12/13/25: Josh O'Connor | Lily Allen

 I just wanna say sorry for the lack of reviews over the past month. I spent the Holidays with my family, but by the time that wrapped up, I got very busy with School. But I’m going to try and get back in the groove and catch up on my reviews.

Air Force One Press Conference

• Pretty funny moment with the close up to Ashley’s face, and her “aw-shucks” facial expressions.

• Weird cue card placements, with Chloe asking her questions facing COMPLETELY away from JAJ.

• JAJ creeping behind the curtain while the reporters ask their questions is pretty funny. It’s nice to see him still having fun with the Trump impression, despite having to play him for the majority of his tenure so far. 

• I didn’t care for the clip of Santa’s reindeer exploding. Jeremy’s horrified reaction was pretty funny though.

• I love JAJ Trump’s rant about the Warner Bros lot tour in Los Angeles.

• Nice to see a cold open with a decent length. This wrapped up right around 5 minutes.

Rating: ***½

Monologue

• Decent joke with Josh saying he isn’t the mouse from Flushed Away.

• I really like the concept, with Josh trying to make a live-action Ratitouille happen, with him in the main role.

• Oh, that’s it. Very short, but good for what it was, and Josh handled himself really well here.

Rating: ***

Let’s Find Love!

• Blah at the “funny” game show host name: Garth Vader. Keep this unnecessary trope out of this era please.

• Ha, I love Ashley’s entrance, and her introduction.

• I really enjoyed Ashley’s rant about how she doesn’t like when there’s no cake at a wedding.

• Ashley: I got a joke, MY SISTER’S A BITCH.

• I know some people complained that this felt like a diet “late stage Kate McKinnon” sketch, and I see that to an extent, but the main difference is Ashley’s total commitment to the material, and her great performance. It also helps that Ashley is still fairly new, so there’s little chance for me to get burned out by her performances (if I ever do) like many fans did with Kate McKinnon in the late stage of her tenure. 

• Overall, I really enjoyed this. A fairly short, but good lead-off.

Rating: ***½

Uber Eats Wrapped

• Ha, I like the concept of an Uber Eats Wrapped that shows how much people ordered food.

• I liked Ben’s worried “Oh no, no thank you.” after the reveal.

• JAJ: My Uber Eats age is Dead?

• Ashley yelling at JAJ after he squeezed her stomach was HILARIOUS.

• Good moment with the collage of “Top Looks” with Sarah.

Rating: ***½

Test Results

• Blah, the return of this Bowen character. It only worked the first time, and it was just a mere cutaway.

• I will say that the hosts do work well with Bowen in these sketches, and Josh is no exception.

• I honestly just feel nothing watching this. The attempts at “absurd one-liners” aren’t working for me.

• Josh and Bowen’s kiss just felt like it was written to add something interesting (which this piece isn’t).

• Something about Andrew’s straight man performance isn’t working for me here. His delivery of the “como si dice” line in particular felt very off. My guess is his shocking invisibility so far this season, after having a fantastic 5th season.

• I finally got my first laugh from Josh’s very funny line about Lollitops. “When you wanna suck on something but not hold it.” I don’t know why that line worked for me as well as it did, but that line alone was better than anything else happening here.

• The interjections from Ashley aren’t adding anything here, and are a waste of her talents. It doesn’t help that it’s making this sketch feel all over the place.

• The ending with Josh and Bowen making out after finding out they’re related didn’t work for me.

Rating: *½

Bachelorette Party Strippers

• A pretty funny reveal that the strippers Sarah brought are “soft boys”.

• All of Josh and Ben’s “soft boys” actions are pretty funny, and Ashley’s swooned reactions are good too.

• Jane’s casting as the group “horn-dog” who wants Ben and Josh to be actual strippers is questionable, and her delivery is even more questionable but her line about how Josh and Ben look like “Frog and Toad” cracked me the hell up.

• Ben having a tattoo around his belly button that says “Zohran” is pretty funny.

• Eh, I’m not sure the turn with Ben and Josh having sexual tension is necessary.

• Ben, while crying on Sarah’s shoulder: I was just thinking about the Supreme Court!

• Mikey: Get over here Fleet Foxes, let’s go.

• Second sketch in a row with Josh kissing a cast member, and second sketch in a row with an ending that didn’t work for me.

Rating: ***

Weekend Update

• Colin’s opening rant was fine, but I’m honestly really tired of this formula. Keep the topical jokes to a minimum please.

• None of the jokes have stood out to me so far.

• I did like Colin’s joke about how Trump’s days are “lettered”.

• Nice to see Marcello as himself on Update for the first time in a long time.

• I recall Marcello being weirdly nervous and fidgety throughout this in the live airing, but I’m pretty sure my copy of this episode is using the dress version of this, since he seems to be his normal self here.

• Marcello’s Uncle's advice “When you go for the nipple, bite it a little bit.” is really funny. And the camera cut to Colin writing it down was a great addition.

