What can you say? With his commitment to a bit and hyperactive comedic presence, Jack Black was born to host Saturday Night Live, and Elton John and Brandi Carlile brought a huge band to put across their collaborative album. Here's everything that happened on SNL this week.
The Cold Open
James Austin Johnson appeared as his barely exaggerated Donald Trump and mimicked his recent, strange White House lawn press conference, which updated everyone about his disastrous economic policies. There were so many funny, topical tariff jokes here, some of which people had posted about on Twitter and Bluesky already (notably, "Make America Great Depression Again"), but Johnson also got a big reaction by quoting Morgan Wallen's "Get me to God's Country" IG post after he appeared on the show last week. Mike Myers turned up again to play Elon Musk as a bumbling cyborg, all of which made for a strong open.
The Monologue
Tenacious D destroyer and otherwise beloved comedic actor Jack Black returned to host SNL for the fourth time, but for the first time in 20 years. After threatening to quit the gig just a few minutes in, Black and the SNL band burst into a song that chronicled his acting credits and return to Studio 8H. Black got the crowd hyped by actually marching into the bleachers and singing among them and, no surprise, brought a lot of energy to the proceedings.
Love Match
Andrew Dismukes played game show host Todd Bruff, overseeing a dating game where three bachelors vied for the affection of Chloe Fineman's Janie. One of them, Gene, played by Black, was dressed exactly like Indiana Jones, which really alarmed Bruff. Gene claimed not to know anything about this Indiana Jones character, but this proved to be a little suspicious and quite hilarious.
Flamin' Hot Preparation H
In this remote ad, Black played Stuart, one half of a duo featuring animated Cheetos mascot Chester the Cheetah (voiced by Andrew Dismukes), touting both super spicy junk food and hemorrhoid medication. Thing was, it was the same product, which was gross but manic and funny.
Eddie v. Walter
At a restaurant gathering of friends, each party member tried topping the other with increasingly absurd anecdotes about their righteous behaviour. Every time someone made such a proclamation, we heard an eagle cry, and the speaker would proudly mug to various cameras. A silly bit of physical comedy here.
The First Play
In 500 B.C., Greeks gathered to attend the very first play. Emil Wakim played an actor, flustered by the confused and boisterous reactions from audience members who assumed they were meant to interact with the cast and their characters. Wakim was soon joined by other play performers who faced a similar and irritating fate, while certain audience members could not mask their confusion in this amusing conceptual piece.
Goth Kid on Vacation
In this remote music video, Ego Nwodim and Kenan Thompson played Jamaican reggae artists singing an incredible song called "Goth Kid on Vacation." Michael Longfellow and later Black played a couple of these goth kids in this remarkably funny production — one of the funniest of the season, hands down.
Elton John and Brandi Carlile
Brandi Carlile and a large, classic rock 'n' roll band, including Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, backed up Elton John on a spirited version of "Little Richard's Bible," which was fine.
Though a duet, Carlile took on more of a lead role on the title track from Who Believes in Angels?, which had a very talented wedding-band-at-the-end-of-the-night vibe.
Weekend Update
Colin Jost began Update by lambasting Trump for intentionally destroying the global economy and got in a good Morgan Wallen jab, while Michael Che earned a groan for a child labour joke. Che also had some good bits about Cory Booker's filibustering, which Jost tagged too. Jost ridiculed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for insisting schools serve whole milk and then destroyed Kid Rock's recent White House press event.
Jane Wickline and Marcello Hernández returned to Update as the unlikely couple, Alyssa and Grant. While Alyssa was a bookish, introverted nerd, Grant was a jock with crazed Tony Danza energy, which made for an amusing dynamic.
Che reported on a one year-old eating his grandfather's ashes and Jost ridiculed SNL for once pairing up Russell Brand and Chris Brown for an episode, while Che again drew groans, this time for an ICE joke. Finally, Jost told us about a ballet dancer whose antics might inspire a new show called Vagina 911.
Ego Nwodim appeared as herself to comment on the recent news that the White House Correspondent's Dinner would no longer feature a speech by comedians. This prompted Nwodim to perform a kind of Def Jam set as an older, sassy comedian, which was very, very funny. Nwodim is truly a treasure.
Bringing in a Third
In a rather elaborate musical sketch, Black, Sarah Sherman, Bowen Yang and Brandi Carlile floated through the air, hoisted by harnesses and singing a lurid song about having group sex. Quite the sights and sounds here.
Big Ricky and the Minnows
Black, Kenan Thompson and Andrew Dismukes were a bar rock band playing a beachside show on a pier, and invited anyone in the audience to jam with them. Almost every cast member showed up as a character, each brandishing their own bass guitar, which led to a rather awful low-end rendition of "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty. Still, this had its charms.
Kiss with a Sailor (or Two)
Playing off the famous WWII photo of a sailor kissing a nurse upon landing back in America, Heidi Gardner played the nurse, whose willingness to kiss many men incensed her partner, a racist cartoonist played by Black. Gardner, who famously lost it during last year's Beavis and Butt-Head sketch, almost broke again during some of the smooches staged in this funny idea.