‘SNL’ Recap: Timothée Chalamet’s Second Hosting Stint Brings Tiny Horse Back And Adds Some Troye Sivan

What did Lorne Michaels know and when did he know it, booking Timothée Chalamet before knowing the SAG-AFTRA strike would end this past week, plus the most critically-acclaimed band of the year. But if I told you there’d be a last-second surprise celebrity cameo, how many guesses would you need before landing upon Saturday Night Live‘s most popular host and only one to have faced and possible facing again involuntary manslaughter charges? Yep, Alec Baldwin popped up in a sketch at the stroke of 1 a.m. Eastern. But let’s get to the rest of the episode first, shall we?

What’s The Deal For The SNL Cold Open For Last Night (11/11/23)?

With so much chaos in the world, in politics, and even just in New York City (does the rest of America even know how bonkers Mayor Eric Adams is if SNL doesn’t have someone like Chris Redd to showcase it?), has anyone even been paying attention to the many Republicans hoping that they somehow can garner the 2024 presidential nomination instead of Donald Trump? I follow politics, and even I needed a Weekend Update joke later in the episode to tell me that a moment in this cold open actually happened during the GOP candidate “kids table debate” this past week.

Anyhow. Who’ve they got playing the players? Kenan Thompson as NBC anchor and debate moderator Lester Holt; Molly Kearney as Chris Christie; Heidi Gardner as Nikki Haley; John Higgins as Ron DeSantis; Ego Nwodim as Vivek Ramaswamy; Devon Walker as Tim Scott. It’s so boring that the live studio audience isn’t even that jazzed to see James Austin Johnson’s Trump appear to put the candidates all in their places. They go back to the well of having JAJ’s Trump break the fourth wall: “Look who SNL has playing him…poor Ego…She used to be Lisa from Temecula and now she’s Vivek from Ramaswamy.” He coolly and cruelly notes that if SNL thought “Meatball Ron” had a shot at winning, they’d have Paul Rudd playing him instead of “one of the Destroy boys.” While it is fun seeing the show get so meta in the cold open, it’s somehow not enough, or perhaps we’re just not ready to go full bore on Election 2024 and are simply just bored by our choices so far.

How Did The Guest Host Timothée Chalamet Do?

Chalamet is quick to remind us that his SNL hosting debut came during the height of COVID, and from start to finish, he even more wanted us to know how happy he is that the SAG-AFTRA strike has ended. In the monologue, they spoof on his upcoming starring role as Willy Wonka, reframing the opening line of a classic song to “Come with me…and you’ll be…in a world of shameless self-promotion.” And then, interrupted by Marcello Hernandez, he’s prompted to join cast members Punkie Johnson and Kenan Thompson in a rap about maintaining their baby faces as adults. How come Punkie’s all dolled up and cute while Marcello and Kenan are dressed so shabbily?

Are There Any Recurring Characters This Week?

Speaking of raps, though, we’re treated to the return of Rap Roundtable, which introduced us to Soundcloud star $mokecheddathaassgetta. This time, Chalamet doesn’t have Pete Davidson as backup, but that’s not going to stop him from teasing his new single, “Cling Cling Cling.” Ego Nwodim is back as panel moderator Nunya Bizness, this time alongside Punkie Johnson as Mary J. Blige (she played Queen Latifah the first time), plus Rick Rubin (JAJ) and Cornel West (Kenan Thompson). For the record, $mokecheddathaassgetta doesn’t know any of them aside from the professor, whom he recognizes from the Matrix sequels.

The second Chalamet character to return isn’t just from outta left field, but out of this world! You might know just from reading the YouTube title or the headline on this article, but viewers had no idea that the aliens attacking Juniper Base in the year 2057 might somehow exist in the same universe as “Tiny Horse.” And yet, through the laser gun battles, Chalamet shows up to suggest he meet with “The Destroyer” in a last-ditch attempt to save the planet, or at least the base? But first, he sings. Then we see the destroyer is, in fact, a giant horse, but not just any giant horse. “This isn’t you boy. You’re tinier than this!” Chalamet shouts. He even holds up a photo and a montage transports us back to the Tiny Horse SNL short. But there’s another villain threatening to kill Chalamet’s character first, all of it pretense for an epic homage to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi as Giant Horse finds redemption a la Darth Vader to save his Luke Skywalker.

What’s A Recurring Sketch That’s Not A Recurring Sketch?

