SNL RECAP: Chris Rock Returns and Gives SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Its Worst Episode of the Season

Welcome to Edition No. 47 of Popculturology's Saturday Night Live recaps. All of your questions about the Chris Rock-hosted episode will soon be answered.

How'd Chris Rock do?

Rock hadn't been on SNL in almost two decades. He should have stayed away.

The comedian returned to the show to host for the first time since he was fired in 1993, delivering an episode that was easily the worst so far this season. Rock kicked the show off with a monologue that ran too long, choosing to launch into a standup bit that touched on many world events that had happened since Rock left SNL — Sept. 11, the Boston Marathon bombing. My issue with Rock's monologue wasn't the subjects he choose to joke about. No, my issue with his monologue was the fact that there wasn't any reason to make those jokes. If you walked into a comedy club today and the comedian was joking about events that happened years or even decades ago, you'd assume this guy was washed up and wasn't any good.

If Rock wasn't already a household name, you would have been dead-on making that assumption about him based on his SNL monologue.

The rest of the episode was just as bad as the monologue. Most of the jokes didn't stick. Rock appeared lost or confused during sketches. The Internet went crazy over Prince's performance, but the musician spent a good part of his set playing a guitar that wasn't even plugged in. If that's the highlight of the show, SNL is in trouble.

This is not going to be glowing SNL recap ...

What were the best sketches of the night?

Of the night's two best sketches, one barely featured Rock and the other skipped him altogether. Not a good sign if an SNL host is left out of the episode's best moments.



A sketch that drew tweets from Taylor Swift herself, SNL's fake commercial for Swiftamine promised to cure the vertigo you experience when you realize that song you really love is actually a Taylor Swift song. I hope SNL brings Dr. David Doctor back again, maybe pair him with Dr. Spaceman.



Not sure why SNL buried this sketch at the end of the show as it was one of the night's most creative and enjoyable sketches. I guess the people running the show would rather see Rock forget his lines while talking about requesting an Uber than watch Beck Bennett, Bobby Moynihan and Kyle Mooney play a trio of extremely helpful and courteous bank robbers. This sketch was also the most exposure Aidy Bryant go this episode. 

Any shorts or commercials?

Points for describing getting a colonoscopy as "spelunking."

How was 'Weekend Update'?

Maybe it's the excitement he brings to his "Weekend Update" appearances, but it doesn't matter what Pete Davidson is talking about — I'll pay attention any time he has a segment. After previously sharing his thoughts on oral sex for money and the jewelry rappers wear, Davidson returned to "Update" this weekend to tell us about the time he sent pictures of his penis to his mom to get her opinion on an STD he possibly had. Don't worry, it's OK — his mom is a nurse ... a school nurse.



If Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah are going to appear on "Weekend Update" together, I want to see them portraying Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal. Anytime I see Pharoah as Katt Williams, I think about the fact that Drake portrayed him on SNL first.

How about the rest of the show?

When it comes to the rest of the episode, I wish there was a way I could fully express my feelings. You know how you can make a fart sound by pressing your palm against you mouth and blowing? That's this episode.



Ha ha ha, ISIS joke. If you listening to Rock make jokes about the World Trade Center and the Boston Marathon bombing wasn't awkward enough for you, hopefully you were still watching when SNL turned ISIS into an organization hoping to get Mark Cuban and other Shark Tank venture capitalists to give them some money. To borrow from Taran Killam's Cuban, "Genocidal regimes are a very tricky business." Making fun of them to resucitate a dying episode of SNL is also a very tricky business.



"I honestly bet you're big down there ... below your wasteband ... where your water comes out."



According to SNL, rogue Ebola-treating nurse Kaci Hickox spent Halloween handing out loose M&Ms. See, this is why you NEVER trust loose candy. I don't care if there is tiny plastic spoon in the bowl.



Apparently anytime there's a black host, SNL brings back "How's He Doing?"



Remember "Jarret's Room"? The old video blog sketch SNL did with Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz? That was a great sketch. "How 2 Dance With Janelle" was the opposite of that.



No idea what was going on during this sketch. Leslie Jones appeared to even lose interest during the middle of it.

What's next?

SNL is back on Nov. 15 with Woody Harrelson hosting and Kendrick Lamar as the musical guest.