snl

Drake’s feuds may not be as legendary as some of his predecessors, but they have made for some juicy gossip fodder despite his typically pleasant demeanor. While hosting this week’s SNL, the rapper managed to start some beef with, well, just about everyone — from Pete Davidson to the impossibly sweet Aidy Bryant, and even the cleaning lady. Yes, the cleaning lady.

It’s been several years since Dana Carvey’s Church Lady graced us with her benevolent presence, but Church Chat finally returns to SNL — and not a moment too soon. With Donald Trump running for president (what a world) and pop culture run amok, we, as a nation, are truly in need of sage wisdom from Carvey’s shrewdly devout Church Lady.

Around this time last year, SNL presented a commercial parody centering around Totino’s Pizza Rolls, just in time for the Super Bowl. And it was a nasty piece of business, tearing apart the image of the NFL’s biggest game as a day for men and imprisoning Vanessa Bayer’s indefatigable housewife in the kitchen, where she was simply tasked with warming up more disgusting food. So when SNL aired another Totino’s sketch in last night’s episode, we simply assumed it would be a carbon copy of the first one. Boy, were we wrong.

By now, most people (even Bachelor fans) agree that many of The Bachelor's stereotypes and plot lines are frequently overused, and Saturday Night Live hilariously portrayed that in this week's episode.

When the 2016 Oscar nominations were announced nearly two weeks ago, the response to the overwhelmingly white line-up of talent proved instantly controversial. Film fans and industry veterans alike gathered around the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag to make their voices heard, especially decrying how films starring black actors and directed by black filmmakers — like Creed and Straight Outta Compton — somehow managed to only receive nominations for the white people involved in making them. With material this ripe, of course SNL was going to take a swipe at the Academy Awards this week.

The moment former Alaskan governor and 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump for President of the United States, you know the producers at SNL hurried to get Tina Fey on the phone. The beloved former cast member, who just hosted the show last month, famously took on the role of Palin eight years ago and many people believe that her scathing imitation actually did lasting harm to the real Palin’s political chances. In any case, this event allowed SNL to pair Fey’s Palin with Darrell Hammond‘s Trump. Thanks, reality!

Like Dwayne Johnson and Gina Carano before her, Ronda Rousey is graduating from the ring to the stage, though her turn as SNL host this weekend is the first time she’s really had an opportunity to flex her acting muscles. Unfortunately, the MMA pro is sidelined for much of the episode, her talents underestimated and misused from the moment she walks into Studio 8H. Beck Bennett is seemingly the only cast member who really knows how to take advantage of her skill set, delivering the best sketches of the night. The lack of actual effort to give her something to do does little to disprove the idea that SNL invited Rousey to host based almost entirely on brand recognition. And that’s really too bad. Read on for our ranking of this week’s sketches from best to worst.

Most grown women agree that adult female life would be tough without help from the other ladies in their lives. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are no different, which is the subject of one sketch on this week's episode of Saturday Night Live.

It’s a testament to the staying power of certain public figures that they’ve been played by more than one SNL cast member over the years. People like Hillary Clinton, the former First Lady turned former Senator turned former Secretary of State turned current Democratic Presidential frontrunner, linger on long past Saturday Night Live cast rotations. So what is the show to do when one of its guest hosts used to play a vital and very much in the public eye politician back in the day? Put her on stage with the current version, of course.

On the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, host Chris Hemsworth's running gag is his hotness. One sketch, titled “Brunch,” capitalized on this theme in the best way ever: Chris Hemsworth dressed up in a wig and dress to find out what women really think of him.

SNL commercial parodies are at their best when they’re at their most scathing. The fake ad for a fictional dating app called Settl may not be as dark as that vicious, pro-gun parody from a while back, but it’s a different brand of cynical: Here is the app for people who are tired of trying to find the right person and just want to settle down with, well, any person.

While traditional live sketches are still the backbone of any given episode, modern SNL is frequently at its best in the pre-recorded segments. The past few years have seen an interesting evolution as the silly “digital shorts” of a decade ago have matured into full-blown filmmaking, with sketches that feel more like short films than just a comedy bit. Last night’s Ryan Gosling-hosted episode peaked with a pre-recorded sketch titled “Santa Baby,” which let both SNL and Gosling himself turn the weird up to 11.