3/14/26: Harry Styles

 Just wanna say before you read the review, that since I usually get my sketch titles from SNL Archives once the episode is added onto there, and they haven’t added this episode yet, I’ll be using the sketch titles from the YouTube uploads of the sketches. This will probably become the norm for the rest of the season since I’m gonna try and get reviews out much quicker until May.

Trump’s Gas Prices

• Interesting topical, yet not political start.

• Marcello: Dad, why does Gas cost so much?

• JAJTrump: The Epstein Files!!

• JAJTrump: A promise is just a lie that hasn’t happened yet.

• JAJ blatantly pandering to the Harry Styles fans in the audience is pretty funny. But knowing how the rest of the episode goes, it feels like foreshadowing (the 2nd time I've said that this season).

• JAJTrump about Harry Styles: I’m not familiar with his newer music, I am straight.

• Since we haven’t gotten an old-fashioned Trump Interruption cold open in a while, I’m enjoying this quite a bit.

• I always love the moments where JAJ makes fun of the cast in the back for having to sit still.

• JAJTrump: Look at Marcello, he’s still playing kids. He’s SNL’s little chihuahua.

• JAJ calling Ashley the “whitest of white” is hilarious. It also feels like that line is a new addition from dress, since you can see Ashley breaking in the background.

• JAJTrump, about Ashley: HAIRCUT. We love Haircut.

• I know some fans are starting to get tired of Colin’s Pete Hegseth impression, but I personally still find it to be a blast. I also feel like these more fun impressions of Trump and his cabinet are much better than the energy-draining political impressions on SNL during Trump’s 1st term (Matt Damon as Kavanaugh notwithstanding)

• Colin still has the stiff arm movements that he had for this impression’s appearance in the season premiere. I’m not sure how to feel about it, but I’m not gonna think too much about it.

• JAJ wandering around while Colin speaks is pretty funny, and we get a fun moment with Trump waving at Ashley and Ashley trying not to laugh.

• Not many lines stood out for Colin’s section as Pete Hegseth, but this was still a good cold open. Also the 2nd cold open in a row with a fairly short runtime. Nice to see.

Rating: ***

Monologue

• As expected, a HOT crowd for Harry.

• So far, I’m really liking this. Harry is having a deadpan that I didn’t expect from him, and the writing is a noticeable step up from the usual writing for this season's monologues.

• Harry: But I found out that I’m tremendously boring.

• I liked the Prince Andrew dig, but it felt a bit random.

• Harry, about a small Italian town he lives in: It feels pretty good to say you’ve slept with everyone in town.

• I loved Harry’s brief Italian phrase.

• I liked the walk-ons from Chloe and Sarah.

• Wow, I forget how tall Ben really is.

• Harry talking about Ben’s “bum” in the deadpan manner is pretty funny. I don’t know how to feel about their kiss though.

Rating: ***½

Sebastian Maniscalco: New Lawyer

• Wow, Harry gets applause when the camera cuts to him… the first of MANY moments where the audience applauds when Harry does ANYTHING in this episode.

• A surprise return of Marcello’s Sebastian Maniscalco impression.

• I’m liking Marcello walking by Harry when he’s speaking to the judge and occasionally saying something.

• Ha, Marcello accidentally spit when he said one of his lines, and you can hear a VERY audible audience member say “Ew!”.

• Marcello seems to be trying to make Harry break, and he succeeds briefly.

• Ha, I love the moment with Jane as the stenographer reading back what Sebastian said in her typical deadpan manner.

• I’m actually really enjoying this. Much more than I did when this episode originally aired.

• Now the audience screams in excitement when Harry SAYS he’s gonna talk like Sebastian Maniscalco. Before he’s even done it yet…

• Harry’s Sebastian Maniscalco impression was really funny, and finally gives him something comedic to do here.

Rating: ***½

MAHASpital

• The audience applauds again when Harry appears, as if he won’t be appearing for the rest of the episode…

• I like the concept of this, with a hospital show produced by RFK Jr.

• Ben revealing he shot his parents after finding out they got the COVID vaccine is hilarious.

• Ben pulling the plug on a patient after finding out she was vegan is another GREAT moment from him in this.

• JAJ’s RFK impression is surprisingly weak, which I hate to say since I usually love JAJ’s performances.

• Short pretape, but a really good one.

Rating: ***½

Sparkle of The Sea

• I’m LOVING Harry’s delivery in this so far.

• Nice to see this type of ensemble sketch, I usually really enjoy these.

• Jeremy and Jane’s song was really funny.

• JAJ’s song was performed well by him as expected, but it didn’t really work for me.

• Mikey’s magician bit in this is freakin’ HILARIOUS.

• Ha, I love the moment where Chloe and Harry need a minute before being ready to laugh, so they just zone out for a second. It’s the type of beat in sketches I really enjoy.

• Wow, we get the return of one of Kenan’s oldest characters, Jean K. Jean. I’ve never seen this character, but his part in this was okay.

• Veronika and Tommy’s phonetically correct version of Watermelon Sugar is really fun, so I can ignore the obvious Harry Styles fan pandering.

• Not sure we needed the meta moment with Harry’s character not caring for Veronika and Tommy’s song.

• Despite that, this was a great ensemble sketch.

Rating: ****

Best Buy: Mr. Pooty

• Woah, a fairly big night for Veronika and Tommy so far.

• Blah, I don’t care for Kenan’s character being named “Mr. Pooty”

• I’m also not caring for Kenan’s lispy character so far, something about it is rubbing me the wrong way.

• Kenan saying he was accused of “manipulating the nipples of some of the men” is just dumb.

