Saturday Night Live: Emma Thompson’s best sketches

We recap the best sketches from Saturday Night Live hosted by Emma Thompson.

When it comes to first-time Saturday Night Live hosts, there are certain people you can be sure will be comfortable on stage surrounded by the absurdity. A veteran actress of television, film, and theater, Emma Thompson is certainly one of those people.

Thompson demonstrated a clear dedication to whatever character she was playing on last week’s Saturday Night Live. The material she was working with may not have been the strongest of season 44 but that didn’t deter her from jumping headfirst in to ever sketch.

It was the Mother’s Day episode of SNL. Any time an episode chooses to focus on a nearby holiday, it can lead to some pretty fantastic sketches.

Thompson’s monologue was all about Mother’s Day and the complicated way in which moms try to communicate with their children. She got some help from SNL legends Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who also managed to get in a plug for their Netflix movie Wine Country.

But now on to the sketches. As mentioned, they weren’t exactly home runs across the board for this episode. Maybe whatever big idea any of the writers or performers still have up their sleeve will show up next week. That’s when Paul Rudd will host the season finale.

The writers do deserve credit for trying some different stuff this week. Outside of the cold open, it was relatively light on politics and returning bits/characters. Here are Last Night On’s picks for the three best sketches from Emma Thompson.

The Perfect Mother

Similar to “Best Christmas Ever,” this sketch is perfectly executed. The cuts are timed right on point to follow the set ups from Heidi Gardner and Emma Thompson. The pre-taped sketches are almost always a highlight of each week’s Saturday Night Live.

Obviously the strength of this sketch is how accurate it is to life as a mother. Plenty of fans watching could relate to the subject, whether they were watching from the perspective of Gardner’s character or Thompson’s character.

Hopefully in season 45 we see Gardner promoted from featured player to repertory player. She has been a standout in multiple episodes this season and such a promotion would be well-deserved.

Chopped

Another pre-taped sketch makes the top-three this week. Chances are that just about everyone watching Saturday Night Live had seen at least one episode of Chopped. SNL pulls off an excellent spoof of just how weird the cooking competition can get despite the understated reactions of the judges.

It may not be everyone’s favorite brand of comedy, but the escalating insanity of this sketch made it one of the night’s best. The craziness of the ingredients given to the chefs was only exceeded by the bizarre behavior of Leslie Jones and Melissa Villasenor.

Beauty and the Beast

Another sketch that was a bit out there but worked was “Beauty and the Beast.” Beck Bennett has perfected playing the type of character we get with his version of the Beast. He desperately tries to keep things together as his private weirdness becomes public, causing things to spiral out of control.

Similar to the Chopped parody, this sketch quickly escalates past just the Beast being strange in the gym. We find out that he has a love child with Emma Thompson’s Mrs. Potts that resulted in Pete Davidson. The sketch takes things to the next level with Thompson’s song on just how “baby comes out.”

The sketch also deserves a shoutout for the costumes and makeup. It can be an underrated aspects of Saturday Night Live but the level of craftsmanship and attention to detail in sketches like this one are what make them stick out each week.

What did you think of Emma Thompson’s performance on Saturday Night Live? Let us know in the comments below. The show will close out its 44th season next week with Paul Rudd returning to host. Be sure to keep up with Last Night On for a preview and a recap of the show.