It was pretty late in the show before the season premiere of Saturday Night Live got back to its core competency: letting Kate McKinnon lay down a whole bunch of crazy talk while the rest of the cast tries and fails to keep straight faces. McKinnon’s alien abduction and near-death experience sketches were instant classics; this version, in which she plays Hollywood legend “Debette Goldry,” isn’t quite as deranged. But don’t worry: It’s still pretty deranged!
It’s also a more specific joke than the standard Kate McKinnon–goes–off–the–rails number. It’s hard to say whether McKinnon’s earlier sketches are careful recreations of post–alien abduction or near-death experience debriefings, but there’s no question the writers of this sketch did their homework on film panel discussions. Sasheer Zamata’s pious complaint, as Lupita Nyong’o, that “Everyone asks what you’re wearing, but nobody asks what you’re thinking,” is a particular highlight, but the tone is right throughout. And McKinnon’s tales of the MGM star machine, from opiate injections to studio-arranged marriages, have a ring of truth that is (presumably) not present in her alien abduction or near-death experience stories.
The real test of any McKinnon storytelling skit, though, is how badly the host cracks up. Margot Robbie doesn’t have a full Ryan Gosling meltdown, but it’s pretty touch-and-go for a while there. This also marks the first time Aidy Bryant has made it through one of these sketches without laughing, but she’s had all summer to practice. It should probably be against the law to cast gifted lunatic imitator Cecily Strong as noted conspiracy theorist Marion Cotillard and give her nothing to do, but then what Cotillard fever dream could compete with lines like, “And to top it off, they forced me to marry a chimp?” The most reliable way for Saturday Night Live to get a laugh this season—just like last season—is to give Kate McKinnon room to run and then stay out of her way.
