4 takeaways — and one huge query — after SNL’s fiftieth anniversary season : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1000x667+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbf%2F63%2Feb1b24b64552bf983fe9ee9275ba%2Fnup-207712-00008.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1000x667+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbf%2F63%2Feb1b24b64552bf983fe9ee9275ba%2Fnup-207712-00008.jpg" class="img" alt="On Saturday Night Live's cold open, James Austin Johnson played Donald Trump and Emil Wakim played Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia in a sketched about Trump's Middle East trip." fetchpriority="high"/> On Saturday Evening Reside's chilly open, James Austin Johnson performed President Donald Trump and Emil Wakim performed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a sketch about Trump's Center East journey. Will Heath/NBC cover caption

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Will Heath/NBC After watching a storied comedy model end one in all its most creatively profitable seasons in current reminiscence, I could not assist however consider a urgent query:

What's subsequent for Saturday Evening Reside?

Irrespective of how effectively issues go on a given episode or in a given season, it is not lengthy earlier than that query re-emerges — particularly given how keen some within the leisure press have at all times been to pen the present's eulogy. In a method, it is the largest downside for a present that boasts the potential of reinventing itself each week.

Sarcastically, Saturday's episode did not give many hints in regards to the final reply, regardless of capping SNL's highly-hyped fiftieth anniversary season.

Although Weekend Replace co-host Colin Jost's spouse Scarlett Johansson hosted this yr's season finale – boosting rumors that he and onscreen companion Michael Che would possibly announce their departure then – they did not, and every part unfolded in a typical trend that includes a star who has develop into an everyday, recreation contributor. (Although Jost did hand his spouse a bouquet of crimson roses throughout the closing goodbye phase.)

The numbers, offered by NBC, inform a narrative of success: they are saying SNL will end its season as the highest broadcast leisure program amongst viewers aged 18 to 49. (That is a comparatively youthful and ad-friendly group for TV watchers.) The community additionally says this season has averaged 8.2 million viewers every week throughout all platforms.

So, as a lot as some critics should wish to shade the present, SNL stays one of the vital highly effective manufacturers in comedy. However following up the hype of its fiftieth anniversary subsequent season could also be its largest remaining problem.

Here is the place I feel SNL stands – and questions that stay – because it wraps up one in all its most profitable seasons in current reminiscence.

What occurs to Weekend Replace if Jost and Che each depart after this season? The largest parlor recreation amongst SNL followers on the finish of a season is enjoying "who's leaving the solid this yr?" Johansson even joked in her musical monologue that castmember Sarah Sherman was leaving, to Sherman's mock astonishment. And the largest rumor earlier than Saturday's broadcast was that Weekend Replace hosts and veteran writers Jost and Che may be out the door after cementing their standing because the longest-running anchors of SNL's newscast parody.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1000x667+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1a%2Fd1%2F55d3657e4337b8631c22430fa899%2Fnup-206566-00017.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1000x667+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1a%2Fd1%2F55d3657e4337b8631c22430fa899%2Fnup-206566-00017.JPG" class="img" alt="Colin Jost and Michael Che during Weekend Update in December." loading="lazy"/> Colin Jost and Michael Che throughout Weekend Replace in December. Will Heath/NBC cover caption

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Will Heath/NBC In recent times, Replace has emerged as probably the most dependable phase in an often-uneven present, as Che and Jost honed their oddball chemistry as an uncaring provocateur paired with a snarky man prepared to parody his personal privilege. Assuming they may nonetheless depart, let me breeze previous apparent successor options — like castmember and frequent Replace contributor Michael Longfellow — to supply a suggestion from left subject: Josh Johnson, the prolific standup comedian and Day by day Present correspondent. It is true that Johnson, who has constructed a rising fanbase with a protracted string of immensely widespread YouTube movies, already appears to be creating a profession on his personal phrases. However taking the reins of a comedy establishment like Replace might increase his work to a brand new stage whereas pointing the best way towards SNL's future.

SNL made information this yr past its comedy. Who knew an SNL bit might spark real-life gossip about one in all TV's largest hits? After Sherman parodied The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wooden within the sketch dubbed "The White Potus," Wooden referred to as the portrayal "imply and unfunny" on social media and a great deal of protection adopted. (It did not assist that Wooden's Lotus co-star Walton Goggins initially complimented the sketch on SNL's Instagram web page, fueling rumors of a rift between the 2.)

