Posted in: NBC, Peacock, TV | Tagged: saturday night live, snl

SNL Second-Guessing: Emma Stone Would've Made Great OG Cast Member

This week's SNL Second-Guessing looks back at Emma Stone/Noah Kahan, and how Stone would've fit in nicely with the show's original lineup.

In case you didn't get a chance to check out our ranking of NBC's Saturday Night Live Season 49 shows, December 2, 2023's Emma Stone/Noah Kahan effort ranked at the top of the list. In our original review, we touched upon how Stone no longer just gives herself over to SNL's writers and cast – she vibes as if she's been a member of the cast for years. With Jason Reitman's Saturday Night set to start hitting screens later this month (and going wide on October 11th), this week's SNL Second-Guessing looks back at Stone's recent hosting gig – and the sketch that convinced us that she could've been an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players."

Overall, the show was top-to-bottom bangers – beginning with Tina Fey and Candice Bergen joining Stone for her "Five-Timers"-themed opening monologue. In less than five minutes, the trio honored the creative influence that women have had on SNL since the beginning while also reminding us of the hardships that women went through over the years as they fought to have their voices heard on the long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series.

From there, "Question Quest" found Stone trying to sell us on just how much of a burden a turtle that can live to be over 150 years old can be (and teaching us way more about turtles than we expected). Stone, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang's "Tree Lighting Gig" offered up Stone and Yang as the perfect "jam band backup" combo compliment to what Thompson was throwing down. We could add "What's in the Kiln?," "Posters," and a number of others to the list – with each demonstrating just how much a sketch can shine when the cast and writers have a host who they can trust to be vibing the same way they do.

But it was "Make Your Own Kind of Music" that elevated Stone in our eyes as someone who would've succeeded in the SNL system. In the sketch that we would've submitted to make the case for the show deserved Emmy Award consideration, Chloe Troast (as Mama Cass) and Stone (as Cass' producer) offered us what felt more like a performance than a sketch, tackling how artists would feel if they knew how their songs would be used decades from now. For example, when the song is played in a film, but the visuals are something completely opposite of the message that the song is actually conveying (going for an "irony" take). With Yang, Mikey Day, and Andrew Dismukes offering strong support, I felt like standing up & applauding by the sketch's end – one that ran five-plus-minutes but felt less than half of that time.

The show over – and that sketch, in particular – demonstrated Stone's bravery and commitment to her work, whether it be comedy, tragedy, or any of the layers in between. She makes her presence known in each of her sketches, but never in a way that comes at the expense of her co-stars. Stone conveys a comedic strength and confidence that allows her to dive down the thematic rabbit hole of each sketch with a recklessly creative abandon – traits very much in line with SNL's original line-up: Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner.

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