Kim gets to choose from an all-star line up for “Bachelorette” parody including John Cena, Chris Rock, Chace Crawford and Amy Schumer? — Plus, Kim and Aidy Bryant switch lives for a day!
One of the most anticipated guest hosts in recent memory, perhaps stirring up as much controversy as Donald Trump during the campaign trail. At least Kim Kardashian West made it clear to the “Saturday Night Live” audience she has no political aspirations.
While no one knew quite what to expect from the reality star, Kim proved a pretty good fit for the “SNL” format — especially when it could serve as a comedic extension of the Kardashian empire. So many of the sketches were about her life and family, but at least she proved a good sport about poking fun at the empire.
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And she wasn’t alone, either, as both Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian joined her for more than one sketch appearance. In fact, Kim invited a whole slew of her friends to show up, ranging from Chris Rock and Amy Schumer to Jesse Williams, Chace Crawford, Blake Griffin and John Cena.
Kim set the stage early for what kind of night it was going to be in her monologue, which served as an epic roast of her own family. It wasn’t the biggest roast of the night, though, as later she put back on her Kourtney Kardashian impression to preside over “The People’s Kourt,” which absolutely lambasted the family.
It wasn’t all Kardashian humor, though, as the night opened with the Facebook whistleblower and we even got to see Pete Davidson’s Aladdin impression — as he became the only cast member to actually kiss Kim. We’ve also got a cut Costco sketch
As usual, we’re ranking all the sketches from worst to first, including the Monologue, Cold Open, “Weekend Update” and any sketches that were cut for time but made their way online. We’ll skip the musical guests, because they’re not usually funny — unless Ashlee Simpson shows up. We wrap up with a look at the cast-member who had the strongest week.
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Jasmine and Aladdin
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Inadequacy concerns permeated this sketch about Pete Davidson’s Aladdin terrified that Kim Kardashian’s Jasmine was just too much woman for him. Unfortunately, while the audience got all “Woo!” about a tiny peck between the two, that’s just because the sketch was otherwise not funny. The best part was probably Cecily Strong as Jasmine’s sister Jourtney (“We all have J names”) making fun of Aladdin with her football-player boyfriend. There was the kernel of a fun parody here, but it didn’t really work.
Cut for Time: Costco Meeting
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Maybe it’s because this was from the dress rehearsal, but it didn’t feel like the energy was really there from the glitter group trio of Kim Kardashian, Aidy Bryant and Bowen Yang. This was a cute concept, but the songs were just okay and the lackluster delivery of the material left us just kind of yawning. We can see why it was ultimately the one on the chopping block when the show was running over.
Skims Commercial
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A cute parody of Kim’s Skims line expanding into dog shapewear. Aristotle Athari got another silly short role here, as did Sarah Sherman, but the real stars of this entire sketch were the dogs in their shapewear. It was all very silly and cute, but mostly a thinly-veiled way for Kim to promo her actual Skims line by wearing one of her products. There was so much Kardashian promotional material throughout this episode, it’s no surprise momager extraordinaire Kris Jenner was there. There was no way Kim was going to host “SNL” without her and without making it a 90-minute brand extension.
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Cold Open: Facebook Hearings
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“Should we do a Squid Game?” This sketch was basically a glorified expansion of what happens when your grandparents start asking you about everything to do with social media with Heidi Gardner substituting in as all of us. It also featured James Austin Johnson continuing to show off his impression game with a solid (if not remarkable) Lindsay Graham, while Aidy Bryant continues to slay as Ted Cruz, this time incensed that people online are saying mean things about him.
Other highlights included questions about whether or not Heidi’s FB whistleblower had brought its algorithm with her and a slew of memes the Senate panel decided to start sharing and trying to understand. What this really emphasizes is that in our wired world, wouldn’t we be better served by having decision about all of our technology being made by people who have even the slightest understanding of how any of it works?
