SNL After Party 2/28/26 - S51 E13 “As Timothee Chalamet Taught Us, That’s Cool Now”

Host: Connor Storie

Musical Guest: Mumford & Sons

Can relative newcomer and star of the gay hockey series Heated Rivalry score a goal as host of SNL, or will he be responsible for icing the whole show?

Let’s hold onto our pucks and find out in this week’s After Party?

Cold Open

So, Trump was inevitable this week, and was, indeed a good use of the cold open. James Austin Johnson appeared to make the 2:00 a.m. announcement that the United States and Israel had launched an attack on Iran.

“Happy World War III to all who celebrate,” Trump gleefully intoned.

Trump stated that “My board of peace decided we are bored of peace,” hence the attack. He also added that he was unpredictable and a modern day Forrest Gump, “I’m like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get”

He then proceeded to sing “War. What is it good for. Distracting from the Epstein files.”

JAJ as Trump then went full meta joking that the SNL writers were severally upset by the attack, because it meant they had to ditch a State of the Union cold open, and that was particularly upsetting to cast member Jeremy Culhane, who would now have a light show. (Presumably, Culhane was going to be Speaker Mike Johnson).

JAJ ceded the stage to Colin Jost as Secretary of War (because I guess we have to say that now) Pete Hegseth. In addition to his usual great performance as an angry Hegseth, the bit took a funny turn when Jost and JAJ got sidetracked into a riff on how underrated the GameCube video game console was.

Much as I gripe about the constant use of Trump in the cold open, this was a reasonable opportunity to do so, and it worked well. The context made it feel less old hat, and I actually enjoyed this segment.

Monologue

Before this episode, I had never seen host Connor Storie. But he started the show off strong. He note that he has only been a professional actor for about six months thanks to Heated Rivalry, an HBO show centered on a gay love story set in the world of hockey. He noted that the show has led a lot of women to realize that “their sexuality is actually gay guy.”

He then did a bit of intentional overacting where he addresses his mother, including a demand that he only go by his first name. “Mother, I’m not a story. I’m a whole damn book.”

Storie is then joined by members of the gold-winning men’s Olympic hockey team for some amusing back and forth that kicks into higher gear when members of the gold medal women’s hockey team show up (and, incidentally, get significantly more applause than the men).

It’s a solid monologue that’s given a turbocharge from the four Olympians who joined him

Mr. Fronzi

Let me just say this. This sketch - on paper - is not funny. Basically, Marcello Hernandez is Mr. Fronzi, a teacher who is having a bad day. He also has a strong accident, so that when he says “peanuts” it comes out as “penis”. Thus, when he says his wife is allergic to peanuts, well, you get it.

Again, this is sophomoric and objectively should not be funny.

But, man oh man, does Hernandez sell this one. His physicality and vocal work is hilarious. This sketch goes nowhere, but that rambling journey is still funny thanks mainly to Hernandez.

The Gentleman’s Code

This sketch feels like someone saw that Will Ferrell/Ryan Reynolds Christmas Carol movie, Spirited, at some point and have been sitting on an idea for a sketch. In this pre-taped bit, Connor and Mikey Day get into an escalating glove-slapping frenzy due to the use of the term, “How dare you.” (As opposed to “Good afternoon” from the movie).

Still, the piece heightens well and is funny, particularly once Kenan Thompson chooses to ignore the title code.

Ice Skating

In a heretofore unuttered sentence, Tommy Brennan and Veronika Slowikowski head up this sketch. Brennan proposes to Slowikowski in front of the Rockefeller Plaza ice rink. She declines, but he can’t have a serious conversation because Storie, Day and Ben Marshall keep skating by loudly having a great time. Eventually they are joined by Storie’s Heated Rivalry co-star, Hudson Williams (much to the delight of the audience).

The comments the skaters make (“If I fall down, Kendrick Lamar is going to have to find another producer”) are very funny, and Brennan’s confusion matched with Slowikowski’s earnestness makes this a strong sketch. And a solid way to get ice skating into the show without a hockey bit.

Tutoring the Cool Kid

In this very odd sketch, Marshall is a nerd helping Storie’s jock character with math homework at Marshall’s home. As Storie is about to leave, he invites Marshall to join him at the cook kids table for lunch (“…and bring your good sandwich.”) This leads Marshall to play a song on his synthesizer (after donning a silver sparkly hat) thanking Storie for coming to his house. The song is awkward and weird, and Storie reconsiders his lunch invitation.

