Mikey Madison Wasn't Quite the Lucky Lady on an Awkward, Middling 'Saturday Night Live'

Though on a victory lap after receiving acting awards and accolades for her performance in Anora, Mikey Madison proved herself to possess a personality that was perhaps too nuanced, earnest and small for the big, boisterous comedy exploits of Saturday Night Live. Notoriously troubled country star Morgan Wallen also played things tepidly with his two performances, and notably left the stage during the end of the night thank yous, like a guy who had a plane to catch. Here's everything that happened on SNL this week.

The Cold Open

Hosts seldom, if ever, appear at the top of the show, but Mikey Madison took part in this unusual cold open, in which three young women were texting each other about boys and stuff, when they were interrupted by inept US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth texting them about America's military procedures. Andrew Dismukes played the foolish Trump appointee, and he was soon joined by Bowen Yang's JD Vance (in Greenland) and Marcello Hernández's Marco Rubio, who threatened to call ICE on the teens, just because they were minding their own business. This was a rather funny way of dealing with the Trump admin's Signal breach fiasco involving journalist Andrew Goldberg.

The Monologue

After winning an Oscar for her role in Anora, Mikey Madison was clearly excited to be hosting SNL. She showed us a reel of her more horrific roles, then went on to tell us about being a homeschooled horse girl before we were introduced to her brother. There was a timid sight gag employing a stripper pole — and then this mildly amusing monologue, which garnered some golf clapping, was over.

Stop Acting Academy

A now-recurring sketch where Marcello Hernández plays a demented acting coach featured Madison as Connie, his new teacher's pet. Andrew Dismukes's David got under his skin, while various cast members struggled to deal with his nonsensical lessons and overwrought examples. Hernández remains a gift of a casting hire for SNL, and he made this fair.

A Weekend in New York City

In this remote music video, Madison, Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang parodied how various retailers in NYC go viral and then everyone has to stand in "a big dumb line" for something that winds up being only just fine. Not sure what the British accents were all about, but with an assist from Joe Jonas, this was a decent remote.

Jury Duty

Ego Nwodim played Judge Smith who was attempting to assess would-be jury members who all seemed like terrible or weird people. Madison and most of the cast were featured in this, and she was sadly the least amusing figure here, while Kenan Thompson and Marcello Hernández may have been the funniest.

Varsity Valley: Spring Break

This remote featured Chloe Fineman and Marcello Hernández playing a young couple in a hotel room, having a deep emotional conversation about their relationship during spring break, while crazed and violent scenes were staged behind them through their window. SNL has done this bit before, but this iteration likely featured the most chaotic juxtaposition.

Morgan Wallen

On a stage set meant to resemble an office with bulletin boards pegged full of posters and notes, plus a desk with an old-fashioned TV in the middle of it, Wallen and six other dudes played the pensive "I'm the Problem," which had this constant build, but nothing notable was ever constructed.

The TV turned on during "Just in Case," which again had a rather lethargic arrangement behind an urgent Wallen vocal, but the whole thing plodded along instead of taking off. Even the in-studio audience seemed befuddled by these songs.

Weekend Update

Colin Jost started off with the Signal situation by lambasting Pete Hegseth and his crew for adding the editor of The Atlantic to the thread, which included a nice Tesla jab. Michael Che had good Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel jokes, while Jost compared JD Vance to Veep and made a chilly ICE joke.

Devon Walker dropped by to comment on and ridicule fitness influencers and show us his own somewhat amusing "locked in" videos, which were reminiscent of parodies that have been circulating on Twitter and TikTok this past week.

Che told us about a new Will Smith album that doesn't slap, before Jost had a good one-two punch with a 23andMe report and conservative rant against Paddington Bear. Che made fun of hicks, while Jost had a great Plan B bit. Che made things difficult for Jost with a joke about a suicidal vagina.

Ashley Padilla appeared as the maniacal Joann from the bankrupt chain store, Joann's Fabrics, to rant about the impact of its closure. Joanna was a wild and compelling creation, full of rage and inappropriate thoughts. Padilla is a marvel and has a quiet, Kristen Wiig energy that bubbles up and over every so often.

Pop's Regrets

In a gangster scene, a patriarch played by Andrew Dismukes was shot before his helpless sons, and shared his parting words to them. Marcello Hernández and James Austin Johnson played the boys who heard their father's regrets, which were primarily about not pursuing his love of stand-up comedy. Madison emerged as his wife and the pair shared some of their favourite hack riffs, which weren't funny, which was kinda funny.

Barry the Midwife

Madison played an OBGYN overseeing a birth, when she was accosted by Bowen Yang's grudge-holding Barry, a midwife who had an attitude problem. This time travelling sketch was a bit tricky to grasp and was not especially good.

please don't destroy: Squidward

Hey, the pdd guys were back in the friendly confines of their office, ready to greet this week's host when Madison appeared dressed as Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants. After an awkward invocation of the whole "Squidward's thick thighs" thing, this led to a preview of a full-on film treatment called Treading Water, which was bizarre and funny.

So, Like, What Are We?

Madison played the host of a game show where she disturbingly grilled Michael Longfellow's Jeremy about the state of their relationship, based on his and her phone behaviour. Man, this was just awkwardly terrible.

"Planning New York"

This season has featured some clever, historical animated shorts, voiced by cast members. In this case, Michael Longfellow and Bowen Yang played dudes planning how New York would one day work, while also highlighting how preposterously planned it actually is. This may well have been the funniest sketch of this long, jam-packed but middling episode.