SNL Scorecard: Aubrey Plaza / Sam Smith

After a month away, Saturday Night Live returned from the holidays last weekend, and the return was a welcome one! It's always weird to have Saturdays without the show, and in the cold, holiday-less January weekends that feeling is even more pronounced. As such, that the show is back feels like a win in itself , regardless of how the quality of the episode would turn out to be. But fortunately, the quality of the episode turned out pretty well!

For whatever reason, be it a holiday hangover, a loss of momentum due to the extended break, all of the above or none of the above, the first episode of the new calendar year almost always seems to be pretty sloppy and forgettable (a fact which made the great John Krasinski episode in January of the COVID season that much more delightful of a success). However, most early-year episodes don't tab hosts that bring as much hype as Aubrey Plaza did. Plaza's unique personality and brand of humor has earned her ardent fans from all the way back in Parks and Recreation days, and that online fandom in particular reached a fever pitch with her recent star turn in The White Lotus. As such, anticipation was high for her hosting debut, and the show did not disappoint!

Plaza herself actually seemed surprisingly tight onstage, but (for the most part, at least) not in a way that hampered the quality of the sketches. In fact, it probably mostly served to make her even more endearing. It was yet another zany outing by the cast and writers alike, and not everything on the night worked, but for the most part the sketches made good use of the host's unique appeal, and a revolving door of stellar celebrity cameos helped make the episode memorable.

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 10th episode of the season, and the first of 2023:

Sketch of the Night

"The Black Lotus": 8/10

This was a simple, perhaps obvious spoof-- we had to know some White Lotus parody was coming, right? --but was just really well written. You don't have to watch the show to keep up with the premise here, that a nonwhite 'resort staff' would put up with < 1% of the nonsense that the White Lotus staffs of both seasons did. Also, pretty funny to hear the audience unsure of how to react to Aubrey Plaza's character. She's Puerto Rican, guys! It's okay to laugh!

The Good

“Taboo": 8/10

More often than not, my "sketch length"-related gripes are that a funny bit just dragged on too long. This is the rare instance where I'm annoyed a sketch didn't go on longer! It felt like there was so much more humor and backstory we could have gotten out of Plaza and Mikey Day's couple! But what a great premise, executed to perfection by all involved.

“HIV Commercial": 8/10

You know I love a good 10-to-1 sketch, and this was a great one. The perfect amount of silly, without overdoing it or going on too long. Great performance here by Devon Walker, whose just about every line made me laugh.

"Weekend Update": 8/10

Michael Che's and Colin Jost's jokes were not without a few duds, but on the whole, this was the best co-anchor performance in a while. Their delivery was sharp, their energy high, and their repartee with the guests terrific. And speaking of those guests-- they made an already good Update great. Plaza and Amy Poehler's return as April Ludgate and Leslie Knope was delightful, even if it was truthfully more fun than funny. And Bowen Yang was unsurprisingly hilarious as George Santos; I appreciated the running gag of that character (and I do mean character) popping up more than once in this episode.

"Miss Universe": 7.5/10

Something I've touched on multiple times is how often this season SNL's first sketch after the monologue was completely bonkers. For the most part, I've considered it a bad thing, not because I don't love zany humor, but because this year, they generally haven't been very funny, and that threatens the momentum of the entire remainder of the episode. This time, the trademark zany sketch really worked for me. I don't know if it was because this one was rooted in a real thing that went viral recently, the fact that the source material already killed me so much, or the impressive star turn from the Property Brothers and Tony Hawk (!!!), but I was laughing from start to finish.

“Morning Announcements": 7.5/10

This, on the other hand, was more the kind of unhinged sketch we'd been used to seeing fresh out of the gates this season. This one too, though, made me laugh so much more than many of its spiritual predecessors ever did; my only complaint was that we didn't get more of Aubrey's nun! Also, Sarah Sherman can kill me with just one line.

"M3GAN 2.0": 7/10

This was a pretty simple joke, and as such, ran a little dry by the end. Still, a very humorous concept, and acted marvelously well by both Plaza and Chloe Fineman. Big shout out to the costuming department, too, for making both women look exactly like the viral horror character.

“Monologue": 6/10

Right off the bat, you could tell the online excitement about this host translated in person; the crowd loved Aubrey. As mentioned at the outset, though, she seemed pretty nervous! Her volume was kinda shaky throughout, and she rushed through some funny punchlines, on some occasions likely killing the potential for more laughs. Still, this was a fun one on the whole, and as far as celebrity cameos go, it's pretty hard to beat President Biden and Amy Poehler.

“Film Noir": 6/10

The last sketch of the night, this one also had "10-to-1 energy" with its wholly zany premise. It didn't make me (nor the audience) laugh nearly as much as the HIV Commercial did, but was still very enjoyable, thanks to Plaza and James Austin Johnson's inch-perfect impersonations of old-timey film noir actors.

“NFL on Fox Cold Open": 5.5/10

It’s not often one gets to say this, but this was a sketch that was totally carried by the new kids. Devon’s Michael Strahan and Molly Kearney’s Terry Bradshaw were the only consistently funny bits of the NFL pregame show parody. The sketch also took a humorous turn, of course, with Bowen Yang appearing as George Santos, although unlike his later Weekend Update appearance, most of the jokes there did feel like pretty low-hanging fruit.

The... Less-Good

Avatar": 4.5/10

It seemed like Aubrey and Heidi, as well as some of the other cast members in this, were having fun at least. But truth be told, this was just pretty dumb. Also, I want to know what happened near the end! It seemed like some sort of technical or wardrobe mishap was causing Mikey Day and Kenan Thompson to need to sloppily improv for a bit.

Musical Performances

Sam Smith (feat. Kim Petras): 6/10

Sam Smith tends to lay pretty low between music releases, and as such, it had been a while since we had seen a performance from them on a big stage. But still, they were no stranger to the Studio 8H stage, having made three previous musical appearances in 2014, 2015 and 2017. I can't say I seek Sam's music out consistently, but I'm generally an appreciator of their music, if not a full-on fan. I know enough about their discography to know that they have very much pivoted towards more mainstream pop, a noticeable change from the more stropped-back, Adele-esque piano ballads that marked the star's breakout.

That trajectory bore out pretty similarly in their two-song set on the night, a set that seemed to be more about the show than the songs themselves. First, the performance of hit single "Unholy" with Kim Petras featured the latter waiting under Smith's dress before emerging for her verse; it was certainly high-energy, but in truth, neither singer's vocals totally shone. Not to be outdone in "wow factor," the second performance of "Gloria" barely featured Smith at all. The singer remained in the background, only coming in on the song's outro, while a hooded choir sang a solemn tune and Sharon Stone laid, transfixed, upon a de facto altar. Yes, you read that correctly. No, you're not having a stroke. The performances were nothing if not memorable, but it does feel like the spectacle itself outweighed the actual musical performance by the musical guest.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.88 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.95)