Review | ‘Saturday Night Live’ Season 49 Has Lots to Like

You’ve probably seen them: the Saturday Night Live clips that circulate social media. The clips of Michael Che and Colin Jost’s “Weekend Update” segment, Pedro Pascal as the “Protective Mom,” and Sabrina Carpenter’s performance of her hit “Espresso” to finish off this season.

The 49th season of SNL started off with some uncertainty in light of the writer and actor strikes but the cast and their guests were ready with plenty of original content as well as timely jokes. As always, some jokes hit and others didn’t. But with this year being an election cycle, there were plenty of impressions of politicians, especially of Presidents Biden and Trump.

SNL also had a solid line-up of musical artists, including the iconic trio boygenius (Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker) whose live performances of “Not Strong Enough” and “Satanist” was a beautiful mix of harmonies and hard hitting lyrics, in traditional boygenius fashion. Other notable performers included Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan, and Ariana Grande.

Of course, Michael Che and Colin Jost’s segment “Weekend Update” included their exchange of jokes that neither of them are allowed to read before going on air. Both of their deliveries are priceless and their occasional hesitance to read headlines that might be considered problematic if it wasn’t satire, makes their segment a highlight each season.

Featured player Marcello Hernandez was a hit in this season and the last, putting on various hats (and accents) to play into jokes that have made him a favorite. And with the upcoming celebratory 50th season, Hernandez will be joining Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker as newly promoted full cast members.

Ryan Gosling perhaps had some of the best sketches as a featured host. Playing into (or in this case we suppose he’s trying to break out of) his Ken role from Barbie, he started to sing a Ken themed break-up version in the tune of Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well.” Alongside Emily Blunt, they poked fun at the 2023 “Barben-heimer” summer. He followed this up with a hilarious “Beavis and Butt-head” spoof sketch that has garnered millions of views.

But like every season of SNL, there are episodes where the jokes seem to fall flat and the guests don’t exactly bring that comedic punch to the sketches. With the quick turnaround of content each week it’s impressive that the cast is able to write, practice, and execute a show in just a week. It felt like this season wasn’t as funny as previous ones, but with effortlessly funny hosts such as Ryan Gosling and Adam Driver, it’s no wonder that SNL is in the running for numerous Emmy awards.