Episode 87 - Shane Gillis (Season 50)

[00:00:06] It's The Ten to One Podcast with your host Brad Olman, featuring Ben Conowitz and Nate Lauchs, and here's the podcast. Welcome back friends. March 1st, 2025. Shane Bartholomew Gillis. March Fools Day is what they call it. In the business. In the business. That's what we call it.

[00:00:33] And let me tell you, there was a lot of fooling happening on Saturday Night Live to kick off all March. How many sketches can we write where one white man wears a mustache? That's what I thought. The answer is always not enough. This is the first episode of SNL since the 50th anniversary special, and we are very excited to be back.

[00:00:55] And this one is hosted by comedian Shane Gillis, the second time he is hosting since being asked to return after being unceremoniously and famously fired from the show before he even got to be in an episode. But he's doing better than ever, and he's back on SNL. And I wasn't expecting it, and I was yet again surprised to see another stand-up comedian hosting during the 50th season. This is definitely the year the stand-up comedians. I'm not hating that at all. No.

[00:01:24] I mean, you know that they're going to be funny. You know that they're generally going to be just good at comedy. Have a decent stage presence. Even if sketch comedy isn't their forte. Someone like Bill Burr is not the best sketch comedian, but at least you know he's going to be funny in some capacity. I think that the biggest thing about a stand-up hosting SNL is they are so used to fucking bombing. And so like if the sketch isn't getting laughs, they're like, they're at home. It's not a big deal for them. They're also much more open probably to like the weird stuff that certain celebrities are like, oh, I don't think I can do that. You know?

[00:01:53] And the comedian is just like, fuck it. Let's do it. Let's go for it. So, yeah, no, this was obviously his second time hosting. Did you like this monologue better or the last monologue? I think the last monologue was funnier. I think he felt somewhat more confident this time around. Yeah, and the whole episode I think he felt a little confident. And I got why he was picked to be on SNL. You get it, right? Yeah. He does have a good presence.

[00:02:23] He's silly. He's not as good live as he is in the pre-tapes, but you can tell he has good sketch comedy sensibilities. Exactly. Like I get why they would have picked him in the beginning. The crazy part for me is you watch him perform on SNL as a host and you would never say to yourself, you know what SNL needs? Kind of a tall, lumpy white guy. But he does fill a niche that doesn't really exist on the show.

[00:02:51] There is an every man quality about him that the cast doesn't have, save for maybe Mikey Day. Right. And Mikey Day is what I would consider to be like, I believe him as a Peloton guy. Yeah. Right. If you're on a Peloton bike and Mikey Day is hosting the thing, okay, I don't believe Shane Gillis has that meaning. He's the guy on the bike that is, you know. Sweating. Sweating. And they don't really have one of those. Yeah. Right.

[00:03:16] And it's not at all like a Bobby Moynihan or Chris Farley where he's really overweight and that's the joke. Right. But he's schlubby, right? Yeah. And that's endearing. I mean, he wore two sports jackets to introduce the musical guest. So, I mean. And I don't mean sports jackets as in like a suit coat. Oh, sorry. I mean jackets that have sports images on them. So, I just, I think that like I get why SNL wanted him. He did fill a void, you know, for the show.

[00:03:45] Would it be wise to get somebody like him in the future? I mean, I love the every man quality, obviously, of him. I don't love, you know, he says insanely outrageous things on podcasts to get likes and views and button. Smash that subscribe button. But it doesn't need to be overtly racist. Because he still has a little bit of tone deaf sensibility. There's the problematic. Can we say though that like Nate Bergazzi is the same every day kind of man, right? Like he's certainly not as controversial, but he's kind of a regular guy.

[00:04:14] He doesn't seem like he belongs on the coast. But Bergazzi doesn't feel schlubby though. That's the difference. I guess, yeah. It's like there's some inherent comedy that comes from Shane Gillis. Well, it all depends on what era of Nate Bergazzi. Cause so, so Nate Bergazzi. Yeah. Cause previously he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, Yeah, but he didn't have a beard before too. So he didn't, but he looked more like a dork than he did. Yeah. Then Shane Gillis does.

[00:04:38] The, the thing is the, the, the, the shared characteristic between Shane Gillis and Nate Bergazzi is that they, they play dumb. Right. I'm, I'm dumb. Don't listen to me. I'm, I'm stupid. I'm about to warn you. You're about to have a very dumb conversation, but very different kinds of dumb. Exactly. The difference is Nate Bergazzi is dumb in the way like I don't read good. And Shane Gillis is like a dumb dog. A gold retriever. Very loyal. Whereas Shane Gillis is I'm going to about, I'm about to say something offensive cause I didn't know any better. Yeah. Right.

[00:05:07] And you know you're thinking it. Shane Gillis is the kid who is always like getting in trouble with the teacher cause he's no one to shut up. Exactly. And so that being the host of SNL, I mean, uh, we'll talk about overall what we think, but he came back for a second time because you know his first one was not bad at all. I thought it was pretty good. And we even talked about the kind of how conflicted we were a little bit about it.

[00:05:29] Uh, I do think, I do think Shane Gillis as a whole has not leaned into as much some of the controversial stuff as he could have because he is in that group. Oh no, absolutely. And if anything, he's been open about pushing back on some of the worst parts of the people who did. Exactly. Initially get attracted to him. I think, I think so much happens where you say some shit because you don't know how famous you could get. Yep. And you're just like looking for views and looking to say the outrageous thing because nobody's fucking listening anyway.

[00:05:59] Then when you go, Oh, by the way, 1 million people heard that he goes, Oh shit. But no, but then it becomes, okay, I can double down on this or I can, or I can apologize or third, I can just be me. Yeah. And I feel like Shane Gillis is pretty damn good at not, not apologizing, not doubling down, but just kind of like maybe if I do more, they'll understand where I'm coming from. Yeah. And for like eight years, right? He was on the show, like he was supposed to be on the show seven or eight years ago. Up until about two years. It's been that long? It's been Bowen Yang. Bowen Yang, six years.

