Sarah Silverman as 'SNL' host: How'd she do?
Silverman, who briefly served as a cast member on the NBC show, hosted the most recent episode. The musical guest was Maroon 5.
Sarah Silverman hosted the most recent episode of 'Saturday Night Live.'
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
The newest episode of 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� featured comedian Sarah Silverman as host and the band Maroon 5 as musical guest.聽
Silverman was briefly a cast member for the show and in her recent outing as host, she attracted notice for a sketch in which she appeared as Joan Rivers and a monologue in which she talked with a younger version of herself.聽
At the beginning of her monologue, Silverman said that it鈥檚 鈥渟o crazy to be here hosting 鈥楽aturday Night Live,鈥欌�� then quipped, 鈥淚 mean, is it really crazy? Everybody always says it鈥檚 so crazy to be here hosting 鈥楽aturday Night Live.鈥� I鈥檓 a pretty big comedian. It kind of makes all the sense in the world.鈥澛�
She then wandered into the audience holding a microphone and sat on an audience member鈥檚 lap, whom Silverman complimented and then told her, 鈥淵our turn鈥� keep going, be creative.鈥� When Silverman returned to the stage, she mentioned her history at 鈥淪NL鈥� and then answered questions (on topics completely unrelated to Silverman鈥檚 monologue such as 鈥淲hat did you feed the dinosaurs?鈥� and 鈥淲hat makes the human knee bend?鈥�) from her younger self in the audience.聽
The sketch in which Silverman imitated Rivers took place at an event in the afterlife which also included appearances from such figures as comedian Richard Pryor (Jay Pharoah), Founding Father Benjamin Franklin (Bobby Moynihan), and Queen singer Freddie Mercury (played by Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine).
writer Zach Dionne wrote that Silverman鈥檚 鈥溾�檙eturn,鈥� as a first-time host, was a total triumph鈥� Silverman was on-point enough that we're聽guessing even the haters were queueing up her HBO special before bedtime.鈥澛�
However, Dennis Perkins of the聽聽called Silverman鈥檚 monologue 鈥渟unny [and] assured鈥� but wrote that 鈥渨hile Silverman... 聽blended into the ensuing sketches ably enough,聽the monologue was the only real opportunity she had to impart her sensibility to the show.鈥�
础苍诲听 writer Joe Berkowitz wrote that the episode made a 鈥渟trong start鈥� 鈥� he said that her monologue is 鈥渨hat hitting the ground running looks like鈥� 鈥� but that it made a 鈥渘osedive off a cliff.鈥�
鈥淚n a lot of instances the jokes just weren't there, leaving us to savor the occasional funny line like scraps,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭hose of us whose parents always fall [a]sleep immediately after 鈥榃eekend Update鈥� when attempting to watch聽SNL聽may have had the right idea.鈥