11/1/25: Miles Teller | Brandi Carlile

 

NYC Mayoral Debate

• Nice to see Miles in the cold open, that makes this the 3rd cold open in the row in this season with the host appearing. I like Miles’ Cuomo impression.

• Nice to see Ramy Yousseff make a cameo, and he’s decent as Zohran Mamdani.

• Shane Gillis’ Sliwa impression is very fun, and the voice is uncanny.

• Shane as Sliwa: In 1982 I had my penis cut off by the Yakuza.

• I’m not caring for the fake sponsors, they feel pretty unnecessary.

• Ha, Kam randomly appearing as Eric Adams is really funny, and it’s shockingly fitting casting.

• Eh, I normally love JAJ’s Trump impression but he was NOT necessary here. I don’t understand SNL’s fear of having a cold open that’s a normal length.

• I did like the Night of the Opera turn, which was executed PERFECTLY by JAJ.

• Overall, in terms of pure satire, this wasn’t anything special. But the energy and performances were all at a 10, so this worked for me.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• Nice to see Miles mentioning his love of SNL as a child once again.

• Miles’ Roxbury Guy impression was great.

• Typical Charmologue, and Miles is making it work.

• Wow, hearing the news about Miles’ home is pretty upsetting. It also explains the somewhat muted energy he has. He still did well here, and I hope for the best for him.

• Very short, but it worked for what it was.

Rating: ***

What Did I Do Last Night?

• Blah at Kenan’s host name being “Gay Fopay”. Keep the “funny game show host names” in the McKinnon era please! Also interesting coincidence, both of Miles Teller’s episodes had a game show sketch as the lead-off.

• Nice to see Kenan in a central role right out the gate, especially considering how unnecessary he’s felt so far this season.

• Nice to see Veronika and Ben in the lead-off sketch.

• Funny reveal that the winning prize is a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese and Pedialyte.

• This is a pretty derivative concept, but I’m enjoying it so far.

• Kam’s walk-on playing a saxophone was decent. I wonder if that’s Lenny Pickett’s sax?

• I like the security camera footage of drunk Ben at an ATM, it’s a nice change of pace from the usual game show sketches. Veronika walking on and biting Ben was a nice reveal.

Rating: ***

Property Brothers

• Miles playing BOTH Property Brothers is honestly HILARIOUS.

• I love the concept of this pretape, with the Property Brothers building the White House Ballroom. I also love that JAJ’s Trump impression is doing something new.

• Trump’s yelling of “WE NEED MORE SPACE!” is oddly memorable.

• Trump wanting a ring at the White House for MMA fights is hilarious.

• Miles is fantastic here with his understated frustration as one of the Property Brothers.

• Trump getting ICE on the Property Brothers because their Canadian is really funny.

• I didn’t say much about this but I LOVED it.

Rating: ****

NHL Promo Shoot

• The joke here is pretty obvious, but I’m enjoying this so far. I’m also really liking Dismukes and Ashley’s performances as the directors.

• Miles: As a National Predator, I work in hospitals to make sick kids feel touched.

Great escalation like this helps this sketch from feeling lame, and predictable.

• Great reveal that Dismukes and Ashley are the writers of the commercial, after saying they would go get the writers.

• The line from the kid extra was hilarious. “This is the predator that forever altered the course of my life!”

• Overall, for a sketch that would seem one-note on paper, this was really good.

Rating: ***½

Gone Without A Trace

• Great reveal that the wives weren’t missing, and they just weren’t missing.

• Miles saying his wife’s birthday is in the summer in the security footage is hilarious.

• Kenan running from his kids was very funny.

• There’s not much to say about this, considering the concept is very simple, but it was executed VERY well.

Rating: ***½

Newspoint

• I like the concept of this sketch, with a news channel with the staff being visible in the background.

• Mikey running into the wall is really funny.

• Miles: If you're gonna report me to HR, SAY IT TO MY FACE NEXT TIME.

• OMG at Miles looking at an inappropriate drawing on his desktop.

• Kam doing gang signs in the back is really funny, and another great utilization of him in this episode.

• I’m loving the escalation in the chaos in the background. Bowen getting electrocuted by the printer is hilarious.

Rating: ***½

Weekend Update

• I’m not really caring for Colin’s opening ramble about Halloween at the White House. It feels like a section from a diet-late night talk show monologue.

• Uh, yeah, NO laugh from me when Che said he’s glad no one listens to women.

• I did get a laugh from Che calling Curtis Sliwa the “only white panther”. He did lose me ONCE again with him mimicking the “6 7” hand movements with “9-11”.

• Why are we getting a George Santos update commentary 2 years late? This further proves that Bowen has NOTHING new to bring to the show.

• Colin’s joke about NBC News’ new slogan was pretty good.

• Nice to see Dismukes and Ashley paired up again, they’ve been becoming a great duo this season.

• I’m LOVING the tension between Dismukes and Ashley, they are both great here.

• I love the analogy they are using, by calling themselves Democrats and Republicans.

• Ashley: The Republican’s government hasn’t been opened in a LONG time.

• Ashley: Republicans might even say… smaller sounds great.

• GREAT reveal that Dismukes and Ashley hooked up in Colin’s dressing room.

• I absolutely LOVE the realistic conversation Dismukes and Ashley are doing right now, performances like this are the reasons I LOVE both of these performers, and why I think they are the MVPs on the show right now.

• I love the turn this takes with Dismukes not wanting to get together with Ashley. Ashley’s taken aback reaction to this is GREAT.

• Ashley: Then why did Democrats say “I love you” during door??

• Wow, this was FANTASTIC. Easily my favorite Update commentary in a LONG time.

Rating: *** (It was bumped up half a star by the Dismukes and Ashley commentary)

Murder Press Briefing

• I like Miles’ performance as a New York police officer.

• I like Dismukes’ description of his DC comic pitch called “Gar-Girl”.

• I LOVE how the reporters are asking questions about Dismukes’ DC comic.

• Ashley yelling at JAJ is HILARIOUS.

• Ha, I LOVE Ben’s walk-on as the murderer to ask Dismukes a question.

• I really loved the escalation of this, and now everyone is involved.

Rating: ***½

Italian Restaurant

• Wow, this is JUST now Marcello’s first appearance in the episode, and it’s the last sketch of the night.

• I love Miles’ voice as an Italian waiter.

• I like Marcello and Miles’ puns, but Marcello is going a bit too broad here, it’s making an unintentional contrast between Miles and Marcello, even though they are supposed to act the same.

• Marcello and Miles throwing salad at Mikey is pretty funny.

• Kenan’s walk-on as the chef is really funny.

• This sketch gets cut off, because the show was running long, but it was decent for what it was.

Rating: ***

Thoughts

A consistently good episode. Despite only one segment standing out as strong (not counting the fantastic Ashley and Dismukes Update commentary), there were still a lot of fairly solid highlights throughout, and we got a nice streak of solid material from the Property Brothers pre-tape to the Newspoint sketch. I also appreciated the premise-driven sketches that took up the majority of this episode. It was also nice to see a lot of the featured players get solid airtime in this episode.Miles Teller was a solid host despite not carrying the show, and I enjoyed a lot of his characterizations. Overall, a lot to really like here.

Segments ranked Best to Worst

Property Brothers

Murder Press Briefing

Newspoint

Gone Without A Trace

NHL Promo Shoot

What Did I Do Last Night?

Monologue

NYC Mayoral Debate

Weekend Update

Italian Restaurant

6.6/10