Saturday Night Live recap: Mick Jagger makes surprise return to Studio 8H, but can’t save Bad Bunny episode
Hello kids, welcome to the latest edition of SNL in Review. Tonight, Bad Bunny — Spotify’s most streamed artist of the year and the king of Latin trap — is coming to 8H as both host and musical guest. Outside of Taylor Swift, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more popular global music icon, and the fact that she previously appeared in several sketches on Season 46 (when Reggie-Jean Page hosted) makes her own episode a lot more meaningful, giving her the chance to host it. . And, oh yeah, with the ongoing actors’ strike, Saturday Night Live is a bit boxy in terms of who they can enlist, which will, hopefully, provide some interesting variety over the next few weeks!
I’m joined tonight by former SNL cast member Jeff Richards, who thinks cellist Yo-Yo Ma should host with Eddie Murphy as a potential musical guest. This summer, one of Jeff’s impressions from his podcast went viral: Gary Busey and “Buttered Sausage.” Maybe you’ve seen it trickling in on TikTok?
I asked Jeff what his advice is for Bad Bunny as he prepares to pull double duty tonight. He said: “Bring your own carrot cake.”
Mickey Day as Jim Jordan is perfect casting. (He’s played her in the past, as has Bill Hader.) Here, the Ohio politician is running against him after failing to be elected Speaker of the House.
Jorge Santos (Bowen Young) stops by to cheer him up. Lorraine Bobert (Chloe Fineman) calls her from the theater — of course, she met someone while watching Aladdin.
“Huh huh, is this the loser’s office?” asks Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson). He is very funny – Jim is his least favorite Jordan, he likes “Michael” and “Sparks”. These are usually some stand-up bits of JAJ as Trump here.
Quite modest and minor. We’ve seen worse, though.
Bad Bunny does whatever he wants—he even has sex in English. But he prefers Spanish.
[Speaking in a non-English language] appears on screen, which is a nice callback to early SNL, when they did it often. Bad Bunny asks for clarification on the text, as the caption should say he’s speaking in a sexual language. He has confidence – not sure if I should call it funny or charismatic, but what do I know?
Pedro Pascal shows up to translate and give advice on how to host. He acknowledges some audience-friendly tropes. Is this a sign that the show doesn’t trust Bad Bunny to carry his own show?
Richards recalls when Justin Timberlake hosted and was the musical guest, as well as some of his funniest behind-the-scenes moments.Indigenous Peoples’ and Columbus Day-What is closed in Wisconsin
Shout-out 8 miles — we’re in a St. Andrews Hall-style rap tournament. Mikey Day is Walter Whiteboy, first getting himself out of La Bee Rabbit. He embarrasses himself, intensely.
His rival Fuego (Bad Bunny) reacts surprisingly sympathetically, winning the battle to be the good man.
Shout-out 8 miles — we’re in a St. Andrews Hall-style rap tournament. Mikey Day is Walter Whiteboy, first getting himself out of La Bee Rabbit. He embarrasses himself, intensely.