‘SNL’ Recap: Trump’s Indictment Cannot Trump A Quinta Brunson Lady Sketch Show

When a grand jury recommended indicting former president Donald Trump on Thursday, more than a few wondered how much fun Saturday Night Live might have with it? But then again, what does Trump have to do with anything guest host Quinta Brunson want to joke about?

What’s The Deal For The SNL Cold Open For Last Night (4/1/23)?

Obviously, this week’s honors would have to center squarely on James Austin Johnson’s remarkably rambling take on Trump, and in this case, he opens the episode by quoting Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero.” Because of course he’s the problem. Even he knows enough not to deny that much. His Trump also makes an April Fool’s joke, because of course. He also references his new campaign song, “Justice For All,” sung with the “J6 Prison Choir,” which he’s quick to point out: “That’s a very real thing…very disturbing.” Since that seems to be selling, SNL’s Trump figures why not release a full album of classic cover songs, “all horrible,” to raise money for his legal defense?!? Which allows for other character impersonations to enter stage right, even, including Kenan Thompson as Don King to duet on “Islands in the Stream,” Devon Walker as Afroman for “Because I Got High,” and Mikey Day as Don Jr.

JAJ’s Trump also makes a joke about how “Ironic” it is that the first time he actually paid someone for services rendered winds up being the thing that puts him in jail. Isn’t it ironic?

How Did The SNL Guest Host Quinta Brunson Do?

Quinta Brunson is beloved now for her award-winning hit ABC sitcom, Abbott Elementary, but before that, she was part of the original core of HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show, which proved she had the comedic chops to play with anyone at SNL. Even if in her monologue, she joked that she had to make her own hit show first before her SNL dreams could come true. She wasn’t afraid to not only name-drop, but also AirDrop a selfie video with Obama paying tribute to Quinta’s mom for her career in teaching.

She might not be able to fix everything that’s wrong in public schools, but Brunson can use her platform, her sitcom and her SNL monologue to remind us all how important teachers are.

As for her live TV sketches, many of them succeeded because of a rule I learned from my math teacher: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!). You can do a lot with a little, so long as you focus on what’s weird about that little thing driving the premise of the sketch.

What’s the weird thing about Club Velvet’s mens room? That so many people keep coming out of the woodwork, and even the wall at one point, to compete with other to sell two guys (Andrew Dismukes and Devon Walker) cocaine based on how white their powder is. Marcello Hernandez, Quinta (in drag), Kenan, and then Punkie Johnson all attempt to one-up each other with their own “coke so white” jokes, eventually out-singing each other with late-90s, early-00s rock lyrics, until Michael Longfellow brings everything to a screeching halt. Camouflaged into the wall, he attempts to sell black tar heroin, but immediately backtracks and slinks back into the wallpaper upon realizing (much like the odd man out in a barbershop earlier this season) he’s made a grave mistake.

What’s weird in the game show Couple Goals? Not that Punkie and Michael don’t know each other well at all, because they only coupled up in the pandemic. It’s 10-years-married Quinta and Kenan, who get plenty right about each other’s habits and likes, but come to find out that Kenan is so afraid that Quinta will end up in a wheelchair that he has not only taken drastic steps to prevent her from any dangerous activities, but also imagined what his life would be like without her. Turns out he also has a logical reason for his fears?!?

What’s weird about this traffic jam? Mikey and Quinta, in adjoining cars, trade all of their insults and accusations via hand gestures through their closed windows, and not all of the gestures make sense. But some of them make TOO MUCH sense.

What’s weird about Quinta’s obstetrician is the backstory of her non-relationship to the visiting midwife, Barry (Bowen Yang), which involves leaps both forward and back in time, and how Barry’s hair keeps getting longer and longer over the years, perhaps to spite the good doctor’s suggestion that she might not recognize him if he did so. What makes this sketch funnier, though, is how Bowen leans into a slurring accent that eventually recruits Quinta into talking like him, making it feel as silly as a previous SNL era’s “Californians” sketch.

