SNL Scorecard: Josh O'Connor / Lily Allen

One week before SNL's Christmas episode features a pop star supernova, the penultimate show of 2025 was a British invasion. First-time host Josh O'Connor and musical guest Lily Allen not only shared the experience of well, being British, but also main characters of Internet buzz. Lily Allen's West End Girl was one of the most-discussed album releases of the latter half of 2025, while O'Connor has been accruing increasing amount of love from all corners of the Internet for his natural humble charm and his star turns in multiple beloved releases, most recently Wake Up Dead Man. That fact, plus the added proximity to holiday season, seemed to set the stage for a high-energy, memorable episode...which makes the general flatness of both the episode itself and the studio audience all the more confounding.

It's certainly nothing new for the show to feature a celebrity who's having a "moment," nor the latest 'Internet boyfriend,' but this episode felt weirdly not catered to the host. On the plus side, that meant no painfully on-the-nose referential humor, nor sketches that were boiled down simply to "isn't the host HOT??? Am I RIGHT, GUYS?!?" Unfortunately, it also meant that a talented and seemingly game first-time host seemed to hardly factor in the episode as well, which is a shame because he was consistently good, and the episode could have used a jolt of energy. It was a night free of anything notably bad, but also free of anything notably good; plenty of fun and enjoyable moments, but sans any real highlights.

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

"Lily Allen Brunch": 7.5/10

It's a simple bit, and sketches that rely on host or musical guest-based referential humor can be hit or miss, but the last one of the night finally brought us a tidy, fun and funny start-to-finish sketch. Clever writing, a fun idea that both host and musical guest get to star in, and some great wacky energy from Kenan and Jane Wickline in particular.

The Good

“Let's Find Love": 7/10

This was weird...it was funny, and certainly one of the strongest on the night, but it felt like it should have been an all-timer, and instead it was just good. Perhaps it's fatigue over the already-overused "game show sketch straight ouf the monologue." But I actually think what prevented it from being terrific was that while Ashley Padilla sold her character very well, it did feel like the writing was a little minimal in hopes that she could just carry it solo, like Kate McKinnon or Kristen Wiig would. Or, as my sister I was watching with pointed out, last week’s host Melissa McCarthy would have. The problem is all those other women bona fide stars, and while I think Padilla has that potential to be one too, she’s not beloved by the audience to that level yet, which takes away the instant buy-in you need from them.

“Uber Eats Wrapped": 7/10

I've seen a variation of this joke on Twitter and TikTok the last 3 years or so, but eh, what the hell. Still funny, and Padilla's interaction with James Austin Johnson was one of my biggest laughs on the night.

“Bachelorette Party Strippers": 7/10

I respect that every cast member, male or female, wanted a chance to kiss Josh O'Connor! This was very silly and very fun; even if it didn't really progress past the initial premise, there were enough great visual gags and punchlines to make this enjoyable to the end.

"Characters on Characters": 6.5/10

The main joke didn’t go much of anywhere, and again, way too little airtime for Josh. But a very clever idea and a pretty spot-on parody of how these “actors on actors” sessions go.

"Trump Air Force One Press Conference Cold Open": 6.5/10

For the most part, we've come all the way back around to the same lazy writing that plagued SNL cold opens from 2017-2020, sketches that mostly give the impression that the staff have no idea how to make the horrifying reality funny (or any less crazy), so they'll just let 'Trump' get on stage and make people laugh. The difference is-- and perhaps the unfortunate thing, for the sake of creativity --is that unlike Alec Baldwin, James Austin Johnson's Trump is always hilarious. So much so that it almost makes it worth it every time.

"Brad and His Dad: Christmas": 6.5/10

I really love that SNL is doing these! I've said that with almost every animated sketch the last two seasons, but I'll keep saying it until I no longer love it. There wasn't as much in this one comedically as there was in the first "Brad and his Dad" a couple episodes back, but it was still sweet, and I just enjoy the change of pace these provide.

“Monolgue": 6/10

It won't win any awards, but this was just a nice, short (very short, actually), sweet monologue, from a man who seems effortlessly charming and likable. The secret has been out on Josh O'Connor's marvelous acting abilities for some time now, but it's still impressive to me how unfazed he seemed by the oft-intimidating monologue format in his first-ever hosting stint.

The... Less-Good

“Teaching Hospital": 5.5/10

I really appreciate how much Bowen Yang is continuing to double down on this character, whose sketches haven't totally worked any of the multiple times he's trotted it out. But I also really can’t believe how early in the show this aired. This has ’10-to-1’ energy all over it, yet it aired before even the first musical performance, in an episode that hadn’t really gotten off the ground…it was a tough sell for the audience, which affected the level of fun in the sketch itself.

“College Class": 5/10

I hate to put not one, but two 'Bowen Chaos' sketches in the less-good category, but neither really had anything to offer apart from always-enjoyable Bowen Chaos. Ashley Padilla matched his level at least, but the writing here was pretty lackluster. Ben Marshall's delivery of "That's awesome, man" was comedic timing perfection, though. That got a hearty laugh out of me.

“Weekend Update": 5/10

As mentioned above, I was watching this episode with my sister, who happens to be a longtime hater of this Weekend Update "Jost and Che" pairing. She also doesn't watch every episode, though, and knowing how largely consistent (in my eyes) they've been in recent years, I was very excited for them to prove her wrong! ...and then they proceeded to lay the biggest egg they've laid all season. To be fair, it didn’t help that the crowd just was not going for anything, but still, most of these jokes were very flat. The walk-on guests helped a little bit: Marcello’s bit was mildly funny (the voicemail from Lorne Michaels was hilarious), and the return of Jane Wickline and her off-kilter atonal songs about something wacky was delightful. But overall, still the most forgettable Update in a long time.

“Wizard of Oz Deleted Footage": 4.5/10

I suppose I can see the humor in having a celebrity who's adored for being a perceived sweet, sensitive soul play a character that reveals his true desire is to have a massive penis, which he refers to as a "Wembanyama." But that's about as much credit as I'll give this sketch. The only truly funny part was the sudden (unexpected) cut at the end to Bowen live onstage without the CGI background.

Musical Performances

Lily Allen: 5.5/10

For many, Lily Allen's performances were probably the most-anticipated part of this show. She'd been out of the public eye for a considerable amount of time (case in point: her only other appearance on this show was nearly 20 years ago, in 2007). but still has an avid fanbase and made a huge splash with this latest album. Both songs she performed, "Sleepwalking" and "Madeline" were quite good; I think she's a good songwriter, and I love her voice. I just...wish she sounded better live. The vocal performances were far from great, but what WAS great was the set design on each one! That alone-- plus a fun cameo in the second performance -- made her entire mini-set worth watching.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.15 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.21)