I can't imagine anyone tuning into Saturday Night Live last night and not thinking that the show and Betty White nailed it! To be honest with you I was a bit nervous. White is 88 and often her humor can come across a bit dated. I also thought all the gushing and sentimentality might be too much. But...White is a professional who has been doing live tv for decades. She rose to everything the show threw at her. It was amazing to see her go toe to toe with the 20 and 30 something SNL cast.
I hope Lorne Michaels learned a bit of a lesson with White. The past few seasons I have had to google many of the musical guests and guest hosts. I am not that old, but some were completely unknown to me. (I can't be the only one who did not have a clue who Vampire Weekend was...). Last night shows was miles above the previous week with Gabourey Sidibe (btw, anyone else get 'full of herself' vibes from her?) Now I am not thinking Michaels should fill next seasons guest host slots with Rue Mcclanahan, Abe Vigoda and Carol Burnett (although unfortunately many jumped on the bandwagon and have facebook sites to get them on SNL too). I hope Michaels sees though that there are legions of talented professional actors who though may not be the 'it' star, are loved by the public and can pull in a huge audience. I for one would call Mindy Cohn, that could be fun. There is a history to White that I am not sure will be repeated. Almost everyone has a White memory. She has managed to remain current.
The only down side was Jay-Z. I don't dislike Jay-Z but I did not enjoy him last night. I also felt a bit bad for him because I, like I am sure others was just wanting him to finish to get back to White and the show. I think that time could have been better unitized for more of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon, and especially poor Rachel Dratch who although included had, like when she was on SNL, the least to do.
Best line of the Night 'WIZARD OF ASS'
