S47.E02: Kim Kardashian West / Halsey

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Host Kim Kardashian West with music by Halsey.

Airing Saturday, October 9, 2021.

[seasons]

Oof, not a fan of the OJ jokes.

[formerlyfreedom]

Not the worst monologue ever but...yeah, those OJ jokes were not funny. And WTF is up with having the full body suit including the hands? That's weird AF.

[Steph J]

I know that people have been finding humor in OJ since, like, the day after the murders and that nothing in comedy is sacred, but there's something especially gross about someone who actually knew Nicole Simpson, and knew her children, making jokes like that. But I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise since "shamelessness" is the Kardashian brand.

[formerlyfreedom]

Okay I’m am laughing at the Bachelorette sketch. Amy Schumer was especially fun.

[opus]

12 minutes ago, saoirse said:

Okay I’m am laughing at the Bachelorette sketch. Amy Schumer was especially fun.

I didn’t recognize them all. Anyone want to name check everyone in there for me?

[ByaNose]

I don’t like KK but she looks really natural & pretty in the yellow dress. Very pretty. Also, she’s doing a good job on the comedy and the timing. 

[heatherchandler]

I’m not watching this, I just can’t.  

[Lethallyfab]

Tyler Cameron (the only one I had to google and he’s the actual Bachelorette alum!), John Cena, Chace Crawford, Blake Griffin, Chris Rock, Amy Schumer and Jesse Williams.  Those thank yous at the end of the night are gonna be LONG.

Tell me your new song was produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross without having to tell me, Halsey.

[vb68]

Well that's over. Thankfully. 

The cast was working overtime and doing what they could, but Yikes. Kim Kardashian is way too self satisfied and smug to come close to having anything resembling a sense of humor. I just found the monologue cringey, especially all the OJ jokes. She missed a cue early on in the Aladdin sketch, and you could see Pete start to panic. And I know it's early , but I'm confident " The people's Kourt" will be on the lists for worst sketch of the season.

I liked the new guy's Lindsey Graham. It was much meaner than Kate's version.

Update was again the highlight for me. I liked Alex's segment. I laughed too hard at the thought of Charles Manson directing Paw Patrol.  But I didn't care for Heidi's Party Life Coach. It didn't seem like much of a character behind a very basic idea. Not her best work.

But WHY was Kim Kardashian hosting again?

Edited October 10, 2021 by vb68

[ebk57]

Was there a cold open?  I woke up in the middle of the credits and I want to know if I have to go back and watch or if I can just delete this immediately.

[vb68]

8 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

Was there a cold open? 

It was the Senate Facebook hearings with the whistleblower, and the Senators were asking dumb Facebook questions about memes and so forth.  It's probably skippable unless you want to see a different take on Lindsey Graham.

Meant to see it was cool to see Lindsey Buckingham. Since he was there, I wish they had done a "What Up With That" sketch.

Edited October 10, 2021 by vb68

[MrWhyt]

it went a lot better than I feared it would. It helped that she mostly only to had to portray/parody herself.

[JeanJean]

5 minutes ago, vb68 said:

Meant to see it was cool to see Lindsey Buckingham. Since he was there, I wish they had done a "What Up With That" sketch.

That would have been great!!

[Peace 47]

38 minutes ago, saoirse said:

Okay I’m am laughing at the Bachelorette sketch. Amy Schumer was especially fun.

Kim’s lines to John Cena about “I don’t love that you have a wife” and needing him to clear up the wife situation were very funny.  Ironically, the least funny person in that sketch was Chris Rock.  Now that vaccines are plentiful, the show must love that they can do these types of cameos again.

Lindsay Buckingham performing with Halsey first piqued my interest in some kind of “What’s Up with That” reprise but then I remembered that I have learned from various articles in recent weeks that he is and has been a real piece of work, especially to Stevie Nicks, and then I was just like, ugh.

I know people hate Kim, but I have to say that I personally had a good time with this one.  The Skims for Dogs was funny; Alex’s movie reviews were funny; two pre-taped sketches (tired moms at the club and the very surreal branded drink sketch) were funny (and I didn’t love the body swap pre-tape, but it wasn’t terrible).

