Saturday Night Live Season 42 review: Was Kristen Wiig funny?
By Josh Hill
Kristen Wiig returned to SNL this weekend to host, but could things live up to the fantastic Dave Chappelle episode?
After one of the best episodes of Saturday Night Live we’ve seen in a very long time aired last week with Dave Chappelle hosting. Kristen Wiig had the dubious task of following that show, and she was a about as safe a pick as it gets. The former SNL cast member didn’t bring the same political heat that Chappelle did, but she turned in a very solid show that continued the hot streak the show has been on this year.
Here are the moments you need to know about from Kristen Wiig’s night on SNL:
SNL Rundown…
1. After last week stayed away from directly showing Donald Trump, this weekend saw the return of Alec Baldwin. It was cathartic to see, as the theme of Trump not being to deliver on his campaign promises was hammered into the ground.
2. The cold open also Jason Sudeikis cameoing as Mitt Romney, something we wouldn’t mind getting used to.
3. Wiig’s song about Thanksgiving during her opening monologue was a good tone setter for the night. It wasn’t going to be a politically charged episode like we saw last Saturday with Chappelle. It was still going to be a show with teeth, just one with a softer bite.
4. Of course, a highlight from her opening monologue was when both Steve Martin and Will Forte — two SNL stalwarts — made cameo appearances.
5. Perhaps the best skit of the night was one that skewered the hell out of progressive Americans who have been complaining about Trump winning the election. ‘The Bubble’ is an example of the biting wit we want to see from SNL when it comes to political satire that roasts both the easy targets and those who don’t fancy themselves targets but still are.
6. One of the better skits on the night saw Wiig play a ‘Password’ contestant who can’t stop saying the keyword.
7. Once again, Michael Che was one of the best things about the show. Che came flying off the top rope roasting Steve Bannon and other things going wrong with Trump.
8. Pete Davidson gave Che a run for his money, though. Responding to heat that he got over tweets he sent roasting his home borough of Staten Island, Davidson went hard in the paint to apologize while also staying firm to his opinion that Staten Island is the ‘herpes of New York’.
9. The ‘Cat Ladies’ skit made a triumphant return, with Kate McKinnon braking character at one point thanks to Kristen Wiig playing with her nipples.
10. In the final skit of the night, we saw the return of a classic Wiig character. It wasn’t Judy, rather Sue made her return.
Verdict
Simply put, Chappelle nailed it. That so drastically understates how amazing this show was tonight, as this was one of the best episodes of Saturday Night Live that we’ve ever seen. We all knew it would be a great episode when Chappelle was announced as host, but the man single handily took this season and elevated it to another level.
Here’s where this episode stacks up against the others that we’ve seen this season:
1. Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest — A+
2. Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga — A-
3. Benedict Cumberbatch/Solange — B-
4. Kristen Wiig/The xx — B-
5. Margot Robbie/The Weeknd — C+
6. Lin-Manuel Miranda/TwentyOne Pilots — C-
7. Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars — D+
Next Week on SNL…
Saturday Night Live will be taking a week off for Thanksgiving, but will come roaring back at the start of December with Emma Stone. She will be joined by musical guest Shawn Mendes, which isn’t the most exciting episode but SNL has a hot streak going that doesn’t seem to be in danger of breaking until it does.
Date: December 3rd
Host: Emma Stone
Musical Guest: Shawn Mendes
TV Channel: NBC
Live Stream: Stream 1 | Stream 2
Be sure to check out Last Night On for all your SNL highlights.