Jonah Hill took the stage Saturday night for his fourth time as host of Saturday Night Live. The 21 Jump Street (and 22 Jump Street...and maybe 23 Jump Street/Men In Black crossover) star has proven he can hang with the SNL players. His stunt with Channing Tatum at this year’s Golden Globes, where he donned a fuzzy costume as the bear from The Revenant, proves he's willing to go there (and then some) for the joke — even if the joke doesn’t always land.
So, how did his chances play out? Here are three highlights from this week’s SNL:
1. Secret Black Comedians’ Meeting: Jay Pharoah, like Jon Rudnitsky a few weeks ago with his Dirty Dancing bit, proved that there is some awesome, underutilized talent in the wings at SNL. Pharoah did a segment on Weekend Update about a rumored secret Black comedians’ meeting held to settle a feud between Katt Williams and Kevin Hart. In retelling the story, he pulled out spot-on impersonations of not only Williams and Hart, but also Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Tracy Morgan, Chris Tucker, Hannibal Buress, and the late Bernie Mac.
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2. The Champ: This sketch flipped the script on those local high school feel-good news stories. Jonah Hill, as Nate, arrives home with well wishes from his teammates and a cheerleader (played by Kate McKinnon) after defeating the town’s wrestling champ. “Tigers forever!” he says, sharing a moment with his dad while Friday Night Lights-style music plays. All is well — until they turn on the local news. “Town wrestling champ allows himself to be pinned by the school loser as an act of charity,” reports Cecily Strong. The students explain, “Everyone feels so sorry for Nate, because he sucks so hard.” Poor Nate, but he did get the top story on the nightly news over the murdered neighbors.
3. Voters For Trump: Wondering who, exactly, all of these people supporting Donald Trump are? SNL has an idea. We see members of the cast dressed as normal, hard-working, real Americans: a stay-at-home mom who is ironing, a house painter, an office worker, a lumberjack, and two white guys sitting in their houses. And then, the clip reveals a little something you can't see on the outside; a Nazi sympathizer ironing a KKK robe and painting the words "white power" on a building, an anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist burning books and getting firewood for a cross-burning. The "let's make American great again" dog whistle has been blown.
Bonus Points: Jason Sudeikis, for returning to play Mitt Romney in the cold open: “That’s right, America. I’m back. You didn’t ask for it, but you’ve got it!”