Saturday Night Live's at-home episode during coronavirus lockdown hit all the right notes

It’s been a tough time for comedians lately. If coronavirus lockdown has taught us anything, it’s that making people laugh from a distance is much, much harder than in front of a live audience. Late-night hosts have taken to anchoring their respective shows from home, and the results have been at times awkward, at times moving – and yes, at times funny, albeit in a different way than usual.

For that reason, it was hard to know what to expect when Saturday Night Live announced it would return for a special, remote episode on 11 April. So much of the programme’s value relies on the cast coming together in the same room, in front of a live audience, that it was almost impossible to imagine a social distancing version of it.

And yet, Saturday’s instalment of SNL at home – as it was dubbed in a special hashtag on social media – managed to hit all the right notes. It began with a bang, announcing a freshly-recovered-from-coronavirus Tom Hanks as a surprise host, with Chris Martin joining as a musical guest. Then, Kate McKinnon changed the usual “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night” to a more appropriate “Live from Zoom, it’s some time between March and August”. The opening credits, too, got a facelift – while cast members are usually shown at famous New York City spots, this time around, they were seen performing mundane tasks such as watering their plants or eating cereal from their own homes (stars are just like us!).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hanks delivered a touching-yet-gently-energising monologue, accurately referring to himself as “America’s dad” and referencing his experience recovering from Covid-19 in Australia (it was strange having his temperature taken in degrees Celsius as opposed to Fahrenheit). He acknowledged that “it’s a strange time to try to be funny” but expressed faith in the show’s ability to adapt to the times – an accurate prediction, as it soon turned out.

For 90 minutes – the show’s regular running time – comedians tapped into their best instincts, brilliantly adapting SNL’s brand and DNA to the present circumstances. Kate McKinnon revived her beloved Ruth Bader Ginsburg persona in a “workout at home with RBG” segment, using Q-tips and batteries as weights as well as a full-size towel in lieu of a disinfecting wipe (all references to the Supreme Court justice’s tiny frame).

Other highlights included a skit in which employees tried – and majorly failed – to learn how to use Zoom, which no doubt hit close to home for many viewers; a cameo by Larry David doing his best Bernie Sanders; a Masterclass spoof in which Chloe Fineman performed an uncanny impression of Timothée Chalamet; Alex Moffat as a bored sports commentator trying to find material from home (a reference to several viral clips that have blossomed on social media lately); Mikey Day as a supremely unskilled video game player live-streaming his exploits (or lack thereof); and an animated skit featuring the Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles.

What else? Oh, yes – Chris Martin performed an admirable cover of “Shelter from the Storm” and Weekend Update returned (with phone participation from Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump). Michael Che delivered an emotional, yet witty tribute to his late grandmother, who recently died of coronavirus. After telling Jost, his co-host, that returning to work with him had brightened his mood, he told him that his grandmother would have loved for them to engage in a joke swap.

If you’ve ever watched a Weekend Update joke swap, you know that Jost always reluctantly participates, because Che generally uses the swap as an opportunity to make his co-star deliver offensive jokes. That was the case on Saturday night, and after the fact, Che gleefully told his co-star that his grandmother has, in truth, never watched the show, and that he simply wanted a chance to make him read a zinger of his choosing out loud. Che eventually signed off as “Martha’s grandbaby” instead of his full name, ending the segment on an emotional note that clearly resonated with viewers, as reflected by their comments on social media.

Also on a solemn note, the cast – including former SNL stars such as Adam Sandler, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph – paid tribute to music producer Hal Willner, a longtime staffer on the show who died a few days before the show aired.

By acknowledging the gravity of our times, as well as poking fun of quarantine culture in all the right ways, SNL managed to provide a much-needed moment of levity on Saturday night. I for one hope the show returns for more remote instalments as long as lockdown continues. Judging by other viewers’ reactions, I’m far from alone.