Previously, I reported that Colin Jost and Michael Che would be headlining special editions of Weekend Update directly from the Republican National Convention and the Democratic Convention. Here’s an analysis of what happened.
Firstly, the RNC episode started off a little shaky, possibly because they didn’t have the usual setup and the same number of audience members. Michael and Colin seemed to be nervous during the first three minutes, but slowly begin to improve as they started getting more laughs. In terms of guest appearances, the ever-hilarious Kate McKinnon appeared with her trademark Ruth Bader Ginsburg impression. Michael Che also had a very strong pretaped piece where he played “Trumpemon GO!”, a Pokemon GO! takeoff where he tried to find as many minorities at the event as possible.
After the special ended, they stuck around for a brief interview with Hardball’s Chris Matthews to discuss their approach to making fun of the recent political events. I would say that it’s worth it to hear more about their specific comedy style, as well as simply just to see them blowing off some steam and making fun of Chris and each other. However, Chris did end up asking Michael an awkward question about race and comedy.
If you want to see it for yourself, then the entire episode is up on the official YouTube channel, with the Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Pokemon parodies also earning their own individual uploads. The Chris Matthews interview is also up on YouTube, as well as a different comedic “man on the street” sketch with NBC’s Today Show and an interview with a different MSNBC discussion program.
As for the Democratic National Convention, never let it be said that Colin and Michael don’t mock both sides of the political spectrum. Earlier on Wednesday, the SNL YouTube page posted a video showing Colin and Michael interviewing various Bernie Sanders supporters at the convention. Their questions range from such hard-hitting queries as the likelihood of Hillary Clinton revealing Game Of Thrones plot points and trying to judge if the Democrats really are the party of the people by quizzing them on what NASCAR stands for. In all seriousness, it’s pretty funny.
In the actual Weekend Update installment, Colin and Michael mostly roasted Bernie Sanders supporters, in a reference to the “Bernie Bros” phenomenon. Other than that, most of the live jokes covered Tim Kaine’s high school Spanish knowledge and Hillary Clinton’s glass-breaking graphics. No special guests this time, but they did have a pretaped piece where they gave out free water to everyone at the convention. The catch? It was the water officially endorsed by Donald Trump. As you can imagine, spit takes ensued. You can see the full episode here and the water segment below, if you don’t want to bother with the rest. Finally, just like last time, Colin and Jost stayed for a brief interview with Chris Matthews, seen here.
Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or the Harry Potter books.