SNL Scorecard: Ramy Youssef / Travis Scott

This weekend, after a two week Spring Break, class was back in session for Saturday Night Live! After a brief interlude from a returning host in Josh Brolin, the show went back to a first-time host, which has been a heavy trend in recent years, with comedian Ramy Youssef.

Youssef is far from a household name but has quietly, steadily, made a very impressive name for himself in the comedy world. At the ripe old age of 33, he already has: plied his trade on the standup circuit for a decade, created and starred in an acclaimed TV show Ramy that has yielded 3 seasons and multiple Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for the star, created another show Mo that has been picked up by Netflix, and in the last year, got his first major motion picture role, as Max McCandles in Poor Things (which went on to be the 2nd-most awarded film on Oscar night). Not bad!

Perhaps it stands to reason, then, that the first-time host-- unlike so many before, including the last couple in Sydney Sweeney and fellow comedian Shane Gillis --showed no nerves or evidence of being daunted by the moment. But it still felt abnormal to see a debutante, and a relatively young one at that, was in complete control throughout the night. It also felt abnormal to see SNL return from a break with a very strong episode; that's a dynamic that has rarely been true at all in the last few seasons. Youssef deserves credit for both. The host came out and calmly delivered an incredible monologue-- more on that shortly --and seemed game for any role, however silly, the writers threw at him. The cast, as well as musical guest Travis Scott, clearly fed off the energy and upped their game as well, and the result? An episode that, sure, trailed off a little in the latter half but started from an incredibly high place and successfully culminated in one of the best installments of Season 49.

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 13th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Please Don't Destroy - We Got Too High": 8/10

The Please Don’t Destroy trio probably owe at least a little bit of their success to The Lonely Island, but in truth, it’s rare that their humor reminds me of Andy Samberg’s trio. This song, though, definitely felt like a throwback to the SNL bits I loved growing up. Travis Scott played his role, both as the bona fide musician and the straight man to the others’ characters, very well, and the host and the three ‘Destroy boys’ were cracking me up with each line.

The Good

“Monologue": 10/10

Before even watching the show, I had heard about Ramy Youssef’s profound end to his monologue, wherein he prayed in no uncertain terms for an end to the war in Gaza and for freedom for the hostages and for Palestine. And it was a very poignant moment that deserved its buzz. But do not skip or overlook the rest of the monologue for that alone, because this was an absolute masterclass. So good that I almost have trouble putting a rating on it. The prayer— cleverly ensconced in the frame of a joke —was really the culmination of the theme that ran through Youssef’s monologue, of making a very serious point about his religion and experience in America while peppering it heavily with genuinely hilarious jokes. Punchlines, timing, crowd work, control onstage, and impactful content…this was an all-time great.

“Weekend Update": 8/10

Another great outing from Colin Jost and Michael Che, other than the latter’s bogus women’s basketball joke. It’s been an excellent season for the Update tandem, and this did nothing to deter that trend. As good as it was to see both Chloe Fineman and Sarah Sherman back on Update, though, both appearances were fun but not nearly their most memorable.

“Couple Goals": 7.5/10

This one just lost it a little bit at the very end, but still a great sketch. I loved that it utilized both couples as the source of comedy, rather than just having the usual “one straight-edge, one unhinged” dynamic.

"Easter Cold Open": 7.5/10

The ongoing problem, as it pertains to comedy, with Trump is that the man is already such a ridiculous caricature while also being a real threat, that few know how to make his real-life self funny. James Austin Johnson has perfected that very art, by basically embodying the man’s personality and riffing on the real-life absurdities Trump provides, like this actual, real “God Bless the USA” Bible. As a sketch, this wasn’t quite as novel or funny as the Trump Easter sketch last year, but still a great way to start the show. 

"Ozempic For Ramadan": 7/10

Pretty one-note joke, but it was wickedly clever. 

“Team Captain": 6.5/10

I say this fairly often, but this really felt like a 10-to-1 sketch that may have hit harder at the end of the night in the slap-happy hours. What a wildly original idea for a sketch (or at least for the main joke behind a sketch), though, and Kenan— and Devon —killed me throughout.

“Immigrant Dad Talk Show": 6/10

This sketch bucked two trends: one, it actually got funnier the longer it went on. And two, Mikey Day was a necessary and perfect casting. I greatly enjoyed the premise for this sketch, but it just never really went anywhere beyond “immigrant dads don’t like their sons,” and that wasn’t sustainable for punchlines until Mikey’s dweeby white dad who actually loves his son (uh… a lot) came to be their foil. 

"Murder Detective": 5.5/10

This was so dumb, but fortunately for Andrew Dismukes, who sold the hell out of this sketch, it was the exact kind of dumb that cracks me up. Objectively it rates on the lower end, but subjectively, I’m embarrassed to admit how hard I laughed, especially at the very end. 

“Tiny Desk Concert": 5/10

This had plenty of funny moments— Bowen Yang’s podcast voice is great —but it felt like it couldn’t really figure out who or what to make the joke. Bowen’s “Elliott” character was the most likely contender, but even that didn’t feel like enough to hinge a sketch on.

Musical Performances

Travis Scott (feat. Playboi Carti): 8/10

Travis Scott’s last-- and only previous --appearance on this show was an epic one. The musical guest in an otherwise forgettable 2018 episode with Awkwafina hosting, his sensational performances of a "Skeletons"/"Astrothunder" medley and especially of "SICKO MODE" was part of what clued me in to how good his album ASTROWORLD was, which in turn led me to become a fan of his work in general.

His dystopian, experimental 2023 release UTOPIA was more divisive and less critically acclaimed than its predecessor, but it grew on me with repeated listens. Between the less memorable tracklist to choose from, and the insanely high bar he set on his debut appearance, it was always going to be hard to match that energy in his second go-round. But damn if he didn't do his best.

His first performance, of the abnormally contemplative “My Eyes,” was an electric one, that, like the song itself, kicked up several notches in the 2nd half after the beat-switch. His flow was unshakeable, and the shifting set design accentuated the exact mood he intended to set with each half of the track. As soon as I heard the opening chords of his hit single “FEIN” in the second performance, I was skeptical of how the arena-ready banger would translate to the claustrophobic setting of SNL. I shouldn’t have doubted Travis, who was once again in good voice; his choice of set design, lights, and camera tricks made it electric. Playboi Carti’s cameo, on the other hand, was laughably chaotic, but of course it was! What else would you expect from him! Even if this style isn’t for you, you have to respect the performance, and it just so happens this style is for me.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.18 ('Comedy Only' score: 7.10)