Lena Dunham opened her “SNL” host monologue with a little bit of advice. “There’s a saying: If you’re nervous imagine the audience naked. Or imagine they haven’t seen you naked.” While the first part is an age-old strategy, not many folks besides the creator and star of HBO’s “Girls” can relate to having millions of people checking out her nude bod on TV week after week.
Aside from stripping down to her skivvies on the reg, the first-time host recalled the one downside of working on a hit show where very graphic sex scenes are the norm: complete strangers telling sex stories. While we’re sure Lena’s heard it all, she graciously passed on listening to tales of Vanessa Bayer’s boyfriend’s measurements, Aidy Bryant’s very public loss of virginity and Bobby Moynihan’s questionable matter beneath an open bathrobe. And she shied away from the sex talk in front of Grandma Dot in the audience (played by Kate McKinnon), but later in the show revealed the highly predicted naked truth.
In a clever spoof on her frequent nudity and hit series “Girls,” Dunham slipped back into Hannah Horvath mode, appearing in a movie trailer as Eve of Adam and Eve. Her better half is indeed her onscreen boy toy Adam Sackler (played by a convincing Taran Killam). “Before there were ‘Girls,’ there was the first ‘Girl,’ the dramatic voiceover echoed. Hannah and Adam cohabitated in the forest while blurred censors covered body parts (this is network television, not cable, after all). Hannah sought advice from gal pal Shoshanna (Vanessa Bayer), who appeared as a snake, spouting hyperbolic questions with her signature side bun on her head. So what did the critics think of the potential hit flick? “Even for Adam and Eve, there’s a lot of nudity.”
Lena kept her clothes on for the rest of the show. She played an over-excited teenage girl on the talk show “What Are You Even Doing? You’re Being Crazy,” where Jon Hamm made an uncomfortable cameo after getting lost looking for the pizza.
And later Dunham showed more range, portraying a dejected Liza Minnelli, who failed to make it into Ellen DeGeneres’ famous Oscar selfie. After musical guest The National completed soulful performances of “Graceless” and “I Need My Girl,” Dunham said a gracious goodnight from studio 8H: “I want to French kiss all of you!”
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