Actor (and now director) Drew Barrymore returned to host Saturday Night Live for the sixth time this weekend, which is the most any female has come on to guest host the show. I'm not totally sure what to make of this information; when you consider that guys like Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have hosted 14 or 15 times each, what does it mean when the record for a female is six (and this is Drew Barrymore we're talking about here; she got a pretty big head start by hosting when under the age of 10)?


Does that speak to the long-rumored "boys club" at SNL? Or is it simply a commentary on the longevity of female actors' careers in Hollywood -- that they're never big long enough to host more than, say, twice?

I've always liked Barrymore as a host; her gig from a few seasons back was one of the highlights of the last five or six years (helped, no doubt, by sketches like "Body Fuzion"). As irritating as some of her quirks may be (she has many quirks, and some of them are plenty irritating), Barrymore is always game to work without ego and seems to genuinely be having a great time on the show. That combination is hard to beat -- a host willing/eager to look utterly silly and who enjoys the hell out of it. Whether or not the episode is particularly good -- and this week's was not -- Barrymore's enthusiasm is pretty infectious. The sketches are made more fun because she's in them, until you realize that they're not much fun.

Sketch Highlights

• "Cold Open: Powerball" - I guess SNL is really sticking with the idea that political sketches have to open the show every week. While I suppose we ought to feel lucky that this is really the only place they show up, I'm hoping that in another week or two the writers figure out that they ought to back off the political stuff until they find something to say about politics. Yes, the election stuff and Sarah Palin gave SNL a huge boost -- both creatively and in the ratings -- last season, but that's because she was a ridiculous character (let's be honest: more than once, the show got laughs just by repeating things the woman actually said) and the show found a way to make her funny. It hasn't yet found a way to make Obama funny, so his inclusion every week is either a desperate attempt to retain last season's political bent or to prove that they're playing fair by poking fun at both sides. In either case, it's not really working. There may be a funny idea behind this week's cold open -- that on top of winning the Nobel Peace Prize (for "not being George Bush"), Obama won the Powerball lottery after playing it only once. That idea isn't really developed any further. If you're going to make a gag out of what you're considering to be his outrageous good fortune, you may want to devise more than a single example. I'm just saying. (Watch "Powerball" video)

• "Drew Barrymore Monologue" - A great example of just what I was talking about, where host Drew Barrymore makes us smile just by being super excited to be hosting Saturday Night Live (every host says it, but with Drew Barrymore I actually believe it). The joke that Barrymores have been acting forever and that they all have that sideways-lisp thing is ok -- and both Kristen Wiig and Abby Elliot really nail that particular affectation (everyone else is pretty terrible at it) -- but it's another example of a single joke that simply gets repeated over and over. (Watch "Drew Barrymore Monologue" video)
• "Gilly: Art Class" - You know that you're in for a long night when a "Gilly" sketch is basically leading off the show. At this point, I loathe "Gilly" sketches mostly because I resent the hell out of having this character rammed down my throat as though she's beloved. Or funny. I feel like it bombs every time it's done, but because it has a theme song and a catch phrase (not to mention what my friend John calls "Kristen Wiig Making a Face,") we're going to keep seeing it. Lucky us. Adding host Drew Barrymore as Gilly's Italian counterpart didn't help matters. Even the timing of this sketch is bad. (Watch "Gilly: Art Class" video)
• "Celebrity Ghost Stories" - This is the kind of sketch that SNL is becoming more and more fond of, where in lieu of actual jokes you can just laugh by playing "spot the celebrity impression." I liked the subtle joke of Andy Samberg's Billy Bob Thorton being billed only as the lead singer of his crappy band, and I was BLOWN AWAY by Abby Elliot's Anna Faris impression (seriously -- who can do an Anna Faris impression?). Barrymore's boyfriend Justin Long showed up to do a pretty funny Matthew McConaughey impression, making this the third week straight where the host's significant other has shown up in a sketch. Enough already. And having Nasim Pedrad do a pretty bad Charlene Yi is probably giving the audience too much credit for knowing who Charlene Yi is. I'm guessing there were a lot of people who didn't even know who Anna Faris is, and she's hosted the show. (Watch "Celebrity Ghost Stories" video)
• "University of Westfield" - A moderately funny commercial parody, but making fun of online universities can't be that hard. Right? (Watch "University of Westfield" video)
• "Cooking Al Fresco" - Probably my favorite sketch of the night, mostly because it was willing to be really silly and odd. Birds dipping bread in sauce makes me laugh. (Watch "Cooking Al Fresco" video)
• "Digital Short: Brenda and Shaun" - Andy Samberg and Co. try to recreate the dated VHS magic of "Body Fuzion," but it didn't really work. I like the one trick that Brenda and Shaun are able to do, but the joke doesn't work as well here as it did for a terrible workout video. (Watch "Digital Short: Brenda and Shaun" video)
• "Larry King" - Is saying the word "wiener" over and over really that funny? This sketch answers that question. It is not funny. (Watch "Larry King" video)

• Original Air Date: 10/10/09
• Host: Drew Barrymore
• Musical Guest:Regina Spektor