Saturday Night Live review: Claire Foy shows she’s the new queen of comedy

Claire Foy showed us on Saturday Night Live this week that she’s got what it takes to be funny. And a few surprise celebrities even showed up throughout the night.

Last time on Saturday Night Live, the cast members were concerned that Steve Carell didn’t have what it took to be funny since becoming a dramatic actor. That feeling carried over into this week’s episode as well, as Claire Foy led the way as host. Maybe she wasn’t a comedic actress to begin with, but we’ve really only seen her in dramatic projects like The Crown. So did she have what it took to host SNL? The answer is yes, absolutely.

Given how good of an actress Foy is, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that she could shine in just about any scene there was. Remarkably, she acted totally natural and was able to deliver her lines as if she were actually part of the cast. (Believe me, we’ve seen on SNL before that not all celebrities have a flair for acting on live TV. *Cough* Charles Barkley.)  That being said, the night had its share of additional star power, with Kendrick Lamar even dropping by to spit some rhymes during one of musical guest Anderson .Paak’s performances.

Cold Open

Scary times are headed for Trump and co. Finally, Alec Baldwin returned to play the president, who’s feeling scared/apprehensive/angry all at once about the chaos descending over his administration during his G20 visit in Argentina. If you take a look at the thumbnail, you’ll see right off the bat, SNL’s got two surprise actors, Ben Stiller and Fred Armisen, so that makes this cold open extra special.

Monologue

SNL kept Claire Foy’s monologue short, but that shows sometimes longer doesn’t necessarily mean better. Foy’s was actually one of the more relieving monologues in a long time, where it wasn’t necessarily gut-busting hilarious, but at least it didn’t totally fall flat. Foy compared the politics of Brexit to the United States, and then told a quick anecdote about meeting the queen. All both very chuckle-worthy, and it speaks to the motto, “keep it simple.”

Weekend Update

One of the best things about Weekend Update is that the cast has the ability to create characters completely separate from the rest of SNL. Drunk Uncle, Stefon, Garth and Kat —  just to name a few. This week, Beck Bennett broke out a completely new character, Jules, who has a sure misunderstanding of the economy and society. The best Weekend Update characters seem to be the ones who are totally misinformed and weirdos, so while the character was just okay this time around, Bennett has the potential to come back and make the character better each time he returns.

Three must-see sketches

Netflix Commerical

Let’s face it, there’s a lot of junk on Netflix. And finally, SNL‘s made a digital sketch that captures that perfectly. There’s reboot upon reboot, and shows that seem like they honestly got greenlighted with no explanation. So why not continue that trend? SNL jokes Claire Foy should have a spinoff of The Crown (called Saved By the Crown) and Leslie Jones should totally have her own show where she drives around in a van… okay maybe those actually aren’t bad ideas.

HSN

If anything, you’ll want to watch this sketch just to see Cecily Strong swear up a TV-appropriate storm. Strong’s character has a breakdown on HSN after leaving her product in her Uber, and Strong goes absolutely over the top for this role. Plus, you’ll love seeing the British Claire Foy put on her best Southern US accent.

The War in Words

Historical sketches on SNL can typically be hit or miss. But thank goodness for this sketch, it’s definitely a hit. Claire Foy plays a British army wife who writes to her husband off at war in France, but it’s the husband who seems more concerned about his wife than the other way around. The composure of this sketch, through letter writing, is what makes it particularly enjoyable. A kudos to whoever pitched this in the writers’ room.

Next week, Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa hosts for the first time. He’ll be joined by Mumford and Sons as the night’s musical guest.