After an eleven month and thirty-day absence, Kristen Wiig returned to Saturday Night Live last night to host an episode, bringing back a number of familiar characters in the process. That includes Gilly, who appeared in the opening monologue, the weird Target lady, Dooneese of the Lawrence Welk Show sketch, Kat of improv characters "Garth and Kat" and the Californians. And the opening monologue featured a couple of surprise guests.
SNL's been good about avoiding songs in the opening monologue recently, following what seemed to be a song-a-week format earlier in the season. But they shifted back to music when Wiig took the stage, because she was "so excited" to return.
Jonah Hill and Maya Rudolph made a baby in a broom closet! And Gilly made a brief appearance, which crossed that returning character off of the expected-list.
In honor of Mothers Day, SNL does a 1-800-Flowers commercial, which shows how irritating some moms can be…
It's not quite the Fifty Shades of Grey nod we saw last year, but it was still definitely funny.
Less funny, the Californian's sketch. But I have to believe some people out there find these segments amusing because this sketch is always pushed to the front of the episode.
With Wiig's return, a Californians sketch was to be expected, but I still don't get it. I understand the joke. It's dramatic and everyone talks funny and insists on discussing traffic. I just don't completely understand why it goes on for so long or why it keeps coming back, unless I'm in the minority of viewers who don't find it especially funny.
My sense of humor is a bit strange though, as I found the bloody Acupuncture sketch pretty hilarious…
Of course, that one was near the end, along with this double date sketch:
And Dooneese was happy to pop the funny smelling bubbles on The Lawrence Welk Show…
And here's Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen getting goofy as Garth and Kat during "Weekend Update"…
You can watch the full episode below:
