Jacob Elordi Is Not a Good Host of 'SNL'

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 21, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 21, 2024 |

Cold Open — It’s a Donald Trump cold open, and I’ll give SNL this much credit: They’re openly discussing all the reasons that Americans should not vote for Trump. It’s not very funny, and it’s preaching to the choir, so I’m not sure what use it is, but good for SNL? (Score: 5 out of 10)

Jacob Elordi Monologue — Elordi doesn’t do much in his monologue — he takes a few questions that go nowhere, and that’s about it. I’m grateful that tall, good-looking guys with strong jaws and great hair are finally being seen in this business. (Watch Here) (Score: 2 out of 10)

Crown Your Short King — A Bachelor-like show where “Tiffany” picks the best short person to be with. After discussing her three favorite short guys, they introduce one more guy — a tall cad played by Elordi — and she chooses him, no matter what, because he’s taller. Haha! It’s funny because women don’t like short guys … ? (Watch Here) (Score: 3.5 out of 10)

Katt Williams and Shannon Sharpe Convo — It’s an extended conversation with Katt Williams (eight hours more, in fact), and it’s mostly just Williams making dumb stuff up. It’s not funny, but I love that Ego Nwodim is playing Katt Williams. (Watch Here) (Score: 4 out of 10)

Entertainment Tonight Awards Season Special — Elordi and Bowen Yang play professional lip readers who can translate conversations between celebrities. They’re very spectacularly bad in a spectacularly bad sketch. Renee Rapp joins them. She doesn’t make it better. (Watch Here) (Score: 3 out of 10)

Bowling — Elordi and Heidi Gardner play a couple going bowling, and the little animations you see in bowling alleys after you knock over the pins? They’re more serious here, as in, “I don’t want to find you with a needle in your arm, slumped down in the gutter.” The “animations” are OK, but also: Jacob Elordi is really bad at hosting a sketch show. (Score: 5 out of 10)

Alaska Airlines — An ad for the airliner whose new slogan is basically, “The door came off, and you nearly died, but you got a cool story.” It’s not great. James Austin Johnson plays Sully, which reminds me of one time my sister-in-law was on a flight to Vermont (where both she and Sully live), and she sat next to Sully’s wife, who was just the nicest person ever. My sister-in-law was moving to Vermont at the time, and Sully’s wife gave her some tips. Now that’s a good story, and no one nearly died! (Score: 5 out of 10)

Weekend Update — The political jokes are decent. The jokes about Biden/Trump’s age are obvious, but Che throws in some jokes about how racist Republicans are, which shakes things up! “Tim Scott” does a segment to talk about why he endorsed Trump, which is OK because “Black people don’t like me.” (Watch Here). In another segment, the guy who attacked a judge breaks down the situation and talks about how strangely easy it was. Not a particularly good “Update” tonight. Bad show. (Score: 6 out of 10)

Women’s AA Meeting — During an all-female AA meeting, a rando played by Mikey Day walks in, and the women tell him to scram. Another random played by Jacob Elordi walks in, and they’re like, “Have a seat.” Cause he’s hot, see? But also, he’s really great at sex when he’s drunk, so the women maybe encourage him to fall off the wagon. The only funny part is when Punkie Johnson’s shirt pops open and Chloe Fineman breaks. (Score: 4.5 out of 10)

The best part of the show here is when Rachel McAdams introduces Renee Rapp: One Regina George to another. And Megan Thee Stallion makes an appearance.

Acting Class — Rachel McAdams shows up for this, too! She plays an acting student who looks “strikingly like Rachel McAdams,” which she finds annoying because she’s not a fan. Why isn’t she hosting the show? Honestly, it’s the best sketch of the night, and McAdams only speaks for 20 percent of it. There are no Mat sketches of the week because they’re all weak, but this is as close as we’re going to get. (Score: 6 out of 10)

Wedding — Chloe Troast plays the bride, and during her vows, she says that she had to go through a lot of bad dates on the apps to meet her perfect guy. That’s when one of her bad dates interrupts the wedding to take offense. Oh, Bowen, so bad. (Watch Here) (Score: 3 out of 10)

This is clearly one of those episodes where the cast had no idea what to do with Elordi, so they just wrote a bunch of sketches around how hot he is.