[00:06:29] Yeah. That was when you were supposed to be hired. Wow. Gosh darn world. Yeah. But for most of that time, up until like the last two years, Shane Gillis has not really been a household name. Right. He's really come on the last year or two. And I don't know if it's a Joe Rogan thing that that's what kind of propelled him. There is a very, there's a very, um, Theo Vaughn, Joe Rogan, Tom Segura. Some of the biggest podcasters in the world. Yeah. And, but they are all, all a little bit right leaning, you know? Yeah.

[00:06:59] Well, let's get into it. We real quick. Yeah. We're done. Trivia question for you. Which of the cast members didn't appear? Chloe Fineman had COVID, I believe. Yes. Chloe Fineman was not on this, this episode. So she should not have been making out with Martin Short at the 50th, but you know what? It is what it is. I'm not gonna tell her what to do. It's a wild night. Exactly. I mean, who are you to say? I'm not, I'm not one to say it all. All right. Cold open Elon Musk meeting.

[00:07:26] Um, Elon Musk interrupts a heated meeting between Donald Trump, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and Ukrainian president, uh, Zelensky leading to a comedic clash of personalities. Elon Musk was played by long time, former cast member, Mike Myers. JD Vance was again brought back to life by Bowen Yang. Uh, Marco Rubio by Marcelo Hernandez. And, uh, Mikey Day does a pretty good Zelensky. Uh, kudos to him.

[00:07:52] This I heard again, I don't know if this is true, but on the SNL subreddit that somebody suggested that they probably were gonna do a, um, a sketch about Elon Musk's kind of crazy meeting that he had in Trump's cabinet meeting earlier in the week. And then they pivoted to this crazy Zelensky meeting. Sure. It made me wonder how hard it is because they tried to do political cold opens now. Right.

[00:08:18] And they, they have been how hard it is in the Trump administration because there's always something new to last minute. Yeah, exactly. To, to, to parody. Right. Um, that's, that happened what the day before? Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's insane to write an entire sketch, uh, and pivot like that, especially with a guest star, you know, cause again, they were going to do Elon Musk anyway, but now he's got a Mike Myers is a priority in town. And thank God he's Mike Myers instead of, you know, the other celebrity that has never

[00:08:48] done sketch comedy. So, you know, he's, he's dialed in no matter what. Um, why him instead of Dana Carvey? Do we know this? I mean, well, as far as I know, uh, Dana Carvey, is he still sick? Yeah. Maybe he might've still been sick cause he was sick for the 50th. Yeah. He had the flu and he got sick. I didn't know. Yeah. The reason he was not there literally was because he had the flu. Yeah. And he just couldn't, couldn't do it. Yeah. Cause if anybody wanted to be there, it's Dana Carvey. Yep. Um, I, maybe they just wanted to try something new and they have,

[00:09:17] does kind of look like him. These, there, there's some, again, though, but there's precedent, right? Dana Carvey played him earlier. So why wouldn't you just do that? It must be because he was sick still. Yeah. And Dana Carvey had Joe Biden. So it's fun on the 50th season to bring in another person. Yeah, exactly. I disagree. I just think that the only reason Dana Carvey was not reprising that role, because they don't necessarily, it'd be like switching Alec Baldwin from Trump. Like they don't do that. So Ben, is it fair to say you liked Dana Carvey's version of this better?

[00:09:45] No, I'm just saying that I think pragmatically they're never going to switch. They literally had a whole time when all they did was switch who was playing Joe Biden. No, and that's, it was like new, every episode was a new, yeah. Hey, hey, you try it. Exactly. But that wasn't this. Elon Musk has been played by Dana Carvey how many times? Three? Four? I don't remember. I think it was just two. Okay, so two, not just one. And honestly, his performance doesn't, I don't remember what it was. I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm saying that the show logistically wouldn't do that. But they did.

[00:10:15] But they did. Because he's sick. Let's talk a little bit about what you thought of this cold open. Listeners of the show, of this podcast will know, we tend to be politically where SNL writers probably are politically, but we don't often love political cold opens. We just find them pretty stale and pretty, you know.

[00:10:34] Often, the trap that SNL gets into, especially with the Trump people, is they just do exactly what happened with SNL cast members. So it's not that funny because it's just kind of sad. At least this time they said it, right? In the preface to this, they were like, this is exactly what it was. They really came out and said, we're just going to do a replay. So what did you think, Brett? I actually really liked this.

[00:11:02] I thought it worked pretty well for the most part, even though they did do the thing where they kind of just do a greatest hits of what happened and exaggerate it slightly. It did help that they had Mike Myers as Elon to kind of take it to a bit more of a nonsensical level, offer a different kind of approach there. Brad, did you get a little bit of Cat in the Hat vibes? Well, not only Cat in the Hat, but also Austin Powers. Austin Powers? I thought he was evolving into Austin Powers. When he was... Comedy's legal! Oh yeah! But that, yeah, that's Cat in the Hat though.

[00:11:32] Yeah, oh yeah! I really saw his just other bits, you know? It was just weird. I felt like he was losing the Elon and moving into some other, like, greatest hits. At the end of the day, Elon Musk is just the Cat in the Hat anyway. It's true, it's true. And yeah, but I thought this was good. I thought they gave James Austin Johnson some good punchlines as Trump. I particularly enjoyed him listing the Pokemon cards. It felt very intentional and specific. We don't have Charmeleon.

[00:12:02] We're gonna get him. And the tie being very long. The sweep up. Yeah. But no, for the most part, I really enjoyed it. I felt bad for Mikey Day because it felt like he just kind of had to sit there and look stern and didn't get to have much fun. And I think he would have done okay. Like I said, every time he says something, I'm like, oh, he could do Zelensky. But obviously he's not where the comedy's coming from. No, no. And everybody brought up Marco Rubio. And so the Hevern End is there, kind of slinking into the couch.

[00:12:31] Like they didn't do too much there, but it was still pointed. No. And Bowen Yang is J.D. Vance. What I love the most about that is I'm gonna guess J.D. Vance hates it. Yeah. So. Yeah, well, he can go fuck himself. Nah. All right. All right. Monologue stand up by Shane Gillis. Shane Gillis delivers a standup monologue discussing topics like Donald Trump's presidency,

[00:12:56] his thoughts on Joe Biden and humorous observations from watching Ken Burns' documentary The Civil War. Did you guys get a little nervous going, okay, what's Shane gonna say? No. What I did not understand is when you're doing a set, obviously, and it goes on a little longer, like the Civil War stuff took a while. And it was kind of going back to the same well for jokes. And there were diminishing returns.

