The Top Gun: Maverick star and Kendrick Lamar arrive to Studio 8H.
We have had our summer evenings; now for October eves."
Welcome my dear Coneheads to season 48.
It is, as they say, a “transition year.
HelloMarcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker.
Nealon a cast member during nineSNLseasons likens the experience of starting a new season to going to college.
I would go to New York because I came out to California in the summer to my house.
I kept an apartment in New York, a rental.
I would go there and it was exciting.
It was autumn and the leaves were changing, a little cooler.
I’d open up my closet and it’d be all flannel shirts.
I’d get excited about that.”
It’s kind of good to get with someone and start writing and hopefully come up with something.
You’re coming in with a full reservoir of energy because it’s the beginning of the season.
It’s not like you’ve done three shows in a row and [are] exhausted."
(I understand noTom Cruiseget, butGlen Powellwas the buzziest It Guy, no?)
And the musical guest isKendrick Lamar this is histhird stint and fifth overall appearanceon the show.
A new season promises change challenges as well as opportunity.
Let’s see howSNLrises to the occasion!
Clearly, the show is seeking to be self-aware and hit a reset.
I enjoy Michael Longfellow’s awkward first appearance, and Devon Walker playing corn kid.
“A humiliating attempt at reference.”
Shaun Whiteappears in “gratuitous stunt casting.”
Teller’sTop Gunco-starJon Hammshows up as well.
Does it sufficiently convey a “new era” of the show is being ushered in?
“Desperate stuff,” answers Peyton.
Teller does a great job here.
Monologue
Teller jokes about makingTop Gun, and being taught to play the piano byJ.K.
Simmons, a call-back toWhiplash.
He calls out reenacting the Spartan Cheerleaders as a child he played the Cheri Oteri role.
Send Something Normal
It is “America’s Easiest Game Show!”
The premise is, contestants must send a normal DM to a woman on Instagram.
The first contestant iswife guy Adam Levine(Mikey Day).
Next up:Armie Hammer(James Austin Johnson) andNeil deGrasse Tyson(Kenan Thompson).
The final participant is returning champion Yang as himself.
He credits his success to “being gay.”
“Holy moly!”
shouts Levine, causing the buzzer to go off.
The joke here is every man has an issue behaving appropriately on IG DM.
Teller and Day are confused and angry.
But slowly, the appeal of the app and its emphasis on “truth” becomes known.
“Oh, so there’s no posturing,” says Teller, getting it.
“Why does everything in this family revolve around going to the bathroom?”
He does not want to go to college.
He wants to dance.
He and Yang perform, earning his family’s approval.
Rooftop Bar
Teller and Day stan day-trading.
Day begins utilizing a bunch of silly voices.
Turns out he’s a virgin.
All the bravado was for nothing.
“You like stores?”
AMC Theaters Commercial
Nicole Kidman(Fineman) talks up the power of movies.Here’s the original.
(Maybe that’s why this doesn’t quite land?
Film Twitter has been clowning these for a while.
But Fineman’s Kidman is fun.)
“Heartbreak feels good in a place like this,” everyone chants.
Kidman becomes a super-human entity.
Morale & The Big Steppers.
Weekend Update
The return ofMichael CheandColin Jostto huge applause.
They go in on Vladimir Putin and the situation in Ukraine.
Mitch McConnell (Johnson) and Herschel Walker (Thompson) discuss candidate quality in the upcoming midterm election.
Sydney Sweeneycaused an uproar a few weeks ago when sheposted photos that went viral at a family event.
In them, Sweeney is seen with her parents, while her father wears a Blue Lives Matter shirt.
New cast member Michael Longfellow comes on to comment.
His father is anti-vax, so he can relate.
He’s a stand-up and looks like an effort tofill Pete Davidson’s shoes.
There are even jabs about Jost’s wealth.
(I like the joke about “Bill Maher liberals” being Republican.)
Yang also shows up as a spotted lanternfly, a threat to many fruit crops and trees.
Spotted lanternflies are invasive and can be spread long distances.
Yang goes broad here he’s aggressive and his costume is fantastic.
This episode is heavy on Yang, he’s making a star bid for sure!
(Yang also has a few prominent movies out, includingBros.)
Crops (Dismukes) pops up to challenge Yang.
“Everyone brings their own sensibility to that Weekend Update position,” recalls Kevin Nealon to me.
“I was always a hugeChevy Chasefan, that’s who I emulated onSNL.
I was also the lineman and the wide receiver, I was still doing sketches.”
That’s a contrast to other Update anchors, who focus solely on that responsibility.
McDonald’s
Ronald McDonald and his friends are shooting a commercial.
There’s a new Grimace (Teller) in town!
He lost 300 pounds this summer and is “totally yoked up.”
How did he do it?
He started walking to work, drinks water and stopped eating McDonalds every meal.
He’s been divorced he was swerving this summer.
He begins to question his own happiness, announcing his bisexuality.
His newfound sense of identity spreads to the rest of the group.
Am a fan of Yang as Hamburglar.
He deserves anSNLFilms spinoff.
And Sarah Sherman brings her usual spunky energy.
Still, I think this is a little awkward.
And I like the stark set.
Caribbean Queens
Nwodim and Gardner are live and hungover from a beach resort and spa.
They met on Spirit Airlines, but have been living at the resort off-peak for five months.
They Google Billy Ocean, and discuss the theme song.
Here’s what they did this week: lots of “shorts-off” activities.
Gordy and Barack (Teller, Thompson) show up as two guys they recently met.
They do a “Vibe Check” with their disinterested guests.
This is in its infancy but may have long-sought recurring character potential.
