After nearly six months of acknowledging the Israel-Hamas War in only the most tepid or glancing ways, Saturday Night Live aired a full-throated plea for the freedom of Palestinian people this week (along with a respectful appeal for the safe return of the war’s hostages). Maybe it’s because U.S. public sentiment around protecting Gazans has demonstrably shifted in a way that can no longer be ignored. More likely, though, the show only ever needed a host with bone-deep convictions about the war, who was unafraid of being unfunny in an SNL monologue if it meant sending a simple, clear message from a massive media platform.
Not that Ramy Youssef’s monologue was without jokes; they were just also vehicles for weighty subject matter typically absent from the show. Before winding up to his pro-Palestinian message with some material about the power of prayer (!), the comedian aired out President Biden in a way some audience members may never have heard before. Jokes about his age and occasional incoherence are common on Weekend Update; not so much jokes about his administration’s patronizing treatment of the Arab American community. Without coming across as hateful or venomous, Youssef articulated his disenchantment with Biden in a way that feels part and parcel with the perspective of his self-titled TV show and his stand-up. The pregnant pause he took at the end before segueing to “We’ve got a great show for you tonight” suggests he was fully aware of how uncomfortable he may have just made some viewers — and that he makes no apologies for it.
Youssef’s perspective was all over the rest of the episode, too. Sketches like “Immigrant Dad Talk Show” and “Ozempic for Ramadan” brought aspects of Muslim American life to the fore, while this week’s Please Don’t Destroy video highlighted both Youssef’s sobriety and piercing anxiety. While the show did not carry over the momentum of its outstanding Josh Brolin–hosted predecessor, it had a lot more going for it than just a powerful message up top, mining laughs from some unexpected places — like a certain not-so-tiny desk.
Here are the highlights:
Easter Cold Open
Although the Trump-driven cold opens are starting to lose some steam as we move into the general election, the show could not have opened any other way this week. Last year’s Trumpy Easter sketch was a breakthrough, eviscerating the former president’s religious pandering while throwing a playful postmodern element into the mix. That the actual Trump kicked off the week leading up to Easter hawking $60 patriotic Bibles merely sealed the deal on going in this direction again. While lacking the full punch of last year’s iteration, this one wrings as much juice as possible out of Trump’s paradoxical hold on American Evangelicals. The ongoing bit where James Austin Johnson removes definitive articles before nouns may have found its best-use case yet in his repeated references to the Bible. (“It comes with everything you like from Bible.”) This tic here only further fleshes out just how screamingly insincere Trump sounds when attempting to sound like a devout Christian — something Colin Jost also skewers later on in Weekend Update. SNL needs to be careful not to wear out Johnson’s impression between now and November, but trotting him out this week was a no-brainer that paid off.
Please Don’t Destroy — We Got Too High
Clicking on a video titled “We Got Too High” cannot convey how fun it was to watch this sketch as it aired without knowing where things were headed. It starts with Youssef happily informing the PDD crew that musical guest Travis Scott has invited them out for a night on the town. (“A twisted rockin’ ball” is how Youssef describes it, instantly regretting his clumsy choice of words.) Although the boys blaze up rather heavily in the back of the limo, it’s only when they arrive at a nightclub with Scott that the too-high premise emerges. It quickly proves fertile comic territory, even before the joke kicks in about Youssef being such an anxious person that he can get to a “napkin-pants” level of high anxiety without any herbal assistance.
Weekend Update
This episode’s Weekend Update is a home run. Both desk pieces are rock-solid, there’s a good mix of political and goofy subject matter, and one incendiary joke riffing on this week’s major disaster: “Like that bridge, Biden is no longer connecting with the Black community.” Chloe Fineman’s TikToker perfectly captures the horror of being confronted with one’s own horribly aged takes on social media, while Sarah Sherman’s performance as Flaco the Owl’s widow is another superb entry in her growing repertoire of unlikely Jost antagonists.
Murder Detective
The studio audience was not feeling this sketch, which is absent of laughs for deadly long stretches. As someone who was hooting and hollering throughout, it’s tempting to call those folks philistines, but this sketch is indeed a big, niche swing. The moment in time where the mere existence of David Caruso’s CSI: Miami one-liners was the funniest thing in the world predates the Obama administration; SNL’s coveted youth demo will likely have no context for it whatsoever. Fortunately for them, the idea of a detective being unwilling to let go of a one-liner until it gets the reaction he was hoping for transcends generational awareness of the source material. Or at least it did for your recapper — and for Sherman, who could barely hold it together during Andrew Dismukes’s long, eager setup of the joke’s final delivery.
Tiny Desk Concert
Who knew NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts so richly deserved a comeuppance? The answer is: Bowen Yang, who was curiously absent from the rest of the episode but turns in a quiet tour de force here as Elliott, the 35-year-old NPR intern. His character embodies every stereotype about NPR you’ve ever smirked at, from the inflated sense of self-satisfaction to the continued use of outdated liberalisms like “Nevertheless, she persisted.” His proposed podcast about AI and “rural queers,” titled Beep Bloop I’m Gay Now, hovers about one inch above the landscape of reality, which is a perfect place for satire to exist.
Cut for time
• If the “Couple Goals” game show seems familiar, it’s the sequel to a sketch from last season’s Quinta Brunson episode. (Well, more of a reboot than a sequel.)
• The fake tagline for the Swiffer Wetjet is one of the best throwaway jokes at the top of a game-show sketch in some time. (And yes, that is an entire category of SNL joke.)
• At some point, Colin Jost and Michael Che start treating the studio audience’s reactions to their jokes like a show they are watching while delivering part of the show. This week’s best instance of that is Michael Che reacting to one audience member’s shriek after a joke about the film Oppenheimer premiering in Japan.
• Casually placing a syringe atop an unlidded bowl of dates in the fridge during the “Ozempic for Ramadan” sketch is just an incredible detail plucked from Muslim life.
• The “Team Captain” sketch never quite finds its groove, but ending with a full-page newspaper headline that reads “Pervert Victorious” is a strong closer.
