SNL Scorecard: Teyana Taylor / Geese

As the context around us gets more and more serious, sobering, and frightening, it simultaneously increases the premium on the joy comedy can bring and makes it so much harder to find joy in comedy. That is the challenge Saturday Night Live probably never asked for these days, and nevertheless faces, thanks to its status as a national cultural institution and the times we live in. In a week that felt particularly heavy, a weary nation likely tuned in last Saturday night hoping for some sort of emotional catharsis.

In that vein, it's likely they were disappointed; it's not that this program isn't the program to expect that from, but rather that this isn't the era to expect it from. There's no mistaking the slant of everyone involved with SNL, but ever since giving then-candidate Trump the platform to host the show in late 2015, Lorne Michaels has proven fairly unwilling to let the show get too pointed in its attacks, and part of the rise of fascism in this country is corporate kowtowing to the administration. But even putting all of that to the side, this is also a show in a bit of a transition year, with a large number of fairly green cast members and writers, and veteran lead writers whose forte has never been biting satire.

This is a looooong preamble about just about everything BUT the episode, but it's coming as a result of seeing this particular show picked apart on social media this weekend, which I've come to realize is less about the episode itself and more about what people wanted from it. That's not a criticism, for what it's worth; I, too, have felt it all this last week and would have loved for it to be at least one of a riotous, hilarious hour and a half of distraction or a cutting, razor-sharp, heartfelt commentary on the state of our country. I just also was not surprised (and thus not severely disappointed) by what we got instead, which was a mostly fairly weak episode with some noteworthy highlights, including a second consecutive extremely buzzy musical guest.

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 11th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"Toy Commercial": 8/10

Yeah, this one was made for me. A hilarious pre-taped bit, with a genuine "laugh out loud" twist that subverts your expectations at the start, and all about my favorite film of the year! My only problem with it is that I'm so paranoid about spoilers, and I loved this movie so much (and personally know a not-insignificant number of people that are still yet to see it), that I spent the entire sketch anxious that major plot points would be revealed.

The Good

“Weekend Update": 8/10

After a rocky finish to 2025, the Weekend Update anchors have kicked 2026 off in fine form. Their political jokes still could have gone harder, to be sure, but many seemed to have more of an edge than usual. Michael Che in particular was on fire, though; his back-to-back Taylor Swift and Chinese shoe punchlines were a highlight. Marcello Hernández's latest walk-on appearance was just okay; I felt like I was cringing as often as I was laughing, but I did at least appreciate him acknowledging that Gen Z slang is just misappropriated AAVE. And the highlight was a first Update appearance of the season for newbie Jeremy Culhane... it was good! I appreciated the anti-humor but will admit I was hoping there would be a turn at some point, and boy did we get one near the end, to great effect.

“Confidence Class": 7.5/10

God, I really hate that this one had some timing errors and a couple jumbled lines, because there was so much energy here that I liked. It felt like this captured Gen Z snark humor much better than the show tends to, and I loved Ashley Padilla’s performance, per usual. When she gave up defeated and began wordlessly scrolling through the Power Point, I had a coughing fit I was laughing so hard.

“Trunp Awards Cold Open": 7.5/10

Starting off with a Trump sketch was always going to be hard given just how horrible last week and even that Saturday, was, and it was obvious from the start that the crowd felt the same way. They took a minute or two to warm up to it, and as I alluded to in my introduction, many online are still understandably upset with this sketch, more for what it didn’t say than for what it did say. But in my opinion, given the production involved with this one, this cold open was probably written well before the murder of Alex Preti and too involved to scrap. And what’s more, I actually thought it was a really well-written sketch, another one that you can file under the drawer for ‘actual original Trump parody ideas!’ Both the writing and JAJ’s impression felt to come from more of a place of pure hatred than they usually do, which I’ll be honest, I appreciated. Unfortunately, the sketch’s only big misstep was borne out of this very hatred: the unwelcome (and unnecessary) return of Mike Myers’ Elon Musk, which is neither a good nor particularly funny impression, even if Myers’ low opinion of that cretin is deliciously evident.

"Blowing It": 7/10

More great Martin Herlihy content! This didn’t have as funny a central conceit as his last one, and had an abnormally weak-written ending, in my opinion. But still, this was an extremely fun one to end the episode on, and was more witty than about 75% of what makes the show these days.

