Domingo

Pop star Sabrina Carpenter hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the first time ever, but it sure didn’t feel like it.

Carpenter was the musical guest last year when Jake Gyllenhaal hosted, and at the 50th anniversary special, she performed with Paul Simon and appeared in a sketch. Whether it’s because she’s done the show both as a musician and a comedic performer (her song performances are often a mix of both) or not, Carpenter seems perfectly at ease in Studio 8H, like she’s always been there.

That served her well on an episode that started badly with a retread of a sketch that’s been done a few too many times (keyword: Domingo), and a monologue that, despite Carpenter’s charm, didn’t seem to connect with the audience.

But after that, Carpenter’s quicksilver timing and ease, plus a diverse set of sketches, put the episode over the top. She sounded just like a 12-year-old boy in a sketch about preteens hosting a podcast called “Snack Homies” with President Trump (James Austin Johnson) as a guest, sold a provocative neck pillow in a funny Shop TV sketch, performed a pretaped “Grind Song” with Bowen Yang, and was thrown out of a window as the host of a girlboss seminar. She scared a co-worker (Ashley Padilla, quickly becoming a critical “SNL” utility player) on her birthday and played a singing and dancing washing machine alongside new cast member Veronika Slowikowska.

It also didn’t hurt that Carpenter’s two playful and well-sung musical performances, for “Manchild” and “Nobody’s Son,” were showstoppers. Her love of the show was evident: she performed the former wearing a “Live from New York” T-shirt and panties with “It’s Saturday Night!” written on the back.

The best argument for inviting Sabrina Carpenter back sometime might be that she held the show together with no outside guests or surprise cameos, which hasn’t happened on “SNL” in a long time. The only exception was a short film from “Please Don’t Destroy” writer Martin Herlihy at the end of the show that may have been about racism and Frankenstein’s Monsters (yes, plural).

We’ll keep this short because the less said about this week’s cold open the better. Chloe Fineman and Andrew Dismukes returned as Matthew and Kelsey, a couple that has struggled in the past with trust issues from Kelsey’s frequent trips with her friends that usually end with a passionate affair with a guy named Domingo (Marcello Hernández). This time, they’re celebrating Matthew’s 30th birthday, but for some reason, Kelsey has flown in her girlfriends (including Carpenter) to sing some pop songs in bad karaoke style about a recent weekend they spent in Nashville. This time the songs are modeled after Taylor Swift’s “Fate of Ophelia,” Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” and Alex Warren’s “Ordinary Song.” The ladies went to Nashville and of course Domingo is still around. “This is strike six,” Matthew cries haplessly. “Babe, it won’t happen again,” Kelsey promises. Let’s hope so. The Domingo sketches need to be put to rest.

Carpenter’s monologue was largely about dispelling (but not really) the notion that the singer is overly sexualized, or as she described it, a “Horndog popster.” “There’s so much more to me,” she said, “I’m not just horny. I’m also turned on.” She made hay of the controversy over her “Man’s Best Friend” album cover by joking that it was cropped and revealing that Bowen Yang and Martin Short both originally appeared on it, with Yang pulling her up by her hair and Short pushing her away from a buffet line. The monologue started to fizzle when Carpenter went to the audience for some interaction to prove she can have chemistry with anyone or anything, only to come back to the stage for an awkward bit with Kenan Thompson, who said he wanted a Cameo video for his niece. Carpenter has charisma to spare, but the monologue was too disjointed to go anywhere.

Best sketch of the night: Does making plans to see “Plans” also scare you?

Mock horror movie trailers have done well on “SNL” lately and the streak continues with “Plans,” a Blumhouse horror film featuring Ben Marshall and Carpenter as a couple horrified to realize that plans they made back on Fourth of July have suddenly come to fruition with a cousin and her husband. As their terror grows, they remember that the cousin (Sarah Sherman) talks about marathons (“The way I see it, losing toenails is a badge of honor”) and the husband (Dismukes) likes to show off 11-minute YouTube videos. They’re going to end up at a crowded ramen restaurant and then a bad interactive play. For anyone who’s ever regretted saying yes to socializing, this might be your worst nightmare.

Also good: The neck pillow monologues

The Shop TV sketches wouldn’t work so well if Padilla and Mikey Day didn’t do such a good job infusing their characters Bev and Rhett with such practiced professional panic when things go awry, as they’ve done before. Carpenter appears as Virginia Duffy, a crafter who’s designed an ergonomic pillow that looks just like a giant vagina, which comes in different colors. “Why would you bring the pink one?” asks an exasperated Rhett. By the time the faux fur lining is added and Rhett tries on the neck pillow, culminating in an unwanted baby sound effect, Shop TV has done it again. Bonus points for Johnson as Tim Tucker, who appears at the beginning of the sketch with a trick-or-treat pail in the shape of Jesus Christ’s head. “Trick or treat, smell my feet, walk with Christ down the Halloween street,” he chants.

