Nikki Glaser hosts ‘SNL’ for the first time, bringing her boundary pushing comedy

Since her breakout into the mainstream last year for her scorched-Earth set on “The Roast of Tom Brady” and a top-notch comedy special “Someday You’ll Die,” Nikki Glaser has become an A-lister in the stand-up comedy world. But did that success translate for her first time as “Saturday Night Live” host?

Not too surprisingly, Glaser did well given that her best qualifications for the gig are that she’s very good at delivering jokes for a living and that she’s not shy about pushing the boundaries of taste in her comedy. That’s a good fit for the current incarnation of “SNL,” which tends to have at least one gross-out scatological sketch per episode and lots of “Weekend Update” segments and jokes that either land in the “just dirty enough” or “way over the line” camp.

Apart from her go-for-broke monologue, Glaser’s sensibility locked in on sketches including one about family members performing karaoke who seem way too intimate with each other, a commercial about grown men obsessed with life-sized American Girl dolls, and a bizarre musical number about a mechanical bull that rides away with Glaser and Sarah Sherman. These, along with a funny ad for a Jennifer Hudson spirit tunnel drug and one about characters in a children’s book, were pieces that aligned well with what Glaser does and that she performed exceptionally well.

A sketch about a stalled plane and a chatty pilot (James Austin Johnson) was good, but only because of Johnson’s perfect impression of flight intercom chatter.

Less successful were a half-baked mashup, “Beauty and Mr. Beast,” about the popular YouTuber, and a sorority sketch with Mikey Day as an interloping man wearing a bad facial disguise.

Glaser’s lengthy monologue may not have been as perfect a fit as it should have been, but her sketch performances were spot-on.

Musical guest Sombr performed “12 to 12” and “Back to Friends.” There was also a sweet and funny animated short, “Brad and His Dad,” about a divorced father trying to connect with his video game-obsessed 11-year-old.

In this week’s cold open, President Trump (James Austin Johnson) commented on the bizarre White House incident where a pharmaceutical representative (Jeremy Culhane) collapsed in the Oval Office while Trump was captured on camera looking away. As Trump put it in the sketch, “Someone dying in my office, I stand there and stare like a sociopath.” “Each week I try to create a visual,” he said, that represents what’s going on in the country like last week’s White House demolition. Trump walked over the fallen man to deliver a monologue on the week’s events, starting with the New York City mayoral election and concluding with SNAP benefit cuts and rising food prices. He offered that the cancellation of flights caused by the government shutdown will help by keeping families apart for Thanksgiving. “Killing two birds with one bird. Can’t afford food? Have some cheap Ozempic,” he said. Next up: stealing Christmas. “We’re doing Grinch!” Trump said.

Like a lot of “SNL” monologues from stand-up comics, Glaser’s was a microdose of her comedy act. As such, it was full of jokes about race, politics, sex acts and, for one uncomfortable stretch, the idea that someone (not Glaser, but maybe!) might suddenly realize they’re a pedophile. Glaser began by calling New York City “Epstein’s original island” before discussing white women being cultural appropriators by spray tanning, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (“I’m no health expert, but neither is he”), dating a short man with anger issues and PSAs in public bathrooms about human trafficking. In her 20s, Glaser joked, the only fear she had was “good old-fashioned rape.” The barrage of jokes was exactly what you expect from Glaser, but some of the jokes didn’t seem to land as well on the “SNL” stage as they typically would on roasts or in her own comedy specials.

Best sketch of the night: When declining a Jennifer Hudson spirit tunnel invite is the only option

“The Jennifer Hudson Show’s” signature bit, in which guests dance through a hallway while staffers clap and cheer them on, has become such a big deal that celebrities like Glaser, playing herself in this commercial, have major anxiety about their dancing. Glaser, a self-described “uncoordinated white woman” claims her dance moves are so bad they’re potentially career-ending. “I even tried to put my ass into it. But I don’t have one,” she laments. But luckily there’s a drug, Hudsacillin, that makes you so violently ill that the celebrity in question has to cancel their appearance. “What’s the alternative?” the ad asks, “lightening up and being fun?”

Also good: Maybe this pilot shouldn’t be texting, even on the tarmac

With all the flight delays and cancellations happening, this topical sketch was about a couple (Sherman and Andrew Dismukes) sitting on an airport runway waiting for their flight to take off while their pilot (Johnson) announces delays and also shares updates about a woman he’s texting that he met on a dating app. What really sells the piece is Johnson’s delivery as the pilot, but also the funny interactions he has with the co-pilot (Kam Patterson), Glaser as the disaffected flight attendant and a set of passengers who argue nonverbally about whether or not to get involved (Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang).

‘Weekend Update’ winner: A way to visit Staten Island without going to Staten Island

As the only guest segment on “Weekend Update” this week, Pete Davidson’s check-in on the Staten Island Ferry he purchased a few years ago with Colin Jost wins by default. Davidson referenced a New York Times article about trouble with their business venture, but said, “I cant spend $5 on a paywall when I have a kid on the way.” He promised to give parenting, “all the enthusiasm I never had for this show.” Davidson revealed that the new plan for the ferry is to convert it to a city on the water, New Staten Island, with all the things that make Staten Island great: pizza (it turns out it’s just one thing). Davidson couldn’t resist getting in a dig at his old boss after saying he’s not giving up on the ferry. “If Lorne Michaels has taught us anything, it’s never give up even if everyone says the time has come and Tina Fey is ready to take over.”

Sign up for Screen Gab, a free newsletter about the TV and movies everyone’s talking about from the L.A. Times.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.