I always love when John Mulaney hosts “Saturday Night Live.” After spending so many years writing for the show, these homecoming events allow the standup comedian to shine where he does so brightest. None of this was more clear than his “musical theater” sketches. Starting with “Lobster Diner,” a mockery of those trustworthy enough to order lobster from a New York diner through an extended parody of the musical “Les Miserables,” this series has remained a constant in Mulaney’s hosting stints.
The format of these sketches has remained the same since their beginnings: John Mulaney stars in a sketch lampooning something incredibly specific about life in New York City: in the order they aired on the series, he focused on diners, bodegas, the LaGuardia airport, the tourism industry as a whole, subway station food vendors and now the Duane Reade convenience store specifically at the Port Authority bus stop. They are incredibly niche topics made even more absurd by the additional layer of lampooning them by way of Broadway musicals.
While the first of the series remained primarily focused on “Les Miserables,” the following sketches tend to parody a wide variety of musicals, not limited to but including “Cats,” “Hamilton,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “West Side Story,” “Annie” and the now-culturally-relevant-once-more “Wicked.” All shows are recognizable to the general public, somehow making the musical parody aspect the accessible portion of the sketches to those outside of New York City.
The sketches are always great, but at a certain point, it feels like Mulaney is simply seeing how much he can get away with: to that, I say, go as wild as possible.
His show-tune mockery of Duane Reade wasn’t the best musical moment of the night, though. Half of the show's appeal is the weekly musical guests, and last week’s was America’s newest pop sensation, Chappell Roan. As her first act, Roan hit the ground running with her hit “Pink Pony Club,” inviting the audience to sing along with her. While this isn’t a new trend in “SNL” performers, the sheer volume of the audience was impressive. Often, when artists reach out the microphone to the audience, the sound design of the stage and crowd make the fans barely audible. That wasn’t an issue with Roan, as the crowd sang along loudly and forcefully with the song’s chorus.
“SNL” isn’t just a stop on Roan’s new publicity tour, though (even though I’d argue it isn’t for any musician; it’s a huge commitment to perform for the show). Performing alongside the Not-Ready-for-Primetime Players has been a dream of Roan’s for many years as a performer, and the lyrics in “Pink Pony Club,” alluding to her performing onstage ‘every Saturday’ did not go unnoticed by the crowds, nor her cheerful call of the show’s signature “Live from New York!” The performance was “SNL” embracing and platforming an up-and-coming and truly passionate new artist.
On the note of something new, there was a huge surprise in store for Roan’s fans with her second performance of the night. She is not without her catalog of hits; what two songs she’d pick to perform could have been anyone’s guess. While many fans were hoping for her latest single, “Good Luck, Babe,” which she performed at the VMAs, or her unreleased tour track, “The Subway,” Chappell shocked the crowd with a completely new track. The country-inspired “The Giver,” as officially titled on the “SNL” social media accounts but titled by fans as “She Gets the Job Done” (personally, I prefer the latter), is a female empowerment send-up of Shania Twain or Dolly Parton in spirit, while remaining fully Chappell lyrically and emotionally. While the song hasn’t been officially released on streaming services yet, nor has the clip been uploaded to the Saturday Night Live social media accounts in its entirety, the song has already become a hit with fans.
With the one-two punch of John Mulaney going, “what if we did a musical in a bus stop this time?” and a double-feature, something old/something new Chappell Roan showcase, the first “SNL” episode of the month was a largely enjoyable experience, on its music alone. Now, imagine if I mentioned the political side of things? Kamala Harris AND Hillary Clinton’s old running mate! Crazy. Maybe that would’ve been better to write about…
