SNL Scorecard: Glen Powell / Olivia Dean

I've become quite fond of comparing Liverpool (my favorite soccer team) to Saturday Night Live (perhaps not my favorite show, per se, but the only show I have watched religiously for over a decade and do weekly reviews of) in recent scorecards, which you will know if you've kept up with this recurring piece in this calendar year. It very well may be confirmation bias, but I've been shocked at how parallel the performances of the two seemingly completely unrelated parties continue to run. Consider this, then: after a rough start to their season, Liverpool showed spurts, and then a brief but sustained period of real quality, and a glimpse of turning things around, only to suffer a disappointing loss right before they headed into a two-week break. SNL? An inconsistent, sub-par start to the season, but with a clear upward trajectory, leading to conseuctive legitimately strong episodes....only to, now, roll out a bit of a clunker right as they head into a two-week break.

A caveat, though, by way of another comparison between the two: I'm not too down and out about this episode. When Liverpool lost their last match to Manchester City a week ago today, I texted friends and family "I'm not too upset about this one- just feels like a fluky and bad day against a good team, unlike previous losses that seemed to suggest something was really wrong with the team." Similarly, while I was disappointed on the whole with this last pre-Thanksgiving SNL episode, it didn't concern me; it seemed far less a case of 'these new cast members and writers just aren't figuring it out,' and more a 'these guys are ready for the two weeks off and didn't really give 100% for this one.'

The episode was at least fun for the most part, and certainly not without highlights! The bulk of my disappointment lies in my high expectations for the show; like many red-blooded Americans, I've found myself increasingly charmed by Glen Powell in the last couple years, and trusted he would bring great energy to the stage. I also feel very positively towards musical guest Olivia Dean, and trusted she would be a terrific artist to showcase on the show. Both those hunches proved to be accurate. But given how much natural charm and comedic chops Powell displayed, and the joint “young star/first-time appearance” energy with him and musical guest Olivia Dean, I can’t help but feel like the lackluster writing and lack of any standout performances from the cast rendered what had the potential to be a great episode instead a bit of a bust. In retrospect, I kinda hate that Glen, who was so excited for this hosting stint, got saddled with an episode that was the 4th new show in a row and immediately preceded a two-week break; this episode reeked of a staff that was out of ideas and in desperate need of a “bye week.”

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 6th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Sebastian Maniscalco": 7.5/10

The beauty of this one is that it worked even if you, like me, had no idea who Sebastian Maniscalco was. Having seen some videos of the real-life comedian since, it makes Marcello Hernandez's performance even funnier. The bit stayed just a tiny bit too long, and the unnecessary shoehorning of Chloe Fineman's Jennifer Coolidge led to a sloppy ending, but Hernandez's kinetic performance in this one was some of the best work we've seen from him in a long time, perhaps even in his entire SNL tenure.

The Good

“I MIss My Ex's Dad": 7.5/10

SNL's pre-taped songs rarely miss, and their last two country parody songs specifically have been some of the strongest sketches of their respective years. This one didn't quite reach those same heights in terms of clever lyricism, perhaps, but it was another banger from the music department, and fronted by two featured players, no less! Tommy Brennan and Ben Marshall were great in this, and Glen Powell of course hilarious as the titular "ex's dad."

“MacGruber: Epstein Files": 7/10

Well, this was unexpected! As far as I know at least, Powell and SNL great Will Forte have no career overlap, so a cameo by the latter was not something I ever would have seen coming. Pretty ingenious way to tie in the Epstein File news stories, though this one did have more diminishing returns on the humor than most of the MacGrubers of years past had.

“Weekend Update": 7/10

I couldn't get over how short this Update was. Seriously, I think I remarked on it about 5 times throughout the rest of the episode to my friends I was watching it. It's the shortest one I can ever remember!!! I'm shocked to even see it was 6 whole minutes, it genuinely felt like half that. Anyhow, even if it went by in a flash and featured zero walk-ons (making it two straight weeks with no Update appearance by anyone on the current cast), it was a good one. Jost and Che had some of their sharpest material they've had thus far in a more inconsistent season than usual for them.

"AI Photos": 6.5/10

It was hard to sustain the humor in this one once the central joke was made clear, but it was goofy and fun. Plus, I appreciate any criticism (however funny) of the use of AI, especially as it pertains to images of the deceased.

