Selena Gomez and Steve Martin on Inventions on "SNL"

Call it serendipity or synergy; regardless, it seems like this season of SNL has abounded with guests in addition to the guest host. These tend to be co-stars of the host for whatever their latest project is — Daniel Craig appeared in a few sketches when Rami Malek hosted, and last week Elizabeth Olsen joined her Dr. Strange costar Benedict Cumberbatch for a sketch.

All of which is to say that Selena Gomez hosted SNL last night, and there’s a new season of Only Murders in the Building debuting next month. If you put money down on a Steve Martin appearance last night, well, your instincts were absolutely correct.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOKAWhFdYNM

The sketch in question was a documentary about one Archie Gizmo and his practical joke-themed inventions. And it let Gomez embrace her skills at comic deadpan, Martin be thoroughly charming and Aidy Bryant play Gizmo’s muse, a woman whose penchant for bad luck translated into several of his most prominent inventions.

Is it the most groundbreaking sketch the show featured this season? No — though the faux-documentary style does make for some great visuals. It does let some very funny people be very funny, though, and for three and a half minutes, that’s just about perfect.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…