Paul Rudd Hosts SNL Finale: Watch Video of the Best & Worst Sketches
It was this weekend’s second most anticipated finale!
Saturday Night Live closed out its 44th season with fourth-time host Paul Rudd and a near equal ratio of good-to-bad sketches, ranging from a Grace and Frankie rap (which you can watch here) to an Oval Office sing-along.
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The Artist Formerly Known as Mike Hannigan (or Bobby Newport, depending on your NBC comedy preference) has always brought his A-game to Studio 8H, and last night was no exception. With that being said, this episode belonged to Leslie Jones. The Weekend Update frequenter discussed the war on women’s reproductive rights, then explored a polyamorous relationship with Rudd and Kyle Mooney.
Scroll down for highlights from the final show of the year, then check back next Saturday for our annual ranking of every Season 44 episode.
BEST: LESLIE JONES ON ALABAMA’S ABORTION BAN
Jones rolled into Weekend Update dressed as a handmaid, then removed her robe to reveal a T-shirt with the word “Mine” and an arrow pointed due south. “Why do all of these weird-ass men care about what women choose to do with their bodies?” she asked. “Look, the fact that nine states are doing this means that this really is a war on women — and if you’re a woman out there, and you feel scared or confused, just know that you aren’t alone.”
BEST: LESLIE & KYLE
If you tuned in hoping for a Vogelchecks sketch, you were fresh out of luck. The only slobbery French kissing that Rudd did this weekend was with Kyle Mooney after he agreed to be a third member of the show’s ongoing faux romance.
BEST: WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
Rudd’s Louis was the biggest dolt of all in this gem of a game-show sketch. First, he mistook a picture of a young girl’s pigtails for shrimp. Later, he posited that a laptop had a computer virus, “and I hate to tell you, but it’s AIDS.” Kenan Thompson’s reactions were gold.
HONORABLE MENTION: A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
It might be time for Kate McKinnon to retire Ms. Rafferty. The initial “Close Encounter” sketch was an instant classic, but the character keeps resurfacing to diminishing returns. I laughed only once this time, when Ms. Rafferty revealed that she was chosen by the alpha female to be her new girlfriend. (“I ain’t really into ladies,” she explained, but “if nothing else is open, I’ll eat at a Taco Bell — if you know what I’m saying.”)
WORST: DON’T STOP ME NOW
Absence does not make the heart grow fonder for Alec Baldwin’s toothless impression of President Donald Trump. The blame doesn’t fall solely on him, of course. The president seems to be “on cruise control to a second term,” and SNL doesn’t know what to do with that. Case in point: this trite Queen singalong featuring myriad characters from Trump’s orbit, including Robert De Niro’s Bob Mueller and Aidy Bryant’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
WORST: MUSIC BOX
To have been a fly on the wall in Lorne Michaels’ office when this sketch was pitched! The less that’s said about this one — or more specifically, the flatulent ballerina song — the better.
What were your favorite sketches this week? And what missed the mark? Watch all of the highlights above, then grade Rudd’s finale hosting stint in our poll.
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