This Week's "SNL" Traveled to 1970s France

Earlier on this season of SNL, Kate McKinnon returned to the show for the first time as host — and, not surprisingly, a few other alumni showed up for the episode in question as well. This weekend, it was Kristen Wiig’s turn to host — which put her in the relatively unique position of being both an alumnus and a five-time host. And, sure enough, the guest stars were abundant, starting with Wiig’s opening monologue.

Several of the night’s sketches seemed designed to feature as much of the cast and guests as possible — including this retirement party sketch, which features both Wiig and Will Forte playing memorably bizarre characters. (Forte’s final line made me laugh so hard I gave myself a nosebleed.) And then there was the parade of surreal musical acts that populated one of the night’s strangest (and funniest) sketches, a look back at the French variety show La Maison Du Bang!

This sketch has it all: Wiig as a pop singer with a surprisingly tragic backstory, Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman as the show’s married hosts, and a cigarette-smoking preschooler with a mustache. That all of the La Maison Du Bang! segments are in French adds to the mood considerably, as does the surprisingly bleak turn the sketch takes as it winds down.

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An ingenious premise for a sketch

Did I mention that Mikey Day plays a mime who makes a terribly bad decision for his appearance on the show? No? Well, this sketch has that as well. It also feels like a thematic followup to the 2011 sketch The Worst of Soul Train — which isn’t a bad thing at all.