Considering the past three days have felt like a national period of mourning, I don’t know what I expected from Saturday Night Live. I guess I hoped that Alec Baldwin would come on and eviscerate Emperor Baby Fists with another scathing impression. But that didn’t happen. Instead we got a cold open from Vladimir Putin. While this wasn’t the best thing ever, I did think it was scary/funny.
I do enjoy Beck Bennett’s commitment to playing Putin shirtless in every sketch. It’s sort of amazing because I feel like that’s the kind of thing that would genuinely get under Putin’s skin, the fact that Americans are laughing at his shirtless meme. But mostly this sketch is terrifying because it’s so true.
Aziz Ansari was the host of last night’s SNL and this was his opening monologue. I think it was a huge task for him to try to gauge the mood of the country and he did his best. This isn’t so much funny as it is an attempt to heal and regroup.
I will say this: while the Women’s March was incredibly inclusive, intersectional and diverse and there were LGBTQ, race and women’s rights issues on the table, I’m annoyed that Aziz turned a conversation about the Women’s March into a conversation about just race. Like, Emperor Baby Fists is terrifying to so many demographics, not just black and brown people (and I’m saying that as a brown woman). I feel like the fact that millions of women around the world were uniting deserves more than a segue about race.
Here’s the Kellyanne Conway sketch… I don’t get what they were trying to say other than Conway is a showbiz personality.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I really liked Aziz’s monologue. He is such a good guy, funny and compassionate and sensitive and smart. I don’t mind that he focused on racism/bigotry because how could he possibly begin to cover all that is appalling and frightening about Trump in 10 minutes? He had to focus in on something and I thought it was very well done.
I had actually been finding myself sliding back into black despair after reading about Trump’s and Spicer’s tantrums at the CIA — after feeling so awed and uplifted after the day of marches yesterday — and Aziz made me smile and now I feel slightly better. For the moment anyway.
And yes, I think it would most definitely get under Putin’s skin to be always portrayed as shirtless. Brilliant.
I hear you Esmom, it’s going to be hard to fight despair but we have to or else we let the dark side win. The women’s march was and empowering reminder of what we can do if we participate in citizenship. If just 1% of the people that marched write letters to their representatives, join activist groups, and choose to mobilize then we can do what the tea party did and take control of government.
I loved Aziz monologue. Like him, I cant believe how much better George W is looking now. How low we have sunk! Plus his delivery was so funny in all the sketches. Especially loved the La La Land interrogation sketch because it pretty much regurgitated the discussion we had here about its mega race-in-jazz fail and the grouchy acknowledging of Moonlight. Its almost like the writers perused the comments to write that skit.
I hate myself for laughing at those stupid pictures of GWB struggling with a poncho. He was a very bad president – dangerous and anti-choice and all the other things I hate. He started a war and declared it won before it was over! But now that Trump’s in office GWB just comes off as a lovable idiot.
Oh my you expressed that so well Emily. I agree wholeheartedly with every word. “Lovable idiot” – my new name for GWB.
I know! Turns out W isn’t a giant dildo. Who knew?
Re Conway – by putting her into the character of Roxy from Chicago they are basically saying Conway will do and say anything (regardless of truth or consequences) all in the persuit of fame. They boiled her actions down as driven by the most selfish of qualities – the need for attention.
I thought it was pretty clever and a step towards SNL finally portraying her as the devil’s succubus she really is. Not far enough, because Roxy in Chicago is still oddly likeable and Conway is a soulless husk wearing makeup – but it’s a start.
That’s exactly what I thought – they were finally calling her out for the famewhore she is.
I never really liked Roxie (Thelma fan) so it works for me. In the musical, the next attractive murderer came along, and Roxie was nothing again. I can only hope the same for KAC.
MTE-she’s scheming and basically willing to sell her soul for fame
Yep. I thought this was a weak episode but this sketch was funny and honest.
SNL is going to be an even bigger target for the administration and Trump supporters because one of their writers posted (then deleted after backlash) a nasty & completely innappropriate tweet about Barron being “the first homeschool shooter”
He’s the only Trump kid off limits, IMO. Wait until he’s 18 and then have at it.
Don’t make him sympathetic people. There are a thousand things to criticize, why pick on a little kid. Pick on his big kids!
Exactly. Who knows who Barron Trump will eventually be. The genetics and environment don’t bode well but we gotta give the kid a chance to grow up and decide for himself. So far he seems to be a sweet kid. I hope Melania can shield him as long as possible.