It was weird to me that Kim would be comfortable having Kanye depicted in “The People’s Kourt” sketch.  From a distance, Kanye seems to have serious mental health issues, and she divorced the guy (allegedly tied to his erratic behavior), but then she’s joking around about his non-sequiter tweets?  Does not compute.

[SHD]

Did Lindsey Buckingham make Halsey dress like Stevie Nicks for that performance?

[coconspirator]

I was sure it would be a train wreck but Kim K wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared. She was pretty funny in the club sketch and the body switch sketch with Aidy. I hate myself for saying something nice about a Kardashian but there ya go! 
 

Oh and didn’t Blake Griffin date Kendall Jenner or Khloe Kardashian? That’s the first thing I thought when he showed up in the dating sketch. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by coconspirator

[Ms Blue Jay]

I saw the Bachelorette sketch on Twitter.  There weren't any jokes.  It was just listing a bunch of famous people who sold out to be in this sketch.  I thought it was awful!

Also, I wasn't sure if Kyle was guesting or not since I feel like I never see him on the show anymore.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Lethallyfab]

So, since Beck left, did they just hire the ‘please don’t destroy’ guys to make the surreal sketch/segment that Beck and Kyle would’ve done, or…?

AFAIK, they’ve had no prior history with SNL so I thought it a bit odd to hire a third party rather than doing it in-house a la The Lonely Island.

[vb68]

22 minutes ago, Peace 47 said:

Lindsay Buckingham performing with Halsey first piqued my interest in some kind of “What’s Up with That” reprise but then I remembered that I have learned from various articles in recent weeks that he is and has been a real piece of work, especially to Stevie Nicks,

This is very true. To say that he has shown an ugly side is an understatement. I think he was trying to get any type of good PR. I'm sure he would have loved an actual sketch, but now that you say that, the thought that they might have said," no, we're good" is amusing to me.

[ichbin]

I don't know if it was because I wasn't expecting much from this episode, but Kim K was fine.  Actually better and more engaged in the sketches than some past hosts who are professional actors.  They really kept her busy throughout the show too.  

Does Halsey always sound auto-tuned?  

 

[possibilities]

I was pleasantly surprised. I almost didn't watch, but I thought it was a perfectly good episode. Nothing spectacular, but that's how SNL is these days, with or without a host I am predisposed to dislike.

The Cold Open brought us a new Lindsey Graham and I also loved the Zuckerberg impersonation-- even though Zuck was just a flash, it captured the mug in a satisfying way. And Aidy's Ted Cruz is much better than her Joe Manchin. 

It helped that KK was self-effacing in the monologue. I don't know whether that's part of her usual schtick or not (because I avoid her entire family as much as possible) but I found it helpful in racheting down my irritation that she was there in the first place. 

Aladdin was weird. The entire set up is that he's insecure about his dick being too small, and she's saying it's not a problem. Then he gets a genie to enlarge it and they're both happy. WTH?

Grown Sexy Ladies was well executed, but it's a joke that's been told enough times already, so I hope they come up with some new material soon.

I don't know why they needed to bring in the celebrity cameos for The Dream Guy, but I still thought it worked as a parody of the Bachelorette franchise.

The Switch was fine.

Lottery was... I don't know why I am okay with these kinds of moments of weirdness, but I am.

WU was amusing, on par with its usual.

People's Kourt was... fine. Somehow all the court shows deserve parody. And since the K family also deserves it, they kind of hada twofer there. I don't know why I hate the mom, but I do. Just the second I see her, I want her gone, no matter what she does, even more than her kids. So I wish she hadn't been there, or anywhere else on the show.

I really liked the "hard seltzer" sketch, again for reasons I cannot explain. But I think they need to keep these kinds of random weirdness sketches to one per episode. I like some random weirdness in my comedy. I just think it needs to be a seasoning, not a staple.

Skims for Dogs was great, mostly because I enjoyed seeing the dogs. Animals, weirdness, skewering of politicians... I'm not that hard to please tonight, I guess.

I skipped Halsey. I skip most of the musical guests, though.

[Pete Martell]

2 hours ago, Lethallyfab said:

So, since Beck left, did they just hire the ‘please don’t destroy’ guys to make the surreal sketch/segment that Beck and Kyle would’ve done, or…?

