This week, Ariana Grande is back hosting for the second time, with the legendary Stevie Nicks as the musical guest. Ariana\u2019s first hosting gig was in March 2016, and while I\u2019ll admit I\u2019m not well-versed on her career, I recently re-watched that episode. I was blown away by her impressions of Brittney Spears, Shakira, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston in this sketch. I found her to be talented and versatile performer, and I think that in this week\u2019s show she was even better. I\u2019d guess that knowing that, the writers gave her more opportunities to demonstrate her range and comedic timing. The episode felt fresh and it seems like they are trying different things, and it worked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The election-themed cold open is a given right now, but they took it in a different direction this week. It starts out with Chloe Fineman as CNN anchor, Kaitlan Collins introducing the follow-up presidential debate, which goes to the Family Feud theme song, and Keenan Thompson as Steve Harvey, opening with quip about how he\u2019s hosted every show on TV for the past 20 years as an alibi for the Diddy parties.
We have the Harris side against the Trump side, and it was the spin on this campaign that we all needed! The regular roster of cameos is lined up on the Harris side \u2013 Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff, Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz, and Dana Carvey as Joe Biden, who calls Steve \u201cRegis\u201d and later \u201cConan\u201d and generally doesn\u2019t know where he is.
On the Trump side, James Austin Johnson plays Trump, there\u2019s an empty space for the absent Melania, Mikey Day is Donald Trump, Jr, and Bowen Yang as JD Vance, who has one of the best lines in the sketch when he declines to give an answer by saying, \u201cI\u2019ve been told not to speak.\u201d
Trump does his \u201csignature weave\u201d where he talks about lots of different things and ends it with a comment on immigration.
Maya\u2019s Harris impression is getting better every week, and Johnson\u2019s Trump has always been uncanny, and I feel like the writing has become a perfect reflection of his frequent, disjointed diatribes.
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Another musical monologue this week, as Ariana sings a song about how she\u2019s keeping it low key and just hosting, and is not the musical guest. She works in a few spot-on vocal impressions including Brittney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Gwen Stefani in a singing monologue that wasn\u2019t low-key at all. It was entertaining – a highlight being when Bowen comes out dressed as Glinda from Wicked ,but quickly leaves disappointed and drinking from his flask-wand, as Ariana tells him the Wicked sketch was cut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first sketch takes place at a wedding with Chloe Fineman and Andrew Dismukes as the bride and groom. It starts out with the best man and maid of honor toasts. The characters are very basic and I\u2019m assuming (er, hoping) this was intended to poke fun at the akward performance moments that have become far too common at weddings. The bridesmaids announce that they wrote a song about their bachelorette trip. They\u2019re all singing badly, making the scenario more accurate, even Ariana sings badly on purpose. The song is really about the bride cheating on the groom and just wasn\u2019t funny at all. Feeling a little concerned that if this is the strongest sketch, we\u2019re in for a pretty bad show. This turned out to be the weakest sketch in my opinion, and I\u2019m surprised that they put this one upfront. So on to bigger and better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is what I\u2019m talking about! Next was a pre-tape \u201cMidnight Matinee\u201d titled \u201cMy Best Friend\u2019s House.\u201d Ariana is singing about the \u201csmell of her best friend\u2019s house\u201d complete with singing pillows, books, and furniture. It\u2019s very bright and wholesome, not really funny yet, and I was wondering where it might be going, kind of expecting a weird turn to happen at some point. Mikey Day plays the dad, who loves crossword puzzles and the song mentions the smell of candles, their dad\u2019s cooking, and her parents are divorced, so they have the best snacks. Cuttig to Ariana outside the house, about to walk in, when she\u2019s stopped by the police and things take a hilariously dark turn. Heidi Gardner plays a news reporter covering the story of the \u201cCrossword Killer\u201d with Mikey Day\u2019s picture on screen. He\u2019s killed at least 14 people, and the house is filled with human remains.