[00:13:22] And you could see where he was kind of like, in his head probably going, this is not hitting as hard as I was hoping it did, but I still have to commit because this is the set. So there were moments where I was like, oof, I feel bad for him that it's not landing as well as it maybe could. Have you guys seen him live? I've not seen him live, no. I wonder, is this a thing he does, right? When, is it a trick, right? Comedians often use this trick, right? Oh, yeah, joke wasn't for you. And that often gets a laugh, right? Right.

[00:13:51] And so does he pull from that well often? I don't, I feel like this- Or is he especially nervous? When you said that he was more confident this time around, I saw that in the sketches, I didn't see that in the monologue. No, I felt it in the monologue because he didn't seem any less sure of himself than he did the first time. And if anything, the material kind of felt like it was more honed than the first time around. Honed, but not for that audience.

[00:14:20] And then to kind of double down on the whole, it's not for you thing is a little bit- But I think this time he was expecting it because of how it went the first time. Sure. And I do think you're right in it. I think it is part of his shtick. I don't think he has to do it as often during his- He pulled from that well pretty quick. Yeah. And I think it's half part of his shtick and half genuinely reacting to the lack of reaction to the jokes because- Because he's not going to get that with a New York SNL audience. Yeah. Because also if you watch any of his specials, there's one on YouTube or the one on Netflix,

[00:14:50] he's not doing it that often because he doesn't have to because that's his crowd and they're ready for it. He doesn't have to be off. What I'm saying is, I guess my point here is, even though he doesn't have to when he does national stand-up tours, he did pull from that quickly and that's not- Bill Burr I don't think would do that. Well, that's not Bill Burr's style either though. I mean if you're- Part of Shane Gillis is- If you're not laughing at Bill Burr, he's not being like, well that's not for you. Like it's- Yeah, but that's- I agree.

[00:15:17] I get what you're saying, but I do think that that's why- Bill Burr would say- Bill Burr's a legend and- Right. Exactly. Bill Burr's a legend and Shane Gillis is still finding his way. Yeah. But I, because I think that Shane also like, I don't think that necessarily is like a detriment because there's plenty of comedians who do have that as part of the style. You know, because even before it became annoying, Chappelle was laughing at his own stuff and like, you know, hitting his leg with the mic and you know, so everyone- First time I saw it, it was hilarious. Yeah. Oof.

[00:15:44] It is, I do think though, like you said, I think it's part of his style. I think too, with the first monologue he did, what, was it last year? Was it last season? I think so. Um, he was pulling a lot of bits from the last special he was doing. Exactly. And this is all new stuff. This is all new stuff. I don't know how recently written, but it was all pretty new. Obviously pretty relevant to the presidency, stuff like this. Um, I just thought this like, it was, I thought it was just fine.

[00:16:14] It was okay. It was fine. I thought his bit about asking women if they've dated black guys before was particularly funny. Yeah. Um, especially the turn at the end where he's like, whoa, whoa. You're like, that's fucking racist. Like, I mean, cause she's like, you know why? Whoa. Yeah. That's great. But then, and the fact that he did tie it into the civil war thing worked out pretty well. It did, but the civil war stuff in my opinion just went on too long. Like he, there were some edits that could have been made there. Yeah.

[00:16:41] And again, when you're doing that at the comedy store and people coming to see Shane Gillis or, or like at least are very, very aware of who you are, that civil war bit probably crushed. And so, but at the, that same audience is not going to love that as much. I cannot remember the comedian I was listening to, but they were talking about Shane Gillis particularly. And one of the things they did say is Shane Gillis is one of those unique comedians that can do the bits that he does, which are the, I don't even like to call them right wing cause they're not right wing.

[00:17:08] They're just culturally sometimes not as. Culturally insensitive. As sensitive as, as a lot of comedians are. But one of the things that he was saying is he saw Shane, you know, perform in New York city and things like that. And Shane is one of the only comedians in his style and his genre that can go into some of the most liberal cities and get away with it. Kill still. Yeah. Right. And it's honestly, it's, it's the Birgatzi big dumb face. Like he looks doofy. Yeah.

[00:17:38] He's not, if he was a Matt Reif and was doing those same jokes, he would be hated. Yep. But because he's schlubby and overweight and he just, and he, and he's incredibly self deprecating. Yep. Cause he'll do that bit about like, you know, a black guy dating his, his, his ex before. And then he'll talk about how much of a piece of crap he is. Yeah. So there, there's some lovability there. By the way, um, if you have seen Shane Gillis, uh, he's dating fine.

[00:18:08] He's doing just fine. Don't worry about Shane Gillis as far as his dating profiles. He's doing fine. He's doing fine. The, the sports analogy is that he's out kicking his coverage. Yeah. For sure. For sure. Or splitting the uprights. That's disgusting. Don't say it. All right. Moving on. Winery tour. Uh, during a wine tour, a woman obsessively tries to capture the perfect photo, much to the amusement of her boyfriend and his parents. Um, this was Heidi Gardner being Heidi Gardner.

[00:18:38] Uh, Shane Gillis played the little boyfriend. Didn't really have that much to do in this. And the boyfriend's parents were Andrew Smukes and Ashley Badia. Um, this actually did make me laugh quite a bit only because. Heidi Gardner was doing a weekend update. Heidi Gardner. Exactly. Right. Um, it may have been a little long, um, but Heidi Gardner doing her thing oftentimes just, just makes me laugh. And so I kind of appreciated that they moved this away from weekend update to a sketch to

[00:19:07] see how it worked. And I thought it was fine. I feel like they could have trimmed the fat early on maybe, but once the back half kicked in and like she started being more mean to him. And the parents. And the parents. The stuff with the parents cracked me up. Oh my God. The way she did the stupid voices for them was so funny. That was my favorite part by far. It's like, meh, meh, meh, what? Who does that? And you know, again, as we're older millennials, but we know that there are people on it.

[00:19:36] Like this was, this was us now being great because they're taking something that we know exists, right? The perfectly curated and cold image of a social media influencer, but not even just an influencer. Our friends do this as well. Right. And, and stupid, stupid friends. I don't know, Brad, uh, can we agree that, uh, Nate has some weird friends then? But the, oh, you know, taking the picture again and taking the picture again.

