Tag: snl
Jake Gyllenhaal ends season 49 of ‘Saturday Night Live’ on a high-ish note
Saturday Night Live
Jake Gyllenhaal & Sabrina
May 19, 2024
This is Jake Gyllenhaal’s third time hosting Saturday Night Live, and fortunately for all of us, it did not take nearly as long for him to return as it did the first time around. Fortunately, it would seem, the SNL folks have realized what a gem they have in Gyllenhaal as a host: he’s loose, charismatic, and gives 100% even in sketches that don’t deserve it. I don’t know if, as I assumed the last time he hosted, that Gyllenhaal is no longer afraid to harm his “Serious Actor” status by doing comedy — starring in a remake of Road House will certainly do more damage to one’s chances of earning an Oscar down the road more than hosting SNL — but I am glad to see him back on the Studio 8H stage where he feels like a natural.
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Get your holy water ready: ‘Evil’ is back for its fourth and final season
Maya Rudolph is Mother of House ‘Saturday Night Live’
Saturday Night Live
Maya Rudolph & Vampire Weekend
May 11, 2024
I don’t know what I can say about Maya Rudolph that hasn’t already been said: she’s a comedic genius, and one-third of what I consider the triumvirate of the greatest SNL female performers of all time, along with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. She is a giddy delight, a talented singer, and she arrived fully loaded for this week’s episode, which thanks to her stewardship managed to be one of the best of the season so far (maybe the best? DON’T @ ME, RYAN GOSLING PEOPLE). Admittedly, not every sketch hit it out of the park, but by God, Maya Rudolph committed to each of them like she believed that they had. I know we can’t hire her back — I know she doesn’t want to come back and be a full-time cast member — BUT CAN’T WE, LORNE? PLEEEEEEEEEASE? PRETTY PLEASE?
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Dua Lipa can’t dance her way out of a middling ‘Saturday Night Live’
Saturday Night Live
Dua Lipa
May 4, 2024
First things first for my fellow Gen-Xers: what is a Dua Lipa? Glad you asked. Dua Lipa is a gorgeous English/Albanian Grammy-award-winning pop star. I don’t know any of her music, but it’s disco-y and danceable — though, apparently, she’s not exactly known for her dancing. She’s also not exactly known for her comedy stylings, and SNL asking her to be both the host and the musical guest seems like a heavy lift.
That said, I’ve seen a lot of grumbling about this episode, calling it the “worst of the season,” … but, y’all, I remember the Pete Davidson, Bad Bunny, and Shane Gillis episodes, so you’re not going to pull that one over on me. I think this is an example of diminishment by comparison: the previous episode hosted by Ryan Gosling was so beloved and well-received that whoever was tasked with being his follow-up was never going to live up to expectations. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a great episode — but it’s also not as terrible as some are making it out to be.
And honestly, I’m just proud of the writers for restraining themselves from making every sketch about how hot Dua Lipa is. God knows they haven’t been able to resist in the past.
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It’s the best of TV times, it’s the mid-est of TV times
BREAKING: Ryan Gosling and everyone else on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Saturday Night Live
Ryan Gosling & Chris Stapleton
April 13, 2024
Somehow this is only Ryan Gosling’s third time to host Saturday Night Live which … just doesn’t feel right. But according to my sources, the first time he hosted was in late 2015, and then in 2017, and now this week. Which begs the question — HOW DID WE GO SEVEN YEARS WITHOUT RYAN GOSLING HOSTING SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE AGAIN? LORNE?
Because here’s the thing: especially following Barbie, I’m pretty sure the entire world agrees that Ryan Gosling is not just a pretty face, he’s genuinely hilarious, and clearly delights in being funny. But maybe he delights a little too much in being funny, especially if you’re one of those people who hates when the host and/or cast begins breaking mid-scene. Because Ryan Gosling Can. Not. Keep. It. Together.
Hating it when the cast breaks is a legitimate complaint that many people have — I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz making each other crack up which felt like a cheap way to make the audience laugh with them when the sketch wasn’t otherwise working. That said, Gosling’s giggles seem genuine, and they are, like it or not, highly contagious.
Bring him back sooner THAN SEVEN YEARS FROM NOW, Lorne.
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Kristen Wiig receives a star-studded induction into ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ Five-Timer’s Club
Saturday Night Live
Kristen Wiig & Raye
April 6, 2024
Kristen Wiig is arguably one of Saturday Night Live‘s greatest former cast members — which is why it is no surprise that she is one of only five cast members who has hosted enough times to be inducted into the Five-Timers Club. (Can you name the other four?)
But despite her greatness as a cast member and her success off the show, Wiig has not had the most successful run with hosting the show. In 2016, I said the episode “was the equivalent of putting on an old sweatshirt: comfortable, familiar and warm, but not something you’ll remember even two days from now”; in May 2020 — which was in the middle of the pandemic and one of those difficult at-home episodes — Wiig only appeared in two bits, one of which was a “weird-and-not-weird-in-a-funny-way-just-weird monologue”; and in December 2020, I found the material to be “mediocre” and gave it a B-. (I don’t have her first episode from 2013 here in the Foolish archives, unfortunately.)
So I am happy to report that for this momentous occasion, the writers gave Wiig some good material to work with and supported her with a bevy of superstars, and as a result, Wiig finally hosted the Saturday Night Live episode that her talents deserved.
Clearly, ‘SNL’ didn’t get the memo that ‘SNL’ doesn’t hire “hot” women
Ramy Youssef charms an otherwise forgettable ‘Saturday Night Live’
Saturday Night Live
Ramy Youssef & Travis Scott
March 30, 2024
Ramy Youssef is one of those interesting characters who it doesn’t feel like has had his big breakout moment yet, despite being the creator and star of an Emmy-nominated Golden Globe-winning series that is named after him; being the co-creator of a different Peabody Award-winning show; the star of two HBO stand-up specials and being the co-star of a multi-Oscar-winning film this year. And yet, I don’t think he’s quite a household name … yet.
So I’m pleased he hosted last night’s Saturday Night Live where he was able to show the country his careful, clever, empathetic style of comedy. Last night, Youssef was saddled with an otherwise mediocre set of sketches; there wasn’t an obvious stinker in the group, but there wasn’t anything in here (aside from his monologue) that is going to be remembered in a couple of months. Still, he was able to add to the show a little bit of his culture and comedy about being Muslim-American, introducing it to a new audience during a particularly fraught moment in geopolitics.
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