SNL loves a pre-tape where they can employ most of the cast in as many celebrity impersonations as they can think of within the context of an audition premise. This time, it’s the audiobook for Britney Spears’ new best-selling memoir. Many have commented favorably about how Michelle Williams narrated as Britney, but wouldn’t you like to see and hear whom else might have auditioned to read Britney’s memoirs? Chloe Fineman plays not only Spears herself, but also Chalamet, Natasha Lyonne and Julia Fox. We also get Heidi Gardner as Allison Janney, Chalamet as Martin Scorsese, Mikey Day as Steve-O, Sarah Sherman as John Mulaney, Molly Kearney as Kevin James (but just his shrug meme), Bowen Yang as Fred Schneider, Ego Nwodim as Jada Pinkett Smith reading her own book, Kenan Thompson as Neil deGrasse Tyson, JAJ as Werner Herzog, Punkie Johnson as Ice Spice, Chloe Troast as Dame Maggie Smith, and Michael Longfellow as Bill Hader.

There’s also this live sketch where Heidi Gardner plays a woman who left her bag at the gym, but cannot seem to get any help over the phone from the dumb muscle bodies at Shred Zone (Mikey Day, Chalamet, and Sarah Sherman). It feels like they were hoping to capture the same comedy magic that they found two years ago with the “Cancelling Cable” sketch, and yet, that sketch had universal relatability, whereas this take couldn’t even really take advantage of classic miscommunication wordplay. Moving on…

How Relevant Was The Musical Guest boygenius?

Well, they just received six Grammy nominations on Friday, so pretty pretty relevant. Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus are up for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Alternative Music Performance, and Best Alternative Music Album. So naturally they performed the song responsible singled out for four of those Grammy categories, “Not Strong Enough.” It was spirited fun, and a bit messy, but they definitely had fun!

They also showed up later in the episode as Troye Sivan clones to put a button on a sketch in which a sleep clinic patient (Sarah Sherman) is initially troubled by her sleep demon, but once her doctor (Bowen Yang) explains that what she’s seeing in her dreams is the Australian singer and YouTuber (Chalamet, openly copping to avoiding even trying the accent), she comes around?!?

Was There A Please Don’t Destroy Video?

Yes. But you wouldn’t know the fellas have their first Please Don’t Destroy movie debuting in less than a week based on this episode, though. Feels like a missed opportunity. Maybe they’ll make up for that next week, so long as they’re not faced with potential jumpers such as Chalamet’s character here, who’s too scared to share his music, perhaps for good reason.

Who Stopped By Weekend Update?

Again, we’re faced with a single character Update segment, which hopefully is not a trend unless they’re deciding the characters are worth their own sketches now?

Heidi Gardner shows up as Crystal, your co-worker who’s extremely busy doing seemingly nothing. But she has a burrito phone, so that’s something! Is she the opposite of quiet quitting? Or the most devious kind? Not as fully formed as Gardner’s previous Update characters, such as Angel, every boxer’s girlfriend, or teen film critic Bailey Gismert. But the sight gags and messy props keep your attention.

What About The New Cast Members?

Lone rookie Chloe Troast earned her first starring sketch and made the most of it!

We open in an orphanage bedroom, run by an old lady dressed from an olden era (Molly Kearney), and the girls scatter, leaving Little Orphan Cassidy sitting by the window to call out to the moon (Chalamet), and Mr. Moon is listening attentively. Cassidy bursts into song to wonder why nobody wants to adopt her, singing “What’s Wrong With Me?” in a deep soulful voice. Mr. Moon tries to cheer her up, until he hears her ask: “Is it because I’m 26 years old?” Actually, 27, with a boyfriend named Puddy (Mikey Day) almost twice as old as her. But that seems to be the least of her troubles.

Who Made Surprise Celebrity Cameos?

Just Baldwin. But what a surprise.

What Sketch Filled The “10-to-1” Slot?

At 12:56 a.m. Eastern, we’ve got SNL’s recording studio set up for Chalamet to play himself recording a sleep story for the Calm app. All is calm and well until he realizes he’s reading about a dog pooping in a garden, and the protagonist is not acting calm at all about it. But anytime Chalamet stops to ask a question, he offends the story’s author (Punkie Johnson) and really unnerves the director played by Andrew Dismukes, who has his own issues that pop up out of nowhere, and they kick Chalamet out of the studio…to bring in Baldwin?!? Looks like the SNL celebrity image rehabilitation machine is in full effect tonight.

Next week, Jason Momoa hosts with musical guest Tate McRae!

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also podcasts with comedians sharing their origin stories at The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.