Saturday Night Live at Home


Saturday Night Live at Home refers to the final three episodes of the 45th season of the late-night comedy program Saturday Night Live. Whereas SNL typically consists of sketches performed live in-studio, these "at Home" episodes were recorded remotely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television; none of the sketches were performed live for any of these episodes, and none of the participants in any sketch from these shows were in the same physical location.
The first episode aired on April 11, 2020. The episode was hosted by Tom Hanks, and its musical guest was Chris Martin. A segment also paid tribute to long-time music producer Hal Willner, who died of COVID-19. It was received positively by critics. The second episode aired on April 25. The episode did not have a credited host, but Brad Pitt appeared in the cold open and introduced the episode's musical guest, Miley Cyrus. The third episode aired on May 9 and acted as a Mother's Day-themed episode as well as the season finale. The episode's host was Kristen Wiig, and its musical guests were Boyz II Men and Babyface.
In contrast to regular episodes, where the host would have been involved in most sketches of the night, and where the host and musical guest were in-studio with the cast members and crew, the involvement of the host for these episodes was scaled down to the bare minimum, and only Kristen Wiig participated in any of the show's sketches on the night she hosted. Also, by contrast, where studio episodes allowed the musical guests to perform at least twice, the remote episodes only featured a single performance from each week's musical guest.

Background

At the time that the World Health Organization announced the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the show was in a previously scheduled two-week production hiatus. On March 16, in the midst of the break, production of the show was temporarily suspended. The suspension impacted three previously announced episodes: March 28, April 4, and April 11. The host and musical guest for the March 28 episode had been previously announced as John Krasinski and Dua Lipa respectively. The episode would have been Krasinski's first hosting appearance and Lipa's second musical guest appearance since 2018, with Krasinski's appearance tied to the since-delayed release of A Quiet Place Part II from March 20 to April 2021, while Dua Lipa was promoting her third album Future Nostalgia, released as scheduled on March 27. The March 28 and April 4 episodes were replaced by reruns. It was announced in early April that the show was scheduled to resume production on April 11, with cast members remotely appearing from their individual homes. SNL returned with this remote set-up after almost all American late night programs had already made accommodations to return to air.
Long-time music producer Hal Willner died of the disease during the hiatus. Additionally, host Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson had also been infected by coronavirus but recovered.

Cast roster

Repertory players
Featured players
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

April 11 episode

Sketches featured in the first episode

Writing for The A.V. Club, Dennis Perkins gave the episode a B− for the effort put into the episode, Chris Martin's performance of "Shelter from the Storm", John Mulaney's tribute to Willner, and the creativity of several of the skits, summing up this "outlier" episode by writing, "There wasn't anything revelatory, or even especially memorable about it, except that it existed... In fact, this version of the show seems constitutionally preordained to settle precisely in the middle, no matter how long SNL eventually runs. But we could all use some reliable institutions right now, and having SNL back—even if the future of this season, like so many other things, is deeply uncertain—was surprisingly affecting." Travis Andrews of The Washington Post praised the experiment, summing up his overview of the episode, "The inventive episode, born of necessity, gave us much more than . It gave us both the opportunity and excuse to turn off the news and laugh—even if just for a bit." Both Andrews and Bill Keveney of USA Today positioned Saturday Night Live as a unique television institution that has helped America process national tragedies such as the coronavirus pandemic or September 11, 2001 attacks; he characterized it as "strange" but offering comfort. Andy Hoglund of Entertainment Weekly said the episode was "an interesting cultural footnote—both in the history of the show, as well as for the historians taking stock of how the U.S. coped during the 2020 global pandemic," adding the show's limitations allowed them to go "full TikTok this episode. Not a bad thing. The show has been addicted to its high production values/capabilities for a while—this liberates the cast to just be weird." Matthew Dessem of Slate praised the episode for the sentiment in Willner's tribute and how well several of the sketches worked logistically. Ethan Anderson of /Film wrote that many of the sketches worked, with only three failing, "a tear of joy came to eyes" at several points.
Writing for NPR, Eric Deggans conceded that while "there weren't many laugh-out-loud moments during" the episode, the effort put into the production and risk-taking made up for some of the weaker content, and particularly praised Martin's performance and the musical ode to Willner. Several other reviewers noted the uneven comedy but were happy to have the show return as a tribute to Willner and an attempt at normalcy: IndieWire's LaToya Ferguson characterized the episode as a "rocky return, despite timely humor and a touching tribute" and Judy Berman of Time called it a "weaker-than-average episode... Yet, as I watched what the cast and writers managed to put together, prepared to be disappointed by SNL as usual, an unexpected sense of gratitude blindsided me." For The Verge, Julia Alexander noted that, while not every segment worked, the series "rarely produces a show with nothing but outstanding sketches". Robert Lloyd of Los Angeles Times wrote that it was "pretty good" all things considered but "all things not considered, it was pretty good, too", summing up, "it's good to have it there, being more or less itself". Vultures Matthew Lowe went even further, calling Saturday Night Live "as much a public service as it is a show", writing that this episode was "less a risk than a gesture of solidarity". In The Guardian, Zach Vasquez called parts of the episode silly and endearing, summing up that it was a "valiant effort and a welcome distraction from the larger troubles of the world".

