Andrew Dismukes, musical guest Brandi Carlile, host Miles Teller, and Ashley Padilla during Promos on October 30, 2025
Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty Images
Miles Teller hosted Saturday Night Live for his second time with musical guest Brandi Carlile. The Whiplash actor previously hosted in October of 2022. It was Carlile’s fourth time as a musical guest. The singer last appeared with Elton John on an April 2025 episode.
Cold Open
This week’s political Cold Open focused on next week’s NYC Mayoral race. This sketch will be especially good for New Yorkers as it is filled with very specific jokes about the city. Yes, this mayoral race has received national coverage, but jokes about Hudson Yards feel like they are for people who live in the Big Apple. The Cold Open starts with a debate on New York 1 between “two viable candidates and one classic New York nut.” Teller joined the Cold Open as disgraced former governor and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo. Ramy Youssef portrays the democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani and Shane Gillis plays the republican Curtis Sliwa.
The casting is interesting. Not using any cast members might make mayoral sketches in the future difficult. However, Kam Patterson does a cameo as current NYC mayor Eric Adams (the role used to be played by Devon Walker). James Austin Johnson also appears in the sketch as Donald Trump.
Monologue
Teller talks about dressing up as SNL characters for Halloween and losing his home in the Palisades Fire. This monologue is very short, which is probably for the best. Teller seems nervous, which makes the monologue feel a little choppy.
Hungover Halloween Game Show
SNL Halloween sketches are always very fun, and it is nice that they found a way to sneak one in the day after Halloween. In this sketch, Kenan Thompson hosts a game show where hungover contestants have to guess what they drunkenly did last night. Teller, Ben Marshall and Veronika Slowikowska all give highly convincing performances.
White House Makeover
The Property Brothers have one of their biggest projects yet, turning the East Wing of the White House into a gaudy ballroom. This sketch is really fun. Teller is great as both twin brothers and Chloe Fineman steps up to play Melania.
Hockey PSA
In this sketch, three Hockey players film a PSA. However, problems arise when the Right Wing from the Nashville Predators doesn’t want to read the lines, as it makes him sound like a different kind of predator. There is nothing wrong with this sketch; it is just a little one-note. The premise is there, but there isn’t really anywhere to go with it.
Missing Wives Docuseries
Netflix’s newest true crime docuseries follows men whose wives disappear (after telling them where they were going several times). Hapless husbands not listening to their wives isn’t a new premise, but this sketch is done really well, and the heightening especially works.
Newsroom
After remodeling the newsroom, the Newpoint anchor tries to have a serious conversation about the economy but the new open floor plan creates distractions. Her coworkers fall down, look up NSW content and generally pull focus- another sketch where the heightening of the jokes is done very well.
Brandi Carlile Performs
Carlile performed the rock song ‘Church and State’ and the haunting ballad ’Human.’ Carlile feels a bit like a musician’s musician. The performances are wonderful and show her range as a performer. Carlile first musical guest hosted on SNL back in 2021, and it is great to have her back for a fourth time.
Weekend Update
Weekend Update started with jokes about the White House remodel and SNAP benefits. Bowen Yang also stopped by as George Santos and he steals the segment.
The impression is great, and it is fun to see Yang back as the character (honestly, it is nice to see Yang, period. He was gone last week and wasn’t used much this episode.) Colin Jost also gets some surprisingly funny lines even as the straight man, including saying, “Give me back my angels!” after Santos steals his wallet full of pictures of the female cast.
Andrew Dismukes and Ashley Padilla also stop by to talk about the government shutdown as two people who have just hooked up. They have great chemistry, and the premise is classic. Honestly, this was a very strong Update overall this week.
Murder Press Briefing
A police briefing about the Steak Knife slasher gets derailed when the detectives can’t comment on a recent murder but can comment on a local reporter’s idea for a comic book about a half-gargoyle-half-teenage girl named Gar-Girl. This sketch shouldn’t work, but it’s really funny. It’s another great one for Dismukes and Padilla in this episode.
Italian Restaurant Date
Teller and Marcello Hernández are waiters at the best Italian restaurant in Nebraska. They interrupt a date to make sexual pasta puns and hit on Fineman. It isn’t very good and is probably the weakest sketch of the night. It feels a bit lazy, but it does have a good cameo from Thompson, and it seems like Teller is having fun.
SNL returns November 8, with Nikki Glaser and sombr.