Saturday Night Live S42, E16- Scarlett Johansson, Lorde: A Gloriously Wacky Episode Brings Trump-Supporting Dogs, Aliens, And Ninjas


Cold Opening: Ooh, this is a more cinematic cold opening than before. I like the way it's filmed. I also like seeing Alec's Trump in a more fictionalized scenario. The weirder it gets, the easier it is to briefly stop being terrified for the future of the nation. This sketch uses almost every member of the cast in a brilliant way. I could see it inspiring some Independence Day parodies in the future. My only complaint would be that I was left wanting more, and, really, that's just a compliment in disguise.


Monologue: Welcome to the Five-Timer's Club, Scarlett Johansson! I love it when they add to the mythology of the club. Jackets, songs, and special privileges. In some cases, the hosts even get to make the cast members fight to the death. Ironically, the monologue didn't really have Scarlett telling a lot of jokes, but it had some excellent moments from Kate McKinnon and a very ostentatious Kenan Thompson. Hail Kenan, he's been there for the longest amount of time out of the current cast!


Zoo Pornographer: Ah, brings back memories of Gilda Radner's Emily Litella. One accidental mistake leads to chaos. I don't normally like this kind of humor, but I'm amused by the way even the most innocuous statements are taken out of context. Fun fact: If you look up dannybangsanimals.com, it just leads to SNL's official website. Don't worry, I checked in an incognito window.


Fire Island: Ha, reality tv show parodies! Just remember, reality shows can never get too specific. Networks will try to produce them based on anything.

Translator: It's probably a good thing this didn't air after the zoo sketch. I'm calling it now, this is the sketch of the night. I had a hard time taking notes because I just kept laughing during the sketch. That was completely unexpected, but brilliant. Really, isn't it every dog owner's worst nightmare that your beloved pet would turn out to be a Trump supporter?


Olive Garden: Beck Bennett continues to be a boon to the cast. The sketch features him filming patrons for an Olive Garden commercial. Unfortunately for them, it quickly goes from normal requests to a Bugs Bunny-style session of screwing with them for kicks and giggles. It gets even worse (read: funnier) when he just starts outright being racist and sexist, making the costumers humiliate themselves for a chance at fame.


Complicit: This is wonderful. "Complicit" makes fun of Ivanka Trump by showing just how, well, complicit she is in perpetuating Donald Trump's horrific actions. I admit, at first, I thought it was a rerun of season thirty-seven's "Red Flag" sketch. They had similar writing formulas.


Lorde Musical Performance #1-"Green Light:" I enjoyed the visuals. You can watch it here.

Weekend Update: I find this Senator Al Franken bit especially amusing because Al used to be a Saturday Night Live cast member and writer. Kate McKinnon's Jeff Sessions reminds me of a combination of Foghorn Leghorn Bill Hader impersonating James Carville. Therefore, seeing them bounce off of each other is perfect. CBS, consider retooling your The Odd Couple reboot with these two. Pete Davidson's piece felt like something out of the best of The Daily Show. Also, his statement about quitting drugs and alcohol wasn't a joke. He released a statement about it recently.


Shud The Mermaid: Hey, his situation is still better than The Wild Life. This is similar to something that's been done before, with Kate McKinnon reprising her role as a mer-blobfish. The formula also vaguely reminds me of the Lawrence Welk Show sketch with Kristen Wiig. I like the practical effects for Kate and Scarlett's costumes.


Shanice Goodwin Ninja-Rivals: It's the return of Leslie Jones as a ninja! I hope it goes better than the first time she played Shanice Goodwin. She actually hurt herself during the sketch, but kept performing. Also, HEY, Vanessa, haven't seen you in a while. It's good to see you in the episode. I like the buddy cop twist.


Lorde Musical Performance #2-"Liability:" Once again, I enjoyed the visuals. You can watch it here.

A Sketch For The Women: I completely forgot that SNL might be affected by the Day Without Women strike and march. As far as I know, it didn't hurt the episode's quality, but this sketch was produced about it. Fortunately, Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney stepped up to create a special sketch dedicated to women and feminism, with a special cameo from Lorde.

The joke is that the two talk about feminism, while Scarlett and Aidy do absolutely nothing, only getting to say a few words. What little they do get to say is just thanking Kyle and Beck for their words of wisdom. The rest of SNL's female cast members are shown at a different table, looking annoyed. It really just had one joke, but it wasn't bad.


Funeral Service: Once again, kind of a one-note sketch. Hearing death metal music and generally inappropriate songs at a funeral wasn't very funny, but it did elicit a few chuckles.


Closing Thoughts: That was a fantastic show. I'm not sure if Scarlett had any big parts in the second half of the show, but the sketches were funny enough to make that a moot point. This episode was particularly weird, but not to a point where it would be detriment. As someone on Twitter said, it felt like someone just took a lot of sketch ideas that would normally be used for the final sketch of the episode and spread them throughout the running time. I'm not complaining. It made me laugh and that's really all that I needed.

Next Time:
On April 8th, Louis C.K. will host for the fourth time and The Chainsmokers will perform as the musical guest. I haven't really enjoyed his episodes in the past, but that's mostly due to a weird incident happening in my family that paralleled to a joke in the monologue when he hosted for the first time. I'll try to get over my bias.

Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or Harry Potter books.