Saturday Night Live: Watch Frank Ocean's Performances of "Thinkin Bout You" and "Pyramids"

The 38th season premiere of NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live was last night, and the results were, as always, hit-and-miss. Host Seth MacFarlane delivered a few memorable impressions (Ryan Lochte probably being his best), but ultimately the episode was stolen by the reliable Bill Hader, who provided the inevitable Clint Eastwood parody that was actually pretty chuckle-worthy. 

The most solid parts of the night, though, were delivered by the musical guest. Frank Ocean, the resident crooner for the Los Angeles-based rap collective Odd Future, was on top of his game as he performed two songs from Channel Orange, his stellar debut studio album. 

He started off with "Thinkin Bout You," the lead single from the album (and the song he performed at the VMAs earlier this month), which was performed with sparse instrumentation provided by his backing band -- which included guitarist John Mayer. Mayer wasn't too flashy in this performance -- that was saved for the second number. Watch the performance of "Thinkin Bout You" here. 

The second song of the night was "Pyramids" -- well, rather, the second half of the nine-minute centerpiece of the album. The low-key ode to a prostitute (for now let's call her Cleopatra) felt a little strange without the dance-y lead-in of the song's first half, but the performance became memorable when Mayer stepped up to finish the song with a bluesy guitar solo -- while Ocean stepped over to the side of the stage to play an arcade game with his back to the audience. We expected nothing more. Check out Ocean and Mayer's performance of "Pyramids" here. 

What did you think of the SNL season premiere? What about Ocean and Mayer's performance? Let us know in the comments section below. 

Next week's episode of the series will be hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and will feature musical guests Mumford & Sons.