Betty White Is Golden On Saturday Night Live

The highly-anticipated Saturday Night LIve with 88 year-old host Betty White did not disappoint, as the "Golden Girl" played Macgruber's grandmother, a straight-talking granny and an ex-con trying to scare kids straight. And she also made fun of Facebook, When I first heard about the campaign to get me to host Saturday Night Live, I didn't know what Facebook was. And now that I do know what it is, I have to say it sounds like a huge waste of time."

With the return of former cast members Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon and Tina Fey, there were some returning skits and characters, like NPR's The Delicious Dish and Rudolph's Whitney Houston during Weekend Update. (There was also a Debbie Downer sketch that didn't make the show; video of it in the gallery.) The Arts Beat noted that "most of Ms. White’s jokes boiled down to some version of her (a) saying something totally inappropriate for her age, or (b) making some kind of subtle - or blatant - sexual innuendo. But really, who cares, when so many of them worked?"

The show also attracted the show's highest overnight ratings in 18 months. According to EW, "Not surprisingly, last night’s SNL was No. 1 for the night, topping all primetime programs on all major networks. In homes, SNL doubled the No. 1 telecast in primetime, which was ABC’s coverage of the NBA Playoffs (a 4.4/8 in metered markets)."

Videos of sketches in the gallery and a video of the show, sans Jay-Z's performances, after the jump.

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By Jen Chung in Arts & Entertainment on May 9, 2010 2:15 PM

Comments [rss]

SonnyBobiche

WTF! The not shown on TV Debbie Downer skit was way funnier than the lame scared straight or Dominican TV bits that made it on air. I really didn't foresee the magical end. Kudos on that one.

tsol

Ha! The Happy Homemaker show's em how it's done!!!!

xgeyiph772

The woman is a total treasure and should host SNL every week! Her pin-point timing and almost total lack of reliance cue-cards is amazing for someone of any age, let alone a woman pushing 90. She could teach comics half her age how it's done. Thank God for the old gals!

Papercutninja

it was refreshing to ACTUALLY see a monologue instead of a cop-out song/dance routine that most of the hosts do.

jaycjay

I'm not even a big Betty White fan, but I do have to say that it was refreshing to see an SNL monologue done by someone who actually knows how to perform a monologue.

Matt

some more highlight's from Betty White's SNL: http://bit.ly/aS6pjT

GOP

I dunno why everyone was so amazed by Betty White on SNL. Two irrelevant legacies shared the stage last night.

dandeluca

Betty White is adorable, she's the bawdy grandmother we all wish we had. And Jay Z totally hit it out of the park last night, his band was amazing, the first medley was flawless, and dedicating 'Forever Young" to betty white was just fantastic. Never did I think Jay Z could get me choked up.

jaycjay

"most of Ms. White’s jokes boiled down to some version of her (a) saying something totally inappropriate for her age, or (b) making some kind of subtle - or blatant - sexual innuendo."

Well, of course. She was there because of demand from fans who know her from Golden Girls, a show that boiled to exactly the same elements.