Molly Shannon Takes a Trip Down Memory Lane in ‘Saturday Night Live’ Return

When it was announced that Molly Shannon would be returning to Studio 8H to host “Saturday Night Live” for the second time this weekend, many fans of the NBC sketch show expected a rather nostalgic episode. Shannon built up a large arsenal of beloved reoccurring characters during her original run as a cast member from 1995-2001, and her hosting gig had more to do with her legacy on the show than with her recent projects like “A Good Person” or “The Other Two.”

Shannon’s opening monologue mostly played things straight, as she plugged her memoir “Hello, Molly” and recalled advice that her father gave her to never give up in the face of adversity. That soon turned into a musical number, where various cast members showed up to tell Shannon about the problems that they currently face. The segment featured several high-profile cameos from her longtime comedy friends — including an appearance from fellow “SNL” legend Martin Short, who lamented that he had run out of the weight loss drug Ozempic while eating cheeseburger. “SNL” creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels also took the stage, though he joked that he doesn’t have any problems to speak of.

The episode saw Shannon reprising some of her most famous roles in several sketches throughout the night. She teamed up with musical guests The Jonas Brothers in a sketch that saw her playing the proud 50-year-old dancer Sally O’Malley once again. The scene featured O’Malley attempting to lead the grown-up boy band through an endlessly cringe choreography sequence as the band tried to shed their teen idol image.

Shannon also brought back Jeannie Darcy, her famously unfunny stand-up comedian who always sports a mullet haircut and punctuates all of her jokes with “don’t get me started, don’t even get me started.” In a clever modern twist, the character is now the subject of her own live Netflix comedy special. The sketch featured all of the obligatory B-roll shots of Darcy leaving her dressing room and approaching the stage in the same way that Chris Rock kicked off his live “Selective Outrage” special on the streaming service last month.