Jake Gyllenhaal Hypes Up Saturday Night Live's 50th Season In A So-So Season 49 Finale
This weekend, the 49th season of "Saturday Night Live" came to an end. Typically, the season finale is chock full of guest stars, and usually a big name or former beloved cast member takes the stage in Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza for hosting duties. This time, it was the former, with "Road House" remake star Jake Gyllenhaal returning for his third time hosting the late night sketch series.
For those keeping track, Gyllenhaal's hosting duties have Taylor Swift fans buzzing, because the musical guest was "Girl Meets World" star Sabrina Carpenter, who has been opening for Swift on the international part of her Eras Tour (now available to watch on Disney+), and there's that whole drama between Gyllenhaal and Swift that resulted in a 10-minute hit song. Speaking of musical guests, Gyllenhaal got musical in his own right as he sang a Boyz II Men cover about the honor of hosting the 49th season finale, which is basically like hosting the first episode of the upcoming milestone 50th season. But more on that later!
So how was Jake Gyllenhaal in his latest "Saturday Night Live" hosting stint, and was it a worthy season finale? Let's dig into the highs and one dreadful, severe low of this so-so episode.
What was the best sketch of the night?
Coming out on top, we have the second musical performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, after the actor delivered a ballad during the monologue (which we'll get to in a moment). Honestly, this almost felt like it should have been a 10-to-1 sketch, because it's a little bit weird. This parody of the musical "Follies" has touches of the Lawrence Welk sketches that featured Kristen Wiig as the peculiar performer Dooneese, who just so happens to have a massive forehead forehead, a baby's hands, and a prominent snaggletooth. But instead of leaning into the comedic bit of three regular characters and one weirdo, we've got a whole cavalcade of awkward boys. It's almost like a blend of the "Little Buff Boys" sketch from "I Think You Should Leave" mixed with the sexless kids from last weekend's landscaping commercial sketch with Maya Rudolph (which we didn't have a full review for, sorry).
Aside from the humor that comes from the physical appearance of the beautiful boys and their classic song and dance, there are also some cheekily naughty lyrics that veer away from actually being inappropriate at the last minute. Though Gyllenhaal was more than a little over the top throughout most of this episode, this was the one sketch where it felt like his performance worked in his favor. The presentation certainly helped, especially with that sudden overhead camera angle. And finally, the escalation of putting Kenan Thompson into the middle of the musical number ended on a high note (figuratively and literally).
How was the rest of the Jake Gyllenhaal's SNL?
Scooby-Doo – Another standout that hits a sweet spot for /Film is this parody of Scooby-Doo. This is one of those sketches where there's a bit of a longer lead to the punchline, which ends up being Fred (Gyllenhaal) tearing the actual face off of the previously masked villain pretending to be a ghost. It sparks a series of bloody mishaps among the Scooby-Doo ensemble (including Sabrina Carpenter appearing as Daphne), which results in a surprise twist with Scooby-Doo pulling a gun on Fred. This is basically a sequel to the gory take on "A Christmas Carol"with Steve Martin and Martin Short that also turned into an Apple commercial (even though both bumpers feel like an unnecessary touch). It should be pointed out that this sketch plays out very similarly to a Scooby-Doo sketch that Nerdist did, though it does end up escalating into a much different direction.
NYPD Press Conference – When I first saw this sketch, I thought it was going to veer into some kind of topical event that would be more appealing to New Yorkers. That ended up being half-right, as a certain New York crime actually led to a more universally amusing gag about characters actors. In this sketch, an NYPD press conference talks about protecting a precious commodity: character actors. What are character actors? For those who don't know, Gyllenhaal's cop character provides a thorough rundown on how to spot them, with plenty of examples of those you are probably already familiar with, even if you don't know their name. Jon Hamm also made a return to "SNL" (after his appearance during Ryan Gosling's monologue) for a quick guest spot — the only cameo in this season finale, which was a bit of a surprise.
Dad Has a Cookie – Just on the cusp of being great, we have this sketch that feels like a spiritual sequel to Ryan Gosling backing out of an engagement, which also put Andrew Dismukes in an awkward position. This time, Dismukes has to lie about his girlfriend's father stealing a cookie before dinner, all while he's nervously trying to get permission to propose. Gyllenhaal is a little too intense in this sketch, when Gosling previously showed how to do this kind of performance right. It's Dismukes who is the real source of the laughs here. The one bonus bit here is the escalation that finds Dismukes taking the blame, which turns into an emergency scenario when his girlfriend believes that he's ingested peanuts, which he's allergic to.
As for the rest of the sketches, they were mostly safe and right down the middle. A fake fashion ad for Xiemu skewered Temu and Shein, the shadily cheap retail providers, but it felt a little too easy. Similarly, Gyllenhaal gets tossed around the living hell that is Southwest Airlines customer service on the phone, where the absurdity didn't quite feel absurd enough to overshadow the fact that this was a pretty easy mark. If there was one standout among the more average sketches, it was Snake Eyes, and it's mostly because of James Austin Johnson's high-pitched cowboy performance. I do feel like another pass on this sketch would have yielded even more positive results — but at least it wasn't as bad as the bike trail sketch.
