Kit Harington added his name list to first-time SNL hosts, and turned in a show that Game of Thrones fans won’t mind rewatching.
Here’s all that you need to know for the SNL water cooler this week:
SNL Rundown…
1. Taking a break from the weekly Trump barbs, SNL took shots at Joe Biden while also attempting to show some support as well. If nothing else is taken away from the cold open, Jason Sudeikis returning was a highlight.
2. Kit Harington didn’t come out firing in his monologue, but it was one of the better uses of the audience Q&A skits that we’ve seen. It was the standard famous faces trope, and maybe it’s because we’re so excited for the new season of Game of Thrones to start
3. Rose Leslie stopping by to make fun of her husband was some serious Game of Thrones fan service that also doubled as a hilarious troll.
4. Another Game of Thrones highlight — and the last mention of the show for the night — was a skit making fun of the idea that HBO will “go full Star Wars” and give fans endless prequels, sequels, and spinoffs. Among the highlights were Cersei and the City, Hodor’s House, and Wilding Out.
5. One of the spinoffs was Game of Thrones: SVU in which Mariska Hargitay and Ice T made cameo appearances as Westeros versions of their characters.
6. Aidy Bryant doesn’t get enough credit as being a rockstar cast member. A skit early on that revolved around a weird child pageant for nephews was carried by Bryant singing her way through it.
7. We didn’t get that heavy a dose of Kate McKinnon tonight (she showed up in just a handful of skits) but her shining moment was a musical dream in which she plays Theresa May imagining she has solved Brexit and saved Britain. Sara Bareilles gets points for the assist.
8. The Weekend Update had a pair of great guests. Alex Moffatt introduced us to his movie critic who macrodoses LSD and trips out halfway through. Keenan Thompson stopped by to do his thing as Charles Barkley and it was everything.
9. Usually, the Let’s-Get-Weird skits at the end of the night are so bizarre they work. The colonoscopy Undercover Boss skit is an example of getting weird but no thinking it through all the way. Perhaps chalk it up to the show running long for it feeling a little rushed. As it turns out, the dress rehearsal version of this skit is the one to watch:
10. The other Let’s-Get-Weird skit took a few minutes to develop but having a bunch of LARPing office nerds reveal their boss flamboyantly masturbates under the stairwell at work was unexpectedly satisfying.
Verdict
Harington was playing with house money, which is sometimes dicey if the wrong host does it. But what worked for him was that he’s been typecast as Jon Snow for the last decade and we didn’t know he could be anything other than that.
(That’s probably why jokes about that were baked into the monologue).
It wasn’t the best episode of the season but it was far from being one of the worst we’ve seen. Few hosts can benefit from the universal hype surrounding the thing they’re promoting, which aided in making us giddy about everything we saw Harington do while he was at SNL.
Grade: C
Season Grades
1. Seth Meyers/Paul Simon — A
2. John Mulaney/Thomas Rhett — A-
3. Adam Driver/Kanye West — B+
4. Sandra Oh/Tame Impala — B+
5. Akwafina/Travis Scott — B
6. Idris Elba/Khalid — B
7. Matt Damon/Miley Cyrus — B
8. Jason Momoa/Mumford and Sons — B
9. Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet — B-
10. Halsey/Halsey — C+
11. James McAvoy/Meek Mill — C+
12. Claire Foye/Anderson . Paak — C+
13. Steve Carell/Ella Mai — C+
14. Kit Harington/Sara Bareilles — C
15. Don Cheadle/Gary Clark Jr. — C
16. Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers — C-
17. Liev Schreiber/Lil Wayne — D+
Next Week on SNL…
We have two more episodes of this season left, and they look to be bangers. Next week Emma Stone stops by with musical guest, and K-Pop superstars, BTS.
Date: Saturday, April 13th
Host: Emma Stone
Musical Guest: BTS
Next: 30 Biggest Hip Hop Feuds of All-Time
Be sure to check out Last Night On for all your SNL highlights.