Host Glen Powell Delivers the Best 'SNL' of the Season

Cold Open — Not a terrifically funny cold open, but a White House Press Briefing that airs all this week’s dirty laundry for maybe the handful of Fox News viewers who watch SNL and have no idea what the hell happened this week. They don’t hold back, either — even the Bubba email makes it in. It’s as though maybe some of the fear surrounding the President is fading. Also, Ashley Padilla is a great Karoline Leavitt. (Score: 6 out of 10)

Glen Powell Monologue — Oh, he’s a charmer. He shows some footage of a music video he made as a teen and then he tells a terrific UPS driver story with a feel-good ending. I’ve got a great feeling about this episode. (Score: 7 out of 10)

AI Photos — Hey! The show doesn’t start with a game show! That’s a plus already. Some grandkids bring some old photos to their grandmother in the nursing home, and AI brings them to life … with some unfortunate AI side effects. Eeek. (Score: 6 out of 10)

I Miss My Ex’s Dad — A country song about missing the Dad of an ex-girlfriend that’s actually a surprisingly great country song, humor aside. It’s catchy as hell. (Score: 7 out of 10)

Sebastian Maniscalco — Well, they can’t all be winners, but there’s some good physical comedy in this one, where a famous comedian crashes a bachelor party. And Chloe Fineman’s Jennifer Coolidge makes an appearance for no real reason. (Watch Here) (Score: 4.5 out of 10)

Norwegian Movie — I don’t even know what to think of this one. Norwegian actors lose their minds with giddiness after each horribly depressing scene they act out. It’s not that funny, but the energy is great! (Score: 5.5 out of 10)

MacGruber — Hell yes! Will Forte returns for a special Epstein Files edition of MacGruber. And maybe someone is on the list that MacGruber doesn’t want to get out. Ahem. Forte’s still got it. (Score: 7.5 out of 10)

Bob Army — I don’t know what I just watched, but it’s terrific: Two divisions of the army: The Bobs vs. The Bangs. They are fabulous (and the Bobs don’t report to Pete Hegseth. They report to … Leslie Bibb!) It’s brilliant nonsense. It’s not Mat’s thing at all, but it’s still the Mat sketch of the week. (Score: 7.5 out of 10)

Weekend Update — The best “Update” of the season, and the shortest — no segments this week. They’re just ripping on the President for the better part of 7 minutes. (Score: 8 out of 10)

Taken: Airport — Glen Powell is Liam Neeson in Taken and Andrew Dismukes is the new husband who would have saved the daughter, you know, if he’d remembered to get his Real ID. Even the weak skits are better than anything in the Nikki Glaser episode (except for “Pinwheel,” of course). (Watch Here) (Score: 5 out of 10)

Haircut — An Ashley Padilla character gets a terrible haircut and shows up to dinner where everyone has to pretend that it’s not the worst haircut they’ve ever seen. We’ve all been there. I mean, not this bad. Also, Mikey Day’s brief appearance makes the sketch. (Score: 7 out of 10)

Last week, someone on social media circulated a conspiracy theory suggesting that the cast may not have liked Nikki Glaser because they appeared stand-offish and downbeat during the sign-off. It was probably a bunch of bunk. That said, the contrast between this week’s sign-off and last week’s is insane. They’re not embeddable. But go watch the two. It’s clear, at the very least, that the cast was in much better spirits after the show this week. They’re hugging and clapping and dancing. Last week, it was like they were attending a wake.