Jake Gyllenhaal Takes Hilarious Notes in Season 49 Finale

Here we are, Conehead Nation! It’s graduation season, not just for millions of high school seniors, but also for Season 49 and our comedy heroes at Studio 8H. Wrapping up an entire season, I’m fully in beginning mode, reflecting on what went well (or not!) over the last 20 episodes. We are in the middle of a sort of show-stopper, in my opinion, an uneasy peace in uncertain times – far from the nadirs we know. Saturday Night Live is capable of doing it, but not exactly a golden age either.

To conclude season 49, Jake Gyllenhaal gets the ball. After a long hiatus between his first and second time – the most recent in 2022 – tonight is his third outing. Season finales can be disappointing sometimes, but let’s see.

I recently spoke with an elder SNL Cast member Gail Matthius watches the show “absolutely religiously” and says, “They do a great job. Kristen Wiig as guest host and Maya the other night? Bold and crazy, they were on their playground.” However, remembering the Ryan Gosling episode and the recent Beavis + Butthead sketch, she rightly points out that the cast is increasingly breaking up – which would have been unheard of in its time.

Season 49 ends in 3…2…1.

Cold opened

James Austin Johnson is Donald Trump in a “very strange and depressing” hallway outside his Manhattan courthouse. It starts off as your standard JAJ conscience monologue, which has become the hallmark of this era. He names “Elaine de Seinfeld» AKA ancient SNL the actor Julia Louis Dreyfus.

Trump launches into his favorite candidates. Devon Walker returns as Senator Tim Scott. Heidi Gardner pulls out a fake dog but a real gun as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. The “late and great” Hannibal Lector (Michael Longfellow) is giving Pence vibes.

Solid stuff – short and sweet. There’s nothing to get excited about. We’ve seen worse political cold opens, haven’t we, my friends?

Monologue

49 is a big number, says Gyllenhaal. He’s talking numbers and working with Conor McGregor in the streaming remake of Roadhouse. He’s right: it’s the last episode before the big 5-0, the key anniversary season.

Register for Weekly Entertainment‘s free daily newsletter to get the latest TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars and much more.

I love that he shouts out the Ed Kock episode, in season 9. (Let’s be specific: Edwin Newman, Father Guido Sarducci, Betty Thomas and Billy Crystal are co-hosts!)

He sings a Boyz 2 Men parody about all the other people who were asked to host but said no. More than 900 shows! I like Kenan Thompson noting that most of this season has gone well.

Daddy has a cookie

Andrew Dismukes wants to propose to his girlfriend Chloe Troast at her parents’ house. However, the father (Gyllenhaal) has a bigger obsession: his wife’s peanut butter cookie. She forbade him, but he couldn’t help it.

Matthius calls Troast a “wonderful new singer… she’s great.”

There’s some Tim Robinson influence here, isn’t there?

Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Shadow Ghost

Mikey Day is Shaggy, with Gyllenhaal (as Freddie), musical guest Sabrina Carpenter (as Daphne), and Sarah Sherman (as Velma) alongside CGI Scooby. Old man Franklin (Johnson) is discovered as the ghost. So far, a standard Scooby mystery: the villain has been revealed. However, there is even more for these crazy kids to do.

Things take a dark turn when Gyllenhaal becomes violent. High concept Sherman short film. Meh!

Beautiful girls

We witness a chorus of attractive, well-built young women. Here’s the problem: it’s now the “boys” turn. Something for the ladies in the audience. We go to see Busby Berkley with the camera work, after hearing the stories of most of the male actors. Gyllenhaal sings for the second time in half an hour.

It’s like a cousin to the Kristen Wiig-era “Lawrence Welk” setups, right?

It’s crazy that Chloé Fineman is just at the Cannes Film Festival to promote Megalopolis. Now she appears here! (In a small role.) Quite pedestrian, despite the choreography.

Hiking

Mikey Day and Chloe Fineman are having a heart-to-heart about their relationship while hiking when Gyllenhaal interrupts while riding his bike. He is very unpleasant! It enters text audibly and dictates emojis. “Send with invisible ink!” » he orders on his iPhone. Another slight sketch.

We get our second Apple reference in a few minutes. Very curious when this happens. “Detach, then reinsert.”

