Actor Jacob Elordi dutifully and affably accepted his role as hunk-y guest host, while Reneé Rapp pulled out all the stops for visually compelling and star-studded musical performances on the solid first Saturday Night Live of 2024. Here’s everything that happened this week.
The Cold Open
James Austin Johnson performed his remarkably accurate impression of Donald Trump, addressing cameras after a session of his most recent defamation trial. Fully joke-loaded, every line and physical gesture was amusing, even if a wardrobe malfunction in Johnson’s wig made what looked like a giant paper clip hang from the back of his head halfway through. Despite the distraction, Johnson’s performance was great.
The Monologue
Australian actor Jacob Elordi made some jokes at the expense of his much-talked about film Saltburn, and then engaged in a fake audience Q&A, which included two non-cast members and then Sarah Sherman, who was offended by the lack of audience recognition and got in a slight burn about Elordi’s role in The Kissing Booth. This was followed by Kenan Thompson in character as an odd dude, and then Bowen Yang, who did get a huge ovation and, as a result, made fun of Sherman. Like many hosts of late, Elordi ended his monologue by earnestly saying he was grateful to be hosting SNL, which got the warm applause such a thing is designed to get.
Crown Your Short King
In a parody of Bachelorette-style shows, Chloe Fineman played Tiffany, who, as the object of desire, addressed the three short finalists she was planning to choose from. But then the very tall Elordi turned up as Jackson, and Fineman’s knees melted for him, and that was the horny end of the short kings’ reign.
Katt Williams x Shannon Sharpe
Catching up on the viral Club Shay Shay interview with Katt Williams from a couple of weeks ago, this remote featured Ego Nwodim as the comedian and Devon Walker as Sharpe in an extended cut of the conversation. Alas, this already felt dated, it wasn’t very good, and Katt Williams might now add these two to his shit list.
Award Season with ET
Elordi and Bowen Yang played professional lip readers who appeared on Entertainment Tonight to reveal the contents of no-audio celebrity interviews at award shows. Elordi was amusing playing a dumb-dumb Travis Kelce walking and not really talking on the street. A silly concept with a cameo by Rapp, this sketch had some funny moments.
Bowling Animations
Elordi and Heidi Gardner played a couple at a bowling alley who were confronted with some hyper literal, pun-like and often dark bowling score animation videos. A rather inspired and funny idea that anybody who has bowled and pondered those odd graphics could relate to and laugh at.
Alaska Airlines
In this remote ad, Alaska Airlines reps quasi-apologized for but also mostly upsold a recent mid-flight accident, in which cabin doors on a plane blew apart in the sky. This was about as dark as you’d expect it to be and also pretty amusing.
Reneé Rapp
Uniquely filmed from above, Rapp began her performance of the brooding and theatrical power ballad “Snow Angel” lying on her back provocatively, before rising to belt out vocals, backed by a rock band. This had a quiet/loud dynamic in the melodramatic spirit of Queen.
Introduced by Rachel McAdams, her Regina George predecessor, Rapp returned for “It’s Not My Fault,” a big pop number featuring back-up dancers and a giant cake prop centre stage. After a bunch of tuneful choreographed cavorting, Megan Thee Stallion (a.k.a. “The Black Regina George”) broke out of the cake for a verse, much to the delight of Rapp and the studio audience.
Weekend Update
Colin Jost began Update with worried jokes about the prospect of a Trump/Biden rematch, because of their apparent senility. Michael Che did a joke about Nikki Haley’s comments about America’s racist history, and later introduced Devon Walker’s Senator Tim Scott, whose croaky voiced appearance served as as an amusing endorsement of Trump.
Che did a corny Elton John EGOT joke, and Jost did a good one about a Volvo crashing into a Whole Foods. Both then exchanged a couple of Norm Macdonald-esque jokes about women. Punkie Johnson played Deobra Redden, a real-life court defendant who was featured in a recent viral video after he high-jumped into the air over a judge’s bench and attacked her. Not sure what the angle was here exactly, except that the video is wild.
Women Supporting Women
A support group meeting for women was interrupted by Joshua, an alcoholic played by Elordi. Joshua assumed it was an AA meeting, but it turned out to be a gathering of women who were suddenly very lascivious. Things took a particularly juvenile turn when Johnson’s top came off revealing her ample cleavage, which broke her cast mates and Elordi up, and then this questionable sketch ended.
Tony Lee Acting Studio
Bowen Yang played an acting coach teaching young amateur actors, including one named Natalie Partman who really, really resembled Rachel McAdams. Soon, a genuine actor, played by Elordi, graced the struggling actors with his privileged rise to fame. Totally out of touch with concepts like “rejection” and “auditions,” Elordi’s Travis was funny but McAdams playing someone who looked like McAdams was the biggest star of this sketch.
Hinge Impinge
A wedding between a couple played by Elordi and Chloe Troast was interrupted by Garrett from Hinge, a recurring but sporadically-played character by Yang, who’d once went on a date with the bride-to-be. Surreal and unsettling, this also had a lotta laughs.
