Saturday Night Live
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Saturday Night Livereturns from the holiday break with host Ariana DeBose and musical guest Bleachers.
Without that history to dip into, they have to create funny, original sketches.
And tonight, they did.
Jamess Biden is a little low-energy here.
A weird ending for sure, but a solid start.
Best Host Entrance
Ariana BURSTS onto the stage.
Ive actually never seen her before, but I am in awe of her stage presence.
This is a welcome change, as the taut two-minute host monologues got a little stale.
Also, its more fun!
The crowd loves it whenSNLcast members interrupt the monologue.
Give them what they want!
Best Shaq Replacement
Bowen Yang is a giant monotone Yao Ming on NBA on TNT.
Keenan, as Charles Barkley, has even seen Yao eat an entire pumpkin, stem and all.
(Its just a snack for Yao.)
Ariana is great as the casual fan out on a girls night who is thrown into the game.
(I dont know what that means, but go Sacs!)
Best Insult of a Virgin Teenager
Hes a lazy wiper; you might smell it.
In Winter Formal, Sarah Sherman and Pete Davidson run a one-stop shop for all your daughters school-dance needs.
This is an excellent trio, as Pete, Sarah, and Andrew really bring out each others weirdness.
Pete and Sarah nearly lose it as they zoom in on stone-faced Andrews weird white lips.
(Is that cream cheese?
Nah, I just think my mouth is like this.)
Best Mayoral Introduction
Chris Redd is the new New York City Mayor, Eric Adams.
I was a police officer for 70 years, the new mayor says.
Ariana DeBose nearly steals the sketch from under him, randomly popping in as his confrontational spokesperson.
(This aint the C train, okay?
We have rules here.)
The only thing holding this sketch back are these awkward split-stage reporters.
However, I hope swaggy Eric Adams becomes a recurring character because it is a real treat.
Best Ancient Greek Lesbian Poem
Golden raisins.
Nancy, we just met.
Youre scary and a bitch.
Move in with me.
A PowerPoint sketch is Kates bread and butter, and Ariana expertly plays along in Sappho.
This sketch has a lot of great lines.
Fage, be careful when you say it.)
And combined with the very silly ler Kitchen Staff sketch, it gives this episode a strong finish.
Keeping Score
Chris Redd gets my MVP tonight.
His Eric Adams impression brought the house down, and he and Ariana DeBose showed tremendous chemistry.
Ariana was excellent as the host, and they used her smartly.
Its cringe for a comedy to reference another comedy.
Otherwise, this was theSaturday Night Liveepisode Id been waiting for all season.
I really love that they did an NYC-centric sketch with the Eric Adams press conference.
I expect that will be great.
