Saturday Night LiveĀ was a little different this season, but for the most part, it gave us a taste of normalcy in what has otherwise been a very abnormal year. The pandemic caused so much uncertainty in our day-to-day lives, butĀ SNLĀ was still there for us on Saturday nights at 11:30 pm.
Since Saturday Night LiveĀ was one of the few constants during this hectic time, looking back on this season ofĀ SNLĀ is a great way to reminisce about the year in general.Ā So much time has passed and so much has changed since Chris Rock hosted the season premiere on October 3, 2020. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to write a brief refresher about every episode from season 46.
Saturday Night Live season 46Ā episode 1: āChris Rock/Megan Thee Stallionā
Chris Rock was the first of three former cast members to host the show this season (Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph were the others). However, he didnāt actually appear in very many sketches. His standout performance wasĀ his monologue, which is unsurprising since Rock is such a great stand-up comic.Ā Rock would later return in the season finale with some funny reflections on the seasonās first episode.
The most noteworthy performer of the episode was Chloe Fineman, who established herself as a futureĀ SNLĀ star with an incredible Drew Barrymore impression.
Most memorable sketch: The most memorable joke was definitely in āFuture Ghost,ā which had one of the funniest endings to a sketch that Iāve ever seen.Ā However, the most memorable sketch overall was the silly āSuperspreader Event,ā which introduced us to characters like Edith Puthie and Mike Rodick. Get it?
Saturday Night Live season 46 episode 2: āBill Burr/Jack Whiteā
Another week, another stand-up comedian. Burrās monologue stirred up some controversy online from both ends of the political spectrum, and Morgan Wallen caused even more controversyĀ by ignoring COVID protocols, which led to him being replaced with Jack White at the last minute.
All the drama aside, this was a pretty typical episode ofĀ Saturday Night Live ā entertaining throughout, but without too many exceptional moments
Most memorable sketch: My personal favorite was āThe New Normalā, Ā but the most memorable one was definitely āSam Adams,ā the spiritual sequel to āDunkinā Donuts.ā
Saturday Night Live season 46 episode 3: āIssa Rae/Justin Bieberā
Issa Rae came on the show to very belatedly promote the ānewā season of Insecure and her ānewāĀ movie Love Birds. Rae was supposed to host the show months earlier, but the pesky pandemic got in the way.Ā And just as Issa Raeās hosting appearance came a bit too late, the whole show felt like a bit of an afterthought. Rae is so charming and funny that the episode was still enjoyable, but it could have been a lot stronger if she had funnier material to work with.
Most memorable sketch: āFirst Date Exesā wasnāt the best sketch of the night, but itās hard to forget Pete Davidson as āKarate Manā or Bowen Yang using the phrase ātitty meat.ā
Saturday Night Live season 46 episode 4: āAdele/H.E.R.ā
I think itās safe to say that everyone was a little surprised when Adele was announced as the host (andĀ not the musical guest) for this episode. It was even more surprising when Adele demonstrated that sheās actually a pretty good actor. Despite Adele having no real acting credits to her name, someone atĀ SNLĀ clearly knew what they were doing with this one.
Most memorable sketch: āThe Bachelorā sketch is one that Iāll be re-watching for years to come. They could have done this sketch without Adele and it still would have been pretty funny (I bet Kate can do a decent Adele impression), but it was so much better that the pop superstar was able to play herself.