Obligatory opening line about 2024 election stress, etc., etc., etc. John Mulaney was the right host for this week’s SNL episode. It was a generally lovable performance, especially for those rooting for Mulaney’s well-being (which is all of us, right?).

I’m going to speed through this one a bit because I’m a few days late and the election results have concluded. VP Kamala Harris joined the cold open with her portrayer, Maya Rudolph. I would have liked to see her poke a little more fun at herself and the general state of things, but it was by no means a bad sketch. I liked the closer for most of our Season 50 cold open stars, including Andy Samberg’s “And with that, t’was I Doug.”

Not worth hashing out because it’s simply too boring, but I guess it needs to be mentioned (?) that Mulaney’s opening monologue caused a stir among the chronically online. I’ll admit it did feel a little strange moments after the Harris-Rudolph cold open, but not enough to concern me. I generally liked the stand-up, especially the back half and the “Grandpa is too old for WWII” bit.

The sketches that worked

Everyone’s talking about “Port Authority Duane Reade” and I think the hype is deserved. The sketch went every direction imaginable, covered a ton of ground, and did exactly what it was supposed to: distract from the upcoming week. Added perk — Pete Davidson is looking healthy/better than recent years (did he get some tattoos removed?). The synth note after Davidson asks for milk is astonishing in the best way, it was maybe my only true laugh-out-loud moment of the show. This sketch is undeniably worth 8 minutes.

“New York City Council Campaign“, the sketch about Harvey Epstein trying to convince voters he is nether Harvey Weinstein nor Jeffrey Epstein, was gold. Lots of great one-liners and just a hilarious premise for election week. See the real Harvey Epstein’s reaction here.

Heidi Gardner has long since solidified herself as the queen of Weekend Update desk characters, and her Reba McEntire was no exception.

I liked “What’s That Name?” — Michael Longfellow did his very best Bill Hader and it just might have worked. It was a super slow burn, to be sure, but I liked the reveals and thought it was a smart, well-written sketch.

The sketches that didn’t

It’s not that “Little Richard” didn’t work, necessarily. The premise was fine. The impression was fine. The sketch was… fine. I do like this running Bowen-Yang-critiquing-TV-shows thing.

“Beppo the Chimp” didn’t completely land for me (no pun intended). I don’t know if it’s as incredible as people internet-wide are making it out to be, but there were definitely some standout lines: “Beppo know this wrong, but Beppo jump home?” and “Besides, that’s an illegal chess move. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that.” There were some great moments, and it would be foolish to dismiss the magic of forcing emotional investment in a mere minutes-long sketch, but this wasn’t my favorite piece of the night. Still a 3/5.

The musical guest

Okay, I know this won’t make me popular, but I am just not a huge Chappell Roan fan. She strikes me as very full of it and I’ve yet to hear a well-constructed or catchy song from her discography (open to being challenged here, but…). But the biggest ding of the night for me here was the co-opting of “Live from New York” outside of the cold open. It’s the only time ever a musical guest has done that, and I didn’t love it. It just really didn’t sit right — another example of that “I’m above the rules vibe” which I know some people love, and there’s definitely a place for it, but — when it comes to certain things (like SNL) I appreciate the traditions. For example, I also dislike when people fail to introduce the musical guest the right way or miss “We’ve got a great show for you tonight. Stick around, we’ll be right back,” at the end of their monologue. Call me old school, I just like some things to stay the same.

Final thoughts

Here’s the deal: The two sketches I listed as “not working” were still pretty dang great. Mulaney is a damn good host and this week proved yet again that he’s a great choice for dicey episodes.

If nothing else, we know people will tune into SNL episodes the weeks before and after a major election — Nov. 2 saw the highest ratings since May 2021.

For me, this episode did what it was supposed to do. And even though I never fell out of my chair laughing, I was more than comfortably entertained and happy to be watching. There was some wickedly smart writing and very solid premises. Bonus: Loved the Brooke Shields bumper photo.

My rating: 4/5