By LAUREN KASZUBA
Staff Writer
Comedian and actor Bill Hader, 39, made his return to the studio 8H’s stage to host the St. Patrick’s Day episode of “Saturday Night Live” on Mar. 17. Hader, who was a cast member on the show from 2005-2013, is arguably a fan favorite. His range of impressions and how well executed his impressions are implement excitement in many SNL fans. This past episode did not disappoint.
This was Hader’s second return as host, his first hosting gig being in 2014. Now, I don’t mean to get excited here, but this is one of the funniest episodes I have seen all season. The episode had its highest rating in metered-market households since the Feb. 3 episode hosted by Natalie Portman.
Hader’s monologue was something that I’ve never seen before in a Saturday Night Live episode. I’ve seen many SNL episodes and I’ve seen many musically driven monologues. If done right, I think they’re great, but they’re done quite often. Hader decided to take a unique route with his monologue and slice it in half.
Joking that hosts only come on the show to promote their new projects (with Hader quickly throwing in a promo for his new HBO show “Barry”), he quickly mentions that monologues don’t need to have a set length. Seconds later, SNL’s costume department runs on stage as they do a quick change on Hader, changing him into Devin, his character from “The Californians” sketch. The show then cuts right into the classic sketch.
The show, as always, was filled with comedy-packed sketches and most (if not all) of them featured Hader. One that stood out to me the most was “Jurassic Park Screen Tests,” where a good portion of the cast featured a plethora of celebrity impressions. Cast members impersonated celebrities auditioning for the classic 1992 film Jurassic Park, and I can honestly say that the sketch was a wild one from start to finish.
Viewers got the pleasure of seeing Pete Davidson’s Adam Sandler impression, Bill Hader’s Al Pacino impression, and Kate McKinnon’s Lisa Kudrow impression, just to name a few. All of the impressions had me laughing so much that I can proudly say I’ve seen this sketch more than ten times already.
Another key sketch that stood out to me was none other than Weekend Update and Bill Hader’s legendary Stefon. How do you write a review about Bill Hader’s performance on SNL without mentioning Stefon? You don’t.
John Mulaney returned to help write for the returning Stefon stint. As always, Stefon had exceptional but yet unique suggestions for excellent St. Patrick’s Day hang-out spots in New York. Stefon has always been one of my favorite SNL characters, considering Hader often breaks character whilst portraying him. Nothing like a good ol’ character break!
And even though Stefon was known for his complicated relationship on the show with former Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers, the chemistry was still strong with the two current anchors, Colin Jost and Michael Che. Personally, I believe Stefon could be incorporated into any sketch and it would still be funny.
Overall, I highly recommend checking out this episode of SNL, especially if you haven’t been pleased with the season so far this year. The episode made me laugh from start to finish and I genuinely look forward to Bill Hader’s return to SNL in the future.
