John Mulaney Knocks ‘Saturday Night Live’ Out of the Park for His Second Hosting Stint

John Mulaney Hosted Saturday Night Live

John Mulaney returned to host Saturday Night Live for a second time this weekend. He’s a veteran of the late night sketch show, and he’s one of the best stand-up comedians working today, so the excitement was high. Mulaney somehow exceeded expectations, thanks to former cast member Bill Hader popping up a couple times, but also because the line-up of sketches for this episode was incredible. Even the worst sketch of the episode wasn’t terrible.

Let’s run through the best and worst sketches of the John Mulaney hosted Saturday Night Live.

The Best

Bodega Bathroom – Take some songs from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and mix it with the unsavory bathroom and artifacts you’ll find at your average bodega, and you get this immediate classic sketch. It becomes a Broadway hodgepodge that includes references to Cats, RENT and The Little Shop of Horrors, but the Willy Wonka theme is what makes it so damn good. Pete Davidson can barely contain himself. Man, this sketch was so good.

What’s That Name – Game shows are an easy sketch format for Saturday Night Live to pull off, and we’ve played this one before. But the writers mixed up the formula with this one by having special guest Bill Hader almost have a vendetta against John Mulaney as one of the contestants. They also spiced in a variety of other punchlines that made the premise feel not so rehashed, and the result was a truly hilarious bit of comedy.

Legal Shark Tank – Here’s a fine example of SNL taking the headlines and doing something unique with them. In this legal edition of Shark Tank, people like Robert Kraft and Jussie Smollett see if they can get legal representation from Michael Avenatti (Pete Davidson), Jeanine Pirro (Cecily Strong), Alan Dershowitz (John Mulaney) or Rudy Giuliani (Kate McKinnon). Davidson’s presence doesn’t do much here, but the rest of pitch perfect impersonations with just the right amount of ridicule and silliness.

Michael Cohen Hearing – Finally, Saturday Night Live nailed some of their timely and relevant political satire. Even though the Michael Cohen hearing this past week was already quite the circus itself, SNL made it that much funnier by bringing in Bill Hader as increasingly foolish U.S. Representative Jim Jordan. The man basically dug his own grave and looked like a mad man during the hearing, and all the other representatives on hand take full advantage of that. Plus, Ben Stiller as Michael Cohen is gold.