NPR posted the monologue on Facebook. Brilliant.
To Sir, With Love
And, now, we have our very own Kim Jong-un.
🙁
I’ve been singing “To Sir, With Love” ever since….
I loved Aziz monologue but I love everything about Aziz, he can do no wrong in my opinion. He is truly one of the good guys. His comedic timing is great and the LaLa Land skit was the best.
I give him an A+
Aziz was great, as was Beck Bennett. And Kate McKinnon as the Russian lady with the pussyhat…!
I love that she put on the hat behind him!
I really liked his monologue. Granted he didn’t cover all the issues this weekend’s marches stood for, he picked one issue and covered it with humour and empathy. Can’t be mad at that.
agreed, I also think it was smart of him to focus on an issue that he directly relates to. He isn’t a woman, after all, and some may have taken insult if he’d tried to relate to the other women’s issues, or LGBTQ issues, etc,
I thought it was one of their better episodes. Aziz’s monologue was good, and I think he did well in all of the sketches. I’m really happy he had the chance to host.
Me too! The whole episode was strong and they are generally not anymore. Well done. I haven’t seen Aziz before but am going to check him out on Netflix. It’s great when they have comics hosting. He was really strong.
Aziz Ansari is so talented and funny. I was thrilled to see him on SNL.
I enjoyed his performance, but signed on to say that Leslie Jones is everything!
So much better than felicity jones. That was painful!
Liked Ansari. To those of you expressing nostalgia for Dubya (I understand you are doing it jokingly) … we need to be careful. That bumbling idiot changed the course of this nation…. and for the worse… helluva lot worse! By waging an unnecessary war, killing thousands of Americans, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Iraquis (the numbers are staggering!) and completely destabilizing that region. Trump is bad. So was Dubya.
He was very stubborn. Would not budge on issues such a stem cell research (even Nancy R could not break through to him, with her husband’s Alz disease struggle). I can’t view him too softly, either.
Aziz killed it, I loved every second of his monologue
Same!
I felt the exact opposite of the wonderful writer of the article who wished Mr. Aziz hadn’t made women’s march about race.
I think the women’s march is great, but it was mostly white women making it all about us. 6 out of 10 white women voted for trump.
And yes, I hold health care and abortion rights dear to my heart.
But immigrants and black people are facing death.
Our birth control issues do occasionally end in death, but not usually, and not in the raw, on video, all the DAMN TIME, that is happening to black men in this country.
I wish the women’s march would have been more inclusive.
Human rights, include rights for women, but also for black men who get gunned down and receive no justice. And immigrants who are being vilified and may be sent back to a place where they face certain death of war and starvation.
Just my two cents.
I have seen similar comments elsewhere and don’t really understand how it was all about white women. At the rally in DC before the march there was heavy representation and messaging from Black Lives Mater and individuals and groups representing muslims, immigrants, LGBQ, etc. Same at the SF event I attended. And the event organizers were: executive director of the Arab American Association of New York; former executive director of the National Action Network; executive director of The Gathering for Justice, co-founder of Okayafrica, plus LaDonna Harris, Angela Davis and Dolores Huerta. There was every stripe of human, male and female and gender nonconforming at the march I attended, Could not have been more inclusive (although i doubt pro-lifers or Trump supporters felt terribly welcome).
The march had a mission statement – The rhetoric of the past election cycle has insulted, demonized, and threatened many of us – immigrants of all statuses, Muslims and those of diverse religious faiths, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, survivors of sexual assault – and our communities are hurting and scared. We are confronted with the question of how to move forward in the face of national and international concern and fear.
In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore. The Women’s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.
We support the advocacy and resistance movements that reflect our multiple and intersecting identities. We call on all defenders of human rights to join us. This march is the first step towards unifying our communities, grounded in new relationships, to create change from the grassroots level up. We will not rest until women have parity and equity at all levels of leadership in society. We work peacefully while recognizing there is no true peace without justice and equity for all.
HEAR OUR VOICE
I was at the DC march and saw women and (many) men of all colors in attendance. I saw people with disabilities. Fragile looking older women with canes and wheelchairs. Signs that moved me to tears and laughter. The march was filled with people who have an aim to unite. Love not hate makes America great.
He’s a middling comic. If you have the opportunity to talk to professional comedians they will tell you they don’t respect him as a stage performer. He’s a celebrity comic. There are many better than him working the clubs around the country. He had the benefit of Amy Pouler putting him on her show. Good luck to him though. I agree with his politics.