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The season of Beck Bennett continues, as Saturday Night Live began the first episode of the Donald Trump-era with a cold open featuring an message from our nation’s new leader – Vladimir Putin.
With Alec Baldwin apparently taking a week off, Bennett opened the episode as the Russian leader, sitting shirtless at his desk, celebrating his victory. “Yesterday, we all made Donald Trump the 45th president of the United States. Hooray, we did it!”
He acknowledged the marches that took place around the world yesterday, then said, with a creepy smile, “You are worried that your country is in the hands of this unpredictable man. But don’t worry – it’s not. I got this.” Then, “I promise you, we’ll take care of America. It’s the most expensive thing we ever bought.”
After talking about how Russian women are too happy to protest, he brings out Kate McKinnon’s Olya, who reads a prepared statement about how great life is in Russia. After, Putin gives her a fish as her reward. “My pension!” she exclaims.
Of course, the show wasted no time slamming Trump and his team for the debacle of a debate yesterday over the size of his inauguration crowd compared to yesterday’s women’s marches, congratulating him on the size of his inaugural crowd with a picture of the women’s march, then acknowledging his mistake and showing the real, far emptier picture. The studio audience clearly got a kick out of that one. Putin then gives Trump advice on lying. “Say you’re friends with LeBron James. Don’t say you ARE LeBron James.”
The sketch ends with Putin talking about how Americans will grow to love having such a great relationship with Russia, as Olya sneaks behind him, without his knowledge, and puts on a pussy hat in support of the day’s protestors.
Continuing the theme, host Aziz Ansari has me wondering if SNL intentionally books stand-up comics to host on days of significance. If so, let’s hope they keep it up. Just as Dave Chappelle anchored the first post-election episode, talking about how we elected an “internet troll” for president, Ansari focused on the challenges ahead for many in light of Trump’s inauguration on Friday.
After starting by saying that it’s pretty cool that right now Trump’s probably at home, “watching a brown guy make fun of him,” he discussed Trump voters, saying that liberals shouldn’t lump them into one pile of hate, but rather acknowledge that people voted for him for different reasons. For many, he says, supporting Trump is like listening to Chris Brown. “Hey man, I’m just here for the tunes, I just like the dancing and the music…I don’t condone the extracurriculars.”
But he then addressed the “sliver” of Trump voters who saw Trump’s victory as a license to bring their inner racist to the forefront, referring to them as a “lower-case KKK.” “You gotta go back to pretending,” he said. “I’m so sorry we never thanked you for your service. We never realized how much effort you were putting into the pretending, but you gotta go back to pretending.”
He mocked the ambition among some to have minorities leave the country, noting that they’re about forty percent of the population, and talked about how many racists simply never encounter a brown person in real life, leaving them with the horrific images they see on the news. His suggestion: anytime the media runs a story of some terrorist or something, counter it with a tale of less threatening people from the same background. “The suspect is considered armed and dangerous. Not armed and dangerous, these four other Muslim people eating nachos in Chicago, let’s go to footage of them.” He blamed the “scary-ass” music from Homeland for making Muslims seem frightening, and suggested they change the music to the Benny Hill theme.
He called on Trump to make a speech – “don’t tweet about me being lame, or the show being lame, write a real speech” – to denounce the lower case-KKK in the harshest terms, comparing it to a speech made by George W. Bush after 9/11 about how the 9/11 terrorists didn’t represent the religion. He then talked about how bizarre it was that he was now wistfully watching speeches of George W. Bush, thinking about what an eloquent leader he was.
He ended the monologue with a sentiment we’ve heard a lot over the past 24 hours, that “change doesn’t come from presidents. Change comes from large groups of angry people. And if day one was any indication, you are part of the largest group of angry people I have ever seen.” Overall, it was the perfect monologue for the time, smartly written and strongly delivered, and the start of a winning host stint overall for Ansari.
The next two sketches shied away from politics to focus on a single, effective joke. The first, the game show parody “Beat The Bookworm,” featured Ansari as a cocky nerd, a prodigy who spent his adolescence reading books on every topic, and invited contestants to beat him in games of knowledge. The contestant, Vanessa Bayer, had three categories to choose from. As each was announced, Ansari, who greets the contestant and audience with, “Hello, idiots,” gives a taunting tag. The categories are: “Shakespeare’s Comedies,” “The Space Race,” and “90’s Pop Culture.” Even if you didn’t see the sketch, you can probably see where this is going, as, after the announcement of the third category, Ansari simply screams, “Nooooo!!!!!” The nerd doesn’t know 90’s pop culture, because he was too busy reading books. The rest of the short sketch documents his humiliation. No, Bookworm. Michael Jackson was not King of the Jews.
The next finds Ansari in a police station, being harshly questioned by detectives Bennett and Cecily Strong for an infraction he committed on a date. We see security footage and hear his discussion; he mentions that he thought the movie La La Land dragged in the middle. This, it turns out, is his infraction – denying what the detectives consider the perfect film. “Ryan Gosling didn’t learn piano from SCRATCH!” yells an animated Strong, “so some little prick could come in and nitpick!” At one point, Bennett says he’s gonna show him a photo, and wants to know what he sees. He puts the photo on the table. “Pretty Woman?” says Ansari. “Oh,” says Bennett. “That’s from another case.” Overall, a one joke sketch with a solid build, and some worthwhile laughs.
