General Overview:
“My name is Lizzo, and yes, I’m shocked I have clothes on too. I’m really excited; tonight we’re going to break the record for the amount of times “b*tch” is said on live TV! B*tch, b*tch, b*tch! That’s three more. I hate cussing in front of my mom; hey, mama! I haven’t seen her in years. The first time my mom came to see me perform, I had to warn her: ‘Mom, when I’m on stage I’m gonna say some bad words.’ At the time, she didn’t like that, but now I’m rich so she’s like ‘b*tch cuss me out!’ That’s five.”
—Lizzo, 4/16/22

This episode’s sketches ranged greatly in style, from the subdued and dry “Black Eyed Peas” to the ridiculous rave of “Six Flags,” but Lizzo’s trademark positivity pervaded throughout them all. This gave the whole episode a happy aura that drowned out its faults and made the whole viewing experience cohesive and effortlessly joyful.

Highlights:
This episode’s sketches, from an objective standpoint, weren’t all that great. Apart from the monologue and “Weekend Update,” they were just middle-of-the road at best. But it’s about the packaging, not the product.

Every time Lizzo was onscreen, whether it was breaking character about announcing her pregnancy to her beanie-baby-reliant husband (don’t ask) or usurping control of the Mayorship of Gametown (seriously, don’t ask), I couldn’t help but match the joy she had and the rest of the cast had to be around her.

There were some weird sketches, as there always are, but this episode went above and beyond. Somehow, two of them devolved into incomprehensible dancing at the end. The premise of one of these sketches (“Orchestra”) was that Lizzo’s character, Beverly Gags, plays the flute excellently but only while she twerks. So the whole orchestra twerks with her by the end. No, I am not making this up. I have no idea how I feel about it; I think it just short-circuited my brain.

Lowlights:
Honestly, the cold open was the worst part of this episode. It was just as wacky and disjointed as the rest of the episode (with the only throughline being “Easter?”) but less fun to watch. It was basically just an excuse to have lots of the cast do impressions. And the jokes weren’t even good enough to compensate for how lazy of a writing choice it was. Boo.

Best Sketch:
“Please Don’t Destroy – Lizzo Has Writer’s Block.” As per usual with Please Don’t Destroy, there are so many things going on at once that it’s hard not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the sketch. Combined with Lizzo’s psychedelic new single “Horny Zookeeper,” this wins an easy first place for the night.

Best Joke:
“Two Barbie dolls were launched into space for the first time ever, aboard the International Space Station. ‘Finally, they’re gone,’ said two Ken dolls.”—Colin Jost

Overall Score: 8/10
The final question that I ask myself for any episode is always, “Was I entertained?” For this episode, no matter how disjointed the comedy was or how ridiculous the premises were, the giant smile I had watching everyone have the time of their lives onstage is in and of itself enough to answer that question with a definite “yes.”