Kristen Wiig returned to Saturday Night Live last night to host the show. It was her first SNL appearance since she tearfully left the weekly live skit show a year ago after being sung to by Mick Jagger and danced with every cast member and Lorne Michaels. Last night, Wiig explored some new characters and revived some of her popular cast of comedic characters, like Garth and Kat, Gilly, The Target Lady, Dooneese and “The Californians.” Vampire Weekend was on board as the musical guest.

The comic actress lived up to some very high expectations. She appeared with the new cast members in many original skits that had new characters for her to inhabit. Kristin Wiig had been on SNL for seven years and was very popular for her over-the-top characters. She was also said to be a polarizing force on the show.

After Wiig’s opening monologue, she sang through a tour of the SNL hallways, and visited Michaels, Jonah Hill and Maya Rudolph as well as her old cast-mates to the tune of the Pointer Sisters’ "I’m So Excited." Garth and Kat sat in on last night’s Weekend Update. Dooneese, the developmentally-challenged character with the huge forehead sang on a spoof of "The Lawrence Welk Show." Kate McKinnon played Wiig’s mother, with the best of indentations, in a Mother’s Day 1-800-FLOWERS commercial.

The high point of the night was the acupuncture office skit, where Wiig and Aidy Bryant warn Jason Sudeikis about the painful process of sticking needles into his skin. The procedure runs amok as blood splatters everywhere, defying their calming explanations.

Wiig co-wrote the comic smash “Bridesmaids” with Annie Mumolo. She got two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series during her seven-year run on SNL. Wiig recently voiced Universal's animated feature “Despicable Me,” along with Steve Carell and Jason Segal. She also appeared in Greg Mottola’s “Paul,” with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Ben Affleck will host next week’s Saturday Night Live finale with musical guest Kanye West.