“Saturday Night Live” hosts typically leave their mark on the show, either by highlighting the sketches they're in with charm and good timing, or by leaving a smaller mark by awkwardly revealing why they're not a good fit for live comedy sketches.
So what should we think of British actor Josh O'Connor, who hosted “SNL” for the first time and left little impression?
O'Connor, known for his role as Prince Charles in “The Crown,” as well as his appearances in “Challengers” and the new Netflix film, “Wake Dead: The Mystery of Drawing the Knives” seemed playful enough, but for most of the show he had little opportunity to do more than blend into sketches centered around characters he didn't play.
He played supporting roles, including the Tin Woodman in updated sketch of The Wizard of Oz featuring male characters who decide what they really want is the “big old thing” instead of their original desires, a fellow student in a sketch about a 12-year-old college prodigy (Bowen Young), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in Part of Christmas characters it was a look at Variety's “Actors on Actors” and an awkward brunch attendee.
Only in a few sketches, including parody of “The Dating Game” Ashley Padilla as an 84-year-old bully, a hospital sketch in which he played a bad internand one in which O'Connor and Ben Sherman played sensitive roles. male strippers at a bachelorette party whether he had major roles. And they weren't particularly memorable characters or images. It wasn't until he kissed the other actors at the end of the sketches (Ian and Sherman) that things seemed to perk up.
In fact, it felt more like an episode focusing on Young, who played the Wizard; the fast-talking and arrogant Doctor Please in the hospital sketch; and 12-year-old college student and musical guest Lily Allen. Allen's caustic speechesSleepwalking” And “Madelinefrom her new breakup album with David Harbor were high drama. The final song had a big surprise: Actress Dakota Johnson appeared from behind a screen as the lead character, then appeared next to Allen as the song ended. Another Allen song, “West End Girl”, became the subject of discussion. whole brunch sketch in which the actors sang about their feelings to the music. Allen appeared as herself, but replaced the waitress at their table.
It's hard to tell whether the material fell flat for O'Connor or whether he's just a clumsy fit for “SNL,” but unfortunately, what stood out about this episode had nothing to do with him.
In addition to the sketches, this episode of “SNL” featured a Christmas segment, “Brad and his father»animated short film.
Ready for another President Trump-centric cold open? Sorry, but you still have it. James Austin Johnson further reinforced his impression of Trump with a stream of consciousness performance for reporters aboard Air Force One, which White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt (Ashley Padilla) attributed to exhaustion. “I took Ambien and Adderall, let's see which one wins,” Trump said, before inappropriately fixating on Leavitt's lips and denying that affordability is an issue. “The economy is very strong,” he said, “from billionaires to poor millionaires.” Trump addressed the attacks on Venezuelan ships, saying, “We're doing piracy now, yeah,” and promising attacks would move from sea to air, leading to a visual joke about Santa Claus and his reindeer on radar being knocked out of the sky.
O'Connor's monologue focused on two things those unfamiliar with his acting should know about him: that he has a reputation as a “soft boy,” a man who embroiders, makes scrapbooks and gardens like the “average 65-year-old woman.” Secondly, he looks like Chef Linguini from the Pixar film Ratatouille, and while rumors that he wanted to play the character in the live-action version were unfounded, he would love to play the character. “Be that as it may,” he said, “I would murder like Linguini.”
Best skit of the night: How many nuggets have you eaten this year?
Despite the fact that this is already well-known material for memes (including almost identical comic book idea), “SNL” still managed to squeeze some juice out of Spotify's Wrapped, a feature from last year that returned for another round earlier in the week. Uber Eats also has an annual report, and you really don't want your significant other to see what fast food you ordered and whether you're in the top 1% of nugget eaters. If your Uber Eats age is “52 and fat,” you may not need this knowledge. False advertising does a great job of balancing the shame we feel about the terrible food we eat with the amount of data we could learn about those habits if anyone ever wanted to see it.
The good news is that these kind male strippers give compassionate hugs the best.
A bachelorette party at a cozy cabin is interrupted by two hired strippers, Augie and Remington (Sherman and O'Connor), who ask for consent before entering and soon remove their cardigans, revealing another layer of cardigan. The men dance to an emo version of “Pony” and then discover that one of them has a tattoo of Zokhran (Mamdani) on his stomach. They do a lap dance, but one of them gets overexcited and cries. “I was just thinking about the Supreme Court,” he groans. Not the most original sketch idea, but the specific details of the characters and Padilla's enthusiastic reaction at the bachelorette party saved the sketch from running too long.
Weekend Update Winner: Superheroes, Santa and Your Boss Want You to Be Good
Jane Wickline did a great job amazingly violent original song about stopping the biggest threat facing the world: not artificial intelligence, but the adult child actors from Stranger Things. But it was Marcello Hernandez who drew the biggest laughs by revealing what Christmas is like for his Cuban family. This includes hanging out with family members' new boyfriends who pretend to be someone they are not. “You don’t like food, Kyle, you like having sex with my cousin!” Hernandez digressed a bit, veering off to talk about Home Alone and uncles giving unsolicited sex advice, but the plot centered on his father's impressions of encouraging his son to play various characters, including Santa Claus, Spider-Man and his boss Lorne Michaels.
