Saturday Night Live was poised to deliver a winning show last night, with Chris Rock returning as host and Prince appearing as the musical guest.
And the stars delivered the goods. Prince performed four new songs during a sublime eight-minute jam. Rock joked about everything from ISIS, the Boston Marathon bombing and even the Freedom Tower and the 9/11 attacks, the Daily Mail reports.
Prince and his band 3rdEyeGirl began with a slow, soulful funk of upcoming single “Clouds.” Prince, sporting a new Afro, was decked in eye-catching three-lens sunglasses. Most vocals were performed by British singer Lianna La Havas, the co-star on the single.
The performance ended with rousing applause from the audience and Prince bowing from “behind his symboled-microphone stand, raising his hands to his face in thanks,” the report says.
He disappeared by the time Rock appeared onstage to thank everyone at the end of the show, the report says. Rock’s sketches were relatively funny and low-key, but his opening monologue raised a lot of brows. He joked about the commercialization of Jesus’ birthday and said he would never set foot in the Freedom Tower, which was built on the site of the destroyed World Trade Center.
“Yesterday was Halloween, tomorrow’s the New York City Marathon … yeah, scary—what could go wrong there, right?” he said. “It’ll be all right—New York’s gonna be fine, just like Boston’s fine after the marathon.”
Here is Rock’s ISIS sketch:
Read more at the Daily Mail.