"Norweigan Movie": 6/10

Real ones know this was just a thinly-veiled parody of 2023's Anatomy of a Fall, one of the best movies of the decade. (And fittingly, it felt like Powell and Chloe Fineman were slipping into cartoonish German accents as much as Scandinavian ones.) Anyways, while I loved the energy from all involved, there's only so far a sketch can go on the joke "what if the European actors in those serious European movies...weren't actually all that serious?!?!?!?!?!?" A fun one, but not particularly funny.

“Monologue": 6/10

Part of my excitement for Powell hosting was that he seemed like the kind of guy who would be so geeked to be hosting SNL, and sure enough, a good bit of his monologue was spent confirming that very fact. Perhaps that's why he seemed surprisingly nervous? I definitely thought the charisma machine would walk on stage and crush, but instead it was a bit of a disjointed intro with a decent helping of nervous energy from the first-timer. This one at least ended on a very sweet, full-circle moment, which was enough to make it worthwhile (and one of the better monologues in a season full of weak ones thus far).

The... Less-Good

“Bob Army": 5/10

At the start of the sketch, I was convinced it was going to be my favorite- I was already cracking up at the Bob Army's sassy march into the set. But then, I just...didn't laugh at any other point, save for James Austin Johnson's interpretation of machine gun fire. Maybe I'm the problem, because it's already taken the Internet by storm and I've been in, no lie, 3 different group chats in which it's already been sent. But I think that might be my problem with it; it was wild and they clearly had fun, but it feels like a sketch that was written to make online fans go "omg DYING at this, 'Bob Army' is soooooo-" It felt like it had elements of a timeless bit, but instead I was ready for it to be over long before it was.

“Epstein White House Briefing Cold Open": 5/10

This was mostly a nothingburger until Johnson showed up, classic. I’m not sure I’ll ever tire of JAJ’s Trump impression and rambling, and his “that’s a terrific thing to say out of nowhere!” was one of my favorite lines of the entire night, but at a certain point the writers do need to start crafting some sort of sketch around the brilliant impression.

“Haircut": 4/10

The second sketch of the night where the joke centered around someone’s haircut, and then didn’t really go anywhere else with it. At least  “Bob Army” was creative and energetic, though…this offered next to nothing after the initial reveal. Ashley Padilla did her damndest, at least making this watchable, but alas, stale writing let her down.

“Taken: Airport": 3.5/10

I appreciate that this at least didn't cast Glen Powell as himself in the obligatory "sketch about how hot the famously hot host is," but that's about the only points for originality I can give for this snoozer. Good "beta cuck soyboy" energy from Andrew Dismukes, but he's played that role many times over already, and that was about the only funny content in this one.

Musical Performances

Olivia Dean: 7/10

I talked last week about how the musical guests this season have made me feel old-- with the sole exception of Brandi Carlile, every one of them has been a Gen Z star, and on two occasions I had not heard a single song prior to their appearance on the show. Thus, I was deadset on not being caught out as an aging has-been for a third time! I listened to Olivia Dean's album for the first time a week ago, ahead of the show! Ha!!!

I had heard Olivia's name for a while now; she's gotten a good bit of online love, but many of my more musically-inclined friends here in D.C. also are big fans of hers. Prior to my listen of The Art of Loving, though, I had only ever heard her on in the background and thought "Hm, nice sound." Having now listened to a full album, I can confidently say, my friends were right! She is a bright young talent, an amazing vocalist, and that album is full of bops. And I think she did herself proud on the often unforgiving SNL stage! Her first performance, of omnipresent single "Man I Need" was a little more restrained than I thought she would play it, for such a bubbly song, but given that it was her first time performing for one of the most famous live TV audiences, she composed herself well. My friends-- who had never heard of her -- both remarked on how impressive the live sound was. It was in her second performance that she really shone, though; with the slower "Let Alone The One You Love," Dean showed she can tap into an Adele-esque rich, emotive tenor. A no-frills, very good set from the young up-and-comer.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.00 ('Comedy Only' score: 5.91)

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Heading into Thanksgiving Break, here’s where the episodes stand-- 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.:

1. Miles Teller/Brandi Carlile - 7.05

2. Sabrina Carpenter - 6.58

3. Nikki Glaser/sombr - 6.50

4. Amy Poehler/Role Model - 6.25

5. Glen Powell/Olivia Dean - 6.00

6. Bad Bunny/Doja Cat - 5.91