Taylor Swift pulled a Timberlake this weekend, becoming one of a handful of artists in Saturday Night Live history to serve as both musical guest and host, for the show’s November 7th episode. Swift did a masterful job in both roles, appearing in nearly all the sketches — which were for the most part funny — and performing “You Belong With Me” and “Untouchable” to an audience of roughly 5 million, SNL’s biggest ratings of the season.
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Taking advantage of their host’s dual talents, SNL put a guitar in Swift’s hands for the opening monologue, which featured jabs at both ex-boyfriend Joe Jonas and her VMA nemesis Kanye West. “You might think that I’ll bring up Joe/The guy who broke up with me on the phone/But I’m not going to mention him in my monologue/Hey Joe, I’m doing real well/Tonight I’m hosting SNL,” Swift sang. “You might be expecting me to say/something bad about Kanye/And how he ran up on the stage and ruined my VMA monologue/But there’s nothing more to say/Because everything’s okay/I got security lining the stage.”
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Among the many characters Swift portrayed in skits during her SNL hosting debut were a teenager donning orthodontic headgear for a PSA about parents who are bad drivers, an obsessive roommate, a convict sporting cornrows and a goatee, and a girl crushing on Frankenstein in a Twilight spin-off called Firelight, which was this weekend’s SNL Digital Short. Swift also turned in impressive impersonations of Shakira and The View guest host Kate Gosselin.
While Swift’s musical performances took a backseat to her comedic endeavors, her spirited renditions of “You Belong With Me” and “Untouchable” nonetheless showcased her magnetic stage presence. NBC and YouTube have both clamped down on those clips, but you can enjoy the Firelight trailer below:
