Signalgate, Spongebob Drama, Ashton Hall & NYC Takedowns

Enter another line-up-at-the-mic-as-crazy-characters sketch, Marcello Hernández’s acting instructor, another sincere-moment-in-front-of-chaos-behind-a-window sketch (a la “The Waffle House”), and an unexpected repeat for Bowen Yang’s midwife character from two years ago. We call it unexpected because it’s about as close for a line-by-line repeat of that sketch as it is possible to be (even more than most recurring sketches).

So we had diminished returns for some of these recurring sketches, while the latest SNL Animated Short was a welcome return, and the show offered brutal takedowns of New York City and viral fitness influencer Ashton Hall. Weekend Update was back in fine form, with solid guest spots for some of our newer cast members, which is always nice to see, and Joe Jonas was a welcome surprise in the latest music video piece.

As for Mikey, we have to say she was a little inconsistent. It took her a beat to get the rhythm and cadence of live television, and she’s clearly more of a dramatic actress than a comedic one, but she did find her way and managed to keep herself well composed. She’s not going to go down as a memorably brilliant surprise, but she wasn’t a disaster, either. She did her part and let the cast shine brighter this week.

In a closing surprise, musical guest Morgan Wallen seemed disinterested in being there for the goodbyes, and then left center stage moments after Mikey thanked him, leaving the cast to watch him go as the credits rolled … with TMZ noting he followed that with a shot of his private plane on Instagram, captioning it, “Get me to God’s country.”

A source close to the country singer, though, told TMZ it was all just a misunderstanding, as he excited the same way he did during dress and camera blocking, so he apparently thought that’s what he was supposed to do? It was Morgan’s second time appearing after his Covid maskless partying aborted his original planned 2020 appearance.

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.

Mikey either has no experience working live, or was told when she did to ignore audience reactions as she just blew through all moments of applause and cheers, burying some of her lines below the audience responses. It was not a very engaging monologue, in general, with Mikey delivering flat line reads through. The material about her movie “range” and horse backstory wasn’t funny, leaving the sight gag of her showing off her real pole-dancing skills (an amusingly muscular body double) the only highlight … and that was just so-so. When she said at the top that we could see she had a relaxed vibe, we didn’t see it at all. She didn’t appear relaxed or comfortable.

It was inevitable that SNL was going to look at the biggest political story of the week in “Signalgate,” but this was a pretty lame way to go about it. The teen girls were basically non-entities in the humor, other than occasionally chirping up to remind the government officials sharing classified intel that they were teen girls. Their only funny moment came when Mikey Madison’s teen said her date Matt had just showed up — and it was Matt Gaetz. Otherwise, this was just the awkwardness of how the government was using a social media app to talk about serious matters, including eggplant emojis and GIFs. This could have been so much funnier if they’d bothered to incorporate the teens into the narrative.

Barry the midwife has met you before. Was “Glases” spelled wrong in the text-over? “Hillary” Duff was. What even is the point of this bizarre sketch. It was more odd than funny and even more odd than that. Even worse, like much of tonight, it was an almost joke-for-joke retread of Barry the midwife’s interactions with Quinta Brunson as the doctor two years ago. The details were changed, but the offense of the doctor forgetting Barry from some obscure encounter years ago was the same, as were the general beats of the whole sketch. This wasn’t funny enough for a repeat.

There were a few funny moments, but we’re not sure we needed to see Marcello Hernández’s acting coach return. Mikey Madison was definitely more invested in her role here as his “star” acting student, but this piece is definitely all about what Marcello brings with his own dramatically ridiculous over-the-top performances. We have to admit we did enjoy his high-stepping walk, while he got himself giggling at one point, as well. The problem is that this was such a retread of material with only the slightest variation, and that ending just kind of came up and then high-kicked out without giving us a laugh. Too repetitive, and not nearly funny enough in the first place to dip into the same well like this.

A very New York experience, the new music performers, including Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman, and Ego Nwodim, celebrate waiting in a “big ol’ line” for … well, sometimes you can’t remember but usually it’s some weird combination that turns out to be … well, fine. Just fine. As in, why did I wait all day for this when it’s just meh? Because everyone else was. It’s quintessentially human to want to be part of something, which is certainly the point, but also what a waste. While it’s an experience much of the country probably can’t quite relate to as part of an everyday experience, we’ve all waited in a line only to be disappointed at one point or another in our lives. Is the line the thing? Nah! Plus, Joe Jonas cameo for now reason? We’re down with that.

Life’s regrets took center stage as two sons fell witness to the dramatic shooting of their mob boss father, played by Andrew Dismukes, who regretted things like never making an honest woman out of their mother and … never giving standup comedy a try. The bulk of the sketch then explored some of the material he would have liked to share, including deep philosophical questions like, Why do birds walk across the road? “Make that make sense.” The premise was just that simple, but with Andrew’s silly performance as the father, and Mikey Madison’s entrance as his wife (and writer), they managed to mine laughter out of some pretty bad jokes. Make that make sense?

