John Mulaney posted a series of glamour shots, promoting the show. Here he is as Patti Smith.
John Mulaney posted a series of glamour shots, promoting the show. Here he is as Patti Smith. Picture by Mary Ellen Matthews

John Mulaney hosted Saturday Night Live over the weekend so I watched SNL for once, which I do—as a millennial with no TV set—on Youtube.

“I haven’t watched SNL since the last time John Mulaney hosted,” Mercury Calendar Editor—and fellow John Mulaney appreciator—Chipp Terwilliger admitted, when I rolled my office chair across the floor to Mulaney gab. And I was in the same boat—perhaps even a little less WITH IT—as I had no idea Mulaney was even hosting.

Lucky for me, Youtube recently figured out that I really like Mulaney stand-up routines and it tries to radicalize me with every clip of his, as they’re uploaded. Did you know that on the Late Night with Seth Meyers show, Mulaney recently outpaced Martha Stewart as the most frequent guest? He lives nearby! Anyway, onto what we thought were the highlights of the show:

My favorite bit of the night was Mulaney’s opening monologue, where he seemed to condense 30 minutes worth of material into a cool seven and some change. He went a little fast, but got a lot of livin’ done. Since I, as I already stated, watch everything Mulaney puts out, I appreciated that most of the monologue was completely new material. He has a reputation for doing pretty safe humor, which seems somewhat undeserved. The set included jokes about cocaine, religion, and Woody Allen, but Mulaney's delivery never came off as insulting since he generally takes the fall of his jokes.

My top pick for sketch of the night was "What's That Name" where Mulaney and Cecily Strong are contestants trying to remember the names of people they really should know by now. Bill Hader’s face goes places in this one. It’s interesting that Mulaney, though starring, seems to shine when he's playing the straight character and setting other comedians up to shine. That's true to his stand-up as well where he isn't so much the night's entertainment as he's here to tell you about a lot of wild stuff he saw—all of which is very entertaining.

Chipp’s favorite sketch was the CBS Cinema Classics spoof where Mulaney (as Humphrey Bogart) and Kate McKinnon (as Lauren Bacall) act out a scene of failed seduction. I can’t really say more about it without giving the punchlines away, but once again Mulaney sets McKinnon up for some expected McKinnon’ around and doesn’t break his Bogart.

Though it was set up to be the jewel, the "Bodega Bathroom" skit wasn't on the same level as last year's "Diner Lobster" (a highly impractical sketch that mashed up insider New York humor with the musical theater skills that SNL cast members rarely get to use), but it was a nice throwback to the glory that was "Diner Lobster."

I am simultaneously 1) surprised anyone else liked "Diner Lobster" and 2) completely sure "Diner Lobster" is one of the best sketches SNL has ever made. So it was gratifying to see a "Behind the Sketch" where the writers, Mulaney and Colin Jost, discuss how long it took them to get that sketch from pitch room to stage (they initially pitched it in 2010), and how everyone on the SNL team (especially the props department) bought 300 percent to a very silly idea. May "Diner Lobster" go down in SNL history and remain in our memory as long as that fictional lobster’s fictional life.