The final episode of Saturday Night Live is always an exercise in reading tea leaves. It represents a collective sigh of relief for both the insiders at Studio 8H and the critics who follow the show’s grueling calendar. It is a pressure-cooked marathon that culminates in spurts of live, high-wire creativity.
Season 51 drew to a close last night, May 16, 2026, delivering an energetic, deeply nostalgic, and star-studded finale. Coming off the heels of the previous week’s penultimate episode led by Matt Damon and Noah Kahan, expectations were exceptionally high. The show called upon absolute royalty to close out the year: comedy legend Will Ferrell returned to host for his sixth time—his first appearance since 2019—alongside the incomparable Sir Paul McCartney, making his fifth overall appearance as musical guest.
Thank you, Will Ferrell, Paul McCartney, Chad Smith, Aziz Ansari, and Molly Shannon! Goodnight! pic.twitter.com/qPfg69U7Er
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) May 17, 2026
The result was a finale that balanced the sheer joy of returning legends with a stark reminder of the current cast’s identity crisis, wrapping up a season that frequently struggled to find its satirical edge.
A Haunting Cold Open and Late-Night Pranks
The episode kicked off with an unexpected, pitch-black political satire. Will Ferrell revived his penchant for absurd, high-energy character work by playing the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein. In a sketch heavily borrowing from A Christmas Carol, Ferrell’s Epstein visited President Donald Trump, played with uncanny precision by James Austin Johnson. The ghost took Trump on a tour of future visions, weaving together dark political cynicism with pop-culture gags.
The momentum carried directly into the monologue, which took a surreal turn. Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith walked onto the stage, completely deadpan, claiming that he was the actual host of the evening. The striking physical resemblance between Ferrell and Smith has been a running joke for over a decade, and their comedic sparring over who truly belonged at the microphone set a loose, unpredictable tone for the night.
The nostalgia amplified during the sketch lineup. Original late-90s powerhouse Molly Shannon made a surprise cameo to revive the chaotic energy of the “Cast List” sketches. Sir Paul McCartney also got in on the fun, showing off his enduring comedic timing in a hilarious bit titled “What It Feels Like to Talk to a Mechanic.” In the sketch, a couple (played by Mikey Day and Ashley Padilla) goes in for a routine oil change, only to be completely bamboozled by an eccentric trio of mechanics (Ferrell, McCartney, and Marcello Hernández) whose bizarre, indecipherable upselling culminates in a hilariously dark, absurd demand that the husband pay for the repairs “in ass.”
Classic Ferrell Absurdity: “Post-Op” and “The Nudemans”
The crown jewel of the night’s original sketches was undoubtedly “Post-Op,” a masterpiece of uncomfortable medical malpractice comedy. Ferrell stepped into a role he can play better than anyone in history: a placid, terrifyingly cheerful authority figure completely detached from reality. Playing a hospital doctor delivering post-surgery news to a patient (Mikey Day) and his wife (Ashley Padilla), Ferrell channels a smooth, singsong bedside manner to announce that the gallbladder surgery was a total success—aside from one minor mishap.
“Some wires got crossed,” Ferrell notes with a terrifyingly blank, self-exonerating smile, “and I accidentally removed your penis,” words, I’m sure were never spoken before on television.
As Day’s character descends into understandable horror, Ferrell’s doctor attempts to deflect blame with lines like, “Look, we could Monday-morning quarterback this thing to death,” before casually revealing he accidentally took a testicle too. The sketch succeeded entirely on Ferrell’s live-wire intensity squeezing through a mask of institutional calm, forcing a visibly struggling Mikey Day to fight a losing battle against breaking character on live television.
The late-night absurdity continued into the back half of the episode with “The Nudemans.” In this bit, a young man (andrew Dismukes) meets his girlfriend’s (Veronika Slowikowska) family for the first time. What begins as a traditional domestic setup takes a hard, surreal turn the moment Ferrell’s aloof father character spins around, revealing that his entire backside is completely bare, clad only in a leather bra and panties. The visual gag expanded to reveal that the rest of the household was similarly half-clothed, offering a dose of the pure, unadulterated weirdness the finale desperately needed.
Nostalgia and Grit: Sir Paul’s Historic Set
At 83 years old, Paul McCartney’s return to Studio 8H was nothing short of historic and left me wanting more. His relationship with SNL spans nearly half a century. He first appeared in 1980 to premiere the “Coming Up” music video, returned for the legendary “Chris Farley Show” sketch in 1993, brought down the house for the 2010 holiday episode, and jammed with the surviving members of Nirvana in 2012.
