The Betty White Saturday Night Live episode was nothing less than an event. Aside from Betty White hosting Saturday Night Live at last, thanks to the Internet, she brought along a lot of old SNL friends. Half of the SNL females from the last 10 years also came back, as part of a Mothers Day/women of comedy theme. Along with the usual suspects like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Molly Shannon, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer and Maya Rudolph returned as well. But the Betty White Saturday Night Live show mainly belonged to White, in the latest addition to her legend.
White got big applause pretty much every time she came out, which was frequently. Some suspected the other SNL ladies came around to lighten her work load, but the 88-year-old comedy legend was quite busy. She was mainly busy joking about her age, and saying a few innuendos that 88-year-olds aren’t usually heard saying.
The Betty White Saturday Night Live show started with the women on the latest Lawrence Welk spoof, alongside the deformed singer played by current SNL head female Kristin Wiig. White then came out for her monologue and thanked all those on Facebook who got her here – although she wasn’t a fan of Facebook herself.
Afterward, the Betty White Saturday Night Live episode put the host next to some old favorites. White thoroughly embarrassed grandson MacGruber, took part in the latest innuendo-filled Delicious Dish, showed up Sally O’Malley on Weekend Update, danced on the Manuel Ortiz show, and helped Macintosh scare more kids straight. In addition, she was ignored when she called Amy Poehler’s 1904 tomboy a lesbian, and confused Tina Fey in a census interview.
White’s crazy side was also shown when she paid her own tribute to the Golden Girls theme song. But aside from White and Maya Rudolph’s Whitney Houston, Jay-Z handled much of the musical duties, along with a few friends.
With White and the special guests, the regular SNL cast could largely take it easy this week. The former cast members resurrected a few old favorites, while Fey and Poehler went back on Update for another “Really?!?!” routine. But the Betty White Saturday Night Live show was mainly one long Mothers Day tribute to America’s favorite grandma.
Even the commercials starred White, as her Snickers Super Bowl ad and a promo for her new show “Hot In Cleveland” aired early on. Considering the movement to get her on, the show had a lot of pressure to get this right. But given all the applause, the borderline R-rated things that came out of her month, and the help she got, most seemed convinced that the movement paid off.
However, the Betty White Saturday Night Live extravaganza wasn’t the season finale. That comes next week, with Alec Baldwin tying the all-time hosting record.
Sources
NBC.com- “Saturday Night Live – All Videos – Newest”
Entertainment Weekly- “Saturday Night Live recap: Betty White was funny, vulgar, and totally charming”
