The Best and Worst of Last Night’s ‘SNL’ with Maya Rudolph

Maya Rudolph returned to Saturday Night Live last night for her first time as host and put on a fantastic, cameo-filled episode that (happily) relied heavily on her many talents. In fact, there really weren’t any skits at all that we thought were terrible, which is almost unheard of for SNL. We even didn’t completely hate last night’s iteration of “What’s Up With That?,” which may be a first for us, and a particular stretch considering it included Bill O’Reilly. The only slight downside was that the forceful presence of Rudolph left almost nothing for any of the other women on the show to do — though that’s a price we were willing to pay for such a strong, consistent show. Click through to watch the best and worst skits from last night’s Saturday Night Live, and let us know if you agree or think we’re crazy in the comments.

The Best:

Bronx Beat

At this point, an Amy Poehler cameo is always more than welcome, and her fast-talk riffing with Rudolph is pure gold. We thought it couldn’t get any better, and then they started having a trashy sexually harassment-off with Andy Samberg and a large foreheaded Justin Timberlake. Yes, it’s as good as it sounds.

Maya Angelou’s Prank Show

This skit is all Maya Rudolph, and that’s all you need. Her impression is smooth and hilarious, and (unusual for SNL skits of any kind) we were sold at the premise.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Baby

Though in many ways just a typical (if topical) SNL impression vehicle, Rudolph was spot-on as usual, and Justin Timberlake’s Bon Iver was hilarious, if surprisingly cruel.

The Worst:

Super Showcase

While it was kind of hilarious to watch Rudolph and Wiig goof off and completely break down (and listen to Rudolph’s accent waver all over the place), there were a few minutes there where it felt like they were just having fun together on stage, and the audience wasn’t really invited. That said, we still laughed.

What’s Up With That?

Sure, we liked it more that we’ve ever liked one of these sketches before, but that still doesn’t bring it anywhere near the top of the list. We think this sketch is just lost on us for all time.

… and that’s kind of it. We liked everything else. Great job this week, SNL.

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Yeah I think they were pretty spot on this week. Sleigh Bells was definitely the worst part of it all.

There was a ton of hilarious black cultural humor (etc) last night. I've never seen SNL so racial. Amy Poehler was a treat on Weekend Update and in the Obama/Cosby Show parody. But the last skit How's He Doing? took the comedy cake for me. And JT as Bon Iver? Gold.

I completely agree with your analysis, and with 90 proof's comments as well. I was, however, surprised that Maya Rudolph didn't take time to talk a little about Whitney Houston, who was always one of her best impressions. I could have done without the band.

something decent* Pardon.

What about the dang opening skit? The Jeremy Lin-Sanity skit? The only skit last night to directly and pointedly engage the topic of race, even though this is first SNL that has given both Keenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah decent something to do in a long time and we're not supposed to notice (come on, Lorne). Seriously, you didn't even mention the opener.