Adam Driver Is a Brilliant 'SNL' Host, but Julia Stiles Steals the Show

By Dustin Rowles | TV | December 10, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | December 10, 2023 |

Cold Open — The Cold Open parodies Rep. Elise Stefanik’s questioning of the various university presidents about antisemitism and the word genocide, which elicits no straight answers. SNL takes it a bit further by questioning whether a “straight” answer is homophobic, etc. I like that Chloe Troast continues to get screentime, but the Cold Open didn’t do much for me. (Watch Here) (Score: 4 out of 10)

Adam Driver Monologue — Adam uses his monologue to play the piano (impressively) and give his Christmas list to Santa, which is very funny (“I want people to stop coming up to me and telling me that I killed Han Solo. I didn’t kill Han Solo. Wokeness killed Han Solo.’”) Driver is always a surprisingly good host. (Score: 7 out of 10)

Gay Couple — Adam Driver and Bowen Yang play a gay couple explaining to all their friends that they are trying to have a baby. They’re just “trying.” They’re not adopting or using a surrogate. They’re just “trying” to have a baby. What is your problem? God! (Score: 6 out of 10)

Old Friends — In a pre-tape, Mikey Day decides to reconnect with a childhood friend he hasn’t seen in 15 years, and after he asks him out for a beer, discovers that his old friend (Driver) is straight-up psycho now. For reasons I’ll let you discover, it’s an ad for Facebook. (Score: 6 out of 10)

Beep Beep — Adam Driver is very good at playing a fun-loving guy who can quickly lose his shit when another guy tries to “beep beep” his dish onto the table of holiday food. There’s no way to properly describe this skit, just get out of his way. (Score: 6 out of 10)

ShopTV — Driver plays a very nice, sweet chocolatier who makes Santa chocolates, only once you take the foil off the Santa, it looks like a giant penis, which provides plenty of fodder for this skit. I’m sorry,Mat. No choice. This is the Mat sketch of the week. (Score: 7 out of 10)

Weekend Update — The jokes are particularly groan-worthy this week (not necessarily a bad thing, but also not necessarily a good thing); Marcello Hernandez tries to explain why men are so depressed and charmingly seems as though he’s about to break the entire time (watch here); and finally, Chloe Fineman says that the best gift you can give your loved on this year is the final dance in Julie Stiles’ Save the Last Dance, and then … I won’t spoil the cameo, but YES IT IS JULIA STILES. (Score: 8 out of 10)

Baby Plane — Adam Driver plays an … 11-month-old baby taking his first flight, and it is almost as disturbing as it is funny. (Score: 6.5 out of 10)

TikTok Pranks — A PSA for the thousands of Senior Citizens who hate being the subject of TikTok pranks. (Score: 6 out of 10)

Tiny Ass Bag — In Tiny Ass Bag, they sell very expensive, very small bags that can only fit things like one half-smoked cigarette, one Altoid, or one tiny secret. This is the worst sketch of the night outside of the Cold Open, which is saying something because it’s pretty good, and musical guest Olivia Rodrigo makes an appearance. Also, we don’t embed clips from musical guests, but I encourage you to check out Rodrigo, particularly “All American Bitch,” and especially for those Alanis fans out there. She’s fantastic. (Watch Here) (Score: 5 out of 10)