Scarlett Johansson is right at home at ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Scarlett Johansson & Bad Bunny
May 17, 2025

By closing out the 50th season of Saturday Night Live, Scarlett Johansson made SNL history, becoming the most recurring female host with 7 episodes, narrowly beating out Tina Fey and Drew Barrymore. (Alec Baldwin holds the record with 17 episodes.)

As I’m sure you know, Johansson is married to SNL cast member and “Weekend Update” anchor, Colin Jost, and there have been a lot of rumors that this would be his and fellow “Weekend Update” anchor, Michael Che’s final episode. So, was Johansson there to be with her husband on his last appearance on the show? If she was, it wasn’t confirmed during the episode, not even in the “good nights” which I understand were cut off in the broadcast airings.

Instead, all in all, the episode felt like a regular SNL episode: a few good bits intermixed with mediocre ones, and absolutely zero formal goodbyes from any of the cast members, like Kate McKinnon’s “Final Encounter” sketch, or being danced off the stage during the goodnights, like Kristen Wiig. If it was Colin Jost’s (and Michael Che’s and Mikey Day’s and Heidi Gardner’s) final episode, no one was letting on.

That said — Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman seemed to share a sad moment during the good nights. I don’t have either of them on my Bingo card for leaving next season, but Bowen has made a name for himself in Hollywood already, so it wouldn’t be a HUGE surprise if he were to leave.

But he better not.

As for Scarlett Johansson, she’s an excellent — and obviously experienced — host who helmed a solid finale. She’s a natural fit with the cast, and despite her movie star credentials, she’s unafraid to look silly or be ridiculous. Also, she can rap? Even if it was Jost’s last episode, I fully expect Johansson to return in the future: she’s family now.

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Walton Goggins’ sexy dirtbag energy fails to enliven a middling ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Walton Goggins & Arcade Fire
May 10, 2025

Walton Goggins is having a moment. Thanks to his simultaneous roles in The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones, he was all but unavoidable this winter/spring; and let us not overlook his starring role in Fallout, too (which just wrapped filming season two, hooray!).

Of course, Goggins has been serving sexy dirtbag energy for a long while now, delivering memorable performances in Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Vice Principals, and The Shield and going as far back as the original Beverly Hills 90210 where he played “Mike Muchin” in an 1992 episode I’m sure we all remember.

Just look at that collar.

This is a long way to go to say that it took a minute, but Goggins is one of those rare character actors whose talent and charisma has finally been appreciated by the audience at large, and has overcome the odds to become something of a household name. As such, it’s not a surprise he’s hosting Saturday Night Live this week — but it was a surprise at how little the show exploited his particular energy and brand. Of the six characters he played, only two were typical Goggins roles. Otherwise, the episode leaned into surrealist comedy, and relegated Goggins to the straight man, which often felt like a waste of his particular and specific talents.

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Quinta Brunson brings her natural talents back to ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Quinta Brunson and Benson Boone
May 3, 2025

Abbott Elementary‘s Quinta Brunson was a gem when she hosted Saturday Night Live two years ago, helming what was easily one of the best episodes of the season. Brunson is herself an accomplished sketch comedy writer and actor, so hosting SNL looks and feels very natural on her. She doesn’t just acquit herself well, she’s essentially indistinguishable from the cast. And so it is hardly a surprise that on her sophomore outing, Brunson was not only seamless with the cast, she also seemed to bring her own comedy voice to the show. I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that she’s not one of the more hands-on hosts when it comes to pitching ideas and writing sketches.

I do want to be clear, it’s not a perfect episode: some of the writing, particularly at the end of the night, felt lazy and phoned in. And it depended on bringing back a successful sketch from the last time Brunson hosted, which diminished its surprise factor a little. That said, Brunson is such an easy, versatile host that I could see her making the Five-Timers Club one day.

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Jon Hamm finally returns to ham it up on a great ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Jon Hamm & Lizzo
April 12, 2025

Last week, we learned that Jack Black hasn’t hosted Saturday Night Live in over 20 years, and this week we learned that Jon Hamm — SNL and 30 Rock favorite, Jon Hamm — hasn’t hosted in almost 15 years? What is even happening because neither of these things can possibly be right, could they? It feels like Hamm has been hanging around 30 Rock forever! And yet, this is only his fourth time actually to helm the show, the last time being all the way back in 2010. HOW CAN THIS EVEN BE?

Because the thing is, Jon Hamm is great on SNL. His leading man good looks allow him to play both to and against type. Hamm uses that square jaw of his to be both the serious news anchor/straight man/Don Draper and the dimwitted buffoon with absolutely nothing going on behind those pretty eyes. (Which is also what made him so perfect on 30 Rock as Liz Lemon’s dimwitted doctor boyfriend, Drew Baird, a man so handsome he unintentionally manipulates everyone around him. “So Handsome…so, so stupid!”)

And in this week’s episode, he made the most of both of those types in an episode that was almost all hits, zero misses. I don’t know what has been in the water at 8H for the past couple of weeks, but this was another consistently very funny episode, buoyed by a confident and capable host. Lorne, if you don’t give this man a Five-Timers jacket by the end of 2025, I … well, I don’t know what I’ll do other than be very upset. MORE HAMM.

