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Amy Poehler’s going out on a good note. With guest host Hugh Laurie at the helm, and the best work I’ve seen out of the current cast in awhile, Amy Poehler got to say her farewells in true SNL mad style.

The first treat of the night was a reunion of Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph for a Saturday Night Live favorite, Bronx Beat. The two women did their finely tuned routine of talking over one another about their physical ailments, husbands, and the sexiness of their guest, the local British butcher (Hugh Laurie). This sketch was a perfect testament to these ladies’ gift for comedy: they made Hugh Laurie laugh. In the middle of a sketch. This is a respected, talented, lifelong comedian and actor, who has worked with both Stephen Fry and Rowan Atkinson, and here he was, laughing helplessly at the craziness of the Bronx Beat hosts. It was impossible not to crack up as they begged him to “talk British” and say “schedule” and “crisps”, denounced his mention of “blood sausage”, and then swooned when he said “vitamin” (with a short “i” of course).

Here’s my favorite all-time Bronx Beat episode, with Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Jake Gyllenhaal:

It was the first time in awhile that I’ve laughed at every sketch up to and including the news. A conservative family in their Christmas sweaters and immaculate haircuts sniped at each other over each and every comment, then broke into a singalong of “Silent Night”. They captured perfectly the bizarre mix of forced cheer and palpable tension that define a lot of family holidays. Jason Sudeikis did a brilliant turn as a frustrated emcee at a wedding with an endless string of toasts from various obscure family members. Once again, Saturday Night Live struck the right note by creating absurd characters that weren’t so far from the reality we’ve all witnessed at weddings.

Amy Poehler and Seth Myers did their turn at the news, cracking each other up as always, and treating us to one last installment of “Really?” in regards to Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s corrupt ways and bad hair. Their endless stream of jibes at his “toupee that’s wearing a toupee” were right on the money, the best being when Poehler compared it to when you put one of those little Fisher Price figure’s hair on backwards.

Fred Armisen created a hilarious portrait of New York governor David Paterson, working the physical comedy angle with one squinting eye and the other pointed inward as he spun the wrong way in his chair and held charts upside down. He also made frequent references to sex scandals and drugs, and how one of his criteria for replacing Senator Clinton was to find someone “a little bit off”. The clincher came when Amy was giving a tearful farewell speech, and Armisen-as-Paterson wandered in front of the camera, seemingly lost. Poehler couldn’t help laughing as she tried to give the remainder of her goodbye around his head, which was blocking most of the camera lens. It was the perfect absurd goodbye for a great SNL performer.

I wish Amy Poehler much success in her future career and life. She’s given us all a lot of joy in her time on Saturday Night Live, and it won’t be the same without her.

Watch SNL on Saturday nights, at 11:35pm Eastern/10:35pm Central on NBC.