SNL Scorecard: Mikey Madison / Morgan Wallen

It speaks volumes that I, an avid fan of the show, kind of didn't even realize that Saturday Night Live was returning from their 3-week break last weekend. I got home from a late night with friends and was mindlessly scrolling Twitter when I saw commentary from the night's show, and it reminded me I had an episode to watch! Between everything going on in the world, the attention paid to SNL's 50th anniversary celebration specifically, and frankly, the up-and-down nature of this season, it's become sort of easy to forget that there are new episodes going on still.

The next couple episodes have some big, headline-grabbing names at both host and musical guest, but this one generated more "huh?" reactions than just about anything else. Mikey Madison was an exciting and not all unsurprising choice for host, still fresh off her Best Actress win at this year's Oscars. But, while Best Picture winner Anora has plenty of funny moments, Madison herself has staked out a reputation in her early career as a serious dramatic actress, and also a generally shy and reclusive personality with no social media presence. And that's to say nothing of the strange pairing of a musical guest who could not be less 'Hollywood': Tennessee-born country star Morgan Wallen, whose claim to fame outside of Country circles is a series of legal problems, and social miscues, such as being pictured disregarding COVID regulations immediately before his planned SNL appearance 5 years ago, and being caught on camera using the N-slur. It came as no surprise that this booking decision by Lorne Michaels was a very unpopular one, at least online.

All this context to say: I went into the episode excited the show was back, but with fairly low expectations for the show itself. And sure enough, it came in pretty much right where I figured it would: not bad, but not great, and true to Season 50 itself, very inconsistent on the whole. The musical guest and host both neither crashed and burned nor really impressed, and the latter had a bizarrely small influence on the show. I can't think of the last time I've seen a host so sparingly written into the episode; even Martin Short's and Dave Chappelle's episodes, which had entire sketches without the host, still had plenty where the host took and commanded center stage. I don't know if this was a case of the writers just having no idea how to write comedically for Madison, or of the actress herself really not being a comedic force that was going to work with the show at all. At any rate, it lent to the show's strange vibe all night, as did Morgan Wallen's much buzzed-about abrupt exit from the stage during the goodnights.

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 15th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Big Dumb Line": 8/10

Sometimes I get a little annoyed about the sketches that feel too ‘inside New York,’ but this is such a believable and understandably infuriating quirk about living in the city that I get why it has viral potential. Despite being pre-taped, this had more energy than pretty much all the live sketches, and was an example of the host blending in with the cast perfectly. Joe Jonas was a strange cameo, but hey, he’s got pipes, at least.

The Good

“Planning New York": 7.5/10

I’m really liking the addition of the animated shorts into this season of the show; it’s an unexpected twist, and one that reinfects some zany energy into a program that can often feel like it’s gone stale. This was another one ‘for the New Yorkers,’ but not all that hard to follow and appreciate. Really good, fun stuff here. 

“Weekend Update": 7.5/10

Che and Jost had occasional clunkers, but most of their stuff was really good in this segment, especially the jokes at the expense of the administration. It was nice to see the underutilized Devon Walker get some time, but most of his appearance was a pretty forgettable take on the viral video making the rounds on Twitter last week. The real star of this Update was Ashley Padilla, who made her debut solo appearance on the segment, and was hilarious as the titular JoAnn from JoAnn’s Fabrics.

“Jury Duty": 7.5/10

I’m always a fan of sketches that use a ton of different cast members. Not all of these worked, but those that did really worked. James Austin Johnson had me laughing out loud, and I need more Quinth in my life!

"Acting Teacher 2": 7/10

Marcello Hernandez’s debut of this character was one of my favorite sketches from the solid Charli XCX episode, but I’m a little surprised they brought it back so soon and that it was the first post-monologue sketch. It certainly worked better as a late-in-the-episode bit, I think, and Mikey Madison wasn’t as memorable as his ‘star student,’ but Marcello himself brought enough unhinged hilarity to still make this edition enjoyable.

