<\/p>\n
\u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d hosts typically make their mark on the show, either by boosting the sketches they\u2019re in with charm and good timing, or making a lesser kind of mark by awkwardly revealing why they aren\u2019t right for live sketch comedy.<\/p>\n
So what are we supposed to make of British actor Josh O\u2019Connor, who hosted \u201cSNL\u201d for the first time and left almost no impression at all?<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor, known for playing Prince Charles in \u201cThe Crown\u201d and for performances in \u201cChallengers\u201d and the new Netflix movie, \u201cWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery<\/u><\/a>,\u201d seemed game enough, but throughout most of the show, he had little opportunity to do much more than blend into sketches centered around characters he was not playing.<\/p>\n He played supporting parts including the Tin Man in a revamped \u201cWizard of Oz\u201d sketch<\/u><\/a> involving the male characters deciding they actually want a \u201cbig old thang\u201d instead of their original wishes, a fellow student in a sketch about a 12-year-old college prodigy (Bowen Yang), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in a Christmas characters piece<\/a> that was a take on Variety\u2019s \u201cActors on Actors,\u201d and an awkward brunch attendee.<\/p>\n Only in a few sketches, including a \u201cDating Game\u201d parody<\/u><\/a> featuring Ashley Padilla as a rowdy 84-year-old contestant, a hospital sketch in which he played a bad intern<\/u><\/a>, and one in which O\u2019Connor and Ben Sherman played sensitive male strippers at a bachelorette party<\/u><\/a> did he have lead roles. And they weren\u2019t particularly memorable characters or portrayals. Only when he kissed fellow cast members at the end of sketches (Yang and Sherman) did things seem to liven up.<\/p>\n In fact, it felt more like a spotlight episode for Yang \u2014 who played the Wizard; the fast-talking, high-attitude Doctor Please in the hospital sketch; and the 12-year-old college student \u2014 and for musical guest Lily Allen. Allen\u2019s scathing performances of \u201cSleepwalking<\/a>\u201d and \u201cMadeline<\/a>\u201d from her new breakup-with-David Harbour album<\/u><\/a> were high drama. The latter song featured a big surprise: actor Dakota Johnson spoke from behind a scrim as the titular character and then appeared next to Allen when the song ended. Another Allen song, \u201cWest End Girl,\u201d was the subject of an entire brunch sketch<\/u><\/a> in which cast members sang about their feelings to the tune of the music. Allen showed up as herself, but filling in as a waitress at their table.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to say if the material just misfired for O\u2019Connor or if he\u2019s just an awkward fit for \u201cSNL,\u201d but unfortunately what stood out in the episode had little to do with him.<\/p>\n In addition to the sketches, this \u201cSNL\u201d episode included a Christmas-themed \u201cBrad and His Dad<\/a>\u201d animated short.<\/p>\n