"NFL on ESPN": 7/10

This is a good bit, and James Austin Johnson is just so phenomenal at playing a commentator (and selling the phony banter). As someone who is fully in the “Drake Maye for President” camp, though, I felt like they leaned on the ‘Broncos are doomed’ tagline a little too hard; I know you New Yorkers were trying to jinx New England. You’re not slick. Good thing it didn’t work, suckas!!!!

"Gate Agents": 6/10

This was an odd choice for first sketch out of the gate. It felt like an excuse to get Teyana showing off her singing early on and also kind of touch on timely news, but at its heart it was a wacky sketch that needed the help of more crowd energy than a “first sketch out” can generate by itself. That said, plenty more good than bad here.

The... Less-Good

“Backstab Mountain": 5/10

This was the latest entry in an increasingly common subgenre of sketches that can basically be boiled down to “Twitter jokes that the writers try to make into a whole sketch.” The concept of ‘I’d be bad on a reality show because I genuinely want to make friends’ is mildly humorous, and Teyana sold it well. But there’s only so much mileage you can get out of that. I did love Jane Wickline being the recipient of multiple thrown drinks, though, so there’s that.

“Beyond the Headlines": 4/10

This was funny at the start, and certainly made its point, but I found myself mostly annoyed by the end. I appreciated the points it was making, that none of what’s going on in the country is foreign to black Americans, it just didn’t feel like it had anything else to say about that apart from having Teyana and Kenan Thompson roll their eyes. It wasn't the most graceful move in an episode that already hadn’t really set aside space for the ICE murders. It was hampered by a weak finish, too.

“Monologue": 4/10

I didn't discuss the host much at all in my intro to this piece, so I'll say this here: I am a big fan of Teyana Taylor, but I thought she struggled in this episode. As I told my brother, I get the feeling she's a genuinely hilarious person to hang out with, but that just doesn't always translate to stage. The monologue was the first look at her as host, and it had clues that it may not be her most natural element. She mentioned early on that she’s shy, and I'm not sure if it was a joke or not, but you could certainly tell she was nervous in this format. She’s charming, and undeniably multitalented, but most of the monologue was her good-naturedly telling you how charming and multitalented (and successful) she is… not exactly the tone most successful monologues strike. Great little cameo from her daughters at the end though, at least! (Also, not really important, but I could tell from the lack of any significant reaction by the crowd to the photo she showed that not many in the audience have seen her movie, One Battle After Another.)

“Grandpa at the Wedding": 4/10

I appreciated how much fun Teyana Taylor seemed to be having, at least! And fun for her to get a chance to show off her serious dance moves. That said, this one was pretty dumb.

Musical Performances

Geese: 9/10

I was mildly skeptical of, but not immune to the Geese hype in 2025. As I stated while being so generous as to gift them a coveted Top 10 spot in The Couch's best albums of the year, I I listened to their latest album thrice and still don't fully know if I really like it, or kinda hate it? The band's range of styles and Cameron Winter's voice are such a unique listen that I think I'm mostly a fan but also think it's possible I could be deluding myself, Regardless, there's no doubt the breakout stars are some of the most original indie rock we've heard in a minute, and I had no clue what they would perform like live, as the only videos I’d seen of them were of some terrible covers they’ve done for radio shows.

They opened with my favorite song off of Getting Killed, though, which I did not expect at all! I thought they would lead off when one of their more recognizable or high-energy cuts, rather than "Au Pays du Cocaine." But wow did I love this performance. No frills, nothing crazy, but Winter’s vocals sounded terrific, and the energy pickup in the last stanza was electric. And that second performance, of “Trinidad"? At the risk of sounding like an insufferable indie white man, it genuinely felt like I was watching a moment in television history. For a young band in the midst of its big breakout to get their big national TV moment, and decide to use that moment to play their most intense and jarring song on the album whether than their most conventional singles... well, that's a statement. And they burned that place down; I was transfixed by the delight on drummer Max Bassin's face as he whaled away on those things.

(By the way, I recognize there’s a chance you’re reading this and you feel insane, like you’re totally missing something about these guys; you’re not insane. I get it. They’re bizarre and if it’s not for you, this performance probably wasn't for you, either. But man, consider me fully bought in.)

OVERALL SCORE: 6.42 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.18)