Lady Gaga, Mike Myers’s Musk Keep It Weird

Some of these sketches were truly bizarre — like summing some kind of demon from the netherworld at a family restaurant — while others were just something refreshingly rare for SNL, like absurdist parodies of romantic comedies and other film tropes. These were sent up with a hint of the gross, but a surprising amount of heart.

As we might have anticipated, Gaga also filled Studio 8H with her musical talents, and not just during her two musical performances — one of which saw her sing through the halls of the studio. She had two surprising duets with Bowen Yang, which were both unexpected treats. And in another case, she sang to a tiny mouse.

Mike Myers also dropped by to again portray Elon Musk for the political cold open, while Weekend Update parodied ESPN’s NBA commentator Kendrick Perkins and introduced us to the heretofore unknown Lord Gaga. Don’t worry, he’s very supportive of his wife’s “hobby,” which he doesn’t really follow because he’s just so busy in textiles.

As usual, we’re ranking all the sketches from worst to first, including the Monologue, Cold Open, “Weekend Update” and any sketches that were cut for time but made their way online. We’ll skip the musical guests, because they’re not usually funny — unless Ashlee Simpson shows up. We wrap up with a look at the cast-member who had the strongest week.

Marcello Hernández doesn’t really have an impression of Secret of State Marco Rubio, so much as he’s having him act as the voice of reason in SNL’s insanity-ridden White House. This Cold Open was the supposed follow-up to the supposed screaming match between Rubio and Elon Musk, again portrayed by Mike Myers, with James Austin Johnson’s Trump serving as mediator-in-chief.

The sketch started with reflecting on how great Elon’s DOGE is doing, giving Trump talking points like transgender mice for this Congressional address, “”Which is not true, but it got a big laugh and that is addictive.” He tried to mollify Rubio by telling him, “You’re the goat. You’re the scapegoat, and it’s still a type of goat.” Then, Myers’ Musk giggled and danced his way in for an appearance that wasn’t nearly as funny as the last time around. This felt more like a way to just repeat last week’s Cold Open players because they got a good response than that the writers had anything really to say — or they didn’t go far enough (a problematic tendency of late).

More than a decade after her last appearance, Lady Gaga told everyone to not Google “SNL 2013 Lady Gaga with R. Kelly” as there is nothing at all problematic about it. She then went on to praise her shift to being an actor, now, with her Razzie-winning performance in Joker: Folie à Deux alongside Joaquin Phoenix. Saying that she loves winning things, so the joke’s on them, Gaga said it also brings her one step closer to an EGORT. “It’s like an EGOT,” she said helpfully, “but it’s hurtful.”

This was the type of self-deprecating charm we needed after last week’s unapologetic disaster of a show. Gaga is self-deprecating, self-assured, and felt really down-to-earth, which left us feeling relaxed and comfortable heading into whatever the show had in store. Throw in a cute gag with Bowen Yang and her natural charm, and we wondered why it’s been 10 years when lesser stars have been back multiple times in that span.

Bowen Yang is paired with Lady Gaga in a deeply bizarre date night sketch about a couple who are learning about one another with every statement leading to a twist reveal — some of which we could absolutely not write in a review of the piece. It was a ridiculous piece, made even more so by them breaking out randomly into parody lyrics from Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.” Plus, we were totally distracted by Bowen’s character cribbing his look from the 1980s with no explanation. The lyrics ranged into the absurd, with the ending physical mishap adding to the absurdity of the whole sketch. We’re still not sure if it was funny, but it sure was weird.

Who knew there was a secret behind those little red glasses we see more and more on middle-aged women. It’s all about the statement they’re making, which is a little weird. While the premise of this sketch was funny enough, it definitely went on too long to stay funny without either escalating or switching up the humor. The aside testimonials did bring some extra laughs, but overall, once we got where it was going, the sketch was played out … and maybe halfway through. Clever enough, but too long.

Well, this was an unexpected journey. A romantic comedy parody with a mobile luggage twist, it hit most of the familiar beats with the added bonus of the “Sons of Samsonite” mobile luggage gang and constant calls to “Go around!” Marcello Hernández and Lady Gaga were so earnest in their performances, we could see Marcello starring in a rom-com in the near future. The bonus scene of them driving through the SNL set on their luggage only added to the overall silliness. This is the kind of sketch the show hasn’t been doing much of these past few years, but when well executed, it leaves you smiling and feeling good. Not sharp, satirical humor, but sweet, silly laughs. And sometimes we need that, too.

Even though it was all fairly obvious, we still enjoyed the buildup to the inevitable as Lady Gaga and Heidi Gardner kept pitching their “Roaring ’20s” theme idea for Ego Nwodim’s funeral service for her father. This sketch wasn’t particularly innovative in its structure, and could have leaned in even more during the early banter, but it really came to life when Kenan Thompson came in as the bartender and we got to the punchline of the bit. We also loved Gaga’s delivery of “what kind of vibe did you picture?” when asking about Ego’s funeral preferences. It was totally silly and predictable, but still fun to watch play out.