• Yeah, I’m not caring for this AT ALL so far. This just feels so hacky, and it could fit in with many sketches from the Tina Fey era.

• The Harry Styles fan pandering continues, with Kenan talking about how Harry has a “bisexual magnetism”.

• Yeah, Kenan’s portrayal of this “sassy” character is something I’m continuing to find offputting. It would be a real stretch to say this portrayal is homophobic, but this still feels off.

• The audience squeals in excitement when Harry’s character defends Mr. Pooty… why…

• The turn this is taking with Harry’s character admitting he likes Mr. Pooty isn’t interesting or funny.

• Overall, this is definitely my least favorite sketch of the season so far. It’s a shame since this episode was starting pretty solid. Also a shame since Kenan had probably his best moment of the season in last week’s show (Pastor Update).

Rating: *

Weekend Update

• Che, on Trump’s “Make Iran Great Again (MIGA)” comment: As in, this MIGA crazy.

• Colin, after the above joke: I wanted to do that one!

• Colin, about RFK: Seen here back from his mission to the sun…

• Yay, Jeremy is back at the desk!

• Wow, Jeremy’s Tucker Carlson is pretty fantastic so far. I’m already loving this.

• Jeremy as Tucker’s thoughts about the Oscar nominees are really funny. 

• Jeremy’s repeating of “What are we doing? What’s going on?” is freakin’ HILARIOUS.

• Jeremy loving the first 15 minutes of Forrest Gump is really funny.

• A short, but great commentary from Jeremy.

• An audience member shouting “WOO!” for Taco Bell being mentioned is so funny. Colin’s ad-libs afterwards were great.

• Ha I LOVE Che and Colin ad-libbing “That’s the goal!” as a callback to the Tucker Carlson commentary.

• The concept of this Marcello and Mikey commentary seems very dumb on paper, but I’m gonna keep an open mind.

• Mikey: AERIAL TRAMWAYYYYYYY!!!

• Mikey’s energy as Aerial Tramway is HILARIOUS so far.

• Mikey’s listing of his emoji friends is FANTASTIC. “We got my boy ORANGE SQUAREEEE!!” “My boy, the goat, BUILDING WITH A HORN ON IT!!!”

• Mikey blatantly trying to break Marcello is great. Marcello is fighting for his life here, and it’s so fun to watch.

• Mikey’s girl being “THE WORD ON WITH TWO ARROWS ABOVE ITTTT!!!” is killing me.

• Ha, I LOVE Marcello revealing he has to take the Aerial Tramway home.

Rating: ****

White Castle Drive-Thru

• Interesting setup, with Jane and Veronika preparing themselves to ask Harry to prom.

• Jane and Veronika hyping themselves up after the comments they made to him is really funny.

• Jane, to Harry: I would like to crunch you up like a bag of chips, understand?

• I love the repetitive structure of this sketch, with Jane and Veronika making sexual comments to Harry, then leaving the drive thru and coming back around.

• Jane: So does your penis? No, DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE.

• Jane: I’ll tell you what I want, to ride you to death of course!

• Veronika: I’m a virgin, but I have a book that tells me EXACTLY how it works!

• Jane: If we went all the way and it came down to it, I want you to know I wouldn’t keep it!

• A very sweet ending with Harry agreeing to go with the dance to Jane and Veronika.

Rating: ****

She’s an Irish Dancer

• I like the reveal Chloe and her female friends are Irish Dancers. Not really caring for the song they’re singing though.

• Jane: Turned on yet fella??

• The brief song Veronika sings about Irish food is okay.

• Ha, I love the moment with Jane playing a harp and JAJ falling in love.

Rating: ***

Harry for Him

• Interesting setup, with a live commercial with the host as the spokesperson.

• I like Ben’s unsure-ness to wearing a Harry Styles outfit.

• JAJ: When I wore this, she said “You look like a serial killer who’s wearing the clothes of a woman he killed”.

• Harry’s reassurance to the men throughout this is very fun. It feels like the first sketch all night that gave Harry a decent amount of comedic material.

• Mikey in a little girl’s dress is really funny.

• Kam: I had to get all the way naked to use the urinal.

• Kenan in a big puffy pink jacket is a funny sight.

• Kenan’s repetition of “highkey…” is really funny.

Rating: ***½

Thoughts

Wow, what a nice surprise! This was way better on a rewatch! This was a very good episode that (not including the Kenan disaster) was very consistent. There was tons of strong stuff, and even most of the stuff that got a rating below 4 stars was above average. I wouldn’t call it the best episode of the season so far, but it’s damn near it. My one major complaint (the Kenan disaster not included once again) was the fact Harry Styles is probably tied with Josh O’Connor as the least utilized host of the season. He basically had “first-season featured player” roles for most of the night. Sparkle of the Night and the 10-to-1 commercial were the only somewhat comedic roles he had in the whole episode if I recall correctly. Other than that, it's really good. I also haven’t mentioned the next episode in any of my thoughts but I’m VERY excited for Jack Black and Jack White on April 4th. Since I’m fully caught up, I’m going to (finally) continue my reviews of Season 50.

Segments ranked Best to Worst

White Castle Drive-Thru

Weekend Update

Sparkle of the Sea

Monologue

Sebastian Maniscalco: New Lawyer

MAHASpital

Harry for Him

Trump’s Gas Prices

She’s an Irish Dancer

Best Buy: Mr Pooty

6.6/10 

If not for the Kenan trainwreck, this episode would’ve gotten a 7.1, the highest of the season so far, and the first episode of the season to get at least 7/10. Thanks Kenan!