Fast fashion advertising

These clothes are pretty cheap – don’t worry! No prisoners involved, don’t worry about labor issues behind these deals. The pretty, shiny models struggle in real time with the careless and soulless confessions about the company and its tactics. It’s quite incisive, look at it!

Here’s the point: even if you were aware of these ethical issues, would you still buy it?

Sabrina Carpenter – first performance

“Espresso” reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Carpenter’s first top ten single on the chart. I get it, it has a catchy hook. One key fact: It was co-written by Amy Allen of Windham, Maine.

Weekend Update

Our anchors cover the recently announced Biden-Trump debates, as well as the Trump trial and recent shenanigans in the House of Representatives.

Two separate broods of cicadas will come this summer. To comment, two cicadas.

It seems symbolic – the ultimate Legacy actor (Kenan Thompson) is paired with the new face of the show (Marcello Hernandez). Colin Jost raps Kreayshawn. Lots of tentacle fun. Marcello had a fun season – an Emmy nomination, perhaps?

Here’s the fun thing to remember: the return of Joke Swap! Last time, Che hired an actress to play a civil rights activist. This time it’s Rabbi Jill. Kendrick Lamar is joking! Scarjo-Her the references! Puppets! These kinds of flops, right?

Southwest Airlines

Southwest’s Zachary (Day) and his colleagues (Nwodim, Kearney, Longfellow, Thompson, Johnson, Walker) refuse to reimburse Reginald (Gyllenhaal) for his flight. In 2021, we had a similar sketch with Kieran Culkin, who was having issues with his cable. Dismukes works at Hudson News – he sells hot DaSani. Bowen Yang is both south and west – in every direction. They can’t even get his name right. It’s boring, don’t bother.

Sabrina Carpenter – second performance

“Feather” is another jester Emails I can’t send – co-written by Windham, Amy Allen of Maine. This turns into a medley.

“I’m on it. SNL and you’re not!” she coos.

Jake’s Sister Maggie Gyllenhaal Is Remaking Bride of Frankenstein. Hence his shirt when he presents this performance.

NYPD Apartment

Sergeant Jeff McDougal gives a PAS on random acts of violence. His message? Stop punching actors in the face! Steve Buscemi has just been targeted, as has former host Rick Moranis. Stephen Root receives a security detail. Seinfeld girlfriends (like Gilmore Girls‘ Lauren Graham) are also warned.

It is very funny! Look at this. We get a cameo from Jon Hamm and a reference to Stephen Tobolowsky. Character actors are the lifeblood of the entertainment industry! Heidi Gardner and Andrew Dismukes face off against Brad Pitt and Paul Giamatti. To like.

Tavern

Gyllenhaal is a tough guy who flirts with Lexi, Snake Eyes’ daughter. We meet Snake Eyes (Johnson). They glance at each other. A pretty funny 10 to 1.

Final Thoughts

Nice midway episode! What did you think? Vote here!

Thank you very much to the first SNL cast who commented on this season: Jeff Richards, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Gary Kroeger, Patrick Weathers, Victoria Jackson, Denny Dillon, Matthew Laurance, Tom Schiller, Gail Matthius, Ana Gasteyer and Taran Killam.

Many thanks to the former SNLuh and voice actor Gail Matthius for her thoughts tonight! Watch for more soon, including his folk rock band The Shambles (LA). (Her husband is John Wirth, the award-winning showrunner of the AMC series Dark Winds.)

A nice title card for the recently deceased Dabney Coleman who hosted season 13.

Here’s what YOU, the people, thought about this season. I still think the vote totals are interesting, as well as the total number of votes:

– Pete Davidson (1,259 votes)

– Bad bunny (1,569 votes)

– Nate Bargatze (2,652 votes)

– Timothée Chalamet (1,115 votes)

– Jason Momoa (1,035 votes)

– Emma Pierre (1,011 votes)

– Adam Pilote (1,211 votes)

– Kate McKinnon (1,221 votes)

– Jacob Elordi (1,293 votes)

– Dakota Johnson (1,496 votes)

– Ayo Edebiri (1,431 votes)

– Shane Gillis (3,431 votes)

– Sydney Sweeney (1,416 votes)

– Josh Brolin (1,120 votes)

– Ramy Youssef (970 votes)

– Kristen Wiig (1,299 votes)

– Ryan Gosling (1,778 votes)

– Dua Lipa (1,044 votes)

– Maya Rudolph (983 votes)

Thanks for reading this season! See you soon!