Viewers around the world are enjoying and eagerly anticipating season 52 of Saturday Night Live [SNL], and I am certainly among the fired-up fanatics. SNL has been a staple in many homes since its premiere in 1975, and 41 years later its influence has remained persistent. Season 52 of SNL features two new cast members: Saidah Belo-Osagie, comedian and filmmaker and Grace Reiter, internet personality and comedian. Myself and many others are reeling with excitement over Grace Reiter joining the cast, something many of her fans foresaw happening before SNL announced the new cast members.
In recent seasons, critics have been harsh on SNL, often citing many shortcomings they find with more recent humor. I disagree with these critiques, and I find them to often be extremely over exaggerated. Although the humor may be different from older seasons, people seem to struggle to understand that humor changes along with the generations. Each generation of SNL gets criticized in the same way by the critics from the generation before. Instead of being so quick to judge the change in humor, I believe that people need to give SNL a chance and focus on the highlights of the season so far.
So far, season 52 of SNL has felt fairly neutral. Grace Reiter has made an amazing first impression on the audience, with her loud and spirited presence instantaneously drawing her into the spotlight. Saidah Belo-Osagie has not been utilized much by the writers, making it hard for me to have an opinion on how she is doing. There have been many enjoyable skits so far, but I feel that the hosts have been disappointing.
Episode 1 starred now 3-time host Jalen Brunson and musical guest Katseye. Part of a skit that was a mock episode of “Dream Academy,” the show from which Katseye originated from, has already become a trending audio on TikTok. Brunson’s delivery was sub-optimal, with the majority of his lines being toneless and dead-pan. It is important to note that he is an athlete and not a performer, but I feel that if a host is unable to properly deliver lines, they shouldn’t be reused as a host as many times as Brunson has.
Episode 2 starred Dakota Johnson and musical guest Turnstile. I did not at all enjoy Johnson’s performance; I found her humor to be basic and cringy. I feel that you could easily find her level of performance and type of humor at any local open mic, and I don’t think that she added anything of substance to the episode.
Finally, Episode 3 starred Shane Gillis and musical guest Rosalia. Gillis has faced intense backlash online since his recent episode, due to his brash and vulgar monologue. He painted himself in a very unflattering light, making multiple misogynistic jokes. Gillis had been a cast member of SNL in season 49, but was fired before his debut after evidence of him making racist and homophobic comments was found. I found his monologue to be tasteless and unfunny, since aside from the comments he made the monologue itself was boring and just him ranting to an audience.
Overall, I think that the new season of SNL has been hot and cold, with some good skits but unsatisfactory hosts. I am looking forward to the upcoming episodes, and hope that the rest of the season reflects well on SNL as a whole.
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