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\n Jack Black makes the most of his fifth turn as host by leading a high-energy night of entertaining sketches, characters, and celebrity cameos. This time last year, Jack Black hosted Saturday Night Live<\/em> for the first time since the early 2000s<\/a>; this week, Black returned for his five-timers club debut. The thing about Jack Black hosting is that you know<\/em> he\u2019s showing up and delivering a reliable, committed performance right from the jump. I had forgotten, until I rewatched his episode from last year, that he literally somersaulted onstage during his monologue. He\u2019s here to surprise us, and his hallmarks are to be expected: big, kooky expressions, a song or two, some physical humor, and an unexpected twang on a random word of his choosing. And if last year\u2019s any indication, Black can shepherd us through an episode even if the sketches fall flat, with enough amusement to make it worth a night. It seems hard to fumble, but I still entered the episode cautious about accepting that as a given. One thing I\u2019ve learned from life \u2014 and from asking my accountant to lie on my tax returns \u2014 is that you don\u2019t always get what you want.<\/p>\n I\u2019m pleased to say that my skepticism was unwarranted: the writing throughout the episode was strong, and Black turned in a great performance. Most importantly, his characters drove the sketches he was in: a man spearheading efforts to ignore a coworker, a delightfully clueless and schlubby Spartan who\u2019s not built for war, an Airbnb host desperate to hang with his young guests. It\u2019s the best case scenario for a trusted host, especially since the monologue was inevitably going to be a five-timers club sketch that diverted some focus to the celebrity cameos. I\u2019m not complaining \u2014 it was entertaining, and it didn\u2019t feel like it dragged on too long. In this iteration, Jonah Hill leads Black to a cobweb-laced five-timers lounge, where they run into Tina Fey (dressed in a custom Paddington-lined five-timers robe), and soon, Candice Bergen and Melissa McCarthy. Marcello Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s Domingo character pops in for a second before Jack White comes in and cartoon-style boinks his head with a pan. It was a nice start, and ending it on the Jacks performing a \u201cSeven Nation Army\u201d parody started the show on an energetic high note.<\/p>\n Overall, this is a really good episode. The cold open thankfully skipped Colin Jost\u2019s Pete Hegseth (did the writers read our Harry Styles recap<\/a>?) by putting Ashley Padilla\u2019s Pam Bondi at a March Madness sports commentators\u2019 table<\/a>, alongside a marble-mouthed Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson). The Trump cold opens have become stale, so I appreciate mixing it up with a new setting. Even though the last two sketches of the night felt a little anticlimactic, I still enjoyed myself enough to include one of those in my highlights.\u00a0Here are the highlights:<\/p>\n
\n Photo: Will Heath\/NBC<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n