It’s tricky to know where to start with Trump, so the cast threw a lot of jokes at the wall. Not many of them stuck
Michael Cohen (Ben Stiller) is in a panic, trying to get answers from Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin), who patches him through to a cast of characters that almost makes me feel nostalgic: Harold Bornstein (Martin Short), Mike Pence (Beck Bennett), Rudy Giuliani (Kate McKinnon), Melania (Cecily Strong), Ivanka and Jared (Scarlett Johansson and Jimmy Fallon), Stormy Daniels (Stormy Daniels).
'We're not changing any stories': Trump's week of contradiction Read more
Yes, that’s right, it’s actual Stormy Daniels, and though she says “I work in adult films, we’re not really known for our acting”, her demand for a resignation is very convincing. Actual Donald Trump is going to be so mad tomorrow morning!
“I’ve never been so scared and so horny at the same time,” says Baldwin-as-Trump. Live from New York: it’s Saturday Night.
Donald Glover is hosting and he’s excited to be back in New York “especially now that I’m rich”. Back when he was a New Yorker, he explains, he auditioned for SNL twice – unsuccessfully. He’s still a little bitter, even though his career is going from strength to strength. “If you’re black,” he says, “I made Atlanta and Redbone.”
Glover can do anything, he insists, which he demonstrates by failing at various things: skateboarding, cooking, fixing some electric issues. “He can play clarinet, what is that?” says Strong. Glover vomits through a clarinet.
A courtroom. “Do you feel at all at fault for your friends and family being eaten?” Strong asks Mikey Day. “All I know is that I miss them,” he says. The judge, Kenan Thompson, calls the opposing counsel. Glover is representing Jurassic World. “So, Mr Miller, Jurassic World should have to pay you money even though you waived all rights to sue the park?” He hands him a document.
“I can’t read it,” says Mr Miller, “it’s covered with my friend Scott’s blood. Specifically a T-Rex took my friend Rachel and ate her like … you’d swallow a Tylenol.”
Leslie Jones is the jury foreman. They’ve found against the park. “They gotta learn,” she says. “The dinosaurs always get out.” True.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The cold open.
Next up: Glover, Thompson and Chris Redd play Migos, rapping about going to see their therapist, Angela, played by Strong: “Every time I bring up emotional conflict, he wanna talk about Lambos,” Redd complains. The session is successful. On the way out they run into ASAP Rocky.
Another music video: 80s-style, Glover dancing in a black trench coat, singing a song to a lover – Strong in a brilliant ugly pink cocktail dress – who has spurned him. “All your nice jewellery?” he says, “I put it right up my ass.” Awkwardly, it turns out she’s not his girlfriend at all, but it’s too late: “He poured pee in his hair and he tried to cut his penis off.”
A Kanye Place: a group of scared, silent hikers are trying to survive monsters but Glover keeps interrupting with updates on Kanye’s tweets. “It’s out there…” he says, “it’s all out there. And guess who was at the baby shower!”
Glover is in bed with his girlfriend, played by Melissa Vilasenor, but they can’t agree on the parameters of dirty talk. “Be a little mean to me,” he says. “Your dad’s dead,” she replies. He also doesn’t like her sibling role play, so he tries to take control. “Ooh,” he says, “you look freaky.” “Yes,” she replies, “I’m the Elephant Man.”
Zoe Kravitz introduces the musical guest, Childish Gambino … who is, of course, Glover. He really can do anything, and he sings a cool new soulful song surrounded by musicians and friends (and Kravitz) just hanging out on the stage.
Weekend Update! Rudy Giuliani’s admission about the Stormy Daniels payment was “Maybe the best confession I’ve seen on TV that didn’t end with ‘created by Dick Wolf’.” Colin Jost says. He continues: “[It’s] the loudest hush money in history …funneled through a law firm. ‘Funneled’ is not a word that innocent people usually use when talking about money.”
