From their podcast it sounds like they’ve had a lot of songs for a while but haven’t decided what to do with them, and then him getting back on SNL was an easy way for them to get the music videos produced for free. Which, they’re a group whose songs don’t work half as well unless there’s an accompanying video tbh, and I think they know that too Though I wonder if this one is brand new for them too, or if it’s an older song that they just had Charli pop on to tie it into this episode
Marcello has taken the step to the next level. The video at the concert was very cute, very funny. There should be a 3rd DOmingo sketch, and final, when the babies are bordn, and he shows up. But it should end at 3. Perhaps Mikey fights him, and kills him or something so the Domingo sketch ends for sure. But there has to be a 3rd. Charli XCX was terrific, open to everything it seemed. She couldnt have done better, IMO. PDD and TLI sketches were right on money. The cake sketch, used again, and you knew how it would end, was a good one. Nice to see Kyle back for the show. Wicked AUditions was great - auditions (with Alan Alda, but not this time) are always good Peanut the squirrel was typical Sara, playing with COlin (and the tail! OMG) I Thought Shrek sketch was going to be much more sexual, but it was mediocre. Solid B+ for this one.
Very fun episode, Charli was truly as good as any other cast member. Would love to see her back on come the next album cycle. The musical performances I could take or leave - they felt improvised kinda? And not really in a good way? The purse thing was really distracting haha The podcast and acting class sketches were my favorite. Marcello had a great week
Ashley Padilla feels like a natural to me. Something about her evokes the comfort of vintage SNL. Reminds me of like… Ana Gasteyer maybe? I really hope she continues to get at least a moment or two every week
Charli missed an opportunity to capitalize on Apple having a viral tiktok moment. also just two weeks after Chappell, Charli's performances felt really lackluster. just looking at how they decorated the stage i felt this huge contrast between Chappell's drag-inspired aesthetic and Charli's minimalism
Chappell is a once in a generation performer so it’s tough to compare to anyone I thought 360 was pretty lackluster, the stage looked cool for a second but didn’t do anything, and the song is pretty low energy for a live performance. Knife was a lot better tho, one of her better vocal performances on the album. I saw her live on this album cycle and she was great, but it is a set up less focused on the live show compared to Crash especially. It was just her up there, very intimate feeling which tracks with the darker more introspective songs. Hard to translate to a two song performance.
I actually thought almost all of Chloe's in the Wicked one were like embarrassingly bad... I swear she used to be a better impressionist than she is now