• I’m liking Marcello’s stories about his family, and the phone call he got from “Santa” was pretty funny.

• Marcello’s voicemail from “Lorne” was pretty funny. “Me and my brother, Jimmy Fallon…”

• Colin: I’m assuming you have a big Latin Christmas.

• A solid commentary from Marcello.

• None of the jokes after the first commentary stood out to me.

• Ha, I really like the concept of Jane saying the actual threat to society are the child actors from Strangers Things.

• Jane: If there's hell, Gaten Matarazzo belongs in it…

• Jane: And for these reasons I stand with Vecna.

• Jane: Joe Rogan used to make people eat bugs, and now he’s President of the United States.

• Two solid commentaries, and VERY meh jokes in between.

Rating: **½

The Wizard of Oz Deleted Footage

• Bowen has way more of a presence in this episode than he has in all the other episodes of this season. But considering what we know now, I understand why.

• I’m not caring for Bowen yelling at the Tin Man, and Scarecrow.

• So the joke of this sketch is that Kenan as the Cowardly Lion wants a “big ‘ol thang”. Really…

• Bowen reading Kenan’s letters didn’t work for me.

• Jeez, this concept is SOOOOO stupid. Not even “so stupid, it’s funny”.

• The audience isn’t even into this one, and they’ve been pretty lively so far.

• Jesus, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man changing their wishes so they can have a “big ‘ol thang” is honestly overkill.

• The ending with the Dog making a wish didn’t work for me.

• I gotta be honest, I think this is the worst sketch the show has done since… honestly that Charli XCX talk show sketch from the Jean Smart episode. This was a bonafide dud that had no reason to make it into the show.

Rating: *

Brad and His Dad Christmas

• Nice to see this become recurring.

• I’m still really enjoying Streeter Seidell’s delivery as the dad, and Mikey’s delivery as Brad.

• Brad: I spilled my Prime…

• Brad’s failed attempt to cut the tree is really funny.

• I love the cutaway to Brad’s crush Emily.

• Brad doing “6-7” honestly made me laugh, mainly because of the fun charm these animated shorts have.

• Brad’s Dad: Let’s turn the volume down a little bit, Dad had a couple Eggnogs at Sharkey’s last night.

• Ha, great ending with Brad’s dad telling a woman in his bed that he has to leave.

Rating: ****

Study Group

• Eh, I’m not sure about this sketch concept.

• Bowen yelling at his Mom didn’t work for me. Also, I feel like the writer(s) of this sketch thought the name “Heather” would be funny enough to have Bowen repeat MULTIPLE times throughout his rants to his mom.

• I feel like Bowen is trying to make this sketch work with “funny” delivery, but it’s honestly more annoying than funny. His delivery of “Heatherrrrr” is honestly irritating.

• Also, this is another sketch in this episode that is a poor utilization of Ashley’s talents.

• Bowen is continuing to irritate me in this, with him hamming it up and yelling EVERY OTHER LINE.

• The ending with Josh yelling at his mom didn’t really work for me, but at least he got SOMETHING noteworthy in this.

• Yikes, another flop. What’s going on with this episode?

Rating: *½

Characters on Characters

• I like this concept.

• Bowen continues to have a major presence in this episode.

• Bowen as a Partridge in a Pear Tree: You know when we did 12 Days…

• I’m liking JAJ as the voiceover in between the scenes.

• Mikey as the Grinch: We shot on location in Whoville, and they couldn’t have been nicer.

• I’m liking the realistic conversations between the Characters, and everyone involved are giving good performances.

• Wow, pretty short.

Rating: ***

Lily Allen Brunch

• Wow, has Bowen been in every sketch in the post-Update half?? Veronika has also been in lots of sketches in this.

• I like the format of this sketch. I don’t know how to describe it, but this has a pretty fun vibe.

• I liked Chloe’s song about being interrupted by Bowen, getting interrupted by Bowen.

• I liked Jane’s song about how she was the one who spilled the mimosa, because she’s been practicing Magic.

• I love the addition of Lily Allen at the end.

Rating: ***½

Thoughts

Another okay-ish episode, but it wasn’t anything special as a whole. This episode had more above average material than the previous episode, but it also has some of the weakest sketches of the season so far. Josh O’Connor is the perfect example of my biggest issue with this season so far, lack of trust in the hosts. He didn’t carry ANY of the material in this episode and played very minor roles for the majority of the night, which is really a shame. This episode wasn’t too bad, but those lows are gonna make the rating seem WAY lower than how I actually feel.

Segments ranked Best to Worst

Brad and His Dad Christmas

Lily Allen Brunch

Uber Eats Wrapped

Let’s Find Love!

Air Force One Press Conference

Monologue

Bachelorette Party Strippers

Characters on Characters

Weekend Update

Test Results

Study Group

The Wizard of Oz Deleted Scene

5.5/10