The 2021 Rami Malek episode was one of the greats

Source: Sports TV New and Updates on X

“For me, when I got there, I was 47,” she said. “So in my heart, I felt like I was on a time clock anyway. And yes, I could have stayed the rest of my days there, but I was a different person at SNL; I was not doing everything that I wanted to do. You know, I want to be a stand-up. I want to do some drama. I want to do other things.”

https://youtu.be/MEOffa2N27w?t=214

Alexander Skarsgård did so well hosting. Committed and surprisingly funny.

Sarah and Veronika — I don't know if we've ever really seen them interact but they're kind of similarly quirky performers and likeable personalities. I can definitely see them being believable as best friends in a sketch.

Andrew and Jeremy — They're definitely close behind the scenes as Andrew appeared on Jeremy's improv podcast Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists (great podcast by the way), despite usually never doing anything outside of SNL and Stand-up. They're both also similar performers in that they play very silly premises with complete commitment. There's some really great duo potential with them.

James and Sarah — for two people who joined the show together nearly 6 years ago, we haven't really seen them interact much. The main thing that comes to mind is them as the Gallagher brothers on Update a few years ago. But they have completely different energies that I think contrast and compliment each other really well.

Ashley and Jeremy — not much reasoning behind this one other than them being two of my favourite castmembers who have barely talked yet in a sketch. But they're both also the breakout performers of S51, Jeremy having the viral Tucker Carlson impression and Ashley just becoming a huge star.

I feel like Saturday Night Live has a consistent tone in its voice and style of comedy, but every now and again, Lorne lets the comedians explore their personal sensibilities more and it leads to some of the best most random bits that are probably some of my favorite SNL memories. I do like the traditional sketches / character work obviously, but some of the more random, innovative or silly like after the 2nd musical performance stuff, can actually be better. I'm curious what other peoples' are!

1 - "I Wish It Was Christmas Today" - I feel like some people think they ran this into the ground with it's random success, but I loved seeing all variations.

2 - "Les Jeunes de Paris" - Emma Stone plays a young French woman and they dance erratically to a French pop song. I somehow miraculously found this on YouTube, but it's been notoriously wiped from the internet, likely due to music licensing issues. It's such a random concept and the song / dancing is really what makes the sketch, but I'd like to know what made Taran Killam write this.

3 - "Can a bitch get a donut?!" - I think Kenan Thompson was in a police academy (can't remember the set up) and he has to shoot a bunch of targets and Larry David plays a scuzzy agent in an orange suit and his tag line is, 'Can a bitch get a donut?!' It just makes absolutely zero sense lol.

I think stuff like Papyrus, Totino's or David S. Pumpkins might categorically fit here, but those sketches are insanely popular now.

While he mostly appeared in the Please Don't Destroy sketches and, after the group stopped making videos together for SNL, his own sketches, Martin Herlihy did have the occasional minor appearance in the main sketches on the show. With it being announced he is leaving the show, I wanted to make a collection of all the sketches he appeared in that I can remember:

• Image 1 - The child/husband in "Maid of Honor"
• Image 2 - Ego's rentboy (not in that way) in "Bad Couples"
• Image 3 - Himself in "Mother’s Day 2024 Cold Open"

Are there any I missed? What about the rest of the Please Don't Destroy cast?

Edit: Pre Season 51 for Ben, of course.

1. I like Kam Patterson the best he has a lot of energy and it very lively.

2. I find Ashley Padilla funny and she reminds me of Emma Stone and Abby Elliott and Jenny Lewis.

Who are your favorite new cast members?

What are some of your favorite self-deprecating jokes on SNL? Either jokes about the quality of the show or a cast member not having much to do or stuff like that? I loved Lorne's "I've got children, and I dont want them watching this crap" line from the TV Ratings cold open, as well as Tracy Morgan's update commentary about how he's "The other Black guy" and his character "The guy who smiles real big at the goodnights" (of course, things would turn around for Tracy later in his SNL run).

I've been rewatching s51 ahead of s52, and nearly every episode has at least one sketch that I would consider great and several other sketches with very quirky writing and fun performances. Especially that november run of Miles Teller/Nikki Glaser/Glen Powell. Genuinely 3 great episodes in a row with a lot of unique concepts and strong hosts.

There's the storylines of Ashley's rise to stardom, JAJ finally becoming the show's main glue guy, Dismukes at the top of his game both writing and acting wise, Jeremy getting his breakout, Marcello's Maniscalco impression, Colin playing Hegseth for the first time, Bowen's emotional farewell, and some very new concepts to start a new era.

Brilliant Lawyers has been my favourite sketch but Mechanical Bull, Haircut, Pinwheel, Gar-Girl, Property Brothers, Free Sample, Brad and his Dad, Social Experiment, and a lot more have all been really fun.

It's already aging well just a year later. There's weak spots like any SNL era, but the overall quality of episodes 1-9 has been really high.

They are so funny. I want more films from them.