Saturday Night Live
Connor Storrie & Mumford & Sons
February 28, 2026
So Connor Storrie. I’ve seen some conversation online asking if Storrie is the freshest new star to have ever hosted Saturday Night Live (meaning, someone with the fewest credits to their name), and it was concluded that the only other person to challenge this might be Regé-Jean Page, fresh from his breakout role on Bridgerton. But even Page had some 17 credits going back to 2001 (including a speaking role in a Harry Potter movie) before charming his way through Netflix. In comparison, Heated Rivalry, the show that introduced the world to Connor Storrie and co-star Hudson Williams this winter, is Storrie’s third IMDB credit, with his first acting credit coming in 2024. What I’m saying is Connor Storrie is the freshest of fresh meat, and considering that his claim to fame is a steamy (sometimes borderline pornographic) gay hockey series, most of America probably has no idea who this young man is.
But after this performance on Saturday Night Live, I’m willing to bet that he will be a household name sooner rather than later. Don’t get me wrong, Storrie is terrific in Heated Rivalry, but 1. a lot of people have not and will not see that, and 2. Heated Rivalry is hardly the showcase for this young man’s range. And range, he’s got. He is very charismatic and charming, is clearly game for anything, and has terrific comic timing, presence, and physicality largely thanks to his time working as a clown — yes, a clown — in Los Angeles for two years. In fact, he brought one of his clown characters to SNL in this episode, delivering maybe the funniest sketch of the night.
That said, his debut SNL episode is something of a mixed bag — there are definitely some sketches that needed a little more work or thought — but none of the show’s failings are Storrie’s fault. He gave his all and then some, and as far as your neighborhood SNL blogger is concerned, he’s welcome back anytime.
Well, we’re back, and clearly the Saturday Night Live writers were planning on spoofing the State of the Union Address when UH-OH! we started another war early Saturday morning for funsies. As such, our cold open features James Austin Johnson’s President FIFA Peace Prize Recipient informing us that we’re attacking Iran and cracking the same “Bored of Peace” joke your trusty blogger made earlier in the day. I’m just gonna go ahead and claim that the SNL writers stole that one from me; prove me wrong. He also makes it meta by mentioning the SNL writers’ room scrambling to come up with this alternate sketch before bringing out Colin Jost’s aggressively stupid Pete Hegseth. It’s funny enough!
Grade: A-
Connor Storrie delivers a fun monologue, basically introducing himself to the wider American audience who has no idea who this man is. He jokes about Heated Rivalry and makes fun of himself for being a dramatic child in Texas (WOOOO!) (no, actually, some audience members WOOOO! at the mention of Texas, because we Texans literally can not help ourselves, and he WOOOO!ed right back because he can’t, either). He then brings out Gold Medal Men’s Hockey champions, brothers Quinn and Jack Hughes, who awkwardly set up jokes about how they haven’t seen Heated Rivalry, before bringing out America’s real stars, Gold Medal Women’s Hockey champs, Hilary Knight and Megan Kellar. WOOOO!
Grade: A
This is one of those sketches where Marcello Hernandez does a wacky character, this time a teacher named M. Fronzi, who, when he pronounces the word “peanuts” as “penis.” It’s not terrible, but it’s not first-sketch-out-the-gate material, either.
Grade: B-
This taped piece giving Bridgerton vibes features a bunch of proper English men slapping each other over perceived slights. Things escalate quickly and ridiculously. It works.
Grade: A
This sketch is similar (but not exact) to the Waffle House formula: a couple in the foreground are having a conversation, while in the background, tomfoolery is taking place. Here, a couple fails to get engaged at an ice skating rink, all the while a group of guy friends is having the time of their lives on the rink. The pure joy of the skaters is hilarious enough, but then they go and bring Storrie’s Heated Rivalry co-star, Hudson Williams, into the mix, and the audience loses their damn minds.
Grade: A
Ben Marshall is the school nerd who tutors Storrie’s Coolest Kid in School, who then invites School Nerd to sit with him at lunch. School Nerd performs a thank-you song on a synthesizer, ruining everything. ~shrug~
Grade: C+
Over on “Weekend Update,” we have a lot of jokes about Iran, the State of the Union, Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein, and the Clintons. But the most shocking (and funniest) jokes are a series of jokes Che clearly wrote for Jost about Stephen Hawking, and a BAFTAs joke from Che.
Grade: A
Veronika Slowikowska is “Beth’s Maid of Honor Katie,” who recaps the news, which means delivering news about the Mexican cartels and Jeffrey Epstein before twisting them into awkward jokes about the bridal party. It’s a lot of concept.
Grade: B
And Sarah Sherman dons yet another animal costume, this time to play Punch the Monkey’s neglectful mother in a very Jerry Springer set-up. Mostly, it’s just an opportunity for Sherman to harass Jost some more, and I’m not mad about it.
Grade: A
And then, later into the night, we get some sketches that must have worked better in dress rehearsal because …
Here, Marcello stumbles around on stilts while denying that he went to Turkey for leg lengthening surgery.
Grade: C
And here, Storrie’s character suggests his office throw an “office dance” to boost morale. There’s a lot of talk about the dance being “Severance style,” and it goes on entirely too long.
What’s particularly frustrating about both of these sketches is that either of them could have been replaced by a sketch you’ll find below that was cut for time, and it would have been a much, much better choice.
Grade: C+
The final sketch of the night has the episode’s simplest concept and delivers the most laughs. Storrie is a bachelorette party stripper who, on the way to the gig, was hit by a car. He arrives, broken and bloody, but insists on performing. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but his physicality in this sketch is absolutely phenomenal and hilarious. This shouldn’t be a huge surprise since he was the one who pitched the idea based on a bit he did in his clown days. In fact, the most disappointing thing about this sketch is that it demonstrates that they could have trusted him with so much more in this episode. Maybe next time.
Grade: A+
Cut for Time: This is a PSA for Tourette’s Syndrome in which a number of people very conveniently discover that they have the condition. I don’t want to spoil the joke for you, so give it a looksee and then come back and tell me with a straight face that they shouldn’t have swapped this out for “Office Dance.”
Cut for Time: Veronika Slowikowska and Jane Wickline perform a song about how difficult car door handles have become before revealing a dark backstory behind how they became that way. Ridiculous and absurd, and I’m not angry at it, but it belongs more on the internet than on the show.
Final Grade: B+. It could have been an A if they had just made that swap.
Saturday Night Live airs at 10:30/11:30 p.m. Saturdays on NBC and streams on Peacock.