Mikey Madison hosts 'SNL' after Oscar win, but mostly plays supporting role

Hosting “Saturday Night Live” close aft winning an Academy Award tin look similar a triumph lap, but it’s besides a mode for a performer to amusement a TV assemblage that they’re overmuch much than 1 iconic role.

Unfortunately Oscar victor Mikey Madison, caller disconnected her champion histrion triumph for “Anora,” didn’t get overmuch accidental to bash truthful successful her archetypal clip impermanent hosting “SNL.” Instead of leaning into her talents, arsenic it did successfully a fewer weeks agone for Lady Gaga, the occurrence plopped Madison into a bid of sketches wherever she was mostly playing a supporting relation for formed members successful warmed-over repeats of past sketches.

Instead of helping the big make new, memorable characters, Madison played a saltation of an acting people quality Charli XCX did successful November with Marcello Hernández, a precocious schoolhouse pupil successful the acold open, the comedy-writer spouse of a transgression who’s dying, idiosyncratic trying to get retired of assemblage duty, and an OB/GYN who keeps moving into Barry, a midwife (Bowen Yang). It wasn’t until adjacent the extremity of the show, successful a game-show sketch called, “So Like … What Are We,” that Madison got to pb a sketch. It wasn’t 1 of the champion pieces of the night, but it astatine slightest showed disconnected Madison’s drama chops that fans of Pamela Adlon’s FX amusement “Better Things” person known astir for years.

It was a shame and a missed accidental that an Oscar victor was relegated to supporting parts, which she played well, successful mostly male-led sketches (the objection being the assemblage work sketch with Ego Nwodim arsenic judge). Even a Please Don’t Destroy video astir Madison pining to bash a prestige TV amusement astir Spongebob Squarepants, with Madison made up arsenic Squidward, was a recycled thought from erstwhile Bad Bunny appeared arsenic Shrek.

Let’s anticipation she’s invited backmost and the amusement steps up with better, fresher worldly for her.

Musical impermanent Morgan Wallen performed “I’m The Problem” and “I’m A Little Crazy.”

The week’s acold unfastened featured a furiously texting Defense Secretary Pete Hesgeth (Andrew Dismukes) unknowingly engaging with a radical of precocious schoolhouse girls successful a radical chat, a notation to the Signal chat scandal. As each subordinate work their texts aloud arsenic they typed, Hesgeth threw successful a premix of warfare plans, gifs and eggplant emojis. Vice President J.D. Vance (Yang) soon joined the chat from Greenland, wherever helium was doing “mysterious and important work.” “Nobody knows wherefore I’m here, particularly me,” Vance complained. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Hernández) tried to get accusation from the girls successful bid to get them deported by ICE, but not earlier the Atlantic’s Editor successful Chief Jeffrey Goldberg (Mikey Day) joined in. “Hesgeth, you person got to suffer my number,” helium said.

For her abbreviated monologue, Mikey Madison said she’s exhausted from her engaged period and plans to slumber successful April. She showed clips of characters she’s played successful “Scream” and “Once Upon a Time successful Hollywood” who were some violently acceptable connected fire. “That’s range,” she joked. Madison shared that she was a home-schooled equine miss (“A nerd but with agelong hair”), revealed her duplicate member successful the audience, and said she’d show the pole-dancing skills she developed for “Anora.” A clumsy chopped and a muscular assemblage treble made it wide the gag was connected the audience: Madison wasn’t really the 1 rod dancing.

Best sketch of the night: A enactment is forming adjacent for this recap

A pre-taped philharmonic fig featured New Yorkers engaging successful the city’s biggest craze: “Wait successful a big, dumb line.” Lines for bagels that went viral, lines for gummy bears from a pop-up store, lines for viral matcha oregon cronuts. Sample lyric: “Line, line, line, line, what’s it for, indispensable beryllium divine.” Unfortunately, the agelong waits don’t ever output large rewards: the items are usually conscionable good oregon mid, similar mediocre pizza, which they recognize conscionable arsenic Joe Jonas shows up to sing astir the joys of line-standing. It’s a large video to ticker … portion lasting successful line.

Also good: What if New York’s brainsick plan was connected purpose?

It didn’t diagnostic Mikey Madison astatine all, but 1 of the week’s highlights was an animated abbreviated featuring Michael Longfellow and Yang arsenic 2 explorers successful 1620 sketching retired their program for New York City. The streets are a messiness astatine the bottom, the sections called “Square” are each triangles and the tunnels with trains (which haven’t been invented yet) don’t correlate to the weird streets astatine all. Sure, it’s reminiscent of the Nate Bargatze sketches successful which helium plays George Washington, but the goofy animation, with its pausing close-ups, gives it immoderate other zip.

‘Weekend Update’ winner: Wake up astatine 4:30 a.m., commencement chugging Saratoga water

Joann of Joann Fabrics (Ashley Padilla) lamented the bankruptcy of her company, but it was Devon Walker’s timely and on-point instrumentality down of influencer Ashton Hall’s viral greeting regular video that wins the week connected “Update.” Walker shared with Michael Che his ain acceptable of regular videos, which each instrumentality spot from the “SNL” bureau wherever helium lives. “I sacrificed my apartment. Some radical telephone it eviction, I telephone it being locked in,” helium said.