If you were still recovering from your Halloween festivities on Saturday night, you probably didn't leave the house. And if that was the case, you were rewarded with a new episode of Saturday Night Live with Chris Rock serving as host and Prince as musical guest.
But in case you already had Halloween part deux plans or mustered up enough energy to actually take advantage of your Saturday night, you might have missed last night's SNL. And that would be a darn shame, because don't you want to know how the former SNL cast member and 1996 host did during his return to the show? Then let's look at Rock's highs and the lows right now, shall we?
Rock opened the show with a fantastic monologue where he basically performed a snippet of his stand-up routine. In the only way Rock could, he took on such controversial topics as the Boston Marathon bombing, New York's Freedom Tower and the inevitable commercialization of anniversaries, like 9/11. Many would think no one should poke fun at these topics, but Rock did it, and he did it well.
Next up, Rock played an over-protective dad in the "Vlog" sketch where Sasheer Zamata's character taught her YouTube followers how to perform some scandalous dance moves. The sketch got off to a rocky start, but once Rock's dad character attempted to use the computer to shut down the vlog (and failed), I was sold. However, Kyle Mooney's geeky friend-zoned character was definitely the standout in the sketch.
Kenan Thompson and company also revived his "How's He Doing?" talk show where he and other African-American pundits discussed President Barack Obama's term. Rock joined the SNL cast to give his "unbiased" opinion in this sketch which is always a hit.
Unfortunately, toward the end of the night, Rock and the rest of the SNL crew started to fall flat. Rock took on another hot-button issue later in the show when he appeared as a member of ISIS pitching the idea on the ABC reality show Shark Tank. However, this time it seemed like the audience didn't really know if they should laugh at the sketch or not, and the jokes about business plans, branding and executions didn't really land too well. Kate McKinnon's Barbara Corcoran impersonation was flawless, though.
Another low point of the night for Rock was his sketch with new SNL cast member Leslie Jones. While I think Jones is a very good addition to the cast, I don't think this sketch about an argument between an old-fashioned husband and a wife who wants to spice up their marriage was successful. It was just sad.
Rock's final sketch of the night was as an unpaid actor in a workplace diversity video from the 1990s. This sketch had its moments, and I'm always happy to see Vanessa Bayer, but altogether it was just all right.
Bonus: If nothing else, you must watch Prince's eight-minute mini-concert on SNL. I knew very little about his new music going into the performance, but he is completely mesmerizing and not only exemplifies what a SNL performance should look like but also what a legend looks like, too.
The next new episode of SNL will be on Nov. 15 with Woody Harrelson as host and Kendrick Lamar as musical guest.
Image: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
