Saturday Night Live Presents Lady Gaga and Lord Gaga, Long May They Reign

Lady Gaga swanned onto the Saturday Night Live stage like she was born to be there. Draped in sequins and feathers, wearing a great Bettie Page bob, she announced her intent for the evening: “I’m here to remind you that I’m an amazing actor.” Her last cinematic outing, Joker 2, remains a clown makeup blotch on her resume. Touting her recent Razzie win for worst onscreen duo alongside co-star Joaquin Phoenix, she declared herself “one step closer to an EGORT, which is like an EGOT but it’s hurtful.”

But really, Gaga came to sing, which she did in nearly every sketch. Her seventh album Mayhem released this week, a love letter to her little monsters who remember where they were when they saw her in a meat dress. Our Lady has been through some revolutions. “Last time I hosted SNL I was 27,” she said. “I’m 38 now, which is scientifically the best age for a female pop star to be. Honestly though, most pop stars are over 40. Chappell Roan is 58. Charli XCX is 75… Tate McRae is my biological Grandmother.”

Super fan Bowen Yang was already waiting in the wings during the monologue in anticipation of introducing her first musical number. And he wins for the most gleeful “Ladies and Gentlemen…” moment of the season. Gaga’s performance of “Abracadabra” was high camp Conclave fun.

She returned with “Killah,” which began with her giving a bold strut and roll through the backstage before she burst onto stage. It was part David Bowie, part Liza with a Z. I’d call it a total slay but Gaga and Yang would later beg us to cool it with such embarrassing, overused slang.

Yang won the night, performing not one but two duets with Gaga. First, he donned a soul patch and bolo tie and danced with Gaga’s Lady in Red through an absurd riff on “You Look Wonderful Tonight.” The better of their songs was the aforementioned “No More Slay.” While brunching with pastel-clad friends, the cool kids at the end of the table declared war on Urban Dictionary. “Just say, ‘Wow we like that,’” they begged. No more bop. No more flex. No more feet on people’s necks. No more sus. Nip reheating nachos, the latest internet language Lady Gaga was already asked to weigh in on earlier this week, in the bud. Ego Nwodim realized she too needed to kick her slang addiction. “The other day my therapist asked how I was doing, and I said, ‘Diva down.’”

Not to be outdone by the theatrical play of Gaga’s musical performances, the show went full tilt absurd with a Friendly’s sketch in which Yang pressured Heidi Gardner to tell the waitstaff it was her birthday. Once they sniffed her out as a liar, Jane Wickline and Michael Longfellow appeared behind her carrying a live boa. Gaga summoned creatures of the night. Satan’s horns showed up. Blood oozed out of Sarah Sherman’s mouth. “Just drink the blood, Jenny,” Yang told Gardner. “Relax, it’s free.”

Hoorah for a new Dan Bulla short! The wonderful weirdo behind the Tiny Horse animated sketch returned with the trials of Pip, a tiny mouse doomed by Marcello Hernandez to flounder at their high school weightlifting competition. With Gaga’s support, Pip hits his little barbell with cheese wedges and hot dog heavy bag get ready for the main event. Mighty Pip ends up saving the student body, all except his nemesis, after a roof collapse. I like my SNL episodes with a nice showing of animals—real, stuffed, or animated. Thanks to the very well-behaved black pug who gave Hernandez an assist in the rolling Samsonite sketch, and to his threadbare plastic stunt double. And to Bulla and crew for outfitting Pip in a pair of mouse chinos and grey sweatpants.

And thank you to Lord Gaga for gracing us with his presence. On Weekend Update, Colin Jost introduced Gaga’s rarely seen husband, played by Mikey Day in lambchops and Masterpiece Theatre attire. What with him being so busy running the Gaga textile empire, he was just so busy his wife had her little hobby to keep her occupied. He thanked Jost for “letting her sing on your little challenge show.” When Jost tried to explain her global significance, the Lord was aghast at the idea of a woman with more power than her husband. “Can you imagine the shame he would feel?” gasped Day, laying in thick to the bit’s clever turn. “Imagine Colin if I were sitting here on television, behind this desk, staring into that camera, the world staring back at me, knowing that my wife’s income dwarfs my own. I would die.” Happy Women’s History Month, Scarlett Johansson!

Mike Myers, who thankfully returned as a glitching, buffering, dancing Elon Musk in the cold open, was late to stage for the cast goodbyes. May he be in this for the long haul. As of this week, Musk is said to have produced 14 little monsters. Help Gaga! Save them from Dr. Evil.