SNL Scorecard: Anya Taylor-Joy / Lil Nas X
A Saturday Night Live season unlike any other has come to an end, and true to form for the last 14 months, Season 46 simultaneously feels like it both began forever ago and absolutely flew by. In the wake of the lackluster season premiere, many media outlets asked why Lorne Michaels and NBC were even bothering trying to put on a show this year; presumably, these were many of the same voices that asked the same question of Season 45's "At-Home" episodes, which I personally found to be unexpectedly delightful. But the SNL team soldiered on, and little by little, the episodes began to feel increasingly less like a formality and more genuinely funny.
It was a season that began in the midst of a particularly difficult and contentious election, still in the heat of a tragic pandemic, in front of a reduced-capacity, masked audience of first responders only. It seemed only right, then, that more than anything, the season finale just felt like a joyous sigh of relief. It may not go down in history as one of the all-time great episodes, but the high spirits and high energy levels were palpable, buoyed enormously by the first full-capacity audience in over a year. And with no real weak sketches on the night, the actors and writers all seemed locked in and dedicated to finishing this tough year on a high note. I'm happy to report that what turned out to be a surprisingly solid season had a fitting end, with a surprisingly solid finale.
Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 20th (and final!) episode of the season:
Sketch of the Night
"AMC Theatres Commercial": 8/10
If you had asked me before Season 46 began what I wanted the last sketch of the season to consist of, I wouldn't have really known how to answer the question. But give me enough time, and I think I would have arrived at "Traditionally random and hilarious 10-to-1 sketch essentially just letting Beck Bennett do his thing." Color me a happy man.
The Good
“Weekend Update": 8.5/10
The last episode of Saturday Night Live annually spawns a massive rumor mill of which cast members are "DEFINITELY" leaving. After a season that has featured the largest single cast ever, with most of them pushing 7+ years on the show, few names have been safe from said rumor mill this season, and much of the discussion has centered around Colin Jost and Michael Che, the 2nd and 3rd longest-serving Weekend Update hosts, Cecily Strong, and Pete Davidson for a multitude of reasons. For obvious reasons, I hope the rumors are proven false, but if this was the last Update we would be seeing all of them in, what a way to go out. Pete delivered a very solid -- and not as annoyingly self-referential as some of his bits had become --appearance, but that wasn't even close to the best thing about this Update. Che and Jost's jokes were absolutely en fuego, to the delight of the capacity audience, and this edition of the joke swap might have been their best one yet, which is saying something, considering this is the single best addition these two have brought to the show. And then for the curtain call: my girl Cecily, with an inch-perfect Jeanine Pirro impersonation, hilariously showering Jost with wine before climbing into her own wine tank, all while singing Sinatra very well indeed....give her an Emmy, for pity's sake.
“Season 46 Finale Cold Open": 8/10
We talked about Cecily earlier, but Kenan Thompson and Kate McKinnon, the two vets of the cast, have been rumored to be out the door for at least the last 4 seasons, and those takes have only increased, especially with the latter finally having a solid show on the side, his self-titled comedy Kenan. Another long-tenured cast member with a successful show? Aidy Bryant. So naturally when the show began with these four standing on stage, emotionally soaking up the applause of the live audience, it sure seemed to hint at an incoming farewell speech. Fortunately, that proved not to be the case, as the cold open eventually incorporated every single cast member. (For the record, I'm not saying, this wasn't the show's way of recognizing those four in their last show, just that it wasn't obviously the case.) Anyways....what a delightful, original idea for a cold open! Like the Mother's Day open just two weeks ago, it was equal parts sweet, sentimental, and funny, but this one really brought the funny. My personal favorite: the "highlights of the year" exclusively featuring Elon Musk dancing as Wario.
"College Panel": 7.5/10
This was an example of how a single joke can turn into a great sketch simply because of how well the actors sell it. The premise of "white boy teen heartthrob gets all the easy questions while the others have to answer for society's ills" was obvious pretty early on, but every single one of the cast members perfectly played up their emotion to comedic effect. And a special shout out to Bryant to host Anya Taylor-Joy, who terrifically kept up the pace.
