Betty White hosts Saturday Night Live

Betty White hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend following a Facebook campaign for her to appear on the show. She was joined by female alums of the show’s cast Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon, and Rachel Dratch.
White is the oldest person to ever host SNL. She also represents an important step toward gender parity on the show: men have hosted 482 episodes, while women have only hosted 194. The numbers are improving this season, with 12 men and 11 women hosting.
The show’s writing certainly included some easy age humor, as well as some typically offensive jokes. White’s well honed timing and delivery made the episode one of the funniest I’ve seen in a long time, though. She did an impressive job showing what someone who’s 88 (and a half!) years old can pull off. The demand for White as a host, SNL’s best ratings since the election, and White’s excellent performance are all pretty obvious arguments against the claim that women aren’t funny.
Here’s White’s opening monologue, where the crowd clearly shows their love for her and she manages to make Facebook jokes sound fresh and clever:

Transcript available here.
What did you think of Betty White’s SNL performance?

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Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program’s annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation’s hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.

Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.

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