'SNL' Highlights: Jon Hamm Hosts a Solid, Occasionally Very Good Episode

Cold Open — It’s a Trump sketch with James Austin Johnson, here comparing himself to Jesus in an Easter sketch because he made the stock market die, then resurrected it, and then it went away again. It works better than usual because much of the cast is frozen behind him in their Jesus garb, and James Austin Johnson calls them out individually until they crack. Except for Emil Wakim: He keeps it stone-faced! They’ve done this before, but I’m a sucker for it. (Score: 6 out of 10)

Jon Hamm Monologue — Hamm has some great energy tonight, talking about how he hasn’t hosted since 2010, but he has done something even more important: made 14 cameos. Cameos are even more critical for saving a meandering, flagging show, he says, right before Kieran Culkin walks out for a cameo and, uh, slyly references the Hammoconda. Hamm also insists that Mad Men is better than Succession (agree!) (Score: 6.5 out of 10)

CTCBC News — A news channel devoted not to the stock market — because these Check-to-Check Business News viewers don’t invest in the stock market — but to the price of groceries, healthcare, and, uh, Funko Pops. Funny and very relatable. (Score: 7 out of 10)

Please Don’t Destroy — A Please Don’t Destroy video this early in the show? It’s good, too. A room of detectives is talking about finding a missing girl, but one detective (Jon Hamm) is most excited about the pizza they’re ordering for the late night — at least until someone says Hawaiian. (Score: 6.5 out of 10)

Guess the Correct Answer — It’s a password-style game, and Hamm plays an average guy who doesn’t really wanna play because he’s mostly afraid of saying something that will go viral and ruin his life and my god, that is exactly what he does. Thirty seconds of life-ruining madness. I’m going to make this the Mat sketch of the week, even though I suspect it’s funnier to me than to him. (Score: 7.5 out of 10)

The White Potus — It’s The White Lotus, only with the Trump Administration. Some good cameos: ScarJo returns as Ivanka, and the return of Alex Moffat (as Eric Trump) and Beck Bennett, who has two cameos. Jon Hamm is RFK Jr., Chloe is a mash-up of Melania and Parker Posey, and Lizzo plays Belinda. Lots going on here (and I guarantee half the viewers didn’t even realize that Moffat and Beck Bennett left SNL several seasons ago). (Score: 7 out of 10)

Weekend Update — The Hamm-hosted show is going so well that it doesn’t need “Update” to bail it out, which is good because the jokes are not great this week (watch here and here). The segments, however, are top-notch: Bowen Yang plays China’s trade representative, who clearly has a lot more tolerance for pain than America; Emil Wakim does a segment on how he’s not that proud to be an American, which involves some Uber Eats jokes; and Sarah Sherman plays Colin’s tax accountant, which — as always — is an excuse for her to make fun of Jost for three minutes. (Score: 6 out of 10)

New Parents — A gay couple at a hangout arrives with a new baby, which they didn’t have the night before, and when people ask where they got the baby, they shut them down with variations on, “You can’t ask gay people that.” There are a couple of amusing moments, but it’s not the night’s best offering. (Watch Here) (Score: 4 out of 10)

Medication Ad — It’s a medication ad that’s basically a parody of all the other medication ads. Clever, but not to the level of Jon Hamm’s John Ham.(Score: 5.5 out of 10)

Icebreaker — A group of strangers play an icebreaker game where everyone says their name and one fact about themselves, and it kind of goes off the rails because one guy’s fact is that his mom killed his dad naked on TV. They can’t all be great! (Watch Here) (Score: 4 out of 10)

Average Score: 6 out of 10: Solid episode that flags some after “Update.” Hamm, as always, is a great sport and embraces being the butt of the joke. The episode was more political than usual, too, because that’s how Hamm rolls.