Michael Che considers the news that Trump paid Daniels in installments. “You’re the president of the United States, why are you paying for sex like it’s NordicTrack?” He continues: “Trump is calling this probe a trap, but questions are only a trap if you’re lying.”
As for the questions Robert Mueller is planning on asking, Jost says: “Trump and his legal team are clearly the ones who leaked these questions … at this point he’s just crowd-sourcing his legal strategy. It’s basic the same strategy Lay’s used to pick a new potato chip flavor.”
Che: “If I may ask the FBI directly, why is this taking so long? Look at Trump’s team: you can’t beat them? Are there different FBIs for white people and black people?”
Pete Davidson appears to plug Jost and Che’s gig hosting the Emmys. ‘I think it’s great that Emmy hosts now are just cute friends … who’s hosting next year? A squirrel and a cat?” It’s downhill from there.
Jones discusses Facebook’s new dating app. Will she use it? “Hell no,” she says, “because the truth is that I always choose the worst men … and tonight I wanted to have a tribute to all the raggedy ass men.”
She sings Sarah MacLachlan’s Angel over a montage headshots of bad men like Stacy, whose mom pulled her aside to say “I had that boy, and I know you can do much better” and Chester, who “picked me up for a date and I didn’t even know he was homeless, even though he had all of his stuff in the back of his car”.
The final photo is of Jost. “He was so cute and sweet and kind, but it would never work because he gay,” she says.
“I’m not gay,” he says. “I have a girlfriend.”
“You’ve gotta prove that you’re not gay or I’m telling everyone that you are.”
It seems possible the writers were overwhelmed this week.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Glover does it all.
Star Wars sketch: Day is a galactic conference organizer and Glover is Lando Calrissian. “I love alien girls because it’s always a surprise when their clothes come off,” he says. “Welcome to the first Galactic Summit for All Black Humans. This started out with one question: Where the hell are all the black people in space, but now I see before me all the black humans in the galaxy.”
The shot cuts to the room, which contains three people.
“Lots of lizard men wearing vests,” he says. “Just four black people though.”
Interns at Mattel try to come up with captions for Barbie’s Instagram: Heidi Gardner and Davidson are too stupid but Glover’s turtlenecked intern is just too existential. This feels a little undercooked, as sketches in the back half of an episode often are.
Childish Gambino comes on, introduced by Daniel Kaluuya (we get it, Donald Glover has the coolest friends). He sings his new song, This is America, backed by amazing dancers in school uniforms. Childish Gambino has some cool patchwork pants and no shirt on. It is amazing, and he must be so tired! I am, and I’m just typing.
And finally: Glover, Redd and Thompson are corrections officers who moonlight as home shopping customer service reps, mixing dark prison stories with pleasant conversations with people ordering jewellery and home goods. Again, it feels a tiny bit half-baked.
And that’s a wrap! Stormy Daniels joins the rest of the cast to say goodnight, beaming in long red dress like a real American hero. The celebrities hug each other but are less affectionate with her. History will tell us if this is the right decision.
In the middle of his appearance as host and musical guest on “Saturday Night Live,” Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) dropped a video for a new song that veers between comedy, commentary and surrealism called “This Is America.” Filmed in a large warehouse, the video features a shirtless Glover dancing comically between scenes that alternate between humorous (his dancing and facial expressions) and disturbing (he pulls out an assault rifle and shoots both a hooded captive and, apparently, a gospel choir). In the video’s closing moments, SZA (or someone who looks an awful lot like her) makes an appearance, sitting on a car and looking briefly at the camera.
The song’s lyrics have a similar duality, shifting quickly from lighthearted (“I know you wanna party/ Party just for me/ Girl, you got me dancin’/ Dancin’ free”) to heavy (“This is America/ Police be trippin’ now/ Yeah, this is America/ Guns in my area”).
Shortly after the video dropped, he performed the song as his second musical spot on “SNL,” again shirtless but this time accompanied by an elaborate laser-ish lighting and several dancers wearing school uniforms; the song’s political implications were less obvious in that performance.
“This Is America” marks the first new music Gambino has dropped since the release of his Grammy-nominated album “Awaken, My Love!” late in 2016.
Glover recently left Glassnote Records for RCA and is expected to release a new album later this year. He will head out on tour in the fall with special guests Rae Sremmurd and Vince Staples; he is also performing at a new installment of his elaborate Pharos festival in New Zealand in November. Glover has said that the next Childish Gambino album he releases will be his last, explaining, “I think endings are good because they force things to get better.”
Glover fully embraced the opportunities of his double-bill “SNL” appearance, performing two songs as well as appearing in nearly every skit on the show, including one in which three members of a group styled on Migos are sitting in a therapy session.
1/50 5 May 2018 Russian police carrying struggling opposition leader Alexei Navalny at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Thousands of demonstrators denouncing Putin's upcoming inauguration into a fourth term gathered in the capital's Pushkin Square. AP
2/50 4 May 2018 Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at an event to mark Karl Marx’s 200th birthday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. AP
3/50 3 May 2018 President Vladimir Putin meets with FIFA president Gianni Infantino in Sochi, ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. AFP/Getty
4/50 2 May 2018 Supporters of opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan protest in Republic Square in Yerevan, Armenia. Pashinyan has urged his supporters to block roads, railway stations and airports after the governing Republican Party voted against his election as prime minister. AP
5/50 1 May 2018 Cubans march during the May Day rally at Revolution Square in Havana. AFP/Getty
6/50 30 April 2018 The sky is the limit: A Saudi man and woman fly over the Arabian Sarawat Mountains in the first ever joint wingsuit flight in traditional dress. A symbolic leap of faith towards women’s empowerment in Saudi Arabia. Alwaleed Philanthropies
7/50 29 April 2018 A general view for the damaged railway station in al-Qadam neighborhood, after it was recaptured from Islamic State militants, in the south of Damascus. According to media reports, the Syrian army continued the military offensive it has launched earlier this month against militant groups entrenching in southern Damascus and captured several neighborhoods, including al-Qadam and al-Assali and targeting the remnants of armed groups in al-Hajar al-Aswad and its surrounding in Damascus southern countryside. EPA
8/50 28 April 2018 Comedian Michelle Wolf attends the Celebration After the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Conservatives walked out after Wolf brutally ridiculed President Donald Trump and his aides during her piece. Getty
9/50 27 April 2018 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing on a joint statement North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. The Korean War will be formally declared over after 65 years, the North and South have said. At a historic summit between leaders Kim Jong-Un and Moon Jae-in, the neighbouring countries agreed they would work towards peace on the peninsula with a formal end to the conflict set to be announced later this year. The pair agreed to bring the two countries together and establish a "peace zone" on the contested border. Korea Summit Press Pool via AP
10/50 26 April 2018 Women hold portraits of their relatives, who are victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, during a commemoration ceremony in Kiev, Ukraine. Reuters
11/50 25 April 2018 Rohingya refugees gather in the "no man's land" behind Myanmar's boder lined with barb wire fences in Maungdaw district, Rakhine state bounded by Bangladesh. Myanmar government said on April 15, it repatriated on April 14 the first family of Rohingya out of some 700,000 refugees who have fled a brutal military campaign, a move slammed by a rights group as a PR stunt ignoring UN warnings that a safe return is not yet possible. AFP/Getty
12/50 24 April 2018 President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, first lady Melania Trump and Brigitte Macron hold hands on the White House balcony during a State Arrival Ceremony in Washington. AP
13/50 23 April 2018 A boy walks on a pile of garbage covering a drain in New Delhi. Reuters
14/50 22 April 2018 Newly ordained priests lie on the floor as Pope Francis leads a mass in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. REUTERS
15/50 21 April 2018 South Koreans cheer during the welcoming event for the inter-Korean summit between South Korea and North Korea in Seoul. The inter-Korean summit is scheduled on April 27, 2018 at the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom, agreed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un. Getty
