Jack Black Hosts And Professor Snape Calls Harry Potter Franchise Racist

Jack Black hosts Saturday Night Live for the fifth time this week in a star-studded episode.

Black returns to the sketch comedy show to host once more. And, his monologue was filled with surprise appearances from other five-time Saturday Night Live hosts such as Melissa McCarthy, Jonah Hill, and Candice Bergen. The group is joined by former cast member Tina Fey and this week’s episode’s musical guest, Jack White.

As usual, there were many highlights and a few flops. Check out the best and worst of the most recent installment of SNL.

Jack Black’s Musical SNL Monologue

Black returned to Saturday Night Live and joined the show’s Five-Timer Club during his monologue. Hill surprised the actor on stage, leading him into the iconic club where Fey, Bergen, McCarthy, and White were. Amid the audience’s cheers, Black took center stage and performed “Seven Nation Army” with White. The combination of returning cast members, celebrity cameos, and an epic number turned Black’s monologue into one of the major highlights of the night.

Professor Snape Makes a Few Good Points During Weekend Update

Professor Snape (Kam Patterson) joins Colin Jost and Michael Che during the show’s iconic Weekend Update segment. As Jost was discussing the mixed reactions to the recently released trailer for HBO’s Harry Potter series, Snape decided to join the conversation and pointed out how racist the franchise was.

While it was played up for laughs, SNL’s iteration of Snape made some good points about the J. K. Rowling series’ being a little tone-deaf when it came to people of color. And, after Patterson’s comments, Jost jokingly stated that he never thought of the Wizarding World or the controversial author as problematic until that very moment.

SNL Gets Emotional with a Country Song

Black, James Austin Johnson, and Andrew Dismukes delivered a standout musical sketch. The trio performed a country-style ballad. While Black and Johnson sang about sentimental messages that they couldn’t remember, Dismukes sang about yelling at his son when he tried to offer him some words of wisdom.

Saturday Night Live’s Flops of the Week

The Husbands of SNL Sing

A group of husbands (Black, Dismukes, Johnson, Kenan Thompson, and Tommy Brennan) are stuck in a living room together while their wives hang out in the kitchen. What began as pure awkwardness somehow transitioned to a cover of Kansas’ “Carry on Wayward Son.” Although the segment was well-written and the performances were great, it still fell flat. Despite the musical number, the sketch failed to hold up in comparison to the other skits of the night.

Saturday Night Live airs every Saturday at 11:30 PM ET and 8:30 PM PT on NBC.