Ariana Grande highlights her musical impressions on “SNL” – especially Celine Dion

As Ariana Grande appeared as a musical guest on a March episode of “Saturday Night Live.” It wasn't hard to predict (and it was) that she would return in the fall to promote the November release of her film Wicked. But instead of pulling double duty as host and musical theater performer like Bad Bunny did last season, Grande insisted in her opening monologue (in song) that she plans to keep a low profile.

Thank God she was just joking.

After closely mimicking the singing voices of Britney Spears, Miley Cryus and Gwen Stefani in the monologue, Grande, dressed in a pink “Wicked”-inspired dress, told Yang that her sketch for the film was canceled. She then joined dancers on the kickline and promised not to duet with Nicks (“Worth a try!”).

Grande, who could soon be nominated for some Grammy nominationsShe may not have been the musical guest, but she had plenty of songs to showcase her powerful voice on the show. Additionally, her sketches played to her strengths as a performer with top-notch comedic timing, proving to be as talented a mimic as the series' cast members themselves.

The guest host skillfully spoofed Celine Dion's recent NFL appearance with a UFC-themed version of “It's All Coming Back to Me Now” and in a skit in which Grande had to do an impersonation of Jennifer Coolidge in a Maybelline commercial opposite current “SNL” impressionist Chloe Fineman and “SNL” legend Dana Carvey with their own Coolidge recordings, the pop star's resonated most like “The White Lotus”. Emmy winner.

Grande also sang – in a very, very high voice – as a castrated boy in the Italian Renaissance whose parents (Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg) explain the concept of “castrato.” In a pre-recorded video, she sang a song about the smells of her best friend's house (It takes a dark turn). And in a skit about a competitive mother She meets her son's friend for the first timeShe fought with and kissed “Wicked” actor Bowen Yang. She also played a fraudulent hotel detective inspector as well as a Member of a wedding party intentionally singing incorrect song lyrics inspired by “Espresso” to expose bad behavior at the bachelor party.

The guest host dropped out of her role a few times, but always recovered quickly and delivered a standout performance in an episode It started five minutes late because of college football. Musical guest Stevie Nicks performed her new pro-choice anthem.The lighthouse” And “Edge of Seventeen.” For the third week in a row there is no Please Don't Destroy video, but the boys are in one recent Instagram video filmed in the “SNL” offices and are apparently working on an ad for Allstate.

“SNL” knows when to find what it is looking for, as it did with Season premiere is stacked cold open with Rudolph as Vice President Kamala Harris and Dana Carvey as President Joe Biden, after which the same guest stars were brought back for the vice presidential debate. This week the show once again revolved around a fantasy episode of “Family Feud” aired by CNN, with the Democrats facing off against the Republicans and Steve Harvey (Kenan Thompson) hosting the “Feud.”

Kamala pointed to her busy week of media appearances — she said she went on Howard Stern's show to chat up horny taxi drivers — and former President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) insisted that immigrants eat Moo Deng and JD Vance (Yang) blamed the Democrats turn the joker “A gay man obsessed with Lady Gaga.”

The format was fun, but the comedic beats were almost identical to the previous two cold starts, with a confused Biden, the bombastic father energy of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Jim Gaffigan), and second gentleman Doug Emhoff (Samberg). The only innovation was the inclusion of Mikey Day in the role of Donald Trump Jr., who complains about Vance: “It's almost like my father picked me to be vice president… But he didn't.”

The impressions were still solid, but the triple immersion drained much of the humor from the piece.

In Grande's monologue, she pointed out that the The last time she hosted was in 2016the country was “close to electing our first female president, so I guess… the second time is the charm.”

Best sketch of the evening: Céline Dion makes broken bones sound beautiful

After Céline Dion's strange surprise Appearance in an NFL promoGrande imitated the singer and delivered a similar message – this time for the even more brutal sport UFC. With lyrics like “There was breaking of bones / and there's knees to the balls,” this version of “It's All Coming Back to Me Now” celebrated the violence of the UFC, from cauliflower ears to 300-pound Bosnian athletes vomiting their own teeth . Grande's Celine Dion promised to see you in the Octagon.

Also good: Do you like Jennifer Coolidge? How about three of her?

As mentioned above, Grande passed her entrance exam for the Jennifer Coolidge Academy of Jennifer Coolidge Impressions in a mirror sketch with Fineman, who nailed it the actress previously played on the show. The two associated things to talk about on a date, like lemons, until Carvey joined them when their mirror moved to reveal a third Coolidge. The only surprise was that it was Carvey sitting there and not the real Coolidge herself.

“Weekend Update” winner: Amazon employee Monica is a little overworked

James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman played the arguing brothers from OasisNoel and Liam Gallagher, but Ego Nwodim took it harder than Monica, an overworked Amazon employee still recovering from the company's crisis final two-day sales event. Monica worked eight days in a row – that's how long she had to come up with a completely new day of the week, “Fluesday”. Monica was discussing using a drone at work and at one point fell asleep with her eyes open. “Weekend Update” co-host Michael Che pointed out that the conditions appear inhumane. But when asked if he would stop ordering things from Amazon, he remained silent. Relatable!

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.