The best thing about the latest episode ofSaturday Night Livewas neither hostBill BurrnorMaya Rudolph’sKamala Harrisappearance. Instead, it wasKate McKinnon’s glorious and weird “Weekend Update” scene withColin Jost. McKinnon’s appearance was a charmer not only because she debuted a new character, but also because she both broke character and managed to make the moment into something spectacular.
McKinnon’s “Weekend Update” scene started off relatively normal. After being introduced as “Dr. Wayne Wenowdis” — a new character from theSNLstar — she took the stage outfitted in her finest stethoscope and gray wig/mustache set. The big bit for Dr. Wenowdis was that, with every prompt from Jost discussing the president’s health, Wenowdis would reply “Wenowdis,” meant to assent to Jost’s statements. As things got sillier and sillier, Jost tries to send McKinnon’s Wenowdis offstage. But, before she left, McKinnon attempted to take Jost’s blood pressure. The two descend into a fit of laughter, with Jost asking, “Kate, are you alright?” to which she replied, “I’m obviously not!”
Then, it a really lovely twist, McKinnon turned to the camera and spoke to us as herself even though she was still in “Dr. Wenowdis” mode. She remarked,
“I’m sorry, It’s such a crazy time that I started doing this to cope. I have a lot of wigs and mustaches at my disposal and that’s a nice way to escape it’s refreshing to play a character…who know this. Who will win the election, we don’t know this. When will the pandemic end, this we don’t know this. What will happen to the world, we do not know this.”
So, I guess the big takeaway here is this: We need more Dr. Wayne Wenowdis in our lives until these hell times cease to exist. If you know how to run that pitch up the flagpole toLorneMichaels, I’d appreciate the assist.
Saturday Night LiveSeason 46 airs on NBC on Saturday night at 11/10c. Watch Kate McKinnon’s “Weekend Update” scene below. For more, check out our round-up of thebest shows streaming on Peacock, the new streaming service from NBCUniversal.
Allie Gemmill is the Weekend Contributing Editor for Collider. you may follow them on Twitter@_matineeidle.