[00:20:02] And sometimes I look at my friends, uh, or people I know are just know a little bit and the way they smile in pictures, I'm like, that is not your, I've seen you smile. Right? And so I love the kind of. She's saying things like, like you're holding, like you're catching a baby. It's very observational. You know, that's a very fun, cause again, I've been in positions where, uh, a professional photographer has told me to look a certain way and act a certain way just to get a good headshot. Yeah. That's a weird direction. Also, Ben doesn't know what to do with his hands and phone. I never know what to do with my hands. It's Ricky Bobby.

[00:20:30] I am holding them. I don't know what to do. It's the dumbest thing. I thought that I crushed it on, uh, the last time I took a photo with everybody. It turns out that I was putting, I was interlacing my fingers and the way that I turned, they looked like sausages that had been pressed. And so one of my, uh, people in my industry commented like, wow, look at those hands. It's like, what the fuck, man? Like this is a family photo. Come on. Yeah. That family photo feeds a family.

[00:20:58] It was not great, but hot dogs. Shane Gillis didn't have a lot to do in this. There was nothing, you know, he was, but that was his role. Yeah. That was his role. But I, uh, in this next sketch though, he did, uh, this was a pre-tape couple of beers and this, this sketch has gotten some play online. It's, it's got a little bit of virality to it. Um, uh, this was a commercial parody where a man promotes a couple of beers, a new medication to help when life hits a low point.

[00:21:25] Um, these, this was kind of, uh, carried by Shane Gillis and had Heidi Gardner, Marcelo Hernandez. This felt like a sketch Shane Gillis would have done on his YouTube channel. Yep. Come on, man. You can't be bad at school and sports. Yep. My favorite line in the whole thing. It was so good. This was, this was Shane Gillis is like sweet spot. Right? Um, this is one of those things where again, uh, if the SNL writers were like, well, we passed on Woody Harrelson doing this. Oh, wait, wait.

[00:21:55] Shane Gillis is coming. Like that's exactly what this was. Uh, what'd you say to this one, bro? Oh, I loved it. It was, he, he was fantastic in this sketch. Again, the pre-tapes is where he crushes it. Uh, he just has the perfect vibe for this. Uh, the way he, let's be honest. You're not going to miss it. Yeah. This is the one you, you're, you're not going to miss. Hey guys, you're not going to miss this one. And, and that, that, those are the things he, they don't write that I think Shane Gillis performs. Yeah. Right?

[00:22:23] He had to have had a writing credit on this, I think, because. Yeah. Part of me wonder if maybe it was his idea even. Yep. Um, because he really brought a lot of himself to the sketch, which was great. A little bump. Let's have a little bump. I love that the package for a little bump included a key. Had a key. Ashley had to ask me, she said, why is there a key in there? I was like, oh. Oh honey. Well I go, oh you've never done coke and neither have I, but I've been around it. I've seen. And people literally put it on the key to ingest it. Like that's how you do it. Just like, oh. If you didn't know what the key is for you, you've never seen a Martin Scorsese movie.

[00:22:53] No, I've been around it at IU, Brad. In the real world. Oh. In the trenches. My parents, what are you doing here? Just the hard cut. Yeah, the hard cut. Man, yeah, no. This was, and props again to the props because the prescription bottle is a tall boy basically. Like just again, they always. Putting in a cooler. Everybody has their role in the show.

[00:23:18] We just watched the documentaries and so now I'm imagining how the writer comes up to props and says we need a prescription bottle that looks like a beer. And like, here's your four versions. Which one do you want? Like there's so much that goes into this. Yeah, this was a very good. She's not as pretty as you. This is great. This is just great. I saw those great commercial parodies and this was even a good version of what they do. Oh, absolutely. This is upper level. Great stuff.

[00:23:48] All right. Moving on. Sketch Midday News 2. Shane Gillis, Keenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner and Echo Wodum are in this. A daytime news broadcast goes off the rails as the anchors struggle to keep it together while covering absurd and escalating news stories. What did you guys think of this one? Did this one make you laugh at all? This wasn't the first time they've done this. No, they did this with Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Yep. And it's not as good this time.

[00:24:16] And I think the problem is that they rushed into it, probably thinking everyone's familiar with the formula, so let's just get into it. But it's been a few years. It's been a while. Yeah. Well, five and a half years. But to me, the problem was is it didn't make it happening again feel believable within the universe of the joke happening. Because the best way to do it would have been to have Shane Gillis be like a substitute anchor who's like, wait, what the hell are you guys doing? You know? And then getting into it that way.

[00:24:45] It just felt like, nope, the game's happening and we're not explaining anything and you're just going to go along with it. And that is problematic for a sketch that needs you to kind of get what the vibe of it is immediately. But there's a way to, like you just said, there's a way to do it where you can explain to the audience what's going on. Yeah. Right. Because it felt rushed. It didn't feel like the... I said, listen. But there's still really funny things. Yes. I'm not going to lie. No, no. Still some great things that go along with the formula. Good punchlines.

[00:25:13] It is one of those things though that you could probably, the writers could keep on writing for a long time. Yeah. Right? I did like that Heidi Gardner was not on board until she was. Yeah. And they waited for quite a while because it was like four or five punchlines and then she goes, okay, okay, I get it. Let's go. That was a fun twist. Yeah. Yeah. No, there's enough good here where I'm saying this sketch was more good than bad. I agree. But it was definitely not as good as the first one. Yep. All right. This one was more poignant for me. Dad's house. Oh no.

[00:25:44] Sad. A divorced dad tries to connect with his kids over the weekend resulting in humorous misunderstandings and heartfelt moments. Divorced dad played by Shane Gillis. Oh no shit. Shane. Kids played by Andrew Smux and Sarah Sherman, Bridget, Heidi Gardner, Trish, Ashley Padilla, and Sean was James Austin Johnson. It feels like the same as the couple of beers. Oh yeah. Where it's just designed for him. Yep. Exactly.

