Bill Burr Hosts SNL: Watch The Best And Worst Sketches (And That Monologue)

So, how about that Bill Burr?

Love him or hate him, you can't deny that Burr made quite the impression as host of this weekend's Saturday Night Live. His stand-up routine boldly took on cancel culture and "woke" white women, which went over fine enough. (Heck, he even got a laugh when he joked about Rick Moranis getting sucker-punched on New York's Upper West Side.) It was when the comedian went on a rant about Gay Pride Month that he seemed to lose some of the studio audience (and much of the Twittersphere), until he brought it around to make a case for Black History Month getting a longer platform than February offers.

Monologue aside, the episode was a qualitative notch above last week's Chris Rock-hosted season opener, which earned a "C-" from TVLine readers. In a rare occurrence, the two best sketches landed after Weekend Update, while the three skits that aired prior — including Burr as an insensitive sports reporter, and Beck Bennett as an out-of-touch influencer — were total duds.

The episode also featured the return of Jim Carrey as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, this time as the fly on Mike Pence's head (watch here); paid tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen (via a brief clip of his February 1987 appearance opposite the Robert Cray Band); and a pair of performances by musical guest Jack White, who subbed in at last minute for Voice alum Morgan Wallen.

What sketches stood out this week? And what missed the mark?  Grade the episode (as well as Burr's monologue), then scroll down for all the highlights (and lowlights).

Burr managed to touch on one of the central themes of his monologue again in this clever sketch about a politically incorrect mob boss reckoning with his newly "woke" crew. Aside from Burr, whose long-jailed mafioso assumes he's bring pranked — not by Ashton Kutcher, but by Jamie Kennedy (remember The WB's Jamie Kennedy Experiment?!?) — the standout here is new featured player Punkie Johnson, who is introduced as Gladys, a fellow made man, towards the end of the sketch.

This commercial parody — a spiritual sequel to 2016's Dunkin Donuts ad — won me over as soon as it shifted focus to the relationship between Burr's loud-mouthed Bostonian and his fully grown, Reese's Puffs-loving son (played by Mikey Day).

Beck Bennett's great at playing oblivious characters, like the social media influencer at the center of this lackluster digital short. Unfortunately, the outcome here was rather predictable (remember how the Internet responded to a bunch of celebrities singing John Lennon's "Imagine"?), and the joke repeated itself, over and over... and over. I'd already lost interest by the time Jason Momoa appeared and demanded that Ben take down the video.

What began as an absurd piece of character work morphed into something unexpectedly cathartic. Kate McKinnon broke character (on purpose) and explained that she wanted to do something silly to cope with all the anxiety brought on by the COVID-19 crisis and the presidential election. It was a great desk piece, and my favorite moment of the night.

Morgan Wallen who?

White blew the roof off the joint with a rollicking rock-and-roll medley consisting of "Ball and Biscuit," "Don't Hurt Yourself" and "Jesus Is Coming Soon." He followed that with the title track from his second solo album, "Lazaretto" (watch here).