Sabrina Carpenter - October 18, 2025

(PRE-SHOW THOUGHTS)

Sabrina Carpenter is hosting. Yeah, not so sure about this. I actually don't think Sabrina will be too bad of a host, seeing as how she has Disney Channel experience, which usually fosters a good host. But because she's one of the biggest pop stars right now, I just know SNL's going to go down the pandering to the TikTok audience route. If we get another Domingo sketch, I will not be happy.

Also, Bowen is out tonight. Considering he's one of the most TikTok-pandering cast members this year (along with Marcello and Jane), the quality of the episode might be a little bit better. Although, I know he will be in a pre-tape tonight. As a side note, if you're on your seventh year as a cast member, and you're missing episodes this early into the season due to prior commitments, why are you still in the cast?

The show is pre-empted tonight too. Just writing that here because I'm currently staring at the television waiting for the episode to start. Thanks a lot, college football.

On a final note, since SNL is off next week, let me know in the replies what I should do during the off-weeks, whether its a review of a classic episode, an SNL-related ranking, or anything you all would be interested in seeing.

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(COLD OPEN) Domingo

Highlights:

• I must commend SNL for doing a non-political/topical cold open. The only one in the past year I can think of that they did was Martin Short's five-timer's club induction.

Lowlights:

• Oh, SNL truly couldn't keep their pants on for one cold open and monologue to bring back this sketch that barely worked in its first appearance.
• And of course, they aren't changing anything about the formula.
• Heidi and Ego aren't even in the cast anymore to play Kelsey's friends, so Ashley and Veronika are up there in their place.
• Man, the bridesmaids' purposely bad singing is just plain annoying at this point.
• They're doing a medley in this installment of Domingo-related songs here. Sorry, writers, but that doesn't really count as a variation from the previous Domingo sketches.

Additional Notes:

• Between Domingo and Grant & Alyssa, it truly can't be this hard to find a good recurring character?

(MONOLOGUE) Sabrina Carpenter interacts with audience members

Highlights:

• Moderately funny bit from Sabrina. If those are real audience members, then I can appreciate this a little more. They seemed more giggly then the audience plants usually do.

Lowlights:

• None.

Additional Notes:

• Bowen in a still photo appearance? I see they're trying to make up for his absence.

(SKETCH) Snack Homiez

Highlights:

• None.

Lowlights:

• Kill me. Seriously, kill me. No, seriously.
• You know, it's not funny just to repeat Gen-Alpha slang without any actual substance. And the fact this is pretty much the exact same as the podcast it's parodying makes it even worse. There's nothing creative going here for most of it.
• Oh, I knew SNL couldn't go more than one episode without a Trump appearance too. I thought we were out of the woods at first, until he showed up here out of nowhere. His appearance started out a little bit more tolerable, but eventually it turned into the same old Trump material. Still way better than the comedy poison that was the first part of the sketch.

Additional Notes:

•  None.

(COMMERCIAL) Plans

Highlights:

• This was a great horror movie-esque trailer.
• It's great to see Ben graduate into sketches. His performance was really great here. Between this sketch and his appearances in the Amy Poehler episode, I'm really excited to see him as a cast member.

Lowlights:

• None.

Additional Notes:

•  None.

(SKETCH) Shop TV

Highlights:

• None.

Lowlights:

• What in the rehash? This is even worse than Domingo because at least Domingo was an immensely popular sketch to begin with. Unlike Domingo, where I found the first installment decent, if not a little bit mediocre, I never found this sketch funny to begin with. Just lazy humour.

Additional Notes:

• This was the second time they had to recast Mikey's co-host, given how Cecily played her the first time, Heidi in the next two, and Ashley's playing her here. Makes the decision to bring this sketch back even more baffling.

(NEXT LIVE SHOW) November 1 - Miles Teller

Miles was pretty good when he first hosted a few years ago, even if the material they gave him wasn't super great. I am excited for his musical guest, Brandi Carlile, given that she's one of my favorite artists of today and her other appearances on SNL were killer. 

(SKETCH) Girlboss Seminar

Highlights:

• Sabrina was good in her role here.
• I loved the fake out where Sabrina misses the window that Kenan's just fixed, only for Jeremy to be thrown through the window.
• Great detail at the end with the shard of glass through Jeremy's head.

Lowlights:

• Why does Chloe keep breaking character?

Additional Notes:

• None.

(MUSIC VIDEO) Grind Time

Highlights:

• Ben's wig honestly cracked me up. I'm not used to seeing him without his distinctive red hair.

Lowlights:

• These music videos from SNL have gotten old. Lazy Sunday was a classic, and so was Dick in a Box, Motherlover, and the rest of the Lonely Island songs. The mid-10's was able to put out some great ones (Twin Bed, Sump'n Claus, Christmas Candle), but they've been pretty hit-or-miss after that. This one was a miss. Cool down a bit on the music videos, SNL.

Additional Notes:

• So this is the pre-taped appearance Bowen was announced to be making.
• The youthfulness of the new cast members this year makes them far more convincing as middle schoolers than most of the cast last year would have been.

(MUSICAL PERFORMANCE) Sabrina Carpenter

No comment.

(WEEKEND UPDATE) Jost & Che, with The Movie Guy, Tommy Brennan

Highlights:

• Marcello's charisma as the Movie Guy is sort of infectious, even if the material is corny as hell, and to be quite honest, some of his one-liners near the end made me laugh, most due to his delivery.
• I loved Michael's call-back to the Trump's Time magazine photo joke. Same goes for his Andrew Cuomo joke.
• I also liked Colin's outburst in the fall colours joke. It's a testament to Colin and Michael's greatness that they can make me laugh on their twelfth season together (thirteenth for Colin), even if they are a faaaaarrr cry from their glory days.
• I knew that Tommy would excel in these Weekend Update stand-up commentaries. Several great bits.

