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Anne Hathaway: The Best Host of "SNL" So Far this Season?

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under TV Reviews | Comments (27)

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It was an average episode last night, and average is as good as it’s been all season. It reached such heights thanks almost entirely to Anne Hathaway (with an assist from the now reliable Jay Pharoah). It’s hard to think that Hathaway could’ve been the best host of the year so far, with Jon Hamm, Emma Stone, Jane Lynch, and Bryan Cranston having hosted. But, for once, the cast and writers gave the host much more to do, and credit to Hathaway for making the most of it with some really solid impersonations, especially her Katie Holmes.

Here are the mediocre highlights.

Rachel Maddow Cold Open

Ha! A Rachel Maddow hair joke! How original! Until you can beat the Jack Donaghy joke, folks, leave Maddow’s hair alone. Otherwise, a decent political skit, and Kenan Thompson (as Charlie Rangel) had a brief moment in his career where he was actually almost amusing.


A Message from the TSA

The TSA as a pseudo prostitution service? OK. Skip this one.

Update: Jay Pharoah

The best reason to check out “SNL” highlights? Jay Pharoah. Here’s his fantastic hip-hop Thanksgiving song as Jay-Z, Drake and Notorious BIG.

Miley Cyrus Show

I don’t like “The Miley Cyrus Show,” but host Anne Hathaway crushed her impersonation of Katie Holmes. Crushed. Right down to the pitch-perfect side mouth.

The Wizard of Oz

Fred Armison, as usual, was a complete waste of space here, but Hathaway killed as Judy Garland, and Hader was great as the Cowardly Lion.

Penelope: Thanksgiving

Penelope was almost funny once two years ago, and yet they keep trotting her out. Terrible skit, though it was damn near salvaged by Hathaway’s impression of Penelope at the 4:00 minute, if you want to skip ahead.

Visiting the Queen

With the exception of the Jay Pharoah song, this was the best skit of the night — Hathaway as Kate Middleton, with a killer British accent and a funny nod to The Princess Diaries.










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Comments

I thought she was ridiculously bubbly and adorable.

Posted by: Snath at November 21, 2010 12:26 PM

Are you kidding me? It was one of the worst. Emma Stone is the only one who has done great so far.

Posted by: martin at November 21, 2010 12:26 PM

Meh, I wonder if Pajiba's assessment of ANYTHING related to this broad isn't biased by raging hard-ons for her.
She AIN'T . ALL .THAT.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at November 21, 2010 12:31 PM

What's "SNL"?

Posted by: Fredo at November 21, 2010 1:11 PM

Seriously, martin? I love Emma Stone as much as the next person, but she was barely on screen long enough to do anything when she hosted!

Posted by: Cadet at November 21, 2010 2:27 PM

SNL, now with tits. Can this damn show all ready. Put on something entertaining, like live root canal with no anesthetic, or a blank screen.

Posted by: clancys_daddy at November 21, 2010 2:30 PM

I think we've come down to our main disagreement on SNL at last:

I like most of the current cast (minus Abby Elliot). You don't.

And there, we can find no middle ground.

Posted by: ChristianH at November 21, 2010 2:37 PM

Abby Elliot is as funny as her father.

Make of that what you will..

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at November 21, 2010 2:49 PM

Wait, people are actually still watching SNL regularly, and think it's funny enough to mention?

Seriously?????
I did not know.

Posted by: Dudee at November 21, 2010 3:10 PM

The royalty sketch was by far the highlight, though I thought the TSA sketch was f**kin hilarious too.

Posted by: aroorda at November 21, 2010 5:13 PM

I actually like The Miley Cyrus Show. I think Vanessa Bayer does a pretty good impression of that foul-mouthed, backwater hick-troglodyte.

Posted by: citizen_cris at November 21, 2010 5:32 PM

I don't really care buutttt.... While Pharoah does pretty damn good impression, I just wonder if theres anything else there. They're going to run out of places to jam in his repertoire of impressions into. Bill Hader does a mean Pacino, but he's proven to be more flexible, and I think the show needs that, plus better writing.

Posted by: e at November 21, 2010 6:14 PM

fuck SNL. seriously. FUCK.IT.

Posted by: Taylor K. at November 21, 2010 6:16 PM

Her British accent wasn't bad, but she fell a long way short of Streep, Paltrow or Zellweger.

Posted by: Simon at November 21, 2010 6:34 PM

Wow Anne Hathaway was really good here. I was starting to doubt her relevancy since I don't really think she's done anything good since The Princess Diaries.

Posted by: grace b at November 21, 2010 6:39 PM

I applaud your watching this so I don't have to, and normally I agree on which skits are worth watching...

But these are all awful and could not finish any of them...

Posted by: TrickyHD at November 21, 2010 7:11 PM

I think I was 75% there with being a fan of Anne, and then I had a long time friend commit fraud against me and it sealed the deal. Most of the clips were horrible outside of a few performances. I haven't faithfully watched SNL in decades and I have yet to have been proven to have missed much.

Posted by: Matt at November 21, 2010 10:06 PM

I'll watch anything with Jay Pharoah, his impressions are hilarious.

Posted by: Mick J at November 21, 2010 10:59 PM

Can we just auto-delete the comments that say

"Who still watches SNL?"

or

"Cancel SNL already"

Or

"This show sucks"

OK, we get it. Thanks for you pointless comment. Now, scoot.

Posted by: John G. at November 22, 2010 3:57 AM


That Katie Holmes impression was dead-on. I hope she watched it and spit out of her side-mouth on to the alien baby.

Posted by: John G. at November 22, 2010 3:59 AM

People are watching SNL already? It's not as good as it will be in the next few seasons.

Posted by: Ender at November 22, 2010 4:44 AM

I only watch it on TV, but I thought Hathaway did a great job in every skit she was in. She did fantastic impressions...especially Judy Garland.

Posted by: Wednesday at November 22, 2010 9:27 AM

*TiVo, not TV.

Posted by: Wednesday at November 22, 2010 9:28 AM

"I'm not gonna take reporter lessons from some haircut!!"

Posted by: Amanda at November 22, 2010 10:00 AM

Vanessa Bayer is far too pretty and not nearly gummy enough to be Miley.

Posted by: MissNev at November 22, 2010 3:13 PM

The Horse Play sketch was hilarious. The impressions of singers were uniformly brilliant, especially Andy Samberg's take on Robert Smith. I'm still laughing at that one.

Posted by: Randy at November 23, 2010 1:51 AM

With as crappy as SNL has been, this idea may not be so bad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-PkQRh3QXA

I would rather see Grover, but I like cookies so I can get behind this. (Besides, the "Cookie Face" bit is AWESOME!)

Posted by: bonbiz at November 23, 2010 4:16 PM