What the hell was this bike trail sketch?
It's been a long time since I've seen an "SNL" sketch bomb this hard. This bike trail sketch was so bad that you could hear the electronic whirring of the elaborate mountain bike set that made it look like Jake Gyllenhaal was exhaustingly biking up a mountain trail. I'm not sure if the obvious contraption used to move the bike was too distracting to make the framework of the sketch be believable or if the bit just wasn't funny enough to justify a set like this. Maybe it's both.
Either way, this sketch was a dud. Not only were the punchlines falling flat, but the attempts to take the sketch to a more absurd level made it even worse. Why was Bowen Yang suddenly on Gyllenhaal's back? Why did the more grounded part of the sketch suddenly lose any real logic with Chloe Fineman accepting Gyllenhaal's advances simply because she's now single? There were a lot of bad decisions made to get this sketch on the air. It's honestly so bad that it will be hard to forget ... for all the wrong reasons.
Weekend Update joke swap returns with a vengeance
Since it's the end of the season, Michael Che and Colin Jost are back to deliver one of their best recurring bits. Che and Jost write jokes for each other that are intended to be offensive and/or embarrassing. Last year, Kate McKinnon's episode found Che delivering one of the most impressive joke swap swipes by forcing Jost to tell racially charged gags while sitting next to an elderly, Black activist, poet, and author (who actually turned out to be fictional, unbeknownst to Jost). This time, Che attempted a similar bit, utilizing an elderly, female rabbi while Jost told anti-Semitic jokes at the desk. Though still amusing, I think Jost ended up winning this round by having Che call out Kendrick Lamar, throwing him right in the middle of the hip-hop feud with Drake. Whenever Jost and Che do this, the audience wins.
Two Cicadas on the Largest Cicada Emergence – Meanwhile, the guests at the desk were pretty funny too. Watching Kenan Thompson and Marcello Hernandez in full-on cicada costumes was great, especially when the two made their makeshift cicada sound, despite the fact that there was an actual sound effect accompanying them. Hernandez even came close to breaking a couple times because of that bit alone. While elaborate costumes like this have maybe become a little too abundant at the Weekend Update desk, I thought this one was a winner.
How was Jake Gyllenhaal as an SNL host?
All right, we mentioned earlier that Jake Gyllenhaal was a little over the top in this episode. That started right at the beginning of the show in his monologue. Almost seeming like he had something to prove, Gyllenhaal did his best to belt out this variation on one of Boyz II Men's most romantic songs — but it's about loving that he's hosting the end of season 49 rather than being brought in to host the beginning of season 50.
Don't get me wrong, Gyllenhaal sounds decent for someone who isn't known for their musical chops, but there's something about his performance here and throughout the entire episode that feels like he's trying so hard to be funny. Hosts like Adam Driver, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone don't push unless it's truly called for, which is a big part of what makes them work so well. But at least Gyllenhaal had fun and wasn't responsible for derailing any of the sketches. It's just a shame his episode didn't really pack the kind of punch we hope for in a season finale. Perhaps they're really holding things back for the 50th season.
What about the 50th season of Saturday Night Live?
This fall will bring us the 50th season of "Saturday Night Live," a milestone that will likely be celebrated often from 2024 into 2025, and will see a primetime special air on February 16, 2025 (yes, that's a Sunday, because that's how primetime specials work). There have been rumblings that creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels has been trying to hold on to as many "SNL" cast members as possible, in order to deliver what will hopefully be a hugely successful season. If the 40th season special is any indication, this one should be even bigger and better.
Along with those rumblings, it has been said that Michaels may be mulling over retirement after the 50th season, potentially letting someone else take over the late night sketch show. Names like Seth Meyers and Tina Fey have been mentioned as potentially replacements, but nothing is official yet. Michaels certainly isn't showing any signs of actually slowing down, and he just might keep going until he literally can't anymore.
But the question is, does "SNL" see some kind of overhaul after the 50th season? So far, we haven't heard about any cast members leaving the show. Surely they all want to stick around for this big 50th season, even if there are a couple who haven't exactly become breakout cast members. Molly Kearney, Punkie Johnson, and Devon Walker have struggled to make a huge impact, but they do have standout moments occasionally. Michael Longfellow also feels like he could be on the cusp, but his dry, Norm Macdonald-esque approach to comedy does feel like it has value. How many of them will last after season 50? Will any of the staple primary cast members leave after the anniversary season is over? That remains to be seen, but you can bet we'll be covering the 50th season of "SNL" with great anticipation.
"Saturday Night Live" will return for season 50 sometime this fall.