Mikey Madison took the game show host position to grill a guy she met on Hinge, with Michael Longfellow doing a great job as the guy looking for casual hookups and nothing serious at all. There was a lot of humor to be mined here, but they could have taken it even further. The ending, though, was perfectly executed, even if it seemed a little obvious. Dating is hard, folks!

This went a direction we didn’t expect. Mikey Madison entering the boys’ office while fully dressed as Squidward was funny enough, but we couldn’t have guessed it would lead straight to an HBO-style dramedy take on Spongebob Squarepants. This was speaking directly to the childhoods of generations of young adults at this point, with the guys stepping into the roles of Spongebob, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs, mixing drama of life in your 20s with some of the quirks of their characters. At least Patrick finally is getting some answers as to which condiments are not instruments. This was so out of left field, we found ourselves creeped out and charmed at the same time.

The success of these lineup-type sketches are all going to come down to what kinds of fun characters the cast brings to their roles, and this one had a delightfully daffy mix. From Kenan Thompson want to be the judge to Chloe Fineman as herself desperately trying to get an impression on the air, we enjoyed the random variety and chaos of the piece, including when Bowen Yang’s “back to the future” act first knocked down the microphone, and then Michael Longfellow’s offended white guy did it again, with a perfect reaction to it going down. We even got a surprise cameo by Luigi Mangione (Emil Wakim). When these are working, we could watch one wacky character after another seemingly forever.

Marcello Hernández wrapped the sketch by showing up with full acrobatics in Benson Boone’s iconic bodysuit and belting “Beautiful Things.” That moment even got the singer’s attention, who quipped in the comments of a clip shared to SNL‘s TikTok, “Listen. This is exactly how I would behave in court.”

What if…? Michael Longfellow and Bowen Yang break down all of the foibles of New York City as two planners looking at the island and thinking about just how big of a mess they can make of it. We love all the details, from the chaotic road planning to Central Park, the subway system and Broadway making triangle squares. And then, they got into the vision of those who live there, a true melting pot of people … who all hate each other. Everyone knows enough about what NYC is for this one to work everywhere.

From the Waffle House to the pool, this recurring sketch never fails to deliver. Sincere and earnest slice-of-life in front, escalating insanity behind the glass in the background, this time at the pool of a hotel. Chloe Fineman and Marcello Hernández did a great job of staying so grounded and sweet as two young college lovers on the precipice of the big question discussing if they’re read for that, while Mikey Day’s redneck hoosier again leads the array of lunatics behind them from projectile vomiting to disgustingly broken limbs and live alligators. Honestly, it’s worth the watch just to see the background narrative — and we dare you to try and pay attention to what’s being said in the foreground.

Colin Jost and Michael Che had a fiery audience to play off of as Che tried to reframe Diddy as a “billionaire oil man” and Jost made the argument Pete Hegseth and Forrest Gump have more alike than we may realise. The boys went in deep on “Signalgate,” before shifting to other issues like Trump’s tariffs, Kristi Noem’s prison visit, and that controversial Trump painting — “with a hamburger inside his mouth.”

Making fun of influencer Ashton Hall’s unlikely morning routine, this piece by Devon Walker thankfully did not require you to be familiar with Ashton in particular. If you’ve seen any ridiculous morning routine on social media, you were prepared for Deven to show his — which had some great moments. Add to that his constant jabs at Che for never showing up to work and you’ve got Devon’s strongest appearance yet at this desk

Will Smith released a new album, Che told us, and “ironically, the album doesn’t slap.” The boys were even funnier as they moved beyond politics te explore the 23andMe bankruptcy, food dye ban in West Virginia, and the story of a mom chased by her teen daughters for turning off the wi-fi (“Get them before they get you!”). But the highlight may well have been Jost’s takedown of Paddington Bear in his latest “Hear Me Out!” segment. Can we just say, “Yikes!”

Ashley Padilla continues to blow us away in this latter half of her first season, this time bringing her formidable comedic acting chops to the role of the Joann from Joann Fabrics, blaming everything from feminism to Michaels for the demise of her stores after they declared bankruptcy. She was over-the-top when needed, offended, off-putting, and a little bit endearing all at the same time. Ashley has a bright future at SNL with what she’s been bringing to sketches and the Update desk.

Marcello Hernández probably had the biggest night, but we still aren’t enamored with his acting instructor. He was great as the romantic lead in the Varsity piece, and he got Benson Boone’s vibe enough in jury selection to get a shout-out from Benson himself, but that wasn’t enough to tip him over the top for us this week.

Andrew Dismukes, Sarah Sherman, and Ego Nwodim are becoming the reliable backbone of this current cast, consistently bringing character and commitment. Veterans Kenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner, and Mikey Day are reliable and possible scene-stealers with every appearance, while newer players Ashley Padilla and Devon Walker delivered very strong Update appearances.

For us, though, this week’s MVP — despite a beat-for-beat sketch retread we did not like — has to go to Bowen Yang, who’s become this cast’s overall MVP, in many ways. It’s the versatility he displays, shifting from J.D. Vance to a musical piece, to bringing the chaos and the camp throughout the night, including a standout animated voiceover, Bowen just is the funny.

Saturday Night Live returns next week with host Jack Black and musical guest Elton John and Brandi Carlile.