Charli XCX hosts and serves as musical guest

Welcome back, lowly Coneheads. It’s Saturday Night Live in Review: the anniversary season edition. Tonight’s show is hosted by Charli XCX, who first performed back in season 40. She last performed during the Oscar Isaac episode in 2022. Fans of the Brat artist will also recall Bowen Yang’s impression of her from a few episodes ago. 

Asking someone to host SNL and perform can be taunting — not every artist is built for it (just ask Bad Bunny or Frank Zappa). I am joined tonight by former SNLer Patrick Weathers, who was in the season 6 cast when Debbie Harry pulled double duty as host and musical guest. He says he can “certainly hear” Harry’s influence in Charli XCX’s music today. (In fact, Charli has collaborated with Blondie previously, writing a song for their Pollinator album.) Weathers was confident Harry could handle it, calling her a “great artist, a great star.” He also knew her personally going into 8H, from his days at the Mudd Club; he was friends with one of Blondie’s guitarists, Frank Infante. 

Weathers sees Donald Trump’s re-election as a perfect opportunity for the show, comedically. “This should be their golden year. Look at these characters around him. He’s got every personality you can think of — good grief, everything from RFK to Elon Musk. You could not have dreamed of a better situation. Pull this off and make this their biggest year ever. If they’re not [able to], they’re doing something wrong.”

Commenting on Kamala Harris’ recent cold-open cameo, Weathers offers: “I think that they should not have done an endorsement. But hey, if I was in Maya Rudolph’s shoes, I sure as hell would have because, I mean, that’s her livelihood. But I think it was wrong; it’s really silly for any celebrity getting up and doing that because if you’re an entertainer, and depending on the populace and your fan base, why would you want to risk pissing off half of them? And it didn’t do any good for her.” Apparently not!

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Cold Open

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) and President Joe Biden (a deeply grinning Dana Carvey) discussed Ukraine and the Middle East on Wednesday in a cordial Oval Office meeting designed to demonstrate a smooth transfer of power despite deep disagreements over policy. Weathers sees the latest election, and recent political moments like this, as a sign the show should throw back to when it would let its cast show off their great impressions. He notes: “Dana can do anybody. I’ve always thought that guy was extraordinarily talented. I’ve met him before, spent a little time with him back when he was first doing the show.” 

Instead of being rude and crazy, Trump is serene — which is scarier. SNL crew has even captured the aggressive size of the White House fire! “We love ‘This Is Fine’ dog,” comments Trump, who remembers how much he hates the job and living at the White House. But he can’t go home to Mar-a-Lago; Elon Musk is there and won’t leave. He’s so cringe. Weathers recalls: “Peter Aykroyd actually sent me clips of James Austin Johnson the summer before he was going on the show, and said ‘I think this guy really nails Trump.’” Yes! And RIP Peter Aykroyd. 

The audience loves Johnson’s speech about Trump’s recent appointments. “Giggity giggity,” quips Sarah Sherman’s Matt Gaetz, clearly aware of the Family Guy memes. Wild that Pete Davidson once played Gaetz. I guess what’s past is prologue in SNL land. Weathers adds: “The Trumpsters won really big, and it’s fine. It’s hysterical. But the truth is, Trump is funny, and he’s even funnier when somebody else is doing it. That’s rare — it’s hard to parody a parody. That’s the reason it’s really difficult to pull off one of these TV preachers that you had around, like Jimmy Swaggart. The thing is, Trump is a (self) parody, but at the same time, he’s really funny when they do impressions of him, because he can just go in any direction at any time. You can take it all kinds of places because he tends to go down rabbit holes.” 

Oh good lord — Alec Baldwin is again back. Why do they do this to us? This time he’s playing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He has a dead dolphin in his car. JAJ is so meta as Trump — he doesn’t comment on this casting? Instead, he offers Biden a place in his cabinet; that’s how out of touch Biden is these days! The president says so: He will do what every broken-down old guy does these days: fight Jake Paul! Referencing last night’s Mike Tyson fight is a nice punchline to this cold open. I liked this, with the exception of Baldwin.

Monologue

The Brat summer singer talks about her origins and love of autotune. Autotune makes everything sound better — even break-ups. She explains what brat is…and her love of her gay fanbase. She parties a lot.

For some reason, Kyle Mooney shows up here to find out if he’s brat. I get ‘SNL lore’ this season but this is gratuitous. (His directorial debut Y2K comes out in a few weeks, FYI…)

“Babymoon”

Chelsea (Chloe Fineman) is having a baby in several weeks. The artistic and random friends went on a bestie babymoon. This is a sequel to a sketch from a few weeks ago, when Ariana Grande and late-night show cast members Sarah Sherman, Heidi Gardner, and Ego Nwodim played bridesmaids who performed their own version of the Sabrina Carpenter song “Espresso” but revealed too much to the groom about the group’s bachelorette party. After describing the bride’s dancefloor encounter with some guy named Domingo (Marcello Hernández), they reveal how she took off her ring and went wild. Surprised to see this one back.

This time it’s “Hot to Go!” by Chappell Roan. I like that it continues the story from the last sketch, even if the reveals are the same essentially. Poor cuckold Dismukes.

“Never-before-seen Wicked auditions”

Ah, yes, this premise. The celebrity impression audition. As I have said before, this is diminishing returns. The impressions just aren’t that funny. 

