The last time Maya Rudolph hosted Saturday Night Live in March 2021, the show struck gold with one simple comedic premise: what if the seemingly unflappable musician Beyoncé had to go on Hot Ones? The internet interview show, where celebrity guests have to eat increasingly spicy chicken wings between each question, was a viral success because it brought out an unpredictable human side in its larger-than-life guests.
Since Rudolph had already perfected her Beyoncé impression as a cast member, centering the sketch around her made perfect sense. She quickly melted down, lashing out at host Sean Evans (played by Mikey Day) and sweating profusely. “This was the only thing I have attempted that I did not slay,” Rudolph’s Beyoncé explained in this week’s sequel sketch, “And that bothered both me and my husband. My husband is Jay-Z.”
Tragically, Beyoncé’s second attempt went south just as quickly. “Damn, my bones are hot,” she said, already covered in sweat. “That wing was a real one. Oh, you’re about to make me sing.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Soon after she was telling Sean Evans, “You need to shut your Charlie Brown mouth… Beyoncé about to do something very human. So I need you to blur my face in three, two, one…” She burped as soon as her face was covered, before throwing milk in Evans’ face and telling him to kill himself.
All dignity lost, Rudolph’s Beyoncé demanded that her assistant (played by Kenan Thompson) bring out her “$6,000 cocoa lotion” and squirt it into her mouth. The desperate strategy didn’t work either, so Beyoncé used her last resort.
“Look into the light, please,” her assistant told Sean Evans, before flashing the memory-erasing device from Men in Black at him. “Beyoncé was never here.”
