SNL After Party (S50 E17 Air Date 4/5/25) - "We're Truly the Party of Lincoln"

Host: Jack Black

Musical Guest: Elton John amd Brandi Carlile

After a 20 year absence, Jack Black returns to host SNL.

Does he still have the energy and comedy presence he did at the turn of the century, or should Jack not have been back?

Let’s find out at the After Party!

Cold Open

James Austin Johnson’s impeccable Trump takes front and center as the President gives a speech on his tariffs.

Trump explains that “tariffs” is his favorite word, and that it is short for “terrific idea.”

He explains that the tariffs are going to MAWA - Make America Wealth Again, but that first we are going to MAGDA, Make America Great Depression Again.

Mike Myers joins Trump as Elon Musk, wearing A Wisconsin cheesehead hat. Musk introduces the new Tesla Model V, “the first electric car in history to be full self-vandalizing.”

It’s a strong opening fueled mainly by Johnson’s truly excellent Trump imitation.

And, Myers does have a truly manic, fun energy as Musk.

We are off to a good start.

Monologue

Jack Black hits the stage with an undiminished level of energy.

The monologue is basically Black doing one of those Jack Black songs that we have seen him do his whole career, complete with long-held notes, effortless running through the crowd, and a marching band.

I will be honest here. I like Black as a comedic performer, but for whatever reason, I’ve never been a fan of these songs that are only funny for existing, but I appreciate the energy and enthusiasm.

If you like this sort of thing, you’ll love the opening. Black’s return is clearly solid here.

Love Match

Hey, look! It’s a game show sketch! In this one, Andrew Dismukes hosts ""Love Show,” a “Dating Game” style show where a contestant (Chloe FIneman) has to choose from three bachelors who she cannot see for a date. Johnson, Marcello Hernandez, and Black play the bachelors. The bit is that Black is dressed as Indiana Jones, and acts like he doesn’t know who that is. (“I’m dressed as Gene.”)

The sketch is far funnier than it seems on paper. Black is great as the supposedly naive contestant, and Dismukes is absolutely great as the increasingly annoyed host.

On a couple of occasions when Dismukes expresses anger, Black screams “Tell it to my whip!”

Bowen Yang puts a nice bow on the sketch at the end.

This was a lot of fun.

Flamin’ Hot Commercial

Ok, all you need to know about this pre-taped commercial is that it is for an unusual product hawked by Chester Cheetah and Black.

I won’t ruin the crude fun.

But, it is funny, if uncomfortable

One Uppers

This sketch is objectively idiotic. That doesn’t mean it’s not funny, though.

It starts out with a group of friends at a restaurant where Black and Yang try to one up each other by citing their “virtues”.

Black points out he gave up social media, and then looks at the camera with an odd face as a bird screeches.

Yang joins in, doing the same thing. Each time someone cites a virtue, they look at a different camera as the bird screeches.

Ultimately, the whole table joins in (and we get different sound effects).

Finally, the waitress (Heidi Gardner) shows up, and summons an eagle puppet.

There is no satisfying ending here, and honestly there’s not much to this one. But, the bit is funny enough that we can overlook those flaws.

The First Play

This is the kind of sketch that could have been a single concept that did not work as a whole sketch.

But, boy does it work.

Black, Fineman, Dismukes and Mikey Day are audience members in ancient Greece for the first play ever performed. They do not get the concept.

When the first actor comes on stage (Emil Wakim) and utters his first line “I am Demastros,” Black waves at him and shouts hello.

When Demastros pretends to feed his chickens, the audience members inform him that his chickens appear to have run away.

As another character (Yang) states that someone should get the King, Dismukes declares ”I will go” and leaves.

This goes on delightfully with Black accusing the king of being a liar, as he is his neighbor.

This is a wonderfully original and funny sketch, with the audience becoming more and more confused, particularly when an actor is stabbed on stage. “Why were we brought here to watch someone be murdered!”

This was great from beginning to end, with Black’s hilarious dope character on point.

Goth Kid on Vacation

Ok, bear with this.

