The Easter holidays are a time for rebirth and renewal — as well as an opportunity for “Saturday Night Live” to pack as many celebrity impersonations as possible into a single sketch.
This weekend’s “SNL,” starring Lizzo as host and musical guest, opened with the cast members performing a grab bag of impressions, starting with Bowen Yang as the Easter Bunny.
He explained that while he may not be the most popular holiday mascot, “I’m the freakiest: a man-sized rabbit with no backstory.”
Yang added that unlike Santa Claus, “I don’t use enslaved elves to make my Easter baskets. I buy them on Etsy. Because I support women.”
Yang was followed by Kate McKinnon, in her recurring role as Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. “Trust me, I’m not here to give you any more Covid guidance,” McKinnon said. “I’m not stupid enough to think you’re actually going to follow it. I just want to say that Covid cases are a lot like Jesus: they have risen again.”
Cecily Strong played Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said she had aggressively wished her Jewish and Muslim colleagues a Happy Easter. Chris Redd played New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who shared some good news with the audience:
“We’ve got him: we’ve got the shooter,” said Redd, referring to the man accused of opening fire on a Brooklyn subway on Tuesday. “Sure, it took 30 hours and the suspect turned himself in, but we got him. Case closed. The subway has been repaired. Ride without fear.”
Mikey Day appeared as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and announced that he planned to buy Easter. “I’m offering 43 billion Peeps,” he said. After some pompous laughter, Day added: “That was a joke. haha. Do you understand? That’s why I say afterwards: ‘That was a joke’.
Chloe Fineman portrayed Britney Spears, who was celebrating her recent release from a years-long conservatory. “Don’t worry; I’m finally free and having a baby,” she said. “I just pray that my baby is born happy, healthy and with full powers.
Then Kyle Mooney appeared with long hair and a beard, identifying himself as Jesus Christ. “Just kidding, I’m Jared Leto,” he said. He added that his Easter message this year was to encourage positivity. “So if you’re going to see my new movie ‘Morbius,’ please don’t review it,” he said.
Just as Yang appeared to be finishing the sketch, he was interrupted by James Austin Johnson, who played former President Donald J. Trump. Johnson, like Trump, complained that his omission was “another example of how whites are treated terribly in this country”.
He went on to deliver a disjointed, discursive monologue about Cap’n Crunch, Seabiscuit, and Little Caesar (who Johnson claimed taught him to say, “Pizza, pizza”). He then marked the holiday by observing: “I told America that Covid would be over by Easter. I just didn’t say which one.
Nostalgic plays of the week
This was the week “SNL” realized it had the ideal cast of cast members to play the members of the Black Eyed Peas for a sketch that featured two producers (played by Lizzo and Aidy Bryant) in 2008 the band members (Kenan Thompson, Strong, Redd and Yang) turn their not-too-complex insights and emotions into hit singles like “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling”.
And as if that sketch wasn’t enough to satisfy your desire to be transported back to a more innocuous time of, like 13 or 14 years ago, there was also this segment where various artists called Mr. Six, the inexplicably sprightly former mascot of Six Flags amusement parks.
Lizzo performances of the week
Lizzo’s musical talents were put to productive use in a few skits this week, most notably this filmed segment where she and the Please Don’t Destroy team frantically try to come up with a new hit single for her in 10 minutes, resulting in the hilariously disastrous song (and music video) “Horny Zookeeper.” (A close runner-up would be this sketch Lizzo throws as a twerking flautist whose unconventional methods inspire an entire orchestra.)
Lizzo was also quite successful when it came time to be a legit, non-comedy musician: her performance of her new song “About Damn Time” is probably the first time we see the audience of “SNL” go crazy for a while. become. flute solo.
Weekend Update jokes of the week
At the Weekend Update desk, anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che wrote about President Biden’s political woes and Elon Musk’s offer to buy Twitter.
Jost started:
A new poll shows President Biden’s approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 33 percent. For perspective, that’s less than half the approval rating of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” “Sonic 2” features the characters Tails and Knuckles, who are also the names of two gang members Joe Biden claims to have fought in the 1960s. A video has also gone viral in which President Biden wraps up a speech in North Carolina and then apparently turns around to shake hands with an invisible person. Hey, her name is Kamala.
Che continued:
President Biden, seen here trying to remember where he left his mask, announced new federal regulations on ghost weapons. I mean, look, I don’t like the idea of people having ghost guns either. But if there’s something strange around you, who are you going to call? [His screen showed the cast of “Ghostbusters.”] Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for more than $40 billion so he can relax free speech rules. White men are so eager to use the N-word.
Jost added to this thread:
Frankly, I don’t understand why Elon even wants Twitter. It used to be something that seemed important and even fun, and now you look at it and it’s confusing and depressing. It’s the Giuliani of apps. And come on, Elon built electric cars, he’s going to Mars. Why is he even meddling with Twitter? It would be as if the Prince of England would give up everything to marry an actor from ‘Suits’. Plus, I have to say, Twitter isn’t even profitable anymore. It just feels like a bad business decision. And I say that as someone who bought a Staten Island Ferry with Pete.