Saturday Night Live veers toward the strange and surprising for Nikki Glaser’s first time as host.
Photo: Nora Rockwell/NBC
The benefit of a stand-up comedian hosting Saturday Night Live is that they, thankfully, know who they are; the drawback is that they may be less adept at sketch performance. First-time host Nikki Glaser was no exception, but, in my opinion, it wasn’t a problem last night. Glaser is a longtime stand-up with a couple of specials and a consistent smattering of TV work — including her short-lived show, Not Safe With Nikki Glaser, and The Roast of Tom Brady — who has built a reputation as a sharp joke writer and committed performer. Her bubbly, nonthreatening stage persona, paired with her cutting jokes and roasts, feels distinct in her body of work. With that, I expected a tight monologue but wasn’t sure how she’d do in ensemble sketches.
But she did well! And this episode was good. Throughout the night, Glaser’s lack of sketch experience was noticeable (some flubs, etc.), but the show worked around it by having her lead two digital shorts and giving her more forgiving straight-man roles in the ensemble sketches.
As expected with the challenge of writing a sketch show in a week, there were some misses. A year ago, “Beauty and Mr. Beast” might’ve done really well, but at this point in time, society is ready to let Mr. Beast die (metaphorically). I appreciate that “Sorority Meeting” was trying to be silly, but it’s hard to divorce the premise of “hunting out a frat guy sneaking into a sorority house” from the vile anti-transness that’s so deeply embedded in our culture and promoted by the people in power.
But other than that, I would put it among the stronger episodes this season. (I know there are only five so far, but still.) It was joke-dense throughout, with premises veering away from the predictable and into the strange and surprising — “Mechanical Bull” and “Pinwheel,” for sure, but I was also really loving the silliness of “Spirit Tunnel Anxiety.” That woman was shaking her body like she was being exorcised!
Here are the highlights:
Yes, I went online and saw that a lot of you hated her monologue. I get that. Starting with “Epstein’s original island” and ending with child molestation? Glaser came in hot and polarizing. But I thought it was good! She’s a roast comic who told Seth Meyers she ran the set at clubs around the city leading up to SNL, and you can tell that she was well prepared. Glaser, as dark as her comedy can be, feels like someone who’s on the audience’s side and knows that she can’t betray that trust if she wants the dark jokes to go over okay. In the hands of a less skilled comedian (or even another recent SNL host, Shane Gillis), those jokes would’ve been really bad. But she seems genuinely nice, which makes it easier to give her room to be a little messed up. It was long, as monologues from stand-up hosts tend to be, but it set the tone for a joke-dense episode. My condolences to RFK Jr. on stage-two tan lung.
Two rowdy, drunk women (Nikki Glaser and Sarah Sherman) get on the mechanical bull at their friend’s bachelorette party, but Andre (Kenan Thompson) accidentally sets it to the “Bon Voyage” setting. The green screen takes us on a delightful trip through time and space and even to St. Louis, where Glaser actually lives. James Austin Johnson sings country and at one point refers to Sherman’s character as “Sarah Sherman.” Was Sherman playing herself the whole time? Or are we in a different universe where she’s back to being herself? I don’t know, but I’m having fun! My one question: Why was Jane Wickline in it for one random, disconnected line up top? Let her speak!
Mayoral-election jokes were almost all hits, especially this one: “Andrew Cuomo spent the last day before the election campaigning around the city in a white Ford Bronco, which is what O.J. Simpson used to get away from police. But at least O.J. was ahead in the race for a while.” The Zohran ISIS/Theysis joke made me groan, but it wouldn’t be a Che and Jost “Weekend Update” if my eyes weren’t going into the back of my head every so often.
No characters this update, but Pete Davidson came on to talk about his and Colin Jost’s doomed Staten Island ferry. He used the ferry as an excuse for taking Riyadh Comedy Festival money, which, if it were me, I probably wouldn’t bring up. But it was fun to watch, especially Davidson’s direct address to people who didn’t vote for Zohran Mamdani to move straight onto the ferry: “Did you promise to move out of New York if Mamdani won, but have too many warrants in New Jersey and not enough guns for Florida?”
To be down bad but still have to go to work is one of the most devastating challenges of our time, but Captain Dave will get everyone to Cleveland. In this sketch, the captain of a delayed flight gives updates on both departure time and his hookup in Cleveland to restless passengers.
James Austin Johnson’s pilot voice is so spot-on that I didn’t realize pilots sort of all sound the same until I heard it. His unfazed responses to co-pilot Richie (Kam Patterson) giving him crass dating advice also made me laugh: “You better get that snorkel ready, because if you follow my lead, you’ll be swimming in it.” (“That’s wonderful, Richie.”) The updates on departure time get bleaker (“Looks like we got about 576 planes in front of us”), but Captain Dave’s romantic life improves! God bless. An unexpected premise, tightly written jokes, and a bonus to see Sarah Sherman and Andrew Dismukes breaking ever so slightly.
Big night for those of us who want SNL to be weirder. Children’s-book protagonist Anna (Glaser) bids her woodland creatures good-bye with gifts. But the mice (Mikey Day and Jeremy Culhane) are a little too excited about their pinwheels and pissing everyone off. The way Day and Culhane say “Ah-NAH” makes me feel like this was written by someone who watched “Charlie the Unicorn” on YouTube on their mom’s computer in middle school, and I would like more of that. Bowen Yang’s rabbit shrieking “NO!” really tickled me. I love when dainty little animals have drama!
• Said it earlier, but I’ll say it again: Glaser was so physical and WOBBLY in “Spirit Tunnel Anxiety,” which genuinely made me cackle.
• I will try to solve every problem I have as quickly as Andre solved “Andre’s Dilemma.”
• A surprisingly sweet animated short by Streeter Seidell and Mikey Day about a tween visiting his dad for the weekend was also a pleasant watch.
• Colin Jost starting to introduce Pete Davidson as “Steve.”
• I liked Sombr! More musical guests should be climbing around the set.
• Marcello Hernandez was noticeably absent this episode; Ashley Padilla and Chloe Fineman both had less to do tonight than in the last couple of episodes. James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, and Andrew Dismukes were all in heavy rotation, and I wonder if it’s part of figuring out who’s going to fill the Ego/Heidi gap.
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