Saturday Night Live Recap: Will Ferrell Can’t Save The Finale

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Like anything, Saturday Night Live has its ups and downs. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Season 51, especially considering the changes in cast members. While the show really needs to add a Black woman to the cast – it’s been years since they’ve had one, as Delaina Dixon pointed out – the current group is generally talented. Not everyone is a breakout star yet, and sometimes even good performers are used too much, but they can usually handle what’s asked of them. Ultimately, an episode’s success depends more on the quality of the writing than on who’s performing, or even how well the host does.

Will Ferrell is hosting Saturday Night Live for the sixth time, marking his first full episode since 2019 – though many still remember his appearance on the show’s 50th anniversary special. Even with a couple of slightly awkward moments, he’s always entertaining, and I actually liked that he didn’t just rehash old favorites. You want a season finale to be easy to watch, with a host you know will deliver, and Ferrell fits that perfectly. The same goes for Paul McCartney – his voice isn’t as strong as it once was, but it’s wonderful to see him perform, and he always brings a great energy to any sketch he’s in.

Even Paul McCartney couldn’t make the mechanic sketch work – it just wasn’t funny. The idea behind it – that people don’t understand car repairs and mechanics often overcharge – is relatable. However, the sketch relies on the actors, including Will Ferrell and Marcello Hernández, simply speaking nonsense (or, in Marcello’s case, Spanish, which feels out of place). McCartney’s British spin on car terms is mildly amusing, but that’s the extent of it. It doesn’t really go anywhere.

Many of the sketches throughout the night didn’t really go anywhere. After the opening monologue, the show started with Mikey Day as a patient waking up from gallbladder surgery to discover his doctor accidentally removed his penis. Will Ferrell did a decent job playing the doctor’s nonchalant reaction to the mistake, but the sketch didn’t develop beyond that – he just starts insulting the patient’s wife. The final sketch with The Nudemans was equally uninspired: Andrew Dismukes played a man meeting his girlfriend’s family, who all seemed normal at first, but revealed themselves from the back. It felt like a rehash of countless other SNL sketches, offering nothing beyond the initial gag. I almost feel bad that Ferrell had to perform with this material, but let’s be real – he’s probably seen it all before.

Here are the highlights:

Cold Open

https://youtube.com/watch?v=watch?v=YzqJh6WnQOM

Okay, so when a show leads with a political sketch, it usually means the rest of the episode is gonna be a bit of a struggle. This one had some funny bits, though. Will Ferrell doing Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t really an ‘impression’ – honestly, how many of us even know what Epstein sounded like? – but he used the character to basically predict the futures of Trump’s old team, like a spooky Christmas Carol ghost. It was a weird way to do it, but it got a few laughs.

The sketch has a promising idea – Pete Hegseth promoting a questionable water brand called Poland Sprung is amusing. However, it doesn’t quite reach its full potential because it focuses too narrowly on what happens six months in the future. It also feels repetitive, as Hegseth, Kristi Noem, and Kash Patel all deliver similar product endorsements framed as predictions.

Monologue

https://youtube.com/watch?v=watch?v=mEYXVOoREk0

Chad Smith, the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer who also played with Paul McCartney, playfully impersonated Will Ferrell. I initially mistook him for John Kreese from The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai! This led to some funny interactions with Ferrell and McCartney playfully calling him out, but my favorite part was Ferrell simply rattling off all of McCartney’s hit songs. There isn’t much else to add, really.

Bobbin’s Sacrifice

https://youtube.com/watch?v=watch?v=hvJnj8wBlhc

The idea of a parody of Return of the King set in 2026 is surprisingly funny. Imagine a hobbit who pretends to sacrifice himself to defeat the Orcs, only to cheerfully reveal he was saving himself all along! Will Ferrell’s sincere performance as the hobbit, combined with his upbeat song, creates a hilarious contrast with the dark subject matter, making this one of the funniest parts of the show. While there aren’t many surprises after the initial betrayal, the increasingly dramatic twists are fantastic. It’s as if Bobbin always secretly wanted to join the Orcs.

Cast List 2

https://youtube.com/watch?v=watch?v=i8H68D63ROE

The ‘Cast List’ sketch was originally cut from Will Ferrell’s 2019 episode before becoming popular online, and the follow-up is another funny parody of competitive theater students. Ferrell plays Mr. Koenig, a demanding drama teacher who keeps his students in suspense while announcing the cast for Grease.

What always gets me is how dramatically the kids react. This time, I especially connected with Jane Wickline, who plays an elderly woman really hoping she doesn’t have to play a tree again. It’s a bit strange, considering the kinds of roles Wickline usually gets on SNL, but her reactions are hilarious – particularly her frantic “no, no” while pretending to be a tree for the teaching assistant, who also appeared in the original sketch.

Weekend Update

https://youtube.com/watch?v=watch?v=mrW2ld-13iQ

This wasn’t the strongest episode of the season, but it still delivered some funny moments despite lacking consistent laughs. The return of the “Mr. On Blast” segment felt forced and likely won’t stay entertaining for long. While I personally found it enjoyable, its appeal is limited. The increasingly complex dance sequences and the running gag about being overly religious were definite highlights.

I found the off-the-cuff jokes much funnier than the scripted sketches in this episode. While edgy humor doesn’t always land, it worked well with Michael Che’s joke about a peacock and Bill Cosby – especially considering it aired on NBC. I also really enjoyed a clever joke about Stevie Wonder, and the visual gag of him holding rocks instead of diamonds was particularly well done.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=watch?v=WY8lNAmso1Y

Okay, so the joke swap is always a bit hit or miss, but I appreciate that they keep trying to push the boundaries each season, even when Jost and Che are already pretty daring. Jost promising his salary to Dr. Umar was a nice move, and honestly, Che’s joke about grape juice and his boyfriend – complete with a picture of a kid drinking juice! – genuinely shocked me. The Michael Jackson bits were solid, if a little predictable. But it all ended with that barber sketch, and Jost looked completely ready to shave his head! I really respect his dedication to the swap, and Che stopping him at the last minute was surprisingly sweet – a really wholesome way to wrap things up.

Cut for Time

• “My approval rating is in the 30s.” “The 30s? Gross. Call me when it hits 17.”

• “This time, I’m going to leave you hanging.”

• It’s always nice to see Molly Shannon show up, so that was a good surprise.

Look, as much as I love diving into creative work, I really struggle with separating the art from the artist sometimes. It’s tough, but I think it’s important to remember that just because someone – like Kanye, or Ye, as he prefers – can create things I don’t enjoy, or even deeply disagree with personally, doesn’t automatically invalidate any other valid points they might make. It’s jarring, and a difficult concept to accept, but someone can be incredibly flawed, even hold reprehensible views – like his comments about Hitler – and still, on a completely separate issue, be right about something else. It’s messy, but it’s a distinction I think we need to make.

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2026-05-17 21:55