AFAIK, they’ve had no prior history with SNL so I thought it a bit odd to hire a third party rather than doing it in-house a la The Lonely Island.

They are more of a throwback to how SNL used to handle pre-tapes - for decades, writers would have pre-tapes but were less likely to be credited as cast members (it took about 3-4 years and many oncamera appearances for the show to start sort of crediting Al Franken and Tom Davis as cast). They would have other films specially made, short pieces by Mike Judge or Bruce McCulloch, etc. This is the first time they have had all writers who are not cast members star in a pre-tape since Scott Wainio (who co-wrote the Mango sketches, among other things) in the early '00s. This started to change with Lonely Island, I suppose because Andy Samberg was just too valuable not to have in the cast and the other two Lonely Island guys agreed that they were fine with him being asked and not them because they knew he was most likely to make it, IIRC.

The Please Don't Destroy guys are also writing sketches (they wrote the lotto sketch tonight and the school board sketch last week), but I guess either they didn't want to sit around playing bit parts, or at 21 cast members Lorne could not afford to add 3 more people so just made them writers instead. Initially when names were leaked, I think they were listed as possible cast members - there was some backlash over nepotism (one of them is the son of longtime SNL writer/producer Steve Higgins and another is the son of former SNL writer/Adam Sandler writer Tim Herlihy), so maybe they and the show decided to do this instead. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Pete Martell

[vb68]

4 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

- there was some backlash over nepotism (one of them is the son of longtime SNL writer/producer Steve Higgins and another is the son of former SNL writer/Adam Sandler writer Tim Herlihy), so maybe they and the show decided to do this instead. 

I actually wondered if the redheaded one was Conan's son to be honest. He looked like a very young Conan O'Brien.

[Pete Martell]

17 minutes ago, vb68 said:

I actually wondered if the redheaded one was Conan's son to be honest. He looked like a very young Conan O'Brien.

You're right, he does. Apparently his name is Ben Marshall.

[Blakeston]

Man oh man was that a bad fashion choice for the monologue. It made Kim look like a post-liposuction Teletubby.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Blakeston

[Pete Martell]

Here is the cut for time sketch, which was meant to air at the end of the show:

 

[DEL901]

I thought KK’s monologue was funny but mean….wonder how mom felt about her boy friend being called a gold digger?   The court sketch was also funny but mean.    

KK did better than expected…game, but kind of flat.  And what’s her thing with wearing clothes that cover her hands and feet?

[SHD]

As odd as the lottery sketch was, the randomness of Diana Ross sitting there and having a winning ticket was the most “Huh?!” moment for me.

Che’s joke about the Nazi being Colin’s grandmother - it almost seemed like Colin didn’t know that punchline was coming.

[Steph619]

I think that Kim K did a better job than I was expecting. SNL isn’t very funny like it used to be, but this was one of the better episodes I’ve seen lately. However, the OJ jokes in the monologue made me cringe! Kim K personally knew Nicole and her kids so those jokes are disrespectful to her family as well as Ron Goldman’s family. 
 

How is Michael Che still there after the Simone Biles/Larry Nassar jokes during the Olympics? I guess his “my Instagram got hacked” story worked.

[Pete Martell]

I'm not sure how to feel about this episode. I was not expecting Kim to be terrible because she  has made her career out of a glossy public persona and that was what she  got to sell here. I was pleasantly surprised she did not have the problem with tripping over her lines that I thought she might (I guess her mother took care of that for her), which meant several sketches that could have been really bad never quite got there. I wonder if the show booked her hoping for a trainwreck, and if I am being overly generous because of low expectations. I wonder what the ratings will be. I know a number of people said they would not watch (and I don't blame them). 

My main two moments I was dreading were the two worst moments of the JLo episode a few years ago - a monologue all about how great she was, and a Chad-type sketch  about how hot she is. We did get some of that, but not as much as I thought...and I was very happy to not see Chad again (the character had a perfectly fine ending).

My favorite sketch was the lotto sketch. Kim's best performance, and also Cecily's best performance in a year or two - she got those creepy lotto ladies down perfectly. I wish they had focused more on the escalation of the weird lotto calls and less on going back to Aidy and Kenan. 

