Dua Lipa Does The Best She Can With A Lukewarm Episode Of Saturday Night Live

Recording artist Dua Lipa just released her latest album this past week, so there's no better time for the pop star to pull double duty as the host and musical guest of "Saturday Night Live." Of course, her first time taking on the honor unfortunately comes after Ryan Gosling hosted a banger of an episode, packed with viral gems like the Beavis and Butt-Head sketch. But if your expectations were firmly in check, then you probably enjoyed this lukewarm, fairly amusing but not raucously hilarious episode of "SNL."

Thankfully, Dua Lipa turned out to be a solid host alongside her musical guest duties. She was game to jump into a variety of characters, didn't severely derail any sketches with subpar performances, and she was even willing to make jokes at her own expense during the monologue. However, the sketches were not exactly of the highest quality, and though Dua Lipa did her best, the episode itself was simply average.

So instead of digging into the peaks and valleys of Dua Lipa's "SNL," we'll basically be venturing up some small hills with slight inclines. But at least there weren't any downright terrible sketches! Let's get to it!

Recurring bits on "Saturday Night Live" often have diminishing returns, though there are exceptions. The first time Andrew Dismukes and James Austin Johnson appeared as Soul Booth musical duo, back when Jenna Ortega cut loose in her hosting debut on "SNL," their efforts to give a legal firm a new jingle for their office phone number was one of the better sketches of the night. Now, they're back, trying to give a flooring company the same treatment. 

While it doesn't work quite as well as the first time, I'll never be tired of watching Dismukes and Johnson in this mode of play. They have the vibe of the "D*** in a Box" guys from The Lonely Island, and their fallback jingle that ends the sketch is rather catchy, though I wish they could have come up with another infectious melody instead of bringing back the same one from the first iteration. Bowen Yang does some heavy lifting here too, because listening to him emphatically wanting to be "daq'd down" at Lucciano's was just as hilarious as the first time. In fact, Dua Lipa's involvement was the one thing that improved the sketch, because her performance was made to be much more over the top than Jenna Ortega, who mostly played in straight in that original sketch. But here, Dua Lipa puts on a New York dialect and then gets involved in the music, and that's another big part of why this one still worked so well.

OBGYN – If this sketch had been a little more funny upfront, then it might have been the best of the night. But the back half was enough to bring some laughs, and it's largely thanks to some gross-out humor and the always reliable Kenan Thompson. In this sketch, a doctor's office has hired a former barbecue pitmaster known as Fat Daddy as a doctor, and he hasn't quite shed some of his barbecue tendencies. Fat Daddy has barbecue stains on his white doctor's coat and slathers on the ultrasound goo like barbecue sauce, but his most upsetting moment comes later, when he starts licking his fingers after inspecting Ego Nwodim's progress downstairs, if you catch my drift. Thompson's commentary and continual licking of his fingers was so funny that Punkie Johnson couldn't keep a straight face, and even the typically stone-faced Nwodim can be caught grinning a few times. Solid sketch!

Penne Alla Vodka – Here's a classic "SNL" commercial parody that takes something mundane about everyday life and turns it into an amusing gag. Whether you're at a graduation party, funeral, baby shower, retirement or whatever, an aluminum tin of penne alla vodka will be there. The ongoing description about this staple potluck dish is perfect, mentioning that it's never very hot but also not quite cold, as well as the little deli container of parmesan cheese sitting next to it. Maybe next time we can get a commercial about the lemonade that never seems to be sweet or cold enough. 

The Anomalous Man – Here's where the common cracks of this episode of "SNL" start to show, though Sarah Sherman's presence keeps it from being a whiff. In this riff on "The Elephant Man," Sherman plays a deformed playwright who is sought out by a beautiful young woman after seeing one of his plays. She loves him for who he is, and they carry out a whirlwind romance that seems to give the writer the romance he's always wanted but never achieved. It's a long lead into the eventual punchline, which finds the titular character texting a bunch of other women for hookups. It's a total left turn from the style and setting of the sketch, which helps makes it funny, and though there are laughs to be had, it felt like the lead-up could have been shorter and the ending could have been stronger. But I think it still worked for the most part. 

As for the rest of the episode, almost all of the sketches felt perfectly fine without being totally memorable, and there wasn't really a downright terrible sketch among them. But almost all of the sketches felt like they had something slightly off about them. The riff on "Challengers" felt like one of the writers had a sketch about those creepy Sonny Angel dolls and injected the hype around Zendaya's tennis love triangle movie into it, but it might have worked better with a little more time in the oven. Young Spicy brought back a recurring bit that was only mildly amusing this time. Good Morning Greenville felt desperate to address the rap feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, though it was funny seeing Heidi Gardner briefly flub her intentionally bad beatboxing. Teeny Tiny Statement Pin felt like it's been sitting on a shelf for a little while. And finally, Community Affairs was a novel approach to addressing the Israel/Palestine conflict and the ongoing university protests, but it didn't feel strong enough for the cold open. 

Honestly, with the exception of the return of Andrew Dismukes and James Austin Johnson returning to pitch a new phone number jingle, Weekend Update may have been the best part of the entire episode. Colin Jost and Michael Che nailed it this week, from Che's great reactions to a few underwhelming responses to one-liners to Jost leaning into his purebred white guy schtick. Plus, the two bounced off each other much more than they have in recent episodes. Even though the guests at the Weekend Update desk (including South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's other dog that she didn't shoot, the new bad girl version of Jojo Siwa, and Jerry Seinfeld) weren't at the top of their game, Jost and Che certainly were. Head over here to see the second half of Weekend Update.

Speaking of those Weekend Update desk guests, Seinfeld stopped by for what could have been a sharper bit. Not introduced by name, Seinfeld appears as a man who did too much press. Of course, this is tied to his promotion of the very silly "Unfrosted," the parody-esque "true" story of how Kellogg's created the Pop-Tart, complete with an all-star cast of comedy stars. The bit at the desk is supposed to be about how Seinfeld maybe did too much press, and it could have easily dived into the usual cycle of what's talked about during these publicity tours and made a mockery of it. But inevitably, it's really just a not-so-clever way of promoting "Unfrosted" for Netflix, and it comes off as being so lazy and thirsty. Please, let this be the last time we have to hear from Seinfeld for awhile. 

Dua Lipa has been on "Saturday Night Live" before, but only as a musical guest. Pulling double duty this time allowed her to stretch her acting muscles more than every before, even more than her supporting role in "Argylle." The good news is that, despite her limited acting experience, Dua Lipa was actually a solid host. She was willing to put on a variety of voices and accents, even when it wasn't really required, which especially worked in the Jingle Pitch sketch that topped this episode. 

At the same time, her monologue was pretty basic, lasting only a few minutes. Dua Lipa was willing to poke fun at herself by referring to her famous nickname (Dula Peep, courtesy of Wendy Williams), while also addressing some of the criticism she's received for her unimpressive dancing (which has improved in recent years). Along with that self-deprecating humor came a bit of defense though, as she mentioned giving people one of the best memes ever, before promising the audience that she was going to give them everything during this episode. I'm pretty sure that one of her dance moves during her musical performances was a direct reference to that meme. 

So congrats to Dua Lipa for bringing the goods to "SNL," even if the overall episode was just okay. It's not entirely her fault, since Ryan Gosling's previous episode will go down as an all-timer. We'll be back after the next episode on May 11, when "SNL" veteran Maya Rudolph returns to host for a third time. For more on "SNL," stay tuned to The Ten to One Podcast after every new episode.