16/50 20 April 2018 A Palestinian slings a shot by burning tires on the Israel-Gaza border, following a demonstration calling for the right to return. Palestinian refugees either fled or were expelled from what is now the state of Israel during the 1948 war. AFP/Getty
17/50 19 April 2018 Outgoing Cuban President Raul Castro raising the arm of Cuba's new President Miguel Diaz-Canel after he was formally named by the National Assembly, in Havana. A historic handover ending six decades of rule by the Castro brothers. The 57-year-old Diaz-Canel, who was the only candidate for the presidency, was elected to a five-year term with 603 out of 604 possible votes in the National Assembly. AFP/Getty/www.cubadebate.cu
18/50 18 April 2018 Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announces early presidential and parliamentary elections for June 24, 2018, at the Presidential Palace, in Ankara. Erdogan announced the snap elections, originally scheduled for November 2019, in a move that will usher in a new political system increasing the powers of the president. He said the new system needed to be implemented quickly in order to deal with a slew of challenges ahead, including Turkey's fight against Kurdish insurgents in Syria and Iraq. AP
19/50 17 April 2018 European lawmakers raise placards reading "Stop the War in Syria" in protest against airstrikes launched by the US, Britain and France in Syria last week criticizing the legitimacy of the operation, as French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Macron is expected to outline his vision for the future of Europe to push for deep reforms of the 19-nation eurozone and will launch a drive to seek European citizens' opinions on the European Union's future. AP
20/50 16 April 2018 People participate in a protest against the rape of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua near Jammu, and a teenager in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh state, in Bangalore, India Reuters
21/50 15 April 2018 Fireworks are set off as the final performance takes place during the Closing Ceremony for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. PA
22/50 14 April 2018 The wreckage of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, after the United States, UK and France launched strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime early on April 14 in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack after mulling military action for nearly a week. Syrian state news agency SANA reported several missiles hit a research centre in Barzeh, north of Damascus, "destroying a building that included scientific labs and a training centre" AFP/Getty
23/50 13 April 2018 Indian activists gather to show support for the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women Swati Maliwal, who is on a hunger strike against the alleged rapes in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, in New Delhi, India. According to news reports Maliwal is sitting on hunger strike demanding that authorities take strict actions against the alleged rapists. EPA
24/50 12 April 2018 Shi'ite pilgrims carry a symbolic casket outside Imam Moussa al-Kadhim's shrine to mark the anniversary of his death in Baghdad, Iraq Reuters
25/50 11 April 2018 Seasonal winds washed tons of debris ashore at Matahari Terbit beach, near Sanur, Bali, Indonesia. Reuters
26/50 10 April 2018 Syrian onlookers gather around rescue teams clearing the rubble at the site of an explosion of unknown origin which wrecked a multi-storey building the previous night in the war-battered country's northwestern city of Idlib. The cause of the explosion in the jihadist-held city, which killed more than a ten people and wounded 80, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, was not immediately clear. AFP/Getty
27/50 9 April 2018 Protesters try to block French gendarmes during an evacuation operation in the zoned ZAD (Deferred Development Zone) in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, near Nantes, France. Reuters
28/50 8 April 2018 Competitors cross the start line at the annual Pyongyang Marathon. AFP/Getty
29/50 7 April 2018 The body of journalist Yasser Murtaja, 31, is carried during his funeral in Gaza city. He was shot by Israeli troops while reporting on Palestinian protests on the Gaza-Israel border. Reuters
30/50 6 April 2018 Supporters of the former South African president Jacob Zuma rally prior to his appearance in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court on corruption charges in Durban. Zuma, 75, arrived to face corruption charges linked to a multi-billion dollar 1990s arms deal. The graft case against him was postponed until June 8 after a brief 15-minute hearing. AFP/Getty
31/50 5 April 2018 Palestinian protesters run during clashes with Israeli troops at Israel-Gaza border. Reuters
32/50 4 April 2018 Presidents Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Vladimir Putin of Russia pose before their meeting in Ankara. Reuters
