SNL101

We discuss Miles Teller's second time hosting on November 1, 2025. The episode was uneven, it was technically good but lacked "flavor." We discuss how we could use "Missing Wives" in class to discuss the true crime genre, strategic use of archetypes in comedy, and using gendered dynamics in screenwriting. Readings feature Ralph Ellison, Richard Butsch, and a history of true crime from Jstor Daily, as well as films that comment on intimacy in relationships including On Golden Pond (1981) and Together (2025).

Charisse chats with Michelle Santosuosso, a pioneering voice in hip-hop radio, a music industry veteran, about Sabrina Carpenter's recent SNL appearance and album rollout. They analyze the performance's marketing strategy, sanitized humor, and sexuality themes, comparing Carpenter's authenticity to Taylor Swift's image control. The discussion also examines SNL's evolving cultural risks, streaming-era language freedom, and music industry promotion dynamics.

There were a lot of thoughts on Sabrina Carpenter's first time hosting on October 18, 2025. This iteration may have hit its stride, but may have underutilized Sabrina's talents. We discuss Boys Podcast as well as Jost's joke about Trump and Argentina. We also hear from Michelle Santosuosso, Professor of Practice at Newhouse's Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries, about Sabrina's career trajectory and the role of SNL in the music business.

We discuss Any Poehler's second time solo hosting on October 11, 2025. We talk about Emo Mom through the lens of liminality on both ends of adulthood, in adolescence and menopause, as well as gendered differences in aging, and representations of grief. Readings include an article about the We Do Not Care Club and Kendrick Lamar's Die Hard.

In this season premiere episode hosted by Bad Bunny on October 4, 2025, we discuss the Pete Hegseth Cold Open and satirizing authoritarianism. Readings include a new essay from Luvell Anderson and a classic 1940 essay from Rudolf Arnheim reflecting on the effectiveness of Chaplin's seminal satire The Great Dictator (1940). We also include a clip of Carol O'Connor on Dick Cavett in 1971 discussing the reception of Archie Bunker.

Charisse, Luvell, and Chuck get together before the premiere of SNL Season 50 to talk about hopes, dreams, and fears for the new season. We also discuss Farnsworth's Dream, Bargatze's opening sketch at the 2025 Emmys.

After a year of celebrations, reflections, and clip shows, Scarlett Johansson hosts the season finale of the 50th season on May 17, 2025 for a record-setting seventh time. We talk about the power of news parody with Local News Stories and Press Junket, as well as the complexity of humorous gaze with Couples at the Bar and food Ethics in Victorian Ladies Who Lunch. We also discuss Mike Myers Elevator Ride and Joke Swap.

Walton Goggins' hosting debut on May 10, 2025 was a wild romp that embraced his newfound sex symbol status and delivered hearty guffaws and gasps. We discuss the construction of slapstick with A Guy Who Just Walked into a Spiderweb on Trump's Tariffs and the complexity of racial representation in The Movie Guy on Upcoming Summer Blockbusters, both segments on Weekend Update, as well as the humor potential of revealing intimate spaces in Boss's Bathroom, A Dan Bulla Short. We also break down The Second Amendment and Mother's Day Brunch. Readings include a reflection on Commedia Dell'Arte, an interview with Sofia Veragara, and reflections on the second amendment from legal scholars to Dave Chappelle.

Quinta Brunson was a delight in her second time hosting on May 3, 2025. Her presence was refreshing and she carried her sketches with a joy that was infectious. We discuss the inside humor of racial epithets on Weekend Update: Two Applebee's Barflies Duke and Darlene, the complicated experience of laughing at oneself in Two Bitches vs. a Gorilla and Forever 31, and the racial politics of time in Will and Todd's Radical Experience. Readings include a SCOTUS briefing on racial epithets, explorations of intersectional womanhood, and "The Chronopolitics of Racial Time," a 2020 essay by Charles Mills. Check out more videos in additional resources along with our reflections on Quinta's hosting debut in S48E16.

Charisse L'Pree and Chuck Hayward keep the conversation going to talk about Lizzo's appearances in S50E18 hosted by Jon Hamm. We discuss Lizzo's quiet-but-loud activism, the writers' limited use of her in the episode, and how celebrity scandal operates in the ecosystem of Saturday Night Live. Chuck also connects Lizzo's performance to Janet Jackson's post-Superbowl episode 21 years ago on April 10, 2004.