Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | November 3, 2025
While I have had plenty of reasons to curb my drinking in my life, not wanting to deal with hangovers became paramount. I think I’ve had one hangover since my kids were born, and it was miserable. They understandably did not care. It’s wild to think that there was a point in my life when I was hungover regularly! I’ve been in a Broadway theater that was over one hundred years old, just vomiting into a bank bag because I didn’t have any other containers in my office. Awful!
Even the thought of being hungover makes me feel a little ill. The headaches, the nausea, and just wanting to lie down as soon as I could. After puking in that theater, I bartended a matinee and then passed out in my office immediately afterward. Every last customer got on my nerves, which is not good for tips. It was terrible. Thank Zod, I didn’t have to appear on a game show led by Kenan Thompson, delighting in my misery.
That was the basic premise for my favorite sketch from Saturday Night Live this week. Three contestants (Veronika Slowikowska, Ben Marshall, and host Miles Teller) appear on a game show called “What Did I Do Last Night?” where the host, Gay Fopay (Kenan Thompson), tortures them with bright lights, a saxophone, and footage of their exploits from the previous night. For a bonus, it’s the morning after Halloween, and they’re all still in costume.
Teller, Marshall, and Slowikowska all do a fine job. Much of their performances relies on reacting with great pain to different stimuli, including an incredible, albeit brief, appearance by Jane Wickline as an “acquaintance from high school.” Still, the latter two have been slotted into quite a few sketches this season, and I think this sketch speaks to why. They’re reliable, adaptable, and supportive players who shine when they need to and aid when they can. I’m excited to see what the future holds for them. But this was Kenan’s sketch.
Kenan Thompson plays a game show host better than anyone who has ever stepped foot on the show. Ironically, I don’t think he’d be good as a real game show host, but that’s part of what makes him work. He’s always spritely and energized in a way that feels genuine in a non-showbiz way. Real game show hosts, at least those in the modern age, feel more like news anchors. There’s not a ton of personality to go on. Kenan brings his in spades.
This sketch not only has him as his brand of host but he’s a host who gets to torture his guests. He’s not trying to help them or make sure they win the game; he’s waving Pedialyte and a bacon, egg, and cheese in their faces and making them work for it. It’s something that, were a real person to do it, would be incredibly obnoxious, but, given the parameters of the sketch, it’s just funny.
There are some moments of relief for the guests. Marshall is offered a chair at one point and takes to it in a way that felt painfully real. Teller actually takes a huge bite out of the sandwich, which just … could not have been good. The bacon barely looked cooked, and no way that egg was fresh. We don’t see him swallow (raises eyebrows), so he could have spit it out. It also could have been made of something more tolerable. But it was likely just a sandwich that was sitting out for a bit, and I commend Miles for shoving that big ole thing in his mouth (eyebrows fly off of face).
Like the last sketch I wrote up, this one works because of its simplicity. The premise is straightforward, and Kenan gets to delight in everyone’s misery. That’s a winning formula that doesn’t need to do anything crazy to succeed. It just has to keep moving forward, and Thompson helps make that possible. There’s a moment where Teller remarks on being dressed as corn because he stole a child’s costume. He doesn’t really hit the delivery, and the crowd gives him nothing. But Kenan’s reaction to the lack of laughs is funny in its own right, and he plows ahead like a pro.
I agree with Dustin. The writing staff seems to be settling in this season. But they at least seem to grasp what a lot of the cast members excel at. That has made even more subpar sketches work for me so far. The performances are there, even when the writing is not, although ironically, this one was written by veteran SNL writers Streeter Seidel, Ben Marshall, and Ceara O’Sullivan. Nevertheless, the weak writing won’t hold for the entire season, but it gives me confidence that everything will fall into place.
