Miley Cyrus Silences Critics With Excellent 'Saturday Night Live' Hosting Gig

Fans of 'Saturday Night Live' got a special treat this weekend when Miley Cyrus hit the stage at 30 Rock to deliver one of the best episodes in recent memory. You read that right, folks!

The reviews (and numbers) are in, and Cyrus is a hit. Not only did the teen starlet prove she has a sense of humor about herself, mocking her now-infamous salvia-bong debacle, she also strapped on a wig to play a certain teen heartthrob in what EW is calling the "best impersonation of the night."

Cyrus opened the show confidently, comparing herself to the characters in the film 'Black Swan,' saying she's "mostly a white swan kind of girl, but I've had a few black swan moments." She then ran down her various scandals in a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek song that lampooned many of the more risqué moments in recent popular culture while putting her own far-less-boorish misbehaviors in perspective.



Sounding better than ever, Cyrus sang:

There's a photo of me being kissed by a dude
And Annie Leibovitz tried to get me nude
For those of you who think that's very crude
I'm sorry that I'm not perfect

I never stole a necklace or got a DUI
Never cheated on my wife like that golfer guy
So what if you can see a little boob from the side
I'm sorry that I'm not perfect

And sure, I danced on a pole and people called it sinning
But at least I didn't date a porn star and tell everyone I'm winning.

(Kristen Wiig: You didn't make a dirty tape and pass it along)

(Bobby Moynihan: You didn't text a photo of your dong)

Don't both of these things seem worse than a bong?

At "bong," Cyrus briefly stopped the song, put her hand to her ear and then began waving to the audience, who burst out into wild applause. The song and applause break seemed to indicate that Cyrus, rightly, isn't interested in groveling for forgiveness for behaving like a teenager -- one who did nothing illegal. Good for her!

The singer then went on to stop by 'The Miley Cyrus Show,' a recurring 'SNL' sketch, but she didn't play who you'd think. 'SNL' featured player Vanessa Bayer has been doing a great job of parodying Cyrus all season, leaving the 'Party in the U.S.A.' songbird to take on a different singer: Justin Bieber. According to EW, "Cyrus had Bieber's trying-too-hard hip-hop mannerisms down cold."

She also had some fun with her former employers at Disney and 'Hannah Montana,' in a sketch called "Disney Channel Acting School," where she and 'SNL' regular Kenan Thompson -- playing Raven-Symone -- gave aspiring young actors and actresses lessons in what it takes to be a Disney star, including "loudness," "disrespecting authority," the "pause then dis" technique and "reacting to stinky feet."



Cyrus' turn on 'SNL' brought the NBC late-night staple its second highest ratings of the season, trailing only a Jan. 8 broadcast that benefited from a NFL playoff game lead-in. According to preliminary numbers, the broadcast led the night among adults ages 18-49, the demographic most coveted by advertisers, besting all prime-time programming from ABC, Fox and CBS, and giving the broadcast an 8 percent boost over the same night last year.

Bravo, Miley! You nailed it.