Image courtesy of Flickr
By Kenna Hurtuk ’23
Staff Writer
Season 46 of “Saturday Night Live” kicked off on Oct. 3 with unique guidelines and protocols in place for its cast members, crew and audience. Yes, audience — a select number of viewers, with a limited ticket selection for the general public as well as a special selection for health care workers, donned masks to enter the studio after being rigorously tested for COVID-19 and its symptoms. This is an unprecedented shift from the last several episodes of season 45, which were all aired virtually and filmed from cast members’ homes. Show creator and producer Lorne Michaels defended the decision to include a live audience. “With comedy, when you don’t hear the response, it’s just different. With the kind of comedy we do, which quite often is broad, timing gets thrown off without an audience,” he reflected.
For this episode, timing in general was a major challenge, as just one day before the show went live, President Donald Trump announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Writers scrambled to incorporate information surrounding his diagnosis into the cold open which parodied the presidential debate between Trump (played by Alec Baldwin) and Joe Biden (played by Jim Carrey). They ultimately went the ironic route with Carrey as Biden remarking, “Imagine if science and karma could somehow team up to send us all a message about how dangerous this virus can be. I'm not saying I want it to happen, but just imagine it did.”” Later, in host Chris Rock’s monologue, the comedian quipped, “President Trump’s in the hospital from COVID[-19], and I just want to say, my heart goes out to COVID[-19].”
After the show aired, writers were accused of mocking Trump’s diagnosis. Baldwin responded to claims that the jokes were in poor taste. “We only have the words of the White House itself and the people who work there themselves to go on and all of them have been saying he is not in any danger. We only have their word to go by. If their word had been that he was in serious trouble, then we wouldn't have done it,” Baldwin said. Additionally, the (albeit morbid) irony of Trump’s diagnosis would have been difficult to ignore, especially in the context of that week’s debate, in which Trump mocked Biden for wearing masks in public.
Following the cold open, Rock brought both levity and urgency to the nature of presidential elections themselves. “I think we need to renegotiate our relationship to the government,” he explained. “Does it work? I mean, I think Joe Biden should be the last president ever. Like, we need a whole new system.”
He added that “we’ve agreed in the United States that we cannot have kings, yet we have dukes and duchesses running the Senate and the Congress, making decisions for poor people. Rich people making decisions for poor people — that’s like your handsome friend giving you dating advice.” The comedian reminded the audience — both the socially distanced audience present and the millions of viewers watching from home — that “we’ve got to take this serious, man.”
His monologue called into question what the role of comedy should be during this unprecedented time. Can shows like SNL justify the playfulness with which their platform addresses serious structural issues, even in the name of comedy? It is a delicate balance to tread.
Megan Thee Stallion tackled this interplay between entertainment and advocacy in her performance of “Savage.” Midway through the number, she and her dancers raised their fists as the screen behind them shattered and the sound of gunshots rang through the studio. As they stared directly into the audience, an audio clip from Malcolm X’s speech “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself?” began to play, while the screen projected the quote, “The most disrespected, unprotected, neglected person in America is the Black woman.”
When Megan Thee Stallion broke her silence, she said, “We need to protect our Black women and love our Black women, ’cause at the end of the day, we need our Black women. We need to protect our Black men and stand up for our Black men, ’cause at the end of the day, we’re tired of seeing hashtags of our Black men.” She and her dancers ended the song with emphasis on the message that had been projected onto the back wall of the stage: “Protect Black Women.”
Megan Thee Stallion’s appearance enabled her to make a powerful statement while still being able to enjoy her time on set and showcase her lyrical and comedic talents. The rapper and singer-songwriter continued her SNL debut with a performance of “Don’t Stop” featuring Young Thug. Later, she also joined cast members Chris Redd, Kenan Thompson, Pete Davidson and Ego Nwodim in “Bottom of Your Face,” a music video commentary on dating while wearing masks.
Since the first at-home episode of SNL, COVID-19 has been a recurring cast member, and it framed much of the context for this in-person episode. Despite limitations of social distancing, time constraints and the sheer volume of material to be packed into a single episode, this was a show to remember.