In the middle of 5th Avenue on a Saturday night – live!

Musical guest Selena Gomez with host Ronda Rousey

I had already made plans to go to SNL before Jonas appeared on our radar, so by the time Saturday night rolled around, there was one show I was not going to miss. The storm had dumped 26+ inches of snow on NYC by the time my pal Susan Kilkenny and I arrived to the live show by subway, which was operating all night, thank the gods. I had my fingers crossed for a cold open with Tina Fey reprising her Sarah Palin and sure enough, wearing a pretty good copy of THAT beaded bolero, Fey nailed it once again, saying she was,

“here for all you teachers and teamsters. You farmers and charmers. Whether you’re a mom or two broke girls or three men and a baby, or a rock ‘n’ roller, holy roller, pushin’ stroller.”

Former UFC champion & actress Ronda Rousey was not a home-run as host but she by no means bombed. Her monologue was called by Beck Bennett and Taran Killam as if it were a fight and she made a joke about possible brain damage from her bout with Holly Holm, who she gave a shout out to.

Seven women, Vanessa Bayer, Kate McKinnon, Rousey, Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant, Sasheer Zamata and Selena Gomez competed for the attention of Bland Man. They all kept interrupting each other a-la the Bachelor but the minute Bland Man gets a look at Selena, he choses her and it’s over. For the Screen Guild Awards sketch –one of the best of the night– Oscar’s paleness was the target as the all-white best actor nominees were revealed to have smaller and smaller parts. Beck Bennett’s character gets his nomination for interrupting a dramatic scene between Thurgood Marshall and his wife to warn them that the library is closing.

Musical guest Selena Gomez had the sexy guy department sewed up. We sat in first row of the balcony in front of the music bandstand and Selena’s crew next to us went NUTS anytime she came near. She opened with Same Old Love and a dozen model-cute guys finger snapping. After she finished, I wondered to Susan if she was really singing, as the performance was so flawless. Check out the short mic feed video below for the answer. (Yes!) Her performance of Hands to Myself was a sexy three-way on bed.

Overall, it was a really fun night. As Rousey said in the opening,

“They’ve closed Broadway, they’ve closed the movie theaters, they’ve even closed all the bars – so tonight we’re literally the only show in town.”

So, what else were we going to do besides stay home and watch the same show on TV? (Thanks for the tickets, Lenny!)

I snapped this shot before the phones had to go off. I hear that 150 crew members
+ NBC staff got stuck in NYC, but thanks to them the show went on!