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1000x667+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0c%2F1d%2F207133ae47318b6555221401ed6b%2Fnup-207435-00008.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1000x667+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0c%2F1d%2F207133ae47318b6555221401ed6b%2Fnup-207435-00008.JPG" class="img" alt="Sarah Sherman during "The White Potus" sketch on April 12, 2025." loading="lazy"/> Sarah Sherman throughout "The White Potus" sketch on April 12, 2025. Holland Rainwater/NBC cover caption

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Holland Rainwater/NBC And, in a separate controversy, a bit Ego Nwodim led enjoying a hacky standup comedian throughout an Replace phase prompted the viewers to shout out a curse phrase in unison, unplanned. Nwodim says she finally talked to government producer Lorne Michaels to see if the present was going to be fined — and in a bit throughout Saturday's Replace enjoying that character once more, she was slightly extra cautious about what cues she gave the viewers. However that earlier bit additionally produced one of the vital talked-about moments of the season. Proof that SNL can nonetheless make information even when the topic is not its landmark anniversary.

Hypothesis about when or whether or not Lorne Michaels will depart the present now appears irrelevant. At age 80, Michaels looks like the Highlander of community tv – an everlasting pressure, without end the present's smart and regular hand, guiding occasions from behind-the-scenes. Nonetheless he has divided authority amongst his lieutenants, issues appear to be working – the present produced a string of constantly good episodes in 2025, notably in applications that includes friends hosts Jack Black and Jon Hamm. These successes, mixed with the reputation-boosting triumph of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations, needs to be sufficient to quiet the "when is Lorne retiring?" rumors for at the least one other season. (As I've mentioned earlier than, when the inevitable retirement does occur, if the present would not finish, I feel Seth Meyers can be an superior successor, or maybe Jost.)

Regardless of a Kamala Harris cameo, SNL hasn't fairly discovered a constantly groundbreaking method to lampoon fashionable politics. However that is okay. It appears like a lifetime in the past when then-Vice President Harris sat throughout from Maya Rudolph in a sketch airing simply earlier than November's presidential election. That was additionally the episode that gave us a cavalcade of movie star visitor stars enjoying political figures, together with Dana Carvey as then-President Joe Biden, Andy Samberg as Harris' hubby Doug Emhoff and Jim Gaffigan as Harris' operating mate Tim Walz.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1000x667+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0c%2F2f%2Fbd8d0c95478f85c67b4adac802d1%2Fnup-206142-00008.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1000x667+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0c%2F2f%2Fbd8d0c95478f85c67b4adac802d1%2Fnup-206142-00008.JPG" class="img" alt="Maya Rudolph and then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the cold open on November 2, 2024." loading="lazy"/> Maya Rudolph and then-Vice President Kamala Harris throughout the chilly open on November 2, 2024. Will Heath/NBC cover caption

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Will Heath/NBC However too few of these huge comedic swings appeared to hit their mark this season. Amid the shock of maintaining with the second Trump administration, SNL solely intermittently captured the chaos of the instances. Even the political sketches centered on James Austin Johnson's impeccable impression of the president generally might really feel like a transcript of the real-life POTUS' scattershot musings — particularly in Saturday's "chilly open" sketch, which satirized President Trump's Center East journey a day after the real-life POTUS flew again from it. ("The White Potus" sketch, its Wooden impression however, was a superb step up.) The lesson right here: maybe it is time to cease anticipating SNL to nail the political second each week and provides them area to seek out new angles.

In a world the place comedy manufacturers are more and more constructed on podcasts and social media movies, SNL nonetheless issues. As late night time TV erodes in different timeslots and youthful viewers desert conventional tv platforms, SNL confronted a season the place it needed to argue for its relevance whereas additionally paying tribute to an astonishing comedy legacy. (The nitpicker in me is compelled to notice that SNL's fiftieth anniversary technically is not till later this yr; the present debuted on Oct. 11, 1975.) However the large celebration surrounding its fiftieth anniversary season, which began final September, elevated SNL by reminding audiences what a cultural establishment it actually is.

Certainly, the present's historical past was too huge to suit into one particular, with its three-and-a-half hour prime time extravaganza in February preceded by a commemorative live performance, Questlove's sensible documentary on the present's musical historical past and a four-part docuseries on Peacock. The large-size celebration served as a potent reminder that, irritating as SNL's inconsistencies could be week-to-week, there isn't a different program prefer it on American tv – a dwell showcase for the very best TV comedy that includes high performers reacting to popular culture and politics very practically in actual time.