Longtime “Saturday Night Live” fans need no reminder that Kristen Wiig, the current star of Apple TV+'s “Palm Royale” and a new series of “Target Lady” commercials, is widely regarded as one of the best sketch shows of all time is considered great. But it's still nice to get that reminder, as this week's episode proved once again.
Wiig, who left the show in 2012, earned her Five Timers jacket (though not without some drama during the monologue) with a performance that was perfect in every sketch. And making an already great episode even more exciting was the large number of celebrities and former “SNL” talent who appeared for Wiig in the monologue and did sketches sprinkled throughout the show. They included: Jon Hamm, Paul Rudd, Martin Short, Will Forte, Paula Pell (the Girls5Eva star who used to write for the show), Matt Damon, Fred Armisen and next week's host Ryan Gosling. Even Kaia Gerber appeared in a “Pilates” video later in the show.
It was great to see them all, but none of it overshadowed Wiig's absolute mastery of a cast of strange characters, from a fast-talking secretary named Tootie who works with Heidi Gardner's Trudy to a smoker with an oxygen tank at a retirement party to a hyperactive French dancer in a 70s show called “La Maison Du Bang”. Wiig got laughs as a woman who doesn't want to become Jumanji, as a mother who wants to give her two children some very bad news on a go-kart track, and as film critic Aunt Linda in a recap on “Weekend Update.” Wiig could have drawn on any number of her classic characters for additional sketches, but for the most part they were new, hilarious creations.
Musical guest Raye performed “Escapism” and a mix of her songs “Worth It” and “Let There Be Light.” There was no “Please Don’t Destroy” video this week.
This week's cold open made a strong argument that this year's women's NCAA tournament completely overshadowed the men's team (more on the eclipses later). In a postgame TBS March Madness recap, hosts Ernie Johnson (James Austin Johnson), Kenny Smith (Devon Walker) and Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson) admitted they don't pay much attention or even remember the teams , in which they played The championship game on Monday (Barkley: “Quinnipiac College vs. Northern Southern State?”). Instead, all eyes were on the women's teams, including Iowa and Connecticut, whose match drew 14.2 million viewers. Smith said, “Those are the numbers from 'Young Sheldon!'” LSU coach Kim Mulkey (Gardner) made an appearance wearing a pink outfit that she said made her “look like The Riddler went to Talbot.”
In her monologue, Wiig answered questions from the audience, which was filled with many of the aforementioned celebrities, including Rudd, who said he appeared in “one of those Five Timer skits” and asked if there was a script. and Pell, who says producer Lorne Michaels is now handing out Five Timers jackets “like free maxi pads.” Damon, who wore a jacket despite having only hosted twice (“Lorne said the first time I hosted was so good it counted three”), earned a second jacket for his cameo appearances, much to Wiig's dismay as future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Wiig, of course, got her jacket and even had Gosling fluff it. She was serenaded by her classmates, who name-checked some of her characters and sang, “This is your night!”
Best sketch of the night: “Jumanji” is real – we mean the original
One could make a case for “Retirement Party” being the sketch that gave many cast members, past and present, plenty of funny lines this week, but Jumanji wins the award for its flawless execution as Nina hosts a ticket-to-ride game night (Wiig), a woman who doesn't play board games. Not because she doesn't like them, but because she's “scared of getting Jumanji.” Nina won't risk getting drawn into a series of “jungle emergencies,” but the party host (Andrew Dismukes) calls her out on her arbitrary Jumanji criteria and a shouting match ensues, with dozens loudly shouting that Word “Jumanji” roars of the ages. Of course, Nina's fears come true when Will Forte shows up as a train conductor, ready to put all the players except her in grave danger for checking out early.
Also good: Pilates is torture, but also kind of boring
This pre-recorded horror movie trailer had a similar feel to Horny Little Dorks from a few months ago and was just as effective. In this spooky film about the Pilates cult, instructors who are either former dancers or new mothers train “eight beautiful women, a gay man who doesn't wear underwear (Bowen Yang) and sometimes Kaia Gerber.” Everyone becomes “Mom” or Called “Mamacita” and using a one pound weight can cause instant death. Just don't let anyone refer you to the reformer.
“Weekend Update” winner: The solar eclipse and the East Coast earthquake join forces
Wiig's Aunt Linda was a standout as always, but the timeliness and hilarity of Marcello Hernandez as the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked the Northeast and Kenan Thompson as Monday's highly anticipated total solar eclipse couldn't be topped. Hernandez, wearing a tight black outfit with the city of New York on his head, shook and shouted, saying he had plunged New York into pure chaos and was the new slap in the face (or at least “a bunch of tiny little punches like a scary movie.” “Massage”). But then Thompson's solar eclipse (Thompson's face surrounded by the moon and sun) triggered the earthquake and the two began trading pro-wrestler-style insults. The earthquake threatened severe aftershocks that would result in a book fell gently from a shelf while the Eclipse hoped that fake eclipse glasses would cause eye damage. The two decide to team up on biblical issues. “I'm sure Mayor Adams will have it under control,” the Eclipse joked.
Comments are closed.