‘The Running Man’ star proved a comedy natural and Marcello Hernandez killed with his Sebastian Maniscalco impression
11/17/2025
(l-r) Jeremy Culhane, Marcello Hernández as Sebastian Maniscalco, host Glen Powell, and Tommy Brennan during the “Boys Weekend” sketch on Saturday, November 15, 2025.
Will Heath/NBC
Saturday Night Live often works best when the host is willing to leave his ego at the door to Studio 8H, and Glen Powell is that kind of guy. The Running Man star’s commitment to his both his sketch roles and the absurd wigs he wore for them helped make the Nov. 15 episode — which featured the neo-soul singer-songwriter Olivia Dean as the musical guest — the best of the season so far.
Powell’s million-dollar smile and the moments he was clearly struggling to not break scene left no doubt that he was having a ball. And the writers must have loved him, because he was in every sketch — save for the cold open and Weekend Update.
Not surprisingly the Epstein files were a big topic this time out: they were referenced in Weekend Update and five-count-‘em-five of the sketches — although three of those were MacGruber vignettes, which brought back former SNL cast member Will Forte as the duct-tape-and-chewing-gum bomb defuser who never fails to blow himself up real good.
As for the cast, there was a lot of ensemble work in this episode, and everyone appeared in at least two skits. Jane Wickline‘s roles were minimal — which may have had to do with her comedy sketch duo with Liva Pierce, Dukes, appearing at the New York Comedy Festival the following night. Only Marcello Hernandez stole the show from Powell. More about that later.
In the run-up to Thanksgiving, SNL takes the next two weekends off and returns on Dec. 6 with Melissa McCarthy hosting — expect plenty of physical comedy — and Dijon as the musical guest. In the meantime, here are the top five skits of the Nov. 16 show in ascending order from funny to funniest.
MacGruber: Epstein Files
Three of these pre-taped bits appeared over the course of the show, with Powell sporting the original MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson’s feathered blond ‘do, but playing Colton, a sidekick to Forte’s mullet-wearing title character. Chloe Fineman is sidekick No. 2, Tawnee.
They are locked in various control rooms because, Colton surmises, he is carrying a top-secret document he is planning to leak to the press. “The Colonel’s secret recipe?” MacGruber asks. No, Colton replies, it’s the…Epstein files! He hands off the document to MacGruber, who says, “No one, and I mean no one is above the law.” Until he spies a name in the file that he recognizes — his own. Obfuscation and explosions follow.
The first two episodes — Colton happens to have a second copy under his vest — are truly funny. The third, not so much.
Epstein White House Briefing Cold Open
At the top of this sketch, the C-SPAN voiceover says White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — played by Ashley Padilla — “is about to have a day.” The reporters gathered at the daily press briefing have plenty of questions about the House Oversight Committee’s Epstein document dump earlier in the week, and she is defending President Trump with her trademark brand of insults — “You know you suck, right?” she says to Fineman’s Kaitlan Collins — and unconditional positive regard for her boss. “If anything, his crime was loving too much,” she replies to one reporter, “and possibly too young.”
Leavitt demands to change the subject until another reporter asks, “Is it true the administration secretly sent $840 million to Argentina to pay off its debts?” “We shall return to Epstein,” replies the flustered press secretary.
She’s given a reprieve when Trump (James Austin Johnson) takes over at the podium. As part of his attempts at a defense, the President breaks out the many worlds theory of quantum mechanics. “I said I kicked Jeffrey out because he was a pedophile. But then I said I didn’t know he didn’t do anything wrong. It’s kind of hard to square that circle until you realize that Trump exists across many timelines. It’s the Trump multiverse theory. We just happen to be living in the worst one.”
I Miss My Ex’s Dad
Country music tropes make the genre easy to parody, and “I Miss My Ex’s Dad” has all the hats, booze and denim you might expect, but this song and the pre-recorded music video that highlights it, are still a cut above.
Tommy Brennan and Ben Marshall are two good ol’ boys who miss the fathers of their ex-girlfriends more than their women, and they sell the song with deep, rich whiskey voices that could conceivably make this song a contender on the Billboard country charts. And the lyrics and video cast, most notably Sarah Sherman and Powell, bring the laughs. “Your socks, your Crocs — you’re the ideal male with your ponytail,” Brennan sings, a prelude to Powell dramatically swinging his dork knob over his shoulder.
Marshall remembers his ex’s pops — Kenan Thompson — for his footwear advice. “You recommended Brooks running shoes / Now my arches are forever indebted to you.”
There’s a Steely Dan reference as well, which helps make this bit worth its weight in Yeti coolers and Dodge Ram pickups.
Sebastian Maniscalco
As more comedians play arenas, they’re faced with the predicament of filling massive stages for massive audiences on their own. Sebastian Maniscalco, who played five nights at Madison Square Garden in fall 2024, has confronted that issue by exaggerating his expressions and physicality to near cartoonish levels.
Hernandez’s impression of Maniscalco hilariously nails the comedian’s greatest hits of histrionics — his cock walk, wildly swinging hands and hips, referee signals and the old Superman back kick — in a skit about him joining a bachelor’s weekend. He’s dressed in sharkskin and a black turtleneck. The rest of the guys are wearing Hawaiian shirts and shorts.
Hernandez nails Maniscalco’s voice and comic style, too. When one of the men suggests playing a game, Hernandez interrupts. “You know what’s a game I don’t like. Twister,” he says, recalling a time when, with his right foot on yellow, “This son of a bitch, he goes right hand to purple. Now, my hand is in my rectum. And I go, ‘It’s not supposed to be there!’” His performance is almost certainly an homage to Maniscalco, who told Men’s Journal earlier this fall that Hernandez is “really talented — got a future.”
Yes! And, if his performance wasn’t enough, an equally spot-on cameo by Fineman as Jennifer Coolidge seals the deal.
Bob Army
This sketch tops the ranking based not just on humor but fierce originality, diva. Andrew Dismukes, an Army private waiting for deployment — his name patch is a nod to SNLco-head writer Kent Sublette — is visited by the Slay Division, led by Bowen Yang and featuring Powell — his name patch, “McFadden,” presumably as in new writer, Claire McFadden — and Sarah Sherman. Yang declares Private Sublette a good fit for the squad: “Booty, caked; waist, snatched; face, giving. But the hair….”
In the Slay Division, “everybody gets bobbed,” says Sherman, which is apparent from the moment the trio arrives. “Research shows there’s nothing more intimidating than a freak-ass bob,” Yang explains, adding, “A buzz cut says, ‘Get the guns.’ But a bob says, ‘Get the manager.’” The division’s secret weapon: synchronized head bobbling set to a Hanna-Barbera skedaddle sound effect. They also listen to Tate McCrae and, Sherman says, “do poppers until we pass out.”
Before Dismukes can join up, the Slay Division is interrupted by the Bang Battalion, led by Padilla, whose bob-sniffing dog — a Doberman with bangs — has tracked their rivals. A dance-off ensues, Private Sublette chooses his division and learns of his deployment: Zara Midtown. “It’s a war zone in there,” says Yang. On point, divas!
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