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After a 20-year absence, Jack Black returns to give ‘Saturday Night Live’ a kick in the pants

Saturday Night Live
Jack Black and Elton John & Brandi Carlile
April 5, 2025

I don’t know why it’s been 20 years since Jack Black hosted Saturday Night Live — did he have something against Kate McKinnon? — but he came roaring back this week with more energy than all the other season 50 hosts combined. Jack Black is a reliable comedic force. Is he a bit much? Yes, often. But sometimes SNL needs that wackiness, it needs someone who can — through a sheer act of will and ability to mug for the camera — force a laugh out of the audience. The sketches in this episode were for the most part very dumb, but thanks to Black’s insistent clownery and manic energy, I found myself amused more often than not. SNL needs to not wait another 20 years to bring him back; he’s more than earned that five-timers jacket next time around.

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Mikey Madison needed more to do on ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Mikey Madison & Morgan Wallen
March 29, 2024

I’m not going to talk about Morgan Wallen. I think he’s trash, I think his music is trash: someone described it as “music for 26-year-old men who buy White Claws for high school girls,” and I’ll never be able to top that. But I’m also angry that his little temper tantrum and stomp off at the end of the episode distracted from the wonderful Mikey Madison’s first time hosting Saturday Night Live.

Was it a successful outing for her? Not exactly, but not because Madison was an unsuccessful host. The writers clearly didn’t know what to do with her, or maybe they didn’t trust her to do sketch comedy, so aside from a couple of sketches, she was relegated to the background. But when Madison was brought forward, she held her own just fine, including in the cold open, something that the hosts rarely participate in. Ultimately, it was a shame because the Oscar-winning actress’s first big break was on a comedy series — Madison has the chops, she just needed a chance.

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Lady Gaga goes dark in an absurdist ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Lady Gaga
March 8, 2024

This is Lady Gaga’s second time to serve as both host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live — the first time being back in 2013 (with an unfortunate duet with R. Kelly that she’d rather not talk about … except in the monologue), and the question that must be asked is, what took so long? I mean, besides simply not having time for it between her TV appearances, feature films, campaigning for Oscars, being the Super Bowl halftime act, dueting with Tony Bennet, leading a Las Vegas residency, performing in the Olympics opening ceremonies, and getting engaged, what else better did she have to do?

Fortunately, her schedule allowed her to swing by Studio 8H this week, and she gave her all, both in the sketches and in her musical performances. Gaga, who has become a respected actress since her last time hosting SNL, was clearly happy to be there: relaxed, funny, and game for whatever SNL threw at her. And they threw a lot of strange stuff at her: weight-lifting mice, ritual sacrifice, flapper funerals. Still, whatever material they gave her, Lady Gaga leaned into it — in fact, the stranger the better, it would seem. It wasn’t a uniformly great episode, but it wasn’t for lack of enthusiasm from Gaga.

Hey, SNL casting director? Make sure it’s not another 12 years before she hosts again.

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Shane Gillis once again delivers the worst ‘Saturday Night Live’ of the season

Saturday Night Live
Shane Gilis & Tate McRae
March 1, 2025

Because 2025 is one big experiment to test my patience, Lorne Michaels decided that he needed to bring Shane Gillis, failed SNL cast member, back to host again even though he bombed spectacularly when he hosted for first time last year. And let me tell you, Gillis didn’t do better this go-round. If anything, somehow it was worse. Though he was a serviceable sketch player in a couple of pieces, for the most part, the episode allowed Gillis’ dumb middle-school-level humor to take the lead, and his monologue, once again, completely flopped.

I blame the 6 million Joe Biden voters who couldn’t be fucked to show up to the polls in November. You did this to us. You did this to me.

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Timothée Chalaleads a surprisingly strong ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Timothee Chalamet
January 25, 2024

Our host Timothee Chalamet is nearly 30 years old, you guys, and it feels like he has grown up before our eyes because he has. This is his third time to host, the last two times being in 2023 and 2020. And I have to admit, the little guy is growing on me! Chalamet has always been a game host, though not always the most comfortable with comedic material. But in the past five years, Chalamet has matured a great deal and become a lot more comfortable both in his own skin and with comedy. This episode was without question his best SNL outing, both because he had fun material to work with it and he was just having such a good time with it.

Additionally, Chalamet was the musical guest last night, performing his “favorite” Bob Dylan songs in honor of his Oscar-nominated performance in the Oscar-nominated film, A Complete Unknown. It was a risky choice: while there have been a number of hosts who have also served as the musical guest (49, to be exact, including Chalamet) most of those were by performers who are best known as musicians before actors. Depending on how you count Donald Glover, the number of hosts who were not known as musicians, excluding Chalamet, are exactly three: Lily Tomlin, Deion Sanders, and one Gary Busey. It should be noted Sanders and Busey each hosted exactly one time. But it was a risk that paid out for SNL and Chalamet: his performances were remarkably strong, and well-received overall.

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Dave Chappelle delivers the longest monologue in ‘Saturday Night Live’ history

Saturday Night Live
Dave Chappelle & GloRilla
January 18, 2025

In his fourth time hosting (and third time following a Presidential Election, for whatever that’s worth), Dave Chappelle broke a Saturday Night Live record by delivering the longest monologue in the show’s history. It was 17 minutes long, though it didn’t need to be. And I’m sure, like everything to do with Dave Chappelle, that will be considered a controversial take: there are plenty of people who will defend to the death this man and his comedy, even when it runs too long or hurts others.

In the end, the monologue itself won’t be remembered for its content — which at times was very funny, and only once offensive — but for its excessive, indulgent length, which led to the cutting of at least two additional sketches and screen time for the young cast. And if the rest of the sketches had been A+’s across the board, the decision to let Chappelle do an almost entire stand-up set might have been defensible. (They weren’t. But then what else is new?)

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