Fresh out the box.
Stop, look, and watch.
Ready yet, get set.
Ramy Youssef hosts ‘SNL’.Saturday Night Life/YouTube
He has a new stand-up special,More Feelings.
Travis Scott, who performed back in season 44 when Awkwafina hosted, returns as the musical guest.
FormerSNLcast memberJeff Richardsis providing some thoughts on tonights episode.
Scroll down to find out what lands in the cold open, and what gets regulated to Weekend Update!
Cold Open
Its Easter, the celebration of the rebirth of Christ.
This is the story of the Resurrection.
We fade into Sarah Sherman,Chloe Fineman, andHeidi Gardner all named Mary, seemingly.
Trump compares himself to Jesus and sells Bibles people are fine with it.
Can cold opens about Trump be funny in 2024?
I leave that to you, the reader.
(Feels like an obvious choice for a cold open after three weeks off, but anyway.)
The Trump/Hello Kitty toast is a fun visual.
Lots of vaguely ageist Biden talk about him thawing, being confused on the train, etc.
He wants the next president to be female, maybe even a trans woman.
The audience agrees, but isnt especially enthusiastic.
This is New York: They’re liberal… but still Italian.
His prayers are complicated these days.
This gets a huge audience reaction.
Then he brings up his friends dog, Mr. Bojangles.
Hes caught in a custody battle with his human owners.
True, Ramy was inWishandPoor Things!
“Couple Goals”
Oh boy.
A game show spoof.
(Three-week break!)
We saw thislast AprilwhenQuinta Brunson hosted.
This is the lead sketch?
We see our boys go full Lonely Island here.
“That’s not a phrase, man.
I’m really hoping everyone forgot that I said that.”
The neighborhood men rag on their silly, modern offspring.
Their first guest isMikey Day, a newcomer to the block.
His Little Flex son is his best friend.
Our old-school hosts do not appreciate this white helicopter style of parenting.
Kenan Thompsonis decently funny here too.
Oh boy, furry porn humor.
After 20 years of marriage, you have to miss it up sometimes!
The opposing team is sending them kitty litter, trying to throw them off.
The sketch is Youssef trying to excuse the many embarrassing moments.
Devon Walkers reaction shots as the coach’s son are pretty funny.
Recent convert Dismukes uses it to get a 27-inch waist!
Pretty funny spoof of upbeat prescription drug commercials.
It features uncredited vocals from Sampha and Justin Vernon.
Pretty unexceptional sonic rap song.
(His joke about Ronna McDaniel is relatively Norm-esque!)
More jokes about Boeing too.
Flacos widow (Sarah Sherman) appears.
The widow comes to terms with his death and shocking life choices, roping Jost into things.
Celebrities have sex with whoever they want and spouses just have to deal with it, wink.
“Murder Detective”
Theres a body outside of a downtown pizza place.
Examiner Ego Nwodim is joined by detectives James Austin Johnson and Youssef.
Poor bastard was just picking up a pizza, he says.
He tries several times, trying to land a laugh.
It’s a funny take onLaw & Order-style web connection crime procedural one-liners.
Sims takes umbrage at Youssefs pun.
The corpses widow (Sherman) again grieving her recently departed spouse in this episode appears.
One last chance to land Sims joke!
Camerawork aside, pretty bad stuff.
NPR intern Elliot (Bowen Yang) interrupts the performance, asking the musicians to keep the raucous down.
Hes working on a new podcast on AI and rural queers.
In a divided America, what is music?
I dont love Yang vamping, but this is a pretty good spoof of public radio pretenses andTiny Desk.
Final Thoughts
Pretty underwhelming episode.
What did YOU think?Vote!
Let your voice be heard.
(Any Molly Kearney?)
Thank you to formerSNLer Jeff Richards for his thoughts tonight.
Check out Jeffs latestpodcast episode with Andy Dick.
Jeff is performing at the Comedy Cellar inVegas next week.
If you are nearby, check him out!
Want to read more from me?
I recently attended the Mark Twain Prize at the Kennedy Center honoring Kevin Hart.
Shameless self-promotion aside, check out this fantastic interview with Sarah Shermanover at Paste.
on April 3 at the Gilman Theater on Fordhams campus.
