SNL: Season 40 Ep. 3

Easily the best SNL of the season, and the same could probably be said for last season as well, Bill Hader brought his best this week to 30 rock (as did Hozier).

The cold open was kind of a hit and miss, with Bobby Moynihan as a gout-ridden Kim Jong Un. Moynihan really tried to make this work, and it did produce a few smirks but really nothing more.

The monologue featured Bill Hader's Skeleton Twins co-star kristin wiig, trying to get Bill Hader to sing (it tuned out he couldn't sing), but Harvey Fierstein made a cameo to encourage Hader. It was actually fairly amusing.


The legendary reporter Herb Welch returned. Taran Killam took over from Jason Sudeikis as the lead anchor. The interaction between Hader and Pete Davidson was really good here.





There was a pretty good fake movie trailer parodying the various dystopian Y.A novel adaptions. It went from The Maze Runner to Divergent and The Hunger Games (with even some Harry Potter thrown in). The production level was also crazy good.


There was a lackadasical Hollywood Game Night skit, because celebrity impersonations. Kristin Wiig brought back her Kathie Lee Gifford impersonation in a cameo. Taran Killam was a bright spot though as Christoph Waltz.

One of the top bits was a "HelpFund" PSA on how "$0.39 can save a life". This is one that SNL couldn't have done a couple of years ago. It really made you think.





Hader and Wiig did a tribute to Jan Hooks, and it was followed with SNL showing "Love Is But A Dream" with Jan and Phil Hartman

Love Is But A Dream

I usually don't feature the music acts on here, but I'll make an exception for Hozier. His SNL performance was sublime. I think he's going to be big here, just like Sam Smith.



Weekend Update was really good this week. Michael Che is really developing. Pete Davidson made his return to talk about......gold chains.

Pete Davidson - Gold Chains

Bill Hader returning meant one thing.....Stefon!!! Apparently Dan Cortese is at all the clubs......





Hader brought his "Anthony Peter Coleman" character back in the Puppetry class skit. I had forgotten about it, but this character really is brilliant, and we even saw a war flashback.....with puppets.



Mooney/Bennett had another short, "Inside SoCal", a public access show. It was pretty much a miss, but not necessarily a complete dud. Mooney/Beckett need to step up their game though to make these a thing.

SNL ended with a bizarre Cat In The Hat skit.....with the Cat having a previous affair with the mother....who was instead with Thing 2.....so.....that happened.

All in all, it was a really strong episode, and just showed how great Bill Hader was during his tenure at SNL.

Avg. Score: 8.06 (each segment was scored out of 10, and averaged, including the musical act).

Bill Hader - 8.06
Chris Pratt - 7.5
Sarah Silverman - 7.15