Then, back to politics, and a brilliant musical take from McKinnon on Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway. As Conway talks to CNN’s Jake Tapper (Bennett), flipping a question about Russia into an unrelated word salad answer about the election, music begins to play, and McKinnon performs a stunning song and dance number, styled like it’s right out of the musical Chicago, taking on Conway’s relentless ambition. The bit works on both of its obvious levels – as a musical number, it’s exquisitely crafted, complete with pitch black set contrasting McKinnon’s glittery dress, and a line of tuxedo-wearing male backup dancers. Lyrically, the song hits its target head-on, portraying Conway as a woman willing to tell any lie on any show that will have her in order the advance her own fame. A brutal sketch that pulls no punches, it not only works on every creative level, but also corrects what had been a rare weak portrayal by McKinnon, as her Conway too often cast her as an unwilling dupe in Trump’s circle. This sketch corrects that, and gives McKinnon – also an excellent singer – yet one more sketch for the highlight reel.
The ad parody Broderick and Ganz is another strong execution of a simple premise, parodying how lawyers often star in their own local commercials. As clients tell stories of the great victories the pair, played by McKinnon and Bobby Moynihan, have won for them, it becomes apparent how different they are. Broderick’s (McKinnon) clients win jury awards in the millions of dollars for sprained ankles and hot coffee spills; Ansari used Ganz, and got just $6,000 for getting hit by a cement truck. As the commercial runs, the disparities increase. By the end, we learn that Ganz gave his kidneys – yes, both of them – to Broderick’s relatives. He is just not a very good lawyer. Touching the bailiff’s gun in court and wearing mismatching sneakers in court probably didn’t help the case.
Weekend Update benefitted from a surfeit of material, taking on the inauguration, the protests, and Sean Spicer’s remarkable, lie-filled first appearance as press secretary, during which he falsely insisted, “this was the largest audience ever to watch an inauguration. Period!” Among the better lines: Colin Jost calling the inaugural concert line-up of 3 Doors Down, Toby Keith, and Lee Greenwood, held in front of the Lincoln Memorial, “the second worst live performance Lincoln has ever attended”; and, of Spicer, “Here’s how we know he’s lying – in addition to photographic evidence. I don’t trust anyone who ends a sentence with the word ‘period.’ Imagine if someone said, ‘Look, I’m a doctor. Period!’ I’d be like, ‘I don’t think this van is a real hospital.”
Leslie Jones reflected on the new movie Hidden Figures at the desk, about how black women played a major, previously unacknowledged role in the space program. Lamenting that she never knew this growing up, she makes a case for a far wider teaching of black history – including other prominent accomplishments by African-Americans – than most students get. “If I had known that as a kid,” she says, “who knows where I would be.” Which is not to say she wants to go to space, since “Space is where the Predator comes from.” Noting that a black person invented the mailbox, she says, “How did y’all miss that one, white people? Didn’t you see your letters laying on the ground and think, there’s got to be a better way?” She also noted that a black woman, Dr. Shirley Jackson, invented call waiting and caller ID, saying, “Somebody should have called Shirley back.”
The second piece was a fake remote from “The Friend Zone,” with Mikey Day broadcasting as a guy hanging around Shannon, a girl he desperately wants to sleep with, even though she’s made it clear he has no chance. By sketch’s end, Shannon (Strong) and Micheal Che have clearly hit it off, as Day, sad, looks on. A few quick laughs, though fairly predictable from the get go.
Next comes a sketch with Ansari and Melissa Villasenor as a couple attempting dirty talk. Villasenor can’t seem to get it right, turning a request to be called “daddy” into “do me, dad,” which has a far creepier vibe (though the original is kinda creepy as well.) New cast member Villasenor has had very little to do this season, and hasn’t found her comfort zone here. Other than impressions – the main reason she was purportedly brought on the show – she seems stiff in sketches. Here, she smiles throughout, with no division between the supposedly steamy moments and simple conversation.
Ansari and Moynihan star in a sketch about an Uber customer and driver with equally inadequate ratings, trying to get five stars from each other. By the time Ansari is massaging Moynihan’s shoulders, and Moynihan reciprocates with a foot massage, they realize they might have taken things too far. Not hilarious, but a poignant, enjoyable diversion.
Next came a take on the animatronic kids band Rock-afire Explosion, as Bennett and Kenan Thompson played cops chasing crook Kyle Mooney into a restaurant, only to find an animatronic band playing songs about pizza. Did you hear about the pizza with no toppings? There was mushroom for improvement. Made for a few enjoyable moments, but really not much to this.
The episode ends with what could be seen as a bookend to their first post-election sketch, when McKinnon, dressed as Hillary Clinton, sang “Hallelujah” as an ode to Clinton (and to the song’s author, Leonard Cohen, who had died that week). With a picture of President Obama behind her, Strong sang “To Sir with Love,” joined by Sasheer Zamata mid-song. Strong is not the singer McKinnon is, and given the sheer breadth of events the show reacted to tonight, this lacked the emotional punch of McKinnon’s Hillary salute.
The show takes a break next week, returning on February 4 with host Kristen Stewart and musical guest Alessia Cara.
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.
