Seth Meyers makes a triumphant return to ‘SNL's' ‘Weekend Update'
AS THE host of “Saturday Night Live,” it was almost inevitable that Seth Meyers would appear on “Weekend Update” in some capacity. But it was somewhat surprising to see him revive his old segment “Really!?!” which he traditionally performed with his former co-anchor Amy Poehler. This time, though, he tackled it with the help of current coanchors Michael Che and Colin Jost.
It’s a testament to the overwhelming strangeness of Thursday’s Oval Office meeting between Kanye West and Donald Trump that the show not only skewered it in the cold open but also chose to address it during Meyers’ much- anticipated “Weekend Update” homecoming. The repetition, though, did nothing to diminish what proved to be a triumphant return to that hallowed desk.
Meyers, now the host of NBC’s “Late Night”, looked thrilled as he rolled up between Che and Jost and began kissing the desk.
“So, Trump met Kanye in the Oval Office,” Meyers began. “Really!?! Don’t you have better things to do? And by the way, when I say that, I’m really not sure which of you I’m talking to. The only place those two should meet is in group. They should be in the basement of a church and a dude with an earring and a leather bracelet should be saying, ‘I’m so glad you both decided to come back.’ I mean, really!?!”
Che soon followed up with one of “SNL’s” more shocking jokes of late - for its language, not its content.
“I negotiated four n-words this entire season in my new contract. That’s true,” Che said. Then he used up one of the four: “So I just want to know, how much money does this (n-word) owe in taxes?”
“Wow, you know, I was here for 12 years and ( producer Lorne Michaels) never even gave me one n-word!” Meyers exclaimed, before adding a line that made Che guffaw.
Then Meyers jumped right back to the meeting by pointing out something that was overshadowed by West’s and Trump’s meeting of the minds.
“You know how crazy Thursday at the White House was? Kid Rock was there, and no one cared,” Meyers said, referring to the singer of such songs as “American Badass” and “Cowboy”. Rock was there in support of legislation Trump signed that overhauls how music is licensed and songwriters are paid.
“It was almost a relief to hear someone as reasonable as Kid Rock was in the White House,” Meyers continued. “You know how hard it is to make Kid Rock sound like the adult in the room? His first name is ‘Kid.’”
Meyers then moved on to the moment when West, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, hugged Trump at the end of their meeting.
“Man, it is so rare that you can see black people and white supremacists betrayed in the exact same moment,” Meyers said. Che said he might understand. “I actually get a lot of what Kanye was trying to say. I mean, it sounds like someone told him something really smart, and he’s just retold it really, really wrong,” Che said. “Like when I was a kid, and the landlord showed up, and my mother would say, ‘ Tell him I’m not here.’ And then I’d say, ‘My mama said that she’s not here.’” — The Washington Post