Maya Rudolph Revives Her Beyoncé for a Riotous 'Hot Ones' Interview on 'Saturday Night Live'

Maya Rudolph returned to Studio 8H last night for another stellar run as host.

Following a brief mid-season break, Maya Rudolph brought Saturday Night Live back to air last night with her sophomore hosting appearance.

No stranger to Studio 8H in the years since she left the cast, Rudolph carried the episode with numerous character revivals and all-around veteran leadership (even using the monologue to hilariously coach the show's new players.) Rudolph's timely (and Emmy winning,) Kamala Harris made an appearance in a Passover-themed sketch, fellow alum Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch joined the actress for a run down memory lane, and she got to deliver a few bars in a musical bit about boomers ruining the economy three times over and still getting priority in the COVID vaccination effort.

However, the evening's breakout segment was a reprisal of Rudolph's Beyoncé, which was tested in a riotous Hot Ones interview during the show's first half. The sketch commences with the standard pleasantries, but not without a bit of status-affirming shade. "I still can't tell if this is beneath me, but my sister Solange loves this show," Rudolph says when Mikey Day's Sean Evans seems stunned to have landed an icon for his wing-eating interview show. Rather than working up to the more agonizing sauces, Rudolph's Bey opts to jump in somewhere near the middle and immediately regrets it. A few wings in, she's in the type of visible, sweat-inducing pain we've become too familiar with on the show. Eventually, she asks her wig technician to apply ice cubes to her scalp, but before she can cool off, Beyonce's PR lead steps in to prevent the televised removal of her wig, shutting down the whole operation and handing out NDAs under the threat of violence.

Watch Maya Rudolph take on Hot Ones as Beyoncé in last night's episode of Saturday Night Live.