Even though she was only one of several women in this parody commercial, Ashley Padilla continues to give us all the performance we could want and more, proving that she should have a bright future as a sketch performer on this show. She just really commits to each performance. Contrast that with Jane Wickline, who is stilted but has an awkward charm about her, and we appreciate they’re bringing such different energies to the show.

The sketch itself was about as stupid as you might imagine, but we loved the idea of women itnentionally wearing mascara that runs … “for attention.” And then spending the ad explaining the different places where that might come in handy, like on the job, at funerals, or even laughing while dancing at a club. A one-note premise that kept it short and simple with some startling visuals and SNL has another parody ad winner on its hands.

A pre-taped high school athlete film parody, this one was all about the weight-lifting competition that anyone could do well in, except for Pip, of course. Like Stuart Little, Pip was an anthropomorphic mouse with Lady Gaga his only high school supporter. Meanwhile, Marcello Hernández was his rival as the cool kid in school, who was also the strongest and had the hot cheerleader girlfriend, played by Sarah Sherman. Gaga even performed a totally charming original song to cheer Pip up and on.

We absolutely loved that when it came time for Pip’s triumphant performance, he totally blew it, failing to even lift two ounces. But then, the gymnasium roof collapsed and proved to be “two ounces too heavy.” The final beats of the sketch were brilliantly subversive, with just the kinds of twists many who lived through these types of bullying experiences might have wanted to see. It was surprising in the best possible ways.

This song could probably be done every generation, but we still applaud SNL for tackling some of the most egregious slang words that are dominating — and limiting — communication. They took particular aim at slay, as well as bop, mother, dead, bae, suss, slay, reheating nachos, delulu, diva down, not me, crumbs. The kids are probably already laughing at these lame words as they embrace whatever the latest terminology is, but it’s nice to get a reminder that as we get older, we have the option to expand our lexicons and learn more relatable words. That’s pretty lit, right? Fly? Far out? Rad? Groovy?

The final stunt wasn’t executed clean enough for it to make total sense as it was happening, but we were absolutely loving the escalating insanity after Heidi Gardner’s character was tricked into lying about it being her birthday at a Friendly’s restaurant. By the time it was over, just about every member of the cast had made an appearance, while Bowen Yang stole the show as the friend who set her up and was annoying at all of her protests. “Just drink the blood, Jenny, it’s free,” he intoned at one point before she was ultimately taken for ritual sacrifice. For all those wondering if it’s okay to lie about your birthday at restaurants, this should clear that concern right up!

Colin Jost got in a dig at the night’s guest, Mike Myers, with his commentary on Trump turning his attacks back toward those “filthy Canadians,” who are even stealing good jobs from American sketch comics. The boys got in plenty of jokes on the tariffs protecting the northern border — and it’s “two butt-fulls” of fentanyl that crossed in 2024 — as well as “white Kanye” Elon Musk, who grew his family the same way he’s growing SpaceX, with explosions just a few minutes after takeoff. And that wasn’t even the “special ed” joke. There was clearly a bounty of directions to take shots, and the boys were loaded and aiming everywhere.

Kenan Thompson was hilarious as Kendrick Perkins, complete with fake beard and a whole lot of fake — and ridiculous — comments about Lebron James and pretty much every other aspect of the world of NBA. His controversial work on ESPN had Charles Barkely going off on him, calling him an “idiot” for his commentary, to which Kenan’s take on the former NBA pro was to basically prove him absolutely right with words and phrases that really don’t relate to anything, or even one another.

The boys got pretty dirty in their second segment by comparing “labia puff” surgery to a popular cereal for Women’s History Month, revealing how Cookie Monster is surviving Sesame Street layoffs, and sharing the secret to Dick Van Dyke’s longevity. And then there’s the scientific method for recreating the woolly mammoth, which starts by getting a woolly mouse super drunk.

“You must be proud of all of her accomplishments,” said Colin Jost to Mikey Day’s Lord Gaga, husband to the Lady Gaga. “Well, I’m glad she has a hobby,” he replied snobbishly.The aristocrat’s ongoing cluelessness about her career was funny enough, but then he asked Colin, “Can you imagine a man whose wife makes more money than he? Can you imagine, oh, the shame he would feel!”

Cast as the romantic lead in two early back-to-back sketches, it looked like this might turn out to be a Marcello Hernández blowout, but the show then started to better balance out cast appearances. Aside from Emil Wakim, who was notably absent entirely (unless that was him buried under a costume at Friendly’s), and Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker getting just two appearances each, every cast member had plenty of chances to shine.

They weren’t all lead roles, but as we mentioned before, Ashley Padilla keeps making the most of her supporting appearances, surprising us more and more each week. Sarah Sherman continues to show off a surprising diversity in her roles, while Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson, Andrew Dismukes, and Heidi Gardner continue to be reliable anchor performers.

This week, though, it was clear that Bowen Yang was “vibing” with Lady Gaga, as the pair “slayed” together in two different sketches that had them singing, with a bonus appearance in her monologue — while he absolutely stole the show as the snide friend at Friendly’s. Bowen is one of the show’s biggest stars these days, and it’s because he commits so fully, as he did with every appearance tonight.

Saturday Night Live returns with its next new episode on March 29.