[00:26:11] This is a bit he's done, I'm sure, that he pulls into a sketch format. I love you. I love you. This premise actually is so like simple and brilliant. Yep. I'm surprised no one's done anything like this before. It was very good. As soon as it said dad's house, I was like, I knew exactly what this was going to be. Yep. And then he just, I mean, I'm like, oh, you don't want to shoot the juice? Just the disgusting food that you would come up with, like all that stuff. Dumbing the syrup in the, the anasage was so gross too. Gosh darn.

[00:26:41] Just the way it diluted the water. It makes me think like, what if Ashley goes away for a couple of days and I have to like watch the boys? Like this is the kind of stuff that I come up with. No, this is great. And honestly, this is, you look at the previous hosts. This needs to be played by Shane Gillis though, because it needs to be a little bit of a schlup, right? Also in every movie that you've ever seen that has a situation like this, the wife's new lover is James Austin Johnson. It's always like, this is Sean, this is Sean, Sean Spencer. Who am I talking to?

[00:27:11] Whatever it is. Who am I talking to? Also, that was the perfect live action version of Ned Flanders. It was incredible. Like that was, that's slept on in this sketch, but he perfected it. It was awesome. My favorite part of the sketch though, is having the puppet woman. Oh my God. Yeah. Shane's delivery. What the hell are you doing here? Exactly. Exactly. And I love that. She's like, you guys want me to make you something to eat? So, so in, in my head, the puppet shows up and I'm like, what the fuck? And they go, oh, it's a kid's show. Cause for, you know, you don't remember. Yeah.

[00:27:40] And I think that's a great way for the writers to be like, hey, we've got to remind everybody. This is supposed to be a show, not just an actual look into what's happening in this guy's life. No, I don't want you to be my kids if you did that. That's the best. It was, this is a great sketch. I thought so too. This is very good. Very well written. Nate, I'm sorry, buddy. If you found me. But all right. The please don't destroy film, the sound, um, in a spoof of singing competition shows,

[00:28:08] judges assess a contestant based solely on his voice leading to unexpected and comedic critiques. Um, this obviously was Ben Marshall, John Higgins, Martin Herlihy. And then the fourth judge was Ego Wodum. And the contestant was played by Shane Gillis. And Tate McRae plays a cameo in this as well. Uh, it was good to see another please don't destroy sketch. I feel like we hadn't seen one in a little while. I don't know. It's been a little while. Um, yeah, they've, they haven't done a lot this year.

[00:28:37] No, they've, they've been around it. Maybe I, we're going to find out maybe they're writing another movie or something. I don't know. They definitely weren't writing anything for the 50th. Whoa. Um, the, wait, here's the, here's the reality. I don't know. Just, there was several episodes and Nate was like, maybe they're writing something for the 50th. Oh. You know, here's, now I know. Just sound like you were sure. They've written for sketches and stuff. The last please don't, please don't destroy sketch was October 19th. It's been a while. Yeah, it's quite a while. It's been a while.

[00:29:07] They've only done. All right. Please destroy sketch on SNL. Please don't destroy. This is the second please don't destroy sketch in season 50. That's all. Whoopsie, dude. I don't know. So what'd you guys think of this one? Eh. I actually thought it was pretty funny. I liked, I liked the premise. This didn't feel like a please don't destroy sketch to me though. This felt like an SNL digital short. Yes. Um, that's good. It was very high production value, which is fine if they want to switch it up around that. But there was something about the comedic tone didn't even feel like please don't destroy.

[00:29:37] Um, I still thought it was pretty funny. I think Shane Gillis looked really goofy. Um, I feel like a please don't destroy version of this is when it's not just Shane Gillis, but they just do a cavalcade of characters that are all that. Yeah. And they have to like keep spinning around, you know, the silliness wasn't there. It was, it's a good point, Brad. I, this, this felt like a, uh, a John Martin and Ben sketch they wrote. Yeah.

[00:30:04] And not a please don't destroy, please don't destroy sketch. Right. Cause there's a very different thing. There are sketches they write that aren't please don't destroy that certainly have their mark on it, but that's what this felt like. This didn't feel like the please don't destroy sketches that we know. And for, for one reason, for me, the escalation cause they're kings of escalation wasn't, it was there a little bit, but not as much as they do to that point. The issue is the reveal happens early. Yep.

[00:30:33] The reveal made me laugh hard. Yeah. So we turned around and it's him in the, and the way they have him look is the funniest thing that happened was when he stood up out of the scooter. Well, you don't need that. That was really funny. But again, there's, you're just focused on the one guy, right? But the escalation of him having a career and then seeing with Tate McCray, that's not funny enough for me. No, no. So that doesn't, that doesn't, it didn't move the needle for the escalation. For me, the escalation comes from how much weirder the guy gets after you see how the story is. Exactly. And they did do a decent job of that.

[00:31:03] The one element of this, I think that does have that please don't destroy fast paced kind of style to it is the rapid fire like weirdness that comes from him constantly revealing new facts about himself and the rapid fire of the hitting the button and turning. That's the one thing that feels please don't destroy. But just the entire premise and like the vibe itself didn't feel like please don't destroy. So, so. Still though, not, not bad. Not bad at all. I still laugh very much. Yeah. But there's a high bar that I have for please don't destroy and this is the only second.

[00:31:31] Do you feel Nate, because you hadn't seen one in a while you were just, your expectations were a little high? I, it's, it's high regardless if they're every week or. We were, we were in a hotel room on Saturday night, Ashley and I were, and I was maybe a little TMI. I was taking a pee as the credits were going. Oh gross. And it said, you know, a video by please. And I went, yes! From the bathrooms. Got piss everywhere. I peed all over the sink. Cause let me say, I have such high respect for them. I get so excited.

[00:31:58] They are, they are some of the, I think honestly some of the funniest comedic minds that we have on SNL right now. I love them. They're so funny. And again, that's just, that's us sitting in the bar pretty fucking high. Yeah, exactly. And so very funny sketch just wasn't for me what I usually get out of please. Um, and maybe they're there. Maybe they are like a comedy group, a threesome here that needs the constraints of a budget that makes them get more creative in their comedy. Right?