"Making Man": 7/10
The absurdities of anatomy, perhaps male anatomy in particular, make for easy comedic fodder, but setting this sketch in heaven, with focus groups for each biological sex was an inspired choice. The cocky obliviousness of the male focus group (Chris Redd in particular) was spot-on.
“Monologue": 6.5/10
An American-born, Argentine-British dramatic actress and model is, quite clearly, someone who is likely to be an interesting person. However, that background doesn't necessarily scream terrific comedic host. But Taylor-Joy would be game for the various hijinks all night, and she showed that right off the bat with this solid monologue, oozing confidence on stage.
"Picture with Dad": 6.5/10
I appreciated the take on a weird, problematic 'funny' prom trend. I did feel like this could have been funnier than it was, but I definitely lost it at the very end, with Beck's futile, repeated requests to honor him.
“Lingerie Store": 6/10
Honestly, this had more of a 10-to-1 feel than the actual 10-to-1 sketch did. It wasn't anything particularly memorable, but nobody commits to full zany the way Aidy Bryant does, and once again Taylor-Joy played along marvelously.
“Hollywood Squares": 6/10
I enjoyed that this sketch found a way to mock the shockingly high number of problematic figures from the 90 without making light of their various transgressions. It did feel like it played its hand a little early, though; showing all the celebrity names in the first shot pretty much gave away the joke off the bat, and as a result the sketch felt a little long.
"Pride Month": 5.5/10
It was definitely cool to see the host join the several (!!) LGBTQ cast members, along with the openly gay musical artist in a song about Pride! And it was an undeniably catchy tune, though it was weird that it sounded eerily similar to Madonna's "Holiday," without quite being a direct parody. This was not without its highlights, but it did feel like there was an opportunity for this to be a little more memorable than it ended up being.
"Celtic Woman": 5.5/10
This still had enough humor in it to avoid the dreaded "Less Good" moniker, especially the comment about the "popular girls from high school getting railed by the idea of Ireland." But by and large, this felt like the closest thing to a miss on the night. It was more fun watching the women try to hold it together than it was actually listening for the jokes.
Musical Performances
Lil Nas X: 7.5/10
Nearly two months after Lil Nas X #broketheinternet and infuriated Evangelical Christians everywhere with his provocative music video for "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)", and was parodied in the aftermath by Chris Redd and SNL, the musical artist came full circle with a performance of his own on the show's finale. It was "Call Me By Your Name" that once again provided the buzziest moment from the show, but this time the reason was for Nas' wardrobe malfunction and hilarious reaction afterwards.
The pants pop made for a entertaining "this is live!!" moment, but it was a bit of a shame, as it distracted from a fairly electric performance by the artist and his crew of backup dancers, and according to the man himself, also ruined a closing pole routine he had rehearsed. Oh well; it will keep his set in the public eye for some time. Less buzzy was his second performance, of his brand new song "Sun Goes Down." Fittingly for the song's theme, it was considerably more stripped-back, and a quieter vocal performance. It's a really pretty song, though, one that I hope will get the attention it deserves.
OVERALL SCORE: 6.88 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.82)
As we tie a bow on the season and enter summer break, here are how all 20 episodes of Season 46 shook out-- keep in mind the episode's overall score factors in the musical performance, so what I considered the funniest isn't necessarily the top-rated overall, etc.:
Carey Mulligan/Kid Cudi - 7.04
Anya Taylor-Joy/Lil Nas X - 6.88
John Mulaney/The Strokes - 6.85
Bill Burr/Jack White - 6.72
Regé-Jean Page/Bad Bunny - 6.65
Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers - 6.64
Daniel Kaluuya/St. Vincent - 6.64
Kristen Wiig/Dua Lipa - 6.55
John Krasinski/Machine Gun Kelly - 6.50
Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters - 6.50
Jason Bateman/Morgan Wallen - 6.41
Keegan Michael-Key/Olivia Rodrigo - 6.40
Nick Jonas - 6.34
Timothée Chalamet/Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - 6.32
Maya Rudolph/Jack Harlow - 6.25
Elon Musk/Miley Cyrus - 6.10
Regina King/Nathaniel Rateliff - 6.09
Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion - 5.90
Issa Rae/Justin Bieber - 5.82
Adele/H.E.R. - 5.67
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