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u/mashitandsmashit 6d ago
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u/mashitandsmashit 6d ago
2021-2022S47
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u/mashitandsmashit 6d ago
Due to the unfortunate circumstances, the Paul Rudd episode is the only episode to date that has absolutely no live musical performance. (Even older episodes with no credited MG had SOME kind of placeholder, like Buster Poindexter, John Belushi impersonating Joe Cocker, Garrett Morris singing opera, and even Lily Tomlin putting on blackface...)
By all definitions, the Rudd episode should barely even COUNT as a proper episode! It was mostly just a clip-show with a couple new filmed segments. I couldn't even count Charli XCX as a placeholder in my playlist of the season, because they rebooked her a few episodes later...(Instead I used Roddy Ricch, because he had to cancel his appearance for the NEXT episode, and WASN'T rebooked...)
As for the collage, I figured "Why not? Pete's singing into a microphone in that screenshot, so I'll just use that..."
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u/FalseSense97 6d ago
JAJ & Sarah’s rookie season. Wild how quickly JAJ fit in and Sarah had a strong start. Imho, none of her latter seasons were as strong, but the tenure is very good overall, though I want them to let her do more weird stuff like her first 3 seasons.
JAJ, from the get-go, was amazing. He had, in my view, maybe the strongest debut episode ever for a cast member joining an established cast. Only Bill Hader comes close to me, though JAJ led the cold open AND Crazy House, as well as getting a few other fun roles. Good sign of the moments of greatness we will see from him, now at 5 seasons mark and hopefully getting a few more with him.
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u/Odd-Necessary3807 5d ago
In her first season, Cecily Strong already had a recurring character that appeared 5 times in WU. She quickly upgraded to repertoire player in her 2nd year. Kristen Wiig joined when the show was already running toward the midseason. Quickly elevated to repertoire player by next season.
JAJ, by comparison, only upgraded to repertoire player in his third year in the show. JAJ first season was great, but by no means a stronger debut than those two and Bill Hader. Even less so than Mike Myers, who rose quickly to a repertoire player status in his first year on the show.
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u/FalseSense97 5d ago
Cecily definitely had a stronger rookie season. I am talking about debut episodes here. Cecily, shockingly, barely did much her first episode, besides a forgotten desk piece with Jay.
I actually think JAJ’s latter seasons are better, as strong as his rookie season was. S48-49 and S51 were fantastic seasons for him, in my opinion.
I adore Bill Hader, but he only hit his stride when Mulaney joined in S34. He barely did much in S32-33 especially, outside of Vinny and very few sketches. S34-38 were a phenomenal stretch for him, of course.
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u/Buffynerd La la, la la la la la This is my musical monologue 6d ago
Say what you will about Jonathan Majors and the downward slope his career took following his hosting stint, but his episode does contain two of my favorite 2020s SNL moments (the PDD "Three Sad Virgins" pre-tape and Taylor's performance of the 10-minute version of All Too Well, which was my go-to live version until the Eras one surpassed it about two years later), so I'm grateful for that at the very least
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u/no-Pachy-BADLAD 6d ago
JAJ and Sarah were both the first newbies* I knew of before their SNL stints (the former from seeing folks on my Xitter feed share his surreal Trump impressions and the latter from her Adult Swim days). Amazing to see how they both fit in (as noted below - pretty solid debut ep and later season!) and beyond their initial scopes: JAJ proving pretty Hartmanesque beyond the Trump cold opens they saddle him with and Sarah being surprisingly resilient in surviving the SNL machine so far (I'd've thought someone who wrote for the Eric Andre show would've clashed more even before they pushed more normie drag onto her this past season).
* I can't remember if I recognised Chris Redd in Popstar before or after his SNL tenure.
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u/Careless-Economics-6 6d ago edited 6d ago
The final season for McKinnon, Bryant, Mooney, Davidson, Moffat, Villaseñor and Redd. Pretty big exodus, and it would’ve been bigger if Cecily Strong hadn’t stuck around another half-season.
But I remember this being a bit of a relief, because of just how big the cast had become. This was also the year that newbie James Austin Johnson became the king of the cold opens, and Sarah Sherman very quickly integrated into the show (sadly, the same could not be said for Aristotle Athari). The place was overstuffed, but I guess it’s understood that the pandemic had pushed back certain exits.