Kim Kardashian took the Saturday Night Live stage last night, and while no one is going to confuse her with Phil Hartman, she, in my opinion, did a perfectly serviceable job. She played a variety of different characters including Jasmine from Aladdin and a confused lottery correspondent on the local news. It’s the reality star’s opening monologue, however, that has been getting the most attention thanks largely to some absolute zingers she got in on her family members and a few shots in on herself.
During an aggressive four minutes that netted both laughs and shocked noises from the crowd, Kim Kardashian West worked her way through a lot of the people in her orbit. About her mother, Kris Jenner, she joked that, despite giving her girls K names, she stayed away from Karen because she must have known the jokes were coming, which makes it all the more surprising she didn’t see Caitlyn coming. About her mother’s boyfriend, Corey Gamble, she joked that despite being married to Kanye West, she doesn’t know anything about being a gold digger so she asked him.
She touched on a wide variety of other topics in her familial orbit including her dad introducing her to her first Black person (OJ Simpson), her mom engineering her sex tape (“no one told me it was premiering. It must have slipped my mom’s mind”), but my favorite zinger of all was a heater that both patted herself on the back and took a shot at her sisters.
I’m so much more than the reference photo my sisters showed their plastic surgeon.
That’s the key to doing a good job as a Saturday Night Live host. Not everyone brings the same skill set to the table. So the point isn’t to be the funniest comedian or the best actor. The goal is to utilize whatever it is you bring to the table. What Kim Kardashian brings is a larger than life celebrity persona that attracts attention, a comfort with having the attention on herself and her family and a willingness to just jump in and try things. You can take a look at her entire monologue below…
Saturday Night Live returned a few weeks ago for its Season 47 premiere, which was hosted by Owen Wilson. Upcoming hosts including new James Bond villain Rami Malek and former longtime cast member Jason Sudeikis who has reached new heights of fame thanks to his turn as the lead character in Ted Lasso. If you missed any of Kim Kardashian’s work last night, you can catch most of the sketches up on YouTube.
