Saturday Night Live: Kristen Wiig, The xx
November 20, 2016 12:56 AM - Season 42, Episode 7 - Subscribe

Host: Kristen Wiig, Musical Guest: The xx

  • Trump Transition Planning - Kate McKinnon, Alex Baldwin, Mikey Day, Booby Moynihan, Jason Sudeikis, Beck Bennet
  • Opening Monologue - Kristen Wiig
  • The Bubble - Aidy Bryant, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Sasheer Zamata, Melissa Villaseñor, Mikey Day
  • Secret Word - Kenan Thompson, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Cecily Strong, Melissa Villaseñor, Bobby Moynihan
  • Anderson Cooper 360 - Alex Moffat, Cecily Strong, Kyle Mooney, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Beck Bennet
  • Target - Cecily Strong, Mikey Day, Aidy Bryant
  • QVC Guest Host - Cecily Strong, Bobby Moynihan, Kristen Wiig, Beck Bennet
  • The xx - On Hold
  • Weekend Update - Michael Che, Colin Jost
    • Guest Commentator - Pete Davidson
    • Neighbor Willie - Kenan Thompson

  • Macy's Parade - Beck Bennet, Kyle Mooney, Vanessa Bayer, Cecily Strong, Mikey Day, Kristen Wiig, Bobby Moynihan

  • Whiskers R We - Kate McKinnon, Kriten Wiig, Bobby Moynihan

  • The xx - ?

  • Thanksgiving Surprise - Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant, Bobby Moynihan, Mikey Day, Kriten Wiig, Leslie Jones, Vanessa Bayer, Pete Davidson, Alex Moffat

posted by DizzyOnBugSpray (14 comments total)
 
Every sketch made me laugh and I really needed it. Sasheer even got some lines. I just hope Alec Baldwin can have a break next episode.
posted by bleep at 2:36 AM on November 20, 2016


This was great as far as more lines for Sasheer and Villaseñor and some good sketches. I liked the band. I was happy they saved the "annoying Wiig being annoying" sketch for last. I was happy with the continuation of the "we're going to go meta on this" with the Anderson Cooper sketch. Monologue was funnier than it looked like it would be, cold open was less. This episode seemed to have a lot of my favorite bits: Kenan Reacts and Bobby doing that "deer in headlights" thing he does. Good roles for Cecily. The Target thing was funny but didn't hit theDo It On My Twin Bed levels, but what does?
posted by jessamyn at 7:49 AM on November 20, 2016


"a lot of my favorite bits: Kenan Reacts and Bobby doing that "deer in headlights" thing he does"

You and me, we're like two things that are similar.

Well, except for this bit: "I liked the band." If you were to play me the entire album those songs came from I'd put money down that I couldn't tell you which of the tracks were performed last night. It was forgettable to me in a way that was almost startling. The second the songs were over they were gone, as if they didn't even begin to imprint on my memory.

Anyway, the rest of the show was great. My wife often heads outside to smoke during the first musical performance. Last night she went out early and missed almost the entire Anderson Cooper 360 bit, so she came back in just in time to hear me bust out laughing when the technicians walked on-set.

I get the feeling the writers keep bringing out the Whiskers R We skit just so they can watch people touching Kate McKinnon inappropriately.

also apparently Leslie Jones was voted Person Most Likely To Break after last week and this one.
posted by komara at 9:07 AM on November 20, 2016


The second the songs were over they were gone, as if they didn't even begin to imprint on my memory.

Yeah, that's The xx for you. I have both of their albums and have pre-ordered the third, and I really like them when I listen to them intentionally, and I still think they're someone else whenever I try to identify one of their songs if it comes up on shuffle.
posted by Etrigan at 10:35 AM on November 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


I get really frustrated with the idea that it's the multicultural city-dwellers who are living in a bubble.
posted by ckape at 12:19 PM on November 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


I feel like they were singling out a type of city dweller, not saying "This is a city thing."

It's tough because Brooklyn has become sort of ground zero for hipster/gentrification lulz but there are also a lot of people who live there who are not at all like that. So it was a bit low-hanging fruit, but at the same time, that's sometimes what they do at SNL.

From a purely personal perspective my only friends who I've spoken to who are having a really hard time even getting their head around what happened have been city dwellers. I mean, 1/3 of my neighbors voted for Trump, this was something we sort of saw coming and have been living in all along. I think that was the point of the SNL sketch from last week too, the people being like "How could this happen here??" do seem to have a slightly odd view of what "here" really is.
posted by jessamyn at 2:11 PM on November 20, 2016 [6 favorites]


I kept waiting for Kristen Wiig's Target Lady to appear in the Target sketch.
posted by SisterHavana at 3:23 PM on November 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


I had a dream about Target last night. Thanks SNL.
posted by not_on_display at 4:23 PM on November 20, 2016


The Bubble was kinda by-the-numbers and The XX seems better listened to than watched. The Target short seemed like a good idea but that they couldn't really twist the knife too much. Because there's a lot of meat there.

I really liked the QVC skit, and Neighbor Willie was ridiculously hilarious to me. Really good overall, better than the pretty good Cumberbatch episode.
posted by rhizome at 12:04 AM on November 21, 2016


I hope someone's been filming the writers' rooms or at least taking notes over the last couple of weeks, because I'd love to some day look back on how everyone reacted to the election in real time. Skits like the Target one must have gone from "Ugh, family, whaddaya gonna do?" to "Jesus fuck I have to go anywhere else right fucking now."
posted by Etrigan at 4:01 AM on November 21, 2016


This was another very solid episode. I think if they keep it up this will go down as one of the best SNL seasons in recent memory.

I'm glad they went easy on Wiig's recurring characters. I really didn't need to ever see Gilly or Target Lady again and the Secret Word lady was always one of my favorites. The cat sketch was fun too, if for no reason than to see Kate McKinnon playing with kittens.

I miss the days of Lonely Island or even Kyle Mooney's surreal films but they're killin' it with the prerecorded commercials this season.

The XX just reminded me of every single generic SNL musical guest ever. People with instruments that they hardly play and a dude in the background moving way more than any keyboard player needs to move. Yawn. But yeah, I'm also old so WTF do I know?
posted by bondcliff at 7:18 AM on November 21, 2016


Yet another of the terrible things of this election - I'm forced to admit that SNL is getting really, really, funny again. I loved the transition sketch.
posted by corb at 12:37 PM on November 21, 2016


Yeah they've finally recovered from the loss of Sudekis, Hader, Armisen, Wiig, et al. and seem to have a solid cast on their hands. I don't miss Taran Killam; the new guys seem to be able to fill his shoes (did you see how Moffatt totally became Paul Revere?)... but I do miss Jay. And still, I wanna see what Sasheer can DO.

By the way, have you seen Maria Villaseñor's impressions? Here's six seconds of Owen Wilson.
posted by not_on_display at 8:44 PM on November 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


I think they've hired slightly better writers for this season, or perhaps the writing staff isn't making the performers beholden to every single word like they used to. Plus, a lot of the cue card problem has gone away.
posted by Catblack at 9:49 PM on November 22, 2016


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