Then Kamala Harris joined Maya Rudolph on stage and the two women stood arm in arm, dressed in matching black blazers, loose curls and two-strand necklaces, very demonstratively, for the traditional: “From New York, it's Saturday night.” Maya Rudolph couldn't have had a better role to play, and Kamala Harris couldn't have had someone better to play her.
Microphone and former running mate
SNL had plenty to do to contrast the joy of Kamala Harris' campaign with the increasingly cirrhotic final days of Trump. James Austin Johnson played the role of Trump in his orange vest, agitating at a MAGA rally about his right to protect women from themselves, even if they don't want to as he orated during a meeting: “It’s true, when you’re famous, they let you protect them,” he declared. Johnson captured Trump's distaste for his job, the crowds, his schedule, the Midwest, the microphone that he couldn't decide whether to take him to bed or knock him out: “The Last time I hated a mic that much, I tried to have it killed.”
While election anxiety transformed everyone's nerves into razor blades, the monologue of John Mulaney provided a pleasant, if unmemorable, respite. The most incisive sketch of the evening was “What’s That Name?” », which featured the most unlikely of stars. Michael Longfellow played a stoic game host who tested the smug, liberal candidate played by Mulaney, who quickly identified the second gentleman Doug Emhoff and special advisor Jack Smithattributing his insights to the urgency of this unprecedented time. But he found nothing when it came to appointing the running mate ofHillary Clinton (when Tim Kaine came on stage for the first time, I thought for a moment that it was Emhoff with a little more weight of country pasta). “At the time, you said this was the most important election in American history and that democracy was at stake,” Kaine said. It's been less than eight years. »
In a terribly well-crafted episode, Chappell Roan still managed to win in epic fashion. In a stunning red wig reminiscent of Frankenstein's maiden, she opened the show not with her ubiquitous single “Good Luck, Babe” but with her first rhythmic farewell to her old life in Tennessee. She seemed a little nervous at the beginning of “Pink Pony Club,” but she got more powerful with each verse. By the last chorus, the studio audience sang along with her and she took the opportunity to shout “Live from New York, it's Saturday Night”. She launched a new country song with a devilishly topical title, three days before the election: “She Gets the Job Done”.
Originally published by Vanity Fair US
