Kristen Wiig SNL Sketches Ranked: Five-Timers All-Star Guests Bring Out Best in Everyone

With one of the strongest outings of the season, more than making up for last week's disaster, Kristen stepped into the Five-Timers Club with aplomb and gusto, elevating almost every sketch she appeared in We'll admit we got a bit tired of her schtick as a cast member by the end, but she was like a breath of fresh air this week.

She brought back her recurring "Aunt Linda" character to review some of the year's biggest movies and TV shows on "Weekend Update" on a night filled with guest stars throughout the sketches.

They were earned, though, as it was people who made up her "Five-Timers" entourage, including Paul Rudd, Paula Pell, Fred Armisen, Jon Hamm, Will Forte, Martin Short, Matt Damon, and next week's host Ryan Gosling. If you're scratching your head at some of those names, it will all make sense! Oh, and Kaia Gerber showed up for an even more random appearance -- but also strangely earned.

As usual, we're ranking all the sketches from worst to first, including the Monologue, Cold Open, "Weekend Update" and any sketches that were cut for time but made their way online. We'll skip the musical guests, because they're not usually funny -- unless Ashlee Simpson shows up. We wrap up with a look at the cast-member who had the strongest week.

Well, they can't all be winners. This mish-mash exploration of a fake '70s variety show was just one odd thing after another, and none of them funny. Honestly, everything from Ego Nwodim's sincere delivery as the narrator to Kristen Wiig's non-stop dancing character failed to work on one level or another. We've been enjoying the 10-to-1 sketches that wrap the night for the most part this season, but this one was a total dud. Luckily, it was the only one on an otherwise stellar night.

The group "LFNY" is now starting to mess up the ends of sketches as Heidi Gardner's "remote" Coach Kim Mulkey came onto the NCAA coverage set to line up for the group shout. The sketch itself was about how much more exciting and interesting the women's tourney is this year compared to the men's It's a huge moment for women's sports, which has often been derided and belittled by everyone from male athletes to the fans at home. It was great seeing a shout-out to real names like Mulkey and breakout star player Caitlin Clark, along with hopes it will lead to sustained support for women athletes (but we're not holding our breath). The conceit that the guy hadn't bothered to watch the men's games was mildly funny, but the sketch was a little too earnest in its message, forgoing laughs. We were happy it wasn't political, though, so that's a win!

A strong outing for Colin Jost and Michael Che, with Che getting his much-loved audience groans for his solution to Florida's six-week abortion ban going into effect, while he made a good point at the notion of "Christian Visibility Day." Jost, meanwhile, went in hard on Trump comparing himself to Nelson Mandela and trying to say Biden was on cocaine during the State of the Union. We got an unexpected laugh from -- of all things -- Che's joke about the cicadas emerging.

Marcello Hernández brought just the right amount of energy as the New Jersey earthquake that was apparently co-opted by New York. The mildness of the event was perfectly encapsulated by his over-the-top WWE-style ranting. Then, Kenan Thompson got in on the chaos as Monday's eclipse, which is also mild on the scale of natural events. It all escalated just as you might expect with both of them really getting into it. Don't get us wrong, "Update" was a weird place for this feud, but it was all about getting into the character and both players did that (despite a lackluster start for Kenan's eclipse).

The boys were light and loose, with some great banter about mouse legs, in the back half of their news as they tackled Kanye West's Hitler comments, Diddy's yacht, and the real reason we might have our most active hurricane season ever -- and you thought it would be weather stuff!

Kristen Wiig showed just how much you have to embody these characters with some great ad-libs, including her asking where she's supposed to go now as the boys signed off the segment. Aunt Linda is a character she knows like the back of her hand and it showed as she tore into Barbenheimer and The Bear before revealing the surprising move she really did love. This was a definite throwback piece, but Kristen still sold it through sheer willpower as she did everything on the night.

With as many "Five-Timers Club" sketches as we've seen by now, we're impressed the show came up with a fresh way to do it by inviting people who haven't earned their jackets to help usher Kristen Wiig into hers. Well, Paul Rudd got his not too long ago during the pandemic era, but other than that the sketch was about how freely Lorne Micheals is just giving them away now, with the bit featuring appearances by Matt Damon, Fred Armisen, Jon Hamm, Will, Forte, Martin Short, and even Ryan Gosling getting one. Former writer Paula Pell got a nice round of applause for her audience question appearance, too, but we have to admit we got a kick out of the idea of Lorne cheapening the honor, leaving Kristen feeling a little less enthused that she earned it honestly. Matt Damon, in particular, was hilarious in his excitement about getting his for hosting twice -- and then getting a bonus one for "that Kavanaugh thing."

