SNL Scorecard: Jacob Elordi / Reneé Rapp

2024 has barely sprung-- at least to me, I have trouble believing Christmas was almost a month ago --and yet Saturday Night Live is back on our television sets! If you're an SNL fan, this particular Saturday always hits like a nice little post-holiday-hangover serotonin boost. And if you're not an SNL fan, in the time it's taken to read this far, you've already scoffed twice, and thrice turned to anyone who will listen to tell them that the show hasn't been good since the 90s, so why are you still here?

Anyways, as excited as I was to have the show back, my expectations were somewhat measured for this particular episode. This had nothing to do with the people involved: Jacob Elordi and Reneé Rapp are two very exciting, very talented rising young stars, who are each commanding a CONSIDERABLE amount of buzz at the moment. I actually thought both host and musical guest selection was pretty inspired from the powers-that-be at 30 Rock, especially for a 'return to action.' Rather, my apprehension was borne out of being enough of a fan of the show to be aware of its distinct trends. One unfortunate trend is that very rarely is the first show of the season or the calendar year a very good one; Saturday Night Live is such a gargantuan undertaking every week that I'm sure after a month away, it takes a good amount of time for the cast, writers, and crew to rediscover their form. Another unfortunate trend is that when the show brings in a host who is a certifiable hottie, and is the object of copious online thirsting, a good number of sketches on the night will simply consist of extremely obvious references to this fact. Jacob Elordi, a gorgeous 6'5" specimen with a laid-back Australian accent, unequivocally fit this bill.

So, did the show buck the trend, or were my fears realized? Well...unfortunately, the latter. I've seen far worse episodes of SNL, and there were a couple sketches that I've already rewatched, so it's not time to launch all hopes and dreams for the future of the program into the sun. But it was a sloppy, mostly forgettable episode, which didn't find many ways to make use of its amiable host other than to devote significant periods of time to pointing out the obvious: how attractive he is.

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 9th episode of the season, and first of 2024:

Sketch of the Night

"Bowling Pins": 7.5/10

The somewhat stilted delivery and timing miscues from Elordi and his scene partner Heidi Gardner prevented this from reaching peak hilarity. But the increasingly absurd graphics killed me, and if you're #online enough to know the meme this sketch is referencing, it made it even more enjoyable.

The Good

“Weekend Update": 8/10

Weekend Update has been the most consistent feature of the show in the uneven last few years, but even that consistency was starting to slip somewhat down the stretch in 2023. Fortunately, Michael Che and Colin Jost got 2024 kicked off very well indeed, with the sharpest their jokes have been in a while. Che's crowdplay after a couple of his darker jokes didn't land was especially a highlights. And, big shoutout to the Update appearances from two under-utilized cast members in Punkie Johnson and Devon Walker, the latter of whom debuted a startlingly good Tim Scott impression.

“Alaska Airlines": 7.5/10

SNL has a history of teasing airlines for their mishaps, and this was another great entry. Low-hanging fruit? Sure. But they still did a good job picking the fruit.

"Club Shay Shay: Extended Cut": 7/10

This wasn’t an all-time classic or anything, but I almost want to give it an even higher score because I was so annoyed at how dead the audience was for this. Clearly they didn’t seem to get what it was referencing— and in fairness, if you’re not chronically online, it was pretty niche —but even if you didn’t get the reference, or know who Katt Williams or Shannon Sharpe was, this was at least mildly funny! And as someone who was fully in the know, I was loving how perfectly Ego Nwodim and Devon Walker captured the personalities of the two men.

"Garrett From Hinge: Wedding": 6.5/10

This wasn’t a character I expected to return, but I don't hate it. The character is definitely funny, though that's just the default assumption for anyone Bowen Yang plays, and it feels like there’s something there, but Bowen and the writers haven’t quite figured out how to write the character yet, which is why both appearances have only been mildly funny. Which isn't the worst place to be! I remember the first time I saw Bill Hader's Stefon and Kristen Wiig's Gilly, I was like "...what exactly is going on here?" And look where those characters ended in SNL lore!

“Entertainment Tonight Lip-Readers": 6/10

There was nothing particularly clever or original here, but it was nice silly fun at least, and fun to see Jacon Elordi in a role that wasn't just somebody's romantic interest. The Renée Rapp cameo was a good time, too, 

“Crown your Short King": 5.5/10

The punchline was obvious from the minute the sketch began, and none of the jokes themselves really subverted that. This was still fun overall, thanks mostly to the interplay between the bachelorette and the titular “short kings.”

The... Less-Good

"Trump Courthouse Cold Open": 5/10

I suppose it at least made sense to open with a Trump sketch this week, coming just days after his win in the Iowa caucus. But, good as James Austin Johnson’s Trump is, he couldn’t really salvage a cold open with relatively weak punchlines. It may be that the writers still don’t really know how to write Trump, and JAJ’s brilliance is solely down to when he’s able to riff, much like Donald himself does (as evidenced by the only two laugh out loud moments, when he shouted out “Darling Nikki - Purple Rain!!!,” and his soft, sad delivery of “What happened to Lacey Chabert?”).

“Monologue": 5/10

Jacob Elordi is clearly charming, but seemed a little daunted by the monologue format— he did mention at the outset that he didn’t love public speaking, to be fair. This was from from bad, but provided few laughs other than from the cast members themselves.

"Acting Class": 5/10

By this time in the show, this was the third sketch of the night that centered around JACOB HOT, so you’ll forgive me if I mostly found this tiresome. And as fun as it was to see Rachel MacAdams (we stan our Canadian queen here at The Couch), it almost seemed like she was thrown in last minute with how delayed her lines were. Fortunately, the last minute of this sketch was funny enough to take it from downright “beech” up to “Eh, alright.”

"Women's AA Meeting": 4/10

Did you guys know Jacob Elordi is tall and hot?!? Did you??? Punkie Johnson’s ahem, daring, part at the end (and especially Chloe FIneman’s reaction to her) at least cracked me up, but the rest of this sketch was dumb and unoriginal at best, and borderline offensive at worst.

Musical Performances

Reneé Rapp (feat. Megan Thee Stallion): 7/10

I learned about Reneé Rapp late last year, and even though she's still young, only just now on the cusp of her big breakout, I still felt like I was late to the party. It only took a listen through her album Snow Angel, which recently made my Top 10 albums list, and a quick trip through the highlights of her hilarious press junkets to be convinced that she is going to be a star.

The first performance, of her album's title track, did little to dissuade me of that notion. While she seemed to start a bit unsure, perhaps because of the rotating stage, she quickly grew in confidence, and ended up turning a legendary vocal performance. I shouldn't be surprised that someone who grew up in the theater and is the lead for the Mean Girls musical a. has pipes, and b. wasn't intimidated by the moment, but given how many experienced and acclaimed artists sound rough on the unforgiving soundstage, it felt like a star turn from Miss Rapp. The second performance, a number from the aforementioned Mean Girls production, was not quite as good. It's a silly song, really, one that didn't seem to fit the artist's style quite as well, and her vocals sounded fairly rough. Still, Megan Thee Stallion killed it in her surprise performance, as you would expect, and it was a lot of fun overall.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.17 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.09)