Julia Louis-Dreyfus is busy with Old Navy commercials and collecting Emmys for her role in HBO’s Veep, but the Seinfeld actress stopped by SNL last evening for a third-time hosting spot. She reveals her big moment on the show in 1982 during the Eddie Murphy and Martin Short days and doesn’t waste time bringing the beloved Elaine Benes back for a fantastic political cold open. See how it all went down last night, below.
The Best
“Brooklyn Democratic Debate Cold Open”
“I always talk like I’m on the other side of a river,” says Larry David’s extra shouty Bernie Sanders. Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton is at her marble-mouthed finest. Julia Louis-Dreyfus resurrects Elaine Benes for the cold open, asking a Seinfeld-style question about breaking up big banks. It runs out of steam toward the end, but the crowd is so happy to see her they hardly notice.
“Heroin AM”
“From the makers of Cocaine PM.”
“Pool Boy”
Chad the pool boy’s millennial attention span isn’t fit for a horny boomer housewife’s where-is-this-relationship-going chatter.
“Cinema Classics with Julia Louis-Dreyfus”
An old movie star hides her lines in plain sight with uber dramatic results. Bette Davis would be proud. The physical comedy made us miss the “Elaine dance.”
“Who Works Here?”
Probably only understood by New Yorkers and a small subset of the city-dwelling population (if you win the trivia round, this was meant for you), but totally on point.
“God Is a Boob Man”
Kirk Cameron is squirming in his seat.
The Worst
“Julia Louis-Dreyfus 2016 Monologue”
Things were on a roll, but got a little stiff. Our host jokes about her appearance in the never-should-have-been-made Soul Man and other worst-of roles.
“Huge Jewelry”
We’ve seen some iteration of the Long Island ladies sketch many times before. Here, they chat jewelry you can see from space.
“New Mercedes”
A luxury car powered entirely by AA batteries. Didn’t we hit peak celebrity auto endorsement parodies with Matthew McConaughey?
“Weekend Update”
The one-dimensional female character bit didn’t play as smoothly this time around. Also, still too real.
“Match.com Event”
And here we thought that even alien babes knew to stay away from fedora-wearing a-holes.
Musical Guest: Nick Jonas
Cut for Time
“Paul Ryan Ad”