'SNL' Recap: Was the Force With Adam Driver?

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Adam Driver’s Sith-in-training seizes on the power of the Force to halt a laser blast in mid-air. Unfortunately, the actor apparently wasn’t able to take the Force home with him when shooting wrapped. Otherwise, Driver might have been able to put a temporary pause on the Arizona Cardinals/Green Bay Packers NFL playoff game that ran into overtime, pushing back his first stint as host of Saturday Night Live by a full half-hour. The game may have thrilled sports fans, but the following sentiment summed up the feelings of most SNL devotees.

Even once the show finally got underway at 12:17 a.m. ET, Driver still had to wait, sitting out the Republican Debate-themed cold open. As in the real debate, Darrell Hammond’s Donald Trump and Taran Killam’s Ted Cruz dominated the proceedings, trading barbs over Cruz’s Canadian background. “Clearly I’m not Canadian,” Killam-as-Cruz insisted. “Canadian’s are well-liked. I’m not!”

Later on, he attempted to clarify what he meant by his infamous “New York values” remark, making it clear he researched those values by re-watching old Seinfeld episodes. “Instead of celebrating Christmas, New Yorkers celebrate a pagan holiday called Festivus. Instead of watching American football, they challenge each other to masturbation contests! In New York, people don’t say hi to their neighbors — they say ‘Hello, Newman.’” (He forgot the part about how New Yorkers sometimes have to wait for upwards of 30 minutes for a seat in a Chinese restaurant.)

By the time Driver finally took the stage at 12:25 a.m., you wouldn’t blame him for looking like he’d rather be getting ready for bed than hosting a late night sketch comedy program. (And it’s not like he has a live-wire screen presence anyway; a sleepy-eyed deadpan is one of the finest weapons in his acting arsenal.)

But he must have gotten a midi-chlorian injection backstage, because Driver came out brimming with enthusiasm, which didn’t diminish even after a series of cast members badgered him for details about the next Star Wars installment. Maybe he was just excited knowing that he’d soon get his comic revenge on the NFL for keeping him up later than planned: Driver’s first sketch of the night cast him as sportscaster Cris Collinsworth analyzing the brutal sacking of Pete Davidson’s fourth-string Packers quarterback. That’s another case where mastery of the Force would come in handy.

Best Sketch: “Golden Globes”
From now own, this will be what we imagine happens whenever an awards show winner jokingly tells his or her children at home to “go to bed” on camera. Right down to the awesome morning after appearance by Liev Schreiber.

Worst Sketch: “Aladdin”
We remember Disney’s Aladdin as fondly as the next ‘90s refugee, but it hasn’t been a timely pop culture reference in at least, say, 15 years, and this sketch didn’t make it relevant again. Is Adam Driver secretly the world’s biggest Aladdin fan? Or maybe the costume department found an old Princess Jasmine costume in a dusty box of ‘90s props? Either way, it should have been cut for time.

Best Use of Adam Driver: “Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base”
Driver reprises his already-beloved role as Kylo Ren, who goes semi-incognito as “Matt” in order to get some facetime with the First Order Stormtroopers that follow his orders when he’s in his wanna-be Darth Vader outfit. “I see what’s in your mind, and it is… stupid!” is better dialogue than virtually anything in the prequels.

Episode MVP: David Bowie
Country singer Chris Stapleton was in fine form as SNL’s musical guest. But all it took was a glimpse of Bowie’s 1979 appearance — sweetly introduced by Fred Armisen — to make us miss him all over again. Head over to NBC.com to watch the music legend’s full performances from that episode.

Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. on NBC.