Ariana continues the song with \u201cI guess I may have missed some pretty big red flags.\u201d Replaying the first part of the sketch, there are all sorts of insane things happening that weren\u2019t apparent the first time. The candles and other things to cover up the smell, the stew he was cooking has a hand in it, the snacks in the refrigerator distracted her from the human head wrapped in plastic, and she just noticed that there are drains in the living room. I was cracking up at this twist, and maybe it\u2019s just my love of dark humor, but this was probably my favorite sketch of the night.
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In the next sketch, Michael Longfellow plays a son who has brought his boyfriend, Josh, played by Bowen, home to meet his family. They\u2019re starting a game of charades, and they warn Josh that their mom, played by Ariana, is \u201ca teensy bit competitive.\u201d When Bowen wins the first round, he jokingly says \u201cin your face, Diane! \u201c, and her competitive side comes out as she hurls brutal insults at him and threatens to shoot him. The tension escalates into a physical fight where Diane breaks a bottle over Josh\u2019s head. He picks her up, they cut away, and switch to a doll that he\u2019s swinging around. Diane tells Josh she\u2019s happy that he stood up to her because her son is weak and she doesn\u2019t respect him. They apologize and it ends with them making out. Ariana was fantastic, and the insults and physical comedy were great, making for another solid sketch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I thoroughly enjoyed weekend update. The chemistry between Colin Jost and Michael Che is undeniable, and I feel like this season they are having so much fun with Update. The segment kicked off with a story about a Trump rally in California, where Trump points out a guy who apparently looks like Abe Lincoln, and tells him to stand up. Then Colin says \u201cGiven the recent history at your rallies, do you really want Abe Lincoln and you to be standing?\u201d
They continue to lean into off-color jokes, and I\u2019m not sure, but this week might have been a record number of boos and mixed reactions from the audience.
The update guests were really good this week, starting with Ego Nwodim as an overworked Amazon employee who falls asleep with her eyes open, awakens in a frenzy and says she\u2019s disoriented to wake up and not be driving. Ego is great at doing this sort of overzealous, yet clueless character. I\u2019d love to see her do more Update bits like this one.
Closing out the segment, were James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman as Noel and Liam Gallagher, discussing the upcoming Oasis reunion tour. As they discuss whether or not they will be able to get along a year from now, they fight and pick at each other like little kids, all while using exaggerated British accents. in an effort to find common ground, they only seem to agree on cartoons and the best and worst Sex and the City characters. I love the silliness of this bit and overall, this week\u2019s Update was just really fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the last sketches of the night was with Jennifer Coolidge in a Maybelline commercial, with Chloe doing her impression and Ariana on the other side of the mirror doing her impression. I\u2019m so glad they did this, I love Jennifer Coolidge, and I\u2019ve seen Ariana do the impression on Jimmy Fallon and it\u2019s crazy good! They\u2019re talking about going on a date that night, and also trying to say the name of the lip product in unison, a name that seemed to change every time they said it. The surprise twist came when they open up a third mirror and Dana Carvey is behind it, also impersonating Jennifer Coolidge. Honestly, Dana\u2018s impression was pretty bad, but it was hilarious to watch him try, and kind of nice to see him not nailing an impression. This was so good, it probably could have been the first sketch instead of the bridesmaids. Though they seemed to be having so much fun with it, which made it an awesome way to wrap up the show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was a solid episode and while not every sketch was a winner, a few other really good ones made up for it. I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t mention musical guest and absolute legend, Stevie Nicks whose last performance on SNL was in 1983. She sang \u201cThe Lighthouse\u201d and \u201cEdge of Seventeen\u201d and was amazing. It\u2019s rare to have someone of her status as a musical guest, and I hope a few more of the younger viewers now know who Stevie Nicks is! Next week, Michael Keaton hosts, with Billie Eilish. Thanks for reading!
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