Saturday Night Live: Who is Hattie Davis during joke swap?
Tonight’s Saturday Night Live episode gave us a chance to see the return of a tradition: The joke swap with Michael Che and Colin Jost. As you would imagine, this was every bit as insane and unhinged as you would imagine.
Also, you had another layer added to it in the form of an apparent activist named Hattie Davis sitting up on stage while Colin read his increasingly offensive jokes. Was all of this all the more uncomfortable? Absolutely, but at the same time that was the point.
We also do have to say that while Michael’s jokes for Colin were pretty brutal here, the same could be said for some of Colin’s jokes for Michael, including one where he had him read out a message to everyone about the conflict in the Middle East. This entire bit probably pushed the envelope more than anything at Saturday Night Live has in some time. With that, it’s sure to be polarizing — but those who loved it probably really loved it.
So was Hattie really mad at Colin at the end of the sketch for some of the jokes? It may have seemed that way, but we tend to this that the writers / producers of the show clued her in to what this entire bit was in advance — it’s why she was able to laugh and smile at some other parts of the joke swap. The whole purpose of the entire bit was to dunk all over Colin and in that sense, mission accomplished. Just having this woman there was just a way to hit the point home further.
More about Hattie…
Remember that entire show is scripted and prepared in advance. They have dress rehearsals! Sometimes the jokes can change up a little bit (and it’s possible Davis wasn’t there for the rehearsal), but that’s it.
We’re not here to destroy the entire illusion of the show or anything, but the whole purpose of Hattie Davis was to add to a long-running Weekend Update bit. We haven’t been able to find any record of a Hattie Davis as an activist online, nor in the third season as was referenced. She also wasn’t thanked in the goodnights, which makes us more confident that this was all for show and she was a construct created for the purpose of laughs. Regardless of if this Hattie Davis is real or not, the whole segment was played off so well that the bulk of the audience felt confused.
Related – Be sure to get some more news on Saturday Night Live now, including the cold open
What did you think about the return of the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update joke swap?
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