What Happened on Saturday Night Live This Week? Christmas Comes Early for Trump and Women are in Hell

If you missed Saturday Night Live this week, it’s probably okay, you didn’t miss much.  Although host Saoirse Ronan was charming and had an adorable monologue centered around the proper pronunciation of her name, the sketches went nowhere.

If you judge the episode by what people in mainstream media outlets are talking about- they’re still pretty hyped up about Trump Cold Open segments.  This week, a smorgasbord of all the Trump satellite characters made appearances in an SNL version of Trump: A White House Christmas Carol. The President was visited by many ghosts including Michael Flynn (Mikey Day), Billy Bush (Alex Moffatt), Vladimir Putin (Beck Bennett) and Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon). It was the SNL sketch of a best of album- parading through the hits but nothing new to add. But if you’re a big fan of Baldwin’s Trump, there’s enough there for a laugh or two.

 

The other hyped segment was a digital short called Welcome to Hell. Host Saoirse Ronan joined all the women of Saturday Night Live in a music video that addresses sexual harassment allegations. Conceptually the segment is great, showing women singing about what they’ve been putting up with “since they got two boobs.”  The jist of the lyrics– women get harassed all the time and live with their head on a swivel- dodging boners, and traps, and uncomfortable situations. But the practical application of the concept was completely forgettable at best, and confusing (who are they welcoming? the predators?), with no punch whatsoever and shoehorned lyrics that weren’t funny ( “since they got two boobs” says it all). The one great moment in the song is delivered by Melissa Villasenor as the “We Can Do It” poster come to life. The music video features Saoirse Ronan, Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Leslie Jones, and Villaseñor.

The remaining sketches would be largely classified as going nowhere, like Late For Class about a new kid at school who tries to make a big impression on his first day, and Floribama Shore where MTV’s hottest new stars party during Hurricane Irma. Two special guest appearances this week included a Greta Gerwig cameo in a Lady Bird themed digital short and tennis star John McEnroe showed up for a Bachelor Auction sketch that could easily have been cut.

Weekend Update remains consistently strong with jokes covering Michael Flynn, Trump’s Tax Bill, Trump’s tweet about Joe Scarborough, the Alabama Senate Race, Eli Manning’s benching, the latest allegations against white male assaulters, Matt Lauer and more. Colin Jost had this week’s best lines including a Chuck Schumer puppet joke, a great response to those who support trickle down theory, and this line about the news that Trump’s tax bill will add over 1 trillion dollars to the national debt. “Wow. I knew Trump was gonna run the country like a business, I just didn’t know he was going to run it like one of his businesses.”

The show returns December 9 and will be hosted by James Franco with musical guest SZA.

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