After a few weeks off following Chris Hemsworth's chicken-based improv, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was the host of Saturday Night Live last night (with musical guest George Ezra). As he noted in the monologue, this was The Rock's fourth time hosting, and it showed: he was effervescently entertaining, with a natural comedic touch whether he was hulking out on Republicans, getting revenge on hunters, or singing a sweet little ditty about being "Franchise Viagra."
The Rock was fantastic, but the rest of the episode around him was a bit spotty, veering from truly inspired comedy to...a lot less. The best sketch of the night was the The Fast & Furious-referencing Bambi, which included Taran Killam's hilariously smug Vin Diesel impression, which devolved into a series of grunts and mumbles just like Diesel in real life. The Wrestlemania Promo was The Rock's best performance of the night ("I catfished your ass!"), followed by his turn as Rock Obama in the cold open (which was a very fun spin on the usual political cold open—we'd take Obama murdering meddlesome Republicans over the usual staid political commentary every week).
The Rock's sweet "Franchise Viagra" song during the monologue also was notable, hitting that sweet parody song spot The Lonely Island often hit by being as catchy as it was entertaining. Unfortunately, sketches like Escape From Jungle Island, Cooking With Paul and Brogaine let him down: all three were disappointing, lazy sketches that relied on cheap laughs (DUDES TOUCH EACH OTHER?!?! EWW LOL).
There were three other standouts of the evening: Cecily Strong unveiled a gut-busting impression of a British bimbo (her "Bananas" song!) in Anniversary; Kate McKinnon maintained her place as the best current cast member with her Robert Durst impression and the return of beloved Weekend Update guest Olya Povlatsky; and most impressively, Colin Jost had his best segment of his entire SNL career (one which didn't even rely on Michael Che laughing!) with his takedown of The Jinx.
Click through for all those sketches plus music from George Ezra (whose voice most certainly does not match his looks, which we suppose is the selling point). Michael Keaton will host next week with musical guest Carly Rae Jepsen. Will she bring Tom Hanks along with her to recreate the "I Really Really Like You" video, or is he still nursing his death stare wounds?
