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No, Drake did not vault himself to Timberlake-like status as the Next Great Saturday Night Live Host last night despite hopes he might be The One. But another fresh face on the Studio 8H set hopefully, probably, will become one of our new favorites.
Sasheer Zamata made her SNL debut last night. The show didn't address her, nor the controversy over the show's shoddy diversity record, the way they did when Kerry Washington hosted. Zamata merely appeared on screen during Drake's monologue like it was no big deal. Her first words didn't have any subtext at all. She played one of Drake's relatives attending his Bar Mitzvah. "Mazel tov," she said.
But then she appeared in nearly every sketch during the first half of the show — as Rihanna, as a daughter hosting a sleepover with an embarrassing dad played by Drake, and in the latest parody music video. She never got to show off the comedic chops that won her the job, but that will come with time. Sasheer Zamara is here.
But hoooo boy, let's get back to Aubrey Graham, the boy from Toronto, "where the rappers are polite and the mayor smokes crack." Everyone decided earlier this week that Drake would become the next Justin Timberlake if he performed passably well. Unfortunately that didn't really happen. Drake was certainly a game host, but he rarely shook off the fact that he's, you know, Drake. He rapped three times.