SNL comes back with a bang, as Drake turns out to be a fantastic host, switching characters so quickly and with such a ease he makes you wish he was a cast member himself. He was that good.
COLD OPEN: It's a Piers Morgan sketch, the one they do when they want to recap a bunch of current events that happened when they were off the air, and we see Bobby as the bullying Chris Christie, Drake as an embattled Alex Rodriguez, and best of all, Kate in a priceless imitation of Justin Bieber. Good start.
MONOLOGUE: An energetic Drake comes bounding out to tell us the unknown facts about himself, mainly that he's Canadian, Jewish and used to be on Degrassi- which then leads to a skit of his Bar Mitzvah where his black and Jewish family members had to interact. It's pretty funny, especially his rap where he lists off family traits.
BEFORE THEY WERE STARS: Kenan as Sway hosts a BET look back on classic shows with their original cast members, giving everybody a chance to do their celebrity impressions. My favorite is Jay as 2 Chainz on a Disney Channel show, but this sketch is most significant for introducing us to Sasheer Zameer, who makes her debut on SNL after all the hype in recent weeks. She does a wordless Rihanna as the original Blossom, but we do get to see her and she'll show up in quite a few skits after this one. A good sketch, if a little too long.
NANCY GRACE: Noel Wells takes on Nancy Grace as she targets marijuana legalization in Colorado, but her impression is fairly weak. What's funny in this one is Kate as Colorado's new Walter White, selling pot cookies, and Drake again as Katt Williams in a hilarious impersonation.
RESOLUTION REVOLUTION: Pre-taped rap bit about already broken New Year's resolution with Drake, Jay and Sasheer showing up again. Another good one!
SLUMBER PARTY: The first dud for me, as this primarily features my least favorite SNL cast member, Aidy (sorry guys, but she is just NOT funny to me) as a teen with the hots for her friend's (Sasheer again) dad at a sleepover party. Aidy doesn't do it for me and this one's way too long, but Drake completely transforms once again as the dorky dad and draws attention to himself just by being so chameleon-like.
WEEKEND UPDATE: Jokes about Christie, the healthcare website, and a great bit making fun of Jacqueline Bisset (Vanessa), who's called to the stage, but of course can't get there in time, spoofing her miles long walk at the Golden Globes. Nasim also shows up as Arianna Huffington for what's probably the last time with Seth.
DISNEY WORLD SHOW: Drake is one of those insanely upbeat Disney World employees trying to make Rahad, the awkward, foreign volunteer (Nasim), participate in the Indiana Jones show, but she doesn't understand anything he's saying. Drake once again steals the sketch- he's so completely in tune with the character that I really believed he worked at Disney World. He's killing it tonight.
POETRY TEACHER: This is Vanessa's return as the weird, hippie poetry teacher (I called that she'd be back) and Drake as a student hitting on her. It's funny and short.
MORNIN' MIAMI: Yay, the grumpy news team! Kate, Bobby and Drake are the morning news team that hates each other, doing the ridiculous promos with crazier and crazier intros every time. Love this one.
I KNOW: Ok, this is the third pre-recorded bit with newbies Beck and Kyle that I can remember and it has utterly failed every single time. Why on earth do they continue to put these on the air? Seriously, what a bummer way to end a good episode.
So, the takeaway from tonight is that Drake is hilarious and frankly, better than a lot of their cast members. I'm sure he'll be back to host again as I'd love to see him return. And the rest was mostly pretty good! Aside from just two sketches that didn't work, I give the episode a B+ and Drake's hosting skills an A+, but all in all, it was a good night back and a good night for Sasheer's debut, as she seemed to be having fun at least. Too early to tell what she'll be like on the show, but they showed her off enough to make us familiar with her presence pretty quick, which was smart. Next weekend Jonah Hill returns with musical guest Bastille- see you then everyone!
