Saturday night love

Throughout this season of Saturday Night Live I've often found it interesting that, whether I intend to or not, I've watched a lot of the shows live from beginning to end. ... I told Kates this weekend that I've been keeping late hours lately because I'm in training for the feedings and diaper changes during the wee hours of the morning.

Last night, I was especially glad I stayed awake for the end of SNL.

I didn't expect a lot out of this week's host, Mick Jagger. With all the buzz going into last weekend's Will Ferrell-hosted episode, it was easy to be mistaken into thinking that was the season-ending episode.

Nevertheless, Mick was a worthy host -- with his turn as Kevin, an insurance salesman, at a karaoke bar as my favorite sketch of the night. Fred Armisen's Jagger-singing-"Start-Me-Up" impression was classic, and the real Jagger's sad, lonely "Satisfaction" at the end was pretty great, too ...



But the best part of the night -- perhaps second only to the end of the show, but I'll get to that -- might have been that we got three -- three! -- performances from Mick Jagger and bands that included Arcade Fire, the Foo Fighters and Jeff Beck.

First, "The Last Time" with Arcade Fire ...



Then, a sweet medley of “19th Nervous Breakdown” -- easily in my top three all-time favorite Stones songs -- and “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)” with the Foo Fighters ...



At the end of the show Mick began introducing this season's "graduates," and with Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis sitting smack in the front row, it wasn't hard to figure out where the bit was going. The rumors of those departing SNL have been swirling for months, although Sudeikis' future on the show apparently is still uncertain.

I've enjoyed watching Wiig over the years, but, truthfully, I've always thought she was slightly overrated. I'd take Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer or Cheri Oteri over her any night. ... Nevertheless, the goodbye to Kristen was a bittersweet tribute to another great cast member who's brought us a lot of laughs over the last seven years.    

Thanks to it, I've also had "She's a Rainbow" in my head all day.



Like last night's show, I didn't expect a lot out of this season of SNL, but from Emma Stone to Katy Perry, to the returns of Jimmy Fallon and Maya Rudolph, to the musicality of Gotye  ... it was a decently memorable one.