[00:32:28] Maybe. Like, I don't know. But I, but I feel like. I can't believe you hate them. I think that. I love them so much. And maybe time will tell on this because maybe they're just starting to expand their horizons a bit. Cause I guess when you think about where the lonely island started and how low budget and low fi and cheap, like their stuff looked in the beginning and then where it would end up when they started doing more expensive music videos, when they actually had a proper crew that they sent out rather than just having a camcorder and like asking for favors.

[00:32:56] I think that maybe, maybe it's worth giving please don't destroy like a chance to like do different stuff like this and not, you know, write it off. Not that we are writing it off, but just that allowing them to evolve and like, oh, they can do different stuff than what we expect. I remember please don't, or sorry, the lonely island talking about having to get used to that though. Right? Because they were so used to just the three of them. You hold the camera this time. Right? Like, and so it was jarring to get a production team. Yeah, exactly.

[00:33:25] And there was comfort knowing that it's just the three of them or one other person. Again, the stakes being that high, like we're going to let other people down. We let it like the three of us, Nate, Brad, Ben go out with a video camera. I'm not concerned at all about what we do. You give me somebody that actually knows what the hell they're doing. I'm terrified. Right? Also, I think the police don't destroy really only do to the season. That's all for this. According to SNL archives, Paul, Paul Meskel and Travis, I'm going to

[00:33:54] get to the Carly XCX then, right? So, yeah. So, shout out to SNL archives.net because I get a lot of information from them and they just do such a good job posting their information. But yes, so we've got, no, Paul Meskel wasn't in a police and destroy sketch, right? Was that just a regular sketch then? No, no. That was a police and destroy. Yeah. Okay. According to- Nate, get your shit to you, man. Oh yeah, because they talk to Paul Meskel and then he's zaddy and then they go to the cabin.

[00:34:24] And I was just going to- No, you're right. They don't, he does not have that listed, but you're absolutely right. Paul Meskel is daddy. Because I was going to mention, that was one where they also went beyond the confines of like the SNL office and SNL in general and did something that was a little more higher budget, higher production quality, that kind of thing. So SNL archives does not have that listed, but they do have the skydiving one listed from 1019, which was with Michael Keaton. So that's three. Yeah. So three of them.

[00:34:54] SNL archives is bad at keeping the archives. Easy. It's- I'm just kidding. You do a good job. He does a great job. But- I like to check SNL wiki. I do too. Well, the wiki or the fandom? That's the one. It's an SNL wiki, but it's not a fandom. Yeah, but they also, there's a Wikipedia- Moving on. Moving the fuck on. My sweet summer child. Good God. All right. It's time for a weekend update. Get your calculator out, you sweet, lovable boy. All right.

[00:35:24] The anchors, Michael Che and Colin Joes, tackle current events with their signature humor, while special guests add their comedic takes on movies and dating the weekend update bits this week where the movie guy, Marcelo Hernandez, discusses his predictions for the 2025 Oscars and Jake Wickline comes back and shares her quirky tips about wooing potential love interests. Ben, give us, it's been a while. So, give us a little bit of a- It's been a while.

[00:35:53] No? How much do Colin Joes and Michael Che interact with one another? It does improve the breadometer score. However, if the episode without the interaction is in and of itself incredible, that would also raise the bar, but not as much as the interaction between Joes and Che. Therefore, the breadometer is ultimately a mix, I'd say 80-20, between the interaction and the overall quality. Nate? Yeah. Nate's a dork. Okay.

[00:36:23] Fuck you! Yeah, I think we also know that in the off-season, Brad reworked his breadometer a little bit. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it, got it. Got it. back down to normal levels and so instead of everything being at 100 as a hundo as it's been uh he brought down just a tad bit so he made a little more reasonable and if if you remember right it would have been at the levels that ben and i had been guessing exactly um i will say this time

[00:36:50] uh uh nate i i'm gonna put this one at an 86 and it's because colin jost called for michael jay's firing by clapping and looking at him and it was a direct interaction that was not just a little wink but like a very overt thing so i'm gonna say 86 85 i'm sorry show show you've both gone over

[00:37:15] 81 so we still have it i have there's a little bit of fully recalibrated and while that interaction ben did point out was funny it was just one instance there wasn't like a whole back and forth throughout it didn't create like a whole you know a bit of just having fun with each other and laughing at each other's nonsense and all that jazz so yes and all that jazz 81 keeping it reasonable all right keeping it reasonably what do you think about the jokes yeah were there any jokes that stood out

[00:37:41] uh i can't think of any off the top of my head actually i said either it's the first time that michael jay referenced the 90s again which i just love well we all love that uh no i didn't uh yeah no really uh yeah i thought it was fine marcelo hernandez yeah what did you guys think of marcelo hernandez on our go flicks yourself podcast we'll certainly talk about the oscars a little bit in detail uh what do you think about his take on the oscars this was such a weird character

[00:38:08] yeah i thought so too and i think that marcelo hernandez knew how weird it was too because the way you saw him playing it is like he kept kind of like half chuckling at what he was saying like wasn't even really sure like what he was doing or like why but it was i still enjoyed it um i don't not necessarily know the purpose of the character i like the audacity of a movie guy never seeing any of the films and the fact that they keep bringing up like you saw this one right and you're like oh no

[00:38:35] i didn't like that got better it's like a letterman bit it kept getting better the fact that he had not seen any of these it was but it was kind of a swing and a miss for me i didn't think it ever hit the thing that they were thinking it was going to be i loved it i really loved it i chuckled at it but like i loved it i find myself one because it didn't feel like a marcelo hernandez character exactly it um and so yeah i just wasn't really sure what it was supposed to be and so like i still laughed at it because i thought it was amusing the way he played it but yeah it was it was it was

[00:39:04] weird i would almost suspect this more from uh emil walkham a little bit more like than marcelo hernandez just because he just got i don't know it just felt different you guys aren't on the same level as me like i get comedy all right speaking of getting comedy jane wickline what'd you think of that uh this is one of those things on paper the trolley problem as romantic advice is hilarious

[00:39:30] don't put it on oh why don't disagree why don't you like jane wickline this was so funny it was no everyone all right well then get somebody to do it better no watching the slow realization that she has and like getting more and more anxious about like the the problem there is and this like the song evolving with it and like her getting more worried and pausing it was really good i thought brad i love you in a way that my father doesn't love me but i gotta tell you you're so wrong on