Kenan Thompson and Ego Nwodim appear in a pre-taped piece in which they are singing in what appears at first to be a Jamaica promotional video. But, it turns into a song about mocking a goth kid on vacation. The video shows said kind (Michael Longfellow) as he is miserable on a family vacation.

It’s funny enough, and then amps up when Black shows up channeling My Chemical Romance as the goth kid in the future.

It’s pretty entertaining, with Longfellow saying things like “Happiness is a disease.”

It’s well executed.

Weekend Update

Che and Jost do not care anymore.

Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes not. But the casual energy on the show is getting more pronounced.

There are economy jokes, such as Trump was elected as a businessman, and he is running the country like one of his companies.

They joke that money is leaving the economy “faster than Morgan Wallen at goodnight,” referencing the sudden and much discussed departure of last week’s musical guest.

There is talk of Corey Booker’s record breaking speech that led some viewers to wonder “Why Vin Diesel trippin’”.

And there was a reference to Kid Rock looking like a Fourth of July Skeleton.

There is a story of Russell Brand’s arrest for alleged sexual assault, which Jost notes makes a video of Brand introducing Chris Brown on an earlier SNL show even creepier.

Che makes a joke about why the percentage of Black men attending HBCUs is down. The audience groans at the joke and Che notes that he knew no one would like it. This leads Jost to say “Imagine if I’d said it.” Off camera, Che says “Well, you wrote it.” This was a big laugh.

Che also notes that Hooter has filed for bankruptcy and he says their business model was a bust. He tags that with “It’s a thinker!”

The desk bits were, again, of mixed quality. Hernandez and Jane Wickline return as the couple you can’t believe are together. He’s loud. She’s quiet and nerdy. Wickline does not get much to do, but she gets a good laugh toward the end. It’s not a great bif.

Ego Nwodim appears to pitch herself as host for the next White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where she would tell jokes about the dinner itself using her stand-up persona, “Miss Eggy”.

She is very funny doing objectively bad stand-up, and getting crowd reaction that may lead to the FCC fining the show.

It’s fun

Making Love

This starts with Black and Sarah Sherman as a couple about to take the step to physical intimacy. This leads to a Jack Black song and flying wire work.

The bit gets funnier as more people get flown into the mix (including musical guest Brandi Carlile).

It’s not a great sketch, but one must applaud the logistics of a stage full of flying characters.

Bass Lake

Black leads up the band “Big Ricky and the Minnows” that hosts an open mic style jam in a bar on a lake. He kicks it off by singing Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” and inviting others to join. Sure enough, a bassist gets on stage. Followed by another and another and so on (including Yang who has a keyboard shaped bass case).

The overwhelming bass sound is “like a sinus infection.”

This sketch is funny enough, but really has nowhere to go, so has to end wth the stage falling into the lake.

This one’s kinda meh, but the performers really did put some great energy into it.

Times Square Kiss

This is a sketch that depends entirely on Black’s comedic energy, and works to that extent.

Here we are taken back to Times Square on VJ day in 1942, and the famous picture of the serviceman kissing a nurse (Gardner).

Black is her boyfriend, and he is jealous (and also enjoys hot dogs). While he did not serve in uniform, he did create incredibly racist propaganda cartoons for military recruitment.

The sketch involves Gardner getting repeatedly kissed as Black get flummoxed.

Not as memorable as the picture it spoofs by any means…

The Goodbye Wave

Best Sketch: The First Play is just so delightful and original, I have to go with it. This was pure joy.

Worst Sketch: Nothing was horrible, but a few could go here. One Uppers and Making Love are close contenders, but I’ll go with Times Square Kiss because there just wasn’t much to it.

Random Notes:

-We got a bumper card for Val Kilmer who died recently. Kilmer hosted in 2000 and appeared in a 2011 SNL Digital Short.

-Say what you will, Elton John can still play a piano!

-There was an animated piece cut for time. Honestly, I don’t feel too bad about that.

Unlike last week’s Mikey Madison episode, this episode had the host front and center. And that was a good decision.

Black infused the whole episode with his charming, manic energy, and the sketches overall felt fresh and funny.

This was a great episode, and if you disagree, well, tell it to my whip!

Grade: A

As always, we grade SNL episodes in comparison to other SNL episodes. Not TV in general.

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