SNL Scorecard: Did Jim Carrey Save a Lackluster Show?

There was something odd about last night's Jim Carrey-hosted installment of SNL. Between the promos featuring Carrey hitting on Kristen Wiig, his monologue proposal and the good-nights where Carrey emotionally thanked pretty much the entire world, it felt like the episode might have been one big Jim Carrey therapy session. The last time Carrey hosted, May 18, 1996, Carrey wasn't too far removed from being the guy walking down the street wearing an oversized cowboy hat looking for a copy of the Rhode Island Slut. Now, we have a more mature, certainly a more damaged Carrey hosting for a second time -- complicated by hosting on, well, a day that, due to current events, people did not find particularly funny. How did he do? On to the scorecard...

Sketch of the Night

"Black Swan" (Carrey, Hader, Pedrad): Yes, Carrey brought his A-game for this one. It was reminiscent of watching Carrey in his prime during the late '90s. It wasn't perfect, but it did provide the highlight for what was a surprisingly tame night. I almost enjoyed Thomas's insistence on reminding Nina how great she is as the White Swan and how terrible she is as the Black Swan more than I did Carrey's antics.

Score: 8.5

The Good

"Soul Train" (Moynihan, Ensemble): Here's your patented "excuse to sing a wide variety of funny songs" sketch that comes along every few weeks. These can really be hit or miss, and this time it hit more than missed. What pushed it over the edge: Carrey singing that he wants to "see one titty."

Score: 8.0

"Amusement Park Ride" (Carrey, Killam, Hader, Thompson, Wiig): OK, this was just plain creepy -- probably one of the creepiest sketches to ever air on SNL. I'm amazed at how convincingly Carrey and Killam transformed themselves into robotic amusement park singers. Wait, I mean, killer robotic amusement park singers.

Score: 7.5

"Psychic Medium" (Carrey, Sudeikis, Pedrad, Bayer): Jim Carrey as a former impressionist comedian who is now a psychic -- a psychic who can only "communicate" with celebrities that he can do an impression of, like Jimmy Stewart. What looked like a ho-hum, "Jim Carrey is doing his Stewart impression," sketch, all of a sudden, turned into something special. Carrey pulled out his Alan Thicke. As Sudeikis says during the sketch, "No one does a Thicke!"

Score: 6.5

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