Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | November 2, 2025
Cold Open — It’s a New York City mayoral debate with Miles Teller as Andrew Cuomo, Ramy freakin’ Youssef as Zohran Mamdami, and Shane Gillis as Curtis Sliwa. It’s the funniest cold open of the season, and maybe the best that Shane Gillis has ever been on SNL. It’s fantastic, except they just had to bring in James Austin Johnson’s Trump, although even he had a great line: “I have good brain. I took a cognitive test and I did so well that they immediately gave me an MRI.” I hope Mamdami’s (hopeful) win means we see a little more Youssef. (Score: 7 out of 10)
Miles Teller — Decent monologue, good energy. And after losing his house in the Pallisades fire, maybe a slightly more humble Miles Teller. I am cautiously optimistic. Also, he has a movie out later this month, Eternity, and didn’t even mention it. (Score: 5 out of 10)
What Did I Do Last Night? — Kicking things off with another game show. What Did I Do Last Night asks its deeply hungover contestants what they got up to the night before. Again, great energy. Again, the sketch itself was thoroughly mediocre. The writers this season have not figured out how to build in a twist. It’s all been too straightforward. (Score: 5 out of 10)
Property Brothers — Miles Teller plays both Property Brothers, helping the White House out with their new renovation. This one hit a little too close to home. Also, too soon. It was more depressing than amusing. (Score: 6 out of 10)
Hockey PSA — This one is funnier than it has any right to be. Three hockey players are doing a PSA: one from the LA Kings, one from the New York Rangers, and one from the Nashville Predators. Miles Teller plays the latter, and all of his lines are like, “I’m a Predator in the community. When you see this face, just know that a Predator is in your community.” I’m sorry, Mat. This is the sketch of the week. (Score: 6.5 out of 10)
Netflix Missing Wives Docuseries — A True Crime show where the wives of three hapless husbands vanish. Only they didn’t vanish. They told their husbands where they were going, and their husbands never listened, so they thought they had disappeared, but they went to their sisters’ house. Husbands are dumb! Haha! (Watch Here) (Score: 4 out of 10)
Newsroom — After remodeling the newsroom, viewers can see everything going on behind the scenes from the anchor desk. There was some real possibility here, but the writers blew it with overly obvious gags. (Watch Here) (Score: 4 out of 10)
Weekend Update — So many political joke opportunities this week, and Che and Jost biffed it (although, Che had some good things to say about the loss of SNAP benefits off camera). The back-half jokes were just plain bad. Woof. Bowen Yang’s George Santos returns to talk about the New York City marathon (he finished and won, before the day before the marathon even began, etc.) Lots of lies, etc. (Watch here). Andrew Dismukes and Ashley Padilla save the day as two people who just hooked up, talking about the government shutdown. (Score: 5 out of 10)
Press Briefing — A press briefing about a murder is hijacked by a reporter who wants to talk about his new comic book, Gar Girl. Skip it. (Watch Here) (Score: 2 out of 10)
Italian Restaurant — Two waiters deliver lots of puns and hit on the girlfriend and treat the boyfriend poorly. It’s not a great way to end the show (although it’s the first appearance of Marcello Hernandez in the episode). (Watch Here) (Score: 2 out of 10)
Verdict — A promising start with a rare great cold open, but it quickly went from mediocre to downright bad by the end of the night. It’s weird because I really like this cast (notwithstanding the loss of Heidi and Ego), especially the featured players (Ben, Ashley, Veronika), but these writers have not found their groove yet, at all. What does it say about an episode hosted by Miles Teller where Shane Gillis is one of the highlights (although, Ramy was the real highlight).
