It sounds like Kathleen Kennedy is stepping away from Lucasfilm. (For real.) And Dave Filoni will replace her. PLUS: The X-Men face ‘Doomsday,’ ‘The Muppet Show’ gets a teaser, and Sydney Sweeney’s ‘Housemaid’ scores a sequel.
While we can debate just how much SNL really changed after Lorne Michaels’ promised a seismic shift after Season 50 (a conversation I actually did have while recently on the Not Ready for Primetime SNL Podcast), it would be hard to mistake the vibe of Season 51 for how last season felt.
Besides losing Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim, this season of SNL hasn’t been burdened with the weight of SNL50. Free of the task of somehow existing in the present while also honoring the previous 49 seasons of television (and giving Dana Carvey something to do week after week), Season 51 has been forced to and blessed with the chance to carve out its own identity. We saw a similar thing happen back in 2020 when SNL abruptly jettisoned Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey after the presidential election.
The big difference between the post-2020 election period and Season 51 is the emergence of Ashley Padilla as SNL’s star. When diving through the season’s sketches to pick the top ten best ones (so far), it was wild to see how dominant Padilla has been. Even wilder is that she’s achieved this level of dominance without creating a recurring character or landing a breakout political portrayal. (Her take on White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is fantastic, but SNL often sidelines it for more of James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump.)
But let’s get to those sketches. Here are the — definitive, indisputable, set in stone — top ten sketches of Season 51. So far.
Love reading Deep SNL Thoughts? Become a subscriber to receive every edition in your inbox.
I’m sneaking an 11th sketch into this list, giving “Last Stop Christmas Shop” from Ariana Grande’s episode an honorable mention. This sketch was cut for time, but it was absolutely better than at least one sketch during the episode (looking at you, “Love Is Blind Reunion”), but since “Last Stop Christmas Shop” didn’t include Bowen Yang, it couldn’t be part of Yang’s farewell episode, I guess.
Bad Bunny has hosted SNL twice, and the show hasn’t shied away from building sketches around the superstar’s attractiveness. Coming toward the end of the first episode of Season 51, “Parent Teacher Conference” took that conceit to another level, with Ashley Padilla’s teacher repeatedly making excuses for the threatening drawings made by Marcello Hernandez’s character in order to win the favor of the incredibly sexy dad played by Bad Bunny.
There were a bunch of very solid sketches during Glen Powell’s hosting debut, but it was Will Forte’s return as MacGruber that stole the show. The beloved SNL character was back — and doing his best to destroy any evidence that he was in the Epstein files.
James Austin Johnson’s portrayal of Donald Trump is the best take we’ve gotten from SNL, but I’m so tired of seeing it during the cold open. (Especially when it’s just him breaking the fourth wall again.) “White House Makeover” broke out of that mold, with Johnson’s Trump getting to exist outside of the formula of the cold open.
7. Weekend Update: Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, Colin Jost & Michael Che
It’s bad when SNL keeps bringing back previous cast members to take key roles that could’ve gone to the folks actually on the show. This Weekend Update sketch from Amy Poehler’s episode is not that kind of moment. Poehler reunited with her two Update co-hosts — “my first wife and my second wife” — to challenge Colin Jost and Michael Che to a joke-off. Tina Fey popping by SNL, whether it’s as a host or a cameo, happens on a fairly regular basis, but Seth Meyers returning to the show is always a special moment.
Andrew Dismukes has used Season 51 to remind us all that he is the show’s male lead. While he hasn’t had a sketch that’s on the level of “Jumanji” this season, “Sunday Supper” was an excellent display of the creeping desperation that we’ve come to expect from the best Dismukes characters.
“Home Alone” was just about as perfect of an SNL parody as the show could give us. Ariana Grande as Kevin, Ashley Padilla as his mom, Colin Jost as Buzz — the show nailed every role in this pretaped sketch. “Home Alone” brought the spirit of sketches like “Farewell Mr. Bunting” to the holiday season.
I loved the escalating absurdity of “Experienced Lawyers.” Just a bunch of zany SNL characters playing off each other, with each new wave being more ridiculous than the last. Who can resist “The Falconer” vibes too?
Andrew Dismukes pitching a nonalcoholic beer (it’s 96% ABV!) that’ll still get you drunk? That sketch writes itself. “Non-Alcoholic Beer” is the best of Dismukes distilled down into 100 seconds. (Bonus points for Dismukes’ “and you’ve gained a few ... looks like we’re two things” dig at Ashley as his wife.) In a year when Benicio del Toro’s “a few small beers” took the world by storm, let’s not forget Dismukes telling a cop “just my Nons, of course” when asked if he had been drinking and driving.
2. Weekend Update: Two People Who Just Hooked Up Discuss the Government Shutdown
Why has Ashley Padilla only been on Weekend Update twice during her time on SNL? And why aren’t we getting Update sketches featuring her and Andrew Dismukes all the time?
Was “Surprise” the moment when it was crystal clear that Ashley Padilla had taken over? Padilla took over the Josh O’Connor episode (which didn’t land a sketch on this list), but this sketch a few episodes earlier in the season put her skills on full display. Also, an extended fart joke is never not funny.
Deep SNL Thoughts is written and produced by Bill Kuchman. Copyediting by Tim Kuchman.
The Omnicosm founder. Popculturology, Deep SNL Thoughts and Snackology writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