Bowen Yang, who is in Wicked, plays Annie Leibovitz. This is a big moment for Chloe Fineman’s one-off impressions — she plays so many people here. Dana Carvey dusts off his Al Pacino. You never want to be nostalgic for Kevin Spacey folks, but showing off his top-tier Walter Matthau or Jack Lemmon trying out for Star Wars, this is not. I can’t believe JAJ can’t crush this template.

“Food Network cake challenge”

Another familiar sketch template. Baking contestants feebly create Thanksgiving-themed monstrosities. Eddie Murphy did something similar a few seasons back — as did Timothée Chalamet and Simu Liu. Skip this.

If you wanted Kyle Mooney returning for a sketch, is this what you had in mind? A nine-inch dildo cake?

“SNL Digital Short: Here I Go (ft. Charli XCX)”

Andy Samberg calls the police on people messing with his lawn and trash. Including Colin Jost! This is cute, great production value, catchy Lovely Island tune. Nice use of Charli XCX too. Clearly, the show is inserting her in steady premises. 

“Banger Boyz”

The podcast that goes hard every single week! Online Trump bros get the SNL treatment: They discuss Marcello getting his nuts hit, then the origins of the pyramids. Donald Trump was recently on the show. He names one of them Secretary of Converse; another is Ambassador to Iran. This is fun, I would prefer this kind of Trump commentary as the cold open.

Top Golf is a sponsor — find out which one of your co-workers is an alcoholic — and Male Chimp. Others: Warm Sponges and Pube Whacker. They talk about the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight, well done.

Charlie XCX performs “360”

Holy green cube! “360” was the second single off Brat. Total jam. She’s introduced by Julia Fox, who’s featured in the music video for the song and referenced in its lyrics.

As noted earlier, Weathers sees Charli XCX’s hip-hop-adjacent style as descended from Debbie Harry, who invited Funky 4 + 1 on her show to become the first hip-hop act to appear on national television. (They performed “That’s the Joint.” Weathers watched their performance live, off stage.)

Weathers says, recalling the musical performances he saw firsthand: “My best memories of Saturday Night Live were going in between the dress and going live, you’d have that break for meal. And they always had really good food, catered… Sitting down there in a folding chair and listening to sound check for Aretha Franklin. Can you imagine? Nobody else even in the studio.”

“Weekend Update”

Colin Jost lands savage blows on Matt Gaetz and Jeffrey Epstein; Trump’s cabinet nominees are the main fodder this week. Jost jokes about fleeing the country. Michael Che has a brutal joke about there eventually being a female president — once men go extinct!

Joe Exotic, a.k.a. the Tiger King, wrote a letter to Donald Trump asking to be pardoned. Bowen Yang comes out as Exotic to explain. Meh, pass. (Shoutout to when Kate McKinnon missed the first seven episodes of Season 47, due to filming Joe vs. Carole. FYI Chloe Fineman also played Baskin a few seasons back.)

NYC squirrel Peanut continues to fuel debate about wildlife pet ownership. Peanut’s grieving widow, Hazel Nut, comes out, played by Sarah Sherman. She mocks Jost, as you might imagine. Sherman is silly and fun in this role! I like her trying to chatter to the squirrel sound effect, and caressing Jost with her tail. Her “Nuts where!” face should be a meme. This is a highlight for me.

ChokeMeJeffGoldblum.xxx!

“Commercial Acting”

Students audition with scripts for things like Mucinex and Target towels. Marcello Hernández’s passionate, over-caffeinated teacher tells them: “You aren’t selling a product, you are telling a story.” Alyssa (Charli XCX) is his favorite pupil. Pass. Hernández is high energy but not sure I buy him anchoring sketches yet.

Charli XCX performs “Sympathy Is a Knife”

“Sympathy Is a Knife” shows Charli’s self-doubts — pretty bad song. She is selling it, though, I guess.

“It Girl Thanksgiving”

Marc Jacobs (Yang) and Julia Fox (Fineman) host a Thanksgiving special. Nwodim’s Naomi Campbell having “The Substance: is funny. (Though that movie should be Sarah Sherman material, who is also here as Rachel Sennott, a.k.a., Rosie Shuster from the Saturday Night movie.) The Olsen Twins bring a cigarette casserole — and loaded mac ‘n’ cheese. Kenan Thompson is stylist Law Roach. Mostly bad.

“Shrek the Musical”

A friend is late returning from the bathroom after seeing a performance of Shrek on Broadway. She has green all over her hands and mouth — her friends accuse her of hooking up with the Shrek actor. Bowen Yang takes it to 11 here (funny?). Solid reveal with Michael Longfellow, taking over for Bad Bunny.

Final thoughts

Welp, VOTE! Let your voice be heard. 

Thank you to former cast member Patrick Weathers for his commentary tonight! He is hard at work on a new album, FYI. Check out some of his recent singles ASAP. 

Regarding SNL50, Weathers would love to see the show feature his Bob Dylan sketch sometime. And also, spotlight his good friend Peter Aykroyd’s “Java Junkie” short with Teri Garr. “That’s the best short film they ever did. One of the most short films ever made,” he says. Agreed.

The Bill Burr poll was pretty evenly spread. Over 1,000 of you voted and B narrowly won the day! 

Mikey Day MIA? PDD cut?