“A Goofy Nazi Prom”: ‘SNL’ Blames Violence At Donald Trump Rallies On The “Racially Divisive” Candidate

While a disaster for democracy, our recent political activity has been a boon for comedy. With so much happening on a week-to-week basis, with caucuses and primaries and debates ad nauseum, comedians and comedy shows have an almost embarrassing wealth of targets.

At this intense stage, then, it becomes questionable for Saturday Night Live as to whether covering events based on who’s around is the best move.

For the second week in a row, SNL took a multi-target approach to their cold open, this week apparently because Larry David – who has an awful lot of free time for an almost-billionaire – was available.

The show started, though, with Jay Pharoah and Darrell Hammond taking on Ben Carson’s endorsement of Donald Trump. While not even close to the biggest news of the cycle, it makes a certain amount of sense. Until last week, when he unloaded a mega mixtape of comedian impressions during Weekend Update, Carson was the most interesting impression from Pharoah’s time on the show, and on an individual basis, he still is. Given that Carson made news this week, it made sense to get Pharoah involved.

But the brief bit that followed underwhelmed, with a few decent quick-hit jokes (Carson describing the pair as “Ebony and Orange-y”) but not much momentum. It served as the lead-up to the questionable main event, the return of David as Bernie Sanders.

For some reason, in a week where Trump’s rallies turned violent, SNL chose to take a hard shot at Sanders, using his Michigan win to go after the vagueness of his promises on policy, and the supposedly aggressive online manner of his supporters. While a legitimate target, the timing is curious (though not biased within the party, as Hillary Clinton would get her shot later in the episode).

We’re accustomed to David being excellent as Sanders, and he was no less so here. But given the abundance of major news on so many fronts, the show has little new to say about Sanders right now. After David took a few shots at Bernie supporters (“I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me, and apologize to everyone else for making your Facebook feed so, so, annoying”), he did a few jokes about super delegates, and about the narrowness of Sanders constituency (“My message is resonating with a very diverse group of white people.”) It was all fine, but seemed like an effective routine from three or four months ago. Bold idea for SNL: next time David calls with his availability, unless something genuinely newsworthy happened with Sanders that week, tell him, “Thanks, but no thanks.” No insult to David, but let’s not burn this one into the ground. Save it for actual news.

The episode would return to politics, but first, host and musical guest Ariana Grande reminisced with Kenan Thompson about starting your career on Nickelodeon, and offered a mea culpa of sorts for her donut-licking incident, calling it “childish and stupid” before singing a song about needing a real, adult scandal. It was a charming, old school musical moment, and showed Grande in full command of her hosting spot. (She also muttered “Oh shit” after a line about “pimp slapping Adele,” which currently has some folks in the media all hot and bothered.)

A fake political ad for Hillary Clinton followed, and while it bookended the early Sanders bit – also feeling ill-timed in tackling how Clinton has echoed Sanders’ sentiments in order to court younger voters – the bit is so clever and well-executed that one can forgive it being late to the observation. Kate McKinnon, always excellent as Clinton, tackles a dual role of sorts, as the ad shows her meeting with college students, pandering hard by repeating Sanders’ proposals, and, over the course of the ad, slowly turning into Sanders. As she gradually cribs his point of view and even biography (as Clinton, after raving —in Sanders’ voice— about “millionaires and billionaires”: “I’ve always said that, ever since I was a young boy growing up in Brooklyn. Oh, Brooklyn.”)

Scene by scene, she takes on Sanders’ wardrobe – first his glasses, then his ill-fitting suit, and finally, his hair. By the end, the transformation is complete, and McKinnon is full-on Sanders, leaving the ad with, “I’m whoever you want me to be, and I approve this message. I’m trying here, guys.” A smart bit, and another clip for McKinnon’s highlight reel.

The next sketch parodied awkward awards show banter, as Grande, Taran Killam, and Vanessa Bayer played hosts of the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards pre-show, filling to kill time as the live camera stays focused on them despite the show’s countdown clock reaching zero. For those, like myself, who were unaware of Grande until her musical success, it showed the strength of her acting ability, but overall, a cute but unmemorable sketch.