[00:39:59] this jane wickline is just not so we've gone back to you guys being against jane wickline because just it's just the performance the bit is the performance is great it's not though no it is it's exactly what it's supposed to be i sometimes feel like you're joking us i get listen i get that like it's supposed to it's supposed to be i don't think you guys like quirky comedy but that's the thing it's not quirky it's it's not sherman's quirky it's not quirky when you sherman's not quirky she's weird it's but it's not quirky when you like flub the line and you do you're not enunciating

[00:40:28] well enough and like there's a there's there's kyle mooney and then there's this yep no i think this is in line with kyle mooney no stop it stop it you're embarrassing you know what i think you guys are sexist you're embarrassing yourself and your your your parents right now and your gender speaking of embarrassing parents how's your how's your dad nate how's your mom she's alive so is dade's dad my mom's close she almost fucked that up she died yeah you know that

[00:40:54] don't worry my parents are both still here uh i think jane wickline did this a lot better than you guys do anything in your life that's fair i mean that's not hard still very low bar speaking of low bar how you doing ben moving on wedding interruption uh an ex-boyfriend dramatically interrupts a wedding ceremony causing chaos and laughter as he confronts the wedding party this was uh played by shane gillis's ex-boyfriend

[00:41:21] the bride and groom were sarah sherman and devon walker and others in this work keenan thompson actually bidet and mikey day um what'd you guys think of this this is also getting shane gillis kind of being shane gillis uh really funny premise i think this is a rare time where i i think that sarah sherman didn't do great and that's that's that i she was the one i'm like i kept on waiting

[00:41:45] for sarah sherman like to why why did you put sarah sherman in this yeah like it just felt weird to me yeah it didn't feel like it was a character for her it also felt like she was kind of overplaying it a little bit because i don't know if she knows how to not because that's usually what we're asking her to do yeah right so and she she wasn't terrible but just didn't really fit the vibe of the sketch almost would have been better with asher padilla in that line that yeah but but i did like the escalation

[00:42:13] of the sketch everyone having their own coupon but it was i don't even think it's all sarah sherman's fault necessarily i think the way that the character was written didn't feel like it vibed with the the logic of the sketch itself like it didn't feel like her reaction felt in line with the absurdity of everybody having their own coupons you know there should have been something more for her to do or a different way for her to react yeah that's a that's a that's an insightful because it was it was a

[00:42:39] little bit subdued honestly if if it's really your wedding and these people are really coming up with the the the audacity right i would think that would come out of that but instead it was like come on you guys i just want to get it was just a lot different yeah i agree 100 agree i just thought i thought it was a very however for that the premise is very good i've never seen this before you know cashing a coupon on your your ex's wedding like it's very good uh ash and i were watching it

[00:43:08] and we both said good premise the execution may be a little bit to be worked on that's all um i i say all this too to bring up um this coupon that i have for one free docking session ben so again i did that like 10 years ago and there is an expiration date on it and you just fail to realize the expiration date says when there's no more love and i know that there's love here okay well agree to disagree i have

[00:43:36] coupons for both of you cuddle sesh you know what that's small spoon done and done same coupon or do we have a different no no no i don't think we're gonna do like a no no i mean i mean is that one coupon for you and then i have a different coupon yes what's my no both of you get a coupon yours expired mine's cupins oh all right i'm looking even more coupons i'm a rewards member moving on

[00:44:03] doctor's visit uh a man realizes his doctor is a former middle school classmate leading to a i love this i'm laughing already i love this so much uh uh leading to a hilarious trip down memory lane during a checkup uh this was just shane gillis and emil wacquem um this this may be left quite a bit i saw an interesting statistic i forget who posted it it's one of the saturday night live twitter

[00:44:30] accounts i follow it might have been saturday night network they do a great job with statistics but they did a thing that the last time there was a sketch that had just the host and only one other cast member was uh i think 2015 what or 2017 and it was the one with donald glover and uh melissa via senor i think in bed together wow yeah that's a long time yeah wow no i love this because

[00:44:56] it's like shane gillis um uh espousing the line like the way he said uh beef to teeth right like it's just it's that's a delivery that exists for shane gillis and not many other performers like the way he said it and how he's like oh man i never heard that before that it was just so fucking organic and good i laughed so hard at that also i am right about the sketch i'm

[00:45:24] wrong about the year 2018 and donald glover and most of us in your last time that seven years ago that's crazy but yeah i know the uh the idea teeth cracked beef the teeth got me but then the fact like emil walkin i mean uh uh he must have written this because like he was like i was like three nine of course i could i could suck anything on any part of my body and then jane gillis been like you're not that tall now man like just the audacity of the whole thing between the two of them was wonderful

[00:45:53] i loved it i was i could have watched that go on for a little bit longer honestly it was great it started a tabbis low right because i think emil walkin was awesome that helps i think that's great and i also think emil walkin is a little bit nervous a little bit at the beginning because he's not done a ton yet and because i've been waiting for him to find his voice and to see kind of what role he's going to provide on snl is he going to be a straight guy is he going to you know

[00:46:17] and he did really well as that like awkward like i'm a little guy trying to be serious but i'm not right um yeah i did the thing that you said that i did yep just so good um no i was incredibly impressed with this like especially just as a two-hander like that's a really good sketch all right and then they did a more in memoriam for david johansson uh brad will you explain a

[00:46:44] little bit about what he did for snl yeah he uh was uh um nope he was in car 54 where are you and he was in scrooge no it's something with music um he passed away the previous day featuring a still photo of him as his alter ego buster poindexter um i know nothing about him other than that thanks for bringing it up nate so i just assumed you would know because you know all things i i gave you two

[00:47:13] things so just you know i guess fuck me one of those things is true let's hope all right that's it that's the episode guess which one of those two things is true don't look it up on google just comment on facebook was he in car 54 where are you or was he in scrooge all right let's talk a little bit about the the details well who would you give the mvp of the night i didn't think about the same

[00:47:40] shit it's a good question i think it's probably gonna go to heidi gardner i agree not only was she very funny in the uh the early sketch but she's in um the couple of beer sketch going jane wicklein no you're not no i'm not of course he's not because yeah he's he's he's a liar he doesn't understand comedy by the way while you think about this david johansson uh was an american singer songwriter and actor best known as lead singer of the seminal proto-punk band the new york dows

