'SNL' Recap: Fey's Palin Braves the Blizzard, Rousey Kicks Butt

There may have been a blizzard in New York City this weekend, but that didn’t stop Ronda Rousey from braving the elements to make it to Studio 8H for her hosting debut on Saturday Night Live. The UFC superstar made her first major TV appearance since losing her bantamweight title by to Holly Holm last fall, and she wasted no time getting down to business in her action-packed opening monologue.

The brawny beauty kicked things off by informing viewers that SNL was the only show in town, what with Broadway and the bars all closed due to the two-feet of snow in NYC. In a classy move, the MMA fighter also conceded her loss to Holm, humbly admitting that her rival deserved to win their match last November. Luckily, Rousey was ready to get back into the ring for SNL.

After poking fun at the fact that some people think she has brain damage from getting pummeled (a camera panned to a cue card that said “My name is Ronda Rousey”), cast regulars Beck Bennett and Taran Killam gave the play-by-play as the former champ took to the ring to try to “win” the monologue. Rousey was coached in between rounds by show veteran Kenan Thompson, and by Round 3, she did something we’ve all wanted to do for years: She smacked Justin Bieber (Kate McKinnon) across the face. As Rousey tried to join the ranks of all-time monologue king Steve Martin, the entire SNL cast came out to help her, with a sing-a-long led by first-time musical guest Selena Gomez. Rousey won the monologue, but it would have been an even bigger win for viewers if SNL writers had put Gomez and McKinnon’s Bieber in the opener together.

Best Sketch: Screen Guild Awards

Several references were made to the headline-making Oscars diversity scandal in this episode, including a Weekend Update comment by co-anchor Michael Che, who described the Oscars boycott by some stars as “a very strong word for not attending a party you were never invited to.” But the Academy Awards’ diversity issue was positively skewered in the funniest sketch of the night, which featured Cecily Strong as a presenter for the Best Actor Award at the fictional Screen Guild Awards.

Clips were shown for movie spoofs of Straight Outta Compton, Creed and Beasts of No Nation, and while black stars gave all of the movies’ most riveting performances, the best actor nominees included Bobby Moynihan as “White Man With Camera” and a white actor (Jon Rudnitsky) who played “Unseen Voice on Phone.” The winner? A five-way tie for “all the white guys” who had bit parts in the predominantly black flicks. While it was a short sketch, Screen Guild Awards took the #OscarsSoWhite controversy head-on as we head into awards season.

Worst Sketch: Super Crew

While the costumes for this sketch were super, the heroes were…not so much. The setting: Metro City, 2016, where it was time to save the city from cyber beasts, but not before a long list of inept superheroes had to be introduced in this endless bit that never really got off the ground. Rousey played Metalia, a superhero who can bend metal with her mind, but unfortunately, the rest of this sketch was kind of mind-numbing. From a gaydar detecting hero to the slow-flying Aviana (played by Leslie Jones), to Firebutt, a hero who blew smoke up his ass (literally), these wannabe crime-fighters lost us. Save the city? They couldn’t even save this sketch.

Best Use of Ronda Rousey: Love Struck

Mean Girls met the horror thriller Carrie in this sketch starring Rousey as a new girl in town who’s asked on a date by high school jock Chad Shannon (Bennett). Things got ugly quick when a crew of mean popular girls, led by SNL’s Vanessa Bayer, taunted the school newbie and informed her she’d better stay away from her man. (As a side note, the bullies also planted dog food in her dinner entrée.) Rousey’s character used her kickass fightin’ skills to make short work of these bitchy chicks, before this public service announcement was posted: “One in five bullies will be a victim of mixed martial arts.”

Episode MVP: Tina Fey

Tina Fey was back to reprise her spot-on Sarah Palin role for the show’s cold open (above), and she had a lot to say in a week when the former Vice Presidential hopeful endorsed Donald Trump in Iowa amid her own personal problems with her son Track. Palin’s rhyming and Lorax quoting resulted in an eye roll from Trump (Darrell Hammond), who said, “I hope no one’s allergic to nuts, because we’ve got a big one here. She’s two Corinthians short of a Bible.” And while Fey’s Palin did spew some real-life Palin lines verbatim, she won us over when she said she’s only endorsing Trump because he promised her a spot in his Cabinet. “And I belong in a cabinet because I’m full of spice and I’ve got a great rack,” she chortled. The cameo didn’t quite match Fey’s previous Palin bit alongside Amy Poehler last month, but any SNL alum who comes out in a blizzard when they don’t have to is an MVP in our book.

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