Maya Rudolph hosted Saturday Night Live tonight, and of course she brought her Beyoncé impression along with her. Instead of a musical number or a “Prince Show” revival (RIP, Purple One), though, the sketch was focused around Hot Ones, the YouTube show where celebrities get interviewed while eating increasingly spicy hot wings. Yeah, it’s a little weird to reference that show in 2021—it’s not like Hot Ones has been making waves lately, and in fact it probably peaked in the public consciousness a few years ago—but at least it’s not something SNL has driven into the ground already, like a talk show or game show sketch.
The sketch itself heads in the direction you probably expect: Texas-bred Beyoncé thinks she’ll be able to handle the heat, and of course she can’t. Rudolph plays her rising anger and discomfort with stone-faced calm that gradually cracks, the burn of Scoville scale-busting spice forcing her to drop her intensely sculpted public persona while not quite letting her cool façade slip. It’s not all that clever or daring of a sketch, but the contrast between Rudolph’s stoicism and her obvious pain is good for a laugh, and Kenan Thompson pops up for a few seconds with a reliably funny Kenan Thompson cameo. If you’re a fan of Beyoncé or Hot Ones, you might dig it.