‘Saturday Night Live’ Highlights: Ariana Grande May Have Carried a Tune, but Left a Sour Note

Season 50 of “Saturday Night Live” started strong with an exciting unveiling of new political impersonations from Andy Samberg, Jim Gaffigan, Dana Carvey, Bowen Yang, and others. An episode hosted by Nate Bargatze that proved the show is at its best when working off talent with a comedic background, but this week’s episode, hosted by Ariana Grande, proved that maintaining a hot streak after 50 seasons isn’t always possible. The episode started with a traditional political cold open that saw Vice President Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) and former President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) face off in a game of Family Feud rather than a regular debate. Hosted by Steve Harvey (Kenan Thompson), Harris was joined by her husband, Doug Emhoff (Samberg), her VP pick Tim Walz (Gaffigan), and President Joe Biden (Carvey), while Trump reluctantly brought along his son, Donald Jr. (Mikey Day), and his running mate, JD Vance (Yang). One of the better sketches of the night, the game played out as a predictable rehashing of the jokes this troupe have previously made out about these figures and candidates, with a particular focus on the absurdity of Trump still polling ahead of Harris in many key battleground states.

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As Grande took the stage for her monologue, she was quickly handed a mic and given the chance to show off both her singing and impersonation skills, doing pitch-perfect riffs on Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Gwen Stefani that got the audience amped up for more of her vocal talents. Towards the end of the monologue, she was joined by a Glinda-dressed Bowen Yang, at which point it was made clear that there would be no “Wicked” or “Wizard of Oz” sketches in the rest of the episode. This was understandable in the moment, but what followed leaves one wishing for a taken a trip down the Yellow Brick Road towards something a little bit funnier.

Following the monologue was a pre-taped music video called “My Best Friend’s House,” which saw Grande singing about all the wonderful smells and simple pleasures found at her friend’s house, like lovely candles always being lit and her friend’s dad always cooking something delicious. As it turns out, however, her friend’s dad (Day) has a secret he’s maniacally covering up with these scents. From talking furniture to Sarah Sherman’s head being discovered in the fridge, the sketch was a relatively amusing blend of charm and subversion, but features the kind of out-of-left-field humor that doesn’t always play to a wide audience.

In another pre-taped sketch, Grande got to show off her impersonation skills once again, playing Celine Dion in a promotional video for UFC. While she nailed the French-Canadian singer’s powerful and unique voice, as well as her speech patterns, there wasn’t much work done to make Grande actually look like Dion, leaving Grande’s impression half-complete. The juxtaposition of Dion singing while clips of fighters getting their asses beat played was pretty funny, but mostly played as a half-complete idea used to fill up space while the “SNL” cast and crew set up for the next sketch.

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As far as live sketches go, there weren’t many that proved that memorable. The first one, featuring a group of bridesmaids singing about the bachelorette party gone wrong while toasting the bride, was only good for a small chuckle and that was mostly due to Grande and other castmates singing off-key to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.” The one sketch that did provide the giggles and showed off some of Grande’s former sitcom-star skills was “Charades with Mom,” featuring Grande as a suburban mom who turns hostile after facing off against her son and his friends in a game of charades. While the sketch featured Andrew Dismukes, Michael Longfellow, as well as newcomers Emil Wackim and Jane Wickline, the real standouts were Grande and Yang, whose verbal sparring quickly turns ridiculous and then physical. Clearly the two developed a rapport while shooting “Wicked” and manage to play off each other perfectly as the truth behind their antics is revealed.

Stevie Nicks did help liven up the night a bit with her classic “Edge of Seventeen,” as well as her new single “The Lighthouse,” but unfortunately, for some viewers, the feed of her performance was cut from the live broadcast, perhaps a result of a technical issue. She was joined onstage by guitarist Waddy Wachtel, who’s featured in the Denny Tedesco music doc “Immediate Family,” which is contending for the Best Music Film Grammy this year.

Michael Keaton hosts next week’s “Saturday Night Live,” on October 19, alongside musical guest Billie Eilish.