The cold open just felt lazy, and too long. It also made no real sense to me because the voice of reason Mikey was playing was the senator who actually got headlines for not knowing how finsta works. 

Speaking of being out of touch, while the bachelor sketch was not as bad as it could have been, it did make me feel old, as I either did not know most of the men, or knew their names but had no idea what they looked like. 

I had  to watch the club thing again to shake away that I feel like they've done these types of pieces 50 times now, but I liked it. I was most pleased they finally gave Punkie something to do, as she has such a warm presence, and a god voice too. The Aidy and Kim thing dragged until near the end - it made me laugh when Kris Jenner became Aidy and Aidy as Kris had her arrested. 

Heidi has played her Update character over and over, just with different names, but she had a lot of energy and made it work. This Alex Moffat character, Terry Fink, was better the first time, but I was still glad to see him again. I enjoyed his crazy comments to Colin. 

The Kourt sketch could have been worse, but Chris Redd was very funny (and putting Heidi in the Met Gala outfit so she could play Kim was inspired). 

The dog sketch...well, the dogs  were  cute. 

Overall I thought this episode had a better feel than the premiere, but I just keep waiting  for the writing to improve.

[Fostersmom]

She wasn't as stiff as I expected, she did seem to be having fun. And her face was much less plastic looking than I've seen it in a long time. I really was was waiting for ever other sketch to be pre-taped, if for no other reason the time it would take to get her in and out of what ever nonsense she insisted on having her ass strapped into. This could have been so much worse, but since half the sketches were about how much the Kardashian's suck, she was more than familiar with the material! LOL!

10 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I don’t like KK but she looks really natural & pretty in the yellow dress. Very pretty. Also, she’s doing a good job on the comedy and the timing. 

She really did look pretty in the yellow dress. I thought she looked pretty as the lotto lady too. I liked the dress and the hairstyle for her. 

My 2 favorite bits of the whole show were Pete spots though. I literally busted out laughing when he showed up in the cold open as Tom from Myspace. And I about died when he was MGK, basically licking Chloe's tongue as Megan Fox, because sadly  yeah, that's pretty much how those two act when ever they are in public. 

[Samsnee]

That hard seltzer sketch was someone doing a bad copy of Lonely Island. Way too many quick cuts. A predictable ending where the person who is shocked by the craziness around him succumbs to it. I really hope these guys don’t stick around.
 

I already miss Kyle and Beck’s sketches. They could be weird but at least they were original. 

[sempervivum]

Kim was fine, didn't sound anywhere near as dumb as I was expecting, but: I was reminded by her comment about divorcing Kanye that I don't believe they're actually/legally divorced, are they? And I guess it would be her choice, but why would she retain his name if they were?

[JeanJean]

13 hours ago, seasons said:

Oof, not a fan of the OJ jokes.

And what was up with the audience reacting to them like they were the most hilarious jokes ever?

Aside from that, Kim was better than I thought she'd be and not awful for a non-actor. But the audience reaction seemed over-the-top all the way through, which makes me think the audience was coached or there were plants. 

[xls]

12 hours ago, opus said:

I didn’t recognize them all. Anyone want to name check everyone in there for me?

I didnt eather, just Chris Rock

[JeanJean]

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

I was pleasantly surprised. I almost didn't watch, but I thought it was a perfectly good episode. Nothing spectacular, but that's how SNL is these days, with or without a host I am predisposed to dislike.

I don't know why they needed to bring in the celebrity cameos for The Dream Guy, but I still thought it worked as a parody of the Bachelorette franchise.

 

It was so worth it though to see Jesse from Grey's Anatomy!!

Edited October 10, 2021 by JeanJean

[candall]

Wow, almost everyone here gave KK kudos for being better than expected. 

I thought she had a thin, high, nasal voice coming from somewhere directly behind her sternum and barely managed to pull off reciting the cue cards while exhibiting her one signature expression.  It's a pretty expression, with big doe eyes and a Mona Lisa half-smile, but she was more appealing during that key moment when Amy Schumer made her genuinely laugh.

 

I still don't know why she was invited to host, other than stunt casting.

