'Saturday Night Live' Review/Recap: The Return of Bill Hader

Devika Syal ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

When Bill Hader left the cast of Saturday Night Live at the end of season 38, many fans worried about where the future of the show was headed, seeing as he was one of the last of the core group of cast members who truly defined the past decade of the show to leave the cast. That’s why there was such a big hype surrounding his return as host on Saturday, October 11th.
Hader was definitely the star of the show, which is usually the case when a former cast member comes back to host. His monologue included an appearance from close friend Kristen Wiig, and pointed out that Hader had never sang a song on his time on Saturday Night Live, prompting him to improvise the line, “Don’t make me sing,” an allusion to a popular sketch Wiig used to do.  He also reprised his well-known roles as veteran reporter Herb Welch and puppeteer Anthony Peter Coleman.

Hader and Wiig introduced a moving tribute to former cast member Jan Hooks, who was on Saturday Night Live from 1986-1991 and passed away last week. Wiig honored Hooks with the kind sentiment that “her influence is clear in every one of us who has been [on Saturday Night Live] since.” For those who weren’t familiar with Hooks when she was on the show but are big fans of recent cast members, Wiig’s words show just how significant Hooks was to the history of the show.
The most awaited part of Saturday’s episode was the return of Hader’s most popular Saturday Night Live character, and perhaps even one of the most popular characters of all time. This is Weekend Update’s city correspondent Stefon. Stefon’s last appearance was on Hader’s final episode, when he and anchor at the time Seth Meyers got married and ran away together. During the Update, Stefon revealed that he and Seth were looking for a house because Stefon is pregnant. Stefon also mentioned his signature list of “New York’s hottest clubs” and their amenities, unable to keep from breaking character and laughing out loud live while reciting his lines and covering his mouth with his hands to keep composure as he is known for doing.

While Hader was the main focus of the episode, there were many sketches that highlighted the strengths of other cast members. A spoof of the show Hollywood Game Night showed Cecily Strong and Beck Bennett impersonate Sofia Vergara and Nick Offerman, respectively. Viewers haven’t had the opportunity to see these two cast members do any impressions yet, and hopefully this sketch alerted the writers to these two members’ talent and will include more impersonations in the future.
The flaw in having Hader host so early in the season is that viewers were given such a treat when their favorite cast member and characters returned and now have to come down from that high and sit through the rest of the season. While Saturday Night Live is still funny at its core, its quality has diminished over the past few years and it is trying to get that back. Previously on the show, ex cast members have returned to host the season premiere, Christmas episode, or the season finale. It would definitely have been a smarter move on Saturday Night Live’s part to welcome Hader back to host one of these shows, where he would have been given a lot more attention, rather than to stick his episode in a time slot that has the opportunity to be overshadowed.
That, however, is highly unlikely. Hader’s episode was wonderful, full of laughs, and provided fans with a happy nostalgia as they got the chance to relive the days when he was the star of the show. It leaves the question of which Saturday Night Live ex-cast member will be next to return and host. Will it be Fred Armisen, or perhaps Seth Meyers, who works in the same building and could easily stop by the Saturday Night Live stage for a week and create another great episode?