‘Saturday Night Live’ review: Jay-Z, Bill Hader, St. Vincent, Michael Sam, Hugs, Andy Samberg’s finale

“Saturday Night Live” came on the air this weekend with host Andy Samberg, and plenty of expectations that it would be funny. Was it? That’s what we are here to figure out as we take you on this silly journey … which at least contained all sorts of great cameos.

The overall feel here was interesting, since the start of the episode was decent, but it really got hilarious in the second half with some very random / inspired sketches that did at the same time pretend like most of the Featured Players (plus Aidy Bryant for some reason) didn’t exist.

The good

Jay-Z / Solange Knowles Cold Open – Being that we have no idea at all how Solange sounds, we cannot really grade her impression. However, Jay Pharoah’s Hova is great, and the cameo from Maya Rudolph as Beyonce was delightful. Plus, narrator intervention!

Andy Samberg monologue – A good half of Andy’s impressions were terrible, but some others were decent. This was one of those monologues that would be terrible watching again, mostly because a ton of it was based around shock value. You had Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, and Martin Short all turn up at some point.

Confident Hunchback – We really liked this sketch probably more than we should have. Maybe it was just how energetic Andy was despite a premise that is as one-note as the title suggests that it would be.

Weekend Update – The final one of the season delivered! We had the return of Bruce Chandling, a character that proves that Kyle Mooney will probably be on the show again next season. Also, the return of Get in the Cage! This is one of our favorite segments from the Samberg era, and would be cool with literally seeing it on the show every single week.

Vogelcheck – Who knew that the second half of the show would be so great? It actually was from start to finish far superior, and the return of this frenching family was worth every second. There were so many great moments in here, from Fred Armisen breaking to Kristen Wiig being game to return to another great Bill Hader moment. The fact that “SNL” used this for commentary on Michael Sam was a fun and wise move on their part.

Waking Up with Kimye – This sketch is insanely funny to us, even if we don’t really think that Nasim Pedrad is doing Kim so much as what people think she sounds like in their head.

Hugs – This was more of the Lonely Island we were expecting with these Digital Shorts! It was nice to see Pharrell Williams in here as well, and in seeing Maya again, we’re starting to wonder if she actually is the host this episode in addition to Andy.

Legolas at Taco Bell – So stupid, so pointless, and entirely self-explanatory. Still, we got a laugh out of it.

Watch commercial – The adult stars are back! This was another funny segment that didn’t bring anything new to their world, but mad us laugh regardless. We’ll take anything that we can get from the very last sketch of the show.

The bad

Summer Camp – A very silly, tolerable piece. It would’ve been the best part of the show hosted by Charlize Theron, it would’ve just been okay.

DJ Digital Short – We loved at the start of the show Andy reminding everyone that Justin Timberlake was in Russia to temper expectations. This wasn’t the sort of short that we would’ve wanted after so much time away. We suppose it was okay … we guess. It just didn’t bring anything to the table other than head explosions.

Record producer – This was somewhat better than we thought it would be, and we largely blame Andy for this. But, on a great show, something has to go in the miss category. It did at least have 2 Chainz, thought!

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We feel like we also have to take a minute to discuss St. Vincent’s musical performance, since it has taken off on Twitter. We’ve heard her do podcast interviews and we think she’s a very smart, interesting performer. Is her music our favorite? Not exactly, but it feels that attacking it is unfair just because it’s not your taste. We enjoyed the style of the performances, and the rest is just up to subjectivity.

All in all, though, a heck of a funny episode that was a nice way to close the season. Grade: A-.

What did you think about this edition of “SNL” as a whole? Share your thoughts below, and head over to the link here if you do want to see other highlights from this season. You can also sign up for more updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: NBC