Ratings for the first episode

This was the second highest-rated episode of season 45, after the Eddie Murphy-hosted December 21, 2019 edition, with an average 6.7 million total viewers and a 1.46 rating, winning the night for broadcast television networks in its time slot. This episode won the 18–49 demographic among broadcast networks with a 2.1 in 25 markets with local people meters and a 4.6 Live+Same Day household rating in the 44 local metered markets.

April 25 episode

On April 23, 2020, the Twitter account for the series noted that a second Saturday Night Live at Home edition would air on April 25. The host and musical guest for that episode was not made public.

Sketches featured in the second episode

Ray Flook of Bleeding Cool, called the second episode a "charm... but a bit too polished", he characterized it by writing, "The sketches ranged from really working for me to beautiful disasters, but it was still an episode that I wanted to watch from beginning to end". Dennis Perkins reviewed the second episode for The A.V. Club and called it an improvement over the first, upping his rating to a B+, writing that there "were some ringers... but they were all both welcome and wonderful" and summing this up as a "fine and refreshingly funny oddball of an episode". Andy Hoglund of Entertainment Weekly called the Pete Davidson – Adam Sandler "Stuck in the House" duet an "instant classic" while also singling out the taped segments by Chloe Fineman and Kenan Thompson. Anthony Fauci's response to the cold open was positive: "I'm a great fan of Brad Pitt, and that's the reason why, when people ask me who I would like to play me, I mention Brad Pitt because he's one of my favorite actors. I think he did a great job." Fauci also lauded Pitt for thanking him and the health care workers at the end of the monologue. "I think he showed that he is really a classy guy when, at the end, he took off his hair and thanked me and all of the health care workers... not only is he a really great actor, but he is actually a classy person.” Gretchen Whitmer was likewise supportive of her portrayal by cast member Cecily Strong, sending Strong a gift package with various Michigan-brewed beers from Kalamazoo-based Bell's Brewery. Whitmer, in an interview with WJBT following the sketch's release, had joked regarding the Canadian beer Labatt Blue drank in the sketch: “We love Canada, but we drink Michigan beer!”

May 9 episode

On May 7, 2020, it was announced via Twitter that the show would air a third Saturday Night Live at Home episode on May 9, which served as the season 45 finale. The announcement initially indicated there would be no credited host or musical guest for this episode.

Sketches featured in the third episode

Writing for The A.V. Club, Dennis Perkins gave the finale a B–, writing that it essentially isn't SNL at all: "Saturday Night Live without the live is dead" and found that while certain sketches such as "Let Kids Drink" and "Dad Prank Video" worked, most of them did not. He also praised the Babyface and Boyz II Men song, urging readers to call their mothers for Mother's Day. Andy Hoglund at Entertainment Weekly singled out Chloe Fineman's impression of Britney Spears as a highlight as said the episode's limitations "has forced the cast to carve out niches of imaginative, lo-fi comedy and in the next generation of talent."