Aubrey Plaza

The 'White Lotus' star reunited with former colleague and "Saturday Night Live" cast member Amy Poehler. See Boston.com.

Plaza has a near-death experience over the weekend and is questioning everything — “I’m going to have sex tonight!” They’re joined on morning announcements by students Andrew Dismukes, Marcello Hernández, and Sarah Sherman. Aubrey Plaza and Amy Poehler also made appearances, this time as April Ludgate and Leslie Knope. Fans of “White Lotus” will appreciate the many references to the series’ plot, but the sketch still works for those who’ve never seen the HBO dramedy. She recently told Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” about her [failed SNL audition](https://deadline.com/2023/01/snl-aubrey-plaza-makes-out-with-chloe-fineman-hosting-debut-1235226363/) early in her career. Here the contestants (Chloe Fineman, Aubrey Plaza, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Punkie Johnson, Sarah Sherman, and Molly Kearney) scream the name of their countries along with all other answers. Sam Smith performed as the musical guest, promoting their upcoming fourth album, “Gloria.”

'Saturday Night Live' host Aubrey Plaza rwas joined by former "SNL" cast member and "Parks and Recreation" star Amy Poehler and President Joe Biden.

“Saturday Night Live” stars Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Punkie Johnson, Andrew Dismukes and Michael Che and Colin Jost as the hosts of Weekend Update. Smith was also joined by Kim Petras for “Unholy.” …And I was also given the award for tightest tuck.” As Revache, he denied ever being a drag queen, saying, “Well, I didn’t do drag in Brazil,” he responded. “I didn’t do drag in Brazil under the name Kitara Ravache! I was voted most famous person from Delaware, I beat Joe Biden.”

Saturday Night Live host, Aubrey Plaza, went back to her NBC page roots for her opening monologue.

It was also incredibly sweet to see Poehler show up for her and set the tone for the rest of Plaza's brilliant episode. Fans got to see her humor shine through, and it was one of the most comfortable monologues we've seen in a while which was probably helped by Plaza's history with the show. Poehler, prior to Parks and Recreation, got famous through Saturday Night Live and is no stranger to coming back to the show for her friends

The White Lotus star makes for an impressive host in a week that sees Sharon Stone, Amy Poehler, Allison Williams and, surprisingly, Joe Biden pop up.

But more than that, it was also the most rounded SNL has felt in years, thanks to the use of George Santos as through line, as well as an overriding focus on queer humor. Hopefully, this speaks to a new sense of focus for the show. It’s very obvious to everyone except leader Jake Sully (Day) that the spies are two members who are clearly “butch ladies from Arizona” (Heidi Gardner and Plaza). M3gan star Allison Williams shows up to put a stop to things, only to change course and embrace the fun after all the clubgoers fawn over her for having “her as ate” on Girls. Luckily, the show goes out on a much stronger note with a scene from an old black-and-white mystery movie that sees Johnson’s hardboiled PI accuse Plaza’s sultry widow of murdering several aged husbands. Then, Plaza plays a TV director shooting a commercial for the HIV treatment Lovato. But the sunny Knope would rather pick Jost’s brain about his job (Poehler gets a big laugh when she talks about watching Update “when Seth Meyers did it by himself with no one else”). It’s about as close to a piece of performance art as any SNL musical number has been in recent memory (if not ever). She furiously renounces her faith and embraces sin, before Sister Clarence wins her back with a rendition of Lady Gaga’s Shallow (a call back to an earlier joke). The wealthy, spoiled tourists of White Lotus – including characters played by Jennifer Coolidge (Chloe Fineman) and Michael Imperioli (Johnson) – find themselves butting up against a no-nonsense, all Black (save Plaza’s fiery Latina) staff that refuses to indulge their nonsense. Next, at a cul-de-sac game night, a group of neighbors welcomes the new couple that’s moved next door. Fresh off memorable turns in the new season of HBO’s The White Lotus and the acclaimed indie thriller Emily the Criminal, the actor celebrates having recently been voted the most famous person from her home state of Delaware.

The show has seemed stuck in a rut lately; this week's host brought some much-needed eccentricity.

But as much as Plaza’s turn on the show nodded to the past (her time as a page, beloved old characters), it also hinted at new possibilities. With youth often comes experimentation, and it’s led to big payoffs in the past, namely the viral power of [Digital Shorts](https://youtu.be/sRhTeaa_B98). [has had to navigate](https://www.vulture.com/article/sarah-sherman-snl-profile.html) since joining the cast last year. It was a delight, of course, but also a reminder of the past rather than a signal of the future. [once purportedly called](https://youtu.be/BTn3BIPhMRs) Plaza “the weirdest girl I ever met,” and Plaza’s delightfully offbeat vibe came to define the episode. Poehler took the opportunity to sit in her former anchor chair and deliver a joke. [sketch about a game night](https://youtu.be/wScgKiXcVj0), Sasha (Plaza) and her partner, Ian (Mikey Day), ended up horrifying their new neighbors by accidentally revealing their dark history while playing Taboo. Known for body-horror comedy under the name Sarah Squirm, Sherman has found ways to [tone down](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/03/snl-changes-subject-war-meatballs/626572/) the more extreme side of her humor without forgoing the reasons SNL hired her in the first place. “I was stalking, lurking in the shadows,” she [told](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyTr4HNz6NU&ab_channel=TheTonightShowStarringJimmyFallon) Jimmy Fallon earlier this week. She was eventually joined by her boss, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), for a moment that sweetly connected the two shows. Unsurprisingly, Plaza lasted only a few months before being asked to leave, but in her short stint at the network, she got the chance to trail SNL’s design department. “Bow to your queen!” she demanded.