Last weekend, Sabrina Carpenter returned to “Saturday Night Live” for her third appearance on the show overall and first time hosting. Previously, Carpenter appeared in 2024 as the music guest when actor Jake Gyllenhaal hosted and again in a duet with Paul Simon for the show’s 50th anniversary special this past February.

The “Short ‘n’ Sweet” singer’s long-joked-about stature really showed as she took the stage for her monologue alongside long-time “SNL” cast member Keenan Thompson. While she herself may be short, Carpenter’s stage presence was large. With perfect comedic timing, each joke smoothly flowed into the next with a rhythm and level of comfort not often seen from first-time hosts.

Prior to the monologue, Carpenter appeared in the cold open, which was another installment in the hit “Domingo” sketches. While funny, the rate of which the character and premise are being used is seen too often and too close together. However, Carpenter shone as a friend of Kelsey’s (Chloe Fineman), pretending to be bad at singing alongside the other female cast members, recounting yet another interaction with Marcello Hernandez’s Domingo.

Carpenter carried the majority of the show with blooming feature player Ashley Padilla. In episodes of “SNL,” many hosts do not appear in all sketches, or even as many as Carpenter did, on top of being her own music guest. Standouts included the playful, yet wildly inappropriate “ShopTv” sketch, which featured Carpenter and Padilla alongside tenured cast member Mikey Day.

Carpenter stars as a designer welcomed onto the show by hosts Bev (Padilla) and Rhett (Day) to show off her new neck pillow that looks shockingly like a part of female genitalia. As the sketch passes the point of non-primetime indecency, Carpenter does a fantastic job of maintaining the hilariously innocent designer. Clad in a cute pink suit and a warm southern accent, the singer seems to glow – and not from sweat under the hot lights of Studio 8H – she fits in perfectly with the cast as a natural comedienne, filling the balance between character and comedy.

Another highlight of the show was the “Girl Boss Seminar” sketch in which Carpenter shone as a girl boss with a brain injury. Carpenter’s comedic acting was enough to make seasoned cast member Chloe Fineman break character. Later in the show, Carpenter flexed her well-rounded talent as a sultry rockabilly-singing washing machine that charms Andrew Dismukes and his unsure wife, played by Padilla.

Carpenter’s musical interludes were perfectly girly and cozy, with her first song “Manchild,” being performed in a bedroom set that featured an “SNL”-inspired T-shirt and underwear. The performance was nothing less than what was expected of Carpenter, playful with a hint of sex appeal. This was especially true for her second performance, in which she dressed in a sparkly gi and black stiletto pumps surrounded by dancers for “Nobody’s Son.”

The one appearance the singer failed to make was on Weekend Update. While longtime anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che primarily focused on politics, poking fun at President Donald Trump and the current state of politics, they also introduced fans to new feature player Tommy Brennan who quickly charmed audiences with his boyish looks and his quick, dry David Spade-esque quips that had Jost and Che laughing. Though edgy (a very Spade quality), Brennan was the cherry on top for the segment.

Carpenter concluded the show by gushing over the experience. As she addressed both the audience and the cast, she dropped her flirty act for an earnestly excited reaction in the show’s final two minutes. “This has been one of my biggest dreams,” she said, like most hosts of the show do. “Thank you so much for having me and thank you for laughing with me.”

Despite the 51st season of “Saturday Night Live” having just started, it is safe to say that Carpenter is a stand-out host that both fans of her music and fans of the show will be eager to have return.