Weekend Update
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Colin Jost took on the Facebook scandal by talking about how he actually went to college with founder Mark Zuckerberg, and what he’d do with a time machine today — it’s exactly what you think. Michael Che threw in a jab at host Kim Kardashian, suggesting she was only hosting “SNL” because Instagram was down for a whole day this past week, leaving her scrambling for what to do. Even Che couldn’t handle his own R. Kelly joke, which Jost followed with a Bill Cosby joke, so they were deep in it by then.
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Alex Moffat introduced an LSD-fueled movie critic who’s reviews were funny in that sort of total random nonsense that Stefan became famous for — though the delivery isn’t nearly as effective. He put on a Casey Kasem voice and demeanor for some reason, as if he was just dying to do an impression of the late broadcaster. As an impression of Casey Kasem on LSD, this could have been even funnier, but as a wholly new character, it still worked pretty well. We just would have preferred a more unique voice choice.
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The second news segment talked about the relaxing face of Clint Eastwood, the extended song title for Harry Styles’ ode to the female orgasm and Che’s brutally funny joke about a 96-year-old former Nazi secretary being released into the custody of her grandson — Colin Jost. Based on his reaction, Colin had no idea that one was coming.
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Then, to talk about the importance of mental health in these trying times, came Heidi Gardner’s life coach Kelly Party and her hair and “I love it.” Well, she loves it, anyway. As life coaches go, she’s an absolute trainwreck, but Heidi was having so much fun in this over-the-top role, it was infectious. We loved it when she would side-eye Che while lip syncing to her song, getting him to crack up each time.
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Monologue: Kim Kardashian
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All eyes were on Kim here as fans and haters alike wondered if she could pull of a comedy monologue, or if she would even try. Well, she certainly subscribed to the adage of writing what you know, as her monologue was a brilliantly perfected roast of her entire family. There were great barbs for just about everyone, including herself and her infamous sex tape. Honestly, she handled it incredibly well — we’re still just not sure about the outfit … that’s a lot of pink. Some highlights:
- “When they asked me to host, I was like, ‘Why? I haven’t had a movie premiere in a really long time. I mean, actually, I only had that one movie come out and no one even told me it was premiering. It must have slipped my mom’s mind.”
- “I’m so much more than that reference photo my sisters showed their plastic surgeons.”
- “No one could ever call me a gold digger. Honestly, I’m not even sure how you become one. So I asked my mom’s boyfriend, Corey.”
- “It’s because of him that I met my first Black person. Wanna take a stab in the dark as to who it was? I know it’s sort of weird to remember the first Black person you met, but O.J. does leave a mark — or several, or none at all, I still don’t know.”
- “With all of the K names, it’s really impressive that my mom didn’t pick Karen. Somehow she just knew. I don’t know how she saw that one coming and not Caitlynn.”
- “I’m here to announce that I’m running for– I’m just kidding. I’m not running for president. We can’t have three failed politicians in one family.”
- “I married the best rapper of all time. Not only that, he’s the richest Black man in America. A talented legit genius who gave me four incredible kids. So, when I divorced him, it came down to just one thing: his personality.”
- “I’m used to having 360 million people follow my every move. How many people watch “SNL”? 10 million? So tonight is just a chill, intimate night for me.”
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The Dream Guy
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This was a surprising all-star segment, with Kim’s “Bachelorette”-esque suitors including John Cena, Chris Rock, Tyler Cameron, Chace Crawford, Jesse Williams, Blake Griffin and a very funny Amy Schumer — we’re pretty sure she ad-libbed that “both holes” line as it left Kim in giggles for a few moments. Kim handled herself pretty well on this one, as she got to address her suitors one by one. Ultimately, it was a showcase for another Kyle Mooney overconfident sad sack character, which he does better than anyone. It was absurd and silly with some great exchanges between Kim and the guys, keeping us smiling throughout.
