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Highlights from Willem Dafoe’s debut as host on ‘Saturday Night Live’
As the snowstorm raged outside, Dafoe and the SNL cast performed a great show in the comfort of the studio.
Not even a bomb cyclone could stop last night’s crowd from venturing out into the storm to watch Willem Dafoe take the stage on “Saturday Night Live.” Except for last weekend’s cameo appearance in Will Forte’s monologue, Dafoe made his long-awaited SNL debut.
Dafoe is a seasoned professional who recently appeared as Norman Osborn in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The movie is currently the eighth-highest grossing movie in history.
As the snowstorm raged outside, Dafoe and the SNL cast performed a great show in the comfort of the studio.
Here are the best moments from last night’s episode.
Cold Open
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is spiraling out of control — complete with pro-Russian propaganda circulating the Ukraine internet. Some reports have said that Russia is already invading, “but those are from the same people that said Tom Brady retired, so take it with a grain of salt.”
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The propaganda isn’t subtle. Some headlines include, “Russian forces surrounding Ukraine just to give it a big hug” and “American CDC strongly recommends Russia invades Ukraine.” As Biden, once again played by James Austin Johnson, describes it: “malarky.”
But there is hope — a high school junior is here to spread anti-Russia memes and Tik Toks to combat the harmful propaganda. Plus, she’s going to DM Putin himself and suggest he shops at Old Navy. Then he’ll start spiraling.
Opening Monologue
Some critics think Dafoe’s acting style is over the top, but “one man’s over the top is another man’s engaged performance.” He just isn’t a subtle actor like Nicholas Cage. Instead, he uses over-the-top facial expressions and throws himself into a role. But it does backfire when people tell him he’d be perfect for The Joker.
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“Always nice to hear that you got the vibe of a sociopath,” he joked.
Hailing from Wisconsin, Dafoe has almost completely discarded his accent, but a couple from his hometown (Aidy Bryant and Mikey Day) ask him to bring it back. You can take the man out of Wisconsin, but you can’t take Wisconsin out of the man.
Dog Show
The Badminster Dog Show is the anti-dog show. It praises the worst-behaved dogs — the ones that poop on the carpet and bite all your friends.
Dafoe and Bryant play the commentators of this high-class event, and the judges are the Bosworth twins who run a “desert-based dog ranch that’s either an animal rescue or a hoarding situation.”
The first contestant is Luna from the Shaking group. She’s afraid of everything from plastic bags to the Netflix startup noise, and “the 4th of July is a war for her.” Then, from the Mean group is Pigeon, “a sexual predator.” Pigeon can’t stop licking the faces of Kate McKinnon and Andrew Dismukes, yet they handled the incident perfectly, mostly staying in character.
The winner turned out to be Gizmo from the Medical group — a small dog dressed in sunglasses and a tutu and pushed around in a stroller. The dog has “bad skin, bad teeth, bad anal glands, and a bad brain.”
Tenant Meeting
It’s the first tenant’s association meeting of the new year, and everybody has complaints. One woman complains that her maintenance fee was raised $12 because of a leaky roof, and “I don’t live on the roof, so I’m not paying it.”
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Another asked permission to kill her neighbor’s dog (which was denied, but she’s probably going to do it anyway). And there’s a building talent show, but only two people are planning to perform.
Willem Dafoe’s character, who “bought the top three floors of this building in 1971 for $11,” asked why the city is so sensitive now. There’s no more danger, no more random people throwing up on you in the streets. He didn’t actually have a question, but he just wanted to be “a pain in the ass.”
Office Song
It’s late at night in an office on the 15th floor. There’s plenty of work to do, and the new temporary employee (Dafoe) just picked up 24 pizzas.
Someone starts tapping a steady beat with a pencil, and someone else joins in with stapling noises every few beats. Another woman starts tapping a glass, and another starts singing. It quickly builds into the group singing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” before Dafoe’s character throws a chair through the window.
“I thought it would bounce off the window and make a cool sound,” he said.
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Despite causing $1 million in damages and killing the vibe, the boss of the office lets Dafoe’s character stay. But the next day, they try it again, and Dafoe throws a stapler toward the window, hitting one of his colleagues who falls out the window. Luckily, she grabbed hold of the side of the building and was all right. But it’s safe to say Dafoe was fired.
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