Last week’s Saturday Night Live episode was a tough act to follow. And, unfortunately, the sketches this week did not even come close to measuring up to the Finn Wolfhard-hosted entry.
However, while there were a lot of misses, there were also a couple of hits during the January 24 episode. Check out the highs and the lows of the week.
SNL Hosts The Donald Trump Awards
The first-ever Trump Awards took place on Saturday Night Live this week. The ceremony, obviously hosted by James Austin Johnson’s iteration of the president, honored Trump’s most memorable moments from the past year. The event also celebrated all the people who serve or enable him. He also framed the event as a distraction from recent events involving ICE.
The sketch also featured Jeremy Culhane as J.D. Vance, Sarah Sherman presenting an award as Aunt Gladys from Weapons, and Andrew Dismukes portrayed Stephen Miller. While SNL’s cold open has been taking several jabs at President Trump for quite some time now, and it has grown very tiresome, at least this week’s skit was more creative than the ones that came before it.
Weekend Update Upped Its Game
Surprisingly, Weekend Update was one of the saving graces of SNL this week. While still overall very Trump-oriented, the most recent installment did include several other elements that provided a much-needed breath of fresh air. One show-stealing moment was when Marcello Hernández joined Colin Jost and Michael Che to teach them (mainly Jost) about Gen Z slang.
Hernández translated terms such as “chopped” and “cooked.” Meanwhile, Jost tried to follow along, only to have his younger co-star sadly inform him that the slang he used, such as “cap” and “delulu,” was no longer relevant.
SNL Teaches Viewers How To “Blow It”
Martin Herlihy plays a young man meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time. He immediately made himself look bad by ridiculing her father’s accent. He then revealed that he is intentionally trying to get his girlfriend to break up with him, using the incident as a way to advertise his self-help book. The bit also included tactics such as dressing like a Lumineers member at a funeral.
SNL’s Flops Of The Night
This week’s episode wasn’t very impressive, especially in comparison to its predecessor. Here are a few major flops of the night.
Musical Updates From Gate Agents
A winter storm causes flight delays as singing airline employees Shrimp and Grits, played by Kenan Thompson and Taylor. The obnoxious duo deliver all the airline’s updates in song while the pilot (Johnson) is clearly too intoxicated to fly the plane. Despite how relatable the patrons’ reactions to these delays and annoying employees are, the sketch ultimately fails to land, with the premise wearing thin very quickly.
Awkward Wedding Dance
Another sketch centers on a newly married couple, played by Ashley Padilla and Kam Patterson, who take a moment at their reception to acknowledge the groom’s 87-year-old grandpa, portrayed by Taylor. It is revealed that the old man just got a double knee replacement surgery. What begins as a warm tribute quickly becomes chaos once the DJ (Mikey Day) plays Earth, Wind & Fire music. Taylor leaps into action, showing off her dance moves. The routine escalates, and grandpa ends up hurting himself again. However, the DJ restores his shattered bone with more music.
Saturday Night Live airs every Saturday at 11:30 PM ET and 8:30 PM PT on NBC.
- Release Date
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October 11, 1975
- Showrunner
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Lorne Michaels
- Directors
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Dave Wilson, Don Roy King, Liz Patrick, Andy Warhol, Linda Lee Cadwell, Matthew Meshekoff, Paul Miller, Robert Altman, Robert Smigel
- Writers
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Will Forte, Bill Hader, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig, Chris Parnell, Asa Taccone, John Lutz, Tom Schiller, Simon Rich, Michael Patrick O’Brien, Nicki Minaj, Herbert Sargent, Matt Piedmont, John Solomon, Chris Kelly, Alan Zweibel, Kent Sublette, Ari Katcher, Marika Sawyer, Sarah Schnedier, Scott Jung, Justin Franks, Jerrod Bettis, Rhiannon Bryan
