Saturday Night Live: The talented Regina King can’t save a tired episode

Regina King was a great choice to host Saturday Night Live, but her debut episode lacked energy and didn’t have many stand-out sketches.

King is an incredibly decorated actor, with an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and four Emmy Awards to her name. Her directorial debut, One Night in Miami, came out recently to rave reviews. In other words, she was a big get for Saturday Night Live. Unfortunately, the show was unable to make the most of her appearance.

It was still an entertaining episode, thanks in large part to King’s strong acting and some quality one-liners sprinkled throughout the show. Unfortunately, the cast just didn’t seem as excited to be there as they did last week, and while I laughed at pretty much every sketch, most of them were pretty forgettable.

However, even the less enjoyable episodes still have plenty of great moments. Here were the best sketches of the night.

Saturday Night Live with Regina King highlights: What’s Your Type

This was a pretty standard dating show sketch, but a stand-out performance from Mikey Day made it memorable. He plays the straight man almost all of the time, so it was great to see him play someone so weird.

Alex Moffat’s costume in this sketch was also incredible, so the costume department deserves a shout-out for that.

Saturday Night Live with Regina King highlights: Pelotaunt

I really enjoyed this one because I love the idea of the SNL cast running spin classes. It’s not the first time the show has parodied spin instructors and in this one, Heidi Gardner was particularly great as a passive-aggressive Peloton instructor. Oh, and “Avoidant attachment style” Peloton training was very funny.

Saturday Night Live with Regina King highlights: Birthday Gifts

Over the years, Saturday Night Live has had some pretty great sketches that start with a group of middle-aged women sitting around in someone’s living room. This one won’t go down as one of the all-time greats, but it was pretty fun.

I couldn’t help but smile as the women just kept pulling out more and more gift bags. Honestly, the sheer number of gift bags was funnier than the actual content of said bags. I also loved how Regina King’s character seemed to call every single gift “her favorite.”

Other Thoughts from Saturday Night Live with Regina King

• Aidy Bryant as Ted Cruz was the Valentine’s Day gift I didn’t know I needed. Although maybe she made Ted Cruz a bit too likable…
• The monologues have been a little disappointing recently.  It’s not that they haven’t been funny, but they just haven’t been monologues recently. The monologues are at their best when the host can just be themselves and tell some jokes or stories for a few minutes.
• Melissa Villaseñor as Marge Simpson/the Devil in the “Weed Gummy” sketch was pretty great.
• “Thank you Molly for that presentation on why our school should be taller!” -Mikey Day as the principal in the “School Assembly” sketch

What did you think of Saturday Night Live and host Regina King? What was your favorite sketch of the night? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.