When “Saturday Night Live” star Kate McKinnon won the Emmy Award last month for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (after three previous nominations), she beat out many favorites, including frequent winner Allison Janney (“Mom”) and Anna Chlumsky (“Veep”). But when you think of all the characters she can skillfully play in a single live broadcast, you realize that the extent of her versatility made that prize a no-brainer.
In Saturday’s “SNL” season premiere, McKinnon, 32, created a series of hysterical impressions, including her famous Hillary Clinton. In a smart and trenchant sendup of the first presidential debate at Hofstra University, with Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, McKinnon paid tribute to “my human father, who made . . . I guess, drapes, or printed drapes or sold drapes, and he was relatable, and I am also relatable,” underscoring the criticism of the candidate for being out of touch with working Americans.
McKinnon’s keen wit was not limited to lampooning Democrats, though. In another funny skit, several cast members played contestants on a politically themed episode of “Family Feud.” Darrell Hammond was Bill Clinton, host Margot Robbie played Ivanka Trump, Larry David returned as Sen. Bernie Sanders and McKinnon was Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway. In another blond wig, McKinnon, in the words of Kenan Thompson (excellent as “Feud” host Steve Harvey), looked like “the last 10 minutes of prom.”
She killed it as Conway, who couldn’t remember what game show she was on (“Thank you for having us on ‘Jeopardy!’ ”) and used that as a jumping-off point to critique the Democratic presidential candidate (“Let’s talk about the real jeopardy, which is the situation Hillary Clinton put us in . . .”).
Lastly and perhaps most inspired, McKinnon played Debette Goldry, a Hollywood hybrid of Debbie Reynolds and Judy Garland, in a skit satirizing the upcoming New York Film Festival. Robbie was perfect as a clueless Keira Knightley and Sasheer Zamata was righteous as an earnest Lupita Nyong’o (“Everyone asks what you’re wearing. Nobody asks what you’re thinking”). But McKinnon fractured everybody as the aged actress — Robbie even had trouble keeping a straight face — with one crazy story after another, from getting paid in brooches to marrying a chimp who ultimately ran off with her jewels.
Before this season, McKinnon had already made a name for herself with her impressions of Clinton, Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres. The targets of her good-natured humor must feel honored. Why else would the real Hillary Clinton join McKinnon in a sketch in which she played bartender to McKinnon’s comic twin, as she did last season?
The 42nd-season debut gave “SNL” its best numbers in years, a 5.8 household rating in the metered markets, a 29 percent increase over the 2015 season opener, according to NBC. In the final weeks before the election, we look forward to seeing more of McKinnon’s razor-sharp takes on the cultural and political figures of our time.