Saturday Night Live returned after nearly a month-long break this week with Oscar winner Jamie Foxx hosting for the first time in over a decade. Like so much of this season, the results were mixed.
Things were pretty dire from the start, with a phoned-in political cold open and Jamie Foxx doing an all-purpose monologue that was big and brash but not very funny, despite combining stand-up, piano, singing and even rapping (courtesy of a weird cameo by 2-Chainz), followed by an ill-conceived sketch in which Foxx called people "bitch." The return of "J-Pop" was a slight improvement, but offered nothing new to the show. It wasn't until an unusually good "Weekend Update" performance from anchor Seth Meyers that things started to pick up, leading into a solid second half that went big on the crazy ideas, most of which worked. As a host, Jamie Foxx had a ton of confidence -- at times, so much that it nearly overpowered the rest of the show -- but his background in sketch comedy (he got his start on In Living Color in the '90s) was evident. He was given a lot to do this week -- even a spot on "Update" -- and managed to make the most of his screen time. When he wasn't calling everyone a bitch, that is.
(Read the full SNL Jamie Foxx recap)
Photo courtesy NBC
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