Miley Cyrus hosted Saturday Night Live last night, and she took a number of shots at herself. She confessed to showing side-boob in a musical monologue, and she faced an awkward impersonation of her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, by appearing in the Vanessa Bayer sketch “The Miley Cyrus Show.” She impersonated her peers, Justin Bieber and Lindsay Lohan, and she was pretty amusing! True to her brand, she somehow managed to stay PG-13. Meanwhile, predictable Charlie Sheen jokes popped up throughout the night, and the Strokes sounded like the Strokes, and they possibly dropped an F-bomb at one point. The night’s episode received mixed reactions: “Pretty funny,” noted Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker. HitFix gave solid marks to the Strokes and to the sketches in which Cyrus was absent, calling her work “expected” and “defensive.” Movieline called Cyrus “smug” and said the episode went for headlines — “Miley Cyrus plays Lindsay Lohan” — instead of laughs. Alas, let’s take a look.
Most Balanced Confession of Scandals
Half a fuck-you to everyone, half an actual apology to parents, Cyrus’s monologue appealed to both sides of the coin.
Most True-to-Life Impersonation
At just around the same time that Bill Hader played Charlie Sheen on SNL last night, the real Charlie Sheen debuted his new show on UStream, Sheen’s Korner. Aside from the appearance of Muammar Qadaffi, the shows were just about the same.
Most Meta
Vanessa Bayer impersonated Miley Cyrus impersonating Charlie Sheen while Miley Cyrus impersonated Justin Bieber. Cyrus basically nailed Bieber’s swagger (wink, point), and reminded America that Salvia is legal.
Least Surprising
The Strokes were not disappointing at all, but not what you wouldn’t expect, either.
Most Pleasantly Surprising
The recurring sketch about French people.