Ariana Grande returned to host Saturday Night Live this weekend, in an episode that saw a farewell to long time SNL cast member Bowen Yang and a curiously one-sided Weekend Update joke swap. Grande has quickly established herself as a reliably good host for the show; given that her last appearance included a musical ode to a friend’s house that quickly took a turn, it raised the question of whether we might see something similarly grim this week.
Spoiler alert: we did, in the form of a sketch that revisited the heartwarming climax of the original film with a bit more viscera. (It’s something of a sequel to a similar sketch starring Martin Short and Steve Martin from a few years ago.) What stands out here is the enthusiasm for which the SNL cast and Grande take on their characters; Grande plays an excellent Kevin, and Colin Jost’s appearance got laughs even before he uttered a word.
Since Home Alone was first released — this can’t be right — 35 years ago, a lot of time and energy have gone into assessing just how much damage the pranks and traps in it would have done. This sketch can be seen seen as a natural outgrowth of that, but it’s also a reminder of the comedic potential of a suburban home with added deathtraps.
The House From “Home Alone” Is on the Market
The asking price is $5.25 millionIt was also one of several occasions this episode where SNL let Grande go big; another came when she hosted a PSA for “safe rooms” for women drunk on espresso martinis, which lets her play both a calm and rational narrator and an agent of chaos. Sometimes, at the end of a surreal year, that’s all you need.
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