Last night, McCartney delivered a deeply touching and, at times, heartbreakingly nostalgic performance. It was undeniable that his voice was weak, occasionally straining to hit the notes that once came effortlessly. Yet, rather than detracting from the set, this vulnerability elevated it into one of the absolute highlights of the entire season.
He treated the audience to a three-song showcase, starting with a poignant rendition of “Days We Left Behind,” a track from his highly anticipated upcoming album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. Later, he followed up with a soaring performance of the classic “Band on the Run.” To close out the night, McCartney surprised the studio audience with an encore of “Coming Up,” bringing Chad Smith out to man the drum kit. It was a raw, triumphant moment of pure rock history that proved spirit and showmanship easily outshine vocal perfection.
Paul McCartney sings Band on the Run, a song which is older than SNL by 2 years pic.twitter.com/DtrdO7IWVD
— Lunar Surfer (@TheLunarSurfer) May 17, 2026
Season 51 in Review: Safe Satire in the Shadow of Giants
While the finale succeeded on the backs of its legacy guests, the structural reliance on those cameos highlighted the broader identity crisis SNL faced throughout Season 51. The writers successfully developed a robust rotating gallery of political caricatures to mirror the current administration. We saw sharp, recurring takes on figures like Kash Patel and Kristi Noem, alongside regular highlights like Joss’s chaotic, alcohol-soaked portrayal of a drunk Pete Hegseth.
Yet, the season as a whole felt remarkably risk-averse. Despite James Austin Johnson’s brilliant, winding impressions, the show frequently pulled its punches when it came to the president. Trump was rarely targeted with true bite. Observers are left to wonder if the character has simply become too extreme to effectively parody, or if Comcast and NBC Peacock executives quietly instructed Lorne Michaels to go easy on the administration out of a blatant fear of political repercussion.
However, whenever the political writing grew overly safe, the season found its sharpest saving grace at the Weekend Update desk. Freshman featured player Jeremy Culhane cemented himself as the breakout star of Season 51 with his viral, season-breaking impression of Tucker Carlson. Culhane’s caricature—characterized by high-pitched, incredulous “What are we doing? What’s going on?” outbursts and a beautifully unhinged, conspiratorial internal logic—repeatedly stole the show this year. Whether Carlson was getting triggered by Oscar nominees or generating wild conspiracy theories about the silent “E” in Maine during his iconic Met Gala rant, Culhane provided the biting, fearless satire that the mainline sketches sorely lacked, proving to be one of the funniest and most popular additions to the roster in years.
To watch how the show’s breakout star targeted recent pop culture events, check out Jeremy Culhane’s Tucker Carlson on Weekend Update. This clip highlights the specific comedic style and frantic conspiracy-driven performance that made his impression a season-defining hit.
This individual brilliance only highlighted how much the rest of the show missed the fearless, institutional weight of the heavyweights who exited at the end of Season 50, including Heidi Gardner after her brilliant eight-season run; Ego Nwodim after seven seasons of masterful character work, and Bowen Yang, whose jarring mid-season exit last year left a massive void. Combined with the losses of Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker after three seasons and the brief one-season promise of Emil Wakim who brought in the edginess that SNL needs to remain relevant, the current roster frequently felt depleted and hesitant.
Without that caliber of daring talent to anchor the sketches, the writing felt tentative and safe. In hindsight, rather than leaning so heavily on nostalgic callbacks to carry the finale, the show desperately needed to lean into its eccentric margins and give much more screen time to Sarah Sherman’s beautifully warped, wacky, and utterly fearless character pieces to break through the corporate sheen.
Looking Ahead
As SNL heads into its summer hiatus, the rumors regarding when Lorne Michaels will ultimately step down continue to swirl. If Season 51 proved anything, it is that the show remains an unparalleled cultural arena capable of uniting comedy titans like Will Ferrell and musical deities like Sir Paul McCartney under one roof.
However, as the series prepares for Season 52, the writers and remaining cast will have to step out of their comfort zone. To survive the upcoming political cycle, SNL must stop playing it safe, embrace the avant-garde fearlessness of its remaining players like Culhane and Sherman, and remember how to truly push the envelope once again.
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Streaming: You can stream the episode live on Peacock. If you miss the live broadcast, the full episode and individual sketches will be available on Peacock and the SNL YouTube channel starting tomorrow morning.
For more coverage on the final episodes of the season and other TV highlights, visit our Legacy TV section. Stay tuned to Scope Weekly for more updates on Season 51 and the latest in entertainment news.
Main feature photo credit: ScopeWeekly.com via Gemini
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