Ariana Grande sings her way through a strong ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Ariana Grande & Stevie Nicks
October 12, 2024

Ariana Grande is no stranger to Saturday Night Live, despite this only being her second time to host, the first time being some 8 years ago in 2016. She’s been the musical guest twice, and both of those times, she appeared in sketches. But here’s the thing: even though I shouldn’t be, I’m always surprised at how comically gifted she is. In my mind, Grande is first and foremost a pop diva with questionable taste in men. I always somehow manage to forget that she got her start on Nickelodeon comedies just like Saturday Night Live‘s most reliable player, Kenan Thompson. Ariana Grande’s been doing comedy since she was a literal child; of course she has good comic timing.

All of that is to say that Grande hosted a very solid episode this week. While the majority of her sketches put her in her comfort zone by having her sing (sometimes deliberately poorly), Grande was just as good — maybe even better — in sketches where she didn’t belt out a single note. Grande is a talented host who should be invited back more often, especially now that Pete Davidson is no longer in the cast.

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Guess who drew higher ratings at Fox News: Vice President Harris or Former President Reality Host?

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Nate Bargatze makes his triumphant return to ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Nate Bargatze &
October 5, 2024

Here’s an SNL fact that will forever stay in your brain and kick out your grandmother’s birthday or the name of your first friend in elementary school: since 2010 (so 300+ episodes), Nate Bargatze is only the 9th person to be asked back within a year of their first time hosting SNL. Despite not being a household name when he hosted last season, Bargatze had an impressive debut, wowing even cynical viewers with his great timing and every-guy delivery.

That said, he’s still not familiar to most people:

 

 
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Hopefully this episode, which was a solid outing (if not quite as great as his debut) will make him a more familiar face to more of America, because he certainly deserves it.

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It must be an election year, because a bunch of people watched ‘SNL’ this weekend

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Ryan Murphy is still out here beefing with the Menendez family

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Jean Smart deserved a smarter episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Jean Smart and Jelly Roll
September 28, 2024

Welcome to the historic 50th season of Saturday Night Live historic not because it’s the longest-running show of all time or anything, but mostly because 50 is a nice round number.

And in keeping with the historic nature of the season, our premiere episode maintained the honored tradition of being underwhelming and failing to live up to expectations following a long summer hiatus. For the most part, the premiere’s sketches were lazy, obvious, and overly long, but what else is new? The show’s been on the air for 50 years, they’re not going to change the formula now.

But you can’t blame the host, all-around acting phenomenon Jean Smart, who elevates everything she is in. When Smart was given material that was clearly written with her in mind, she lived up to the task, and even made dumb conceits entertaining. However, when plopped down in the middle of a bit that has her playing a generic Real Housewife or some party promoter neither she nor the audience has ever heard of, not even Smart can save the day. Smart deserved better and more consistent writing — let’s hope the writers shake the cobwebs off in time for Nate Bargatze’s episode on Saturday.

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Turns out Lorne Michaels isn’t leaving ‘Saturday Night Live’ anytime soon. Sorry, Tina Fey.

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Oh, someone is using dangerous rhetoric in this election, but it’s not the Democrats.

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“That’s my dad!” In which we all fell in love with Coach Walz and his beautiful family.

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‘SNL’ is out here destroying stars’ mental health

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