But, at that moment Ashley Padilla and JAJ enter as Marshall’s parents, and thank Storie. They say Marshall has been dealing with a health issue, and this has brightened his day. The ailment is “long cold”. Storie reconsiders, and this - of course - leads to Padilla and JAJ to sing another weird song.

Again, this does not sound funny on paper, but the execution is deftly handled, and there are enough weird little touches that the sketch works and is funny.

Weekend Update

The stories you expect to find are here. The US/Israeli attack on Iran (prefaced with an actual video of Trump saying how Kamala Harris would lead the nation to war with Iran to cover up her failings if elected), the State of the Union address and the Epstein files. Prince Andrew likely being removed from the line of succession to the British crown led to the joke that the only way he could take the throne now is if it came down to him and Meghan Markle. Another Epstein file joke noted that Hillary Clinton testified before Congress that Bill Clinton did no wrong, but this included the caveat “It’s possible that Hillary doesn’t always know what her husband is up to.”

The desk guests were fairly weak this outing. Slowikowski showed up as “Beth’s Maid of Honor, Katie,” who discussed current events in the form of lame wedding toasts.

And, in a surprising miss, Sarah Sherman appeared as the mother of Punch, the little monkey who was abandoned by his mom and now has his own stuffed monkey that he carries around. Sherman played it like she was on the Jerry Springer show, and it was funny enough, but there just wasn’t much to the bit. Hernandez, however, was undeniably precious as Punch.

Leg Lengthening

The entire sketch centered around Hernandez being very tall due to leg lengthening surgery. This made him very tall, and with audibly crunching bones that make each step excruciating. Storie, we learn, donated parts of his legs, so now his are comically tiny.

All this is punctuated with Day being a repository of knowledge about Haley Duff.

This one didn’t gel and was an old school sketch with a premise but nothing else.

Office Dance

This one could have easily tanked, but didn’t because the writing got weird and Storie really sold it.

After rounds of layoffs, Day asked the remaining employees what would improve morale. After some normal suggestions (and a left field oddball one by Sherman), Storie sincerely requests a fancy office dance (where everyone dresses up and the boys ask out the girls).

Andrew Dismukes is intrigued by a Severance style party where the “innies” attend the dance and they become completely different people. Then his chair breaks for some reason. It’s one of the little touches that make this sketch work, including Kenan chugging from a large bottle of Sprite that is filled with booze, and this week’s musical guests Mumford & Sons appearing from the bathroom to perform “Unchained Melody” for the dance.

This is a strange little sketch, and I appreciate the effort to add the extra layers. A lot of this episode added weird components, and I am here for it.

Stripper

Storie is a male stripper who was hit by a car on his way to dance as a sexy plumber at a Vegas bachelorette party. Storie’s tortured physicality is hysterical as he attempts to dance while in immense pain and with what appears to be broken ankles. Storie steals the show here, but Jane Wickline’s understated comment, “I think we can all agree his body is mid,” made me laugh.

This was a great new spin on the ever popular (and, indeed overused) weird stripper trope. But here, it just worked.

The Goodbye Wave:

Best Sketch:

I don’t know. I really don’t. This call is really tough. I think I’ll go with the Bachelorette Party just because of Storie’s absolute commitment to it combined with some solid comedic lines

Worst Sketch:

Leg Lengthening Surgery was as painful as the sound effects made Hernandez’s legs sound

Random Notes:

• Mumford & Sons doubled down on guests for their two numbers. The first featured Hozier, while the second included Americana music Sierra Ferrell, in an antebellum dress for some reason.

• This was a good week for Veronika Slowikowski. She got a lot of airtime and some good showcases. On the other hand, did Chloe Fineman get locked in her dressing room this week?

• The actual goodbye wave at the end seemed to last a good bit longer than usual. I suspected that a sketch got cut for time. Turns out it was two sketches. See the videos below. Both would have been welcome on the show. “Car Song” is funny and would have been a good showcase for Wickline and Slowikowski, and it was also quite weird. This one was a real loss for the show. The other sketch was about Tourette’s Syndrome in light of the BAFTA incident. It was a series of celebrity impersonations in which the celebrities (Mel Gibson, Armie Hammer, Bill Cosby and so on) claim they have Tourette’s. It’s funny enough in the usual parade of celebrity imitation way, but it feels a little…icky. This was a good cut.

Connor Storie was an extremely comfortable host. He seemed to integrate seamlessly into the sketches, as if he had been on the show for a few season. He threw himself into the show in a way many hosts have not been able to pull off. He brought acting skills and an apparent innate sketch sensibility into the show, and it paid off.

I guess he really pulled off a hat trick this week. (I don’t understand hockey, so I don’t actually know what that means).

Grade: A-

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