Aubrey Plaza

The White Lotus star makes for an impressive host in a week that sees Sharon Stone, Amy Poehler, Allison Williams and, surprisingly, Joe Biden pop up.

But more than that, it was also the most rounded SNL has felt in years, thanks to the use of George Santos as through line, as well as an overriding focus on queer humor. Hopefully, this speaks to a new sense of focus for the show. It’s very obvious to everyone except leader Jake Sully (Day) that the spies are two members who are clearly “butch ladies from Arizona” (Heidi Gardner and Plaza). M3gan star Allison Williams shows up to put a stop to things, only to change course and embrace the fun after all the clubgoers fawn over her for having “her as ate” on Girls. Luckily, the show goes out on a much stronger note with a scene from an old black-and-white mystery movie that sees Johnson’s hardboiled PI accuse Plaza’s sultry widow of murdering several aged husbands. Then, Plaza plays a TV director shooting a commercial for the HIV treatment Lovato. But the sunny Knope would rather pick Jost’s brain about his job (Poehler gets a big laugh when she talks about watching Update “when Seth Meyers did it by himself with no one else”). It’s about as close to a piece of performance art as any SNL musical number has been in recent memory (if not ever). She furiously renounces her faith and embraces sin, before Sister Clarence wins her back with a rendition of Lady Gaga’s Shallow (a call back to an earlier joke). The wealthy, spoiled tourists of White Lotus – including characters played by Jennifer Coolidge (Chloe Fineman) and Michael Imperioli (Johnson) – find themselves butting up against a no-nonsense, all Black (save Plaza’s fiery Latina) staff that refuses to indulge their nonsense. Next, at a cul-de-sac game night, a group of neighbors welcomes the new couple that’s moved next door. Fresh off memorable turns in the new season of HBO’s The White Lotus and the acclaimed indie thriller Emily the Criminal, the actor celebrates having recently been voted the most famous person from her home state of Delaware.

The first SNL in over a month catches us up on all the pop culture and political chaos that's happened since. A recap and review of season 48, ...

[Nelson Franklin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np6xlLW2JqU&t=468s), [ Harvey Guillén](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJr7SwQ03pg&t=118s), and [Jon Lovitz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpKLHWg2Ffg) have all played George Santos, the Talented Mr. However, it’s still campy enough that the gay community immediately [claimed it](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/movies/m3gan-gay-sensibility.html), and for good reason. (She also once played an NBC Page on [ an episode of 30 Rock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5HIUO1klbw).) She spends the bulk of her charming monologue giving viewers a tour of the studio, complete with the same kind of made-up factoids [ she has mentioned in interviews](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAVcOHAPkNk) she used to lay on audiences when she was giving those tours for real. [ Jennifer Coolidge impression](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFxlJ1inle0) in the previous episode, this sketch seemed like another showcase for her in its opening moments. [Emily the Criminal](https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/emily-the-criminal-movie-review.html) — the inaugural release from her [ production company](https://linktr.ee/EvilHagProductions) — and eating up a meaty role in [The White Lotus](https://www.vulture.com/tv/the-white-lotus/), the closest thing to a monoculture hit we now have, 2022 was Aubrey Plaza’s year. [M3GAN](https://www.vulture.com/article/m3gan-review-good-enough-for-january.html) has just enough actual horror to transcend being more meme than movie. [ her moment of truth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcMfZyXCl9s&t=60s). Instead, it turns out to be a corrective of The White Lotus’s staggering (and deliberate) lack of Blackness; all the decadence, all the intrigue, none of the foolishness. [ an adorable and touching story](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKwralwfbiw) about why getting to do so was a dream come true. Plaza has so successfully shed the skin of her first defining character that it’s almost as jarring as it is nostalgic to see her [ revive Ludgate](https://youtu.be/a7rfGuTKIXA) for a reunion with her Parks co-star Amy Poehler in the middle of hosting SNL. (It didn’t help matters that she once played Daria in a viral [ College Humor video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBQXugKu8L4), or voiced the titular character in 2014’s [ Grumpy Cat movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmeF5zENpMo), a project I wouldn’t know how to explain to a young person without being even more embarrassed of my generation than usual.) In the years since, however, Plaza has been doing the difficult work of torching her former typecasting without the telegraphed intentionality of a Disney star now working blue. She slowly built up a stable of varied performances in dark, hip indies she produced herself, such as [ Ingrid Goes West](https://www.vulture.com/2017/08/ingrid-goes-west-is-a-barbed-satire-of-dumb-instagram-girls.html) and [ Black Bear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_gCDYMGnng), along with the occasional [ fratty comedy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33MtR-g4Jcg) and the lesser of two recent Child’s Play reboots (the movie, not the show.) Plaza has worked so steadily and accrued so much goodwill that her hosting SNL for the first time in 2023 feels bizarrely belated.

President Joe Biden made a surprise video appearance on "Saturday Night Live" during host Aubrey Plaza's monologue.

We're just grateful you made it out of 'White Lotus' alive." The "White Lotus" star, who, like Biden, is from Delaware, joked that she was voted the most famous person from the state, beating out the president. - The "White Lotus" star, who, like Biden, is from Delaware, joked that she was voted the most famous person from the state, beating out the president.

This weekend Aubrey amassed a dazzling array of top-flight guest stars, including Sharon Stone, the Property Brothers, Tony Hawk, Allison Williams and U.S. ...

She gushed that the set department workers 'work miracles, and the biggest miracle of all is that they let me back in the building! 'Drive a bus - you don’t have to be on time, nobody cares,' she said. Give these whores a spare key to the room!' ‘Cause I work at the hotel.' 'I must’ve left it in the limousine! 'Next up on the tour is the set design department where I used to work,' said Aubrey. Coming upon a cupboard, she said: 'Oh, look, here it is!' only to open it and find skeletons inside. 'It’s just, Oh, gosh, I forgot my credit card!' she told the concierge. 'Now, this is one of the most important jobs of the show, which is why I was never put here. She confided: 'Oh, here’s a little studio secret. That’s a fact, and he was pissed! We’re just grateful you made it out of White Lotus alive.'

Clutching a pillow and wearing minimal makeup, the White Lotus star, 38, kept it comfy and casual for her day of travel. Plaza's triumphant debut as SNL host ...

Reunited: The tour took Aubrey into another full circle moment when she ran into her Parks and Recreation co-star – and SNL legend – Amy Poehler, 51. Since a page is responsible for leading tours around 30 Rock, Aubrey proceeded to give the SNL cameras a hilarious tour That’s a fact, and he was pissed! 'So, Aubrey, I see that you’re wearing your page jacket,' said Amy at one point. He was livid! The tour took Aubrey into another full circle moment when she ran into her Parks and Recreation co-star – and SNL legend – Amy Poehler, 51.