The People’s Kourt
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Another sketch spoofing her own family, this one featured Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner as themselves, while Kim stepped into the role of her sister Kourtney. Fans of her show already know Kris does a pretty funny Kourtney, and that was on full display here, but we had way more fun with Kris being outrageously ridiculous in why she was suing both Kylie and Kendall. Chris Redd got to bring his Kanye West, while Mikey Day portrayed Travis Barker to mock the overly-sexed up Kourt and Travis pairing. But even that was nothing to just how far Chloe Fineman and Pete Davidson were willing to go as Megan Fox and his real-life friend Machine Gun Kelly. This was a pop culture tour-de-force, but funny for anyone who gets all the connections and references.
Please Don’t Destroy: Hard Seltzer
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A weird fake ad starring “SNL” writers Martin Herlihy, John Higgins and Ben Marshall, this one was actually pretty funny. Please Don’t Destroy is the name of their New York-based comedy trio, so this is a pretty big showcase for the group, as well as an on-screen tryout of sorts for them. It reminds us most recently of Andy Samberg’s Lonely Island material, that helped launch him as a solo performer. It’s interesting the trio was allowed to use their comedy name, and that they starred alone in the sketch. We’ll have to see if Lorne Michaels gives them more opportunities. We could see it happening, though, as this was a quick, sharply edited and crafted takedown of the White Claw phenomenon that is the Zima of the current generation … Bartles & Jaymes? There always seems to be one “it” drink that everyone else can make fun of.
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Lotto Drawing
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A simple premise about lottery ball tubes malfunctioning went dark and veered deep into absurdity, but it was the little details that made this one a real winner. Everything sportscaster Chris Redd said managed to be funny, and we loved the random inclusion of Ego Nwodim as Diana Ross at the end, with a cute finish for the whole thing. Newcomer Aristotle Athari had another walk-on role here, very awkwardly with zero lines, but at least he got to play a pivotal role in the comedy — well, kind of. This was so weird we kind of fell in love with it, and Cecily Strong and Kim Kardashian were great as the obliviously doofy pretty lottery girls.
The Switch
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For one day, thanks to the power of a magic clock, Kim Kardashian and Aidy Bryant got to switch lives. It was already a fun premise, with Aidy embracing the glitz and glamor of Kim’s life, while Kim wallowed in the mundane ridiculousness of Aidy’s, but we reached new heights with appearances by Kim’s real family members Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian, and Aidy’s husband Conner O’Malley.
It was just enough reality injected into the premise, with some solid impression work by both ladies as the other, to really bring out the absurd humor. Honestly, we’d watch a movie of this — it wouldn’t be like high cinema or anything, but it would probably be pretty damned funny.
Ladies Night
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No one is going to sign Kim up on a rap contract, but that hardly did anything to dilute our enjoyment of this song about “grown ass women” up in the club — and up way past their bedtimes. All of the details as Kim, Cecily Strong, Ego Nwodim and Punkie Johnson both danced their hearts out and lamented everything from how tired they were to how tight their shoes were to even the traffic were just perfect examples of how partying definitely needs to evolve as we get older. Great production values, a catchy hook and solid performances from three of the four (and Kim was capable enough) created another “SNL” classic song.
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PLAYER OF THE WEEK
A pretty well-divided night for most of the cast, with no one really dominating the evening. Some of our favorites on the night were definitely Aidy Bryant’s performance in “The Switch” and Kyle Mooney in “The Dream Guy.” We got to see some fun impressions of Kardashian family royalty, but the definite winner for the night has to be someone who played none of them, Cecily Strong.
Her impression of Dianne Feinstein remains one of the best, and was particularly funny in the tech clueless cold open, but it was the diversity she showed that really won us over. She was clueless as a lottery girl and mean girl in the Jasmine and Aladdin sketch, while bringing out her boss bitch for “Ladies Night.” She is fearless and so versatile always, really bringing authority to everything she does on this show.
“Saturday Night Live” returns next Saturday with host Rami Malek and musical guest Young Thug.
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