The next bit, a pre-tape, was the newest all-female musical effort, and now the second worthwhile song about a failed effort to write an important song. (Watch the first here.)

This is the fourth (I believe) music video effort by SNL’s women – Grande appears as well – and their best since the first, the classic “Twin Bed.”

“This is Not a Feminist Song” details their failing efforts to write a great feminist song. Within, they manage to tackle the difficulty women have in being judged by their physical attributes, the stereotyping women often find themselves subjected to, and the minefield of political correctness that anyone trying to publicly discuss this topic faces (“This is Not A Feminist Song/So technically it can’t be wrong”), while paying tribute to both everyday women and feminist heroes such as Malala Yousafzai and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Filmed on the Coney Island boardwalk, the song is a deft and compact piece of writing, spiritedly performed. At the end, they perfectly sum up the paradox of discussing feminism online with, “And now it’s time for you at home to weigh in on this song/And tell us if we handled it all wrong/This tough and tricky landmine of a song,” placing the hashtag #feministsong on the screen. Good luck, ladies. You may need it.

A sketch about three sailors at sea who are saved from a wreck by mermaids features McKinnon as a disgusting blob fish mermaid. The point of this sketch was grossness = comedy, and it did nothing for me.

Weekend Update followed by taking on the racism at this week’s Trump rallies, smartly letting Michael Che, who had some cutting lines, lead off. Of the old woman who was photographed giving a Nazi salute at a Trump rally, he talked about how “adorable” she was, saying, “She shouldn’t be at a rally. She should be home teaching her parrot the N-word.” Of the old white man who sucker-punched a black man at same, he noted how he, himself, wouldn’t be going to any rallies, saying, “You won’t see me at some goofy Nazi prom getting punched in the face by some strong-ass 80-year-old racist,” then added, with the old man’s mugshot behind him, “Look at this guy. He’s been dreaming of punching a black dude since the first time he heard jazz on the radio.”

After Cecily Strong played “the drunkest contestant on The Bachelor,” a thinly barely veiled impression of this current season’s trainwreck Lace, Bobby Moynihan returned as Che’s high school friend Riblet. In addition to showing Che up by doing several jokes at the desk, Riblet took to the streets for the most elaborate Yo Mama joke ever, reporting on “a revolving door of random man in and out of this building all weekend long,” in a piece that turns out to be “outside Che’s Mama’s house.”

The following sketch saw several artists’ streams crash at the office’s of Jay-Z’s Tidal streaming service, allowing Grande, as a Tidal intern, to imitate the singing of Britney Spears, Shakira, Rihanna, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston, including a goosebump-inducing “I Will Always Love You.”

Speaking of impressions, Celebrity Family Feud must have pissed someone off, relegated in a shorter-than-usual version to the final half hour. The sketch, hosted by Kenan Thompson’s Steve Harvey, is, like the show’s occasional audition reel bits, an excuse to showcase a variety of quick hit celebrity impressions. In addition to Harvey, we get Grande as Jennifer Lawrence, nailing her speaking voice and taking a shot at her, “hey, I’m just an average girl who’s worth $100 million” routine. McKinnon did Tilda Swinton as a spaced-out weirdo, Beck Bennett was a serviceable Javier Bardem, and Pharoah took on Idris Elba. The other team was Directors, including Killam as Quentin Tarantino – not his best impression, too over-acted – and, in a revelation, Jon Rudnitsky (hey, the new guy got a role!) as an eerily good Martin Scorsese. Kyle Mooney was a spot-on Woody Allen, and Moynihan completed the panel as Kevin Smith. By the time the introductions were completed, there wasn’t much time left.

The final sketch, a take-off on A Sound of Music, found the female cast as the nuns singing ”How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria,” and then Grande, as Maria, taking offense to the nuns “talking smack” about her. Again, it’s somewhat surprising this sketch wound up in the late spot. Switching this with the dismal mermaid sketch would have been well-advised.

[You can stream Saturday Night Live on Hulu]

Larry Getlen is the author of the book Conversations with Carlin. His greatest wish is to see Stefon enjoy a cheeseburger at John Belushi’s diner. Follow him on Twitter at @larrygetlen.