SNL Scorecard: Adam Driver / Olivia Rodrigo

It's hard to believe, but we're nearly to the end of the 2023, which means that last Saturday's episode of Saturday Night Live was the penultimate one of the calendar year. And where Season 49 began with a trio of new hosts atop the stage, this weekend marked a fourth straight episode with a returning presence: actor Adam Driver, making his 4th appearance as SNL host.

Driver has, against all odds, routinely been a terrific host in his stints from 2016-2020. I say "against all odds" because it is far from the easiest gig, and plenty of comedic icons even struggle to helm the proceedings, as do many figures with a more conventional charisma. But the quirky Marine-turned-remarkably impressive actor has never given less than 100% to any role in his time on the show, and you can tell each time that emboldens the writers and the cast to fully go for it as well. That trend very much held nearly 4 years on from his last time hosting SNL, with a phenomenal episode, high in energy and on quantity of memorable bits. The host deserves immense credit, but all other players, including the musical guest, brought it this past weekend, generating what was easily the best episode of the season, and truthfully, one of the best of the last few calendar years.

One note in case you forgot- I know my rankings can seem a little arbitrary, and truthfully there have been times where even I will look back at scorecards and think "Now, why did I rate (x) an 8.5, if (x) from this other episode was only a 7...?". So, both to hopefully clear up my scoring system for any curious readers, but also really to help keep myself consistent, here is the rubric to reference:

10/10: Perfect, no notes

8-9.5/10: Very funny-to-hilarious, definite rewatch

6-7.5/10: Pretty funny-to-funny, but won't necessarily be a rewatch

4-5.5/10: Not BAD, but not particularly funny or memorable

1-3.5/10: Terrible/poor taste, to simply bad/unfunny

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 7th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Tiny Ass Bag": 8.5/10

Say it with me: there’s nothing better than a good ten-to-one sketch. And this, the last of the night, was the mother of all ten-to-one sketches. So much to love here. A ridiculous premise! Ego and Marcello pairing up for the first time! A cameo from the musical guest, who killed it! Adam Driver perfectly playing the complete opposite personality of all the other characters, to devastating comedic effect! And to make things even better, it had the funniest sketch ending, on a night abnormally full of strong ones.

The Good

“Monologue": 8.5/10

Probably the wildest part about Adam Driver consistently being good on SNL is that he is consistently great at monologues, too. Nothing about his energy or well-documented quirks scream “at home doing a comedic monologue onstage by himself on live television in front of a national audience,” but he just always kills it, and this may have been his best one yet. Combining terrific musical talent (people forget he was a Julliard kid!) with hilarious one-liners, and his patented straight-laced, odd humor…I could have watched half an hour more of this.

“ShopTV Christmas": 8/10

Immature humor maybe, but executed to perfection. I couldn’t stop giggling throughout the whole thing, and Driver’s innocently oblivious character played so well off of Heidi and Mikey’s flamboyant (and horrified) co-hosts. The “squeal” was a great touch, too.

"Old Friends": 8/10

The setup for the joke was fairly obvious, but it didn’t make this bit any less funny. Adam Driver was, unsurprisingly, so good as the emotionless creeper (and unfortunately, I think we all have an old acquaintance at least that fits in this sort of trope).

"Weekend Update": 7.5/10

Another good Update session from Che and Jost, who are steadily rediscovering consistency. The audience didn’t seem to like all their jokes, but I sure did. And the segment was bolstered by a charming and funny visit from Marcello Hernández, and a fun, albeit strange, cameo from Chloe Fineman and a surprise guest.

“We're Trying": 7/10

This one lost a little steam the longer it went on, but what a fun sketch right out of the gates. It was in line with a Twitter joke I saw circulating a while back about how “we’re trying” is just a socially acceptable way to tell your friends you’re raw-doggin’, but with an even funnier twist. 

“Elder PSA": 7/10

Two things SNL does very well: a mock PSA and gently parodying the elderly. This one was no different— though truthfully  it really points the finger at the younger generations as much as anything else —and amidst the comedy, masked a message I think many of us can get behind.

"Beep Beep": 7/10

This was so dumb, but I loved it. I do think it probably spent too much time in the confrontation part, but the increasingly aggressive ‘Midwestern nice’ killed me, and Kenan’s character was a perfect button on the sketch.

“Airplane Baby": 6.5/10

I saw this particular sketch referenced online more than any other, and I have to imagine it’s down to how well Driver committed to the 40-year old baby character. But truthfully, while still highly enjoyable, this ranked near the bottom of the night for me. It had several memorable moments, almost entirely from the host himself, but the novelty wore off a bit and grew a little tiresome at the end.

"College Presidents Cold Open": 5.5/10

Yes, it was a return to the mediocre political cold open this week, but not all are created equal. Attempting to tackle Israel-Palestine and the way-less-intense-but-also-prickly subject of the limit of diversity in thought in academic institutions was probably the bravest thing SNL has done in a while. It didn’t result in a particularly funny sketch, but I appreciate the attempt at least. And Chloe Troast and Kenan both provided some terrific individual moments.

Musical Performances

Olivia Rodrigo: 8/10

Young Olivia Rodrigo has rapidly become one of the biggest names in pop music. A relatively unknown Disney kid just this time 3 years ago, she's since dropped two albums that have completely dominated the charts and Spotify streams, and garnered her millions of fans, and only-slightly-less-than-millions of Grammy nominations. This was her second SNL appearance since her meteoric rise, but her first a couple years ago was a somewhat strange one, still taking place at the tail-end of pandemic regulations, restricted audiences, etc. Saturday represented the first real chance for the pop princess to make her mark on one of the most famous television programs in America, and boy, did she take the chance.

The song selection was great: I am a huge fan of her lead single “vampire,” which she performed first. I was a little bummed we only got a stripped-down piano only version of the song, because the drop halfway through of the recorded version is so good, and I’m sure would have made for an electric performance live. But, other than some shakiness in the pre-hook both times, Olivia sounded terrific and did the song proud. Plus, all the fireworks I yearned for from “vampire” came through and then some in the second performance, of album opener “all american bitch.” Beautiful and heartfelt in the verses, aggressive and unapologetically rock in the chorus, it's a great tone-setter for Guts, and this performance, set amongst a (seemingly) dainty tea and cake party, might be my favorite version now.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.41 ('Comedy Only' score: 7.35)