SNL Scorecard: Finn Wolfhard / A$AP Rocky

One thing I've learned in all my years of Saturday Night Live fandom is to tamper my expectations for the first episode of the season, and/or the first of the calendar year. Fans of the show like myself naturally react to the first episode back from a long absence, be it the month-plus holiday break or the much-longer summer break, with a lot of excitement. More often that not, though, it takes everyone involved with the show a little while to find their footing again, usually resulting in a muted, somewhat sloppy episode.

I certainly expected that to be the case here. With all due respect to Finn Wolfhard, who I really like and whose show I was (still feels surreal to say "was") a big fan of, a first-time host for the return episode felt like a move with a low chance of success, particularly a first-time host who hasn't carved out much of a comedic figure in his young acting career. Boy, was I wrong, and happy to be wrong!

Wolfhard, first of all, proved to be a much more comfortable and enthusiastic host than I anticipated, as did his Stranger Things friends that showed up at multiple moments in the night. The first-timer didn't seem daunted by the stage at all, and has a dry humor deadpan that worked really effectively throughout the night; he also proved willing to lean into more absurd roles at times. This was especially important because I think SNL has been at its best in recent years when it leaned into the weird, and you could tell the cast-- and perhaps the writers, too --were excited to feed off of that. That enthusiasm, coupled with two electric performances by the musical guest, resulted in an episode that had some of the best energy behind it in quite some time. That feels like a big win after a few holiday season shows that seemed to kind of run out of gas down the stretch. Perhaps the show had the same restful and rejuvenating holiday break that I did!

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 10th episode of the season, and the first of 2026:

Sketch of the Night

"Heated Wizardry": 8.5/10

A little peek behind the curtain (easy, not that curtain) on my process: when I'm watching live, I'll often rate the sketch and then try to jot down notes during or after a sketch, and the next day when it comes time to write this piece, compile thoughts out of what I'd noted. Under this sketch, I'd given it an 8.5, and simply noted "Goddammit." That feels about right; of course SNL did a Heated Rivalry parody, and of course the Internet won't shut up about it, and of course I found the entire thing hilarious.

The Good

“Space Emperor": 8/10

This is what I mean by SNL thriving by leaning into the weird. I don't really know what was going on in this one, and I loved it. Mikey Day was clearly delighted to play such a little weirdo, and Wolfhard played off him so well. I'm not convinced that little kiss on the cheek wasn't improv'd by the host. Also, I couldn't tell if it was an offscreen cast member or a woman in the audience absolutely losing it during the interplay between those two, but either way, I loved it.

“Stranger Things Promo": 7.5/10

Just a classic SNL pre-taped 'quick hitter bit.' These were all fun and funny, though, and I loved the idea of Mike, Dustin and Lucas from Stranger Things living out a Sex In The City timeline in New York.

“Monologue": 7.5/10

This was great! Would I have believed you that the best monologue of this season so far would be delivered by an awkward, young former child star, first-time host? No. But in a season that’s been notably short on good (or even memorable) monologues, this felt refreshingly well-written, and Wolfhard amazingly comfortable in the monologue format; he and his buddies had great comedic timing to the end, too.

"Snackhomiez": 7.5/10

I hate how good they are at replicating 8th grade bro lingo with these sketches; they were brilliant, but I cringed the entire time. Sabrina Carpenter continues to be astoundingly good at playing a preteen boy, as does Jane Wickline... I swear I saw Jane actually blush when the various boys start clowning "Unc." Also, fun cameo by A$AP Rocky! He sold his line of 'Rap Snacks' so well, I had to look up "A$AP's Killa Dilla Pickle Chips" to confirm whether they were real (they're not).

"Weekend Update": 7.5/10

Weekend Update has been Ol' Reliable amidst these topsy-turvy seasons of SNL, but has felt a little more muted this season, overtly stumbling in quality the last couple pre-Christmas episodes. Che and Jost mostly righted the ship in the first episode of the new year, though, with their usual energy and interplay back. That said, the stars of this one definitely were walk-on guests Kam Patterson and Jane Wickline. The newbie didn't just look like a young Michael Irvin... as a college football fan who was also tracking with Miami's playoff run to tonight's Championship, I can tell you, he absolutely nailed this impression. And even though I did not know the source material, Jane was too funny as her self-help social media character. Also, spare a thought for Tommy Brennan, whose brilliant and heartfelt homage to his home state of Minnesota was cut for time, robbing us all of an even better Weekend Update.

"Guy's Girl": 7/10

This one went on just a touch too long, but I love that they finally let Veronika Slowikowska go a little nuts. This was so silly, and had great energy. Hell, I'd date Michelle. I'll say it.

“Cabinet Meeting Cold Open": 6.5/10

It's funny that both the first episode of the season and the first episode of 2026 opened with Colin Jost as Pete Hegseth. To be fair, there were a lot more cast appearances in this one, including the debut of a new J.D. Vance and Kristi Noem, played hilariously by Jeremy Culhane and Ashley Padilla. As is so often the case, the writers struggled to find humor more bizarre than what reality is under Trump, but there were a slew of really clever lines and some fun James Austin Johnson moments in there.

“Free Solo": 6/10

This was pretty forgettable once the joke became obvious, but it worked as a ’10-to-1’ at the tail-end of a good episode. Vibes were already high, and seeing Kenan making Mikey struggle to hold it together was fun. This could have been better with stronger writing for the host and Sarah Sherman. Plus I'm a little bitter because what would have been THEE perfect 10-to-1 sketch got cut for time.

“Boy Band": 5/10

The only sketch on the night that just didn't seem to take with the audience. It felt like there really was a funny or more interesting sketch down there, it just didn't come about for most of the time. I did enjoy the boy band's introduction into the scene, though, and their lines with Ashley Padilla's "Kim" made me laugh every time.

Musical Performances

A$AP Rocky: 9.5/10

I feel like I've been saying this very thing about a lot of recent musical guests, but my awareness of and appreciation for A$AP Rocky far outpaces my knowledge or fandom of his music. I know a few of his biggest hits, and was excited to see him announced as musical guest, because I've enjoyed watching his transition into aspiring multi-hyphenate: he's a fashion icon now, he's in Spike Lee movies with Denzel Washington and, frankly, he's Rihanna's husband. But I'd never seen him perform, and knew very little about the release of new album Don't Be Dumb, so I was intrigued.

I'll confess to being in an uhhhh elevated state by the time A$AP's first performance came, so I was ripe for the plucking to be impressed, shall we say. Still, I was pretty floored by the energy and showmanship of his performance of new single "PUNK ROCKY," as much as I was thrown by the pop-punk direction of the song itself. Even if isn't my preferred genre, though, he did it proud! Same went for the second performance, a medley of tracks "DON'T BE DUMB" and "HELICOPTER." A slightly slower song in the first half, and there was less onstage commotion, but the set design and backup dancers were still enough to keep you engaged even if you didn't like the sound of the song itself, which again, I did. All in all, I saw enough to feel like I get the hype for regarding A$AP Rocky; a standout in a season that's been sneaky good when it comes to musical guests. And a great couple cameos from Thundercat!

OVERALL SCORE: 7.30 ('Comedy Only' score: 7.06)