 

High point:  Promo for Seth Meyers having Hillary, Elizabeth Warren, Ron Howard and James Spader next week. 

[Scout Finch]

12 hours ago, opus said:

I didn’t recognize them all. Anyone want to name check everyone in there for me?

The audience starts applauding and cheering and I didn't know why. The only person I recognized immediately was Kyle, obviously, and John Cena although until I heard his name I thought he was one of the Manning brothers. It seems like it was less obvious that Kim was reading the cue cards than it often is with established actors. Since Kourtney is the most annoying and sanctimonious of the family I was fine with Kim mocking her as the judge. I also thought she did a good job as Aidy when they switched places. I think I heard her admit to not being good at dancing at all so she rarely does and I noticed that in the club sketch and the cut for time one.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Scout Finch

[Milburn Stone]

12 hours ago, vb68 said:

It was the Senate Facebook hearings with the whistleblower, and the Senators were asking dumb Facebook questions about memes and so forth.  It's probably skippable unless you want to see a different take on Lindsey Graham.

We'll be watching the show tonight, but this seems a boneheaded premise since everything I've read about the hearings is that the senators (for once!) actually asked informed, intelligent, and to-the-point questions!! I know that seems like a miracle, but apparently that's what happened. Satire has to be actually about something to be funny.

[Guest]

I give Kim credit for doing a Kourtney impression that was distinct enough from her own delivery that you could recognize it as a Kourtney impression. Overall she was decent enough...someone above mentioned her missing a cue during the Aladdin sketch but it was hardly a disaster, and for the most part I thought her timing was just fine. It's just a shame that she can't cut loose a little more. In that brief snippet from the actual Kardashians show where she was arguing with someone, she was very expressive and out there, and it's too bad that couldn't carry over here. Her off-guard reaction to Amy's line as she accepted her token in the Bachelorette sketch was kind of charming. Relax, Kim!

At the end of the Costco cut for time sketch, as the camera is pulling away from the set, there's a moment where Bowen smiles at Kim and puts his hand on her arm, so I'm willing to bet the overall vibe that week was "she's nervous, but she's nice and doing her best."

[rmontro]

14 hours ago, seasons said:

Oof, not a fan of the OJ jokes.

They were a little harsh.  I thought for a moment maybe they were a sort of shoutout to Norm MacDonald, but I guess it was just because of Kim's father.

[vb68]

Kim did help lift the ratings, but maybe not by as much as the show was hoping.

Edited October 11, 2021 by vb68

[Melina22]

2 hours ago, Scout Finch said:

I think I heard her admit to not being good at dancing at all so she rarely does and I noticed that in the club sketch and the cut for time one.

I remember her on DWTS. She was awful, stiff and humourless. I liked her way better last night. 

[meatball77]

4 hours ago, sempervivum said:

Kim was fine, didn't sound anywhere near as dumb as I was expecting, but: I was reminded by her comment about divorcing Kanye that I don't believe they're actually/legally divorced, are they? And I guess it would be her choice, but why would she retain his name if they were?

Because of her kids

She was fine, about what I figured.  Lots of crazy outfits for her to wear.

[Pete Martell]

3 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

We'll be watching the show tonight, but this seems a boneheaded premise since everything I've read about the hearings is that the senators (for once!) actually asked informed, intelligent, and to-the-point questions!! I know that seems like a miracle, but apparently that's what happened. Satire has to be actually about something to be funny.

I think this is based on the headlines over a senator completely misunderstanding what a "finsta" was. The odd part  is the man who did this was presented as the straight man in the sketch.

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/04/1043150167/sen-blumenthals-finsta-flub-renews-questions-about-congress-grasp-of-big-tech#:~:text="Finsta" is%2C in fact,"real" version of themselves.

3 hours ago, Scout Finch said:

The audience starts applauding and cheering and I didn't know why. The only person I recognized immediately was Kyle, obviously, and John Cena although until I heard his name I thought he was one of the Manning brothers. It seems like it was less obvious that Kim was reading the cue cards than it often is with established actors. Since Kourtney is the most annoying and sanctimonious of the family I was fine with Kim mocking her as the judge. I also thought she did a good job as Aidy when they switched places. I think I heard her admit to not being good at dancing at all so she rarely does and I noticed that in the club sketch and the cut for time one.

