Last night, the hilarious Melissa McCarthy of Bridesmaids fame hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time, adding another feather to her quickly expanding cap. Thankfully, however, there were no direct Bridesmaids skits — in fact, Kristen Wiig was unusually scarce this episode. McCarthy was clearly having an amazing time all night, which is nice to see, but doesn’t necessarily add up to a great show. We definitely liked her, but as a whole, we thought the episode was middling, not too terrible but not one of our favorites. Click through to see our picks for the best and worst skits of the evening, and of course, let us know if you agree or completely disagree with our assessments in the comments!
The Best:
Arlene and Jim
Melissa McCarthy really takes it home by going balls to the wall as a woman who really, really wants to get with her coworker. It’s lewd, and we usually don’t love SNL skits that beat you over the head with crudity as a way to get laughs, but McCarthy utterly won us over. This, friends, is commitment. Plus, there’s a happy ending.
Rock’s Way
We admit, we kind of forgot Jay Pharaoh was even on SNL until this very moment. The skit is based completely off his Chris Rock impression, but hey, his Chris Rock impression is pretty darn good.
Complaints
This was the last sketch of the night, and for good reason — some things are just far more hilarious when you’re tired, like a stream of women coming to complain about a guy’s poor lovemaking skills. We couldn’t help but chuckle, even in the morning light, but we did wonder: how did he get that many women in bed to begin with? With that scarf, we mean.
The Worst:
The Lawrence Welk Show
We’ve never been fans of this recurring skit, and a repeat didn’t help, even with McCarthy in Hulk arms and buck teeth. Kristen Wiig has so many better characters, and even a few that don’t make us feel icky inside.
The Comments Section
The worst thing about this skit is that it could have been really great, with just a modicum of writer creativity. Jason Sudeikis does his best, but there’s not much to go on.
Digital Short: Stomp
We’re doubly disappointed when a digital short falls flat, since so many of the musical Andy Samberg vehicles wind up being our favorite moments of the night. But this one just seemed outdated (making fun of Stomp and Blue Man Group in 2011?) and apropos of nothing. Where’s Rihanna when you need her?