Well, I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t play very close attention to last night’s SNL, mostly because I did a full recap last week and quickly realized how painful it is to analyze a bunch of ridiculous skits for an hour. However, I did have it on, and I must say: Tim McGraw. You’re all right.

He hosted tonight, with T-Pain and Ludacris as musical guests. Which was basically a built-in joke that he made great use of in his opening monologue, in which he described how country music and rap share a lot of common themes (like your woman sleeping with another man and killing him, and/or killing her).

If memory serves, McGraw was in most of the skits, and he handled them very well. In one, he was the head of a family who finds themselves invaded by a creepy and unwelcome guest (played by Will Forte). In another he’s an out-of-place redneck poker player in a “Casino Royale” parody, and in yet another, he is the confused husband of a woman attempting to film a commercial for her clever orthodontic invention. Whether his part was subtle or over-the-top, crucial or in the background, he really did quite a nice job.

When anyone who’s not an actor does a good job on SNL, it always surprises me. Even actors sometimes fail the test of live skits, which is one of the more trying tasks an actor might face. McGraw has acted before, but that was no guarantee of the quality of his performance. I was impressed.

There are some perennial favorites that you expect to be good on SNL, like Christopher Walken or Alec Baldwin. And then there are people that surprise you, like Justin Timberlake last week:

Well, I liked it. And did you see Black Snake Moan? That kid needs to throw himself into acting full-on. His stint as a pop musician will be forgotten before you can say “Marky Mark.”

Who are your favorite SNL hosts or guest appearances?

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