Lowlights:

• Talk about bad recurring characters. I actually kind of liked the Movie Guy's first appearance far more than most other people, but there was literally no point in giving him more than one appearance, like Domingo or the Shop TV sketches (or Grant and Alyssa, even if they weren't on this week).
• The overuse of what I like to call the "Jost roast" has got to stop.

Additional Notes:

•  None.

(SKETCH) Washer-Dryer

Highlights:

• It's great to see Veronika have a relatively big night, especially after she was the least used featured player last week.
• This was more fun than funny, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Lowlights:

• None.

Additional Notes:

•  None.

(SKETCH) Surprise Party

Highlights:

• I didn't expect to like this from the beginning, and it was kind of dumb to be honest, but Ashley really carried this, and I surprisingly found this pretty funny.

Lowlights:

• The fart portions were kind of lame and unnecessary.

Additional Notes:

•  None.

(MUSICAL PERFORMANCE) Sabrina Carpenter

No comment.

(FILM) Social Experiment

Highlights:

• This was hilarious and a great change of pace for this era (if you can even call it the same era as the past three years have been; feels like a new one to me personally). Definitely going to be one of my favorite sketches of the season.
• Honestly whole thing cracked me up. 
• I loved the "Welcome to Diwali" ending too.
• Glad they ended this episode on a high note.

Lowlights:

• None.

Additional Notes:

• When I first saw Martin Herlihy, I honestly forgot he wasn't in the cast. I've got the wrong Please Don't Destroy guy in my head.

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(CONCLUSION)

Not a great episode. Better than the Bad Bunny one, but worse than the Amy Poehler one. There were a few great sketches here and there (two pre-tapes and Weekend Update slot most notably), but there were a couple of god-awful sketches too that really weighed the episode down. Anyway, this episode was exactly what I expected with Sabrina being a fairly good host, but the writing being pretty bad. I hope that the next round of episodes will be better than things have been so far, but the host selection isn't the most impressive thing in the world. Oh well.

Overall Highlights:

• Plans.
• Tommy Brennan on Weekend Update.
• Social Experiment.

Overall Lowlights:

• Domingo.
• Snack Homiez.
• Shop TV.
• The Movie Guy on Weekend Update.

Funniest Moment:

• The Frankenstein reveal in the Social Experiment sketch.

Best Lines:

• Michael Che: "During the first New York mayoral debate, Andrew Cuomo attacked Zohran Mamdani, saying that he once gave the finger to the Columbus Day statue, whereas Cuomo snuck up behind the statue and grabbed it by the hips."
• Tommy Brennan: "I look like a guy who was really good at football before integration."
• Andrew Dismukes, at the appliance store: "Let's do a pros and cons list. Pros: The songs are dynamite and I'm attracted to the machines."
• Martin Herlihy: "If you walked into a theater to see Fantastic Four, and the whole audience was Asian, what would you assume then?"
  Jane Wickline: "What would you assume?"
  Martin Herlihy: "Um..."
  Disclaimer Voice: "Slighty Problematic"

CAST MEMBER COUNTDOWN

CHE: 1 sketch (Weekend Update)

DAY: 2 sketches (Plans, Shop TV)

DISMUKES: 4 sketches (Domingo, Plans, Washer-Dryer, Surprise Party)

FINEMAN: 5 sketches (Domingo, Snack Homiez, Girlboss Seminar, Grind Time, Surprise Party)

HERNANDEZ: 3 sketches (Domingo, Grind Time, Weekend Update)

JOHNSON: 2 sketches (Snack Homiez, Shop TV)

JOST: 1 sketch (Weekend Update)

SHERMAN: 4 sketches (Domingo, Plans, Girlboss Seminar, Surprise Party)

THOMPSON: 4 sketches (Monologue, Girlboss Seminar, Grind Time, Washer-Dryer)

YANG: 1 sketch (Grind Time)

BRENNAN: 2 sketches (Girlboss Seminar, Weekend Update)

CULHANE: 3 sketches (Girlboss Seminar, Grind Time, Surprise Party)

MARSHALL: 3 sketches (Plans, Grind Time, Surprise Party)

PADILLA: 6 sketches (Domingo, Shop TV, Girlboss Seminar, Grind Time, Washer-Dryer, Surprise Party)

PATTERSON: 2 sketches (Grind Time, Social Experiment)

SLOWIKOWSKA: 5 sketches (Domingo, Snack Homiez, Grind Time, Washer-Dryer, Social Experiment)

WICKLINE: 3 sketches (Snack Homiez, Grind Time, Social Experiment)

Ashley was the star once again tonight. Pleased to see it. It's been brought to my attention that Ashley is tied with three other cast members (with Kenan Thompson, Kyle Mooney, and I think Mikey Day, but I could be wrong on that last one) for having the most appearances in one episode as a featured player in the Amy Poehler episode. We knew going into this episode that Bowen would only make a pre-taped appearance but Kam's two appearances tonight were pre-taped as well. Veronika did have a strong showing tonight though. Looks like this isn't going to be another Season 39 like I thought after the season premiere.

Right on, well, looks like that's end of another review. And remember to give me things to post on the off-weeks. Until next week, good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.