SNL: Olivia Rodrigo, Keegan-Michael Key, Kate McKinnon (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

The penultimate episode of Saturday Night Live Season 46 has been hosted by Keegan-Michael Key! Fun fact about Keegan: he used to be one of the two stars of his own eponymous sketch show. But that show ended its run nearly six years ago. What do you think about that! The musical guest is Olivia Rodrigo, a teenager who writes songs.

For sustenance, I had a typical Sunday breakfast: two fried eggs, toast with strawberry jelly, and orange peach mango juice. Was the fruit-based-products-to-eggs ratio too high? #BreakfastThoughts

I didn’t forget to review the sketches! (Not that you thought I did, lol.) We start off with a Message from Dr. Fauci (Grade: 3/5 Faucis) and a bunch of other folks who are supposedly doctors, but they’re REALLY wacky by doctor standards. Supposedly they were acting out scenarios to help people figure out if and when they should still wear face coverings, but instead it was all just an excuse to act out shenanigans.

During his Monologue (Grade: 3/5 Keys), Keegan promised to do “every single SNL thing tonight,” and well, he started out by doing a few SNL things.

It’s May, and SNL likes to use the fifth month to craft sketches about end-of-the-school-year traditions. They can’t deny it! Like the Prom Red Carpet (Grade: Will We Forgot About This?), which is mostly just a parade of clichés. I did laugh at the double entendre of “presenting tonight.”

The Last Dance sketch (Grade: 3/5 Quarters) offers a supposed extended scene from last year’s hit ESPN docuseries, in which Michael Jordan (Keegan-Michael Key-version) totally embarrasses security guard John Michael Wozniak (Heid Gardner-version) in a game of bouncing quarters against the wall. What a display of obsession. Quite possibly the darkest sketch of this season.

The Muppet Show sketch (Grade: 3.5/5 Muppets) at first seemed like it was taking place in the 70s (i.e., when the real Muppet Show actually originally aired), but then it referenced Grace and Frankie, so I’m not sure what to believe anymore! Anyway, Statler’s purple eyes and Waldorf’s quivering body is an image I will not soon forget.

When Cecily busted out her chav accent in the TGI Fridays sketch (Grade: 3.5/5 Inches Deep), I wondered if she was playing Gemma again. And she was! I thought this recurring bit had played itself out, but here it’s back with a renewed vigor. It helped that everyone was so supportive of Gene (Gene being Kenan’s character) while also ribbing him.

It’s interesting that “Drivers License” (Grade: Sitting-on-Piano Energy) is such a big hit, considering how thoroughly melancholy it is. But sometimes some music-listeners really like to listen to melancholy music. Olivia Rodrigo knows what she’s doing.

When talking about Weekend Update, I’ve gotten into the habit of listing a few jokes that made me laugh, so I’ll continue to do that now: the running bit about Mitch McConnell displaying schadenfreude, Che not feeling sorry for Liz Cheney, Elon Musk’s $600 million iceberg.

There were a few correspondents during Update (not a surprise). The first was a politician played by Kate McKinnon, a non-rarity these days. Specifically, it was Wyoming Congressperson Liz Cheney (Grade: 4/5 Ann Romney’s Horses), and I had a lot of giggles thanks to her wacky list of all the people who are supposedly going to break away from the Republican Party with her.

Next up was SNL cast member Andrew Dismukes (Grade: 3.5/5 Brinks) … as himself! He was supposedly there to talk about his great-grandmother, but it took him a while to get there, so I appreciated Colin saying, “I’m glad we finally arrived at the topic.” That sort of thing happens a lot on Weekend Update!

And finally (Weekend Update-wise), Beck Bennett played famed horse trainer Bob Baffert (Grade: 3.5/5 Shady Characters), who is a figure ripe for parody, I must say. Beck bit into that ripeness.

The George Gershwin Celebration (Grade: 3/5 Rhythms) was just an excuse for Keegan, Cecily, and Kate to sing and be silly, and honestly, who could ask anything for more? Excuse me, I mean, who could ask for anything… line? (Well, you could ask for me, but it’s not a good look to be greedy.)

So there’s only one sketch between Weekend Update and the second musical performance, which must be some kind of record (jk. But not really lol). Anyway, “Good 4 U” (Grade: 3.5/5 Plaids) is more upbeat than Olivia’s first song, and I appreciate her mentioning a therapist in one line. The early 2000s are back!

For the very, very, very last sketch of the night, it’s a High School Graduation (Grade: 4/5 Tic-Tac Teeth), and it’s a wellspring of a premise, what with family members in the audience refusing to follow the directive of holding their applause until the end. Rowdiness making for fine comedy, I can’t complain!

Next week (specifically May 22, 2021) we will have the Season 46 finale, with first-time host Anya Taylor-Joy and first-time musical guest Lil Nas X. Will they have a Finale Aura about them? We shall see!