‘Weekend Update’ winner: Did you see ‘Saw’? He did not

New cast member Tommy Brennan discussed moving to New York and growing up in Minnesota, but it was the return of Hernandez’s Movie Guy character, who wants to talk about scary movies but has seen absolutely none of them. “Everybody saw ‘Weapons!’ I have to tell you, I was not one of those people,” he says. Movie Guy expresses that horror movies often tell you what they’re about: with “Scream,” “everbody scream!” With “Smile,” “everybody smile!” How about “Saw?” “Everybody saw! But not me, I did not see.” He goes on to touch on why Stewie from “Family Guy,” “Shrek” and others are also scary (even if he hasn’t seen them). “‘One Missed Call’ … is this a movie about my mother?”

When Domingo Hindoyan, the Venezuelan chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, made his debut with L.A. Opera last November with “Roméo et Juliette,” Times classical music critic Mark Swed called it “a coup for the company.” Swed also wondered if it was a “signal that he is a candidate to succeed Music Director James Conlon, who steps down in 2026?”

It turns out Swed was right.

On Friday, L.A. Opera announced that Hindoyan has been named the company’s Richard Seaver Music Director. He will succeed Conlon, the longtime music director who joined the company in 2006 and announced last year that he will step down at the end of the 2026 season. Conlon will take on the newly created role of conductor laureate.

In a statement, Hindoyan said he was deeply honored to become only the third music director in the company’s nearly 40-year history. “From the first rehearsal, I felt a strong connection to the extraordinary musicians, staff, and spirit of this company,” he said. “It is a privilege to follow Maestro James Conlon, whose legacy has shaped L.A. Opera into what it is today — a dynamic and ambitious institution.”

After considering “dozens” of candidates from around the world, L.A. Opera President and CEO Christopher Koelsch said he was “struck by the fluidity of his technique and the clarity and command of his musical ideas” after seeing Hindoyan at the Berlin State Opera in 2016. “His deeply collaborative nature and generous spirit in rehearsal make him a favorite among singers, who are inspired by the space he creates for musical risk-taking and expressive freedom.” Koelsch also praised Hindoyan’s “deep rapport with musicians and audiences alike.”

Hindoyan, 45, is originally from Caracas, Venezuela, and began his career as a violinist. Like departing Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, he attended Venezuela’s renowned public music education program known as El Sistema.

In addition to his role as chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, a role he has held since 2021, Hindoyan has served as principal guest conductor for the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; he has conducted opera productions at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Berlin State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Paris Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, Dresden Semperoper, Madrid’s Teatro Real and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu.

In a statement, Conlon said he was happy to pass the baton to someone who shares his passion for opera.

“Domingo is an artist of exceptional depth and imagination, and I know the company will welcome him warmly,” Conlon said.

Hindoyan’s five-year contract will begin July 1, 2026, and continue through the 2031 season. According to a Facebook post from Hindoyan, the new role in L.A. will run concurrently with his position with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Hindoyan, son of Venezuelan violinist Domingo Garcia, a former president of the Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela, is married to the soprano Sonya Yoncheva, who’s singing at the Metropolitan Opera in Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades.” (Performances are scheduled on Wednesday and Saturday.) The couple has two children and lives in Switzerland.

In late April, the album “Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence & Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathetique,’” from Hindoyan and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, was released.

It’s been 12 months since Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward tasted arguably the biggest defeat of his career. He was leading the competition until the final lap in the Indy 500 when he was passed by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden.

That afternoon, O’Ward wept bitterly after again being denied the ultimate victory at a track where he has performed well. During his three Indy 500 appearances, the Monterrey, Mexico, native has two second-place finishes — in 2022 and 2024 — and $3.16 million in winnings.

O’Ward enters Sunday’s 109th Indianapolis 500 (9:45 a.m. PDT on Fox) as the slight favorite to win the Indy 500.

The other major contender on Sunday is Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou of Spain. The Sant Antoni de Vilamajor native, the reigning IndyCar Series defending champion, has won four of the season’s five races, although he has never won the Indianapolis 500.

Pato O’Ward, front and center, is comforted by a crew member after finishing second in the Indianapolis 500 on May 26, 2024, in Indianapolis.

(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)

For many, O’Ward also is a sentimental favorite after showing he can rally from setbacks and compete for wins. O’Ward finished last season in fifth place, with three wins and six top-five finishes. He is fourth in the standings with two top-five finishes and one pole.

“It’s the hunger to win, to be able to come back and have another shot. I love what I do, I love my job,” O’Ward told L.A. Times en Español when asked about his resilience heading into Sunday’s race.

This week, the native of Monterrey decided to prepare pozole and quesadillas for his team. When he’s in Indianapolis, he usually tries to avoid the hustle and bustle and concentrate on winning.

