After last week's troubling season 51 debut with Bad Bunny, it seemed like a 50/50 chance as to whether the season's second episode with guest host and beloved “Saturday Night Live” alum Amy Poehler would shake things up. Would the writing feel sharper and less obvious in the hands of a veteran penciller?
Poehler, host of the popular podcast “good time“, made all the right moves and may even have been overextended, appearing in almost every sketch, including the cold open and “Weekend Update” for a joke. You could (and should) give Poehler a lot of credit for her boundless energy, which lifted the weaker sketches, like one about a menopausal mom who goes goth and one where Poehler and Bowen Yang are the composers of the opening theme “Severance” (The joke is that his theme songs always start with a “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” rap as the first draft.)
But Poehler also benefited from much stronger premises compared to last week, from a beautifully realized sketch about a TV psychic, Miss Lycusthat rushes everyone because they have a difficult start at 7 pm, at a Perfect parody of Netflix's “The Hunting Wives”,“ with a special appearance by Poehler's “Parks & Recreation” co-star Aubrey Plaza. The writing gave Poehler big, broad characters, like a CEO. giving birth during a meeting with her employeesthe matriarch of a family of idiots called the Rudemans and an elderly lawyer who interrupts a television commercial to outdo other lawyers. based on having the greatest experience.
Poehler also got a little help from some old friends and alumni, including Tina Fey, who appeared as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, outdoors, and Seth Meyers, who returned to the “Weekend Update” desk with Poehler and Fey.
Perhaps podcasting has allowed Poehler to store some stage energy to fire off on “SNL”; He put in a great performance for a solid episode overall.
Musical Guests Role Model Made “Sally, when the wine runs out,” with a surprise appearance by Charli XCX as Sally, and “some protector.” Before closing, “SNL” remembered Diane Keaton, whose death was announced on Saturdayon a title card. He never hosted “Saturday Night Live,” but appeared on the show several times.
This week's cold open parodied Atty. The controversial situation of General Pam Bondi meeting this week with the US Senate Judiciary Committee.. Poehler appeared as Bondi and responded to questions from Democratic senators with a series of withering insults that she described as “roast-style burns I have on this piece of paper.” After mocking them and avoiding questions about the James Comey indictment and the Jeffrey Epstein files, Bondi makes way for Noem (Fey, returning to the cold, open politics of “SNL”), who joins in the mocking, telling a senator, “That makes me laugh harder than the end of ‘Old Yeller.’” After being reminded that a dog gets shot at the end of the movie, she responds: “Dogs don't just get shot. The heroes shoot them.” While the first half of the cold open was shaky, with insults failing to land despite Poehler's forceful delivery, Fey's appearance livened things up and ended strong with a call-and-response between Fey and Poehler that poked fun at ICE recruiting ads. “Do you take supplements you bought at a gas station?” Noem asked, “Buckle up and put on some Oakleys, big guy, and welcome to ICE!”
Poehler's monologue was sweet, melancholic and self-deprecating. “I found my first love here,” she said, “being famous.” She went on to describe her current life, saying, “I'm a podcaster. If that's not an indicator of a recession, I don't know what is.” He also noted that this episode marked the actual 50th anniversary of “SNL,” which first aired on October 11, 1975. “Just like [host] “George Carlin, I'm so high,” she said. Poehler mocked the AI actors. that have been in the news and maybe you want to take your job. “You'll never be able to write a joke, and I'm willing to do it straight, but no one has asked me, okay?” he concluded defiantly.
Best sketch of the night: Thigh squeezes are also bigger in Texas
It may be a little late to the party (the show premiered in July), but this mock trailer for Netflix's “The Hunting Wives” hits the nail on the head with Poehler frequently playing topless Margo and Chloe Fineman as Sophie (Malin Ackerman and Brittany Snow, respectively, in the series). The trailer promises that as the women get hornier and drunker, they will squeeze their thighs and pull out guns. Aubrey Plaza shows up as a new wife from California and soon all the other women in the cast are caressing her while making mimosas. Some great lines from this one: “It's like 'Call me by your name' for women who shop at Bass Pro Shop” and “Don't see it on a plane.”
Also good: don't settle for just 100 years of legal experience
Pohler's character in the Psychic Talk Show Sketch It was a lot of fun, but the sketch about top lawyers trumps it only because it goes to extremely strange and silly places for much longer than necessary and incorporates what seemed like the entire cast. What starts as a basic personal injury lawyer commercial explaining how the firm has 50 years of combined experience ends up including long-lived turtles, Sarah Sherman as a vampire lawyer named Dracu-Law, and an eternal tree, Yggdrasil (Yang), who once represented Zeus.
'Weekend Update' Winner: Someday, That 13-Pound Baby Will See This
In a packed “Weekend Update,” Sherman debuted an overcaffeinated Long Islander Rhonda LaCenzowho criticizes New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. And Marcello Hernández and Jane Wickline returned as seemingly mismatched couple discussing their Halloween plans. But it was an epic prank in which former “Update” hosts Poehler, Fey and Meyers took on current hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che to mock the birth of a nearly 13-pound baby born in Tennessee. “It was so big that it slapped the doctor his “Ass!” Poehler began. Some of the best jokes: “The woman moved around the room like a deflated balloon.” “Did she give birth or did she leave?” “The baby's name is AHHHHH!” Poehler rounded out the contest by declaring, “The record was for loosest vagina and the previous one was held by… me!”
