy Poehler, bless her, she’s a professional who obviously commits to every bit, even when they aren’t worth it. And, boy, there were some sketches in here that were definitely not worth it. Still, the writing was stronger than last week. Let’s hope that the writers are getting their legs under them.
Amy Poehler is in the show right out of the gate, recreating Pam Bondi’s appearance in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. (THAT WAS ONLY TUESDAY? MY GOD, TIME IS DIALATING UNDER THIS ADMINISTRATION.) She captures Bondi’s aggressive, insulting attitude, intending to play to an audience of one. “I’M NOT EVEN GOING TO DIGNIFY THAT QUESTION WITH A LIE.” She is then backed up by her old pal, Tina Fey, who appears as Homeland Security Director and puppy killer, Kristi Noem, in a nod to one of Fey’s career-defining SNL achievements, her Sarah Palin. It’s great to see them together, and the jokes practically write themselves.
Grade: A+
Amy’s monologue is fine: she jokes about drugs, talks about her podcast, jokes about AI actors taking all of their jobs, and brings out the new cast members only to shoo them away because she doesn’t know them like that. It’s a solid B, but should have been an A.
Grade: B
The first post-monologue sketch is “The Rudemans,” and WOOF. A woman brings her boyfriend home to meet her family, warning him that they can come across a little cold. Instead, her parents, grandmother, and brother are exceptionally rude, delivering the same lines (“I mean, I guess,” “Well, that just happened,” etc.) with exaggerated sarcasm over and over again. They were clearly going for ’90s-early 2000s SNL with the song intro and the entire vibe, but it fell flat.
Grade: D
The commercial spoof is for “non-non alcoholic beer” — so alcoholic beer. “Same great taste as non-alcoholic beer, but with more alcohol than any beverage on the market.” Double negatives, they’re fun!
Grade: B
For those of you who never watched The Montel Williams Show, you might not have heard of Sylvia Browne, a psychic who didn’t have the best track record, and who wasn’t exactly gentle with those whom she was reading.
@arianaandtherose This is my whole personality now. #sylviabrowne #psychic #montelwilliams #90sthrowback #90s #lipsync
♬ original sound – arianaandtherose
That’s who Poehler is spoofing here, in this sketch about a psychic who doesn’t have time to be polite (or correct), and it’s pretty note-perfect.
Grade: B+
I don’t know how many of you watched Netflix’s “straight but lesbian, horny Republican murder drama,” The Hunting Wives, but if you watched this sketch (with a fun cameo from Aubrey Plaza), you’ve pretty much seen the series. “Don’t watch it on a plane,” is the most accurate thing ever said about this trashy-in-a-fun-but-also-embarrassing way series.
Grade: A+
Annnnnnnd … then there’s this. Here, Poehler plays a no-nonsense CEO who is too busy to go to a hospital — or even home — to give birth, opting instead to bring a pool into her office so she can go into labor while closing an important deal. I don’t know, it feels like an old sketch from the 80s when women were storming the corporate workforce?
Grade: C
“Weekend Update” was particularly strong, with jokes about President No Peace Prize declaring war on Chicago, RFK Jr.’s weird “circumcision causes autism” nonsense, Mark Sanchez, and Che using AI to include Jost in the infamous video of President Sex Pest partying with Jeffrey Epstein.
Grade: A-
Sarah Sherman joins the “Weekend Update” desk and doesn’t torture Jost for a change. Instead, she’s Long Islander and Islamaphobe Rhonda LaCenzo, who is concerned about — and having sex dreams about — New York mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, despite not actually living in the city or being able to vote in the election.
Grade: B-
Marcello Hernández and Jane Wickline are back as the charming Couple You Can’t Believe Are Together to discuss their favorite fall activities. I love these crazy kids.
Grade: B+
And finally, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Seth Meyers join the “Weekend Update” desk to have a joke-off with Che and Jost. They use the setup that a woman broke a hospital record by giving birth to a 13-lb baby. I won’t give away any of the jokes, because some of them are terrific.
Grade: A++
In another commercial spoof, a bunch of different law firms compete over who has the most experience, devolving into the use of clones, tortoises, and vampires. While I have to give up it to “Dracu-Law,” the rest of it is absurdist nonsense that some people genuinely love. I am not one of them.
Grade: C+
A perimenopausal woman is going through it so hard she reverts into an Emo preteen in this sketch that I might relate to a little too much.
Grade: B+
Finally, Poehler and Bowen Yang are TV show theme song writers in this bit, explaining their process for writing themes to shows like Severance, The Pitt, and The Gilded Age. They then reveal their first drafts which all involve Fresh Prince of Bel-Air-esque rapping, explaining the plots of the series. It’s super dumb, but in a kinda funny way. Kinda.
Grade: B
Final Grade: B+. I really wanted this to be an A- at least, but here we are.
Saturday Night Live airs at 10:30/11:30 p.m. Saturdays on NBC and streams on Peacock.