The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘SNL’s’ ‘At Home’ finale features Alec Baldwin
When “Saturday Night Live” kicked off its 45th season at the end of September, likely no one involved with production expected it to be potentially the most creative season the show’s ever had. That premiere episode skewered the impeachment hearings — remember those? — and the cast likely planned to do more of the same throughout the next dozens of episodes. But you know what they say about the best laid plans ...
The season ended Saturday with the third pretaped, remote episode in a row due to the physical distancing demands created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
These three episodes have been unlike anything in the show’s lengthy history, and not simply because they weren’t filmed in Studio 8H. For the first time in “SNL’s” history, the sketch show was forced to function without the cast members being together. They were forced to create sketch comedy without one of the most vital aspects of sketch comedy: the ability to play off one another. Even more astounding is that the resulting three episodes were among the season’s best — even if the finale was the weakest of the bunch.
It’s fairly remarkable how the show was able to create a familiar sense of rhythm, while remaining unpredictable, in a scant three episodes. The finale followed suit, with a dash of Mother’s Day flair.
Things always kick off with a celebrity guest, such as Tom Hanks “hosting” the first episode or Brad Pitt impersonating Dr. Anthony Fauci in the second episode’s cold open.
The finale reached back to an old favorite, once again featuring Alec Baldwin as President Donald Trump, this time as commencement speaker at a high school graduation taking place on Zoom. (One reason Baldwin’s Trump might not have appeared until now was the lack of anyone to style him, which he quickly addressed by saying, “My valet got the virus, so I had to do my own makeup. I had to resort to a Liza Minnelli Tik Tok makeup tutorial.”)
Baldwin’s Trump began coughing and drinking bleach before beginning his speech.
“Believe in yourselves, and you can achieve anything. Look at me. I started as the son of a simple, wealthy slumlord and grew to be a billionaire, president and world’s leading expert on infectious disease,” he said to kick off his speech, which closed with, “Live every day as if it’s your last, because we’re going to let this thing run wild.”
“Reach for the stars, because if you’re a star, they’ll let you do it,” he added, referring to the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.
Celebrity guests were certainly in no short supply Saturday, adding a bit of flavor to the show.
Kristen Wiig was the surprise host. Even she was surprised, being awakened in her bed to the news — though she quickly hopped into a variety of costumes, flashed the camera and reclined on a fur rug surrounded by candles while giving a short monologue about her mother, specifically thanking her for teaching how to breastfeed, though she misunderstands it as feeding babies full chicken breasts. She also sang a lullaby at the top of her lungs.
Martin Short showed up in a sketch in which he (as Ripley) and his wife (as Deirdre) explain to their horrified friends over Zoom how they traveled to Italy during the pandemic for “La Quarantina in La Springa,” the celebration of “all things pandemico” and ended up helping a Somali pirate smuggle PPE out of the country.