SNL Scorecard: Amy Poehler / Role Model

I closed my intro to last week's scorecard of the underwhelming SNL premiere with encouragement among the faint damnation, explaining that the first episode of the season is always rusty, and this new-look cast and writers' room will need some time to hit their stride. If I were standing by those words, then, which I am, it would be silly for me to come out exactly one week later and declare that we should be back at full operating capacity, and all was figured out.

Yet, it did stand to reason that this week might be a lot stronger than last week, and not just because that (respectfully) wouldn't be a hard bar to clear. By the second week of the season, a team has a "game" in hand, and isn't coming in cold off of months away from their craft. It's why it's fairly common to see a sophomore episode that improves in quality from its predecessor if not matching the same energy: think Nate Bargatze's strong outing after the rough premiere with Jean Smart last season (and that Bargatze episode was immediately followed by Ariana Grande's, one of the strongest episodes in the entire 50th season). And, of course, because this week's host would be none other than Saturday Night Live veteran and comedy queen herself, Amy Poehler. Nobody is more at ease coming and commanding an episode than the former stars themselves, who know the flow and all the ins and outs of the show.

Through the lens of those short-term expectations, then, rather than the more long-term patience required for the new players this season...woof. This episode was certainly funnier and ran smoother than last week's, so in that regard, it's a win. But in truth, most of the differences in quality between last week and this can be boiled down to Poehler just being such a better ready-made host for the show than Bad Bunny. The writing had plenty of potential, but with about one and a half exceptions, just couldn't seem to land a sketch on the night, with most of the night's bits running out of jokes on a funny premise about midway through its runtime. Still, there were some highlights (seeing a slew of adored familiar faces among them) to write home about this week, which feels like baby steps in the right direction.

One note in case you forgot, since it's been a minute- 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 2nd episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Psychic Talk Show": 8/10

I could tell right away this was going to be a winner. One of the only sketches all night that felt like it let Amy Poehler truly star. I was mildly disappointed to learn this was based off a real person, because I was ready to shout out the originality of the conceit. Oh well... this was mostly one bit, but it stayed funny the entire time, and the pace was great. I don’t think enough of the audience laughed at the interaction with Kam Patterson- I cracked up at that one.  

The Good

“The Hunting Wives Season 2 Trailer": 8/10

I didn’t even know that this was a real show being parodied, but uhhh consider my interest piqued?? According to the Internets, this is a pretty accurate remake, which makes it even funnier to me. Great callback here, with Amy Poehler joking during her monologue that she would "happily do full frontal," only to start this next sketch with taking her top off. This definitely felt like it was written for a specific corner of Twitter-- particularly with the arrival of a particular guest appearance -- but it was good enough for us all to appreciate. 

“Pam Bondi Cold Open": 7/10

As soon as I saw the cold open was going to be about Pam Bondi, I knew she would be played by Amy Poehler, and I wasn’t mad about it. I will say the only aspect of it that didn’t quite work is that Bondi is so disgusting and immature and unlikable, and Amy Poehler is so effortlessly lovable that I couldn’t unsee her in that role. This was a lot of fun, though; not exactly “Kavanaugh Hearing” levels of funny, but plenty of very funny moments, and a great cameo late on from Tina Fey, whose makeup was so effective I (along with what sounded like about half the studio audience) didn’t even realize it was her until she started talking.

"Experienced Lawyers": 6.5/10

One of a handful on the night that I would have expected to air at about 12:55 AM, rather than right after Weekend Update. But hey, I love it! Were that this episode (or any episode) strictly 10-to-1 episodes! This mostly just felt like a weak legal parody at first, but the ante just kept getting upped and upped the more people showed up. I lost it when the clones appeared.

"Monologue": 6.5/10

No surprise that Amy Poehler was immensely at ease in the monologue format, though I will confess for both a comedic veteran and an SNL legend, I had slightly higher hopes for the monologue. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact she wasn’t really here promoting anything, something she referenced herself, but I don’t know- maybe I thought we’d see a little more of a production. It’s fine though! This was good fun, with plenty of witty punchlines. I did think it was interesting that they didn’t do the usual “quick introduce the new cast members” bit in the premiere, so it was nice (and humorously done) to have Poehler do the honors this week.

“Non-Alcoholic Beer": 6.5/10

It’s rare to see such a short quick hitter of a mock ad, but this was funny and I think it’s good it didn’t overstay its welcome: it’s a simple enough premise that it never was going to be able to stay fresh over a drawn out amount of time. Not super memorable, but a great performance from Andrew Dismukes here.

“Weekend Update": 6/10

This edition of Update got off to a fairly weak start, although Colin Jost's RFK Jr. joke was great, before settling into a little more of a good run in the latter half. We got good energy from Sarah Sherman in her walk-on appearance as a Jersey mother horrified by Zohran Mamdani, but the bit went on a little long, ans wasn't quite as clever or unhinged as her usual go-to. Similarly with Marcello Hernández's and Jane Wickline's Grant and Allyssa: it is funny every single time, and that was true again, but the idea wasn't fresh and again went on a little too long. The "Weekend Update Joke-Off" was electric, though. if only to see Tina, Amy, and Seth Meyers behind the desk for another moment. Overall though, one of the less memorable Updates we've had in a minute.

"Work Birth": 5.5/10

It felt early in the show to run this sketch; this was another one that would have been a great 10-to-1. Loved the chaotic energy of this one, though, even if there weren’t loads of strong jokes in here.

"The Rudemans": 5.5/10

I feel like the studio audience and I were on the same page here: fully on board with the sketch at first, and then it lost us the more it went on. I guess I just kind of thought there would be some turn at some point, but it really was as simple as “date’s family all has the same sarcastic/passive aggressive tone.” That said, the first minute or two of it were funny enough to render this more good than bad.

The... Less-Good

“Theme Songs Masterclass": 5/10

They at least brought the zany energy back once more in the last sketch of the night. Not much here in the way of memorable jokes, though. Again, this screamed of a half-realized idea that the writers were just counting on Amy and Bowen Yang to turn into something great, but the material wasn't there.

“Emo Mom": 4/10

I wanted to like this, because it was one of only other times besides the Psychic sketch that we got to see Amy really be the star, and she gave it great energy. But it just didn’t really go anywhere beyond “mom cosplaying as her teenage kids." A disappointing 10-to-1 choice after a night of many zanier sketches.

Musical Performances

Role Model: 6.5/10

It’s been a long time since the show has named a musical guest who I literally hadn’t even heard of, let alone hadn’t heard songs by, so this was exciting for me. I thought about checking out some of Role Model’s (real name Tucker Pillsbury... yes, I'm serious) music so I was somewhat familiar, but figured I should embrace the rare opportunity to go in blind. 

As it turned out, once he launched into the chorus of his first song, “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out”, I realized I had in fact heard this before. Nice little song! His voice took a little while to get going, but his energy was great and the set design was cute- and what an exciting and unexpected little cameo from Charli XCX! I wonder if that was her friend Bowen (or maybe just her friend Mr. Model) pulling some strings in a week in which she was randomly shaded by a petty billionaire.

His vocals didn’t improve much in his second performance, of “Some Protector“, and if you think I’m being harsh, 1. you could see it in his own reaction, with lots of frustrated head-shaking and groans in gaps between verses, and 2. I still enjoyed the performance! More of a straightforward tune than “Sally,” but another sweet, early 2000s-feeling throwback song.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.25 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.23)