I noticed that a s well (about the cue cards). I suppose she had more at stake this  week so took more time to get things right.

2 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

 At the end of the Costco cut for time sketch, as the camera is pulling away from the set, there's a moment where Bowen smiles at Kim and puts his hand on her arm, so I'm willing to bet the overall vibe that week was "she's nervous, but she's nice and doing her best."

I've read over the years that she is supposedly very polite and quiet outside of her persona. I guess that was the case at the show, as the cast seemed to get along well enough with her based on their social media.

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

Kim did help lifting the ratings, but maybe not by as much as the show was hoping.

If they were hoping for a big boost I think they were out of touch, as the family has not been a big thing in a long time. Even SNL itself stopped having anyone parody Kim when Nasim Pedrad left nearly a  decade ago. It got some  positive press for her, and in the end, the show as well, as she surpassed expectations, but I don't see it bringing in any new viewers - I guess we'll see whether or not any who boycotted this week leave for good.

5 hours ago, Samsnee said:

That hard seltzer sketch was someone doing a bad copy of Lonely Island. Way too many quick cuts. A predictable ending where the person who is shocked by the craziness around him succumbs to it. I really hope these guys don’t stick around.
 

I already miss Kyle and Beck’s sketches. They could be weird but at least they were original. 

One of the problems for SNL is Lonely Island were such a fresh buzz for them at the time - and people still love their greatest hits so much - that any guys who replace them tend to be in their shadow. (of course SNL repeatedly has the cute/nerdy white guy format as their replacements, so they invite this on themselves). Beck and Kyle also got a lot of early backlash over Lonely Island comparisons. They did not remind me of Lonely Island - I feel like that absurdist humor is very widespread and they also don't seem to be musically inclined - but I do think it will be a while, if ever, before they have their own identities with viewers. 

[ByaNose]

4 hours ago, JeanJean said:

And what was up with the audience reacting to them like they were the most hilarious jokes ever?

Aside from that, Kim was better than I thought she'd be and not awful for a non-actor. But the audience reaction seemed over-the-top all the way through, which makes me think the audience was coached or there were plants. 

Somehow they forgot the part where two people were stabbed to death and died. Yeah, that’s just hysterical. WTF?

[Pete Martell]

1 hour ago, ByaNose said:

Somehow they forgot the part where two people were stabbed to death and died. Yeah, that’s just hysterical. WTF?

Even at the time right after it happened, there was a ton of comedy surrounding the murders. I tend to blame the obsessive, smothering media coverage, which desensitized many people almost immediately. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Pete Martell

[lovinbob]

On 10/9/2021 at 11:49 PM, Steph J said:

I know that people have been finding humor in OJ since, like, the day after the murders and that nothing in comedy is sacred, but there's something especially gross about someone who actually knew Nicole Simpson, and knew her children, making jokes like that. But I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise since "shamelessness" is the Kardashian brand.

I was really disgusted by it. But I think it speaks to Kim’s programmed/robotic nature. She’d say whatever they put in front of her—I’d be surprised if she gave it a second thought. 

23 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

It was weird to me that Kim would be comfortable having Kanye depicted in “The People’s Kourt” sketch.  From a distance, Kanye seems to have serious mental health issues, and she divorced the guy (allegedly tied to his erratic behavior), but then she’s joking around about his non-sequiter tweets?  Does not compute.

Same comment as above. 

23 hours ago, coconspirator said:

Oh and didn’t Blake Griffin date Kendall Jenner or Khloe Kardashian? That’s the first thing I thought when he showed up in the dating sketch. 

I don’t know about that but I always thought Blake Griffin looked a lot like Kim’s ex Kris Humphries. I’ve seen that comparison made many times before. 

[Cornhusker12]

Never seen an entire episode just pander to someone like this one did. Yikes. The entire thing was like a commercial for the Kardashian brand. Family members popping in multiple times, self-referential jokes(?) all over the place that wouldn't make sense to anyone who doesn't watch their show, an audience full of superfans shrieking. Not what I want out of SNL.