[00:48:10] told you music he's also known for his work under the pseudonym buster poindexter and for playing the ghost of christmas past in car 54 where are you in scrooge so who played the guy in car 54 where are you because that that guy looks like that guy that's david he may have been that's david cassidy is it really no uh hold on it's butch cassidy he in co-star with john c mckinley in car 54 where are

[00:48:34] you so the same guy it is oh you go take a big step back yeah brad you're done we're both right no you were not i said something to do music you're done brad you're done in this business no i i can nail both of his acting roles yeah both of them you're embarrassed oh you know what i'm good man uh i'm the mvp of this episode you haven't you wouldn't be the mvp on a football team or the only player

[00:48:57] so but did you have an mvp uh sorry yes um i'm gonna you know what uh i will i'm gonna give it to shane gillis and here's why here's why here's why here's why the only reason i'm giving it to him is because i think three politics three sketches could not have existed in the same way if it was a different person than shane gillis hosting and i know we say about like going above beyond but these were literally sketches that were written kind of for him with him they don't have

[00:49:27] the same impact if it's anybody else brad he's not wrong no that's a good point it's a good point couple of beers it's way different if it's paul rudd or if it's you know natasha leone or just anybody right yep so and dad's house and whatever so i yeah i will give it to him it was enough where he was pulling his weight i can't figure out another like i think heidi garnier he crushed it obviously but i can't think of another cast member that so i think shane gillis is a worthy person yeah to be in the consideration and but i want to be very clear it's different than like

[00:49:54] above and beyond it's because this was a this felt like a catered episode for him more than normal you know i was a little confused because i i saw a lot of the fighter online and it felt like a lot of people were saying this was not a good episode yet the the three of us just talked about an episode that we kind of like i think it's i think it's a decent episode i don't think it's like a home run or anything like that but i think it's it's most of the sketches are pretty was there a bad sketch i think you you go back through and there's not really a bad sketch here but you you also go

[00:50:23] through and i think that you have a little different like go watch dad's house again it's very good go watch the the the the whatever the the winery one i watched it twice and and heidi gardner she's making him do this yeah it was great like there's there's really great moments may have been a little weak honestly with the which is crazy that weekend update is maybe the weak point of this whole episode yeah sketches were very good though but yeah um i was very happy all right uh what was your sketch

[00:50:50] of the night couple of beers with me oh i mean if it's a pre-tip it's a couple of beers for sure but you're allowed to be pre-tiped i don't have to explain this to you every time it can be a pre-tip it's a sketch it's a sketch it's if it's a pre-tip it's a couple of beers if it's not it's it's it's a mil walk him in the doctor at the end i'd give it to dad's house over that actually i i just liked it so much because of the two-hander part of it yeah but it's a couple of beers because it's a

[00:51:15] couple of beers is a pretty good non-scape pre-tip it could be a pre-tip i picked that one yeah that's how it works dummy you two are funny all right so um what else we have coming up uh the next episode we'll spoil it lady gaga yes march 8th uh lady gaga will be pulling double duty as host

[00:51:40] and musical guest she's got a new album coming out uh so she'll probably sing new songs from that and then she'll also be funny so maybe do a number from joker yeah she'll probably do uh yeah because it was everyone loved the music in that joker photograph um there's another break i hope they do a sketch about joker that'd be great if they usually do three episodes in a row they'll bring back andrew just makes it his wedding

[00:52:09] that'd be great they're very funny do you expect any joker stuff i know i hope there is i mean she's pretty self-referential so i don't know how you ignore it if anybody would do it it would be her like she'd be fine with that yeah has she hosted before uh i think so i mean she definitely was the musical guest previously and she's definitely been in she's been sketches yeah huh yes she did she

[00:52:35] hosted in november 16th 2013 there you go it's been a while though 12 years musical guest one of one of ben's favorites lady gaga r kelly oh holy shit wait she hosted when r kelly was the musical guest for real yeah why 2013 uh maybe she would have had an album was that um she had an acting role

[00:53:00] maybe her like her first uh that's crazy no r kelly was a musical cameo sorry oh i was wrong she did pull w you son of a gun i know i got you guys i got you guys what did he do what what did they invite r kelly what did he do piss on kids i was gonna say you say what did r kelly do we'll talk off air like what what why was he even involved in the episode he's playing p diddy

[00:53:23] he's trapped in the closet both adequate jokes all right you gonna wrap this shit up no we done i'm done um i'm interested to see who's gonna be hosting in the rest of march or april get any guess the the lady from uh the best picture was oh mikey madison yeah we could see mikey madison maybe adrian maybe they'll bring adrian brody back he did such a good job last time oh my god give me

[00:53:50] another comedian that they should pick um you're the comedians all right if it's a year stand-up i would love to see i wouldn't mind seeing nikki glazer do snl louis ck oh boy why what happened pissed on kids he asked if it was okay though pick one pick one former snl cast member you want to

[00:54:14] that that is that has maybe yeah not been on recently uh ad bryant vanessa bear oh yeah i would love to see her yeah i'm going bobby moynhan yeah of course of course actually that's my new pick yeah if if like somehow some somebody in hollywood give bobby moynhan an a-list acting role so just so he can come back i don't care i don't care every role he does is an a-list i know listen i'm saying i you know what i just fuck you i just want her back on the show yeah me too okay why don't you like

[00:54:43] bobby moyn why don't you brad why don't you like jane wick line i just actually the trolley problem is not a good sketch it's not a good bit i i do cheer for her i want her to succeed on paper that's sound like it doesn't sound like it here's the thing is i want her to be as good as you think she is it's a backhanded compliment all right everyone thanks so much for listening uh please rate and review this podcast uh hey we appreciate if you're listening on our youtube page that seems to

[00:55:12] be growing and we appreciate that uh check in as well from there um share this podcast with anybody you know that's also a fan of snl let us grow the community like us on facebook on x um as always if you are watching this on youtube every third video we will continue to show one of our penises and that's why we have gotten so much good response from the public we love you very much every third video

[00:55:40] check it out and i guess this now gets no views thank you so much for listening we'll we'll be back next week be good to yourself be good to others bye bye