Maya Rudolph Celebrates Mother's Day On 'SNL' With Musical Opening Monologue

The Big Picture

Maya Rudolph brought laughs and heart to
SNL
, honoring moms with a sweet and hilarious opening monologue.
The cold open featured the cast’s moms roasting their kids, a rare and heartwarming moment on the
SNL
stage.
Rudolph slayed with a dance-filled monologue celebrating motherhood and her iconic
SNL
characters.

It is always nice to have Maya Rudolph back on Saturday Night Live! This week, she helped to kick off the Mother’s Day episode, with musical guest Vampire Weekend, by giving us a cold open and monologue that were a shout-out to all of the mothers out there in the world (and especially those who were there for the cast of Saturday Night Live!).

The episode as a whole was pretty funny, but is that surprising? It is Rudolph back in Studio 8h! With sketches all about moms as well as some more outrageous things for Rudolph to dig her teeth into, it was a fun and easy week at Saturday Night Live.

The Cast of ‘SNL’ Celebrates Their Moms in Special Cold Open

It’s a week for the moms! Instead of a regular cold open, this week’s Saturday Night Live gave the stage to the mothers of the cast. Starting with Kenan Thompson and his mom, one by one the cast came out to talk with their moms about what they were like as kids, how proud they are of them, and what it feels like being on the stage in Studio 8H.

It was hilarious watching these moms reading from the cue cards and poking fun at their comedian children, but it is also Saturday Night Live at its sweetest. Bringing the moms on and letting them roast their kids a bit made it a very sweet cold open for a change.

Maya Rudolph’s Epic Opening Monologue

Sticking with the mother theme, Rudolph came out to tell Studio 8H that she was beyond happy to be part of the show for its Mother’s Day episode. Rudolph has four children herself with her husband, Paul Thomas Anderson, and she celebrates her own children and being a mom on stage. Then Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman appear on stage to remind Rudolph of one important fact: She’s not just a mom, she is also “Mother.”

A term used for famous women online, it is a term of endearment and typically means that you are “slaying” whatever it is you do. So Rudolph did just that. By dancing to her own song which included telling us to do our homework or pick up our room, the monologue showed the power that Rudolph has — and it was perfection. The song also included iconic characters that exist in the Saturday Night Live lexicon and Rudolph shout them out while wearing a leotard and dancing around the studio was the best way to kick off her return to the show.

The full episode of Saturday Night Live is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.