A great slice-of-life piece taking place as a family waits to take off at a Go-Kart track. This one elevates so beautifully, we don't want to spoil even the mid-point reveal that added so much to the piece. The premise is simple enough, as the parents decide to tell their son to enjoy the Go-Karts because afterward, they have something bad to tell him. Right away, you can see how this would sit with anyone. James Austin Johnson and Kristen Wiig are great as the parents, but it's great writing and a building tension that really makes it work. All the little details about the "bad thing" only make it that much more stressful -- and thus, funny.

We don't want to get Jumanji'd either! Kristn Wiig's terrified girlfriend character resisting playing the board game Ticket to Ride leads to a hilariously complex exchange about the movie Jumanji (well, both of them), the rules of getting Jumanji'd and some great work from Andrew Dismukes, in particular, as the party host arguing over whether you get Jumanji'd into the game or if the game Jumanji's out. The commitment from the cast, the sharp writing -- which did trip Kristen up once -- and the earned twist ending were all fantastic. This was a train ride straight into crazytown and we're glad we got boarding passes. Now, how do we get home?

Kaia Gerber was random as hell, but it worked in the randomness of the appearances in pilates class, ran by Kristen Wiig. We loved Sarah Sherman as the woman explaining the horrors to Chloe Fineman, who did the most heavy lifting (alongside Molly Kearny) as two new women trying out the exercise program. All the little details about the various people in the class, featuring creepy cameos by Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner, as well as laugh-out-loud moments with Punkie Johnson and Bowen Yang, were perfectly played out, as was the horror tone. This was easily one of the best trailer parodies SNL has done because not only did it entertain us, but it actually fooled us into thinking we'd actually enjoy this one as a feature-length horror parody film.

Already a stronger return for Heidi Gardner's overly-competent incompetent secretary Trudy than last we saw her, the failure of the breakaway components of the set as the sketch progressed only made things better. Also, the visual of Heidi without a top and a giant globe on her head needs to be a bobble-head because that was killing us. Kristen Wiig proved the perfect complement to Trudy's confident, dated idiocy, making things even more chaotic for Bowen Yang and guest star Jon Hamm, who was clearly having a blast hamming it up (natch) for the show. Everything about this worked, with even the mishaps making a great sketch even stronger.

Another home run sketch featuring one-by-one appearances of speakers during Kenan Thompson's Jerry character's retirement party. The appearances got more and more absurd, including Paul Rudd as part of an improv trio called Gits & Shingles, Fred Armisen as a deeply inappropriate co-worker (with a hilarious silent cameo by Sarah Sherman), Matt Damon as himself and Will Forte as a portender of death. Normally, we'd be disappointed at a shameless use of cameos like this, but everyone really sold their various characters, and the characters were so shocking and varied, we found ourselves laughing out loud more than once. Kristen Wiig's character was a woman who phrased things in the worst way possible and seemed more than a little confused, but it was a testament to how putting in the work with physicality and the little character details can bring even a sketch role to full life, wringing more laughs out of the tiniest things.

After a dud last week, Kristen Wiig pushed SNL to new heights with one of the strongest nights in a long time. You can usually anticipate it when a returning cast-member returns, but Kristen delivered even beyond that.

The potential drawback of that is that it can push the regular players into supporting roles as the host sometimes dominates. We had an okay balance, though Kristen definitely dominated the night. But she show great chemistry with James Austin Johnson, who had a big night, as did Bowen Yang and Heidi Gardner.

Marcello had some standout moments, as well, while Andrew Dismukes definitely made the most out of his more limited appearances. He killed us in "Jumanji" and really helped sell the Go-Kart sketch.

But the top honors this week has to go to Heidi Gardner, who delivered again with her recurring secretary Trudy. She managed to match Kristen, rather than play second fiddle to the veteran, which is no easy feat. Other than that, she was her usual reliable performer, making us believe her NCAA coach, and proving why she's become one of the leads this season.

"Saturday Night Live" returns next week with host Ryan Gosling and musical guest Chris Stapleton.