Lady Gaga Unleashes Inner Theater Kid in Best ‘SNL’ Musical Episode in Years
The Saturday Night Live “host who doubles as musical guest” doesn’t have a great track record. Sure, we get the occasional Ariana Grande showing off her Nick Kid chops, but more often we’re subjected to one-dimensional pop stars looking to cross over into acting careers. Can Bad Bunny, Halsey or Charli XCX conquer new worlds? Usually not. Sometimes they’re okay, but okay shouldn’t be the bar. Isn’t being Jack Harlow enough? Does Megan Thee Stallion have to prove she’s Megan Thee Comedian?
But sometimes, we’re treated to someone like Lady Gaga. Fresh off her Worst Actress Razzie nomination for Joker: Folie à Deux, Gaga fronted one of SNL50’s best episodes of the season. While none of the sketches were instant classics, SNL served up a consistently satisfying show by leaning on the host’s ability to channel the fizziest, most talented kid in the high school musical.
Music was the key. In Pip, Gaga delivers a hilariously heartfelt you-can-do-it ballad to an insecure CGI mouse. Like Michael Jackson crooning to a rodent in Ben, Gaga provides her tiny friend with the inspiration he needs:
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The other kids may laugh at you
And treat you like a fool
But I believe you can win
The weightlifting contest at our school
Self-proclaimed Gaga superfan Bowen Yang got multiple chances to vocalize with his idol. In “Wonderful Tonight,” he and Gaga kick off a burgeoning bad romance by bastardizing the lyrics to the Eric Clapton classic. The song parody is funny enough, but “Wonderful Tonight” also works as a sketch, with weirdly specific characters and an actual ending. Faint praise but as SNL shows us week after week, endings are hard!
Yang and Gaga get after it again in “No More Slay,” a bit in which the two chastise their obnoxious friends for overusing modern slang.
We can't just repeat one word
When there's so many more to use
So we've made a big decision for all of us and you
No more slay
No more slay
We know it sounds impossible, but there's other words to say
From now on, when something rocks
We'll just say, ‘Wow, I like that’
And then we'll stop.
Let’s hope SNL takes its own advice here. While I welcome the song’s condemnation of terms like “slay,” “mother” and “gagged,” SNL trots out that very same lingo about once a month for a “kids sure talk funny these days” sketch. I’m with Gaga and Bowen. Time to retire these jokes for good.
I’ll credit the defiantly weird Gaga for this week’s inspired show. From start to finish, the writers brought their 10-to-1 sensibilities, skipping the tired game-show parodies for bonkers premises that traveled to unexpected places. And it didn’t strictly rely on Gaga’s prodigious musical talents. The night’s most inspired bit features a couple saying goodbye before a business trip. Somehow, it descended into motorized suitcase madness, including an encounter with the Sons of Samsonite, a luggage biker gang. With multiple scenes and locations, SNL hadn’t done a sketch this ambitious in forever.
After last week’s listless Shane Gillis episode, Gaga’s night felt like a bunch of high school kids eager to show us what they can do. Not every single gag hit the mark, but Gaga’s theatrical enthusiasm definitely carried the night.
