Saturday Night Live
Josh O’Connor & Lily Allen
December 13, 2025
I do not know who Josh O’Connor is. Despite having watched and enjoyed Challengers, and having seen Peaky Blinders and The Crown, I have no idea who this man is.
And it would seem that the SNL writers were in a similar quandary this week, because they placed this man in so many sketches where he basically just filled space. He also occasionally made out with a male cast member, playing off the homoeroticism of Challengers, which I am guessing is the only thing the writers’ room saw him in.
It’s a shame, Josh O’Connor seems like a perfectly endearing actor: his monologue was self-deprecating and amusing, and I’m sure they could have done something more with his British charm. But it certainly feels like the show sandwiched him between two reliable hosts, Melissa McCarthy and Ariana Grande, and they decided to just take this week off.
This week’s cold open takes place on Air Force One, where James Austin Johnson’s President Misogynist coyly plays behind the curtain while calling female reporters names and making gross comments about Karoline Leavitt. And he shares footage of the military blowing up Santa and his reindeer. This is barely satire at this point, guys.
Grade: B
As noted, I don’t really know this Josh O’Connor fellow. But I agree that he does, indeed, look like Linguini from Ratatouille, and I support his campaign to be cast in the live-action version of the movie even though that will never be made.
Grade: B+
“Let’s Find Love” is a Dating Game-style game show, in which one bachelor blindly interviews three women for a date. Except, in their effort to be more inclusive, the show has lifted its age limit, and one of the contestants is a sassy 84-year-old in a scooter. It’s exactly what you think it is.
Grade: B-
Hey, you know what no one wants to look back on? All of their questionable Uber Eats choices. “I don’t like that and I don’t want that.”
Grade: A-
I need to know: does anyone actually like this weird Bowen Yang doctor character? They keep bringing him back, so I suppose someone thinks he’s funny. Anyway, here, Josh O’Connor plays Yang’s intern and romantic partner, and it’s all an excuse to have the two kiss, I guess.
Grade: C
A bachelorette party is entertained by a pair of male strippers who are cardigan-wearing, overly sensitive Mamdani supporters. The women — except for Jane Wickline’s character — eat it up with a spoon. Ben Marshall also gets some kissing action from Josh O’Connor. I’m not mad at it.
Grade: B+
After a strong “Weekend Update” last week, Che and Jost come back this week with a lot less energy. Here they talk about President Dementia wandering off topics, ranting about the Democrats “making up” the word “affordability,” wanting Norweigans to immigrate to the U.S., and the Netflix/Warner Bros. deal. It’s just OK.
Grade: B+
Marcello Hernandez stops by the “Weekend Update” desk to talk about going home for the holidays and meeting your cousins’ boyfriends. Eh.
Grade: B-
Jane Wickline also joins the desk to sing a song about the greatest threat to humanity: the kids from Stranger Things. Unexpected and darkly funny, I enjoy Wickline’s whole thing, but I can see why she gets on some people’s nerves. (They’re wrong.)
Grade: A-
Dorothy, Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion visit the Wizard in this “deleted footage” from The Wizard of Oz, except instead of courage, the Cowardly Lion has a very different, much less noble, request. It’s a dick joke, guys. There is literally no reason this sketch should be nearly six minutes long.
Grade: C+
Brad and his Dad get a Christmas tree in this iteration of the animated short. It’s fine.
Grade: B
Bowen Yang is a 12-year-old in a college class whose mother keeps bringing him things that he forgot, like his lunch and his jacket. Yang’s character pretends she’s his roommate and screams at her to go away. It’s five minutes of Yang screaming. I am so tired.
Grade: C+
Variety has a video series called “Actor on Actor” where a pair of actors interview each other and take themselves way too seriously. This is that, except it’s Christmas characters interviewing each other, including Rudolph and the Partridge in a Pear Tree; Scrooge and Grinch; The Little Drummer Boy and Tiny Tim; and Mrs. Claus and the Grandma that got run over by a reindeer. Points for novelty, points deducted for execution.
Grade: B
Finally, a group of friends meet for brunch where each of them sings their inner thoughts to a Lily Allen song, with a Lily Allen accent, including Lily Allen. Was Saturday Night Live extra long this week? Because I swear, this felt like it would never end.
Grade: C+
Final Grade: B-, which, frankly, is too high.
Saturday Night Live airs at 10:30/11:30 p.m. Saturdays on NBC and streams on Peacock.