Saturday Night Live: Adam Driver / Olivia Rodrigo

December 11, 2023 12:17 PM - Season 49, Episode 7

I don't have anything to put here.

• Cold Open - Congress University Presidents: Molly Kearney, Chloe Troast, Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, Michael Longfellow, Bowen Yang, Kenan Thompson
• Monologue: Adam Driver
• Expecting: Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Bowen Yang, Adam Driver, Ego Nwodim
• Old Friends: Mikey Day, James Austin Johnson, Chloe Fineman, Adam Driver, Devon Walker
• Beep Beep: James Austin Johnson, Mikey Day, Bowen Yang, Heidi Gardner, Molly Kearney, Adam Driver, Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes, Kenan Thompson, Ego Nwodim
• Shop TV: Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson, Adam Driver, Kenan Thompson
• Olivia Rodrigo - Vampire
• Weekend Update: Michael Che, Colin Jost
  • Men's Depression: Marcello Hernandez
  • Christmas Gift Ideas: Chloe Fineman, Devon Walker, Julia Styles
• Baby Plane: Chloe Troast, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner, Adam Driver
• Olivia Rodrigo - All American Bitch
• Elder PSA: Kenan Thompson, Punkie Johnson, James Austin Johnson, Adam Driver, Heidi Gardner, Molly Kearney, Devon Walker, Marcello Hernandez, Chloe Troast
• Tiny Ass Bag: Marcello Hernandez, Ego Nwodim, Adam Driver, Olivia Rodrigo

Cut for time:

• Actor's Journey
• Court Case

posted by rhizome (10 comments total)

I mostly can't stand Adam Driver but he's actually pretty decent at hosting. I didn't think this show was all that good though, the cold open was actually sort of awkward.

I liked Tiny Ass Bag and Beep Beep.

Olivia Rodrigo was fine. Liked the second song/performance a bit better than the first. Nice to see the kids are still doing the rock and/or roll.
posted by bondcliff at 1:38 PM on December 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

This was a solid episode overall. I'm just going to start skipping the cold opens and starting at or after the monologue. This week's was especially bad but it's pretty rare I'm glad I watched a cold open in the last several years.

Old Friends was predictable but really well done. Beep Beep went on just long enough to make it to the end of the Funny -> Overdone -> Funny Again continuum.

I'm old enough to have no idea whether pranking older people is A Thing, but the sketch at least really seemed like it was just making fun of old people and wasn't even funny doing it.

I thought the two cut for time sketches were as good as the stuff that made it on the air - even if you could see where Court Case was going almost immediately.

Adam Driver is a very good host and seems ready to give 100% for any character he's doing. I hope he's a 5-Timers Club member soon. I only know him from Star Wars where I didn't care for him, and SNL where I think he's great.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 1:45 PM on December 11, 2023

Adam Driver brought the weird with fearless intensity, and I’m all in for that. Apart from the cold open, it was one of the best in a long while.
posted by cardboard at 3:19 PM on December 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

It seems like they wrote all of these sketches for Christopher Walken, but he wasn't available so they threw Adam Driver in there instead. Which worked better than I would have though!

(Also, yes that cold open felt so very long.)
posted by Garm at 3:47 PM on December 11, 2023

I love Olivia Rodrigo and I thought her performance of “All American Bitch” was so much fun. She’s the girl with the most cake!
posted by lunasol at 5:38 PM on December 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

Pretty good, and I like him as a host. Other than Star Wars, I liked him in "Marriage Story" on Netflix. Tiny Ass Bag was a nicely kooky ender, and while the cut sketches were good, Shop TV is the only really replaceable slot they could have used.
posted by rhizome at 10:12 PM on December 11, 2023

I really enjoyed this week! Particular favourites were Tiny Ass Bag, Marcello on WU, Old Friends and Baby Plane.

I like Olivia Rodrigo and thought she was great!
posted by ellieBOA at 10:18 PM on December 11, 2023

I like Olivia, too, and I think Vampire is a great song. I just wish she had reversed the order of the songs she performed, and came out rocking. Quite often, I'm too tired to get past WU, so I usually miss the second performance.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:36 AM on December 12, 2023

It seems like they wrote all of these sketches for Christopher Walken

Driver can do a quick turn from goofy to menacing very well, a la the Beep Beep skit. I would sign up for a Walkven vs Driver "menace off" film. Say two rival golf pro-shop owners whose conflict sprals out of control during a local pro-am event escalating from silly pranks to murder most foul. And they said I should stop smoking weed. ha!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:43 AM on December 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

What It’s Like to Have Olivia Rodrigo Stab Your Cakes [The Cut / Archive]
posted by ellieBOA at 4:26 PM on December 13, 2023