Charles Barkley cross-dresses, imitates Shaq on 'SNL' [VIDEO]

In this week's Saturday Night Live, Charles Barkley gave late night fans quite a show dressing in drag and imitating Shaquille O'Neal.

Barkley had several shining moments as he joined the cast in a few skits. In "Joann's Announcement," he dressed as a woman in order to tell friends he's a lesbian, which MSNBC reports as "a shocker because he's 'all high heels and champagne,' per Kristin Wiig." He also appeared in a "White People Problems" skit, which entertained as Barkley wasn't completely able to get all the words out.

His slam-dunk was the "NBA on TNT" skit where Barkley impersonated Shaquille O'Neal.

"It's me. I'm here now. I'm on TV. I'm Shaq," Barkley said. Sitting next to Barkley playing Shaq was Kenan Thompson reprising his excellent impersonation of Charles Barkley.

As his third time hosting the show, Barkley's opening monologue wasn't as funny as fans of his sports commenting have come to expect.

The Huffington Post reports, "Shortly into the monologue, though, it became clear that the SNL writers didn't trust Barkley's comedic chops when it came to writing his lines. How could we tell? Because Barkley wouldn't have incorrectly referred to the recent NBA 'lockout' as a 'strike.'"

The NBA legend also addressed his new figure, which he attributed to Weight Watchers.

"For those of you saying Sir Charles looks less gigantic, thank you very much," Barkley said in his opening monologue.

"Weight Watchers worked for me," Barkley said. "I feel great, except for one thing. I am so hungry. I am starving. So, please forgive me if I eat one of you tonight. Ya'll all look like turkey legs to me."

Watch Barkley's opening monologue here:

Despite the late start of the show - at 11:51 p.m. instead of the usual 11:30 - Saturday's episode received the highest ratings in the past year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the last SNL to receive a similar rating was the January 8, 2011 episode featuring Jim Carrey with musical guest The Black Keys. Kelly Clarkson was the featured musical guest, giving performances of “What Doesn’t Kill You” and “Mr. Know It All” off her album, Stronger.