SNL - "Cristoph Waltz/Alabama Shakes"

Season 38, Episode 14

Christoph Waltz hosts and tries to prove wrong everybody’s fears that he’s a poor decision for a host.

SNL - "Justin Bieber"

Season 38, Episode 13

Justin Bieber hosts and performs, and it’s not as bad as one might expect.

SNL - "Jennifer Lawrence/The Lumineers"

Season 38, Episode 11

Everybody's nerd-crush, Jennifer Lawrence, stops by to host, and The Lumineers twee it up on the musical stage.

SNL - "Louis CK/fun."

Season 38, Episode 6

Let’s just get this out there: I’m extremely worried for how tonight’s SNL is going to turn out with Louis CK in the host’s chair. By his own admission, CK isn’t a very good actor, and he even admitted that he didn’t feel that confident about his job during rehearsals. Even though he did a pretty good job in the promos for this week (and the promos were well-written to work around him), CK’s acting range is very limited – mostly he just acts exasperated on Louie – and I can’t imagine the show trying to have him do the one thing he’s good at for all of the sketches of the night. But I guess we’ll see. And who knows – maybe we’ll get a short film from CK out of the whole ordeal.

SNL - "Daniel Craig/Muse"

Season 38, Episode 3

I’m not even going to pretend to write out an intro paragraph for tonight’s write-up. This is one of the worst SNL episodes in recent memory. Click through to find out why….

SNL - "Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Mumford & Sons"

Season 38, Episode 2

For me, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (or JGL, for brevity’s sake) is an actor who just sort of…exists. It’s not that I actively dislike him, but I’ve never seen the appeal that drives so many people to swoon and whatever else it is they do at the mention of his name. (Note: This could all change if I ever get around to seeing Looper.) Will my ambivalence towards him transfer over to the show? Let’s find out.

SNL - "Seth McFarlane/Frank Ocean"

Season 38, Episode 1

Ah, there’s nothing like a new season, fresh with potential, to renew one’s faith in Saturday Night Live. Granted, these days it feels like any small change in the show’s line-up has the audience hoping that it will return the show to the quality of the halcyon days of the 70s/mid 80s/ early 90s (take your pick). But considering that the show has now lost Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig, and Abby Elliot; has replaced Fred Armisen’s Obama impression with Jay Pharoah’s; and has three new featured players, it feels as if this would be as good of a time as any for the show to mount a mass improvement. And it’s that kind of potential that gives me hope, hope that not even Seth McFarlane’s job as host could possibly crush.

Right?

SNL - "Mick Jagger"

Season 37, Episode 22

I don’t want to make it seem like I have something against host who pull double duty by also serving as the musical act. I mean, do you remember when Justin Timberlake did that – you know, before he began only serving as host? That was always pretty enjoyable. However, do you remember when Taylor Swift did the same? And what about Elton John? That was certainly a weird one, wasn’t it? These are the fears that are bouncing around my head as I prepare for Mick Jagger to host SNL tonight – that he’ll be awkward, and that the sketches will have to try really hard to cover up his lack of acting ability.

SNL - "Will Ferrell/Usher"

Season 37, Episode 21

Will Ferrell is hosting tonight, which makes for his third time hosting the show, and the third time that a SNL alum has hosted this season. Those numbers don’t really mean anything, other than the fact that I don’t have much to say about Ferrell’s hosting ability going into tonight’s episode. He’s obviously familiar with the show, and as with most hosts, it generally means that the show will bring it’s A-game and/or some of Ferrell’s previously recurring characters. Let’s see which one(s) it is.

SNL - "Eli Manning/Rihanna"

Season 37, Episode 20

Let’s face it: The only real reason that Eli Manning is coming on SNL tonight, is because Payton Manning hosted an episode, and that one was fairly well-received. The only reason that Payton Manning appeared on the show was because SNL likes to trot out star athletes every once in a while. And SNL likes to have athlete hosts because…hell, I don’t know why. So can Eli Manning clear the incredibly low bar that’s set out before him? Let’s find out.

SNL - "Josh Brolin/Gotye"

Season 37, Episode 19

Ah, Josh Brolin. He’s hosted SNL once before, and though I only saw one sketch from that episode, I get the impression that he’s not the best host for a comedy show. Though I like him as a dramatic actor, he’s never struck me as all that funny. So this should be an interesting show, right?

SNL - "Sofia Vergara/One Direction"

Season 37, Episode 18

Has there been a larger cognitive dissonance in SNL history between guest host and musical guest than between Sofia Vergara and One Direction? One appeals to older men, the other to young girls, and I can only imagine the audience confusion that’s going to take place tonight. I would say that I would make for a fun show, but that’s “fun” as in “televised train wreck.”

