If there’s one thing our divided nation could agree about, it’s that nobody could agree about the postelection episode of Saturday Night Live. While last weekend’s SNL didn’t have any “Hallelujah”-level catastrophes, Bill Burr’s monologue audibly left the studio audience cold. The host inspired “pure disappointment” in Vulture recapper Joe Berkowitz, who called Burr’s jokes about how feminists are ugly “artless” and “submerged in the swamp of vintage misogyny” and compared his set to Tony Hinchcliffe of Trump rally fame. How to get back on track, recapture the celebratory vibes of SNL’s 50th-anniversary year, and improve morale at Rockefeller Center? This coming Saturday, November 16, will feature Charli XCX doing double duty as host and musical guest, which will definitely be poppy fun but also threatens to cast a “Kamala is brat”–tinted pallor on the proceedings in light of Harris’s loss. Besides that, no upcoming hosts have been announced for the rest of the season.
Far be it from me to tell Supreme Leader Lorne Michaels how to do things, but indulge me in suggesting another 365 party girl who can both host and be the musical guest: Bridget Everett. Like the light of the sun or the force of the wind, Everett is a mighty but underutilized natural resource whose star power can single-handedly light up the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. I believe she has the ability to unite audiences in good cheer, big laughs, and warm vibes — exactly what we need right now from a silly sketch-comedy show trying to appeal to as many quadrants as possible. The Somebody Somewhere star has decades of live performance and comedy experience, has ruled over the downtown cabaret scene for years, and inspired her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas, to declare a Bridget Everett Day. In the recent Saturday Night movie, which mythologizes the series’ turbulent birth, Gabrielle LaBelle (playing a young Michaels) gives a speech about how SNL should feel like a wild night out in the city, all jazz and revelry. Who captures that better than a six-foot-tall blonde in sequins singing about making sweet, sweet love and motorboating Colin Jost?
Everett’s critically acclaimed HBO series Somebody Somewhere will air its series finale this December, which provides the perfect opportunity for her to host SNL’s Christmas episode before the show takes a winter break. To be clear, this wasn’t my idea — it was an expert’s. In October, I spoke with Everett’s friend and past collaborator Adam Horovitz, a.k.a. Ad-Rock, who himself has performed with the Beastie Boys twice on SNL, one of those times being the show’s 25th anniversary special. When I asked him what he’d like to see Everett do next in her career, he said, “I can see her leading movies. I can see her on Saturday Night Live.” Michaels has the power to make one of those two things happen.
