Too Smart for SNL?
When a friend mentioned to me
that Dave Chappelle would be the host on Saturday Night Live this past week I
knew for sure I would see the show, after all Chappelle’s humour which often
comments on race relation, I find is the right kind of dangerous and pushes all
kinds of boundaries.
Unfortunately, for Chappelle I
found that even though he did have some funny skits with his brand of humour, even
re-invoking characters from his old comedy skit show. But it was Kate
McKinnon’s cold open skit that really stole the show.
Traditionally the cold open for
SNL is an over the top attention grabber, but instead the viewer is met with a
somber melancholy tone as McKinnon dressed as Hilary Clinton sat at the piano
and belted out Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. In this skit McKinnon perfectly
captured the zeitgeist. Not only did the song pay tribute to Cohen who had died
recently, but also the irony of having Clinton perform his song Hallelujah was brilliant.
McKinnon herself broke character momentarily to wink at the viewers, her wink
speaking to the irony of her as Clinton singing the Cohen classic.
The song Hallelujah speaks of a
person that has worked for some time at a goal that they now realize is
unattainable. For Clinton in this instance it is the presidency of America. The
song also seemed to be some form of catharsis for McKinnon herself, who
finished the skit breaking character again saying “I’m not giving up and
neither should you.”
Here's a link to the performance:
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