SNL - "Jonah Hill/The Shins"

Season 37, Episode 17

So here's my problem with Jonah Hill: while I don't actively dislike like him in anything that he's done, I've never found him to be all that funny. He's caustic, and the best movies he's done have managed to make that work, but I'm always conscientious of the fake that I'm rarely laughing because of anything that Hill is doing – it's always the script that's actually funny. As such, I don't understand why he's been invited back to SNL, especially since his first time hosting wasn't anything better than average. Still, there's always a chance for improvement, right?

SNL - "Lindsay Lohan/Jack White"

Season 37, Episode 16 

Tonight sees the return of Lindsay Lohan to the SNL stage, and the third time she's done so in order to stage some sort of career comeback. Like so many other desperate and/or hacky actors that have graced the stage (I know, they usually go hand-in-hand) so isn't like this is unprecedented, but considering that she doesn't seem to have anything to promote (except for her recent Playboy spread, I guess) so that makes this episode reek of extra desperation.

So, who wants to jump in first?

SNL - "Maya Rudolph/Sleigh Bells"

Season 37, Episode 15 

“So many memories, so much laughter, and so much casual intercourse.” 

Maya Rudolph holds an interesting place in SNL history; she is one of the show's alum that lots of people like – I count myself among them – even in the face of so many reasons why they shouldn't. Perhaps Rudolph's greatest (or at least best-remembered) contribution to the show was her series of impression of the loudest female African-American celebrities of the day (Oprah, Whitey Houston). This lead to the idea that Rudolph was an always over-the-top actress, and indeed, many of her original recurring and one-off characters existed within this vein. (Her role on Up All Night hasn't really helped this perception.) However, Rudolph could in fact reign in her acting when the sketch called for it – which wasn't often enough – and so she has better acting chops than people give her credit for. So it will be interesting to see if tonight if the show will allow Rudolph to exist in a more natural mode, or if we'll just be subjected to the umpteenth iteration of “Bronx Beat”. 

SNL - "Zooey Deschanel/Karmin"

Season 37, Episode 14

Internet, are you ready for the most controversial, talked about episode in recent SNL memory? For reasons that I can't even fathom, SNL has chosen two personalities that inspire online love and hate in equal measure – Zooey Deschanel and musical duo Karmin. I have nothing against Deschanel personally (although really, Karmin is just awful), so it will be interesting to see if and how her well known twee personality either helps or hinders the show. 

SNL - "Channing Tatum/Bon Iver"

Season 37, Episode 13 

SNL has had its odd choices of host over the years, those people that you just hear about and go “Really? That person? They'll be terrible.” Channing Tatum is one of those people. Frankly, I'm still astounded that his career has taken off as it has, given that his incredibly wooden acting style. He's only moderately successful when given the chance to send up his lunkhead public image, and even SNL can't trade on that skill for an entire episode. So tonight's going to make for an interesting, and most likely painful, experience.

SNL - "Daniel Radcliffe/Lana Del Rey"

Season 37, Episode 12 

So this is Daniel Radcliffe's...what? This is is first time hosting? Are we sure about that? Because I've been wrong before. No, it appears that this really is his first time, and the SNL must be giddy with all the possible Harry Potter jokes they can make. But I beg of you writers, don't go down that well. Please don't.

Did they? Well, let's find out....

SNL - "Charles Barkley/Kelly Clarkson"

Season 37, Episode 11 

So....Charles Barley is the host of tonight's SNL, for no real discernible reason outside of maybe promoting that new basketball talk show he's co-hosting with Shaq. Okay, maybe I'm being a little harsh, but like many of the non-actor, non-comic hosts of the past, his presence here worries me, as I'm pretty sure that we'll be stuck with yet another host who gets sidelined in order to avoid too many instances of poor acting skills. In fact, I'm just going to predict that Barkely's going to play himself in a sketch at least once before the episode is out. So let's see how he did, shall we?

SNL - "Jimmy Fallon/Michael Buble"

Season 37, Episode 10

Unlike say, Will Ferrell or Dana Carvey, Jimmy Fallon doesn’t exactly have the best track record on the show. More known for his breaking than his recurring characters, Fallon fell into a fairly love-or-hate relationship early into his tenure on the show, and as he became even more exposed thanks to said characters or his co-hosting gig on Weekend Update, that disparity only grew stronger. So now he’s back, and apart from say another “Hamm and Buble” sketch – which of course has nothing to do with Fallon – I can’t say there’s a whole lot of anticipation for tonight’s outing. So let’s see how he did, shall we?