"So Like... What Are We?": 6.5/10

I don’t know why the audience didn’t seem to be enjoying this, but it affected the energy of this sketch, which I was thoroughly enjoying. This, weirdly enough, was the only sketch all night that actually featured the host, and no surprise, she was great as the desperate but understandably aggrieved girl. Also, between this and the “Planning New York,” some nice late airtime for the underutilized Michael Longfellow!

“Group Chat Cold Open": 6/10

Well, you knew it was coming. “Groupchatgate” was THE political story of the week, and honestly, perhaps of the Trump 2.0 administration thus far. And the good news is the nature of the scandal set up nicely for a more original and enjoyable sketch format—one that even utilized the host! —than most, frankly, tiresome political cold opens. Still, everyone knew where this was headed and once we got the big reveal, it ran out of momentum.

The... Less-Good

“Spring Break": 5.5/10

I’m kinda bummed they’ve twice tried to recreate such a near-perfect sketch two different times now. The last iteration, taking place amidst the New York Subway, at least was again hilariously effective at playing on a known aspect of the populace of a certain place. “Spring break in Fort Lauderdale” felt a little too general of a concept this time, and laughs were much fewer and further between.

“Barry The Midwife": 5.5/10

This definitely is a fun “later in the night” bit in theory, but Bowen Yang’s trotted out this character twice now, and it hasn’t been a real hit either time. It’s zany and fun, but feels like it has the pieces to be a lot funnier, and they just haven’t connected yet.

“Please Don't Destroy - Mikey Madison Is Squidward": 5/10

I hate to even say it, but… are PDD running out of ideas? It’s no secret we’ve seen them a lot less this season, and now in their first show contribution in a while, they trot out basically a retread of the much funnier Bad Bunny Shrek video. The believable HBO dramedy promo was clever, and I still loved little moments from this one— like John’s little self-congratulatory fist-pump after telling Mikey he would never comment on her body —but this lacked a lot of the magic of the trio’s hilarious interpersonal dynamics. 

“Monologue": 5/10

You would think being a professional actor— let alone an award-winning actor, as Mikey Madison now is —would naturally be prepared for this monologue format, but some of the most uncomfortable and nervous monologues I have seen over the years have come from actors, especially in their first time hosting, so I was curious to see how Madison fared. She did fine, as it turns out; a little bit nervous, perhaps, but honestly (on the surface at least) considerably less than I thought the notoriously reserved starlet would be. The main problem here was just that the writing wasn’t any good, and while the host was perfectly pleasant and even charming, this reeked of the writers realizing at 10:30 PM that they hadn’t finished the monologue.

“Pop's Big Regret": 4.5/10

I appreciate the silliness and anti-humor of this one, and will never complain about Andrew Dismukes and JAJ getting into their weird bag, but this one just never really picked up any steam.

Musical Performances

Morgan Wallen: 5.5/10

I'm not nearly the Country hater I used to be-- and in fact have even come to like a decent bit of Country music -- but it would be accurate to say I don’t follow the country music scene much at all. I do know enough to know Morgan Wallen is pretty much the biggest rising star in the genre now, at least under the 'mainstream country' banner, but I couldn't name a single one of his songs, and the only other things I know about him is his checkered past. Some of that past is what got him bumped from SNL in what was scheduled to be his first appearance in 2020, and all of it made him a controversial pick this time around.

But when the cameras rolled and the lights came on, he had a chance to shut up the haters with his performances! Did he? Eh. I don't know.

His first song, “I’m The Problem,” had a good sound, to be honest. I'm not a huge fan of his voice, and he was a bit pitchy in parts, but I recognize that’s maybe just nitpicky as someone who isn't a big fan of this style. The track had a good melody, and he and his band sounded pretty good on the often unforgiving soundstage. His second performance, of “Just In Case,” was a little more of a dreary affair, the kind of mundane slog you’d hear more commonly on mainstream radio. It wasn’t downright unpleasant, but not memorable in any way, and his voice felt a little more shaky. And that's a decent summation of his much-discussed SNL appearance, honestly: all in all, a perfectly serviceable but not at all memorable outing from the divisive country star.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.27 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.29)