“I live, breathe and sleep with racing,” said O’Ward, whose racing career began in karting in 2005.

“This has been a goal that’s been living pretty much in my head for many years,” added O’Ward, who qualified 232.098 mph on the 2.5-mile oval and will enter Sunday’s front row, the first Mexican to do so in the history of the Indy 500.

O’Ward, who drives the No. 5 car, has seven IndyCar Series victories and has progressed far from his early days as an inexperienced kid who shyly gave media interviews.

He has kept a tight circle around him as he has worked to improve.

“For people on the outside, it’s hard for us to welcome them because I like to keep things pretty tight-lipped,” said O’Ward, whose team is made up mostly of family members. “It’s people you trust them with your eyes closed and you always know they’re doing their best for you.”

Today, O’Ward is one of the leading faces of the series, with thousands of fans from around the world wearing T-shirts with his name on them to support him in a stadium that has already sold out its 250,000 seats despite the drama surrounding last year’s winning team.

Team Penske has been in the spotlight after it was punished for using modified attenuators, which resulted in failed technical inspections last Sunday. The team was accused of stuffing and smoothing the seams of the rear attenuator, a part that is standard for all teams and therefore cannot be modified.

Pato O’Ward drives into the second turn during the IndyCar Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on May 10.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

Upon hearing the news, O’Ward showed his frustration. IndyCar on Monday announced penalties to Team Penske for placing Newgarden and Will Power in the final starting positions for the race, as well as $100,000 fines for each car that failed inspections.

The Team Penske car, which Newgarden won with in 2024, is now in the renovated IMS Museum and features a modified rear attenuator similar to the one seen Sunday at Indianapolis that resulted in penalties. In addition, photos have been released from last year’s race in which the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet appears to have those same modifications.

“Looking ahead to the remainder of the week and this weekend’s race, we will do everything we can to make it clear that these are not only the best races on the planet, but races where the best win under completely fair conditions,” Indycar President J. Douglas Boles said in a statement.

After learning of the punishments, Team Penske owner Roger Penske fired three Team Penske executives: President Tim Cindric, Chief Executive Ron Ruzewski and general manager Kyle Moyer.

Roger Penske owns the IndyCar Series through Penske Entertainment Group, in addition to owning Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500, creating more questions about the perceptions of conflict of interest ahead of Sunday’s race and the rest of the IndyCar Series season.

Palou wants his first Indy 500 win

Palou, known for his calm, consistency and composure on the track, has yet to win the Indy 500. Despite having four wins in the first five races of the season, drawing comparisons to the four straight victories by the legendary A.J. Foyt in 1964, Palou is not satisfied and wants a “life-changing” win.

Palou scored a second-place finish in 2021 in the Indy 500 and earned $2.8 million from that race.

“Obviously, it’s the one race that I know and that we all know is life-changing for a driver. I’ve won four this year and it hasn’t changed my life,” Palou, 28, explained to L.A. Times en Español. “On the other hand, winning this weekend’s 500, the 500 miles, I believe and I know that it changes the life of the drivers who win it.”

Palou, the winner of the 2021, 2023 and 2024 IndyCar championships, qualified at 231.378 mph in his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing car to start sixth on the grid Sunday.

Spain’s Alex Palou, center, celebrates after winning the IndyCar Grand Prix auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on May 10. Pato O’Ward, of Mexico, left, finished second and Will Power, of Australia, finished third.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

The Spaniard said he is going through the best moment of his career, not only in sport, but also in his personal life, as he enjoys spending time with his 18-month old daughter, Lucia, born in 2023.

“It’s harder, it’s a lot more work and it’s impossible to have a good strategy to win that competition because every day it changes,” Palou said about caring for his daughter. “But it has been the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. The feeling when she smiles, when she hugs me or when she tells me something. She’s 18 months old now, but she’s still starting to say ‘Daddy’ and she’s starting to say things and it’s amazing.”

Despite winning the second championship in a row, Palou said his team has continued its intense pace.

“I would say that basically that’s the great work of the team and that after winning the championship no one has relaxed. That’s what’s most impressive that it was the other way around, if not that they put in even more effort than they had in 2024,” Palou said.

Palou has also given a lot of credit to his father, who has been his mechanic since he started in karting.

“We spent many, many hours together and many, many bad moments, very hard and also many good ones, but in the end he has been the person who has taught me … to go fast, to brake harder, to have more speed in mid-corner and also how to get up after a bad moment,” Palou said.

Palou was the first Spaniard to win an IndyCar championship in 2021 and wants to continue to inspire future generations of Spanish drivers by proving that you can not only make it to this circuit, but also succeed.

Prema Racing rookie Robert Shwartzman will make his Indy 500 debut in the pole position. It is the first time a rookie has won the Indy 500 pole since 1953. Takuma Sato, a two-time race winner, will join Shwartzman and O’Ward on the front row.

This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.