33/50 3 April 2018 South African school children pause next to a portrait of the late South African anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, wife of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, at her house in Soweto. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to Winnie, who died on April 2, saying that Nelson Mandela's former wife was a "voice of defiance" against white-minority rule. AFP/Getty
34/50 2 April 2018 Jewish priests and civilians take part in the Cohanim prayer during the Passover holiday at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. AFP/Getty
35/50 1 April 2018 Pope Francis greets the crowd at St Peter's square after the Easter Sunday Mass in the Vatican. Christians around the world are marking the Holy Week, commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, leading up to his resurrection on Easter. AFP/Getty
36/50 31 March 2018 Mourners hold back a relative of Palestinian Hamdan Abu Amshah, who was killed along the Israel border with Gaza, during his funeral in Beit Hanoun town. Reuters
37/50 30 March 2018 Israeli soldiers shot tear gas grenades towards the Palestinian tent city protest commemorating Land Day. The day marks the killing of six Arab Israelis during 1976 demonstrations against Israeli confiscations of Arab land. AFP/Getty
38/50 29 March 2018 An emotional Steve Smith is comforted by his father Peter as he fronts the media at Sydney International Airport. Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were flown back to Australia following investigations into alleged ball tampering in South Africa. Getty
39/50 28 March 2018 French gendarmes escort the coffin of the late Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame transported by car during a funeral procession leaving the Pantheon as part of a national tribute in Paris. The French President will lead a national commemoration to hostage-swap policeman Arnaud Beltrame killed in jihadist attack. AFP/Getty
40/50 27 March 2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a memorial made for the victims of a fire in a multi-story shopping center in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. Officials say that the fire escapes were blocked and a PA system was turned off during the fire that killed over 50 people. Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
41/50 26 March 2018 At least 64 shoppers have been killed in fire at a shopping centre in Russia. A further 16 people were still missing after flames broke out at the four-storey Winter Cherry mall in the city of Kemerovo in Siberia, according to Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov. The fire was extinguished in the morning after burning through the night. Parts of the building were still smouldering and the floors of the cinema hall had caved in in places, another emergency official said. Russian Emergencies Ministry via Reuters
42/50 25 March 2018 Syrian civilians gathering for their evacuation from the town of Arbin in the Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, following a deal with the regime. The deal is expected to see some 7,000 people bussed from Arbin and Zamalka towns and the district of Jobar to a rebel-dominated part of northern Syria. AFP/Getty
43/50 24 March 2018 Students attend the ‘March For Our Lives’ in Washington. In the wake of the Florida attack, there has been a widespread effort to ban assault rifle. Getty
44/50 23 March 2018 Police at the scene of a hostage situation in a supermarket in Trebes. An armed man took hostages in a supermarket in southern France, killing three and injuring about a dozen others, police said. A French minister confirmed the gunman had been shot dead by police. Reuters
45/50 22 March 2018 A boy rows his boat in the polluted waters of the Brahmaputra river on World Water Day in Guwahati, India. Reuters
46/50 21 March 2018 Kosovo's opposition lawmakers release a teargas canister inside the country's parliament in before a vote for an agreement to ratify or not a border demarcation deal signed in 2015 with Montenegro. AFP/Getty
47/50 20 March 2018 People carrying luggage leave the Russian Embassy in London and board a van bearing diplomatic plates. Dozens of people including adults with children arrived at the Russian embassy in the morning and then left carrying luggage in vehicles bearing diplomatic registration plates. Britain last week announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats over the spy poisoning row, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Moscow. AFP/Getty
48/50 19 March 2018 The Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft is mounted on the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan AFP/Getty
49/50 18 March 2018 President Vladimir Putin walks out of a voting booth at a polling station during Russia's presidential election in Moscow. AFP/Getty
