Saturday Night Live: Kate McKinnon’s monologue & Kristen Wiig

We wondered entering tonight’s Saturday Night Live monologue what exactly what Kate McKinnon was going to do. After all, she’s so amazing at playing so many different characters, but rarely has she ever been tasked to play herself. Watching her walk onstage felt almost like seeing an alien arriving on Earth for the first time.

What we can say about Kate’s opening was that it was very funny, and we also had some great cameos close to the end of it! After all, both Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph turned up, and they are also two of the most prolific cast members from the past few decades. We do think that before the McKinnon era on the show was the Wiig era, and their appearances here open the door for more later.

Also, one of the best things about Kate in general is how self-aware she seems to be about her own weirdness. She claimed that she loved playing the strange characters on the show because that’s where she always felt most comfortable. She didn’t reference any in particular, but she also didn’t have to.

While we won’t sit here and say that this is the most memorable monologue we’ve ever seen, it also did not have to be. Just remember that seeing Kate again is a wonderful homecoming in itself, given that she feels more natural as an SNL cast member than almost anyone else in the history of the show. We recognize that it may be hokey to say that this is the role (or roles) that she was born to play but in this case, we honestly do think that it is. She was consistently funny and super-creative throughout the entirety of her run, and we tend to think we’re going to see the same thing here all night long.

Related – Get some more news when it comes to this week’s Saturday Night Live cold open

What did you think about Kate McKinnon’s opening monologue on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live?

Go ahead and let us know right now in the comments! Once you do just that, keep coming back for some additional updates.