How Relevant Was The Musical Guest Lil Yachty?

Lil Yachty made his musical debut on SNL off the release of his fifth album, “Let’s Start Here.”, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s top rock and alternative charts. The album is marked by exploratory sounds not typically associated with rap, and staged here with big colorful sets, plus featured vocals from Diana Gordon.

Their first song of the show is also the lead track on his new album: “the BLACK seminole.”

They performed “drive ME crazy!” later in the show.

Which Sketch Will We Be Sharing: “Bridesmaid Cult Documentary”

The live “traffic altercation” sketch may gain some sharable traction thanks to all of the hand gesticulation, and this week’s pre-taped “please don’t destroy” video also boasts some spot-on parodying.

But this trailer for a fake documentary about cults called I Was a Bridesmaid will hit home for so many more women and gay men who’ve been caught up in wedding planning, or currently trapped by a friend pursuing their nuptials, and dragging them along for the expensive and often embarrassing ride. This fake doc features testimony from bridesmaids played by Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Quinta, Bowen, Punkie, and Sarah Sherman, with JAJ as a would-be expert, Chloe Fineman as the bride and good cop to Molly Kearney’s maid of honor and very bad cop.

Who Stopped By Weekend Update?

Two visits to the Update desk this week, but not before Michael Che pulled off an April Fool’s prank on Colin Jost by convincing the live studio audience to stay silent as Jost delivered a joke about protesting the Trump indictment. Jost seemed truly rattled by it, telling Che: “That is the meanest thing you’ve ever done! I’m covered in sweat.”

As MIchaelangelo’s David responding to prude Florida parents, Michael Longfellow starts his appearance by attempting to hold the pose, before eventually breaking it, and then becoming much too proud of his rocky pubes. He keeps challenging Che and threatening to show us all what he’s sporting, and at one point offers this non-sequitur: “Did you know in the Italian version of SNL you can show full penetration?”

Continuing a theme on this week’s update, supposed Short King representative Marcello Hernandez spends much of his time challenging Jost to stand up with him, back-to-back, to prove he’s really six feet tall. Marcello also offers up other regal titles for Short Kings, including Petit Princes and Tiny Titans.

What Sketch Filled The “10-to-1” Slot?

At 12:51 a.m., we find new employee Janet Simmons (Chloe Fineman) wondering if any of her co-workers will even recognize that she’s the target of blatantly obvious sexual harassment by their top salesman, Daniels (Sarah Sherman), and yet Murphy (Bowen) and Reynolds (Molly) seem oblivious to it. Benson (Quinta) seems even worse, somehow. And Heather from HR (Heidi) is no help, either. The sight of Sarah and Quinta as The Penis Brothers might not rival Succession’s Disgusting Brothers, but playing boobs as bongos. Sure, they get their corporate comeuppance in the end, and it’s amusing to watch Sarah and Quinta as balding dirty old men, but it all felt out of place with the rest of the episode, thematically. What was the weird thing about this sketch supposed to be, again, exactly?

That was followed by a perhaps more worthy last-minute bit, as the “please don’t destroy” trio delivered a “Street Eats” parody that might’ve tricked a few NBC watchers used to seeing the overly-promotional LX.TV “First Look” spots that air directly after SNL in many markets. Of course these New Yorkers looking for authentic Jamaican food in Jamaica, Queens, won’t find what they’re looking for because they’re bland Connecticut kids who fled the city during the pandemic.

Who Was The Episode’s MVP?

This week’s MVP isn’t anyone from the cast, because Quinta Brunson was the host who brought the most this week to the episode. You could make a case for Michael Longfellow having to undergo two elaborate costume changes for live sketches, but he didn’t do nearly as much to make sure this episode delivered the goods as Quinta did.

Next week, it’s SNL alum Molly Shannon hosting with musical guest Jonas Brothers!

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomicomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.