On by far the weakest Saturday Night Live episode of season 50 (and after more than a month off, so they could prepare for the 50th anniversary special in mid-February), comedian Shane Gillis had to recover from an awfully unfunny monologue, while Tate McRae followed one of the most stunning visual spectacles by a musical guest with one of the most anti-climactic ones. Meanwhile, alum Mike Myers dropped in to debut his rather spot-on Elon Musk. Here's everything that happened on SNL this week.
The Cold Open
After the embarrassing, disastrous meeting between the Trump administration and Ukrainian leader Zelensky, we got an almost word-for-word replay. Bowen Yang played the despicable JD Vance, who attacked Mikey Day's Zelensky, while James Austin Johnson played his usually preposterous Trump, and much of the script here was drawn from actual dialogue between the men. Mike Myers did a walk-on to portray Elon Musk, spewed Musk's usual bits of nonsense, and helped introduce a cousin to DOGE called DOUCHE. Again, aside from the Musk stuff, which didn't actually happen, this was so close to the real thing, the writers and performers barely lifted any fingers in depicting one of the most shockingly mortifying moments in the history of American diplomacy.
The Monologue
Shane Gillis grabbed a mic to perform stand-up, suggested he was sad that Trump wouldn't be in any debates again, and proceeded to ridicule him for being a lot like a fifth grader. He also both empathized with and made fun of "liberals," which was tired. Things really began to slide after that, when Gillis, who often comes across as a less adept and less confident Louis C.K., presented a bit about how white guys can be racist when they ask women if they've ever dated Black men, which flummoxed the audience. He then explained his engagement with historical documentaries, like Ken Burns' Civil War. Somehow, he managed to reference Bill Cosby and roofies for no reason, before telling us about a documentary subject named Shelby Foot. All told, this may have been the least successful comedian monologue on SNL this side of Kevin Hart. As the show went to commercial, Gillis shrugged and did a so-so motion with his hand, but he was being too generous with himself. This inarguably stunk.
Winery Pictures
Gillis played James, who brought his new girlfriend Tess, played by Heidi Gardner, as a selfie-obsessed narcissist, to a winery with his parents. Tess was shallow and intensely rude and disrespectful to James' parents, played by Ashley Padilla and Andrew Dismukes, and was more concerned about being hot on the Gram than anything else. Gardner sold this one.
CouplaBeers
In this remote ad, Gillis, who looked a lot like John Candy from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, played a commercial actor, discussing his depression and how medications that were beer and cocaine helped him through it. This was okay.
WANU Mid-Day News
Revisting an older sketch premise, a local newscast covered crime stories, and Black anchors played by Kenan Thompson and Ego Nwodim celebrated whenever the news involved white suspects instead of Black ones. It became a competition for Gillis's Dale, who seized on any story opening that stereotyped Black people. Just a silly bit of race relations comedy here.
Dad's House
On this PBS KIDS show, Gillis played a divorced dad hanging out with his kids for the weekend. The kids, played by Andrew Dismukes and Sarah Sherman, befuddled Gillis's Christopher, who was sad and embittered, as was this super dark sketch.
please don't destroy — The Sound: Blind Auditions
In this parody of The Voice, the pdd boys and Ego Nwodim played judges who were not into Gillis's gross, pushy contestant, Reggie T. Tate McRae even joined in on this unpleasant affair, which was not the best use of please don't destroy, who have been seldom seen this season and aren't playing exaggerated versions of themselves as much, which was a major part of their charm.
Tate McRae
With clever chair-oriented staging and some elaborate dance choreography, the visual spectacle of Calgary pop singer Tate McRae essentially presenting a live music video was stunningly impressive, and made up for the vapid lyrics of the song "Sports Car."
Following a traditional SNL trend of making her second song more low-key, McRae exchanged her frenetic dancing display for a focus on her voice and singing with "Dear God," which given how indecipherable her songs can be because of her strange articulation, was a mistake.
Weekend Update
Colin Jost started with the aforementioned Oval Office meeting with President Zelensky, while Michael Che ridiculed the AI Gaza resort video that Trump recently posted. Che mocked Ron DeSantis, while Jost suggested that RFK Jr. was eating birds killed by avian flu. Che reported on MSNBC firing all of their Black anchors, and then amusingly made it about himself.
Marcello Hernández played the Movie Guy, a young man who stopped by to discuss Oscar-nominated films, but admitted he hadn't watched any of them as much as he had various cartoons. At least Hernández enjoyed this.
Jost told us about a movie theatre ceiling collapsing during a Captain America screening, and later invited beloved new cast member Jane Wickline on to sing a romantic song called "I Choose You," which outlined a moral dilemma about the Trolley Problem. This turned into a songwriting problem-solving session with Jost, which was darkly funny.
Angela's Coupons
Gillis played Brad, who disrupted his ex Angela's wedding, revealing that he possessed a coupon that promised perpetual handjobs from Angela. It seemed that Sarah Sherman's frugal Angela had provided many people with various coupons, which everyone around her found frustrating, but was vaguely amusing.
Dr. Bashar
Gillis played Mikey Peters, a patient in a doctor's office, waiting to see Emil Wakim's Dr. Bashar. It turned out that Peters recognized Bashar, because they were classmates in Grade 8, and Bashar was renowned for a stunt he pulled where he performed oral sex upon himself. This went where it was meant to go and was okay.