TAGGED AS: Music, NBC, politics
NBC’s Saturday Night Live was back after a three-week hiatus and quickly incorporated the week’s top news. The show’s No. 1 moment wasn’t a full sketch, however, but a joke sprinkled throughout the 90-minute block. Host Octavia Spencer scored in her monologue, and SNL vets skewered Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway for her latest flub, embattled U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on his ties to Russia, and even some of the show’s own current and former cast members.
A photo of Kellyanne Conway kneeling on the Oval Office sofa with her cell phone circulated on social media last week. It turned out she was trying to get all the attendees of a historic meeting of leaders from black colleges in a single photo. Her pose will probably last longer than the historic photo she took, and SNL’s resident Conway Kate McKinnon made three kneeling appearances on the show. You couldn’t miss her in Weekend Update, but some astute fans spotted the other two!
To review: three sightings of Kate McKinnon's Kellyanne Conway so far tonight on #SNL. Where will she be next? pic.twitter.com/ELzWLxhILu
— Andrew Roth (@andrewr727) March 5, 2017
You can barely tell which one is which!
Made a side by side of Kate McKinnon & Kellyanne Conway ? #SNL pic.twitter.com/xTY6lt9Hts
— Impeach tRump❄️ (@vicsepulveda) March 5, 2017
A digital short shot movie trailer style teased an “inspiring political drama” in which one Republican lawmaker stands up to President Donald Trump against his own party. Saturday Night Live produced the video with the Republican unidentified and his inspiring statements “TBD.”
During her monologue, host Octavia Spencer made some jokes about the three African-American–themed films at the Oscars this year. Her mashup, Hidden Fence Light, was a combination of Hidden Figures, Fences, and Moonlight, but it could also have been a jab at Michael Keaton’s Golden Globes flub, calling Spencer’s movie Hidden Fences.
Many viewers heard Father John Misty for the first time on SNL. Many did not know what to make of him, but his die-hard fans understood. Perhaps lyrics about “sacred texts written by women-hating epileptics” are not for everyone. Here are some of the viewer reactions.
2 great songs tonight on #SNL by Father John Misty.
Yes he's real. No, it's not a skit.
U either get it or u don't.— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) March 5, 2017
I don't know who Father John Misty is but his lyrics sound like a slam poet who can't get anyone to go to his college bar poetry slams #SNL
— Matt Johnson (@mj_fester) March 5, 2017
Father John Misty is experiencing in SNL what Lana Del Rey did in 2012 because people are not aware of his artistry and his music
— Jamie (@kichiixo) March 5, 2017
I thought Father John Misty was someone waaaay different than he is. Now I'm just confused. #SNL
— Whitney Morfitt (@whitneymorfitt) March 5, 2017
In a blast from the past, Forrest Gump made an appearance in the cold open, but it was McKinnon as Jeff Sessions as the beloved film and literary figure. The real photo of kneeling Conway stands in as Forrest’s legless Lt. Dan. Topless Putin also showed up, and host Spencer reprised her Oscar-winning role as Minny in The Help and brings Gump-Sessions-McKinnon one of her famous pies. From one southern literary character to another: You are what you eat!
The cast of SNL are gifted impressionists, but they rarely turn their skills on each other. Dana Carvey once did Dennis Miller sitting next to the real Miller, but Saturday night was a free-for-all of current and legendary cast members. In a voiceover studio for a Zootopia knockoff, Kenan Thompson did Tracy Morgan, and Melissa Villasenor did both Kristen Wiig and McKinnon. McKinnon was too busy kneeling in the background to rebut her.
