ARIANA GRANDE/STEVIE NICKS - 10.12.2024
Ariana Grande does a lot of singing in her hosting stint where she promised not to sing, while Stevie Nicks makes a return to the show to perform a classic hit and her latest single.
Welcome back to another edition of Sunday Morning Live!!! Last night, Ariana Grande hosted for the second time, with musical guest Stevie Nicks.
ICYMI: Saturday Night, the movie about the very first broadcast of SNL, is now playing in theaters. Also, a new documentary is in the works profiling various actors who have portrayed presidents in parodies. Maya Rudolph, Dana Carvey, Will Ferrell, Alec Baldwin and Jay Pharoah are among the comedians whose SNL presidential impressions will be featured in Playing POTUS.
Let’s take a look at this week’s episode!
Cold Open
The show opened with Chloe Fineman as CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reporting that while Donald Trump has declined participating in any additional debates for the 2024 presidential election, he has agreed to one thing — a match of Family Feud. Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris, Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz, Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff and Dana Carvey as Joe Biden team up against James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump, Mikey Day’s Donald Trump Jr. and Bowen Yang’s JD Vance. An empty space is left on the Republican team for Melania Trump. “Its so strange, I could’ve sworn she was standing right beside me about two years ago,” Trump said of her absence.
Monologue
Ariana Grande returned to host in promotion of the upcoming Wicked film. Dressed in Glinda’s pink, she began her monologue by talking about how playing the role is every theater kid’s dream. She also poked fun at the fact that both times she’s hosted SNL have been during election years where a woman is running for president. “I guess second time’s the charm,” Grande joked.
The pop star assured the audience that despite her musical talents, she was only there to host — but then broke out into a flashy musical number, doing everything she said she wouldn’t, including impressions of fellow pop stars like Miley Cyrus and Gwen Stefani and having a set of backup dancers.
Grande’s Wicked co-star Bowen Yang also made an appearance dressed as Glinda, before Grande informed him the sketch about their movie had been cut.
Best Sketches
“My Best Friend’s House”
Last night, writer Dan Bulla debuted “Midnight Matinee,” a new SNL digital short format. In the first one, titled “My Best Friend’s House,” Ariana Grande excitedly sings about how cool her friend’s house is, from the interesting smells to the cleaning supplies and movies her family doesn’t have — until its revealed that something very sinister is going on in the home.
I also recommend checking out “Charades with Mom,” where Grande gets way too serious during family game night, and “Bridesmaid Speech,” where cheating is exposed to the poorly sung tune of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.”
Worst Sketches
Chloe Fineman reprised her role as Jennifer Coolidge, this time talking to herself (played by Ariana Grande through a mirror), while doing her makeup for a Maybelline commercial. Personally, I feel like the Jennifer Coolidge sketches are a bit overdone, so I wasn’t too excited to see another one, and this one didn’t feel particularly special. The Dana Carvey appearance as a third Coolidge at the end was a bit silly and unexpected, though.
I also wasn’t a big fan of James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman as the Oasis brothers on Weekend Update. It was pretty funny at first, playing on the well-known feud between Noah and Liam Gallagher, but it never really escalated or anywhere, losing steam about a minute into its three-and-a-half minute runtime. To be fair, I’m not familiar with the band outside of their conflicts so I’m not even sure what else there is to explore. Johnson and Sherman nailed the accents, though.
Best Update Bit
“Monica a Happy Amazon Employee on Prime Day”
Michael Che says Amazon celebrated receiving a record amount of orders during its Prime Day special and invites Ego Nwodim as Monica, an overly enthusiastic Amazon employee, to discuss. Despite her upbeat attitude, it quickly becomes clear how overworked she is. “Once a week, I order an Amazon package to my own address, just so I can drive by my house and wave to my kids,” she tells Che.
When Che points out how unhealthy her work experience is, Monica asks if he plans to stop shopping from Amazon to help ease her workload. Instead of responding, Che humorously ends the segment.
Musical Guest
Stevie Nicks returned as musical guest for the first time in 40 years, having last performed in 1983. She kicked off her appearance by performing her brand new single, “The Lighthouse.” Later in the show, she delivered a rendition of her iconic hit “Edge of Seventeen.”
“The Lighthouse”
“Edge of Seventeen”
That’s your rundown! Let me know — what did you think of this week’s episode?
The next episode of Saturday Night Live, featuring host Michael Keaton and musical guest Billie Eilish, airs on October 19.
