Sometimes you lose track of days during the pandemic, but it’s always good to have Saturday Night Live (SNL) around to remind you what day it is when you’re sitting home alone on the couch with your homemade ice cream.
The thing with SNL is it is not always a hit, there might be one or two zinger skits and if you’re lucky there might be some good ones even after the weekend update, making you feel good for not shutting it off just after Jost and Che sign off from the news.
This week had Carey Mulligan hosting, star of the recent movie Promising Young Woman, and musical guest Kid Cudi. I stayed up and wanted to see what the cast had to offer. Here are the skits I would be talking about the water cooler if we were still working in an office setting.
Bowen Yang Is Unsinkable As The Titanic Iceberg –
We already had a strong Weekend Update piece from Bowen Yang a few weeks ago with Bowen Yang Says We Should “Do More” To Stop AAPI Hate Crimes. It was a serious and needed piece. This week, Yang showed us more of his humor in a piece that will be a classic someday. No, it does not include a character that we think will be returning any time soon, but we’ll watch it again, don’t you worry. They gay ol’ iceberg has a catchy new tune, too.
The Iceberg that sank the Titanic (Bowen Yang) stops by Weekend Update to discuss his new album.
I had just said about 3 weeks ago in an interview that, with three openly out actors on SNL, do we think they are doing enough LGBT-based skits? The person I was interviewing stated that they though that SNL always does great feeling the pulse of current events and society and, yes, they do a good job representing us. I agreed on the summation.
Lesbian Block Busters –
Besides the gay ol’ iceberg, SNL took a shot at basic lesbian movies that Hollywood throws out in cinemas to see which ones will sell popcorn. Is it sad that SNL did such a great job at boiling down the template for period lesbian movies? Have a look for yourself.
From the makers of Portrait of a Lady on Fire and The Favourite comes Lesbian Period Drama, a new will-they-won’t-they period piece.
First Kiss –
Kate McKinnon is a rock star and we’ve known this since her days on The Big Gay Sketch Show. We love her ability to be just about anyone, even a teenage boy, like she was in this skit. How many of us remember this confusion, the not knowing what to do. For most of us, this was probably during a heterosexual encounter before we knew the real us and owned the real us. But I was loving every little cute and uncomfortable moment of this all girls skit.
A teen (Kate McKinnon) tries to impress their study buddy (Carey Mulligan) during a study session. Aidy Bryant plays another teen boy trying to assist.
Punkie Johnson’s Pineapple –
The second SNL lesbian cast member and first openly queer black cast member, Punkie Johnson did a great job on her Paul Pierce scandal referenced skit where she donned the character of Pineapple, an adult entertainer that might just have been at a Paul Pierce party.
Pineapple Penelope Peters (Punkie Johnson) stops by Weekend Update to discuss the recent scandal surrounding former basketball player Paul Pierce.
For the Humor –
When the prize is KY JAM (apparently KY Jelly is so out of style now), you best be on your best game. Unfortunately Kenan Thompson was dealt a bad hand of contestants. We always love a good SNL game show skit and this was a great one. No LGBT-ness in this one, but it gave us a chuckle.
Elliott Pants (Kenan Thompson) hosts a game show where contestants (Carey Mulligan, Aidy Bryant, Chris Redd) struggle to guess what’s wrong with a series of photos.
Musical Guest Kid Cudi Pays Tribute –
I’ve heard the name and watch the performances, but his music did not ring a bell. But what was great was Kid Cudi’s tributes to two stars of the past, SNL former cast member Chris Farley and Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. Cobain fans will know the homage of wearing the green top in the first song’s performance and the dress in the second.
Musical guest Kid Cudi performs “Tequila Shots” on Saturday Night Live.
https://youtu.be/Mr6Vyc_qYMg
Musical guest Kid Cudi performs “Sad People” on Saturday Night Live.
https://youtu.be/PsagiYnmN_4
How do you think SNL is doing this season. Was this one of ist more successful episodes?