The 51st Season of Saturday Night Live is three episodes in, and so far it’s been pretty mediocre, with a lot of underwhelming sketches and underutilized talent. The best I can say is that it’s been a bit better each week.
The premiere, hosted by Bad Bunny, fell flat with nearly every sketch. The second episode helmed by Amy Poehler had some solid hits and a lot of misses. The most recent episode hosted by Sabrina Carpenter was pretty great top to bottom.
With all that in mind, here are the ten best sketches so far this season.
‘Social Experiment’
Just barely making its way into the top 10 this season is the pre-taped sketch “Social Experiment” in which SNL writer Martin Herlihy plays an investigator conducting a social experiment where he “filled a theater with professional actors dressed to look stereotypically dangerous or scary.” Building to be a sketch about racism, the truly hilarious reveal comes when the first patron enters the theater to find nearly every seat filled with people wearing green Frankenstein makeup. It’s legit LOL funny, but the sketch suffers a familiar SNL fate from there: it goes on three minutes too long.
”Grind Song”
While it doesn’t really have any huge laughs, the “Grind Song” starring Sabrina Carpenter and Bowen Yang was solidly amusing. Both of them play preteens going to a school dance where they grind on each other in front of the chaperones. One of the best parts of the catchy song is the bridge, where the bankable Kenan Thompson plays a checked out principal.
‘Pete Hegseth Cold Open’
It’s rare to see Colin Jost out from behind the “Weekend Update” desk, but the Season 51 premiere launched with a cold open where Jost-As-Pete Hegseth yelled at all of America’s generals, calling them fat and gay. James Austin Johnson then did his solid Donald T impression. It’s not amazing, but there are some solid laughs.
‘Girlboss Seminar’
Host Sabrina Carpenter put her comedy chops on full display in the “Girlboss Seminar.” She played a motivational speaker named Queen Lisha who spouted platitudes about female empowerment in between dance routines with two male backup dancers.
During one of the dance segments, the dancers swing Queen Lisha (as a dummy) around and throw her through a window. Queen Lisha reenters through the window and resumes the seminar, but one of the women in attendance (Sarah Sherman) is worried Queen Lisha has a head injury. After that, Queen Lisha’s motivational patter makes less and less sense, and we’re left trying to figure out if she actually has a head injury.
‘Weekend Update: Biohacker Chuck Spyro’
Perhaps it’s not a ringing endorsement for Season 51 that two of its top 10 sketches were cut for time. In this “Weekend” spot, James Austin Johnson plays a fast-talking biohacker named Chuck Spyro who gives the audience all kinds of funny, moronic tips on how to better themselves. Michael Che is especially good as the straight man that Spyro ignores and talks over.
‘Shop TV: Pillow’
In the tradition of “D in a Box,” the “Shop TV: Pillow” features a perfect prop that makes the sketch work. Mikey Day and Ashley Padilla play the hosts of a home shopping show and they welcome a designer (Sabrina Carpenter) who has designed a new neck pillow. Once the tube-like pillow is snapped together at the bottom, it very obviously looks like a lady part and everyone but Carpenter understands that. Kudos here to SNL’s prop department for nailing the sight gag.
‘Tall, Plain Boyfriend’
Another cut for time sketch that’s better than most of what made it into the actual show is the commercial parody “Tall, Plain Boyfriend.” Sabrina Carpenter is a spokesperson for “Tall, Plain Boyfriend,” a service that hooks women up with tall, dull men. Or, as Carpenter puts it, “No drama. No personality. Just a long body with hair on head.” It’s a clear premise that’s performed well and doesn’t overstay its welcome, clocking in under three minutes. It shouldn’t have been cut.
‘Weekend Update: Concerned New Yorker Rhonda LaCenzo on Zohran Mamdani’
Sarah Sherman shines in this “Weekend Update” desk spot. She plays Rhonda LaCenzo, a woman from Long Island who’s terrified that Zohran Mamdani will be elected Mayor of New York City, where she doesn’t even live. Referring to him as a “Hipster Jihadist,” she rambles about how he’ll enact Sharia Law across the city and bring about horrors like universal childcare. It’s solid, simple character work by Sherman, one of the show’s funniest stars.
‘Plans’
“Plans” is a Blumhouse horror movie trailer parody. It’s about a couple relaxing one night until the woman (Sabrina Carpenter) gets a text saying “Almost there” from her cousin (Sarah Sherman). The guy in the relationship (Ben Marshall) is worried and asks “Which cousin is it?” Carpenter replies “The one who runs marathons” over scary horror music.
More and more terrible things are revealed – her cousin is bringing her husband (Mikey Day) who loves to show Marshall’s character long YouTube videos on his phone. The best joke in the sketch comes when Marshall tells Carpenter “Just tell them we have Covid” and a shivering Carpenter replies “They don’t believe in that.”
‘Miss Lycus The Fast Psychic’
This season’s best sketch to date was the razor-sharp “Miss Lycus The Fast Psychic.” Amy Poehler plays a surly talk show psychic who doesn’t drag out messages from deceased relatives. Instead, she rattles through them like someone placing their order at Starbucks. When audience members stand to ask about their departed loved ones, Miss Lycus interrupts, saying they’re dead, drowned, burned or all of the above.
In a fast and funny three-and-a-half minutes, Poehler brought to life a hilarious new character that would have been a hit recurring sketch during her time on the show.
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