Nikki Glaser / Sombr - November 8, 2025

(PRE-SHOW THOUGHTS)

Nikki Glaser is hosting. I don't have a ton of familiarity with her, but I have heard mixed things about her comedy. I'll go into this episode cautious.

A lot of people think that Zohran Mamdani will appear in this episode, but I doubt it. It would be pretty cool to see him appear, even if I am sick of the cameo parade SNL has become lately.

Also, as a side note, the musical guest tonight, Sombr, was born at Kenan joined the cast. He was born in 2005, while Kenan joined in 2003. If this isn't a sign that Kenan's been on way too long, I don't know what is. The only other time this has happened was when host Macaulay Culkin in 1991 was born in 1980, after Al Franken joined the cast in 1979. But not only was Franken's tenure broken up into separate stints, having only been on his fifth season at that point, but also Macaulay Culkin was a literal child when he hosted. Sombr is 20. Anyway, enough rambling, let's get to the review.

(By the way, sorry about last week's review coming out so late. I fell asleep halfway through the episode and I'll be damned if I'll find time to watch the episodes I missed. But now I have to with these reviews.)

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(COLD OPEN) Oval Office

Highlights:

• None.

Lowlights:

• Man, SNL will make Trump cold opens about anything. Whenever people said they would make a cold open out of the reporter fainting in the Oval Office, I didn't believe them, but I guess I was wrong.
• This was the usual rambling Trump opening. Stale as always.
• Of course they cast Jeremy as the guy who fainted. This just might be the most airtime he's gotten all season.

Additional Notes:

• Andrew is SNL's Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now I guess. He didn't have any lines here, but I can see it working.

(MONOLOGUE) Nikki Glaser

Highlights:

• It's always nice to see a stand-up monologue.
• This picked up as it went on. Some good off-colour humour here.
• Speaking of RFK Jr, I loved her jab at him.

Lowlights:

• Her opening spiel about getting a spray tan was pretty forgettable.

Additional Notes:

• None.

(SKETCH) Family Karaoke Night

Highlights:

• It's nice to see Tommy starring in the lead-off sketch like this. Him singing "You Got A Friend in Me" to Sarah was great. The overall sketch was just fine.

Lowlights:

• None.

Additional Notes:

• None.

(COMMERCIAL) Hudsacillin

Highlights:

• None.

Lowlights:

• This wasn't bad or anything, but it was a little too niche for its own good.

Additional Notes:

• Was Marcello playing himself at the end? Because it felt like that could've been a meta commentary on his somewhat forced celebrity status.

(NEXT WEEK) November 15 - Glen Powell

Surprised to see another star of Top Gun: Maverick host so soon after Miles Teller. He'll probably do just fine, but I don't expect him to impress me too much.

(SKETCH) The Beauty and Mr. Beast

Highlights:

• I don't usually like these social media-based sketches, but this one was alright.
• Ben was good as Mr. Beast.

Lowlights:

• Okay, I'll admit that some of these jokes were pretty corny. The whole "Beauty and Mr. Beast" song in particular.

Additional Notes:

• None.

(COMMERCIAL) American Girl XL

Highlights:

• Another great dark piece. This episode seems to be going heavy on that sort of material.
• I liked seeing James interrupt Nikki as the spokesperson.

Lowlights:

• None.

Additional Notes:

• None.

(SKETCH) Bull Ride

Highlights:

• I wasn't too sure about this sketch at first, but it just kept getting more absurd which made it a lot better for me.
• Funny fourth wall break where James calls Sarah's character by Sarah's real name.
• James was fun as the country singer. Very rare to see him break character like he did.
• I was happy to see Jane dip out of the sketch so early. She seems to do that a lot in sketches actually, now that I think about it.

Lowlights:

• None.

Additional Notes:

• None.

(MUSICAL PERFORMANCE) Sombr

No comment.

(WEEKEND UPDATE) Jost & Che, with Pete Davidson

Highlights:

• Colin's RFK Jr. jab was pretty good. Uh-oh, I think I may have summoned him.
• Good surprise commentary from Pete Davidson. I was a tad weary about it, but I forgot how much Pete shined in these commentaries when he was in the cast. I mean, he mentioned Staten Island, oral sex, and 9/11? It feels like he's never left.

Lowlights:

• Man, Colin and Michael's jokes have gotten so stale this season. They're a far cry from their glory years from 2015-2021 or so. It pains me to say it, but I'm pretty sick of them at this point.

Additional Notes:

• It felt weird hearing Pete Davidson mention his Chad character, mostly because I've totally forgotten about it by now.
• Jeez, am I crazy or was tonight's Update short?

(SKETCH) Sorority Girls

Highlights:

• A pretty good premise.
• Great ending.

Lowlights:

• I couldn't help but feel like they could have done a lot more with the premise.

Additional Notes:

• It took me forever to recognize Mikey under that mask.
• There seemed to be a mistake with the vape.

(CARTOON) Brad and His Dad

Highlights:

• Nice to see another cartoon after they experimented with them last year.
• This one was really funny. Who voiced the characters? Were they even cast members? I didn't recognize their voices. If this was produced by people unaffiliated with the show, that's pretty cool considering we haven't seen something like that on SNL in a long time.

Lowlights:

• None.

Additional Notes:

• None.

(SKETCH) Pilot

Highlights:

• It's nice to see James lead a sketch this season as someone other than Trump seeing as how he's had a pretty quiet season. Considering he's one of my favorite current cast members, along with Andrew and Ashley.
• I love James using a pilot voice describing his conversation with a girl on a dating app.
• The brief part with Kenan and Bowen tickled me.

Lowlights:

• None.

Additional Notes:

• None.

(MUSICAL PERFORMANCE) Sombr

No comment.

(SKETCH) Pinwheel

Highlights:

• None.

Lowlights:

• This didn't really do a whole lot for me, which especially sucks given its the meatiest role Jeremy's gotten all season. In fairness to him, he was much funnier in his role than Mikey was. Still, the sketch was a tad bit annoying.

Additional Notes:

• None.

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(CONCLUSION)

This season continues not to wow me so much. Or better put as the last few seasons continue not to wow me. This episode I'd place right in the middle of the better slightly episodes of this season (Poehler, Teller) and the worse episodes (Bad Bunny, Carpenter). There were some weaker pieces that weighed this episode down and not much that really jumped out as really funny pieces, despite a good amount of decently funny sketches. Par for the course. On the bright side, Nikki Glaser was actually a better host than I expected.

Overall Highlights:

• American Girl XL.
• Bull Ride.
• Pete Davidson on Weekend Update.
• Brad and His Dad.
• Pilot.

Overall Lowlights:

• Oval Office.
• Hudsicillin.
• Pinwheel.

(introducing a new portion of the review) MVP:

• James Austin Johnson

Funniest Moment:

• The ending of the Bull Ride sketch.

Doing away with the cast countdown portion of the review, because it's become too hard to keep track of each cast member appearing on screen and actually pay attention to the episode. And besides, SNL Archives exists anyway. Also getting rid of the best lines portion.

Well, we're a quarter through with the season already. Until next time, good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.