Ronda Rousey on SNL: The good, the bad and the ugly of her sketches
Ronda Rousey put away her gloves and mouthpiece for a night as she hosted "Saturday Night Live" this week, her first time doing the honor and also the first time a mixed martial artist has ever led the long-running show.
Rousey was featured alongside musical guest Selena Gomez and she appeared in several sketches throughout the night -- some good and some bad.
The good news is Rousey's acting skills were solid; anybody working in Hollywood knows delivering comedy might be one of the hardest jobs in the entire industry.
The bad news was Rousey didn't get much to work with because the skit selection and writing for "Saturday Night Live" this week was subpar at best. Most fans of the show would say that's been the case for the past few years.
Still, Rousey made more than a few appearances on the show so we're going to look at the good, the bad and the ugly of the skits from this week's episode of "Saturday Night Live".
Good
Bullies Against MMA
By far the highlight of the night for Rousey as it combined her acting skills with her day job as a top mixed martial artist. Rousey was supposed to be the victim of a "Carrie" style attack from some snobby classmates, but instead the former UFC champion took more than a few swipes at the lead mean girl and even one good chop to the throat of the head d-bag who started the whole mess. Funny and action packed -- perfect for Rousey.
Opening Monologue
This can be one of the toughest moments for a host on the show but Rousey did just fine as she took the stage on "Saturday Night Live" for the first time. The opening monologue was set up like a fight, with each round giving Rousey a chance to get the crowd on her side. She even had a coach to help her between rounds (some might say he gave her even better advice than her actual trainer at UFC 193). All jokes aside, Rousey handled this segment like a champ and all eyes were definitely on her. Oh and she even got to slap a Justin Bieber impersonator, so that's a huge bonus.
Screen Guild Awards
Well technically Rousey was pretty much just arm candy in this skit as "Saturday Night Live" took more than a few shots at the Academy Awards, which have come under fire this year for a massive lack of diversity among the nominees -- to the point where several high-profile African-American actors and actresses have opted to skip the show all together. The message was clear in the skit, taking a not so subtle jab at the awards show. Rousey didn't do much here but it was definitely one of the better moments of the night.
Bland Man
So this one appeared to be a joke on ABC's "The Bachelor" although someone had to explain that to me because I've honestly never watched one second of that show. Not a terrible skit as some guy named Dan goes through a speed-dating round of potential women who are all vying for his affections with Rousey among them. Not the best of the night, but certainly not the worst either.
THE BAD
Super Crew
Here Rousey portrayed a superhero along with a cast of characters made up of "Saturday Night Live" regulars as they looked to save the world but not without first being introduced and talking about their awe-inspiring powers. Rousey didn't do much of anything here except look menacing and deliver all of two lines but she did it just fine. The rest of the skit was painfully bad and seemed never ending as the cavalcade of heroes with the worst list of powers this side of "Heroes Reborn" just kept coming and coming.
THE UGLY
Teacher Trial
This one was not only bad, but downright offensive. A male high school student boasted about the time he hooked up with two hot teachers -- one of which was played by Rousey -- and then going into as much detail as possible. It seemed like they were going for satirical but it ended up quite awful as it almost appeared like the show was sort of condoning and/or celebrating the act of statutory rape? Either way it was bad and didn't seem to get much of a laugh from anybody in the audience.
Town Hall Meeting
Rousey appeared as a carnival owner -- dressed like an extra out of "Wild Wild West" -- who was looking to bring her carnival sideshow act to town. Thing is, her only act was Todd -- the lost Baldwin brother. She was only in the skit for a few seconds and I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out what the point of this entire segment was about. Essentially a bunch of people went before a town council to ask for things and it was supposed to be funny. It wasn't.
Football Party Invite
And the final sketch of the evening that landed with an emphatic thud was Rousey inviting two co-workers over to her place to watch a football game. Once again there didn't seem to be much of a point to this one as the two co-workers continuously proved to be the most socially awkward people on the planet who had clearly never been invited to a party before but their delivery wasn't funny and once again it just dragged out endlessly. Again, none of the fault of this sketch falls on Rousey's shoulders, but the writers certainly didn't do her any favors either.
