After a few weeks off and rumors that MVPs Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg are leaving the show, all eyes were on Saturday Night Live this weekend, with host Sofia Vergara and musical guest One Direction. I got the opportunity to go to the taping of SNL this week and I took away a few things: 1) Vergara was a rockstar host; 2) Wiig seems to be making hints at her departure; 3) One Direction has some SERIOULSY committed fans.

Cold Opening

Before the show, Sudeikis came out to warm up the crowd in what I can only explain as the funniest "turn off your cell phones" reminder speech I've ever heard. He was charming, self-deprecating, and just minutes later, came on to deliver his opening as Mitt Romney. Not only was this opening one of the strongest I've seen in a while. It was especially interesting to watch live:

Had I watched it at home, I might have thought this was pre-taped. But nay. The magician crew at SNL would race in while the 10 seconds of graphics were playing between scenes, throw a few new costume pieces onto Jason and a new set of cast members rushed on stage, and the green screen did the work for the location changes. It was truly amazing to see how quickly and seamlessly this cold opening was done. And I loved Mitt's version of "Live from New York" line -- "Hey, New York, let's start the show." Hilarious. I'll certainly miss Sudeikis if he leaves!

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Hunger Games

Sofia shows exactly what it takes to make a good host in this sketch: commitment. In SNL's take on The Hunger Games, Sofia plays a field reporter covering the Games -- and pretty much gets everyone she tries to interview killed. It's a funny idea, but with so many great Hunger Games spoofs already out there, it's not the best take I've seen. What makes it great is Sofia's enthusiasm throughout the sketch. You can tell how much fun she has during the sketch and because of it, the audience has fun too!

*Side note: Speaking of commitment, from sketch to sketch, no matter whether you saw her feet or not, Sofia woresky-high stilettos. Between sketches, she would RUN backstage to change into her next outfit. It was pretty adorable seeing her racing around in stilettos, and it shows how committed she is not only to being funny -- but being downright sexy too. Love her. *

Bein' Quirky with Zooey Deschanel

This is of my favorite running sketches on the show, so I was stoked when I saw Abby Elliott prance onto set in her Zooey D outfit. Between Zooey's "guilty baby" impression and sidekick Michael Cera (played by the brilliant Taran Killam) painting "adorable zig-zags" on his Easter eggs, it was already too much. The best bit was Wiig as Drew Barrymore thanking Zooey for the singing telegram -- sung by Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- to which Zooey responded, "He does whatever I say." I was curious who Vergara would play -- and I think the entire audience, in the theater and at home, was shocked that she went for Fran Drescher. Her attempt at a Queens accent was a little cringeworthy, but again, Vergara committed to the role and ended up totally nailing her laugh. It was clear Sofia was having a ton of fun with the role and in turn, we all were too.

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One Direction!

The wildly popular boyband One Direction performed for the first time on SNL and while they've played the world over to screaming fans, I was a bit curious as to how they could manage on the famous SNL stage. Even as a girl outside of their teen demographic, I was pretty impressed with their captivating stage presence. They had great choreography, fantastic voices and pretty darned amazing charisma. A set of teenage girls sat behind me losing their minds over seeing the boys live. They told me after the show that they had waited in line for tickets since TUESDAY! Now those are some dedicated fans.

Gilly Returns

While this was probably one of my least favorite sketches of the night (the timing seemed off to me), it came as a surprise to see Kristen enter the stage with her Gilli wig on. Why? Well, she had supposedly retired the role last year. In the sketch, Vergara plays a sexy sex ed teacher (natch) and bizarre bully Gilli is being a menace as usual. To me, this seems like a hint that Kristen is hanging up her proverbial wig after this season and leaving the show. My bet is she probably wanted to play Gilli one last time -- or Lorne Michaels is upset that she's leaving and he asked her to play it. In any case, it seemed like something of a Gilli swan song. Particularly the part where Gilli flashes forward to her death bed.

Sofia Vergara and Penelope Cruz's Pantene Commercial

The other hint that Kristen may be leaving very soon is that Lorne and NBC are testing out a few new women for the show. Comedienne Kate McKinnon made her trial appearance on the show last night. Known for impersonations, she played opposite Sofia as Penelope Cruz in a hilarious sketch about filmiing a Pantene commercial. We kind of wish the wardrobe and makeup team had done a bit more to make her LOOK like Cruz, but her impersonation was spot on -- and the joke of Penelope being unable to pronounce difficult words, while a simple premise, somehow really worked. McKinnon has some amazing timing and she proved she could hold down her own sketch opposite the celebrity host. We hope we'll be seeing more of McKinnon next season! (Though if Wiig wants to stay on as well, we won't be complaining...)

The whole show was a real treat to see live. It certainly gave me a better look into how hard the cast and crew works in those precious 90 minutes to make us all laugh.

What was your favorite sketch of the night??

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