Maya Rudolph as Beyonce and Jay Pharoah as Jay-Z on last night's SNL (courtesy NBC)

I was very excited for Saturday's episode of "Saturday Night Live" and for Maya Rudolph to come back to her home turf. And she did not disappoint. Her impersonations were spot on, she seemed very comfortable, and she looked gorgeous.  Maya’s appearance definitely cast a shadow on the other female actors on the show, but I thought that was a good thing. They could learn a thing or two from her. 

Maya was joined by Amy Poehler, Justin Timberlake, and Fred Armissen. Having two veteran rockstars back on the show really worked in their favor. For many of the sketches, the actors worked together so much better than I’ve seen in the past. Maya and Kristen were just having a ball, and I think everyone was just excited to have the old crew back. Here's a look at some of the sketches throughout the night and how they stacked up. 

Sports Now

This sketch opened with a series of puns about Jeremy Lin, which luckily I googled him a few days ago so I knew what they were talking about. The puns were funny, but a bit long winded (a complaint not new to "SNL" sketches). It was alright, but definitely not a good example for the rest of the show.

B-

Monologue

I thought this was great. Maya looked beautiful and came onstage to huge applause. She suddenly broke out in “Do you Wanna Funk,” a jazz-funk tune that hinted at all the guys she had slept with on the show (at least that was my assumption). It was really just an excuse for her to sing and dance around with skantilly clad male dancers, but I enjoyed it. Maya’s singing was pretty impressive, which definitely helped. She just looked like she was having a lot of fun. I loved that she interacted with Lorne Michaels and, my personal favorite, Stefan. All the other male actors were just sort of dancing behind her, goofing around which is sort of a comedian’s specialty. Then Kristen Wiig joined her and I felt like I was just watching two drunk best friends parade around their living room, which was awesome. Perhaps I loved this so much because I love dancing, weird things, and Maya and Kristen together, but watch it for yourself!

A

Bronx Beat 

I was so happy to see Amy and Maya together again for Bronx Beat. They just worked so well together and they really set the bar high for the rest of the show. They had some great one-liners (“They should call ‘Hoarders’ ‘oops we found a cat skeleton’”) and had amazing chemistry. To top it all off, Justin Timberlake showed up as Lou the crew member.  The crew aspect went a little long, but Amy and Maya kept it going. They could have done anything and it probably would have been funny. 

B+

Maya Angelou- I Know Why the Caged Bird Laughs

This was one of the more absurd sketches in the episode. Maya came out as Maya Angelou on a commercial for her new prank-show. The concept was a bit hokey and forced, but Maya Rudolph impersonating Maya Angelou was pretty darn funny. Her affected voice made anything sound entertaining. This really showed off the strength of Maya’s impersonations, which continued throughout the episode. 

B-

Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Blue Ivy

Beyonce and Jay-Z introduce their bundle of joy Blue Ivy Carter to their celebrity friends. Maya was a spot-on Beyonce, and Jay Pharoah did a great Jay-Z, and I loved their white butler Andy Samberg.  This sketch allowed everyone to come out and do a great impression, including Fred Armisen as creepy Prince, Kenan Thompson as LL Cool J (“You can tell it’s a special occasion because I’m wearing my formal Kangol”), a crazy Nikki Minaj by Nasim Pedrad, Kristen Wiig as a giggling T-Swift, and Justin Timberlake doing a hilarious Bon Iver (“Look, Bon Iver put himself to sleep!”).  The ridiculousness of all the celebrity impersonations actually worked, as I think it is one of "SNL’s" strengths. It dragged a bit in places, but the clever acting really saved it

B

Sleigh Bells

I definitely could have done without this musical group. I feel like this usually happens when "SNL" features a band I’ve never heard of, but this was particularly awful.  The keyboard and guitars were much too loud for the whisper-singing done by the oddly dressed singer, who danced like she was on drugs.  During the musical interlude, she did a sort of frantic aerobic routine. The song sounded like the same three notes over and over again. Not a fan. Too weird to rate.

N/A

Weekend Update

The dream team was back together again, as Amy came on to help Seth.  The dynamic of the two of them together was really great. The “REALLY?” segment about birth control was great, as Amy exclaimed, “There are too many people! Do you remember the opening ceremony of the Olympics? That should be an advertisement for condoms!” Full of great one-liners, this was classic humor at its finest. No gimicks, just two funny people telling jokes. 

B+

What’s Up With That? President's Day Edition

This was definitely the weakest sketch. "SNL" reverted to the dreaded game show format, which they use wayyy too often in my opinion.  There were a few funny elements, but it was only because it was so absurd to see Jason Sudeikis doing the running man in a red tracksuit. I feltreally bad for Bill O’Reilly and Kate Upton, who wasted their time making guest appearances in this sketch. It know the point of Kenan’s character was to upstage them, but they could have used actors impersonating them instead, maybe it would have been a bit funny, at least

C-

Super Showcase

In terms of writing, concept, and plot, this sketch was horrible. But as I’ve mentioned before, I just like watching Maya and Kristen bop around, so this was perfect for them.  They were so goofy riding around in a golf cart and playing with a frozen chicken and such, but I think Kristen-haters would not have appreciated this. Just because I like them, I’ll rate it higher, but I am probably being too nice. But it was the classic post-Weekend Update, “oh-crap-we’ve-run-out-of-sketches-what-do-we-do-now” moment. 

B

The Obama Show

I am a bit easily entertained, so I was pretty enthused by Fred Armisen’s impersonation of Barack Obama/Bill Cosby. But the sketch itself was pretty weak. Until Amy Poehler came out as Hilary Clinton and danced around. I at least laughed out loud a little at that.

B

How’s He Doing

In my opinion, the Obama-worship by African-Americans is seriously overdone, and I feel that "SNL" is a bit late on the band wagon for this sketch. A few funny moments, like when one “voter” admits that when Obama won, he went out and “break-danced for three days straight.” This sketch seemed a bit too close to stereotyping in my opinion, but I was also getting really tired by this point so I was barely following what was going on.

B-

This episode definitely had some great moments. It was not super strong throughout, but every sketch was at least a little bit funny, which is not something you can say for ever episode. It was just great to see Maya having so much fun up there, especially as she exclaimed “Oh my God I love this place!” as the episode was ending. This episode was just fun.

Reach reporter Charlotte Spangler here.