SNL Covers Dick Pics, Black Face and Lady Gaga
Last night on an all new Saturday Night Live, dick pics and black face were the theme of the night, appearing in sketches and in Weekend Update, and Black History Month was highlighted, briefly.
Halsey was both host and musical guest. In her monologue Halsey talked about being a gigantic fan of the show growing up in New Jersey and being thrilled to be hosting and even though we had no idea who she was before last night, she was positively glowing and likeable and blended well into the sketches she appeared in. No stand out moments for Halsey, though. It was Kenan Thompson and Melissa Villasenor who stood out with Kenan showing why he’s continually earning his unusually long run with the show. Kenan helmed the lion’s share of the best sketches last night, playing Black Donald Trump, and the Chairman of the Virginia ethics committee dealing with a bunch of white state representatives about the ethics of blackface. Consider the “State Meeting” sketch an ethics lesson for everyone who wonders whether their particular use of blackface was offensive, Kenan’s character wants to assure you that yes, its offensive. Kenan also appeared in the Meet the Press cold open about Jeff Bezos, “Maurice” about a man with an explicit hobby, as a tv director in an episode of “Riverdale” with Pete Davidson playing a noisy corpse. And he helmed a tribute to the black history of Saturday Night Live with Ego Nwodim, Leslie Jones, and Chris Redd that gets disrupted by Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett, playing the white guys who always need to be the center of everything, including black history.
Michael Che and Colin Jost also covered blackface for Weekend Update, suggesting that maybe Virginia should take a cue from the Oscars this year and just go without a governor after the Governor and the State Attorney General who is 2nd in line to be governor admitted to donning black face in the 1980’s while the 1st in line Lt. Governor is embroiled in a sex scandal. Gucci’s “Sambo sweater” made the Update as well, with Che baffled by the idea that nobody at the entire company realized that the sweater was a bad idea. A good test would have been to show the sweater to Liam Neeson, he offered, referring to Neeson’s own racial scandal. “Anything that makes him laugh, don’t make.” When Trump’s State of the Union and Tax Return is the fourth and fifth lead story on Weekend Update, you know it’s been a fucked up news week.
Blackface was also the viewer highlight on YouTube, with the Weekend Update segment and Kenan’s “State Meeting” in the lead with the most views.
This week, characters killed it on Weekend Update, with Melissa Villasenor getting the chance to show off her perfect Lady Gaga impression, which for some reason hasn’t made it to an official SNL released clip but here’s a bootleg you can enjoy until NBC has it pulled. Heidi Gardner delivered another phenomenal Weekend Update character performance this week as Brie Bacardi paired up with Mikey Day as Nico Slobkin talking about their shared social media account. And Alex Moffat brought back his “guy who just bought a boat” character, which may be starting to wear thin, but still makes it into the top 10 Weekend Update characters of the last few years.
Saturday Night Live is all new next week with Don Cheadle, star of Black Monday hosting for the very first time. It should be a great one.
